[Aptorian]

Khellendros, on 15 February 2016 - 04:35 PM, said:

Trying to get through the original 1987 Metal Gear - tough, and very tempted to put it on the Easy difficulty! Most annoying thing is only being able to save at certain points which are few and far between. Still a game with an amazing amount of mechanics, considering its age.

Having watched people play this on Giant Bomb, I'd say put it on easy and get out a guide because that game is from whole different generation of game design.

Tiste Simeon, on 15 February 2016 - 05:19 PM, said:

So I started playing Syndicate. I'm enjoying being back in the AC world and London is beautifully rendered! Is it worth sticking with one of the twins or do I need to keep swapping? So far I like Evie better...

It doesn't matter which Twin you play as. The points earned by one are given to the other as well. Each twin has a few skills in the bottom tier of the tree that are tailored to their personality but they are 95% similar in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

I prefered Evie as well, but played as Jacob in the Pirate Kenway costume for the most part, simply because I thought most of the costumes for both looked silly.

When ever a particular twin is needed for a story-related reason the game just changes characters for you.

[Mentalist]

Ok, finally wrapped up Mali. Really, the trick to that last mission is take the bridge chokepoint before they start sending out mass troops, and then force your way in with massed Gbetos + Trebs. And keep a balanced bavy on the side.

Started Portuguese campaign, Mission 1 is decently fun so far.

[Tiste Simeon]

Apt, on 15 February 2016 - 05:46 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 15 February 2016 - 05:19 PM, said:

So I started playing Syndicate. I'm enjoying being back in the AC world and London is beautifully rendered! Is it worth sticking with one of the twins or do I need to keep swapping? So far I like Evie better...

It doesn't matter which Twin you play as. The points earned by one are given to the other as well. Each twin has a few skills in the bottom tier of the tree that are tailored to their personality but they are 95% similar in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

I prefered Evie as well, but played as Jacob in the Pirate Kenway costume for the most part, simply because I thought most of the costumes for both looked silly.

When ever a particular twin is needed for a story-related reason the game just changes characters for you.

I thought that would be there case but I wanted to check I want missing out on something.

Going to try to play it slightly differently and actually do some story missions first before doing all the smaller ones - I just killed three guy in the market place with the dynamite (Templar Hunt) and am going to go and enlist the help of the other guys too.

Thanks!

[Tapper]

XCOM 2. After a decidedly tough start, I am doing better now. It feels like a much harder game than Enemy Unknown.

[Morgoth]

All this talk, and a few sick days, made me feel inspired to pick up Bloodborne again. From the start, this time with an attempt at magic focus, in as much as that works here. Bloodborne is so good.

[Serenity]

I'm still addicted to XCOM 2. It's verging on 'best game I've ever played' territory. How they've managed to make a turn-based strategy game this exciting is beyond me. I know a lot of people have complained about the turn limit on some missions but, for me, it adds a level of urgency that was almost completely missing in all the previous games of this type that I've played. And in all those games I've never encountered anything quite like the thrill of setting up and executing an ambush, or getting knee-deep in enemies and fooling them into chasing after a decoy whilst my squad outflanks them, and the cinematic sweep of the camera as it plays out (this is all made possible by the stealth mechanic at the start of most missions).

I also love the premise, in that we lost the war and the aliens now rule Earth, so you're basically fighting guerilla warfare, trying to connect with resistance cells across the planet etc. The re-jigged classes are brilliant, too.

Still some silly holdovers from the previous game, mostly to do with the action cam showing characters shooting through walls and such, but that can be turned off - if I wanted to - anyway. Apart from that, I think it's fabulous

[Mentalist]

That Portuguese campaign in the "African Kingdoms" expansion really is quite good. Finished Mission 1, and played through 2-4 yesterday. I daresay that FR team finally hit the same level of variety the original campaigns had. This is on par with, say, the Genghis Khan campaign from the original AoK.

Mission 1 is ok: collect scattered troops, defeat 3 camps, get a city, take back second half of the city.

Mission 2 is really fun: you've got an outpost, resources are scarce, you're attacked on one side by Saracen pirate raiders, on the other by infinitely spawning Berber cavalry/camelry. Berbers will keep spawning untill you destroy their tents in the desert (similar to missions 2 + 3 for Russia in the original Cossacks). It's fairly challenging to avoid getting swamped early. Interesting bonus objectives, too.

Mission 3 has you conquering the south-east African coast. 2 main ways to get your first city- I took the easier route of supporting the rebel prince, giving me an opportunity to collect a large army of Shotels and Gbetos out of the "rebels", and clear up the map before taking up main objectives. Nice design of the map, though not super-challenging, becuase it's mostly a naval map.

Mission 4 has you starting out betrayed in a trading fort in an Indian city, with 2 Indian AI attacking you. Only resources come from demolishing enemy buildings (which look AWESOME with the "Indian Architecture" mod from the Steam Workshop, btw). There's a strong naval component to the fighting, and it's a tight scen- not super-difficult, but it's very much an attrition battle.

Mission 5 starts out by asking you to convert the Portuguese force that came in to recall you. Then you have to face Persians, Saracens and Turks. Probably gonna play it on the weekend, not expecting a lot of free time before that.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 16 February 2016 - 02:39 PM

[Aptorian]

I bought X-Com 2 around its release but the shift from the 360 gamepad to mouse and keyboard controls was pretty jarring. I've decided that I'm just going to wait until they eventually patch in the gamepad. Will probably take 6 months or more, what with that Steam controller promotion they seem to have signed up for.

I've also deleted Dark Souls. Away with you foul beast! Never more shall you terrorize me with your horrendous check point system and level design.

But I did buy Dark Souls 2 because somebody mentioned it has way more bonfires.

This post has been edited by Apt: 16 February 2016 - 05:05 PM

[Morgoth]

Horrendous level design? Dark Souls is pretty universally acclaimed as having fantastic level design.

[Aptorian]

Yeeeaahhh... People also call it a master piece of game design and gush about the amazing lore and subtle story telling.

I think Dark Souls feels like a budget game (which I suspect it might also have been?).

Very low cost environmental designs that in places reminds me of PS2 or PS1. Level design that basically just funnels you down a network of corridors disguised as open areas. Sections of maps that clearly have just been glued together resulting in ramps, walkways or even stairs that you just sort of bounce off of and have to kind of glitch to get past. Having to traverse tree branches and walkways when you can't quite trust anything the screen is actually telling you is dreadful.

In a game that punishes you severely for failing, I found the environments to be disappointingly inconsistent.

EDIT: I think that people just have PTSD from having to run between the scarce bonfires and as a result every time they unlock a short cut it feels like mana raining down from the heavens as though God the Creator himself came down and delivered them from this check point hellscape they were stuck in,

This post has been edited by Apt: 16 February 2016 - 05:37 PM

[Traveller]

In Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, and DS2, the separate areas are accessed through a main hub area that you return to.

The level design in Dark Souls though... each area may be a 'network of corridors', but they all flow and join together in a very natural way. I would disagree that they appear to be just glued together - they flow, and the shortcuts that open up really do result in quick routes back across the map. You can stand on a tower or bridge, look up to certain places not yet accessed,and down to streets and areas you've been through. It is all one huge map, with no loading every time you walk through a door or hatch.

And it goes down.. and down. And even at the bottom of the Tomb of the Giants, you can look across to yet another subterranean city that you haven't even found yet; and when you do you can look back across the lava and see where you've been. It didn't stand up, graphically, even on release, so after the new gen it does look even more aged - but I don't care, I still love the level design. I hope they return to it in DS3.

(DS 2 really is just stitched together areas - no flow, just separate, inconsistently sized levels with a bonfire round every corner. Obviously more suitable for some people though I guess!)

This post has been edited by Traveller: 16 February 2016 - 07:20 PM

[Aptorian]

Now this I can agree with. I thought it was cool to run around in upper undead burg and look down on an area that I could later access or the way Depths link into Blight town that links into Valley of Drakes which links into New Londo, etc. The interconnected nature of it is cool.

But when I say that things seem slapped together I am not talking about the individual zones but rather the way textures come together and how buildings, staircases, bridges, etc. fit together. When I said in an earlier post that the game reminds me of Gary's Mod, I wasn't kidding. There are places where it feels like you're just looking at an art asset placed on a map and not a artistically designed piece that integrates into a greater vision of how this place should look.

Thinking about it, my opinion might also be exacerbated by the fact that I played it on the PC, which I've heard is inferior to the consoles. Even with the DSFix and the HD textures I tried importing.

[Aptorian]

Other games!

I needed a pallet cleanser after focusing on Dead Souls so long, so alongside Dying Light I also started up Painkiller: Hell and Damnation. Hell and Damnation is a remake of the first Painkiller game.

It's pretty cool. Outdated, clunky, terrible story but there's something soothing about playing an old school shooter where you just run backwards at 50 miles an hour while pumping shells and stakes and rockets into the undead demons running at you madly.

[Maark Abbott]

I was never interested in playing the Souls games. I already brutally punished myself by playing through I Wanna Be The Guy.

[Aptorian]

I remember seeing youtube videos of I wanna be that guy and VVVVV when I was just getting back into games. I tried playing both and quickly decided that I was too old to put myself through that amount of stress.

It's a different sort of difficulty I think.

[Maark Abbott]

It's full on masochism. But I tell ya, kicking Mecha Birdo's ass felt GOOD.

[Obdigore]

Rocket League.

And it is exceptional.

[Morgoth]

Obdigore, on 17 February 2016 - 01:31 PM, said:

Rocket League.

And it is exceptional.

It is indeed. It has become a standard for whenever I have some friends over for dinner and beer. My car is also a masterpiece.

[Obdigore]

Morgoth, on 17 February 2016 - 03:13 PM, said:

Obdigore, on 17 February 2016 - 01:31 PM, said:

Rocket League.

And it is exceptional.

It is indeed. It has become a standard for whenever I have some friends over for dinner and beer. My car is also a masterpiece.

I'm currently running a Mad-Max style car with a crystal skull antenna ornament and a chocolate cake 'hat'.

[Traveller]

Star Wars Battlefront.

I'm still liking the air battles - but it looks like that's it; no upgrades, new ships, space battles or anything other than 'who's got the most points.'

And the ground battles are nothing more than individuals running about shooting each other with different weapons. This must be the biggest waste of a film licence ever.. of all the types of Star Wars games that could have been released to coincide with the massive resurgence in interest - and we get this.