Video Games

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:36 am

She did play a bit of TL2, but she's hooked on Blizzard. Honestly, we can do fine by just sometimes playing games together like Terraria, but mostly playing games on our own and then just chatting when we minimise the window.

Though she did immediately want NWN when I mentioned the fact that HotU flat-out lets you have an ending where you bind Magical Mister Mestopheles as your servant and you take over Cania (and Toril). She likes the NPCs, dialogue and relationships of Bioware games but was burned by Ass Effect 3, so having an actual choice in the ending was music to her ears.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:41 am

I think with a little bit of work you can also play HotU multiplayer. Again, D&D games are not the best MP games, but still funnish. Especially if you get the PRC working for maximum crazy.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:46 am

OK, Shadowrun Online is VERY Alpha indeed . .

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:41 pm

So, I got Jade Empire a long while back. It's pretty good, but may possibly have Bioware's most irritating morality system and is or at least seems like a shitty console port.

It's got a simple fighting-game system where styles have a fast attack that can be blocked, a heavy attack that can't, and an AoE attack that's variable. You can get a ton of different styles and upgrade them as you level up. They come in four types, bare-handed, magical, transformation, and weapon, and various enemies are immune to different ones (ghosts are immune to your weapon styles, for instance). There's also a "harmonic combo" system where you hit guys with one style then switch to a different type and hit them with a heavy attack for instant death and a recharge. It's fairly fun, but the controls for selecting your target are a bit awkward.

One thing that I don't really like about it is the lack of any passive chi (mana) regeneration at all, even out of combat. It's used to power your magical and shapeshifting fighting styles and for healing, and you run out of it really fast. There's a special style that lets you steal it from other people, but a number of enemies are immune to that.

But anyways, the morality system is really annoying. Allegedly, instead of good/evil it's based on two opposed philosophies called Open Palm and Closed Fist, where Closed Fist is about how people should stand on their own instead of relying on others to save them. How it actually works out is that Closed Fist consists of just being a petty asshole. My first playthrough, I opted to just pick whichever options I felt like, and wound up only getting Open Palm points because I accepted quests, spoke politely, didn't pick bizarrely stupid options for resolving major quests, and followed the rules when participating in arena combat. There were a number of points where I responded to threats by basically saying "bring it", but none of those yielded morality points.

Both philosophies being nominally "good" meant that the Closed Fist options didn't even have any villainous class to them for the most part. Granted, there was one point where a quest involved a married guy getting stalked by a gang leader where the Closed Fist option is to suggest she duel his wife over him, which was so hilarious I nearly picked it, but most of the options are not nearly as entertaining.

I'm actually pretty fond of the main plot, although the Closed Fist ending option is an incredibly stupid thing to do. Warning: massive spoilers.

So a while back, there was a huge, decades-long drought, and while the empire is well-organized and run intelligently, the food stockpiles kept in reserve in case of crop failure were only so large. People asked the Emperor to solve it, and he asked his brother, Sun Li the Glorious Strategist, to come up with a plan. That plan was to murder the Water Dragon, wipe out her followers the Spirit Monks, and steal her powers over rain, and it went perfectly. Then Sun Li, angry about not being emperor, conscripted his other brother and attempted to kill the emperor. However, for some reason he opted to do this after his brother became a god, and as such got his ass kicked. He then opted to grab the main character, the last surviving descendent of the Spirit Monks after Li killed the one trying to smuggle him/her to safety, go into hiding as a martial arts teacher, and transform the main character into a badass. Apparently, being a Spirit Monk means you can't be instantly murdered by divine power, so going hand-to-hand with the god-emperor is merely very hard.

Meanwhile, it turned out that the Water Dragon wasn't just a rain goddess, she's also in charge of taking spirits to the afterlife. Unfortunately, the emperor didn't figure out how to do this and is only using that power to fuse souls into golems, so now people don't go to the afterlife when they die and instead become crazed ghosts. Also, apparently life energy is a finite resource in the setting and if people don't go to the afterlife and get their life force recycled it's going to run out.

Anyways, around sixteen years later, Li decides it's time to get started and intentionally reveals himself and sends you into a sealed cave to set up the traditional destroyed hometown plot and get himself captured so you'll go and assemble pieces of a power-boosting amulet while honing your skills and eventually kill the emperor and rescue him. Then he instantly murders you because he taught you a flawed fighting style on purpose. However, the Water Dragon is not entirely dead and brings you back to life and you go to kill Li.

Now, the ending choice lets you decide whether to bring the Water Dragon back to life or steal her powers. Thing is, there's no real reason to think you won't fuck up just like the last two people who took the job. So it's fairly plausible your immortality will leave you alone in a twisted hellscape in less than your natural lifespan anyway. The only real incentive to do so is that the Water Dragon might send another massive drought your way for no adequately explained reason. However, it is equally possible she won't.

It's also got a potentially game-ending bug stemming from a deeply stupid bit of internal design. See, apparently some things run on timers and some things run on clock cycle counts, and there's one particular point where this can strand enemies outside an invisible wall that blocks your progress until you win the battle.

Archmage Joda · Post by **Archmage Joda** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 10:48 pm

I agree on the closed fist thing being handled poorly. I would've liked to play through with that if it was actually presented as it was said to be, but instead it's the same standard puppy eating baby kicking asshole that most "evil" alignments in games turn into.

As for the chi regenerating, if you have your partner as dawn star (the childhood friend girl at the beginning of the game) and set to support, she regenerates your chi for you.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 6:33 pm

Oh, right, there is Dawn Star, but that requires you to not have your companion actively participate and bafflingly does not work outside of combat.

I would have liked either Closed Fist as presented or swinging into full-on villain territory. It's generally too petty to even feel cathartic. I was also annoyed that the dialogue rarely seemed to let you be properly arrogant; you can frequently either be self-depreciating or pushy enough about your abilities that you seem insecure, but can't be so smugly self-assured that it seems the possibility anyone could outdo you never entered your mind. For a kung-fu RPG, that's a definite oversight.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 11:53 am

I don't think that there was any way to not make Closed Fist seem like a dickish path. Once you've encoded Social Darwinism into any system of ethics you've pretty much admitted that the only thing stopping you from ignoring the plight -- or worse, abusing -- your fellow man is whether you personally like them or they're able to seize what they want by force. In the early part of the game, a Closed Fist option is for you to 'encourage' a man to do whatever is necessary to get out of a large debt to an evil man. And he does find a way: assist some thugs with their killing of you. Or much later, you force a teenaged slave to kill her master with a knife in order to make her strong enough to fight for her freedom. When you already killed the slavers and the wannabe master is too much of a stupid toad to do anything. That pretty much reveals the poverty of the whole system.

I enjoyed the Closed Fist system a lot more when it was used to indulge in your kitten-stomping urges. This game lets you be sickeningly, ruthlessly evil at times.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:44 am

http://indiegames.com/2014/04/cave_stor ... renam.html

Looks kinda cool.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:21 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:I don't think that there was any way to not make Closed Fist seem like a dickish path. Once you've encoded Social Darwinism into any system of ethics you've pretty much admitted that the only thing stopping you from ignoring the plight -- or worse, abusing -- your fellow man is whether you personally like them or they're able to seize what they want by force. In the early part of the game, a Closed Fist option is for you to 'encourage' a man to do whatever is necessary to get out of a large debt to an evil man. And he does find a way: assist some thugs with their killing of you. Or much later, you force a teenaged slave to kill her master with a knife in order to make her strong enough to fight for her freedom. When you already killed the slavers and the wannabe master is too much of a stupid toad to do anything. That pretty much reveals the poverty of the whole system.

I enjoyed the Closed Fist system a lot more when it was used to indulge in your kitten-stomping urges. This game lets you be sickeningly, ruthlessly evil at times.

Well, it's supposed to be the dickish path, but as implemented it involves a lot of just being a jerk. Plus, they didn't have to go full Social Darwinist but instead gone for the idea that people are strengthened by overcoming challenges on their own as opposed to only deserving to survive if they can make it on their own.

There are two particular early instances of just being an asshole. In one, you need to get someone with a gut wound into shape for a sparring match. The Open Palm option is to get her medicine that binds the wound and acts as a painkiller, while the Closed Fist option is to get her a simple painkiller despite being explicitly warned that she could be permanently crippled if she fought like that. The second one has you appease vengful ghosts by either having the person they're mad at give them a proper burial or let them torture him to death. It should be noted that if you've been paying any attention whatsoever you will know that they're not actually going to the afterlife either way. Seriously, almost as soon as you learn there are ghosts in this setting you learn they're stuck in the mortal world. Neither of those things fit Closed Fist as presented and the first one is just petty assholery.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 4:37 pm

name_here wrote:Plus, they didn't have to go full Social Darwinist but instead gone for the idea that people are strengthened by overcoming challenges on their own as opposed to only deserving to survive if they can make it on their own.

They pretty much had to. When you're in a pre-industrial (Kang antics aside) feudalist society filled with spoiled and coddled nobility, gods, monsters, and warriors with superpowers and you're not in one of those categories those two concepts are one and indivisible. It's all well and good to say that forcing people to overcome challenges doesn't necessarily mean that you only deserve to survive if you have THE POWER, but if you're an underfed, unskilled, unpowered, and illiterate peasant you don't really get a second chance to become stronger. Hell, even if you 'overcome challenges' there's no guarantee that you'll become any stronger. That one almost-a-slave girl isn't going to magically fight her way free the next band of Gao's slavers just because she's okay with killin'.

Foxwarrior · Post by **Foxwarrior** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 5:05 pm

So why isn't the Closed Fist option for the girl with the gut wound to fix her wound without a painkiller and teach her to fight despite the pain?

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 6:09 pm

Yeah, my issue wasn't that there were Lord Puppy Stomper options to select, but that Lord Puppy Stomper options were a more effective method of racking up closed fist points than just being incredibly mercenary or otherwise not giving any shits.

AndreiChekov · Post by **AndreiChekov** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 5:38 pm

Need to rant. also TL;DR Mass Effect 3 sucks.

Mass Effect 3 is the most piece of shit game ever to end a trilogy. I can't even finish it. The characters are continually arbitrarily assholes, and you are forced to agree with them. Why would I help the quarians against the geth? Fuck the quarians. Why does cerberus suddenly go super psycho from being relatively normal in 1 and 2. Hell, I liked them in those games. I was a cerberus supporter, but suddenly they are retarded. i suspect that cerberus was indoctrinated, but I won't be finishing the game, so I don't know/care. In ME and ME 2 there were meaning full choices to make, and I felt like my point of view mattered for where my character was going. In ME3 I have to be an asshole. There is no way around it. The paragon choices are still asshole choices. Fuck this shit.

NineInchNall · Post by **NineInchNall** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 7:02 pm

I played the demo of ME3. Well, I should say I watched the intro cutscene, then got control of my character and ... Dat running animation. Couldn't continue. Laughing too hard.

ME1 was one of my most anticipated games ever, and I think I played through it like 13 times. But then ... ME2 was such a disappointing step down that I gave up on the series after finishing it.

AndreiChekov · Post by **AndreiChekov** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 8:07 pm

Really? I only played ME1 for the options that it gave about ME2. ME2 is my favourite game after skyrim. ME1 is a failure in control design. Too many different buttons. ME2 is just where I like it, and I have played it enough that I only play on insanity, and the challenge is(and has been) perfect for what I want. ME3 has stupid shit. Like phantoms.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 10:42 pm

Ooooh!
http://www.civilization.com/
*fap fap fap fap fap fap fap*

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Sat Apr 12, 2014 11:01 pm

Yeah, if anything I found ME1 the disappointment of those two.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 5:40 pm

ME1 had the best story, although ME2's loyalty missions were generally good. As for gameplay, well, basically ME1 was one kind of game, and ME2 was a different kind of game and also better. But what I really wanted was ME1 except better. The unified cooldown timer instead of lengthier separate cooldowns was definitely an improvement, and I would add it to my imaginary ME1+, but I disliked how fragile the player became. I also didn't really like the new rules for defense types and how powers only worked on some of them. I know Lift+Throw was kinda broken, but there is nothing more infuriating than having a lot of powers and not being able to use any of them.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:19 pm

http://ftr.wot-news.com/2014/04/11/warg ... ruct-maus/
THE FUCK? O.O
*mind boggles*

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:38 pm

name_here wrote:ME1 had the best story, although ME2's loyalty missions were generally good. As for gameplay, well, basically ME1 was one kind of game, and ME2 was a different kind of game and also better. But what I really wanted was ME1 except better. The unified cooldown timer instead of lengthier separate cooldowns was definitely an improvement, and I would add it to my imaginary ME1+, but I disliked how fragile the player became. I also didn't really like the new rules for defense types and how powers only worked on some of them. I know Lift+Throw was kinda broken, but there is nothing more infuriating than having a lot of powers and not being able to use any of them.

I actually liked ME3's combat/powers the best. It was sort of my happy middle ground. The powers could work on some things, but not everything, gunplay was still useful, the power combos were nice, and then the multiplayer let me experiment with setups and combos to a far greater degree than singleplayer.

And the variety of guns was very nice, too.

Or, put it this way, ME3 gave the min-maxxer part of my brain enough to chew on in a lull between D&D games.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sun Apr 13, 2014 10:40 pm

Or you could play Vanguard and have only invincible frames.

AndreiChekov · Post by **AndreiChekov** » Mon Apr 14, 2014 11:42 pm

Um... ME 3 continued the fact that sentinel is the best class. Warp, and overload removes every kind of barrier, and throw gets melee enemies away. I didn't like the huge nerf to tech armour though.
If Infiltrators had overload instead of fiyahburn!1! in ME2 they would have been better. Overload and area reave would have covered everything, and invisibility for positioning.

I played on Insanity all the time though, so tech armour was a must have.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:47 am

I was surprised at how scary Engineers were in ME3.

Overload didn't make a distinction between shields and barriers, and Incinerate was hell on armor all by itself, and even worse with a cryo freeze beforehand.

Then you get the turret and the drone and sabotage/hacking and all of a sudden playing as an Engineer was playing on easy mode.

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:12 am

I've been playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance recently, and I can't seem to get the last story mission to spawn. I've completed Mission 23 and every location on the map has been placed. Is there something else I need to do to unlock it? Also, there are several areas that haven't spawned "Free X!" missions yet. Is that normal?

EDIT: Nevermind, I just beat the game. It turns out the final mission never spawns in the pub, you just have to go to Ambervale, save, and try to leave. Loading from a save and trying to leave won't work, and going there without answering Yes to the save prompt won't either.

Beating the final boss took two tries because she nuked my entire party save Montblanc the first time. On the second, she stupidly decided to use a basic Fight command on my high-level Dragoon with Bonecrusher, then Marche walked up and stabbed her. It was a little anti-climactic.

Double Edit: Upon loading my last save, it turns out I wasn't allowed to keep the Peytral and Genji Glove I went out of m way to steal from Llednar. Sad face.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 5:38 am

Playing the Wolf Among Us.

This is, like, what LA Noire should have been. Only with fairytales.

Even the fights are pretty neat, given how they're all QTEs with some branches within them. I redid a fight just to stop from wrecking an apartment's sink, to be nice to the apartment owner.