Playing other games

[GCU Grey Area]

We believe in him!
That's funny how they're perfectly fine with suicide missions like those... But what if he wins the battle?

Well, he's not winning, but he's not dying either (Prowess 19 makes him tough). Keeps picking fights with a nearby army, kills half a dozen or so, then presumably runs away. Gets raised back up as a raider & goes back. Done that half a dozen times so far & he just won't die. May end up just having to take the Renown hit & disinherit. Guess that way at least I'd get to keep him a moderately competent knight.

[RegisterMe]

I'll go back to CK3 when they fix some of the bugs / balance issues. As for now, it's five and a bit hours until RDR2 finishes downloading.

[Mightysword]

These discussion remind me how I used to play Total War: Mediaval 2. I don't know if anyone played it but out of all the Total War, it's the one with the most Role Playing aspect with a fully functional family tree. But the system is set up that only the daughters of the current King and Heir will grow up into a proper princess, with a unique portrait + full agent on the map. Whether other royal member's daughters will just turn into an off map NPC with a generic portrait (so you can end up with a whole bunch of the same face on the family tree).

So to ensure the "beauty" of the family tree, I have a policy of "if someone on the family tree has a daughter, he will be made king/heir before the daughter's coming of age". But since there isn't a way to change that, it means the current one has to die. So most of my king died young (suicide charge into other army) for the shake of a beautiful family tree.

[Terre]

NMS just got a big update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifZA6IMeLs8

[GCU Grey Area]

NMS just got a big update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifZA6IMeLs8

Looks good - very glad you posted the info. Think I may well need to start a new NMS run when my current CK3 game hits it's end date (still almost 4 centuries before that happens however).

As for CK3, never did manage to kill off the Drunkard Disappointment. No matter how many times I sent him on solo suicide runs against entire armies he just kept getting stronger. He levelled up to Legendary Blademaster, became a Berserker & even increased his level of devotion (couple of the Asatru holy sites grant additional Prowess based on level of devotion). In the end his Prowess was 37, which is nuts, by far the best Champion I had at the time. Decided that probably meant Odin wanted him to live. Did however end up having to Disinherit, so his sister could become the next ruler. Her genetics were just too good to miss out on, though arguably one of her sons is even better:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ahmwklj0a1dq3 ... 1.jpg?dl=0

[Vertigo 7]

Anyone know anything about this new F2P game that recently dropped, Genshin Impact? Seems to be making some waves and game play looks interesting. Seen some commenters mention the micro transaction functions are practically not required at all to play and only seemingly useful at end game for grindy crap. Curious if looked deeply at this to see what the deal is. I can't find a whole lot of info on the microtransaction portion and what paywalls are setup for this game.

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

NMS just got a big update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifZA6IMeLs8

Looks good - very glad you posted the info. Think I may well need to start a new NMS run when my current CK3 game hits it's end date (still almost 4 centuries before that happens however).

As for CK3, never did manage to kill off the Drunkard Disappointment. No matter how many times I sent him on solo suicide runs against entire armies he just kept getting stronger. He levelled up to Legendary Blademaster, became a Berserker & even increased his level of devotion (couple of the Asatru holy sites grant additional Prowess based on level of devotion). In the end his Prowess was 37, which is nuts, by far the best Champion I had at the time. Decided that probably meant Odin wanted him to live. Did however end up having to Disinherit, so his sister could become the next ruler. Her genetics were just too good to miss out on, though arguably one of her sons is even better:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ahmwklj0a1dq3 ... 1.jpg?dl=0

Do a dna test on your guy: drunkard, 37 in prowess, he's probably not your son, but Thor's.

[GCU Grey Area]

Do a dna test on your guy: drunkard, 37 in prowess, he's probably not your son, but Thor's.

Plausible hypothesis - he did have the Divine Blood trait...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3teemz2mczm6q ... 1.jpg?dl=0

[BrasatoAlBarolo]

Do a dna test on your guy: drunkard, 37 in prowess, he's probably not your son, but Thor's.

Plausible hypothesis - he did have the Divine Blood trait...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3teemz2mczm6q ... 1.jpg?dl=0

His family page is a graveyard... Definitely Thor!

[GCU Grey Area]

His family page is a graveyard... Definitely Thor!

That was a while ago. Mostly they died peacefully, of old age or poor health. Couple of them (including Folki) drank themselves to death. Not like the younger generations, who seem to have decided that murder is a game the whole family can play. Trying to discourage the rest by punishing the murderers appropriately (Blood Eagle executions), but rapidly running out of children & now the grandchildren are getting involved...

[notaterran]

Again, "thanks" to the pandemic I've had more time for gaming and recently finished Metro Last Light. I liked the atmosphere a lot, the story is fine but the game engine is annoying (crashes, stuttering). I'm not expecting Doom-like optimization, but still. Has anyone played Exodus? Are they still using the same engine or have they moved on to something better? I've read that Exodus is more open-world, that probably wouldn't fit the Metro series just like it wouldn't fit Half-Life 2. Did they pull off the sandbox gameplay and mechanics?

[burger1]

It looks like Baldurs Gate 3 is doing pretty well. It looks like Divinity Original Sin 2.

[Mightysword]

It looks like Baldurs Gate 3 is doing pretty well. It looks like Divinity Original Sin 2.

From what I see and hear, it's pretty much Divinity 3 set in BG's universe. It's good news for those who enjoyed the last two games, but not for someone like me who would prefer "the" Baldurs Gate exeprience. Especially I couldn't get into the previous Laraan games so it's pretty much a skip for me.

[Gavrushka]

Yes, the negative feedback around BG3 appears to be based around the style of gameplay rather than its quality. - I reckon I'll wait until some substantive gameplay videos emerge, after the game has evolved a little, before making a judgement. One of the things I liked about BG & BG2 was how unrestricted the gameplay was. - I've the impression that BG3 is a little more linear, much like Icewind Dale, but that may be because there's only limited content with the present release.

But it does look like it's doing well from a sales point of view.

[Mightysword]

Yes, the negative feedback around BG3 appears to be based around the style of gameplay rather than its quality. - I reckon I'll wait until some substantive gameplay videos emerge, after the game has evolved a little, before making a judgement. One of the things I liked about BG & BG2 was how unrestricted the gameplay was. - I've the impression that BG3 is a little more linear, much like Icewind Dale, but that may be because there's only limited content with the present release.

It's not even the gameplay issue for me, while I do prefer the system in the old game over the one in Laraan game, I can tolerate it. I can't quite describe it very well, but the narrative and writing style from Laraan just never drew me in. According to steam I have 45h on Original Sin 1 and 95h on Sin 2, number that supprised me. Because I never finished neither of them (a lot of those time could be AFK time since I don't remember playing that much). I never got very far with Sin 1, think I stopped just right after we teleport in our own stronghold or ... whatever that was, Sin 2 I think I make it to the final set of map (arriving the capital ?) and never have the urge or desire to actually finish the game ... the story and NPC interaction just never click for me. If I have to say it ... maybe "morbid" is the vibe I get from the casts.

The most recent CRPG I played that was as close to the old BG games were Pathfinder: Kingmaker, I enjoyed it a lot and already back the next game that's supposedly coming out next year.

[Gavrushka]

I've 20 hours on Divinity I, and did enjoy the time spent. Thing is, it's a little flippant/lighthearted at times and that can break immersion when your head isn't in that place. I may well return to Divinity I, or maybe pick up II when it's next on sale, but I doubt either will be games I'll complete. - I did put around 50 hours in Pathfinder, and that had real depth to it, but I grew frustrated in one section where you flipped between realities or something, so shelved it at that point.

I might just throw in the towel and accept the gaming world left me behind 20 years ago, and return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and, from some years earlier, the Dark Sun games and their ilk.

[red assassin]

Ars Technica's early access review of BG3 was utterly scathing about pretty much everything, but particularly the writing. I'd be interested in other opinions, but it sounded pretty bad... https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/10/ ... ng-engine/

[Mightysword]

Ars Technica's early access review of BG3 was utterly scathing about pretty much everything, but particularly the writing. I'd be interested in other opinions, but it sounded pretty bad... https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/10/ ... ng-engine/

I read that review, and while I wouldn't go as far as saying it's "bad", more like personal preference. Many of the "bad" things listed in that review are just hallmark of Laraan game, like the "everyone hate you" bit. That's what I meant ealier by the characters are all very morbid. The Witcher is one of the darkest writing I've seen in RPG, perhaps second only to Warhammer universe but the 3 Witcher games from CD project all delivered a fairly colorful world and characters. NWN2 from Obsidian were a lot darker comparing to the original NWN from Bioware, but still the NPCs in them still have "life". The darkness in characters is something you read between the line in those games, whether in Laraan game it feels the majority of NPC walk around announcing to the world "I am darkness incarnation!". In my 100h in Sin 2 I couldn't find myself connect to any of the NPC, both in and out of my party, even the one I engaged a romance with. They all seems base on the same template and then touch up a bit to make them seem different.

Of course, not saying all of that is bad, people did enjoyed them after all. And that's what I kinda don't get, Sin 1 and Sin 2 were successful enough that I think Laraan has enough cloud to make their third game to stand on its own. Borrowing the BG3 name just gonna invite a lot of unnecessary scrutiny when it's clear the developers are not even remotely attempting to delivery the original experience.

[pjknibbs]

The thing that really caught my eye about that review is the bit at the end, where he's talking about your party being A-OK with you getting brain munched by a mind flayer in front of them because they hate you that much. Considering one of your party members is a githyanki, a race who were enslaved for millennia by mind flayers and hate them above all else, that's just ridiculous--no matter how much she hates you, she hates the mind flayer more and isn't going to stand by idly while it has a snack. Not to mention the nonsense idea that succeeding in a skill check is actually worse for you than failing! I don't remember any point in either Divinity: OS or D:OS2 where anything like that happened, so I'd really like to know what Larian are playing at there.

[felter]

All I have to say is, don't judge a game by its early access. To be honest I think it is pretty stupid to do a review of an early access game, commenting on it okay, but a review. I have played several early access games where the released game and the early access games especially at the start of early access and the released game are two totally different games, a lot of them the story is totally different, I have even played ones where the story has changed several times in early access. So don't judge the game till it's finished.

I will say though that I think, £49.99 is more than a little steep for an early access game.