Video Games: May the force of your wallet be with you

[Ded As Ned]

On 12/27/2017 at 9:44 AM, Werthead said:

Yup. You can do it with a gamepad - even the game's main creator admits to using an Xbox Controller - but a proper stick and throttle is the way to go. I got a Thrustmaster T-flight Hotas X which was quite cheap (£30, IIRC) but brilliant quality. I used it to replay the X-Wing trilogy as well.

I play Elite Dangerous on PS4 and have no problems using the gamepad, although it did take a few hours of gameplay and some re-arranging of button bindings for it to feel natural.  Flight stick with throttle would definitely be the best setup though.

[Werthead]

The Thrustmaster also works on a PS4, which is nice.

In Witcher 3 I'm now at 35 hours in and have wrapped up Novigrad, more or less. I've got Zoltan and Dandelion's quests to do and then the mission to kill King Stannis Radovid. Then I'll wrap up some of the side quests I picked up out in the sticks. Probably a couple more hours and I'll be ready to move on to Skellige.

Also, I chose Triss because of going through the last two games with her. If I'd read the books (I've only read the first one) I might have been more inclined to choose Yenn but this felt more correct going by the games.

[l2 0 5 5]

On 12/28/2017 at 9:23 PM, Werthead said:

The Thrustmaster also works on a PS4, which is nice.

In Witcher 3 I'm now at 35 hours in and have wrapped up Novigrad, more or less. I've got Zoltan and Dandelion's quests to do and then the mission to kill King Stannis Radovid. Then I'll wrap up some of the side quests I picked up out in the sticks. Probably a couple more hours and I'll be ready to move on to Skellige.

Also, I chose Triss because of going through the last two games with her. If I'd read the books (I've only read the first one) I might have been more inclined to choose Yenn but this felt more correct going by the games.

That was my thought process as well. Never read the books so Yenn was just a name to me until she popped up in W3. You have a relationship with Triss from day one in W1, which develops more in W2. Plus I find her character more likable. 

[Fez]

Got myself a Switch for the holidays. I didn't expect to, but I'm just too interested in the Nintendo exclusives (and the transportability factor means its something I can play with my girlfriend at her place). Only bought Mario so far, and I'm only a few minutes into it; but I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun.

I also picked up a bunch of smaller games during the Steam sale, I hope to get to them at some point.

And I've still been playing a ton of FFXIV. I finally finished Heavensward, the first major expansion, and am going through the main quest chain to unlock Stormblood, the current expansion. I also completed my first alliance raid (24 players). It was chaotic, but actually less chaotic than the 25-player WoW raids I've done in the past. I really like the "duty roulette" system that gives players daily rewards for queueing for random older content, it keeps the playerbase for older content up and let's people like me see content that was otherwise made obsolete years ago (and is completely necessary for the instanced stuff you need to complete for the main quest chain). And with the item/level sync-ing, it means that content isn't a total cakewalk either (though the sync is above what was available at the time, so it is easier than it had been).

[A True Kaniggit]

I got Oxenfree for free when Werthead mentioned it awhile back (thanks for that by the way) and finished my first playthough. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The ending just seemed kind of rushed, though everything else was enjoyable. Going to wait a few days then start another go-round.

[Inigima]

19 hours ago, Fez said:

Got myself a Switch for the holidays. I didn't expect to, but I'm just too interested in the Nintendo exclusives (and the transportability factor means its something I can play with my girlfriend at her place). Only bought Mario so far, and I'm only a few minutes into it; but I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun.

I also picked up a bunch of smaller games during the Steam sale, I hope to get to them at some point.

And I've still been playing a ton of FFXIV. I finally finished Heavensward, the first major expansion, and am going through the main quest chain to unlock Stormblood, the current expansion. I also completed my first alliance raid (24 players). It was chaotic, but actually less chaotic than the 25-player WoW raids I've done in the past. I really like the "duty roulette" system that gives players daily rewards for queueing for random older content, it keeps the playerbase for older content up and let's people like me see content that was otherwise made obsolete years ago (and is completely necessary for the instanced stuff you need to complete for the main quest chain). And with the item/level sync-ing, it means that content isn't a total cakewalk either (though the sync is above what was available at the time, so it is easier than it had been).

I have a Switch and I like it so far. Mario is great. Check out Splatoon 2 too, one of my favorite games of the year.

[Caligula_K3]

4 hours ago, Inigima said:

I have a Switch and I like it so far. Mario is great. Check out Splatoon 2 too, one of my favorite games of the year.

Splatoon 2 and Mario are both wonderful games. But Zelda though!!!

[Inigima]

51 minutes ago, Caligula_K3 said:

Splatoon 2 and Mario are both wonderful games. But Zelda though!!!

Zelda is a really well made game that I don't enjoy. I don't like open world games that give you little direction, I don't like the basic gameplay loop of "see shrine, go to shrine, beat shrine, repeat," and I don't like weapon degradation. And the rate of degradation is exceptionally fast, at that.

[Ramsay B.]

I absolutely love Zelda and have spent a few months playing it but the weapon degradation is easily my biggest complaint. I actually put off starting it after hearing that it's in the game but you do get used to it. I highly recommend it to anyone with a Switch.

[Caligula_K3]

1 hour ago, Inigima said:

Zelda is a really well made game that I don't enjoy. I don't like open world games that give you little direction, I don't like the basic gameplay loop of "see shrine, go to shrine, beat shrine, repeat," and I don't like weapon degradation. And the rate of degradation is exceptionally fast, at that.

Fair enough. For me it was something very special. I even am one of the ten people who enjoys the weapon degradation: I like that it constantly forces you to switch up your weapons and playstyle and to seek more creative solutions for killing tougher enemies. The weapon degradation speed also does decrease as you get better and better weapons by the middle of the game.

I think my biggest complaint about Zelda is that it only gives you four powers, and one of them (Cryonis) is pretty lame. 

[KiDisaster]

I finished Mario Odyssey a night or two ago. By which I mean the main story, and grabbing all of the moons in each kingdom that I was able to find on my own. There's still a ton of moons left and I may go back and look some more every once in a while but for now I'm good. Fantastic game. One of my favorites of the year easily. 

I've started Zelda and I'm really loving it as well. I'm not very far in (just got to the stables and tamed my first horse) but the lack of direction isn't an issue yet. They keep telling me exactly where to go so far. But I've been taking my time and exploring all over the place. The ridiculously fast weapon degradation is annoying but new ones drop so frequently that it isn't a big deal for now. I'm just loving wandering around and climbing all the things. I wish I'd picked stamina as my first upgrade instead of health. Combat hasn't been much of a challenge so far but I'm always wishing I could climb or swim further than I can. 

[Caligula_K3]

47 minutes ago, KiDisaster said:

I finished Mario Odyssey a night or two ago. By which I mean the main story, and grabbing all of the moons in each kingdom that I was able to find on my own. There's still a ton of moons left and I may go back and look some more every once in a while but for now I'm good. Fantastic game. One of my favorites of the year easily. 

I've started Zelda and I'm really loving it as well. I'm not very far in (just got to the stables and tamed my first horse) but the lack of direction isn't an issue yet. They keep telling me exactly where to go so far. But I've been taking my time and exploring all over the place. The ridiculously fast weapon degradation is annoying but new ones drop so frequently that it isn't a big deal for now. I'm just loving wandering around and climbing all the things. I wish I'd picked stamina as my first upgrade instead of health. Combat hasn't been much of a challenge so far but I'm always wishing I could climb or swim further than I can. 

I hope you keep enjoying! I also spent most of my early time in Zelda just exploring, though that led me to some places with pretty tough enemies. It's definitely worth getting some stamina upgrades early in the game, but don't worry. shrines are all over and if you keep exploring, you'll have plenty of opportunities to upgrade that and your hearts.

[RumHam]

The Zelda weapon degradation bothered me at first because I'd find an awesome sword and then want to save it's uses. You have to get out of that head-space and generally not worry about running out of weapons. You will sometimes, and it can make for some interesting moments.

[Rhom]

3 hours ago, Inigima said:

Zelda is a really well made game that I don't enjoy. I don't like open world games that give you little direction, I don't like the basic gameplay loop of "see shrine, go to shrine, beat shrine, repeat," and I don't like weapon degradation. And the rate of degradation is exceptionally fast, at that.

This is kinda where I came in with it too.

3 minutes ago, RumHam said:

The Zelda weapon degradation bothered me at first because I'd find an awesome sword and then want to save it's uses. You have to get out of that head-space and generally not worry about running out of weapons. You will sometimes, and it can make for some interesting moments.

Wasn’t able to get my head there before I put the game down.  Maybe I will go at it again some other time.

[Ramsay B.]

17 minutes ago, RumHam said:

The Zelda weapon degradation bothered me at first because I'd find an awesome sword and then want to save it's uses. You have to get out of that head-space and generally not worry about running out of weapons. You will sometimes, and it can make for some interesting moments.

I mostly agree with that, but I do have the Savage Lynel Crusher(78 attack) and haven't used it once because I'm saving it for the end. All other weapons I use without care though.

[KiDisaster]

5 hours ago, RumHam said:

The Zelda weapon degradation bothered me at first because I'd find an awesome sword and then want to save it's uses. You have to get out of that head-space and generally not worry about running out of weapons. You will sometimes, and it can make for some interesting moments.

I just use whatever my highest attack weapon is at any given time. Unless I'm just fighting basic bokoblins who'll die in two hits to anything, then I switch to something weaker. 

Breaking a big ass sword on some monsters head is pretty awesome. 

[Sivin]

Bought everything I need to build a new rig. I gotta be ready to play a couple of new titles, assuming they aren't vaporware. 

Lookin' at you, Star Citizen. 

[Werthead]

On 01/01/2018 at 4:03 AM, WinterFox said:

Bought everything I need to build a new rig. I gotta be ready to play a couple of new titles, assuming they aren't vaporware. 

Lookin' at you, Star Citizen. 

You've got quite a while to wait. Squadron 42 might sneak it out before the end of the year as a single-player game but Star Citizen itself still hasn't got its netcode properly sorted, which is a bit of a weakness for an MMO.

We might get the new Bethesda game (whatever it is) this year if they pull another Fallout 4 on us (announce and release 3 months later) but Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't sound too likely for this year (E3 might tell us more though). Kingdom Come: Deliverance should be out in a few months which might scratch that open world RPG itch for a while and Phoenix Point sounds like it will be an autumn release.

[Werthead]

Hooray. The Elite: Dangerous player who got stranded outside the galaxy has been rescued. Also set a new record for the furthest distance travelled from Sol and back again.

[Fez]

I will get the new Zelda eventually; lotta games to get through first (and for now the Switch is specifically only for gaming while traveling). Does the Master Sword also degrade or is it a unique exception (or is it not available for regular use)? It'd be pretty lame if it also breaks.

Finished my replay of Portal and Portal 2; those are still fantastic games, and it's a real shame Valve doesn't make actual, new games anymore. Next up: Cosmic Star Heroine.