The Gaming Thread
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Where on earth did you get Mass Effect for $2?
I looked it up on Steam, and it would cost me $39.95, plus a $9.95/month subscription. Here: Mass Effect (2007) on SteamAs usual when it comes to game prices, us Aussies get screwed. Sigh.
I've been playing The Bard's Tale 3 when I have the time. It's very chill and makes me think it was olden days. This reminds me of that Christopher Reeve movie where he time travels through sheer force of will. He dresses up like he's in a chautauqua, chants to himself that he's in another time, travels back in time and falls in love. Then he sees a penny from 1970 (wherever he came from) and it breaks his trance and he un-timetravels. I'm not making this up, haha. This is a Richard Matheson story, I believe.
I was reading some review online and the guy playing BT3 swore it was impossible and had a list of grievances against it, mainly regarding spellpoints. I don't think he knew what he was doing. This is the easiest Bard's Tale with regard to spellpoints. It's absurdly forgiving. In the old ones, you had to return to town to recharge. You'd be slaughtered on the way back. There were some mild workarounds to recharge in the dungeon, but they wouldn't carry you through.
I really thought Part 1 was the hardest. They didn't have an automap back then. (Part 3 introduces this.) You had to map everything by hand on graph paper, a 22x22 grid, and the game is designed to make that much harder than it should be. I finished Part 2 last year, I think. I managed to do it without cheating, though I'm playing the modern remake and it does put an automap in Part 2, which shouldn't have one.
Anyhow, I haven't cheated on part 3 yet. I'm doing okay. Cheating here is mainly about looking up the answers to riddles to get by Magic Mouths.
I was reading some review online and the guy playing BT3 swore it was impossible and had a list of grievances against it, mainly regarding spellpoints. I don't think he knew what he was doing. This is the easiest Bard's Tale with regard to spellpoints. It's absurdly forgiving. In the old ones, you had to return to town to recharge. You'd be slaughtered on the way back. There were some mild workarounds to recharge in the dungeon, but they wouldn't carry you through.
I really thought Part 1 was the hardest. They didn't have an automap back then. (Part 3 introduces this.) You had to map everything by hand on graph paper, a 22x22 grid, and the game is designed to make that much harder than it should be. I finished Part 2 last year, I think. I managed to do it without cheating, though I'm playing the modern remake and it does put an automap in Part 2, which shouldn't have one.
Anyhow, I haven't cheated on part 3 yet. I'm doing okay. Cheating here is mainly about looking up the answers to riddles to get by Magic Mouths.
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Where on earth did you get Mass Effect for $2?
As usual when it comes to game prices, us Aussies get screwed. Sigh.
He bought the Legendary Edition for $6 (all three games) when it was on sale. It's full price right now. The link you posted is just to the Steam release of the first game.
You don't need a subscription to play Mass Effect. That's an optional subscription to EA Play. It lets you play the game (and others) in lieu of buying it. Think Netflix.
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Ah, OK. (Whoops). Thank you, Stuart.
In my defense, it's 12:45 am here and I'm beat. 'Night ...!
Spun up Mass Effect 2 this afternoon, played for about 4 hours. What an intro, good gravy! Quite the way to start a game following the events of the first one. Damn.
So far I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I thought the graphics would be a big jump from the first game, but no, it's roughly the same. With the remaster I tend to forget that these are OLD games. Ancient. ME1 came out in 2007, and ME2 was released in 2010. They've done a pretty good job with the upgrades and I don't need to see the originals to know it.
There are some significant gameplay changes that I feel are a step back, but maybe that will change as I go along. The unlocking/hacking process is more complicated, but it doesn't waste that much time over the previous system. The planetary survey process with probes and everything so far is fun, but it very well could become a bit of a chore later on.
I'm not a fan of the ammo system, but it's not all that jarring since that's been the standard in basically every FPS I've ever played. It was just nice to not have to worry about that stuff in ME1. Was a breath of fresh air. The weapons system is also a bit odd. I can't see weapon stats, and I don't have any option to switch weapons outside of when I start a new mission. Armour? No idea what's going on with that yet. Guess we'll see how it goes next weekend.
So, in a nutshell, I miss some of the ME1 mechanics, but I'm still all-in for the sequel and am looking forward to more.
So far I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I thought the graphics would be a big jump from the first game, but no, it's roughly the same. With the remaster I tend to forget that these are OLD games. Ancient. ME1 came out in 2007, and ME2 was released in 2010. They've done a pretty good job with the upgrades and I don't need to see the originals to know it.
There are some significant gameplay changes that I feel are a step back, but maybe that will change as I go along. The unlocking/hacking process is more complicated, but it doesn't waste that much time over the previous system. The planetary survey process with probes and everything so far is fun, but it very well could become a bit of a chore later on.
I'm not a fan of the ammo system, but it's not all that jarring since that's been the standard in basically every FPS I've ever played. It was just nice to not have to worry about that stuff in ME1. Was a breath of fresh air. The weapons system is also a bit odd. I can't see weapon stats, and I don't have any option to switch weapons outside of when I start a new mission. Armour? No idea what's going on with that yet. Guess we'll see how it goes next weekend.
So, in a nutshell, I miss some of the ME1 mechanics, but I'm still all-in for the sequel and am looking forward to more.
Hell yeah. High five for playing through all three. I don't think many people make it through that god damn swamp getting those god damn gems. I made Ms. Stuart play the first two as well before starting the third. It adds a lot of context, and I think the first one had better writing than the second.
What mainly comes to mind that people miss out on by skipping the first game are:
Plot twist as to villain's identity.
Who then delivers his own—amazing—death one-liner:
"That sword . . . is for monsters!"
Who then delivers his own—amazing—death one-liner:
"That sword . . . is for monsters!"
Introduction to King Foltest.
Regarding Vizima, where a skirmish has erupted: "Witcher, imagine returning home from an excursion against a monster, a kikimore for instance, only to discover your home . . . a whorehouse."
Regarding Vizima, where a skirmish has erupted: "Witcher, imagine returning home from an excursion against a monster, a kikimore for instance, only to discover your home . . . a whorehouse."
And lastly, Thaler being Thaler.
Maybe sometime in the future you'll check out the books again, who knows.
Both are good games but I prefer the first one. I think the first one is the most 'sci fi' if that makes sense.
This was my first video games experience - watching my mom play Ultima IV on Commodore 64. She was hardcore and never save scrubbed. Mapped all the dungeons on graph paper, kept extensive notes re: hints, which cities have the best prices for stuff, NPC names, and what one should ask them when running into them. It was one of my favourite activities as a child, something I looked forward to in the evenings when she had the time to play.
I can't imagine playing that one without being able to look up hints on the internet. I played it a few years back (it's free on GOG) and I just Googled stuff whenever I got stuck. It holds up surprisingly well.
Mom still plays games to this day. She really dug Skyrim when I sent her a copy as a gift. I'm sure I'll still be playing when/if I'm an old timer.
The only other C64 game i remember (right now) is Spelunker - a platformer that suffered from early joysticks not being all that accurate. Oh yeah, The Last Ninja, which sucked arse for the same reason. You basically had to land on the exact pixel to cross a river of whatever, or you died. Then I stopped games because RESPONSIBILITIES. Then small humans became sentient and a PS1 / 2 / 3 appeared.
ProductionBlues
New Member
Oof. You're not even up to Malenia. You ain't seen nothing yet.
I love the shiz out of that game. It's literally almost 50% of my gametime since it came out and I bought it day 1. I've been a big FromSoft fan for a while. I got around 421 hours in-game right now.
I play weirdly though. I finished my first playthrough of the base game and I'm like 80% through my second one. I haven't even got any DLC yet. Instead of the overworld I'm deeeep into the multiplayer coliseum duels they added. I reached the top rank a long time ago and I'm not coming down anytime soon.
Eh, this one's only okay and certainly overrated. As a bookworm I am very rarely impressed by narrative-heavy games and that one doesn't wow me. It's just kind of a dumb action game.
I'm only playing it because it's localized in French, which I've been learning the past half decade.
If you want a sci-fi game with an excellent story and that could never be overrated, check out Outer Wilds.
The first game I ever played was Frogger on the old C64. And then there was this classic:
Mercs was the first game I played - on Sega! Of course it was. I couldn't remember before! 
Raven
New Member
I'm currently playing X4: Foundations.
It's not very well known I guess, so I'll explain a bit.
It's basically a space game where you can pilot different ships, from very small to massive carriers. You can delegate ships that you own (after hiring pilots and crew) to do various tasks, even form fleets. You can fight, pirate, trade etc. You can own and construct space stations, and manage large trading fleets, or declare wars against other factions.
It can be played as a management type game where you sit at a desk in your space station and manage your empire. Or you can dogfight in a fighter on the front.
It is very light on story, and I think I prefer that, since I've been writing a lot lately and just want to switch off.
My latest game I started with a small trading ship and a few credits, had to work my way up and now I manage a large shipyard that produces most tradeable good and ships for my fleet. I'm planning to attack the Xenon (alien machines that are trying to overrun the universe) and clear them out.
Anyway, thought I'd share. Lately I'd rather play something like this than break another PS5 remote on Elden Ring boss fights.
It's not very well known I guess, so I'll explain a bit.
It's basically a space game where you can pilot different ships, from very small to massive carriers. You can delegate ships that you own (after hiring pilots and crew) to do various tasks, even form fleets. You can fight, pirate, trade etc. You can own and construct space stations, and manage large trading fleets, or declare wars against other factions.
It can be played as a management type game where you sit at a desk in your space station and manage your empire. Or you can dogfight in a fighter on the front.
It is very light on story, and I think I prefer that, since I've been writing a lot lately and just want to switch off.
My latest game I started with a small trading ship and a few credits, had to work my way up and now I manage a large shipyard that produces most tradeable good and ships for my fleet. I'm planning to attack the Xenon (alien machines that are trying to overrun the universe) and clear them out.
Anyway, thought I'd share. Lately I'd rather play something like this than break another PS5 remote on Elden Ring boss fights.
I fired up Stellaris again. Big mistake. Very big mistake.
I played a bit of Playstation and Sega when I was a kid but that's about it. Crash Bandicoot and Sonic and few other games. Got few computer games later and tried LoL but didn't get obsessed even though there were a lot of gamers around me and I like the concept of interactive stories.
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Ohh don't I know it. On a Discord I'm on, someone posted a screenshot of their EUIV game and I was like, "no, no, no, no, noooo RESIST!"
There is a free Star Trek mod you can add to Stellaris made by hardcore fans - it's called New Horizons. The amount of thought that went into it is truly impressive. Love those dorks who made it happen.
