RumHam Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 I got boxed in early in Stellaris. Something that doesn't happen a lot. I always try to expand as much as possible for those strategic resources. At first I was annoyed but now I'm enjoying the opportunity to go tall instead of wide for once. I love that the new leaders system has all your research overseen by one scientist. Moving them around so their specialties matched the thing you were researching was always a little "micro-managey." On the other hand, I don't like that the leader cap is back. My last two games I had like seven science ships on auto-explore (love that you no longer have to research this, and that they've expanded it to include researching projects and anomalies.) and then would make more as needed for archeology. Doesn't seem like that will be practical anymore. I'm curious to hear more about Zelda. I don't think I'm going to get to it for a looong time, as I've been working my way through the series and am currently still stuck in the water temple in Ocarina of Time. After Majora's Mask I may skip ahead to Breath of the Wild, and then go back after those two games. It's mildly amusing to me that this incredibly anticipated game is finally out and I'm playing yet another round of Stellaris instead. A True Kaniggit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarGalley Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 I bought the Nintendo Switch during the pandemic solely for Breath of the Wild. First console I've owned since N64 and first game I've owned since Halo 2 back in college. Even though I've beaten the game, I still have one last section of the map to unlock which I had been saving until Tears of the Kingdom was released. Welp that day has come. I definitely got my money's worth out of it and am looking forward to TotK. Also, I bought Skyrim (for Switch) a couple of months ago and have played it like twice. It just hasn't grabbed me. The mechanics and camera tracking feel so clunky and I can't fight for shit. Anyone else have that problem when they got started? Feel like I should power through it since I paid for it but I'm probably just going to jump right into Tears of the Kingdom. Mr. X 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A True Kaniggit Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, RumHam said: I got boxed in early in Stellaris. Something that doesn't happen a lot. I always try to expand as much as possible for those strategic resources. At first I was annoyed but now I'm enjoying the opportunity to go tall instead of wide for once. I love that the new leaders system has all your research overseen by one scientist. Moving them around so their specialties matched the thing you were researching was always a little "micro-managey." On the other hand, I don't like that the leader cap is back. My last two games I had like seven science ships on auto-explore (love that you no longer have to research this, and that they've expanded it to include researching projects and anomalies.) and then would make more as needed for archeology. Doesn't seem like that will be practical anymore. Nope. I have an amazing game going right now, but for a long time I was left with a lot of anomalies and archaeological sites within my borders because my two scientists were needed for exploring. Edit: I do like that you can pick a trait when leaders level up though. Edited May 12, 2023 by A True Kaniggit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RumHam Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 That's pretty funny. You'd think doing a google image search and using the first thing that came up without looking to what it was or who made it would be frowned upon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 5 hours ago, Arakasi said: Speaking of games I’ve not played in years I’d like to try Betrayal at Krondor again. Great early 90s game based off Feist’s work. Very underrated early rpg. I tried to revisit this game the other day, but it's just...such a reach. The overworld map is frustrating to move around in (made infinitely worse by the arrow that needs constant rotating) and the 3D navigation is a bit tanky and maddening, and managing the inventory is practically rage-inducing. There are a thousand little things that fall under the Quality of Life elements of the game that just struggle to work for me circa 2023, but that back in '94? '95? were fine. But now just cause me frustration. It's such a fun, brilliant, ahead of its time game, and one that cries out for a modern remaster. If at the very least so I can soften the font and make it easier to read, as the chosen typeface is logical for that kind of game, but hell if it isn't also occasionally frustrating to parse on screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 On 5/11/2023 at 8:49 PM, Rhom said: I played Baldurs Gate for the first time a couple years ago. Shame. It would have been 100% up my alley had I discovered it in the late 90's. But anyways, I played up to where everyone is hunting me in the city near the end of the game. Just got distracted and didn't finish it out. I would like to finish the game and try out BG2. I have considered starting over and just playing on the story mode difficulty to ease the experience, but didn't know if I should just try to pick up and finish the original playthrough. I had a Dwarven Defender (has been kinda my go to for fantasy games to be a dwarf tank) but as I went on with the story, it never really seemed to make sense to me for the main character to be a dwarf. Had thought about starting over as a bard or mage... but you guys make that sound like it isn't the best route to take for someone wanting a relatively easy experience. I took a dwarf through all three games (since Throne of Bhaal is big enough to qualify as a game in its own right, not just a BG2 expansion) and it was reasonably fine. BG1 is a very solid game and not outrageously long (~30 hours to completion even for a fairly completionist runthrough), but if it's only a couple of years since you played it, I'd be more inclined to recommend finishing it off. You're pretty much right at the end of the game. As an optional bonus you can also do Siege of Dragonspear between BG1 and 2. It's not essential, but it does add more content and it allows you to level up a couple more times before starting BG2, which can be a very tough game. BG2 is a work of genius and almost certainly still BioWare's finest hour in terms of the sheer epicness of the story and characters. On 5/11/2023 at 9:35 PM, Clueless Northman said: Oh come on, that's just silly. You can have several sidekicks very quickly, after all - at least if you need what to do, so on 2nd playthrough (unless you're role-playing a lot and decide not to deal with some misaligned people. With BG1 you can entirely create your own party using the export/import character option and take them on the adventure with you and ignore all the "proper" party members. It's a far quieter game (no inter-party banter or romances) and you miss out on a ton of quests (since the characters all have their own related questlines), but if you want to precisely create the optimised party of your dreams, it's the best way of doing that. If you don't do that, you don't get a party right at the start, but pretty quickly. I think you can get up to 5 characters pretty fast in the Friendly Arm inn. Although they do have a massive alignment clash, which is quite funny for anyone doing the "keep the first few people you meet and ignore the later characters" approach, as it means you get your party members trying to kill one another every 5 minutes, plus you never recruit Minsc, which is clearly unacceptable. 4 hours ago, Arakasi said: Speaking of games I’ve not played in years I’d like to try Betrayal at Krondor again. Great early 90s game based off Feist’s work. Very underrated early rpg. Very good game and the first that I remember had the "optional sidequests you can ignore but if you do you will be under-levelled and YOU WILL DIE VERY FAST," issue. Rhom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 10 minutes ago, Werthead said: If you don't do that, you don't get a party right at the start, but pretty quickly. I think you can get up to 5 characters pretty fast in the Friendly Arm inn. Although they do have a massive alignment clash, which is quite funny for anyone doing the "keep the first few people you meet and ignore the later characters" approach, as it means you get your party members trying to kill one another every 5 minutes, plus you never recruit Minsc, which is clearly unacceptable. Ah, Montaron and Xzar. The banter between them is ace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A True Kaniggit Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 (edited) Baldur’s Gate….. It was always fun soloing it as a mage. (It’s always a good idea to do the chicken mission early on. It’s a lot of exp. for little effort.) Edited May 13, 2023 by A True Kaniggit IlyaP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 12 minutes ago, Werthead said: BG2 is a work of genius and almost certainly still BioWare's finest hour in terms of the sheer epicness of the story and characters. The only thing that ever felt underwhelming in BG2 were the forest areas, which just could not compete with BG1 for sheer...outdoorsiness (outdoorsiness? Jeezus Ilya Brain, are you even working?). I think BG1 feels less crammed as well, in that there's more freedom to amble about and just enjoy, to quote the Aussie film The Castle, "the serenity". You know what's also odd? Every single soundtrack release for the game has included everything barring one track, which I manually converted from *.acm to *.mp3 ages ago - the 2/4 drum piece one hears in the carnival area near Nashkel. Never could figure out that particular oddity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. X Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 I was just seriously getting into The Messenger, which I definitely recommend to other fans of platformers and metroidvanias, but now Tears of the Kingdom is sitting right there on the Switch so I think I'm going to be taking a detour back into Hyrule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 1 hour ago, IlyaP said: The only thing that ever felt underwhelming in BG2 were the forest areas, which just could not compete with BG1 for sheer...outdoorsiness (outdoorsiness? Jeezus Ilya Brain, are you even working?). BG2 was meant to be a much more story-focused game, which is quite a feat considering it's also easily 3 times the size and length of BG1. I think they said at the time was that people got confused over all the outdoors areas in BG1, and either ignored exploring them and thus were under-levelled for the end of the game, or went the other way and 100%ed every map and thus hit the level cap long before the end of the game (not a problem now with the EE version). Kingmaker brought back the 327 outdoors areas, but they're pretty much presented as optional, and the EXP gain you get outside of completing quests is pretty minimal so there's no real gain from laboriously exploring every nook and cranny of the maps, aside from scratching the OCD itch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 3 hours ago, Mr. X said: I was just seriously getting into The Messenger, which I definitely recommend to other fans of platformers and metroidvanias, but now Tears of the Kingdom is sitting right there on the Switch so I think I'm going to be taking a detour back into Hyrule. The Messenger kicks all sorts of arse. Great little game. Can't wait for Sea of Stars, which is a huge departure of course but looks incredible. Few hours into Tears of the Kingdom. Can't... stop... (well actually I managed to heroically go to sleep and am now up mega-early to go for a walk, but my afternoon is gonna be dominated by this). Mr. X 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briantw Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 30 minutes ago, polishgenius said: The Messenger kicks all sorts of arse. Great little game. I decided to look it up on Steam and apparently I already own it? Which is strange because I don't remember buying it, or ever having heard of it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Lord Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 8 hours ago, Soylent Brown said: Yeah, I've really enjoyed what I've played so far too. Crazy that they've managed to improve on the visuals of the original game. I saw a lot of people grumbling that the graphics were essentially the same, but the lighting is way way better in TOTK. Hard to believe it's a Switch game at times. I agree! The Switch doesn't have the power of the major consoles but the designers sure managed to make some gorgeous landscapes. Really struggling with not being the fully developed Link from BotW, though. I forgot a lot of skills in that one because I could just brute-force a lot of things. Some fun puzzles so far, too. Just out of the sort of tutorial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 4 hours ago, Werthead said: I think they said at the time was that people got confused over all the outdoors areas in BG1, and either ignored exploring them and thus were under-levelled for the end of the game, or went the other way and 100%ed every map and thus hit the level cap long before the end of the game (not a problem now with the EE version). People got...confused by outdoor areas? But it's designed for exploring, to check out cool stuff in Faerun, and to have fun little easter egg moments, and slight bits of fan service (eg Drizzt and Elminster). And there's something genuinely relaxing about just traipsing around outside and enjoying the cry of nearby birds, the sound of wind rushing through tree branches, rivers flowing downstream and over cliff-faces, etc. There's just something so...calming about it. It's great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 7 hours ago, Werthead said: BG2 was meant to be a much more story-focused game, which is quite a feat considering it's also easily 3 times the size and length of BG1. You've got me back into Baldur's Gate as a result of this and this thread. Except this time, with a few mods for the Enhanced Edition (the Nostalgia Pack), which does a few muchly necessary things like restoring the original cutscene videos, stone interface, icons, and nearly everything else except for the rag dolls, which modders have struggled to restore. It's almost like Classic Baldur's Gate now. Almost. (No disrespect to Beamdog for their sterling work, but I missed the classic interface, as someone who bought this game at CompUSA back when it came out!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darryk Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 My favourite outdoor area in Baldur's Gate was the coastal area with the nymphs. You could hear the sound of the sea and I really felt like I was there. dog-days and Prince of the North 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Week Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 14 hours ago, Werthead said: plus you never recruit Minsc, which is clearly unacceptable. Minsc and Boo are effectively main characters. They are so inextricably tied to my memories of those games that I can't imagine not having them in the party. Go for the eyes, Boo. GO FOR THE EYES! RrraaaAAGHGHH!!! Darryk, IlyaP and Durckad 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlyaP Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 36 minutes ago, Week said: Minsc and Boo are effectively main characters. They are so inextricably tied to my memories of those games that I can't imagine not having them in the party. Go for the eyes, Boo. GO FOR THE EYES! RrraaaAAGHGHH!!! Same! I'm already in chapter 2, and have brought Captain Brage back to the temple of Helm, found Dynaheir. Just wandering around, with no fixed objective to meet, doing what I want is...blissful. Durckad 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition is currently free with prime. If you have never played or want to replay it with some quality of life upgrades. Week 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts