What game are you wasting time on?

[Denim Destroyer]

Dragon Quest 1 (SNES remake + Rod Merida translation): Out of curiosity I decided to give this game a try after being provided a link to what was touted as an excellent fan translation. Never having played any game in this series I did not know what to expect. The best overall aspect of Dragon Quest 1 is its succinctness. You have a single goal of defeating the Dragon Lord which the game does not pad out with extraneous nonsense. All you need to do is become stronger, collect the items necessary to reach his lair, then defeat him. Unfortunately this simplicity rears its head in other aspects of the game. NPCs are mostly useless and only comment on the current state of things, unlike Ultima 4 which released the year prior and has NPCs which state their philosophy and comment on the world itself. Combat is another problem but that is to be expected of the game which defined the early JRPG genre. Attacking is what you would expect, swing your melee weapon or use one of your mostly useless combat spells. Combat rarely feels engaging unless you are fighting one of the few mandatory encounters which are often tough but still fair. This is especially egregious since there is way too much combat, also like Ultima 4, you will quickly become over leveled and wish monsters would stop spawning! My preference in role playing games leans more towards puzzle solving, world exploration, and character builds which are not things this game specializes in so it is fair to say I am outside the target audience for Dragon Quest.

In Brief

This game is not for me but I can see how it appeals towards those whose favorite aspect of RPGs is seeing stats increase.

 

[kites]

DQ2 was clearly rushed, but it was slightly more complex than 1 (bigger world, larger party, more spells, more save points etc). I appreciated the exploration/non-linearity once you get the boat (though that’s up to personal preference; it can feel directionless). They messed up with the bosses and especially with the general pacing, some areas are a pain in the ass.

I think many would prefer 1 as it’s a case of “short but sweet” when viewing the two against each other. So if you didn’t enjoy 1 it’s probably just not for you.

 

[NecroLord]

Continuing the Temple of Elemental Evil run.
I cleaned out the Moathouse.
I did surprisingly well, though there were some close calls. Some nasty fights - the gnolls, the bugbear group and the Ogre. The Ogre can be tricked into letting you get past him, but you need a cloak of Eye of Flame. You can find several in a nearby chest. I just ambushed and killed him.
Fight with Lareth can be rough, but I layed down some Glitterdust, Enlarge Person on my Barbarian (who also has Improved Trip), and other spells and emerged victorious.
Did some quests in Nulb and I am getting ready for another potentially brutal encounter - The Imeryds Run fight with the Giant Frog, the Sea Hag and the Giant Gar.

My party is comprised of 5 characters -
Paladin, Cleric, Rogue/Swashbuckler, Barbarian and Wizard.

 

[jackofshadows]

Still getting assblasted by FTL. This thing is among one of the most powerful games at pissing people off. Also I can't, for the fuck of me, unlock the last ship. Either doing pointless runs on rock cruiser type c or losing on weak ass ships as mantis a (so fucking fun to play w/o sensors, died in a fire last time as a total newb) or engi b where you basically don't have a starting crew aka free labor. Man, it's tough.

 

[Caim]

I gave the demo of shapez 2 a try.

This is made by crazy people who took a look at Factorio and scoffed because it was not autistic enough. This is pure, concentrated auts in which you move, cut, turn, stack and split shapes consisting of four segments (circles, squares and stars) and stick them together to throw them into the big hole in the center of the map. There are no resources, there are no enemies, research is done by making different shapes and chucking them into the hole. This is the factory genre taken to its logical conclusion to make something only the most addled or most brilliant mind could enjoy. I wonder what kind of sick and twisted mind could even conceive of-

...I see.

Demo's free on Steam in case you want to check it out.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2162800/shapez_2/

 

[Arbiter]

Might and Magic 6. Previously I had only played part 7.

 

[Ryzer]

Might and Magic 6. Previously I had only played part 7.

Have you tried M&M3-4-5?

 

[Arbiter]

Might and Magic 6. Previously I had only played part 7.

Have you tried M&M3-4-5?

Not yet, only watched YT videos.

 

[Sigourn]

Finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Goddamn. I had immense fun with this one. And the ending had me giggling like a retard for five minutes. I pity those who had it spoiled for them.

 

[NecroLord]

I would appreciate Human Revolution better if it didn't have that awful piss filter...

 

[Kabas]

And the ending had me giggling like a retard for five minutes.

So which button you decided to press?

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I would appreciate Human Revolution better if it didn't have that awful piss filter...

didn't the director's cut actually toned it down?

 

[Eirinjas]

Dragon Quest 1 (SNES remake + Rod Merida translation): Out of curiosity I decided to give this game a try after being provided a link to what was touted as an excellent fan translation. Never having played any game in this series I did not know what to expect. The best overall aspect of Dragon Quest 1 is its succinctness. You have a single goal of defeating the Dragon Lord which the game does not pad out with extraneous nonsense. All you need to do is become stronger, collect the items necessary to reach his lair, then defeat him. Unfortunately this simplicity rears its head in other aspects of the game. NPCs are mostly useless and only comment on the current state of things, unlike Ultima 4 which released the year prior and has NPCs which state their philosophy and comment on the world itself. Combat is another problem but that is to be expected of the game which defined the early JRPG genre. Attacking is what you would expect, swing your melee weapon or use one of your mostly useless combat spells. Combat rarely feels engaging unless you are fighting one of the few mandatory encounters which are often tough but still fair. This is especially egregious since there is way too much combat, also like Ultima 4, you will quickly become over leveled and wish monsters would stop spawning! My preference in role playing games leans more towards puzzle solving, world exploration, and character builds which are not things this game specializes in so it is fair to say I am outside the target audience for Dragon Quest.

In Brief

This game is not for me but I can see how it appeals towards those whose favorite aspect of RPGs is seeing stats increase.

I played Dragon Warrior on the NES when I was a kid and remember falling asleep during some of the battles, because it was a grindy-ass game and the novelty of fighting wears off quick with the rudimentary combat. I liked the gist of the game, but not the execution.

 

[Sigourn]

I would appreciate Human Revolution better if it didn't have that awful piss filter...

didn't the director's cut actually toned it down?

Yep, it looks much better.

Kabas

I went with

Spoiler

Self-destruction. For someone who complains about not being given a choice, it made the most sense for Jensen to refuse to take the choice away from the world

Then today I replayed the final battle again, and

Spoiler

Chose to deliver Taggart's message because I personally think augmentations were good but unrestrained augs are a nightmare.

 

[Modron]

didn't the director's cut actually toned it down?

Yes but it made a lot of the graphics quite a bit worse (and including a number of them that are just plain bugged) since it was a port of the later released wii port. Only things it has going for it is piss filter removal (which there are probably mods that do the same thing) and better dlc sequence integration into game.

 

[Krivol]

Fallout: Sonora. It's pure magic!

System balancing is close to perfect (making the old F2 system much more playable and some builds better), and the world is built around all skills (well, except First Aid) so almost any build is viable. Worldbuilding is great. Main story... well it got me by surprise in a few places and learning who is pulling strings was (almost) a shock.

Writing is good, nothing special, but definitely serviceable and MUCH better than anything from Bethesda since.... I don't know, ever? (yet I used a Polish translation from the Nexus).

I like the flow, the feeling and how consistent with F1, F2 and NV it is.

Cons? Well, Mexico-themed Fallout has maybe 2 Mexicans you can talk to... a special feat to know the Spanish language seems like trolling. It would be much better if you could join the Mex faction. Oh and CHA is still rather useless (even less than in F2).

Noticeable changes: Small guns skill is now for pistols and SMGs only, and rifles are with big guns. At first, I hated that change (well, guess which skill I tagged ) but it makes sense and turns bullshitty Big Guns into great skill (OTOH Energy Weapons are for any kind of Energy Weapon...), skill books are extremely pricey but (IMO) are better than in F1/F2.

You can download the English version (no idea about translation quality!) with DLC from here:

Russian 1.12 with DLC
English translation compatible


9/10, on par with classics. I've heard it was done mostly by a simple guy (with some help ofc) from the middle of Siberia... No idea if this is true but man...

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Finished Generals campaign, on to zero hour.
I have to say though, I don't like Generals.
I see why people like it, it does have some nice battles, but the campaign is atrociously designed and cheap and I really, really don't like how it doesn't play like a CnC game and instead like starcraft or some shit.

The pace does feel like Cnc in a way, but having to micro building and recruitment when there's all sorts of shit happening at once doesn't feel right.
It doesn't help that for some unholy reason they don't tell you the keybindings in game and there's no deploy button, which is a problem for China mission 2 in zero hour because you have to defend with nuke cannons and they can't just deploy, so for most of the mission you have to micro them so they stop being retarded. FFS, Tiberium Sun got that right with Nod Artillery, and that was three years prior. How do you fuck that up?

Also fuck the GLA. Absolute cheap bastards. Most of the campaign is fighting them and it's always an exercise in frustration between the cheats the AI get and their broken arse mechanics.

It's not as bad as Tiberium Twilight or RA3, but it still isn't great. I'm enduring the game more than enjoying it.

 

[Caim]

Finished Generals campaign, on to zero hour.
I have to say though, I don't like Generals.
I see why people like it, it does have some nice battles, but the campaign is atrociously designed and cheap and I really, really don't like how it doesn't play like a CnC game and instead like starcraft or some shit.

The pace does feel like Cnc in a way, but having to micro building and recruitment when there's all sorts of shit happening at once doesn't feel right.
It doesn't help that for some unholy reason they don't tell you the keybindings in game and there's no deploy button, which is a problem for China mission 2 in zero hour because you have to defend with nuke cannons and they can't just deploy, so for most of the mission you have to micro them so they stop being retarded. FFS, Tiberium Sun got that right with Nod Artillery, and that was three years prior. How do you fuck that up?

Also fuck the GLA. Absolute cheap bastards. Most of the campaign is fighting them and it's always an exercise in frustration between the cheats the AI get and their broken arse mechanics.

It's not as bad as Tiberium Twilight or RA3, but it still isn't great. I'm enduring the game more than enjoying it.

Yeah, the Generals campaign is kinda ass. Honestly the entirety of Generals is pretty jank, in an uncomfortable middle ground between Red Alert 2 and C&C 3. Sure I still love the game, but let's not pretend that there aren't any flaws here. The units have a lot of heart though, and they're carrying the story that falls woefully short in comparison to the cheesy B-movie vibe of C&C and the absolute memefest that is Red Alert.

 

[NecroLord]

Continuing Temple of Elemental Evil.
The Imeryds run battle went pretty smoothly. Stinking Cloud is an incredible spell and I managed to nauseate the Sea Hag and the Giant Gar (you need the Gar's head for a quest in Nulb). Nauseated characters can take NO actions other than move actions!

Also completed the Arena of Heroes (three optional battles).
This is another example of actually good new content introduced by the Co8 mod. The last fight is against a large group of undead (including three undead wizards, beware!). Watch out, as they can cast spells like Glitterdust, Stinking Cloud (the undead wizard in blue robes always starts with this spell) and Mirror Image. The last undead wizard who appears after you kill at least one of the other two undead wizards casts Phantasmal Killer!
Fight went alright, but got a bit of a fright after the Undead Wizard in blue robes cast Stinking Cloud at my party and managed to nauseate my Rogue and Wizard for five rounds...

Oh, and there was also the Rannos/Gremag ambush at your house in Nulb. Will talk about that later, as that deserves its own post.

 

[Caim]

Finished Generals campaign, on to zero hour.
I have to say though, I don't like Generals.
I see why people like it, it does have some nice battles, but the campaign is atrociously designed and cheap and I really, really don't like how it doesn't play like a CnC game and instead like starcraft or some shit.

The pace does feel like Cnc in a way, but having to micro building and recruitment when there's all sorts of shit happening at once doesn't feel right.
It doesn't help that for some unholy reason they don't tell you the keybindings in game and there's no deploy button, which is a problem for China mission 2 in zero hour because you have to defend with nuke cannons and they can't just deploy, so for most of the mission you have to micro them so they stop being retarded. FFS, Tiberium Sun got that right with Nod Artillery, and that was three years prior. How do you fuck that up?

Also fuck the GLA. Absolute cheap bastards. Most of the campaign is fighting them and it's always an exercise in frustration between the cheats the AI get and their broken arse mechanics.

It's not as bad as Tiberium Twilight or RA3, but it still isn't great. I'm enduring the game more than enjoying it.

Yeah, the Generals campaign is kinda ass. Honestly the entirety of Generals is pretty jank, in an uncomfortable middle ground between Red Alert 2 and C&C 3. Sure I still love the game, but let's not pretend that there aren't any flaws here. The units have a lot of heart though, and they're carrying the story that falls woefully short in comparison to the cheesy B-movie vibe of C&C and the absolute memefest that is Red Alert.

After this I got peckish for some Generals, so I've installed it alongside GenLauncher to try out some Rise of the Reds. This is a hell of a lot more convenient to install than doing it manually: just install the game, download GenLauncher, pop the launcher into the correct folder, launch it, select the mods and other additions you want (you are automatically presented with what's relevant), then click to automatically install. Without it you're looking at four different installs, one of which has to be obtained through backchannels instead of ModDB, and install them in the correct order and pathing.

Rise of the Reds adds a lot to base Generals: while it does away with the various generals in the current version (which should be reintroduced coming in patch 2.0), the factions are much more extensive compared to the base game. There is a lot more stuff locked behind the various unlocks you obtain while playing, so it pays to put some thoughts into the unlocks. The two new factions are the defense-oriented Europeans and the tank-heavy Russians, and the base three got extensive overhauls. The Americans have access to a large variety of drones, the Chinese going all in on fire and nuclear weapons, and the GLA having even more tricks up its sleeve than before. No campaign, so have fun with either multiplayer or skirmishes.

 

[NecroLord]

Alright, I said I would talk about the Rannos/Gremag Nulb ambush.
Here goes:
That fight is friggin brutal. You will be ambushed by either Rannos or Gremag, depending on who you left alive when you attack them in Hommlet for being agents of the Temple of Elemental Evil, AND by hired mercenaries. Those bastards are higher level than you are, one of them wields a Heavy Flail and power attacks you (be careful, he deals really high damage), a Barbarian who wields a Spiked Chain, an Enchantress who casts "lovely" spells such as Confusion and Slow, a Temple Priest (this one isn't that tough) AND a friggin Level 10 Assassin who sneak attacks for 5d6 damage plus other applicable modifiers...
The assassin is hidden right behind your party when you enter your house in Nulb, so when combat starts, yeah, expect one of your party members to die if he/she has low HP or AC.
Fuck this fight. I recommend you avoid it entirely, just kill Rannos and Gremag in Hommlet and don't let either of them escape and trigger this ambush. Still, they have a lot of nice gear on them, so keep this in mind when you decide whether or not to fight those bastards.

Now I am getting ready to go to the Temple Of Elemental Evil, the CREAM of the game!
Lots of nasty battles, but what are heroes for, right?...

 

[Gostak]

I played a good deal more of Unexplored.

I really like the dungeon generator.
I had to switch from Desolate mode to a more normal "Challenging" run and it seems that was for the best.
Desolate was way too harsh and made unlocking archer or wizard needlessly extra hard as well.
Now with wizards I seem to be able to reach to the bottom floors with relative ease.
I even was on my way back with the amulet when the guardian unfortunately got me on the 5th floor.


I'm nearing the 50 hours mark.

 

[Ezekiel]

The last room in The Last Guardian is annoying. At least the narrator doesn't tell me the solution again. But taking another break, making the ending incremental.

I wanna buy Echochrome. Never watch the PSN sales. Never buy anything there.

 

[BruceVC]

I am about 15 hours into Far Cry 5 and its delivering on exactly what I expect from FC games

Ubisoft uses the same successful design with these types of games, you have your standard main quests but you have open world around how to complete them. Using resistance points is a genius way to give the player choice on how they want to progress

Its also a beautiful game and Im running it on Ultra graphic settings and I enjoy the various companions and there stories

Lots of activities and side quests means Im not bored yet and as usual with Ubisoft games I wont focus on the main quest until I start getting bored

Im about 40 hours into Far Cry 5 and Im not happy with how the Resistance points work. It was fine in the beginning but its now becoming laborious and repetitive

In order to complete the 3 maps you need to gain Resistance points and you need between 10k-13k for each map and you get different amounts of points for each task or quest you complete so in the beginning it was fun because you can choose what tasks you can select so its like open world

But then I completed all the main quests on map 1 which is John Seed and I had only achieved 6.5k Resistance points which means you have to now grind the activities which respawn. And this is the problem, there are only 5-6 activities like free hostages and destroy a roadblock and it gets boring very quickly doing the same activity over and over again

And the same progression is designed the same way for each map. Its getting so boring I may even quit the game but I will probably finish it through hours of grinding because I dont like quitting any game

But the Resistance points become a really bad design as you progress in the game

 

[NecroLord]

I entered the Temple of Elemental Evil but decided to go straight to the Broken Tower and the underground area of the Temple.
You will be ambushed by a Temple Lieutenant and his goons (two witches that cast Silence and a wizard which casts Fireball), pretty cool fight, I like this one. Didn't have too much trouble, though I did take some damage.
The underground area has some really cool fights - some rather tough bugbears (my Wizard debuffed them with Slow and Glitterdust), some Will'o Wisps, Ogres, a Lamia, two Leucrottas.
Remember to rescue Prince Thrommel while you are here, as later on you will receive a VERY nice reward!
My five member party is nearing level 10 and becoming strong, my Rogue8/Swashbuckler1 sneak attacks for 4d6+9 (with the Craven feat), seriously messing up enemies, while the Barbarian has Improved Trip and high Str when raging.
Still a lot of battles left, the point is to exterminate all the evil denizens of the Temple and rescue prisoners wherever they are found.