[Aptorian]

Finished Resident Evil 6, or well, I played through 3 of the 4 campaigns but couldn't be bothered to play the Ada Wong chapters, even though I assume these are the crucial chapters that explain just what the hell that woman was up to.

Strangely, I found myself enjoyed the second and third campaigns much more than the first one. They are more action focused and play like Gears of War. Which actually made for a fun playthrough on easy.

Played through Oxenfree. This is an excellent adventure game. I can see why this showed up on a lot of GOTY lists last year.

Oxenfree is about a bunch of teenagers that go to an island to get drunk, have fun and visit a spooky cave. Turns out the cave is actually spooky as fuck and supernatural radio wave based timey wimey ghost stuff happens.

It's really well designed, the story is well thought out and most importantly the characters and their choice based dialogue is well written and funny. Only real complaint I have about the game is that it has multiple endings based on your interactions with the other kids, but the dialogue choices aren't always clear if they are negative or positive, supportive or dismissive. As a result I ended up alienating one of the characters apparently. Then again, the dialogue choices were actually what I meant so fuck him.

Also played through the campaign of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. This I think might the most overlooked game of 2016. This is a hell of a good campaign. Like, put in some dialogue wheel conversations and have me make storyline choices and this would be a better game than Mass Effect.

I typically always like CODs campaigns and their stories, but Infinite Warfare is better than I expected. Fantastic motion capture and voice work, great cinematic cut scenes, great story setting, great space combat, flying around in a space fighter is fun and the jump between on foot and flying combat is seamless.

I desperately want them to expand upon this game with a sequel 3 years from now.

[Mentalist]

Got sidetracked from starting Bioshock Infinite by buying Cossacks 3.

Nostalgia is strong in that game. But given how I felt a bunch of the original's mechanics were quite brilliant innovations to the Age of Empires formula, a faithful remake is quite nice.

But very time consuming. My sleep schedule's degenerating. So I will stop playing it for now and go back to actually starting Infinite. For real this time.

[Mentalist]

played 2 hours of Infinte (on Hard, for some odd-reason)

The skyhook thing is gruesome. Wish they'd found a way to magnetize the wrench.

Beyond that, the game became a clusterfuck quickly. I'm confused, and a mass murderer, and only some of them deserve it, I think.

Only 2 hours in, so haven't even met Elizabeth yet.

[Itwæs Nom]

amphibian, on 31 January 2017 - 05:54 AM, said:

You might want to use a controller for Dark Souls. And see if there's a patch/update available. The weapon durability thing is a mechanic that ended up being bugged, so a patch was released in 2015 or early 2016.

If no patch is available, play the first game (very cheap) and see how you like that. I like them all, but DS2 is the least amazing to me.

I actually don't have problems with durability with the dex build anymore, bit weird.

amphibian, on 31 January 2017 - 05:56 AM, said:

In Dark Souls 2, most of the enemies disappear after being killed a certain amount of times (10x I think). It's an anti "stalling" mechanic that sorta works.

Yep I've come to know that feature very well

Anyway I thought I was starting to get a hang of the game, the Last GIant boss was probably the easiest enemy-that-I-encountered-for-the-first-time to kill, then the fucking Pursuer came. By now I've had over 40 failed tries on him but I know I!ll get him soon! I know I can use hte ballistas and found out how to hit him with one of them realitively early but I enver managed to finish him and now I've kinda learned how to dodge him so I now I really wanna kill him without the ballistas for the the good feeling and to know I'm good enough at doding to go on with the game.
Although rolling under his blade as he's swining, which would give me a lot more chances to stab him than I'm getting by most times away from him, is usually difficult with only being able to roll either directly forward while target locked or to the left so I might try it with the controller, good advice.

[amphibian]

Itwæs Nom, on 04 February 2017 - 11:21 PM, said:

Anyway I thought I was starting to get a hang of the game, the Last GIant boss was probably the easiest enemy-that-I-encountered-for-the-first-time to kill, then the fucking Pursuer came. By now I've had over 40 failed tries on him but I know I!ll get him soon! I know I can use hte ballistas and found out how to hit him with one of them realitively early but I enver managed to finish him and now I've kinda learned how to dodge him so I now I really wanna kill him without the ballistas for the the good feeling and to know I'm good enough at doding to go on with the game.
Although rolling under his blade as he's swining, which would give me a lot more chances to stab him than I'm getting by most times away from him, is usually difficult with only being able to roll either directly forward while target locked or to the left so I might try it with the controller, good advice.

If you can stand it, fight the Pursuer with limited target lock on to regain more control of your rolls. Roll without the lock on. It's going to be a readjustment of your play-style, but it's really, really worth it - especially if you fight other real people.

[Itwæs Nom]

amphibian, on 05 February 2017 - 01:26 AM, said:

Itwæs Nom, on 04 February 2017 - 11:21 PM, said:

Anyway I thought I was starting to get a hang of the game, the Last GIant boss was probably the easiest enemy-that-I-encountered-for-the-first-time to kill, then the fucking Pursuer came. By now I've had over 40 failed tries on him but I know I!ll get him soon! I know I can use hte ballistas and found out how to hit him with one of them realitively early but I enver managed to finish him and now I've kinda learned how to dodge him so I now I really wanna kill him without the ballistas for the the good feeling and to know I'm good enough at doding to go on with the game.
Although rolling under his blade as he's swining, which would give me a lot more chances to stab him than I'm getting by most times away from him, is usually difficult with only being able to roll either directly forward while target locked or to the left so I might try it with the controller, good advice.

If you can stand it, fight the Pursuer with limited target lock on to regain more control of your rolls. Roll without the lock on. It's going to be a readjustment of your play-style, but it's really, really worth it - especially if you fight other real people.

When I first thought about that I expected it would lead to all kinds of mess ups on my part but I will try it!

[Traveller]

Some bosses are way easier when you learn to dodge around without locking on.

I haven't played DS2 for ages. Are you playing the Scholar of the First Sin version or the original?

[WinterPhoenix]

I have still never gone back to DS2, I have a copy of Scholar of the First Sin that has literally only been put on once. I never couldget into it the same way I did the first game when we had it on 360, I bought SotFS version fully intending to give it more of a chance and I've simply never gotten around to it. Genuinely don't think I ever got past the Ruined Sentinels tbh, I really have to rectify that someday - I've 100%'d the other two, well except for the Ashes of Ariandel dlc which I've still not been able to get. Reckon I'll just pick up the season pass right before The Ringed City comes out in March, hopefully.

Anyhow I would definitely second what Travellers says about dodging without lock on, adds a level of manoeuvrability that can definitely help with bringing bosses down, for what little my opinion is worth of course, having never even got half way through lol

Since I got the platinum trophy for FFXV I have been playing the Legendary Edition of Skyrim, so much Skyrim it's like 2011 all over again! Forgot how fun it is tbh, it doesn't really look all that much better to be completely honest but I don't really care sill sinking hours into it - haven't even touched any mods yet though because enabling mods disables trophies :/

[Andorion]

Stuck again on Half Life 2 and I don't really have the time to figure it out for the moment.

I am taking a dislike to Cossacks 3. Some of the new things in the game are stupid.

Ships are far too slow. Dragoons are quite underpowered compared to musketeers.

[Morgoth]

This War of Mine was free on PSN. It's an excellent game. Tense, desperate and well made. The art style is bleak and effective, and the gameplay feels very rewarding. I've become the supplier of moonshine it seems, and it helps me pay for medicine and other necessities, but I'm still just ahead of starvation.

[Tapper]

I bought a 3DS to amuse myself with on holidays/ travel, got myself Fire Emblem: Awakening. Four chapters in, and this is going to be a major timesink.

This post has been edited by Tapper: 06 February 2017 - 11:53 AM

[Mentalist]

Andorion, on 06 February 2017 - 09:10 AM, said:

Stuck again on Half Life 2 and I don't really have the time to figure it out for the moment.

I am taking a dislike to Cossacks 3. Some of the new things in the game are stupid.

Ships are far too slow. Dragoons are quite underpowered compared to musketeers.

In a somewhat related tangent, there's a pair of characters in Bioshock Infinite who feel to have been clearly inspired by HL2.

Overall BInfinfite is fun, although I feel that the combo of shock + headshot is all kinds of OP. The sky rails are a lot more intuitive than I'd have thought, too.

[Traveller]

Tapper, on 06 February 2017 - 11:52 AM, said:

I bought a 3DS to amuse myself with on holidays/ travel, got myself Fire Emblem: Awakening. Four chapters in, and this is going to be a major timesink.

Awsome game, good choice!

I've just put on Crusader Kings 2. I haven't played anything like this since Medieval Total War.. at the moment it's slightly overwhelming! I love the way you can build your own medieval dynasty - but so far I can barely get a grip of simple mechanics like merging troops and fleets, let alone embarking etc.

Is there a good place to start for a total noob? Also is it worth getting the Old Gods dlc, I love that era.

[MTS]

Traveller, on 06 February 2017 - 06:43 PM, said:

Tapper, on 06 February 2017 - 11:52 AM, said:

I bought a 3DS to amuse myself with on holidays/ travel, got myself Fire Emblem: Awakening. Four chapters in, and this is going to be a major timesink.

Awsome game, good choice!

I've just put on Crusader Kings 2. I haven't played anything like this since Medieval Total War.. at the moment it's slightly overwhelming! I love the way you can build your own medieval dynasty - but so far I can barely get a grip of simple mechanics like merging troops and fleets, let alone embarking etc.

Is there a good place to start for a total noob? Also is it worth getting the Old Gods dlc, I love that era.

Fire Emblem is indeed awesome, I've been playing the series since the early 00s. Not sure how I feel about the 3DS games, but more Fire Emblem is always good.

As far as CKII goes, start as an independent count so you can get a handle on the basic mechanics without having to worry about vassals/de jure lieges/all that jazz. Ireland is generally considered the best place to start, because it's just independent counts and you can build an empire from there. I haven't played the tutorial in years, so don't know if it's any good, but you could also start there (I think they take you through starting as a kingdom like Castile).

Old Gods? Definitely. In my opinion it's the best expansion. Charlemagne too, if you want to go even earlier still. The only other one I would really recommend is Reaper's Due (warning: the mortality rate drops through the floor), as the amount of money to buy every expansion/content pack is absolutely silly ($160 or something).

[Traveller]

I tried to tutorial, and yes, it starts in Castile. But it went from showing me how to get married, to raising levies and a fleet to invade the Canary Islands in about two stages. I suppose I quickly learned all the reasons why this sort of thing is a bad idea, but it seemed an odd route for a tutorial.

I think I'll try Ireland.

[Morgoth]

Traveller, on 06 February 2017 - 10:49 PM, said:

I tried to tutorial, and yes, it starts in Castile. But it went from showing me how to get married, to raising levies and a fleet to invade the Canary Islands in about two stages. I suppose I quickly learned all the reasons why this sort of thing is a bad idea, but it seemed an odd route for a tutorial.

I think I'll try Ireland.

Ireland is a classic. Few other opponents to deal with early, and you do not have to worry about all the intricacies of the Holy Roman Empire.

There are some things that are good to remember. first, find a good tutor for your chosen heir (and the backups). Remember that you want just one tutor for the entire period, and you want him to be brilliant in the field you think you'll need. Are you shoring up your duchy for later warfare, find your best warrior. Are you fighting a lot and will need to secure your holdings, find your best administrator and so on. Make sure that the tutor has the right culture as your son will most likely inherit the culture of his teacher (my brilliant son became a hindu because I was foolish enough to let the genius hindu mathematician of my court teach him. He had a hard time running a catholic feudal kingdom).

You can also teach your children yourself, that gives you some control of how they develop, which is neat, but it also means that they in all likelihood will receive your specialty.

Marriages are important too, obviously. If you marry into the family of your strongest neighbor you're most likely safe from them, for a while. And, your children might inherit a claim to their territories, which could be practical in the long run. Not to mention the potential help in future wars. There is a risk though. Your daughter whom you married to an English duke might just spawn a future king of England. A king who now has a potential claim to your lands.

Finally, it's good to remember that in CK2 your lands aren't you. Your lineage is. There's no shame in being defeated and absorbed into another kingdom. Accept the defeat, worm your way up the hierarchy, marry your sons to daughters of the royal lineage and assassinate all the kings sons. Suddenly, you're the king of a much larger territory than you ever could have conquered on your own.

[MTS]

Also, it's good to be across your succession mechanics, so you know who is going to inherit what counties/duchies etc. when your main character dies. There are a couple of main types:

Gavelkind - land is split (relatively) evenly between several heirs (you play as the primary heir). I think this is the default in most areas in the 1066 start, and something to be careful of. Sometimes, especially with 3+ heirs, in order to divvy up the land evenly, the primary heir (the eventual you) will only get the primary title (your highest title e.g. Duke of Ulster) plus one capital county. That leaves you fairly exposed militarily, especially if one of your brothers has 2-3 counties and is a pissed off vassal because he was second-in-line. I hate it personally, so I try and switch out of it whenever I can (except when I'm playing Norse). If I need siblings to have land I'll just give them what I conquer. A positive is that it allows you to directly rule more land yourself though, which increases your revenue.

Primogeniture - eldest heir inherits everything. Easiest and perhaps most desirable succession mechanic (esp. for a new player), as you just have to make sure you have at least one heir and you're set. Only pickle is that your eldest may be a drooling, syphilitic mess of a character, and you don't want them to inherit. Not much way around that other than throwing them in harm's way as a general or the traditional stabby-stabby (although then you can get the 'Kinslayer' trait, which is bad).

Elective - my favourite, but easy to mess up if you're not careful. This allows every 'elector' in an de-jure realm (which is all counts in a duchy, and all dukes in a kingdom) to pick the heir. This allows you to pick almost whomever you want in your dynasty. Vassals will tend to go with your decision, but it can backfire if your vassals hate you, as anyone who is an elector can be picked as well.

There are several others (Ultimogeniture, Tanistry, Seniority etc.), but in my opinion they are inferior so I rarely use them.

As far as armies go, try and use your vassals' levies wherever you can, as you don't have to pay the upkeep for them. This will over time increase their dislike of you (you'll get notifications about it up top), but unless you're raising them for years or they really hate you, the malus doesn't matter too much.

[Morgoth]

MTS, on 07 February 2017 - 09:53 AM, said:

Also, it's good to be across your succession mechanics, so you know who is going to inherit what counties/duchies etc. when your main character dies. There are a couple of main types:

Gavelkind - land is split (relatively) evenly between several heirs (you play as the primary heir). I think this is the default in most areas in the 1066 start, and something to be careful of. Sometimes, especially with 3+ heirs, in order to divvy up the land evenly, the primary heir (the eventual you) will only get the primary title (your highest title e.g. Duke of Ulster) plus one capital county. That leaves you fairly exposed militarily, especially if one of your brothers has 2-3 counties and is a pissed off vassal because he was second-in-line. I hate it personally, so I try and switch out of it whenever I can (except when I'm playing Norse). If I need siblings to have land I'll just give them what I conquer. A positive is that it allows you to directly rule more land yourself though, which increases your revenue.

Primogeniture - eldest heir inherits everything. Easiest and perhaps most desirable succession mechanic (esp. for a new player), as you just have to make sure you have at least one heir and you're set. Only pickle is that your eldest may be a drooling, syphilitic mess of a character, and you don't want them to inherit. Not much way around that other than throwing them in harm's way as a general or the traditional stabby-stabby (although then you can get the 'Kinslayer' trait, which is bad).

Elective - my favourite, but easy to mess up if you're not careful. This allows every 'elector' in an de-jure realm (which is all counts in a duchy, and all dukes in a kingdom) to pick the heir. This allows you to pick almost whomever you want in your dynasty. Vassals will tend to go with your decision, but it can backfire if your vassals hate you, as anyone who is an elector can be picked as well.

There are several others (Ultimogeniture, Tanistry, Seniority etc.), but in my opinion they are inferior so I rarely use them.

As far as armies go, try and use your vassals' levies wherever you can, as you don't have to pay the upkeep for them. This will over time increase their dislike of you (you'll get notifications about it up top), but unless you're raising them for years or they really hate you, the malus doesn't matter too much.

Besides, it's hard for them to rebel when all of their levies were sent marching out into the desert.

[Traveller]

How does the game flow work? Do I pause it, manage affairs with family/vassels etc, move armies and fleets, then unpause to let events unfold... then re-pause to deal with the following events?

I've only played twice and havent settled into it yet; I've only played turn based stuff before like Total War. So far in real time I've got the feeling that while I'm managing something, theres a ton of stuff going on that I'm neglecting.

[Mentalist]

ran into my first Handyman. Fuck that guy. I got pretty decent at killing Patriots, though. I no longer panic when I hear Elizabeth yell that there's one coming. Who knows, maybe by the end I'll be ready for that "1999" mode?

Overall, the plot is... interesting.

Except for the mini-bosses, combat is "immobilize with a Vigor + headshot" everyone. Hand cannon is an awesome gun. I still haven't bothered trying the Volley Gun, but I probably should. But I'm having way too much fun with the Carbine. Did no one tell Irrational the 2-gun restriction is STUPID?

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 08 February 2017 - 05:56 AM