I've yet to complete Team Sabre. The horde one was for sure brutal. I don't think I've gotten to the RPG mission yet, but now I'm dreading it haha.
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What game are you wasting time on?
- Thread starter Trash
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2014
- Messages
- 14,196
Only way to play Conquistador is with a completely racist party.Expeditions: Conquistador.
A good, but very rage inducing game. Constantly being ambushed while my best fighters are out of action, and/or peppered with the natives' poison fucking darts.
NecroLord
Dumbfuck!
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2022
- Messages
- 14,910
Even the base game has a lot of RPG wielding somalis.
What's worse is that those buggers can be tough to spot before they start firing...
Fink
Educated
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2023
- Messages
- 102
The game is making me racist.
Machocruz
Arcane
The days of my tac shooter addiction, and this was the peak era. Tried to play everything that came out, and there were a lot then. So many that I never got around to buying this one, but spent hours on the demo. Very underrated.
NecroLord
Dumbfuck!
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2022
- Messages
- 14,910
Pretty good game.
Also tough.
Spike
Educated
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2023
- Messages
- 966
Favorite tac shooter? I have played very few but enjoy the genre. I enjoyed the SOCOM games and early Ghost Recons. Might need to replay all those.
Shuruga
Educated
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2022
- Messages
- 83
I beat Greedfall. I did most of the quests (except the DLC) and got what I think is the best possible "good" ending in about 45 hours. I think it is fair to say that most people will like it a bit less than they liked Witcher 3 -- whatever that means for them -- because it plays very similar but has some rough patches.
The combat is very much like W3, with light attack/heavy attack/parry and a few more powerful techniques thrown in as you level. You have up to two AI companions but you can't influence their combat behavior at all so it doesn't do much by way of tactics. There is a tactical pause that allows you to change which enemy you lock on to or queue in a single action like casting a spell or drinking a potion that isn't in your hotbar.
For not being incredibly deep I thought they had a nice approach to build variety. There are 6 skill trees: two each for magic, melee, and tech, that in the skill tree are a bit like spokes on a wheel:
When you level you can go further down whatever tree you want, with most upgrades being minor increases to damage or whatever but with new abilities thrown in periodically. The interesting bit is that some of the midway abilities can be accessed by either of the adjacent main skill trees. So for instance the magical healing ability (around 1:30 in the screenshot) can be acessed from one of the magic trees or one of the melee trees. By the end I had covered about half of the entire skill tree, so there is room for some variety in builds. For example, probably one of the more common ones is a character that emphasizes bladed weapons but dabbles in magic and alchemy, but you could also have a character that emphasizes firearms (colonial setting so these are essentially muskets) and blunt melee weapons.
I decided to lean in to the glass cannon mage archetype by emphasizing offensive magic. I played on hard and found the combat engaging at first -- I was frequently parrying enemies in succession and struggling to get a spell off in between, needed to use the tactical pause to lock on to an enemy to try and get a stasis spell off (which freezes them for a few seconds), had to switch to a backup melee weapon because I ran out of mana, etc.
Then maybe 25% of the way through the game I totally busted the difficulty curve and most encounters consisted of: (1) firing off a few spells to boost my "fury" (adrenaline) meter to max, (2) casting an AOE stasis spell that froze pretty much everything around me, and (3) casting an AOE damage spell that compounds the damage dealt to frozen characters. This would usually either kill everything or bring them darn close. If needed I'd repeat the cycle.
The silver lining was that this meant I could roll through encounters quickly -- this was good because the combat encounters feel very copy-paste and there were sequences of the game where you're just zipping back and forth over already-explored sections of the map to advance questlines. Out in the wilderness you deal with a handful of bear-wolf-lizard things that all feel the same except for how much health they have. Humans have a bit more variety but not by much. The boss fights have a cool aesthetic (a lot of very angry ents) and some interesting move sets but their biggest challenge was HP bloat.
The story had an interesting vibe and the world was mostly well built (though they repeated building assets more than they should have -- each of the three governor mansions had the exact same layout, for instance). Like Witcher 3 you have a fixed protagonist and personality but you have some narrative agency. Some of the quests were of the weak "go here to have some dialogue, now go here..." but others were stronger and competently addressed some engaging and/or heavy topics like coup d'etats, human trafficking, abuse, etc. Each of the 5 NPC companions had a multi-quest arc that was well done, and the main story beats kept me engaged.
I would have preferred more consistently challenging combat and a bit less running back and forth, but overall I enjoyed it. Recommended for any of you who enjoy narrative-heavy RPGs with third person combat.
The combat is very much like W3, with light attack/heavy attack/parry and a few more powerful techniques thrown in as you level. You have up to two AI companions but you can't influence their combat behavior at all so it doesn't do much by way of tactics. There is a tactical pause that allows you to change which enemy you lock on to or queue in a single action like casting a spell or drinking a potion that isn't in your hotbar.
For not being incredibly deep I thought they had a nice approach to build variety. There are 6 skill trees: two each for magic, melee, and tech, that in the skill tree are a bit like spokes on a wheel:
When you level you can go further down whatever tree you want, with most upgrades being minor increases to damage or whatever but with new abilities thrown in periodically. The interesting bit is that some of the midway abilities can be accessed by either of the adjacent main skill trees. So for instance the magical healing ability (around 1:30 in the screenshot) can be acessed from one of the magic trees or one of the melee trees. By the end I had covered about half of the entire skill tree, so there is room for some variety in builds. For example, probably one of the more common ones is a character that emphasizes bladed weapons but dabbles in magic and alchemy, but you could also have a character that emphasizes firearms (colonial setting so these are essentially muskets) and blunt melee weapons.
I decided to lean in to the glass cannon mage archetype by emphasizing offensive magic. I played on hard and found the combat engaging at first -- I was frequently parrying enemies in succession and struggling to get a spell off in between, needed to use the tactical pause to lock on to an enemy to try and get a stasis spell off (which freezes them for a few seconds), had to switch to a backup melee weapon because I ran out of mana, etc.
Then maybe 25% of the way through the game I totally busted the difficulty curve and most encounters consisted of: (1) firing off a few spells to boost my "fury" (adrenaline) meter to max, (2) casting an AOE stasis spell that froze pretty much everything around me, and (3) casting an AOE damage spell that compounds the damage dealt to frozen characters. This would usually either kill everything or bring them darn close. If needed I'd repeat the cycle.
The silver lining was that this meant I could roll through encounters quickly -- this was good because the combat encounters feel very copy-paste and there were sequences of the game where you're just zipping back and forth over already-explored sections of the map to advance questlines. Out in the wilderness you deal with a handful of bear-wolf-lizard things that all feel the same except for how much health they have. Humans have a bit more variety but not by much. The boss fights have a cool aesthetic (a lot of very angry ents) and some interesting move sets but their biggest challenge was HP bloat.
The story had an interesting vibe and the world was mostly well built (though they repeated building assets more than they should have -- each of the three governor mansions had the exact same layout, for instance). Like Witcher 3 you have a fixed protagonist and personality but you have some narrative agency. Some of the quests were of the weak "go here to have some dialogue, now go here..." but others were stronger and competently addressed some engaging and/or heavy topics like coup d'etats, human trafficking, abuse, etc. Each of the 5 NPC companions had a multi-quest arc that was well done, and the main story beats kept me engaged.
I would have preferred more consistently challenging combat and a bit less running back and forth, but overall I enjoyed it. Recommended for any of you who enjoy narrative-heavy RPGs with third person combat.
Machocruz
Arcane
Can't decide on first Ghost Recon or SWAT 4. Also really liked R6: Raven Shield, SOCOM 1 and 2, Hidden and Dangerous 2, ARMA, GR:AW 1 (PC version).
I think SWAT 4 is the better game overall. It's more dynamic and replayable. Ghost Recon is cool, but kind of static and it's a lot of memorizing where the bad guys are and then doing a perfect run.
Machocruz
Arcane
I agree, but I do just mean favorite. It's part nostalgia and part the balance between gaminess and simulation that it struck, especially for the time, plus outdoor operations are my preference. I think several other games are also better made than GR or have aged better.
I do remember that Ghost Recon had some of the best looking outdoor environments for this type of game at the time it came out.
Halfling Rodeo
Educated
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2023
- Messages
- 963
How are the ghost recon games like Breakpoint? I tries Wildlands but it felt bad to play. Is Break point any better? It looked fun in the footage I've seen.
Machocruz
Arcane
EDIT: GR was an early casualty in the decline, and I haven't heard of any return to form. That aside, I have heard that Breakpoint is a better tac shooter than Wildlands or Future Soldier.
Modron
Arcane
- Joined
- May 5, 2012
- Messages
- 11,132
Really seems like most reviews say it's a worse Wildlands?
Machocruz
Arcane
I mean from actual humans who play tactical shooters, not reviewers
Beggar
Cipher
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2014
- Messages
- 738
Replayed Thief Gold first time in 15 years probably. Had a blast, was absorbed in it for weeks. Insanely inspirational for lots of my favorite games, haven't noticed some of it before. Atmosphere and horror is through the roof. Stands as gold standart, still a top shelf game.
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
- Messages
- 7,565
Finished Shadow of the Tomb Raider,the last of the new trilogy of games, it's fine ,the graphics are good for their time,gameplay is mostly the same as the other two games,the setting this time is South America and pre Colombian civilizations . It has been a while since I played the other two but I think this might be the weakest of the new trilogy although still an ok game.If you enjoyed the other two my guess will be that you will enjoy this one too
Spike
Educated
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2023
- Messages
- 966
Love SWAT 4, it is my favorite. GR:AW 1 is also awesome. SWAT 4 also has fantastic modded levels and etc.
Modron
Arcane
- Joined
- May 5, 2012
- Messages
- 11,132
Too much focus on making stealth the optimal approach to encounters (mostly in the vein of 1 proper route through some areas) and stuff like enemies having bullet/arrow proof helmets really breaks up the flow from the previous games.
Frank Capicoli
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2018
- Messages
- 7,386
Took the Dark Souls 2 mod Seeker of Fire for another playthrough since it had its last big patch release a few months ago. Not bad considering most of the big Dark Souls 3 mods are abandoned and not even up to date for the latest default game patch.
I've gone through Seeker of Fire a couple times over the years and generally each patch has made it better. This time as far as I can tell Adaptability has been disconnected from dodge rolling iframes entirely and now mostly serves as a way to boost resists and item usage speed. A very big improvement right off the bat.
A lot of the bosses have been reshuffled again along with item locations but, the best of these changes so far is probably the increased choice in how you want to progress through the game with the new warps and shortcuts. For example right from the start if you wanted to you could go from Things Betwixt to the shrine of Amana. Many of the DLCs are accessible much earlier and their level progression is integrated into the main path of the game. A lot of the petrified path blockers introduced in Scholar of the First Sin have been removed entirely.
Overall I'd say this is my favorite way to replay Dark Souls 2 now.
I've gone through Seeker of Fire a couple times over the years and generally each patch has made it better. This time as far as I can tell Adaptability has been disconnected from dodge rolling iframes entirely and now mostly serves as a way to boost resists and item usage speed. A very big improvement right off the bat.
A lot of the bosses have been reshuffled again along with item locations but, the best of these changes so far is probably the increased choice in how you want to progress through the game with the new warps and shortcuts. For example right from the start if you wanted to you could go from Things Betwixt to the shrine of Amana. Many of the DLCs are accessible much earlier and their level progression is integrated into the main path of the game. A lot of the petrified path blockers introduced in Scholar of the First Sin have been removed entirely.
Overall I'd say this is my favorite way to replay Dark Souls 2 now.
BruceVC
Magister
I completed NWN2 SoZ after about 60 hours and it was a fantastic experience, it easily scores 73/100 on the influential " BruceVC game rating system "
I thought the new mechanics were really well done and fun and they include
But great game overall and the entire NWN2 trilogy is highly recommended for anyone who loves D&D rules with a compelling and worthwhile narrative
Now Im playing PoE White March1&2, I have just started and its interesting the obvious differences between the ruleset and any D&D game
I thought the new mechanics were really well done and fun and they include
- the map, really good idea to explore and for random encounters
- the merchant trade system, once I understood it and built up my merchant company it was very rewarding seeing things progress. Great feature
But great game overall and the entire NWN2 trilogy is highly recommended for anyone who loves D&D rules with a compelling and worthwhile narrative
Now Im playing PoE White March1&2, I have just started and its interesting the obvious differences between the ruleset and any D&D game
I've been mixing it up between Pillars of Eternity II and Disco Elysium. Both games were a bit hard for me to get into, but they've started to grow on me now.
I'm not really sure why the Pillars game had to be a sequel to the first. Most of the first story doesn't seem to matter that much and with the game even forcing you to make a new character it makes even less sense. It also feels like the relationship between the gods and the player have skipped a game. What I mean by that is the relationship you had with the gods the first game were discreet and opened up to the player the more he continued through the story. In Pillars II you are talking with the gods from the first minute of the game. It feels a bit off, but I'll save my further comments for when I'm deeper into the game.
Disco Elysium certainly crafts a world that I want to get invested in. My only gripe is that the whole game so far seems to be a big dialogue simulator with very sub-par gameplay. If that's the case why wouldn't I read a book instead? There's so much dialogue that it gets annoying to listen to all of it when that's all I'm doing. Guess I'm about to find out if all the listening pays off in the end. It would really need to be a spectacle to do so, but maybe Disco can pull it off.
I'm not really sure why the Pillars game had to be a sequel to the first. Most of the first story doesn't seem to matter that much and with the game even forcing you to make a new character it makes even less sense. It also feels like the relationship between the gods and the player have skipped a game. What I mean by that is the relationship you had with the gods the first game were discreet and opened up to the player the more he continued through the story. In Pillars II you are talking with the gods from the first minute of the game. It feels a bit off, but I'll save my further comments for when I'm deeper into the game.
Disco Elysium certainly crafts a world that I want to get invested in. My only gripe is that the whole game so far seems to be a big dialogue simulator with very sub-par gameplay. If that's the case why wouldn't I read a book instead? There's so much dialogue that it gets annoying to listen to all of it when that's all I'm doing. Guess I'm about to find out if all the listening pays off in the end. It would really need to be a spectacle to do so, but maybe Disco can pull it off.
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If 73/100 was fantastic, you must use the whole scale, which is a good thing. Usually 73/100 means average.
So which games have scored 90 or better?
BruceVC
Magister
Great question, I dont think the globally followed " BruceVC game rating system " has ever rated a game higher than 90
Its about consistent unparalleled excellence and no game is perfect or is so far deserving of a score higher than 90
But any game higher than 50 is worth playing so just use that as a measurement of " should I play this game "
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