Print

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

[Yoink]

I started work as a grim reaper, made it through my seven-day trial period and, when it came time for my performance review, had praise heaped upon me!   
They gave me an award (as if my desk wasn't cluttered enough already) and I even got a freakin' raise! ...Not that there's much to spend your pay on in the after-life, or... wherever this is. In any case, it seems like you can get away with fudging the numbers a bit here and there - though maybe it helped that I sometimes went above quota, sometimes below, so I guess it balances out.   

Mostly, I'm just glad I get to continue existing, even if it is in some weird un-life with only my boss/summoner and his adorable cat for company.   

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Death and Taxes (demo version).   

Kinda tempted to buy the full game, but I might wait for a sale.   

   

[Yoink]

Double-posting 'cause, last night, after watching some Cities: Skylines videos I was feeling kinda inspired so I fired up Sim City 4 and slapped together a city.   
I had just planned on messing around and seeing what kind of hellhole I could create, but as of today I have somehow managed to get my city's monthly budget in the positive. Now, this is a rare thing in the cities I pour heaps of effort into, so I am pretty surprised by this. I didn't even have to turn half of town into a toxic waste dump or raise anyone's taxes... much.   

New city slogan idea: Klepawke, the Place to Be!   

[Akura]

Rather than skip several floors and get instantly killed by what I can only describe as a "loose flagstone"(or "dragon"), I simply took the stairs and went down to the next level. Which is filled with ogres that are still probably above my party's effective level. Encounters with just one took several spells which only recover using cheap but limited in capacity supplies to rest. Eventually managed to work out some tactics using per-encounter abilities(usages recover after a battle), but they still hit pretty hard.

Found one ogre who wanted me to kill his psycho ex-girlfriend*. I find the room she's in, and she has help with her. I run out of the room, and only she gives chase. Even then it's a very long fight. The two wizards - myself and an elf with a split personality(the other personality is a dwarf) - and the psychotic priest burn most of our spells, and the fight is long enough that the chanter pulls off several invocations. To explain that last bit, during battle, a chanter, while attacking(or in this guy's case, shooting and reloading his gun), they will chant phrases with various effects, and enough phrases chanted will allow them to cast an invocation spell for significant effect.

Eventually killed the crazy ogre, but not before the fighter goes down with a busted ribcage. I take proof back to the quest giver for a reward; a set of very spiffy, human-sized enchanted clothing that makes absolutely no sense why a depressed ogre in a cursed cave somewhere would have.

*A technically true description.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Pillars of Eternity.

[Rolan7]

I've been wanting to talk about Titanfall 2 (co-op defense gamemode) for a while now. 
It brings me joy

The core gameplay is literally the sort of thing I would daydream about as a young kid.  You're operating this stompy battlemech, right, except that you can hop out of it and you're a wallrunning ninja.  You can have a Spartan Laser delightfully powerful charge-up beam weapon that FLINCHES enemy mechs with the "impact", shredding their armor.  Then vault back over a wall and wallrun/space-jump Metroid style to your next target.

But there are multiple titans stomping down this lane toward the objective!  Strike one in the engine and it falters, but the rest stomp on...  Until my titan swishes in! 

Now, I should describe my titan.  There are about 6-7 classes in the game.  Half of them wield some version of a heavy machinegun.  The Scorch, my brother's favorite, is a pyro.  There's a sniper. 

And then there's Durandal Ronin, blade in hand, glitch-dashing into the fray behind a salvo of quad-shotgun sabot.  Mmph.
The enemy titans turn to face the "greater" threat, and I wallrun and jet-boost on top of one.  Grab purchase, find their core- yoink~
My buddy is outnumbered and outgunned, slashing desperately.  I jet into the cockpit, installing the stolen core for a burst of shields.  "Ronin sword transferred to pilot."  "We are stronger together."  I We perform a length execution sequence on the enemy I weakened, but we're heavily outnumbered.  "Multiple titans in proximity.  Choose our targets."  We back away, blocking autocannon fire with our fricken sword, but it's not looking good- until brother's Scorch DENIES the area that they're trying to push through. 

"Eject.  Eject.  Eject."  I do so, but the enemy mechs are bringing 20-ft autocannons to bear on me as I approach.  I activate the glitch and-

exist in a completely separate reality.  an ethereal realm of vague shadows - no friends, no enemies.  is this the battlefield a year from now?-

And back, at the foot of an enemy titan.  Clambering up it, finding it's air intake, dropping a grenade in.  Leaping away from the core meltdown.

My titan... my sword... has fallen as well.

Literally one minute of using my lascannon on enemy mechs then ninja dodging later...
I call Titanfall directly on a wave of enemies.  Durandal plunges blade first, and goes to work.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Titanfall 2

OH WAIT I forgot to mention I get to play as a DROID!  Big ol' blue-glow for a face.
With a fricken twintail of animalfur behind my head, heck yessss

[Iduno]

I've been wanting to talk about Titanfall 2 (co-op defense gamemode) for a while now. 
It brings me joy

The core gameplay is literally the sort of thing I would daydream about as a young kid.  You're operating this stompy battlemech, right, except that you can hop out of it and you're a wallrunning ninja.  You can have a Spartan Laser delightfully powerful charge-up beam weapon that FLINCHES enemy mechs with the "impact", shredding their armor.  Then vault back over a wall and wallrun/space-jump Metroid style to your next target.

But there are multiple titans stomping down this lane toward the objective!  Strike one in the engine and it falters, but the rest stomp on...  Until my titan swishes in! 

Now, I should describe my titan.  There are about 6-7 classes in the game.  Half of them wield some version of a heavy machinegun.  The Scorch, my brother's favorite, is a pyro.  There's a sniper. 

And then there's Durandal Ronin, blade in hand, glitch-dashing into the fray behind a salvo of quad-shotgun sabot.  Mmph.
The enemy titans turn to face the "greater" threat, and I wallrun and jet-boost on top of one.  Grab purchase, find their core- yoink~
My buddy is outnumbered and outgunned, slashing desperately.  I jet into the cockpit, installing the stolen core for a burst of shields.  "Ronin sword transferred to pilot."  "We are stronger together."  I We perform a length execution sequence on the enemy I weakened, but we're heavily outnumbered.  "Multiple titans in proximity.  Choose our targets."  We back away, blocking autocannon fire with our fricken sword, but it's not looking good- until brother's Scorch DENIES the area that they're trying to push through. 

"Eject.  Eject.  Eject."  I do so, but the enemy mechs are bringing 20-ft autocannons to bear on me as I approach.  I activate the glitch and-

exist in a completely separate reality.  an ethereal realm of vague shadows - no friends, no enemies.  is this the battlefield a year from now?-

And back, at the foot of an enemy titan.  Clambering up it, finding it's air intake, dropping a grenade in.  Leaping away from the core meltdown.

My titan... my sword... has fallen as well.

Literally one minute of using my lascannon on enemy mechs then ninja dodging later...
I call Titanfall directly on a wave of enemies.  Durandal plunges blade first, and goes to work.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Titanfall 2

OH WAIT I forgot to mention I get to play as a DROID!  Big ol' blue-glow for a face.
With a fricken twintail of animalfur behind my head, heck yessss

That sounds fun as hell.

[Egan_BW]

Y u gotta make me want to play TF2 like that

[Sirus]

That doesn't sound like Team Fortress at all.
/s

[Egan_BW]

What is a titan but a level 4 sentry?

[Iduno]

What is a titan but a level 4 sentry?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Edit: And, on-topic, I knocked out the proud and dying achievements in Heat Signature after a long haitus. I guess I'll go after ghost, as long as I've got it installed.

[Akura]

The first city I settled on a second continent has a very dangerous monster lair nearby: several liches, master liches, skeletal lords, etc. Total strength rating is over 14,000. A few of those decided to attack the city literally two turns after I sent the main force of a bishop, 2 Paladins, and pikemen off to go hunting down other, more manageable lairs. All I had in the city were one unit each of spearmen, bowmen, and priests, plus whatever morons were pressed into service as local militia(these guys automatically have auto-battle active and charge towards the enemy). And one city tower.

Attacking the city was one unit of skeletal warriors(low-tier infantry), skeletal lords(big skeletons, very dangerous), and two liches. The liches are a problem because they can summon ghouls, and can regenerate mana, which means they can continually summon ghouls.

I kept my troops behind the walls. The skeletal lords managed to damage one section by about 1/3 before being cut down by multiple waves of arrows, Holy Burst spells(from me) and holy water from the priests. After that, I realized I could win by simply holding the walls. The liches weren't attacking, possibly because their attack cannot damage my walls, and the ghouls were easily held off by my troops.

Round 2, I was simply able to charge out from the walls and overwhelm the liches.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Deity Empires. I would have save-scummed before the attack, but my most recent save was just before my prospector found mithril near one of my cities, and that is quite rare. I'd trade a significant city for a mithril deposit.

[Yoink]

After a shaky start to the mission where I was humiliatingly downed by a certain type of zombie and one of its symbiotic leech buddies (though while saving me one of my teammates narrowly avoided the same fate, so I feel like they probably understood), I managed to redeem myself against more human enemies by going two-for-two on moving targets with my sawn-off Springfield rifle.   

Somehow, this game manages to make single-shot rifles viable, whilst still challenging to use... and of course, satisfying.   
Nothing like firing a shot at the vaguely-glimpsed figures approaching through the shadows at too lively a pace to be, well, dead, then ducking down behind cover and hurriedly clearing the breech and jamming another bullet in there. You can almost feel your character's hands shaking with adrenaline.   
Or, that moment when a dual-wielding enemy just gunned down one of your pals in an absolute hail of gunfire before backing into a doorway, presumably to reload their pistols, and you stealthily slink around the corner in the hopes of making your one shot count before they can give you the same treatment - and boom! On this occasion, at least, it pays off.   

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Hunt: Showdown.

Damn, I really like this game.   
One interesting thing is that it has two distinct control styles - 'gunslinger' or 'hunter'. The small but important difference is that, with gunslinger pressing R2 on its own will fire your weapon from the hip, whereas with hunter it will initiate a melee attack and to actually hipfire you need to hold L2 (and click the right stick if you want to ADS).   
I find that the hunter option makes me consider each shot a lot more, and I like to think it improves my accuracy as a whole. Hard to say, though. It's annoying as hell when you try to quickly use a medical kit but forget to "aim" and swing a punch instead.   
Currently I actually use the first option on my main PSN account and the other on one of my backup accounts that I kinda practice on - though I often end up doing considerably better in games with the reduced pressure. *sigh*   

   

[Iduno]

Too many controls for a controller? Does it have reverse-consolitis or something?

[Akura]

A neutral deity decided to walk up and attack, only declaring war after the initial battle was over. Which took place at the same city that was attacked by the undead. Results were the same: lungs replaced with arrows. Except now I have more towers, and the towers can set people on fire(even if they miss!).

Discovered they've settled two cities of their own on this continent. Initial losses were two small cities that weren't particularly important and their associated engineers. One of my smaller wandering armies lost half its force, its only survivors were two heavily damaged paladin units, but they killed off an army bigger than it. They've lost several armies in their attacks, and they've got a force consisting of 6 decently-leveled, buffed, and equipped bishops heading their way. The undead lair that attacked the city? These guys ripped them apart. One is armed with the most expensive magic weapon I've made yet, over 120k mana went into it. They've already melted a few stacks of their elite troops.

They've also got a thunder of dragons(I had to look that up) that I've been raising. One of each color. They're not full grown yet, but all of them are cored(meaning I can resurrect them if they die), so I can throw them into battle without much concern.

I should be worried that they'll launch a full scale attack on my main continent. I've learned that I'm way behind when it comes to army building, as of my last save their army upkeep is more than triple mine. Except, I'd been building up my navy, in preparation for an attack on a different deity. Oh, and since I spent more effort on economic development and, more importantly, research, I maxed out the tech line for ship speed. Kind of hard to land transports when your enemy's warships out-run them. My mainland is protected by multiple battlegroups of galleons more than capable of hitting any tile of coast within a turn(a transport has to wait a turn before disembarking units). I've already sunk multiple full armies being sent as reinforcements to the second continent. For some reason, they don't seem to have their own warfleet.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Deity Empires. I'm more worried about the other deities deciding to gang up on me at once. There's seven other deities, but I've got about 33% of the total world population.

[Yoink]

Too many controls for a controller? Does it have reverse-consolitis or something?

Erm, I think I must have explained that poorly. It doesn't have an overload of controls, in fact the control schemes are rather elegant.   
They're just better suited to different playstyles or priorities. For example, you tend to do quite a bit of melee in this game, so the hunter control scheme is good for that - whacking things with the right trigger is a lot easier and more accurate than using R3 (that is, clicking in the right thumbstick), after all. But of course, that means it takes very slightly more effort to hipfire your gun, since you have to hold the opposite trigger to shoot instead of melee.   
Which can sometimes be a bonus, accuracy-wise, I think.   

The whole "trying to use bandages and punching the air instead" thing I mentioned is only really an issue if, like me, you are terribly indecisive and can't settle for one control setup to use all the time and instead go back and forth and occasionally confuse yourself.    
Those moments of control confusion are rare even for me, though. I tend to just forget that things like medkits even have a melee attack option on 'em.   
It's kinda hard to explain, but there you go.   

[Iduno]

I just completed a rescue in Heat Signature on a large glitcher ship full of armored guards who also had emergency shields and non-piercing weapons (and a defender, just in case). I probably should have checked beforehand, because I only brought one armor-piercing blade. I almost, but not quite, managed to complete the mission without an alarm, even though I entered into a room with 4 guards (I cleared it without an issue). My glitch trap only had 3 charges, so I used the last one on the defender on the other side of the door from that room.

When you get rolling in that game, you can pull off some feats, and I'm not even that good at vidya games.

Too many controls for a controller? Does it have reverse-consolitis or something?

Erm, I think I must have explained that poorly. It doesn't have an overload of controls, in fact the control schemes are rather elegant.   
They're just better suited to different playstyles or priorities. For example, you tend to do quite a bit of melee in this game, so the hunter control scheme is good for that - whacking things with the right trigger is a lot easier and more accurate than using R3 (that is, clicking in the right thumbstick), after all. But of course, that means it takes very slightly more effort to hipfire your gun, since you have to hold the opposite trigger to shoot instead of melee.   
Which can sometimes be a bonus, accuracy-wise, I think.   

The whole "trying to use bandages and punching the air instead" thing I mentioned is only really an issue if, like me, you are terribly indecisive and can't settle for one control setup to use all the time and instead go back and forth and occasionally confuse yourself.    
Those moments of control confusion are rare even for me, though. I tend to just forget that things like medkits even have a melee attack option on 'em.   
It's kinda hard to explain, but there you go.   

Ah, that makes sense.