Video Games: A Far Cry From E3

[The Winged Shadow]

3 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I got one more campaign mission to do in BattleTech (I think), but I'm trying to build up my mech roster ahead of it. I did a protect the research base mission that got me a 2nd Highlander, but I still lack those elusive 100T mechs. I'm doing another merc mission where I may get a 2nd Battlemaster, but I hope it doesn't cost me too much. The Highlanders and the one Battlemaster are the only assault mechs I got. The rest of my best are a Black Knight, 2 Orions, and 2 Grasshoppers.

There was a mission that had a King Crab in it, but it was too difficult to pull off without major losses, so I gave it up. It's the only time I encountered a King Crab, and I've not encountered an Atlas outside the priority missions where you go with Lady Kamea.

I just finished the last mission, and got myself the King Crab . This time intentionally knocking it over 5 times, very carefully not attacking it while its down, or it's weak sides, and trying to knock it over a few times safely by going out of range so it Guarded (early on before it comes close). It's the only one I came across during the whole game. Also managed to get the last piece of the grasshopper i was after, from the mission before with the turrets.

Very tempted to get a stupid dual AC20 build on the Atlas to partner the King Crab (friggin Atlas can do dual AC20 and 40LRM, fucking OP as hell).

My final Lance setup was Victor (18SRM assault primarily used to sensor lock), Stalker (60LRM with jumpjets, just fucked everything up from the top of the hill) and Highlander (40LRM and Gauss). Took out 3 of the enemy Lance with relative ease at the start, using Victor as bait. It just stacked evasion pips and sensor locked, and the rest of the Lance destroyed shit from afar. After that, King Crab was piss easy.

LRM are ridiculous. Either the damage or stability or heat needs to be nerfed. The whole game was pretty easy after I got an LRM boat.

[Inkdaub]

20 hours ago, Red Tiger said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Something else went into a stomach. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

Spoiler

 That guy was obviously evil but I didn't think he'd be that hands on.  Now I want vengeance but I doubt I will get it.  Altissia was such a pretty city, too.

 

[Red Tiger]

1 hour ago, Inkdaub said:

  Hide contents

 That guy was obviously evil but I didn't think he'd be that hands on.  Now I want vengeance but I doubt I will get it.  Altissia was such a pretty city, too.

 

Spoiler

All I can tell you is, keep playing. This game is not very long by FF standards anyway.

 

[Werthead]

Final thoughts on BattleTech.

A very good game. Not quite as accessible and well-presented as XCOM, but still very strong and with much greater depth in learning the game's systems and how to use them in different combat situations. The on-board ship stuff was also good, but could do with a little fleshing out.

54 hours to complete my first campaign felt a little long though, especially given there was some serious grind in the middle there as well, but that could have been avoided if the game had made it clear you're supposed to be doing 2-4 contract missions between story missions and there's no penalty to delaying story missions for a while.

[Red Tiger]

Detroit Become Human: 7/10 for the Clementine/Nanako factor. Not worth 60 bucks, though.

[Corvinus85]

On 5/26/2018 at 5:40 AM, Werthead said:

Final thoughts on BattleTech.

A very good game. Not quite as accessible and well-presented as XCOM, but still very strong and with much greater depth in learning the game's systems and how to use them in different combat situations. The on-board ship stuff was also good, but could do with a little fleshing out.

54 hours to complete my first campaign felt a little long though, especially given there was some serious grind in the middle there as well, but that could have been avoided if the game had made it clear you're supposed to be doing 2-4 contract missions between story missions and there's no penalty to delaying story missions for a while.

I pretty much agree with your assessment of the game. Based on your entire review, I realize that I still don't know all the game's gimmicks. You can do call shots on standing mechs? Edit: Never mind, I didn't realize the precision strike was also called a call shot. And I never used it because of the morale cost.

The game reminds me in some ways of Mount & Blade. Great concept and mostly good gameplay, but lacking in some areas, particularly, as you mention, the lack of a good tutorial. 

[Werthead]

8 hours ago, Corvinus said:

I pretty much agree with your assessment of the game. Based on your entire review, I realize that I still don't know all the game's gimmicks. You can do call shots on standing mechs? Edit: Never mind, I didn't realize the precision strike was also called a call shot. And I never used it because of the morale cost.

The game reminds me in some ways of Mount & Blade. Great concept and mostly good gameplay, but lacking in some areas, particularly, as you mention, the lack of a good tutorial. 

You get a large chunk of the morale back when you kill the mech. There's also other "inspired" events that trigger during missions which give back morale on the battlefield. I think you get more if you one-hit a mech, complete a mission objective, if an enemy mech completely misses you etc. I didn't use Precision Strike or Vanguard for the first half of the campaign until I realised that, then I spammed it like a lunatic. Precision Strike makes the game a hell of a lot more straightforward, especially as the AI is not shy about using it on you.

[l2 0 5 5]

I'm hesitant on pulling the trigger for DBH. I loved Heavy Rain, and generally enjoy games that are heavily decision based, but the reviews aren't moving me. Not that that should deter me, and they seem positive overall, but nothing outstanding. May wait for a price drop. I don't think I've sat down and played a new game start to finish since Uncharted 4, and got 75% of the way through FFXV. Just don't have the time or desire to put time into games anymore unless I know I'll love it. Being an adult can suck sometimes. 

[Jace, Extat]

8 minutes ago, l2 0 5 5 said:

I'm hesitant on pulling the trigger for DBH. I loved Heavy Rain, and generally enjoy games that are heavily decision based, but the reviews aren't moving me. Not that that should deter me, and they seem positive overall, but nothing outstanding. May wait for a price drop. I don't think I've sat down and played a new game start to finish since Uncharted 4, and got 75% of the way through FFXV. Just don't have the time or desire to put time into games anymore unless I know I'll love it. Being an adult can suck sometimes. 

Get it preowned from Gamestop in a week, beat it, take it back within 6 days and get your money back.

It's basically renting off a deposit that gets entirely refunded.

[l2 0 5 5]

26 minutes ago, Pony Empress Jace said:

Get it preowned from Gamestop in a week, beat it, take it back within 6 days and get your money back.

It's basically renting off a deposit that gets entirely refunded.

Good thinking. I may do that.

[AndrewJ]

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 9:37 AM, Pony Empress Jace said:

Get it preowned from Gamestop in a week, beat it, take it back within 6 days and get your money back.

It's basically renting off a deposit that gets entirely refunded.

Surely not?

I always thought it was something like buy it second hand for $55 (so $5 off the new price) and sell it back for something like $25. But even if I'm way off and you get back substantially more than that, they must build some profit margin in between their sell and buy price, right? (Which still means you're renting it for whatever the price difference is, so not a bad idea at all.)

[Jace, Extat]

12 minutes ago, AndrewJ said:

Surely not?

I always thought it was something like buy it second hand for $55 (so $5 off the new price) and sell it back for something like $25. But even if I'm way off and you get back substantially more than that, they must build some profit margin in between their sell and buy price, right? (Which still means you're renting it for whatever the price difference is, so not a bad idea at all.)

7 day return policy on preowned games. Full refund, even tax.

[AndrewJ]

Ooohhh... got you. I wasn't aware of that. (I'm Aussie, anyway - but EB Games here seems to just be our version of Gamestop. Not that it would help me as it would probably take me a couple of months to finish it, anyway. My family situation doesn't allow for much gaming time these days)

 

[The Winged Shadow]

So I've started my first XCOM 2 campaign. It's off to a terrible start. I didn't realise you don't automatically get the Supply every month, and that instead you have to go scan it wherever it gets dropped off. So early game i neglected doing that. On top of that I didn't quite understand how the connections to regions and building towers worked (i didn't realise i had to stay and scan, as oppose to start it and go do something while it progresses....). My Squad seems to be made of paper and always injured (still not as bad as Dekker though....) because I am resource tied couldn't get appropriate upgrades.

So I am in a bit of a hole. Avatar project halfway through and I've just started to get a handle on things. Hopefully I can dig my self out.....

Really enjoying the combat side of things. Despite getting ass kicked. I generally find the turn-restriction stuff a lot more difficult since I am tempted to charge to in but then get my ass kicked because I've detected two squad of enemies at once. Not to mention that the base hit rate is really shit to begin with, so even partial cover means I have to try and flank the enemy to have a shot at hitting them. But then I keep discovering other enemy squads and then it's pretty much game over (specially if it's the last squad member who discovers a new enemy squad......).

Really really enjoy setting up concealment ambush at the start of missions though. I find it is worth taking an extra turn to set that up because you can wipe the enemy squad in one go.

Here's to hoping I can get out of the hole i dug myself because i didn't read the prompts >_>

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, The Winged Shadow said:

So I've started my first XCOM 2 campaign. It's off to a terrible start. I didn't realise you don't automatically get the Supply every month, and that instead you have to go scan it wherever it gets dropped off. So early game i neglected doing that. On top of that I didn't quite understand how the connections to regions and building towers worked (i didn't realise i had to stay and scan, as oppose to start it and go do something while it progresses....). My Squad seems to be made of paper and always injured (still not as bad as Dekker though....) because I am resource tied couldn't get appropriate upgrades.

So I am in a bit of a hole. Avatar project halfway through and I've just started to get a handle on things. Hopefully I can dig my self out.....

Really enjoying the combat side of things. Despite getting ass kicked. I generally find the turn-restriction stuff a lot more difficult since I am tempted to charge to in but then get my ass kicked because I've detected two squad of enemies at once. Not to mention that the base hit rate is really shit to begin with, so even partial cover means I have to try and flank the enemy to have a shot at hitting them. But then I keep discovering other enemy squads and then it's pretty much game over (specially if it's the last squad member who discovers a new enemy squad......).

Really really enjoy setting up concealment ambush at the start of missions though. I find it is worth taking an extra turn to set that up because you can wipe the enemy squad in one go.

Here's to hoping I can get out of the hole i dug myself because i didn't read the prompts >_>

I like XCOM2 and I find many parts of it superior to the first game, particularly the tactical combat side of things (although it does feel like "system mastery" can get way overpowered in the second game compared to the first), but the strategic side feels very weird in comparison, with way too much makework bolted onto what was supposed to be a very hands-off strategic view from the first game. The first game's strategy side was bare bones and often illogical (much improved by the Long War Mod), but the way it and the combat worked was really good. The second game doesn't cohere as well as the first game.

Phoenix Point completely rebuilds the strategy and combat layers from the ground up and looks really, really impressive at the moment. Disappointed it's slipped into the start of 2019.

[A True Kaniggit]

After it has sat untouched in my Steam Library for nearly five years, I've finally begun playing Baldur's Gate II. My brother and I recently finished our game in the first Baldur's Gate and were able to import our characters.

We're being nice for now and letting the other prisoners tag along until we get out of the first dungeon. Then we're dumping them at the first inn we find.

[Corvinus85]

3 hours ago, The Winged Shadow said:

So I've started my first XCOM 2 campaign. It's off to a terrible start. I didn't realise you don't automatically get the Supply every month, and that instead you have to go scan it wherever it gets dropped off. So early game i neglected doing that. On top of that I didn't quite understand how the connections to regions and building towers worked (i didn't realise i had to stay and scan, as oppose to start it and go do something while it progresses....). My Squad seems to be made of paper and always injured (still not as bad as Dekker though....) because I am resource tied couldn't get appropriate upgrades.

So I am in a bit of a hole. Avatar project halfway through and I've just started to get a handle on things. Hopefully I can dig my self out.....

Really enjoying the combat side of things. Despite getting ass kicked. I generally find the turn-restriction stuff a lot more difficult since I am tempted to charge to in but then get my ass kicked because I've detected two squad of enemies at once. Not to mention that the base hit rate is really shit to begin with, so even partial cover means I have to try and flank the enemy to have a shot at hitting them. But then I keep discovering other enemy squads and then it's pretty much game over (specially if it's the last squad member who discovers a new enemy squad......).

Really really enjoy setting up concealment ambush at the start of missions though. I find it is worth taking an extra turn to set that up because you can wipe the enemy squad in one go.

Here's to hoping I can get out of the hole i dug myself because i didn't read the prompts >_>

It takes some time to master the game, but I didn't find it difficult in learning the game. Unlike the Enemy Unknown, you are on your own basically, flying around in the Avenger, trying to survive and expand your resistance network. I don't play the game at higher difficulty than Veteran, but I do like to play with the Ironman mode.

Also, do you have the War of the Chosen expansion. That makes the game different in some ways, and lengthens it.

A few pointers:

• The first building you want is the Guerilla Tactics School. As you gather supplies, you want to be able to extend your squad to 5, then 6 members. With only 4, the game gets really challenging as you have to face tougher aliens.
• Having at least one squad member that has the capability to scan what's ahead is important, and will, more often than not, get you out of the scenarios you've found yourself in. (The battle scanner is a cheap tool to have, and you can equip it to any squad member; more important, imo, than the standard grenade)
• Losing a valuable squad member is more critical than allowing the Avatar bar to progress. If a mission looks too difficult to complete, retreat, or don't do it. When the Avatar progress bar got to max, at which point you get a countdown of 22-23 days, and then you lose the game. I've got all the way to that and manged to reverse things, and then win the game. 

[Werthead]

Yeah, the Avatar progress bar is really not as bad as it appears. The ticking clock aspect of the second game isn't actually as bad as losing council members in the first game.

I haven't gotten War of the Chosen yet. The price for an explansion pack was ludicrous on release and it remains ludicrous now. I wouldn't pay £35 for an expansion on release, let alone a year on.

[Week]

4 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

After it has sat untouched in my Steam Library for nearly five years, I've finally begun playing Baldur's Gate II. My brother and I recently finished our game in the first Baldur's Gate and were able to import our characters.

We're being nice for now and letting the other prisoners tag along until we get out of the first dungeon. Then we're dumping them at the first inn we find.

...must resist ... buying BGII for the 3rd time and playing through for the 20th ... it is just so goddamn good.

[Werthead]

I do need to get to Siege of Dragonspear at some point. Reportedly the writing isn't great, but the gameplay is fun and focused and it'd be amusing to play a new Infinity Engine game.