What are you playing right now?

[Fighter]

Finished Dreamfall Chapters Book 4. It's probably my favorite.

[Luridis]

Diablo 3 UEE on PS4. It's so nice...

• No Need to Log In
• No Always Online DRM
• No Action Lag Due to Single Player Game Running w/ Needless MMO Server Component
• No Lag Deaths While Pack Farming
• No Whole Screen Freezes While Farming Rifts

All I can say is: This is how Diablo was meant to be played. Now, if I could only go back in time and do absolutely anything required to stop the Blizzard-Activision merger. And, if I could go back in time, I'm sure there would be creative options available to me, like sending the person whom orchestrated the deal back to the Cretaceous Era... alone.

[Keyrock]

I started up Xenoblade Chronicles X.  The game is, quite honestly, daunting at the beginning.  There are so many customization options for everything and the world is so ridiculously big.  It's just kind of overwhelming.

[GhostofAnakin]

Trying to figure out what games to get for my "Christmas list" for myself.  Anyone played Just Cause 3?  Is it like the Far Cry series?

 

Or maybe I'll have to get some old games I never picked up way back when they were first released.  Maybe one of the newer Saints Row, or GTAV.  Perhaps a sports title.

 

Decisions, decisions.

[Keyrock]

Trying to figure out what games to get for my "Christmas list" for myself.  Anyone played Just Cause 3?  Is it like the Far Cry series?

 

Or maybe I'll have to get some old games I never picked up way back when they were first released.  Maybe one of the newer Saints Row, or GTAV.  Perhaps a sports title.

 

Decisions, decisions.

I mean, if you like fun then Saints Row games are a good choice.  If you're not into fun, I'd stay away.

[SadExchange]

I put some time into it on the ps4 (Just Cause 3) and have enjoyed. It would probably get repetitive if you're not spending time being creative and having fun. I know there's been lots said of the game running on consoles, while I've have some slow down, I would say that it's terrible and I've been in the middle of some big explosions.

 

Can't run it on my pic. Stutters like crazy which from reading the forums could be due to the always online for their servers and leaderboards. Poor choice to institute this into a single player game. Kind of like a Burnout "beat your friends" scoring leaderboard with all your friends.

 

Overall I'm enjoying but I also dig grappling a tank onto a helicopter and wreaking havoc lol

[Hurlshort]

Just Cause is not really like the Far Cry series.  It is more of an amazing sandbox where you can do crazy stuff.  For simple fun, it is hard to go wrong with JUst Cause or Saint's Row.  

[Bartimaeus]

• No Need to Log In
• No Always Online DRM

 

Hold up...so there's singleplayer mode on the PS4 version? Like, legit "my internet is out right now, but I can play just fine" singleplayer mode?

[GhostofAnakin]

Saints Row might be my choice.  It's the only one that I'm remotely interested in that's also not still at full price.

 

Me being cheap is usually the tie-breaker when deciding what to get.

[SadExchange]

 

 

• No Need to Log In
• No Always Online DRM

Hold up...so there's singleplayer mode on the PS4 version? Like, legit "my internet is out right now, but I can play just fine" singleplayer mode?

Oh yeah. There is. Honestly I own both the pc and ps4 version and after starting up the ps4 version, never really went back. Especially with how it controls on the controller.

[melkathi]

Think I'll play some more Mordheim tonight.

Last run with the Purple Toe was probably the most nerve wrecking yet awesome fight I have had in this game.

The Toe were hugging around a mansion, trying to sneak up on some Sisters of Sigmar. Fluffy the Chaos Spawn saw a scout and pounced on her. The rest of the Toe rushed after him. But it was a trap, the novice only a distraction. The other Sisters came in from behind. They took out my Marauder. They took out my Darksoul. They took out Fluffy. Radburn the Mutant tried to hold out, but even he went down. Only Magister Witold and his two Brethren remained standing. In a surge of what can only be madness, Witold placed himself between his archers and the warrior nuns. And somehow the three of them managed to hold fast and prevail.

 

Read: after some real bad luck and the RNG hating me, somehow I managed to pass all Rout Checks, not flee the battlefield and stay alive long enough to take out enough Sisters to force them to rout.

Even better: Full Recoveries all around!

[Fighter]

Door Kickers. Bought it for 3 something euros and it's lasting me hours.

 

[Bartimaeus]

 

 

 

• No Need to Log In
• No Always Online DRM

Hold up...so there's singleplayer mode on the PS4 version? Like, legit "my internet is out right now, but I can play just fine" singleplayer mode?

Oh yeah. There is. Honestly I own both the pc and ps4 version and after starting up the ps4 version, never really went back. Especially with how it controls on the controller.

 

 

Further clarification: can you play those same singleplayer characters in the normal multiplayer mode? If not, that makes sense (works as Diablo 2 did), but if you can, that's pretty messed up, as that means somebody somewhere is making cheating tools to edit their characters in offline mode that they can carry into multiplayer.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Recently completed Lords of Xulima and am in the mood for some IE stuff. Thinking either IWD or trying BWP.

[Bartimaeus]

BWP just makes a big ol' mess of the game... At least try using the Big World Setup first instead,

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

BWP just makes a big ol' mess of the game... At least try using the Big World Setup first instead,

How's that work?

[Bartimaeus]

I realize now that the Big World Setup may be more or less synonymous with the Big World Project these days, but they are (or at least were) semi-distinct programs: Big World Setup is the program with the neat little UI where you can choose your install settings in depth if you want, it will tell you dependencies/conflicts/preferred components, it'll group components into different categories by what they do for easier choosing, etc., and then it'll install everything for you (or at least try to) after you select all the different components that you want. With just the Big World Project, ya' pick an install type setting, and it just installs a whole crapload of stuff based on the arbitrary "level" each mod and mod component is installed, and you're bound to get a bunch of stuff that you really don't want at all. You may already be using the Big World Setup (which is essentially just an extension of the Big World Project that sort of streamlines the process AND gives you more customization if you wish), so if so, disregard.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Luridis]

 

 

 

 

• No Need to Log In
• No Always Online DRM

Hold up...so there's singleplayer mode on the PS4 version? Like, legit "my internet is out right now, but I can play just fine" singleplayer mode?

Oh yeah. There is. Honestly I own both the pc and ps4 version and after starting up the ps4 version, never really went back. Especially with how it controls on the controller.

 

 

Further clarification: can you play those same singleplayer characters in the normal multiplayer mode? If not, that makes sense (works as Diablo 2 did), but if you can, that's pretty messed up, as that means somebody somewhere is making cheating tools to edit their characters in offline mode that they can carry into multiplayer.

 

 

I'm not sure, you need PlayStation Plus to play it online, as it apparently doesn't run on Battle.Net. Still cheating and duping wouldn't be as bad as on PC, as it's much easier to run crapware game hacks from a google search there than on a console. However, there are cloned and hacked items out there, but I am unaware of the extent of such. Personally, this has never been a problem for me as I've never had the inclination to go that route, in any version of the games. Back in the 90's there were "legit" player groups you could join to avoid dealing with that sort of thing, so I never did, even in DIablo 1.

 

That said, knowing what I do about client server systems. "Always Online" isn't necessary to prevent item duping or hacking, they could go about this a completely different way and achieve the same goal without forcing players to be always online. That's why it is absolutely, and without a doubt, a DRM mechanism and not an anti-cheat mechanism. Some examples:

• Offline characters could be played in online games only with items earned in server side games.
• Item generation and verification could happen both off and online via a encrypted function that is regularly updated with key rotations.
• Items could be generated in bulk, server side, with UUID's and checksums that cannot be altered, then randomly distributed into offline play.

A developer could not make any system absolutely un-hackable, but they could make it so that hacking becomes an easily detected anomaly. The bottom line is that every reason Activision gives that D3 needs to be always online for the PC could be handled another way. The only significant reason to require a persistent connection is DRM, because the method they've chosen makes cracking difficult to do, and more so, difficult to maintain across patching. Finally, at the end of the day, hacking and duping is Activision's problem, not mine. I should not have to pay the price for other people's behavior. Whatever solution they come up with should be able to accommodate everyone, but that's too hard, or more likely, too expensive. So, in the end, they decided the best course was to screw their customers, par for the course in big business.

Edited December 5, 2015 by Luridis

[Keyrock]

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a really frustrating game at the beginning.  So, the prologue is alright.  Elma finds you in a pod outside the city, there's a cutscene showing off the awesome looking world, then the both of you run back to the city and you're free to take whatever path you choose to get there.  You get to the city, cutscene, prologue over.  Chapter 1, however, is frustrating as hell.  So there's this beautiful open world full of cool looking creatures out there and it's huge, I'm talking ridiculously gigantic, but instead of letting you go out and explore the cool looking world, the entirety of chapter 1 (chapters in this game seem fairly short and there are probably tons of them) is walk for 30 seconds, cutscene, walk for 30 more seconds, cutscene, walk for 20 seconds, cutscene, walk for 30 seconds, cutscene.  Did I mention there are a lot of cutscenes?  I get they need to introduce characters and such, but it's really frustrating when there's this giant awesome world out there, but instead you get interrupted every 30 seconds for another cutscene instead of being able to just go around the world freely.  Honestly, all of act 1 should have been just 1 long cutscene.  Why let me do the walking when it's going to only be for 20 or 30 seconds and I'm forced to go to a set location?  Anyway, it seems I have more freedom in chapter 2, hopefully it stays that way for the rest of the game.

 

Speaking of frustrating, I was at my buddy's place and played Just Cause 3 on his PS4 for a couple hours.  That game is maddening.  It's like an oxymoron, a contradiction.  The game thrives when you go wild and do crazy stuff in the game, tethering vehicles together, strapping booster rockets to stuff, awesome stuff like that.  Then in puts up a bunch of barriers to you actually being able to do said crazy stuff.  The vast majority of the game is you liberating locations by destroying "chaos objects".  You can destroy them any way you want, and the fun way to do it is to get inventive and do something ridiculous.  However, blowing up these chaos objects the fun way generally requires a bunch of set up and a lot of trial and error, all while a couple dozen dudes are shooting at you, interrupting your plans and generally ruining them.  If you're gonna liberate these locations the fun way, you're probably going to die a whole bunch or have to run away to heal while you're setting up the ridiculous wacky thing you;re staging, and it's going to take you forever.  Or, you could just pull out a rocket launcher and do it in seconds.  The worse part is that the game starts you off with rather limited tools to do wacky and crazy stuff with.  There are tools to unlock which will allow you to get more creative and cause more havoc, but you're going to have to go through a metric **** ton of challenges to unlock said tools, and these challenges are dull as dish water.  They are straight up some of the most boring challenges I've had to endure in a game, completely uninspired.  It's a game that can be super fun, and it probably is eventually once you unlock everything, but you have to go through a ridiculous amount of super boring stuff to be allowed to use the fun toys.  Ugh.

Edited December 6, 2015 by Keyrock

[melkathi]

The Purple Toe went on yet another run. This time, the perpetually stuck at level 0 serial Amnesiac (he got hit on the head, three missions in a row, suffering Amnesia three missions in a row and forgetting his XP) had been equipped with a Helmet of Memory he had forgotten he looted last run.

It protected him of Amnesia. That is not to say he didn't fall unconscious - he does THAT every fight - but he had a Full Recovery instead of the usual Amnesia and finally held onto his experience and got to level 1.

Lieferd the Darksoul was less lucky. His skull got fractured and left him rather... stupid. Good thing he has fairly high intelligence and may pass the stupidity checks.

Edited December 6, 2015 by melkathi

[Keyrock]

Xenoblade Chronicles X definitely get better after chapter 1.  The game gives you so much more freedom and, while you still get some cutscenes, you're let loose upon this giant awesome alien world to do as you please.  No level scaling either.  You can absolutely wander into an area with level 40 creatures at level 8 and if you are noticed by aggressive creatures you will get obliterated.  At the same time, not all creatures are aggressive, so if you're sneaky you can find cool stuff in those areas and get out alive, plus the game doesn't punish you for dying, so exploring is essentially encouraged.  The best part is that you can go pretty much anywhere.  Areas where in other games you'd have an invisible wall, no invisible walls exist.  Areas where you'd die if you jumped down into in other games, jump away, you'll land down there an be fine, go nuts, explore everything.

[melkathi]

Marking this day on the Mordheim Calendar: Lobt, the serial amnesiac marauder, did not go out of action this battle. It is the first time this happens since he joined the warband.

 

Edit:

Also his feet mutated into claw feet, giving him a bonus on charge and ambush range. I also looted a greatsword of Defiance, which gives another bonus to those. Now he can outrun a Skaven.

Edited December 6, 2015 by melkathi

[Majek]

U4MPbeta. It's fun, different, faster more tactical if you're not stuck with randoms. Fun.

[GhostofAnakin]

Speaking of frustrating, I was at my buddy's place and played Just Cause 3 on his PS4 for a couple hours.  That game is maddening.  It's like an oxymoron, a contradiction.  The game thrives when you go wild and do crazy stuff in the game, tethering vehicles together, strapping booster rockets to stuff, awesome stuff like that.  Then in puts up a bunch of barriers to you actually being able to do said crazy stuff.  The vast majority of the game is you liberating locations by destroying "chaos objects".  You can destroy them any way you want, and the fun way to do it is to get inventive and do something ridiculous.  However, blowing up these chaos objects the fun way generally requires a bunch of set up and a lot of trial and error, all while a couple dozen dudes are shooting at you, interrupting your plans and generally ruining them.  If you're gonna liberate these locations the fun way, you're probably going to die a whole bunch or have to run away to heal while you're setting up the ridiculous wacky thing you;re staging, and it's going to take you forever.  Or, you could just pull out a rocket launcher and do it in seconds.  The worse part is that the game starts you off with rather limited tools to do wacky and crazy stuff with.  There are tools to unlock which will allow you to get more creative and cause more havoc, but you're going to have to go through a metric **** ton of challenges to unlock said tools, and these challenges are dull as dish water.  They are straight up some of the most boring challenges I've had to endure in a game, completely uninspired.  It's a game that can be super fun, and it probably is eventually once you unlock everything, but you have to go through a ridiculous amount of super boring stuff to be allowed to use the fun toys.  Ugh.

 

This makes me not want to get Just Cause 3.  I hate games that make you grind through tedious stuff before you have access to anything remotely cool to use.

[Fenixp]

Just Cause 3 would be massively improved by stealth mechanics. Look at Far Cry 3+ games - they allow you to make convoluted plans to take out outposts and you can allow your enemies to see you only after you start executing such plan. Just Cause 2+ tho? Enjoy being under fire all the time! JC2 was at its best with invulnerability and infinite ammo cheats and JC3 ... Didn't really get the memo so it puts even more restrictions on you. Want good boosters? Better go and do 10 000 racing time trials! To add some salt to the injury, they removed monetary costs of calling in vehicles which wasn't even a limiting factor in JC2 and put real-time and resource restrictions on it. So you can call in the same vehicle only once every ... 15 minutes? And without restocking you can only call them 3 times. Of course, for finishing a bunch of dull challenges, you can unlock these restrictions because somebody clearly realized they're stupid at some point.