What are you playing right now?

[melkathi]

So, people with XCOM 2... What the hell's in there to make it almost 60gig deal (only slightly smaller than GTA V)? I'm retired and senile before that thing's downloaded.

I think mostly audio files for Bradford and the Chosen, so they can blabber you to death. One of my gripes with the expansion is that they seem to have taken a gripe people had (Bradford being too chatty and annoying) and while they have an option for less help chat, and there is a mod "Quiet Bradford", they decided to get back on people's nerves with even chattier Chosen. Hoping for the "Quiet Chosen" mod to be released soon.

 

On a serious note they added more of everything. And the final install size shouldn't be 60GB, it's just that the way they integrated everything into the campaign, and reworked quite a bit of stuff, the whole installation needs to be patched. And the way Steam handles install and download, that means a huge patch.

[melkathi]

On a different XCOM note:

I still think Jane Kelly should get her own XCOM spin-off. She has turned out so much more iconic and awesome than any other character in XCOM 2

 

 

[Lexx]

Life is Strange - Before the Storm is out now. Already finished that episode. Short as always. Cringey as always. Still emotional and hooked me up. Damn. Now about two months until episode 2.

[SonicMage117]

Life is Strange - Before the Storm is out now. Already finished that episode. Short as always. Cringey as always. Still emotional and hooked me up. Damn. Now about two months until episode 2.

Imma huge fan of LIS but waiting wil all the episodes are out.. I am not patient when t comes to these types of games.

[ridg3back]

Legend of Zelda and Shovel Knight

[melkathi]

XCOM2:

 

Went to defend a resistance haven from an ADVENT attack. While the squad was being briefed on their way there, Central informed us that a Chosen was leading the raid. And he was right. In the immortal words of Admiral Ackbar: "It's a trap!".

Resistance fighters were doing their best to keep their people safe.

And this was no normal raid. The most "rank and file" troop the aliens had send was a Muton. Other than that, a Faceless, three Berserkers, four Chryssalids, and three Codex. And on top of that of course: The Hunter.

The squad rushed to reinforce the resistance fighters. Together they made quick work of the first group of enemies and evacuated half the civilians. But the other half was surrounded and had a Faceless in their midst.

And while the majority of resistance fighters, alongside the XCOM squad took out the aliens, one fighter climbed onto the roof of their shack and started shooting the Chosen. Hit, 6 DMG, rinse, repeat. When the last of the aliens were taken out (4 civilians were killed by a Codex and a Berserker), the resistance fighters rushed the Chosen and caught him in a crossfire.

the Hunter went down without any XCOM operative ever having a chance to shoot in his general direction.

[Hurlshort]

I had a resistance raid early on where the Hunter showed up, and things went sideways fast. I lost a soldier, and 11 out of 16 civilians died. There were no resistance fighters. I did manage to kill the Hunter and hobble through the mission. There were Lost out there too, they actually helped draw some enemy fire.

 

edit: Mixed up my bad guys.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Hurlshot

[melkathi]

You mean Lost

[Eumaios]

I bought Sunless Skies on early access.  Much brighter than Sunless Sea, but the bare bones appear to be largely the same.  Always tough for a company to make a sequel that adds something good without changing something else that works.  I have high hopes for it, but I'll probably shelve it until full release.

[melkathi]

Was in a mission and hacked an ADVENT terminal. As a reward I got to double my research speed. Awesome, since I was researching Plasma Weapons which were an 18 day project or so.

A couple of day later one of the remaining Chosen - probably the Hunter - managed to sneak a saboteur into the Avenger and blow up part of the research lab, cutting my research speed by 50%.

I sent a covert ops team to find a way into his citadel. Blow up my crib? I'll come blow up yours.

Edited September 1, 2017 by melkathi

[mkreku]

 

I'm not playing it, but I'm sorely tempted to give Deadly Premonition a second try. Anyone a fan?

 

I'm watching Twin Peaks and find myself desiring something similar.

Deadly Premonition is Twin Peaks in video game form. I couldn't handle the gameplay, though. I'm tempted to actually just watch a let's play. The mood was spot on.

 

 

Same here. The game was too scary and too.. stiff? I'm not sure what to call it, but everything from the movement of your character to the way cars handle was so off-putting that I just couldn't play it. Interesting atmosphere and game world though.

[Flouride]

Finished Hitman: Absolution.

 

Next up probably Tyranny, but before the DLC actually comes out I think I'll try to finish This is the Police that just get really repeative, so I can get rid of that game from my HDD. 

[Labadal]

I'm playing more Anachronox. It's the first time I have come this far in the game. I'm at the ship with the comic book style dialog windows. I beat a boss and he sent me to jail after. Combat is so very slooow. I don't dislike the actual systems, but a speed up button would do wonders. I'm happy I went with normal and not hard. Based on normal difficulty, I think I wouldn't have mega problems beating it on hard, but I am happy I chose normal, because enemies would probably have been bullet sponges. The sarcasm/comedy is alright, don't really mind it. Characters are fairly likable. Exploration is sort of JRPGish, I guess. Good to see that each character have their own abilities that you can make use of in the actual game world. Graphically, it hasn't aged well. Overall, I am enjoying myself, but I wish combat moved along much faster.

[melkathi]

Tried out the noise grenade to attract the Lost. It actually worked. There were a couple of Mutons covering in a building. I chucked a noise 'nade through the window and a Lost swarm broke through the door on the other side and surrounded the Mutons. While they didn't deal any significant damage, they did buy me time to take out the ADVENT Shield Trooper, Archon, and Heavy Mech.

[SonicMage117]

D&D Lords Of Waterdeep...

 

Nothing new here, another poorly made D&D game. This time being an extension of a board-game. Online multiplayer but nobody ever on lol You know the drill by now

[Hawke64]

Completed Jedi Knight campaign in SWTOR. Controls were uncomfortable (is it typical for MMO RPGs?), everything else was fine.

 

Reached the sniper boss in Furi. The last phase (bullet-hell) is hard. Not sure, what I'm doing wrong, but the only time, when I'm not getting hit, is i-frames after getting hit.

[Fiach]

Playing Pillars of Eternity on PS4 after playing it on PC, it is a brilliant port of a brilliant game!

[melkathi]

Speaking of the templar, I'm not super impressed so far.  They look flashy, but their damage is pretty meh (though I can't upgrade their weapon yet) and they have to engage in melee to be at all worthwhile, and that's something I generally try to avoid (because it inevitably activates extra pods.)  Mine's only a corporal, iirc, so maybe they get better at higher levels.

On normal (what's it called? Veteran?) difficulty my Templar is doing really well. But it really helps to have others boosting her with actions. She now starts at 1 Focus and has a max of 3. At full focus she often can one-hit in melee, which will give her a free dash. In missions where you are stealing ADVENT supplies and need to tag the crates before ADVENT does, the free dash is priceless. Similar in other missions where you are racing to interact with something.

Now with a bond-mate using team-mate, or with a Skirmisher or Psi-Ops giving extra actions, the Templar can go on a murder spree, killing multiple enemies in one turn, always getting free moves. Mine tagged 4 ADVENT boxes in one turn just with her own actions and the one extra from her bond-mate.

I need to check how her melee attack works with the Reaper ability she can get in the training centre.

[Hawke64]

Furi. Defeated the Burst (the sniper boss). Play-dead tactic has worked (also switching dodge direction from KB to mouse might have helped). Defeated the Edge on the first attempt.

[Fenixp]

Playing XCOM 2 for a bit served as a quick reminder for why do I dislike the game. It's basically RNG bull**** the game - original XCOM already threaded the line of my tolerance, but fixed mission timers + full procedural generation = fail if you enjoy Iron Man playthroughs.

[melkathi]

I now always have the Reaper resistance order that stops the timer until you break cover. Makes the game much more enjoyable to be able to sneak around and set up an ambush without being rushed.

[Hurlshort]

Playing XCOM 2 for a bit served as a quick reminder for why do I dislike the game. It's basically RNG bull**** the game - original XCOM already threaded the line of my tolerance, but fixed mission timers + full procedural generation = fail if you enjoy Iron Man playthroughs.

 

One of the points of playing Iron Man is that you are going to sometimes lose. Salvaging what you can and recovering is the more important part.

 

Otherwise just save scum like the majority of people.   (me included!)

[melkathi]

I'll never play this in Ironman. Not when the Chosen boss fights are this silly

[Fenixp]

One of the points of playing Iron Man is that you are going to sometimes lose.

And I don't actually mind that at all. I've played dozens of hours of the original XCOM with EW expansion (and later with Long War), always iron man and I've always enjoyed the crap out of it. I loved the hell out of games like Darkest Dungeon or Mordheim. However, XCOM 2 makes me feel like I'm rarely in control, throwing stuff I can't really do a whole lot about without meta knowledge - which I just don't find very fun. And I also don't enjoy save scumming.

 

I now always have the Reaper resistance order that stops the timer until you break cover.

I've actually got a mod which does that, but if anything, it just showed me how rudimentary stealth play in XCOM 2 is. Edited September 3, 2017 by Fenixp

[Vaeliorin]

I'm relatively far into my XCOM2 - WotC playthrough, and I spent most of it without my frost bomb.  I had a Templar who was carrying it get captured in like March or April, and I'm now in November and just finally got a mission to rescue him.  He's a corporal on a team where I have to scroll down to encounter non-colonel soldiers.  Doubtful he'll see much use now.