Video Games: It's On Like Donkey Kong

[KingintheNorth4]

14 hours ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

That game had better character creation than any game I've ever played.

It really does. Finding a name for your character that hasn't been taken is a real pain in the ass though.

[Werthead]

The PC version of Final Fantasy XV is looking absolutely amazing. Very tempted to pick this up when it launches on 6 March.

[Caligula_K3]

I'm trying and mainly failing to get the hang of Stellaris: Apocalypse. I like a lot of the changes, but I can't figure out a good strategy for keeping up with the AI. They seem to be spreading into system after system crazy fast; but I just don't have the minerals to do that, especially now that each corvette costs a lot more per month for upkeep. And since every system expansion also increases tech research time, I feel like I just fall further and further behind. Anyone figuring this all out faster than me and have any tips?

 

Edit: Also, any thoughts on the much slower fleet movement speed? I like the idea for military reasons: it's good you can no longer just have one giant fleet that can get anywhere in a few months. But for civilian ships... It's such a pain sending construction and science ships anywhere.

[Sivin]

I've been playing Rainbow 6 Siege lately and am going on like 36 hours. I had a great time all night and morning making parties and working as a team until some really hateful young men came on the chat and I had to purge my rolls. Very mean, I hope they don't become Nazi's,

[Rhom]

On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 2:34 PM, Werthead said:

The PC version of Final Fantasy XV is looking absolutely amazing. Very tempted to pick this up when it launches on 6 March.

Did they add any actual gameplay to the combat?  If not, still not interested.

The game was a gorgeous wide open place to walk around in and listen to my companions talk.  After 20 hours of it, I couldn't do it anymore though.  At some point, the gameplay has to be decent.  When a game makes DA:I's gameplay seem tolerable, it is an utter failure in my book.

[A True Kaniggit]

9 hours ago, Caligula_K3 said:

I'm trying and mainly failing to get the hang of Stellaris: Apocalypse. I like a lot of the changes, but I can't figure out a good strategy for keeping up with the AI. They seem to be spreading into system after system crazy fast; but I just don't have the minerals to do that, especially now that each corvette costs a lot more per month for upkeep. And since every system expansion also increases tech research time, I feel like I just fall further and further behind. Anyone figuring this all out faster than me and have any tips?

 

Edit: Also, any thoughts on the much slower fleet movement speed? I like the idea for military reasons: it's good you can no longer just have one giant fleet that can get anywhere in a few months. But for civilian ships... It's such a pain sending construction and science ships anywhere.

Early game you want to use your minerals solely for expansion and building more mining/research stations. The way the game is now you shouldn't be spending any minerals on building corvettes. Any system with enemies already in it (such as drones or crystals) you should just ignore. Pirates don't show up until a minimum time has passed (I think 10 years) and other empires can't go to war without first making a claim against you, so building more corvettes right away is kind of a waste.

I don't even bother building colony ships to settle planets at first any more. I just spend the minerals claiming more systems and building more mining stations. It's only after I've taken the territory that I send in the settlers.

As for the civilian/construction ship problem, yeah I remember in the old version I could get by with only two of each. But with movement speed the way it is now I've been forced to build a lot more and just keep them spread around throughout my territory so I don't have have to wait too long for a ship to arrive. A good way to use the science ships is keep them empty most of the time and only assign a scientist when it has something to do.

Edit: Who know how long this strategy will work though. The new update is in need of a few tweaks, and I'm sure their will be some changes in game play in the coming weeks as things get balanced. (specifically the new war score system)

[Ded As Ned]

I picked up the remastered Shadow of the Colossus over the weekend, and it is absolutely gorgeous.  Albeit otherwise it's exactly the same game as before.  Some new colossi or additional content would have been a nice bonus, but for $25 I'm not complaining.  Still enjoying the playthrough, but already knowing the tips and tricks makes the battles way too easy. 

[briantw]

5 hours ago, Ded As Ned said:

I picked up the remastered Shadow of the Colossus over the weekend, and it is absolutely gorgeous.  Albeit otherwise it's exactly the same game as before.  Some new colossi or additional content would have been a nice bonus, but for $25 I'm not complaining.  Still enjoying the playthrough, but already knowing the tips and tricks makes the battles way too easy. 

I watched a YouTube play-through of the remaster since I don't own a PS4 and holy shit...they remastered the fuck out of that game.  Looks like a modern release, not a PS2 game they bumped up the resolution on.

[Ded As Ned]

33 minutes ago, briantw said:

I watched a YouTube play-through of the remaster since I don't own a PS4 and holy shit...they remastered the fuck out of that game.  Looks like a modern release, not a PS2 game they bumped up the resolution on.

Yup for the PS3 version they just bumped up the resolution, but this one IIRC they completely redid all the graphics/animations/etc.  It really is gorgeous.  The controls seem a lot smoother as well, but that just may be my familiarity with the game.  

[Werthead]

Brilliant rumour going around that nVidia has created a graphics card optimised for data-mining, called Turing (to appeal to crytocurrency nuts), which they will be mass-producing specially for that market. That should alleviate the massive demand on the core gaming card market and both drop prices for the 10-series (which are monstrously inflated at the moment) and make things saner when the 20-series rolls out in the summer. That should be very nice.

Quote

Did they add any actual gameplay to the combat?  If not, still not interested.

They've done quite a lot of stuff to it, mainly for the control system and the new FPS mode, but how much I don't know.

Ah, but there is a free demo on Steam which shows off some of the new stuff, so you can give it a go.

[Mexal]

I finally finished Zelda over the weekend. Satisfying game. I don't finish games all that often so that's a testament to how good it was (last three games I finished were Half-life, Dragon Age and Bioshock Infinite). I'm moving on to Super Mario Odyssey next. So far, it's pretty fun.

[Caligula_K3]

18 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Early game you want to use your minerals solely for expansion and building more mining/research stations. The way the game is now you shouldn't be spending any minerals on building corvettes. Any system with enemies already in it (such as drones or crystals) you should just ignore. Pirates don't show up until a minimum time has passed (I think 10 years) and other empires can't go to war without first making a claim against you, so building more corvettes right away is kind of a waste.

I don't even bother building colony ships to settle planets at first any more. I just spend the minerals claiming more systems and building more mining stations. It's only after I've taken the territory that I send in the settlers.

As for the civilian/construction ship problem, yeah I remember in the old version I could get by with only two of each. But with movement speed the way it is now I've been forced to build a lot more and just keep them spread around throughout my territory so I don't have have to wait too long for a ship to arrive. A good way to use the science ships is keep them empty most of the time and only assign a scientist when it has something to do.

Edit: Who know how long this strategy will work though. The new update is in need of a few tweaks, and I'm sure their will be some changes in game play in the coming weeks as things get balanced. (specifically the new war score system)

Thanks! This should be very helpful.

[Werthead]

Excellent. The BattleTech video game arrives in April and it looks very sweet.

[Jace, Extat]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

Excellent. The BattleTech video game arrives in April and it looks very sweet.

I knew I kept you around for some reason

[Rhom]

Was it MechWarrior or something similar that had the giant arcades full of networked machines back in the late 90's or something where you got inside the thing and it was basically the cockpit of a mech?

I remember reading about that loooooong ago.

[Inigima]

12 hours ago, Rhom said:

Was it MechWarrior or something similar that had the giant arcades full of networked machines back in the late 90's or something where you got inside the thing and it was basically the cockpit of a mech?

I remember reading about that loooooong ago.

I think you may be thinking of Virtual On?

[Relic]

The makers of FTL, probably my favorite game of the last 5 years (i havent played many, to be fair) just released Into the Breech, which is quite good, imho. Anyone going to pick it up?

Also, anyone here play Slay the Spire?

[RumHam]

2 hours ago, Relic said:

The makers of FTL, probably my favorite game of the last 5 years (i havent played many, to be fair) just released Into the Breech, which is quite good, imho. Anyone going to pick it up?

Also, anyone here play Slay the Spire?

Yeah, I grabbed Into the Breach yesterday. I think it's great. The lack of randomness makes it way less frustrating than something like X-Com. Especially since they give you one "do over" turn per battle. When you mess up you know it's your fault. I made it to the fourth island last night but haven't beaten it yet. But I've found once you stop trying to do traditional damage and start mostly moving the Vek around to make them miss their targets and hurt each other (hold ALT will show you their turn order) it gets a lot easier. 

[Relic]

56 minutes ago, RumHam said:

Yeah, I grabbed Into the Breach yesterday. I think it's great. The lack of randomness makes it way less frustrating than something like X-Com. Especially since they give you one "do over" turn per battle. When you mess up you know it's your fault. I made it to the fourth island last night but haven't beaten it yet. But I've found once you stop trying to do traditional damage and start mostly moving the Vek around to make them miss their targets and hurt each other (hold ALT will show you their turn order) it gets a lot easier. 

Thanks for the hold Alt tip. I reached the 4th island as well, but got wiped out. Fun game. 

[Werthead]

21 hours ago, Rhom said:

Was it MechWarrior or something similar that had the giant arcades full of networked machines back in the late 90's or something where you got inside the thing and it was basically the cockpit of a mech?

I remember reading about that loooooong ago.

We're getting a MechWarrior 5 at the end of this year as well, not to mention a relaunch of the RPG and the miniatures wargame. A good year for BattleTech.