What are you playing at the moment? - December 2017

[Shadoko]

World in Conflict is a very relaxing game and yes I’m saying that about a RTS with heavy micromanagement.

It’s corny as hell and I love it. Not the Command and Conquer kind of corny, but not far away. Campaign premise is dreadful (it’s basically MW2 in RTS format but without the memorable characters), the good old “war is horrible…last day I saw a child being killed by an artillery shell…war is hell…LET’S BLOW THE FUCKERS TO SMITHERENS ! AMERICA FUCK YEAH” narrative dissonance is everywhere and I refuse to talk about the russian dialogue.
I assume it’s totally intended, because otherwise the game would be pretty grim.

It’s a game where heavy tanks are airdropped from transports, russian tanks call you “tovaritch” and where the USS Missouri saves the day (well not really but more on that later). It’s a game that’s so liberal when it comes to using artillery/air support that dropping napalm non-stop from the sky is a viable means of area denial and levelling entire cities is actively encouraged by the gameplay.
Speaking of gameplay, as I said I hate micromanaging but it’s actually enjoyable in WiC. Part of it is due to the camera : although a bit weird at the beginning (wasd movement for the camera in an RTS, wtf ?) and nowhere near the masterpiece that is RUSE and Wargame’s tactical view, it’s quite intuitive and is miles better than an isometric view to have a good idea of what the hell is going down. Low unit counts and precise movement mean it’s very easy, almost intuitive to pull off complex manoeuvers involving several unit groups and their special abilities.

And did I mention that it looks impressive ? In true Crysis or TW2 fashion, it even has a graphical setting so insane that it makes 2017 computers suffer running the game (namely, a stupid feature that prevents explosions from clipping with the buildings and somehow cuts your framerate in half). Joke aside, for 2007-2009 it’s goddamn impressive (I guess it uses the Supreme Commander engine), especially the in-game cutscenes.
The only real problems I see so far are in the pacing of the campaign. Missions seem to always follow the same sequence (reach a strategic point ; fortify your position ; defend it : counter-attack) even if some of them manage to give you a real sense of urgency, where you act as reserves and run around the map plugging holes in your defense.

There’s some hilarious ludonarrative dissonance when you’re supposed to fight a desperate battle against an overwhelming enemy in the cutscenes but in-game you’re heavily fortified, have a brigade of heavy tanks supporting you and are wiping out the russians with napalm and AC-10 strikes, and the script is like “you will retreat goddamnit ! Live to fight another day” even if only a tactical nuke could weaken your defenses.

[Similar]

(World in Conflict)

It’s a lovely game, and yeah, I’m pretty sure the corny bits are intentional. They’re just too spot on.

Also rather fond of the Danish accent some of the UN units have; it’s very much like hearing Danish politicians from the eighties (they sounded like they’d learned English pronunciation from books).

Only thing I miss when I play the game is more time. You rarely get to putter around and level everything in sight (which is something I sometimes enjoy in other RTS games. … I spent much time in Sudden Strike killing every tree on the map, for example). But then, if you did have more time, the whole tone of the game would probably change.

[Similar]

Gratuitous combat rolls are also a known annoyance, and this mod fixes them.

ah, that works quite nicely. Thanks for the suggestion.

(Good lot of additions since I originally posted the above).

Bit odd, but every time I go to Kaer Morhen, I wish they’d put something in the game so you could work on restoring the castle. Not sure how it’d work, but it feels like it could be quite satisfying to spend some time on repairing stuff and such once in a while.

Anyway, finished the main plot last night. I don’t know if it’s really possible to make satisfying endings to RPGs (or other game genres for that matter), but it wasn’t a bad effort. Bit too fragmented, switching from cutscenes to action to different characters, perhaps, but I can see why they did it like that.
Not quite sure how Ciri suddenly got so immensely powerful that Geralt feels like he’s hitting enemies with wet noodles in comparison, but it was rather entertaining to play her.
I also got a somewhat nice ending (at least on a personal level for the characters. Not so much for the world). I assume that can change depending on your choices (one of my choices, which I suspect was rather important, was made mostly because I didn’t have time to read the options before the timer ran out).

I don’t really know what to do now. I could play on and do the DLCs, but … I don’t know. It sort of feels like it’d be doing things in the wrong order. And continuing open world games after the main story is done always feels a bit empty too.
I tried the New Game+ mode, but that seems a bit weird; you keep your gear, but now it’s for level 60+ so you can’t use it. And the first ghouls you fight are level 25. So it’s like they just raised the levels for everything.
I might start over, but it’d be more appealing if there wasn’t that weird XP adjustment going on (so if you do a quest below your level, you sometimes get a single XP point for the whole thing. Makes it rather difficult to level outside of the main story).

[Thermal_Ions]

This is my 3 swing at Path of Exile. I always start a character a drop it because the looting and economy is dreadful (As with most of these types of games, my inventory fills with useless crap.

Using Neversink’s loot filter is a necessity. Choose the one that you prefer and reduce that bag clutter somewhat.

Forum - Gameplay Help and Discussion - NeverSink's LOOTFILTER v5.41 ♦ in-depth ♦...

[LTK]

I don’t really know what to do now. I could play on and do the DLCs, but … I don’t know. It sort of feels like it’d be doing things in the wrong order. And continuing open world games after the main story is done always feels a bit empty too.

How come? The DLCs are designed to be played after the main story. They’ve got locations of their own and you’re not meant to go there until after you finish the game. New Game+ is pretty pointless, it does the usual upscaling of all the enemies which does nothing to make it more interesting, and you get to go through the whole cycle again of scavenging and upgrading gear, which I doubt anyone wants to do.

[Imaginary_Llamas]

I like the premise of Satellite Reign, controlling a dystopian gang (I refuse to use the c-word) as they take on jobs. For the few hours that I’ve been playing, I like that there’s only the tiniest bit of direct narrative but details in the systems casually give some life to the neon and grime. The controls and interface are just awful though. It’s like 2 or 3 inputs to do any one thing and the game stubbornly remains 100% realtime. No turns or pause.

If you haven’t come across it yet, the Support agent has a team stims ability that slows time down. When maxed out, it stops time altogether. There’s a new game option where you can have that ability unlocked and maxed out from the start.

Otherwise, the devs themselves made a pause mod. There’s a link and instructions in this Steam forum post.

Also, what’s wrong with calling them a gang of clones?

[Similar]

How come? The DLCs are designed to be played after the main story. They’ve got locations of their own and you’re not meant to go there until after you finish the game.

ah, I wasn’t sure if that was the case, but that does make it easier then.

New Game+ is pretty pointless, it does the usual upscaling of all the enemies which does nothing to make it more interesting, and you get to go through the whole cycle again of scavenging and upgrading gear, which I doubt anyone wants to do.

yeah, it seems odd. Holding on to the ability points you’ve already earned (and the option to distribute them differently) seems like the only point to it, and that’s not terribly exciting.

[LexW]

This is my 3 swing at Path of Exile. I always start a character a drop it because the looting and economy is dreadful (As with most of these types of games, my inventory fills with useless crap. The difference here, beyond how boring even the good stuff is, is that you sell it to shops for a randomized type of many different types of currencies that may not be good at any given vendor) and I’m sure this time will be no different.

I know you probably know this, but you’re doing it wrong, because PoE isn’t quite the same as some other ARPGs. Here’s a quick guide:

You don’t need to pick up all the loot and sell it to vendors. All doing that does is slow you down and make the game more boring whilst making you a tiny amount of currency that you really don’t need and which will be invalidated later. Nothing is “randomized” about the currencies you get either - it is 100% fixed based on what you are selling.

If it’s currency, pick it up. If it’s yellow (rare), probably pick it up, probably ID, but maybe not if your current character can’t use it. Sell it unless it seems useful - increased damage/armour/resists/HP are usually good (also movement speed). If it’s blue or white ignore it unless you’re likely to put it on. It’s superior, that makes no difference - exception being flasks - usually pick them up, and if you get three of a kind of health or mana ones, you can sell them together for one of the next flask up. Always keep superior flasks (eventually you can sell them together in lots of total +40% for good currency). Unique items, always pick up.

Also always play in the current league, don’t play in Standard. Ever. It’s just a more boring version of the leagues with a perma-broken economy. Don’t play in Hardcore unless you enjoy roguelikes. A lot.

Don’t hang around in an area you are higher-level than. Don’t clear areas without a very specific reason. Just keep going, keep leveling up. Feel free to run past monsters, especially if they’re lower-level. You’re right to click chests/bodies/etc. though, they can have good loot.

The actual economy of PoE, as in, within leagues, is extremely good and functional, and I believe you don’t even need to go to third-party sites to interact with it any more (though that may be upcoming).

[icemann]

Well as Satelite Reign is Syndicate 3 in all but name, the gameplay being 100% real time is due to the previous games being that, and that’s what the backers (when it was Kickstarted several years ago) wanted.

I absolutely loved it (Satelite Reign). Its far more Syndicate Wars (aka Syndicate 2) than the style of the first game, but thats fine. The main changes are of each squad member having a class, the rpg elements, the cloning and the singular setting. All prior games went with a mission based structure.

Only downside is that the makers of SR haven’t done anything else at all (that I know of) since the release. Dropped off the radar entirely.

If they’d released DLC for this, I’d have been all over it. Is multiplayer in yet? The last I recall hearing from them in the KS updates discussed adding that in.

Multiplayer in Syndicate Wars was buggy as hell, so this may have been history repeating itself.

[syllopsium]

Last night I played the 1996 Windows 3.1 tastic Monty Python and the Holy Grail (under OS/2. I also tried it in WINE under FreeBSD, it sucked). Once I’ve finished that I have Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, the most game oriented set of the three non action PC games 7th level made.

Also going to try some Superhot VR, once my main system is back in commission.

[gordianblot]

If you haven’t come across it yet, the Support agent has a team stims ability that slows time down. When maxed out, it stops time altogether. There’s a new game option where you can have that ability unlocked and maxed out from the start.

Otherwise, the devs themselves made a pause mod. There’s a link and instructions in this Steam forum post.

Also, what’s wrong with calling them a gang of clones?

That mod sounds exactly like what I was hoping for. I wonder why it wasn’t just patched in as an option, but I’ll give that a shot.

And it’s that people call the genre cyb - wait…

I know you probably know this, but you’re doing it wrong, because PoE isn’t quite the same as some other ARPGs. Here’s a quick guide:

You don’t need to pick up all the loot and sell it to vendors. All doing that does is slow you down and make the game more boring whilst making you a tiny amount of currency that you really don’t need and which will be invalidated later. Nothing is “randomized” about the currencies you get either - it is 100% fixed based on what you are selling.

If it’s currency, pick it up. If it’s yellow (rare), probably pick it up, probably ID, but maybe not if your current character can’t use it. Sell it unless it seems useful - increased damage/armour/resists/HP are usually good (also movement speed). If it’s blue or white ignore it unless you’re likely to put it on. It’s superior, that makes no difference - exception being flasks - usually pick them up, and if you get three of a kind of health or mana ones, you can sell them together for one of the next flask up. Always keep superior flasks (eventually you can sell them together in lots of total +40% for good currency). Unique items, always pick up.

Also always play in the current league, don’t play in Standard. Ever. It’s just a more boring version of the leagues with a perma-broken economy. Don’t play in Hardcore unless you enjoy roguelikes. A lot.

Don’t hang around in an area you are higher-level than. Don’t clear areas without a very specific reason. Just keep going, keep leveling up. Feel free to run past monsters, especially if they’re lower-level. You’re right to click chests/bodies/etc. though, they can have good loot.

The actual economy of PoE, as in, within leagues, is extremely good and functional, and I believe you don’t even need to go to third-party sites to interact with it any more (though that may be upcoming).

What I call the game’s economy is the system around finding loot and exchanging it at NPC vendors. I guess that should technically include the ability to trade with other players but I’ve never tried because I always look at my inventory and think “Why would anybody want this stuff?”

I don’t have a problem with there being a bunch of junk in these types of games. If there weren’t items that were junk to my character, there would be no difference between the different builds. It’s that loot has a very clear and fast paced hierarchy (The worst dagger is the glass shank, then the one with a guard, then the one that looks like kitchen cutlery and so on). The differences between different items of the same tier are gem/ability slots and minor buffs. I always end up finding items of the next tier before I find the one item with the right gem slots and buffs that synergize with my build. I don’t think I’ve ever found a unique item or if I did then it wasn’t a type that my build was using.

I shouldn’t say that there’s no reason at all to what you get with you exchange excess loot, but why I get an orb of transmutation from one item instead of a scroll of wisdom went way over my head. Or a vendor will want a rock of the armorer (probably not what it’s called) for a piece of gear but no vendor in the area will exchange anything for one. If I lived in Wraeclast, I wouldn’t die from the waves of monsters; I’d die from starvation because I’d have no idea how to buy a loaf of bread.

But I will try to be more brisk in the less important levels. It hasn’t been the case this run but certainly in my first character I poked my nose in every corner.

[Shadoko]

Well I’m not that good at World in Conflict after all. I love how the campaign characters keep telling my character that he is a “very good commander” while my light tanks and IFVs have an absolutely insane attrition rate. Like it’s not uncommon for me to lose my entire light armor squadron two or three times in a mission. I think I should be more careful in using them. I think I should also abandon the idea that air and artillery strikes are like super-weapons in Command and Conquer or Supreme Commander. They are not special powers, and they should be used all the time.

Also, NATO units have hilarious accents. Maybe it’s the dreadful french VA but I simply can’t take seriously a leopard tank when the driver says “who called the panzers ?” with a german accent. I just can’t.

[LexW]

I shouldn’t say that there’s no reason at all to what you get with you exchange excess loot, but why I get an orb of transmutation from one item instead of a scroll of wisdom went way over my head. Or a vendor will want a rock of the armorer (probably not what it’s called) for a piece of gear but no vendor in the area will exchange anything for one. If I lived in Wraeclast, I wouldn’t die from the waves of monsters; I’d die from starvation because I’d have no idea how to buy a loaf of bread.

The full recipe list for selling things is here: https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vendor_recipe_system

Unfortunately the wiki is being bad atm, but you can just ignore the “module error” text and see what it’s referring to.

It’s 100% deterministic as to what you get. Worst case with trying to get a “rock of the armorer” (armourer’s scrap) or the like you may need to go back to an earlier camp where they will be sold. I don’t think that happens at all in the current build, though, pretty sure all camps sell all the relevant currency up to a certain level.

[asskicker]

I just finished Bedlam. Pretty fun shooter, with decent shooting, decent story and fun references to some other games.
I liked it! Anyone else played it here?

[sonson]

There’s 3 endings that basically rely on how good you were at promoting Ciri’s independence. The bad ending is worth a YouTube. It’s wrenching.

Re DLC I treated Hearts of Stone as like a totally separate tale. Crafted some new armour, got a hair chop. It’s not particularly contingent on the wider world one way or the other.

Blood and Wine is very much Geralt’s Last Ride though. Lots to do with retirement and retrospect. I played it about 6 months after a year I finished the main plot. I think that space probably helped in that respect. Rolling straight into it might feel a bit jarring.

Also it’s fucking huge. Bigger than most full RPG’s. So it’s a commitment for sure.

[Qazinsky]

LexW and Thermal_Ions have already covered alot of good advice, a loot filter of some kind is for example SO great to unclutter the screen. After a while, the screen will be covered in blue and white low level junk that has no value for you whatsoever, if I hold down the button that ignores the loot filter, I see like three-four times more items onscreen.

Something else worth collecting is any item where a red, blue and green socket is linked, doesn’t matter order, doesn’t matter if other sockets are involved, those items sell for a chromatic orb, used to reroll the color of sockets on an item, you’ll need these at high level when you find a great item with the wrong sockets.

As for the start, some builds are weaker than others when you begin, usually spellcasters. I recommend investing your starter wisdom scrolls into the best melee weapon you can get (found or bought, preferrable a twohander) and then go to Nessa, the left most merchant in the first town and buy yourself a Frost Blades gem (or choose it as a reward if you can). Place the Frost blades in a fitting socket, put Frost Blades on your rightclick and just go out and murder your way forward to a higher level where skill points and gear allows your to do good enough damage with your planned skills.

Also, at low level, don’t fret too much over the gear, the sockets so that you can use or at least level your gems is more important (have two 3 socket items in your weapon switch to level six more gems you can’t fit into your main gear). Even if you’re building for for example dagger, at lvl 7, you’re probably better off just using the biggest weapon you can find.

At item level 25 (you can see an items ilevel by hovering over it and hold down alt, not the same as required level to equip it) items can have 4 sockets. Once again, I will put a req lvl 1 caster shirt on my lvl 27 armor warrior if that is my only 4L(ink) chest. The sockets and links trumps stats on gear at low level.

At ilevel 50, you can get 6 sockets on a few items (Chest, Twohanded weapons, Bows). 6L gear is quite rare, so don’t just sell those off. 6 socket gear though, should be sold for 7 jewellers orbs.

[Viral_Frog]

I dropped my boys off to daycare this morning and had some time before I had to work. So I popped on for a solo round of Plunkbat (actual game, not test server).

Trajectory of the plane was perfect to land at prison and, surprisingly, nobody else showed up with me. I ended up with a fully kitted M16A4, fully kitted S1896, and a fully kitted 1911. Tons of ammo, level 2 vest, helmet and backpack. More stims and first aid kits than anyone would ever need. It was basically the perfect start.

Circle went to island unfortunately. Luckily I had a Dacia to get me there. As I make my way along the road, I hear some shots off to the left of my position. So I go off road and up into the hills. Pop out of the car, run to the very top and plop down in some nice shade under a tree. Sure enough, one of the people I heard letting shots off had spotted my car. I watched as he was blissfully unaware of my presence. Two quick shots and he was done for.

I decided to ditch the car because the circle was just a quick jog away. So I run for it when suddenly, I hear a full on firefight almost directly in front of me. There was a small cluster of house, obviously where all the ruckus was coming from. So, again, I plop myself down under a nice shady tree and wait. One guy runs out to the left of one of the houses, took him out in three shots. Apparently the guy he had been engaged with was still around, as he came circling around the houses to the right. Easily took him out as well.

Circle moved to an even worse position on the island, so I start swimming for it. Made it safe. Got near the circle and started taken shots from some hills off to the east. I never did see that person taking shots. He had me pinned, but he couldn’t get me. At this point, I knew I was going to die to the blue wall of death. Fortunately for me, an unwary player had decided to run across an open field towards the circle. Took him out and promptly died to the circle within a minute.

All in all a good game. May not have made it to the chicken dinner, but I’ll take the points.

[Similar]

There’s 3 endings that basically rely on how good you were at promoting Ciri’s independence. The bad ending is worth a YouTube. It’s wrenching.

yeh, ow. I watched it because I could never make the choices needed to get it. Her flashbacks alone are pretty harsh, even if I haven’t seen them in game and so don’t exactly know what happened, but it’s certainly very different from the way things were in my game (I think the ending I got must be the ‘best’ one, at least where Ciri and Yen are concerned. I don’t know if the state of the world can be improved, but the ‘what happened after’ makes me think it can and I forgot to finish the quest line that might affect that. Though, there’s probably no directly happy ending for the world, no matter what you do).

Re DLC I treated Hearts of Stone as like a totally separate tale. Crafted some new armour, got a hair chop. It’s not particularly contingent on the wider world one way or the other.

Blood and Wine is very much Geralt’s Last Ride though. Lots to do with retirement and retrospect. I played it about 6 months after a year I finished the main plot. I think that space probably helped in that respect. Rolling straight into it might feel a bit jarring.

Also it’s fucking huge. Bigger than most full RPG’s. So it’s a commitment for sure.

hmm. I started a new game (not a NG+) because there were things I missed in my first playthrough, but it may be too soon. Already a bit frustrated with how slow leveling is, for one thing (and too much stuff happening in RL, so I don’t have the long stretches of time needed for the most enjoyable way of playing).
I might go back to my final save from the finished game and use that for the DLCs, or at least for Hearts of Stone. Not really sure yet.

Thanks.

[ToomuchFluffy]

I’m not continuing with Disciples II for the time being, so that I have played a few hours of Gothic II. I can’t really warm up to it at the moment though. I guess, that some of that might happen by simply investing more time, but I don’t feel like it right now. Instead I have decided to just throw a few more games into the ring to fight it out, so to speak.

I liked Thomas was alone at first, but after about an hour I’m already annoyed by the repetitive gameplay and though the narration is nice, it’s not enough to carry the game for me. The soundtrack hasn’t managed to impress me either. It just seems to plod along in a samey manner for the most part.

My experience with Divine Divinity has turned out similarly to Gothic II for now. Nothing has managed to particularly impress me. With Gothic II it’s - similarly to the first game - the small scale roleplaying at the start of the game, which is mostly about proving your worth to the characters and avoiding most of the combat, that gives me some hope that I might continue with it. With Divine Divinity it’s more about the fact, that the starting dungeon was a pretty tough nut to crack. I also persevered because this dungeon seems to be the kind of starting area that apparently has deterred quite a few people from what apparently is a more interesting game than that. Still, so far I’m not a big fan of the soundtrack, the controls are quite clunky and the supposedly funny writing isn’t to my liking. shrugs Nevertheless, I will give it another try today and see if I can get to Riverwood and possibly more interesting content.

[Tritagonist]

(World in Conflict)

It’s a lovely game, and yeah, I’m pretty sure the corny bits are intentional. They’re just too spot on.

Only “pretty” sure?

It ends with Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again (On My Own)” blasting out over the ruins of Seattle!

There’s 3 endings that basically rely on how good you were at promoting Ciri’s independence.

That’s it exactly. All this talk of “good” or “bad” seems to overlook that aspect of it - and the game even goes out of its way to emphasise the key moments in Geralt’s relation to her. The more Geralt trusts her and, by doing so, expands her options, the more she makes her own choices and maintains a relation with Geralt.