Last game you finished, tell us about it

Finished DOS2, with a three week break on arriving in Arx. Took me some effort to get into it and I just went straight for the ending (couldnt bother selling loot anymore or buying new skills). I had to cheese some fights which I feel slightly bad about. I think I could have handled them if I would have bothered upgrading my equipment from level 12-14 to level 20 (amount of armor added is significant).


It's a great game, addicting (combat) as hell. Most faults I have with it I blame myself not wanting to put the effort in anymore (especially in that last stretch). However, there is one thing that's really bad: the (amount of) loot, buying/selling, etc. is a chore that does not belong in games imo.

You finished it just in time for the enhanced version which comes out at the end of august

Originally Posted by ilm
Finished DOS2, with a three week break on arriving in Arx. Took me some effort to get into it and I just went straight for the ending (couldnt bother selling loot anymore or buying new skills). I had to cheese some fights which I feel slightly bad about. I think I could have handled them if I would have bothered upgrading my equipment from level 12-14 to level 20 (amount of armor added is significant).

Spoiler – a

- I killed lord Kemm in the barracks. Still Arhu died in his vault, could not bother to reload
- positioned myself very well at the doctor so I could take out his nurses easily
- made sure I sided with Lucian (and had enough attitude with Ifan to not make him an enemy) so the final fight was much easier (and with full health)
- looked up the puzzles without at least trying them first :-)

It's a great game, addicting (combat) as hell. Most faults I have with it I blame myself not wanting to put the effort in anymore (especially in that last stretch). However, there is one thing that's really bad: the (amount of) loot, buying/selling, etc. is a chore that does not belong in games imo.

Originally Posted by you
You finished it just in time for the enhanced version which comes out at the end of august

Haha, oh great… :-( Can't imagine them adding anything useful. Last time it added voice overs and controller support I think (+ fixes), which is already in DOS2.

I completed Phantasy Star three two days ago, a pretty decent game and story even some years later. The combinations you can get with the generational system is fairly robust, although I always tend to go for the melee types and avoid the caster choices like a plague. What makes this game worth playing is the wide variety of weapons and, for the most part, a fairly non-linear story, so you can romp around where you want for most of the time. One detraction, at least for me, is how often you're required to go through places you've already done, but at least you'll never have to worry about grinding simply to be stronger!

I started Phantasy Star Four, and look forward to getting back to it either Monday or Tuesday.

Not that this game has ending… But just wanted to share that I finally killed "Nuclear Throne" well… Got my ass kicked by Throne 2 but still… Pretty happy!

I didn't realize there was a game called nuclear throne. Does it go kaboom ?

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Not that this game has ending… But just wanted to share that I finally killed "Nuclear Throne" well… Got my ass kicked by Throne 2 but still… Pretty happy!

@you Fish can roll

https://store.steampowered.com/sub/56927/

Its a roguelike shooter - post apocalytic setting with bunch of mutants trying to survive in harsh environment, believing reaching "nuclear throne" will end their woe.

Well dang. Those poor fishes I'm sorry I committed them to such a painful exercise.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
@you Fish can roll

https://store.steampowered.com/sub/56927/

Its a roguelike shooter - post apocalytic setting with bunch of mutants trying to survive in harsh environment, believing reaching "nuclear throne" will end their woe.

That wraps up the Phantasy Star series for me, today I completed the fourth game, which for me is almost as equally good as the second game. Lots of characters come and go during the game, giving you opportunities to grow them and see which suits your style. The only real issue I have with the fourth game is when you get a bunch of lore information near the end, it almost sounds like they've totally removed or forgotten the events of the third game. Now, I know the third wasn't nearly as good as the second and fourth games are, but still I don't know if you can just eliminate canon like that. An excellent game to this day, those boss fights will really test your mettle.

Next up for me in the upcoming week might be the Dark Sun series. I've played through them both a bunch, probably close to ten times each, so I might bug out and pick something else before then.

I just finished Shadow of Mordor yesterday. If you can call it a game. It's a QTE fest actually.

Ok, good things first: atmosphere was amazing. If you like Peter Jackson's movies, you will like this one. It is a collectathon, but collecting various pieces of lore gives you a nice, voice acted, flavor text. And voice acting is great. Story was good, if a little too cliche. Nemesis system was just OK but maybe I expected more of it. It becomes more interesting later in the game when you get the ability to command orcs (you don't micro-manager them, they fight by your side). And you can see how having higher ranking orcs by your side makes the game interesting. Graphics are great for a 2014 game and it still look good. I think they did a very good job with draw distance and I never noticed major popping. Level design is also very good and accommodates all styles of play (melee, ranged and stealth).

Now, the bad things: combat, the meat and potatoes of this game is a joke. It's a glorified QTE. You just left-click, with occasional right-click until your combo meter fills up. Then you click one of the keys on the keyboard, depending on the skill you unlocked, to use that skill. There is little to no movement in combat. And movement is really clunky. You stick to every edge, every rock taller than your knee, and there is no dedicated jump button. You also stick to every enemy you attack. I guess it looks more badass that way since they can do all sorts of crazy animations, but I don't feel I did any of that. Ranged combat is also a joke. You get into a slow time mode and all the enemies and intractable objects highlight. I don't know if that can be turned off, but by default it's on. The slow down mode is on a meter though, but it lasts too long and fills up quickly. Stealth is also not very good, although it is better than combat. It is fun in forts with a lot of orcs, but their detection radius is way too small. It is nice to do parkour and stealth kill orcs, and it is just like Assassin's Creed (mind you, I only played the first one). But it too suffers from sticky movement. If you alert orcs, but want to remain unseen, you can often get stuck to walls while trying to run away which makes orcs detect you. Mounted combat also has its flaws. One of the sins of this game is that it binds many actions to one key/button. For example, while riding a caragor (it's a beast you can mount) you can right click to make it bite enemies and restore its health, but if you hold right click you enter the ranged slow time mode. More than few times I pressed the right click a fraction of a second too long and entered ranged mode instead of healing my caragor. But the worst offense this game makes is the final boss: IT'S A FREAKING QTE!!! You just press the key that pops up three or four times and you beat the game. Good thing I only paid $5 for it.

Why did I play it then? Well, for the atmosphere mainly. Also, late in the game nemesis system becomes much more interesting. If you like stealth, which is the best of three play styles in my opinion, you can do some very cool stuff without drawing your weapon.

Would I recommend it? If you hate sticky movement and rhythm combat i wouldn't. But if you like that, or can get over it, sure. Great atmosphere, good lore chinks, good voice acting. If you like Tolkien it's a must on that front. It is an older game and you can find it on sale quite often. Don't pay more than $5 or $10 for it.

Hum. When I played it I never felt it was a QTE fest; at least not like Tomb Raider (though they only have a couple). The 'QTE' were simply timed special moves in Shadow of Morodor which imho made sense. Anyways I thought it had some really interesting ideas but alas it appears the second one went a different direction so they weren't improved (I have not tried it 'cause of the loot boxes).

QTE fest is not the same thing as microtransactions fest.

The first one had no microtransactions…..

Originally Posted by joxer
QTE fest is not the same thing as microtransactions fest.

Does it matter? It's still a grindfest.

I tried playing Shadow of Mordor last year I believe, in total I think I lasted four hours. It just wasn't for me, although I could see the appeal and a couple of friends quite enjoyed it.

I just don't like that type of combat. You click your mouse five times and then a prompt comes up and you do a special move. Rinse. Repeat. No skill involved. Something like that old game Severance or Mount and Blade is up my alley. Or modded Skyrim.

It matters because you implied it had micro transactions when it did not.

Originally Posted by joxer
Does it matter? It's still a grindfest.

Same shit, new wrapping. One is monetized another isn't, both ruined videogames.

Finished Life is Strange. Opinion didn't change from early impressions. Very well made but I didn't care for Max or Chloe, or the music. I'm going to give Before the Storm a go because it's shorter and I want to know more about Rachel Amber. Not looking forward to having to put up with Chloe's bs. I'm also looking forward to LiS2 because it will feature a new cast that, hopefully, I will find more agreeable.

Finished Dragon Knight Saga - which is the remastered version of Divinity ii which includes Ergo Draconis and expansion Flames of Vengeance.
-
Preface I had played this game once before around 2012 give or take a year; I played on hard the entire game 'cept last 20 minutes.
-
The game is like a lot of divinity games in style - that is lots of puzzles some odd larian humour and a story set in the divinity world. Unlike the other offerings it is realtime first person (think skyrim) with a unique touch later in the game that allows you to turn into a dragon. The game starts out fairly well with an explanation of story and objective and fairly straight forward game-play. None of the quests the first 1/2 are terribly difficult et all.
-
The game ramps up quite a bit in quest difficulty but not combat difficulty the 2nd 1/2 of Ero portion of the game and the density of surrounding becomes more obtuse as you have obtained the ability to fly making it more difficult to discover the secrets of the landscape. Also there is a bit annoying portion here as there are many areas where you can't fly or walk and you have to constant switch between the two.
-
Flame of Vengence is much like the first part with regards to non-flying but the quest structure is much more complex (more difficulty puzzles) and lots of moral choices (though the game itself has no moral compass (that is nothing changes your character if your choices are good or evil). I think the game is fairly well done with regards to quests but if you are not patient you will lean towards cheats. There are also the few rooms with hard to find hidden buttons but none of the original sin games puzzles with buttons.
-
Graphics: Fine - not today realisim for sure but not blocky and more than adequate for playing.
Technical: A few crashes on windows 10 64. I suspect the game has a memory leak and dies when it reaches 4GB - but made no effort to watch memory usage or confirm if this was the case.
God Awful: The very last portion of the game - think last 30 minutes to last 2 hours depending how many times you reload - which consist of escorting a zepplin and very final fight. I switch to casual (though I'm not sure the switch to casual help with zepplin escort as i was already in the final portion) and i had to play on something less than hard for the last fight as the opponent healed faster than my build could damage them.
-
It's not a perfect game and not for someone who doesn't want to pay attention and figure out what is happening (i.e, quests do not indicators on the map - but most mentions in broad sense location you need to go - i.e, last seen at xyz house for example) also if you don't examine the surrounding you will miss many quests - none of that go here to start a quest…..
-
8/10 - some of the quests are convoluted and that last little bit is just plain annoying otherwise a pretty decent game.