What game are you currently playing?

[mlnevese]

The problem with that is the furniture behind the cockroach will be gone as well, possibly the wall too.

VR sounds interesting indeed, maybe I'll see if I can try somewhere at Gamescom next year. Not for my day-to-day use certainly, but I'm curious how the immersion is.

Who needs furniture? Or walls?

 

[Alesia_BH]

Hammerhead missions will be a challenge. Many situations with 1 hit kills...

Not to worry. I'm never touching Space Pinto again.

When I overheard the Mako vs Hammerhead debate in the cargo hold, I just shook my head. Mako for days. Hammerhead anywhere is the real suicide mission.

(Speaking of the Mako, if we at TavernRPG ever find ourselves in a soap box derby, we should totally build a M35 Mako. Can we agree on this?)

 

[Alesia_BH]

The thing with the Mass Effect trilogy is that you can only unlock higher difficulty settings if you have finished the game at least once, but there's also some insanely OP DLC weapons and armor in 2 and 3 that are not locked behind difficult quests but simply high prices, or in some cases even given to you right away.
I think they changed that in Legendary Edition?

Putting OP weapons in DLC wasn't BioWare's finest hour. I think the thing to do is skip those.

The Typhoon is a pass for me. The Supressor, too, once the mission it was designed for is finished.

What else is problematic?

 

[Alesia_BH]

One thing to consider is, as I said above, the difficulty. If you have finished the trilogy, unlocked and decided to play Insanity, those weapons are probably the only way to go? It is possible they were added precisely for that.

I haven't tried the higher difficulty settings yet. I've been playing on Veteran.

My tendency is to angle for the highest difficulty setting that isn't gimmicky. So, in Baldur's Gate EE, for example, that means Insane sans double damage, rather than LoB.

In the Mass Effect world I'm thinking Hardcore is the best choice? Not sure.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Alora Shepard is ready to go, on Hardcore.

She’s a colonist who grew up in low G, which is why she’s so tall and lanky. It’s weird for her, too, although she doesn’t understand why.

She’s an Infiltrator, with specialization in shotguns. She’s locked and loaded, ready to teach these Reapers how to be happy.

I’ll set up a thread for her if people would like to follow her adventure.

 

[Alesia_BH]

IIRC @Xzarloxara was very fond of the Cain I think, which apparently is some kind of super nuke, I can't give an opinion on that one though.

The Cain is my first choice for style points on shore leave. There's nothing quite like rolling up to a bar with a nuke launcher on your back.

That said, the Cain has some serious usability issues in combat. It's basically a one shot weapon with a long charge cycle. It leaves you visible, out of cover, for ages. Here's a vid of the Cain in action. Note that in this case, facing melee enemies stuck on a platform, it worked well. If those enemies were firing ranged weapons it would have been a different story.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Finding myself in BG3 confronted with a difficult decision: Which of the remaining two big bad boss guys do I try to kill first?

I still haven't tried BG3. I figured I'd wait a few months, let the early patches settle in. The August release seemed tailored to get any kinks worked out by Christmas.

Are all systems go now? Is it a good time for a patient player to buy?

NW: And to be clear, I didn't have any reason to think that BG3 would be buggy on release. This is just me being me. I didn't watch LoTR: 1 or 2 until after 3 was released, because I wanted to see them all in one session. I'm just oddly patient with this stuff, willing to wait until I get the experience I desire.

 

[Cahir]

I still haven't tried BG3. I figured I'd wait a few months, let the early patches settle in. The August release seemed tailored to get any kinks worked out by Christmas.

Are all systems go now? Is it a good time for a patient player to buy?

NW: And to be clear, I didn't have any reason to think that BG3 would be buggy on release. This is just me being me. I didn't watch LoTR: 1 or 2 until after 3 was released, because I wanted to see them all in one session. I'm just oddly patient with this stuff, willing to wait until I get the experience I desire.

I think it's just the perfect time to buy it. Big patch 5 just rolled out, with a lot of new content (new epilogues) and two new difficulty modes (Honour mode and Custom mode), something that might be particularly interesting to a no-reloaders, like you. This patch also came with a significant performance boost, courtesy of XBox version that should be released in December.

That said, Larian is so awesome there is no guarantee they have not cooking anything else major for the upcoming months, but our guess is that what will come next will be mostly hotfixes for any remaining bugs. But my personal experience is astonishingly good, also from a performance point of view. I run into just one serious bug for the entire game, which is amazing for game this big and complex.

Now, Larian has a history of releasing Definitive Editions, somewhere around year or two after release, usually with some good amount of updates, but with all those additions from patch 5, we are thinking that this may not be a case for BG3. But it's always a possibility, given the game's enormously good reception.

Now, to summarize. It's a perfect time to buy BG3. If you're really worried about buginess, you can wait a couple of weeks for some imminent patch 5 hotfixes, as Larian happen to introduced regression bugs from thine to time, while introducing new features, but overall, yeah, go grab it, if you plan to play it. It's an amazing game, that especially with Honour mode may be a challenge to you.

 

[Chronicler]

Not to worry. I'm never touching Space Pinto again.

When I overheard the Mako vs Hammerhead debate in the cargo hold, I just shook my head. Mako for days. Hammerhead anywhere is the real suicide mission.

(Speaking of the Mako, if we at TavernRPG ever find ourselves in a soap box derby, we should totally build a M35 Mako. Can we agree on this?)

I've only played Mass Effect 1, but I fucking love the Mako. You are immortal in that thing. I frequently find myself scheming to figure out how to bring it to some hard to reach location so I don't have to get out of my vehicle to murderize these goons.

 

[Alesia_BH]

I fucking love the Mako.

Do you know the Bentley advertisement that people parody all the time? I'd love to see a version with Tali and the Mako.

 

[Chronicler]

And here I thought that was a joke, that someone would actually love the Mako. OK it's the only tracked vehicle that totally defies gravity and climbs mountains that a goat would shy away from, but it can't even drive in a straight line... at least not the straight line that the driver has in mind and the road would require...

Btw yes killing stuff with the Mako is much easier, but the game takes that into account and killing anything from inside the Mako gives only half the XP as killing the same enemies on foot.

At least that's how it was before Legendary Edition, not sure if they changed that.

Nah, it handles like a dream! Watch as I try to make a simple turn, only to end up in the wrong area code when it interacts with some imperceptible groove in the road geometry in a manner dreamed up by the deeply unhinged.

Nah, but seriously, I can totally see the complaints, and it's probably for the best that they removed that gameplay mode from future instalments in the franchise if they couldn't get it more polished than that within its budget and deadline, but I still had a lot of fun with it.

 

[mlnevese]

Hey the Mako is so good it has its own gravity field! It can even stay upside down on the roof of a cave!( happened to me on the original release)
Anyway, after you get the hang of it, it is way easier to handle than the abomination that shall not be named that came later.

 

[shmity72]

I had BG3 shelved for a while because I wanted to enjoy it when I can fully focus on everything. It's not the right game to unwind from stress after a long workday or something. I have made that mistake in the past, to overshadow the experience of a good game by rushing through parts or overlooking things, because I just wanted to continue it. Not going to happen now.

So what I did was immerse myself for quite some time in Elder Scrolls Online again, because I love the lore of that universe and the game is so rich with it, but at the same time the gameplay is fairly simple, there are daily quests etc and the regional story quests are more or less linear and can be put on halt and picked back up later any time, so that was a nice way to spend time even when my mind wasn't up to more.

Here's Felis'nocturnus, my Khajiit Nightblade, in her newest armour:

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and another slightly older picture with her face uncovered


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I played through the main storyline of the Aldmeri Dominion and the Coldharbour main quest. The latter has the charming and funny knight Cadwell, voiced very fittingly by John Cleese:

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Also, without picture, the Prophet of the main storyline is voiced by the great and unforgettable Michael Gambon, mostly known for his role as Dumbledore, may he rest in peace.

I really like the reactivity of the game. Now that I have done a few important quests, when I travel to completely different regions, sometimes people comment on it. Like a guard in Rimmen, Elsweyr, whispering when I pass by "People say Lord Gareshi-ri freed Haven from pirates, but this one knows it was you" or a random soldier somewhere in Skyrim congratulating me for clearing out some dreadful dungeon etc.

Speaking of Skyrim, after meeting Lyris Titanborn in the main storyline and accidentally picking up a Prologue quest I decided to do the Greymoor chapter, which includes the regional stories of Western Skyrim and the Reach (Markarth DLC), which was a really nice experience. The story characters are well written and the areas look so nice, reminded me of playing Skyrim.
I had already made contact with House Ravenwatch in Rivenspire, but now I met more people of the family and was even included.

Fennorian was a companion in Western Skyrim, an adorable scholar and very funny in combination with the big and tough Lyris Titanborn, and then in the Reach of couse the great Count Verandis Ravenwatch himself, founder of the house.

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Both areas, Western Skyrim and The Reach, have beautiful landscapes and interesting people, and yes, MMOs can have well-written characters and questlines.
The Summerset story for example already had an ending that made me cry, and after the Reach and the finale of that chapter, I felt at least the same, and when I was offered to carry the name of the house, I was really touched and now my five-clawed Nightblade proudly bears the title "of House Ravenwatch".
I think I'll eventually create a new character simply to be able to replay those storylines and interact with those people again.

I also upgraded my skills and gear enough to solo a few of the easier 4-man-group dungeons and will maybe get into more veteran stuff. I have joined a guild but I only chat a bit for advice and use the trader to sell some stuff, I'm too shy to join group events with strangers. Maybe later when I'm more familiar.

But right now I feel like playing in the Elder Scrolls world when I want to relax without having to use my brain too much. For this weekend I have the feeling it might be time to finally get back to Baldur's Gate 3, there are people waiting for me at my camp after all.

Here are some more postcards from ESO, first one is my smallest house starting to be prepared for New Life Festival:

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And some impressions from the Blackreach, basically Tamriel's Underdark:


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glad i saw this and that you are enjoying a diversity of games.

 

[Alesia_BH]

And here I thought that was a joke, that someone would actually love the Mako.

Lest we forget, the Mako saved the galaxy. The Ilos mission would have been a bust without it.

There should be a statue of the Mako in the Citadel, like the Krogan one. The council species should know who -and what- they owe their lives to.

EDIT: A statue in the Citadel makes sense to me. This, however, is over the top Mako love.

 

[m7600]

I'm still playing MTG Arena. It's incredibly addictive, and I haven't even bought anything. I reached Diamond Tier 4 on Constructed, still Bronze in Limited because I almost haven't played that format. I mostly play Alchemy because I find it hilarious that the combos are utterly broken. My main deck is a monowhite human soldier deck with some artifact creatures and a few shenanigans like Horn of Gondor, By Elspeth's Command, etc.

 

[Alesia_BH]

I’m still playing Mass Effect no reload style.

After losing my Infiltrator, Alora, to sniper fire, and my Sentinel, Alicia, to a tragic Mako accident, I’ve finally found a ME character that I truly like: Alice Shepard, Shock Trooper, with Throw as a special talent. She’s super-solid, and she’s stylish too.

Here she is with her crew, on her way to Virmire.

(Press A to skip the elevator scene? No thank you. We don’t do that here.)

 

[Nimran]

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader. It’s a blast so far. I’ve already had some severe cases of restartitis, but I think I’ve found my perfect MC: a melee warrior-assassin dodgy death dealer, going heretic for the hell of it (void of it?)

 

[mlnevese]

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader. It’s a blast so far. I’ve already had some severe cases of restartitis, but I think I’ve found my perfect MC: a melee warrior-assassin dodgy death dealer, going heretic for the hell of it (void of it?)

I'll send a note to the Space Marines about your decision

 

[Skatan]

Did something that surprised even myself. Was staring at the screen the other day and just randomly reinstalled old NWNEE. So I've been playing that a bit the last week or so. Planned to try out some of the modules I've never played. Finished the one called Kingmaker and then had planned to do another but ended up booting up SoU and kinda got hooked so now I plan to move on to HotU afterwards with my Bard/RDD/TBD. Me and Deekin, the bestest littlest kobold friend anyone could ever have, are singing our way through the Chapter 3 right now. One or two more sessions and we'll finish of the medusa methinks.

Last time I played it was the diamond version and that was a very long time ago now. The EE run smooth as butter and are visually quite good actually (except my horrible out of style mixing of a blue bucket helmet and my fancy elven green armor).

Edit: Finished the final fight just now! Very anticlimatic, heh. It's funny how SoU is so deprived for good items until the very end when they just throw a plethora of godly items on you. Being a STR based bard I was stuck with simple weapons and to get the most of STR you should go twohanded for the 1,5 STR bonus. I shit you not, I didn't get a single twohanded simple weapon (spear or quarterstaff) with even +1 until chapter 3. Anyways, now I'm kinda pumped for HotU! Let's see if I can decide on adding a third class or not.

 

[Skatan]

Well I finished a recommended bridge module called Shadohaunt. It was pretty good for a fan-made module. Now I've moved on to HotU with the same character. Messed up the character by playing around with the deck of cards (an item giving random (?) effects). After summoning some dragons, getting 50.000 gold I managed to get a curse that stuck to the character as well as being force-moved from chaotic good to lawful evil. That was a bummer though, and permanent, cause now I can no longer level up Bard, heh. I planned to roll back an earlier save but ended up just winging it as part of the character so after the shadowrealm before HotU I made up some headcanon the character was searching wide for a way to redeem themselves or find a "cure" for their new alignment and thus ended up in Waterdeep fighting for "good" and perhaps, just maybe, return to Good.