What games are you playing now?

The fact that you can get to max level in a few weeks is actually a con for me. I actually liked how in EQ1 (at least in its first few years), it took you a long time to reach max level. Each level (or 'Ding') was a celebration, the result of your hard work for that week (or month).

wolfing said:

The fact that you can get to max level in a few weeks is actually a con for me. I actually liked how in EQ1 (at least in its first few years), it took you a long time to reach max level. Each level (or 'Ding') was a celebration, the result of your hard work for that week (or month).

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I know where you are coming from however Black Desert (BD) isn't a "theme park" game like EQ1. Levelling up and gearing is just one part of the game, its not the main focus like EQ1. Its lot more "sandbox", there are lot of non combat based actives to do in parallel and they have "equal" weight to combat. Anyway the point I am trying to make is you need to approach in a different way to the standard "theme park" MMO like EQ1, WoW etc.

Also don't get me wrong, I am not trying to say "theme park" is bad etc. Only thing I am saying is that this is supposed be different experience. Think of it more like medieval simulator rather than fantasy game… I don't know how far BD will succeed in this regards since I have only played the the beta but its trying something different and thats should be welcomed in the MMO space where everything is clone of WoW etc.

I've started Oblivion again. Since the mod community has fixed the ugly heads and I don't really mind the level scaling, it was well past time I revisited Cyrodiil. I'm playing vanilla except for textures some leveling stuff:

Merchants sell everything, not just stuff for your level of character
Quest items grow with you so you're not penalized for doing quests early game
Natural leveling so you don't have to play the X5 game
If magic combat is weaker than melee combat, I'll add a spell/mana mod, but I haven't had any issues yet

Alternate Start-I start the game owning the home in Cheydinhal. Why? It has a mage's guild and fighter's guild so I can start questing immediately. Also, it doesn't make sense not to have existed or had a life before the game starts. I just roleplay that I inherited the house when my parents died myseriously Since you start with crazy high reputation with the Mage's guild, I figure that I must have been hanging around them since I was a kid and they all like me...

I'm basically playing an archer/mage. Open combat from stealth with an arrow then blast them with arcania as they come running for me Female Breton/Atronach

lostforever said:

I know where you are coming from however Black Desert (BD) isn't a "theme park" game like EQ1. Levelling up and gearing is just one part of the game, its not the main focus like EQ1. Its lot more "sandbox", there are lot of non combat based actives to do in parallel and they have "equal" weight to combat. Anyway the point I am trying to make is you need to approach in a different way to the standard "theme park" MMO like EQ1, WoW etc.

Also don't get me wrong, I am not trying to say "theme park" is bad etc. Only thing I am saying is that this is supposed be different experience. Think of it more like medieval simulator rather than fantasy game… I don't know how far BD will succeed in this regards since I have only played the the beta but its trying something different and thats should be welcomed in the MMO space where everything is clone of WoW etc.

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Actually EQ1 wasn't really a "theme park". That term applied to MMOs after WoW. EQ1 had very few quests (ironically considering the name). There was also no real point in getting to max level. You would connect, have fun for a few hours however you wanted to have fun, and disconnect. At least that's how I played it.

I spent three hours trying to play Sword Coast Legends this morning. I'd picked it up for like six bucks a few weeks ago and thought it would be worth at least that. I was wrong. It's like someone watched a couple of games played like BG, PoE and said, "Hey, we can make a much worse game than this! Maybe someone will even buy it"!!

So about an hour ago I started playing something called Rage, which seems to be almost a straight-up shooting game. Seems to be ok so far, but I'm not sure how long a shooter will keep me interested.

wolfing said:

Actually EQ1 wasn't really a "theme park". That term applied to MMOs after WoW. EQ1 had very few quests (ironically considering the name). There was also no real point in getting to max level. You would connect, have fun for a few hours however you wanted to have fun, and disconnect. At least that's how I played it.

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EQ1 is lot less "theme park" than WoW but it is still one by today's definition of the word. In fact WoW is really a child of EQ1. If there was no EQ1, you won't have WoW or at least the one we got in WoW Vanilla. Thats why I included EQ1 as "theme park" along with WOW etc.

crpgnut said:

I've started Oblivion again. Since the mod community has fixed the ugly heads and I don't really mind the level scaling, it was well past time I revisited Cyrodiil. I'm playing vanilla except for textures some leveling stuff:

....

I'm basically playing an archer/mage. Open combat from stealth with an arrow then blast them with arcania as they come running for me Female Breton/Atronach

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Good stuff. I got back into OB a little while ago after doing away with my un-enjoyable FCOM install. One mod I really recommend is Better Dungeon's. It builds on SNU's dungeon's mod and makes spelunking much more fun.

General Warning: Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is a life-stealer. Not sure if this is a good thing yet. To fully complete just one map takes me around 25 hours, which, for me, is an entire game of Civ on a Huge map on a harder setting. So far in AoW;SM I've only experienced 'easy' maps…

Quite a few, really.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - which looks amazing but is just about as predictable as the first one. I forced myself through that one recently and it was overall OK - which is very much like this new one.

The Division beta. Hmmm, hmmm. I'm getting serious Destiny vibes from this one - and that's not good. It smells of being all marketing and spectacle - released with limited content. The core gunplay is underwhelming - and yet…. There's something about it I quite like and I'll probably end up getting it like the weak fool that I am. It looks really, really pretty too.

Pillars of Eternity WM2/3.01. Ugh, they haven't improved this enough at all - and too many issues.

Diablo 3. Still fun in coop with the GF. Wish they'd release another expansion or go crazy with the content. Also, please give me my RMAH back.

ESO. Still like this a lot, but don't think I have the time for it.

Fallout 4. Gave up my second attempt for the same reason as the first time. I just don't have enough time in close proximity to immerse myself like it deserves. Love it to bits, though.

Witcher 3. Only a little - and I think I'll wait with a proper playthrough until the second expansion and an extended vacation. It remains a wonderful story-driven game with somewhat dull RPG elements and decent combat.

Grim Dawn. Too little too late. It's TQ with a dull setting and slightly improved mechanics. Combat is the same dreary affair with a small handful of underwhelming actives with a ton of passives to support.

DArtagnan said:

Grim Dawn. Too little too late. It's TQ with a dull setting and slightly improved mechanics. Combat is the same dreary affair with a small handful of underwhelming actives with a ton of passives to support.

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Thanks for that input. That's the sort of impressions I was interested in reading. In particular, does it bring anything new to the table?

Playing Oblivion again and when I'm not I just got the Gear vr and playing around with VR. I really like it a lot and I can see getting a Oculous Rift now

redman5427 said:

Playing Oblivion again and when I'm not I just got the Gear vr and playing around with VR. I really like it a lot and I can see getting a Oculous Rift now

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Very interesting. Maybe food for a separate thread but please elaborate.

On topic… I've been slowly progressing through The Witcher 1 over the last week which is ok, I'm often having to push myself to play it between good bits. Am up to chapter 3 and I still have only the vaguest idea what's going on… Probably because it's taken me about 3 months to get this far. Otherwise still heavily addicted to Spelunky with occasional stints of Oblivion and a little bit of ToEE because I'm gearing up to run it with my tabletop group.

Edit - I also started up Dark Souls for the first time. Then installed a few PC specific mods before getting crushed repeatedly by the first boss. Will go back to it at "some stage".

DArtagnan said:

Quite a few, really.
Diablo 3. Still fun in coop with the GF. Wish they'd release another expansion or go crazy with the content. Also, please give me my RMAH back.

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Ugh, gods no. I never want RMAH back. I would love another expansion though!

I've also been trying to play Oblivion again, but it doesn't have any big grab. I prefer Skyrim's gameplay for the most part, and the world/quests aren't nearly as interesting as Morrowind, so it's felt bland and generally underwhelming. So ESO's taken over that part of my gaming time for now.

I've been building up a big, frozen city in Cities Skylines, plopping down all sorts of winter wonderland goodies to keep my snowbound citizens happy. Soon I'll start building tram lines and see how they work out.

Skyrim, Fallout 3 & 4, Civ V and Quake Live.

Thrasher said:

Thanks for that input. That's the sort of impressions I was interested in reading. In particular, does it bring anything new to the table?

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Hmm, not really.

It does take a few elements of other games into the TQ formula. Most importantly is probably the "Devotion tree" - which is a late addition and is really just a bunch of passives arranged in an attractive celestial layout.

It's more an illusion of depth than actual depth. Instead of just presenting these mostly passive boosts in a clear way - they want you to "puzzle" out how to get the best ones.

It's a strange new trend - and I believe it might have started in JRPGs - which also tend to have these puzzle skill layouts. It's like it's not good enough to strategically plan your character - you also have to find your way around a maze at the same time.

Not unlike what Path of Exile did with its passive skill tree - only they went crazy with it.

It's complexity for the sake of complexity if you ask me.

To each his own, though.

Ok, thanks.

It seems like the genre is in a bit of a rut. But I sure had a lot of fun with Diablo 3. Too bad it had such a bad effect an my hand. It took about a year before the pain went away from all the frantic clicking.

Thrasher said:

Ok, thanks.

It seems like genre is in a bit of a rut. But I sure had a lot of fun with Diablo 3. Too bad it had such a bad effect an my hand. It took about a year before the pain went away from all the frantic clicking.

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Keep in mind that a lot of people think Grim Dawn is much better than D3.

I'm sorry to hear about your hand - and in that case you should definitely stay away from Diablo 1 - as you had to click individually for each attack

I think I broke at least two mice on that game.

Dota 2, Witcher 1 and XCOM 1.
I don't have time to accomodate any game just yet haha.

I got Thea: The Awakening.

Took me a little while to get into it ("Gee," I thought to myself, "This game certainly does have a robust menu system") but now I dig it. Reminds me quite a bit of my beloved King of Dragon Pass, although not with quite as much flavor as the Gloranthan setting gave that game.