What are you playing 4: HD Remaster Gold Collector's Edition Thread of the Year

[Thomas Cardew]

I find myself ALWAYS doing Independant because I can't bring myself to kill the BOS and House and NCR both demand it.

The NCR lets you do a truce, if the McNamara is still in charge and you have positive BOS rep. But I generally prefer independence anyway. The NCR would clearly rather kill them than deal and are just waiting till after the Legion is dealt with the BOS. If BOS were still run by Elijah or even just bigger ***** to you personally it would be easier to off them. As it is, I can't really fault them for not trusting the NCR.

I'd much rather have them as a client organization under the banner of a New Vegas state. We can sand off some rough edges through contact and trade; get them reintegrated into a larger society. Or they can earn their annihilation at the lasers of the securitrons.

[Triaxx]

Agreed. Getting the rough edges off is gonna take a LOT of grinding though.

[factotum]

The NCR would clearly rather kill them than deal and are just waiting till after the Legion is dealt with the BOS.

Except that's not what happens according to the game's ending slides? If you get BOS and NCR to truce, the truce holds in the Mojave even though it apparently doesn't result in a truce between those factions further West. I mean, you can completely ignore that and make up your own post-ending if you like, but I prefer to go with what the game tells me happens.

[Eldan]

It was less boring for me as well compared to Sea/Skies, since the travel times and the back and forths were atrocious in those. Cultist Sim has its own share of "quirks", sure, but I found it overall more playable.

Still, I had to open up the wiki after my first "normal" win, I think, because I can't spend my whole life decrypting the developer's arbitrary recipes in order to just upgrade one item.

On my third character now and the first time I think I have some idea what I'm doing at least in the early parts. At least my character isn't immediately imploding from Dread like the last two.

The Aspirant bumbled around the city a bit, got almost fired from his clerical job, made a friend, learned behind the Light behind the skin of the world, read a few weird books from a bookstore and succumbed to dread.

His legacy was picked up by Doctor Blake at the hospital, but he went in an entirely different direction. By studying the wounds of his patients, he learned the principle of opening deeper wounds, that are gateways behind the world. Of his his three disciples, two were eaten by a lake monster and then he, too, succumbed to dread. But he opened the way for Father Emmerson.

Father Emmerson saw the four-armed St. Agnes walk beside him in his dreams and kissed her severed head, and even before he met Doctor Blake's Society, he knew of the Holy Wound and preached of it to his congregation. How the locksmiths who were bitten by snakes find they can pull apart the skin and enter the forest.

So, anyway. Seems the goal to surviving the early game was not researching mysteries immediately, but instead grinding stats. So Father Emmerson learned Greek and spent all his early days either preaching very conventional sermons, body building or painting, until he had a 3 in all stats. This makes everything so much easier.

NO idea what my cult can actually do, so far, but he has a loyal following, is a famous enough painter that he doesn't have to preach for money much anymore, and can instead mainly preach the higher mysteries to gain cult followers from his church, and he has very interesting dreams.

[Cespenar]

On my third character now and the first time I think I have some idea what I'm doing at least in the early parts. At least my character isn't immediately imploding from Dread like the last two.

The Aspirant bumbled around the city a bit, got almost fired from his clerical job, made a friend, learned behind the Light behind the skin of the world, read a few weird books from a bookstore and succumbed to dread.

His legacy was picked up by Doctor Blake at the hospital, but he went in an entirely different direction. By studying the wounds of his patients, he learned the principle of opening deeper wounds, that are gateways behind the world. Of his his three disciples, two were eaten by a lake monster and then he, too, succumbed to dread. But he opened the way for Father Emmerson.

Father Emmerson saw the four-armed St. Agnes walk beside him in his dreams and kissed her severed head, and even before he met Doctor Blake's Society, he knew of the Holy Wound and preached of it to his congregation. How the locksmiths who were bitten by snakes find they can pull apart the skin and enter the forest.

So, anyway. Seems the goal to surviving the early game was not researching mysteries immediately, but instead grinding stats. So Father Emmerson learned Greek and spent all his early days either preaching very conventional sermons, body building or painting, until he had a 3 in all stats. This makes everything so much easier.

NO idea what my cult can actually do, so far, but he has a loyal following, is a famous enough painter that he doesn't have to preach for money much anymore, and can instead mainly preach the higher mysteries to gain cult followers from his church, and he has very interesting dreams.

Nice. Its own writing notwithstanding, the game really excels in building up the framework for your own headcanons.

About your cult: you can send your followers to do some jobs according to their skill/inclination. You can also upgrade/train them with the proper lores. I think you can also pull off some rituals through your cult as well, though I'm murky on the details. The esoteric arts tend not to stick to one's memory for long.

[Thomas Cardew]

Except that's not what happens according to the game's ending slides? If you get BOS and NCR to truce, the truce holds in the Mojave even though it apparently doesn't result in a truce between those factions further West. I mean, you can completely ignore that and make up your own post-ending if you like, but I prefer to go with what the game tells me happens.

All the npcs in the actual game prefer you eliminate them. In 3/5 endings the BOS ends up destroyed, either by you or by the NCR post victory. In the 4th, the temporary truce lasts only long enough for the BoS to retreat. In the 5th, the BoS and NCR have a local truce but remain at war in the core. It doesn't tell you what happens when that ends, but history demonstrates that if the NCR, the boot just stamps down harder on the fringe territory as it expands.

[Zevox]

So, I got tempted into trying to play Street Fighter 5 again. This time, it was the release of Rose, who was a character that I enjoyed in SF4, and unlike other characters that I liked in 4 that made it into 5 (Sakura and Juri) looked like she'd gotten a bunch of cool new things that she could do, rather than losing the things that I liked about her. And she did - air fireballs, a teleport v-trigger, a ton of new combo potential; I do legitimately like the character and the new things they gave her. But well, that was true of G and Seth before her too, and I'm running right back into the thing that made me stop playing even though I like those characters: I have to play Street Fighter 5 to play them. And I just really don't like the feel of Street Fighter 5.

Some of it is general things I don't like about Street Fighter, like the heavy reliance on links in combos, or the annoyingly specific cancel windows. But some of it is more a general feel of the game's pacing, not all of which is universal to other Street Fighter games. In particular, this time around I'm noticing that, despite the game in many ways being a slower-paced fighting game than the ArcSys titles I'm more used to, I feel like I never have a moment to stop and think about what's going on, and I think I've figured out why. One part of it is how the game's combos are shorter than in other fighting games I tend to play, so there's very little time in between someone getting a hit and things returning to the point where whoever got hit can act again; but another is more specific to SF5, which is the fact that there are no hard knockdowns in the game outside of exactly counter hit sweeps. Anything else leads to a soft knockdown, which you can quick-getup from just by mashing any button as you hit the ground, so of course everyone does. Which means those moments where you have a brief half-second to just think, rather than act, in almost any other fighting game, practically don't exist. Which may not sound like much if you don't play fighting games - especially since when I say half-second, I'm being literal - but I think it legitimately may be making a big difference to me. I know it wasn't like that in Street Fighter 4, a lot more things gave you a real hard knockdown, and I'm starting to wonder if that's a big part of why I recall enjoying that game a lot more than I do Street Fighter 5.

So, I'll probably wind up giving it another couple of nights, then stop playing the game again. Hopefully for the last time this time. And here's hoping that Street Fighter 6 ends up feeling much better - because I know that I can enjoy a Street Fighter game more than I do SF5, even if it's likely never to be anywhere near my favorite fighting game franchise. Both SF4 and Street Fighter x Tekken (which is my personal favorite of the Street Fighter games I've played, ironically enough) are proof of that.

[Thomas Cardew]

I tried the free new Chaos Wastes DLC for Vermintide 2 that dropped yesterday. I did 3.75 runs, 3.25 solo and .5 in a PUG. I actually really like it so far. Possibly even more than the main game mode, I could see myself switching over to this entirely.

It's basically a rogue-lite string of randomized levels. You start with gray items but a higher power level than your normal gear to make up for the lack of properties. The levels are all relatively short, usually a bunch of twisty corridors with loops and alternate paths before a final arena or other style fight. But as you wander the levels, you find coins which you can use to purchase upgrades depending on what shrines you randomly find in each level. This plus the general weird geography makes the levels seem larger since you're frequently circling to make sure you got every coin. At least I am.

You spend the coins at altars you find in the levels to upgrade your weapons or give you random boon. You find cheap alters which swap your weapon for a random one or more expensive ones that upgrade your currently equipped one. The boons are basically free item properties or passives attached to your character for the rest of the run. Each level also gives a bonus for completing it like move speed, attack speed, block reduction, etc. While it depends on which character, I'm using I actually like the enforced variety. While there are some lousy weapons or move-sets I don't like, you're generally getting a decent upgrade if you choose to gamble and swap your weapon. That does a lot to soothe the pain of getting stuck with a weapon you don't like. Plus the coins you saved means you can afford more boons.

You advance down the path in FTL like map, each level connected to a 1 or more levels that you chose from next until you get the final fight. You can see what enemies you'll fight on each mission and the stat upgrade you'll get if you choose that level. There are also dedicated shrine levels which just let you buy bonuses with your coins without fighting enemies. You end up with more stats and perks than you would in a normal match so it really makes you feel powerful. And you don't have to grind for gear since it upgrades automatically as you go. Plus there are some really powerful effects you can find that you can't get in the base game, like chain lightning on crits. The final level is just a giant arena fight with a TON of enemies spawning with a special modifier for the enemies depending on which chaos god is in control. You'll get loot chests for the main game depending on how well you did plus a few of your coins will carry over to your next run.

So far, it's been really enjoyable. Playing with a group of real people lets you be more powerful since everyone gets coins when you pick up a box and there's more altars than you can fund as a solo player. But there's still a limited number and if you use one someone else can't. Coordinating with PUGs is always a dice roll, and going solo is perfectly viable. Small caveat, there are a LOT of ledges and bots don't always handle them well. The random weapons have been fun so far, since I usually just stick to my favorite load outs. But I can see it being worse for certain characters, I'd hate to get stuck with a repeater pistol as BH Saltz for example. Mostly, I appreciate the lack of grims or tomes. It's really nice to be playing a full health bar and all my item slots. Plus the wastes only potions are ridiculous.

I thoroughly recommend trying the mode, if you have the game and just haven't played it in awhile.

[Eldan]

So, Cultist Simulator can apparently really surprise you.

My first three games were similar. The Aspirant, the Doctor and the priest all had the same mechanisms to work, study, explore and create a cult. Then came the detective, who was similar, but also had to find evidence to do his work. Minor victory there, got a promotion instead of anything supernatural.

Then... the Reckoner. Now I am a Reckoner of Years, who has stolen 77 years of lifespan, and must flee from assassins. No more working, studying, exploring or cult creation... just trying to make enough cash to get to a different city, before the assassins of the Hours catch me, and meditating on vengeance.

[Spacewolf]

I really dont think I got anywhere in Cultist simulator I played about 5 games got a cult going but never really understood how to progress from there.

[Cespenar]

I really dont think I got anywhere in Cultist simulator I played about 5 games got a cult going but never really understood how to progress from there.

It ascribes to the (old) school of making the learning of the mechanics into its own gameplay. But if that's not your cup of tea, you can definitely use the wiki to fill in the blanks.

[IthilanorStPete]

I tried Cultist Simulator, saw timers ticking down on the first card(s), and kinda had a panic attack from feeling rushed. >.< I don't like games where you can't pause to make decisions.

[Cespenar]

I tried Cultist Simulator, saw timers ticking down on the first card(s), and kinda had a panic attack from feeling rushed. >.< I don't like games where you can't pause to make decisions.

You can pause, though. The game would have been unplayable without it.

Now, it certainly could use some customizable auto-pause options, that's for sure, but you got your basic pause.

[IthilanorStPete]

You can pause, though. The game would have been unplayable without it.

Now, it certainly could use some customizable auto-pause options, that's for sure, but you got your basic pause.

...I may need to give this game another chance.