What games are you playing now?

[JDR13]

It had to do with that, but I was the one who had to go to town and fetch a new wheel. Either it was when he fixed the wheel or when the blacksmith was working. Yes, it's rather cool. You must pass an intelligence difficulty check to get the skill point, and that's all.

Cool, so you can get the point either way. I was wondering if I'd have still got it had I chosen to go into town for him rather than guard the cart.

Those were the kind of things I liked about the demo. I'm just hoping they improve the combat which I feel is average.

 

[Redglyph]

Cool, so you can get the point either way. I was wondering if I'd have still got it had I chosen to go into town for him rather than guard the cart.

Those were the kind of things I liked about the demo. I'm just hoping they improve the combat which I feel is average.

Also, if you go to town, the cart owner pays you in advance for the wheel. You can haggle over the price of the wheel with the blacksmith, and if you succeed, you get a little extra cash that you don't have to give him back. I don't know if there's another advantage if you decide to stay instead, but that wouldn't surprise me. They're pretty good at this.

 

[bkrueger]

I am still replaying Horizon Zero Dawn after having been sucked into this world again by Horizon Forbidden West. I just succeeded to beat the Behemoth in the Sun Arena. On highest difficulty this was as satisfying as winning a boss fight in Elden Ring...

Also I still love the sequences, where you learn about the story of Elisabeth Sobeck and Zero Dawn. Telling stories from the present and from the past in parallel is one of the great virtues of this game.

 

[Philistine]

In BG3 I'm in the area with 4 guys wearing mind control masks, with party of myself (Cleric), Gale, Karlach, and Shadowheart. Party wipe in Balanced difficulty. The enemies mask powers are stupid strong: ranged regeneration spell, opportunity attack on hit, ranged damage-over-time spell, and hold spell. Apparently they can use these abilities without limit. I looked up the encounter with google and saw a 'tip' to use the masks outside the room as a disguise... another party wipe as we all became enemy goons. I can't access camp, so no party or spell changes. I may have to switch to Exlporer.

 

[Pladio]

In BG3 I'm in the area with 4 guys wearing mind control masks, with party of myself (Cleric), Gale, Karlach, and Shadowheart. Party wipe in Balanced difficulty. The enemies mask powers are stupid strong: ranged regeneration spell, opportunity attack on hit, ranged damage-over-time spell, and hold spell. Apparently they can use these abilities without limit. I looked up the encounter with google and saw a 'tip' to use the masks outside the room as a disguise... another party wipe as we all became enemy goons. I can't access camp, so no party or spell changes. I may have to switch to Exlporer.

Odd
I don't remember that fight being so difficult. Have you tried surprising them by attacking first ?

 

[JFarrell71]

I remember it being tough the first time, and losing, but once I saw how they operated I recall winning easily the second go round.

 

[bkrueger]

In BG3 I'm in the area with 4 guys wearing mind control masks, with party of myself (Cleric), Gale, Karlach, and Shadowheart. Party wipe in Balanced difficulty. The enemies mask powers are stupid strong: ranged regeneration spell, opportunity attack on hit, ranged damage-over-time spell, and hold spell. Apparently they can use these abilities without limit. I looked up the encounter with google and saw a 'tip' to use the masks outside the room as a disguise... another party wipe as we all became enemy goons. I can't access camp, so no party or spell changes. I may have to switch to Exlporer.

Can't you use a sneaky approach and take them out one by one? May be you can even avoid them entirely?
Edit:

Spoiler: Spoiler

And don't forget to switch to non-letal fighting since they are victims themselves.

Edit2: Why can't you access camp? You can leave the area and come back later, if you want.
Edit3: The next fight after that area will be much harder so you should probably leave and level up/improve equipment first.

 

[Philistine]

I tried a 3rd time. Shadowheart died and I was low in spells after. I considered reloading to see if I could do better but wanted to save first ... and hit 'quick reload' by mistake! So time for try #4.

Can't you use a sneaky approach and take them out one by one? May be you can even avoid them entirely?

Edit2: Why can't you access camp? You can leave the area and come back later, if you want.
Edit3: The next fight after that area will be much harder so you should probably leave and level up/improve equipment first.

I 'try' to sneak but I always get caught in the middle of the room. I can't jump to the ledges, they are too high. I explored in this direction because I got my ass handed to me by the Githyanki, and I expected the Goblin camp to be a hard fight. I don't know where else I could go, besides maybe explore more of the Underdark? I explored a bit down there but it was scary.
I also tried non-lethal, but that makes the fight even harder because then Gale can do nothing except twiddle his stick, and my two clerics are poor in melee.

 

[bkrueger]

I also tried non-lethal, but that makes the fight even harder because then Gale can do nothing except twiddle his stick, and my two clerics are poor in melee.

As far as I remember, only the last hit bringing somebody down needs to be melee for non-letal. Another idea: Try to get some invisibility spells or items potions? You will need invisibility for the next fight in that area anyways, if you want a good ending there...
Edit: May be you should level up a bit, e.g. in the underdark, which is not as dangerous as it looks...

 

[Philistine]

Succeeded on the 5th attempt. I gave up on not killing them - that just exposed me to too much damage from Vengeance. I used focused fire from my casters' cantrips and Karlach's bow to take them down one at a time starting with the healer. I consciously didn't use anything I would need a long rest to get back so I should be in reasonable shape for what comes next.

 

[JFarrell71]

Succeeded on the 5th attempt. I gave up on not killing them - that just exposed me to too much damage from Vengeance. I used focused fire from my casters' cantrips and Karlach's bow to take them down one at a time starting with the healer. I consciously didn't use anything I would need a long rest to get back so I should be in reasonable shape for what comes next.

I don't think there's any point to not killing them, unfortunately. I unpetrified the dwarf in the previous room and the game didn't account for that.

 

[bkrueger]

I don't think there's any point to not killing them, unfortunately. I unpetrified the dwarf in the previous room and the game didn't account for that.

If you let them live, you can meet them later and some of them have a few words to say. There is no "material" advantage, but if you roleplay a good person, letting them live should be a reward in itself.
Edit: I believe that playing a good person should be harder than playing a selfish one, like in real life. So I like small things like this.

 

[Beren]

Been playing through the Enhanced Edition versions of the BG saga. Part of a good cause. I need to update SP's BG2 walkthrough with EE content. And a Siege of Dragonspear walkthrough is in the works too.

After that, I'm likely to do a video-based walkthrough of the whole EE sage with SCS and other mods installed. Sometimes the classics are still the best to play.

 

[JFarrell71]

If you let them live, you can meet them later and some of them have a few words to say. There is no "material" advantage, but if you roleplay a good person, letting them live should be a reward in itself.
Edit: I believe that playing a good person should be harder than playing a selfish one, like in real life. So I like small things like this.

I agree, I just didn't know that was possible. That's cool.

 

[Carnifex]

I'm replaying Dark Deity, I'd played it over three years ago for the first time and forgotten how much fun this is. It reminds me of some good old games, where tactics are king and you can promote your characters along the way and see what works best for you.

 

[Warmark]

I was gifted Age of Wonders 4 with the DLC so firing that up. Hopefully there's enough rpg in this strategy game to keep me interested, loved AoW Shadow Magic back when that came out, good balance of strat/rpg in that one.

 

[JFarrell71]

Still working my way through the Trails series. I mentioned somewhere around here that I finished Trails to Zero recently, and now I'm (kinda) nearing the end of Trails of Cold Steel 1. Probably have at least 5 hours to go, though. After that, I might go back to try to finish Trails in the Sky (the first game in the series), or I might go on to Trails to Azure (the one that follows Zero).

I also started Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, part of Falcom's other major series, which I've always heard great things about. Where the Trails games are long and turn based, Ys is shorter and has action combat, with an emphasis on exploration.

 

[Lakorus]

I've been interested in the Trails games for some time but shy away due to the supposed length of the games. Nowadays it takes me three to four months of regular gaming to complete a game of 100 hours...

Talking of which: my playthrough of Wizardry 8 is nearing the end. My all ranged party has acquired all three artifacts and recently disarmed the bomb in the tower. Yesterday they lifted the enthralled character of Al-Sedexus' curse and now they are preparing to enter ascension peak. Fortunately I reached Ferro in the Rapax castle just in time before the supply of ammunition reached a critical low. My party is now around level 20 and ready for the end game. According to GOG galaxy I've spent 70 hrs. so far on this playthrough.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Tried to start up a playthrough of Hellblade 1, seeing as the sequel is around the corner.
While I still enjoy the narrative style and the world and atmosphere, I forgot how absolutely repetitive the gameplay is.
It's just painful, especially since I'm in a funk with games right now. Just the same puzzle over and over again. Fighting the same enemies over and over.
I'm very likely not going to touch Hellblade 2 when it releases, even though I was curious, seeing as how gorgeous it looks.
I never finished Hellblade 1 (looking at the achievements, I apparently defeated the two gods that you need to defeat before reaching Helheim; but I dropped it for some reason)

 

[Lakorus]

You're talking about Senua's sacrifice, right? To me it dragged on a bit towards the end as well, mostly because it became increasingly difficult to follow the story due to the deterioration of her mental health. I had to look up the interpretation afterwards...

But the experience was worth it for me, especially the soundscape with headphones listening to the voices in her head were quite unique.