[Cause]

Is battlefield (half price -40$) worth it for the single player alone?

[Aptorian]

It really depends upon your budget and disposable income.

I really liked the campaign, especially the flying and the tank missions. I probably wouldn't pay more than 30 USD for them though.

If we were talking shooter campaigns from last year I'd actually recommend COD over Battlefield.

[Tiste Simeon]

I hated the flying one, could never get used to the controls. Desert missions FTW!

I ordered Dishonoured 2. Can't wait. Will be asking for advice and help very soon no doubt.

[Morgoth]

Tiste Simeon, on 01 March 2017 - 11:44 AM, said:

I hated the flying one, could never get used to the controls. Desert missions FTW!

I ordered Dishonoured 2. Can't wait. Will be asking for advice and help very soon no doubt.

That game had some amazing level design. The clockwork mansion was a work of art!

[Aptorian]

Dishonoured 2 advice:

Unless you're already a master at stealth games, I wouldn't worry too much about being detected or getting into combat. I'm usually okay at these games but still had a heck of a time trying to sneak around the guards in the opening stages.

Upgrade the bonecharm-crafting ability. It's missleading when you first look at it, because what that ability is actually good for is making runes. You can dismantle old charms for whale bone and use it to make runes. Basically, the runes you invest in crafting, will return 3 or 4 times the amount of runes over the course of the game.

Don't worry about running out of mana, use your abilities constantly and you'll have much more fun than playing conservatively.

Also, kill all those motherfuckers because they are traiterous scum and the only acceptable choice is to stab everybody to death.

[Tiste Simeon]

And should I play as the girl or the bloke? Does it matter? Or does it automatically play certain missions as her/some as him? Is it more like AC Syndicate in that you can kind of do it how you want and it won't matter too much?

[Morgoth]

Tiste Simeon, on 01 March 2017 - 01:24 PM, said:

And should I play as the girl or the bloke? Does it matter? Or does it automatically play certain missions as her/some as him? Is it more like AC Syndicate in that you can kind of do it how you want and it won't matter too much?

The choice is for the entire game, and they have radically different powers available to them.

[Aptorian]

Like Morgoth says, it's a choice at the beginning of the game, that decides who you play through the rest of the game with.

I started out playing as Corvo because I wanted to continue his story but ended up restarting and switching to the Empress because I felt like I wanted to play something new and her abilities are more "spectacular".

I think both are equally good but I'd argue that Corvo is slightly more tuned towards stealth and Emily is more suited towards murder. Or perhaps more precisely Corvo is a straightforward brawling cut-throat and Emily is a spooky demonic rip you in half shadow-nightmare type of gal. Corvo is Dancer and Emily is Cotillion/Apsalar. While the two have different skill variations, they are similar in what they can do and they both have a shared core set of skills you'll recognize from the first game.

An interesting thing I have yet to go back and check out, is that if you do a new game + you can get both characters skill set on the second playthrough.

This post has been edited by Apt: 01 March 2017 - 03:11 PM

[Traveller]

Morgoth, on 01 March 2017 - 01:25 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 01 March 2017 - 01:24 PM, said:

And should I play as the girl or the bloke? Does it matter? Or does it automatically play certain missions as her/some as him? Is it more like AC Syndicate in that you can kind of do it how you want and it won't matter too much?

The choice is for the entire game, and they have radically different powers available to them.

I chose Emily as I'd played as Corvo before. I went the stealth route, getting through without killing anyone, and remaining undetected. The Shadow Walk ability is pretty cool and creepy, and possessing rats gets you past a lot of stuff.

Still haven't tried out half the abilities, like the body-double tricks and such.

[Itwæs Nom]

Morgoth, on 01 March 2017 - 01:25 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 01 March 2017 - 01:24 PM, said:

And should I play as the girl or the bloke? Does it matter? Or does it automatically play certain missions as her/some as him? Is it more like AC Syndicate in that you can kind of do it how you want and it won't matter too much?

The choice is for the entire game, and they have radically different powers available to them.

I'd say google the powers and base your decision on that

I went with Emily because she's new and also the spiderman-like power looked like fun.

For the approach I just played like I felt like playing at the moment in DH1, haven't gotten too far in DH2 yet because this game is with a controller about quarter of fun of what it would have been with mouse and keyboard for me...

[Tiste Simeon]

In fairness I often like playing female characters. I usually play as Evie Frye in AC Syndicate, I much preferred FemShep and my character in DA:I was female too. Think I'll probably go with Emily. Should be here tomorrow which is great cos I'm back in work...

[Morgoth]

Mass Effect looks pretty great, but I fear they might have gone the DA: Inquisition route and focused too much on combat to the detriment of the story.

In Mass Effect 2 there is so much talking, and it's great! In DA:I there's really not much other than fighting going on outside of the keep.

[Mentalist]

System Shock 3 is a thing that's happening. And it's got a publisher now- Starbreeze

http://www.rockpaper...eze-publishing/

[Cause]

Soldiers Malaz!

I post PhD gaming is amazing. Tackling Mt very large backlog. It's time to finally enjoy the Witcher. My problem and question is this! Having never played any should I just jump into 3? Play 2 first? Or experience the whole trilogy.

I kinda just want to jump into 3 which I believe is the best and incredible. Don't want to miss out on amazing backstop if it's a must though

[Aptorian]

If you want to get the most out of the story and the call backs, then you need to have played the older games, yes. But you could say the same thing about the books which I have never read. If you're not aware of the connections in the third game, you probably wont feel like you're missing out.

I think the Witcher 1 was pretty rough and would probably be a chore to play today. I quit around half way through. You could start with the second game, if you needed. Witcher 2 is more streamlined and "console-ized". It plays better, looks amazing and has a great story.

I'd definitely recommend looking up story summaries or a youtube compilation to get you up to speed before starting Witcher 3.

This post has been edited by Apt: 16 March 2017 - 02:51 PM

[Mentalist]

I loved the original game, but I'm hopelessly biased. I was also a Witcher fanboy having read the books before playing even the first game (which is basically a loving tribute to the books. It wasn't until TW2 that CDPRED started telling their own story. Oh, and I played the Russian localizations, which had TV-level actors, and made the story feel totally epic. I've heard mixed things about the English voices.

In terms of games, yeah, you can probably start with 2 and be fine.

But when approaching 3, you'll be more likely to make choices one way, as opposed to if you read the books (at least that I seemed to be the what happened on this Board, where the "unformed" players (me and Gothos who read the books) made one set of choices, while everyone else kinda varied, but stayed away from one of the choices we absolutely definitely had to make.

But yeah, in terms of gameplay, TW1 can be great, but it can also be very obtuse and feel needlessly complicated, with a very odd combat system.

TW2 is in many ways a much more traditional action-RPG, but it (imho) suffers from not having a very fleshed out 3rd act. Also, it took a crazy bold decision about some of its choices, so it'll take at least two playthroughs to get the full story out of it.

TW3 is pretty much a masterpiece and and iconic landmark on combining open-world and story-driven gameplay. And it can be totally enjoyed on its own, but having the extra knowledge from books and prior games makes the experience richer.

Also, the glossary systems get progressively worse from game to game, so they're not a lot of help in learning stuff.

[Morgoth]

First looks at the new Mass Effect does not fill me with optimism. The dialogue is so very clunky! What happened to the writing of mass effect 2?

[Aptorian]

8 years is a long time. Is it even the same writing team or creative lead?

Everything about Andromeda looks rough. The animations, the character interactions, the dialogue, the UI, the game mechanics. I am hoping out for hope that the core remains strong. The game looks like it did in the early 2010s. As long as the exploration and branching narrative remains intact I am hopeful.

I'm sort of happy it seems broken. It means I can go play Ghost Recon or Styx 2 instead.

[Mentalist]

Rock paper shotgun published a negative preview and it led to a shitstorm in comments.

There's a very mixed one from the PC gamer as well.

[Cause]

Morgoth, on 16 March 2017 - 09:14 PM, said:

First looks at the new Mass Effect does not fill me with optimism. The dialogue is so very clunky! What happened to the writing of mass effect 2?

I was not impressed since they showed the first gameplay videos. The physics was off. No sense of Collison, even from a bionic charge. It looked like dragon age inquisition in a bad way. The love for mass effect has kept me interested but I'm def stating to become more and more concerned.

The one thing people seem to agree on is that the combat is good. But when I watch it, it looks average at best