Video Games

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 4:54 am

Hey K, knowing your taste in video games, can I make a recommendation? Star Ruler. I bought it for a friend who likes that sort of thing for his birthday; his thoughts: "insanely complex, really good - but the AI is retarded" (the last bit is a general complaint he has with any Civilization-style game).

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 5:28 am

The AI is always retarded. Complex games require complex behaviors to play, so if the gameplay is symmetric then writing an agent that can play the game well is a herculean task unto itself.

More on topic: Star Ruler is real-time (so slightly different than most 4x's) and always felt vaguely directionless and indistinct to me. If you're truly a fanatic of the genre, it's worth picking up, but it's not going to have a lot of the flavor of the genre staples (bland races,, lacking random events, etc, etc.). The scale can be fun and ridiculous, though. Deploying planet-sized megaspaceships to blow up planets or even stars is cool. I blew up the galactic center once, which sent out a slow-moving shockwave of cosmic destruction that ended up destroying pretty much everything except the largest of planets.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 6:18 am

He mentioned some kind of third party patch that improves the AI somewhat, but I don't know the details.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Dec 03, 2012 10:23 am

I downloaded the power up heroes demo for the 360's kinect.

It's surprisingly a lot of fun. The young one also enjoyed it. Having her imitate the necromancer-based superhero's maniacal laugh was awesome.

angelfromanotherpin · Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:26 am

Hey, did anyone here like Planescape: Torment?

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:29 pm

How will he be able to use Torment without WotC's permission?

Removal from the alignment axis is pretty good for a torment clone/sequel. But, I'm just curious how exactly the game is going to exist independent of D&D. Does Wotc not hold the rights to the property anymore? I mean unless they sold it, it's strange why they wouldn't. Of course, this could also be the case of the game makers having exclusive rights to making a game based on Torment/Planescape. I'm talking out of my ass on all of this. Aside from vague theories, I have no idea.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:44 am

Just downloaded Dragonborn.

This should be fun.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:36 am

My thoughts thus far on Dragonborn:

First off, keep in mind that this was done with a level 79 character, on Master difficulty. Therefore, this might be very different than a typical character's experience.

Also, this is just the main story. I only did a few sidequests and there are tons of locations on Solstheim that I haven't explored yet. Most of Elder Scrolls is farting around rather than the main story anyway, so I don't have a full impression yet.

Some of the zones are really interesting. I like Raven Rock, and like the volcanic and ashy regions. I'm not sure what those big floaty things with the spindly legs are, but they creep me right the fuck out.

Apocrypha is my favorite area thus far. I love the look, and the monsters are surprisingly challenging (I had to go through a couple potions when I entered the black books).

I am very disappointed with the final boss battle. Hermaeus Mora kills him for you. BOO! I can take care of myself, vag-eye-na man. If you don't get that, you will when you see him.

One of the sidequests got me a dragon priest mask. It boosted electricity damage by 25%. I didn't try, but I wonder if you can disenchant it. Probably not. Also, I bet there are masks that do that for fire and ice as well if I poke around some more.

The bonuses you get from the black books (there are a couple that are story-related, and I found a third in a side area. I'm hoping there's more) are pretty significant. And some of them are a huge benefit to beginning players. I took the one that makes your follower immune to your attacks and spells. I tend to kill my followers by accident...

The new equipment is a bit superfluous for me. You know, on the grounds of having a set of legendary daedric armor and a dragonbone greatsword. Armor 981 (could be higher, but I wasn't trying since it caps out lower than that), 278 damage. Again, could have done more but I'm not interested in splitting the game in half, I already kill normal dragons in two hits. But it seems that Stahlrim armor is a bit better than Orcish armor, Carved Nord armor is basically steel, and Bonemeld is a bit better than steel. Haven't compared weapons, and I may be off. I have been told that I should be able to retroactively make all three types of heavy armor because of my perks, but I only see bonemeld on my list to compare properly.

For some reason now that I've installed the patch I have three versions of the Drain vitality thu'um. I don't know why that is.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:24 am

The free game with my 3ds was Rayman Origins. Having tried it out, I have discovered multiple things:

[*]My eyes can't view 3d stuff (I already knew this)
[*]The cartridges are really aerodynamic, they just zoom across the room
[*]I am not the floating lilly of peace I thought I was, in fact my old stress and anger issues may be back, meaning there could be chokeslams in the future

Anyway, if you like frustrating platformers, I guess you might like it so give it a try. The sounds are cute and fun, and it's nice and bright and all, so everything except for the game itself is fun.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 12:54 am

So anyway I have a god damn console now. Not sure if it was a good idea or not. I'll know when some cheap things I wanted arrive in the mail.

But Tokyo Jungle is surprisingly fun for such a simple, frustrating and mildly insane game.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:17 am

What console do you have? We can all recommend good games (without being dicks about it and recommending bad games).

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:04 am

I have already ordered the primary game you would recommend for the PS3 koumei.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:18 am

Ted the Flayer wrote:I'm not sure what those big floaty things with the spindly legs are, but they creep me right the fuck out.

Those would be netches.

One of the sidequests got me a dragon priest mask. It boosted electricity damage by 25%. I didn't try, but I wonder if you can disenchant it. Probably not.

That would be correct; Dragon Priest masks are, unfortunately, undisenchantable.

For some reason now that I've installed the patch I have three versions of the Drain vitality thu'um. I don't know why that is.

That was a bug brought about by unknown means by the Dawnguard plug-in - it appears to be some conflict with the Marked for Death shout. The UESP discusses it here.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:26 am

PhoneLobster wrote:I have already ordered the primary game you would recommend for the PS3 koumei.

I'm not sure if that's Disgaea 3, Disgaea 4 or Bayonetta :p

That said, there's also:
[*]Atelier Totori/Meruru/The Other One (quite easy, short and simple, just like your mum - oh snap! But nice graphics, decent replay value and generally calm and fun)
[*]The Deadly Sins one where you start by killing Death
[*]Overlord (sending minions to die for you is always fun! You play the villain in a comedic way, not a "I feel bad" way)
[*]Lego Harry Potter (I'm not even kidding - it's actually fun)
[*]Assassin's Creed

I can't name any strategy games for it - good or bad. It doesn't seem to get many of those.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:35 am

Bayonetta kicked finely trimmed ass. I'm sad that Bayonetta 2 coming out only for the WiiU, which is also odd considering the fact that the original game wasn't even availible for the Wii.

Archmage Joda · Post by **Archmage Joda** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:14 am

So, what can people here tell me about Dark Souls. It seems to be decently liked, and I had considered getting it, but I don't want to get a new game only to end up hating it...again.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:56 am

Gameplay has a steep learning curve. It's possible to kill stuff way above you with perfect play (in fact, killing the first boss the very first time you see it will reward you with a bigass club). It's also possible to get ganked by stuff below you if you act like a damn fool.

Has random loot drops, but there's enough good weapons from various sources you can end up with something good. There's also a couple of ways to get awesome weapons (The Gravelord Sword comes to mind) if you know the game. Speaking of which, exploration is rewarded with plenty of neato stuff. It's worth your time to poke through all the odd corners you can think of.

I also suggest playing a Pyromancer as your starting class. They have a nice balance of stats, and pyromancies are nice spells, do damage, but they don't come with a ton of castings. Sort of like having a .44 magnum revolver. The bullets will -hurt- whatever they hit, but you can't use them exclusively (for the record, the Fireball spell comes with 8 castings. You form a small ball of fire and lob it a ways. The Sorceror's Soul Arrow comes with 30 castings, and shoots in a more or less straight line. But the Sorceror will have to mix it up in melee sometime, and they have crap health and stamina at first). So the Pyromancer's pretty...balanced as classes go. But as you level up and find spells and weapon and armor, your starting class becomes less relevant.

Combat is pretty in-depth. Different weapons of the same type (like swords or greatswords) will have different swing speeds, reaches, movesets (a lot of times) and sometimes other weird quirks. There's also quite a lot of different enemies.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 8:29 am

Shrapnel wrote:
Ted the Flayer wrote:I'm not sure what those big floaty things with the spindly legs are, but they creep me right the fuck out.
Those would be netches.

One of the sidequests got me a dragon priest mask. It boosted electricity damage by 25%. I didn't try, but I wonder if you can disenchant it. Probably not.
That would be correct; Dragon Priest masks are, unfortunately, undisenchantable.

For some reason now that I've installed the patch I have three versions of the Drain vitality thu'um. I don't know why that is.
That was a bug brought about by unknown means by the Dawnguard plug-in - it appears to be some conflict with the Marked for Death shout. The UESP discusses it here.

Some more observations, I won't bother to spoiler them because they aren't that important.

The Dunmer wizard living in the giant mushroom is awesome. He's a giant douche, but he's an entertaining giant douche. I am doing all his quests just because I am very amused by his dialogue.

You can enchant staves again! Too bad none of them seem like anything I want (to remind everyone, I am playing on Master and just hit level 80 questing in Solstheim. It is probably more useful to the dragonborn if he's a more reasonable level.) Some of the armors I've learned to make (Advanced Bonemold and Stalhrim) would have been REALLY useful about fifty levels ago. And Stalhrim armor looks cool, and there's a really awesome set for dual wielding if you poke around.

I am enjoying the DLC. 10/10, would download.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:18 am

Archmage Joda wrote:So, what can people here tell me about Dark Souls. It seems to be decently liked, and I had considered getting it, but I don't want to get a new game only to end up hating it...again.

How much do you like dying? Because you will die a lot. They will be pointless deaths, and there is no penalty for these deaths, but it's going to happen.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 10:12 am

Koumei wrote:
Archmage Joda wrote:So, what can people here tell me about Dark Souls. It seems to be decently liked, and I had considered getting it, but I don't want to get a new game only to end up hating it...again.
How much do you like dying? Because you will die a lot. They will be pointless deaths, and there is no penalty for these deaths, but it's going to happen.

Technically not true.

If you die, you'll leave behind a glowing green marker with all your souls (combination XP/currency) and humanity points (this does stuff) in it. If you can make it back to that spot and touch the marker, you get all your power back. Plus whatever you'd done on the way back.

But you don't lose levels or items by dying. Once you spend souls, they stay spent

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:33 pm

Telvanni are generally fun douchebags, they were essentially deranged ultra-libertarian wizards in Morrowind.

And I did the quest with the pirate's Stahlrim treasure; my character uses Light Armor and before any smithing it's only slightly weaker than my Legendary Glass Armor.

I'm Level 46, which is why things might be better for me.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:11 pm

Ted the Flayer wrote:You can enchant staves again!

Yay! Staves are fun! That is a definite plus for me.

I am enjoying the DLC. 10/10, would download.

I will, once I have enough Earthen monies to exchange for digital Earthen monies. Currently, I am saving up all my monies for a new TV, so any funds I receive will most likely go towards that before anything else. Maybe I'll get some Xbox monies for Giftmas.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:44 pm

I wonder if staff enchanting is affected by certain perks. Like if a fire staff is affected by the destruction and enchanting perks that boost fire damage like they do when you put fire damage on a weapon.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Thu Dec 06, 2012 5:05 pm

Looking for game suggestions.

I want to play an RPG, something like the old Baldur's Gate II games, in that it is a party game, mostly about spellcasting, and is not grindy. I don't particularly care about the system used very much, but something that has at least some room for optimization.

Obviously I would prefer something with an interface that is at a minimum as good as BGII, ie, the tab to highlight all loot containers and doors thing.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Dec 07, 2012 2:56 am

So, the Humble (THQ) Bundle has six days left.

It consists of:
Darksiders
Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
Metro 2033
Red Faction: Armageddon
Saints Row the Third (if you pay more than the average going price for the pay what you want bundle)

They just added two more things, though:
Titan Quest
Path to War DLC for Red Faction.