The Video Game Thread

[The Swanton825]

1 hour ago, Blackman said:

The best time I ever had with CK2 was the Game of Thrones mod. If Elder Kings is thàt good, I might be checking that out soon enough.

Dragonborn as expansion isn't that great imo to make Skyrim worth installing again, but any new content was a breath of fresh air. Plus the area is all new.

It isn't a full 1.0 release for now, ex. they haven't fully implemented Daedra worship (you can pick it as a religion but there aren't extra decisions and the like yet) so not all the flavor of the setting is there but they've managed to wrangle CK3 to feel Elder Scrolls-y if that makes sense. The Elves and Beast races look fantastic, the map is huge and detailed and you can even toggle an option to change trait names and the like to be more lore-friendly. As a bonus, they've included a bunch of features from quality of life improvement mods for good measure.

[Jaysin]

Having a blast with Pokemon Violet!

I have two badges(bug and grass) and I took down one Titan(Orthworm). Slowly training up my main team. I think I have a good group of Pokemon to run for the rest of the game. I tried to take out a Team Star base, but it kicked my ass.

[Big Roguey]

I love Orthworm, such a pleasant designed Pokemon. Tinkatonk is the absolute favourite for this generation though.

[Jaysin]

2 hours ago, Big Roguey said:

I love Orthworm, such a pleasant designed Pokemon. Tinkatonk is the absolute favourite for this generation though.

The memes alone make Tinkatonk awesome 

[Blackman]

On 12/3/2022 at 3:26 AM, The Swanton825 said:

It isn't a full 1.0 release for now, 

Talking about v1.0 releases, BGIII is supposedly going to release this year. I must say I wasn't a fan of Lariat getting the license. Though they make excellent games, their engine isn't really my style, and it seems they threw aside the party-based combat. But I'm so hungry for some good D&D games that I'll put that gripe aside. I love the style and gameplay of the Pathfinder games, but dislike their setting. I like it dark, like the WItcher or Diablo games (and the earlier BG games obviously), not a story that feels like a campy roadmovie with a compulsory side-game tossed on. I absolutely love Gwent, but players shouldn't be forced through it. 

[The Swanton825]

9 hours ago, Blackman said:

Talking about v1.0 releases, BGIII is supposedly going to release this year. I must say I wasn't a fan of Lariat getting the license. Though they make excellent games, their engine isn't really my style, and it seems they threw aside the party-based combat. But I'm so hungry for some good D&D games that I'll put that gripe aside. I love the style and gameplay of the Pathfinder games, but dislike their setting. I like it dark, like the WItcher or Diablo games (and the earlier BG games obviously), not a story that feels like a campy roadmovie with a compulsory side-game tossed on. I absolutely love Gwent, but players shouldn't be forced through it. 

It's actually going to be August of next year, to my immense frustration (I COULD HAVE BOUGHT IT FOR MY BIRTHDAY NEXT YEAR INSTEAD OF THIS YEAR ARGHFKLARKJHIWS!). Personally, I think there was no winning everyone over no matter which developer was picked. I don't see how they threw aside party-based combat though, the game has companions for days. Did you mean that they swapped the real time with pause combat of the first two with turn-based? Because I know that's been a contentious issue with people. Personally, since discovering the old Gold Box games, I've come to prefer rules-accurate D&D video games to be turn-based.

If you want RPGs with dark settings and you haven't already played them, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny and Disco Elysium are all excellent. Pillars of Eternity didn't quite live up to being a true successor, but it did carve out its own niche in the attempt IMO. Tyranny is a bit on the short side, but has a ton of replayability and is one of the few games I've played where being the bad guy didn't feel like I was forced to act out all the writer's edgelord fantasies. And Disco Elysium... if I could marry a video game, it would be this one. A murder mystery that spirals further and further down a rabbit hole of a broken society. A game where your "skills" are all fragments of the player character's shattered psyche and maxing any of them out turns said fragment into a compulsion. A game with zero combat that manages to feel more like a role-playing game. A game where succeeding on a random, completely optional karaoke skill check gives you a haunting song that perfectly encapsulates the themes of the story and of the main character's miserable life before the game's start. To put it simply, Disco Elysium is a masterpiece narrative on the level of Planescape: Torment that I can only hope gets imitated by dozens of games for years to come.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Apologies for that turning into gushing about a single game, I get like that around Disco Elysium.

[Blackman]

PoE is indeed a stellar game but its lore strays too far from the D&D standard imo. New random races, soul-stuff that was hard to grasp for me without spending hours reading on all the lore (not all voiced obviously), and reading up on the hundreds of spells and their effect. I just didn't have the energy and didn't end up committing to PoI2. The Pathfinder system at least kinda copies the spells so it's an easy transfer.

The last games under the Forgotten Realms / D&D setting were kind of average. The last one, an action game with Drizzt, was so bad imo that I just stopped after the first mission. Thank god I didn't purchase as it was part of the Xbox-subscription. So back to BGI&2 I guess, though I must admit it aged somewhat. Too bad the remake didn't touch the textures (or much rather: sprites). The dream would be the Pathfinder or ToI engine on the D&D lore, but I doubt we'll ever see it in that lovely party-based 2.5D engine. Dragon Age worked but only because there was the option to zoom out.

[The Swanton825]

Jeez, I'd totally forgotten about that awful Dark Alliance "revival". Devs, if you're going to copy Vermintide is it too much to ask that you do it well? It's like they thought up "Drizzt is a playable character!" and stopped considering much about the gameplay afterwards.

[Blackman]

I could've stomached it, were it not for the imo awful enbodiment of Drizzt and (especially) Catti-Brie, the latter looking like the protagonist from that metal dinosaur meets Tomb Raider game (Horizon?). I recall from the actual books that she's short and stocky (she was raised by the dwarves so go figure). Wulfgar's official art had him sport the long hair (Conan-style). Drizzt doesn't have that stern, stoic look that should define him. Sure, Bruenor looks the part, but I haven't seen much variety in depiction of dwarves...

If it was really lorebound and had some magical component: sure. Instead the 'special' abilities and effects don't fit pure combat characters like Bruenor, Wulfgar and Catti-Brie and make sense (how do you "manyshot" 5 arrows?). I get it, as it makes it less dull, but combine this all with a mediocre to plain bad game, and I'll pass.

So who buys this, really? They've done well to alienate the D&D fans. The loads of bugs on release and the abundance of better alternatives at the time make the casuals pass as well. So who bought it: dare i say impuls buyers who buy on release before reading any reviews at all, or don't trust them out of some naive idea that "it won't be so bad". The fact that the actual remake of DA gets a lot more interest speaks for itself.

[The Swanton825]

My money is on some corporate moron forcing the Dark Alliance name on the devs who just wanted to make a multiplayer action game set in a D&D realm. Probably the same reason Drizzt is in the game too.

"I see you've got a dark elf for one of the player characters, it would sell more if it were the dark elf!"

"But the game that inspired us was allowed to have its own unique characters! If even Games Workshop can see the value in that, surely-"

"You're putting Drizzt in there right now or I'm making you find a way to fit Elminster in there as well."

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"

Execs with zero knowledge of their own product become convinced that name value alone will sell units and the game itself won't matter. I'm also realizing that since the original DA was a Baldur's Gate spinoff, they could have made this about Minsc's misadventures after BG2. Him and a group of new characters (and actually letting the developers FINISH the game before release) would have been way more appealing to me!

[Blackman]

Elminster! How suitable it'd be for "easy mode" or the newly-made "story mode" (BGII:EE and Pathfinder), where you literaly cannot seem to die (unless you turn off AI I guess and just, like, sit there and watch with popcorn how enemies are chipping away at your HP).

Maybe you're right and they had a good vision but corporate trashed it. But this is indeed why a lot of games with promise are falling apart. Some suits directing the game towards "trends" or perhaps just "what my son would think is cool", just toying with people's motivation and sanity (as the so-called "crunch" will be a result of their meddling).

"Hey, this Horizon game is doing really well. Make your character look like that." Maybe it's doing well because it's a coherent and fun game (allegedly).

Funny how the name "BG" summons so much thoughts with people, given it was so well-designed. Even though BG2 has absolutely nothing to do with the city (it gets mentioned maybe?) the name carries a long of weight.

But yeah... Pathfinder: Wrath is a good game, especially because difficulty is so customizable. I'm done with reloading 4 times because I made some errors. I'm not reloading FIFA after I eat some goals, I'm not reloading TEW when an intended design choice ends up backfiring. I had to reload in BG2 because it was such a chore to re-equip characters. They STILL haven't changed that btw.

[The Swanton825]

TBH, I suck so much at BG that I actually prefer playing on easy or story mode because I have fun playing finding out how things progress for different alignments. If I ever actually found a group to play real D&D with, I would totally be the melee guy who smashes through things because I have zero strategic ability.

On a different note, I've been playing High On Life since it came out on Game Pass and I'm stunned by how good this game is! The humor is hit or miss and Justin Roiland's style of improv has long since overstayed its welcome for me, but underneath that is a spiritual successor to Oddworld Stranger's Wrath with really satisfying combat. 

[Thane of Fife]

On 12/14/2022 at 5:03 AM, Blackman said:

I could've stomached it, were it not for the imo awful enbodiment of Drizzt and (especially) Catti-Brie, the latter looking like the protagonist from that metal dinosaur meets Tomb Raider game (Horizon?). I recall from the actual books that she's short and stocky (she was raised by the dwarves so go figure). Wulfgar's official art had him sport the long hair (Conan-style). Drizzt doesn't have that stern, stoic look that should define him. Sure, Bruenor looks the part, but I haven't seen much variety in depiction of dwarves...

I just looked and the first description of Catti-Brie in the books is "tall and slender." 😋

If you're looking for D&D games, I have heard good things about Solasta, which is based on the D&D 5e rules, though I haven't played it.

[Blackman]

Is it?  Weird that they picture her differently, but after doing a search now it's crazy how different the depictions are. It's been a while since I read the books, but it's on my list to do as I still have some unread books in the series that I purchased ages ago and still haven't read. Nice books though, and I'm afraid books will always be the coolest thing about it.

As for "sucking at D&D". It's all about commitment to the lore (Monster manual) and knowing the spells and their effects. The hard modes are tailormade for so-called "powergamers" who like to min-max everything, which ironically constrasts with the real D&D. Afaik I've never completed the game on "core", which is the default difficulty. It's all about not going through the hassle of selecting spells each day based on the battles that are to come (because powergamers know the game in and out). Most people will just take the "we'll see"-approach. If you look at the achievement stats the fighter is by far the dominant class people take. It's just easy and unconditional: smash stuff.

[The Swanton825]

18 hours ago, Thane of Fife said:

I just looked and the first description of Catti-Brie in the books is "tall and slender." 😋

If you're looking for D&D games, I have heard good things about Solasta, which is based on the D&D 5e rules, though I haven't played it.

Can confirm Solasta is fun. One of my favorite parts is controlling an entire party in dialogues and not just "the main character". No more wondering why the bard in my party is standing there silently while I fumble a persuasion because my charisma is crap.

[Jaysin]

Put in quite a few hours into Pokemon Violet today. I have now defeated all four Titan Pokemon and captured all eight Gym Badges. Next goal is to finish the Operation Starfall quests. I was doing one, but the game crashed for the first time during the first round of fighting one of the Star bases.

Right now my team is:

Coco- Skeledirge Level 46
Draven- Corviknight Level 43
Tumnus- Gogoat Level 42
Spike- Toxtricity Level 41
Gamera- Drednaw Level 42
Wukong- Annihilape Level 45

 

[Blackman]

Upon hitting chapter 4 I just quit Pathfinder II as the whole thing was getting a bit too "epic" for me. Instead replaying Baldur's Gate again (where the "enhanced edition" is actually worth it). If you get around the tedious inventory system it's still one of my favorites.

Talk about "Epic": they have the Tony Hawk Pro Skater remake for about 13,5$ right now and it's worth every penny. Lovely nostalgia hit there, for that alone it's worth getting. They also have the new Gotham Knights game already for 22,5$, but reviews blast the game for being poorly optimised, CTD'ing and essentially worse than the Arkham games, which installs a lot of doubts.

[Jaysin]

26 minutes ago, Blackman said:

Upon hitting chapter 4 I just quit Pathfinder II as the whole thing was getting a bit too "epic" for me. Instead replaying Baldur's Gate again (where the "enhanced edition" is actually worth it). If you get around the tedious inventory system it's still one of my favorites.

Talk about "Epic": they have the Tony Hawk Pro Skater remake for about 13,5$ right now and it's worth every penny. Lovely nostalgia hit there, for that alone it's worth getting. They also have the new Gotham Knights game already for 22,5$, but reviews blast the game for being poorly optimised, CTD'ing and essentially worse than the Arkham games, which installs a lot of doubts.

Arkham Asylum was great and Arkham City was even better. Arkham Origins was solid  Arkham Knight was very tedious and just frustrating to play. I was so excited to drive the Batmobile and it was not fun at all. Especially the Riddler side quests that become mandatory to advance the plot. I rage quit and never went back. 

[The Swanton825]

9 hours ago, Blackman said:

Upon hitting chapter 4 I just quit Pathfinder II as the whole thing was getting a bit too "epic" for me. Instead replaying Baldur's Gate again (where the "enhanced edition" is actually worth it). If you get around the tedious inventory system it's still one of my favorites.

Talk about "Epic": they have the Tony Hawk Pro Skater remake for about 13,5$ right now and it's worth every penny. Lovely nostalgia hit there, for that alone it's worth getting. They also have the new Gotham Knights game already for 22,5$, but reviews blast the game for being poorly optimised, CTD'ing and essentially worse than the Arkham games, which installs a lot of doubts.

I mean, the game sold itself on the mythic paths concept, I'm not sure how it's a surprise it went epic in scale? Though I'm not quite sure how Baldur's Gate II is less epic unless you don't play Throne of Bhaal.

 

9 hours ago, Jaysin said:

Arkham Asylum was great and Arkham City was even better. Arkham Origins was solid  Arkham Knight was very tedious and just frustrating to play. I was so excited to drive the Batmobile and it was not fun at all. Especially the Riddler side quests that become mandatory to advance the plot. I rage quit and never went back. 

You didn't miss much. After all the hype of the Arkham Knight being a brand new character, it turns out he's just a version of Jason Todd that doesn't want to call himself Red Hood.

[Jaysin]

So I'm watching Violent Night and all I want to do is a Skyrim build based on this version of Santa's origin. 

[Self]

I got Mario & Rabbids Sparks of Hope for Christmas, and it's good, but lacks a lot of the charm of the original. I love the original game. It's probably my favourite turn based shooter (hot take; better than X-Com) and it's all down to the music and the Rabbid versions of classic Mario characters. In the original game these weird, chaotic parodies stole my heart, but now? They have dialogue. They react to events as if they aren't just psychotic abominations of marketing synergy gone horribly, horribly, wrong. They've been put through a generic hero filter, and it disgusts me. 

Still a fun game though.

[Jaysin]

Finished the main story line in Pokemon Violet and really enjoyed the experience. Looks like there's some fun post-game stuff to do and looks like there's going to be DLC at some point. Paradox Pokemon are super rad

[Dawn]

Just cleared the Skyrim main questline for the first time since its release and...I have to say it ended on a whimper to me? The Civil War and Dark Brotherhood questlines were way more exciting and plot-wise felt way more tense than this macguffin run to find out how to defeat this one dragon. It sucks too, because Diplomatic Immunity was a pretty fun and unique quest but nothing after it got me as excited. By the time I got to Alduin I had just taken on two leveled dragons at once with no healing potions whatsoever a few moments beforehand, he was a piece of cake by comparison. I don't even have any tips, I just spammed Dragonrend and Wuuthrad lmao

At least Sovngarde looked cool, so that's something positive

[Jaysin]

I recently purchased the Anniversary Upgrade for Skyrim on Switch, but I don't see how to tell if the added stuff is in my game? I want to start a game where I roleplay as a Paladin type character, but I don't want to spend a ton of time setting the character up and then the Anniversary content isn't in the game. 

I saw something elsewhere that it said to open the Creation Club on the Skyrim main menu, but that's not an option for me. I have Continue, Load, New, and Credits. 

Does anyone have a quick way of checking the content is added?

I feel so stupid right now

[Jaysin]

On 1/6/2023 at 5:56 PM, Jaysin said:

I recently purchased the Anniversary Upgrade for Skyrim on Switch, but I don't see how to tell if the added stuff is in my game? I want to start a game where I roleplay as a Paladin type character, but I don't want to spend a ton of time setting the character up and then the Anniversary content isn't in the game. 

I saw something elsewhere that it said to open the Creation Club on the Skyrim main menu, but that's not an option for me. I have Continue, Load, New, and Credits. 

Does anyone have a quick way of checking the content is added?

I feel so stupid right now

I figured it out, but I still feel like a dummy 😂