Videogames - The definitive Edition, remastered

[Fez]

17 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

I believe it depends on the culture of the current ruler. If it's a Scot, it'll say Scotland. If it's a Gaelic, it'll say Alba.

 

Huh. Interesting. I didn't realize the kingdoms had alternate names based on culture. All my rulers have been proud Italians. That's a cool detail. Is it all of them or just a handful?

[polishgenius]

18 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I think it's integrating the two layers which is an absolute nightmare. The story of the making of XCOM: Enemy Unknown - the 2012 version - is insane in itself, it took them eight years and three complete restarts to get it right, and as we've seen from the games since, it's something that's quite hard to perfect. You're essentially creating two different games and mashing them together.

Hey Mario vs Rabbids apparently managed it.

Okay, not really, it mostly omitted the 'shooter' element and is just a small-team turn-based strategy/tactical game.

Either of you played Steamworld: Heist, which offers a 2D take on the genre in a Firefly-meets-Mad-Max-but-with-cartoon-robots world? Only a little game but well worth a try.


All this talk is reminding me I need to get back and finish Valkyria Chronicles.

[A True Kaniggit]

24 minutes ago, Fez said:

Huh. Interesting. I didn't realize the kingdoms had alternate names based on culture. All my rulers have been proud Italians. That's a cool detail. Is it all of them or just a handful?

Only certain ones I believe. 

 

[Rhom]

Finally beat TLoU2.  Went back two threads ago to find all the spoilery discussions.  So if some of you are wondering why you got multiple reaction things to posts from July... well... that's why.   

Overall, I understand the gripes I read but I think I liked it a bit better than most.  In the end, I guess I just like the gameplay so much in some of these things.  Another example is Mass Effect Andromeda vs Dragon Age Inquisition.  I like MEA a lot more than most seem to, primarily on the strength of the series best combat.  Meanwhile, I hate DAI with the burning passion of a thousand demon dragon spawn things because the gameplay was utterly forgettable and a chore.  Its an interesting contrast since I do think TLOU has the best story of any game I've played and the ending is damn near perfect.  Clearly, that's a high bar for a sequel to try to clear and it doesn't get close; but the gameplay was always top notch.   

I will say, I thought I had the thing beat two nights ago.  It was late.  Thought I'd come to the conclusion and was playing a bit of an extended epilogue similar to the ending of Uncharted 4... and then, "Oh crap... it appears there's more gameplay here."  I had to go on to bed and leave it.  This morning, I hammered out the last couple of hours.

I did enjoy it, but yeah... its not as good as the first.

Now back to Trails from Zero as I continue on my JRPG kick.

[Fez]

2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

Either of you played Steamworld: Heist, which offers a 2D take on the genre in a Firefly-meets-Mad-Max-but-with-cartoon-robots world? Only a little game but well worth a try.

Yep. It was a fun, cute time. And I thought the manual aiming was actually a really clever idea. I also really liked Steamworld Dig 1 and 2. Wasn't as much of a fan of Steamworld Quest though.

 

Regarding Hades, I did another run (and on 8 heat at that) in under 20 minutes, so I guess I'm not that rusty and...

Spoiler

I'm glad to see that they're keeping the rogue-like structure. Finishing a run still isn't beating the game, it just unlocks a bit more of whatever the final story is. No idea how many runs will be required though to truly "win." Also, I wonder if there will still be a story reason for you to keep playing past that point, or if it will require pretending the ending hasn't happened yet. I hope it won't need too many runs to get to the ending. I bet it will though, since I imagine its balanced around new players, not around players who already beat the game many times (I'm at about 30 successful runs I think).

 

[Red Tiger]

I am struggling through Ghost of Tsushima. It's not hard but feudal Japan has really worn out it's welcome with me. The enemies being repetitive doesn't help matters. 3 more days to finish it, I think.

[Ramsay B.]

Walmart pre-sales at 9pm EST. 

 

Ghost of Tsushima did get very repetitive. By the 3rd act I was ready for it to end. 

[Rhom]

55 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

Walmart pre-sales at 9pm EST. 

 

Ghost of Tsushima did get very repetitive. By the 3rd act I was ready for it to end. 

Just tried to look at it... it’s two minutes before 9 and it says Out of Stock.  Wonder if that just means it hasn’t gone up.

Edit:  Well crap.  Went live and was getting errors putting it in cart.  Finally got it in there, but by the time I got logged in with my email it was sold out.

[RumHam]

4 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Just tried to look at it... it’s two minutes before 9 and it says Out of Stock.  Wonder if that just means it hasn’t gone up.

I looked at 8:59 and the more expensive one was up and in stock, the other wasn't. Refreshed the page at 9 and the cheaper one was up and in stock, by the time I got to the last checkout step it was out of stock. 

[Ramsay B.]

I had no luck either. Had one in the cart and then mayhem ensued.

[RumHam]

I assume some people had scripts set up to make all the clicks as fast as possible. Or they just had a very low number of systems. 

[Rhom]

The frustrating thing for me is that many of these people likely managed to get more than one and will be price gouging them in advance of Christmas.

[Ramsay B.]

They just opened it again on Walmart. Was ordering on my phone and when it’s time to put in my password at the end my phone keeps trying to create a password instead of putting in the one I created tonight for some fucking reason. Switch to Ipad and it’s too late. Wtf

[Rhom]

2 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

They just opened it again on Walmart. Was ordering on my phone and when it’s time to put in my password at the end my phone keeps trying to create a password instead of putting in the one I created tonight for some fucking reason. Switch to Ipad and it’s too late. Wtf

Mine wasn’t taking my password either earlier.

[Toth]

Okay, yesterday evening I got back into Victoria 2. This time starting indeed as Prussia. I'm now at 1847 and the game so far had been absolutely insane with so much happening, though I'm still thinking I'm really bad at it and winging it essentially.

My first goal was to form the North German Federation. For that I obviously needed all provinces of the North German culture group in my sphere of influence. Among those was Holstein which was owned by Denmark, so I had a free casus belli on them and attacked (ironically at the same time as Austria which had the same idea, but I was obviously faster). I also claimed Greenland and Iceland just for the heck of it, but then realized that I completely forgot to have them free their satellite Schleswig and was shitting bricks that I screwed myself over am unable to sphere them until the truce expired.

While mulling over that I thought I should go ahead preparing a later colonial Empire and sent an expedition to claim two provinces of Sokoto in the heart of Africa. My reasoning for that adventure was that I had still so much infamy to spare that I just couldn't restrain myself. That... will turn out to be dumb later though. Also my sphere battle with Austria and Britain went nowhere.

Once Sokoto was conquered I turned my attention back to Europe. Saxonia was still in Austria's sphere and they refused to give it up. Parallel to that I read that it is possible to later form Greater Germany if Austria is sphered and Hungary exists. For that you obviously need to put Austria down a peg or four. Which is why I grabbed my free "Assert Dominance" Casus Belli to take over Austria's sphere of influence and added the wargoal of freeing Hungary for good measure. The resulting clash between German states was very bitter, but in the end I managed to encircle the two Austrian main armies and then proceed to carpet siege their territory until they gave up.

And, even though I am not quite sure how it worked as I think I didn't have Schleswig in my sphere, the moment the war ended I was able to form the North German Federation. Awesome! I pulled my armies back and assessed the situation. Things... weren't really all that good. Why is it Japan in my last playthrough had much more population and more money than I knew what to do with? As North German Federation I am lacking all of that. I don't have enough soldiers to replenish the troops I lost against Austria, my provinces with the highest population are at 600 Million and they keep emigrating off to god knows where, my capitalists don't have any money to build railroads and factories and I myself have to keep raising taxes to keep up with my expenses (as Japan I was able to have the lowest possible taxes despite my bureaucracy sucking).

With that taking on France for Elsass-Lothringen to form Germany disappeared into the distance. Even more when Bavaria somehow became a Great Power and cunningly used my truce with Württemberg and Baden to rip both of them out of my sphere. With that I have lost control over all countries I need to form Germany. To ease my frustration I sent another expedition to create a colony, this time in Yemen. Which was a mistake as soon after I declared war, the Netherlands attacked my ally Belgium. If I hadn't declared Yemen a protectorate, I would have had enough infamy to spare to just nab a bit of the Dutch East Indies to establish myself directly in Asia. After all, all end games I have witnessed so far had a scramble for China. Instead I allowed the Dutch a White Peace after whacking their armies out of Belgium.

Well... that's where I am right now. Focusing right now on increasing my number of soldiers, increasing my literacy and also increasing my amount of factory workers, while trying to push for technologies that increase my population growth. I also allowed unions to make my population more appreciative of social reforms because health care would be neat to skyrocket my population. Unfortunately right now my liberal militancy goes through the roof as I am getting event after event increasing their support. I guess it's a scripted event to create the 1848 revolution, which makes sense, but it's still annoying as I don't want to loose interventionist economy or god forbid become a democracy. All those pre-election events are a hassle.

[Gorn]

22 minutes ago, Toth said:

Okay, yesterday evening I got back into Victoria 2. This time starting indeed as Prussia. I'm now at 1847 and the game so far had been absolutely insane with so much happening, though I'm still thinking I'm really bad at it and winging it essentially.

My first goal was to form the North German Federation. For that I obviously needed all provinces of the North German culture group in my sphere of influence. Among those was Holstein which was owned by Denmark, so I had a free casus belli on them and attacked (ironically at the same time as Austria which had the same idea, but I was obviously faster). I also claimed Greenland and Iceland just for the heck of it, but then realized that I completely forgot to have them free their satellite Schleswig and was shitting bricks that I screwed myself over am unable to sphere them until the truce expired.

While mulling over that I thought I should go ahead preparing a later colonial Empire and sent an expedition to claim two provinces of Sokoto in the heart of Africa. My reasoning for that adventure was that I had still so much infamy to spare that I just couldn't restrain myself. That... will turn out to be dumb later though. Also my sphere battle with Austria and Britain went nowhere.

Once Sokoto was conquered I turned my attention back to Europe. Saxonia was still in Austria's sphere and they refused to give it up. Parallel to that I read that it is possible to later form Greater Germany if Austria is sphered and Hungary exists. For that you obviously need to put Austria down a peg or four. Which is why I grabbed my free "Assert Dominance" Casus Belli to take over Austria's sphere of influence and added the wargoal of freeing Hungary for good measure. The resulting clash between German states was very bitter, but in the end I managed to encircle the two Austrian main armies and then proceed to carpet siege their territory until they gave up.

And, even though I am not quite sure how it worked as I think I didn't have Schleswig in my sphere, the moment the war ended I was able to form the North German Federation. Awesome! I pulled my armies back and assessed the situation. Things... weren't really all that good. Why is it Japan in my last playthrough had much more population and more money than I knew what to do with? As North German Federation I am lacking all of that. I don't have enough soldiers to replenish the troops I lost against Austria, my provinces with the highest population are at 600 Million and they keep emigrating off to god knows where, my capitalists don't have any money to build railroads and factories and I myself have to keep raising taxes to keep up with my expenses (as Japan I was able to have the lowest possible taxes despite my bureaucracy sucking).

With that taking on France for Elsass-Lothringen to form Germany disappeared into the distance. Even more when Bavaria somehow became a Great Power and cunningly used my truce with Württemberg and Baden to rip both of them out of my sphere. With that I have lost control over all countries I need to form Germany. To ease my frustration I sent another expedition to create a colony, this time in Yemen. Which was a mistake as soon after I declared war, the Netherlands attacked my ally Belgium. If I hadn't declared Yemen a protectorate, I would have had enough infamy to spare to just nab a bit of the Dutch East Indies to establish myself directly in Asia. After all, all end games I have witnessed so far had a scramble for China. Instead I allowed the Dutch a White Peace after whacking their armies out of Belgium.

Well... that's where I am right now. Focusing right now on increasing my number of soldiers, increasing my literacy and also increasing my amount of factory workers, while trying to push for technologies that increase my population growth. I also allowed unions to make my population more appreciative of social reforms because health care would be neat to skyrocket my population. Unfortunately right now my liberal militancy goes through the roof as I am getting event after event increasing their support. I guess it's a scripted event to create the 1848 revolution, which makes sense, but it's still annoying as I don't want to loose interventionist economy or god forbid become a democracy. All those pre-election events are a hassle.

Victoria 2's underlying mechanics actually punish playing too aggressively at early dates. My experience with Prussia is that you can achieve the best results by playing historically and conservatively until Germany is formed at its historical date. That means no unnecessary and expensive early wars, careful nurturing of industry and infrastructure, and balanced technological research. You can go wild once you actually form Germany and have the techs, you'll have more resources than you'll know what to do with.

The only technologies worth rushing are Philosophy and Political Thought, for the rest just pick whatever requires the least research points at the given moment. Don't worry about not having the latest rifle tech as soon as it's available - it didn't hold back the historical Prussia against France either  A seemingly useless culture/commerce/industrial tech that you can get for less research points will be more useful in the long run. Commerce techs in particular are more important than they seem at first.

And you're right, the liberal militancy is scripted to explode in 1848. It's a very bad moment to be distracted by any external issues.

[Toth]

2 hours ago, Gorn said:

Victoria 2's underlying mechanics actually punish playing too aggressively at early dates.

How exactly is that punishing you? Is my astonishment at my dwindling population a result of it? Because otherwise the only major punishment I see is that conquering backwater countries tanks your literacy and therefore cripples your research, which I find really annoying.

2 hours ago, Gorn said:

The only technologies worth rushing are Philosophy and Political Thought, for the rest just pick whatever requires the least research points at the given moment.

This is my third game of Victoria, I kinda know what techs I should pursue. XD It's just that after USA and Japan it's the first time I play a European country. And that I still suck at pop management. But thanks anyway.

2 hours ago, Gorn said:

And you're right, the liberal militancy is scripted to explode in 1848. It's a very bad moment to be distracted by any external issues.

Tell that Russia, France and Britain. They are in a three-way war right now while I'm just chilling in the middle. Well, 'chilling' with a 50% revolution probability about to blow up in my face as people don't give a fuck about the unions I granted them.

[RumHam]

Amazon warns PS5 preorder customers that consoles might arrive after launch day

[Centrist Simon Steele]

I'm going back through old Assassin's Creed titles (including the not-so-old Odyssey). I really, really want to like AC 3, but this game is so self-indulgent to the point that I'm five hours in, still in the tutorial, though I do have the main character finally, I'm still not an assassin. I guess I just like the idea of "homestead" and building it up. But damn is this game annoying.

Oh, for Halloween season I'm playing:
 

Evil Within 1 and 2. The second I loved so much, the first was pretty average and not so great.

State of Decay 2: I love base building and open world. I'm a bit tired of zombies though.

Resident Evil 7: So many amazing reviews, but I'm having a hard time keeping myself interested.

Call of Cthulu: Not too scary, but I like the investigation and non-combat.

Sinking City: Same as above, but it kind of stalls out after a few hours. The combat sucks.

I want some newer, scary games. Any recommendations? Last year, I was really into Blair Witch until the combat was revealed. It removed all fear and suspense about the game. I want something scary as shit please.

[Toth]

2 hours ago, Simon Steele said:

I want some newer, scary games. Any recommendations? Last year, I was really into Blair Witch until the combat was revealed. It removed all fear and suspense about the game. I want something scary as shit please.

Mmh... I'm not much for horror games, but looking through my library... huh... I heard Layers of Fear is good? Even if it's mostly just jump scares. Never played it though, I just got it when they gave it away for free. My pile of shame also contains the FEAR series, Alien Isolation and two Amnesia titles.

Also, since I am currently back in the Higurashi fever, I cannot help but mention that the first Higurashi VN is still available for free on Steam or GOG:

• https://www.gog.com/game/higurashi_when_they_cry_hou_ch1_onikakushi
• https://store.steampowered.com/app/310360/Higurashi_When_They_Cry_Hou__Ch1_Onikakushi/

It's not necessarily a game and I'm not sure whether it qualifies as "scary as shit". It's more of a "What the fuck is going on?" mindscrew thriller where the unreliable narration challenges you to find out the truth while your main POV characters devolve into madness. Also it's Anime style, which may be not everybody's cup of tea. Here a neat AMV of what awaits you, using the Anime adaptation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaEe6eY798c

It is a really clever story and has terrific characters.