A Conan Exiles weekend

Since I'm in a survival kick recently, I bought Conan and looked at it. It could be something eventually but it's really not worth the money at the moment. Crafting is tedious beyond belief and it is also heavily gated behind leveling. For instance, you won't have anything to heal with till you hit 20th level. The big issue is that the smallest thing takes tons of material gathering to make. I found it really dull in comparison to indie titles which have done a much better job with much less people and experience. Funcom almost seems clueless.

Loot is severely disappointing. You'll fight a tribe of folks all of whom have weapons and several have armor. Once the battle is done, you'll find a smattering of crafting ingredients and a couple arrows or one weapon. You can't sleep in their beds, cook at their fire, or anything else that is interactive. Occasionally there will be a chest with a few items nearby but it's not the norm. Caves, grottos, altars, etc, are all empty of any type of treasure that isn't crafting mats. Really strange.

I think the game sells well because it's basically free porn Full frontal nudity on the gals and it's quite detailed too, which was a little surprising. I'm not sure if the dudes are dangling but the ladies sure are showing the skin. The game should be titled Conan Pr0n

Part of me wondered if they sold this game with that secretly in mind (as it is also moddable and the mods will enhance that aspect I am sure). You can edit all the settings to make leveling faster, crafting require less items, etc. I tried it for a week but ultimately was bored even after removing some of the grind. I keep my eye on it though in case something big changes.

My big kick in games these days is companions and open-world. Combine the two and I am a happy camper. Probably why I still play Skyrim and FO4 and probably why FO4 has the edge over Skyrim now.

Also why I enjoy DOS2 even with the slow combat. Enjoying the companions a lot.

Glad to read someone else's post on the game though as I have been curious what others have thought of it.

Have either of you tried ESO?

Yeah, I've played it and I'm sure WGD did too. It's alright and I played for a solid month before the sameness got to me. Basically, I'd go to a totally different region and 95% of the content was exactly the same as the last region. Also, a ton of ESO is cosmetic. It's like the whole game is plastic surgery. I liked the dress-up more in Skyrim than ESO. That's probably because I had a wide selection of mods to pick from. The other turn-off was most dungeons were empty of loot all the time. I play during prime-time in the US, naturally. So does most of the rest of the world

The combat kept me from enjoying DOS2 long enough to really get into the companions story. I was playing Fane and I really don't know what was up with any of them and I really don't care either. Too many 10 minute battles. Zzzzzzz.....

Aye as 'Nut said I did play ESO. I still have it installed but haven't done too much with it. Made it to level 7 so far. Its nice enough but it also doesn't have companions. My main beef with it is just that the micro-transactions are so embedded in it. The game is so non-immersive in that sense. I am just too aware I am playing a game - it feels to artificial.

That being said I don't mean to rant on ESO as I like the story and the graphics are not too bad. If I could block out the things that bug me I would probably have a lot of fun with it.