What are you playing right now?

[Fenixp]

Exactly the same thing happened to me after the tutorial, with bloody caretaker occupying the one spot in the inn which was the only place where my bandit person was willing to go. But yes, after hearing all the crap for being completely unfair the game received when in Early Access, it seems like you can influence most of the dickery the game throws your way. I do really love that aspect - it rewards preparation and taking the right classes with the right quirks for the job. Doesn't mean the game won't screw you over whenever it feels like - but you can retreat back to hamlet while keeping the collected treasures at any point if it gets too tough.

 

I killed my first boss this morning and the fight was positively thrilling. The poor wench who followed caretaker in dark streets of the hamlet will plague the coast no more.

[GhostofAnakin]

I take back my original statement.  I think I liked the story of the previous Assassin's Creed game better than Syndicate.

[Orogun01]

I take back my original statement.  I think I liked the story of the previous Assassin's Creed game better than Syndicate.

I actually thought that the story in Unity was really good, it was a nice departure from the boring Assasin's are good and Templars are bad routine and focuses more on personal dramas. It seems that it's better when they focus on that rather than the politics.

[Calax]

Syndicate just felt... lacking in punch. There was no real growth to the characters and the missions seemed to basically fall into "Jacob screws something up, Evie fixes it and kills a Templar". At least Unity had something more of a consistent story to it, although Rogue was better.

[SadExchange]

As I noted before I hadn't played through Unity more than about 3 hours due to bugs, so I can't judge it.  The story in Syndicate doesn't seem to be deep by any standards.  I remember when I played the original AC and thought how interesting it was to include noted people of the time that actually ended up dying, somehow, during the actual time period you were assassinating them.  And how by the end of the game, something truly unique was taking place expanding the story and universe of the game.  I really feel that if you're not playing every iteration of the series, you're just left in the dust behind the whole meaning behind the pieces of Eden and the cause, and by this point, at least while playing Syndicate through sequence 5, it appears that the developers don't really care about keeping you update to date or giving needed explanation or advancement of the overall story/cause which is sad.  

 

I really believe if they spent more time with this series and it wasn't a yearly franchise, something great could have come from this series and not just a yearly iteration of the same song and dance with a new toy.  

 

Outside of that, I believe Syndicate is a step forward in the gameplay aspect of the series.  While I don't feel the moment is exact and precise, I believe it to be some of the best in the series, with the inclusion of the grappling hook.  On one hand, the story is simple, but on the other hand, at least they're not diluting it with useless dialogue along the way.  From my POV so far, we had our main enemy from the get go and that's still who I'm out to get.

[Keyrock]

Granted, I've only played a few AC games and not the complete 8237 games in the series, but from my rather limited experience, I enjoy the story and the games overall the most when they stick to the self-contained story within that particular title.  When they go into the overarching Pieces of Eden, Minerva, etc. stuff I lose interest.

[GhostofAnakin]

I really hate the carriage missions in AC Syndicate, especially when combined with the wonky grappling hook.

 

I'm supposed to trail a carriage.  It has to be done via rooftop, because running will just see you fall too far behind the carriage and cause a "mission fail".  You can ride in your own carriage for a bit of it, but you can't for the entire thing because there are stops along the way with multiple enemies who will spot you riding a carriage.  So rooftops using the grappling hook it is.

 

Problem is, way, way too often, the grappling hook icon (L1 on the PS4) doesn't appear for the ledge you want to traverse to.  So you spend your time looking for a ledge that will work.  And then when you get there, the climbing mechanics kick in and my guy does this jig as he tries to decide whether he wants to climb, drop down, or just look around.  All the while the enemy carriage is moving further and further off.

 

Such a frustrating mission.  I was finally able to get past the grappling portions and get into a carriage of my own (past the point where there are blockades of enemies) and finish the mission.  But it's one that I'll never want to do again.

[Darkpriest]

I am reading "Syndicate" and think - did i effin miss something?! - then it turns out people are talking about some generic AAA crap re-realesed every year under a different name...

[Amentep]

Maybe I got lucky, but I'm 4 missions into Darkest Dungeon (counting the tutorial trip in the woods) and the game didn't seem as big of an unfair prick as before.

Except my starting Crusader hit lvl 2, has around 80 stress, can only pray for relief and the stupid caretaker decided to occupy just that spot. *grumble*

 

Yeah, that bit can be a pain until you open more slots.

 

The biggest issue I've had is managing money, to be honest.  Most everything else can be managed - so far - if you're careful.  I've taken out a boss (a witch) that had some interesting challenges, but I had a good group to face her.  The Collector is pretty bad when he crops up but I've got through the last fight without having to retreat afterwards. 

 

Its funny I find delving into the dungeon kind of stressful, though, so I only play one or two levels and then play something else for awhile.  So job well done I guess!

Edited January 25, 2016 by Amentep

[mkreku]

So.. I reached level 50 in Dragon's Dogma and un-used to the Japanese RPG's as I am I thought to myself, "Ok, I'm getting up there in levels, time to check out the Dark Arisen expansion". I promptly had a couple of skeletons doing a jig on my broken body before I realized my mistake. This game has an achievement for reaching level 100. And another for reaching level 200.

 

I guess level 50 is still considered pretty low.

[GhostofAnakin]

More AC Syndicate.  I think the loyalty meter for my associates is broken.  I've been doing a bunch of stuff for Ned Wynart, but his loyalty meter seems stuck at halfway between 3 and 4.

[the_dog_days]

So.. I reached level 50 in Dragon's Dogma and un-used to the Japanese RPG's as I am I thought to myself, "Ok, I'm getting up there in levels, time to check out the Dark Arisen expansion". I promptly had a couple of skeletons doing a jig on my broken body before I realized my mistake. This game has an achievement for reaching level 100. And another for reaching level 200.

 

I guess level 50 is still considered pretty low.

Level progression has always been notoriously bad in JRPGs.

[Keyrock]

More Attractio.  I really like the puzzles, but the voice acting is killing me.  Dear lord...  I can't even. 

[Fenixp]

Trying out Undertale. I find the combat system endlessly irritating.

[Osvir]

Main projects:
- Pillars of Eternity (Preparing for WM2)
- Elder Scrolls Online (3 regions completed~ lvl 34)

Side-projects:
- Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 (Preparing for TOR but I kind of dropped TOR, ESO is much better)

I've swayed my opinion quite a lot, I kind of hated ESO a long time ago but it has shaped up quite a bit. Not as many players (which was my main irritation). It's linear and kind of repetetive but I do enjoy the exploration and it is currently the only massive world (proper) First-Person RPG that I know of.

If only TOR had been First-Person as well, with lightsabers and stuff. That would've been lovely. TOR would've been much better had it only had a more open world as well...

I wonder when there'll be an EVE type Fantasy MMORPG. Create your own farm, trade with the kingdom/feed troops, grow your business, hire guards~ it could be pretty epic. Isn't EverQuest Next trying to do something like it...? (IIRC) Too bad it isn't first-person. Speaking of which: Too bad there's no Mirror's Edge mechanics in any of the MMO's! FFS! T-T

Edited January 26, 2016 by Osvir

[Hurlshort]

I'm playing ESO as well, up to level 47 now.  They have made some solid improvements.  The implementation of theft and the upcoming thieves guild adds a very cool layer.  I'm actually surprised how crowded it is, thankfully I've had a fair amount of company as I delve into dungeons.

[Amentep]

Found out characters can level out of doing lower level quests in Darkest Dungeon. Good to know but is going to make continuing to do minor quests to build a more stable base to work from when tackling the next level slightly harder.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Amentep

[Majek]

So.. I reached level 50 in Dragon's Dogma and un-used to the Japanese RPG's as I am I thought to myself, "Ok, I'm getting up there in levels, time to check out the Dark Arisen expansion". I promptly had a couple of skeletons doing a jig on my broken body before I realized my mistake. This game has an achievement for reaching level 100. And another for reaching level 200.

 

I guess level 50 is still considered pretty low.

Yes it is, but at the same time the first 50 levels are very important when you min max .

 

I'm not playing anything right now, have to play less not more. I am preloading the Division beta though. It will work as a demo so i can see if  (and if yes, when ) this be worth my time and money.

[Fenixp]

All right, I've already poured about 16 hours into Darkest Dungeon. It's become a bit of an addiction.

[Darkpriest]

Ir is fun but thechigher level the mor rng based it is. It can be frustrating at times.

[Fenixp]

So far the higher difficulties just look flatout more difficult than lower ones - the only real random factors are curios that you don't influence with an item (which is why I'm not doing that) and monster crits, which are quite rare even on high difficulties. You could, of course, argue that some runs will throw more difficult encounters than others at you which is completely randomized, and that's true, but good scouting chance for dungeons give you a good shot at getting valuable recon and if the game throws difficult encounters at you, you can retreat at any point.

 

There was, of course, a situation where an opponent knocked one of my heroes down from full HP to zero and then the last active monster got an extremely lucky deathblow, but that only happened once to me trough all that time. In fact only 4 of my heroes died in those 16 hours, and 3 of them were unlucky lvl 0 runs. I'm yet to visit Darkest Dungeon tho, so that might change things up a bit.

[Amentep]

On this game I've only lost 1 so far (the starting Crusader) but I don't think I've put 16 hours in yet and I've been fairly conservative with my approach as well.

 

On my initial game I made the mistake of using a torch on the Shambler's altar with a group of level 1 characters.   Wiped out that team and I started over.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Amentep

[Darkpriest]

So far the higher difficulties just look flatout more difficult than lower ones - the only real random factors are curios that you don't influence with an item (which is why I'm not doing that) and monster crits, which are quite rare even on high difficulties. You could, of course, argue that some runs will throw more difficult encounters than others at you which is completely randomized, and that's true, but good scouting chance for dungeons give you a good shot at getting valuable recon and if the game throws difficult encounters at you, you can retreat at any point.

 

There was, of course, a situation where an opponent knocked one of my heroes down from full HP to zero and then the last active monster got an extremely lucky deathblow, but that only happened once to me trough all that time. In fact only 4 of my heroes died in those 16 hours, and 3 of them were unlucky lvl 0 runs. I'm yet to visit Darkest Dungeon tho, so that might change things up a bit.

 

It's more about random factors, like more enemies getting "move" ability etc. The further you go the more you think about mitigation vs dmg factor and flexibility vs dmg factor, because RNG is more brutal in its effects.

[Nonek]

Darkest Dungeon, enjoying this immensely and wishing that the dungeons in RPGs were half as atmospheric, stressful, dangerous and feature packed. For some reason it reminds me of the first Diablo, despite having very few similarities and the art style (which is I think the same gentleman who did the flasbacks in the Witcher 2) certainly helps with the aesthetics.

[Osvir]

I'm playing ESO as well, up to level 47 now.  They have made some solid improvements.  The implementation of theft and the upcoming thieves guild adds a very cool layer.  I'm actually surprised how crowded it is, thankfully I've had a fair amount of company as I delve into dungeons.

I'm thinking of starting over with another character (got some prepared through Character Creation), and focus on story a bit more (I skip most of it with my current character). Interested in joining in? I'm not done with my first character by a long shot but just sending a curious inquiry