What are you playing right now?

[Bartimaeus]

I also feel that a lot of people find the writing to be dry (if that can be used to describe it I don't know, it works in Swedish).

 

It is the appropriate (and pretty commonly used) word for it in English, too.

[ManifestedISO]

I can agree the writing felt dry playing as a lawful goody two-shoes. The game's content, for me, hit its stride under the freedom of morally unlimited choices. Thaos feels more an ally, or more competitor than villain; the deity pantheon seemed inspired rather than rote; and quests like the one in Twin Elms ... stealing the life essence of a child to grant the clan leader a viable heir ... were dramatic instead of perfunctory.   

[Humanoid]

On the other hand - and this applies to all RPGs and not just PoE - unless I'm playing a goody-two-shoes, I can't justify letting companion characters join me. I prefer to do my evil work in private.

[Fenixp]

10 years ago, If someone told me that the true return to form of Doom will bear Bethesda's logo, I'd laugh.

I ended up grinning in satisfaction. A lot.

[Ganrich]

10 years ago, If someone told me that the true return to form of Doom will bear Bethesda's logo, I'd laugh.

I ended up grinning in satisfaction. A lot.

 

Maybe one day they will do it with Elder Scrolls.

[Keyrock]

 

Maybe one day they will do it with Elder Scrolls.

 

Make a game as good as Morrowind again?  It would be nice.

 

As for me, I'm playing Axiom Verge.  It boggles my mind that this game is allowed to exist, let alone be sold.  I can't believe this hasn't been cease and desisted into oblivion by Nintendo.  I'm no expert on IP copyright laws, but this has to be skating on the very border of copyright infringement.  It's so obviously Metroid, everything about that game is Metroid.  I mean, I'm happy it's allowed to exist, I love Metroid and Nintendo seems to have no plans to make a proper mainline Metroid...  maybe ever again.  The last one was... Fusion, I think? (shut up, Other M doesn't exist.  I don't know what you're talking about. Lalalalalalala.  I can't hear you.) That was about 15 years ago.  We may never get another proper Metroid game ever again, so it's really cool to have a clone this true to what it's copying.  It's a damn good Metroid clone.

[Ganrich]

Yeah, Le sigh... I want another morrowind.

 

Yeah, Axiom Verge is good though. I'll give it that. I think it's different enough to keep from lawsuit territory, and it probably doesn't make enough money anyway. It's sad that Metroid and Castlevania are pretty much dead. The lack of Metroid is why I don't ever own Nintendo systems anymore.

[redneckdevil]

Then just boot up morrowind again with the overhaul mod, it's so nice. Riding and watching ur boat or strider travel and the landscape. Welp time to play some morrowind now dammit lol

[Ganrich]

Then just boot up morrowind again with the overhaul mod, it's so nice. Riding and watching ur boat or strider travel and the landscape. Welp time to play some morrowind now dammit lol

I probably will. I want try openMW. If you aren't aware, it is a new engine for morrowind that pulls certain files from the core game (which you have to own a copy of), but upgrades graphics section of the engine. This means it could allow modders to make new models for the game that reach modern standards. Just imagine Morrowind that looks as good or better than Skyrim.

 

It supports higher resolutions, they are trying to iron out engine bugs still remaining in the vanilla game, and they are supporting mac/linux/windows. Probably the single most interesting mod I've seen for Morrowind (save arguably tamriel rebuilt).

 

Morrowind, even after 14 years, still has one of the most impressive and dedicated modding scenes. It's awe inspiring. Too bad Bethesda can't see it.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Ganrich

[Malcador]

Subnautica is good fun for an early access game albeit 2 years into that phase. Good game to relax with,scary sea monsters aside.

[Tale]

Deadpool ended a little sooner than I expected. Apparently I had stopped at the final boss battle. I thought there'd be another level. Or maybe a cool boss arena.

 

Opus was over very quick. A nice little story with a lot less stargazing than I expected from it.

 

Now on to Styx. At least until tomorrow, when ZTD comes out.

 

Edit: Ooh, and I did a test run of my name file with Long War. It made some good choices for the start.

[ShadySands]

The waiting game. Just got my key for Technomancer

 

and DDO. Drowlock is level 11 (rank 53) now

[the_dog_days]

The waiting game. Just got my key for Technomancer

 

and DDO. Drowlock is level 11 (rank 53) now

I'm hoping the technomancer has got some cheesy fun going for it.

[Wrath of Dagon]

wrath observations might have more impact if not for fact that he uses wasteland 2 as the contrast to poe.

...

So I'm not arguing the combat in Wasteland was necessarily "better", though I would say for me it was a lot more fun. Perhaps because I prefer guns to magic/melee. My point was the loot/level up/combat cycle was better implemented. In POE I hardly notice my level ups, I seldom find any better equipment, crafting upgrades are also hard to find and unimpressive, and on top of that I can't improve my existing upgrades, I have to start with a whole new weapon! In wasteland you know as soon as you unlock a new area much better equipment will become available, so you're constantly working towards that and getting as much money as possible to be able to upgrade everyone. Also when you level up, you really notice the difference, plus every few levels you get much more powerful attributes, like an extra AP, so you're always working on getting there. In POE it's not clear that levels do much of anything, you get a skill per character and some dubious feats you forget to use in combat, and that's about it. Also the very complexity of POE works against it, you simply forget or don't bother to take advantage of every recipe, potion, spell scroll and what not you have available.

[Gromnir]

*chuckle*

 

in poe when you level you alternate access 'tween new abilities and feats.  with a handful o' outliers, the feats is all having substantial impact on combat efficacy. the abilities, particularly for spell casters, is also far more diverse and vital than a couple % points in skill X or Y. am sorry, but you is sounding ludicrous when you compare wasteland 2 level advancement rewards to poe. is fewer levels in poe.  is that the real issue?

 

as to loot...

 

*shrug*

 

that must be subjective.  personally we found a great deal o' poe gear.  is more slots in the poe paperdoll, so perhaps is misleading to wrath.  not as many weapons, but more stuff such as rings, belts, amulets, etc.  poe has, we suspect, far more total equippable 1007 than wasteland 2, but we can't say for certain.  still, if finding more 1007 is a major need for you and you felt as if wasteland 2 simple had more, then who is we to argue, eh? on the other hand, while you find mods in wasteland 2, the range o' weapons and armour enhancements in poe is rather dizzying.  am suspecting you didn't make much use o' such if you is comparing poe to wasteland 2 and finding paucity for poe. 

 

dunno.  wasteland 2 just don't seem like a good contrast.  

 

"I prefer guns to magic/melee."

 

am suspecting the above explains our confusion.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited June 28, 2016 by Gromnir

[Wrath of Dagon]

It's not really "more", it's feeling that whatever you get makes a real difference. In W2 it's obvious that it does, in POE I seem to be able to swap all the rings between all the characters and not notice any difference in the next battle. May be W2 just has better feedback for the user. I never found a ring or weapon in POE I was excited about, but getting to the M16 in W2 was a real thrill. Granted, it's subjective as you say.

[Fenixp]

More importantly, Wasteland 2 has linear gear progression. There are guns which are inexplicably 100% more damaging than other guns. Linear progression in Pillars was very limited, and it would only happen very rarely that you'd find a piece of gear which is strictly better than another piece of gear, and even if you did, chances are you could enhance your current gear to be on par with the new gear. At the end of the day, skill of the user was much more essential than gear, as it should be in my opinion.

 

However, Pillars was also filled with some amazing gear - it only differed in attributes like unique effects or damage type and it's up to your consideration and planning skills to make best use of such gear as opposed to the game saying "Yup, that's better, you should equip it." As to which approach is better, well... I guess that depends on player.

Edited June 28, 2016 by Fenixp

[Wrath of Dagon]

Skill of the user is the same kind of upgrade as the gear upgrade, so what's the difference? Unless you mean player skill, but that's a completely different quality. As far as different damage, yes, in some situations ice damage is better than fire damage, but am I supposed to carry ten different weapons around? I didn't notice any particularly interesting types of damage, nor were the spells particularly exciting either, at least at the level I reached so far.

[DreamWayfarer]

Skill of the user is the same kind of upgrade as the gear upgrade, so what's the difference? Unless you mean player skill, but that's a completely different quality. As far as different damage, yes, in some situations ice damage is better than fire damage, but am I supposed to carry ten different weapons around? I didn't notice any particularly interesting types of damage, nor were the spells particularly exciting either, at least at the level I reached so far.

Funny you think different damage types are not exciting, since there are entire builds based on the fact there is a sabre that deals corrode damage in PoE. Not to mention some Barbarian builds that are made possible by the fact some weapons have a highter than expected interrupt lenght ymto attack speed ratio, while most builds couldn't care less about interruting foes.

 

And he meant character-building and tactical skills, I believe. A unique weapon in PoE is only as good as your capacity to exploit its strenghts. I'd reccomend seeing the sticky build list on the PoE Character Builds and Strategies forum to see why loot is more interesting in it than in most other games.

[Fenixp]

Skill of the user is the same kind of upgrade as the gear upgrade, so what's the difference?

The main difference is that in Wasteland 2, your damage gets upped and that's it, whereas 'skill of the user' (as in the character, yes) unlocks more options with more levels gained by the character in Pillars. Weapon damage will not actually change much, it'll only really get modified by accuracy modifiers and trough ignoring DR but that's about it. And that's where Pillar's mechanics get really intriguing once you manage to dip below the surface - they're not very exciting superficially, but once you start making informed decisions while building your characters, you suddenly discover just how powerful these skills and items can be.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I'll take both your words for it, I didn't look at any guides and just build the characters the way it made sense to me. And I didn't notice any game changing abilities/items. May be it's my fault, may be the game is too abstruse, I'll let others judge.

[Katphood]

Played some more ICO today. I am really starting to like this game. 

[Gromnir]

I'll take both your words for it, I didn't look at any guides and just build the characters the way it made sense to me. And I didn't notice any game changing abilities/items. May be it's my fault, may be the game is too abstruse, I'll let others judge.

game-changing abilities is stoopid.  developers should be lauded for not having individual abilities that is game-changers. sadly there were a couple poe class abilities that were altering the gameplay dynamic once your character acquired.  such developer miscalculations is a flaw to be avoided.  just saying.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[DreamWayfarer]

I'll take both your words for it, I didn't look at any guides and just build the characters the way it made sense to me. And I didn't notice any game changing abilities/items. May be it's my fault, may be the game is too abstruse, I'll let others judge.

While I did enjoy PoE, I must agree that it is not that fun without grasping the mechanics, which are all too obscure and arcane for most players (including me, who had to resort to the forums to understand things) to learn on their own without boring trial and error.

 

Truth to be told, it kinda stabbed itself in the back when it came to character building, as it offered an ocean of flexibility... and dropped you on a lonely island with all the materials to build a whole fleet of boats but an incomplete manual.

Edited June 28, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[Fenixp]

Yeah, lack of ability to properly explain itself is a big issue in Pillars. I have really only started enjoying progression mechanics on my second playtrough.

 

Anyway, now for something completely different:

Yup, Doom 4 again. And the maps. I never expected to see this kind of level design in a modern FPS ever again. The leves are huge, they loop around and onto themselves, with passages and rooms locked behind keycard / pressing levers / finding secret passages. And they're somewhat easier to navigate - better yet, if you don't want the game hand holding you, you can freely disable aids like objective markers or compass and just explore on your own, which is exactly what I'm doing right now. It's so damn good.