[Malankazooie]

BOO! Halloween is just around the corner. Have you started planning yet?


Cool cave painting. Let me know if you guys find it. *hint - the name of the mask. *wink-wink-nudge-nudge.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Apranik". Cool Defend the Spot mission, I feel I could've probably beaten all the enemies instead of building the Wonder and holding out.

Tried another custom campaign, "Arabian Conquest" , but the second scenario didn't really grab me. So currently playing a Belisarius campaign instead; it's more varied than standard Build & Destroy, and that makes it more interesting, for obvious reasons.

[Serenity]

Addicted to Ys IX: Monstrum Nox at the moment. I started it on Switch but then, um, switched to pc. The pc port is fantastic. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is one of my all-time favourite games but I'm starting to think Ys IX is just as good, if not even better.

[Mentalist]

Crushed the Vandals last night (Belisarius scenario 3). The map design definitely gets cramped towards the end,. Taking the optional base on Sardinia, as well as the final mountain hideout of the Vandal king took way too many tries, and too many men due to narrow paths, littered with eyecandy objects and trees that broke pathfinding for my troops. But I got there in the end.

Now I need to take Rome back from the Goths and then go on to take their capital in Ravenna. Gave it a casual try last night, and Rome is huge, hard to defend, and its resource placements are awkward and unwieldy. This might take a few tries.

Edit (Sept 4th): did Scen 4 last night. Actually defending the city wasn't hard- the trick was trying to get through the 2 gates without having to break them, that took a few tries.

Beating the Goths with fully upgraded Byzantines was pretty easy- there's enough resources to keep the Cataphracts spam going, and when they switched to mass arbalests, I could counter with cheaper skirmishers. After I took the city, Ravenna tried to rebuild a new base outside, which took some time to mop up, but nothing serious.

Now in Scen 5 I gotta crush the last of Goth resistance, and then face the Franks. This is harder, cuz I start with no economy, and the Goths have a serious leg up on me, not to mention being an age ahead. This might take the rest of the weekend to figure out.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 04 September 2021 - 05:51 PM

[Malankazooie]

Purple Haze or Purple Rain or Purple Nurple? Or is it more lavender?

[Mentalist]

I beat the Belizarius campaign! The last scenario was hard, with a combined enemy force of Bulgarians, Slavs, Huns, and then another Hun enemy on top of that later on.

Would've still been manageable if the enemy accepted defeat gracefully and didn't keep trying to rebuild. I was able to crush the Bulgarians, but once the Huns parked themselves in the Slavs' base, they had an insanely good unit combo- Boyars, infantry and siege, plus the Hun Paladins and heavy CavArchers, with more siege rams to wreck my trebuchets. My cheap halberdiers could hold back the cavalry, but the CavArchers and Champions would be too much. trying to make Skirmishers was a waste, because a single paladin or Champion that got past their minimum range would wreck 20-30 skirms quickly; and Cataphracts are just too slow at sniping Siege Rams.

It became a war of attrition where I sent wave after wave, sometimes destroying only a few production buildings in a strike; eventually, by attacking from 2 sides (siege rams + halbs from one side of the base, catas and trebs from another), I was able to separate the enemy forces enough to make some meaningful damage.

Really tired of playing custom stuff now, though, since there's still that bug where if you load a custom scenario, it won't progress the campaign-meaning you gotta ironman them to get the completion medal; so probably gonna take a break from those and play some of the official content again.

[Morgoth]

almost done with Returnal on the PS5. I am very much enjoying the game, though it is relentlessly hard. Thankfully, you upgrade your weapons as you use them, and those upgrades carry over, so even though you hit a rough patch and die time and time again, you get some progression all the same.

[Mentalist]

Tried the Prithviraj campaign again; this time I was actually patient enough to tech up during scenario 1, so it ended up being fairly straightforward smash and grab to steal relics from my near neighbours in Scenario 1.

Scenario 2 was one of my favourites in the original The Forgotten expansion; the new version is... Not as good. Instead of having various tasks to ally the surrounding Rajput clans, now you need to just kill the 3 enemy Kings to make alliances; and 2 of the enemies are heavy on cavalry, so Camels kill everything.

Scenarios 3 and 4 are on a timer, so blitzed through both- 3 is a decent exploration map, while 4 is a deathmatch-style scenario where you need to destroy enemy Monasteries to deny a Relic victory.

Scen 5 seems to be the most original, as you need to use a small starting force to convert several base's leaders, and crush 3 enemy cities with no ability to build additional villagers. Should be a neat puzzle.

Overall, not super-impressed with this campaign remake. It's more coherent than the original, but unlike the Dracula campaign, it's lost the one scenario that made it really stand out.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 25 November 2021 - 03:05 AM

[Aptorian]

Oh dear. I think I got hooked on Destiny 2 again.

I'm early in the opium like binge of the game but I looove the daily, weekly, faction, epic quest mill and bounties system. I gorge myself on this stuff as my brain is awash in the endorphins of great combat gameplay and checklisting endless objectives across a host of gameplay modes.

Destiny 2 is the greatest game of all time. I challenge you to change my mind.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 08 September 2021 - 02:02 PM

[QuickTidal]

Aptorian, on 08 September 2021 - 02:02 PM, said:

Destiny 2 is the greatest game of all time. I challenge you to change my mind.

I luckily got off that crack bandwagon a long while back...that game was terribly addictive to me.

I'll be good till they do Destiny 3, and then I'll be freshly fucked.

[Aptorian]

Well, QT. They've stated there's no plans for a third game. Destiny 2 is the live game the first game was meant to be.

But with the coming Witch Queen expansion they've stated they're beginning the end of the light against darkness story. So, really, you're missing out by not playing it now.

This probably coincides with them working on a new IP funded by a big Chinese investor.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 08 September 2021 - 04:43 PM

[QuickTidal]

I'm not really allowed to play.

My wife took it away (at my request) because I just end up in Crucible and raging at the teams of Sweats and TryHards....she fears for my blood pressure.

She's probably right. I broke a $75 controller by smashing it into the ground once because of Destiny 2. Not my finest day. PVP in games usually gets me annoyed, but I can't stop playing.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 08 September 2021 - 05:08 PM

[Malankazooie]

Why would you focus on the PvP in Destiny 2? There is so much else to do that is better. The running joke is that Bungie has all but abandoned Crucible. The maps are boring and the same and the game modes are uninspired. Although, it sounds like this may be changing because Bungie has brought in a third party to purge cheat hacks from their game, so hopefully this means they will actually introduce something interesting and fun in pvp after so many years of nothing. I would suggest however, that If you are into first person shooter pvp action, Destiny 2 is the last game you should play to scratch that itch. There are many more games that do it better. Check out some of the Call of Duty games, for example.

https://www.gamesrad...eye-anti-cheat/

I've personally experienced cheating hacks (more than I could abide) in Crucible that I never even give it a thought anymore. Maybe that'll change if they add new maps and fun modes (and this BattleEye feature purges the cheaters).

This post has been edited by Malankazooie: 08 September 2021 - 06:13 PM

[Traveller]

Ok I got Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.

At first I suddenly thought I'd made a mistake, as I already have Rebel Galaxy and it's so similar (pretty much swapping out capital for a single seater) so I was thinking I should've just put that on.
But thankfully it's made some significant changes, enough to make it a new game in the same universe.

I was initially having trouble getting any cash for anything at all without having to use any gains for repairs, but then I saved up for a mining laser and mineral radar and now the money is rolling in.

My starter ship looks like a lunchbox but floating through asteroids mining deposits with the radio on, returning to cash it in and then getting beaten at pool in the bar back at the station is kind of just what I was looking for.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 12 September 2021 - 07:40 AM

[Mentalist]

Oh, I just remembered. Everspace is another series you may want to check out for space-sim RPG experience. The sequel is still in Early Access, I think.

[Obdigore]

Traveller, on 12 September 2021 - 07:38 AM, said:

Ok I got Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.

At first I suddenly thought I'd made a mistake, as I already have Rebel Galaxy and it's so similar (pretty much swapping out capital for a single seater) so I was thinking I should've just put that on.
But thankfully it's made some significant changes, enough to make it a new game in the same universe.

I was initially having trouble getting any cash for anything at all without having to use any gains for repairs, but then I saved up for a mining laser and mineral radar and now the money is rolling in.

My starter ship looks like a lunchbox but floating through asteroids mining deposits with the radio on, returning to cash it in and then getting beaten at pool in the bar back at the station is kind of just what I was looking for.

I really wished they hadn't changed to single seater ships.

It just isn't what I was looking for - Avorion is doing a big QoL update.

[Mentalist]

For whatever reason, the original Saladin campaign is giving the most trouble, lol. Took a full evening to beat Scen 2, and it really should not have been that difficult.

Then I played the Japanese Historical battle scenario, Kurikara, which ended up being a lot more forgiving; And instead of going back to Saladin, I played the first 2 scenarios in the Jarls of Jelling custom campaign made by one of the Forgotten Empires devs. Uniting Denmark, and then sending a Viking fleet to conquer Norway was good fun. Scenario 3 has me do a rescue mission, but I've only got 3 villagers to start with, so it's a painfully slow start.

[Traveller]

Obdigore, on 13 September 2021 - 03:33 PM, said:

Traveller, on 12 September 2021 - 07:38 AM, said:

Ok I got Rebel Galaxy Outlaw.

At first I suddenly thought I'd made a mistake, as I already have Rebel Galaxy and it's so similar (pretty much swapping out capital for a single seater) so I was thinking I should've just put that on.
But thankfully it's made some significant changes, enough to make it a new game in the same universe.

I was initially having trouble getting any cash for anything at all without having to use any gains for repairs, but then I saved up for a mining laser and mineral radar and now the money is rolling in.

My starter ship looks like a lunchbox but floating through asteroids mining deposits with the radio on, returning to cash it in and then getting beaten at pool in the bar back at the station is kind of just what I was looking for.

I really wished they hadn't changed to single seater ships.

It just isn't what I was looking for - Avorion is doing a big QoL update.

Well to be fair it is a different game - not Rebel Galaxy 2. I really enjoy the broadside on brawls between capital ships in Rebel Galaxy, with the fighters zipping around like gnats while you slug it out with other massive ships.

At the moment though I'm enjoying Outlaw as a different approach in the same space - dog fighting in 3d space from a cockpit view is also good, just different.

Got myself an upgraded ship now, better hold space, going to outfit it up to take on some decent combat missions now.

[Aptorian]

Played some Deathloop today.

The initial hours take you through your first "loop" as Cole, the protagonist, who wakes up on a beach and begins to learn what is going on on the island and that he has to break the loop... For some unclear reason.

Finished the introduction, killed a visionary and finished the setup for how you begin to amass power.

It's a very cool premise but also extremely confusing or overwhelming at the start, because the game is a big puzzle box where you gather intel about the characters and the lore, that you then use to achieve new goals. You sort of stumble around at first but you start to learn the map and enemy routes and I think this is where the hidden strength lies. It's very satisfying to exploit new knowledge.

[Morgoth]

I am almost to the end of Returnal I think. For a while it all felt freakishly hard, but now I can get through the biomes 50 % of the time maybe. Partially that comes down to me getting better at the game, but also as you use the different guns more often they grow more powerful on consecutive runs, something I didn't realise at first. It's a fantastic and addictive game with a weird story. A bafflingly weird story.