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  1. - Top - End - #211
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Tried out ashes of singularity since it was free on gamepass and I've been wanting a good RTS game, but after one mission I didn't feel any reason to keep playing. The game makes what I'd consider a cardinal sin in an RTS game. Too much input delay and missed inputs.

  2. - Top - End - #212
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Anteros View Post
    Tried out ashes of singularity since it was free on gamepass and I've been wanting a good RTS game, but after one mission I didn't feel any reason to keep playing. The game makes what I'd consider a cardinal sin in an RTS game. Too much input delay and missed inputs.
    Ashes isn't brilliant, but it's a fine game. What it is is a large scale game, you really aren't supposed to be microing units in any way where input delay or exact timings matter. It's much more about directing your endless tide of units against the enemy in a positionally and compositionally superior way.
    Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
    When they shot him down on the highway,
    Down like a dog on the highway,
    And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.


    Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman, 1906.

  3. - Top - End - #213
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by warty goblin View Post
    Ashes isn't brilliant, but it's a fine game. What it is is a large scale game, you really aren't supposed to be microing units in any way where input delay or exact timings matter. It's much more about directing your endless tide of units against the enemy in a positionally and compositionally superior way.
    It's possible I didn't give it a fair shake, but between not letting me shift queue actions, and fully missing more than half my inputs it just didn't feel good to play. I've still got it installed, so I may revisit it later.

  4. - Top - End - #214
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    I also bounced off Ashes of the Singularity.

    Mostly because it's one of those games where there's a zillion units and they're all pretty indistinct from each other in design. Maybe unit composition super matters, but who knows what your composition actually even is when every unit is just a floaty rectangle with slightly different greeble on.

  5. - Top - End - #215
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    Decided to revisit a game I have via the Switch's N64 subscription (get that in while I still have it, since I don't intend to keep re-subscribing to that every year) after finishing Cult of the Lamb. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

    It feels a lot like re-playing Banjo-Tooie a couple of years ago did. When I re-played the first game (Banjo-Kazooie, Ocarina of Time), I remembered damn near everything about it, because I played the hell out of it as a kid to the point where every nook and cranny, every trick and secret, is still ingrained in my mind. Re-playing the sequel, there's certainly plenty of familiarity, since I did play it several times when I was younger, but the details are significantly hazier, so I'm more genuinely getting to explore and experience the game, if not exactly like the first time, at least a lot closer to it. It's a fun experience with a game that feels like such an old, nostalgic classic. Granted, I'm not one of those who counts Majora's Mask as one of his favorite Zelda games, but it's still damn good, like pretty much every game in the series.

    I've gotten through the first Temple, and I do have to say, wow, what were they thinking with that design for the Giants? Just a pair of enormous legs attached to a big head with no other body parts below it, with arms that are nowhere near long enough compared to the size of the legs coming out of the sides of the head. It's so bizarre to look at, like something that belongs in some kind of horror game instead of this one.

    I look forward to getting to the Zora Mask, I remember that being my favorite part of the game. Still, have to get through the Goron area first.
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  6. - Top - End - #216
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
    I've gotten through the first Temple, and I do have to say, wow, what were they thinking with that design for the Giants? Just a pair of enormous legs attached to a big head with no other body parts below it, with arms that are nowhere near long enough compared to the size of the legs coming out of the sides of the head. It's so bizarre to look at, like something that belongs in some kind of horror game instead of this one.
    .....Zevox. Majora's Mask lowkey has a lot of spooky horror elements

    the game has a melancholic tone in some form or other, two of transformation masks are obtained from people who tried to be heroes and died for it, Link has to constantly reset time thus erasing peoples happiness every time he defeats a beast, the ranch in this game outright has a creepy alien invasion, all the people left in town are either those who don't believe the moon is falling or so bound by duty they can't leave and all the mayor does about is let people decide whether or not they leave on their own. there is also the strange fact that all the inhabitants look oddly similar to people Link has met before despite having no proven connection with their counterparts, and you do a lot of putting spirits to rest in that game who'd otherwise just linger around creepily in sadness. oh and Link is still mourning and searching for Navi while having this oddly similar counter part in Tatl.

    like it has serious "depressed spooky journey reflecting on the flaws of society and people while mourning those passed" vibe to it. I'd say it belongs even if its not a horror game, because its very horror-adjacent.
    I'm also on discord as "raziere".


  7. - Top - End - #217
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    The n64 Zeldas would have been really bleak if they were written just a little worse than they weren't wouldn't they? MM has all those little moments, you think they world is just a doomed place living under the shadow of its destruction, but there are countless little moments. Even Ocarina was about loneliness where you lose the friends Link has wanted his whole life at the start of act 2, and that damned owl really twists the knife about it. But still you unite the peoples of Hyrule, make friends with a scarecrow and mad scientist at a lake, save an avaricious family from a curse, all sorts of things to lighten the tone.
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  8. - Top - End - #218
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    I was pretty undecided in the last couple of days. First I tried Blasphemous - I like the style but the game is a bit more demanding on the dexterity side than what I want right now. For now I've put it on the shelf. I will get to it eventually.

    Then I picked up the Allied campaign of Red Alert 2 again. Finished it this moring and also made first forays into the Sovjet campain in Yuris Revenge. Cool stuff, but I can't play RTSes for too long. Too stressful

    In between I started Wasteland 3. At least yesterday afternoon I couldnt really get into it. This may be in part because in comparison I found Atom much more engaging and also prefer the closer to reallity stance of that game. But also in part because what actually want is a classic fantasy RPG - but currently there are none "ripe" enough for my tastes*

    Now I've settled on Stray. It's great . And I had the impression that my cat, when she was laying on my lap, was actively following the action on the screen - something my cats never do.
    I DO have the suspicion that the in-game meows are not actually recored from real cats. They somehow sound "fake" to me. At least I have heard more convincing meows in other games.
    In all honesty I have no idea how non-cat people may feel about this game. It seems to be catered to a very specific audience


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    Wrath of the Righteous will take about a year to be finished now that a second set of DLCs have been announced.
    Black Geyser is still pretty much in active development with several features like player strongholds not implemented yet.
    Solasta is close, but has still one DLC in the pipeline.
    For King Athur the news is that there are "many" content updates after The Chained God - although nothing concrete.

  9. - Top - End - #219
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Apparently, that was a real cat meowing... :)

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  10. - Top - End - #220
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Zombimode View Post
    I was pretty undecided in the last couple of days. First I tried Blasphemous - I like the style but the game is a bit more demanding on the dexterity side than what I want right now. For now I've put it on the shelf. I will get to it eventually.

    Then I picked up the Allied campaign of Red Alert 2 again. Finished it this moring and also made first forays into the Sovjet campain in Yuris Revenge. Cool stuff, but I can't play RTSes for too long. Too stressful

    In between I started Wasteland 3. At least yesterday afternoon I couldnt really get into it. This may be in part because in comparison I found Atom much more engaging and also prefer the closer to reallity stance of that game. But also in part because what actually want is a classic fantasy RPG - but currently there are none "ripe" enough for my tastes*

    Now I've settled on Stray. It's great . And I had the impression that my cat, when she was laying on my lap, was actively following the action on the screen - something my cats never do.
    I DO have the suspicion that the in-game meows are not actually recored from real cats. They somehow sound "fake" to me. At least I have heard more convincing meows in other games.
    In all honesty I have no idea how non-cat people may feel about this game. It seems to be catered to a very specific audience


    *
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    Wrath of the Righteous will take about a year to be finished now that a second set of DLCs have been announced.
    Black Geyser is still pretty much in active development with several features like player strongholds not implemented yet.
    Solasta is close, but has still one DLC in the pipeline.
    For King Athur the news is that there are "many" content updates after The Chained God - although nothing concrete.
    Any idea where I can find news about the Wrath DLC? A quick google search didn't turn up much.

  11. - Top - End - #221
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    How did you get Red Alert 2 to run on a modern computer? That was where I thought the C&C franchise hit its peak, and id love to play it again somehow.

  12. - Top - End - #222
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    It's been awhile since I've done it, but there's a fan patch out for The First Decade collection. The one big thing I remember is don't install it /programfiles or you run into everything need admin rights. Just give it it's own c/folder

  13. - Top - End - #223
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Glyphstone View Post
    How did you get Red Alert 2 to run on a modern computer? That was where I thought the C&C franchise hit its peak, and id love to play it again somehow.
    I bought the C&C collection on Origin*
    I had no problems on my old Win7 PC with the main game.
    With my new Win10 PC I had to manually edit the .ini file to get a different resolution then 640x480.

    For Yuris Revenge the trick with the .ini didn't work. I had to resort to some kind of fan-made patch/launcher: https://cnc.community/red-alert-2/how-to-play
    With that installed, everyting runs just fine

    *which, in my country, still contains the cut german versions of Generals, Zero Hour and Red Alert 3... although these titles are no longer on the index in germany for quite some time now :-(
    Other players seem to have luck contacting the customer support to get the original enlish versions of these games. I will try to do so when I get arround to play those games.


    Quote Originally Posted by Anteros View Post
    Any idea where I can find news about the Wrath DLC? A quick google search didn't turn up much.
    I don't think there is much besides the announcement that there WILL BE a second run of DLCs:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Pathfinder_...ontent_season/

  14. - Top - End - #224
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    After fighting Mefistophiles a dozen times last night, I looked up what I was doing wrong, and absolutely every guide said "Turn off turn-based combat".

    So, I'll try that today or tomorrow. Ironically, to beat a devil, you need to switch to the more chaotic combat system.
    The Cranky Gamer
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  15. - Top - End - #225
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    .....Zevox. Majora's Mask lowkey has a lot of spooky horror elements

    the game has a melancholic tone in some form or other, two of transformation masks are obtained from people who tried to be heroes and died for it, Link has to constantly reset time thus erasing peoples happiness every time he defeats a beast, the ranch in this game outright has a creepy alien invasion, all the people left in town are either those who don't believe the moon is falling or so bound by duty they can't leave and all the mayor does about is let people decide whether or not they leave on their own. there is also the strange fact that all the inhabitants look oddly similar to people Link has met before despite having no proven connection with their counterparts, and you do a lot of putting spirits to rest in that game who'd otherwise just linger around creepily in sadness. oh and Link is still mourning and searching for Navi while having this oddly similar counter part in Tatl.

    like it has serious "depressed spooky journey reflecting on the flaws of society and people while mourning those passed" vibe to it. I'd say it belongs even if its not a horror game, because its very horror-adjacent.
    I'd argue most of that is more tragedy than horror - mostly tragedies that the game is ultimately about averting, at that. But even if you take that view, the Giants' role in things isn't as creepy monsters you're supposed to be scared of, it's as saviors. They're the ones who can stop the moon's fall once you release them from whatever Skull Kid did to the Temples, the source of hope for things to have a better outcome. So I'd say it's still a bizarre choice for design for them regardless.
    Last edited by Zevox; 2022-09-20 at 04:18 PM.
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  16. - Top - End - #226
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Finished Saints Row 2 again by just giving a significant push to get the Samedi, Ronin,and Ultron donein about two days. In retrospect I wish I'd done the main missions in parallel, it would have presented a nicer difficulty curve and, if I remember right,
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    the Boss begins descending into vindictiveness at roughly the same time Gat is mourning Aisha,
    which would have nicely contrasted the arcs.

    In retrospect my only complaints are the controls and that final mission. I also think I prefer the more cartoony SR3 artstyle, but that's a minor thing. I do kind of wish that Volition had made remakes of SR1 and 2 in the SR3 engine, both games really suffer from a control scheme designed for the PS2, but maybe alternate universe Anonynouswizard wishesthey didn't.

    For my next more involved game to go alongside Citizen Sleeper I'm torn between SR3 and Torment: Tides of Numenera. On the one had SR3 is nowhere near the level of 2 and 4*, on the other I never found a bloody inn in Numenera. Plus Numenera was disappointingly fantasy, I went into itexpecting knights in power armour and priests jury rigging exhausts into beam weapons, and instead it's just swords and 'magic'. At least 40k's tech priests have a basic understanding of their tech (even if they mostly refuse to utilise it, the best thing the Ordo Mechanics could do is abandon the hunt for STCs and broaden their development programs).

    * If only because it needs to push you towards the side activities more, it makes the story feel much longer.
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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 - #227
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    . Plus Numenera was disappointingly fantasy, I went into itexpecting knights in power armour and priests jury rigging exhausts into beam weapons, and instead it's just swords and 'magic'.
    Eh, it's obviously not WH40K, but more magitech with a splash of weird.

    Still, it earned points for me by being at least not a direct BG2 clon-, ahem, I mean, homage, and trying a few new things.
    Last edited by Cespenar; 2022-09-21 at 10:05 AM.

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    Majora's Mask is an interesting game. The reason it's based around time so heavily is that they had a deadline to finish it with the recycled assets. Thusthe time looping.

    Personally I think it's a more focused game than Ocarina was. I love Ocarina but Majora's just more fun to mess around in. Especially the ability to refight bosses.
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  19. - Top - End - #229
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cespenar View Post
    Eh, it's obviously not WH40K, but more magitech with a splash of weird.

    Still, it earned points for me by being at least not a direct BG2 clon-, ahem, I mean, homage, and trying a few new things.
    .....*looks at the videogame preview on steam*

    wow, its even worse than the ttrpg. the ttrpg at least has a cool sleek post-apocalyptic nanotech aesthetic and vibe, but this takes a fantasy setting and slaps on some random tech bits with no consistency. bleh. no surprise though, Monte Cook was never anything but a creator of DnD. like the Numenera ttrpg at least looks freaking good, really good art, even if its just a DnD clone, but Torment Numenera doesn't even look its trying. like even if I was never going to use the system or anything, or the exact setting I like the ideas and vibe the ttrpg was going for? but this just no, just ugh. Whats this aesthetic? Why. this doesn't look like the Numenera of the ttrpg, or did they pick the literal worst screenshots for showing this world's aesthetic? wheres the nice silvery tech, immaculate floating spires in green wilderness, the ruins of cool rings everywhere? wheres the sense that there used to be some Culture-like society that fell? why does it just look like fantasy with some metal bits slapped on? whatever I was picturing of this world, this wasn't it.
    I'm also on discord as "raziere".


  20. - Top - End - #230
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Cespenar View Post
    Eh, it's obviously not WH40K, but more magitech with a splash of weird.

    Still, it earned points for me by being at least not a direct BG2 clon-, ahem, I mean, homage, and trying a few new things.
    I mean, I wasn't expecting it to be 40k, and I get that some of it is tied into the entire idea of cyphers as one shot items. I was just using 40k as a good example of technomysticism.

    Also while it might not be a BG2 clone in the same way Pillars of Eternity is, it's very much a D&D clone in a skin.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Raziere View Post
    .....*looks at the videogame preview on steam*

    wow, its even worse than the ttrpg. the ttrpg at least has a cool sleek post-apocalyptic nanotech aesthetic and vibe, but this takes a fantasy setting and slaps on some random tech bits with no consistency. bleh. no surprise though, Monte Cook was never anything but a creator of DnD. like the Numenera ttrpg at least looks freaking good, really good art, even if its just a DnD clone, but Torment Numenera doesn't even look its trying. like even if I was never going to use the system or anything, or the exact setting I like the ideas and vibe the ttrpg was going for? but this just no, just ugh. Whats this aesthetic? Why. this doesn't look like the Numenera of the ttrpg, or did they pick the literal worst screenshots for showing this world's aesthetic? wheres the nice silvery tech, immaculate floating spires in green wilderness, the ruins of cool rings everywhere? wheres the sense that there used to be some Culture-like society that fell? why does it just look like fantasy with some metal bits slapped on? whatever I was picturing of this world, this wasn't it.
    There's times where it definitely works, but early on at least it doesn't seem to move much from Yet Another D&D Fantasy. Cool bits like government buildings being derelict spaceships, but even that has to be pointed out.

    Like, as a successor to Planescape: Torment it's just not weird enough. Once you realise it's D&D fantasy it becomes comfortable, whereas P:T and Disco Elysium have that recurring sense of 'not how it's supposed to be'.

    The tabletop game has two big advantages. First, I can easily just add to it if I ever run it, especially as I have both The Strange and the Cypher 2e book. I can enhance the great aesthetic by occasionally throwing in a shiny laser rifle or a treasure of diamond data discs (useless to most PCs, invaluable to an organisation like the Order of Truth). The Cypher system is also genuinely solid and a legitimate attempt at innovation, although that also means it's not for everybody. I'd argue it's more similar mechanically to Nobilis than D&D, Pools and Edge are nearly identical to it's MP and Stats, just with a random element thrown in and stats suited to fantasy adventure rather than godly tea parties (and uses a difficulty ladder whereas Nobilis and it's spinoffs use an action/effect ladder).

    The art is amazing, and I want to play in that world, not D&D with a coat of paint.
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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.

  21. - Top - End - #231
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    After fighting Mefistophiles a dozen times last night, I looked up what I was doing wrong, and absolutely every guide said "Turn off turn-based combat".

    So, I'll try that today or tomorrow. Ironically, to beat a devil, you need to switch to the more chaotic combat system.
    I wussed out. After several times, and even following the suggestion to change to RTWP, I simply could not beat that bastard. I turned difficulty down to Story Mode and moved on with my life.

    I HATE that fight. Seriously. On core-ish difficulty, he's spamming insane amounts of summons, to the point where my turn-based game couldn't process them; almost every summon in the fight... and I wasn't shy with summons, either... I had to turn off turn based to end their turn, then turn it right back on. RTWP was even worse, as he'd just lay down constant explosions and summons, immediately overwhelming my Protection from Fire. His AC was so high I found it was actually better to shoot his summons, and hope I critted or killed them to do anything resembling weapon damage to him.
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  22. - Top - End - #232
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Hall View Post
    I wussed out. After several times, and even following the suggestion to change to RTWP, I simply could not beat that bastard. I turned difficulty down to Story Mode and moved on with my life.

    I HATE that fight. Seriously. On core-ish difficulty, he's spamming insane amounts of summons, to the point where my turn-based game couldn't process them; almost every summon in the fight... and I wasn't shy with summons, either... I had to turn off turn based to end their turn, then turn it right back on. RTWP was even worse, as he'd just lay down constant explosions and summons, immediately overwhelming my Protection from Fire. His AC was so high I found it was actually better to shoot his summons, and hope I critted or killed them to do anything resembling weapon damage to him.
    Yeah, turn based mode doesn't do well on summon heavy fights. I've had to use the same trick myself of switching back and forth just to get them to take their turn. Now I'm wondering how my character will do against him since he's a pure TWF paladin. I am playing fairly optimized though since I knew about the AC bloat from my first run. I guess I'll see if I ever get there. My current run is kinda in stasis because I keep getting distracted by other things.

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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Anteros View Post
    Yeah, turn based mode doesn't do well on summon heavy fights. I've had to use the same trick myself of switching back and forth just to get them to take their turn. Now I'm wondering how my character will do against him since he's a pure TWF paladin. I am playing fairly optimized though since I knew about the AC bloat from my first run. I guess I'll see if I ever get there. My current run is kinda in stasis because I keep getting distracted by other things.
    I am powering through it right now. I'm not sick of it, but I want to get done with it, just so I can move on.

    Don't know what I'll play next. Maybe go back to Fallout 4.
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  24. - Top - End - #234
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    I mean, I wasn't expecting it to be 40k, and I get that some of it is tied into the entire idea of cyphers as one shot items. I was just using 40k as a good example of technomysticism.

    Also while it might not be a BG2 clone in the same way Pillars of Eternity is, it's very much a D&D clone in a skin.

    Like, as a successor to Planescape: Torment it's just not weird enough. Once you realise it's D&D fantasy it becomes comfortable, whereas P:T and Disco Elysium have that recurring sense of 'not how it's supposed to be'.
    Eh, I agree that it could have been weirder, but P:T and Disco aren't too realistic barriers to 1-or-0 games with. It's still plenty scifi-er and weirder than your classic D&D stuff, not to mention that it uses its own system, rather than the centuries old Str-Dex-Cha-yadda-yadda with the pausable real time combat.

    The only problem I see with it is that the preconceived notion of it being the "spiritual successor of P:T" raising the expectations a bit too much, which is understandable but not 100% fair to the game.
    Last edited by Cespenar; 2022-09-22 at 03:42 PM.

  25. - Top - End - #235
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Cespenar View Post
    Eh, I agree that it could have been weirder, but P:T and Disco aren't too realistic barriers to 1-or-0 games with. It's still plenty scifi-er and weirder than your classic D&D stuff, not to mention that it uses its own system, rather than the centuries old Str-Dex-Cha-yadda-yadda with the pausable real time combat.

    The only problem I see with it is that the preconceived notion of it being the "spiritual successor of P:T" raising the expectations a bit too much, which is understandable but not 100% fair to the game.
    It calls itself Torment and billed itself as a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, a comparison to P:T is unavoidable. Unfortunately it comes off really poorly, it's taken some of the story beats from P:T but none of the style, and that matters.

    I mean on it's own? It's a decent enough RPG with good mechanics, and if it didn't call itself Torment I might not have any problems with it. But it invites comparisons with P:T, and it misses the mark. It really should have used any other name. Numenera: Echoes of the Changing God or something.
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Quote Originally Posted by Anonymouswizard View Post
    It really should have used any other name. Numenera: Echoes of the Changing God or something.
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  27. - Top - End - #237
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    Back to playing Europa Universalis 4 again. Game's harder now, I gotta learn new things again.
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  28. - Top - End - #238
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    Default Re: What Are you Playing 7: Deadly Sims

    Callback to the previous conversation we had about Star Citizen. I see that they recently passed half a billion dollars in funding. Still nowhere near a completed game or release date though, and the fanbase is still completely delusional. That guy must be filling swimming pools with gold Scrooge Mcduck style.

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    Two of the (many) things World of Warships does not model are gun overheating and magazine capacity. Normally this doesn't seem enormously relevant, as most of the time you aren't shooting continuously as fast as the guns load, at at least for battleships it would be borderline impossible to fire the guns fast enough to burn through a full magazine in a 20 minute match even if you did.

    These things come to mind because I have recently obtained the Gronigen, a Dutch destroyer with guns that reload in about 1.4 seconds.
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  30. - Top - End - #240
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    I have now completed up through the Great Bay Temple in Majora's Mask. And I remembered right, the Zora Mask is definitely the highlight of the game. Underwater areas and swimming mechanics that work this well are quite rare - hell, I don't know if anything else of this sort has ever beaten this game in that regard. Not that Action-Adventure games of this sort that have underwater areas are particularly common, but still.

    I also like that the game's dungeon items are the bow in the first dungeon, and the three elemental arrows in the subsequent dungeons (I assume for the fourth, since I haven't gotten there yet and don't definitively remember, but it seems like a safe bet at this point). And I have to give Majora's Mask this much over Ocarina of Time, it sure does give the elemental arrows more of a purpose than its predecessor. In Ocarina only the Light Arrows mattered, and only for the final dungeon and boss fight; the fire and ice arrows were optional, easily missed (especially the ice arrows), and didn't really do much for you even when you got them. The ice arrows in particular were basically just a cosmetic effect and bonus damage, and the fire arrows were mostly redundant with Din's Fire, or even just deku sticks for lighting most of the torches you needed to. Where Majora's Mask builds dungeons around them, allowing the ice arrows to freeze enemies or the surface of the water to create platforms, or to stop falling water at points in the Great Bay Temple, while the... Goron Mountain Temple (I don't remember its real name) had plenty of ice that the fire arrows were needed to melt due to the absence of any other fire abilities in your arsenal, and still had some uses in the Great Bay Temple, including against a mini-boss. It is nice to have them go from afterthought in one game to dungeon centerpiece in its sequel.

    I also find it quite amusing just how easy it is to get rich in this game. There are two easily acquired 100-rupee chests right in Clock Town that refill every time you go back in time, so you can and should be gaining +200 rupees per cycle before even doing anything, and the bank existing means that your wallet size doesn't really limit the number of rupees you can accumulate anymore. I almost wonder if they didn't originally intend to include the banker who can remember your rupee count even after you go back in time, and the point of those chests was to make sure you weren't really going back to 0 every time, assuming you poked around enough to have found them, and then they just didn't bother to take them out after they did put the banker in.
    Last edited by Zevox; 2022-09-23 at 10:41 PM.
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