m7600
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@Urdnot_Wrex what will it take to convince you to try Planescape: Torment? : )
What game are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Antimatter
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I have both for sale... very cheap
Made by some giant squid robots, very nice guys.
BelgarathMTH
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I've recently started giving Lord of the Rings Online a try. I've been pleasantly surprised. It has beautiful environments and engaging gameplay that includes a sliding difficulty option from 0-10. I've been trying my first experience at level 3.
There's a bard class called the "minstrel", and it's one of the best implementations of a bard class in an RPG I've seen to date, especially considering it's an MMO.
I started watching the movies again as kind of a companion experience, and it feels really cool to see stuff like "Oh, they're going to Bree? That's where my human character in the game needs to go next." I also got a quest to go do something in the Shire, which is to the west of human lands, a factoid I now know first-hand because I'm playing a character who lives in that area.
I'd recommend any Tolkein fan who's never played it to give it a try. The base game is free.
There's a bard class called the "minstrel", and it's one of the best implementations of a bard class in an RPG I've seen to date, especially considering it's an MMO.
I started watching the movies again as kind of a companion experience, and it feels really cool to see stuff like "Oh, they're going to Bree? That's where my human character in the game needs to go next." I also got a quest to go do something in the Shire, which is to the west of human lands, a factoid I now know first-hand because I'm playing a character who lives in that area.
I'd recommend any Tolkein fan who's never played it to give it a try. The base game is free.
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Still going through Dragon Age: Inquisition. Boy, oh boy, this is a painfully slow process. I keep wondering, how on earth Bioware could mess this game so badly. There is a great story underneath, with world full of rich lore and memorable characters, yet... majority of the game and exploration is just a slugfest. There are some cool mechanics, like war table, but even those could be crafted better and just felt... sloppy work.
And on top of that, I can't stop thinking of BG3. Doesn't help at all
And on top of that, I can't stop thinking of BG3. Doesn't help at all
Alesia_BH
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I'm still playing Street Fighter 6, and -shockingly- I'm no longer awful. The things I was having issues with turned out to be bugs, now patched. Since the update I've shot up to Gold Level 5, a few victories away from Platinum, the 85% percentile. I also recently took a set from a Diamond player, 3 games to 1. Diamond is one level below Master. Not bad for a noob, 6 weeks into a new genre, lol.
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I have been playing a fair bunch of combat games when I was young, mainly Mortal Kombat (only first 3 games, with MK2 being my favorite), Street Fighter (1 and 2, but mainly 2), Tekken (also one of the first games, 2 or 3, I believe) and Virtua Fighter. I also played some more on arcade machines, like Soulcalibur. My road started from ancient Atari era games, though, like Karateka or World Karate Championship.
Unfortunately, I haven't played much of these games in recent memory. I thought to play one of the new MK games, once or twice, but I realised, I've gone soft with age, and I'm not sure how, well I could handle all the gore now (fatalities and X-ray attacks).
Alesia_BH
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When I decided to try a fighting game I watched high level MK11 and SF6 matches to help me choose. The MK11 tournament I watched was massively entertaining, but I decided that SF6 suited me better. I prefer the art and style of SF6 and, most importantly, the humor. People take fighting games way too seriously. The humor of SF6 is a constant reminder that it's all goofy fun.
While I've been enjoying my foray into fighting games, it has made me appreciate the RPG community even more. I've always been aware that the RPG community, and the BG community in particular, are unusually warm and amicable. Hanging out in fighting game land has impressed upon me just how special the community we've built is. Hooray for us all! I'll get back to BG soon.
Cheers,
A.
Btw, to illustrate the stylistic difference between MK11 and SF6, here's my character, Lilys, most powerful move. Compare that to a MK11 finishing move, lol.
While I've been enjoying my foray into fighting games, it has made me appreciate the RPG community even more. I've always been aware that the RPG community, and the BG community in particular, are unusually warm and amicable. Hanging out in fighting game land has impressed upon me just how special the community we've built is. Hooray for us all! I'll get back to BG soon.
Cheers,
A.
Btw, to illustrate the stylistic difference between MK11 and SF6, here's my character, Lilys, most powerful move. Compare that to a MK11 finishing move, lol.
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m7600
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I finally got Subnautica, and I have been playing it for the past few days. I'm extremely impressed by its worldbuilding. As for the gameplay, the Minecraft-esque elements aren't exactly my cup of tea, but I do like the survival elements a lot (i. e., making sure to not run out of water and food, don't go too deep that you'll run out of oxygen, don't get lost and die while cave diving, etc.). I also like the Jaws-inspired, nerve-wrecking moments when you have to swim through open waters and you're vulnerable to top-tier predators, such as the Reaper Leviathan. But most of all, I'm really liking the worldbuilding. The devs created a detailed ocean planet, consisting of a series of coherent, believable underwater alien ecosystems.
Here's part of my main base, so far:
A view of the interior, I got some seeds from an island, and now they're growing into mature plants:
This is the island in question, with a view of the Aurora, a ship that crashed on the planet (and the protagonist was on it):
In the Kelp Forests, there are some streamlined predators called "Stalkers". I usually just ignore them when I'm swiming through their territory, even when they take a few bites at me. But this one took more than a few bites, so I killed him with my trusty thermoblade. I felt kinda bad for killing him though.
I started to build a secondary base near the Aurora's crash site. There are Reaper Leviathans in that zone. So my base there is essentially an outpost to keep an eye on them.
My secondary base is equipped with an area scanner, and a few underwater drones with cameras. I took control of one such camera and I looked around for a Reaper Leviathan, until I found one. These organisms don't attack the cameras (but others, like the Stalkers, do), so I could get a screenshot of it:
And, here's a shot of one of the planet's Moons:
Plans for the future: finding the vehicle upgrades for descending into the depths, so I can get a glimpse of the Ghost Leviathans.
Here's part of my main base, so far:
A view of the interior, I got some seeds from an island, and now they're growing into mature plants:
This is the island in question, with a view of the Aurora, a ship that crashed on the planet (and the protagonist was on it):
In the Kelp Forests, there are some streamlined predators called "Stalkers". I usually just ignore them when I'm swiming through their territory, even when they take a few bites at me. But this one took more than a few bites, so I killed him with my trusty thermoblade. I felt kinda bad for killing him though.
I started to build a secondary base near the Aurora's crash site. There are Reaper Leviathans in that zone. So my base there is essentially an outpost to keep an eye on them.
My secondary base is equipped with an area scanner, and a few underwater drones with cameras. I took control of one such camera and I looked around for a Reaper Leviathan, until I found one. These organisms don't attack the cameras (but others, like the Stalkers, do), so I could get a screenshot of it:
And, here's a shot of one of the planet's Moons:
Plans for the future: finding the vehicle upgrades for descending into the depths, so I can get a glimpse of the Ghost Leviathans.
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While I'm waiting for the BG3 release (and have problems thinking about other games), I decided to run Kenshi. It's an open-world sandbox RPG where you can be anything anywhere. The game has very primitive graphics (I'd say Morrowind-like), but gives a great feeling of freedom, and also has a lot of style. You can change your natural hands and legs for skeleton ones (almost cyberpunkish), all your skills improve as you keep using them (so a system close to the Elder Scrolls), and you start from the very beginning as a nobody who can't win even vs a wounded bandit without a leg, and then develop into a deadly samurai (if you want).
Here is my character after he finally got some basic light armor, and other screenshots showcasing skills (you can tell I like stealthy assassins) and one of the loading screen tips:
@m7600 Absolutely enjoyed your Subnautica screenshots! That's one of the best survival games out there.
Here is my character after he finally got some basic light armor, and other screenshots showcasing skills (you can tell I like stealthy assassins) and one of the loading screen tips:
@m7600 Absolutely enjoyed your Subnautica screenshots! That's one of the best survival games out there.
Chronicler
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With my tax return I splurged and bought a Switch Lite and the Final Fantasy 1-6 Pixel Remaster Collection
Having a super fun time with Final Fantasy 5 right now. The art is super crisp. Didn't think they did these sorts of remakes anymore. Sprucing up the pixel art instead of trading it all out for advanced modern polygons. The shades of purple in particular I'm noticing they can do a lot more with than on the SNES or GBA.
The soundtrack is also super nice. Doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything. There are so many classic iconic tunes on here you don't want to mess too much with perfection. Honestly though probably the biggest difference for me personally is just hearing the soundtrack at all. Been playing on an emulator until recently and I've never been able to make the whole "Game audio plus whatever show you're listening to" work when they're both coming out of the same speaker, so I'd been playing on mute a lot of the time.
Probably the biggest improvement imo though is just that turn order feels a lot more clear. I don't know how to describe it exactly, but the actions kind of seem to "click" into place in a way that feels more like traditional turn based combat than the originals, which were kind of trying to distance themselves from that, since the Active Time Battle System was their hot new tech at the time. Feels very good in the hands. Controls smooth like a dream.
Having a blast. Feels a little silly to buy this sleek modern console just to play the same decades old games I always play but I think it was super worth the money.
Having a super fun time with Final Fantasy 5 right now. The art is super crisp. Didn't think they did these sorts of remakes anymore. Sprucing up the pixel art instead of trading it all out for advanced modern polygons. The shades of purple in particular I'm noticing they can do a lot more with than on the SNES or GBA.
The soundtrack is also super nice. Doesn't reinvent the wheel or anything. There are so many classic iconic tunes on here you don't want to mess too much with perfection. Honestly though probably the biggest difference for me personally is just hearing the soundtrack at all. Been playing on an emulator until recently and I've never been able to make the whole "Game audio plus whatever show you're listening to" work when they're both coming out of the same speaker, so I'd been playing on mute a lot of the time.
Probably the biggest improvement imo though is just that turn order feels a lot more clear. I don't know how to describe it exactly, but the actions kind of seem to "click" into place in a way that feels more like traditional turn based combat than the originals, which were kind of trying to distance themselves from that, since the Active Time Battle System was their hot new tech at the time. Feels very good in the hands. Controls smooth like a dream.
Having a blast. Feels a little silly to buy this sleek modern console just to play the same decades old games I always play but I think it was super worth the money.
m7600
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A Reaper Leviathan just destroyed my one-person submarine. He caught me off guard, because I didn't know that there was one in the zone that I was exploring. I've read a lot of people saying that such an experience is frightening, at the very least because it's a jump-scare. But honestly, I just laughed. Since he destroyed my sub, I thought that I'd at least swim close to him so I could scan him and get a new data entry. But he wouldn't let me do that, he decided to eat me alive. Here's a screenshot right before he turned around to devour me:
He kind of looks like an oarfish to me. I'd bet that was one of the creatures that inspired the Reaper's design.
Anyhow, this is personal now. I've made it my mission to kill one of these creatures. It seems impossible, but I saw a tutorial on YouTube on how to do that. You have to freeze them with a Stasis Rifle, then attack them with the thermoblade, then Stasis them again, thermoblade again, rinse and repeat.
He kind of looks like an oarfish to me. I'd bet that was one of the creatures that inspired the Reaper's design.
Anyhow, this is personal now. I've made it my mission to kill one of these creatures. It seems impossible, but I saw a tutorial on YouTube on how to do that. You have to freeze them with a Stasis Rifle, then attack them with the thermoblade, then Stasis them again, thermoblade again, rinse and repeat.
Alesia_BH
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A footnote on my experiments with SF6. Since the consensus belief in the fighting game community is that players over 35 struggle with reaction times, I decided to drink coffee during play, in an attempt to compensate. I started drinking copious amounts, and ascended to Platinum 1 rank, the 85% percentile.
When the coffee started affecting my sleep, I stopped drinking it. I immediately went on a losing streak, dropping back to Gold 4. As as experiment, I started chugging coffee again. Almost immediately I went on a win streak and started climbing back to Platinum. In a few cases, I beat players 2-0 under caffeine, lost 0-2 without caffeine, and then beat them 2-0 again back on. The data are anecdotal, with one subject (me) and a small sample size. Nonetheless, the effect is dramatic enough that I think there's something too it.
I'm not certain, but I'm leaning toward leaving the genre. it's been fun, but I don't want to be nudged into disrupting my sleep. I'll be back to BG, and Aurora's run in particular, soon.
Cheers,
A.
When the coffee started affecting my sleep, I stopped drinking it. I immediately went on a losing streak, dropping back to Gold 4. As as experiment, I started chugging coffee again. Almost immediately I went on a win streak and started climbing back to Platinum. In a few cases, I beat players 2-0 under caffeine, lost 0-2 without caffeine, and then beat them 2-0 again back on. The data are anecdotal, with one subject (me) and a small sample size. Nonetheless, the effect is dramatic enough that I think there's something too it.
I'm not certain, but I'm leaning toward leaving the genre. it's been fun, but I don't want to be nudged into disrupting my sleep. I'll be back to BG, and Aurora's run in particular, soon.
Cheers,
A.
m7600
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Based on this data, I would like to advance the hypothesis that the very best players, the 1%, are on meth.
m7600
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Energy drinks. They're almost certainly on energy drinks. Legal, relatively cheap, and a huge dose of caffeine. The best bang for their buck.
O_Bruce
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m7600
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