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

[Thomas Cardew]

The Vermintide games are the best First Person Stabbers out there, and I love 'em, but they really hate explaining the game mechanics. There's a guide I point out for all new players, "All you need to know in 10 minutes." Which I've learned to also send to veteran players, as this game has plenty of features most people would never figure out on their own, no matter how much time played we've got.

Thanks! That was actually really useful, I'd figured out lots of it but several things were new. Like I didn't realize I could block behind me, or that my headshots on Chaos warriors were doing practically no damage. After hearing the 'whoosh' sound, I'll definitely need to play higher difficulties with a headset.

[Cespenar]

Back to TES: Oblivion. Only one of the main-sequence TES games I haven't beaten, largely because I get to a point in the storyline and am just... meh.

I've played plenty of hours of Oblivion and didn't even feel the need to finish the main quest. Fortunately, there were other things to do in the game.

[LibraryOgre]

I've played plenty of hours of Oblivion and didn't even feel the need to finish the main quest. Fortunately, there were other things to do in the game.

According to Steam, I've put about 800 hours into the game.

[Ortho]

Back to TES: Oblivion. Only one of the main-sequence TES games I haven't beaten, largely because I get to a point in the storyline and am just... meh.

I'm 166 hours in to my first play-through, and I still haven't finished the main quest. Mucking about in the Shivering Isles makes for a wonderful distraction.

[Wookieetank]

I'm 166 hours in to my first play-through, and I still haven't finished the main quest. Mucking about in the Shivering Isles makes for a wonderful distraction.

Wait, there's more to Oblivion than the Shivering Isles?

[factotum]

Well, finished Trails of Cold Steel IV. A bit over 100 hours, which makes it the longest Trails game I've played by quite a wide margin. Going to be a bit sad to no longer be with this group of characters.

So, since that would be the ninth turn-based JRPG I've played more or less in a row (Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5 Royal, Persona 3 Portable, Trails in the Sky FC and SC, Trails of Cold Steel 1, 2, 3 and 4) (with a small intermission for Horizon: Zero Dawn, which I should probably get around to finishing some day) I guess I should probably give them a rest for a little while. Maybe even play some stuff on my PC rather than the PS4 for a change!

[Cespenar]

According to Steam, I've put about 800 hours into the game.

Okay, my usage of the word "plenty" was decidedly irrelevant, then.

Well, finished Trails of Cold Steel IV. A bit over 100 hours, which makes it the longest Trails game I've played by quite a wide margin. Going to be a bit sad to no longer be with this group of characters.

Cool beans. I know that feeling, but at the same time, I like wrapping up storylines in a timely manner as well, and ToCS have been even a little on the longer side. For me, at least. Though I've yet to play IV.

[Ortho]

Okay, my usage of the word "plenty" was decidedly irrelevant, then.

Rules of the Internet #167: No matter how much time you've invested into something, someone else will have put more time into it. And somehow considers their hours reasonable. I don't know if that's an actual rule, but it is now!

[IthilanorStPete]

I've been enjoying a few hours of Endless Sky; I've been in a mercantile mood after rereading Wolf Hall. So far, I've assembled a fleet of five ships, hauling cargo and passengers across human space:

• Fate Amenable to Change, a shiny new Clipper from Wayfarer
• The Heavy Shuttles Sense Amidst Madness and Wit Amidst Folly
• The Shuttles Mercy of Kalr and Mercy of Sarrse

I've paid off my initial loan, though I took another loan to pick up the FAtC. Once I pay that off, I'll probably start checking out the storyline missions some more; so far, I've been ignoring them in favor of exploring the galaxy.

[Triaxx]

I've completed the main quest of Oblivion once. It was... a bit of a slog to be completely honest. And the worst bit was the Battle for Bruma that I failed something like four times before creating a super spell only castable while under TGM to keep the NPC's alive. It is surprisingly epic to see a group of Daedra run into a bunch of super charged NPC's and get liquified.

[LibraryOgre]

I've completed the main quest of Oblivion once. It was... a bit of a slog to be completely honest. And the worst bit was the Battle for Bruma that I failed something like four times before creating a super spell only castable while under TGM to keep the NPC's alive. It is surprisingly epic to see a group of Daedra run into a bunch of super charged NPC's and get liquified.

TGM? I do not recognize the acronym.

[Rynjin]

TGM? I do not recognize the acronym.

It's the console command to turn on god mode ("Toggle God Mode"). Infinite mana (or perhaps spells just cost 0 mana to cast, I'm not sure which; it lets you cast things that cost more than your max mana pool though) and the inability to take damage, plus some other benefits (infinite carry weight, etc.).

[Lord Raziere]

Got back into playing Stellaris. been playing as fox people of a mafia-mega-corporation known as Omni-corp, and its going much better than years ago when you could choose your warp drive, as it turns out? holding the hyperspace chokepoints are vital. So far I've have managed to get it to where I have this line of territory that blocks two other empires from the stuff I want, so I basically have like, one quarter of the galaxy in my possession, I just haven't claimed it all yet, and have blocked off the only empire stronger than me from getting any of it. I knew it was worth it to extend all that way just to cut them off, because now its only a matter of time before I claim the rest of it, and I saw that empire extending itself just as quickly to try and cut ME off. darn thing was stealing my idea. good thing I cut it off, or it'd be even stronger.

I'm figuring out that Stellaris has this certain "cycle" to it: I command my ships to go survey then claim systems for me to build stuff in, then I go back to planets themselves to build buildings on the planet for various purposes to keep their stats balanced and healthy, and when they combined output of both space and ground stuff my resources start getting full I simply sell stuff on the market to buy other stuff that I need.

I haven't figured out the negotiation system yet aside from using it to gain influence, though the slow rate of me gaining it is teaching me not to just sign any deal that looks good and that you need to break some off to get it going fast again.

however, the deals did give me species from other empires thus allowing me to settle more worlds without problems, so upsides and downsides.

[warty goblin]

Every time I try Stellaris again, I conclude it's a great sci-fi short story MadLibs generator, which somebody has inexplicably stuck in the world's least interesting 4X game.

[Triaxx]

Yeah it's kind of the ultimate console command. TCL = Toggle CLipping is the other useful one for dealing with Bethesda-itis.

[Lord Raziere]

Every time I try Stellaris again, I conclude it's a great sci-fi short story MadLibs generator, which somebody has inexplicably stuck in the world's least interesting 4X game.

*shrug* I've never played any other 4x game, the strategy games I liked before this were Age of Empires 2 and 3. its just for some reason, things like those games aren't made anymore, sadly.

[Cespenar]

Every time I try Stellaris again, I conclude it's a great sci-fi short story MadLibs generator, which somebody has inexplicably stuck in the world's least interesting 4X game.

Yeah, I feel similar. If not for the odd "I recreated the Imperium of Man in Stellaris lol" meme or similar, it feels like it would have a much shorter shelflife.

Honestly, I got a better kick out of Endless Space 2 myself, despite not being a huge fan of all the Endless series.

[LibraryOgre]

Yeah it's kind of the ultimate console command. TCL = Toggle CLipping is the other useful one for dealing with Bethesda-itis.

TCL I know. It gets used whenever I get too stuck, or, rarely, when I am sick of bull**** dungeon design.

[Triaxx]

Yeah, I use TGM for messing around, or the occasional mod testing. Sometimes the stock power fantasy isn't powerful enough for the job.

[warty goblin]

Hm, okay. I'm curious about the equipment system - it was my biggest criticism in Odyssey, where your equipment had its own levels, and you needed to upgrade it at blacksmiths constantly to keep its stats from falling behind, becoming a major money/resource sink and sometimes necessitated grinding to keep up with. Is that still the case, or did they overhaul that?

So the way I think equipment works is that you have a fairly small number of items, which appear at fixed locations in the gameworld and have fixed stats; there's no RNG loot generation. These come in tiers, which can be upgraded using various ingots, which are themselves pretty rare and have to be found in the gameworld. Within a tier you can upgrade an item a couple times with normal crafting materials, which are pretty easy to find and can just be bought. So it's sort of a grind, but because it's weighted more towards smaller numbers of rare items you have to do interesting stuff to find, it feels more interesting. I really do like the rare items as well, it makes them feel quite important. So far I've gotten three items from main story missions, and found a grand total of a single axe in a cave somewhere. I love that axe too, it's very efficacious splitting enemies into smaller, less problematic pieces.

Also, the block/parry button for two-handed weapons isn't a static block, but a dodge/counterattack that transitions straight into a light attack. This is the best idea a melee brawler has had in years. I'd definitely set the combat difficulty to Hard, since it's not exactly, um, hard. But I'm having a blast with it.

[Silverraptor]

Just did a session of Phasmaphobia with friends for the first time. I don't normally like scary games, but this game has sold me solid. I love how the in-game mic changes your voice's volume depending on how far from other people and how it sounds based on if you're inside or outside or talking on the radio. I also like how you are a ghost investigator rather than it being a spook game.

[Anonymouswizard]

I just picked up Stardew Valley. It's a lot of fun, even if the energy management is annoying, and the fact that it took me about four days to learn how to forage. But now Katherine is a level 1 farmer, and has all the tools she needs to start chasing after Penny and Maru.

Mostly though it's just a great game to play while I unwind, slowly clearing the farm as I grow more veggies. Maybe I'll have a shed or a chicken coop by year 2.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I just picked up Stardew Valley. It's a lot of fun, even if the energy management is annoying, and the fact that it took me about four days to learn how to forage. But now Katherine is a level 1 farmer, and has all the tools she needs to start chasing after Penny and Maru.

Mostly though it's just a great game to play while I unwind, slowly clearing the farm as I grow more veggies. Maybe I'll have a shed or a chicken coop by year 2.

Did you find the Community Center yet?

(I hope that doesn’t count as a spoiler, it’s not hidden I just know it took me a while before I went inside and that made some things more tedious than they needed to be.)

[Anonymouswizard]

Did you find the Community Center yet?

(I hope that doesn’t count as a spoiler, it’s not hidden I just know it took me a while before I went inside and that made some things more tedious than they needed to be.)

Yeah, it got unlocked on day 6 and I found something inside it on the same day. I've been told by a friend that this means I'll get a letter tomorrow (omit been playing a couple of days at a time due to work getting in the way).

I am annoyed at how much upgrades cost, especially the first bag upgrade. It took me five days to work out how to craft my first chest, and even more switching tools in and out to make room for things I find foraging or exploring the mine is just tedious. The others I do understand because I assume that in a few seasons my farming efficiency will shoot up, but I feel like without it exploring the mine may be of limited value.

[Cespenar]

So, finished Gears Tactics as previously suggested by warty here, and I have to say, it's at least on XCOM level, easily. The ranged cover fights are a lot more tactical thanks to the 3 AP system and the more in-depth overwatchs. The lines of sight/cover are much less wonky. And there is almost none of the XCOM RNG meme moments (thankfully), because of a partial hit system and a percentile damage reduction when in cover. No "oops, the enemy did a 5% crit on you in full cover from a screen away, and you're dead" wonder shots.

Overall, it's both well balanced, and still allows you to do all sorts of fun build shenanigans anyway. Pretty solid title, all in all. Difficulty-wise, it's similar to vanilla XCOM 2, so veteran players may want to start on hard or something.

[Razade]

Yeah, it got unlocked on day 6 and I found something inside it on the same day. I've been told by a friend that this means I'll get a letter tomorrow (omit been playing a couple of days at a time due to work getting in the way).

I am annoyed at how much upgrades cost, especially the first bag upgrade. It took me five days to work out how to craft my first chest, and even more switching tools in and out to make room for things I find foraging or exploring the mine is just tedious. The others I do understand because I assume that in a few seasons my farming efficiency will shoot up, but I feel like without it exploring the mine may be of limited value.

It's your first game, 5,000 and 10,000 shouldn't be hard to hit in the first season honestly when you know what you're doing. Exploring the mine is huge, but you should be planting and spamming turnips and cauliflower and get a few upgrades for your tools by summer. Things get easier the more you play and the more you understand the systems. Stardew Valley is a huge game with tons of stuff to do. Worrying about hitting benchmarks your first play through is just going to disappoint you. Just relax and enjoy your time.

[warty goblin]

Glad you enjoyed Gears Tactics. As I said when it came out, I'll find it really hard to go back to XCOM's weirdly conservative systems after Gears attitude of just do cool stuff. I also thought Gears' much more liberal injury rules allowed it to have less gimmicky enemies. XCOM2 punishes injuries so hard like half the enemies default to moves that will screw you over next turn. Gears just has dudes that shoot you, which shifts the game towards its excellent and complex combat geometry, rather than mitigating binary effects by moving a square.

[factotum]

Guess I just couldn't ignore the siren call of the JRPG...saw that Hyperdimension Neptunia: Rebirth was only £11 on Steam, so I bought it and installed it. It's really quite silly, which I think is good after the almost nonstop deadly seriousness of Trails!

[Cespenar]

Glad you enjoyed Gears Tactics. As I said when it came out, I'll find it really hard to go back to XCOM's weirdly conservative systems after Gears attitude of just do cool stuff. I also thought Gears' much more liberal injury rules allowed it to have less gimmicky enemies. XCOM2 punishes injuries so hard like half the enemies default to moves that will screw you over next turn. Gears just has dudes that shoot you, which shifts the game towards its excellent and complex combat geometry, rather than mitigating binary effects by moving a square.

True. It even evokes Company of Heroes at times, rather than XCOM, really.

[warty goblin]

True. It even evokes Company of Heroes at times, rather than XCOM, really.

I hadn't thought of that comparison, but it's a good one. The emphasis on facing, and the amount of mayhem you can cause with a well placed HMG are certainly points of commonality.

...man, if somebody made turn-based Company of Heroes I might simply have to give up on sleep.



Been playing some more Valhalla. The Viking theme fits an RPG to an almost alarming degree. I mean your literal job description is to go places, hit the people who live there in the face with large axes, and then take all their stuff. You're an adventurer with an axe fetish.

Overall I'm really, really liking the game. Combat is fun, and on Hard is about the right level of pushback, though I definitely wouldn't want to go easier. The weapons feel pretty distinct to use, and the lack of randomized loot is just a huge relief. I'm not checking whether this axe is better than that axe all the time, I'm choosing whether I want to hit people with a one handed axe, a two handed axe, or an axe in each hand. You know, actually interesting decisions that impact combat.

And this is one of the rare titles where even 7 hours in, the graphics keep blowing my mind. Everything just looks good, and the LoD work is phenomenal. Things don't do that weird shape morphing thing where the low-poly asset gets replaced by the high-poly one as you approach, it pretty naturally just gets more detailed. The draw distance is also staggering. It just looks right in a way I'm not sure I've really experienced in a game before.


It's also quite impressive how well Ubisoft have landed the whole action RPG thing. I rather wonder if some of it isn't because they're coming at it from the direction of taking action games and adding RGP structure to them, rather than the other way around. So for instance the game lacks a more traditional RPG's fixation on giving the player a huge number of dialog options to click through, and I don't miss them one bit. Instead you talk to a person, if it's a major story beat you get a very nice cutscene with good animation and camera work, and the conversation plays out like an actual human conversation with flow and mood changes and give and take between the participants. Similarly the whole AC stealth/ranged/melee set of options are just there and freely available. I've been dumping all my points into becoming a raging melee monster because there's a proper way to Viking, but stealth and archery still work. They're ways to play that you can opt in based on your inclination and situation, rather than a class you choose at the title screen. Much more flexible, much more interesting.