[Obdigore]

Illuyankas, on 16 December 2014 - 04:05 PM, said:

Was considering looking into Dragon Age: Inquisition, but was shown this. Gets even worse and also very NSFW around 4:20 in.

And? If you don't like them making fun of brits, don't romance the brit?

[Illuyankas]

*looks at terribly written, terribly voice acted love scene between emotionless automaton and 'wacky'13 year-old girl*

"What, is it the accent?"

[Obdigore]

Illuyankas, on 16 December 2014 - 07:00 PM, said:

*looks at terribly written, terribly voice acted love scene between emotionless automaton and 'wacky'13 year-old girl*

"What, is it the accent?"

Well despite the fact she isn't 13, I'm pretty sure terribly written love scenes is kind of a hallmark of Bioware. I've yet to see them do a well written romance arc.

[Illuyankas]

I'd actually heard that the Iron Bull one was meant to be a funny parody of the typical Bioware romances, but I'm less sure that's the case with such an unironic example also in the game.

[Obdigore]

Illuyankas, on 16 December 2014 - 08:05 PM, said:

I'd actually heard that the Iron Bull one was meant to be a funny parody of the typical Bioware romances, but I'm less sure that's the case with such an unironic example also in the game.

Iron Bull is just all around awesome. If I had my choice I'd pursue romances with Cassandra and Vivienne. I don't believe you can actually have a romance with Vivienne, and Cassandra is just amazingly stuffy until you get past her guard.

I've never actually had Blackwall in my party. Sera can be funny but she gets annoying. The chatter between Iron Bull, Vivienne, and Varric is always fun as well.

But again, I've yet to see Bioware do any romance arcs well. It's like Butcher writing a sex scene. You get the feeling he is making it completely terrible on purpose so people quit asking him to do them.

[Imperial Historian]

Is it just me or are a significant percentage of the npc characters in inquisition range from not particularly likable to just plain awful? I found sera's 'wackiness' got aggravating pretty quickly, cassandra's pious zealot was also fairly annoying, vivienne's nobler than thou act drove me up the wall, solas seems to lack much of a personality, blackwall's oh I'm so moody and tortured got tired pretty quickly and whislt I liked the concept of cole, he also wasn't a particularly fun character. I've been tending to go round with iron bull (who is the best written character by far), varric and dorian just because they were the only characters I could stand.

I think it says a lot that some of the character interactions I've enjoyed the most so far are with leliana, morrigan, alistair and loghain all from the original dragon age, the new npcs are just nowhere near as likable or entertaining as the origins npcs.

[Obdigore]

Imperial Historian, on 16 December 2014 - 08:50 PM, said:

Is it just me or are a significant percentage of the npc characters in inquisition range from not particularly likable to just plain awful? I found sera's 'wackiness' got aggravating pretty quickly, cassandra's pious zealot was also fairly annoying, vivienne's nobler than thou act drove me up the wall, solas seems to lack much of a personality, blackwall's oh I'm so moody and tortured got tired pretty quickly and whislt I liked the concept of cole, he also wasn't a particularly fun character. I've been tending to go round with iron bull (who is the best written character by far), varric and dorian just because they were the only characters I could stand.

I think it says a lot that some of the character interactions I've enjoyed the most so far are with leliana, morrigan, alistair and loghain all from the original dragon age, the new npcs are just nowhere near as likable or entertaining as the origins npcs.

Vivienne and Cassandra change as you find out more about them, I think. Iron Bull is... Iron Bull, and probably one of my favorite Bioware characters.
Spoiler for Cass:

Spoiler

You can walk in on her reading a porno written by varric.

I agree that Sera got old kind of quickly, Varric is more Varric, who is fun but not amazing. Dorian is kind of funny/kind of dickish. He is acceptable, cole I've never done anything with.

Solas is just kind of there in the background, and some stuff about him is scary freaky changed at the end of the story. Never done anything with Blackwall either.

I like the first three quite a bit, as they seem like actual people. Varric is kind of comic relief, but I hear he has a really cool story in this one if you get to it, which I haven't. Cole you can apparently influence to be more spirit like or more human like...

[Tiste Simeon]

Illuyankas, on 16 December 2014 - 04:05 PM, said:

Was considering looking into Dragon Age: Inquisition, but was shown this. Gets even worse and also very NSFW around 4:20 in.

I dunno who that girl is but after about 5 seconds I wanted her killed by a bloodmage, lesion scene notwithstanding.

[Werthead]

Successfully carried out my first clandestine smuggling in Elite: Dangerous.

Normal trade runs in the early game will net you 2,000 credits if you're lucky and canny, so, since I have access to a super-fast Eagle ship (thanks to the pre-order), I decided to do a fast retrieval mission. I had to go grab some black boxes from a big battle around a remote star (picked up some nice extra cash for surveying the system at the same time) and then get them onto one of the big Federation stations. Not every ship is routinely scanned - the lore says that even the moderately busy systems still get upwards of 50,000 ships passing through every day, so it's impractical - so it's a case of having to avoid the spot checks. The station has Viper fighters on routine patrol, so I had to work out their routes and stay out of scanning range on the final approach. Then one of them closed to scanning range and started sweeping me, so I screamed, slammed on the afterburners and shot through the docking portal at 30kps, or about three times faster than is safely recommended. That got me out of scanning range (nearly ramming another ship in the docking tunnel in the process) and then I had to slam into reverse to avoid crashed into the interior hull of the station before pulling of a relatively graceful landing on my designated pad.

Slightly nerve-wracking but 12,000 credits made it worth it. Totally sweet.

Quote

Got it, played around with it a tiny bit but decided I

a) really need to buy a new PC or majorly upgrade the current one;
buy myself a good joystick, preferably with a throttle on the side.

I got the Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS. £30, excellent quality and it works on every other space game you can think of (like the recent X-WING and TIE FIGHTER reissues through GoG).

Graphically, E:D isn't very demanding and is highly scalable, so unless your graphics card is ancient I'd recommend just toning down the settings. My four-year-old 550ti can run the game with everything on High (just not Very High).

Quote

How's that online only caveat working out? Noticeable?
I have a really slow broadband and I suppose that's my only gripe.

If you're playing solo, it makes zero difference. The only time the servers is communicated with is when you dock and access either the market data or bulletin board. Yesterday the severs went down for two hours and I didn't notice until I docked, accessed the commodities board and the thing crashed to desktop. The game's pretty robust so when the servers went back up and I logged in, I was still exactly where I was with no problems. The game is actually designed so you can only ping the online stuff from inside the stations (where you're safe), so if there's a disconnect you don't suffer.

If you're playing the multiplayer mode then, yeah, that's a bigger problem.

[Tapper]

Werthead, on 19 December 2014 - 11:52 PM, said:

Successfully carried out my first clandestine smuggling in Elite: Dangerous.

Normal trade runs in the early game will net you 2,000 credits if you're lucky and canny, so, since I have access to a super-fast Eagle ship (thanks to the pre-order), I decided to do a fast retrieval mission. I had to go grab some black boxes from a big battle around a remote star (picked up some nice extra cash for surveying the system at the same time) and then get them onto one of the big Federation stations. Not every ship is routinely scanned - the lore says that even the moderately busy systems still get upwards of 50,000 ships passing through every day, so it's impractical - so it's a case of having to avoid the spot checks. The station has Viper fighters on routine patrol, so I had to work out their routes and stay out of scanning range on the final approach. Then one of them closed to scanning range and started sweeping me, so I screamed, slammed on the afterburners and shot through the docking portal at 30kps, or about three times faster than is safely recommended. That got me out of scanning range (nearly ramming another ship in the docking tunnel in the process) and then I had to slam into reverse to avoid crashed into the interior hull of the station before pulling of a relatively graceful landing on my designated pad.

Slightly nerve-wracking but 12,000 credits made it worth it. Totally sweet.

Quote

Got it, played around with it a tiny bit but decided I

a) really need to buy a new PC or majorly upgrade the current one;
buy myself a good joystick, preferably with a throttle on the side.

I got the Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS. £30, excellent quality and it works on every other space game you can think of (like the recent X-WING and TIE FIGHTER reissues through GoG).

Graphically, E:D isn't very demanding and is highly scalable, so unless your graphics card is ancient I'd recommend just toning down the settings. My four-year-old 550ti can run the game with everything on High (just not Very High).

Quote

How's that online only caveat working out? Noticeable?
I have a really slow broadband and I suppose that's my only gripe.

If you're playing solo, it makes zero difference. The only time the servers is communicated with is when you dock and access either the market data or bulletin board. Yesterday the severs went down for two hours and I didn't notice until I docked, accessed the commodities board and the thing crashed to desktop. The game's pretty robust so when the servers went back up and I logged in, I was still exactly where I was with no problems. The game is actually designed so you can only ping the online stuff from inside the stations (where you're safe), so if there's a disconnect you don't suffer.

If you're playing the multiplayer mode then, yeah, that's a bigger problem.

The PC replacement is a WiP for gaming in general, but until I have it, I play "old" games :-)

Nice to see the tension of your run!

[Mentalist]

Loving my first playthrough of Director's Cut of Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall. There seems to be a ton of choices, too, I'm just stumbling through it blindly, but that means I'll certainly be replaying it.

getting into lots of scraps, which makes it tough game for my Adapt (melee class) in a guns and magic game. But i'm surviving.

Also, the team that made the game is launching a new Shadowrun Kickstarter, this game will be based in Hong Kong.

https://www.kickstar...s/posts/1087013

[Aptorian]

How is it compared to Shadowrun Returns: Dead Man's Switch?

I am almost at the end of DMS and I feel like it sort of ran out of ideas. I am enjoying the story, worldbuilding and atmosphere immensely, it just feels like b-tier game.

[Mentalist]

Apt, on 06 January 2015 - 07:06 PM, said:

How is it compared to Shadowrun Returns: Dead Man's Switch?

I am almost at the end of DMS and I feel like it sort of ran out of ideas. I am enjoying the story, worldbuilding and atmosphere immensely, it just feels like b-tier game.

so far it feels a lot more RPG-y. I mean, the mechanics are basically the same, you can`t really get away from the engine design.
But this time you have a proper team of runners and a central hub, and your runners are more like traditional companions in that you can talk to them b/w missions and get to know them better (no romance options though, thank god). At the same time, though you get to pick an additional skill for your "companions" from a binary choice, you don't get to equip or aug them.

The plot seems to be more branched ( I know for a fact that there's multiple endings), and stuff I'm doing i can see that there's places I could've done stuff differently, but I can't tell yet if it'd have made a huge difference or not. Deffo will replay it hough, at the very least with a diff char, because my Adapt plays pretty different from everyhting else.

The combat UI's a lot slicker. Combat is satisfying, but then again I'm a sucker for anything in the "guns&magic" genre

EDIT: highlight of DMS is the Telestrian run. The last mission is an interesting tactical challenge, but it's not anything jaw-dropping.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 07 January 2015 - 02:19 AM

[Mentalist]

So, anyway, new Shadowrun kickstarter. In Hong Kong this time.

cleared its 100k goal in under 2 hours

https://www.kickstar...owrun-hong-kong

I'm at what i'm pretty sure is the last mission sequence in Dragonfall. It certainly appears to be far more replayable (so far). There were at least 2 'major" choices I've made (or what feel like major choices), where I think I can see the game going differently. At the same time, I'm getting very strong Alpha Protocol vibes from the Choice + Consequence model--the ultimate gameplay of the last missions doesn't change, but your choices determine who the last boss is. I'm yet to test this.

that being said, there were also a bunch of smaller choices (practically every mission has a dilemma), and none of them were really "easy" choices--this is black and grey morality at its finest.

[Gnaw]

Mentalist, on 14 January 2015 - 01:06 AM, said:

So, anyway, new Shadowrun kickstarter. In Hong Kong this time.

cleared its 100k goal in under 2 hours

https://www.kickstar...owrun-hong-kong

I'm at what i'm pretty sure is the last mission sequence in Dragonfall. It certainly appears to be far more replayable (so far). There were at least 2 'major" choices I've made (or what feel like major choices), where I think I can see the game going differently. At the same time, I'm getting very strong Alpha Protocol vibes from the Choice + Consequence model--the ultimate gameplay of the last missions doesn't change, but your choices determine who the last boss is. I'm yet to test this.

that being said, there were also a bunch of smaller choices (practically every mission has a dilemma), and none of them were really "easy" choices--this is black and grey morality at its finest.

Heh. Nominee for Best Non-Answer in a FAQ

Quote

Is HBS affiliated with Shadowrun: Online?

Harebrained Schemes is the developer of Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall-Director's Cut. Shadowrun Online is developed by Cliffhanger Productions.

Last updated: Tue, Jan 13 2015 1:21 PM EST

[Mentalist]

Gnaw, on 14 January 2015 - 01:34 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 14 January 2015 - 01:06 AM, said:

So, anyway, new Shadowrun kickstarter. In Hong Kong this time.

cleared its 100k goal in under 2 hours

https://www.kickstar...owrun-hong-kong

I'm at what i'm pretty sure is the last mission sequence in Dragonfall. It certainly appears to be far more replayable (so far). There were at least 2 'major" choices I've made (or what feel like major choices), where I think I can see the game going differently. At the same time, I'm getting very strong Alpha Protocol vibes from the Choice + Consequence model--the ultimate gameplay of the last missions doesn't change, but your choices determine who the last boss is. I'm yet to test this.

that being said, there were also a bunch of smaller choices (practically every mission has a dilemma), and none of them were really "easy" choices--this is black and grey morality at its finest.

Heh. Nominee for Best Non-Answer in a FAQ

Quote

Is HBS affiliated with Shadowrun: Online?

Harebrained Schemes is the developer of Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall-Director's Cut. Shadowrun Online is developed by Cliffhanger Productions.

Last updated: Tue, Jan 13 2015 1:21 PM EST

lol. THey aren't. M$oft has the rights to all things Shadowrun.

EDIT: also, new stretch goals are in.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 14 January 2015 - 05:10 AM

[blackzoid]

wohoo!
http://www.rockpaper...mmer-confirmed/

Total:Warhammer or Total WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH are two "good" titles.

[Mentalist]

blackzoid, on 14 January 2015 - 02:04 PM, said:

wohoo!
http://www.rockpaper...mmer-confirmed/

Total:Warhammer or Total WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH are two "good" titles.

Seen this as well.

I'm tempted to check out the "Call of Warhammer" mod. Medieval II was the last Total War I played.

[Aptorian]

Looking at this preview footage, Dying Light doesn't look bad.

It's basically Dead Island with a better budget or better technology.

[D'rek]

I've seen a bunch of talk of this new proposed multi-compatible and modular game controller has been going around some websites:

https://www.kickstar...orphing-gamepad
http://www.playgrifta.com/

It's aiming to be a controller that can either be just one-hand with a mouse or convert to a two-handed version, plus a bunch of other add-ons. Looks cool, though I don't think I play enough video games in general / especially on my couch for it to be worth it for me. But the idea is neat and they seem to be pretty far along the development process.

Thoughts?