[acesn8s]

OK, I don't like the Nemesis System anymore. I've got a boss that randomly shows up right before I die (he's located in an unexplored part of the map), kills me and levels up. It's gotten a little frustrating. The story is kinda flat too. I'm considering shelving this and playing either Xcom or Metal Gear Solid

[Serenity]

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is fecking amazing. I loved the base game but this has elevated it onto a whole new level.

[Maark Abbott]

Still moving forwards to getting Platinum on MegaNeps. This phase has a LOT of grinding involved, but it shouldn't be too bad. The trophy for the cards is going to probably be the most annoying, however there's an area where you can at least farm for them.

I've also been playing Atelier Sophie which is super, super laid back. Good fun, I like that right now it's sort of slice of life with no overriding world-threatening danger or such.

[WinterPhoenix]

Anyone on here play Shadow of Mordor when it came out or since? I've had the Game of the Year edition for ages only recently got round to playing it after I finished up with the Final Fantasy XII remaster. I've enjoyed it so far, basically done with the main game - 2 trophies left - so I'll be going on the dlc soon. The only thing is, one of those last two trophies, to get a level 25 rune, is just frickin' ridiculous, I am having so much trouble getting and I can't tell if I'm lucky or unlucky. Every time I kill and enemy that should drop a level 25 rune they drop an Epic instead, which are supposed to be rarer, I'm genuinely at a loss as to how to get this damn trophy tbh

The game itself is basically Assassin's Creed: Arkham Asylum set in Mordor tbh, it's enjoyable for what it is though and the nemesis system is pretty great tbh, quite interested in Shadow of War now.

[acesn8s]

I just started playing it last week, for the first time. I plateaued for a while (need to unlock the 2nd power tier and get some new skills), but have gotten back on track. I think I'm about 1/2 way the game. Ran across the Ghul Matron and need to figure out how to beat her for one of the sword missions.

So, I understand that there's a second "board" after you kill the first set of War chiefs. Do I need to complete all the missions before moving on to get all the trophies and access to all the upgrades?

[WinterPhoenix]

acesn8s, on 05 September 2017 - 01:03 AM, said:

I just started playing it last week, for the first time. I plateaued for a while (need to unlock the 2nd power tier and get some new skills), but have gotten back on track. I think I'm about 1/2 way the game. Ran across the Ghul Matron and need to figure out how to beat her for one of the sword missions.

So, I understand that there's a second "board" after you kill the first set of War chiefs. Do I need to complete all the missions before moving on to get all the trophies and access to all the upgrades?

Yeah there is a second whole map, after you kill the first set of Warchiefs, in the second map is where you learn the brand skill, which is the most fun skill in the game, it's pretty cool. No you don't need to complete everything in Udun before moving on, you can go back at any time from the map, nothing in the main game is missable at all. That being said you might as well complete everything as and when you can, including Survival/Hunting challenges because it will only benefit you to be stronger quicker. The only exception for me would be Outcast Liberation missions, which I would suggest just opening up as and when you pass a white fist icon on your map, no need to go looking for them, you do enough exploration as part of the main game + sidequests to find all 24 liberation missions before the end of the game anyways.

I cannot leave side stuff/collectibles undone before main missions/story progression in these types of games, like in Assassin's Creed for example I would get every chest on the map as and when I could before doing missions, it gets boring, but I get really OCD about it tbh lol So I did everything as it became available, meaning I was generally overpowered, especially as I was faffing around actively trying to get miscellaneous trophies, I was about 1 third of the way towards the final tier of abilities by the time I went to the second map, because I did so many extra feast, recruitment, trial missions etc, plus killing all the warchiefs (except Ratbag of course).

As for the Assassin's Festival, naw I haven't Honey Cups I haven't played FFXV since I platinumed the main game ages ago, haven't even seen any of the DLC, or any of the stronger enemies that I've seen you talking about, like that lv140 behemoth you were talking about. Heck last time I played was before they introduced the higher level cap. Is it really that similar to Creed? I'll need to have a look online maybe, not sure when I'll get the game back on, think I actually need to buy the season pass if I want the dlc anyways.

EDIT: Only have the lv25 rune trophy left now, can't get it, not sure what to do :/ I'm hoping runes gathered in the Lord of the Hunt DLC will still count toward the trophy, because they increased the enemy max level, so it should be easier to get one, assuming they stop dropping epic runes all the damn time

This post has been edited by WinterPhoenix: 05 September 2017 - 01:41 AM

[WinterPhoenix]

Honey Cups, on 05 September 2017 - 01:50 AM, said:

Ha it's not similar it is Creed. The guys are gushing over the Creed series in dialogue, dressing up, killing Imps, Leaps of Faith, walking on the roofs of Lestalum, Creed flags all over city, the hidden hand blade...you name it! Even has the weird Animus vision glitches.

It's fucking weird!

Lol, that is odd, haven't heard anything about some sort of partnership, but I guess it doesn't have to go that far, they must have permission though, otherwise that's just a complete ripoff, even if it's meant to be praise, i.e. the dialogue you mention.

EDIT: Yeah alright so quick google search reveals it's an actual collaboration that's been in the works since a meeting between the two developers like 3 years ago apparently, saw an article that talked about honouring each others franchises, so I'm guessing that means something FF related shows up at some point in Origins down the road. Which is pretty cool, I had Origins pre-ordered but cancelled for money reasons, might see if I can justify it now lol Of course no idea what form the collaboration will take in Origins, or even when that'll happen, after all FF has been out for quite some time now, before this happened.

EDIT2: Also, I watched some footage of the Assassin's Festival, Noctis actually looks sweet as in the Assassin's outfit, really cool, and I do not say that lightly because I found Noctis to be whiny and the furthest thing from cool in the main game. Doubt it changes his personality much, but damn if he doesn't look a whole lot better

This post has been edited by WinterPhoenix: 05 September 2017 - 02:27 AM

[acesn8s]

WinterPhoenix, on 05 September 2017 - 01:38 AM, said:

acesn8s, on 05 September 2017 - 01:03 AM, said:

I just started playing it last week, for the first time. I plateaued for a while (need to unlock the 2nd power tier and get some new skills), but have gotten back on track. I think I'm about 1/2 way the game. Ran across the Ghul Matron and need to figure out how to beat her for one of the sword missions.

So, I understand that there's a second "board" after you kill the first set of War chiefs. Do I need to complete all the missions before moving on to get all the trophies and access to all the upgrades?

Yeah there is a second whole map, after you kill the first set of Warchiefs, in the second map is where you learn the brand skill, which is the most fun skill in the game, it's pretty cool. No you don't need to complete everything in Udun before moving on, you can go back at any time from the map, nothing in the main game is missable at all. That being said you might as well complete everything as and when you can, including Survival/Hunting challenges because it will only benefit you to be stronger quicker. The only exception for me would be Outcast Liberation missions, which I would suggest just opening up as and when you pass a white fist icon on your map, no need to go looking for them, you do enough exploration as part of the main game + sidequests to find all 24 liberation missions before the end of the game anyways.

I cannot leave side stuff/collectibles undone before main missions/story progression in these types of games, like in Assassin's Creed for example I would get every chest on the map as and when I could before doing missions, it gets boring, but I get really OCD about it tbh lol So I did everything as it became available, meaning I was generally overpowered, especially as I was faffing around actively trying to get miscellaneous trophies, I was about 1 third of the way towards the final tier of abilities by the time I went to the second map, because I did so many extra feast, recruitment, trial missions etc, plus killing all the warchiefs (except Ratbag of course).

Thanks! I've been puttering around the map trying to complete all the white missions before knocking off the last War chief. I'm leveled up enough that I was able to complete the kill 50 orcs in the arena mission. That was a crazy fight. I accidentally ran in there after dealing with the War Chief in the vicinity.

[Tiste Simeon]

WinterPhoenix, on 05 September 2017 - 12:47 AM, said:

Anyone on here play Shadow of Mordor when it came out or since? I've had the Game of the Year edition for ages only recently got round to playing it after I finished up with the Final Fantasy XII remaster. I've enjoyed it so far, basically done with the main game - 2 trophies left - so I'll be going on the dlc soon. The only thing is, one of those last two trophies, to get a level 25 rune, is just frickin' ridiculous, I am having so much trouble getting and I can't tell if I'm lucky or unlucky. Every time I kill and enemy that should drop a level 25 rune they drop an Epic instead, which are supposed to be rarer, I'm genuinely at a loss as to how to get this damn trophy tbh

The game itself is basically Assassin's Creed: Arkham Asylum set in Mordor tbh, it's enjoyable for what it is though and the nemesis system is pretty great tbh, quite interested in Shadow of War now.

I've played it through fully twice and I love it so much! I think it is one of my all time favourite games. I never bothered with the full trophies count but it is so dang fun to play!

[WinterPhoenix]

acesn8s, on 05 September 2017 - 08:11 PM, said:

WinterPhoenix, on 05 September 2017 - 01:38 AM, said:

acesn8s, on 05 September 2017 - 01:03 AM, said:

I just started playing it last week, for the first time. I plateaued for a while (need to unlock the 2nd power tier and get some new skills), but have gotten back on track. I think I'm about 1/2 way the game. Ran across the Ghul Matron and need to figure out how to beat her for one of the sword missions.

So, I understand that there's a second "board" after you kill the first set of War chiefs. Do I need to complete all the missions before moving on to get all the trophies and access to all the upgrades?

Yeah there is a second whole map, after you kill the first set of Warchiefs, in the second map is where you learn the brand skill, which is the most fun skill in the game, it's pretty cool. No you don't need to complete everything in Udun before moving on, you can go back at any time from the map, nothing in the main game is missable at all. That being said you might as well complete everything as and when you can, including Survival/Hunting challenges because it will only benefit you to be stronger quicker. The only exception for me would be Outcast Liberation missions, which I would suggest just opening up as and when you pass a white fist icon on your map, no need to go looking for them, you do enough exploration as part of the main game + sidequests to find all 24 liberation missions before the end of the game anyways.

I cannot leave side stuff/collectibles undone before main missions/story progression in these types of games, like in Assassin's Creed for example I would get every chest on the map as and when I could before doing missions, it gets boring, but I get really OCD about it tbh lol So I did everything as it became available, meaning I was generally overpowered, especially as I was faffing around actively trying to get miscellaneous trophies, I was about 1 third of the way towards the final tier of abilities by the time I went to the second map, because I did so many extra feast, recruitment, trial missions etc, plus killing all the warchiefs (except Ratbag of course).

Thanks! I've been puttering around the map trying to complete all the white missions before knocking off the last War chief. I'm leveled up enough that I was able to complete the kill 50 orcs in the arena mission. That was a crazy fight. I accidentally ran in there after dealing with the War Chief in the vicinity.

I actually did that 50 orcs mission pretty early, before I'd unlocked the warchiefs, I'd gotten hold of a pretty good rune which meant if I got the hit streak up to 30 then I had like a 50% chance of healing all my health, course it was tough to get the chain up to 30 with so few abilities, but doable. With all the tier 5 abilities you can quickly get huge chains, it's pretty awesome fighting like a whole stronghold lol

[acesn8s]

I've picked up a couple tier 5 skills now. The quicker combo skill coupled with the double execution really helps. Last night I took out the last of the War Chiefs, now there is only Ratbag. I'm making my way across the map to the unlocked campaign mission. I'm guessing this is what will get me to the next area of the map.

That is a great rune. I have one where I get 25% health for a flurry kill. Once I unlocked the flip stun it's made the group fights a little easier.

[Morgoth]

Honey Cups, on 06 September 2017 - 09:13 PM, said:

Destiny 2

How bad are the microtransactions? The little I've read says very bad, which makes it an absolute no go for me.

[Silencer]

Morgoth, on 07 September 2017 - 10:37 AM, said:

Honey Cups, on 06 September 2017 - 09:13 PM, said:

Destiny 2

How bad are the microtransactions? The little I've read says very bad, which makes it an absolute no go for me.

Really? Aside from the recently discovered bullshit that cosmetic shaders are one-use (bear in mind these do get dropped as loot as well - it's just rubbish that they've changed it since D1: it's like one step forward with allowing you to apply them to individual areas, and two steps back making them single use and thus encouraging players to buy them for real money) there shouldn't be any major microtransaction shenanigans in Destiny 2.

Like, don't get me wrong, I hate Eververse and all it stands for, but it was legitimately cosmetic items only and everything was available through in-game loot drops as well. As far as microtransactions go that's about as good as it gets except for, you know, not having that garbage in the game.

[Malankazooie]

Isn't that Eververse vendor one of the early NPC interactions you have once you reach that social space? If that is true, then that is telling. Bungie is really shitting on the consumer if you ask me. Their foray into an mmo shooter called Destiny didn't go so well, even though they made some improvements with their expansions over the year 1 - year 3 release cycle. So they say, enough of that, forget all the time you invested into that and instead pay $60 for Destiny 2. Which by all accounts is the same old same old. Except maybe the story is easier to follow and some minor tweaks here and there. I dunno man, I think there are a lot of devoted fans that are going to feel bamboozled. It's a shame. I'll probably cave and buy it eventually though, because sadly when it comes to video games, I'm a mark.

[Silencer]

Malankazooie, on 07 September 2017 - 01:58 PM, said:

Isn't that Eververse vendor one of the early NPC interactions you have once you reach that social space? If that is true, then that is telling. Bungie is really shitting on the consumer if you ask me. Their foray into an mmo shooter called Destiny didn't go so well, even though they made some improvements with their expansions over the year 1 - year 3 release cycle. So they say, enough of that, forget all the time you invested into that and instead pay $60 for Destiny 2. Which by all accounts is the same old same old. Except maybe the story is easier to follow and some minor tweaks here and there. I dunno man, I think there are a lot of devoted fans that are going to feel bamboozled. It's a shame. I'll probably cave and buy it eventually though, because sadly when it comes to video games, I'm a mark.

Oh, I am right there with you mate, the only reason I'm getting the game is because cruising around capping enemies with my best friend is going to be awesome, as always.

As much as it pains me to admit, Bungie is a shell of its former self. They've sold out to Activision. So while I happily lay the blame for rubbish like Eververse, crap DLC, and the complete mess that was D1's story squarely at Activision's feet - old Bungie didn't put up with that. Old Bungie didn't screw over their community for a few dollars more. But now it's different. And that both pisses me off and depresses me. Doesn't help that I'm buying the damn game anyway but still.

[Silencer]

Honey Cups, on 07 September 2017 - 05:27 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 07 September 2017 - 10:37 AM, said:

Honey Cups, on 06 September 2017 - 09:13 PM, said:

Destiny 2

How bad are the microtransactions? The little I've read says very bad, which makes it an absolute no go for me.

Tess is one of the very 1st characters to get to the Farm. This should tell you something about that lol. I mentioned it in the thread yesterday. The shear number of things she has is overwhelming to scroll through. Some of it even looks really fucking cool. Shame that people actually buy this stuff. Shame on game that they don't do a Warframe type approach where everything can be gotten through grinding instead of the shitty RNG thing when you do get a pack.

I've also been informed that Eververse also sells mods for your armor that decrease cooldowns on your abilities and the like. This is a bridge too far. Especially given BK's complaints in the Destiny thread about it being a slow process naturally.
Cosmetics get a free pass for being microtransactions - though they shouldn't - but selling things that impact gameplay is bad. It's greedy. And it's verging on "pay to win". Putting in game mechanics and pacing that deliberately makes real world transactions more appealing is when you become a total sellout.

Dammit, Bungie.

[Morgoth]

If you read this excellent article from Waypoint (https://waypoint.vic...an-oral-history) telling the story of Bungie and Halo from begining to end, you'll find Bungie always was half a step away from being a complete train wreck. Also, from what I gather it wasn't Activision that decided on scrapping the original story of Destiny 1 mere months before release.

Sad to say Bungie seems to have been a terrible company filled with really talented people and when they split off from Microsoft they weren't able to retain enough of those people. Except for the leadership, which seems to have been the worst part of the company from the start.

[Silencer]

In that regard Bungie isn't special - most games devs seem to be a half step away from collapsing, lol. (I'll read the article later though)

But it was Activision who caused the scrapping of the story line. It wasn't a decision, but they had hard deadlines that would penalise the crap out of Bungie if they missed them, and part of that is what caused Staten to leave. When the man with the plan and the vision for your story walks, you can either have a half done excellent job that you try to finish with other people on time and ruin, or you can pare it back and go with something different and simple that you know you'll get done. If there was more flexibility from the publisher (who has a record for being shit and enforcing shitty practices with dlc and microtransactions, as well as riding devs hard) then not only might the lead developer not have quit at a crucial time, but they might have been able to salvage the situation properly as well.

It's pretty telling when most of the talent leaves that something major changed. And the biggest shift was them going under Activision who, from what I can tell, took the greedy corporate side of Bungie and told them to be more ambitious. XD
But that's why I distinguish Old Bungie from New Bungie. The used to have talent. And they used to listen to that talent, ultimately. And it worked.
Sadly they make way more money with this mediocre trash and hostile, anti-consumer rubbish. So they're missing the fact that their games are hollow and kinda average now.

[Morgoth]

Silencer, on 08 September 2017 - 07:29 AM, said:

In that regard Bungie isn't special - most games devs seem to be a half step away from collapsing, lol. (I'll read the article later though)

But it was Activision who caused the scrapping of the story line. It wasn't a decision, but they had hard deadlines that would penalise the crap out of Bungie if they missed them, and part of that is what caused Staten to leave. When the man with the plan and the vision for your story walks, you can either have a half done excellent job that you try to finish with other people on time and ruin, or you can pare it back and go with something different and simple that you know you'll get done. If there was more flexibility from the publisher (who has a record for being shit and enforcing shitty practices with dlc and microtransactions, as well as riding devs hard) then not only might the lead developer not have quit at a crucial time, but they might have been able to salvage the situation properly as well.

It's pretty telling when most of the talent leaves that something major changed. And the biggest shift was them going under Activision who, from what I can tell, took the greedy corporate side of Bungie and told them to be more ambitious. XD
But that's why I distinguish Old Bungie from New Bungie. The used to have talent. And they used to listen to that talent, ultimately. And it worked.
Sadly they make way more money with this mediocre trash and hostile, anti-consumer rubbish. So they're missing the fact that their games are hollow and kinda average now.

It might be that it's all just hearsay, but from what I gathered from a Giantbomb podcast I think, Staten walked because Bungie decided to scrap his entire storyline. Supposedly because it was too epic, bombastic, or whatever. With just a few months left before launch they hastily cut and pasted something together and pretended it was the plan all along.

[Silencer]

Yeah - it was "too epic". That got thrown around a lot. See, it's partly right. But what they mean by "too epic" is that Staten didn't wasn't his storyline cut into three pieces to be sold as pre-made DLC.
Basically, pressure from Activision was to split it up into three parts like we got, but Staten was against doing that because it ruined story pacing and such. Note the timeline of the announcement between Staten quitting and the two DLC.

Sure, we don't know exactly what went down but enough leaked that, combined with the timeline, we can be pretty sure that Staten walked before they actually scrapped the story. Plus every single move since that point has been very Activision.
Also, this all makes sense with the problems with the timeline imposed by Activision. It's why the vision we got of Destiny early on (up to and including vertical slice previews) was of a much larger and deeper world. The Cosmodrome was meant to be huge! Instead we got something barely the size of two large Halo maps. (to be fair they're slightly bigger than that but seeing as half the maps are just traversal spaces and devoid of anything happening, which you just blast through on Sparrows, they don't really count)