Video Games: Doing Archaeology With A Shotgun

[Jack Bauer 24]

Am I the only one who really enjoyed The Order: 1886?

[Werthead]

XCOM2 is 1) great but 2) punishingly difficult on comparable difficulty levels. But as mentioned above there are superior options for dealing with higher difficulty levels. The biggest negative is that there is way more cutscene intrusion into the gameplay in the opening few missions than there was in EU, but once they're out the way it's not so much of a problem.

I was surprised that so many reviews said that it makes the original EU obsolete, because I can well imagine revisiting EU after this for the slightly less insane pace. But the sequel, so far, appears to be a mostly better game.

 

[Werthead]

Oh, this is cool. Apparently in XCOM2 if you have to bug out before everyone's in the drop zone, any soldiers you leave behind will be captured, not killed. Apparently you may be able to later recover them on a prison rescue or VIP escort mission, after which they will rejoin your ranks. Nice.

[Arthmail]

I had heard that as well. I am enjoying XCOM 2, though as you say, it can be punishing. I think I am most irritated by the timer. I don't mind it in one sense, as it gives a real giddy sense of hurtling headlong into the abyss. But on the other hand, it is overused and feels like a crutch. At the least I wish that it did not tick down as long as you stay hidden from the enemy.

The cut scenes are a bit much. I understand its part of the story line, so I put up with it, but they are not actually that interesting. Yet another scene of the doctor cutting open a corpse for an autopsy, mumbling something about human and alien genes while brown blood splashes against the screen in the exact same pattern could have been done without.

 

I actually had a graphical glitch that ended up saving my ass. My Ranger was on a bluff when 3 chrysalids, during my first level where I encountered them, decided to attack. She had blademaster and it stopped them in mid air because they tried to jump onto her tile but she was there so they hung in midair. Blademaster is a great perk.

[KiDisaster]

Finished Tomb Raider with around 24 hours clocked, including all the side missions (there aren't many). Briefly considered going back through and getting all the collectibles and stuff to 100% the campaign but can't be bothered. 

Back on Diablo 3 to try the new season. Leveling a wizard. I love the starting set thing they added (you get two pieces when you hit 70, two pieces for killing Zoltun Kulle at 70 on T2 or higher and the last two for clearing a GR20). Saves so much time grinding lower difficulty rifts. The Crusader starting set seems the coolest to me but I played way too much sader last time and the Wizard one looks like a close second. 

[MerenthaClone]

XCOM2: 

Rangers are amazing, Jesus.  I went more for shotguns than swords just because remaining in concealment and starting in concealment on all missions regardless of type seemed far better than +2 sword damage, and it just kind of went from there.  IMO, I might respec to a sword ranger later to see how they play, but as-is, shotgun rangers are just nuts.  Phantom, Shadowstep, Run and Gun, Implacable, Untouchable, and Rapid Fire produces one of the most reliable single-target damage dealers I can imagine, all while being able to tank, scout, and kite as well.  If you stack crit, I think you can get something like a 90% to 100% chance to crit at close range flanks, between the base crit of shotguns, the massive bonus crit chance of close-range laser sights, and Talon Rounds (which also provide +1 crit damage).  So that's a total of +4 damage from flanking/crits, that then gets doubled from the crit, and you can rapid fire.  And then, if they kill someone, not only do they get a free move, they also get to ignore the next attack made against them, per turn.  The only way they could possibly get better is if they rolled something like Death From Above or Serial from the Advanced Warfare center, which would give them the ability to move and kill again after each kill.  They're the absolute best-in-show at single-target hunting and I cannot imagine building my first Ranger any other way.  I'll try a higher-level sword-based one (once they get Conceal) but swords just don't seem to scale like critseeking shotgunners do.  

On the Death From Above note, one of my squaddie Specialists unlocked it from the AWS and it seems legitimately broken, to the point where I'll have to see if it works the way on snipers that it does on specialists.  On specialists, it lets you shoot and take an action if you kill someone on lower ground with that shot.  This applies even if you normally would be out of actions so you can keep chain-killing people on lower elevations as long as you have ammo (or an autoloader).  Since grenadiers make it easy to remove cover and you can get some very mobile soldiers with later equipment choices, you can have some absolutely broken killstreaks on the level of EU's In the Zone (but with access to explosives).  The first time I took this specialist out, she was a squaddie mixed in with mostly lieutenants and captains.  She killed six aliens and easily won the top damage award for the mission, even beating out a Cpt Ranger, who up until then had basically lead every mission.  I'd expected Specialists to feel pretty weak in the killing aliens department, but goddamn was I wrong.  

And then there's Grenadiers.  They're so damn reliable that I cannot imagine leaving home without two of them.   Cover removal, armor removal, suppression, AoE damage, they do it all.  

Game remains great.  No issues with it whatsoever except that maybe the research tree is lacking a bit of depth.  Maybe I'm blazing through the armor/weapon upgrades at the expense of geoscape/ship improvements, but I'm almost fully kitted out in T3 gear and I've only done the Blacksite and one alien facility, and only have two Major-ranked soldiers.  I haven't even seen Cryssalids yet, and I'm kind of terrified to.  

[Kalbear]

I wish I had more time to play XCOM 2. 

I can't believe that people complain about the timer. It's an awesome thing that adds tension while keeping strategic value. If you didn't have the timer then it'd be too easy - you'd be able to go concealment to your objective no matter what, set up perfect shots and then just win. How stupid that would be. Instead, there's major risk in being too cautious and major risk in being too stupid. It also makes some of the sight abilities great.

I also like the looting thing for the same reason. Good modification of the enemy within getting loot in the area mechanic. 

And there is nothing quite as satisfying as the concealment overwatch ambush when executed. When you can predict where the enemy will hide and have people right there to flank them. 

The world map is so much better than it was, it's not funny. The stress of having to decide to get supplies or expand or go on missions is really excellent. It really makes it feel like you have solid decisions. As does the dark event counters. 

My only complaint is that the load times between missions is on the longish side. 

[Werthead]

Quote

I can't believe that people complain about the timer. It's an awesome thing that adds tension while keeping strategic value. If you didn't have the timer then it'd be too easy - you'd be able to go concealment to your objective no matter what, set up perfect shots and then just win. How stupid that would be. Instead, there's major risk in being too cautious and major risk in being too stupid. It also makes some of the sight abilities great.

Not quite. The concealment/overwatch/ambush tactic is cool, but it's a one-shot deal that you get to deploy at the start of the mission (leave it until later and then enjoy being cut to pieces in the crossfire as all those aliens you dodged on the way in suddenly come screaming in behind you). It also has one rather horrendous flaw: it uses up your Overwatch from the following alien move. So unless you take out absolutely every alien in sight with it in one go (and on later missions you have have 6-12 aliens in view when it goes off), you're then sitting ducks for the aliens in the following round who will quite gladly flank, teleport and clone themselves around you. The game is pretty tough and some of the aliens preposterously hard (Archons are something else as bullet sponges), so having the timer on top of it really doesn't add much to every mission. For the odd mission here and there, maybe 20% of them, it'd be fine. For almost all of them, it's a little ridiculous.

Also, a lot of the missions require you to break concealment less than halfway through. You break concealment whenever you enter a building (they're all rigged, presumably with cameras and motion sensors) and almost all objectives are in rooms. You also break concealment if you have to rescue a VIP, or knock out an enemy VIP and take them prisoner. Firaxis have been pretty clear that you can't complete missions using stealth alone and that's been borne out in the game.

The last mission I did was a case in point. VIP extraction, 13 turns from the start. On round 1 I'm jumped by a Sectoid and Snake before I can even get round the corner of the building I'm standing next to. I take them down, then run into a poison gas cloud in an alley. Then on the far side are four Sectoids, a turret and an Archon. Bloody mayhem later, somehow everyone is still up (if gassed) but one of soldiers has panicked two rounds in a row and has just run off to the other side of the map and then grenaded a whole bunch of civilians. The rest of my troops press on to the evac zone, which is on top of a large building guarded by an Archon, 3 Advent troops and 3 Sectoids. This Archon proves to be nearly indestructible and gets my team down to a handful of hits each before my sniper finally kills it with his free pistol shot. We get to the building with 3 turns left when 3 more Sectoids and 3 more Advent troops spawn round the corner. Cut a curious firefight which basically ends with me throwing everyone at the building and basically ignoring cover. Somehow the VIP and 3 troops make it out, the rest are left behind and captured (the one who ran off did eventually just about make it back into the fight and took down one enemy at the end).

A thrilling, memorable mission. But also insane. And also highlights an issue with the game, that there is way too much which is out of your control and down to pure, dumb luck. EU had the same issue (and any system-based game with randomised gameplay elements), but never to this degree and not every single mission.

There is also an issue on the strategic map side of the game with everything taking way too long and some it being a bit bizarre: why is my mobile HQ personally needed to erect primitive radio towers? Why are my supplies being dropped on the other side of the continent. If I know where the supplies are, why does it take three days to find them? The strategic map is certainly busier and more interesting than on the previous game, but it's also a lot more random and arbritary.

I like the game a lot, but there's a lot of stuff about which is hard for the sake of being hard and gamey for the sake of being gamey rather than it being logical or making sense.

[Jack Bauer 24]

The Dark Souls III intro is incredible 

http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/02/08/dark-souls-iii-official-opening-cinematic-trailer

[Kalbear]

8 minutes ago, Jack Bauer 24 said:

The Dark Souls III intro is incredible 

http://www.ign.com/videos/2016/02/08/dark-souls-iii-official-opening-cinematic-trailer

It's about an 8. 

[The Egg]

On 3/2/2016 at 4:55 PM, KiDisaster said:

Also, I don't know how or why I hadn't heard of this game before but Firewatch looks really interesting. Definitely going to give it a shot when it comes out next week. 

Totally agree. I only found out about it via the Gamereactor Review, but it definitely looks promising. I love that kind of story-driven games.
...speaking of which, has anybody here played Life is Strange? Am I the only one who thinks it's one of the best games ever published? I'd never cried in front of a videogame... before.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 7.2.2016 at 8:41 PM, Werthead said:

XCOM2 is 1) great but 2) punishingly difficult on comparable difficulty levels. But as mentioned above there are superior options for dealing with higher difficulty levels. The biggest negative is that there is way more cutscene intrusion into the gameplay in the opening few missions than there was in EU, but once they're out the way it's not so much of a problem.

I was surprised that so many reviews said that it makes the original EU obsolete, because I can well imagine revisiting EU after this for the slightly less insane pace. But the sequel, so far, appears to be a mostly better game.

 

On a seperate note. If you don't mind graphics that much. You should try to play the original xcom game (UFO: Enemy Unknown). Back then, that one caused some frustration for me as a teen. Those moments when your careful approach backfired because some Etheral succeeded with mind control on one of your soldiers, whose first order of business was to shoot at the team mates in his proximity... Fun times

It's probably still downloadable somewhere on the net and can be run by dosbox.

Another similarly fun but not that well known game from that same era the clue! But that was more of a niche game.

[TrueMetis]

You can get the original on Steam, I've got it under the name X-Com: UFO Defense, though I think that's just the name they gave it in America. It's a $1.37 Canadian at the moment.

[The Anti-Targ]

On 4/02/2016 at 7:45 AM, Proudfeet said:

In my latest on-off relationship with Rocket League, I am rather upset to discover that people have made it to veteran status without learning or caring to defend the goal for kick offs.

Really? You can't spend 5 seconds to attempt a block on a possible kick off bounce on goal? Its not like you are in a position to contend for the kick off. How often do people starting in goal actually manage to even touch the ball at kick off? One percent of all attempts? As a veteran! That's a significant number of games played to reach that level without learning something that basic.

I've watched some pro stuff and the person starting in goal always goes for the boost in one of the back corners right from the buzzer. Those guys are good enough to be able to knock a lucky bounce from the kick off out of goal even after they get the corner boost. So at the pro level no one just stays hanging around the goal mouth with 45% boost on the off chance that there might be a lucky bounce from the kick off. Of course these guys are playing on a team, not with a couple of random dudes, so there's coordination and communication going on as well.

[Vels]

So I got a bit bored of Fallout 4  - I've gotten to the part where I start permanently angering certain factions so not quite finished the main story. I might eventually go back and finish the main story while ignoring the side stuff... but not for a few weeks!

I've gone and bought Witcher 3. Hopefully I can see this through to the end!

[Proudfeet]

36 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I've watched some pro stuff and the person starting in goal always goes for the boost in one of the back corners right from the buzzer. Those guys are good enough to be able to knock a lucky bounce from the kick off out of goal even after they get the corner boost. So at the pro level no one just stays hanging around the goal mouth with 45% boost on the off chance that there might be a lucky bounce from the kick off. Of course these guys are playing on a team, not with a couple of random dudes, so there's coordination and communication going on as well.

They also usually have only one person go for the kick off so they have two people to recover on the kick off as well as better judgement and skill to recover. Maybe also better kick off technique to prevent such bounces. I don't know about you, but the lucky bounce towards goal is rather common for me and a lot has been saved by the player in goal. 

Nothing excuses going for the ball on kick off when starting from goal except inexperience. A veteran is not inexperienced and losing games because of kick off goals with no player in position to contest is terribly frustrating.

[The Anti-Targ]

6 hours ago, Proudfeet said:

They also usually have only one person go for the kick off so they have two people to recover on the kick off as well as better judgement and skill to recover. Maybe also better kick off technique to prevent such bounces. I don't know about you, but the lucky bounce towards goal is rather common for me and a lot has been saved by the player in goal. 

Nothing excuses going for the ball on kick off when starting from goal except inexperience. A veteran is not inexperienced and losing games because of kick off goals with no player in position to contest is terribly frustrating.

Yeah, that's for sure. Everyone who's played even a bit online *should* know that when you're the back most car you stay back, even if you go for back corner boost you still hang back.

[The Anti-Targ]

On 7/02/2016 at 8:22 AM, Jack Bauer 24 said:

Am I the only one who really enjoyed The Order: 1886?

I didn't really enjoy it. There were too many flaws to say it was really enjoyable. But I liked it well enough, and like a lot of people who were very critical of it I would really love to see a sequel with all those flaws taken out. It has many great elements worthy of a second chance. Unfortunately I don't like the odds of anyone giving it a second chance.

[Arthmail]

Ugh. Might take a break from Xcom 2.

So last night I finished a mission to retrieve some supplies on the ground from an Advent convoy. I had thrown an echo location grenade or whatever that is and found out that I faced some decent opposition. A Sectoid, an Elite Advent with the sword, one of the Advent with the super armor and the ability to shield everyone, an Advent captain and 3 Advent soldiers. (I think those were the numbers.)  - Oh, there was also 2 vipers and an Archon  nearly right away but I got the drop on them before the main battle.

The main battle was tough if only because all of those enemies listed above were on a fucking smoke break right near the supplies. 6 enemies grouped, the Sectoid with his endless armor the most problematic. So I couldn't just bomb the shit out of them or I would risk damaging the truck. Long story short, I engaged and managed to luck out by hacking the Sectoid. I had a Tech of 100 and it had 125. It gave my chances at 52%, but I made it. With that down it was far easier, and I actually only came out with 1 injured soldier, my main ranger. But not wanting to see a fucking 18 day recovery for a gravely wounded 3 health hit, I reloaded to set up things a little bit more favorably.

But I couldn't hack that fucking Sectoid again. And I mean I tried. Reload after reload. At first it was just amusement, and then it became irritation. I would not be defeated by the games bullshit algorithms. It said 52% chance, but I spent a solid hour and could not hack that machine again. So I mean lets say I could reload 3 times a minute, incorporating the hack time and the character in front of my Specialist who had a turn. I drank a pop and listened to music as I reloaded 180 times or so. Just to see. I wish I had recorded it. Because it was bullshit, unless my understanding of the hacking mechanisms of the game is wildly off. And it's not like the hack attempts were static, they varied, with one probably sitting at 51% as the best.

So I changed tactics. In every instance my main Ranger and character was the target of the captain's focus order, which lead to everyone firing at her. So I put her behind solid cover. Dropped smoke and put up the Sentinels bonus to defense around her. Still, she was signaled out and hit each time. Not kill shots, she still had a few bars left (the first play through had the least egregious amount of damage), but it made no difference what I was doing. She was going to get hit. The game had decided she was going to get hit.

By this time I was choked. I reloaded the game from 2 minutes before on another save - I am anal about it - and set up a better killzone. For anyone playing, the grenadier salvo skill - which essentially allows them to fire two grenades in the same round - is the best perk so far as I can tell for simple solid punishment on a mass scale. With 2 grenadiers firing 2 plasma grenades, 1 person in an exo-skeletons firing rockets, my sniper, and 2 shotgun wielding rangers - the second of whom has bladestorm and was able to hack down the Elite Advent with her sword before he could land a hit - I did make it out unscathed. That is how I like to play. No god dammed month recoveries for me, thank you very much Control.

But I have no real idea how the "randomized" part of the game actually works. I am very distrustful of it at this point. Great game, but like Werthead says, they slant the shit out of the entire thing and leave so much up to blind luck.

[Andriy Czarchenko]

They are not individual rolls after reload. You most likely kept replaying the same couple failed coin flips over and over again. For example if the first action after save is a miss on 99% then it´ll also be a miss after reload.

And you´re most likely talking about sectopod.