[Malankazooie]

Alternative Goose, on 26 April 2018 - 11:31 AM, said:

I've been switching between playing God of War and Far Cry 5 the past week.

God of War is, as the reviews suggest, awesome. I think it does get a bit tedious at times, when you're pulled through long stretches of combat, that just seem to pad out the space in between the significant story bits and big fights. However, there's no part of that game that doesn't feel like it received a lot of attention and polish.

Far Cry 5, especially in comparison to God of War, is a serious let down. I've often heard people complain about Far Cry games being copy paste content, an open world full of padding. I've never really felt like that before this game. Playing Far Cry, looking at the AI behaviour, listening to the dialogue, completing missions I just get this feeling this game was made on a tight budget that demanded tons of content and afforded little time to actually give anything meaning. There's few weapons, few vehicles, re-used abilities - It just feels like there's no depth to this game at all, gameplay wise or story wise.

I have lots of fun shooting people in the face but the story does nothing for me and I think the open world feels less interesting than 3 and 4. It's a real disappointment since I LOVE Far Cry 4.

Still I will finish the game because it supplies the mindless kind of fun I enjoy out of shooters.

That's disappointing about FC5. I really enjoyed FC3 and was hoping FC5 was good and was looking forward to playing it, particularly when the setting and story were revealed. I'll probably still play it eventually, just will probably wait until it drops by half in price. But yeah, your comments about it depress me.

[Gothos]

Mentalist, on 26 April 2018 - 11:33 AM, said:

Yeah, I meant a box copy. I have no intention of dealing with Blizz directly, and this is one of those cases where the more money goes to the middlemen, the happier I am.

Psi storms can be tricky, but Guardians out-range high templars by a lot, and they like to auto-target them, so it's rarely been a problem for me.

Defiler is the one unit I need tobecome more versatile with, as I virtually never use them.

Why the hate for Blizzard?

With Psi, I just meant that mutas have a tendency to stack, running face first into a templar could be pretty disastrous

I never used Defilers in SC1, tbh, and I mostly played Zerg... they just don't quite cut it.

[Mentalist]

Their stance on "always online" during the lead-up to D3. All the BS about it being "necessary"... except then consoles don't have it.

I was also very pissed off in Nov 2010 when I booted up WoL for the first time in 3 months ( I took an extended break from all gaming when I first started law school), sat through 3 hours of updating, and then was told unequivocally that I can no longer use my account to play offline, and I can only do that as a "guest" . I was living in rez at the time, which was an old building, with very spotty internet, so this move was pretty inconvenient. More than that, I generally have no time for devs/pubs who try to convince me "games as a service" is the best thing ever.

I appreciate that Blizz is a high-class dev, and one of very few delivering a quality single-player RTS content, which is why I'm buying SCII. But their attempts to herd all their users online (as opposed to their older games, where users could do whatever they wanted, once the game was installed) is smth I strongly dislike, so I'd rather give some money to a local retailer, then buy it direct.

[Gothos]

As far as the industry big guns go these days, Blue's still pretty client-oriented. They also show the ability to learn from their mistakes and improve (removing the RMAH, Legion vs Warlords of Draenor). Being a long-time client of their MMO extortion racket, I have the feeling that money given to Blizzard has more of a chance to end up fuelling quality content and support rather than a new yacht for Ion or Brode.

Plus, no pay2win and adamant about it. That's got to count for something.

[Mentalist]

Yeah, see, I grew up on Blizz (I used any internet time in high school to follow up development of WarCraft III), but when WoW happened, we kinda parted ways.

I came back for SCII ( I bought WoL retail the day it came out), and I was following D3 until they announced it was always online. All their new stuff (Overwatch, Hearthstone, that moba thing) is stuff that's just not for me.

There will never be a WC4. So SCII is the only Blizz IP I still have any passing interest in.

[Maark Abbott]

Gothos, on 26 April 2018 - 09:12 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 25 April 2018 - 02:20 PM, said:

I'm looking into doing that to Reavers, since they are the only thing capable of stopping my 'ling tide. Snipe the reavers with Queens, watch stuff burn, use mutas for air support.

In related news, apparently SCII is going out of stock everywhere, so I ordered 1 of the 2 remaining online copies today, It should be here tomorrow, but I probably won't get into it until I'm finished Brood War. And the SCI is on temp hold as I'm checking out some custom campaigns for AoK HD, since I kinda promised a few of the creators to give some feedback this week...

Just watch out so that you don't lose 60 mutalisks to two psionic storms

How can an online copy be out of stock? Unless you mean ordering a box copy online?

Maark Abbott, on 26 April 2018 - 05:39 AM, said:

Brood War is HARD. The Zerg campaign is hard as balls, especially when you get to the second-to-last mission on Char.

I'd recommend cores of Lings / Lisks backed up with 3/4 Ultras, Guardians and Mutas. Hydralisks are super important due to being AA units as the Terran AI loves to spam Valks. Queens are marginally helpful to snipe expensive units (siege tanks are the main danger beyond other Zerg units) and spy on the enemy, and Devourers are really handy for Plague as it mitigates the fact that your units are squishy. You can try Lurkers but as soon as one hits an AI unit the AI will autocast the swirly reveal thing and they'll get fisted.

Brood War basically requires you to play it as if it was a multiplayer game in terms of efficiency and output; plus, on Hard, the enemy teams have more or less infinite resources from the get-go so you can't cripple their economy.
4-6 Lurkers can obliterate terran infantry formations even if revealed, though some may die... Which just emphasizes the most core secret to winning in this game: create localized advantages and crush enemies with less casualties than an even fight.

Brood War doesn't have selectable difficulty - it's an old school Blizzard RTS in that the AI ramps up in difficulty level with each mission. What makes Brood War hard is that enemies begin with pre-constructed bases and have infinite resources (as you say) so whilst you're teching up, they're drawing their plans against you.

[Mentalist]

Maark Abbott, on 27 April 2018 - 07:47 AM, said:

Gothos, on 26 April 2018 - 09:12 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 25 April 2018 - 02:20 PM, said:

I'm looking into doing that to Reavers, since they are the only thing capable of stopping my 'ling tide. Snipe the reavers with Queens, watch stuff burn, use mutas for air support.

In related news, apparently SCII is going out of stock everywhere, so I ordered 1 of the 2 remaining online copies today, It should be here tomorrow, but I probably won't get into it until I'm finished Brood War. And the SCI is on temp hold as I'm checking out some custom campaigns for AoK HD, since I kinda promised a few of the creators to give some feedback this week...

Just watch out so that you don't lose 60 mutalisks to two psionic storms

How can an online copy be out of stock? Unless you mean ordering a box copy online?

Maark Abbott, on 26 April 2018 - 05:39 AM, said:

Brood War is HARD. The Zerg campaign is hard as balls, especially when you get to the second-to-last mission on Char.

I'd recommend cores of Lings / Lisks backed up with 3/4 Ultras, Guardians and Mutas. Hydralisks are super important due to being AA units as the Terran AI loves to spam Valks. Queens are marginally helpful to snipe expensive units (siege tanks are the main danger beyond other Zerg units) and spy on the enemy, and Devourers are really handy for Plague as it mitigates the fact that your units are squishy. You can try Lurkers but as soon as one hits an AI unit the AI will autocast the swirly reveal thing and they'll get fisted.

Brood War basically requires you to play it as if it was a multiplayer game in terms of efficiency and output; plus, on Hard, the enemy teams have more or less infinite resources from the get-go so you can't cripple their economy.
4-6 Lurkers can obliterate terran infantry formations even if revealed, though some may die... Which just emphasizes the most core secret to winning in this game: create localized advantages and crush enemies with less casualties than an even fight.

Brood War doesn't have selectable difficulty - it's an old school Blizzard RTS in that the AI ramps up in difficulty level with each mission. What makes Brood War hard is that enemies begin with pre-constructed bases and have infinite resources (as you say) so whilst you're teching up, they're drawing their plans against you.

This.

And Zerg suck @ turtling while you tech up enough to become a real threat.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 30 April 2018 - 11:27 AM

[Maark Abbott]

Mentalist, on 27 April 2018 - 11:55 AM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 27 April 2018 - 07:47 AM, said:

Gothos, on 26 April 2018 - 09:12 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 25 April 2018 - 02:20 PM, said:

I'm looking into doing that to Reavers, since they are the only thing capable of stopping my 'ling tide. Snipe the reavers with Queens, watch stuff burn, use mutas for air support.

In related news, apparently SCII is going out of stock everywhere, so I ordered 1 of the 2 remaining online copies today, It should be here tomorrow, but I probably won't get into it until I'm finished Brood War. And the SCI is on temp hold as I'm checking out some custom campaigns for AoK HD, since I kinda promised a few of the creators to give some feedback this week...

Just watch out so that you don't lose 60 mutalisks to two psionic storms

How can an online copy be out of stock? Unless you mean ordering a box copy online?

Maark Abbott, on 26 April 2018 - 05:39 AM, said:

Brood War is HARD. The Zerg campaign is hard as balls, especially when you get to the second-to-last mission on Char.

I'd recommend cores of Lings / Lisks backed up with 3/4 Ultras, Guardians and Mutas. Hydralisks are super important due to being AA units as the Terran AI loves to spam Valks. Queens are marginally helpful to snipe expensive units (siege tanks are the main danger beyond other Zerg units) and spy on the enemy, and Devourers are really handy for Plague as it mitigates the fact that your units are squishy. You can try Lurkers but as soon as one hits an AI unit the AI will autocast the swirly reveal thing and they'll get fisted.

Brood War basically requires you to play it as if it was a multiplayer game in terms of efficiency and output; plus, on Hard, the enemy teams have more or less infinite resources from the get-go so you can't cripple their economy.
4-6 Lurkers can obliterate terran infantry formations even if revealed, though some may die... Which just emphasizes the most core secret to winning in this game: create localized advantages and crush enemies with less casualties than an even fight.

Brood War doesn't have selectable difficulty - it's an old school Blizzard RTS in that the AI ramps up in difficulty level with each mission. What makes Brood War hard is that enemies begin with pre-constructed bases and have infinite resources (as you say) so whilst you're teching up, they're drawing their plans against you.

This.

And Zergs suck @ hurtling while you tech up enough to become a real threat.

The main issue is that in this Char mission, the Terrans also have pocket Zerg on their side too, so you have to contend with both M&Ms and 'ling rushes which progress up to Hydra/Mut rushes with siege tanks behind them.

[Mentalist]

Bah! Another battle with Jeanne in Ch 14!

I hope to God she actually dies this time...

Also, it's so tragic the sequels became Nintendo exclusives...

Update: beat it. Had to stop on the next level though, b/c I can only handle one control scheme switch per evening.

Also, I HATE having to use WASD. My fingers keep wandering and pressing the keys around them. With the arrow keys you can't have that problem. Why? BECAUSE THERE ARE NO KEYS AROUND THEM.

So instead, I spent an hour and a half to beat Zerg 9. It was fairly easy. Once again, not sure if AI's been nerfed, or I've simply gotten better at my macro due to all those hours of AoK. I mean, I actually build multiple hatcheries iin my main base now, which I didn't do when I was younger, and I focus on producing workers first, but still. The first of 3 'toss tribes didn't do anything serious offensively beyond probing my defenses with some zealots. If they didn't have those damn Reavers (which are immune to Spawn Broodling, sadly), I could've overrun them with 'lings alone. As it was, I had to bring in some mutas to snipe the reavers first. Still, that one base guards 2 expansion sites.

Unlike my previous attempts, I was able to demolish the second tribe easily, and set up serious defenses around the actual crystal site, and actually take the fight to Orange, probing their defenses rather than waiting for them to attack me.

Hmm, ionno. Guessing that Zerg 10 and 'toss 7 & 8 (where you have to face more teched 'toss) will be a real indication. Maybe?

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 02 May 2018 - 01:19 PM

[Gothos]

Mentalist, on 26 April 2018 - 04:29 PM, said:

Yeah, see, I grew up on Blizz (I used any internet time in high school to follow up development of WarCraft III), but when WoW happened, we kinda parted ways.

I came back for SCII ( I bought WoL retail the day it came out), and I was following D3 until they announced it was always online. All their new stuff (Overwatch, Hearthstone, that moba thing) is stuff that's just not for me.

There will never be a WC4. So SCII is the only Blizz IP I still have any passing interest in.

I grew up with Diablo 1 and Warcraft II, you could say , Diablo 2 is the game that made me convince my parents to get internet at home, and I absolutely LOVED Warcraft III to bits, but I guess the difference was that since the day I knew WoW was going to happen, I wanted to play it and I was *almost* (looking at you, Warlords of Farmville!) never disappointed with that product since. Diablo III was something of a mixed bag, though they fixed a lot of the issues by RoS (still, pre-RoS it was definitely their worst game ever... which is still better than anything Ubisoft ever made ). SC2 I found incredible on the gameplay side, but severely underwhelming on the story side. Guess I was a bit disappointed.

I haven't played Overwatch or HotS, with Hearthstone I follow the game but I don't really play it myself, don't want to spend that kind of time or money to build some decent decks - but I have plenty of respect for that game, even if I don't like the model (buying packs with random cards and no trading, that is).

I guess the always-online thing was never a problem for me with Blue, while it was a problem with some other companies (HoMM6 with Uplay for one due to server instability)... Ah well.

[Mentalist]

For me, WoW came out just as I was graduating high school, and idea of paying subscription fees for a game seemed ludicrous at the time. So I was basically upset they killed WarCraft.

Then a few years into Uni, once I ran out of RTSs to play, I discovered Deus Ex, then Bloodlines, and from those "shooter with powers" I eventually made my way into "proper" RPGs.

[Nicodimas]

I started playing with ICE: Gemstone 3 in 93-94 Prodigy—>AoL days 2.4 baud modem (upgrade!) it was 10 buck/hour to play a game. Then swapped to AOL for 3 bucks an hour. That game made me realize I’m a gamer.

Sidebar : my dad well found a couple hundred dollar bill he owed wow did I get in trouble.

So yeah I’m old. If anyone played .. made Legend status. Now that was a hard game to level in and still to this day offered the best online gaming experience ever. Maybe it was because I was a kid, but damn that game kicked ass.

Yeah a MUD.
https://en.m.wikiped...iki/GemStone_IV

This post has been edited by Nicodimas: 04 May 2018 - 03:08 AM

[Gothos]

Mentalist, on 04 May 2018 - 12:25 AM, said:

For me, WoW came out just as I was graduating high school, and idea of paying subscription fees for a game seemed ludicrous at the time. So I was basically upset they killed WarCraft.

Heh. It came out when I was at first year of uni, and it took more than half of my monthly allowance but I still did it
That said, Warcraft killed? It's never been bigger. Unless you mean just the RTS series... well, some people still play, but yeah. I don't think there will be another.

[Mentalist]

Yeah, obviously I mean the RTS.

In other news: after spending another hour and a half on comprehensively beating Zerg 10, I'm almost 100% convinced the AI's been nerfed.

Only remaining test would be Protoss7, which I could basically never win unless I cheesed and sent the DTs to rush the enemy nexus, because a straight-up defense and fight (against 2 'toss players who both have Carriers and Arbiters, while I just have scouts) was always a losing proposition.

Meanwhile, I gotta finish off the final boss in Bayonetta, and the last "phase" of that fight gets really annoying, real fast.

Edit: all right, "congratulations! You have unlocked Hard difficulty!" Well, that's something that'll wait until the summer.

Meanwhile, I think I'll check out the Metro games. I haven't read the novels, so this'll be interesting. GOG DOES have a Uki version of the game, apparently, so that'll be neat to check out.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 05 May 2018 - 03:36 PM

[Aptorian]

Yllana, on 03 May 2018 - 08:14 AM, said:

started the first Witcher book. I don't know if it's because of the German translation, but the language kinda jumps between very modern and archaic. Like a fairy-tale on speed. And I'm pretty sure Geralt doesn't talk this much in the games. XD

Finished God of War earlier this week. A truly superb gameplay and narrative experience. I want to mull on the game a bit more but right now I think GOW might be the best game I've ever played. At least of its type. Sure, it has lots of quirks you could criticize but I think overall it's an amazing achievement in terms of narrative and gameplay design.

Still playing Far Cry 5. Not really in a hurry to finish this game up. It's just not very good. Everything feels like it's step down from Far Cry 3 and 4. Fewer guns, fewer animals, more streamlined less challenging design, horrendous writing, poor AI, cheap animations, lots of reused assets. I don't know if they had a smaller budget this time around or if something went wrong half way through and they had to do a ton of last minute choices that led to what ever that game suffers from. What ever the case, compared to something like God of War, Far Cry 5 seems cheap and disappointing.

Also playing Rime. I got it "free" with PS Plus. After the problems it had after it's reveal I didn't really think much of the game. But I actually think it lives up to that initial E3 reveal. It's beautiful and full of atmosphere in a minimalist kind of way.

It reminds me of a mix between Journey and the Witness. The puzzles aren't particularly complicated but the way they tie the world together is pretty creative. Overall it's very colorful and whimsical.

This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 06 May 2018 - 09:18 AM

[Aptorian]

I've been playing some COD:WW2 multiplayer today. It's surprisingly good.

I haven't really been able to get really into the multiplayer since Modern Warfare 2 because I don't like the maps but WW2 seems pretty good. They're small to medium sized unlike the enourmous ones from earlier games. Not that many nooks and crannies. Still a bit too many doorways but many of the maps have better funnels this time around.

I'm loving the upgrade system. They did away with that thing where you can only have one or two attachments. Now you can have 4! So you can design the weapon exactly to your liking. And there's tons of upgrades and weapon versions.

I can't imagine I will unlock a tenth of what the game offers but it's fun.

[Silencer]

Alternative Goose, on 07 May 2018 - 11:13 AM, said:

I've been playing some COD:WW2 multiplayer today. It's surprisingly good.

I haven't really been able to get really into the multiplayer since Modern Warfare 2 because I don't like the maps but WW2 seems pretty good. They're small to medium sized unlike the enourmous ones from earlier games. Not that many nooks and crannies. Still a bit too many doorways but many of the maps have better funnels this time around.

I'm loving the upgrade system. They did away with that thing where you can only have one or two attachments. Now you can have 4! So you can design the weapon exactly to your liking. And there's tons of upgrades and weapon versions.

I can't imagine I will unlock a tenth of what the game offers but it's fun.

So what you're saying is...that for the conflict before weapon attachments were really a "thing"...they finally allowed you to put whatever attachments on your weapon you want?


Sounds legit.


>.>

[Aptorian]

Played some Destiny 1 today. I played the beta on PS3 and did not like it at all. But I decided to borrow it for my PS4 just to check it out, if nothing else to get an idea about the story and word before I check out Destiny 2.

Destiny 1 is not a very good game. Saying it's a terrible game would be dishonest I think. From another studio, maybe a mid tier one, this would be a fine first effort on a new franchise but as a game from Bungie? This is subpar bordering on embarrassing. The presentation is horrific. Very little story. Clunky mission structure. No real carrot or attempt at immersing the player.

Still there is a kernel there that interests me. The lack of story makes the game slightly mysterious and all those MMO trappings are curious. So many weird currencies and systems.

[Mentalist]

Been having a busy and not great week. So instead of starting Metro and dealing with some heavy emotional post-apoc stuff, I'm playing something utterly brainless: Hard Reset Delux

I'm a bit out of practice with good ol' circle-strafe shooters. Still, blasting my way through a vaguely cyperpunkish, vaguely European city of some sort is a delight. So much neon, elctricity arcs, and flammable explosives. enemies drop health packs and 2 ammo types for a veritable feast of RGB fireworks.

Of course, the levels are contrived as hell. Half the backtracking I' forced to do could have easily been avoided, if my character only knew how to crouch or go prone and crawl. but, alas, he can't (I'm guessing he's got some kind of cyber-implants that prevent him from bending)
After 2 hours, the story is almost non-existant, though I think there might be some sort of twist coming.

Still, as far as brainless shooty goes, this is pretty therapeutic. It's no Half-Life 2, but solid enough.

[Khellendros]

Alternative Goose, on 08 May 2018 - 08:28 PM, said:

Played some Destiny 1 today. I played the beta on PS3 and did not like it at all. But I decided to borrow it for my PS4 just to check it out, if nothing else to get an idea about the story and word before I check out Destiny 2.

Destiny 1 is not a very good game. Saying it's a terrible game would be dishonest I think. From another studio, maybe a mid tier one, this would be a fine first effort on a new franchise but as a game from Bungie? This is subpar bordering on embarrassing. The presentation is horrific. Very little story. Clunky mission structure. No real carrot or attempt at immersing the player.

Still there is a kernel there that interests me. The lack of story makes the game slightly mysterious and all those MMO trappings are curious. So many weird currencies and systems.

Are you playing the original, or with the Taken King expansion?

Because if it's the former, then you should know that tonnes was stripped out from the game and made available only if you have TTK.

But yes, the original campaign story is very poor. They entirely changed direction about a year before release, and various parts were cut and reassembled in odd ways.

Unfortunately, they seem to have done the same thing in Destiny 2.

Destiny actually has a really intriguing and deep lore, but very little of it made it into the games themselves. Instead, it's all in Bungie's game-external grimoire cards, websites, apps, and now webcomics (the last of which are bad and retcon a number of things for no reason).

Unfortunately x2, Bungie seem to have made it their mission recently to pronounce lore just 'rumour and folklore' so that they can pay no attention to it, and make whatever changes they want.

This post has been edited by Khellendros: 09 May 2018 - 07:07 AM