What are you playing now?

[Tale]

I finished almost everything I wanted to do in Borderlands 2. Can't beat Son of Crawmerax is the only thing.

 

On to Pre-Sequel! Where I will play as Claptrap and dance and give hi-fives.

[Malcador]

Do items become any more interesting as Poe progresses? So far they've been as dull as dishwater, satisfactory backstories and such but statistically extremely meh.

 

I like the challenge the Ghosts present with their teleportation, hopefully the combat remains so challenging throughout, though i'm not seeing much use of the environment.

 

Edit: When did Edam get changed into a Fighter? Does Aloth ever become useful?

Items get a bit more fancy with names and exceptional ones, though nothing really amazing I find.

 

I think I will try another run through of PE, maybe with all Paladins. But for now I will play a bit of Cities here and there

 

Also, neat, they are adding a scene in the patch for DFC where you run away from the bomb, for all the good that will do.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Malcador

[Oner]

Edit: When did Edam get changed into a Fighter? Does Aloth ever become useful?

Edér was always a fighter and Aloth is very useful, though a bit situational.

[213374U]

I beat Alien Isolation. Great game, solid 8.5 at least. It's not a 10 because the ending is a completely unfulfilling, sequel bait cliffhanger, and in the final act the game really tries too hard to be SCARY!!1, wearing out its welcome. Plot twists and a lingering mood of hopelessness are some of the defining elements of the Alien universe, but there are probably more "LOL NOPE!" moments in the last 3-4 hours than in the rest of the game combined — some of them so forced that I found myself rolling my eyes.

 

As I said before, I'm really not a fan of having the alien constantly glued to my ass, and the scare factor would have been ramped up, I think, if they had it appear at critical moments and then, if you managed to evade it, have it go away, like, for real. Playing hide-and-seek for 12 hours straight is a bit of a PITA. If you don't mind this, then I guess the Survivor mode DLCs would be right up your alley. Otherwise, replayability value is very low.

 

Still, I haven't had so much fun with a first-person game in a long time, and the atmosphere, attention to detail, and similitude to the IP are top-notch. A must buy for Alien fans.

Edited April 6, 2015 by 213374U

[Nonek]

 

Edit: When did Edam get changed into a Fighter? Does Aloth ever become useful?

 

Edér was always a fighter and Aloth is very useful, though a bit situational.

 

 

I thought Edam was supposed to be a Rogue, i'm sure I read that somewhere a year or so ago, and everybody just assumed he was a Fighter because of the shield and mail. Aloth seems a little pathetic so far, in truth he's more of a hindrance with all the attention needed to keep him alive, he's definitely not a good return on investment. I may be misplaying him though I admit, i'll leave him behind and see if my efficiency improves.

 

Still enjoying the narrative and setting, though I really should be allowed to walk in Gilded Vale, Torment had a walk/run toggle.

[Blarghagh]

He was supposed to be a fighter, which was then changed to rogue briefly, and later changed back to fighter.

[Malcador]

I dunno, Edam always seems cheesy.

[LadyCrimson]

Aloth/wizards - if you don't like constantly managing friendly fire, then no, not too useful to a party, especially early on. Ciphers are better, imo.

 

Items become more interesting somewhere in Act2 perhaps. At least in terms of more bonuses and multiple enchantments. So far the only belts I've found were in stores, but I'm only in Act2/late Dyrwood areas or something in my main save (I get the feeling I ran out of "order" because I went there before finishing up Defiance Bay things...).

 

I'm still really loving the game overall, but I'm starting to question its general replayability. Since I like to restart a lot...the 2nd time getting partway into Act2 was still pretty fun. The 3rd time I had fast mode on 95% of the time and was fast-clicking through all dialogue. The last two times I didn't get far before starting to think I'd just finish the game with my original Monk party. There's something missing. Little too scripted feeling, overland maps feel small with little in them, a sense that choices often don't mean much, I'm not sure really.

 

Anyway, the first time through is awesome and great fun, and it's fine if I don't end up replaying it 15 times, but it is a little disappointing to me.

[Bartimaeus]

I like that dialogue generally lets you RP more - you have a more conversation options than you did in the BG games that will generally let you play your character more or less how you think you should play them. But...it seems like most of them lead to the same exact dialogue branch, which is kind of lame. Seems like they're there more for flavor than for actually making any sort of difference. Which, you know, isn't terrible, but...pretty much effectively the same issue the BG games had. Certainly nothing like Torment's level of meaningful dialogue options.

 

I also am not the biggest fan of the general combat design. It feels like most combat encounters play out exactly the same way as any other, and that I use the same two strategies or so for every single encounter. Also, while party composition definitely does affect how effective your party will be in combat, it doesn't feel like it much affects how you actually use your party in it. As a result, one of the biggest things I like about BG2 (tactical combat) I'm pretty much always trying to avoid in PoE because it feels like such a repetitive chore. I'm thinking about just...playing on easy and getting through the rest of the game, to be completely honest. I restarted four or five times trying to find a character I really enjoy to play, and now it's killing me to go through these fights again.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[LadyCrimson]

Yes, re: dialogues. There's all these options for dialogue and yet it all goes to the same place...even ones with the stat checks. eg, NPC: "[ Clever2 ] Ohho, I heard you're a funny one, thinking you're all smart." but then the NPC goes back to/ends in the same panel as it would if you weren't Clever.  There are times with rep or favor changes but it just feels so minor and I never feel like I'm struggling over a hard choice, if you know what I mean. Just close your eyes and click one, half the time. But perhaps I'm not far enough to really judge that aspect yet. Although from some of the posts in the PoE forums, I don't think I/we're alone in feeling that way.

 

Combat...I like the melee aspects fine but what is irking me (and why I'm not finding replays exciting) is whether my player-chr. is a Cipher, Fighter, Monk or Barbarian, it doesn't alter the feeling of the overall party combat, I'd agree. I may as well roll the same pc class every time. The "no wrong choices" is a nice idea but for me it sort of feels like it means there's also no distinguishing choices. It all kind of plays out similarly regardless (I realize solo would be different, but that's a rather specialized goal and not what I'm considering atm).

[Bartimaeus]

I don't think the Aggressive/Clever/etc. conversation options require stat checks. I am pretty sure you can have your intelligence set to 3 and still be able to use "clever" dialogue options. Only choices specifically marked with stat requirements (assuming you have those enabled/shown) actually require the stats.

 

I'm also a little mystified in regards to the lack of base stat improvement. Torment got away with tying base stats to dialogue options, IMO, because you got an additional stat point every level up, and there were particular quests that gave you permanent stat bonuses...and probably a few items and spells that temporarily did so, as well, but I don't remember if so. The Torment combat stats also didn't really matter, so you tended to max out CHR, INT, and WIS on a second playthrough anyways. Pretty poor design, but...you didn't much play Torment for the combat anyways, and this is just a side-effect of that. Here, I'm permanently locked out of a lot of solutions to quests if I try to build a decent combat character...and it'll never get any better. Worse, when you *do* choose to go for the conversation stats instead of combat stats, it seems like while there's often a difference in flavor, there usually isn't in terms of actual effect. Having the stats to convince the grain hoarders in Gilded Vale to let up and sell to the angry farmers leads up to virtually no difference in content or reward versus simply telling the farmers to bugger off. Not very satisfying in any respect.

[LadyCrimson]

I don't think the Aggressive/Clever/etc. conversation options require stat checks. I am pretty sure you can have your intelligence set to 3 and still be able to use "clever" dialogue options. Only choices specifically marked with stat requirements (assuming you have those enabled/shown) actually require the stats.

Yeah, sorry, that is true about the chr. attribute checks.

I meant that the behavior rep, once it reaches a point, seems to be considered in some dialogues. That is, the NPC reply seemingly considers whether I have *enough* "Clever" to pop up with a clever-based reply in response. So you'll see the [Clever 2] in front of the reply text. Where if I had less than 2 Clever, I'd assume that flavor reply wouldn't appear/you get the more generic reply.

I've started noticing a [ Mercenary ] NPC response as well, of which I have no idea what it's for, what it represents (if anything) or why NPC's have it show up as a marker in front of their monologues.

 

There are +to attribute items to increase your pc's stats for checks (Eder has +2 to constitution in one game), plus I thought that the Inn resting bonuses counted, but not sure on that one. I can't recall what the max is you'd need for stat checks, 18 maybe.

[Keyrock]

After spending some 12? 13? 14? hours in Defiance Bay, I've decided to go back out into the wilderness.  I still have plenty of business in Defiance Bay but a man can only stay cooped up in a city for so long, even if he's having fun there (Mainly pissing the Doemenels the **** off.  Seriously, they HATE me, like actively trying to murder me).  I now have Pallegina with me (I like her) and am slowly making my way back to my stronghold.  I want to see what it looks like now and maybe dip into the Paths below for a cup of coffee.  Then it's off to either Raedric's Keep or toward Dyrford.

[ManifestedISO]

 

Aloth seems a little pathetic so far, in truth 

 

He's great later, his spell of confusion is the only thing that kept my entire party from being incinerated by a bastard great reptile.

[LadyCrimson]

  I now have Pallegina with me (I like her)

My party was full when she dashed up to me and ... I told her to not bother me now. So she disappeared. Never saw her again. Maybe she's around somewhere, sulking, but I have no idea where. When I came upon Grieving Mother, I gave her a wide berth because I'm not ready for her yet either.

 

...I wish companions didn't auto-level upon joining like they do. Or rather, that they didn't auto-assign skills.

[Malcador]

Slogging through Endless Paths, not sure why really but I suppose it is there to do and I'd like the ending where my stronghold turns into a great place to be. Shame the stronghold doesn't have people milling about and so on to show the place's revitalization and maybe growing into a little town.

[mute688]

 

I've started noticing a [ Mercenary ] NPC response as well, of which I have no idea what it's for, what it represents (if anything) or why NPC's have it show up as a marker in front of their monologues.

 

 

I think it's based on your character background.  I chose labourer for my monk and occasionally see a response with [Labourer] preceding it.

[Bartimaeus]

 

  I now have Pallegina with me (I like her)

My party was full when she dashed up to me and ... I told her to not bother me now. So she disappeared. Never saw her again. Maybe she's around somewhere, sulking, but I have no idea where. When I came upon Grieving Mother, I gave her a wide berth because I'm not ready for her yet either.

 

...I wish companions didn't auto-level upon joining like they do. Or rather, that they didn't auto-assign skills.

 

 

Reply to something you said earlier: the "Mercenary" thing is, I am pretty sure, the background you chose at character creation. (e: whoops, missed mute's post ) I assumed, when it does a "detection" for what you are (rational, clever, etc.), that it just meant they were saying something different to you than what they'd normally say, or out of a pool of options (depending on whatever's highest or whatever).

 

In regards to leveling, I recommend installing the IE mod and using the "ChangeClass" console command, which sets characters back to level 0 and you can choose their class and skills and stuff up to their current experience level. Doesn't disable achievements or anything, and you can ignore everything else in the IE mod if you want.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[CoM_Solaufein]

PoE. Got my keep finally. Wish it didn't take days to get something repaired before you can go on the next repair. I have money to spend and a keep to return back to its former glory.

[LadyCrimson]

In regards to leveling, I recommend installing the IE mod

I might do that later, still trying to complete it once as designed, first. Although I must admit I'm becoming more and more tempted to do crazy things like pump companion stats for the lulz, because right now I'm tired of all the misery-tales in the game and it would make me laugh. I did like the baby pig, he was cute. But I already have my perfect black zombie cat and I'm not changing him out for a piglet.

 

...Eder thanked me for the bacon.

[Nordicus]

 

I now have Pallegina with me (I like her)

My party was full when she dashed up to me and ... I told her to not bother me now. So she disappeared. Never saw her again. Maybe she's around somewhere, sulking, but I have no idea where. When I came upon Grieving Mother, I gave her a wide berth because I'm not ready for her yet either.

 

Hmm, she might be at the Vallian Embassy, given that she works for them

[Rosbjerg]

Purple Hair is playing Wasteland 2 and I'm kicking butt in PoE as a druid with a short temper.

 

Great game so far - interesting npc characters although they do suffer from something Obsidian tend to do.. making them all a little too interesting. Of course that just calls for replays, so that's not really an issue.

[Gorth]

I'm trying to get a game of PoE started, but dammit if I can find the time at the moment >_

[Malcador]

Whee, did a bad thing and let the dragon possess some lady as I just could not be bothered to go back into those tunnels. Crap I have to for Kana's quest. Damn it. I think I am done with the game for a while after I drag this POS party through to beat Thaos honestly, maybe will play Sea Dogs.

[Nonek]

I think i'm satisfied with Poe as a purchase, it's a very high quality product with lots of attention to detail and good design, i'd say that it is so far about on par with BG2, in some aspects superior and in some aspects inferior. The combat is a bit of a let down, as it's becoming far too samey. Personally I think the Lore/XP confluence is a good move (but then I would,) but if I were to ask for my perfect RPG combat system it would definitely not be Poe, it would probably be Blackguards at least from the modern era.

 

The soundtrack is definitely a high point, Mr Bell really did knock it out of the park here, not once have I felt the theme intruded on my playthrough, rather enhancing without at first noticing.

 

Lastly a complaint, there are far too many illogical and abstracted away features in the game, harmfully streamlined and working against the internal consistency of the world. The stash and lack of any backpack, no walking, the combat/non combat divide, the illogical attribute bonuses, the artificial cost of camping supplies etcetera.

 

Alltogether i'm more than satisfied, and can't wait to see which factions I can choose as my allies and enemies later in the game. Oh i'm absolutely loving Durance, and the pets are a nice addition, I assume somebody was playing Torchlight.