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  1. - Top - End - #151
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    ElfPirate

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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga View Post
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    And despite the PDA data entry saying I should take one with me for $$$ for Alterra, it doesn't seem to be possible to pick them up.
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    Given that you owe them the full price of every resource you use throughout the game, getting any kind of money out of Alterra seems like rather a lost cause.
    Quote Originally Posted by Darths & Droids
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  2. - Top - End - #152
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    Archpaladin Zousha's Avatar

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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by warty goblin View Post
    I
    I highly recommend Gladius. Most of the DLC is good too, particularly the ones that add new races to the game, as they are generally very distinct from each other. Even if you don't want to play as a race, fighting them can be super fun.
    Well, I picked up Gladius and all its DLC at half-price and after giving it a few hours I gotta say you were right! I'm really enjoying it and I've only done the tutorial. It just kinda sucked me in and before I knew it I'd played much longer than I intended to on a work night. Thanks for the recommendation, warty goblin!
    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

  3. - Top - End - #153
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    I haven't been able to settle. I've been bopping between Icewind Dale 2, Pool of Radiance, and trying to get myself started on Dark Sun: Shattered Lands.
    The Cranky Gamer
    *It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
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  4. - Top - End - #154
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by PoeticallyPsyco View Post
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    Given that you owe them the full price of every resource you use throughout the game, getting any kind of money out of Alterra seems like rather a lost cause.
    I dunno.
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    By the end of the game your character has access to some pretty valuable info that Alterra wants. The Degasi's fate for one, but more importantly the existence of a **** ton of advanced alien tech, other sapient races, and how to cure a potentially devastating pandemic that would open up a lot of alien worlds that would be otherwise closed to them. A smart person would smash their pda before leaving and bring just enough evidence of their claims to make them valuable.


  5. - Top - End - #155
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Archpaladin Zousha View Post
    Well, I picked up Gladius and all its DLC at half-price and after giving it a few hours I gotta say you were right! I'm really enjoying it and I've only done the tutorial. It just kinda sucked me in and before I knew it I'd played much longer than I intended to on a work night. Thanks for the recommendation, warty goblin!
    Glad you're enjoying it! I recommend starting with Space Marines or Imperial Guard, as they're a bit easier in general to get to grips with. Tyrannids are really fun, but also kinda tricky to do well with, since they lack ranged options and you need to manage Synapse units. This makes particularly the early game kinda rough. Tau are also a very effective faction, just so long as you can keep the nasty dudes with chainswords at a safe and plasma-incinerated distance.
    Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
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    Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman, 1906.

  6. - Top - End - #156
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    So, I'm on the fifth Palace in Persona 5 Royal now, and... yeah, I can see why I had the recollection of Futaba's Palace being sort of the end of the game's high points.

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    The whole period of Morgana leaving the group in frustration due to starting to feel useless after Futaba joined was just kind of annoying. For no good reason you lose the ability to do anything at night without him, and your days for around a week straight are taken up with story events that mostly amount to the group trying to find him and convince him to come back. While there's certainly some value to Morgana's development there, it really didn't need to be married to such a lengthy and complete disruption of your ability to do anything. And sure, in the process you meet Haru and get her father's Palace started, and there's some quality there, but even that feels a little off. Unlike every Palace up until now, for instance, it never shows the group figuring out what Okumura's distortion is - it's skipped over both for Morgana when he enters on his own, and the rest of the group when they do. And despite the amount of in-game time it takes, marrying it to that incident with Morgana somehow manages to make Haru's introduction and the setup for her father's Palace feel rushed compared to prior Palaces. And the way that Haru is sort of half-awakened when you meet her kind of denies her a proper Awakening scene, for the sake of... what, the added mystery when you first run into her? Eh...

    Moreover though, there's just a fairly big problem with how Okumura himself is handled as a villain. Unlike everyone else so far, you don't get to see much of his abuses in the real world. You do get to see him treating Haru herself like a tool with that arranged marriage she's being forced into, and that's certainly some powerful stuff, but his Palace focuses on his abuses of his workers and how that fuels his political ambitions, and you never see any of that in the real world directly. Sure, by that point you know that what the Palace shows pretty accurately resembles what the ruler is up to in the real world, but still, moments like finding that conveyor belt dumping the bodies of burned-out robots representing his workers into an incinerator to fuel the Palace would be so much more powerful if you'd, say, had to investigate Big Bang Burger in advance, or had a school trip to one of his factories, and found out about the workers being forced to work unpaid overtime or having crazy short lunch breaks, like other parts of the Palace imply are also happening. Or, alternatively, the Palace could've had at least one portion that did emphasize his treatment of Haru specifically, rather than everything being so focused on his businesses - as-is there's that mini-boss fight with the cognitive version of her fiance, and that's it.

    All of it just kind of leaves this part of the game vaguely unsatisfying compared to the first four Palaces, and if memory serves that continues on through the end from here. I was hoping that a re-run years after having played the game the first time might lead me to be happier with this part of the game, but so far, not so, sadly. Maybe things will improve as I hit parts that are more changed - I know there's a whole additional section that's been added to the game after the original ending, so I have some hopes for that, but we'll see.
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  7. - Top - End - #157
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
    So, I'm on the fifth Palace in Persona 5 Royal now, and... yeah, I can see why I had the recollection of Futaba's Palace being sort of the end of the game's high points.
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    After Okamura is when things kind of get personal anyway. It shifts from being about righting wrongs on behalf of others and more to defending yourself. So that's sort of where the robin hood shenanigans fade into the background anyway

  8. - Top - End - #158
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    So I picked up Neverwinter Nights 2 Complete (because my laptop has no CD drive and I only own the original) and Kult: Heretic Kingdoms on GoG this weekend (along with The Age of Decadance and Titan Quest Anniversary Edition, although I've not played either yet), and have started both of them

    With NWN 2 I decided to try to finish the Original Campaign again, and remembered it kind of expected you to go for a Charisma-focused class and so I rolled up a half-Drow Bard with +10 Bluff and +11 Diplomacy at 1st level. Not sure if I'm going to stick with it, I'm considering going Duellist later to be a better warrior (although with STR 8 and DEX 14 I'm not sure I'll be great either way), but I'm currently just pumping that Diplomacy and Perform as high as I can. I forgot how much I actually enjoy the tutorial in this game, with the rewards for actually completing it (an item that lets you cast CLW twice a day, and a cloak that gives you +1 Charisma) actually being useful.

    Kult was more of a mized bag. I do like how, unlike other 'fixed character RPGs' I've played the main character is a woman, and it's certainly fun to play, but man it feels like the game expects me to know what I wat to specialise in before I've tried it out, and I just died on the second combat because An enemy was attacking me from offscreen while I was flinging fireballs at the two near me. I'll come back to it in two weeks, but I'm uninstalling it to give Titan Quest a go.
    Snazzy avatar (now back! ) by Honest Tiefling.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zelphas View Post
    So here I am, trapped in my laboratory, trying to create a Mechabeast that's powerful enough to take down the howling horde outside my door, but also won't join them once it realizes what I've done...twentieth time's the charm, right?
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    How about a Jovian Uplift stuck in a Case morph? it makes so little sense.

  9. - Top - End - #159
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    With NWN 2 I decided to try to finish the Original Campaign again, and remembered it kind of expected you to go for a Charisma-focused class and so I rolled up a half-Drow Bard with +10 Bluff and +11 Diplomacy at 1st level. Not sure if I'm going to stick with it, I'm considering going Duellist later to be a better warrior (although with STR 8 and DEX 14 I'm not sure I'll be great either way), but I'm currently just pumping that Diplomacy and Perform as high as I can. I forgot how much I actually enjoy the tutorial in this game, with the rewards for actually completing it (an item that lets you cast CLW twice a day, and a cloak that gives you +1 Charisma) actually being useful.
    Bard is pretty much the ultimate Protagonist Class. Able to do most everything "well-enough", but excelling at talking and leading.
    The Cranky Gamer
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  10. - Top - End - #160
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by GloatingSwine View Post
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    After Okamura is when things kind of get personal anyway. It shifts from being about righting wrongs on behalf of others and more to defending yourself. So that's sort of where the robin hood shenanigans fade into the background anyway
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    That's certainly true of Sae's Palace and the events surrounding it, but not quite so much Shido. And then of course once you reach the bottom of Mementos things escalate and it turns into a save the world situation, as it often does at the end of a Persona game.
    Toph Pony avatar by Dirtytabs. Thanks!

    "When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis

  11. - Top - End - #161
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    Bard is pretty much the ultimate Protagonist Class. Able to do most everything "well-enough", but excelling at talking and leading.
    I find that you can play any class you want in these games as long as you're willing to put all your skill points into diplomacy. It's an annoying pigeonhole, but I tend to mostly play fighters in these games, so I don't need those skill points for anything useful anyway.

  12. - Top - End - #162
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Anteros View Post
    I find that you can play any class you want in these games as long as you're willing to put all your skill points into diplomacy. It's an annoying pigeonhole, but I tend to mostly play fighters in these games, so I don't need those skill points for anything useful anyway.
    Yeah, the biggest class tiering elements are 1) does this class have Diplomacy as a class skill, and 2) does this class fill a particular niche. NWN2 just adds in some parts that benefit from having ranks in Perform as well, making Bards a little bit better than normal, and makes Resting easy enough that having a dedicated healer isn't essential.

    Although thinking about it, I might restart and do a Bard/Swashbuckler build, dropping Pickpocket and the like and just focusing on keeping Bluff, Diplomacy, and Perform at max.
    Snazzy avatar (now back! ) by Honest Tiefling.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zelphas View Post
    So here I am, trapped in my laboratory, trying to create a Mechabeast that's powerful enough to take down the howling horde outside my door, but also won't join them once it realizes what I've done...twentieth time's the charm, right?
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    How about a Jovian Uplift stuck in a Case morph? it makes so little sense.

  13. - Top - End - #163
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    Yeah, the biggest class tiering elements are 1) does this class have Diplomacy as a class skill, and 2) does this class fill a particular niche. NWN2 just adds in some parts that benefit from having ranks in Perform as well, making Bards a little bit better than normal, and makes Resting easy enough that having a dedicated healer isn't essential.

    Although thinking about it, I might restart and do a Bard/Swashbuckler build, dropping Pickpocket and the like and just focusing on keeping Bluff, Diplomacy, and Perform at max.
    My NWN2 version tends to be Bard 7 (to get the Regeneration aura)/ Dragon Disciple.
    The Cranky Gamer
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    *Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
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  14. - Top - End - #164
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Friend got me to play Dungeons and Dragons Online while most of the content is free.

    It's...interesting for an MMO. It plays more like an old single player RPG like Riven or something than an MMO. It's pretty fun.

  15. - Top - End - #165
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Rynjin View Post
    Friend got me to play Dungeons and Dragons Online while most of the content is free.

    It's...interesting for an MMO. It plays more like an old single player RPG like Riven or something than an MMO. It's pretty fun.
    Yeah, it's certainly interesting.
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  16. - Top - End - #166
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    My NWN2 version tends to be Bard 7 (to get the Regeneration aura)/ Dragon Disciple.
    I'm not a fan of Dragon Disciple from a conceptual level, although I do like most of the prestige classes in NWN 2. However, unlike the Divine Champion it's not mostly thematicaly redundant with a base class introduced in the base game (it seems to exist to allow NLG types to access some Paladin abilities).

    Looking at the classes, it seems like the build I want is either Bard 7/Swashbuckler X, or Bard 1/Swashbuckler X, depending on if I want the regeneration song or just the attack bonus and Perform skill. I certainly want a build along the lines of STR 8/DEX 16/CON 12/INT 14/WIS 8/CHA 14 though, with extra points being pumped into INT or Cha to bring them up to 16. I'm not really interested in most of the other Bard songs, although it does leave the KC with a problem against undead and constructs I think it'll be enjoyable.
    Snazzy avatar (now back! ) by Honest Tiefling.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zelphas View Post
    So here I am, trapped in my laboratory, trying to create a Mechabeast that's powerful enough to take down the howling horde outside my door, but also won't join them once it realizes what I've done...twentieth time's the charm, right?
    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    How about a Jovian Uplift stuck in a Case morph? it makes so little sense.

  17. - Top - End - #167
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Been playing Shantae and the seven sirens. unlike the last game which was more straight platformer, this a metroidvania, and I have to constantly find my way around. thankfully I can grind out all my upgrades and health items by killing little snakes aside from health which I need squids for. been liking the animations and character art and my experience in playing Half genie hero kinda helps with playing this one in many ways as I know what I need to get for Shantae to be strong. the controls are about the same as are many of the enemies, been liking it, its real fun. like just changing from a level to a metroidvania changes the challenge involved while the gamplay remains the same. I pretty much have to hunt for everything and explore around, its probably the new thing thats finally gonna hold my focus.
    I'm also on discord as "raziere".


  18. - Top - End - #168
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Needed to give my fingers a rest from "Gris", so I binged "Shadowgate 2014" on apprentice level. Well, that was a fun couple of hours...

  19. - Top - End - #169
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Anteros View Post
    I dunno.
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    By the end of the game your character has access to some pretty valuable info that Alterra wants. The Degasi's fate for one, but more importantly the existence of a **** ton of advanced alien tech, other sapient races, and how to cure a potentially devastating pandemic that would open up a lot of alien worlds that would be otherwise closed to them. A smart person would smash their pda before leaving and bring just enough evidence of their claims to make them valuable.

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    Alterra's top brass are people who helped invent EX: the Seamoth so yeah I thought it was at least worth a shot at trying. Might be worth a promotion if nothing else.

    Regardless, my fellow Subnautica players, I require your input! One of my goals, in addition to 'build an enormous glass bridge' and 'find out how many Floaters it takes to ruin a Reaper's day' is to

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    Dissuade the Sea Crown from going extinct, seeing as it's a vital part of the reproductive cycle of the only creatures able to cure the super plague. Fortunately for 4546B's ecosystem, I can make a bunch of magic pots that will grow anything!

    To that end, I'm planting a bunch of the things in whatever biomes they naturally occur in. I was going to use the wiki to double-check this, but it doesn't mention the one in the Disease Research Facility, so I don't entirely trust it.

    My question for you all is, where else does the Sea Crown grow? I know I saw one in the Red Kelp Plains and I believe there was one in the Bulb Zone too. I'm fine with putting a few in places they aren't already (I'm planning to put some in the Sparse Reed regardless, since I have to go there anyway, and likewise I might put some in that giant mushroom tree if I can find a bit of cave big enough for a foundation to hold the pots), but I'd like to hit all the biomes they've proven they can live in already.

  20. - Top - End - #170
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    I think I've mostly found them in the Dunes in the past. Normally in areas where Reapers patrol. I feel like originally it was intended as a mechanic to make passive players finally face the Reapers after avoiding them all game.

    I also tend to grab them when I see them and grow them. More because they're rare and pretty than for any altruistic reason though.

  21. - Top - End - #171
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Continuing to grind through Monster Hunter World. The game leaves me very conflicted. It has fantastic gameplay, but I've also never seen a game with such an unrelenting hatred for the player. Monsters that turn their entire body into one giant hurtbox. Those same monsters charging back and forth with the same move repeatedly. Flying monsters that never land, and become immune to the only way to force them down after a single shot. 5 or 6 different types of multi-second stun, all of which require different skills to resist. The worst UI I've ever seen in a AAA game.

    I've been playing the game with my sister - her with the bow and me with a hammer. I've reached the point where I'll only play with her, because the combination mitigates a lot of the above issues and we can commiserate on the ones that we can't fix. It's still fun, but I have to shake my head and wonder what a more benevolent dev team could have come up with.

    ------

    For single player I've picked up Monster Train. It's the closest to Slay the Spire that I've seen a game come. I don't think it has the same staying power, but it's still a very charming game that lets you pull off satisfyingly ridiculous combos. My favorite thus far is stacking damage shields to make a nigh-invulnerable tank.

  22. - Top - End - #172
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    I've put a few hours into Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War now, and I'm enjoying it, but I'm struggling even on Medium difficulty. I'm not sure if I'm taking too long to build up forces and send them out, meaning my enemies get too well-entrenched and have enough units fielded that they can win by attrition, or something. How do I efficiently build up resources and troops so I'm able to actually win fights, especially since to get the good stuff I need to wait FOREVER for the research to be done and the buildings to be built. Thanks for any advice you can offer!
    "Reach down into your heart and you'll find many reasons to fight. Survival. Honor. Glory. But what about those who feel it's their duty to protect the innocent? There you'll find a warrior savage enough to match any dragon, and in the end, they'll retain what the others won't. Their humanity."

  23. - Top - End - #173
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    About a month further into Persona 5 Royal (end of October, though I include spoilers for even later in the game below):
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    I have to say, it is interesting playing through the game a second time and, knowing what's to come, understanding certain things that the characters didn't begin to grasp until this late in the game. The SIU Director's cryptic statements actually made sense, allowing me to see that they were starting to set us up as early as the Medjed incident right away; and in retrospect you can see all of the moments where Aketchi is manipulating both Sae and your group. Definitely good to play through the game again even if it was only to experience that - they did a good job seeding the whole series of twists that occur in October and November.

    But... yeah, those little feelings of discontent continue. While the story leading from Okumura's death into Sae's Palace is well handled, goddamn does it take forever. More than half of the month of October is lost to days where you just have story events (plus the exams at school, but that's only four days); surely that could have been compressed a bit. Some of those days where the group was talking amongst themselves about their uncertainties in the wake of Okumura's death could have not prevented you from spending time on other things, or the events with Aketchi could've not been spread out over so many days; something, anything to not lock me out doing things for so long. I'm fine with some days being lost to story events, and I'm even fine with as many of them as there are in the beginning since they're introducing so many things to you there, but at this point you shouldn't be losing half a month like that. This is the first time I've not been able to go to Mementos in between Palaces, since I only had a couple of days where that was even possible, and on those days Haru would've been absent due to dealing with her father's funeral, and the group won't discuss new targets for Changes of Heart without everyone present.

    And speaking of Palaces... Sae's. As a stage in a game, it's nice; thematically for her as a character, I don't get it. She's hyper competitive and a ladder-climber, so she sees the courthouse... as a casino? I mean, I knew that since I've played the game before, but it still seems awfully odd. Also, I'm not entirely clear on what's wrong with her per se - Aketchi claims she'd be willing to fabricate evidence to ensure the Phantom Thieves were punished if she catches you, but we've only got his word on that (which isn't worth much), and that doesn't really tie in with the whole casino thing either. Maybe it's deliberately supposed to be sketchy and unclear, considering the whole situation is Aketchi manipulating you into his trap, but still, I just can't figure out what they're going for with Sae's distortion.

    And... yeah, Aketchi. Not looking forward to getting to his big moments again, that was kind of where I felt the game most dropped the ball the first time I played it. But I guess I'll save that for when I get there.

    Will say at least, so far, I'm fairly pleased with how they integrated the new characters, Kasumi and Maruki, into the story. They are not just shoehorned into their own social links, there's new events with each of them all throughout the whole game. I've seen Kasumi's Awakening now too, which was decent - though I don't get why it included a Sailor Moon-style transformation sequence for her new outfit, when no other Awakening did anything like that. Also, I'm betting that Palace she accidentally ended up in for it was Doctor Maruki's, and is going to be the Palace (or one of the Palaces?) we deal with during the new semester. Hopefully that turns out to be a good addition. I am a bit disappointed that she doesn't join up after her Awakening, but I guess I'm not surprised - they'd need to rework literally every Phantom Thieves group scene in the game after that point to include her if they did that, and while her Awakening is in the last third or so of the game, that's still a lot of scenes to rework, on top of the new ones they're already adding to work her in.
    Last edited by Zevox; 2020-06-03 at 11:43 PM.
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  24. - Top - End - #174
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
    Spoiler
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    And speaking of Palaces... Sae's. As a stage in a game, it's nice; thematically for her as a character, I don't get it. She's hyper competitive and a ladder-climber, so she sees the courthouse... as a casino? I mean, I knew that since I've played the game before, but it still seems awfully odd. Also, I'm not entirely clear on what's wrong with her per se - Aketchi claims she'd be willing to fabricate evidence to ensure the Phantom Thieves were punished if she catches you, but we've only got his word on that (which isn't worth much), and that doesn't really tie in with the whole casino thing either. Maybe it's deliberately supposed to be sketchy and unclear, considering the whole situation is Aketchi manipulating you into his trap, but still, I just can't figure out what they're going for with Sae's distortion.
    Spoiler: Also Persona spoilers
    Show
    While I'm not an expert or anything, I do have a take on Sae's Palace. It's important to realize that she doesn't just see the courthouse as a casino; she sees it as a crooked casino where all the games are rigged in her favour, and that of the privileged few who get to cheat themselves. To Sae, the courthouse is a place where people wager their lives and livelihoods believing themselves to have a chance of victory, but in fact the rich and connected always win and the weak and poor always lose. She sees herself as a monster, who used her looks and her treasure (implied to be her father's casebook, which implies she maybe had some dirt on the police force she used to get into her profession) to achieve a position that guarantees her victory.

    It's all a fairly straightforward metaphor to the Japanese court system. As a prosecutor, Sae is expected to have a perfect conviction rate, and the system is built from the ground up to ensure that. There are, relatively speaking, no innocent verdicts in the Japanese courts; a veteran prosecutor might have a single not-guilty verdict in their history, to go with a hundred convictions. Sae joined the prosecutors' office as a way to seek justice (in the same way that Makoto wants to join the police to do the same), as a way to honour her father's legacy, but once she got there she found there was no justice in it, only a system that presents the illusion of fairness and equality while actually being predetermined from the start. This is why she comes to see herself as a monster and her Palace takes shape.

    Notably, she's also the only target in the game (except Futaba, and for similar reasons) who doesn't need to have her source of power stolen and a change of heart forced on her. Showing Sae that there is at least some justice in the world, that the underdog can win at least once in a while and that she isn't invincible because of the rigged system propping her up is enough to break her out of her twisted worldview and destroy her Palace. Because her distortion, like Futaba, doesn't present her as being better than the rest of humanity; she clearly sees herself as a horrible predator, something twisted and wrong from the very beginning (note how little Shadow Sae looks like the real thing, in comparison to most of the other bosses). Unlike, say, Kamoshida, her Palace doesn't exist for her own glorification. She's simply the corrupt manager of a corrupt casino, cheating the rules and ruining lives for somebody else's benefit because defeat is unthinkable.
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  25. - Top - End - #175
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    So, been trying to convince myself to play Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

    After you get done with the intro and the assassins, is there anywhere you can go IMMEDIATELY to sell all the stuff you have from killing your way through the assassins?
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  26. - Top - End - #176
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    So, been trying to convince myself to play Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

    After you get done with the intro and the assassins, is there anywhere you can go IMMEDIATELY to sell all the stuff you have from killing your way through the assassins?
    Lemme guess, carrying too much? IIRC you can sell your stuff at the outpost you stop at right after the intro.
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  27. - Top - End - #177
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    So, been trying to convince myself to play Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

    After you get done with the intro and the assassins, is there anywhere you can go IMMEDIATELY to sell all the stuff you have from killing your way through the assassins?
    No, not immediately. There is some travel and a couple more fights before you get to the first merchant. I suppose it tries to teach you that the game is not Skyrim, and you should be leaving the worthless stuff behind. It'll save you a lot of frustration later on.
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  28. - Top - End - #178
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Well, I just tried (and failed) to play Yakuza 0. Couldn't get past the first boss even on easy mode. Also, the karaoke minigame in that is ludicrous--I think you need about seventeen fingers and ideally a spare brain or two to be able to hit the buttons as rapidly as it asks you to.

  29. - Top - End - #179
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by Archpaladin Zousha View Post
    I've put a few hours into Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War now, and I'm enjoying it, but I'm struggling even on Medium difficulty. I'm not sure if I'm taking too long to build up forces and send them out, meaning my enemies get too well-entrenched and have enough units fielded that they can win by attrition, or something. How do I efficiently build up resources and troops so I'm able to actually win fights, especially since to get the good stuff I need to wait FOREVER for the research to be done and the buildings to be built. Thanks for any advice you can offer!
    Just to note, the AI seemed pretty okay, even at Medium, to at least make the best of their units. They often pull back injured units and heal them, play back-and-forth with you, etc. So don't feel bad about not steamrolling through them.

    Some stuff off the top of my head:

    -Get up to multiple production lines in a city as fast as you can. That means building infantry producer/vehicle producer/hero producer etc. type buildings pretty early.
    -Try to research techs relevant for the fewest types of units, rather than trying to unlock every unit ever. If you research both Assault and Devastator Marines, for example, you can't produce them at the same time, so your techs for them will be doubly useless.
    -Try to spot your bottleneck resources early, and build their relevant buildings. For example, multiple heroes will cost a lot of influence. Multiple buildings will want a lot of energy. Multiple units will need requisitions. Etc.
    Last edited by Cespenar; 2020-06-04 at 03:56 PM.

  30. - Top - End - #180
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    Default Re: What Are You Playing, Part 3: The Assassination of my Wallet by the Cowardly Sale

    Quote Originally Posted by DaedalusMkV View Post
    Spoiler: Also Persona spoilers
    Show
    While I'm not an expert or anything, I do have a take on Sae's Palace. It's important to realize that she doesn't just see the courthouse as a casino; she sees it as a crooked casino where all the games are rigged in her favour, and that of the privileged few who get to cheat themselves. To Sae, the courthouse is a place where people wager their lives and livelihoods believing themselves to have a chance of victory, but in fact the rich and connected always win and the weak and poor always lose. She sees herself as a monster, who used her looks and her treasure (implied to be her father's casebook, which implies she maybe had some dirt on the police force she used to get into her profession) to achieve a position that guarantees her victory.

    It's all a fairly straightforward metaphor to the Japanese court system. As a prosecutor, Sae is expected to have a perfect conviction rate, and the system is built from the ground up to ensure that. There are, relatively speaking, no innocent verdicts in the Japanese courts; a veteran prosecutor might have a single not-guilty verdict in their history, to go with a hundred convictions. Sae joined the prosecutors' office as a way to seek justice (in the same way that Makoto wants to join the police to do the same), as a way to honour her father's legacy, but once she got there she found there was no justice in it, only a system that presents the illusion of fairness and equality while actually being predetermined from the start. This is why she comes to see herself as a monster and her Palace takes shape.

    Notably, she's also the only target in the game (except Futaba, and for similar reasons) who doesn't need to have her source of power stolen and a change of heart forced on her. Showing Sae that there is at least some justice in the world, that the underdog can win at least once in a while and that she isn't invincible because of the rigged system propping her up is enough to break her out of her twisted worldview and destroy her Palace. Because her distortion, like Futaba, doesn't present her as being better than the rest of humanity; she clearly sees herself as a horrible predator, something twisted and wrong from the very beginning (note how little Shadow Sae looks like the real thing, in comparison to most of the other bosses). Unlike, say, Kamoshida, her Palace doesn't exist for her own glorification. She's simply the corrupt manager of a corrupt casino, cheating the rules and ruining lives for somebody else's benefit because defeat is unthinkable.
    Spoiler
    Show
    Huh, I see. I've actually heard that criticism of the Japanese court system before, in connection to the Ace Attorney games. That helps put it into context and make everything make considerably more sense, thank you. Though I'm surprised the localization team didn't include something in the game to make that clearer, Persona's localization is normally pretty good about that sort of thing.

    (Aside: technically, there's one other person in the game who don't need to have his desires stolen to have a change of heart, it's just not one of the Palace-having targets. Mishima, during his social link.)
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