deanb Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 I'm fairly sure on the gating, I guess if you've actively gone out to unlock stuff (the double jump is the only one I have) you might have grabbed things earlier on, but for most part I've found vast majority of the research locks have been found around mission levels. I know what to look for, and most cases don't need hackervision on for it to pop up on your map, but when all I have to go on is "Palo Alto" and that's a decent sized chunk compared to if it was something like "Blume Stadium" it's a bit of a pain. @GOH: While it's obvious that the ME2 "on the house" is to get excitement up for Andromeda, the cynic in me notes that they hadn't done ME3...I wonder why they didn't pick that as the best example of the series...(also it's a ball ache that it's missing all the DLC given it's never dropped in price. Biowares DLC policy is abysmal) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Yeah. I have most of the story doc for both games already, but I sure ain't buying the ones I'm missing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 I've heard that if you pirate the dlc the legit base game will recognize it fine. Not that I want to test that on my Origin account... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 I don't pirate games. Plus the only story DLC I'm missing is Arrival, which I think was more exciting before ME3 dropped. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 I generally don't either, just thought I'd mention it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 I've heard it's one of the better ones. Have it sitting unopened at the moment. Let us know what you think. So, having played a bit more, I would say it's probably my favourite AC game. That said, it's not without its issues. The main one being bugs. My friend has had it crash 4 times. I've had 1 crash, 1 freeze and all sorts of weird little occurrences like the character marker disappearing from the mini-map or... people appearing out of nowhere. Structurally, it feels closest to Brotherhood in that it is a single city that you are "conquering" and your brotherhood is actually a gang. It also skips the usual sort of "hero's journey" approach of previous games. Any family tragedy or whatever is only alluded to; Jacob and Evie are straight up assassins at the beginning and kicking ass from mission one. I kinda miss that old approach of following the "life" of the protagonist but this gets you right into the thrust of the story. However, the overall story so far seems pretty basic... Having two protagonists (a female in a mainstream title!) sounds like a fun idea, because of how they play off each other, but how skills and upgrades are handled is just irritating. Jacob is built for combat while Evie is built for stealth but they only actually have 3 skills exclusive to each, which take hours to reach anyway (the skill unlocking and level gaining is somewhat vague). You can obviously specialise between the two, but then it becomes annoying if you've specced Jacob to be a combat beast and then a mission sends him sneaking round places or when Evie finds herself in a surprise gang fight. Plus, there are skills like "more stuff when you loot chests" which you either need to unlock twice or remember only to free roam as that character to get the full benefits. Overall, it's a bit of a let down of a system. That aside, the general gameplay is a wonder to behold. The traversal is much improved, especially since they have a grappling hook now, and the auto "quick descend" feature means you'll never accidentally plummet to your death like an idiot again. I think the way they've done the River Thames in this game shows off how cool the system functions even for moving objects. The "stealth" aspect is also a simple mode switch this time. Press X (on PS4) to pull up the hood and get all sneaky and harder to detect, otherwise you walk round normally. The only irritation I have is that you can't "social blend" while using stealth (in fact, it's the opposite as everyone loudly comments about what the hell you think you're doing). Then again, there aren't those fucking stupid "Tail/eavesdrop on the target" missions and any "follow target" missions I have encountered have been far more open and forgiving in that you can use the rooftops for the most part. Which brings me onto a comment about mission design. It's just so much better. Where everything hung together awkwardly before unless you did things exactly how the designers envisioned, now it's more free-form and the improved controls and map layouts give assassinations more of a puzzle-solving and even cat-and-mouse feel. "Full sync" requirements used to feel counterintuitive at best and shackles at worst; now, they provide new ways to think about eliminating targets. I've got a couple saved on my YouTube channel, but this was a good example. And, finally, there are all sorts of activities that provide for a healthy dose of variety. You can hijack cargo carriages from the rival gang, take part in fight clubs, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 That bug. Hah! Reminds me of the sinking ship. The river traversal, traffic, and the boats all looked like a good time. Only watching, but it seemed pretty smooth. Although, poor guy jumped in the river. That'll never wash out. Gave your video a watch. Clever, and unexpected as a mission objective. May give it a go . . . someday. Backlogs, man. I've never been into Assassin's Creed. Only played the first, and while I got pretty far, I didn't feel compelled to finish it. Haven't bothered since. Half because eh, half because I figure I'd be missing something if I don't start from the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 Playing FFXV. All the time. Forever. The girlfriend is not as big of a fan... :/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 That bug. Hah! Reminds me of the sinking ship. The river traversal, traffic, and the boats all looked like a good time. Only watching, but it seemed pretty smooth. Although, poor guy jumped in the river. That'll never wash out. Gave your video a watch. Clever, and unexpected as a mission objective. May give it a go . . . someday. Backlogs, man. I've never been into Assassin's Creed. Only played the first, and while I got pretty far, I didn't feel compelled to finish it. Haven't bothered since. Half because eh, half because I figure I'd be missing something if I don't start from the beginning. Syndicate would be a good place to jump back in - it's one everybody agrees sees the series back on track. Storywise there's no link to the other games for the "in animus" plot, and the modern bit, well I guess technically that's a continuation but it's pretty minimal at this point, not like the desmond days and really can just be ignored, especially as it's only cut scenes now. I gave up following that aspect a several games ago and I've played them all. Plus now it's on a 2 year cycle it's not such an ominous task to keep on top of it if you do enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielpholt Posted January 11, 2017 Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 The Swindle I'm bad at Swindling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 20, 2017 Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 Gravity Rush 2. It sure is more Gravity Rush. Luckily that's exactly what I wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalCaveman Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Fate/Extella, it's fun, though if you're not a fan of musou style games, this probably won't be for you. There's also a couple of issues with the translation, including that one of the characters refers to you as husband, even if you're playing as a female character. Also, though the trailers suggested subtitles for special attacks and, most importantly, Noble Phantasms, these are not actually subtitled in the game, which is a shame, specially since NPs are rather important in the Fate series. For now I would say, if you're interested but aren't a huge Fate fan, wait until it's on sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I'm currently playing Dishonored 2. Mostly a non-lethal run (kind of annoyed that my last mission I apparently killed someone and I'm not sure who. I've a feeling it might be from sorta using a guy I was choking as a human shield but that shouldn't count against me surely?) Playing as Emily, I'd ummed n arred over being Corvo again, continue from the first but figured I may as well explore the new tricks it has. Not super keen on Emilys blink compared to Corvos as it can be a bit fidgety to line up (and also as it has some acceleration to it you can end up flung off whatever it was you were trying to land on which gets you in hot water). In fact for the most part I've been almost power free, nowhere near as creative as I could be but mainly cos it's a total PITA to swap between more than two powers at a time. Just done the Mansion mission, and it was pretty damn great and hats off to the level designers for getting (at least, could be more) three levels out of the one location. I imagine if you had a no-powers run you wouldn't noticed much different. I guess a no-powers run you still get the heart and visits from the Outsider given they're quite required of the plot. In fact he's around a lot more than he was in the first iirc. My one big beef with it is the sound mixing is terrible. It specifically asks if you're on headphones, which I am, and still is really bad. Like some sounds end up way too loud for how close they are, and the directionality of noises is shite too. I can enable the "see through walls vision" and find that people who the sound would have you think are stood next to me are in fact miles away on a different floor. Also when choking someone it for some reason really amps up the sounds of feet, but it's your feet meaning anyone that was to surprise you you'd never hear over the sounds of your own feet for some reason. It's like all the SFX sounds are flat, rather than spacial which in a stealth game is really bad. It'd be bad in an FPS but at least those usually give you visual indicators of where bullets are coming from. There's no "radar" like other stealth titles either, so yeah. Bit of an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Huh, I didn't have those problems with the sounds. Weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strangelove Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I've been playing nothing but Overwatch because I cant decide what game to start next considering I have a bit of a backlog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I'm currently playing Dishonored 2. Mostly a non-lethal run (kind of annoyed that my last mission I apparently killed someone and I'm not sure who. I've a feeling it might be from sorta using a guy I was choking as a human shield but that shouldn't count against me surely?) Playing as Emily, I'd ummed n arred over being Corvo again, continue from the first but figured I may as well explore the new tricks it has. Not super keen on Emilys blink compared to Corvos as it can be a bit fidgety to line up (and also as it has some acceleration to it you can end up flung off whatever it was you were trying to land on which gets you in hot water). In fact for the most part I've been almost power free, nowhere near as creative as I could be but mainly cos it's a total PITA to swap between more than two powers at a time. Just done the Mansion mission, and it was pretty damn great and hats off to the level designers for getting (at least, could be more) three levels out of the one location. I imagine if you had a no-powers run you wouldn't noticed much different. I guess a no-powers run you still get the heart and visits from the Outsider given they're quite required of the plot. In fact he's around a lot more than he was in the first iirc. My one big beef with it is the sound mixing is terrible. It specifically asks if you're on headphones, which I am, and still is really bad. Like some sounds end up way too loud for how close they are, and the directionality of noises is shite too. I can enable the "see through walls vision" and find that people who the sound would have you think are stood next to me are in fact miles away on a different floor. Also when choking someone it for some reason really amps up the sounds of feet, but it's your feet meaning anyone that was to surprise you you'd never hear over the sounds of your own feet for some reason. It's like all the SFX sounds are flat, rather than spacial which in a stealth game is really bad. It'd be bad in an FPS but at least those usually give you visual indicators of where bullets are coming from. There's no "radar" like other stealth titles either, so yeah. Bit of an issue. Human shields count against you if they get killed while you're holding them. I guess they figured it'd be too easy for you to just eliminate a whole crowd that way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 22, 2017 Report Share Posted January 22, 2017 Yeah, figured might have been the case. Not super sure if they guy was dead or not, I had like 3 guys on my all of a sudden and ended up jumping through time as the guy got choked. I'm not aiming specifically for a no-kill run, so it's not like it's ruined my streak and I need to do it all again kind of thing. Just things had sort of headed that way. Was rather pleased when I ended a mission with zilch keys, just marginally bummed this one led to a marignally lethal run. Other levels I'd had a nasty habit of if I got surprised I'd end up lashing out with my sword and decapitating the person in front of me. Also wolf hounds don't count in the no-kill btw. I killed all of those cos fuck trying to sneak up on them or wasting sleep darts on them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 (edited) SWAT 4 illustrates the totally true fact on why police usually go in guns blazing. A pepper ball in the face won't compel an armed suspect to drop their gun but maybe a bullet to the gut will. Shooting to disable is a thing! And if I'm fighting against literal terrorists, I think I can shoot first. Edited January 25, 2017 by Mal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 25, 2017 Report Share Posted January 25, 2017 I read liberal terrorists, Mal. SUCH AN ALT-RIGHT! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted January 29, 2017 Report Share Posted January 29, 2017 So, I haven't really had the chance to talk about it yet but I've been playing N++ almost every single day since getting it in that Humble Bundle a couple weeks ago. It's, uh... it's pretty damn good! And I'm still nowhere near close to beating it. There is an absolutely insane amount of content in this game. I haven't even completed half the levels yet, although that's in part due to my playstyle where I don't move on from a level until I can clear it while also collecting all the gold, which is technically optional. And the best part? The devs are currently working on a massive update essentially doubling the amount of levels and adding a whole bunch of other things. If you enjoyed Super Meat Boy, definitely check out N++. If you wanted to enjoy Super Meat Boy but were put off by the intentionally gross art style, definitely check out N++. Hell, even if you didn't like Super Meat Boy, N++ is still worth a look. Even the hardest levels I've encountered so far are very manageable if you just want to clear them. It's when you're going for all the gold that shit truly gets real. It's that perfect storm of challenge and addiction. It's infuriating at times but it's the kind of frustrating where you can't stop retrying over and over until it's 6AM and you're still going "One more try, goddamnit!". Oh and the soundtrack is absolutely fantastic! If it was available on Steam, I would be all over it. It's the kind of music that would normally just kind of blend into the background while you're playing but it's so damn good that I find myself constantly noticing it and having to stop to appreciate it between levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 So I decided to dive into nu-Thief following Dishonored and didn't get too far into it. It just feels so clunky, and I think a big part is how slow some of the animations are. Also it encourages you to explore, except there's a chunk of stuff you can't explore and it's not overly obvious what you can climb up on and what you can't. So instead due to discussions about the new one coming to PC I hopped on to Ni No Kuni. Such a nice game to dive into given the current outside times. It's a pretty simple JRPG fare with the nice Ghibli animations. And hey the king is a cat. It's pretty slow going to start with but eh it's nicely mixed in with animation and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted February 2, 2017 Report Share Posted February 2, 2017 The Pirate's Curse blows away Risky's Revenge in every imaginable way. Though I think there's a slight input delay in jumping that I didn't notice in Risky's Revenge and that the accessory item/spells are more of a pain to use. The core gameplay loop is better though and that is what truly matters. Also this song is here: Every level so far has some mission that tosses a wrench to the main mission. This appears on one of them, a one hit KO run-through section. The music makes it so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted February 9, 2017 Report Share Posted February 9, 2017 Seeing that I've been going through some of my backlog while waiting for Horizon to come out, I decided to start Metro: Last Light. I got the Redux collection for the PS4 a while back (this was before I got my new pc) and while I did beat the first game, I never got around to the second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 I've just started Colour Splash, and it's as good as I'd hoped. Every line of dialogue brings at least a smile to your face, and a lot are actually funny. I really think paper mario games are the best written series out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalCaveman Posted February 13, 2017 Report Share Posted February 13, 2017 Fate/Extella, really fun, though if you're not already a fan of the Musou style games then this will do nothing to change that opinion. Just finished Saber's story... I swear I'm not crying... I'm just chopping onions... :'( :'( Fortunately, it seems to hint at either: A) A sequel B) Some kind of true ending Considering there are still two stories to go, I hope it's a true ending kind of thing, looking forward to it. Also, though some people find it annoying, I love the way you unlock Artoria that's really cool, and IMO, way better than the "complete every stage on the hardest difficulty" or "collect XYZ" thing some games do. Story is pretty decent too, starts out simple and then goes full Type-Moon after a bit, that's awesome. \m/ \m/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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