Jump to content

Video Games - Legendary Edition


Rhom

Recommended Posts

Loop Hero is addictively fun. It was fun from the start, but it gets really interesting once you start unlocking more cards and camp buildings and open up more strategies. It's also made me better appreciate the differences between the classes, and just how powerful the Rogue can be.

For instance, you can build up to 4 watchtowers in the camp, each of which creates a crossbowman that'll be on your side on tiles next to the campfire (and I've upgraded to go 2 tiles, not sure if it goes to 3). And there's the Outpost card building, which spawns a guard on its adjacent tiles that fights on your side, but takes all yellow or orange drops from the fight. However, this is negated by the Rogue, who doesn't get drops, just tokens; so Outposts are free for him. So now that I can get allies, I create these absolute death trap enemy tiles that I easily win and get tons of resources and cards from. 

I also like how much lore is buried in the game. You eventually unlock an encyclopedia, which at first seems useful just as a gameplay aid; telling you who drops what resources, enemy stats, primary card functions, etc. But, there's a resource you can use to also unlock lore text for every entry in the encyclopedia, and some of them are long. There's way more backstory than the first few hours of the game suggest.

 

13 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Speaking of Elder Scrolls: when playing Skyrim SE, does everyone have to run the game via the skse64_loader to get Sky UI working properly? 

Yep, me too. I started playing again and yes.

I also think a couple of the mods I have are interacting in unexpected ways. Combat in dungeons and other closed off locations is working exactly as I'd expected, but out in the over world there's a huge number of enemies that will just one-shot me every time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Loving Ghost of Tsushima... but I'm running into the problem that I always do with these open world games.  Yeah, there's an important mission over there where I need to disable a shipyard... but Oh wait!  Look!  Over there!!!!! That ? on the map might be a Fox that I can chase around or maybe a Haiku I can compose.

I struggle in this game with my morality a bit too... yeah, I want to invest points into making me more sneaky so I can assassinate three guys at once; but I kinda feel bad about being a ninja when the story beats me over the head that I'm supposed to march in there and yell at all the bad guys.  :dunno: 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Rhom said:

Loving Ghost of Tsushima... but I'm running into the problem that I always do with these open world games.  Yeah, there's an important mission over there where I need to disable a shipyard... but Oh wait!  Look!  Over there!!!!! That ? on the map might be a Fox that I can chase around or maybe a Haiku I can compose.

I struggle in this game with my morality a bit too... yeah, I want to invest points into making me more sneaky so I can assassinate three guys at once; but I kinda feel bad about being a ninja when the story beats me over the head that I'm supposed to march in there and yell at all the bad guys.  :dunno: 

I have the same problem and not a lot of time to play, and it's actually been quite a blessing in this game.  I can usually clear out a mongol territory, do a side mission, or explore some of those ? in the little time I get to play in a given day (30-60 min).  I've just started at the bottom of the maps and done as much as I could, then move more and more north, always leaving the main missions until last.  Keeps it a bit more organized and manageable.  Once I got to the 2nd area and saw the 15 or so missions I could do I had to go about it in smaller chunks so it didn't feel overwhelming and I'd just shelve it.  Compared to the games I've played in the last few years, it's nice to have a game that I enjoy for its beauty and fairly laid back approach you can take on normal difficulty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Rhom said:

Loving Ghost of Tsushima... but I'm running into the problem that I always do with these open world games.  Yeah, there's an important mission over there where I need to disable a shipyard... but Oh wait!  Look!  Over there!!!!! That ? on the map might be a Fox that I can chase around or maybe a Haiku I can compose.

I struggle in this game with my morality a bit too... yeah, I want to invest points into making me more sneaky so I can assassinate three guys at once; but I kinda feel bad about being a ninja when the story beats me over the head that I'm supposed to march in there and yell at all the bad guys.  :dunno: 

That's the point of the story. You need to become more to take on the Mongols and while traditional Samurai is run in there and yell at them, The Ghost has to become something else. That quandary plays throughout the entire thing and becomes a fairly major theme with consequences. Curious how you evolve your morality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Mexal said:

That's the point of the story. You need to become more to take on the Mongols and while traditional Samurai is run in there and yell at them, The Ghost has to become something else. That quandary plays throughout the entire thing and becomes a fairly major theme with consequences. Curious how you evolve your morality.

I am usually all about stealth in my games... but I felt bad the first time I went into a town with the archer Sensei and after the village was cleared he said “You do not fight the way I do... or the way your father taught you.”  I was curious if there’s alternate dialogue if you don’t assassinate anyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Rhom said:

I am usually all about stealth in my games... but I felt bad the first time I went into a town with the archer Sensei and after the village was cleared he said “You do not fight the way I do... or the way your father taught you.”  I was curious if there’s alternate dialogue if you don’t assassinate anyone.

I've gone the hell with stealth and am making a take build. It's fun being in the middle of over a dozen guys just cutting my way through them. When it's down to just a few I almost feel bad for them as I cut their hearts out. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I picked up Solasta: Crown of the Magister and it's been pretty good so far, if anyone is looking for a serviceable D&D (or D&D inspired) game in the same vein as Baldur's Gate 3 or Pillars of Eternity.  It's still early-release (max level 6), and based on 5.1 rule set. You can create up to four characters on your own or choose a pre-made, then head off to the tavern for your beginning.  Each of the characters you choose has a generic back story mini-quest that also serves as a tutorial.  

The main quest itself is pretty straight-forward but enjoyable enough; you're tasked with entering the "badlands" on the fringes of civilized society to do battle with the baddies there.

Some of the highlights for me so far have been:

- Cool overland travel which is customizably detailed and has tons of commentary;  eg. your party may choose to stop at a shrine en route so a paladin can make obeisances; a ranger with high survival skills can hunt for food which will be converted to rations (which your party needs to properly camp and heal/restore spells) and the like. You can also set forced marches and determine how much time is devoted to housekeeping .  I personally like micromanaging traveling logistics, so that aspect has been quite cool.

- Commendable attempt at generating in-party banter.  The voice acting is a mixed bag, but it's really varied and profligate. 

- A system whereby any vendor trash you pick up in an area can be automatically sold on-site, for a percentage of course, to a group called the Scavengers.  Saves huge on slot spaces and encumbrance.

Combat is very challenging for the most part. You can take advantage of cover and the concomitant defensive bonuses it gives, but so will the AI, at time fiendishly so.  It has an original X-Com feel to it as your characters sprint forward maneuvering to cover to get a clear shot at that last goblin archer, while the others overwatch,.

So overall, it's very solid if not spectacular rendering of the 5.1 system.  The level of immersion has been keeping me playing, and I'll re-up when they introduce the next levels, areas and challenges.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Somehow, 2020 was Star Citizen's most successful year, despite it being the tenth (if not eleventh; they've been cagey about when exactly they started work on it) year of development with no full release in sight.

The game has now passed $350 million in crowdfunding, meaning it continues to stretch out the lead of the biggest development budget in video game history bar none (depending who you ask, either GTA5/Online or Red Dead Redemption 2 is in second place with around $170-200 million in development budget and $70-90 million in marketing). And for a third of a billion dollars, they still have remarkably little to show for it.

The plan, as it has been every year since at least 2016, seems to be to trying to get Squadron 42 out the front door. According to some insiders, it sounds like the game could have launched at least two years ago if they hadn't tried to shoehorn first-person shooter sections into the game which literally no-one gives a shit about. Integrating those into the game and making them fun (for some reason the FPS sections seem stiff and unresponsive, despite using the Crysis Engine, which literally was used to make only first-person shooters) has been the biggest hold-up.

There's also the problem that their Austin studio shut down during the Texas storm and apparently management were telling staff they'd have to take the time out from their holiday pay or just go unpaid, which they rapidly reversed course on when it hit the media.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Somehow, 2020 was Star Citizen's most successful year, despite it being the tenth (if not eleventh; they've been cagey about when exactly they started work on it) year of development with no full release in sight.

The game has now passed $350 million in crowdfunding, meaning it continues to stretch out the lead of the biggest development budget in video game history bar none (depending who you ask, either GTA5/Online or Red Dead Redemption 2 is in second place with around $170-200 million in development budget and $70-90 million in marketing). And for a third of a billion dollars, they still have remarkably little to show for it.

The plan, as it has been every year since at least 2016, seems to be to trying to get Squadron 42 out the front door. According to some insiders, it sounds like the game could have launched at least two years ago if they hadn't tried to shoehorn first-person shooter sections into the game which literally no-one gives a shit about. Integrating those into the game and making them fun (for some reason the FPS sections seem stiff and unresponsive, despite using the Crysis Engine, which literally was used to make only first-person shooters) has been the biggest hold-up.

There's also the problem that their Austin studio shut down during the Texas storm and apparently management were telling staff they'd have to take the time out from their holiday pay or just go unpaid, which they rapidly reversed course on when it hit the media.

Every time I hear any Star Citizen news I'm so glad I didn't let myself get talked in backing it - the whole "selling theoretical in game ships for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars" thing was a pretty thorough turn off, but several of my friends were extremely enthusiastic and wow am I ever glad I stuck to my guns on this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

loving valheim!

yesterday we had an epic adventure of failure! i am decked in iron gear, raiding crypts is our new thing. myself and another viking set sail from our home to a swamp on a distant island in search of riches.  we instead end up on a different island, no big deal. we kill a bunch of dwarves,  a few trolls, mine some copper and attempt to head back to sea. our boat is destroyed on the rocks. i drown. i respawn at home,  grab our other boat and head back to get my friend. i find him,  we get going back towards home as it is getting late and our dreams of iron riches have been dashed when our small boat is attacked by two serpents! we run out of arrows before killing them! the winds die and we are languishing at sea with these beasts attacking. 

so tonight we will craft a new boat and attempt to sail out and recover our gear. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

(depending who you ask, either GTA5/Online or Red Dead Redemption 2 is in second place with around $170-200 million in development budget and $70-90 million in marketing).

Star Wars: The Old Republic is somewhere in the mix too. Development costs alone were approximately $200 million. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-cost-200-million-to-develop/1100-6348959/

Regardless, Star Citizen seems like such a waste of time and money. I'm not going to call it a scam, like some people on the internet, because I think the money is being spent trying to create a video game. But in the future this will be the textbook case of feature creep and project mismanagement.

Also, with the cost of the digital ships being in the thousands of dollars, I wouldn't be surprised at all if criminal entities have found a way to use the game for money laundering, like has happened in Eve Online a few times. Though I don't know if the game has a sufficient player trading system for that to happen yet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Werthead said:

Dark Alliance gets an extremely bombastic and very generic trailer.

I wasn't expecting much, but I don't think even those expectations have been met.

It also looks incredibly ugly for a 3D action game scheduled to be released in 2021. I mean, sure, it's not a AAA game and won't be sold at full price, but there are mid-tier games from 2009 which would look better in comparison.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Werthead said:

There's also the problem that their Austin studio shut down during the Texas storm and apparently management were telling staff they'd have to take the time out from their holiday pay or just go unpaid, which they rapidly reversed course on when it hit the media.

Really?
 

That’s totally what my company did. I ended up dropping 3 days of PTO and and went unpaid for the other 2 for the week the offices were shut down during the storm. 
 

Doind a new Stellaris run. Finally got the Zroni precursor mission. I’m excavating their home-world now. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got to credits on Loop Hero after 25 hours. I didn't quite unlock everything, but apparently I didn't need to. It was a lot of fun though. Worth a spin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love the subtle humor in GoT.

Hiding in an empty Sake barrel:  “It smells like your breath in here Kenji.”  “Well that barrel didn’t empty itself.”

:lol: 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been playing BattleTech again. I have the Flashpoint DLC, and I got annoyed when I realized that the 'Flashpoints' only become active after you finish the main story. Why???

But I finished the main story, and have done one Flashpoint so far. Ok, nothing impressive about it. I did manage to have a much better time reaching the end of the main story this time, because I took more time doing mercenary missions, and build up my strength steadily. I didn't lose any of my original Mech Warriors, and by the end 2 of them and my character were all maxed out on skills. I've also had more assault mechs, but still failed to get one of the 100T's by the end. And now I have 2 Atlas mechs. But I'm one 1/3 short of getting a King Crab. 

I'll probably play a little more, but I have a feeling I'll get bored soon enough. I don't know if the other DLCs are worth it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...