Huzzah! 
(I have no idea what that means, but it clearly makes you happy, so I'm happy for you).
(I have no idea what that means, but it clearly makes you happy, so I'm happy for you).
The Gaming Thread
- Thread starter Set2Stun
- Start date
GTA V continues to frustrate me with the oddball controls with way too many options, which change from scenario to scenario. It's not all that intuitive (at least to an Old like me). I've had to google way too many things so far in the first dozen hours or two, like how to hitch/unhook a car with a tow truck, how to use the stock market, how to call the phone that explodes, how to change character, and on and on.
Today I got to "enjoy" the experience of trying to land a plane for the first time. After damaging the plane too much to continue, or having it just explode on me, on the 10th attempt, I was able to land it - except I skidded through the landing strip, not able to slow down, settling underneath an overpass. Text on the screen instructed me to "taxi the airplane into the hangar." Welp.
On attempt #18, I finally landed on the airfield with no damage or explosion - but it again said that I had to taxi it into the hangar. None of the controls seemed to work anymore, so I tried using the propellers and the plane got damaged and exploded again. I wanted to throw my PS5 out the window.
So, back to google, looking for a very detailed explanation of how to land a plane. You need to press L3 to extend the landing gear. All the while I'd been trying to emergency land a plane without any landing gear. I guess I did a pretty decent job of surviving that a handful of times
On attempt #19 I was able to land successfully, and taxi the airplane into the hanger. Good gravy !
Today I got to "enjoy" the experience of trying to land a plane for the first time. After damaging the plane too much to continue, or having it just explode on me, on the 10th attempt, I was able to land it - except I skidded through the landing strip, not able to slow down, settling underneath an overpass. Text on the screen instructed me to "taxi the airplane into the hangar." Welp.
On attempt #18, I finally landed on the airfield with no damage or explosion - but it again said that I had to taxi it into the hangar. None of the controls seemed to work anymore, so I tried using the propellers and the plane got damaged and exploded again. I wanted to throw my PS5 out the window.
So, back to google, looking for a very detailed explanation of how to land a plane. You need to press L3 to extend the landing gear. All the while I'd been trying to emergency land a plane without any landing gear. I guess I did a pretty decent job of surviving that a handful of times
On attempt #19 I was able to land successfully, and taxi the airplane into the hanger. Good gravy !
What are you playing on, a PC? I don't remember it being difficult on the Xbox.GTA V continues to frustrate me with the oddball controls with way too many options, which change from scenario to scenario. It's not all that intuitive (at least to an Old like me). I've had to google way too many things so far in the first dozen hours or two, like how to hitch/unhook a car with a tow truck, how to use the stock market, how to call the phone that explodes, how to change character, and on and on.
Today I got to "enjoy" the experience of trying to land a plane for the first time. After damaging the plane too much to continue, or having it just explode on me, on the 10th attempt, I was able to land it - except I skidded through the landing strip, not able to slow down, settling underneath an overpass. Text on the screen instructed me to "taxi the airplane into the hangar." Welp.
On attempt #18, I finally landed on the airfield with no damage or explosion - but it again said that I had to taxi it into the hangar. None of the controls seemed to work anymore, so I tried using the propellers and the plane got damaged and exploded again. I wanted to throw my PS5 out the window.
So, back to google, looking for a very detailed explanation of how to land a plane. You need to press L3 to extend the landing gear. All the while I'd been trying to emergency land a plane without any landing gear. I guess I did a pretty decent job of surviving that a handful of times
On attempt #19 I was able to land successfully, and taxi the airplane into the hanger. Good gravy !
PS5. I don't play a lot of Rockstar games, but when I have, I've found the controls kind of difficult to master. The last one I played was RDR2, and it took me a while to get used to it. But once I did, I had a whale of a time. I'll get there with more experience in GTA I'm sure. I just gotta remember to google stuff a bit earlier when I get stuck, before I start developing involuntary twitches.
I never liked the PS controls for Rockstar games. Xbox was more intuitive.
Last week, I finished my cleric playthrough of Baldur’s Gate III. Judicious use of my allies made the final battle a lot smoother than the first time around, despite my being a lot squishier and weaker offensively than my last character (a paladin).
Since then, I’ve been continuing my second playthrough of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. One of the factions the main character can be from is an abolitionist movement similar to the Underground Railroad or Red Strings, so I decided to model this one on John Brown.
The character creator is excellent. I wasn’t able to achieve a perfect match for his hairstyle in the iconic “wild beard” depictions of Brown, but it’s very close. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a game with this good of beard physics
A lot of fans weren’t fond of the shift towards a full-fledged action RPG, but I can say I’ve never had as much fun playing a rogue as I am right now. It’s so fluid!
Since then, I’ve been continuing my second playthrough of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. One of the factions the main character can be from is an abolitionist movement similar to the Underground Railroad or Red Strings, so I decided to model this one on John Brown.
The character creator is excellent. I wasn’t able to achieve a perfect match for his hairstyle in the iconic “wild beard” depictions of Brown, but it’s very close. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a game with this good of beard physics
A lot of fans weren’t fond of the shift towards a full-fledged action RPG, but I can say I’ve never had as much fun playing a rogue as I am right now. It’s so fluid!
Last week, I finished my cleric playthrough of Baldur’s Gate III. Judicious use of my allies made the final battle a lot smoother than the first time around, despite my being a lot squishier and weaker offensively than my last character (a paladin).
Since then, I’ve been continuing my second playthrough of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. One of the factions the main character can be from is an abolitionist movement similar to the Underground Railroad or Red Strings, so I decided to model this one on John Brown.
The character creator is excellent. I wasn’t able to achieve a perfect match for his hairstyle in the iconic “wild beard” depictions of Brown, but it’s very close. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a game with this good of beard physics
A lot of fans weren’t fond of the shift towards a full-fledged action RPG, but I can say I’ve never had as much fun playing a rogue as I am right now. It’s so fluid!
Sigh.
I wish I could play BG3, but I never played BG1 or BG2, so I wouldn't have a clue what's going on. Plus, the game is so big that it would take my poor connection days to download it. (And no, I don't have ADSL or, even worse ... dial-up. And yes, I can still remember the exact notes that a dial-up connection used to make, and replicate them exactly.
It's just that our Aussie goober-mint is the most Luddite goober-mint that ever goober-minted. 
I still remember one of our previous Ministers for Telecommunications saying, back in 2002, that no private individual in Australia needs a fast internet connection ... because the only people that use one are pedophiles and criminals. And that was in 2002 ... 'nuff said).As for Dragon Age: The Veilguard ... I played Dragon Age since Origins. I loved Origins, hated DA2, and as for DA3 ... meh. I tried to solve just about EVERY quest that came my way, in order to buff up my character and make it easier to fight demons and dragons. But every side-quest was stupid. Before I could even start it, it was like "Go and scour this gigantic map to find, like, 50 tiny pieces of a key so you can open a tomb and go tomb raiding". And I said, "**** you."
Not only that, but fighting demons In Origins was challenging, but doable. In DA3, without magical equipment, it was ****ing impossible. And creating magical equipment (or even potions) was a nightmare. I miss Sandal and his enthusiasm. "Enchantment!!"
I loved Sandal, he was so adorkable. Sorry to rant. How does Veilguard compare? "Full-fledged action RPG", unfortunately, sounds a lot like DA2 ... which had hundreds of mooks jumping off the ceiling and attacking me, for no reason other than the game demands it.
Also, I hated DA2 because I couldn't create equipment to give to my party. It was all "give them this piece of armour, or NOTHING!!! MOO-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!" 
DA: Origins was great. I could do anything I wanted, and the game-world was small enough that I didn't have to travel hundreds and hundreds of miles just to find a small part of a key. (I'm looking at you, DA3) ...
I think I mentioned it earlier in this thread, but the stories really don’t connect at all. You can definitely come in with little or no knowledge of Faerûn and not be lost. At least not more lost than you would be entering any other setting for the first time.Sigh.
Side quest design is a lot better, IMO. I don’t remember running into that kind of fetch quest at all, really. All the side quests involve either assisting the factions whose aid you’re seeking, progressing companion story arcs, progressing the stories of the individual areas, or helping individuals you encounter.
For example, one I did earlier this week involved looking into the disappearance of a woman’s husband in Minrathous.
DA2 was a lot faster paced than DAO, but under the hood it was still a very similar tactical RPG, you know? Just with the tactical element hobbled by the later waves of enemies, which was a result of the insane deadlines from EA.
Veilguard’s basic combat is more like Witcher III or the new God of War games, in that you’re attacking with certain buttons in combination, blocking/parrying with others, and using the special abilities of your character and the companions to create devastating combos (like abilities in Mass Effect).
You don’t really create equipment for companions; rather, they have a broad range of weapons, armor, and accessories that fit their particular aesthetics, and these items can be found out in the world, bought from merchants, or acquired by advancing their quest lines. So it’s a lot more flexible and customizable than the DA2 system, but you also don’t need to worry about inventory management.
In fact, you don’t need worry about inventory management with the main character, either. There’s no limit to the weapons, armor, or accessories you can acquire, and finding duplicates upgrades their stats.
IMO, Veilguard’s weaknesses are mostly on the writing front, which is understandable given the executive meddling from EA. They scrapped the original DAIV concept in the conceptual stages and forced them to change it from a singleplayer RPG to a live-service game, then scrapped that a few years later and told them to turn it back into a singleplayer RPG…but they couldn’t start over! They had to build a whole game off the existing assets and material.
All in all, I’d call it a solid 8-8.5/10 ARPG. Not a generational title or anything, but an enjoyable experience punctuated by moments of greatness (like the finale, which is arguably the best in the series), even if there are some areas that feel undercooked or less nuanced than they would’ve been in earlier titles.
OK. I've also looked at some reviews on Steam (no surprise: some people like Veilguard, some don't). But even those that do say that, in summary:
Has that also been your experience, X Equesteris? I don't know the game well enough to comment, I'm just curious.
Has that also been your experience, X Equesteris? I don't know the game well enough to comment, I'm just curious.
No. Only one close to the mark for me is story; I’d call it average with some areas above average or even excellent—I mentioned the finale—and others noticeably weak, but that’s really a matter of personal taste.
Obviously, there’s a lot of subjectivity involved in the evaluation of any work of fiction, but one thing to keep in mind is that Veilguard was subject to intense review bombing and hate campaigns organized by certain “anti-woke” crusaders on YouTube, so there’s a lot of bad-faith criticisms mixed in with ones fully warranted.
There’s also the fact a lot of the hardcore fanbase spent ten years building up what the fourth game would be in their minds, which always leads to bitter disappointment when the reality clashes with those preconceptions.
Those two have combined to make the discourse around the game incredibly toxic.
IMO, when approaching titles so controversial, it’s best to disregard reviews and form an opinion for oneself through more direct contact with the game, whether it be from peeking at let’s plays or demos/trials/etc.
For instance, I believe Veilguard is on Gamepass right now? Which has already led to a more positive reevaluation in some quarters.
Xbox had a 70% off sale on open-world games, So I picked up the old Elder Scrolls Oblivion for $2.99 and started playing it. Have played it once, maybe 20 years + ago. Thought I'd give it a crack and hope we hear more about the next elder scrolls skyrim thing. Sick of waiting for it! Delaying it for that ridiculous starfield was an utter joke! Grr..
Yeah, Starfield got very lame very quickly. A mile wide but an inch deep.
They'd better up their game significantly after that stinker. Elden Ring upped the bar dramatically since Skyrim came out.
I'm sure it'll be great. And I bet a second Starfield would be awesome if they learned from their mistakes with the first.
True, but Skyrim was lots of fun (especially when modded). Skyrim belongs to the Nords!
Modded Skyrim is the best.True, but Skyrim was lots of fun (especially when modded). Skyrim belongs to the Nords!
(I always side with the Empire. LOL.)
I love dick-mode in Bethesda games. Kill everything, steal everything, lie whenever possible, choose every rude option. Really narrows down the decision making.Modded Skyrim is the best.
That's also possible (or used to be?) in Dragon Age games. But the downside is that when it comes to boss fights, you won't have anyone backing you up. (Plus, pissing off a woobie like Alistair is like kicking a dog).
