What game are you wasting time on?

[murloc_gypsy]

It's also weird that Jensen apparently changes clothes (drops / picks up his coat) without any notice. One moment I'm talking to some npc and I notice he has it on, next conversation (or one of those way too long takedown/dropdown cutscenes) it's gone. Must be some really wild temperature swings going on.

Thanks for the mod recommendation.

Are there any mods that change / improve the gameplay?

 

[Riskbreaker]

Started a replay of G2, with glorious dx11 render and highly praised if suspiciously named L'Hiver mod which serves as both visual and overhaul. So far so good, and game looks fucking stunning.
Also, me Hyper Light Drifter key arrived this morning, so I'll be playing a bit of that too.

 

[Astral Rag]

Sounds good Ninja Destroyer.

I've only played Syndicate Wars over a LAN, that game's MP is p awesome and it still works 100% out of the DOSBox.

BTW, the "Gog version" of Syndicate Plus comes with a multiplayer shortcut.

 

[spekkio]

Finished Front Mission 5

The good:
- Very good combat system, probably the best in series (skills + links). No cheap shit or obvious exploits.
- Plenty of stuff to do: campaign + hard mode, normal simulator, survival simulator, arena.
- Probably the last Front Mission game.

The bad:
- Story and writing are totally dogshit: pointless, convoluted, unfunny, trying too hard, full of obvious jRPG tropes (for the first time in series). Childhood friends divided. Childhood crushes turning into independent wymyn. Waifus. Mwahaha villain whose goal is fucking mystary. I could go on. The only game in series where you can safely skip through the story, without loosing anything of value. I know TB tactical games shouldn't be played "for the story", but the one in FM5 is a fucking insult when compared with previous games.
- Tutorials are worse than in previous games, not explaining some important info. For example: I had to check myself if second arm adds to accuracy of 2-handed weapons. In FM4 it didn't (you could use one arm with high accuracy and second one with low accuracy and good HP). In FM5 both arms count. Same with other things (skills lack detailed explanation, upgrade system feels bizarre at first). Plus: remember using "SELECT" in FFT to get a description of EVERY FUCKING THING? Well, nothing like that here.

The ugly (subjective things I didn't like):
- Scouting system is meh. Having several pilots with set roles/jobs to choose from, who are just "blank pages" with no character, story or dialogue is boring. Plus you can't modify their specialties same way you could in previous games. Want to have a fag who's primarily Launcher, but also uses some Assault weapons? Well, start ASAP an stick to him, as ALL fags available later are strict specialists (have only one skill increased). Meh.
- Upgrade system is mostly pointless. AP are hard to come by, you need to spend a lot of time in survival simulator to get decent parts, and after upgrading them, you end up with something only slightly better than stuff you can buy in shops.
- Game lacks this weird FM 90-ies charm. Hard to pin-point, but it doesn't feel like a FM game (mood, story).
- Active armor is hard to acquire for you (require specific parts, obtainable only via upgrade system), yet almost all enemies in later part use it.
- Some types of equipment are useless. Quite a lot, actually. EMP can do shit, since you can recover from special statuses way too easy / fast. Flamers are totally useless (low accuracy and number of shots). Melee is shit due to low range and shitty skills (FM3 at least had kickass melee skills to compensate range). Shields are useless with such powerful backpacks (item + power or recovery), plus they reduce number of shots. Compare this to FM3, often called "easy", where shields were crucial, and you had to choose between item or power backpacks... Even rockets are shit now, with insane AP requirements....
- Gameplay is now based almost entirely on links, which is generally a good idea for a TB game, since it makes proper unit positioning and AP management crucial. But... Devs weakened skills way too much IMO. Gone are the FM2 / FM3 days of going solo against a group of enemies, killing all of them with uber skills and running back to your unit laughing maniacally, with 10% HP and one functioning arm left. Now it's all about slow advancement and cutting off lone enemies. Yawn.
- Optional modes are boring / too much time-consuming. People playing on real hardware were really spending hours in survival simulator without powering off their PS2s? It's exhausting even with quicksaves. And arena is soooo boring and taking forever that using cheats to get money is much more sane idea.
- The only "awesome" missions are the ones where enemies rush at you right away (oil rig, base defence, some simulator missions). In most missions, enemy groups are "triggered" by some event, so you can take out one group at a time. Meh. AFAIK "hard mode" makes enemies more aggressive, but I don't think I'll replay FM5 anytime soon...
- No enemy "uberwanzers" giving phat EXP? The fuck is this shit?

Verdict: and a fucking half.

So, as a person who played all "main" games in series, I would rank them as follows:

1. FM3

Pros: Two separate campaigns, majestic always-angry protagonist, fantastic internet minigame (getting the uberwanzer via hacking and shit felt good mang), my favourite combat system (skills attached to parts, so you have to use even the shitty ones sometimes, shields=win, active armor costs AP, ratings). Bitch-slapping Chinese chicks, befriending Rutger Hauer and destroying the White House after parachuting FROM SPACE. Fucking awesome.
Cons: Story can be too "crazy" for some people, only 4 units -> small battles. Puny humies ejecting your fags and surviving 3 rocket blasts.

2. FM2

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...u-wasting-time-on.50372/page-207#post-3455552

3. FM1

Pros: Shit that started it all. On mothafuckin' Snes, no less. I plan to re-play the NDS version in the future.
Cons: Bare-boned when compared to later games. You can use identical wanzer setups for all units. Weight limits are a joke, so you can have like 10 weapons equipped.

4. FM5

5. FM4

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...u-wasting-time-on.50372/page-233#post-3709206

Objectively the worst, but I liked it more than FM5. Weaker game design, but lacks some of the ugly from FM5.

That is all.

 

[pippin]

Caesar 3 still. I think this and AoE2 were the games I played the most back then. There was also Thief 1, but I didn't played that as much since I thought it was creepy (I was 10). Doom had nothing scary for me because I could process it as a fantasy. But Thief was "real"... however, I'm derailing a bit.

Caesar 3 has some strange quirks here and there, esp. when it comes to housing development. I mean,sometimes your houses won't evolve beyond a certain point because they need more schools nearby. But then one building is deemed unattractive for the people living there, and it's that fucking school you had to build. On the other hand, it's awesome to see your new houses go from tents to mansions when you have certain development in your cities. The public opinion mechanic is the most interesting one for me, I never felt as pressures in Sim City, which had its focus in material stuff. The general aspect of public opinion and the possibility of riots keep me hooked. Sometimes I finish a mission but I replay it like 3 or 4 times from scratch just because the game is that fun.

 

[Ashery]

I mean,sometimes your houses won't evolve beyond a certain point because they need more schools nearby. But then one building is deemed unattractive for the people living there, and it's that fucking school you had to build.

Man, there are a lot of seemingly minor technical issues with C3 that can really cripple one's ability to enjoy the game fully, and that is what you complain about?

No mention of the difficulty in setting up a functioning export based economy in a large city? No mention of the crippling bug that appears on the hardest difficulty where it's impossible to maintain positive growth when between 100-200 citizens? (Not that exact number, but it gets the gist across.) No matter how happy those 150 people are, you're guaranteed to have a negative favorability rating that eventually becomes mass emigration. The only solution being to get 100+ immigrants to be enroute to housing before you hit 101 pop and immigration stops.

And I'm sure there are more that I've forgotten over the years.

 

[pippin]

I'm sure there are plenty of issues, but I don't really feel the others. There was a time when I cared about mechanics and strategy, but now, if I feel my city is going to shit, I just start again. I mentioned that because it was the most notorious thing for me when I began to replay it, last time was in the early 00s, so I'msure there's tons of stuff I don't even remember anymore.

 

[janior]

Finally finished Wizardry 6 after starting it in October then getting distracted by other life stuff. I think it took me roughly ~3 weeks without counting the break to close it out.
My ending

Spoiler

Didn't take the pen, king committed suicide i left the castle with black dragon on a space ship lol

Story was like those B-movie fantasy/sci-fi movies, i liked that it didn't take itself too seriously.
Combat is a massive incline, that's the first blobber that held my attetion for longer then few days.
Everything is so much more in-depth compared to EoB or Grimrock, turn-based combat is much MUCH better in these type of products.
Character development and management is one of the best in any rpg.
Anyway, best blobber I've played yet(that might change pretty soon since i didn't touch previous wizardries and 7th game).

Had to google that one...

Spoiler

Not sure if i'm going to play immediately wiz7 after that or try some older one like wiz5.

 

[Abu Antar]

Salt and Sanctuary. It was just as good as I hoped it would be. Two people made this, a husband and wife. The game also has metroidvania elements which I think is great.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Finished Far Cry 2 Fortunate Edition

"Hey lets make a game set in africa!"
"Will there be lions and other dangerous safari animals?"
"No, we have a new idea... Assault trucks... The real predators of the savannah."
When you hear loud REEEEEEEEE behind you - abandon all hope.

3/4 of the game is about driving. If you don't have good music for driving or Spotify account then you better stay away from the game. It was before fast travel become popular.

Fortunate Edition have additional guns and they're useless except x-bow with explosive bolts, p.good for Weapon Shops convoy missions before you get RPG-7.
I don't see why you need rockets in this game, there is not a single tank here (or any armored vehicle for that matter), you can shot driver before he reach you and rockets need distance to activate.

You buy guns and upgrades + manuals for diamonds (only useful currency - see Zimbabwe inflation and huge pack of banknotes). You get them from missions (primary and assassinations) or collect scattered from the map, one by one from 229 overall. You don't need to collect them all from the map if you stick to few guns and save yourself headache of travelling.

Sniper rifle in this game is a must. M-79 occupy secondary (pistols&smg) slot, highly recommended.

Buddy missions are pointless by two reasons. First - you get no reward in diamonds, only increase reputation and reputation give better guns to your enemies, including RPG-7 and mortars. Nothxbye.
Second - every single one of them will betray you at the end of the game when you grab the suitcase with diamonds (I tell you that so you don't need to play it) and they're so kindly they grouped together so single grenade from M-79 remove them from digital existence.

Malaria thing is totally doable. Shit is totally scripted. It remind me soul eater feature from MotB, people were mad at it but once you play it - you will feel like a fool for panicking over this thing.

Graphic is fantastic. Clean, detailed and it's strange when you set all options to highest and it doesn't burn your eyes with massive HDR and bloom... highly immersive thanks to lack of interface and pop-ups, like in FC3 beyond.
Music remind me Arcanum for some reason.

Played with Dylan's Mod. That mean less bullets to take down enemies (and you).

 

[Sizzle]

BG: Siege of Dragonspear.

Pretty dull and bland so far (so, just like BG1, except with worse writing).

 

[Ovplain]

Put 195 hours into Underrail, still haven't beat the game yet. Kept restarting and trying out new character builds, which was great fun! Still, finally got a little tired of the game and I'll get back to it eventually.

Picked up BG1:EE for 5€ and playing that now. It's good for what it is! I appreciate the 'quality of life' improvements.

 

[Ninjerk]

 

[Humppaleka]

Currently about 75 % through on a second playthrough of Divinity II. Got incredibly bored of the combat on Nightmare and set the difficulty down to Casual. Enjoying the game again now, even though the trash mobs are real still and take ages to plow through.

Beat it last night. Flames of Vengeance is one of my favourite expansion packs ever, the content is extremely tight. Again, filler mobs were just a waste of time but such is life and Larian. Also the ending is derp as usual.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Yeah, FoV is very good. Probably better than the base game, even.

 

[Humppaleka]

Also just finished Fantasy Wars Orcs campaign, only Alliance left. That game doesn't joke around, but even for my limited brain hard is an okay difficulty with a lot of saving and reloading in some missions.

 

[Markman]

Picked up Unravel at Origin sale, played for an hour or so, its a cute cute dude made of yarn platforming. Kids will love this shit.

Also picked up Ryse for 5 bucks. Very pretty as expected but after 80th qte executions it gets a bit dull and Im only at 3rd level so far. Might finish it, doesnt seem that long, 5 hours max.

 

[Sranchammer]

Company of Heroes.

Liked it for an hour before realizing why I hate contemporary RTS. I imagine this is what 15 year olds hooked on mountain dew played.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Finished Armored Core, currently plaing Project Phantasma and wasting time in the Arena mode.
It's fun.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I'm now in Valkyria Chronicles' late game. I've spent about 30 hours playing it so far. The game looks great when playing it with the various mods that get rid of the canvas effects. I'm also downscaling from 4K. The gameplay itself is pretty good but easy when you get the hang of it. The biggest hurdle is how some of the late game battles become meat grinders where you just keep sending reinforcements at each other if you didn't manage to seize camps fast enough.

The story itself is ok I guess. It would have been better without the outstandingly shitty names like 'Europa'. Just come up with unique names for each country, for fucks sake. There are glowing warrior women running around with huge lances, this really isn't World War 2 so don't pretend like it is.

Also, the middle section dragged on for too long with pig pets and whatnot. But I guess that's typical of a Japanese game, must have the weird uncomfortable cutesy moments.

 

[Humppaleka]

Also just finished Fantasy Wars Orcs campaign, only Alliance left. That game doesn't joke around, but even for my limited brain hard is an okay difficulty with a lot of saving and reloading in some missions.

Finished this bad boy too, the last mission had me on the edge of my seat. Pretty good game overall, would recommend to hex-strategists, although it's more like a puzzle as you figure out the right way to move your pieces while minimizing losses.

 

[octavius]

Getting my ass kicked in Wordfeud by my mother.

 

[adddeed]

Aliens Colonial Marines, DLC Stasis Interrupted. Good fun.

 

[janior]

Started playing Wizardry 5 few days ego, it's really different from wiz6 it has less classes(although elite ones like ninja and lord are harder to acquire which is a good thing)
I'm playing weaboo edtion aka SNES one, graphics in this one are actually much better then in DOS Bane of the Cosmic Forge.
Combat has less options of attack and spells now have cryptic names but i really don't mind that, it's rather easy to remember what spell does what.
I LOVE soundtrack from this game, which was made actual composer Kentaro Haneda who made soundtrack for every nes wizardry port(he died few years ago *sadface*).
Here's intro music <3

Spoiler

So far so good... i'm not sure if i like mechanic where random monsters in the dungeon are friendly to you for no reason and killing them can change your characters alignment.
I guess they added it more for role-playing purposes than anything else.
I rolled 60 for one character, the best roll possible in the game, idk what odds were for that 1 to 1000/10000? No idea but i was really happy to have such luck.
Today i started mapping first floor of the maze

Spoiler

I can say that map is really well designed(atm atleast, hopefully no mines counterpart further in the maze) i also made every map for wiz6(without mines though, shit made me use automap for some time ).
Not gonna post them since their quality is really fucking shitty i didn't use ruler for them cause im a lazy retard.
Experience with Heart of the Maelstrom so far

Spoiler

Gonna make bigger comp. between wiz6 and wiz5 after i finish this one.

 

[octavius]

Wiz 5 is hard to map since the levels are of unpredictable sizes and shapes. I think I had to glue together four sheets of paper for the largest one.
Also, there's lots of levels to map: