Video Games

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 7:19 am

I have a point in stealing. It never occurred to me to ever use it, and I'm not really sure how to. I figured out that making lyrium potions then selling them gets you more than the materials, so I've been buying out every decent item that rustles my jimmies for about fie levels now.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:06 am

http://bootdiskrevolution.com/bleed/rel ... lease.html

The combination of ridiculously versatile air dashes and time-slowing is really fun in this game. Even Very Hard mode is doable without too much trouble once you get the hang of things. At first I thought I'd need an Xbox controller, but the mouse-aiming actually has a lot going for it.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 8:15 am

I just realized Dragon Age's attitude towards mages is very similar to how Warhammer 40k handles pyskers.

Mages are treated with distrust and suspicion and being one outside of official control is a death sentence and you're treated like a time bomb waiting to go off.

Not to mention the Warp/Fade and the demons which are attracted to mages/psykers without the self-control to shut them out. And the stories of which bias all public opinion/official policy against them.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 6:04 am

Orion wrote: I have to disagree about DA2's superiority on this front. I didn't hate DA2, but the fact that the mages don't need babysitting has a lot to do with them not being able to actually do that much. And their basic attacks being stupidly good. DA1's spells are irritatingly finicky and opaque, but there's definitely more potential there.

See, that's what I'm talking about. There is so much more potential, and if they gave me more tactics slots, I could program so many wondrous routines and sub-routines with my mages. I find myself enjoying that a great deal in Dragon Age 2, and the fact the spells are so narrow in 1 makes me want to write routines even more. Stupid max of 12 entries. Ah well, I guess it did come first. If Dragon Age 2's lengthier command list and better graphics met Dragon Age 1's everything else we'd have a pretty good game.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:09 pm

Divinity 2. Not sure I'll keep playing: there's a chest at the top of a tower. To make sure you don't just fly up there, there's an invisible wall around the tower.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 12:49 am

I don't like DA1's tactics system. It's too narrow to be setting general guidelines and yet too limited to be a programming game like Dom3 battle scripting or RoboRally, so really it just feels like an excuse to write shitty allied AI.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:32 pm

So I just did about 8 hours of Fable III. I forgot how interesting the combat system was. I enjoyed how easy it was just to get in and shoot/stab/cast, and it's been so long that I forgot how funny it was to seduce pedestrians for weapon upgrades.

Spellweaving bothered me, especially with the obvious set of superior options and the lack of creativity in some of the effects (Wind + Anything is a tornado), and there really wasn't any incentive to specialize in melee over magic or ranged other the fact that your weapons glowed more. Heck, there really wasn't a reason to specialize in anything but magic because it had single-target, charging up, AoE, debuffs, and got claps from onlookers.

Like most open world games, being truly evil was kind of hard and not well-supported, especially with the lategame "you must be bad to be good" wanking, but at least you could get awesome wings for your flourishes.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 8:32 pm

Okay, with the exception of pre-programmed unique drops, the material grade of DA1 loot depends on the level of the enemies in that zone. By default this scales to your party level. However, most areas have a level cap for team monster, and some have a level floor as well. Also, each area's level is permanently fixed when you first go there, so if you leave, gain 2 levels, and come back, you'll have outleveled it. There are, as far as I know, no unique crystal drops. So the trick to getting brilliant crystal is just "being level 17 or so" and going to a high-level area where there are crystal drops. Frankly, your best bet is to just not do Shale's sideqeust in the Deep Roads until you're level 18 or something. Then you can go through and gets of flawless and brilliant all at once.

Incidentally, I personally feel that + to all stats is underwhelming for Shale. The number of stats she gives a shit about is pretty small. However, Spirit is pretty much the best damage type to dish out, and a very good resistance to have available for certain fights.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:43 am

I managed to get a whole set by checking the merchants between dust town and orzammar commons

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:35 pm

Why give away plots details that anyone can read when I can put them behind a spoiler that anyone can read?

Why, in Dawnguard, is Arch-Curate Vyrthur considered evil? All he wants to do is fuck up Auri-El's shit after Auri-El condemned him to be a vampire and then turned his back on him and his people (the Snow Elves).

(Auri-El is the Elven name for Akatosh, and he's a massive douche. Akatosh is the one who created Alduin to destroy the world for no real reason, remember.)

So, again, why is the dude who's trying to get revenge on a god who is a Yahweh-level evil douchebag considered evil?

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:04 pm

Tag those things, man.

Because he wants to do it by blocking out the sun. We need the sun to live.

Istred · Post by **Istred** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:35 am

name_here wrote:Tag those things, man.

Because he wants to do it by blocking out the sun. We need the sun to live.

You could argue, that in the TES universe you don't.

Still, the blocking of the sun means simple people suffer as vampires are bolder and tend to attack the towns. But I'd say he is marked as evil because he is a vampire - and except for few notable exceptions, Bethesda seems to make it vampire=evil.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:19 am

Hmm... suppose that's true. Vampire's live in caves, and things that live in caves are inherently evil.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 2:17 am

Shrapnel wrote:Why give away plots details that anyone can read when I can put them behind a spoiler that anyone can read?

Why, in Dawnguard, is Arch-Curate Vyrthur considered evil? All he wants to do is fuck up Auri-El's shit after Auri-El condemned him to be a vampire and then turned his back on him and his people (the Snow Elves).

(Auri-El is the Elven name for Akatosh, and he's a massive douche. Akatosh is the one who created Alduin to destroy the world for no real reason, remember.)

So, again, why is the dude who's trying to get revenge on a god who is a Yahweh-level evil douchebag considered evil?

You can't really spoiler something if people don't know what you were supposed to be spoilering.

Yes, I just used spoiler as a verb.

shau · Post by **shau** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 3:30 am

I'm ashamed to admit I have gone back to Diablo III. Unfortunately, the chucklefucks over at Blizzard still can't keep the servers up, so currently I am not playing anything.

John Magnum · Post by **John Magnum** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 3:32 am

I might go back to Diablo III if they throw in a new act. I'm curious about what the deal is with Inferno difficulty now and the new legendaries, but I'm infinitely tired of running the same four zones.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:05 pm

I beat Dawnguard, and it was... pretty good. You get some really awesome loot (Auriel's Bow is da shit), and the plot is resolved fairly decently. Now, I just need to get enough Earth monies and buy Dragonborn. I've heard tell that it's pretty awesomesauce.

Also, I know this isn't really the place, but... Cynic, your sig really rustles my jimmies in ways I don't understand.

shau · Post by **shau** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 12:48 am

John Magnum wrote:I might go back to Diablo III if they throw in a new act. I'm curious about what the deal is with Inferno difficulty now and the new legendaries, but I'm infinitely tired of running the same four zones.

Inferno has apparently been nerfed down to a reasonable difficulty setting. Or at least my tanky Witch Doctor had absolutely no problems with gear I have been assured is crap. I have not tried the infernal machine thing.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 1:30 am

Shrapnel wrote:I beat Dawnguard, and it was... pretty good. You get some really awesome loot (Auriel's Bow is da shit), and the plot is resolved fairly decently. Now, I just need to get enough Earth monies and buy Dragonborn. I've heard tell that it's pretty awesomesauce.

Also, I know this isn't really the place, but... Cynic, your sig really rustles my jimmies in ways I don't understand.

I liked the story of Dawnguard, but I want to say that the Falmer are absolute shit in every way. My level 70+ main character still gets his life taken down really quick by their goddamn poison (and it seems that % resist poison apears at mid-level, and stops fucking appearing on the loot tables at high, so I missed it and can't make "Fuck goddamn Falmer" gear to mitgate it). I burned out so many potions getting through that shit. And no, I'm not taking it off legendary so don't say so. I'm considering uninstalling Dawnguard completely because I'm fucking sick of every merchant in Whiterun clustering around the front gate so random vampires can eat them, no matter what time of day or night it is.

I liked Dragonborn a lot. It doesn't fuck with the main game at all in any noticeable way, the quests are pretty cool, the new monsters and environments look good. Plus, it feels like a new area.

Archmage Joda · Post by **Archmage Joda** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:32 am

Oh, I'll get skyrim for the PC, I said. I like me some mods I said. I didn't know there was a plan to make it so that PC/PS3 users had to wait an extra month after the release of the first 2 (now 3) DLC for it I said. *sigh*

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 4:43 am

Alright, so is DA: Awakenings worth a playthrough? Because I just got to Amaranthine and I'm almost too pissed off to keep playing.

I was wandering around Amaranthine on the battlements, when an encounter spawned all the down on ground level in town. Because of some bullshit "in battle LOL" rule, I can't open the doors to get down. The bad guys are not aware that I'm there, and can't/won't come up to meet me. Despite my entire group having at least a token ranged attack, nothing I have can reach them down there. So, I reloaded. AUTOSAVE DIDN'T SAVE ANYTHING FOR ALMOST TWO GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING HOURS.

Losing two hours because of a glitch is something I normally consider inexcusable in any game. Is it worth completing if I have to save manually constantly to keep that from happening again?

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:49 am

That hardly ever happens. I thought that it always autosaved at the level transitions like the doors between the ground and walls.

I'm personally stuck on the final bossfight as a mage; one of those things where it's an asshole with a huge pile of hitpoints, giant saves, and the ability to murderize anyone in my party in three attacks or so.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:21 am

I started a new file on Mass Effect 1 as something to work on between games and books. So I'm now playing as Ciaphas Shepard, Traumatized Adept With A Shotgun.

Seriously, I took the Colonist (all your family and friends were butchered in a slave raid on your colony) and Sole Survivor (your whole squad was eaten by threshers maws when you became the First Humans Ever to find out about Thresher Maws. Because the rest of the galaxy forgot to mention them).

And shotguns are my favorite Mass Effect 1 weapon type, because of how damage is calculated. If the damage rating is 100, and the shotgun shoots five pellets, pointblanking something makes it 500 damage per trigger pull.

So a level-appropriate shotgun generally folds enemies up.

John Magnum · Post by **John Magnum** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:26 am

Finally finished running through Resident Evil 5 with a co-op buddy. It just kept getting stupider and stupider, with more and more idiotic design decisions. I really wish there were more not fucking terrible shooters that had full campaign co-op. We've done Borderlands and 2, we've done Serious Sam. But errrgh.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:53 am

Shrapnel wrote:

Also, I know this isn't really the place, but... Cynic, your sig really rustles my jimmies in ways I don't understand.

I seem to have that impression on people. No, not really. But, at least, I have had that impression on you and my wife. At least, I hope I've had that impression on my wife. Because my wife has jimmies... apparently. Shit how the hell did we have kids.

The Gaming Den

Video Games

Back to Fable III