The Gaming Thread

[Tallyfire]

Ooh, I love haunted house levels. I tried Astro's Playroom, I guess Astro Bot is something like that writ large?

Yeah, Astro Bot is just a bigger pumped-up version of the Playroom. If you’re a long-term Playstation player it has another level of fun beyond the gameplay (it won GOTY last year) in that major characters from Playstation history are collectible and somewhat interactive bots. They have levels dedicated to big titles like God of War and Horizon: ZD (still looking forward to that one). There’s so much humour in it.

Differences between 1 and 2 have mostly been positive. I thought going to an ammo count would be annoying, but it's fine, and makes me switch weapons more often. The bypass and hacks at this point are getting a little tedious, and I'm kind of tired of scanning planets for resources. I think I prefer the weapons and armour system of the first game. It's very common for me to have a big pile of credits but nothing to spend them on.

Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! Yeah, that stuff is tedious. They improved on it in ME3, which feels like a sleeker sequel to ME2.

Oh, and I bought some fish but didn't realize I had to periodically feed them in-game, and they died. But I nailed my direct report and she has rewarded me by offering to feed my new fish while I'm away

That’s the spirit, haha. This game has a lot of replayability, especially with character interactions. If you’ve not done it already, femshep is great for a renegade playthrough. Her voice actress makes the maleshep pale in comparison.

 

[Stuart Dren]

How's your experience with the game? It’s one that’s been on my wishlist for ages but I fear the time sink it will be.

Dwarf Fortress-lite.

It's notorious for sucking people's time. Typically one rage quits for a few days/weeks after the first several colony disasters, but it's got gravity that pulls players right back in, especially when they realise just how vastly customizable the experience is with DLC and mods. I turn down its adaptive difficulty to basically nil, however, because thumbing the scale seems antithetical to the storytelling experience I would want from a simulator.

Since a mod can be as little as an XML file and a PNG (I can't think of anything in the game that uses a sprite sheet), I've even made a small mod for the thing, though that's a deep pit I'd rather not fall into.

 

[BeastBlood1885]

Love Elden Ring. I feel the message about mods screwing up saved games way too hard. I don't know how many campaigns in Total War: Warhammer III I've lost to updates and broken mods.

 

[Night Herald]

I don't know how many campaigns in Total War: Warhammer III I've lost to updates and broken mods.

Oof, that is rough. Happened to me a few times. I love the Total War series, one of my very favorite gaming franchises. Back in the Rome and Medieval II days I used to dream about a Warhammer version, I'd yearn for it, and scour the internet for mods—at least one was eventually made for M2, Call of Warhammer I think it was called, and it was pretty good.

It's so cool that we now have it officially, with all the factions and stuff. I must have about a thousand hours across all the Warhammer ones, maybe fifteen houndred, hard to say as a lot of them are unlogged. Incidentally I downloaded Warhammer III the other day, I really didn't play it that much compared to the first two, and I'm thinking of getting started on a new campaign. It's been way too long since I sank into a Total War experience. I'm not sure what faction to go with, I already did Kislev so probably not that. Any of the campaigns you'd recommend in particular?

 

[Luxuria]

AHHHH!! the 4 Kings on NG+ are a pain! I need to figure out how the hell to beat them.

 

[Luxuria]

Shoutout to the Heater Shield in DS1. It got me though the Bed of Chaos in NG+. Ugh, I hate that boss. I actually had to wear Havel's Armor to get anywhere. I usually don't like wearing it, because it feels OP and I like my med/fast roll. Also, the heater shield was not upgraded at all and worked better than the Tower Shield. Which is crazy.

Anyway, finally got the last of the lord souls. Time for item cleanup/collection and then onto Gwyn. I am not sure I want to do the DLC this time. But I am going to try and get the titanite slab from that boss arena.

 

[mel]

Like clockwork, I've returned to the Sims 4 and I'm overseeing drama between my sims. However, now that Sims 2 and 3 are now available on Steam, I'm thinking of buying them. Too bad I couldn't get the Sims 2 Collection, since apparently that was given away for free, but alas.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Shoutout to the Heater Shield in DS1. It got me though the Bed of Chaos in NG+. Ugh, I hate that boss. I actually had to wear Havel's Armor to get anywhere. I usually don't like wearing it, because it feels OP and I like my med/fast roll. Also, the heater shield was not upgraded at all and worked better than the Tower Shield. Which is crazy.

I'm not sure what DS1, NG+ or the Bed of Chaos are (although when I get up in the morning and remake my bed, it is (very slightly) a bed of chaos ... ... but with our winter being so cold, I could definitely use a Heater Shield right now!

 

[Luxuria]

I'm not sure what DS1, NG+ or the Bed of Chaos are (although when I get up in the morning and remake my bed, it is (very slightly) a bed of chaos ... ... but with our winter being so cold, I could definitely use a Heater Shield right now!

Oh, oops. Ds1 = Dark Souls 1
NG+ = New Game +1. In souls games, when you finish, it restarts. At the restart, the game becomes harder and you can play the game a total of 7 times, up to NG+6. So, NG+ is a harder version of the base game.
Bed of Chaos = Worst Dark Souls Boss ever made and I am so glad I am happy to finally beat it. I also killed the 4 Kings (another boss) which is amazing.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

You may appreciate this: Game Rant: Why the Bed of Chaos is the Worst DS Boss in the Entire Series

Why in the name of sanity does this game have no dedicated jump button ... and expects you to perform acrobatic leaps, like in a platformer? :-\

 

[Set2Stun]

I finished Mass Effect 2 this afternoon. What a fun game! Challenging enough, but not at all frustrating on Hard mode. I like these kinda RPGs where you can complete pretty much all the content and the main story in less than 50 hours. Unless I am hardcore into a game, like Witcher III, I simply cannot be bothered to play a single game for 100-150 hours. Ain't nobody got time for that. There are a few AAA games that feel very bloated, and even repetitive, ie. AC: Valhalla.

I'll have some free time tomorrow afternoon, so I think I'll just jump right into ME3. What a great series. I've said it before, but this is absolutely the best $6 I have ever spent.

 

[Night Herald]

I finished Mass Effect 2 this afternoon. What a fun game! Challenging enough, but not at all frustrating on Hard mode. I like these kinda RPGs where you can complete pretty much all the content and the main story in less than 50 hours. Unless I am hardcore into a game, like Witcher III, I simply cannot be bothered to play a single game for 100-150 hours. Ain't nobody got time for that. There are a few AAA games that feel very bloated, and even repetitive, ie. AC: Valhalla.

I'll have some free time tomorrow afternoon, so I think I'll just jump right into ME3. What a great series. I've said it before, but this is absolutely the best $6 I have ever spent.

I bounced off the first ME pretty early into it, probably before the halfway point, not because it's a bad game by any means, but due to a mixture of distracting life circumstances and persistent technical difficulties. Fully intend to go back to it one day and finish the series (I own the Legendary Edition)!

 

[Luxuria]

I DID IT!!!!!!

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Congratulations, Luxuria!

 

[Luxuria]

Congratulations, Luxuria!

Thank you!!

 

[TrevorD]

Fwiw, I just started replaying Baldur's Gate 3, which was pretty good in my estimation.

 

[Night Herald]

Fwiw, I just started replaying Baldur's Gate 3, which was pretty good in my estimation.

Great game! I have three full runs under my belt, plus one that ended on the cusp of Act Three, with another that just fizzled out prior to Act Two. I still have another couple I wanna do. What's your setup this time? What's the gimmick?

 

[mel]

I DID IT!!!!!!


View attachment 389

Impressive! How long did it take for you to complete all the achievements?

 

[Luxuria]

Impressive! How long did it take for you to complete all the achievements?

Thank you. I started this run just for fun and then decided about 1/2 way through that I wanted to platinum the game. So, there was some grinding to be done for the achievements. But overall, it took 109 Hours and 19 minutes.




and here are my stats for those interested:

I was a strength build and slowly moved toward dexterity after New Game+ (NG+). I used a bit of magic, I preferred melee fighting. My top weapons were the zweihander, claymore and painting guardian sword. The Zwei was too slow for NG+, so started using the claymore. Then began realizing I really needed to outpace enemies with the Painting Guardian Sword in NG++. I also did this in Offline mode, so no player summons. The hardest bosses were the Bed of Chaos and then the 4 kings. I did do the DLC in the first cycle, then did the Sanctuary Guardian and Artorias in NG+. It was really fun and I am so proud I best Artorias twice and with the same set up mostly. I didn't dare to do Manus or Kalameet again. Because I knew if I even tried once, I would hit my head on the wall until I got past it and didn't want to stall my game for DLC bosses.

But funny thing, in NG+, I beat Ornstein and Smough 1st try, which was crazy!! I did summon Solaire for the last boss in NG+, but did accomplish the parry strategy in the first cycle. I then put points in faith and intelligence so I could use the Cursed Sword of Artorias against the ghosts in New Londo. Also to join the Warrior of Sunlight.

Anyway, I am currently in NG++ and decided to live out my days at the interior Anor Londo Bonfire with Solaire. On occasion, fighting Ornstein and Smough on NG++ for fun.

I started a new run and it's my attempt at Magic Only. I am having fun so far.

 

[TrevorD]

Great game! I have three full runs under my belt, plus one that ended on the cusp of Act Three, with another that just fizzled out prior to Act Two. I still have another couple I wanna do. What's your setup this time? What's the gimmick?

First run through I pimped up a monk/rogue and he basically did crowd control. This time around I made asterion my monk and my main character is a sword focused bard with paladin add on. I just started act two but i'ts way easier this time around since I already know how everything works.