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

[Eggegg]

39 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Trailer for the Tomb Kings DLC for Warhammer II. They have a giant Egyptian statue which fires lasers from its eyes, and to be fair is that not what we wanted all along?

I mean I wasn't that excited for Tomb Kings as I'm more old school Warhammer, but woah! Lasers!! 

[Werthead]

You can get Oxenfree for free. This is a walk & talk-based adventure game which RPS (among others) named "Game of the Year" for 2016. Grabbed it even if it'll be forever before I get to it.

[Ded As Ned]

Happy 30th birthday to Final Fantasy I

[briantw]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

You can get Oxenfree for free. This is a walk & talk-based adventure game which RPS (among others) named "Game of the Year" for 2016. Grabbed it even if it'll be forever before I get to it.

One of the few games I've actually played more than once to see the different endings.  The fun one is the one where you get to be a bitch to everyone the entire game and make them all hate you.  

[KiDisaster]

My Switch arrived last night, which was a pleasant surprise since Amazon originally said it would be here on boxing day. Spent a few hours with Mario Odyssey, which is just an absolute joy to play. I've got about half the moons in the first major area (the desert zone), some of which have actually been quite tough though most of the game so far is very easy. Not that I expected or wanted anything else. 

This is the first Nintendo console I've owned since the Gamecube and I'm quite glad I picked it up. Looking forward to playing some games I missed out on as they continue to port WiiU titles, Bayonetta 2 especially. Also very glad I sprung for the Pro Controller because I really don't like the feel of the Joycons at all. They're fine if you're using it in handheld mode but as a separate controller when you're hooked up to the TV they don't really work for me. 

[Inigima]

On 12/17/2017 at 6:16 PM, Inigima said:

Oops... I got my order today and, um, accidentally ordered a 2-pack of the older ones that don't have the analog sticks or secondary L/R buttons. I'll let you know in a few days when the correct one arrives. These feel nice though, just like an SNES controller.

EDIT: The "wrong" ones did properly pair with my desktop PC, and it feels great.

Update: Got my 8Bitdo SN30 Pro (the analog stick model) and paired it with my Switch. Works great! Definitely recommend it.

[Werthead]

In Elite: Dangerous a player inadvertently got stuck out way past the galactic rim, 65,659 light-years from Sol. So the "fuel rats" (who help people who get stuck) are planning a highly ambitious and dangerous mission to go rescue her. It's like an emergent version of The Martian. Quite entertaining.

[Werthead]

Steam Sale now on. Early bargain spotted: Elite: Dangerous for £4, which is decent.

[Ded As Ned]

12 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Steam Sale now on. Early bargain spotted: Elite: Dangerous for £4, which is decent.

(if it includes Horizons)?

ETA: eh, still a pretty good deal

[Derfel Cadarn]

Speakibg of Elite, I'm gettibg close to the last promotion needed to get a permit to enter Sol system.  Already bought my Asp Explorer but left it parked while I save up to refit it for exploration.  Not played in a few weeks but lookong forward to going through the core, dropping by Colonia.

being a Star Trek fan, I plan to have my big launch from a station orbiting Earth hwbce why I've been doing Federal missions.

Once back, I need a few more Imperial promotions to get the Imperial Clipper which is one of the best jack of all trade ships. And looks like a B5 white star ship

[TheRevanchist]

Anyone played 'Finding Paradise'?

Played it yesterday and enjoyed it a lot. It probably ain't as good as 'To the Moon' but it is still a very cute enjoyable game, and I recommend it highly.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

I'm looking at getting either Empire or Napoleon TW in the steam sale (75% off), and I'm asking for recommendations. What's better? I understand that they're very similar but Napoleon has a narrower focus. Also how does the combat compare to Medieval 2, given how different the form of warfare is?

Bearing in mind also that my laptop is quite crap and will remain so for quite a while, though I might get a new one after I graduate next year.

[Ded As Ned]

16 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Speakibg of Elite, I'm gettibg close to the last promotion needed to get a permit to enter Sol system.  Already bought my Asp Explorer but left it parked while I save up to refit it for exploration.  Not played in a few weeks but lookong forward to going through the core, dropping by Colonia.

being a Star Trek fan, I plan to have my big launch from a station orbiting Earth hwbce why I've been doing Federal missions.

Once back, I need a few more Imperial promotions to get the Imperial Clipper which is one of the best jack of all trade ships. And looks like a B5 white star ship

Earned my Sol permit a couple weeks back and took the pilgrimage... was pretty neat but I didn't stick around too long as I've joined a Wing working towards minor faction status and our objectives were gnawing at me to get back home to Kolaga.... visited all the planets while I was there and said hi to the Voyagers, then zipped back towards my objectives... there's plenty more to see and do there in the motherland if you want though. 

Currently Petty Officer working towards Ensign (with Chief Petty Officer rank in-between still) so I can get that Federal Gunship I've had my eye on for some time.... along with the Wing objectives.

[Werthead]

My review of Homeworld Remastered, now that they've fixed the last lingering bugs and it's now dirt cheap in the Steam sale.

In my view, this is simply a required purchased if you are a PC gamer, enjoy SF and enjoy 1970s SF book covers by the likes of Foss and Elson.

1 hour ago, Stannis Eats No Peaches said:

I'm looking at getting either Empire or Napoleon TW in the steam sale (75% off), and I'm asking for recommendations. What's better? I understand that they're very similar but Napoleon has a narrower focus. Also how does the combat compare to Medieval 2, given how different the form of warfare is?

Bearing in mind also that my laptop is quite crap and will remain so for quite a while, though I might get a new one after I graduate next year.

I recently completed an Empire playthrough, as relayed here. Both games hew pretty close to the Medieval II model - the really big changes to the system don't kick in until somewhere around Rome II - and are quite easy to adjust to. It's mainly getting used to the importance of firing arcs and enveloping enemy units flanks so you always have 2-3 units firing at every 1 of the enemy units to make them break. Once you've got that, and understand that cannons are nowhere near as dangerous as they really should be (at least until you develop grapeshot), the game becomes quite manageable. The game also has some genuinely very large shifts in playstyle between factions, which makes it one of the most replayable games in the series.

Napoleon I would argue is better only if you want to actually fight the Napoleonic Wars and iconic battles like Waterloo. Otherwise the focus takes away a lot of the freedom and flexibility of Empire and the multi-theatre campaign, which is the one thing that sets Empire apart from the other games in the series.

[The Drunkard]

The sad tale of Jerusalem came to an end in my HRE CK2 game. After winning a crusade for the kingdom and granting it to my third son Ordgar, I went on to conquer the duchies of Tripoli and Sinai, whose land I gave to the Hospitaller and Templar respectively, and transferred them as vassals to Jerusalem directly. With a fairly strong Jerusalem kingdom established, and with the Muslim world fairly fragmented, I granted Ordgar independence to see how he would fare. 

But he died within a few years and his adult son Gospatric took the throne. He turned out to be a huge badass, ruling for 44 years and more than doubling the size of his kingdom by holy warring everyone he laid eyes on. He died of natural causes and left the kingdoms of Jerusalem & Baghdad (as well as the vassalage of several other duchies) to his absolutely useless son, who required a regent to rule for him. The regent did quite well, crushing two civil wars (one whose members demanded that my ruler become king) and winning several defensive holy wars. The incapable king later died and the throne passed to his brother, a completely average man. He also fended off several holy wars before the Shia Caliph in Africa declared a Jihad, marched over to Jerusalem and occupied most of it. The king soon died of stress, and his 3 year old son inherited the kingdom. 

Inevitably the boy and his regent lost the Jihad war, and the Caliph now owns Jerusalem. The Hospitallers gained independence after being kicked out of Tripoli, and in the meantime several other duchies have been lost. The boy king (of Jerusalem in name only) now rules a couple of duchies in the Baghdad kingdom and somehow has managed to hold onto the Templars in Sinai, but his remnant kingdom is done for.

[Werthead]

15 hours into The Witcher 3 and this is easily the greatest CRPG since Baldur's Gate II. It may even supplant it when all is said and done. After two fairly mediocre games (which some good ideas shining through), CDPR finally nailed it. Every single quest I've encountered so far is excellent with some phenomenal writing, the game is truly fucked up in some regards, the blatant sexism of the first two games has been dialled back (alas not completely eliminated - Keira, do your top up! - but vastly improved), it's grimdark without going completely overboard with it, the voice acting is brilliant (okay, Ciri could be a bit less earnest but that fits the character) and the characterisation is very nuanced. Even Geralt seems to be having fun. Your constantly teleporting horse is also oddly amusing.

Also, the combat, for the first time this series, is not utter shit. The only complaint I really have is that the inventory is a bit more cumbersome than it needs to be but that's not really a game-killer as long as you remember to keep flogging stuff you don't need.

Bethesda need to seriously up their game after this. This is how you really do an open-world RPG. Fallout 4 I think they got a pass on as Witcher 3 only came out a few months earlier, but their usual bollocks is not going to fly in Elder Scrolls VI or Starfield (depending on what they release next) now that CDPR has shown them how it can be done.

[KiDisaster]

28 minutes ago, Werthead said:

the blatant sexism of the first two games has been dialled back (alas not completely eliminated - Keira, do your top up! - but vastly improved)

They're boob-mages Wert. All magical energy in The Witcher universe comes from boobs and clothing, as we all know, is an impediment to the free flow of magic. This is why all sorceresses have their tits half out.

Or so I've head-cannoned anyway. 

At least we aren't collecting trading cards of all the women Geralt's banged anymore 

But W3 really was a phenomenal game, and has me extremely excited for Cyberpunk whenever that thing actually comes out. 

[Werthead]

6 minutes ago, KiDisaster said:

But W3 really was a phenomenal game, and has me extremely excited for Cyberpunk whenever that thing actually comes out. 

Here's all the latest news on Cyberpunk 2077.

CDPR ramped up into full production on it at least a couple of years ago and they currently have 400 people working on it, which is far more than Witcher 3 ever had. Apparently their plan is to release two games between now and 2021. 2017 was the year of Gwent, so I suspect that Cyberpunk 2077's release window is late 2018 to mid-2019. However, as the game is far bigger than apparently even Witcher 3 that could slip.

Their second new RPG sounds like it could be a bit more of a more constrained affair. I'm wondering if it's going to be a new RPG set in the Witcher universe. They've said they're done with Geralt, but an RPG focusing on other characters like Ciri could be possible.

[Caligula_K3]

4 hours ago, Werthead said:

 

Bethesda need to seriously up their game after this. This is how you really do an open-world RPG. Fallout 4 I think they got a pass on as Witcher 3 only came out a few months earlier, but their usual bollocks is not going to fly in Elder Scrolls VI or Starfield (depending on what they release next) now that CDPR has shown them how it can be done.

I agree that The Witcher 3 is a phenomenal game that blows other open world AAA RPGs of its time out of the water. I hope Bethesda and Bioware etc... up their game for their next projects (or in Bioware's case, retreat somewhat from the open world genre if EA lets them). But it's worth pointing out that The Witcher 3's budget was huge for a single player RPG, outstripping anything a developer like Bioware (and I think Bethesda too) get for producing a game like Mass Effect Andromeda or Fallout 4. And just as importantly, Polish labour laws allow CD Project Red to pay their employees much less and to make them work many more hours constantly.  It won't be easy for any North American/Western European studio to compete with what CD Project Red can offer. And of course, this raises all sorts of ethical questions about the treatment of workers in the video game industry, which is bad enough in even the best studios.

 

[Inigima]

Playing a bunch of Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 on Switch. Splatoon 2 is good but hard, and the lack of a party system is pretty glaring, not that any of my friends have the game. Mario Kart is the best MK in a long time; I'm bummed that a port of a Wii U game is $60, but it has all the DLC included and it is a LOT of content for the money.

What's coming out soon for Switch? It's still early in the lifecycle, I'm not expecting tons to be out right now, but I'd like to know what's around the bend.