What Are You Playing 6: DLCs of Kevin Bacon

[Anonymouswizard]

I mean, the "how" doesn't seem far off, if she's a fast typer or even uses some macros or code.

The "why" is a bit more stretchy, since that whole schtick is a pretty planned and collected sort of "crazy", like Batman's Joker. Which isn't really crazy per se, and thus doesn't gel with the Malk theme quite so well, in my opinion. But she could be an outlier, and Malks aren't perhaps a monolith like that, etc., I don't know enough of VtM to really judge.

tl,dr: I get where you're coming from, and it was a bit off for me as well, but I don't think it's really gamebreaking-tier.

Different people have different tolerances, combined with having never successfully lowered my Hunger (darn Ventrue curse) severely limiting my ability to use Disciplines and I just dropped it. Unfortunately I got far enough in that restarting as a different Clan feels like too much retreading.

I'm not sure why I'm more into Night Road, because the railroading is possibly even stronger. Maybe it's because of the greater number of meaningless choices, maybe it's because it's clearly established that the PC is being railroaded in-universe, maybe it's because it can be legitimately funny. Probably because there's no scene I've looked at and gone 'that's stupid'.

Highlights so far:
-Being able to pay a Brujah more along classical lines. 4 Int, 2 in both Academics and Technology, and no points in Combat or Firearms.
-Deciding against all the sensible outfits and dressing like an Edwardian Poet.
-Bringing up that Julian put you in a Twilight knock-off and then tried to Fifty Shades it. Then flirting with him anyway.

[warty goblin]

Played a bit of Godfall which managed to hold my attention just long enough to get me out of the 2 hour refund window. Mostly because I left it sitting idle for a bit. There's the bones for a good game there somewhere, but they didn't bother to put any actual meat on those bones. The "loot" is all of the boring "same thing you already have but with a higher number" variety. The story is...fine? I'm past the first mission and I'm still not entirely sure who I am or what my motive is other than that my brother is evil and I have to stop him. Generic, but ok. The game also requires you to be online, which annoys me in a single player game.

The biggest problem is with the "difficulty". Which is to say there isn't any. I'm not sure who this game was designed for. Maybe blind people with no hands? Who also don't play video games? Because I'm pretty sure you could gum the controller with your mouth and still get through the map. At one point I sat my controller down mid-combat with three enemies to answer the door. When I came back several minutes later I was still alive. My dog had knocked the controller under the bed, but I was able to click the mouse button a few times and win the fight. At one point I fought a boss and the game warned me I'd be "punished harshly" if I missed my parries. When I actually missed a parry because the boss went off-camera it did about...10% of my health? Ignoring the fact that I also had heals...so maybe 1/30th of my total health pool? I get that not every game has to be Dark Souls, but you have to at least give me a reason to pay attention to the screen!

The whole first section (as long as you're in the ridiculous super golden area and haven't unlocked a second Valorplate yet) is extended tutorial, and extremely easy. Once you get to the first semi-open mission area, the game takes the training wheels off. It isn't difficult per say, but enemies do hit a fair bit harder, so attention is required. You can also turn up the difficulty on a per mission basis, though I haven't messed with that yet, so I don't know how much of a difference it makes.

[Anteros]

The whole first section (as long as you're in the ridiculous super golden area and haven't unlocked a second Valorplate yet) is extended tutorial, and extremely easy. Once you get to the first semi-open mission area, the game takes the training wheels off. It isn't difficult per say, but enemies do hit a fair bit harder, so attention is required. You can also turn up the difficulty on a per mission basis, though I haven't messed with that yet, so I don't know how much of a difference it makes.

I did make it to the second area, but it didn't feel appreciably different from the first. Even if the difficulty does continue to ramp up...I'm already hours in. I don't think you should have to play a game for multiple hours before it becomes interactive.

[Cespenar]

Different people have different tolerances, combined with having never successfully lowered my Hunger (darn Ventrue curse) severely limiting my ability to use Disciplines and I just dropped it. Unfortunately I got far enough in that restarting as a different Clan feels like too much retreading.

I'm not sure why I'm more into Night Road, because the railroading is possibly even stronger. Maybe it's because of the greater number of meaningless choices, maybe it's because it's clearly established that the PC is being railroaded in-universe, maybe it's because it can be legitimately funny. Probably because there's no scene I've looked at and gone 'that's stupid'.

Highlights so far:
-Being able to pay a Brujah more along classical lines. 4 Int, 2 in both Academics and Technology, and no points in Combat or Firearms.
-Deciding against all the sensible outfits and dressing like an Edwardian Poet.
-Bringing up that Julian put you in a Twilight knock-off and then tried to Fifty Shades it. Then flirting with him anyway.

Could be. I was more trying to say that it's actually returnable, rather than that you're wrong in disliking it. Anyway.

Even then, though, from what I've seen, Night Road seems even better. I'll definitely have a look.

[Anonymouswizard]

Could be. I was more trying to say that it's actually returnable, rather than that you're wrong in disliking it. Anyway.

Even then, though, from what I've seen, Night Road seems even better. I'll definitely have a look.

A big difference in Night Road that only clicked for me after completing about four chapters: you're a relatively experienced Neonate. Redemption, Bloodlines, and Coteries all started you off as a fledgeling, but I think the Night Road protagonist has been a vampire for three or four decades.

I mean, it's clear you're not a fledgeling from the start, but I hadn't realised just how experienced the protagonist is supposed to be.

[factotum]

Started Elex 2, not got very far, just long enough to recruit Caja and get my home base quests on the log. It's a little confusing that they've subtly changed the keybindings from the first game, although I do like that the lock-on during combat is no longer automatic and has to be manually activated, because I often found that a pain in Elex when fighting multiple enemies. One thing I did notice: there have been a couple of times when it's shown flashbacks to the previous game, and despite these all being rendered in the game engine, they use the older less defined models for the characters--so both Caja and Jax have their appearance from the first game rather than the ones from Elex 2. That kind of makes sense considering there's supposed to be 10 years or thereabouts between the two games and people's appearances change as they age, but it's interesting they did it that way--a lot of devs would just re-create the scenes using the new game models and be done with it!

[Cespenar]

A big difference in Night Road that only clicked for me after completing about four chapters: you're a relatively experienced Neonate. Redemption, Bloodlines, and Coteries all started you off as a fledgeling, but I think the Night Road protagonist has been a vampire for three or four decades.

I mean, it's clear you're not a fledgeling from the start, but I hadn't realised just how experienced the protagonist is supposed to be.

I think that's also written in the steam desc, but I'm not sure. It's probably because the other ones expected to sell to newcomers to the setting as well, and fledgelings are a good foil for that.

[warty goblin]

I did make it to the second area, but it didn't feel appreciably different from the first. Even if the difficulty does continue to ramp up...I'm already hours in. I don't think you should have to play a game for multiple hours before it becomes interactive.

Sorry it isn't too your taste, I'm having some good brain dead fun and find it about right on the challenge front. Partly because I'm not very good at third person action games, partly because I'm playing for about half an hour at 6:30 AM before work, when I'm not exactly firing on all cylinders.

Started Elex 2, not got very far, just long enough to recruit Caja and get my home base quests on the log. It's a little confusing that they've subtly changed the keybindings from the first game, although I do like that the lock-on during combat is no longer automatic and has to be manually activated, because I often found that a pain in Elex when fighting multiple enemies. One thing I did notice: there have been a couple of times when it's shown flashbacks to the previous game, and despite these all being rendered in the game engine, they use the older less defined models for the characters--so both Caja and Jax have their appearance from the first game rather than the ones from Elex 2. That kind of makes sense considering there's supposed to be 10 years or thereabouts between the two games and people's appearances change as they age, but it's interesting they did it that way--a lot of devs would just re-create the scenes using the new game models and be done with it!

For all their jank, PB pays a lot of attention to the details of their world. I do quite appreciate how much they care about making the place feel like a place that existed before you showed up, and will exist after as well.

[Gyro89]

I just beat Dark Souls, and man, Gwyn was super underwhelming, just parry him a couple of times and he dies. I chose not to link the fire because it would benefit humanity(?) but I assume since there's sequels linking the fire is the canon choice.
Overall, I liked DS1 but the later games definalty out shadow it, though still worth it to see all the iconic moments.

Now time to try the dlc on NG+!

[Cygnia]

Finished Plague Tale: Innocence (and my arms/hands HURT with how tense they are). Now, back to FF8.

[Zevox]

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle got its rollback update today, so I hopped back for the first time in probably two years. Got beat up a lot, as I would expect to when de-rusting on a fighting game after not playing it for a while, but I have a lot of fun in BBTag even when losing, so that's all good. Definitely have a lot of work to do though - I remember the basics of my characters, but not a lot else at this point, and felt like I was losing to things I'd previously have had little trouble handling at times.

Most importantly though, dang, the netcode update is working like a charm. And it's an interesting experience for me, since unlike every other game I've played that got updated with rollback, this one kept its old connection quality rating system rather than switching to displaying the exact ping. So now I get to pretty directly compare the experience of pre- and post-rollback with the same idea of how the game is rating the connections. And it's impressive. ArcSys fighters prior to Guilty Gear Strive rated connections on a scale of 0-4; in my experience previously, 4s were near impossible to find (I see maybe one or two them in any given game throughout the entire time I play it), 3s were good (though with occasional issues possible - I suspect those being from people playing on wifi), 2s were sometimes good but could have problems, 1s were bad, and 0s were unplayably bad. Now, 2s and 3s alike feel pretty much perfect, and even 1s seem to be okay, with only rare issues. The one 0 I dared to fight was bad enough that I chose not to rematch them, but honestly probably not even as bad as 1s used to be - just bad enough for there to be frequent noticeable rollbacks. (Kind of like playing most people in Street Fighter 5 online, actually...) Previously, I'd only take people rated 2 or 3, and with 2s I'd not rematch if it proved to be a more problematic connection; now I suspect I can take everything from 1 up pretty confidently, and maybe even try giving 0s a shot to see how they are.

So, yeah, even having seen how great ArcSys' rollback is in Guilty Gear (and the DNF Duel betas) before, that is amazing and I love that I can now play near anyone without concern that the connection will be an issue. And Persona 4 Arena is getting this sometime in the summer. Hot damn, I am going to be spoiled for good online fighting game options soon. If only we could get this into DragonBall FighterZ, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, and UMvC3, all of my favorite fighting games of all time would have it. Eh, at least odds are good we'll one day have a DragonBall FighterZ 2 with it; Smash and UMvC3 are pipe dreams, though.

[Razade]

I just beat Dark Souls, and man, Gwyn was super underwhelming, just parry him a couple of times and he dies. I chose not to link the fire because it would benefit humanity(?) but I assume since there's sequels linking the fire is the canon choice.
Overall, I liked DS1 but the later games definalty out shadow it, though still worth it to see all the iconic moments.

Now time to try the dlc on NG+!

Not really. Successive Ages of Dark and Ages of Fire are canon, so any ending you get in any of the three games are just as canon as all the others.

[Anonymouswizard]

For ****s sake.

In my Night Road playthrough I've just suffered two Second Inquisition Raids. These things make you lose both your car and your haven, and as the game removed the ability to spend money to remove Masquerade violations after I used it once I got left with the choice of not getting attacked again after my next mission or losing half my money and thus having to choose between replacing my vehicle and replacing my haven.

All because apparently seven points wasn't enough to get some people to shut the **** up. And all because an option near the beginning of the game that implied it was Masquerade-friendly wasn't.

[Cespenar]

For ****s sake.

In my Night Road playthrough I've just suffered two Second Inquisition Raids. These things make you lose both your car and your haven, and as the game removed the ability to spend money to remove Masquerade violations after I used it once I got left with the choice of not getting attacked again after my next mission or losing half my money and thus having to choose between replacing my vehicle and replacing my haven.

All because apparently seven points wasn't enough to get some people to shut the **** up. And all because an option near the beginning of the game that implied it was Masquerade-friendly wasn't.

On the bright side, that sounds like not a small amount of freedom in an interactive novel.

But yeah, hard to gauge these things in any RPG anyway.

[Lord Raziere]

So I've played some Nioh 2 again after a while and coming from Elden Ring? my god, its fast, like the speed difference in comparison to Elden Ring is that everything is simply faster than in a fromsoft game. like every action in Elden Ring felt like it had weight and consequence but everything takes time, Nioh 2 now that I'm recomparing it, feels like I'm zooming around and that while its more dangerous in some ways due to that, its also more open to me just beat up the enemy to get through without knowing what exactly I'm doing, and each death and runback feels a lot quicker. like sure, Nioh 2 is a soulsborne, but it seems to be what soulsbornes are like when they are fast.

[Anonymouswizard]

On the bright side, that sounds like not a small amount of freedom in an interactive novel.

But yeah, hard to gauge these things in any RPG anyway.

I mean, I guess what annoys me is the fact that if I want my character to be at the place I want them to be involves seeing the same scene again. Which is the real issue, the scene didn't change at all when it appeared again.

But yes, I'm honestly getting more convinced that the future of CRPGs is a text adventure model instead of being actionised. It just leads to more potential branching and a greater focus on the 'roleplaying' aspects.

[Brother Oni]

So I've played some Nioh 2 again after a while and coming from Elden Ring? my god, its fast, like the speed difference in comparison to Elden Ring is that everything is simply faster than in a fromsoft game. like every action in Elden Ring felt like it had weight and consequence but everything takes time, Nioh 2 now that I'm recomparing it, feels like I'm zooming around and that while its more dangerous in some ways due to that, its also more open to me just beat up the enemy to get through without knowing what exactly I'm doing, and each death and runback feels a lot quicker. like sure, Nioh 2 is a soulsborne, but it seems to be what soulsbornes are like when they are fast.

Yeah, the Nioh series is by Team Ninja, who are renown for Ninja Gaiden and the Dead Or Alive series, and all their iconic series play FAST.

[NRSASD]

Currently playing West of Loathing, and it’s a riotously good time. Mechanically it’s not the best, but the writing is great. Everything is a joke, and for once the humor is genuinely good.

[Cespenar]

But yes, I'm honestly getting more convinced that the future of CRPGs is a text adventure model instead of being actionised. It just leads to more potential branching and a greater focus on the 'roleplaying' aspects.

I mean, if anything, we seem to be moving in the opposite direction (by sales data). But one could hope.

Currently playing West of Loathing, and it’s a riotously good time. Mechanically it’s not the best, but the writing is great. Everything is a joke, and for once the humor is genuinely good.

WoL was pretty good, yeah. So much so that I did end up looking into KoL, even though I don't like those browser games and their daily quota thing.

[Anonymouswizard]

I mean, if anything, we seem to be moving in the opposite direction (by sales data). But one could hope.

I'm not sure, I feel like the trend is in non-RPGs adding character advancement systems, rather then necessarily RPGs getting more actionised.

Like, I know that the term originally meant something different, but to me the core of an RPG since somewhere between Ultima 4 and 7 has been the encouragement of roleplaying. I see that being reflected better in the games moving away from actionised gameplay, as well as games dropping things like equipment (which is something I'd love to see WRPGs drop). I think a lot of it comes down to what you see as an RPG, I think a lot of it might be driven by advancement systems becoming the standard and that we'll eventually drop it as a distinguished of RPGs.

[Cespenar]

I'm not sure, I feel like the trend is in non-RPGs adding character advancement systems, rather then necessarily RPGs getting more actionised.

Like, I know that the term originally meant something different, but to me the core of an RPG since somewhere between Ultima 4 and 7 has been the encouragement of roleplaying. I see that being reflected better in the games moving away from actionised gameplay, as well as games dropping things like equipment (which is something I'd love to see WRPGs drop). I think a lot of it comes down to what you see as an RPG, I think a lot of it might be driven by advancement systems becoming the standard and that we'll eventually drop it as a distinguished of RPGs.

The copy pasting of advancement systems and calling it a */RPG is a real thing, but that's somewhat besides the point.

Without opening the "what constitutes a true RPG" can that has plagued forums for decades, I was more alluding to the fact that all RPGs either tack on action, tactics, or even card games as some manner of combat, or they feel like they won't sell.

Like, in recent games, I can't think of any successful RPGs besides Disco Elysium which didn't have a action/combat mechanic on the side. I'm sure some elude me, but still.

Even the classic old RPG devs like Obsidian can't dare to step out of the 1990s-2000s shadow, in that regard.

[Lord Raziere]

why would I want an rpg without action? thats like, half the point.

Disco Elysium was something I took one or two looks from a distance on a stream and went "nope, this just looks like depression". which is more about the story than the mechanics honestly.

and I kind of struggle with Divinity 2 being so tactical and isometric and wish there was a version of it that was third person at the very least. I am sadly starting to accept that the greatness of earlier bioware games seems to be an unique passing thing that no seems to want to repeat or recreate though.

[Anonymouswizard]

why would I want an rpg without action? thats like, half the point.

Roleplaying. Decisions that matter. The idea that insisted action oriented is better than turn based or tactical is ableist bullcrap.

Like, I'm not saying that stuff like Night Road has to be everybody's cup of tea. But the idea that genres I like and can play without accomodation are lesser because they're not based around reflex challenges is annoying and insulting.

Yes, we get it, you prefer action oriented games. Not everybody does, and I get enough 'you should enjoy X' from corporations already.

Disco Elysium was something I took one or two looks from a distance on a stream and went "nope, this just looks like depression". which is more about the story than the mechanics honestly.

Disco Elysium is complex. There is depression and there is hope, because it's about a person who's hit rock bottom and has to re-evaluate their identity to move on.

It's not hard to get a relatively good ending, just be a decent detective and don't give into temptation.

and I kind of struggle with Divinity 2 being so tactical and isometric and wish there was a version of it that was third person at the very least. I am sadly starting to accept that the greatness of earlier bioware games seems to be an unique passing thing that no seems to want to repeat or recreate though.

??? Divinity 2 is a third person action game. I have no idea how you think it's tactical or isometric.

Thankfully people have gone back to the golden era of earlier Bioware games and made good successors. I can recommend Pillars of Eternity and the Divinity: Original Sin games (although those can be a little overly difficult).

[Lord Raziere]

??? Divinity 2 is a third person action game. I have no idea how you think it's tactical or isometric.

Thankfully people have gone back to the golden era of earlier Bioware games and made good successors. I can recommend Pillars of Eternity and the Divinity: Original Sin games (although those can be a little overly difficult).

.........I was actually referring to Divinity 2 Original Sin but thanks anyways and I apologize for being confusing as I didn't know there was a game called called Divinity.

[Zevox]

So I've played some Nioh 2 again after a while and coming from Elden Ring? my god, its fast, like the speed difference in comparison to Elden Ring is that everything is simply faster than in a fromsoft game. like every action in Elden Ring felt like it had weight and consequence but everything takes time, Nioh 2 now that I'm recomparing it, feels like I'm zooming around and that while its more dangerous in some ways due to that, its also more open to me just beat up the enemy to get through without knowing what exactly I'm doing, and each death and runback feels a lot quicker. like sure, Nioh 2 is a soulsborne, but it seems to be what soulsbornes are like when they are fast.

That's not surprising, given that by the standards of most action games, the pace of the combat in Souls games can best be described as "plodding." That's one of the reasons I'm only lukewarm on most Fromsoft titles, personally; I tend to prefer things more on the fast-paced side.

Like, in recent games, I can't think of any successful RPGs besides Disco Elysium which didn't have a action/combat mechanic on the side. I'm sure some elude me, but still.

Persona 5, Dragon Quest 11, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses come immediately to mind - all turn-based. Unless you're referring strictly to western RPGs, in which case I can't help you, since I'm not sure I've played any of those since Dragon Age: Inquisition.

[Anonymouswizard]

.........I was actually referring to Divinity 2 Original Sin but thanks anyways and I apologize for being confusing as I didn't know there was a game called called Divinity.

??? There's no game called Divinity 2 Original Sin. Therefore I must conclude you're talking about Divinity 2: Eco Draconis (which I have played, and is action oriented. The original Divine Divinity was more of a Diablo-clone).

[Lord Raziere]

??? There's no game called Divinity 2 Original Sin. Therefore I must conclude you're talking about Divinity 2: Eco Draconis (which I have played, and is action oriented. The original Divine Divinity was more of a Diablo-clone).

No....I was talking about Divinity Origin Sin 2. for some reason I keep thinking the 2 comes before the Original Sin part, I have no idea what you mean by Eco Draconis.

[Cespenar]

why would I want an rpg without action? thats like, half the point.

Disco Elysium was something I took one or two looks from a distance on a stream and went "nope, this just looks like depression". which is more about the story than the mechanics honestly.

Not touching the first sentence, but Disco isn't really "just depression". It tackles depression too, but it tackles a lot of things. If anything, the writing style is more Pratchett-ian (with a noir twist) than anyone else. It's a genuinely funny game.

But for some people, even tackling the subject of depression is too much, so that's a different (and valid) thing.

[Anonymouswizard]

No....I was talking about Divinity Origin Sin 2. for some reason I keep thinking the 2 comes before the Original Sin part, I have no idea what you mean by Eco Draconis.

I slightly misremembered the title, but here's Divinity II: Ego Draconis , the less well known older sibling of the Original Sin games. It's also on Steam.

It's not a bad game, and it's probably more accessible than Divine Divinity or the Original Sin games. But it's also not exactly amazing, and I can certainly see why Larian decided to move to turn based strategy instead of keeping to the ARPG style.

Like, I don't actively dislike ARPGs, but my favourite moments in them have rarely been the combat, and in some cases playing the combat was just something I suffered to get to the decent parts. I'm most more comfortable in a tactical or text adventure setup.

[Lord Raziere]

.....yeah that seems right why I never heard of that, I have a standard of quality to keep and Ego Draconis despite the AWESOME premise of turning into a dragon, seems to have technical issues I can't really look past.