What game are you currently playing?

Skatan

Innkeeper
Staff member
Messages
145
Finished Black geyser with a full team on Normal. It wasn't very long so just to try it out, I bumped up the difficulty to max and went solo multiclass summoner to see if it was as strong as I had understood it. So far it seems I'm right, I'm a few hours in and doing pure summoning with a little pew pew from behind my army of spiders, wolves and lately a few goblins and skellies. The game isn't very hard even on Very Hard or whatever their max difficulty was called, at least not so far. I notice the summons are starting to scale off and have trouble penetrating enemy armors, so I might hit a soft block later down the line. But so far, so fun!
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JustKneller

Habitué
Messages
473
I'll tell you what I'm not playing:



despite the fact that it's one of the greatest games I've ever played.

The multiplayer aspect isn't great, but that's not the devs fault. There's just a lot of griefers and other shitheads that you tend to see in survival games. Aside from that, DST is a damn near perfect game in my opinion. The art style is creative and appealing. The music and sfx are really well done and add to the experience. The gameplay is well designed. Combat is rudimentary in a clever way to influence players to utilize a variety of (likely more valuable) non-combat strategies to survive. The character design is well nuanced, giving various characters different abilities which have a real impact on play style. The challenge level is appropriate for a survival game without being too punishing. DST easily makes my list of top 5 favorite games, and is probably #2 after Terraria.

But why am I not playing it?

Partly, this is self-inflicted. I like to play with a somewhat unusual play style. Typically, players build permanent structures (e.g. a base) in order to help themselves survive the various hazards in the game. However, I play this game pure nomad style. If I need a permanent structure for something (i.e. a station that unlocks a crafting technology), I can build the station, learn the tech, but then have to destroy it immediately after. The idea is to live off the land and leave no trace. It's a challenge as you have to prepare for various season changes and other events with extremely limited resources and an extremely limited capacity (backpack) to store reserves. And, it's real-time and not turn-based, so you have to hustle. And, it actually makes multiplayer fun again. If you have no permanent base, you have nothing for griefers to target. You can just float around the various multi-player servers and live off their wildlands like a reclusive hermit. It's all doable, but you have to be really organized and multi-task on multiple priorities...

...which is really friggin' hard to do when you have kids. A friend put me onto this game before my eldest was born and I haven't been able to get back to it since. It takes too much focus and a single distraction can have a domino effect. It's kind of a bummer, though. I don't like mindless gaming and I love a good brain burner. Those games are hard to make happen, though. I'm playing (pretty mindless) Walking Zombie 2 to scratch my survival game itch, but it's pretty meh, tbh. It's mostly just a voxel shooter with a survival theme.

I think I could fare better with a turn-based brain burner, though, but I'm not sure what that would be. I considered going back to the X-Com series. It's turn-based, but not something you can walk away from, think about, and strategize. My turns there are usually spent assessing the field, evaluating the terrain, cover options, and assorted known unknowns. I'm not sure what would work for me.

In any event, Don't Starve Together is a great game, even though I never play it. :)
 

Antimatter

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
1,382
Ouch, that sounds like playing with randoms is not advised for that kind of game. I only played DST with my friend, and we had a lot of fun together. But the game is not easy and requires 100% of my concentration. There is no way to pause it either, so playing it requires a lot of energy. Actually, I'd say DST introduced a few horrors I'll never be able to fully recover from, aka spring or winter coming in other games now will immediately cause the feeling of anxiety: something sinister is going to happen.

I'd recommend another game by Klei Entertainment: Oxygen Not Included. It is more paced and requires less reaction, but much more planning ahead. But it's Singleplayer-only.
 

JustKneller

Habitué
Messages
473
Ouch, that sounds like playing with randoms is not advised for that kind of game.
It's not that great if you're trying to accomplish something. But, I've played with friends and it was one of the best MP gaming experiences I've ever had.

You're right, it's not the easiest games. I get a little tickled when I read some of the negative reviews and all they're really complaining about is the lack of hand holding. Apparently, if a game is not a walk in the park, it can't possibly be good. :LOL: I think we need more grittier games.

I would say "horrors" is right. It's not gory, grizzly horror movie kind of horror that inspires terror, but the more psychological horror that inspires dread. I think they did a clever job crafting that element of the game and it only adds to the immersion for me. Despite the illustrated animation style, this game has a lot of verisimilitude for me.

However, there has been a change. You can now pause! It used to just be a mod, but now it's been integrated into an update. That was probably the #1 reason I dropped the game after my first was born. At the very least, I need to be able to pause a game with the kids running around. :)
 

Chronicler

Habitué
Messages
376
In Baldur's Gate right now, playing a single class thief.

Hearing the siren call of the fighter/thief.

"What if this thief could land a hit?"
 

Chronicler

Habitué
Messages
376
tam.png


Shadowdancer has always sounded really cool to me. Traps are kind of my least favorite thief skill. They give it up and in return they can use stealth spontaneously in the battlefield instead of having to plan ahead with the player's foreknowledge.

But it's always seemed like a pain to go through the initial 4 levels without any backstab modifier.

Seemed like such a big moment when I finally got to level five and could do 2x backstabs. So it felt like a bit of an anticlimax to try it out in the next fight, against an unarmored mage, only to whiff three times in a row before the rest of the partied killed him without my help.

After having some time to meditate on it though I think it'll probably even out a bit as I get some more levels. I'll probably find gear I can use to boost my Thac0. Everybody kind of has a hard time landing hits in the early levels anyway.

The stealth in plain sight is really useful just for aggro management. Keep the hits off you.

Though not perfect. I tried backstabbing a vampire wolf and it just immediately turned around and held me. Can't restealth if you're held.
 
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