Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[EnigmaticHat]

The biggest change between 1 and 2 was the change from late TV Star Trek tone and visuals to more of a Star Wars used future kinda deal.  For a narrative focused game that's going to make a big difference in whether people like it, and its not something you can be objectively wrong or right about.  I'll admit I never played 3 but it seemed like it also shifted the tone and style significantly.

In the article I linked this is his main point of contention. They took a thing that was well loved with a consistent, developed world and handed it off to another writer who wanted to write a wholly different story. Then they did it again for 3.

Shamus compared it to "if J.K. Rowling had handed Harry Potter off to Terry Pratchet after the 4th book or so" and made the point you did, that while either isn't objectively better, the mere fact that it changed so much ruins the experience for those in for the long haul.

I don't agree with that.  I was saying the style was a matter of taste.  In terms of writing ME1 is just worse IMO.  There's less dialogue in general, the characters feel pretty generic and shallow even compared to themselves in later games.  Compare ME1 Garrus to ME2 Garrus.  The best thing about the plot was the political and relatively mundane worldbuilding, while the high adventure bits were lame.  The Reapers were an ass pull that introduced themselves halfway through the game with a talking hologram for no reason.  The "chosen one" aspect of Shepherd added nothing to the plot and all the characters conveniently forgot about it in the later games.  The main antagonist throughout most of the game was literally motivated by (spoilers if anyone cares) nothing except mind control.  Where it really shined was the worldbuilding with the different alien races and the fairly consistent attitude towards tech and magic.  ME2 held on to that while putting the focus on the characters and the action.

Possible ME heresy here, but I don't like the Reapers.  The writers built this whole detailed galaxy where we understand at least ballpark how everything works.  Then they created an enemy that is not only external to that galaxy, but explicitly impossible for said galaxy to beat.  Which is a big part of why the ending to 3 sucked, to sell the idea that the protagonists could win required contriving things.

Part of the reason I like ME2 so much more than ME1 is that the Reapers have very little impact on 2's plot.  When they are there they're horrifying on a visceral level, whereas in 1 they're this sterile, distant threat.  And I can only take a wild guess that in 3 they're a seriously diluted threat because, you know, that sure is a lot of Cthulus to not instantly wipe everyone out.  Also their origins are explained for some incomprehensible reason.

[itisnotlogical]

Spoiler: ME3 spoilers about the reapers (click to show/hide)

You do end up beating a handful of Reapers in ME3, but it takes a lot of help each time. The first one you need to coerce a giant monster into fighting it, and the second time you have to use a laser targeting system to point an entire fleet's cannons at a very small target. There's a third thing you destroy on Earth that might be a Reaper or just some sort of giant artillery robot, but I think the implication is that not all Reapers are created equal. The main guys like Harbinger and Sovereign might be able to do things like attack the Citadel single-handed, but there's younger/less experienced/less capable Reapers that might be feasible for conventional forces to take on.

I still found the Reapers pretty threatening in 3, though. On every planet (except the above three cases) where an actual Reaper is present in-person, the best you can do is hold the line and get what you need from the planet. Thessia, the Asari homeworld, is totally lost even with you present. Even on Palaven, if you get the Turians and Krogan to work together, the best they can accomplish is stalemate with Reaper forces.

[hector13]

While I appreciate this is interesting, this isn't the thread for it

[Dutrius]

Back on topic:

After about an hour of farming NC at Andvari, we finally received reinforcements and took the biolab for the TR, and had enough momentum to push down to Jaeger's Crossing.

On the way down to Jaeger's Fist, the Sunderer I was gunning in took a detour to the nearby NC hive. I barely managed to kill one of the NC ANTs and hop out the Sunderer before it was destroyed, and a nearby Prowler was down to half health. Concerned about the number of vehicles left on the NC side, I hurriedly layed down AT mines, hoping to catch an ANT. The Sunderer explosion took out all my shields and half my health, and I was in full view of the enemy turrets, but I some how got to the Prowler and started repairing it. The Prowler took out another ANT, but the HA driver managed to got out and started shooting at the tank crew who had also got out to repair. I quickly switched to my main gun, before remembering I still had a shotgun equipped, so I had to switch to my pistol. I somehow managed to kill him before he killed me.

Turns out he was the last defender, so we just blew up the HIVE and the rest of the base with AV turrets with no further resistance.


EDIT: Carp, forgot the game. It's Planetside 2.

[Akura]

I think I was in that, only I was on the other side of the continent, taking Elli from the NC right when you spandex freaks locked the continent.

Actually, I think what you did there was what locked the continent, freaking hell.

[Dutrius]

Which server are you on? I'm on Miller.

you spandex freaks

I play TR.

[Akura]

Ah. Nevermind, I was playing on Emerald. As TR. Strange that it sounded like the exact same fight, though.

[Teneb]

Took down a Materialist Fallen Empire. That's one out of three in the galaxy, though I can't reach the others just yet.

Stellaris

[Gabeux]

Using around 25 mods, playing alone. Made combat harder, bumped up animal limit and monster count, spawned randomly somewhere, dropped all my gear and started very much naked.
Managed to not die, ran away from hundreds of threats, made crude then basic gear. Eventually my cave got surrounded by hell hounds, gorillas and spiders and had to abandon my camp, and while running away I almost drowned, but managed to steal a boat parked right beside a guard tower.
Decided that to end the 'survival challenge' I'd have to reach the Altar of the Three without dying. Made it.

Wurm Unlimited (even though I played WO like 7 years ago, I didn't learn anything back then, so I'm very much new to it).

[Akura]

Performed a cross-Kerbin flight using second-tier parts but first tier facilities(I started with a lot of science, but even the highest money start is not enough for upgrades), flight took over an hour, doing two survey missions, one requiring the barometer. Realized I burned more than half my fuel, I decided to land right there. Cutting the engines to as low as possible and still have positive electricity generation, I stalled and glided as close to the ground. I hit the parachutes a tad too early, lengthening my descent. Couldn't level out, but when I hit the ground I was slow enough that the cockpit wasn't destroyed and it leveled itself perfectly. Entire craft recovered, +132 Science, +tens of thousands of Kerbucks.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kerbal Space Program.

[Arcvasti]

Been alternating between playing other games in the series and slamming my face into Mountain of Faith. Decided to try ReimuA, since I'd never done that before. ReimuB is utterly terrible, with a near-useless spell sign and neither piercing nor homing shot, but ReimuA was quite serviceable, if not as good as MarisaB. Patchouli had a completely new set of spell signs, which kind of threw me off, but I did pretty well overall, although I won with no extra lives. Most of my deaths were due to being reluctant to bomb against midboss Sakuya. What is even WITH midboss Sakuya. Midboss Sakuya is harder then boss Sakuya or Remilia. Like, I've gone up against some robust foes. Midboss Sakuya is one of the most difficult not-extra enemies. In any case, I did win and got a new all-time high score. Sweet.

Now if only I could beat Kanoko...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Touhou 6: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil

It seems I can consistently beat this game with good characters and get to Remilia's last spell sign with bad characters. Maybe I should try Hard difficu-

* Arcvasti is slain by Icicle Fall mid-sentence

[itisnotlogical]

Reimu A is the only way I can make real progress in most Touhou games. Marisa is way too fast to control, and Reimu B almost always sucks.

[EnigmaticHat]

Ten giant mecha (Balams) against ten electric not-godzillas (Erginus).  I'm just an infantryman (well, more of a FAC) tasked with keeping giant insects off of the robots, which are cripplingly overspecialized and have no guns.  Oh and I'm playing on a higher difficulty than I usually do, so my equipment is underleveled.  For the first run, I call down a tank for myself, and run around doing my job killing the insects.  Eventually a giant(er) mutant Erginus comes, and command gives me a Balam of my own.  I fight the mutant for a long time.  Unfortunately, I lose, and thanks to the difficulty level the NPC Balams lose as well (albiet with only one Erginus remaining).  I summon a new tank, and fire all 35 shells into the normal Erginus.  Then I get back in my old tank and fire its remaining ammo.  The 60 some tank shells had no real effect, so I get out and start firing my sticky grenade launcher; I get stomped to death shortly after.

For my next try, I decide I'm going to become a giant killer.  I forgoe a personal defense weapon in favor of equipping two laser designators hooked up to orbital kill sats, and for my vehicle I go with a Vegalta (a walker that would be described as giant in any other game, but is tiny in this one).  This particular Vegalta is supposedly anti-air, with dual missile pods for taking out multiple small targets.  However, it has two gatling cannons instead of the usual one, meaning its damage potential against a giant target that cannot be missed is absurdly high.  The giants punching each other are joined by two blue lasers from space scything through the battle.  The lasers have to be moved around to follow targets and deal continuous damage.  If I keep both the lasers on a single Erginus for their entire duration, then earn back both lasers via kills and do it again, and then empty most of the ammo from the Vegalta's cannons into that same Erginus, I can score a kill.  Armed with this power, I manage to turn the tide in favor of the Balams.  Occasionally Erginus try to stomp on me; at one point one attempts to charge my walker only to fall down dead in front of me.

When the mutant Erginus comes, my Balam is joined by a swarm of 5 heavily wounded allied Balams.  Unfortunately I get separated from my allies, who move at the same speed as me in this big blob and are too dumb to wait.  The mutant manages to destroy all five remaining Balams on its own.  This whole battle has taken like 10-15 minutes, and I know from experience that I have to stunlock this thing (that moves both randomly and way faster than me) perfectly or I pretty much die.  Preparing myself for a disappointing loss, I slowly lumber forward.  Balams have one attack combo, which is jab jab haymaker uppercut.  Last two hits stun.  I miss the haymaker when the mutant is leaning back in preparation for an attack, and then as it lunges forward I catch it right on the jaw with an uppercut.  It instantly falls over dead, having had almost no health left.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Earth Defense Force 4.1, it took my a lot of tries to win this.  Not sure why I didn't just play it on normal or hard difficulty like all the other missions

[miauw62]

Nuking the world to "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" is the cheesiest, most unoriginal thing.

But it's really fucking fun and satisfying.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Civ V

[Arcvasti]

And Kanoko is DUNKED, finally. Goddamn Mountain of Faith and its amulet blitzing. The constant zzzzz of things being fired at you is actually kind of soothing and I entered a serene state of dodging. Still used up two lives and lots of bombs, but its definitely one of the more elegant Touhou victories I've had. Most of them end with me panting/crying/laughing, but I was pretty chill throughout this one. It helped that MoF is the only Touhou that's worked perfectly on my potato and I got to watch the whole ending scene instead of scizophrenic snippets of one.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Touhou 10: Mountain of Faith

5 down, 5 to go.