What games are you playing now?

I started the Bard's Tale trilogy last night. Just rolled my party and started wandering the streets a bit. I'm also playing Novus Inceptio and Animallica, but neither of these are crpgs.

RIP rpgmakernut, welcome notrpgnut!

ilm said:

Dragon age inquisition. I'm really enjoying the storm coast at the moment. I like the environment: raining, lighting, big waves rolling in, … Lots of atmosphere, used too little in other games (unlike snowy mountains for instance). I also haven't encountered too many enemies, so the MMO feeling I dreaded is far away for now.

I do have a choice to make: templars or mages? What's the most fun thing to do and has you visit the coolest regions?

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Storm Coast is one of my favorite too.

The choices between templars/mages affect:
- who you get first between Dorian and Cole
- the types of enemies you'll face in some quests/area later in the game
- which of Leliana (templars) or Cullen(mage) investigate chain quests you get (it affect an encounter in a late main quest but it is optional to do it)
- some cosmetic stuff
- different agent recruitable

You can follow the mage quest until it is time to use the war table to do the mission which allow you to meet Dorian early and learn what is going on there a bit more than what is happening with the Templars.

You just played DA2, you might prefer picking the mage side for the Cullen quest chain (it involve a DA2 NPC).

The Templar quest has a timed element at some point which gives that section a sense of urgency. Some people might be annoyed by that.

I prefer the Templar quests to the mage one personally. The mage one has too much "ignore character related stuff" you learn later in the game to my liking and I prefer the Templar quest main bad guy. Saying that, it's kinda worth it to do the mage one with all the companions, 2 at a time because Dorian is party locked, at least once to hear there reactions.

I fired up Trails in the Sky Final Chapter this morning, and I'm already re-hooked. Nice prologue that pulls you right in, and then gets right on into the meat of the game. I replayed all three of these just like eighteen months ago, but it feels much longer for some reason, perhaps because of some shoddy games that I played in between.

Still playing Phantom Doctrine. Bit mix on my feelings towards the game. It is fairly slow pace (which is ok some of the time); but the rules on mission for stealth are not esp to my liking. There are a lot of (imho) non-obvious rules with regards to when you can take down a guard safely or not (while one might argue that it is best to always avoid guards - you can't always and sometime you want to remove one to get to a console or similar). There are the obvious rules (if they can see you or not) but occasionally i get annoyed with some of them that I think are not as obvious. Save frequently.

X-Com2 WotC. Unfortunately i'm not having any fun whatsoever, 6h in.. Playing on Rookie and my characters gets absolutely crushed in the second mission. Replayed it 5-6 times. I think i have to give up. There's no strategy to this game at all, it's all about randomness and luck. I bet i can beat the mission if i replay it a few more times and have more luck, but the gameplay is just so sloppy. The missions are timed (worst gameplay element ever, its a typical emergency element to put in when you're totally out of ideas of how to spice something up) + there's other irritating stuff like mind control which is also just a tired and sloppy game mechanic. I can understand it in some games where numbers of enemies has to be limited, then it can make sense.

It's too bad because i really really love the setting and atmosphere, i've always liked their design of the various aliens. But wow, the gameplay i would say is even worse than the previous game (which i hated with a passion). Not sure what i was thinking, i thought maybe something would have been improved and that it would be a turn based strategy game, which it is not.

Back to GalCiv3…

I know I'm beating a dead dick here but I hated giving up on Grim Dawn because I invested a lot of time in it but that fucking level scaling is ball-busting bilge. Yet I keep going back to it because there's something there. Something of substance. But unless you optimize your build and play smart, once you hit lvl 50 or so you're going to be brought to you knees (and your hands) as you get all-orifices-raped and then torn a few new holes for the pleasure of the hell-minions. That game is brutal to casual players of aRPGs when you hit the expansion areas. I understand why it's so appealing to hardcore RPG players that like to tinker with MASSIVE amounts of gear loadouts and combinations.

vurt said:

X-Com2 WotC. Unfortunately i'm not having any fun whatsoever, 6h in.. Playing on Rookie and my characters gets absolutely crushed in the second mission. Replayed it 5-6 times. I think i have to give up. There's no strategy to this game at all, it's all about randomness and luck. I bet i can beat the mission if i replay it a few more times and have more luck, but the gameplay is just so sloppy. The missions are timed (worst gameplay element ever, its a typical emergency element to put in when you're totally out of ideas of how to spice something up) + there's other irritating stuff like mind control which is also just a tired and sloppy game mechanic. I can understand it in some games where numbers of enemies has to be limited, then it can make sense.

It's too bad because i really really love the setting and atmosphere, i've always liked their design of the various aliens. But wow, the gameplay i would say is even worse than the previous game (which i hated with a passion). Not sure what i was thinking, i thought maybe something would have been improved and that it would be a turn based strategy game, which it is not.

Back to GalCiv3…

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Happy to give some hints if you want but it's certainly not an impossible game.

I beat it on veteran iron-man and commander non iron-man without too much difficulty...

First of all make sure to use full cover.

Enemies have similar aim to your soldiers so if you have an enemy with 70.aim shooting through half cover they have a 50% chance to hit. If you are in full cover then it's only 30.

Also make sure to try and flank enemies as it not only removes any aim malus but also adds critical modifiers.

Make use of grenades. If you need some guaranteed damage or to blow up cover to then be in a flanking position.

Also make sure to get a couple of quality of life mods such as gotcha to ensure you see when you are or aren't flanking.

Also if you really have trouble with the timers then get the mod that extends them by 2 on each mission. I think it's called configurable timers. Its default is two turns I think.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

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@Pladio; yeah, i do use grenades. I always use full cover if i can, but it sometimes it matters very little since enemies can really come from any angle or even turn your crew into your enemies so they kill you instead.
This makes it feel more like a game of luck rather than something where strategy matters. It currently feels like 90%luck 10% strategy, not having too much fun reloading to see if i get better luck.

I don't know, i might give it another try, i'm pretty pissed off at the game right now (or mostly pissed off at myself for spending money on it).

I use all the recommended mods for it that supposedly makes the game a little easier or just better overall.

I noticed there's a setting in-game for the timers, so that's good at least.

vurt said:

@Pladio; yeah, i do use grenades. I always use full cover if i can, but it sometimes it matters very little since enemies can really come from any angle or even turn your crew into your enemies so they kill you instead.
This makes it feel more like a game of luck rather than something where strategy matters. It currently feels like 90%luck 10% strategy, not having too much fun reloading to see if i get better luck.

I don't know, i might give it another try, i'm pretty pissed off at the game right now (or mostly pissed off at myself for spending money on it).

I use all the recommended mods for it that supposedly makes the game a little easier or just better overall.

I noticed there's a setting in-game for the timers, so that's good at least.

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Regarding mind control there are several ways of dealing with it but the simplest one is a flashbang.

Just bring one flashbang with you on missions. They have long range and they stop enemies using any abilities plus lower their aim.

Another way is to move back for two turns and hunker down or kill the enemy who mind controlled you.

I would actually suggest playing without the dlc for the first run to be honest as the new mechanics in wotc are too many of you are not familiar with the game. That might be a good way to start.

If you really want and you have geforce experience, record the game while you play and post it on YouTube and I'm happy to provide some comments on what you could have done.

I understand if you won't.
I'm not particularly a fan boy or anything so if you deicide to drop it so be it. However, I really do not think the game is 90 percent luck so I feel like you might be making some choices which are hampering your fun.

There certainly is a luck factor in the game, I don't deny that, but it also does not or at least should not require you to reload over and over again.

Anyway, let me know if you want some more tips

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Thanks! Will try the flashbang, it's kind of odd that you can only carry 1 medkit or 1 flash, did they just develop one? Seems a bit strange.

The tutorial in this game is meaningless, it teaches you nothing, it teaches you the camera and to take cover (which you would learn in 10 second anyways by just playing the game), but not stuff like "it looks like you got mind controlled! try using a flashbang next time!". That could in fact have been helpful.

vurt said:

Thanks! Will try the flashbang, it's kind of odd that you can only carry 1 medkit or 1 flash, did they just develop one? Seems a bit strange.

The tutorial in this game is meaningless, it teaches you nothing, it teaches you the camera and to take cover (which you would learn in 10 second anyways by just playing the game), but not stuff like "it looks like you got mind controlled! try using a flashbang next time!". That could in fact have been helpful.

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You don't need many med kits usually as it's only useful when you get hit. I tend to only bring one with me until later in the game when I have more units. Although if I remember correctly you will be able to take on more items once you upgrade your armour.

Another tip is to usually focus on the more dangerous enemies first even if they will be harder to kill. This isn't always the case but quite often. For example it is better to kill the officer in the first mission ahead of the troopers if you can because the officer not only has higher aim and damage but also a utility skill which gives more aim to the others.



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Have had a few days off, so I've been playing a lot.

Decided to play KCD on Hardcore - and I loved it, for the most part. But, I encountered too many glitches and little annoyances and then I took a look at their road map, and realised they're going to be adding content for a while. This will include patches and what not, so I'm going to wait.

Not sure I'll play hardcore in the future, though, as the no fast travel thing was a little much in terms of added filler travel times. Beyond that, I don't like the negative perks that you must pick - and that's not my idea of hardcore.

I prefer modes that add realism and immersion and not punishment for the sake of punishment.

In any case, I still love the game to bits - I really do. But it's just a little too buggy and performance a little too rough in certain places.

It's very close, though - and I love the combined design. Amazing, really. Oh, and just in case someone missed it: the forests are absolutely breathtaking in terms of realism and immersion. Way beyond Witcher 3 or Skyrim.

I don't remember feeling this drawn in since Alien Isolation, only in a much less tense way

So, I needed another game - and I decided to play Skyrim SE modded instead. They've added a Survival mode which is pretty good - and I added some tweaks to make it more playable.

Playing with ~70 mods that all add something to the experience. Still have to play on Legendary to make it sufficiently engaging in terms of challenge and progression, though.

Also, someone finally figured out how to overcome the dreaded physics bug regardless of your refresh rate and lack of VSync - so I'm playing it perfectly with my 144 Hz monitor and it's silky smooth, and with none of the odd little glitches that you used to get in this game.

Darth Tagnan said:

Decided to play KCD on Hardcore
…
Playing with ~70 mods that all add something to the experience.

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I was always confused with statements like these. Ignoring sidequests, pumping up difficulty in storydriven games, yet talking about adding experience.

Zogar Sag said:

This why I hate pvp of late in mmorpgs - when organised groups on TS or Discord stamps over PUGs for lols.

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SWTOR has exactly the same problem.

And the worst thing is that some people feel righteous about stomping PUGs.

STALKER - SoC. With the Radiophobia 2 mod. I've played this game many times, to me it's the Gothic of FPS games, always puts me in a good mood.. Mod seems great too.

Madden 2019 and ME: Andromeda.

Got them as part of the games for signing up for a year of EA Premier.

You can start throwing stones at me now..

*runs out*

I was playing Bard's Tale but it was hard to go back, so I loaded up Diablo 3 instead.

sakichop said:

Madden 2019 and ME: Andromeda.

Got them as part of the games for signing up for a year of EA Premier.

You can start throwing stones at me now..

*runs out*

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Welcome brother... I have got origin access

Played Skyrim all day yesterday - but then the same thing happened that always happens with Skyrim - it started crashing, because I had to keep adding mods (very bad idea when it's in the middle of a game). I was over 100 at one point - and it started acting up upon fast traveling.

I had that bug before, by the way.

The pain of figuring out which mod might be causing it is vast - and I gave up in disgust and outright deleted the whole thing from my harddrive, despite having spent endless hours configuring it.

Then, I had the brilliant idea that I could just play it without fast travel

So, I spent a bunch of hours downloading it again and configuring it again - and selectively downloading only the most vital mods - and, at last count, that's around 50.

Now, I just need more time to get back to it and pray it doesn't start crashing again.

I'm not kidding that this always happens to me. I think this is probably the tenth time I've tried getting back to one of my favorite games of all time - and I always fuck it up.

This time seemed like it would be better, because Skyrim SE has a proper 64-bit client and the physics/VSync bug is gone for me.

Oh well......