[Serenity]

Obdigore, on 12 November 2019 - 06:05 PM, said:

Serenity, on 12 November 2019 - 04:54 PM, said:

Obdigore, on 12 November 2019 - 01:39 PM, said:

Serenity, on 12 November 2019 - 01:09 PM, said:

I'm still playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and will be for a loooooong time I expect. Can't believe a friend of mine is on his fourth play through

Anyhow, it's annoying that this game was knobbled by being released in an incomplete/bugged to hell state and got average/poor reviews as a result, because now it's been patched and balanced to a point where it is as slick as hell and an absolute joy to play, plus the Kingdom management adds another level of complexity and fun that I heven't really encountered in other games of this type. Love it.

My biggest problem with this game, in 2 different playthroughs, is you don't have time to do all the quests and all the kingdom management aspects, which frustrates my gaming OCD. I believe that is very true to the Kingmaker module, but it's about my only real complaint of the game.

Yeah, I can see the beginnings of that. These sorts of games usually cripple me with indecision, which this one certainly does with the character builds (usually takes me the best part of an hour just to go through the level up decisions), but the kingdom management doesn't bother me so much (so far) as I'm enjoying having to make those calls.

Yea as you get further in, there are what seem like very important kingdom 'opportunities/threats' and of course you only have so many people in your council, and each one can only do a single thing at once. Plus there is the side quests/main quests, and then you even get to a point where a couple of your party members run off, and you have to choose which order you go after them.

It feels more realistic, but also more punishing in that effect, over something like the Divinity games, or even more arcad-y games like Dragon Age or Mass Effect, or even The Outer Worlds, which has the same kind of binary choices, but you make each choice, it isn't a question of 'I have 5 opportunities and 5 threats to deal with, and 3 available councilors, each of which can deal with one thing. Well fuck.

I've been told its very true to the source material in this regard, which is cool, and great if that's what you're looking for, but it wasn't something I enjoyed. The gameplay and story and all that was great.

I genuinely don't know how I'll feel about that at the moment. My characters have only just hit level 7, around 40 hours in. I'm generally not someone who feels the need to 100% games, though, so it may not bother me so much unless it completely screws up something I'm trying to do. But then it might be fun to try and figure those problems out.

At the moment I'm really enjoying how this gives the game such a different feel to others of the same ilk, and that it wants me to make those difficult choices. I just had a guy from Pitax turn up in the throne room and start scoffing at the state of my kingdom. I gave him pretty short shrift. Can't wait to see how that comes back to bite me on the arse later on

[Not a Sheep]

Holy shit...this is quite the tense start to The Last of Us! Wow it’s freaky!

[Aptorian]

That game goes places.

[Khellendros]

I also only played the Last of Us for the first time quite recently. An incredible game, both the intro and the ending have stayed firmly lodged in my mind (and the middle ain’t half bad either).

[Mentalist]

welp, the devs from Forgotten Empires confirmed on Steam forums that AoE and AoK DE are in fact, playable on Win 7 (though any problems won't be supported, cuz they're not officially supported).

So I guess I'm diving back into AoK again this weekend. There go another few hundred hours of my life. No need to wait for that Win 10 upgrade anymore.

Edit: at least 2 of the Forgotten campaigns (Alaric and the Incas) were re-made from the ground up. RIP my free time. (EDIT: It's actually all of the Forgotten campaigns, it seems)

Also, my God, does this game look pretty.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 21 November 2019 - 05:18 PM

[Not a Sheep]

Fallen Order is hitting all the right booger eating demands. My have to thread before end of day. Looks so good

[Mentalist]

So Alaric campaign is totally different. Only the siege of Rome map is based on the one in HD, but most of the RPG elements and trigger-fests are stripped out and we are left with a much more coherent scenario.

Scen 5 is actually really tough. Forced a bunch of restarts, because turtling flat out doesn't work. I had to snipe the Goth enemy with my starting units, pretty much, cuz otherwise the waves of heavy post-Imp infantry would just crush me.

Started Attila and again, on Moderate I was getting my ass handed to me, until I bumped the game speed down to "slow". Then I was able to take out the Romans and play this normally.

[Serenity]

Made a bit more progress on Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Divinity: Original Sin 2 over the weekend.

When I'm away from the pc I've returned to The Banner Saga, finally. I started it on pc years ago but it didn't like my graphics card for some reason, so I never got far. Got the trilogy on Switch last Christmas and played a good few hours but then got distracted by something shiny (think it was Dead Cells, another game I've been playing again) and then drifted away from it. It's so good, though. I've been feeling a little burnt out on JRPGs recently and so it's really hitting the spot. I love its atmosphere.

[Mentalist]

GOG released Warlords III yesterday. So I went to bed at 3 AM, after playing through the first campaign scenario as Lord Bane out for revenge.

This winter's gonna be all about 90s strategy nostalgia, not to mention Warcraft III Reforged is on the horizon, and it looks jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

[Morgoth]

I'm still on Outer Worlds, with some visits to a new game of Warhammer Total War 2. They've done an Empire overhaul, so I figured I'd finally finish a long campaign with the Empire as the Arch Lector.

[Traveller]

Got distracted from Outer Worlds, as I put Breath of the Wild on and got absorbed immediately. Beat the second Divine Beast, found a dragon up on a mountain, and got some helpful climbing gear.

Then went trekking south into unexplored land; seems mostly rainy and tropical at the moment which is a nice change from lava and boiling rock.

[Gorefest]

Apparently Paths of Exile is getting a big overhaul? Any players here who know what it is about? I used to play it quite a lot but haven't touched it in over a year.

I finished Breath of the Wild the other week. Got to the end before I fully realised it was the end, so after finishing it the first time I went back to get all my memory locations and most of the shrines ticked, plus get the full ancient armour, then redid the boss fight. I actually struggled more the second time around, surprisingly.

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 22 November 2019 - 12:37 PM

[Malankazooie]

Nioh is free for PSN subscribers. I've downloaded and won't be able to get into playing until the weekend. But was wondering what I can expect? I believe it's in the same vein as Dark Souls and those types of games, so I'm guessing challenge frustration might be something to get reacquainted with?

[Aptorian]

I remember hearing that it's more forgiving than the souls games. Might be level or area based as well.

[Not a Sheep]

Malankazooie, on 22 November 2019 - 07:28 PM, said:

Nioh is free for PSN subscribers. I've downloaded and won't be able to get into playing until the weekend. But was wondering what I can expect? I believe it's in the same vein as Dark Souls and those types of games, so I'm guessing challenge frustration might be something to get reacquainted with?

Hey Malankazooie I to have mentioned this is the free game of the month and that I would be downloading it! Isn’t that totally crazy?

[Traveller]

BotW. Just beat 3rd divine beast. Game is surprisingly easy, but it makes it accessible to the kids.

It's good fun anyway, I can now see that without the exploring side you could totally finish this in no time at all.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 29 November 2019 - 11:04 AM

[Serenity]

Have you tried Master Mode? It's in the DLC. Includes higher level enemies and they regain health if your don't take them down quickly. Might be worth a look if you want the game to be more challenging.


I'm currently a few hours into The Banner Saga 2. Love these games so much. I'm also playing Celeste, which is just wonderful.

[Mentalist]

Started Darksiders Genesis.

It is good.

[Mentalist]

To expand on Genesis: it's basically just another Darksiders game, but in isometric perspective. Once you start unlocking War's move-set, he basically plays exactly like in Darksiders 1, just with a different camera angle.

Strife is a twin-stick shooter character and his attempts at comedy are very hit and miss. But he's quick and he plays a lot like Death when you equipped claws (his melee weapons are a pair of daggers, though he obviously mostly relies on his pistols). Enemy variety is nice, levels are pretty varied, loads of collectibles to hoard.

Unfortunately, the fixed camera doesn't always play nice with tricky jumps and M&K controls. Some jump sequences can be pretty rage-inducing, because the collision detection on ledges and invisible walls is kinda finicky, imho. I like that Darksiders gives the horsemen these aethereal wings aping my boy Raziel for some short-term gliding, but if you're gonna rip off the gliding mechanic, then please do it properly. The way it's implemented now, it works sometimes, and for varied amounts of time, and it can just be.... aaaargh. Isometric camera and pixel-perfect platforming are not a good match. Loads of trial and error on the jumps- thankfully the respawns are basically instant.

One thing I gotta praise is the portals. Just like I and II, there's a portal-making tool, and some collectables rely on making progressively higher leaps. The conservation of momentum as you jump back and forth through these portals really works well. More games need to rip off portal physics puzzles.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 02 June 2020 - 09:38 PM

[Morgoth]

Gwent on mobile is surprisingly fun. I've been playing for about a month and not at any point felt the need to spend any actual money.