I just finished my first game of Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes. Normal setting, Spell of Making victory. It took me twelve and a half hours to complete it. And when I looked for somewhere here to brag about it, there didn't seem to be a thread to do it in. So, if you finish a game, put it here so we can all tell you how awesome you are! ;) And it doesn't have to just be wins either. You have a spectacular defeat? Tell us about it so we can make fun of you. After all, what are friends for?
Good idea. Sadly I don't have anything to say at the moment.
well done!
I finished the Omerta: the japanese incentive campaign last week and it took me about 40 hours to do so... :crazy2:
Really enjoyed it.
This week, I had a scientific victory (many normal AIs and large galaxy) and one military defeat (one AI on very hard and small galaxy...in less than two hours) in Lords of the Black Sun. I am about to win by conquest in a new game (2 AI on very hard and small galaxy) and hope to finish it tonight...
Quote from: MetalDog on February 11, 2015, 11:26:27 PM
I just finished my first game of Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes. Normal setting, Spell of Making victory. It took me twelve and a half hours to complete it. And when I looked for somewhere here to brag about it, there didn't seem to be a thread to do it in. So, if you finish a game, put it here so we can all tell you how awesome you are! ;) And it doesn't have to just be wins either. You have a spectacular defeat? Tell us about it so we can make fun of you. After all, what are friends for?
Congrats. Great game. I've only been able to finish with a victory on the easier level below normal. At normal I get bogged down in a stalemate and I lose interest and start over.
This one
http://grogheads.com/?p=7170#more-7170
Finished this year:
1] Avernum Escape from the Pit
2] Strategic Command: WW1 Breakthroughs the 1914 campaign as Germany.
Quote from: airboy on February 12, 2015, 01:04:22 PM
Finished this year:
1] Avernum Escape from the Pit
2] Strategic Command: WW1 Breakthroughs the 1914 campaign as Germany.
airboy: I've played SC:WWI.....just curious, were you able to win as Germany?
Quote from: Rayfer on February 12, 2015, 05:03:24 PM
Quote from: airboy on February 12, 2015, 01:04:22 PM
Finished this year:
1] Avernum Escape from the Pit
2] Strategic Command: WW1 Breakthroughs the 1914 campaign as Germany.
airboy: I've played SC:WWI.....just curious, were you able to win as Germany?
Yep. I won an unmodified game several years ago.
The current one is an alt-history take which altered some of the game setup stuff allowed in Breakthroughs. My alt-history game was based on the following:
Germany never attacks Belgium
The German Fleet never leaves the Baltic, enters the Atlantic, or enters the English Channel (including subs).
Britain is poised to enter the war - but will not enter without an attack on Belgium or aggressive actions by the German Fleet.
Airboy, did you have a German East Asia fleet in China at the start? If so was it of any use?
Quote from: bayonetbrant on February 12, 2015, 08:19:32 AM
This one
http://grogheads.com/?p=7170#more-7170
Awesome job by you, Brant! I hate it when they gang up on you towards the end. Seems like you had everything well in hand though :)
Quote from: Rayfer on February 12, 2015, 07:40:55 AM
Quote from: MetalDog on February 11, 2015, 11:26:27 PM
I just finished my first game of Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes. Normal setting, Spell of Making victory. It took me twelve and a half hours to complete it. And when I looked for somewhere here to brag about it, there didn't seem to be a thread to do it in. So, if you finish a game, put it here so we can all tell you how awesome you are! ;) And it doesn't have to just be wins either. You have a spectacular defeat? Tell us about it so we can make fun of you. After all, what are friends for?
Congrats. Great game. I've only been able to finish with a victory on the easier level below normal. At normal I get bogged down in a stalemate and I lose interest and start over.
Thank you, sir! I am hoping that the lack of random maps and MP will not put me off of this game.
Finished my Empire Total War vanilla campaign as Sweden last night. Cleaned out Russia and my Southern neighbors first thing. Martha Confederacy declared war on me early. I did nothing at first until I secured my Eastern Flank, then I took a trip through the Ottoman Empire (they were my allies) and invaded India. Martha Confederacy gave me enough regions for the win!.. This was the first Empire game, that in the end stage my Allies didn't all turn on me, nice change.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1373.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fag371%2Fcmurphy625%2FPON%2F2015-02-12_00001_zpsqxh0intn.jpg&hash=dc12f34309c82d00cc05762d3c33e48b67b058ca) (http://s1373.photobucket.com/user/cmurphy625/media/PON/2015-02-12_00001_zpsqxh0intn.jpg.html)
Wait... you were allied with the Ottomans in ETW.. and they didn't turn on you?! :o
My neighboring allies always turned on me in the TWs prior to Shogun 2. In record time. Even the small ones would go suicidal and declare war on me shortly afterward. ;D
I think Ottoman's and Prussia were close, I may have gave one of them a couple regions as well (when I didn't want to deal with protecting it after defeating that nation), maybe that was why? Usually every TW, they all gang up on me near the end! :P
Quote from: Staggerwing on February 12, 2015, 06:09:23 PM
Airboy, did you have a German East Asia fleet in China at the start? If so was it of any use?
You are thinking about a different game. Asia (outside of Turkey and the Caucasus, & Iraq) are not in the playfield.
Yep. For some reason I thought SCWW1 had the Pacific as well. I don't own the game myself so having Von Spee and commerce raiders seemed like a nice reason to take another look at it.
Quote from: Tuna on February 13, 2015, 09:47:54 AM
Finished my Empire Total War vanilla campaign as Sweden last night. Cleaned out Russia and my Southern neighbors first thing. Martha Confederacy declared war on me early. I did nothing at first until I secured my Eastern Flank, then I took a trip through the Ottoman Empire (they were my allies) and invaded India. Martha Confederacy gave me enough regions for the win!.. This was the first Empire game, that in the end stage my Allies didn't all turn on me, nice change.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1373.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fag371%2Fcmurphy625%2FPON%2F2015-02-12_00001_zpsqxh0intn.jpg&hash=dc12f34309c82d00cc05762d3c33e48b67b058ca) (http://s1373.photobucket.com/user/cmurphy625/media/PON/2015-02-12_00001_zpsqxh0intn.jpg.html)
The first and only ETW game that u finished was as Indians. I united India, and extended until the middle east. Booted out the british when they invaded. No allies.
I finally beat the end boss in Blackguards and can now move on to Blackguards 2.
I kicked up the difficulty to Challenging in FE:LH and made my own faction. Had a great starting position, then, found that I had exactly zero places to build new cities. Must have got a hundred or a hundred fifty turns in and had three wars declared on me, so I retired.
I am unlikely to ever post in this thread. ;)
Come now. If you do MP with us, I'm sure we can bring the end of your game to a satisfying conclusion :)
Finished Borderlands - The Pre-Sequel...well, the first run through.
I "finished" my first game of Elite. In a text book example of why you shouldn't play and drink alcohol. Wasn't paying attention to my hyperspace jumps and ran myself into a dead end system with no fuel left to go back.
Quote from: Nefaro on February 13, 2015, 10:06:06 AM
Wait... you were allied with the Ottomans in ETW.. and they didn't turn on you?! :o
My neighboring allies always turned on me in the TWs prior to Shogun 2. In record time. Even the small ones would go suicidal and declare war on me shortly afterward. ;D
Getting allies and keeping them is a real isue for me in Shogun2. I usually play Chosokabe (have I got that right? The black coloured side on Shikoku island). Nice as I am and with the best Lapsang Souchong tea too, I usually find my allies turn on me after I've taken a few provinces. :(
Quote from: MetalDog on February 14, 2015, 01:59:31 PM
I kicked up the difficulty to Challenging in FE:LH and made my own faction. Had a great starting position, then, found that I had exactly zero places to build new cities. Must have got a hundred or a hundred fifty turns in and had three wars declared on me, so I retired.
I have a similar problem of finding spaces for cities in my game. I'm playing on normal difficulty, but you sound like you have a real handle on this to be on challenging - congrats! I've not played it MP, so if you're interested PM me. Perhaps we can get a Grogheads MP game going?
Quote from: Boggit on February 15, 2015, 01:08:34 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on February 13, 2015, 10:06:06 AM
Wait... you were allied with the Ottomans in ETW.. and they didn't turn on you?! :o
My neighboring allies always turned on me in the TWs prior to Shogun 2. In record time. Even the small ones would go suicidal and declare war on me shortly afterward. ;D
Getting allies and keeping them is a real isue for me in Shogun2. I usually play Chosokabe (have I got that right? The black coloured side on Shikoku island). Nice as I am and with the best Lapsang Souchong tea too, I usually find my allies turn on me after I've taken a few provinces. :(
They've always penalized you for neighboring or captuing land next to all foreign nations in the TW series. Even when they're allies.
I always tried to ally with factions that I wouldn't be bordering for awhile, when possible. That way their relations value will have plenty of time to slowly build up so that they're fairly resilient to such things by the time you neighbor them. It takes quite awhile for it to get pretty solid but can be done enough in Shogun 2 and Rome 2 to keep allies for a long stretch.
In the previous TWs, they just tended to dislike you over time either way, to varying extents, and even the tiny states with good relations would suicidally DOW you after a time, if they were on your border. The diplo relations effects were definitely improved in Shogun 2 so that you have a decent shot at keeping a long-term ally or two.
That's where I'm going wrong - the Chosokabe have loads of neighbours. I should be plottong my alliances further away. Thanks for the advice Nefaro! O0
Quote from: Boggit on February 15, 2015, 01:13:21 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on February 14, 2015, 01:59:31 PM
I kicked up the difficulty to Challenging in FE:LH and made my own faction. Had a great starting position, then, found that I had exactly zero places to build new cities. Must have got a hundred or a hundred fifty turns in and had three wars declared on me, so I retired.
I have a similar problem of finding spaces for cities in my game. I'm playing on normal difficulty, but you sound like you have a real handle on this to be on challenging - congrats! I've not played it MP, so if you're interested PM me. Perhaps we can get a Grogheads MP game going?
I would love nothing more than to MP this game. Unfortunately, there is no such feature.
As for cities, I am finding that the best course is to know you will be working off of Outposts and key your strategy to taking neighbors cities. Got the first part of that right, now I have to learn the second. Another thing I will say is that I am finding it more difficult to kill the marauding bands that lurk outside your borders. I do not fight the Tactical battles though and that might have something to do with it. Any thoughts from LH players?
If it's gonna be close, you should definitely fight the tactical battles, you will always be 'smarter' than the AI, so you can win a lot when the odds are against you. O0
Quote from: Tuna on February 15, 2015, 01:56:34 PM
If it's gonna be close, you should definitely fight the tactical battles, you will always be 'smarter' than the AI, so you can win a lot when the odds are against you. O0
You're giving me a lot of credit if you think I am going to be smarter than any thing ;) Even using '' to denote your sarcasm is too much :)
Quote from: MetalDog on February 15, 2015, 01:59:03 PM
Quote from: Tuna on February 15, 2015, 01:56:34 PM
If it's gonna be close, you should definitely fight the tactical battles, you will always be 'smarter' than the AI, so you can win a lot when the odds are against you. O0
You're giving me a lot of credit if you think I am going to be smarter than any thing ;) Even using '' to denote your sarcasm is too much :)
I almost always fight the tactical battles. The general lack of a retreat option after a couple of turns is something it could do with to rescue heroes caught in a tight spot, but it is a lot of fun.
@MD :) I love your reverse psychology. I'll bet you are a killer player in MP games! ;)
Quote from: Boggit on February 15, 2015, 01:26:45 PM
That's where I'm going wrong - the Chosokabe have loads of neighbours. I should be plottong my alliances further away. Thanks for the advice Nefaro! O0
:)
As with so many things, I eventually learned from repeated failures. ;D
Quote from: Kushan on February 15, 2015, 12:24:59 PM
I "finished" my first game of Elite. In a text book example of why you shouldn't play and drink alcohol. Wasn't paying attention to my hyperspace jumps and ran myself into a dead end system with no fuel left to go back.
It's bloody stupid that this can happen. You should be able to call for a refuelling ship to come out or something.
you can - it costs a lot of money though
or i should say, you could, i dont know if its been removed
Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 15, 2015, 04:04:41 PM
Quote from: Kushan on February 15, 2015, 12:24:59 PM
I "finished" my first game of Elite. In a text book example of why you shouldn't play and drink alcohol. Wasn't paying attention to my hyperspace jumps and ran myself into a dead end system with no fuel left to go back.
It's bloody stupid that this can happen. You should be able to call for a refuelling ship to come out or something.
Part of the fun of the game IMO. There might be, I'm still learning the game. I'm happy when I can leave frame shift drive close to my target and make a few hundred credits from trading.
Quote from: Boggit on February 15, 2015, 03:40:17 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on February 15, 2015, 01:59:03 PM
Quote from: Tuna on February 15, 2015, 01:56:34 PM
If it's gonna be close, you should definitely fight the tactical battles, you will always be 'smarter' than the AI, so you can win a lot when the odds are against you. O0
You're giving me a lot of credit if you think I am going to be smarter than any thing ;) Even using '' to denote your sarcasm is too much :)
I almost always fight the tactical battles. The general lack of a retreat option after a couple of turns is something it could do with to rescue heroes caught in a tight spot, but it is a lot of fun.
@MD :) I love your reverse psychology. I'll bet you are a killer player in MP games! ;)
I've played one or two MP games. You'll have to ask my opponents what to expect O:-)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1355.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq717%2Fstophro%2F2015-02-15_00001_zps90dbeb98.jpg&hash=55cb7d0b6e80076392e5e578770679c66fb4e7dc) (http://s1355.photobucket.com/user/stophro/media/2015-02-15_00001_zps90dbeb98.jpg.html)
Second loss in a row on Challenging. This time, however, I played it through until the AI took me out. I'm beginning to think that my win on Normal was more by luck than anything else. But, I'll give it another whirl on Challenging and see what else I can discover.
I managed a win in DC Case Blue's 1Pz. Army Campaign, the first battle. It wasn't too hard but up next is the drive across the Kuban to Mozdok against 3 Soviet armies. And now they're pissed-off.
Finished a two hour CMBS mission in a week (on and off playing). :idiot2:
AAR to be put up soon.
Quote from: jomni on February 15, 2015, 11:46:05 PM
Finished a two hour CMBS mission in a week (on and off playing). :idiot2:
AAR to be put up soon.
I'll look forward to that. :) I played a few hours on Red Thunder, and my blasted computer shut down and restarted just as I was about to win. Bloody Windows update! >:D
Completed a military victory in Lords of the Black Sun...was fun while it lasted (and worth the 10$ I paid for)....now going to move on to something different.
Sheeeeeiiiiit. I have too many games I haven't even started, let alone finished. :-\
Quote from: Boggit on February 15, 2015, 11:59:27 PM
Quote from: jomni on February 15, 2015, 11:46:05 PM
Finished a two hour CMBS mission in a week (on and off playing). :idiot2:
AAR to be put up soon.
I'll look forward to that. :) I played a few hours on Red Thunder, and my blasted computer shut down and restarted just as I was about to win. Bloody Windows update! >:D
AAR is up. Head over to my blog.
http://jomnisgames.blogspot.sg/2015/02/combat-mission-black-sea-no-bridge-no.html
Quote from: jomni on February 17, 2015, 05:51:17 PM
Quote from: Boggit on February 15, 2015, 11:59:27 PM
Quote from: jomni on February 15, 2015, 11:46:05 PM
Finished a two hour CMBS mission in a week (on and off playing). :idiot2:
AAR to be put up soon.
I'll look forward to that. :) I played a few hours on Red Thunder, and my blasted computer shut down and restarted just as I was about to win. Bloody Windows update! >:D
AAR is up. Head over to my blog.
http://jomnisgames.blogspot.sg/2015/02/combat-mission-black-sea-no-bridge-no.html
Nice AAR. O0 Sounds like you had the same problem as Jarhead with the ATGM's taking down APC's with passengers. Why did you not dismount earlier, or was time, and the map size really pressing?
They are crossing or about to cross the river. Of course I can't dismount them or else they can't cross.
The APC losses near the end of the Battle were due to AT guns but the troops were dismounted and safe.
Quote from: jomni on February 17, 2015, 07:41:30 PM
They are crossing or about to cross the river. Of course I can't dismount them or else they can't cross.
Yes, I realise that, and appreciate there's not much you can do except drop smoke and cover with your tanks - as you did.
Quote from: jomni on February 17, 2015, 07:41:30 PM
The APC losses near the end of the Battle were due to AT guns but the troops were dismounted and safe.
Those were the losses I was thinking about. I hadn't realised they'd all dismounted - too much scan reading. ::) Great AAR tho' - I enjoyed it. O0
I won a diplomatic victory in Endless Spaceon turn 268 playing United Empire and closely allied with Pilgrims. I was also 86% of the way towards an expansion victory. Its nice to finally finish one of these games!
Awesome feeling and awesome for you!
I myself won Loren: Amazon Princess for the first time earlier this year. Really enjoyed that title, although at times it made me feel a little bit like a dirty old man...
I managed a win in CMBN's Kampgruppe Engel campaign, battle #7 "the Last Kilometer". Minor Victory but I'll take it in this very tough exit-only fight against the Polish 1st Armored Div. One more battle to go in this very enjoyable campaign. :-X
I just finished my Challenging level Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes game. Yes, it is the one that I reloaded several times after losing battles. No, I am not trumpeting, 'A MIGHTY VICTORY!' I did learn what I needed to know though. And that made it all worth it. It was a world conquest Victory, if you're interested. Six other civs. The only other VC was completing the three quests. Next game, I'll go up another level and see if I can apply what I learned without getting the smack down!
Finally finished Penumbra: Black Plague, Penumbra: Requiem and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky.
Might get the two other STALKER games as I liked Clear Sky a lot.
Quote from: MetalDog on February 25, 2015, 03:36:31 PM
I just finished my Challenging level Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes game. Yes, it is the one that I reloaded several times after losing battles. No, I am not trumpeting, 'A MIGHTY VICTORY!' I did learn what I needed to know though. And that made it all worth it. It was a world conquest Victory, if you're interested. Six other civs. The only other VC was completing the three quests. Next game, I'll go up another level and see if I can apply what I learned without getting the smack down!
O0 heh, well done
ive created 3 decks now for WG:ALB
a British deck that i need to go back and tweak now i have a better understanding of airplanes
a US deck that swept everything off the map
and a Soviet deck that i just destroyed a Danish battlegroup with - we both forgot to bring AA (and hes the AI!) so there were a lot of planes
these 3 decks have beaten the opposition on the Highway to Oslo map - im going to change map, try the Soviet deck again and then build either a West German one or a Scandanavian one
Thank you, sir! I would like it better if the game were MP, but, solo is challenging from the beginning until you get the ball rolling. And it's essential to have a source of Iron and one of Crystal. Without one or the other, you are well and truly !@#$%^
i havent invested nearly enough time in the game to even know that piece of wisdom - i have a week off next week - i might dedicate a day or 2 to the game
Be prepared to use your Pioneers (aka Settlers) to make Outposts. Anything in an Outpost's Zone of Control is available to be used in the nearest city to it that you own. Once you have built the appropriate building on it, the Resource is yours. In my last game, I had two cities and three Outposts when Kraxis declared war on me with his ten cities. And I won.
what size map did you choose?
The last game I finished was the single player campaign story in Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. I haven't finished a strategy game in ages. Just don't have the brain computing power at the end of the day to think clearly through a strategy game anymore. :(
I've been in a strategy gaming rut for a while now. Mindless action games seem to occupy most of my gaming time now. Help! Is there something wrong with me? I used to revel in playing nothing but strategy games.
Quote from: undercovergeek on February 25, 2015, 07:23:57 PM
what size map did you choose?
Whatever the largest one was. Six opponents balanced between good guys and bad guys. Very late in the game, I got a dragon and they are BAD! ASS! I noticed that in the end game, if you apply yourself to getting the research that increases your Army size and your Unit size, you will always have better troops. Even if they are the same unit, by building them with more soldiers in the Unit and more Units able to be included in your Army, you should win most times. Even in Auto - Resolve. The AI tends not to keep up with Unit size.
Quote from: W8taminute on February 25, 2015, 09:10:26 PM
The last game I finished was the single player campaign story in Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. I haven't finished a strategy game in ages. Just don't have the brain computing power at the end of the day to think clearly through a strategy game anymore. :(
I've been in a strategy gaming rut for a while now. Mindless action games seem to occupy most of my gaming time now. Help! Is there something wrong with me? I used to revel in playing nothing but strategy games.
Nope. Just your impending old age.
Quote from: WallysWorld on February 25, 2015, 05:22:08 PM
Finally finished Penumbra: Black Plague, Penumbra: Requiem and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky.
Might get the two other STALKER games as I liked Clear Sky a lot.
That's fantastic, man! I wish I had stuck with STALKER. No real reason I didn't....just distracted by some shiny thing I guess.
I started one of the Penubra's, but I couldn't figure out how to get out of the first room. ???
Holy schmoley...I received an email from Steam telling me a game on my wishlist is on sale...Fallen Enchantress is 66% off its normal price of $89.99?!?
Wow, that's expensive. I don't remember it being that much when I added it to my wishlist!
It's normally £30, whatever that is in USD. Are you sure you aren't looking at the Stardock pack?
Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 26, 2015, 03:16:06 PM
It's normally £30, whatever that is in USD. Are you sure you aren't looking at the Stardock pack?
That's weird. I added Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes to my wishlist some time ago. The email stated that game was on sale for $30.59. However, $30.59 is the same price as that Stardock pack you mention. 'Normal' Fallen Enchantress is only 19.99. My bad.
Quote from: MetalDog on February 25, 2015, 09:15:04 PM
Quote from: W8taminute on February 25, 2015, 09:10:26 PM
The last game I finished was the single player campaign story in Call of Duty Advanced Warfare. I haven't finished a strategy game in ages. Just don't have the brain computing power at the end of the day to think clearly through a strategy game anymore. :(
I've been in a strategy gaming rut for a while now. Mindless action games seem to occupy most of my gaming time now. Help! Is there something wrong with me? I used to revel in playing nothing but strategy games.
Nope. Just your impending old age.
I don't deny that. Damn this cursed aging process!
Another Civ IV BtS solo Monarch game loss. I was Suleiman against Gilgamesh and one of the Romans. Gil declared war on Rome and asked me along. I said sure as I had a stack of Swordsmen and Axemen. Rome had Longbowmen and noone had researched Feudalism yet!!!!?!?!!!! I capitulated. Damn cheating ass game!!!
Finished my first game of Warlock 2.. I must say when I first started, I though "This is only an expansion, glad I didn't pay full price". But I'll tell ya, it really pulled me in.. very hard to stop sessions when playing (one more turn).
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1373.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fag371%2Fcmurphy625%2F2015-02-28_00001_zpsukeragen.jpg&hash=fcff2395e1f117aa38e53ccd5236f59c174290c1) (http://s1373.photobucket.com/user/cmurphy625/media/2015-02-28_00001_zpsukeragen.jpg.html)
I finished Blackguards 2 on normal difficulty. Tighter story than in the first one but they removed a fair amount of depth. Good game though. I might play through it again with a different character build. I made a melee fighter this time which turned out to be a little pointless as you already get two melee focused NPCs your party quite early on.
Solo Civ IV BtS on Prince. Standard map. Time VC. Continents and 6 civs. I was Willem van Oranje. I had Montezuma and Isabella on my continent. I got in to a protracted war with Monte. I took most of his cities and finally vassaled him. Twenty or so turns later, Isabella declared on me and came down with a super stack. Time to retire.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on February 14, 2015, 02:10:16 PM
I am unlikely to ever post in this thread. ;)
I didn't think I would be either, but I finally took out the World Devastators and beat the Battle for Mon Calamari level in
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron yesterday. There are still the bonus levels to play (Beggars Canyon, Death Star Trench Run, and Battle of Hoth), but I've "finished" the game as far as I'm concerned. 8)
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on February 17, 2015, 09:16:22 AM
Sheeeeeiiiiit. I have too many games I haven't even started, let alone finished. :-\
Also, this. :-[
Quote from: Anguille on February 17, 2015, 05:46:40 AM
Completed a military victory in Lords of the Black Sun...was fun while it lasted (and worth the 10$ I paid for)....now going to move on to something different.
So what did you enjoy about LofBS? Its criticisms/shortcomings are pretty well-known by this point, but how about the things it does/did well?
Just finished and won my campaign in Empire Total War playing as the British. It only took 100+ hours! :P
Congrats on the win Shelldrake. The Brits have tough victory conditions. O0
Congrats, Shelldrake! A game of that length ALWAYS makes a satisfying experience. Unless you lose. And then it becomes EPIC!!!
Played a little Cities. Then I starting watching some youtube videos on Cities to look at various road construction methods, which led to an Ancient Aliens episode and then boobs bouncing in a speeding car videos. So I guess in hind sight I had a fairly successful Friday evening.
Any night that ends with bouncing boobs is successful! >:D
Quote from: Martok on March 04, 2015, 01:40:21 PM
Quote from: Anguille on February 17, 2015, 05:46:40 AM
Completed a military victory in Lords of the Black Sun...was fun while it lasted (and worth the 10$ I paid for)....now going to move on to something different.
So what did you enjoy about LofBS? Its criticisms/shortcomings are pretty well-known by this point, but how about the things it does/did well?
I bought it for about 10$ and for that price it's ok (despite the fact that there are still some bugs). I don't think i'll spend much more time than i did with the game (about 15 hours). As you know, i am a 4x addict (mostly space) and like to try them all if i can.
What i like about the game:
- Nice intro movies for each race
- Minor races
- Simple and easy battle system
- Simple and easy to manage research system.
- Galactic map with no starlanes and yet not as much micromanagement as GalCiv.
- I enjoyed the music.
If the game should get a major patch (and i do hope it does), i might consider playing some more campaigns.
Thanks Anguille. Sounds like I'll want to wait for it to go super-cheap and/or receive another major update (hopefully it does!).
Completed the campaign in Worldshift! It's been sometimes tougth but it's done...finally.
Music is excellent and i like the artwork. Didn't really understand the whole story but it was fun.
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age C'tis.
Just had an economical victory in Endless Space...
Quote from: Anguille on March 18, 2015, 05:24:00 PM
Just had an economical victory in Endless Space...
Congrats. It's the only bloody way to win in my opinion. The AI can conjure up incredible fleets in late-game that I never had any hope of defeating militarily.
What difficulty were you playing Anguille?
Quote from: W8taminute on March 18, 2015, 06:20:48 PM
What difficulty were you playing Anguille?
On *cough*
very easy *cough* ::)
After a few attempts on normal where I just couldn't get into, I've decided to play one game on very easy. It's been a good learning experience as I've researched almost everything in the tech tree and have a much better understanding of the game. So it's my first main campaign in Endless Space. The next campaign I'll play will be on normal.
Indeed, the economical victory seems the easiest (also point victory). The penalties for expansion in this game are ridiculous. Of course you can build up things to improve the morale but in a 4x game, you shouldn't have such big penalties for expansion imho. Also the fact that a military victory requires 75% of the map is just too much. I could have done it in this game but it's a very long way to go (and that with a weak AI).
As huw as alluded to, when he and I played our coop game we had ai smashing fleets of awesomeness until we both came up against the last ai opponent and this guy with less money, less resources an less power was able to pump out the most unbelievable one shot fleet destroying ships ever seen
Quote from: Anguille on March 19, 2015, 03:10:04 AM
Quote from: W8taminute on March 18, 2015, 06:20:48 PM
What difficulty were you playing Anguille?
On *cough*very easy *cough* ::)
After a few attempts on normal where I just couldn't get into, I've decided to play one game on very easy. It's been a good learning experience as I've researched almost everything in the tech tree and have a much better understanding of the game. So it's my first main campaign in Endless Space. The next campaign I'll play will be on normal.
Indeed, the economical victory seems the easiest (also point victory). The penalties for expansion in this game are ridiculous. Of course you can build up things to improve the morale but in a 4x game, you shouldn't have such big penalties for expansion imho. Also the fact that a military victory requires 75% of the map is just too much. I could have done it in this game but it's a very long way to go (and that with a weak AI).
Nothing wrong with playing on very easy. Some games demand that as you try to learn the mechanics. ;)
Yeah Geek, that was the Automatons wasn't it? They were fielding cannons in the sky. Those ships were absolutely bristling with firepower and Geek and I couldn't even figure out how you could fit so much ordnance onto one ship.
We took one look and bravely ran away!
Lmao - end of campaign, ummm errr game of something else?
Far Cry 4 is in the books. Really enjoyed the game, and I'm glad that I started reading between the lines with certain characters and made the final choice that I made. I checked out the other ending possibilities on Youtube, and yikes. :o
Quote from: airboy on March 16, 2015, 08:30:15 AM
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age C'tis.
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age Tien C'hien.
About half way through a game as Sauromatia.
Quote from: airboy on March 28, 2015, 10:19:45 AM
Quote from: airboy on March 16, 2015, 08:30:15 AM
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age C'tis.
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age Tien C'hien.
About half way through a game as Sauromatia.
Finished a game as Early Age Sauromatia.
Quote from: airboy on April 04, 2015, 11:53:07 AM
Quote from: airboy on March 28, 2015, 10:19:45 AM
Quote from: airboy on March 16, 2015, 08:30:15 AM
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age C'tis.
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age Tien C'hien.
About half way through a game as Sauromatia.
Finished a game as Early Age Sauromatia.
So what now? Man and Machaka are a challenge. If you want something completely different - but overpowering if you survive to late game - try R'lyeh the C'thulu cultists.
Just won a conquest victory as the Kulan in Fallen Enchantress Legendary Heroes. Challenging setting on medium map with 5 opponents. :knuppel2:
Well done, sir. :)
Quote from: Boggit on April 04, 2015, 12:10:55 PM
Quote from: airboy on April 04, 2015, 11:53:07 AM
Quote from: airboy on March 28, 2015, 10:19:45 AM
Quote from: airboy on March 16, 2015, 08:30:15 AM
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age C'tis.
Finished a Dominions 4 game against the AI playing Early Age Tien C'hien.
About half way through a game as Sauromatia.
Finished a game as Early Age Sauromatia.
So what now? Man and Machaka are a challenge. If you want something completely different - but overpowering if you survive to late game - try R'lyeh the C'thulu cultists.
I'm playing EA Archosphale. I tried Machaka and cannot figure that one into a winning strategy. I won't play the nations that rely on Blood Sacrifice - killing people to power magic bothers me to the point that I won't administer a fantasy empire that relies on it. I may try a "Flame On" campaign with Agartha next.
I finally figured out how to beat a game of Pre-Civilization Stone Age yesterday, and did it twice just to make sure the first time wasn't a fluke.
...
.......
...I am not proud of this fact. :P
So...you know the feeling you get when you FINALLY finish that hard fought grind of a game...victorious and top of the heap? You are satisfied in a way that little else makes you feel like? Do you? Well, that's not this. I lost in twelve turns the first time I tried Age of Wonders new 1.5 build. With no DLC. What a loser :(
It helps me to think of a first play ass-kick by a game as just a reconnaissance in force. To be followed by the main assault. Unless I get my ass-kick again, then I consider that as a feint to get the game overconfident and the third try as the real thing. I have many overconfident, well-feinted and reconned games in my inventory. :coolsmiley:
Slash, that's an outSTANDing way to look at things! I concur! The ground ahead is reconnoitered and the main assault is ready. ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So how/why was it that you lost so quickly,
MD? Has the AI been improved that much with the 1.5 update, and/or has the mechanics made it that much more difficult? (I've not played AoW3 in a month or two now. :-[ )
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 22, 2015, 10:40:21 PM
It helps me to think of a first play ass-kick by a game as just a reconnaissance in force. To be followed by the main assault. Unless I get my ass-kick again, then I consider that as a feint to get the game overconfident and the third try as the real thing. I have many overconfident, well-feinted and reconned games in my inventory. :coolsmiley:
Heh. This is often my take on strategy games (that I initially suck at) as well. :P
Think I won my first two games of AOW III, but my latest, which I haven't touched in awhile, all the cities were revolting (and it wasn't plain to see why).
I have not played since the update.
To answer Martok:
Firing up the game for the first time in several months, I realized, I had been playing on Easy. I immediately bumped up one level and chose a map with above and below and five players including me. I wanted to play Orcs and I played most of my previous games as a Warlord so, that's what I chose this time.
I decided to play all the tactical battles, as that is a feature I love in Sovereignty, but, didn't care for the first time through with AoW. The very first battle I fought, on my first turn, I lost my leader. No other units, but, me. My next tactical battle, I lost two out of four units. I built two Scouts and then put in an order for two buildings, one to increase production and the next to increase population. After they were done, I ordered three more units, all one turn builds each.
I set about exploring the map with my remaining troops. I found a neutral city, did their quest, and had them vassal to me. I had a fair bit explored and was waiting to be able to annex them while waiting for my new troops to be built. I had left an Orc knight regenerating in my capitol when I got an enemy in my boundaries warning. I didn't think anything of it. They don't attack cities usually. And then they did. The battle odds screen told me that even on auto resolve, I was going to lose. So, I chose manual and, well...lost. They took my capitol. At that point, I just gave up.
Now, the tact battles may have been that difficult previously. I don't know because I didn't play them. And there was certainly a large amount of hubris involved instead of going slowly, but, that's how I operate. Once I get done mowing the lawn tonight, I will come back in and give it another try.
CMFI Conrath's Counterattack Campaign battle #3, managed a win in this real Bear of a scenario. I had nearly given up after my nearsighted FO couldn't call in mortars any closer than to blow dirt on the American AT guns blocking my advance and crawling my infantry forward on their bellies one unit at a time didn't work. The campaign briefing say you can lose one battle and continue with the campaign and so I was going to just take a knee on this one but WallysWorld inspired me to try again. Eight or nine turns of inching 5 panzers forward with area fire on the AT's finally turned the tide and once the AT's were all gone, and my tanks could advance, the "Lets get the Hell outta here"'s began. Grabbed the objectives and a Total Victory for the loss of 6 dead and 11 wounded against 111 American casualties including 50 KIA's. Half way through this excellent campaign.
I seem to have a fondness for Persia. The last three games I won on Monarch were all Persia. Twice with Cyrus, once with Darius. And they were three different types, Domination, Cultural and Conquest. And I had never seen the short films for any of those wins. YAY ME!
Yay indeed. Congrats on the triple win MD.
Far Cry 3 -- done. Whew.
Now pondering whether I can sneak in FC3:Blood Dragon before Arkham Knight releases...
Quote from: Sir Slash on June 01, 2015, 09:43:48 PM
Yay indeed. Congrats on the triple win MD.
Thank you, sir! I'm debating the next course. Either play the next map size up, Tiny, which is three of us, or, duel again and practice eliminating one guy?
Quote from: MetalDog on June 01, 2015, 09:39:23 PM
I seem to have a fondness for Persia. The last three games I won on Monarch were all Persia. Twice with Cyrus, once with Darius. And they were three different types, Domination, Cultural and Conquest. And I had never seen the short films for any of those wins. YAY ME!
Congratulations! The taste of victory is sweet indeed!!
Thank you, sir! And wasn't it you that was looking to do a little Civ IVing recently? Did you ever get to that?
Quote from: MetalDog on June 02, 2015, 05:50:21 PM
Thank you, sir! And wasn't it you that was looking to do a little Civ IVing recently? Did you ever get to that?
Never got around to it as I got hooked on AoW3. Speaking of which, I finally finished the Elven Court campaign. A couple of the scenarios took me several tries and reloads but I think I have a good grasp of the game mechanics at this point.
Well, I brought it up as I thought I would offer you a little Civ IV mp if you were interested. But, I play AoW III as well and would mp that, too. If you're interested.
I need to get me a copy of AoW III. Eventually.
Finished GTA V
Quote from: MetalDog on June 06, 2015, 01:21:36 PM
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on June 06, 2015, 12:05:31 PM
I need to get me a copy of AoW III. Eventually.
Yes. Yes you do.
Quote from: WYBaugh on June 06, 2015, 12:15:58 PM
Finished GTA V
What did you think?
I really enjoyed it. Excellent story and actors. Trevor alone is worth the price. Very cool story missions as well as side quests from meeting strangers and doing their bidding.
That just sounds wrong, "...meeting strangers and doing their bidding." :)
Quote from: MetalDog on June 06, 2015, 01:21:36 PM
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on June 06, 2015, 12:05:31 PM
I need to get me a copy of AoW III. Eventually.
Yes. Yes you do.
Very much seconded.
Of course, I still gotta grab both expansions myself... (No, I haven't done that yet. No, I don't have a particular reason/explanation as to why.) :-[
Finished Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. No complaints except that by the end I was expecting some kind of major twist about what had been really going on the whole time -- but didn't get it -- but then kind of did, vaguely -- presumably setting up for a sequel that will never happen. :'( :P
Other than that, well worth it as a FPS sandbox game that doesn't overstay its welcome, with a huge amount of wit, and no small amount of heart. Also, blood dragons. Which are works of genius just in themselves.
Quote from: MetalDog on June 06, 2015, 10:48:41 AM
Well, I brought it up as I thought I would offer you a little Civ IV mp if you were interested. But, I play AoW III as well and would mp that, too. If you're interested.
Thanks for the offer MD. I will PM you when I have a block of time for a MP game.
Excellent! Looking forward to it :)
Went through "HELL" at least the goodguys campaign. By went through i mean i didn't really complete it, chapter 7 i never could win, tried 4 times. 3 freezes during the campaign kinda pissed me off as i was doing well on those scenario's and never did as well on the second play through. I might try the evil guys campaign sometime as they seemed to have cooler magical powers. What you get is heavy scripted scenarios that were pretty tough for me at least. Your usually outnumbered at least 2 to 1 most times even more. You will yell a few choice words when you play " you got to be fuc**ng kidding me, your going to drop enemy reinforcements there....NOW, F**K Y*O, or something along those lines ;D. Not to say it wasn't fun, varied units, good variety in mission goals, timely reinforcements entering the scenario at just the right or wrong time depending on your side. Most times the difficulty was fair but sometimes you will curse your ass off but it did make for some tense moments. 10 scenario campaign was about the right length, all in all i enjoyed my time in "HELL".
I got Hell in the recent Slitherine Humble Bundle deal but haven't installed it yet. Too much summer sale goodness going on right now!
in my endeavor to finish some of the games i own, i decided to go on a FP gaming run. I think i have some where around 40, give or take in my backlog. So i started and finished Halflife 2. I bought the whole pack and its my only purchase so far from the steam sale. How's that for commitment, bought and finished before the sale is over :D. I own it on the PS3 but gave up finishing it, can't play FPS with a damn gamepad. Quality on rails FPS with good pacing and some nice set pieces battles, a few headcrab jump scares. took around 18 hours to finish. Don't know if i'll jump into episode 1 or move to another FPS.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1144.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fo484%2Fronnie8691%2F2015-06-15_00008_zpscoxfw8ad.jpg&hash=6fbeaa2cafe8fc7ba884f1897ffee2fdecae76c9)
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My FPS ride continues.
Finished up halflife 2 episode 1 &2 to complete the halflife experience. Episode 2 was a wee bit harder than episode 1 :) about 4+ hours each give or take. Halfway through Call of Juarez Gunslinger, picked up the original call of juarez and bound in blood in the summer sale.
Put the finishing touches on Call of Juarez Gunslinger.
I enjoyed it,quality game . i'm sucker for a good western.
Nice on rails FPS with an excellent complimentary soundtrack and audio story telling, real good voice work. Good gun play and useful perks to choose from. The pacing was great, the game didn't drag along. Took me about 11 hours to finish. Budd gives it a O0
Finished Chronicles of Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay
An average on rails FPS/Stealth game that doesn't quite live up to it's ambitions. I almost put the game down because of the loose,floaty mouse controls that makes aiming harder than it has to be. the stealth doesn't always seem to work with enemies seeing you sometimes when your in the dark and a long ways away and there's some back tracking that gets annoying. the enemy AI is marginal at best, you can run past them and crouch in the dark and they will eventually forget about you. The game uses a check point save system but the checkpoints seem fairly placed.The game has a lot of the voices from the movies and does have some nice stealth moments/puzzles. The last 2 hours of game play kind of redeem the game because the pace picks up and no more back tracking. Took me about 10 hours to complete at an average pace.
And Warlock 2 has fallen! 191 Turns. Defeated the other Great Mages on Normal.
budd....you're on a game-finishing roll...I'm jealous, it's been a while since I finished a game. Congrats.
Quote from: MetalDog on July 03, 2015, 10:05:36 PM
And Warlock 2 has fallen! 191 Turns. Defeated the other Great Mages on Normal.
Congrats MD!
Thank you, sir! Ever get any closer to some mp?
I finished the 4th battle of CMFI's Conrath's Counterattack campaign with a draw which was what I was playing for. To win you have to capture both objectives, one close, the other about 35 miles down the road full of American defenses. I took the close objective, hit what Americans I could and preserved my forces. The Americans suffered 28 causalities including 11 KIA and 1 AT gun. My losses were 5 wounded. Now it's on to battle 5 of the 6 mission campaign which branches according to the choices you make. We're taking our shorts with us so we can take a dip in the Med after the fighting is done.
Quote from: MetalDog on July 03, 2015, 10:05:36 PM
And Warlock 2 has fallen! 191 Turns. Defeated the other Great Mages on Normal.
191 turns, now that is commitment. I don't think i've ever got to the end of a 4x game. Not civ 1,2,3,4,5, warlock 1[own it, haven't played it yet], AOW ect. Love to start them and get to late game but the end game maintenance usually does me in. Congrats on getting to the finishing line.
If it's a foregone conclusion that I will lose, I will surrender/give up/not go back to the game. I'll start another one. But, I find that when the plan is a winner, and you're rolling, it's a good feeling to rack up the score and go for the kill. I really won by accident. I was playing the campaign and I was under the impression I had to get to the final world and defeat the SupeMage or whatever. The best way to do it was to take out my rivals so I could concentrate force and resource on the goal. When I took the Dragon Queen's capital, I immediately won. So, an abrupt end to what I thought still held some more turns.
Quote from: Rayfer on July 04, 2015, 07:36:54 AM
budd....you're on a game-finishing roll...I'm jealous, it's been a while since I finished a game. Congrats.
Well i was starting to feel stupid. Buying more games with all the games that haven't been played or installed yet. speaking of buying games, i bought "This war of mine" yesterday at Humble at 60% off. somehow it makes me feel less stupid for buying more games when i actually finish some ;) Games want to be finished they told me so :idiot2:
Not sure which one i'll go into next, there are several i have already started and are into a good portion of the way. Dead space, Doom 3, shadow warrior, ect. Thank god for steam cloud, reinstall the game and your save is right there. I'm leaning toward going back to shoot Alma in the face with a shotgun or continuing on and finishing assault on dark athena to cap off the riddick series.It has the benefit of already being installed and i did enjoy the last 2 hours of the first a lot.
Finished Batman: Arkham Knight last night. My spoilery impressions as I go can be found here on JudgeDredd's thread for the PC game at Grogheads (http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=14007.0).
Overall, a fine if somewhat schizophrenic end to the series, suffers from optimization (so far) in the port to PC from apparently the PS4 version, too many writers tend to conflict each other a bit -- and the Riddler portions have been only marginally improved in design, with a lot of the needlessly annoying characteristics of the previous entries still in play.
But averaging out the whiffles, I'm not disappointed. Gameplay is still what it has always been, with further interesting refinements, especially the Batmobile which I admit I entered the game being more than a little sceptical of, especially after ArkOrigins: why would Batman even want, much less need, a Batmobile when he has the Batwing? The game doesn't really answer that question, but it sure answers why he might want a Bat-tank-mobile! :smitten: The Batmobile is a clear winner, and almost becomes its own character, faithfully following Batman around like a pet and growling when it settles in for rest. Good bad Batdog.
The main plot misses a few opportunities (as do some of the side plots), and introduces a main plot factor out of plot-nowhere which, given its importance, can't help but feel noticeably absent from the other games in the putative "trilogy" -- which is ironic, since Origins, a game which has been routinely disavowed by publicist marketing, is not only well-represented in the plot, but is the only game of the four (or five, counting the handheld sequel to Origins Blackgate, which really doesn't get any mention in Knight) where a lack of this plot factor makes any sense by its absence.
That being said, the writers go for a suitably apocalyptic all-out attack on Batman for the final game of the series, and provide a reasonably good ending. I recommend either getting it on a current-gen console, or waiting for Rocksteady to improve game performance on PC; but after extensive testing (on an admittedly high-end hardware system) I can say that even with all the gfx turned off or minimized, the game looks sufficiently stunning, assuming resolution is turned up past 720p. (On the other hand, there were still some stutters and even in the late game a couple of outright crashes. So caveat emptor, ymmv.)
Haven't had much luck on the last 2 games. Riddick assault on dark Athena didn't play well with my system no matter what i did, so had to put that one down after an 1 1/2 hours. Installed and got 5 hours into "Hard Reset" apparently the same guys who did the new Shadow Warrior. I'm done with it, not to say i finished it, i'm just done with it. Here's the game in a nutshell. Go to an area, lock you in and you cant advance until everything is dead rinse and repeat. the different types of enemies is limited, the boss fights are ok, the environments are all similar, and there's a bit of backtracking. Go here, turn power on, go here turn power off, kill everything, advance to the next area. The game does have a nice upgradable shotgun ;D . The game play pattern is pretty old school in the quake, doom kinda way, but it just got to be a grind.....so I'm moving on.
Just finished Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition. Took a long time, kind of burned out on it so I'm not going to tackle the Heart of Winter add-on. I know Baldurs Gate 2 is considered the superior RPG experience but I liked Icewind Dale more for two reasons....first, you got to create all six characters rather than just one. And second, in BG:2 the characters I met to add to my party were always dual-class, which I don't like to play. It seemed everyone of them was a either fighter/thief, cleric/mage, mage/thief or some other combo...jack of all classes, master of none. Oh well, just re-downloaded Operational Art of War with the new patch...time for some hardcore wargaming.
How many hours you figure IWD took. I also reinstalled TOAW when i heard about the patch, so might jump into some wargaming. I am almost halfway through a play thru of "this war of mine" so will probably finish that up.
Congrats on the win Rayfer. Icewind Dale was one of my favorite games too for just the same reason you mentioned-- you get to create an entire party to your liking. For me, it was the same group I had played the Gold Box series through to see how they held-up. Great times!
Quote from: -budd- on July 08, 2015, 08:32:26 PM
How many hours you figure IWD took. I also reinstalled TOAW when i heard about the patch, so might jump into some wargaming. I am almost halfway through a play thru of "this war of mine" so will probably finish that up.
I would guess about 60 hours....Steam says I played 32 hours but I had played about half of the way through, stopped and deleted the game. When I reinstalled the game it was on a new computer so nothing carried over. Luckily, I had saved my progress from the old computer and started up again where I left off....and that took me 32 hours.
(https://slimgur.com/images/2015/07/10/28e420023bd2112e444e09255af0750d.jpg)
Finally finished something! My first full game of Civ 5. My next game will be with the Gods and Kings expansion.
good skills - nice one O0
Cheers Geek!
I hear a cultural win is the hardest to get
Congrats Huw. That's the way to show that fancy little game who's THE MAN.
Haha, thanks! First time I've ever won non-militarily in a game like this, too. Probably quicker than conquering everyone as well. Next game I shall bump the difficulty up and be the Celts.
HA I just finished Witcher 2.....
Did the Roche Path (only finished very few RPG games Witcher 1 being one of them). Amazingly enough i am not witcherd out I am downloading Witcher 3 as I type
Con
Congrats Con....! I finished 1, I own but couldn't get into 2 for some reason. Good luck with 3.
I wish I could get into 1. I tried again recently but just couldn't.
For me, I need the title to be "Ha! I didn't finish it!" I am working on Batman: Arkham Knight, Witcher 3, and I still haven't beat a round of Endless Legend (excellent game, btw) or Fallen Enchantress.
I did recently get victory in a protracted Age of Wonders 3 campaign. I felt like I had climbed a mountain, given how much effort it was. I actually won by the conquest victory (killing off the other wizards and taking their capitals), which surprised me because it was easier than the "timer-based" ascension style victory.
I also remember how happy I was when I finished my first Distant Worlds game! Which reminds me, I should boot that up again.
Not that you need to read from the beginning, but, finished encompasses done, no matter how. You lost. You gave up. Or, in your case, climbed the mountain top for victory. By the by, any time you want some AoW 3 mp, let me know. Been trying to get some up for a while now.
Well I finished a play through of "this war of mine" not to say i survived until the end......nope...34 days. I read that the end comes around 45 days. Started with 3, went to 4 briefly then one got killed while looking for supplies. Killed about 8 people in the 34 days....wow that seems like a lot...to be fair only 2 were outright murder :knuppel2:, we needed those supplies bad. Not mention turning away the children looking for food or the guy wanting medicine for his sick father. To balance that out i killed a sniper, set free a hostage, help some people board up there shelter against bandits and gave some kids some medicine for their sick mom. Picked up another survivor to get back to 4. lets see, one died from his wounds received when attacked looking for supplies, one ran out in the middle of the night with a lot of supplies never to be seen again. The last 2 got all stressed out got into a fight and wounded each other. The women of the last 2 decided to slit her wrists when she got too overwhelmed and was starving and the last dude decided to hang himself on the first day of spring.
At the end there were a few things working against me game wise. Once they reach broken status they won't do anything. The lady was broken and starving and the food was 2ft. away and she wouldn't get it and you cant ge anyone to feed the person, so she slit her wrists. The last guy got to broken status and since there was no one to talk him down, hung himself. the lesson is don't let them get to broken status, which i think is right after severely depressed. also came across a bug which led to the guy dying from his wounds. I had all the ingredients for bandages but for some reason it wouldn't see that i had the alcohol. Also i couldn't figure out how to melt the snow for water, you can gather the snow but i had no idea how to melt it.
I enjoy the game, i can see me trying again with what i've learned. Its nice that you can pick really different game styles. You can outright try to murder every one if you want or try to help everyone or anything in between. I hear workshop is coming up for this title. That should expand the game a great deal. It does what is does really well. If it's your type of game i'd recommend it O0
Congrats budd....I don't know anything about the game but finishing any game is this age of endless cheap game sales that keep piling up unplayed is worthy of accolades.
Ha Finished it - Baldurs Gate 2 Enhanced Edition for the iPad. My job has been keeping me travelling a lot and somewhere over central Wisconsin I finally managed to take down Sarevok lost all my party but my main guy.
I promised myself I wouldnt get KOTR for the iPad (rated as one of the best RPG games for tablets) until I finished Baldurs Gate so my RPG'ng continues at a frenzied rate. At this pace it will be like reliving my wasted youth :)
Con
Con....well done! I've started a BG2:EE game twice now but have never finished. Something in a sale comes along and takes its place.
Yeah, +1 to the congrats, Con. I never finished either BG1 or BG2. I have BG1 on Steam and keep wanting to go back and start again, but I want to gut Imoen every time I hear her say "Heya! It's me, Imoen!" :buck2:
Yeah, but she could throw a mean Fireball. Or maybe that was in the second game. Anyway Congrats Con. BG Was one game that held my interest right to the end. And if you think you've seen the last of Sarevok, play the Throne of Baal add-on and you might run into him again. "Who wants some"?
She's a thief in BG1, I thought. I never played it far enough to recall if there was an option to dual-class her or not. All I remember is she was a pathetic figure that often got killed.
She gets better in BG2 then. Though is still annoying at times.
Welp, only six years or so late, but I finally finished COD: Modern Warfare 2.
Now I just need to wait on MW3 to go on sale. $40 for a 4+ year-old game...pfft. Maybe I'll finish that one by 2020.
Finally scored a victory (minor, but a victory none the less) in the First Contact 2016 scenario in Command:MANO. This is a tough game to learn but rewarding once the many elements begin to click. I still have a long way to go.
congrats to all the finishers. Remember games are meant to be finished, not languish in our ques. Now go out and reward yourselves and buy a new game :2funny: something you want is on sale somewhere waiting for you.
I currently have a game deficit...I buy more games than I actually finish. :buck2:
Well i finally beat the 5th night in 5 nights at freddys. I picked up part 2 for my tablet so i decided to go back and finish part 1 that i own on steam. Thank god for cloud saves, i didn't have to start over. I had got so frustrated with night 5 that I rage quit and uninstalled it :-[.Now i can call it done. I'm up to night 3 on part 2, no rage yet ;D
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^ There's a Part 3 and a Part 4 to work on too, Budd. ;)
Me, FNAF has no appeal - not much replayability. I watched a few YouTube Let's Plays and pretty much got the gist of the jump scares and creepy Chuck E Cheese rejects.
For $3 I really don't expect much replay value. The gameplay is different and I find them to be a nice change of pace.I don't know if ill get to part 4, although I like the switch to audio clues from visual in part 4. The Jump scares only work once or twice then it's just surprise, there is a bit of tension in the gameplay when your waiting for the clock to roll to 6, that will make you say words your children shouldn't hear when you don't make it. I like that aspect of the game. It also brings me back to an aspect of gaming I don't get from many games these days that feeling of me vs. The game, " f**k you game,your not going to get the best of me. Don't know why, it just does.
I didn't know the game ended with that weak-a$$ check, hahahahahaha. That's pretty good. And "see you next week..." :buck2:
Lost another one. At least this time I was on the road to having Tier III and IV units before they smoked me.
Finished my first campaign of Invisible Inc! Did it on the Beginner setting (modified - three rewinds instead of five, and no sight cone warnings). Took two tries because on the first try I made the mistake of allowing a level 8 guard recover. I didn't realize that his firewall would reboot after he recovered (I hacked it down to a manageable level 3). When he did recover, I didn't have the power to hack it again, and he basically went on a killing spree. LOL! The second try was almost flawless, though. The layout was much more conducive to a victory as the server and mainframe were adjoining each other rather than on opposite sides of the map as in the first run-through. And I didn't make the mistake of letting that level 8 guard up again after I stunned him. :)
I am glad to hear that Klei has decided to expand the first DLC so that it will continue the story because the campaign end was much too abrupt and not entirely clear as to why the AI did what she did. The campaign definitely needs some clarity and more story missions!
Now I am off on my first standard run-through with two new agents and two new starting programs. Time to swipe some stuff! :knuppel2: I love these turn-based cyberpunk games like Invisible Inc., Frozen Synapse and Shadowrun. We need much more. :)
Quote from: MetalDog on August 02, 2015, 11:36:24 AM
Lost another one. At least this time I was on the road to having Tier III and IV units before they smoked me.
:( What difficulty level were you playing at?
Whatever Medium is. I am not researching the spells to get to the Tier III and IV units fast enough. I get involved in other things and think I have time until the AI declares on me and I realize I am toast.
Quote from: RooksBailey on August 11, 2015, 02:21:43 AM
Now I am off on my first standard run-through with two new agents and two new starting programs. Time to swipe some stuff! :knuppel2: I love these turn-based cyberpunk games like Invisible Inc., Frozen Synapse and Shadowrun. We need much more. :)
Satellite Reign is shaping up nicely - from the very little I've played its looking good.
And have you tried
Transistor yet?
Anybody tried Pox Nora yet?
Quote from: spelk on August 11, 2015, 06:19:41 AM
Satellite Reign is shaping up nicely - from the very little I've played its looking good.
I've been keeping track of that one. It looks very good. I am glad to hear you think it is shaping up well. Any idea when it is going to leave early access?
QuoteAnd have you tried Transistor yet?
Yup! Purchased it last year and played it for an hour or so. VERY stylish game that I also liked. For some reason it has just been gathering dust in my library. I need to get back to it.
I have Transistor also, but can't run it. :(
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on August 12, 2015, 08:29:08 AM
I have Transistor also, but can't run it. :(
How come? It isn't a demanding game. What problem did you encounter?
Steam won't run it; it keeps saying "Failed to launch program." I tried the usual fixes, like clearing out that cache folder in the Steam program folder, rebooting, and trying again, but no dice.
Decisive Campaigns' 1st Pz. Army Campaign finished..... with a loss on battle 3 of 4. I got Grozny but couldn't get to the last objective in time. This game always brings me up 1 turn short of victory or hits me with a bad weather turn when I need just one turn of good weather to win. >:( So I took my frustration out on the Welsh in M2TW's Britainna Campaign.
Quote from: bob48 on August 11, 2015, 06:22:47 AM
Anybody tried Pox Nora yet?
I tried it a number of years back. Didn't do too well as I recall. Leveling up cards just makes them more expensive and time consuming to recruit. I quickly reached a point that I couldn't get past no matter what I tried. Not much for masochism, I moved on to other games.
Quote from: Sir Slash on August 17, 2015, 09:57:23 PM
Decisive Campaigns' 1st Pz. Army Campaign finished..... with a loss on battle 3 of 4. I got Grozny but couldn't get to the last objective in time. This game always brings me up 1 turn short of victory or hits me with a bad weather turn when I need just one turn of good weather to win. >:( So I took my frustration out on the Welsh in M2TW's Britainna Campaign.
Congrats....just finishing a campaign in a DC game is an accomplishment; win or lose. Well done!
Thank you Rayfer. I saved my battle 3 set-up so I may go back and give it another try. Next I want to do Case Blue Short and see if I do better.
Finished Age of Wonders 3 - easiest setting playing a Warlord on a medium map. It is really easy to get your heroes killed off if you are not careful.
I kept restarting. Extra large and Large maps are massive. Medium would be a "large" map for many 4x games.
I finally finished Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising! Gee, that only took...years and years. LOL! Typical me. I am awful when it comes to finishing campaigns (I guess this is why I like sandbox games with no defined campaigns). And like all my campaign games, this one I abandoned right in the middle. LOL! Well, I got tired of looking at it in my Steam library and decided to finish it once and for all. And I did. Yay me.
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Chaos corruption never was an issue for me as I am loyal to the Undying Emperor. O:-) However, I did use two pieces of tainted weaponry for an extra edge in the end, but I counter-acted the taint with a suitable blessing.
Overall, I still stick by my initial opinion than DoW 2 is inferior to DoW 1 when it comes to the battles. Despite Relics intent to give the game a more tabletop feel by making the battles smaller and more terrain-dependent, in reality I found most of the battles to still involve blob warfare without regard for terrain as with DoW 1, but on a smaller scale. Really, the only thing that truly saved DoW 2 from being a totally inferior experience was the loot system. This is the one contribution that was worthwhile to the franchise. I have to say that Relic did a superb job adding tons of loot, each with a detailed description/lore of the weapon/armor/blessing that was perfectly in keeping with the 40K universe. Finding and equipping this stuff really made the game feel very much like a traditional RPG even if the battles were not as much fun as the original. And the possibility of being corrupted by tainted weapons in Chaos Rising was a nice touch! Added a bit more complexity to the loot system.
Between DoW 2 and Chaos Rising, I got something like 47 hours of game time. Subtract maybe ten for a handful of skirmish games, so that leaves around 37 hours between both campaigns. Not bad at all content-wise!
Now I am off to DoW 2: Retribution. Yeah, I know: I will abandon the campaign halfway through again. But I am curious to see what changes Relic made as they did say that Retribution was their attempt to make DoW 2 more like the original with bigger battles. I will say that I was surprised to see over 700 people online playing Retribution last night! I had no idea it was still so popular!
Another realization occurred to me: With Retribution, Dawn of War might be my most played franchise ever. I played and completed all that DoW titles up to Retribution. I think that is a singular honor! And I have to say it is kinda neat that the franchise has never deviated from its Blood Ravens focus. It is satisfying to play a DoW title and come across the same characters again and again. When I booted up Retribution last night, I immediately chose the SM again even though I really would like to try the IG for a change. I just couldn't abandon my team of Space Marines after all we've been through! I need to see how this campaign affects them! :)
So...any word on Dawn of War 3?
only campaigns i've ever finished have been wargame campaigns. Well done..such tenacity. Usually i get to the middle than want to start over when i get back to the game just to get to the middle again :idiot2:
Quote from: -budd- on October 03, 2015, 07:03:45 PM
only campaigns i've ever finished have been wargame campaigns. Well done..such tenacity. Usually i get to the middle than want to start over when i get back to the game just to get to the middle again :idiot2:
That's exactly what I do, too! That is why I like sandbox games: it is much easier to start again after a long layoff. Lately, just in the name of finishing some of these games, I have forced myself to resume from my last save whether or not I remember what the heck is going on. :) Most of the time the stories in these games make no sense anyway, so what difference does it make. LOL!
Thanks!
Finished a game of CIV IV as Rome while on holidays in Rome....lost to the Phoenicians who launched a sneaky attack about 50 turns before the end of the game.
I, too, lost a Civ IV game yesterday. I was Bismarck of the Germans. I was playing on Monarch. Small map. My immediate neighbor, the Native Americans, lost two of their cities to me, including their capitol. That seemed to set them off and they immediately outdistanced me in Culture and Research, so, when they declared war 50 or so Turns later, they steamrolled me and I Retired.
Fun campaign, pretty tough or i just suck. The chinese farm was the last one, i went from minor victory to major defeat. Advancing up a long road, in the dark and in the fog with 2 visibility on a tight schedule. I made it to 3 VP's got held up at the fourth, there were six all together. I did let myself get held up defending some of my VP's when i should of kept pushing.
The other major defeat was attacking fixed positions along the suez canal. I pulled the plug with 3 turns remaining to preserve my force when i realized i just wasn't going to make it.
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Rooks, I think you'll really appreciate Retribution; it caps off the story that has been going off and on since the very first DOW1 campaign.
Also, you can go back and play the campaign from the perspective of any of the included teams, which is sometimes quite a hoot. (Or you can start that way, if for some reason you want the Eldar or the Orks or the Imps or the Nids or Chaos to finish out the story rather than the Blood Ravens. I don't recall any specific big revelations about the mysterious origin of the Ravens, unfortunately.)
Finally won my Horizon campaign by council election in turn....1002! :o
Can now focus on Grand Ages Medieval.... :D
Congrats, Anguille! That's some serious dedication there. 1002 turns?! WOW!
Quote from: MetalDog on October 11, 2015, 08:51:48 AM
Congrats, Anguille! That's some serious dedication there. 1002 turns?! WOW!
Thanks
Yes, good show young man. Lets show these damned machines what humans are made of and whip their butts at some more games.
I just beat Hexcells!
I'm quite pleased with myself because I generally suck at puzzle games and this one got bloody difficult toward the end! At one point I'd stared at the screen for about half an hour without clicking a thing. :)
impressive, I'm in the home stretch.
I just finished Witcher 3
It has...............................................................................consumed me!
Con
Just finished my Imperium Galactica 2 campaign (Human campaign). :D
Quote from: Anguille on November 02, 2015, 04:35:08 AM
Just finished my Imperium Galactica 2 campaign (Human campaign). :D
Great game and congrats on finishing your campaign. I never could beat this game even on easy difficulty. The AI would always come after me with a stack o' doom against my 'grand' fleet of 5 ships that took me several hours to construct. ;D
Quote from: W8taminute on November 02, 2015, 06:29:57 AM
Quote from: Anguille on November 02, 2015, 04:35:08 AM
Just finished my Imperium Galactica 2 campaign (Human campaign). :D
Great game and congrats on finishing your campaign. I never could beat this game even on easy difficulty. The AI would always come after me with a stack o' doom against my 'grand' fleet of 5 ships that took me several hours to construct. ;D
Thanks! 😀
Finished a fun game of Civ 5.
Playing on King, standard map, continents as the Polish.
My continent had the Ethiopians and Indians, who I was friendly with, and the Zulus, who I knew would be a problem. The Zulus quickly knocked the Ethiopians down to one city and then turned on me. We fought for centuries before I eventually overwhelmed them and took them out, restoring the Ethiopians to their empire and liberating a couple city-states.
By now, from the other continent, the Russians had double my points and a huge military. They launched a couple amphibious invasions which I was able to hold off. It was now the 21st century and the Russians and I were in a race for the spaceship, which I think I would have won, but to be sure, I had my missile cruiser hit Moscow with three nukes, and then dropped in my x-com squads to capture their capital. Good thing, because I forgot about the time limit and one turn after I did that the game ended. Taking Moscow had just barely put me ahead of the Russians to get the win.
Usually, it is essentially over pretty early since the AI doesn't manage it's troops too well, but I got off to a slow start and the terrain favored the Zulus which turned it into one of my most memorable games of Civ 5.
Sounds awesome! I haven't V'd it yet, but, I have Civ'd for countless hours and that sounds like a great win by you!
Finished up Fallout 1 for the first time last night! Can't even count how many times I had to reload...
Congrats! Two more to go before the new one ;)
Quote from: MetalDog on November 13, 2015, 11:38:29 AM
Congrats! Two more to go before the new one ;)
Luckily I've already played Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, so I just have Fallout 2 to go. It's substantially longer than 1 I think, so by the time I finish it, my kid should be finished with Fallout 4 so I can play ;-)
Quote from: smittyohio on November 13, 2015, 11:51:56 AM
Quote from: MetalDog on November 13, 2015, 11:38:29 AM
Congrats! Two more to go before the new one ;)
Luckily I've already played Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, so I just have Fallout 2 to go. It's substantially longer than 1 I think, so by the time I finish it, my kid should be finished with Fallout 4 so I can play ;-)
Same with me...finished 1, 3 and NV, but never finished 2. I found 2 to be substantially more difficult than 1. Looking forward to playing 4 when funds allow.
Finished and won a Civ 5 campaign as the Babylonians....392 turns! Did it with a military/war victory. Some really cool late-game units like stealth bombers, giant mech-warriors, rocket artillery, etc.
Giant Death Robot. O0
Usually by that stage in the game, my enemies are toast already. GDR is kind of overkill. I like dropping nukes too, just because I can.
Finally finished the main story campaign for Risen 3. I enjoyed the game overall but, as usual, found the grind up to the final boss fight to be too drawn out to be fun. Steam tells me it took me 47 hours. If you like the other Risen/Gothic games, this one's in the same mold. It's better voice acted and suffers from far fewer bugs than other titles in the series. I'd say the only issue apart from the end-game grind was the progression system. If you do most of the side quests, the game rewards you with enough XP to max out most stats so specialization becomes irrelevant for the final 3rd of the game. The first third is by far the toughest and specialization does matter then because you're pathetically weak and the various baddies have set stats and don't scale to match your abilities.
congrats.
I put 12 hours into Risen 1 so far and it started to feel grindy. I do like the combat, its no cake walk at the start. I have 2 but haven't even installed it.Not even thinking about 3 until i can commit to the first 2. If i start to feel the grind i just stick to the main story line.
How many hours to finish Risen 1 if you remember?
I don't even remember how good Risen 1 was. I played it for 2 hours (according to Steam) before uninstalling it.
I don't remember how long Risen took to be honest. I just recall that the maps in Risen seemed a lot more compact compared to what I'd just come out of in Gothic III so it seemed to go by rather quickly. Steam says Risen 2 took me 39 hours, including the DLC stuff.
Risen 2 and 3 kind of ditch the Risen/Gothic storyline and are set in a fantasy pirate world (although there is still some cross over with the mages and the druids).
Finished the campaign for Amazing Spider-man 2 last night -- thought I'd be able to finish it over Thanksgiving weekend, but there were some Decisive delays for other Campaigns that... okay, I can't figure out how to fit Barbarossa in my wit there, so moving on...
At first I didn't understand the level of hate this game has received; by the end I did, but not the degree of hate. There's nothing wrong with the game at all. Even the arguably worst design decision, forcing Spidey to scramble around doing side missions or be constantly harassed and playing at a penalty, must have seemed good on paper, and might have still worked had it been toned down a bit: after all, crimes don't sit around in perpetuity, eventually the crime 'happens'! The problem is the J Jonah Jameson effect, where if a crime expires then Spiderman's public image takes a hit. Had that hit been toned down a lot, the system could have worked for its purpose yet been less annoying. As it was, once this system plops into place in chapter 2, I realized I might as well forget actively trying to pick up the floating comic pages to collect and read some classic Spidey issues, or trying to get photo ops (which open up text sideplots that tease other things happening) but I eventually found a way to balance this game motivation with moving the main plot along: I would zip around doing maybe 8 side missions to max my reputation up (and max my suit benefits), and then rush madly across the city from main to main mission, occasionally stopping to do a side mission or two when a bunch of them expire all at once. :buck2:
Even now that the game is over, I can't leisurely swing around the city doing whatever I want, which means if the nieces want to play Spiderman they'll have to stick with Amazing1 (on the PS3), which is fine I guess, though the city looks a little better here.
Common gripe 2: the control system is broken, because now you have to swing with both hands and actually be near places you can web to. But in practice I found that doesn't matter much: in most places you can still easily swing with one hand (now left or right whichever you're more comfortable with), and the previous game already had instituted the rule that you've got to be within a certain height and/or near buildings to swing. So that really hadn't changed any. And people have been complaining about skyhook webbing since the sainted Spiderman 2 (the movie adaptation, not the previous Spiderman 2 from the same developers which few people remember), despite this also not actually being true in the previous sandbox Spidey game Web of Fear. (A truly epic game, by the way; but the real control problem there was fiddly webbing mechanics for web-zipping and wall running/crawling, not swinging. The devs have long since solved the web-zipping problem, and wall running. Still some problems getting Spidey to recognize he ought to stick to a wall now, but the devs did try to Gerry-rig a way around that in Amazing 2 by allowing the player to y-button onto a wall manually rather than wait for the computer code to decide.)
Common gripe 3: bugs in the game. I never ran into any. Not sure whether that's thanks to a lot of previous patching, or because the problem was rather poor code optimization and my system is beefy enough not to be bothered by that.
Common gripe 4: combat is too samey all game long. This I have to agree with, and the forced focus on side missions doesn't help. There are about five common enemies the whole game, two or three of which only unlock toward the end, and the only notable common enemies are actually expies of some of the bosses (or maybe vice versa, some of the bosses). The boss fights are almost uniformly uninspired and, by virtue of the problem I just mentioned, terrible for feeling like more of the same. Amazing 1 had great boss fights and much more mission variety in the main plotline. This was clearly a step backward. I suspect the common theory of the game being rushed to market for the Amazing 2 movie, is correct.
Common gripe 5: the story is too disconnected from the movie(s), and also from Am1 (which I thought was a great sequel to the first Amazing movie, rather better than the movie if anything), and doesn't stand up well on its own merits. Well, after the imaginative previous game I can understand the sentiment, but under the circumstances I thought technically the writers did a serviceable job providing a legitimate sequel to the previous game and also an alternate version of the movie's story. If anything, despite their minimal plot-time, I thought the Goblin and Electro characters were written (and for Harry Osborne even performed) somewhat better than in the movie. Gwen is completely missing (only mentioned in passing), which highlights the impression that the devs were working on their own sequel when forced to incorporate some chunks of movie plot, and yet quite a number of movie plot beats are integrated into a game that's more about Kingpin, Kraven, Carnage, and the Black Cat. (The Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, has a dreadful voice actor; the last time his character appeared in this series, back in Web of Fear, the mighty Kurgan / Lex Luthor himself, Clancy Brown, did the honors, so admittedly anyone would be a step down -- hell even Vincent D'onofrio in the live-action Netflix show was a step down from that! This makes the dreadful voice design and dodge performace stand out more by contrast, although I'll give whoever was trying it props for doing the best he could. It was decently written, too.) The Kraven side of the story was one of the best I've seen from that character, and definitely the best version of Kraven I've seen in a video-game so far. Heck, the writers even tied up a dangling plotline that the movie writers flat-out abandoned, and introduced the game's plot by virtue of finding Uncle Ben's killer! The Spider-wit was reasonably good, too, although hearing the same combat quips so often (sometimes activated during boss fights when they made little to no sense), started to quickly grate -- but to my surprise, the writers doled out new quips into the random rotation as the game went along, and I appreciated that.
Admittedly, despite the city sandbox gfx being noticeably better than Amazing 1, I'd still rank this lower than some earlier entries: Am1 and WebFear (despite its age) both vie for top place in my experience, with Shattered Dimensions landing a strong second place (for its mission design and story variety). But I went in with fairly low expectations, just wanting a reasonable story excuse for more Am1 gameplay, and I got enough of that to justify, for me, the still-pretty-steep Thanksgiving sale price. I'd recommend those other games first (probably in order of release: WebFear, Shattered, Am1), but I wouldn't dis-recommend this one.
I've finished two campaigns of Armada 2526 Supernova during my field trip to Cuba....
Both games were with the humans and the 12 races scenario:
- First game as number 2 (loss)
- Second game as number 1 (victory) with 2'303'819 points
Quote from: Anguille on December 02, 2015, 09:32:27 AM
I've finished two campaigns of Armada 2526 Supernova during my field trip to Cuba....
Both games were with the humans and the 12 races scenario:
- First game as number 2 (loss)
- Second game as number 1 (victory) with 2'303'819 points
Well done! It's a game I keep going back to from time to time. You got me thinking of doing it again.
Quote from: Anguille on December 02, 2015, 09:32:27 AM
- Second game as number 1 (victory) with 2'303'819 points
Do your commas have helium in them? ;)
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on December 02, 2015, 11:53:05 AM
Quote from: Anguille on December 02, 2015, 09:32:27 AM
- Second game as number 1 (victory) with 2'303'819 points
Do your commas have helium in them? ;)
Lol...it's way it's written in french....
I figured...I was just giving you a hard time. ;D
Quote from: Rayfer on December 02, 2015, 09:53:16 AM
Quote from: Anguille on December 02, 2015, 09:32:27 AM
I've finished two campaigns of Armada 2526 Supernova during my field trip to Cuba....
Both games were with the humans and the 12 races scenario:
- First game as number 2 (loss)
- Second game as number 1 (victory) with 2'303'819 points
Well done! It's a game I keep going back to from time to time. You got me thinking of doing it again.
It's a classic...so well done. It's an evergreen.
Ha I finally got my decisive victory as the Germans for the Elsborne Scenario in Command Ops 2.
This has been my white whale. I must have played this scenario either in parts or to conclusion over 20 times. Its a ball buster of a operation with many moving parts that require precise timing. I had to make it a bit easier for me by giving better supply and reinforcements to the Axis. I also reviewed a great CO2 player Daz's notes and strategies to see how he did. No two games are alike with too many variables so someone else's strategy may or may not work for you. Lastly I found out that the reason I was not getting a decisive victory was the different objectives for the Allies versus the Axis. I didn't take the village of Elsborne because it was not an objective for me and I was not going to throw away my troops lives (and give enemy additional points for destroying my troops) for no objective points. Turns out that I need to take the village to deny enough points to the US or there is no way to get better than a marginal victory. Only way to find that out was by playing as the US and reviewing the objectives carefully.
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Awesome, Con! I always love the feeling you get from victories like that.
Congrats Con on the big win. O0
And so, an epoch finally ends (maybe?) The final Arkham Knight DLC was released in time for Christmas, which will mark the final material for the series (unless someone other than Rocksteady picks up the baton, the obvious candidate being the team which developed Arkham: Origins and as it turns out did most of the work on Arkham Knight -- or so Rocksteady blamed for the bugginess. ::) But aside from the bugs endemic to both games, the team did fine on stories and in expanding the gameplay.)
Unlike previous DLC, these four entries are provided as side missions in the game itself -- essentially cutting out fan favorites to provide something extra to sell later. :tickedoff: But whatever.
I shall rate them objectively, in ascending order, according to how I objectively felt about them. ;D
1.) Killer Croc: it was great to finally have an actual fight with Croc in a more mutated form! The first and second games (in production order) teased this fruitlessly, Croc's mission in the original Arkham Asylum being instead arguably the most annoying low point of the whole game. In City he shows up for a brief cameo if you're lucky -- I think I played the first time without seeing him at all -- just to say, entirely out of character, "I don't have to fight you because you're going to die anyway, cya," or words to that effect. Origins starts with him as the first boss, but he isn't fully Croc yet, so it's more of a clear match. This game not only provides a match against a fully mutated Croc (with Nightwing's help), but explains why his mutation continues to get worse. Which I won't spoil, but if it isn't comics-canon yet it ought to be. Also, the "Iron Heights" superprison in Bludhaven (Nightwing's haunt) is given a brilliantly literal interpretation quite fitting for this series' style.
The downside is that Croc's fight is kept to the end of a mission that barely features him at all (instead of an epic battle of inventive wits against his various powers) fully half of which involves rescuing some guards not even in the 'mission area' anymore, and one of them has nothing to do because it's too late to rescue him. Also Croc is given a fairly shallow story (though the writers do what they can with it in his characterization), that even with its lack of depth hints at things apparently coming which don't show up at all. Maybe that's a setup for something to do in a sequel when-if-ever.
Any of the missions can be chosen to start in any order once they unlock -- I don't know when they unlock during a normal playthrough, as I had already beaten the game, although the captured foes are given their own post-ending dialogues which are clearly separate from their usual ending dialogue options, and which seem clearly to 'trigger' like the others if the game is already 'over'. (I won't spoil details on this just in case.) But anyway, I chose the Croc mission first because I wanted to save the last two for last, and as it happens 'leaving' the Croc mission segues directly into an opportunity to start:
2.) The Mad Hatter: He's still looking for someone to be his "Alice", and this story sort-of completes an arc that developed schizophrenically out of order in game production (fittingly enough) where he has chosen Batman to be his new and bestest "Alice". Which plans involve dressing him up and giving him a wig. Which given the psycho-sexual mind-raping theme of the villain (hit quite hard in the third game, the first in continuity, Origins), amps up the threat to even ickier levels.
The plot this goal is aiming for, however, doesn't seem to fit the claimed end-result, which makes me wonder if there were multiple writers on this little side mission and if they were on quite the same page. It's a clever enough plot I won't spoil its details, but it involves Tetch voluntarily surrendering to police custody in an attempt to get Batman to kill a police officer; and it adds a further bit of functionality to the twin-stick hacking device Batman has been using since the first produced game. Also, the finale trades on the gonzo dream imagery familiar from previous Scarecrow or Hatter missions (in Asylum and Origins respectively -- filled by the Ra's mission in City, and not as well), but not in nearly such epic fashions (even compared to the Ra's entry). That's my main complaint about the mission, and that it doesn't feature even as much of a resolution as the Croc one. (Spoiler: Batman powers through and punches Tetch again.) Still, the writing was much better that with the Croc mission, and the gameplay a little more varied. And those pop-up book sets with the attendant artwork, man that was great!
I could have gone with either of the next two next, but I chose:
3.) Mister Freeze: surprisingly, this turned out to be a mission based entirely on various kinds of fights against the Arkham Knight's militia -- except without comments from either the Knight or his out-of-nowhere replacement, whom I won't spoil in case. Which to be fair made sense, since this was post-game during the cleanup before the big finale. I couldn't help but wonder if either or both of them had special dialogue for this mission that I was missing by being post-game. Certainly, when I was going into a Freeze mission, I wasn't expecting to fight in two predator stalks, a brawl, and a tank battle against the occupying militia! The basic plot's as thin as ice, too (groan): the bad guys (Scarecrow et al) have kidnapped Nora to try to blackmail Freeze into helping them fight Batman.
So why am I rating this next to best? To explain why, I'd have to spoil how the story turns out. Which I don't want to ruin, although I'll say it involves Freeze finally teaming up with Batman to save the city (and Nora). This is the side story with the most closure out of the four.
Moreso actually than the one I'm rating highest:
4.) Ra's Al Ghul: I trust I'm not spoiling things with this since HE'S PROMINENTLY FEATURED IN THE ART AND DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE DLC! ::) But this mission ties up what happened to him and his body after the end of City. As expected, his followers Lazarus'd him. (Although I can't recall why he would have such a headwound, from what I remember.) Unexpectedly, they didn't Lazarus up his daughter Talia, which I was fully expecting, but I don't want to ruin the continuity squee for who's leading the civil war rebellion among the League over not... well, I don't want to spoil too much. This mission had generally the best fights of the four, and also the most extensive use of gadgets to progress. It also features a truly twisting moral dilemma at the climax -- which reminds me that I want to check Youtube soon for videos showing the other possible ending. My one complaint is that its ending (or the one I chose anyway!) doesn't have as solid a closure as Freeze's story, but then again it could be setting up sequel material for when-if-ever.
So you finished the game?
I've beat the main game twice (once on the harder New Game +, just to see if it changed much of anything -- aside from the opening cinematic, it didn't); and all the DLC missions now.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. First game I've finished in years. Absolutely fantastic campaign experience.
Followed the thread about it. I saw how much you really liked it. Are you going to jump in and MP now?
Quote from: MetalDog on January 29, 2016, 11:11:47 PM
Followed the thread about it. I saw how much you really liked it. Are you going to jump in and MP now?
Only if someone around here has it and wants to play. I plan on jumping into the Homeworld Remastered campaigns now.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 29, 2016, 10:36:09 PM
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. First game I've finished in years. Absolutely fantastic campaign experience.
excellent! congrats
Finishing anything in this day of super-sales and quickly jumping from one game to the next to the next without finishing any of them is a fete worthy of congratulations!
Congrats JH on the win. How long has CMBN been out? I think I've actually finished- one- campaign.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 29, 2016, 10:36:09 PM
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. First game I've finished in years. Absolutely fantastic campaign experience.
Lalalalalalanotlistening!
I actually enjoyed the Deserts of Kharak campaign more than I am enjoying the original Homeworld games. Not sure if its the pacing, the beautiful desert terrain, a preference for land combat, etc. or what, but I definitely find myself wanting to go back planetside and skip a replay of the original games.
On a rather different note -- it isn't a game, but considering the time involved I feel like saying HA!
Yesterday I at long last finished watching all the Doctor Who serials up through the death of the Third Doctor. (Um, spoilers for a series older than most of us by a few decades.) By the time I started watching relatively-adult shows, the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) had been running a year or two, so with our local PBS station repeating his material occasionally I was able to watch all his serials.
As with many of us, the 4th was my Doctor; so much so that I didn't care for 5 when he arrived (although he has many fans and, so I've heard, many good eps), and I didn't care much for the occasional 3 story that got repeated. What never occurred to me until recently, was that I somehow knew the Daleks and Cybermen and the Master were his biggest enemies, but Four's superlong run is astonishingly light on stories that feature any of them! These were all major foes for One, Two, and Three respectively. (And Three's writers hated the Cybers, so he didn't get any such stories, only a quick cameo by a Cyber head.) I think the Sontarans get exactly one short two-ep story. No Silurians; no Ice Warriors; no Great Intelligence and his Snowmen; really none of the classic monsters. I'm not sure any of the new monsters introduced for Four ever got repeats during the classic period either. (Though some like the Zygones have returned in NuWho stories.)
Anyway, a few years ago I decided I ought to supplement my memory and appreciation of Four's stories by collecting and watching all the previous ones, especially since they have most of the classic enemies oddly missing during Four's run.
This took a while. But between having no life (and no wife, but I repeat myself), and the Loose Cannon reconstructions of still-missing eps and stories, I finally finished all the way out through "Planet of the Spiders", in the year I turned four.
Do I feel proud of this achievement? Does it make me happy? .... um.... I honestly don't know. But it's a thing, and I have done it, and at worst I have ideas on how to trim the often decompressed and slowish stories into 'modern' edits (with heavier proportional emphasis on the Doctor and the guest monsters) for my nieces someday.
Now, to finish the final 1/3 of the episodes for Legend of the Galactic Heroes! :D
Finished my first campaign with the Kra'hen in Imperium Galactica II....ended up with a major defeat..... :'(
Quote from: Anguille on February 05, 2016, 09:22:21 AM
Finished my first campaign with the Kra'hen in Imperium Galactica II....ended up with a major defeat..... :'(
I believe this may be the first time I've said both "congratulations" and "condolences" in the same sentence. ???
I finished Life is Strange.
Firstly, this is not my usual choice of game and I bought it in the STEAM sale and because of reading rave reviews. Down to the nitty-gritty – it's a realistic third-person teen girl adventure. Part mystery, part fantasy with some dark choices and problems to solve. It has strong themes, violence and language. I found it completely immersive and, I dare to say, something of a gaming masterpiece. The Butterfly Effect and consequences of altering time lines is a key foundation of the background of this game.
It's also currently in the lunar sale and there's a demo. It won't be everyone's thing but I found this to be one of the better examples of being pleasantly surprised by going outside my normal preferred games of choice.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/319630/
Quote from: Ian C on February 06, 2016, 09:20:10 AM
I finished Life is Strange.
Firstly, this is not my usual choice of game and I bought it in the STEAM sale and because of reading rave reviews. Down to the nitty-gritty – it's a realistic third-person teen girl adventure. Part mystery, part fantasy with some dark choices and problems to solve. It has strong themes, violence and language. I found it completely immersive and, I dare to say, something of a gaming masterpiece. The Butterfly Effect and consequences of altering time lines is a key foundation of the background of this game.
It's also currently in the lunar sale and there's a demo. It won't be everyone's thing but I found this to be one of the better examples of being pleasantly surprised by going outside my normal preferred games of choice.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/319630/
I was tempted back during the holiday sales.....you got me thinking about it again. Thanks.
I own Life is Strange, too. I played through the first chapter, I think, before I uninstalled it. Not because I don't like it...it stayed on my HD for a while but I just never got back to it. I would like to eventually, though I still have Tales from the Borderland and Game of Thrones to play through, in that vein, too...
Quote from: Martok on February 06, 2016, 02:14:41 AM
Quote from: Anguille on February 05, 2016, 09:22:21 AM
Finished my first campaign with the Kra'hen in Imperium Galactica II....ended up with a major defeat..... :'(
I believe this may be the first time I've said both "congratulations" and "condolences" in the same sentence. ???
Lol...thanks...it's been an interesting experience!
Took a break from 7 days to Die and Panzer Battles Normandy and decided to find an adventure game to play. I picked up The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Great little title with great visuals and wonderfully appropriate soundtrack. Its kind of a Supernatural/ Murder mystery that doesn't go where you think its leading and has novel kind of investigative little system. It's a game that doesn't hold your hand and states that at the start of the game, I finished in about 4:45 minutes. It's on sale now and you get the original and the redux which was redone in the unreal 4 engine, again great visuals, i'll post a few screens in the screenshot thread. Sometimes its nice to play something short that has a beginning , a middle and an end.I highly recommend the game. A few informational tidbits, i had to remap my controls every time i started but with the game being so short and the fact that there is not that many keys in use don't make this a huge deal.. Also the game only saves after events in the game, again not a big deal. It's worth the price of admission.
It must be finish the short games on my games list week. I loaded up deadlight and after about 10 minutes quit and uninstalled. Can't say whether the game is good or bad but it wasnt made for keyboard and mouse, probably a bit better with game pad. Too frustrating...done. So i moved on to Alan Wake American Nightmare......3 hours to finish.....i'd like that time back....that tells you how much i liked the game. I got to a point to finish just for finishing's sake. I guess someone thought running over the exact same ground 3 times in a row to finish the game was a good idea. Combat was basically like Alan Wake [which i liked] but easier. The best thing about it was the alter ego TV cut scenes, but they did tend to drag. I didn't dig the whole Rod Serling Twight Zone ripoff presentation. This seemed like a hastily thrown together money grab,avoid this game, there are better ways to spend your time.
Just completed an Horizon campaign winning the Kor'tahz victory for the first time...there was a really nice movie at the end!
Congratulations Anguille!
Quote from: Martok on February 20, 2016, 05:02:07 AM
Congratulations Anguille!
Thanks! I really managed a good game...i was never under pressure.
I beat DC Case Blue- the German Short Campaign with a Major Vic. (431 VP's). I can't tell you how much I've wanted this one after the game Bitch-Slapped me plenty in the smaller campaigns. Suck-on-that Stalin. :D
Quote from: Sir Slash on February 29, 2016, 12:37:14 PM
I beat DC Case Blue- the German Short Campaign with a Major Vic. (431 VP's). I can't tell you how much I've wanted this one after the game Bitch-Slapped me plenty in the smaller campaigns. Suck-on-that Stalin. :D
Well done!
I started playing DC Barbarossa over the weekend. There are definitely some aspects from Case Blue that I miss, especially the scale -- I love how in Case Blue, regiments are the standard maneuver unit, and Corps are the 'spearhead' -- in DC3, the divisional scale and complete elimination of the Corps-level in the OOB bothers me -- it feels like a step backward, making for less interesting and less nuanced tactical decision-making.
Call of Duty:Black Ops 3 Multiplayer
I played about 2 hours during the free weekend...and I feel I'll never need to play it again.
Not the type of 'finish' I envisioned when I started the thread, but, appropriate.
Thanks Sandman. I completely agree with you about the scale of Case Blue vs DC III. I just love pushing Panzer Regts' across that lovely Russian landscape. Maybe next I'll try the Russian Campaign.
I just completed the "Taifun" scenario in Unity of Command: Black Turn with a Decisive Victory! Moscow fell in 14 turns.
Most of the campaign (my first), I've been restarting scenarios after 3-4 turns to keep my Prestige score high and get a feel for what to do, but in the last 2 or 3 scenarios, the light bulb is finally coming on and I managed Taifun without any restarts! I'm quite proud of that...
This campaign is my first serious foray into Unity of Command and I'm very impressed by it. It takes mechanics that are only a little deeper than Panzer General and turns them into one of the deepest strategy games I've ever played!
Quote from: MetalDog on February 29, 2016, 10:15:07 PM
Not the type of 'finish' I envisioned when I started the thread, but, appropriate.
Yeah well shooters are pretty much the only game type that I can throw down my controller and say I'm done. I'll still load up the likes of MOO 1, MOO 2, MOM, the original colonization, etc.
Even rpgs I'll go back to.
Congrats on the win Sooner. I've heard nothing but praise about UoC and that it's got a hell-of-a-smart AI to beat. What say you?
I just finished Rise of the Tomb Raider. Enjoyed it quite a bit. I even spent a bunch of time doing all the challenges and finding all the artifacts and hidden goodies. Ended up with a 97% completion rating.
I felt the story started out a bit poorly but it picked up as the game progressed. I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series.
No doubt the next installment will be Dawn of the Tomb Raider. ::)
I finished my Empyrion campaign last night (and the AAR also).
For something still listed as a pre-Alpha (at the time I'm writing this, with full Alpha soon on the way), it's an amazingly polished and fulfilling survival game. With a lot of quirks. Some of which I mock in the AAR, to be honest. But still, I think I bought it full price, and if so I don't regret that decision.
(Note that there isn't actually a 'finish' to the campaign; I played until I developed a warp-capable ship that could take me home, but it's really meant to open up exploration of planets other than the one you crash on at the start.)
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on March 04, 2016, 03:09:21 AM
I just finished Rise of the Tomb Raider. Enjoyed it quite a bit. I even spent a bunch of time doing all the challenges and finding all the artifacts and hidden goodies. Ended up with a 97% completion rating.
I felt the story started out a bit poorly but it picked up as the game progressed. I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series.
97% now that's a finish. I usually don't have the stamina to go for the extras, the game must be good
Quote from: JasonPratt on March 04, 2016, 08:43:09 AM
No doubt the next installment will be Dawn of the Tomb Raider. ::)
It was funnier when Yahtzee said it.
Oh, true, he did make that joke already.
Well, he didn't write a review for the original pretending it was a Green Arrow origin story with the names and situations changed enough to avoid a Warner Bros lawsuit! 8)
Finished Order of Battle Pacific: Morning Sun. The Japanese conquered China.
When I get time, I'll play it on a harder setting.
Congrats on the Big Win. So, how was it? The game I mean.
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 11, 2016, 10:48:51 AM
Congrats on the Big Win. So, how was it? The game I mean.
There is a first impression article on the mythical front page.
The AI is very good hammering you if your units cannot provide mutual support and get cut off from the supply train. The game is just brutal if you run out of supplies - units become very vulnerable to attack, can barely move, and their ability to attack gets killed.
The AI will rotate troops out of the line to replenish/resupply in a logical fashion. But the AI uses its air units in an idiotic fashion. They won't reinforce if damaged and they attack low priority targets. The AI also has difficulty concentrating forces to make local counter-attacks effective. Like most wargame AIs, it is better on defense than on offense.
Once I got the hang of the game, I could roll as the IJA. But I played it below the "average" setting. I'm not sure how well the game plays at regular difficulty.
I think if this was a head-to-head game that it would be very difficult for the IJA. In many scenarios, China has a lot more units. Used intelligently, a human player could keep slipping units through the boonies to cut off major supply lines or recapture major cities. If the IJA has to burn a bunch of units to keep the line of supply open, I'm not sure you can muster enough firepower to take the major objectives. The AI does not (at least at this level of difficulty) keep infiltrating units. Chop you up if you have unsupported attack probes - absolutely. Infiltrate units, nope.
Overall, even at this level of difficulty it was very interesting. Totally different major theater of war. The mix of allied units, the huge variation in Chinese equipment, and the sometimes horribly difficult terrain make it interesting. If you already have Order of Battle: Pacific, then buying this as an add-on is a good value.
Between turns in WitP:AE and Combat Mission: Red Thunder I would escape into the five-episode adventure game "Life is Strange". Just finished it a few minutes ago. Great change of pace from war gaming. Excellent story and a satisfying end.
Finished F.E.A.R Extraction Point a nice continuation of the story and the usual good gun play. Unfortunately the game has a conflict with my logitech mouse and suffers from severe frame drop where you have to quit and then restart. Sometimes i could play an hour without it happening other times 10 minutes. The only way according to online sources to remedy that is to disable your HID devices which i wasnt going to do, so i had to quit and restart game a lot which did take away from the experience. F. E.A.R. is a solid shooter with good creepy atmosphere with good really good sound and music that fits the game, i jumped a few times. I must of liked it to put up with the FPS drop issue. I've already loaded Persues Mandate to see where the story goes, i know wheres its leading by the clues and i'm thinking what the hell so i have to see. i hope the FPS drop doesnt continue on, from what i read its engine related so i have little hope although i played the first F.E.A.R. without issues with the same mouse.
A few frames
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1144.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fo484%2Fronnie8691%2F20160320085407_1_zpsbtjnkef8.jpg&hash=8f7d5b696b2fb5c5b79417fb89e20dfb570cbe26)
They haven't heard don't mess with budd and his combat shotgun
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1144.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fo484%2Fronnie8691%2F20160320120247_1_zpstn6lkwh9.jpg&hash=ea29aa6584e9cce3f85f70ff4b4b1af73316ef4e)
Got a jump when this popped open
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1144.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fo484%2Fronnie8691%2F20160320121358_1_zpswe5um3kp.jpg&hash=9ba2f26e447fb0a3a7b63dc3765e8ed20bbe678a)
Alma I'm coming for ya...and i'm bringing my combat shotgun ;D
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1144.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fo484%2Fronnie8691%2F20160320085542_1_zpsj22gofr6.jpg&hash=b054ceaff351f2cbe15a0240725ec70833c9f5e2)
Finished Order of Battle: Morning Sun on medium difficulty. It clobbered me about midway through the campaign until I restarted and shifted the composition of my army substantially.
Finished F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate ... 8 hours... the last battles took me a bit as the save i used was low on health and ammo. I'll move on the F.E.A.R. 2 to finish out the story, F.E.A.R. 3 from what i read doesnt really add to the story so i'll skip it.
Just finished the campaign in Grand Ages Medieval....very long!
Quote from: Anguille on April 08, 2016, 04:34:17 PM
Just finished the campaign in Grand Ages Medieval....very long!
Congrats...! I was close to pulling the trigger on this in a recent Steam sale, but didn't....there was too many negative comments on various forums so I passed.
We require commentary Anguille. CATER TO OUR VICARIOUS WHIMS FOR FREEEEE!! :D ...um, please. O:-)
Finished 40K: SPACE MARINE. I can say I'm legitimately sorry Relic, or rather THQ, died soon after its release. (Not sure where Relic is, although someone is still supporting Dawn of War 2 since a new Necron hero was released for their Last Stand mode recently.) I would have liked to see where they took the developing story. Still, I can't say I was entirely sorry to be done with the game: the character models were great, but the drab grimgrey industrial deathchurchy setting, while no doubt appropriate for where the action was happening, was... well... drab grimgrey industrial. :buck2: Setting a Space Marine game in something like Far Cry 3 or 4 would have been mindblowing.
Speaking of, haven't finished FC4 yet, but took an important step toward it. Apparently the next main story mission will end the main campaign -- the game has warned me to finish whatever I mean to do in the sandbox before triggering it.
Quote from: JasonPratt on April 10, 2016, 10:23:52 AM
We require commentary Anguille. CATER TO OUR VICARIOUS WHIMS FOR FREEEEE!! :D ...um, please. O:-)
Quote from: Rayfer on April 08, 2016, 05:41:09 PM
Congrats...! I was close to pulling the trigger on this in a recent Steam sale, but didn't....there was too many negative comments on various forums so I passed.
I was very much looking forward to this game and bought it on release (maybe even preodered it as i got the 2 small dlcs) but was very unimpressed when i started the campaign....i didn't like the story and there were many things i did not really understand well...and the manual is really bad. The result were big losses and a lost game. I stopped playing. The patch improved the game but i didn't have the motivation to play. This changed last week when people asked about the game and gave it another go...mid-campaign was getting really fun...end-campaign was too long for my taste but ok (i am a slow player).
I have now started a free map and really have fun (much more than with the campaign).
Quote from: JasonPratt on April 10, 2016, 10:23:52 AM
We require commentary Anguille. CATER TO OUR VICARIOUS WHIMS FOR FREEEEE!! :D ...um, please. O:-)
Finished 40K: SPACE MARINE. I can say I'm legitimately sorry Relic, or rather THQ, died soon after its release. (Not sure where Relic is, although someone is still supporting Dawn of War 2 since a new Necron hero was released for their Last Stand mode recently.) I would have liked to see where they took the developing story. Still, I can't say I was entirely sorry to be done with the game: the character models were great, but the drab grimgrey industrial deathchurchy setting, while no doubt appropriate for where the action was happening, was... well... drab grimgrey industrial. :buck2: Setting a Space Marine game in something like Far Cry 3 or 4 would have been mindblowing.
Speaking of, haven't finished FC4 yet, but took an important step toward it. Apparently the next main story mission will end the main campaign -- the game has warned me to finish whatever I mean to do in the sandbox before triggering it.
Sega bought Relic, so they still exist. They've been at work on Company of Heroes 2 stuff of late.
I liked Space Marine, though it was a bit...off. That many orcs should have torn your character limb from limb. Getting past nerd stuff like that, the ending was awful. Let's just throw in a bunch of quick time events as you fight this chaos marine? Seriously? To say nothing of the fact that Black Templars are hanging out with an Inquisitor...or that your fellow Ultra Marine is just handing you over to them for judgment (apparently we're back at nerd stuff ;D ).
What's worse is that the fellow Ultra called them in! -- they wouldn't have been there otherwise! To be fair, the writers did lampshade this in the dialogue, with the tattleteller being told (and kind of accepting) that he had failed the chapter by doing so.
Finished the main campaign of Far Cry 4 last night. Hunted around the internet to see if there was much of anything interesting in the remaining side missions, and I didn't find anything. Sparing the life of this or that person made no difference at all. Watched the secret quick ending to the game (if you follow Pagan Min's instructions and just stay put for ten or fifteen minutes), which I suspect (although I found no mention online about it yet) segues directly into the DLC "Escape from Durgesh Prison" (or however it's spelled) which is not so much about escaping from that prison (which happens in the main campaign) as being a fast whole-game campaign mission under Pagan Min's insane tutelage. In 30 minutes his forces will attack the rebellion's airport outpost to retake it; if you want to leave the area, you have to earn the rebellion's good will and amass enough force to help them repel the attack. You do this by fighting Min's underlings; and for various achievements Min adds time back to the clock. In effect it's possible to play a thematic summary of the main campaign in an hour or two.
While that sounds kind of interesting, I'm more interested in the "Valley of the Yeti" DLC, which I may even set up an AAR on since it involves base-building first-person strategy. Not sure.
I finally managed to defeat Ithaqua in Elder Signs: Omens. God damn that scenario is tough! I didn't manage to save the chick which would have unlocked the bonus character and I lost two of my party, but I killed the bastard!
Defeated the Dark Pharoah in Elder Signs: Omens. One of my 4 characters went insane but other than that, the scenario went flawlessly. Even had the room track at zero at the end of things. This was a fairly tough scenario but nowhere near as bad as the Ithaqua one. I've now defeated all the elder gods in the game. Now I'll go back and try it with some of the shit characters.
I just "beat" Verde Station. In the "walking simulator" genre, it took all of 1.1 hours. Now...walking simulator it may be, but this one is worth playing, especially if you're a fan of the 70s outer space aesthetic. All I will say is you wake up on a space station and....it gets weird. It's £4 on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/324120/) and worth the price in my opinion.
I've got a double (or sorts) to report from the last few days!
First off, I won X-Com: Enemy Unknown . It's the first time I've ever won the game, but it was on Classic (above-average difficulty) so I'm pretty stoked about that. The game's a few years old, and I'd put it down after playing a few times, but finally decided to dust it off and finish it and I'm very glad I did. The game doesn't have quite the same brilliant feel or atmosphere as the original X-Com: UFO Defense or even as Xenonauts, but it was very enjoyable and avoided the grinding of both those titles.
Secondly, I won Ironcasts by defeating Commandant Durant for the very first time! [**SPOILER ALERT**] Or rather, I won the first act, because apparently defeating the French Commandant is only an entry into the second half of the game, which gets even harder! That was a nice twist and not something I saw coming. Ironcasts is a very nice little game, mixing Match-3 puzzle dynamics with a deeper strategic layer and options to customize your own Ironcast that I thoroughly enjoy. That's a title I'll keep playing with my 6-year old son, although I hadn't played it much in a year or more.
Now, on to see if I can wind Commander: The Great War as the Central Powers! Then, on to the Mother of all Titles, American Civil War 2...
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on May 24, 2016, 10:52:48 PM
I've got a double (or sorts) to report from the last few days!
First off, I won X-Com: Enemy Unknown . It's the first time I've ever won the game, but it was on Classic (above-average difficulty) so I'm pretty stoked about that. The game's a few years old, and I'd put it down after playing a few times, but finally decided to dust it off and finish it and I'm very glad I did. The game doesn't have quite the same brilliant feel or atmosphere as the original X-Com: UFO Defense or even as Xenonauts, but it was very enjoyable and avoided the grinding of both those titles.
Secondly, I won Ironcasts by defeating Commandant Durant for the very first time! [**SPOILER ALERT**] Or rather, I won the first act, because apparently defeating the French Commandant is only an entry into the second half of the game, which gets even harder! That was a nice twist and not something I saw coming. Ironcasts is a very nice little game, mixing Match-3 puzzle dynamics with a deeper strategic layer and options to customize your own Ironcast that I thoroughly enjoy. That's a title I'll keep playing with my 6-year old son, although I hadn't played it much in a year or more.
Now, on to see if I can wind Commander: The Great War as the Central Powers! Then, on to the Mother of all Titles, American Civil War 2...
Wow your on a roll. I still haven't finished Xcom, didnt stop me from installing the long war mod and starting over...thats makes sense deosn' t it :idiot2:
I've been getting my butt kicked with work for weeks now, and even with super-long hours some days I still put in 30 minutes to an hour of time with Geneforge 1 every evening, as both a reward after working a 16+ hour day and a way to decompress so I wouldn't dream of Photoshop, Storyline, or temperature control applications all night. (One dares to dream thusly, of course.) Some weekends I'd put in two hours (gasp) before getting back to work. The game actually took me 37 hours to complete - a lot more than I thought, and considering I'd purchased it with a combo pack for super-cheap (something like two bucks for all five Geneforge games) a year or more ago, I got a hell of a deal.
I managed to finish Geneforge 1, surprisingly. It was a nice little RPG and has an appealing 'explore everything' aspect to it, though I got tired of the quest lines at about the halfway point and just started exploring everywhere, killing things, saving often, leveling up, and eventually being able to kill anything on the map. I was still able to finish the main quest line - I figured the other quests would eventually reveal themselves. I didn't feel like, and felt too exhausted, to do the step-and-fetch-it quests (go to X, whom tells you to go get Y and bring it back, before they give you Z), and I was surprised I was able to play the game exactly the way I wanted to and still finish it.
I chose to partake of the Geneforge to obtain super-powers (basically a +8 to all stats and spellcasting ability). As I was playing a Guardian (a warrior), his spellcasting was minimal, but with those bumps he became a combat god that had no challenges whatsoever on that island. I soon left, blowing through the opposition in the last screen to get to the boat and escape the island. Then, the Shapers I found on the mainland feared my new powers - as little people do, they never understand - and things eventually (as the end narration stated) turned into me creating an army to conquer the known world. The known world was having none of that, and others partook of the Geneforge, forming their own armies, turning the world into a giant battleground. Fun was had.
I started Geneforge 2 but it's not as engrossing as 1.
Congrats on the Wins Sooner. I'm up to my armpits in ACW 2 right now and loving it.
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 25, 2016, 09:01:51 AM
Congrats on the Wins Sooner. I'm up to my armpits in ACW 2 right now and loving it.
I'm with you Sir Slash, I love ACW2 as well, even though many on these forums think the Ageod engine doesn't work well with the game. I don't agree with them.
I completed the campaign of Grand Ages: Rome....took me a while (almost 50 hours). I'll make a short break before playing the campaign of the addon (Reign of Augustus with about 12 maps).
I finally got enough renown to best the evil Frenchman Rivaleaux in Renowned Explorers. Finished the campaign in adventure mode on classic difficulty with a final score of 2,701 renown and a friendly reputation. This is a stupidly fun little game!
I finally completed the campaig in Autumn Dynasty...it's an excellent strategy game for android and ios. Unfortunately, the sequel, Warldords, isn't available for android (yet).
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on June 15, 2016, 06:22:38 PM
I finally got enough renown to best the evil Frenchman Rivaleaux in Renowned Explorers. Finished the campaign in adventure mode on classic difficulty with a final score of 2,701 renown and a friendly reputation. This is a stupidly fun little game!
I've played it twice and can't get anywhere near his score. I love the game too, but I'm disappointed in my play skill or lack thereof. I'll need to try a new tack when I have time to get back to it. Congrats on the win, that couldn't have been easy!
Finally! I finished Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition today. For the first time, ever.
I don't deserve kudos for finishing a 20-year-old game, so all I can say is, it's about time.
I have BG2 on GOG, but it's not an enhanced edition. I tried importing my character and it crashed (as several have complained about). Not about to drop $20 on BGII:EE, so I'll just wait for a sale.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on July 31, 2016, 12:54:01 PM
Finally! I finished Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition today. For the first time, ever.
I don't deserve kudos for finishing a 20-year-old game, so all I can say is, it's about time.
I have BG2 on GOG, but it's not an enhanced edition. I tried importing my character and it crashed (as several have complained about). Not about to drop $20 on BGII:EE, so I'll just wait for a sale.
I would say it doesn't matter how long it takes...congrats!
Great job BC. I remember BG as one of the games I really loved to the very end. Have you ever tried Planescape Torment? Same engine, different story and world but another real winner and the game's usually for sale cheap. What was your character by the way for BG?
Nicely done, B_C! I share the opinion that it doesn't matter how long it takes. Finishing is its own reward.
PS:Torment is one of the best AD&D games ever made. It was also one of the first RPGs that I can remember that de emphasised combat. Cause when your immortal... Duh.
I keep telling myself I'll go back and beat it some day.
Quote from: Anguille on July 31, 2016, 01:24:10 PM
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on July 31, 2016, 12:54:01 PM
Finally! I finished Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition today. For the first time, ever.
I don't deserve kudos for finishing a 20-year-old game, so all I can say is, it's about time.
I have BG2 on GOG, but it's not an enhanced edition. I tried importing my character and it crashed (as several have complained about). Not about to drop $20 on BGII:EE, so I'll just wait for a sale.
I would say it doesn't matter how long it takes...congrats!
Agreed! Well done! I finished the original way back when it came out. I have BG2:EE but haven't played it yet. It goes on sale frequently on GOG and Steam.
Thanks, all. I guess it is something of an accomplishment especially considering how many times I've played the Gold Box games over and over.
I feel like I rushed the ending a little much. Once the game hit the city of Baldur's Gate, it slowed down a lot for me. I don't like wandering around waiting for someone to get in my face to say "Hey, did you know? Here's the next plot point." Or something to that effect. I'd go through a district once, twice, three times before someone would pop out of nowhere and approach the party, usually with something that branched away from the main storyline. I felt like there was quite a bit I missed, but I found the city boring overall. At least until the Flaming Fist were after us. ;D
Until BGII EE comes out on sale on Steam I do have Icewind Dale I and II I can crank up...hmm.
If you haven't seen the screenshots thread, I finished Nobunaga's Ambition as Takeda.
Right on! O0
That had to have been a marathon, jomni. Nice work!
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on August 02, 2016, 06:57:47 PM
That had to have been a marathon, jomni. Nice work!
Well I stopped the campaign when I was working on Sengoku Jidai. But I did had a marathon for the past two weekends.
^^ Any interesting overlaps? O0 (Y'know, beyond the overlaps naturally expected from the topics being much the same.)
Pillars of Eternity-- Done. Finished it up last night and even though the ending was a trifle disappointing and the story never really soared, I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game start to finish.
BTW Once you enter the Pit on the Burial Isle, you cannot go back and must finish the game. And the final confrontation against the Big Baddie comes complete with a long dialog interaction scene, then a very tough fight, followed by a Decision Scene with more choices, the chance to say 'Goobye' to each companion, and finally a series of storyboard scenes that tell you what effect your decision has on everybody in the whole world it seems. So, expect about a 30-40 min. Final Act. Though you can save after the Big Baddie is dead.
Here's the last Storyboard Scene of my Great Estate-- Slash Cathedral.
Well done SS...I made it to the last boss fight and couldn't beat him.
Thanks Rayfer. It was a tough fight alright. But he was kind of a pussy once his help went-down. Here's what he looks like.... DEADDDD!! We stopped for a selfie, posing over his still-twitching corpse. The only way to shut this guy up. He talks for-ever.
Their Hearts grew Bold! :)) O0
After much dilly-dallying, I got far enough in Ghostbusters: the Video Game (AKA the semi-official GB3), to encounter increasingly gamekilling bugs that required me to restart from earlier saves to get past if I'm lucky (because this is a console port).
At that point I handed off to someone else to finish, namely someone whose name I don't know who made a 3 hour YT movie of the game. That... was underwhelming. Kind of glad I putted in. FINISHED THE GAME SORT OF! -- and promptly deleted. Great atmosphere, spotty writing, acting ranged from genius to just here for the paycheck (by all the principles). It's a mediocre linear shooter with tons of GB fanservice.
Also this weekend, finally finished the main Company of Heroes (1) campaign for the first time. Grueling. But fun. But grueling. But epic. But grueling. But not as grueling as fighting the real Normandy invasion up through the Falaise pocket. But grueling. Promptly started the parallel British campaign, but will probably take a bit of a break to recover.
Are you playing the Ghostbusters game on Steam?
I reinstalled it myself with the intent to play through, though I haven't played that far. The furthest I ever got was to the Sta-Puff Marshmellow Man, whom promptly kicked my butt. I haven't gotten nearly that far in my latest attempt. I didn't know there were game-killing bugs in it - it's been a while so I would have thought it would all be good by now.
Sometimes plot triggers don't trigger. I ran into two or three late game; just wasn't worth my time eventually.
Been hitting the wargaming pretty hard, hit a wall with a little gaming funk this week. Went to my library and decided to play some of the shorter games i picked up along the way. Lets see finished the first hexcells, got hexcells plus and infinite waiting in the wings. Finished Knock-Knock, this game was part pisser, went in cold, the game explains nothing which is fine but some things you need to know. well was getting near the end thought i was doing alright and suddenly "game over" i mean thats it "game over" . So i went to the internet to find out WTH, apparently there are 3 endings, good, bad and WTF...i guess i got the WTF ending. So i restart with a little more wisdom, find more , do more, make it what appears to be farther down the trail....again i get the WTF ending...i mean WTF :tickedoff: ..so technically i finished this one twice. The game has good sound[headphones recommended] and a pleasing art style, it does get a bit repetitive along the way and i actually had more fun the second time through knowing a little more about the game, well except for the WTF ending.Last up was "The Room" a point and click puzzler, not to hard, not to soft. Never dawned on me that they call it the room because well the whole game is one room. Ran into a bug at the end that held me up but there was a beta patch that fixed that " the maze bug". No idea whats next, got 3 wargame campaigns going in 3 different games but not feeling the wargame love at the moment. There's a lot more casual short games in my library, might knock off more of those.
Congrats budd. Even though I've never heard of any of those games it's always a good feeling to finish a game, something I haven't done in a long time.
Been meaning to finish this game for a while. I had a game of Command Ops 2 A-historical battle for Malta.
I ran it with better supply and faster reinforcements for the Germans and had got to about day 2 before real life forced me to stop. Picked it up again about 8 months later (mostly due to the Command Ops discussion started here). Decided to knuckle down and finish the battle. Took about another 2-3 nights playing a couple of hours but here is the proof.
Edited since the text is not showing
Decisive Victory (100 points due to full surrender of the enemy AI which is not an easy task to achieve). Kesslring recommending my immediate promotion.
I got the Allied AI to surrender on day 7 on an 8 day scenario, In fact could have got him to surrender early on day 6 just missed the surrender message. Probably would have gotten the same result without the Axis benefits but would have been closer to day 8.
For any of those hesitating on this game I can only say run dont walk and buy it on Steam. Amazing game with a wide range of different scenarios from the battle of Greece/Med to Arnhem the Bulge etc. Next gen will be the Eastern Front which will really open this game up. Yes the learning curve is steep yes it doesnt pander to those who dont plan properly but if you want to get the closest thing to what it must have felt commanding an army in WWII this is it.
Con
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1159.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fp623%2Fconradmaher%2FMalta%2520AAR_zpse2ncsgif.jpg&hash=c6eecb85c629b0c37c866e454975d23186fefdad)
That's impressive, Con! I just don't have the patience for those types any more.
Just got a diplomatic victory for the Shoshone in a big Civ V game - maybe my last 'til Civ 6 drops.
Other civs were England (on my continent), Rome (encroached on my continent; primary antagonist), Mongolia (closest ally, oddly), Arabia, Babylon, Aztecs, Celts, and Persia
Quote from: MetalDog on August 29, 2016, 10:21:43 PM
That's impressive, Con! I just don't have the patience for those types any more.
Sob, the one I game I should love but my soul won't allow me
Finished Order of Battle: US Marines. Also finished the AAR.
Me and Panzerde lost to Cyrano in our Sicily game. He must have been down to a couple of companies left, but that bloody road to Messina was grindingly slow with a trillion choke points. All credit to Cyrano, he played it very well, and Panzerde - playing Patton got a couple of hexes closer to Messina with his Stuarts than I did as Monty.
Anyway, we've started an East Prussia '14 game - playing the Gumbinnen to Tannenburg scenario. Cyrano and I are playing a Russian army each, while Panzerde leads the 'Beastly Hun' - hopefully to disaster - but I doubt he'll easily get beat.
Apart from that, I've finished 5/7 Field of Glory digital matches losing 1 to a Klay Eckles off the lobby who beat my Early Ottomans soundly with his Pontics, but otherwise winning quite creditably with the other matches.
American Civil War 2. June 1863: The final victory of Union Army over the diehard Confederate defenders of Richmond.
Resulting in a Major Victory for the North.
That is truly an accomplishment, Slash! AGEOD games take a while and have a great number of fiddly bits. I am impressed by your perseverance and strategic/tactical acumen.
Why thank you MD. Honestly I enjoyed this, the full campaign, so much I was sorry to see it end. The AI was a little bizarre at times but hard to predict and was winning battles against me even on the very last turn. I had captured Nashville and 2 Confederate Ironclads along with it and I really wanted to see how they would stand-up to the Confederate guns along the Mississippi but the game ended too soon. Now.... for the Switch-Sides rematch.
Quote from: Sir Slash on September 26, 2016, 10:07:28 PM
Why thank you MD. Honestly I enjoyed this, the full campaign, so much I was sorry to see it end. The AI was a little bizarre at times but hard to predict and was winning battles against me even on the very last turn. I had captured Nashville and 2 Confederate Ironclads along with it and I really wanted to see how they would stand-up to the Confederate guns along the Mississippi but the game ended too soon. Now.... for the Switch-Sides rematch.
You're a better man than I.
Civ 6, Prince level as Pericles, 1212 points, science victory - very enjoyable apart from that last 100 turns of 'ive won already'
Way to whip that game UCG. Who says science is nerdy? :nerd:
I finally beat WOW unsubbed today!!! hehe
Congrats!
Oh, right! -- forgot to mention in this thread that I, um, "finished" (for some real value of "finish") a War of the Ring grand campaign in Battle for Middle-Earth 2: Rise of the Witch King some time back! I've been AARing the results for a couple of weeks already; I took the Dwarves, teamed with the AI as the Men faction (i.e. Gondor + Rohan), vs all four Evil factions teamed up (Angmar, Isengard, Mordor, and the Goblins).
It's a Dwarfoclysm! :D By which I mean, my ersatz teammate has nearly lost us the game by Turn 5, and in the AAR I'm struggling to keep us afloat in Turn 9, being dogpiled by Team Evil.
Finished Witcher 3. Took me almost 2 months but I enjoyed my time thoroughly.
Now I'm at a loss as to what to play next.
Finished several games of Twilight Struggle today.
I saw you playing online last night. Congrats!
Finished Witcher 3 and all DLC. One of my best gaming experiences yet. Finally retired to Toussaint in my Villa. Still have minor quests, treasure hunts and undiscovered places to visit but the main story lines are done.
I loved the stories, the depth of detail, the way the story draws you in, the graphics, the acting, the characters, the creatures, the moral choices you must make occasionally, the romance, the epic scale, the mundane scale, everything.
It easily rests on my top shelf along with PS1's Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honour and other classics as one of the most enjoyable games I've played.
I'm going to be firing this up for many years to come.
Congrats on the wins for SDR and Ian C!!! Makes me think I should get my rear-in-gear and finish some of my games long put-off. But.... there's always a 'new shiny thing'. :dreamer:
I wish I could get through the first Witcher. Maybe I'll give it another try when vacation finally hits.
What the heck, why not. I tried re-installing and running Far Cry 3 but it's a uPlay joke, which I'd forgotten, and it runs laggy as hell on my PC, so, buh bye.
Finished the final episode for Telltale's Batman series. My comments are in the relevant thread; recommended with some caveats, mostly based in the style of game TT makes in these "series" or "seasons".
Finished the warhammer dwarf campaign - I'm ashamed to admit due to geography me and the little fellas completely missed out on the chaos hoardes - archaon, the big guy swung a left instead of a south and he was eventually destroyed out west. We killed a lot of varg and skaeling which are chaos little brothers from the frozen wastelands. At one point it was me, two other dwarf clans, the empire and the border princes against the northern marauders and it really felt like we were all in it together against the incursions and then it was over and I realised I was only 3 settlements short of a victory and fortunately these were ruins due to chaos
I missed out on a few of the set piece battles and ruined the order of things, the quests try and take you on a chronological path through the campaign, I'd wiped out both the vampires and the orcs before I got round to the show piece final orc and vampire quest battles so it was a bit weird to fight bad guys that hadn't been on the map for 50 turns
Loved the rolling video of your progress at the end - but it's done now - onto something else, when I'm back maybe empire or beastmen
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on December 17, 2016, 11:04:48 PM
Finished Witcher 3. Took me almost 2 months but I enjoyed my time thoroughly.
Now I'm at a loss as to what to play next.
Rebellion via TTS!
Well, partially.
Civ VI - won as Kongo on an Earth map at King level with a Culture victory in 1950. 8)
This game still needs AI work. I've only ever won one other game of Civ, IV I think, at King level. Here it seemed pretty easy... but then Kongo is setup for Culture victories so I completely focused on that.
Finished the Gears of War 4 campaign, which took 11 hours and 12 minutes. I just don't see myself wanting to play this one multiplayer or again anytime soon.
Finished X-Com 2 on Veteran difficulty.
It was entertaining in a dumb way a bit repetitive near the end apart from the last fight which was a nail biter
Con
Finally finished Fallout 4. I enjoyed the near end revelations, but the very end was a somewhat disappointing slugfest. I ended up siding with the Institute. All in all it was a great game with many interesting side quests. Once I figured out the workbench system to upgrade armor and weapons I came to enjoy that feature of the game as well.
Way to go Guys! O0 Two finishes in two days. I better get my butt in gear to keep-up.
Can't even tell you the last game I finished.
Edit: actually I can. I finished COD MW 2 last year. Turns out I was only 15 min from the end. Threw it in the 360 and beat it.
Does 'quit' count?
I enjoy COD MW2 - I'll play that maybe once a year or so. The 'No Russian' level is especially interesting to me because of all the butthurt it caused initially. ;D
I finished Pool of Radiance!
Awesome! I love that game.
WAY-TO-GO Airboy!!! That's quite an achievement. You did win... didn't you?
Quote from: airboy on January 27, 2017, 11:51:28 AM
I finished Pool of Radiance!
If only you'd truly slain Tyranthraxus... >:(
Yeah, the bastard comes back like my In-Laws.
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 27, 2017, 03:13:19 PM
WAY-TO-GO Airboy!!! That's quite an achievement. You did win... didn't you?
Yes, I won. Eventually. After a "few" reloads. Or maybe a lot of reloads.
Except the final battle was easy. I took down T-Bone in a flash. I loaded up on potions, protective spells, enhancement spells (including giant strength potions) and my fighters all hit on the first couple of rounds and down T-Bone went.
I'm playing Curse of the Azure Bonds now, and it looks like ole T-Bone did not actually die. But I killed him! I saw him die! What is this, a comic book??
Bro and I tapped out somewhere in Secret of the Silver Somethingorother -- partly because we had already beaten the Krynn trilogy and the Buck Rogers duology and so were feeling burnout with the engine, and partly because of a bug in one of this game's larger dungeons which seemed to make it impossible to continue (and the dungeons themselves were so much larger we couldn't map them properly on graph paper anymore which added to the frustration.)
(I mean back in the days of the original release -- we were playing on the Commodore 64, not yet the PC, iirc.)
Curse was my very first Gold Box game and I loved it. I made the mistake of trying to sneak past all the Fire Knives in the sewers and when I got to the Boss Fight, I was too weak to win. So I went back and played through fighting everything everywhere to level-up enough for the win. It's got some brutally hard fights... the Red Wizard in the tower and a Dark Elf minion of his on the way up that beat me over and over. HINT: Stinking Cloud spells work on anything if you use them enough times.
Oh, Buck Rogers! I hope GOG releases that one eventually.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 28, 2017, 11:07:18 AM
Oh, Buck Rogers! I hope GOG releases that one eventually.
Yesss considering I could never get past the 2nd mission with the derelict with a bio issue.
Ah, nostalgia!! Those were great games indeed.
For myself, I finally victoriously concluded Thea: The Awakening for the first time. I've logged dang near 50 hours playing that game since Christmas through 2 campaigns (the first one did not end victoriously) and have enjoyed it thoroughly, but I'm ready for a break! It got a little grindy at the very end, so I'm glad I was able to wrap it up, but I had a blast.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, it's a delightful little game with a free demo, should you be interested in trying it out... :bd:
I just beat XCOM2 on veteran level.
Kind of neat how they show your game stats compared to the rest of the player base. It took me much longer to develop weapons and armour than most players but I hacked way more stuff than the average player (17 hacked units for me vs. the average of 9).
Finished Curse of the Azure Bonds.
It gives you fireworks and drinks at the end. It also "assures you" that Mr. T is "really most sincerely dead." They did not give me a death certificate.
I don't recall T being hinted at coming back for Game 3 (keeping in mind Bro and I never got near completing it), but I wouldn't place bets on the 4th and final entry, since the Pool comes back.
Meanwhile, I plowed through the whole Titanfall 2 campaign Sunday afternoon from about 12 noon to about 7pm.
Damn Airboy. That was fast. It took me a year to beat CotAB. What's next? Are you going to stay in the groove and take on Pools of Darkness? It's massive and a Mother to beat. :bd:
Quote from: Sir Slash on February 06, 2017, 10:44:09 PM
Damn Airboy. That was fast. It took me a year to beat CotAB. What's next? Are you going to stay in the groove and take on Pools of Darkness? It's massive and a Mother to beat. :bd:
Silver Blades is the next in the series.
I need to write reviews of Political Machine; US Marines, Winter War before starting another game.
I wrote a review of Pool + Curse last night.
I forgot about the Silver Blades. Another good one. I also liked the 'Krynn' series, especially Death Knights of Krynn. Good times.
Finished Steamworld: Heist on experienced difficulty with a final score of 113/123. Fun game. I think I might run through it again.
Finished Witcher 3 Blood and wine expansion today plus all previous dlcs
I did every quest
visited every spot on the maps
dug up every treasure
almost rage quit trying to kill the last boss Detlaff about 50 times
I have 330 hour in on it according to Steam....
Loved every min never has a game had me go through such an emotional rollercoaster me like this I am actually truly sad to think its over
Con
Ps got the happy ending retired living the good life with a saucy sorceress girlfriend with a kink for unicorns shacking up with me at my newly restored wine estate
What else could you ask for? :bd: :clap:
Way to go Con!! O0 Congrats on the win.
SilverBlades was a great one.
JasonPratt, if I remember correctly, there is one part of the story (where you get the Silver Blades, Shields, and Armor, I think) where you find the stuff and then you should just leave--not keep going deeper to clear it out. I remember struggling with that too. I don't remember how to get out, but for a "story on rails" it was surprisingly open-ended.
Quote from: Con on February 18, 2017, 12:07:55 PM
Finished Witcher 3 Blood and wine expansion today plus all previous dlcs
I did every quest
visited every spot on the maps
dug up every treasure
almost rage quit trying to kill the last boss Detlaff about 50 times
I have 330 hour in on it according to Steam....
Loved every min never has a game had me go through such an emotional rollercoaster me like this I am actually truly sad to think its over
Con
Ps got the happy ending retired living the good life with a saucy sorceress girlfriend with a kink for unicorns shacking up with me at my newly restored wine estate
Wonderful! Looks like your character will have many "happy endings." Until the children come.
Lost my first game of Total War Warhammer in 174 turns.
Lost my second game even quicker.
Working on the third now. Hoping for a better outcome.
I just finished my first campaign game of Gargy Grigsby's World at War: A World Divided.
The Western Allies never had their D-Day, as Greece went Allied in mid-1943 and the Russians already had the Germans sufficiently on the ropes that they couldn't keep me from establishing a bridgehead. Italy fell in Winter 1944 and Germany fell in the Fall of 1944. Japan went down two turns later, as an Allied offensive up through the South Pacific wore down the Japanese air force until the US carriers could operate with impunity. (the latter very similar to what happened in WW II for real, although I had no Midway and got started six months later than the Allies)
I'd heard it described as Axis and Allies on steroids, and that pretty much nails it. A UI that looks a lot like A&A is much more complex. The game's a bit long in the tooth and the UI isn't super-intuitive, but it was a blast. I have no idea how I never heard of this game before!
A great win Sooner! Congrats. O0
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on February 24, 2017, 10:25:02 AM
I'd heard it described as Axis and Allies on steroids, and that pretty much nails it. A UI that looks a lot like A&A is much more complex. The game's a bit long in the tooth and the UI isn't super-intuitive, but it was a blast. I have no idea how I never heard of this game before!
It's not too bad insofar as UI is considered. I wrote the manual on the original and (I think) I did the one for World Divided also. I remember demoing it out the wazoo at Matrix's booth a LOT back in 2004-2006 or so when I was working their conventions. It's easily one of my more favorite Matrix titles. But the fact that you finished it shows some dedication because some people could get bored with it. I played way, way too much A&A back in the day which is probably why I enjoyed this one so much.
I finished Pillars of Eternity-- The White March with a win, saving the White March from impending doom from an out-of-control army of giants and allowing the inhabitants to return to their mundane lives of eating Whale Blubber and freezing their asses off in their little wooden shacks. Here's the proof. BTW I also posted a screenie of the final fight over on the 'Screenshots' section. Don't peek if you don't want to ruin the surprise.
Overall a very enjoyable add-on to the base game. Nothing revolutionary, just a new setting, some new enemies and NPC's and some very neat loot. Well worth the sale price I paid for it.
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 03, 2017, 11:49:05 PM
I finished Pillars of Eternity-- The White March with a win, saving the White March from impending doom from an out-of-control army of giants and allowing the inhabitants to return to their mundane lives of eating Whale Blubber and freezing their asses off in their little wooden shacks. Here's the proof. BTW I also posted a screenie of the final fight over on the 'Screenshots' section. Don't peek if you don't want to ruin the surprise.
Overall a very enjoyable add-on to the base game. Nothing revolutionary, just a new setting, some new enemies and NPC's and some very neat loot. Well worth the sale price I paid for it.
Congrats Sir Slash...! I couldn't get past the final boss battle in the original game so I never got the White March additions. Sad because it is such a great RPG.
Thank you Rayfer. You do know you can change the Difficulty level in game? I will 'manfully' admit to doing this a couple of times against really tough opponents I couldn't get past after 3-4 tries. I'd rather do that than let the game beat me completely. In this fight, I had help to summon against the enemies but completely forgot to do it until after the fight was done. :uglystupid2: And you have to do The White March before you finish the base game, so, you could go back to an earlier save and play it from there and get all the neat items that will help you in the final Base-Game fight. Just a thought.
Now go and see if you can beat the thing at the bottom of your keep. That's the fight that caused me to quit in frustration.
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on February 24, 2017, 10:25:02 AM
I just finished my first campaign game of Gargy Grigsby's World at War: A World Divided.
The Western Allies never had their D-Day, as Greece went Allied in mid-1943 and the Russians already had the Germans sufficiently on the ropes that they couldn't keep me from establishing a bridgehead. Italy fell in Winter 1944 and Germany fell in the Fall of 1944. Japan went down two turns later, as an Allied offensive up through the South Pacific wore down the Japanese air force until the US carriers could operate with impunity. (the latter very similar to what happened in WW II for real, although I had no Midway and got started six months later than the Allies)
I'd heard it described as Axis and Allies on steroids, and that pretty much nails it. A UI that looks a lot like A&A is much more complex. The game's a bit long in the tooth and the UI isn't super-intuitive, but it was a blast. I have no idea how I never heard of this game before!
Damn,
FAS. Now you're making me want to dig out my copy of
GG's WAW: AWD (wherever it's currently hiding) and give it another go. I never have given it the proper playthrough that it deserves.
I've got two more quests I want to finish-up and that's one of them SDR. He's a Tough Mother. :pullhair:
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 03, 2017, 11:49:05 PM
I finished Pillars of Eternity-- The White March with a win, saving the White March from impending doom from an out-of-control army of giants and allowing the inhabitants to return to their mundane lives of eating Whale Blubber and freezing their asses off in their little wooden shacks. Here's the proof. BTW I also posted a screenie of the final fight over on the 'Screenshots' section. Don't peek if you don't want to ruin the surprise.
Overall a very enjoyable add-on to the base game. Nothing revolutionary, just a new setting, some new enemies and NPC's and some very neat loot. Well worth the sale price I paid for it.
Wonderful!
I need to get back to finishing up Pillars of Eternity.
I finished Order of Battle: Blitzkreig with a "win."
OK - I lost the final scenario twice and on attempt #3 won. Moscow in the winter is a bitch according to Hitler and Napoleon.
Way to go Airboy!!! Hurray for the Non-Computer side. O0
Just completed the scientific victory in Master of Orion with the Terrans
Outstanding, Anguille!
Quote from: Anguille on April 02, 2017, 07:18:07 AM
Just completed the scientific victory in Master of Orion with the Terrans
The new version?
Quote from: bbmike on April 02, 2017, 08:29:51 AM
Quote from: Anguille on April 02, 2017, 07:18:07 AM
Just completed the scientific victory in Master of Orion with the Terrans
The new version?
Yes, the new version. ;)
How does the new version compare to 1 or 2?
Quote from: airboy on April 02, 2017, 10:47:19 AM
How does the new version compare to 1 or 2?
I would say it's pretty much Master of Orion 2 with starlanes...and lots of CIV V inspiration.
I finished Order of Battle: WW2 the US Pacific Campaign.
I sank a third of my fleet trying to sail into Tokyo Bay. If there is a way to detect minefields other than running your destroyer one hex at a time - I have not found it.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgrogheads.com%2Fforums%2Findex.php%3Faction%3Ddlattach%3Btopic%3D12688.0%3Battach%3D10331&hash=a779a68bdd207b1480d3a8c2a5d7af37454026cf)
73-30, Decisive win for me in DCB
SUCK
ME
HITLER
Congrats to the both of you. Two tough games to win. O0
Note that Hof's win also translates into a pure outscore victory, 73-60! O0
Just finished the scientific victory with the Psilons in Master of Orion...first victory on hard....the start was difficult but the end was ok. Seems i start to master the game. <:-)
I was ahead with points and was close to have a diplomatic victory as well (had an alliance with the Alkari and the Elerians).
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 12, 2017, 08:30:23 AM
Congrats to the both of you. Two tough games to win. O0
+1....well done grogheads!
Quote from: Anguille on May 07, 2017, 04:49:37 AM
Just finished the scientific victory with the Psilons in Master of Orion...first victory on hard....the start was difficult but the end was ok. Seems i start to master the game. <:-)
I was ahead with points and was close to have a diplomatic victory as well (had an alliance with the Alkari and the Elerians).
Psilons were the only ones I could win on hard. Klakons would lose to the Psilons.
Congrats!
I just finished up a PBEM co-op game with a lifetime friend of mine (well, since 3rd grade anyways), playing Gary Grigsby's World at War: A World Divided. He was the Western Allies, while I got the Cominterm Pact. We dusted the Krauts in Spring of 1944 and Japan in Fall of the same year.
We were playing against the AI at "Average", with Advanced Supply turned off. It was still a fun game, if a learning experience for both of us. Grigsby's always spent a lot more time getting his game systems right than his User Interfaces! :o
Still, it was a fun battle. Germany took too long to go after the Soviet Union, with fruitless diversions in Yugoslavia and North Africa. What would have been a desperate Soviet blood bath had the hammer fallen in Summer 1941 turned out to be little more than a measured Red Army retreat when he came after me in Spring 1942. A decisive German defeat in the Siege of Leningrad in the Fall of 1942 was all the Soviets needed to turn the table massively and they really never looked back.
The Allies never even needed a D-Day in Europe, contenting themselves with pecking away at the Mediterranean belly of the Axis beast while the Soviet Juggernaut rolled through Italy and Albania. We're definitely thinking this will be a good PBEM game against each other, once we figure out how to play with Fog of War turned on and Advance Supply rules in effect!
^ Honestly jealous. :dreamer:
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on May 10, 2017, 03:09:48 PM
I just finished up a PBEM co-op game with a lifetime friend of mine (well, since 3rd grade anyways), playing Gary Grigsby's World at War: A World Divided. He was the Western Allies, while I got the Cominterm Pact. We dusted the Krauts in Spring of 1944 and Japan in Fall of the same year.
We were playing against the AI at "Average", with Advanced Supply turned off. It was still a fun game, if a learning experience for both of us. Grigsby's always spent a lot more time getting his game systems right than his User Interfaces! :o
Still, it was a fun battle. Germany took too long to go after the Soviet Union, with fruitless diversions in Yugoslavia and North Africa. What would have been a desperate Soviet blood bath had the hammer fallen in Summer 1941 turned out to be little more than a measured Red Army retreat when he came after me in Spring 1942. A decisive German defeat in the Siege of Leningrad in the Fall of 1942 was all the Soviets needed to turn the table massively and they really never looked back.
The Allies never even needed a D-Day in Europe, contenting themselves with pecking away at the Mediterranean belly of the Axis beast while the Soviet Juggernaut rolled through Italy and Albania. We're definitely thinking this will be a good PBEM game against each other, once we figure out how to play with Fog of War turned on and Advance Supply rules in effect!
Congrats!
Just finished the main quest for The Witcher 3...now...putting it aside for a bit to tackle...Alien - Isolation :D
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FCqJe2x4.png&hash=583ea8e47ceb8acd2fd82fd9084ea1c0d2785bdb)
Don't worry, it'll be like the Witcher series, except with one thousand percent more impotence and pants-crapping terror. :bd: ...and no collectable card conquests, I guess.
I posted the above expressly for you! There really isn't much pants-crapping in The Witcher, although some of the missions are creepy rather than outright horrific. Girding my moistened loins for Alien - Isolation! Also will be getting some time in with Sins of a Solar Empire - Rebellion and CoD Infinite Warfare for my full sci-fi smorgasbord.
Dangit, I may have to reboot the game from where I cowardly left off now...
You didn't actually finish Alien??
I never even got as far as seeing the Alien. However far that is. No spoilers. ^-^
In my defense, I've spent 40 years having stressy and occasionally fatally nightmarish dreams 8 hours a night, 365 days a year, and while I don't ever recall being killed by the Xenomorphs they do show up at least a few times a year. I realized while playing that if I kept going, I'd be setting up an immersive situation where I would DEFINITELY be killed in tense and/or surprising ways by the Alien while in first person perspective, and that if anything ever started those nightmares this would be it. Being killed in a dream isn't any more fun after the 600th time. :hide:
So I'll just have to live vicariously through the suffering of others! :bd: ;D
I finally finished a Darthmod Napoleon TW campaign - the Italian campaign - for years i kept attempting it but would get crushed at the start even time, trying to take Turin too early, instead i went for the surrounding territories first and did much better. It really was a fulfilling campaign, what Darthmod did to the AI was outstanding - had some tremendous battles with an ebb and flow - i learned that really one must focus on getting ones units experience up - a small experienced army can take on a large fresh army pretty well if one can really pay attention, go for a Leuthen strategy and try to target their cannon with ones own cannon early on. the final battle at klagenfurt was the hardest as the austrians dont really wait for me to come to them but start move their whole army on me from the start. i know i am prob just going over what others here have long since done but i wanted to post nevertheless as i rarely get to finish TW campaigns outright anymore
Congrats on the win agathosdaimon. That's no small feat that. Darthmod makes the game mucho, mucho better. O0
Congrats, agathosdaimon!
Congrats...sounds like a really nice campaign!
I just lost my Gnolam campaign in Master of Orion CtS....i have been crushed by the Sakkras and the Klakons....
Congrats! I never finished one campaign of either Empire TW or Napoleon TW.
Bought Alea Jacta Est during the Steam Summer Sale 2017 and managed to finish it before the sale ends!
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/845964355475201746/806054B770A30567533EBD016EF26065422DEBB5/)
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 02:26:59 PM
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
MD I'd love to play this game with you. I believe you play by email though so it's not like a live online session. I'd be up for it though. Let me log into Steam and see how this would work.
Edit: Yup. Just read the manual. One person hosts the game and emails the turn to the next player. The second player plays his turn and emails the file back to the host. Host then puts the turn in the correct folder and loads the game. I believe you can also send the turn files back and forth to each other via an instant messaging app. Maybe even the Steam chat tool?
Quote from: W8taminute on July 04, 2017, 06:09:31 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 02:26:59 PM
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
MD I'd love to play this game with you. I believe you play by email though so it's not like a live online session. I'd be up for it though. Let me log into Steam and see how this would work.
Edit: Yup. Just read the manual. One person hosts the game and emails the turn to the next player. The second player plays his turn and emails the file back to the host. Host then puts the turn in the correct folder and loads the game. I believe you can also send the turn files back and forth to each other via an instant messaging app. Maybe even the Steam chat tool?
Excellent! I PM'd you my e-mail addy in case you don't still have it.
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 07:31:57 PM
Quote from: W8taminute on July 04, 2017, 06:09:31 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 02:26:59 PM
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
MD I'd love to play this game with you. I believe you play by email though so it's not like a live online session. I'd be up for it though. Let me log into Steam and see how this would work.
Edit: Yup. Just read the manual. One person hosts the game and emails the turn to the next player. The second player plays his turn and emails the file back to the host. Host then puts the turn in the correct folder and loads the game. I believe you can also send the turn files back and forth to each other via an instant messaging app. Maybe even the Steam chat tool?
Excellent! I PM'd you my e-mail addy in case you don't still have it.
Thanks! I'm glad you PM'd me. I have replied with my email as well.
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 02:26:59 PM
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
Let's do a 3 way!!!.. This thread is going South in 3... 2... 1....
Quote from: Tuna on July 04, 2017, 08:48:30 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 02:26:59 PM
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
Let's do a 3 way!!!.. This thread is going South in 3... 2... 1....
I'm down.
I smell a AAR Section Winner coming up. Congrats on the win W8taminute. Which scenario were you playing? And give me some tips so I can win my next game. O0
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 09:40:30 PM
Quote from: Tuna on July 04, 2017, 08:48:30 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 02:26:59 PM
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
Let's do a 3 way!!!.. This thread is going South in 3... 2... 1....
I'm down.
But I get up again. LoL
Spoke with Tuna briefly last night on Steam and yes we should see if we could do a three way. I don't think the scenario I played is possible to have more than two sides but I'll check later on and get back to you. Otherwise we can play another scenario that can accommodate three or more.
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 04, 2017, 09:42:06 PM
I smell a AAR Section Winner coming up. Congrats on the win W8taminute. Which scenario were you playing? And give me some tips so I can win my next game. O0
Thanks! The scenario I was playing was the Civil War, Caesar vs. Pompey. It's set just after Caesar conquers Gaul and finds out that back at home some dude named Pompey wants the throne.
Some tips I can share with you that worked for me:
1. Invest early in your land clearing and other economic buildings in the early game.
2. Definitely purchase some of the cheap throw away garrison units and place them in a few key undefended cities. They actually do fight better than the automatically spawned militia that are created when an enemy comes knocking on your city doors.
3. Hire the German mercenaries whenever you can, they are worth it at the beginning because you don't have access initially to recruiting all of the good troops.
4. Make sure your officers are assigned to units or help to provide command points to your larger armies. Basic advice I know but I didn't pay attention to this like I should have the first 25 turns or so.
That's a great scenario. And a long one. I got Ceasar well on his way to a big win before my old computer took a dump and I lost all my saved games. :'( But I'll be back at it someday. I just finished the Third Samnite War and at first I thought it boring but the more I got into it, the more it grew on me. It's also a long one, 105 turns. The Samnite are damned tough opponents but I managed a 'Minor Victory'. Looking forward to learning more from you experts.
Quote from: W8taminute on July 05, 2017, 09:33:50 AM
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 09:40:30 PM
Quote from: Tuna on July 04, 2017, 08:48:30 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on July 04, 2017, 02:26:59 PM
W8, can you play MP on Alea? I'd be down for that if we can. I am not very good, but I think I would have more fun if there were another human involved.
Let's do a 3 way!!!.. This thread is going South in 3... 2... 1....
I'm down.
But I get up again. LoL
Spoke with Tuna briefly last night on Steam and yes we should see if we could do a three way. I don't think the scenario I played is possible to have more than two sides but I'll check later on and get back to you. Otherwise we can play another scenario that can accommodate three or more.
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 04, 2017, 09:42:06 PM
I smell a AAR Section Winner coming up. Congrats on the win W8taminute. Which scenario were you playing? And give me some tips so I can win my next game. O0
Thanks! The scenario I was playing was the Civil War, Caesar vs. Pompey. It's set just after Caesar conquers Gaul and finds out that back at home some dude named Pompey wants the throne.
Some tips I can share with you that worked for me:
1. Invest early in your land clearing and other economic buildings in the early game.
2. Definitely purchase some of the cheap throw away garrison units and place them in a few key undefended cities. They actually do fight better than the automatically spawned militia that are created when an enemy comes knocking on your city doors.
3. Hire the German mercenaries whenever you can, they are worth it at the beginning because you don't have access initially to recruiting all of the good troops.
4. Make sure your officers are assigned to units or help to provide command points to your larger armies. Basic advice I know but I didn't pay attention to this like I should have the first 25 turns or so.
Doesn't the Caesar vs Pompey one have the Middle Eastern king (forget his name) and thus 3 sides?
Yes, as well as the 'Barbarians' as a fourth power, them being pretty much any tribal group you run into anywhere if I remember correctly. The Parthians are included in most of the scenarios dealing with the larger Med. world and they can be real game-ruiners for anybody playing the eastern faction.
Hmmm... perhaps we should have four players...
Just so this is out in the open from the beginning, I don't get AGEOd games. I've tried a few, Civil War I and To End All Wars, and got nowhere except more confused. I tried again with Alea Jacta Est. This time I got it. Mostly. I only played the one game though. I guess what I am getting at is, I am soooooooooooooooooooooooo n00b. Don't mind taking my lumps if I learn something.
AJE Really fits the engine nicely. The smaller number of large armies doesn't seem to confuse the AI so much maybe and there's less of a horde of units rushing at you like To End All Wars. Still.... sometimes the AI armies seem to be able to move all over the map in one turn, carrying their supply along with them and still able to fight when they get where they are going. My forces need multiple turns to get to their destinations and then are so disrupted, they need a turn to rest before they can fight. But nothing is more frustrating than executing a perfectly laid plan and then your damned generals won't activate. :pullhair: Sometimes they just sit there watching the AI siege your cities and you can't do anything to stop them unless the AI decides to attack you. But still it's become my favorite AGEOD game. And you can learn a lot about Roman history playing it.
This makes me wonder if the more unwieldy AGE games would play better as mp?
Quote from: JasonPratt on July 05, 2017, 02:31:44 PM
Hmmm... perhaps we should have four players...
Hi Jason,
Unfortunately none of the scenarios I saw while browsing last night have options for 4 players. Three players seems to be the max. Would you like to start a 2 player game with me on the side? There would be room for one more too if there is any interest.
Sure! Hm, 3rd Samnite War (from Birth of Rome)?
Oh, wait, sorry, that isn't potentially 3 players.
Year of 4 Emperors? The shortest of the 3-player campaigns.
Quote from: JasonPratt on July 06, 2017, 09:02:09 PM
Sure! Hm, 3rd Samnite War (from Birth of Rome)?
I'd do that scenario even if it is not a 3 player game. If we can get a third player to join us then that Year of the 4 Emperors is a good one because of it's short length.
We should make a proper thread to check for 3rd player.
I finished the Kreigsmarine Download for Order of Battle WW2 - twice. Once with and once without rushing for German carriers.
Finished two things since my last update.
Finished Burma Road (twice) and wrote a review that I'm not sure anyone read.
I also finished Armada 2526 on a Large map with 3 opponents.
Read it! :bd:
Finished Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father 20th Anniversary Edition.
Wrote a review that nobody will read!
Congrats on the win airboy. Where's the review at?
If we had a front page, it would probably be there. :D
Currently it's right after the Panthers in the Fog review, but it might get bumped a few pages forward.
Meanwhile, I finished Pre-Dynastic Egypt aka Pre-civilization: Egypt earlier this week. I like games that start from dirt nothing and go upward, and this had a good scope. For nostalgia, I also re-figured out how to beat the first "Pre-civ" games Stone Age and Bronze Age. Then I realized I also had Marble Age which picks up roughly where PDE leaves off, and wow goes through the Byzantine period?? :o The mechanics in the latter are an interesting evolutionary step between the earlier and the latest games, too, so same-but-different enough to be a highly distinctive entry.
Quote from: JasonPratt on September 29, 2017, 03:45:27 PM
Meanwhile, I finished Pre-Dynastic Egypt aka Pre-civilization: Egypt earlier this week. I like games that start from dirt nothing and go upward, and this had a good scope. For nostalgia, I also re-figured out how to beat the first "Pre-civ" games Stone Age and Bronze Age. Then I realized I also had Marble Age which picks up roughly where PDE leaves off, and wow goes through the Byzantine period?? :o The mechanics in the latter are an interesting evolutionary step between the earlier and the latest games, too, so same-but-different enough to be a highly distinctive entry.
Can you link to what you are talking about?
Sure, they're all on Steam now (but they're all originally mobile games):
Stone Age + Bronze Age (http://store.steampowered.com/app/686900/Bronze_Age__HD_Edition/)
Stone Age is the simplest game (and maybe developed first). It's set in Africa and runs from four million years BC to around 4000ish BC (the game's text in English accidentally calls this 4 thousand years ago, i.e. 2000ish BC). The overarching puzzle is how to get enough production to build an early palace by then (which takes 100 turns). You start with 8 starving people in your tribe, and the game takes place entirely on one small map with 'work' positions that open up as you tech up. The game system is very much a worker-placement turn-based game. (Not like Sid's Civ except in a very superficial sense. Firaxis forced the devs to stop calling it Pre-Civ, but that's an appropriate title really. ;) ) The gfx are very simple and cartoonish; and the music is pleasant but not really "ancient". Not much real history. But it's a good introduction to the system.
Bronze Age starts you in the Fertile Crescent 6000 BC. Same principle but you get 120 turns to build the first Wonder of the World (a pyramid) by 2000 BC, starting with 12 starving people in your tribe. About the same number of techs, four more buildings to unlock. Gfx are on par with the first game, music sounds more ancient but also is rather more grating. ;) It's a little more difficult, and you could potentially end up with over a million people in your civ.
Marble Age (http://store.steampowered.com/app/346810/Marble_Age/)
This is where the series jumps hard into trying new things (among them using sliders instead of discreet +/- buttons to assign workers to job areas). The basic concepts remain: you start with a few settlers in your tribe in an undeveloped map screen, this time in 3000BC south Greece (starting what will become either Athens or Sparta, your choice at the beginning), and slowly develop your home area opening up job slots to place workers. Now though you've got a larger map outside your home map, where you send scouts to check other areas, start diplomacy with other tribes, and build colonies. There's a lot more historical flavor, and arguably this is the most epic of the four games (so far) running to unify a typical EuroMed map by the start of the medieval period (AD 1000), either as Rome or as Byzantium. The turn limit is 301, but Gold victory is 285. The music probably doesn't sound 'Greek' at all, but is more complex than previously. Gfx have improved moderately in some ways, not much in others. The new interface isn't as polished overall, which is a main reason why the game gets the worst Steam reviews of the series. (The other reason seems to be ongoing bugs in the PC adaptation.)
Pre-dynastic Egypt (http://store.steampowered.com/app/461620/Predynastic_Egypt/)
This is the most polished system in the series, with by far the best graphical flair. (The music is appropriately ancient-Egypt sounding, sort of.) It runs from 5000 BC to 3000 BC (at least 204 turns if I recall correctly), so its scale is more focused, but you're still starting as a family with only 8 workers (now the game tracks overall population distinct from workers, although that's a bit behind the scenes) migrating into an area near the Nile to look for food to gather. The home map develops out a lot more realistically looking over time; the over-map (which unlocks eventually instead of immediately with MarbAge) just covers (eventual) Egypt and Sinai really, with a little area westward into the Sahara. The worker-placement mechanic has been revised into a new form: you don't unlock work areas with tech (usually), but discover discreet areas (from a fog) which produce one or more kinds of income (food, production, culture, etc.). Then you decide where best to send your workers. Meanwhile you can keep one worker group in the background converting production into new developments of discovered areas. The design, both in gameplay and aesthetic, is much more elegant than prior games. Like MarbAge, there are now plot goals which, when you meet them, will give you bonuses and unlock the next goals. Some of these goals are important enough to be game-ending if you fail to get them in time! Also like MarbAge there's a ton more historical flavor.
People have compared the system to a solitaire Euro boardgame, and I think that's a valid comparison.
I finished
The Observer. Very stylish game with some amazing and disturbing visuals but, for me, the game itself wasn't all that good. The story is sometimes a bit hard to follow unless you're the type who can glean meanings from subtext and art (I'm not). The gameplay itself doesn't involve a lot of player choice. It's mostly a walking simulator/pixel hunt. There are dialogue trees but they don't offer branching paths so eventually you just go through and exhaust all the options. There are only two situations where you get to make a choice that will affect the story outcome.
If you're really into atmosphere dystopian cyberpunk themes, this title's worth it for the art direction but as a horror/adventure game, it's not all that good.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on October 06, 2017, 06:54:02 PM
I finished The Observer.
I've never been into digital adventure games (aka pixel hunts), but Razorfist's review of this one is damn entertaining. :2funny:
Warning: NSFW - Language.
>:D
I finished "The Quest." It was OK. I probably spent too much time restarting and power gaming it when it was not necessary.
Finally finished Divinity: Original Sin.
Steam said I played 84 hours. It felt longer.
Good game. A lot tougher than most RPGs in that it requires you to think and solve puzzles on your own. There isn't nearly as much hand holding, magic map pointers, and convenient NPC dialogue to nudge you in the right direction.
Like most long RPGs, the ending bit was a slog that felt way too drawn out but I finished it. Not sure what to tackle now but I'm thinking something more simmish. Maybe it's time to get back into CMANO.
I'm having trouble with Divinity. I think I've cleared out all of Cyseal except for the damned Rex character in the church. I can't beat him - he keeps casting a fire attack that kills half my party, even WITH fire resistance.
I'm thinking I'm not high enough level (9 or 10, can't recall offhand), but I sure as heck can't find any more things to do other than attack him.
I looked hard at this game awhile back. How much like Baldur's Gate is it and have either of you checked out Divinity2?
I'd tried Divinity: Original Sin (enhanced edition) and the Classic edition both, more than a few times, but the story didn't intrigue me fully. I finally decided recently to try powering through the first part and managed to do fairly well. It can be frustrating but there are story elements that are enjoyable. The real second-guesser is trying to decide which two main characters you want to go with (i.e. what class you want them to be - fighter, cleric, etc. - there's a LOT of choices).
The RPG elements are pretty solid. I like how the two main characters can occasionally have dialog triggered where you can choose one side or the other. The two main characters don't necessarily have to agree. Depending on your choices, your characters will be enhanced slightly afterwards. I like that mechanic.
Glad SDR has 84 hours. I only have 18 so I imagine there HAS to be more than just this Rex character. I even put the game on a lower difficulty and he still blasts my party into atoms. ;D
Finally beat the last mission on Bomber Crew after many tries!, What a bugger it is, found the best thing to do was to loiter the target and try and shoot down as many planes first before trying to bomb. Cheap game for some good fun. .Makes you curse a lot though!
Flying back after the mission
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4560/38508261581_7db8475811_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/21EQUyv)
End Screens
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4515/38452469886_839a5eb184_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/21zUXCJ)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4527/37792790984_92fd66408f_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/ZzBW5y)
Quote from: BanzaiCat on November 13, 2017, 07:21:23 PM
I'm having trouble with Divinity. I think I've cleared out all of Cyseal except for the damned Rex character in the church. I can't beat him - he keeps casting a fire attack that kills half my party, even WITH fire resistance.
I'm thinking I'm not high enough level (9 or 10, can't recall offhand), but I sure as heck can't find any more things to do other than attack him.
Keep everyone back behind the main doors and just send in a thief type with stealth to draw the enemy in towards you. Gets some rain happening and get some water on the ground with freeze arrows or other method. Make sure to summon some expendables like elementals or whatnot to act as speedbumps. Take down Rex's support buddies and then he should fall pretty easily. Make sure to examine him to see exactly what his weaknesses are (I seem to recall him being vulnerable to shock attacks). Get your archer to hit him with some silver arrows to lower his defences and then try to shock him and then start pummeling.
Congrats on the win Tuna! Way to show those big-head Germans they shouldn't start world wars. O0
Yeah, good job. I am on the 2nd to last mission but those jets (STFU Jason) are murder.
Before I take off, I bring a ton of ammo up to the bombardier's compartment.. always have the belt-fed in the rear.
OK. I'll bite. Why does the belt have to be fed in the rear? Does he have trouble swallowing? :DD
Completed another scientific victory in Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars...
Just finished another one in Vietnam 65. Just normal difficulty. So far I tend to lose half of the time.
Loss usually due to not killing enough commies to get the "funds" coming in.
Quote from: jomni on November 20, 2017, 01:43:09 AM
Just finished another one in Vietnam 65. Just normal difficulty. So far I tend to lose half of the time.
Loss usually due to not killing enough commies to get the "funds" coming in.
Another game I own and have never played. How well has this held up over replays?
Quote from: airboy on November 20, 2017, 10:52:59 AM
Quote from: jomni on November 20, 2017, 01:43:09 AM
Just finished another one in Vietnam 65. Just normal difficulty. So far I tend to lose half of the time.
Loss usually due to not killing enough commies to get the "funds" coming in.
Another game I own and have never played. How well has this held up over replays?
Well the setup is very random so its definitely repayable. Lots of setup options too.
Holy crap....! I actually finished the "Command Modern Air and Naval Ops" four part "Sea Tutorial" with a 7 point triumph. You have a single guided missile destroyer. Part 1 was defend from an air attack. Part 2 was detect and sink a sub. Part 3 was initiate an attack against land targets. Part 4 was a head to head ship versus ship battle. Never thought I could do it. This game is intense. I died a number of times before getting the hang of what I was doing.
Congrats on the win Rayfer! O0
While waiting for TTG's final eps of their second season Batman adventure game to drop, I finally got around to playing their Guardians of the Galaxy game, which also released its final ep recently. 1-/2 to 2 hours a night well spent this week.
There are still some minor bugs in the "plot tracking" side of the game, but I don't think I noticed any until the final ep so presumably they'll get squished. The background music was weaaaaaaaak. But weak in almost a retro midi way. When the music tried and failed to sound like the awesome movie theme music, though, that was just sad. I honestly feel bad for the composer.
Relatedly, no doubt for trademark copyright reasons, the "Awesome Mix" tape is now the "Rad Mix" tape. It is also, to my feelings (admittedly subjective), somewhat less rad or awesome than the nostalgia tracks from the films. This is not helped by spreading the music cues out across ten-ish hours instead of 2, and (for me) the most repeated ones were some of the weakest of the set. Still, I appreciated some of the music choices in there, too, especially the background song for the final fight which was "Crazy On You". Other players' mileage may vary about the choices, hopefully for the better. O:-) (There's also an option to nix the "rad mix" and replace it with something else, for Youtube playthroughs to prevent copyright infringement claims and monetization problems.)
The visual design for Peter Quill (this is the newer version of the team, from the movies, not the original, which is fine) is... aggressively not the comics, nor Chris Pratt. At least the voice actor was pretty good at it. Most of the vocal talent was good, including long-time actor Nolan North doing a serviceable impression of Bradley Cooper's Rocket Raccoon. Also Nebula's voice actor, doing a great impression of Karen Gillan from the film. The guy doing Yondu's voice came and went in quality, sometimes a spot-on impression, sometimes not. (His character had by far the weakest writing, too, but also just a cameo really.) The other principal actors did just fine. Groot's actor was a freaking genius (better than Vin Diesel). Character designs I thought were spot on (and better than the films in some cases, particularly for Gamora), but as noted "Star-Lord" Quill's design, where not mirroring the film's, seemed very meh. (His "Stache-Lord" origin appearance in the final ep was super-funny, though.)
Despite heavily referencing the film's style to some degree, the story in no way counts as part of the MCU continuity. This was reflexively annoying, but I got over it. Sometimes it felt like plot tension was being thrown at me for sake of plot tension, but stretched over five movie-length episodes, in a setting that might as well be called SNARKY ARGUMENTS THE SEMI-SUPER TEAM, I can forgive that more easily as necessary to keep things going.
Rather than dealing with any of the Infinity Stones, the team inadvertently finds the... well, for all practical purposes, the Holy Grail. And kills Thanos in the opening fight scene, just so the player won't be having that plot expectation hanging around. (I still had plot expectations of him coming back by episode 4 hanging around, however. I won't spoil whether the game exceeded my expectations on that.) A Kree Accuser wants the Grail, too, in order to bring back the Kree Empire (in this game they were already wiped out, apparently by Thanos if I recall correctly). Plot happens. More importantly, characterization among the crew happens, and is generally well written. The game serves as a broad 'origin story' for the characters and how they came together (in flashbacks), too; not so much in events as, again, characterization. I appreciated that.
The action sequences are, well, TTS' normal brand of quick-time events. As usual what bugs me about these is that some cues make logical and consistent sense, while others (mainly single button presses) do not: they're just randomly assigned around, which makes a person think about what they're doing but only in confusion and annoyance! :pullhair: Otherwise the action scenes are designed reasonably well, up to great in a few cases -- the ones showcasing the Guardians working together (such as in the Thanos fight, and in the final battle.)
Worth it if you like this kind of game; or if you like the character interaction of the Guardians in the films but want to see them in a different yet similar story (or are willing to put up with it not being in the MCU story at all despite visual cues suggesting otherwise).
I finished Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Samurai.
Great game! Reminded me a lot of the old Commandos series of sneaky stealth action. Challenging but not punishingly so and I only rarely felt truly stuck or frustrated. Some of my "solutions" were pretty high risk and involved a fair bit of saving and reloading to get the timing just right but when it worked, it was glorious.
It's 50% off on Steam for the winter sale. Well worth it IMO.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4592/38330890105_60467a623e_h.jpg)
Very good SDR! Congrats on the win.
Been on my list for awhile. Did you use a game controller or mouse and keyboard? Doesn't look very M/KB friendly. Congrats on the finish, nice to know someone around here is finishing something :notworthy:
Mouse and keyboard. I never felt using that combo was in any way difficult or problematic. The only issue I ran into was one of location selection. In a few instances, the game would misinterpret the bit of terrain you were trying to select (eg, a clump of bushes next to a wall) and assign your mouse click to somewhere you didn't want it to be (on top of the wall instead of in the bushes) and your ninja would dutifully clamber up the wall and caper about like an inbred for a few seconds before being riddled with musket balls.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on December 22, 2017, 12:13:01 AM
Mouse and keyboard. I never felt using that combo was in any way difficult or problematic. The only issue I ran into was one of location selection. In a few instances, the game would misinterpret the bit of terrain you were trying to select (eg, a clump of bushes next to a wall) and assign your mouse click to somewhere you didn't want it to be (on top of the wall instead of in the bushes) and your ninja would dutifully clamber up the wall and caper about like an inbred for a few seconds before being riddled with musket balls.
Thank you sir, good to know.
Finished "Layers of Fear"....a Humble Bundle free give-away from earlier in the week. Took four hours. Never played a game like this before...psychological horror game with an unfolding story, no combat or fighting of any sort, some puzzle here and there but nothing too difficult to figure out. Enjoyed it. Nothing great, but for free....hey, can't beat the price.
Just finished
1849 ...took me a while to complete the 20 scenarios of the base game on my tablet. It was fun and good game on the go.
San Fransisco is the last scenario (not me playing).
I bought Curious Expedition from Steam as it was on sale and after 4 playthroughs, I was able to complete a 6-expedition run through (max possible). The game has some interesting features but when you put it up against Renowned Explorers, it just doesn't hold up. Renowned Explorers is by far the superior game even though I dislike the anime style artistic influences.
Thankfully it was a relatively cheap purchase if if you're in the market for a rouge-like exploration based game, then grab Renowned Explorers. the gameplay is deeper and more tactical, the graphics are better, and the replayability is much higher.
Finished my first Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword game. Lost it to a cultural victory despite the fact that i had launched the spaceship but for some reason, after 20 turns, it failed to bring me victory...anyone knows why?
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on December 24, 2017, 03:43:23 AM
I bought Curious Expedition from Steam as it was on sale and after 4 playthroughs, I was able to complete a 6-expedition run through (max possible). The game has some interesting features but when you put it up against Renowned Explorers, it just doesn't hold up. Renowned Explorers is by far the superior game even though I dislike the anime style artistic influences.
Thankfully it was a relatively cheap purchase if if you're in the market for a rouge-like exploration based game, then grab Renowned Explorers. the gameplay is deeper and more tactical, the graphics are better, and the replayability is much higher.
For $8 on steam Renowned Explorers looks pretty good. But do I really need yet another game in my stack that I've not played?
Quote from: Anguille on December 24, 2017, 08:00:10 AM
Finished my first Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword game. Lost it to a cultural victory despite the fact that i had launched the spaceship but for some reason, after 20 turns, it failed to bring me victory...anyone knows why?
If you reload the game, look in the Victory Conditions screen (not its proper name, but, accessed by a red fist symbol in the top right corner of the play screen). It will give you your relation to the leader of each VC you chose at the beginning. There is also a button to see your spaceship building progress. Not sure if it's in the VC tab or the tab that looks like a graph (also in the top right corner and next to the fist). If you didn't put enough components on your spaceship when you launched it, it takes longer to get to Alpha Centauri. And in the interim, your opponents continue to work towards their goals, too.
Finally beat Hand of Fate, after lolling around on it for a couple of years. Still took me a couple of weeks.
It's a game that can truly be said to be the journey, not the destination, because, well, the ending is pretty weak. And arguably the game runs on too long without enough variation for the distance.
Still, it's got an entertaining atmosphere of grey and gray mystery (so to speak). From what I've read, the recently released sequel serves as an extended plot-fill for what the story really was in this game and how it ends, thus setting up the plot for the sequel. I doubt I'm going to play it for a while, though. (If ever.)
For the money, it must be bluntly said, you can get even better versions of the same fighting style in any single (or by now, two or three on sale) Batman: Arkham games; also the Amazing Spider-man games; also the Shadow of Middle-Earth games (so to speak, although I regard those as lesser compared to their Batman inspiration); also reportedly Mad Max (haven't played that myself yet, not fond of the milieu). You won't get the archetypal mythical symbolism gameplay, though, as in this game (and its sequel).
On to other things. I have an excellent multiplayer game with Yskonyn I've been putting off for a while in order to finish various chugs I started, including this game, and it's time to get back to that and release the grey thunder! \m/
^ Congratulations!
Way to go Jason! :bd: Great way to start-off the new year by kicking digital butt.
Well, it took me 156 turns, but I finally finished off my 4th shard on Eador Genesis: New Horizons.
The Eador game features a brilliant system, and could've been the total successor to Heroes of Might & Magic if they'd just gotten the bugs out of the prettified second release and reduced the grind factor. I was disappointed with that Masters of the Broken World successor game and, after 200+ hours of game play, heartbrokenly set it aside back in 2014. It was just the gorgeous girlfriend who tried to break up with me one time too many!
I'd heard great things about the New Horizons mod to the original Genesis game, but it had only been available in Russian. Somewhere in the last year or two, it's been translated into English, and I found the time to start it back up just before Christmas. I was expecting a nostalgic romp for an hour or two before the old "Been there, done that" feeling set in and I moved on to something else.
Instead, I've spent about 10 nights out of the last 20 playing it until past midnight! I guess I know who to blame for that. :tickedoff:
This game is particularly hard because you play it in Iron Man mode. To revert one turn for a Saved Game, you have to invoke Godlike powers to alter the flow of time--but that costs you dearly in the campaign game. There's simply no way to save the game. It's brutal like that.
In any event, when I came to this world and revealed my Godlike presence to my first village of followers, I was stuck with a start in a Swamp province, and it took me FOREVER to break free. When I finally made contact with the opponent player, I was woefully underprepared. I'd spent all my resources trying to beef up my Hero and his army, so I had no static defenses. He was my attack force and my mobile reserve--if he got beat in a first encounter with the enemy, I was canned. Somehow, I barely staved off his first attack.
At the end of our first clash of major armies, I lost every single unit and was left with only my lone Hero emerged as the victor. Heroes can be resurrected when slain, but it takes a couple turns and a lot of money--and with all that swampland around my castle and NONE of the strategic resources that one generally needs to get rolling quickly, I couldn't afford the loss.
He apparently could. I had only one Hero worth the title, and he keep punishing me with THREE Heroes of his own! My hero and a full army was more powerful than any army he could field, but just barely. I spent the next 20 turns losing my entire army just to defeat one of his hero stacks with my Warrior hero--my guy was literally the last man standing on the battlefield for at least 10 different battles. I couldn't get pwerful enough garrisons to hold anything I took, so all I could do was hold onto territory with my Hero and hope he didn't find a way to open a 2-front war on me.
FINALLY, after more back-and-forthing than I've ever experienced in the 30+ scenarios I've won in these games, I was able to get a few good Garrison contracts to seal my front lines and start chewing off his provinces. I even got one or two of those precious starter resources from a captured province, and at that point, the war of attrition shifted into my favor.
Of the final six battles that I won, I think he killed 80% of my units each time, BUT I was always left with my Warrior Hero emerging victorious from the fray. As he won each battle, he leveled up, and somewhere around Level 15 I finally managed to turn the corner.
It was exhausting, but I've magically annexed the Shard, and with it I've gained knowledge of how to build a couple 2nd-level shops to gear up my Heroes, and a Theater to provide the much-needed happiness boost to all my provinces. Who knew that theater troupes would be so critical to winning a Fantasy 4x game?
Congratulations!
Sounds like a fun, but brutal game.
What is "New Horizons"? I only know of Genesis, Master of the Broken Lands (I have that one), and Imperium.
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 14, 2018, 12:38:20 PM
What is "New Horizons"? I only know of Genesis, Master of the Broken Lands (I have that one), and Imperium.
I believe he is referring to Genesis with the New Horizons mod applied.
Yeah. Genesis was the original Eador game, upon which Mast of the Broken Worlds and it's follow-on, Imperium were both based.
Sadly, due to technical problems (which varied significantly by user, but were still rampant and ultimately never resolved for many) and some poor design decisions on the part of the developers, neither of those two follow-ons offered much new besides prettier graphics.
The New Horizons mod introduced all sorts of additional functionality that was not in the original Genesis game: "Level 1.5" units that fit in L1 slots but are significantly up-powered from base level 1 units but much harder to come by; dozens of additional monsters (new races like Gnolls, Ratmen, and the lawful Alkari; new race build-outs so Orcs and Goblins now have all their own units (e.g., Goblins are as physically weak as ever but more likely to use poison and other devious approaches); retweaking of magic and the introduction of additional schools of magic and spells; various additional buildings, etc. They also added a much richer variety of quests/events, which MotBW also did but was a major challenge for the original Genesis.
If anybody wants info for finding New Horizions, give a shout, as I'm happy to share it.
Congrats Sooner on the win. I'd almost totally forgotten about this game, I haven't heard much about it in quite awhile. Very good Sir. :clap:
I finally beat the Ithaqua scenario with the flawless bonus for Elder Sign: Omens. I don't want to know how many tries it took but it has to be in the 100+ region. I beat the scenario a handful of times in the past but was never able to get the flawless run which unlocks the final playable character until now.
Fun game. Easily the hardest win conditions I've successfully defeated in a game on any platform. All to unlock a street urchin.
Very satisfying completing something like that. Good job by you! O0
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 30, 2018, 01:58:10 AM
I finally beat the Ithaqua scenario with the flawless bonus for Elder Sign: Omens. I don't want to know how many tries it took but it has to be in the 100+ region. I beat the scenario a handful of times in the past but was never able to get the flawless run which unlocks the final playable character until now.
Fun game. Easily the hardest win conditions I've successfully defeated in a game on any platform. All to unlock a street urchin.
I hate you. Now I know this game exists.
I have it on my phone. Great little game for travelling.
Nice, SDR!
Helping homeless little street urchins should be its own reward.
Even if, you know, you're helping them to defeat million-year old, god-like aliens!
SDR,
I'm amazed that you were able to beat this game. I've played it since it first came out and it routinely beats me like a circus monkey.
I salute you!
Yes. Good show SDR. O0
I found i had better luck taking only two investigators rather than a full compliment of four for the Ithaqua scenario. The Kate Winthrop/Rita Young team seemed to work best. Kate can tackle the missions that normally result in monster spawns or insta-death terror results as she's immune to both and Rita can take on the ones that normally dish out damage as she's immune to those. Stay in the museum until you have at least 10 supplies (12+ is better) and then head out. Push hard and try to get elder signs as quickly as possible because the Alaska missions SUCK and will overwhelm you if you stick around too long. Try to hold on to clues and glyph locks for the final battles (your gonna need to roll a lot of skulls). Prepare to lose....a lot.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 31, 2018, 04:33:07 AM
I found i had better luck taking only two investigators rather than a full compliment of four for the Ithaqua scenario. The Kate Winthrop/Rita Young team seemed to work best. Kate can tackle the missions that normally result in monster spawns or insta-death terror results as she's immune to both and Rita can take on the ones that normally dish out damage as she's immune to those. Stay in the museum until you have at least 10 supplies (12+ is better) and then head out. Push hard and try to get elder signs as quickly as possible because the Alaska missions SUCK and will overwhelm you if you stick around too long. Try to hold on to clues and glyph locks for the final battles (your gonna need to roll a lot of skulls). Prepare to lose....a lot.
I bought it last night for my Fire Tablet for $3.99 - I still hate you.
Not no worry. Insanity will soon replace the hatred.
I finished Order of Battle: WW2 Panzerkreig.
The last couple of scenarios in the campaign ate up my troops. I finished without fielding all of the force that I could have fielded. I spent a ton of resource points upgrading all of my armored units to Panthers or advanced PKIVs plus upgrading all of my infantry to the 1943 arms.
Way to go, airboy!
Airboy: Master of Order of Battle. :notworthy:
Now unleash those panzers on horrors from beyond time and space.
Pillars of Eternity: The Siege of Cragholdt quest. Sir Slash and company stand victorious in front of the throne, or desk, of Concelhaut, the most powerful Wizard in the entire Drywood.
The quest was designed by the game creators to be an Uber-difficult quest and it doesn't disappoint. First you must fight your way through a battalion of very tough mercenaries, then their commander and his personal guard, followed by a slightly smaller army of un-dead animated guardians just to get inside the castle. Inside you have to deal with Concelhaut's 4 apprentices each of whom have a piece of the key to get in to his chambers. One of the apprentices will give you their key if you kill the other 3, but it's not the apprentice you think it will be. :-X After them and all their guardians are dealt with, it's the Big Guy himself.
Concelhaut's not quite as tough as Jon Irenicus of Baldur's Gate 2 but he's close. And of course, he also has animated armored guardians too. He's got a lot of firepower but like any good Wizard, if you hit him often, he can't cast spells of Doom and then he goes down pretty quick. The reward is a small mountain of loot and some very nice special items including Concelhaunt's Skull itself that can summon him to fight for you once per day.
I've really enjoyed playing this really hard quest but was a little disappointed that there was no other option of dealing with the Big Guy but killing him. Too bad. He has nice taste in furniture.
Damn! That is one tough battle if it is almost as bad as that horror from Baldurs Gate 2.
I finished Mission 3 of the A-10C Red Flag campaign!
It's the start of Red Flag where the theme is a Russian invasion of Ukraine (which are designated by specific zones in the NTTR).
I flew a two-ship mission behind the air superiority guys and the SEAD to sweep clean the air and ground in my AO. The Wild Weasels consisted of 2x 2 ship Tornado and 1x 2 ship F-16. The CAP was flown by several 4-ship F-15C flights.
After pushing from the Marshall position we Fenced-In, dropped to 6000ft to get some terrain masking in case the Tornado's would do less than a stellar job and we made way to our Initial Point where we could contact a Predator controller acting as FAC(A).
Contact was made without any problems and the Tornado's and F-16s did a fine job of keeping the SAMs busy.
'Enfield' (the Predator controller) talked us on to our priority target; a road coloumn of vehicles trekking to the border of Ukraine consisting of IFVs, Artillery vehicles and several support vehicles.
Enfield wanted us to run in with cluster munitions (of which we both carried 4) to take out most of the coloumn in one go.
I ordered my wingman to go Trail (formation trekking behind me) and I gave him the call to use his cluster munitions as well.
As visual contact was made with the coloumn, Enfield confirmed it was our target and marked it with willy pete (white smoke). I quickly made a mark point and was cleared for the attack.
First run came off dry, because of me fumbling with the buttons, but my wingman was more professional and lay a carpet of thousands of pinpricks.
Several vehicles were destroyed outright, but not all and the coloumn dispersed.
I got re-cleared by Enfield and my second run was perfect. Two CBU-97s came off my racks in short succession to pepper the whole area once again.
One artillery verhicle somehow survived our attacks and went in full panic mode, racing down the road trying to make for the border.
I came around, armed a maverick, locked onto him and within a few seconds the heavy missile came off my wing.
Mission complete! Time to head home. :)
Unfortunately while egressing my AI wingman did something stupid; he climbed above 8000ft in his attempt to somehow join up with me. Weird, because I was much lower, but the act got him nailed right away by a SAM that aparently had survived the SEAD boys.
Returning to Nellis I didn't hear any of the Tornado's or Falcons anymore. I am curious about what happened to them, will have to check the Tacview recording tomorrow.
Pillars of Eternity. I FINALLY beat the 'Big Baddie' at the bottom of my stronghold. No spoilers here to ruin the surprise but here's the Treasure Trove IT was guarding. And what a hell-of-a-fight it was. :o With everybody else face down, Sir Slash literally killed the beast with his last blow of his big-ass hammer as his health ran down to the single digits. But an epic haul of loot followed. So.... Ale and Serving Wenches all around on me.
Quote from: Sir Slash on February 07, 2018, 01:09:09 PM
So.... Ale and Serving Wenches all around on me.
:o :o Soooo...
I gotcha covered. Me and my Posse are waiting on you outside of Brighthollow, my Inn/Bar at my stronghold Caed Nua. Everybody knows where that is, across the river from Black Meadow. If you hit Yenwood Field, you've gone to far, and are probably ass-deep in dead bodies. Better hurry guys, the ale's getting warm and the wenches are getting cold.
Congrats! I'm going to get back to that when I complete Underrail.
Diablo III - Started a couple of years ago - got 3/4 of the way through and got stuck. I picked it back up recently and finally finished it.
I psyched by the notion of Pillars 2 having, instead of a Stronghold, a customizable in-game ship for you to manage. You are in charge of hiring crew, adding on weapons and other things, and can use it to explore and fight naval battles. If it's close to what they're promising, it should be almost a whole game in itself. :D
Just realized: Pillars may be Suikoden.
Quote from: Skwerl on February 08, 2018, 04:10:16 PM
Diablo III - Started a couple of years ago - got 3/4 of the way through and got stuck. I picked it back up recently and finally finished it.
Good for you! I quit on Diablo years ago, after I couldn't come close to beating Diablo 2. My aging brain couldn't handle the frantic clicking.
Well, listening to Gus thrill at the single player campaign in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare gave me the incentive to pick it up again and finally finish the campaign. I had stopped long ago at mission 29 of 31. I knew the end was near, but the game takes up over 100 GB of space and I needed to free some of that up. I reinstalled it on my back-up rig and streamed it to my main system this afternoon, resulting in the spectacular finish. Seriously, even the credits were worth watching (and listening to). I have NEVER sat through the credits of a game, at least as far as I can remember. Fantastic story, fantastic characters, fantastic writing, fantastic graphics, everything was so great. I don't think I've been this moved by a game since Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Hundreds of people made this game possible and its clear that they poured their hearts and souls into it. It really pains me to see how much hate this game gets on the internet. It can't be easy to create something so great over three years of your life, only to have it $hit on by self-entitled, know-it-all, morons on the web for no apparent reason...
Anyway, I appreciate their effort and I hope they continue to make strong single player campaigns like this in the future. I finished it in 10 hours on the nose. Enjoyed every minute.
Congrats on the win Jar! :bd: That always looked like a really tough game to beat.
Congrats!
Nicely done, JH!
Birth of America 2-- a Major Victory in the what-if scenario where King Louis sends additional forces to Canada for Montcalm to go on the offense. I managed to capture Albany on the very last turn of the campaign for the win. I think this is the first big victory I've ever gotten in an AGEOD game instead of the usual minor victories I end-up with. Lots of fun.
Finished my first complete game of Civ VI. I played as Engerlund on King level, huge world, marathon length. I was planning on going for a science victory while concentrating on making money but the AI wasn't having it. I don't understand their rationale but 3-4 times during the game, the other Civs would gang up and two or three would all declare war on me at once even though they were in no shape to do so. I'd just use my cash to buy units and go and punish one of them for their temerity. Not sure how it happened but by the 1800s I'd managed to take all the capitals except for Paris and Rome. I developed stealth bombers and decided I might as well go for a domination victory. Three stealth bombers, a few barrages from a pair of battleships, and a modern armoured corps knocking at the door does wonders for a change of management in a capital city. Rome and Paris fell very easily and that was all she wrote. I enjoyed it well enough but I think I like Civ V better at this point. Going to get into the new Stellaris next.
I ran into a bug involving bombers and carriers. If I used bombers or stealth bombers from a carrier, the bombers would get locked to the sea hex where the carrier was located. Even if I moved my carrier, the bombers would stay locked to the sea hex and I'd have to re-base them to a city and then back to the carrier if I wanted them to be able to move again.
Congrats on the win! I just heard about a new mod called Caveman to Cosmos. JH was fiddling around with it the other night and I am waiting for a report back on how he liked it.
1st Space victory in Civilization 6! Georgia wasn't far behind but I completed the Mars mission first. This is the first computer game I have actually played to completion in a long, long time. This was also the very first game I started with the Rise and Fall expansion pack. I usually keep starting over after a new DLC drops but Rise and Fall has brought that "just one more turn" feeling back for me. Rise and Fall is an awesome expansion. O0
Oh, and this is also my first post in this thread! (https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aarcentral.com%2Femoti%2Fthankyou.gif&hash=254f83ccc7f5dc86141fc88321fb5a0b2a08c47e)
Here's the ending screenies:
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Quote from: bbmike on February 25, 2018, 06:08:41 PM
This is the first computer game I have actually played to completion in a long, long time.
That's a great feeling isn't it? Congratulations!
Congrats!
Teddy would be proud! -- and also would make Mars a national park (and go shoot things there). O0
Me and the Boys from Rome managed a stupendous "Minor Victory" over that pretty boy Pyrrus and his Greek, Etruscan, Boiian, and Merc allies in Alea Jacta Est's Pyrrus Campaign. A very tough fight altogether but fun once we got the upper hand which takes awhile to do. Let the Victory Orgy commence!
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 13, 2018, 02:25:40 PM
Me and the Boys from Rome managed a stupendous "Minor Victory" over that pretty boy Pyrrus and his Greek, Etruscan, Boiian, and Merc allies in Alea Jacta Est's Pyrrus Campaign. A very tough fight altogether but fun once we got the upper hand which takes awhile to do. Let the Victory Orgy commence!
Congrats!
Don't invite the pugs to the victory orgy.
NEVER! They always steal the loincloths when nobody's looking.
Not bad Sir Slash. Good work!
Thank you W8. Next up is the First Punic War, about a hundred turns long if I remember correct.
Finished BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE GAME this past weekend. Much more of a classic point-n-click adventure game than other TTG offerings I've played so far. No quicktime events. Lots of cleverness and love for the franchise. Some pretty deep-cut franchise jokes, including the animated series, and possibly even a nod to the first draft of the novelization of the first film, where the late author implied that in the first experiment Einstein the dog had gone to hell!
Silvestri's iconic series themes get a strong workout. Christopher Loyd reprises Doc Brown, who is heavily featured throughout the game. Michael J. Fox cameos briefly as a few characters in the final ep, and maybe also as Marty in the prologue to the first ep. (Not quite sure, but it sounds like he and Loyd are remaking the iconic first deLorean scene together.) Loyd's consistently good; other voices range from also consistently good (e.g. Edna Strickland, older sister of the vice principle from the trilogy) to cringey. Unfortunately, Marty's primary voice actor (who naturally has the most spoken lines) falls in the cringey category, doing his best to mimic Michael J. Fox.
The main timeline (for want of a better description) is set in 1986 one year after the trilogy ends, with at least two main timeline variations of this. (There are a couple of clever jokes about 2015 technology in the flying DeLorean.) Most of the game however is set in 1931 Hill Valley, Prohibition Era (with also a brief sequence in 1871 in the final ep), and revolves around Doc Brown as a young man.
If you have kids nearby, be aware that the game curses as much as the film trilogy! -- although I also got the odd impression that the writers were either given a restriction on how many stronger curses they could use, or they were given a mandate on including at least so many and then just didn't care to do any more. This makes the dialogue a little schizophrenic at times. e.g., are they actually going to say $#!+ this time or not?!
The plot goes to some dark places along the way, arguably even darker than anything in the first two movies! This surprised me but I appreciated the thoughtfulness. It creates a rather 'broken aesop', however, because if anything the plot should stress Doc's resolution to destroy the DeLorean because time travel is too dangerous, yet at the end with reality evidently breaking down around them he's like, bah, let's just ignore this and have some fun time traveling for a while. (--wah?)
Potential players should also be aware that the prologue to the first episode is later treated as only a premonition dream sequence foreshadowing a few later plot developments; yet there are various bits of dialogue and other evidence in the first episode (only) that the timeline changed around Marty and for some reason he remembers the differences. This appears to be a purely dropped plotline, not to be resolved later. So if anyone else plays the game, you can ignore those plot-hints.
Overall I enjoyed the game, but I'm also kind-of glad they never got around to making a sequel. I don't quite trust they could do as well the next time, and I REALLY DO NOT EVER want to spend another moment of my life listening to that impersonation of MJFox. :wow: #:-)
Very good Mr. Pratt! :clap:
:clap:
Jason, as part of your victory celebration, you now have to say "fix the flux capacitor" quickly five times in a row.
Good to know someone's finished the Back to the Future game. I have it too and played it about halfway through but stopped for whatever reason - it's been a few years.
This reminds me I haven't finished anything in a while. :'(
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 19, 2018, 09:19:48 AM
This reminds me I haven't finished anything in a while. :'(
Are you spending too much time teaching Pugs to do inappropriate things?
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=22096.0
They actually teach me some things, appropriate and inappropriate.
Completed my first games of Civilization IV (space victory) and Civilization VI (cultural victory).
Back to the future game is on my list of games to play...well done. I always enjoy these story games but they take a long time to finish.
Finished Far Cry 5. Feel like crap.
Quote from: SirAndrewD on April 21, 2018, 02:56:38 AM
Finished Far Cry 5. Feel like crap.
Why - because it is over?
I've heard the ending is bleak (even by FarCry standards). And also once you're done, no more sandboxing (unlike the past few games).
I just finished Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue the full campaign as the Axis with a 'Sudden Death' Major Victory in October 1942-- 6 months early. :D Totally unexpected. I thought I'd have to hold on until April but grabbing Baku and holding Stalingrad netted me the win. The 'Normal' difficulty gives the AI a movement and combat bonus so I played without the AI bonus but gave it more time to make it's moves which resulted in a moderately challenging game-- not near as tough as a Human player though.
Once we pushed through and captured Astrakhan, it was pretty much game over as the Russkies' Supply Line is totally cut in two and everything south of Astrakhan goes on life support. Still the Russians were gaining near parity in strength at the end as I watched and shifted units north to plug gaps in my lines, but they made no major counteroffensive to regain any Victory cities before the end.
Still I love this game, pushing hundreds of units all over southern Russia and switching HQ's around to get the best out of my troops. The most fun I've had with my clothes on in a long time. :clap:
Quote from: JasonPratt on April 21, 2018, 09:05:06 AM
I've heard the ending is bleak (even by FarCry standards). And also once you're done, no more sandboxing (unlike the past few games).
Update: I've now read that the sandboxing can and does continue after game over. It just makes no sense. To be fair that's true of the other games, too, really (one of the FC4 endings being an exception). The game does sort of vaguely reach for an explanation in subtle ways depending on which of the main endings get triggered. (The 'sad' ending may be just one last bad hallucination that wears off eventually; the 'worse' ending has a somewhat similar explanation for continuing.)
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 21, 2018, 01:46:37 PM
I just finished Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue the full campaign as the Axis with a 'Sudden Death' Major Victory in October 1942-- 6 months early. :D Totally unexpected. I thought I'd have to hold on until April but grabbing Baku and holding Stalingrad netted me the win. The 'Normal' difficulty gives the AI a movement and combat bonus so I played without the AI bonus but gave it more time to make it's moves which resulted in a moderately challenging game-- not near as tough as a Human player though.
Once we pushed through and captured Astrakhan, it was pretty much game over as the Russkies' Supply Line is totally cut in two and everything south of Astrakhan goes on life support. Still the Russians were gaining near parity in strength at the end as I watched and shifted units north to plug gaps in my lines, but they made no major counteroffensive to regain any Victory cities before the end.
Still I love this game, pushing hundreds of units all over southern Russia and switching HQ's around to get the best out of my troops. The most fun I've had with my clothes on in a long time. :clap:
Epic win SS... :notworthy:
Thank you Rayfer. :notworthy:
I finished Pillars of Eternity.
Now I have to restart from an earlier save to kill the Master Below and also complete the White March material. When you finish Pillars of Eternity you cannot keep playing.
My main character was a Priest so I never did much of anything with Durance. In the cut scenes he ended up being disgruntled and set himself on fire using his staff as kindling. You got to admire someone with the courage of their stupid RPG convictions.
The best Thief in the game is in The White March. She's not much in combat but she can get you past almost any trap and locks. :smitten:
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 06, 2018, 10:18:25 PM
The best Thief in the game is in The White March. She's not much in combat but she can get you past almost any trap and locks. :smitten:
The way I've trained Hivaris (the druid) he can handle everything.
Eldar = athletics
Female Ranger = survival
lots of others = lore
Finally finish 'For the King'.
Congrats Bob! :bd: Not familiar with that game. How is it? Later I'll have one for you and 'The King'.
Its not a bad game at all, although quite frustrating at times. I got it when it was in a sale and pre full release. Its certainly given me hours of pleasure for the price.
Quote from: bob48 on May 08, 2018, 03:13:02 PM
Its not a bad game at all, although quite frustrating at times. I got it when it was in a sale and pre full release. Its certainly given me hours of pleasure for the price.
I will take a look at this then. I bought it a while ago for my daughter, but she flits between games and I don't think played it much.
I defeated the Master Below in Pillars of Eternity. Nobody knocked unconscious except for the Ranger's animal buddy.
Off to whack the Lich.
Then finish the game again.
That's him Airboy! Dead as Bill Clinton's love life when Hillary's in town. Super Congrats on beating his Ardra-ass! He was a tough Mother for me to take down. How about that horde of his? Now you can retire. :notworthy:
Haven't finished anything in awhile. Just completed first 39 campaign in Strategic Command WW2-War in Europe as the Allies. Decisive Victory in May 45. Never been much of a strategic level gamer, but must say the SC games are a lot of fun PBEM and otherwise. My opponent and I are the type of gamers to just jump in and only read the manual as needed so a lot of mistakes in the first run through but it was fun.
Highlights:
Poland went down in 4 turns, i held onto France until late October 40. The big twist was Russia DOW on Germany in April of 41, caught us both by surprise as he wasn't ready to start Barbarossa, and i was still shoring up my Russian defensive's in an anticipation of Barbarossa. He kicked it off a couple of turns later anyway, he had to go sooner rather than later as the Russians were mobilizing. I got pushed back to Port Said and Cairo in NA, but managed to stabilize that front with the help of air power and taking out the Italian navy enough so i ruled the sea in that area. He never went for Malta so his supply was always compromised. i also took out i think it was 3 transports that he was trying to sneak into NA to reinforce, so that became a sideshow until i could add some forces to start pushing back. In the east Moscow was never threatened, think he got within 6 or 7 hexes. Got to gates of Leningrad but i held onto it, we basically traded blows in 41 and 42 in the east. There was no attempt at Sealion, and i was worried about it as the British were weak but i had control of the seas, so i used that to discourage Sealion, locking up the North Sea and the Channel. Once the Americans were on board, started working for an invasion. Didn't need to send any American forces[except air power] to NA so that helped. As the grinder in the east continued i noticed western Europe wasn't very well defended though the use of recon flights. I didn't stage in England but landed the Americans right on the coast at Lorient and Nantes in 43, trying to take the pressure off in the east. Being the first run through for us both i hadn't really prepared properly to follow up my initial landings[note to allied players, make sure you max out your long range amphib tech for the Americans]. The line stalled in front of Paris until i could get more British and American troops landed, then i started to push again. I dropped some paratroopers behind his lines at the Hague and in the east dropped some paratroopers around Riga, behind his lines. Since the front line was stalled in the west and the east, i sent the third wave of Americans to Italy. I controlled the Med and noticed Italy proper wasn't very well defended so i landed at Rome, which was not defended.I promptly took Naples and knocked Italy out of the war. At this point its like mid 44 and i'm thinking i'll be in Berlin for Christmas. My opponent did a great job stalling me, i mean i'm pushing north from Italy, east from Paris and West from Warsaw, he's wiped out in NA and has like 3 navy units left. i think what slowed me down was my bungling of HQ chaining, weather, and he invested a lot in fighters tech and numbers, my planes were taking a beating. Its tough to take out heavy experienced German tanks without air power. He did a great job holding on until May 45.
That was a fun game. Funny thing, while that game was going on we bought the rest of the SC library of re-releases and finished 2 WW1 scenarios and a the Russian civil war scenario of which i lost all of them during the time our campaign was going on. I would surely recommend these games for PBEM, great fun with lots of possibilities.
Man its nice to actually finish something 8)
Congrats! The Russian Civil War scenario is next on my list after finishing up Pillars of Eternity.
I finished Pillars of Eternity including both expansions. I whacked Thaos, the lich, won the battle of Yenwood Fields, and killed the Master Below.
I chose to return the souls to the babies.
That's impressive, how many game hours to finish it all. I still have to get back to Pillars, i tried the master below way to early and didn't have much success.
Congrats on the win Airboy. I also chose to send the souls back to the babies. There will be repercussions for that in Pillars 2.
Quote from: -budd- on May 26, 2018, 08:35:55 PM
That's impressive, how many game hours to finish it all. I still have to get back to Pillars, i tried the master below way to early and didn't have much success.
I restarted twice. Once early on when I was figuring it out. The second restart was after I had not touched the game for a year or more and decided to whip through the first third. There is 203 hours total, but I get OCD about doinging everything.
291 Hours for me total. I can't bring myself to un-install it. :'(
Bought Firewatch today and finished it today. it's 3 to 4 hours of playtime. It's basically a story driven walking simulator. That's not to say i didn't enjoy because strangely i did. The visual theme and voice acting is good. I had no prior info on what the game was about, so i went in cold. While playing i'm trying to figure out what's up, where this game going, my mind wandering through all the directions the game could possible go. After i had finished the game i spent some time trying to figure out what the creators had in mind and what they were trying to get across, and that's pretty rare in my gaming experience. For that reason alone i feel the juice was worth the squeeze.............sometimes the simplest answers are indeed correct because when i thought back on the game the theme was obvious.
Finished Serious Sam the First Encounter HD & Serious Sam the Second Encounter HD. I actually didn't realize i was playing part Two, with the new Serious Sam Fusion front end it went seamlessly from one to two. Didn't realize i was on the Second encounter until i only had two chapters left. i think of the three Sam games, the second encounter is my favorite, varied environments and it throws some crazy sh*t at you. Looking forward to Sam 4 next year.
Budd you are on a roll!
I have a few games near the end, just getting back to finishing them up. i have to fool myself that i will actually play and finish the games i buy ;D . I'm on the verge of finishing up Space Hulk: Deathwing, but i'm losing steam and interest in the game so may just call it done with 2 chapters to go.
I finally finished my Eldritch Horror game (and AAR).
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=20985.msg570995#msg570995
Quote from: airboy on July 07, 2018, 11:26:35 AM
I finally finished my Eldritch Horror game (and AAR).
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=20985.msg570995#msg570995
I don't know anything about the game but anyone who can finish any game gets my congrats... :notworthy:
Way to go Airboy! Congrats on the win. O0
Finally completed a Stellaris game. Federation win. Yeah Humans!
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgrogheads.com%2Fforums%2Findex.php%3Faction%3Ddlattach%3Btopic%3D12688.0%3Battach%3D13177%3Bimage&hash=42a7b5181eaa53c772c8536c515cbde10221ae0b)
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So you get to claim what's in the center of the galaxy! :bd:
[spoiler]What's in the center is a dumbass black hole that just sends you to another galaxy to start over again, and/or possibly to hell. The center is no man's sky, really; it's a silly place.[/spoiler]
Yes, winner gets..... a Milky Way! :2funny: Get it? Seriously, congrats on the win Barth. Looks like a complex game.
Congrats!
On an unimpressive note, I unboxed Mansions of Madness 2 and completed one of the four scenarios it comes with twice.
One was a win and the other was a narrow loss.
For the loss it was a tossup if my investigators would be consumed by fire raging through the mansion, be eaten by a Star Spawn of Cthulhu, or (what actually happened) one of the investigators went completely insane. In MM2 if a character dies or goes insane the other investigators have to win in the following turn or they all lose.
Good job Barthheart and Airboy, now go reward yourselves with some more game purchases :D. How long did it take you to finish Barthheart? I have never finished any 4X game i've started...ever, usually once the mid-late game micromanagement hits i get fatigued. I just picked up Gladius with my Matrix coupon, see if i can finish this one ::)
Completed my first Attila game.. Boy you have to get involved in the family with this one. Took me awhile to 'get it'. LOL in Rome, I always ignored the family.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1828/43357281762_f4321b3fdf_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/294kpjJ)
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/847/42688583654_311218a87c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/283f9F1)
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/838/41597300800_8bedfe33de_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/26nP3io)url]
Congratulations! Build a Triumphal Arch!
:bd:
Quote from: -budd- on July 13, 2018, 11:49:14 PM
Good job Barthheart and Airboy, now go reward yourselves with some more game purchases :D. How long did it take you to finish Barthheart? I have never finished any 4X game i've started...ever, usually once the mid-late game micromanagement hits i get fatigued. I just picked up Gladius with my Matrix coupon, see if i can finish this one ::)
Well I'd started and stopped plenty of Stellaris games until now, mostly because they'd update before I could finish. I've got about 246 hours into it so far and this is my first finish. Probably about 50-60 hours for this game.
Congratulations!
If your corners were square you get double scotch!
Finished Bioshock Infinite, 12 hours to finish. Played on normal difficulty, died 5 times during my play through.This Bioshock seemed easier than the others, favorite weapon was an upgraded carbine, favorite vigor was shock jockey. The story was good, after going WTF at the ending then thinking about it and putting some of the pieces in place it came together.....I was half right in my assumptions while playing. Some of the weapon were under whelming, i just went with the carbine and shotgun upgraded and used the other weapons as needed, you can only carry two at a time and only arm 2 vigors at a time. Bioshock has always been about the right weapon/vigor at the right time for the right enemy. Its got some cool elements, traveling and fighting from the skytrack was awesome. Elizabeth[sidekick] doesn't get in the way and is really helpful. The firefights are fun, with intelligent use of cover, high ground and the game elements it provides there not overly difficult. I'll probably start the Burial at Sea episodes, i want to see where the story goes. The Bioshock franchise has always been a favorite of mine, don't know what took me so long to play Infinite.
Congrats on the win. Only 12 hours? I though this was a longer game. Sounds like a fun ride.
I forced myself to grind through the long campaign in Total War: Warhammer. Took a few weeks to beat.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/835/42574457815_604a47f02e_h.jpg)
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Hallelujah! I knew SOMEBODY could beat this game. Way to go SDR! :notworthy:
Congrats!, Yet to beat the Warhammer version. :notworthy: :notworthy:
Quote from: Tuna on July 18, 2018, 06:32:44 AM
Congrats!, Yet to beat the Warhammer version. :notworthy: :notworthy:
+1 Have tried and tried again but cannot win.
Congrats! Love the name "Grudgebearer" for a dwarf.
I got further as the Dwarves than anyone else. But the Orcs just kept coming at me and, like in Gus' latest blog, they had lots of upgraded units way beyond mine. Finally lost interest in continuing the struggle, but now that I know it's possible to win.....
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 18, 2018, 10:17:34 AM
I got further as the Dwarves than anyone else. But the Orcs just kept coming at me and, like in Gus' latest blog, they had lots of upgraded units way beyond mine. Finally lost interest in continuing the struggle, but now that I know it's possible to win.....
Being among the strategically handicapped gamers I often play this type of game on a less than normal difficulty setting....and I still have a tough time surviving. :-\
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 18, 2018, 10:17:34 AM
I got further as the Dwarves than anyone else. But the Orcs just kept coming at me and, like in Gus' latest blog, they had lots of upgraded units way beyond mine. Finally lost interest in continuing the struggle, but now that I know it's possible to win.....
There seemed to be three major crisis chokepoints where the game just threw everything it could at me. The first was the major push by the Orcs. I managed to ambush their killer army with my two main stacks in the Underway and finish them off. Then it was just a war of attrition to pick all the tribes off. Second was breaking out of the starting area and getting past the vampires. I never really did manage this and the AI empires did most of the work for me. Fortunately the vampires were pretty weak when the Chaos armies showed up and so sued for peace. I'd gotten my ass handed to me by the Chaos armies landing raiders to the south before so I kept 4 big armies garrisoned down there this time and I was able to grind up the landing parties this time round.
The big thing that let me finally beat the game was constantly offering the other Dwarf tribes the confederation option in the diplomacy screen. I dumped most of my early research into diplomacy skills and kept sucking up to the other Dwarf clans until relations got to a high enough level where they'd join my empire. Good way to get lots of money and armies for cheap.
I was able to confederate with the other Dwarf tribes pretty easy too. The problem was most of them had crap for settlements, were way out of their budgets, and almost no troops to defend with. They were more a liability than an asset.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 18, 2018, 10:40:15 AM
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 18, 2018, 10:17:34 AM
I got further as the Dwarves than anyone else. But the Orcs just kept coming at me and, like in Gus' latest blog, they had lots of upgraded units way beyond mine. Finally lost interest in continuing the struggle, but now that I know it's possible to win.....
There seemed to be three major crisis chokepoints where the game just threw everything it could at me. The first was the major push by the Orcs. I managed to ambush their killer army with my two main stacks in the Underway and finish them off. Then it was just a war of attrition to pick all the tribes off. Second was breaking out of the starting area and getting past the vampires. I never really did manage this and the AI empires did most of the work for me. Fortunately the vampires were pretty weak when the Chaos armies showed up and so sued for peace. I'd gotten my ass handed to me by the Chaos armies landing raiders to the south before so I kept 4 big armies garrisoned down there this time and I was able to grind up the landing parties this time round.
The big thing that let me finally beat the game was constantly offering the other Dwarf tribes the confederation option in the diplomacy screen. I dumped most of my early research into diplomacy skills and kept sucking up to the other Dwarf clans until relations got to a high enough level where they'd join my empire. Good way to get lots of money and armies for cheap.
hmm the one game that I got far in, it was a Dwarf tribe that overwhelmed me!
I won at the Lt. Level in Order of Battle WW2: Sandstorm.
Congrats. I need to get back into my campaign. I was struggling as the Brits with the final mission of the Burma Road DLC but still enjoying myself. Then they patched the game and I got Slitherine's annoying bug where they see joysticks as gaming consoles and the map starts scrolling all over the place. As usual, they said they'd fix it but they can't.
Congrats on the win Airboy. You are a credit to Gorgheads everywhere. O0
Damn Spell Check! Grogheads, not gorgheads dammit!
Some of us gorge our heads on an occasional basis.
Or a regular basis.
So, still works! :bd:
Finished up Bioshock infinite DLC Burial at Sea episode 1&2, about 8 hours to finish both. Episode 2 turned out to be the toughest one for me, including Infinite. You have to use stealth a lot in episode 2. That concludes the Bioshock franchise for me. Clash in the Clouds DLC are challenge maps, not story driven, not going to bother. Since Irrational Games closed, alas no more shock games it seems. Curious to see what Ghost Story Games[new studio of Irrational employees, including Levine] come up with.
Next on tap will be Dishonored 1, trying to hack away at my back log.
Way to go Budd! O0
Quote from: Sir Slash on July 20, 2018, 09:22:27 PM
Damn Spell Check! Grogheads, not gorgheads dammit!
You're not the first...
https://forums.lnlpublishing.com/tags/gorgheads/ (https://forums.lnlpublishing.com/tags/gorgheads/)
Now I don't feel so bad. Thanks bbmike. :notworthy:
I completed the story campaign in Mad Max. It was a looonnnngggg game. I had an 86% completion rating which is good enough for me. I enjoyed it for the most part but it can get repetitive. I never really did get the hang of car combat. I found it easier to bail out and hide in some rocks or a building and force other drivers to get out of their cars and come after me. Hand-to-hand combat was much easier for me.
Finally completed my first Grand Campaign in Oriental Empires: Cultural Victory. It's really a great game but i find it hard to win. Imho, the greatest challenge is that the map is so big that the AI empires can grow very big and make a lot of points.
Congrats to both of you for finishing!
Quote from: Anguille on September 06, 2018, 03:24:29 AM
Finally completed my first Grand Campaign in Oriental Empires: Cultural Victory. It's really a great game but i find it hard to win. Imho, the greatest challenge is that the map is so big that the AI empires can grow very big and make a lot of points.
Congrats. A great game I've put some hours into but have never finished a campaign. Well done!
Ditto to the both of you. :clap: :clap: :clap:
Thanks guys 8)
Quote from: Rayfer on September 06, 2018, 09:53:19 AM
Quote from: Anguille on September 06, 2018, 03:24:29 AM
Finally completed my first Grand Campaign in Oriental Empires: Cultural Victory. It's really a great game but i find it hard to win. Imho, the greatest challenge is that the map is so big that the AI empires can grow very big and make a lot of points.
Congrats. A great game I've put some hours into but have never finished a campaign. Well done!
Very much like Armada 2526 imho, Oriental Empires isn't too hard to get into and build a nice empire. However, i find it hard in both games to be number 1 in terms of points (and to win) especially with the bigger maps. It's also obvious when you see the steam achievements for Oriental Empires, not so many have won games.
Quote from: Anguille on September 07, 2018, 02:25:20 AM
Thanks guys 8)
Quote from: Rayfer on September 06, 2018, 09:53:19 AM
Quote from: Anguille on September 06, 2018, 03:24:29 AM
Finally completed my first Grand Campaign in Oriental Empires: Cultural Victory. It's really a great game but i find it hard to win. Imho, the greatest challenge is that the map is so big that the AI empires can grow very big and make a lot of points.
Congrats. A great game I've put some hours into but have never finished a campaign. Well done!
Very much like Armada 2526 imho, Oriental Empires isn't too hard to get into and build a nice empire. However, i find it hard in both games to be number 1 in terms of points (and to win) especially with the bigger maps. It's also obvious when you see the steam achievements for Oriental Empires, not so many have won games.
That is very high praise from you. I'm not big on Asian culture (probably because of the Japanese in WW2), would that hinder my enjoyment of Oriental Empires?
Well, the factions look all the same so this lowers the replayability (when you compare it to CIV or else). Each faction has it's own bonuses but there only two really different big groups: the herders and the farmers. The game does look great and i find the zooming amazing. Can't think of any games that does that aspect so well. There are many let's play on youtube so i guess it would be the best to give you an idea.
Quote from: airboy on September 07, 2018, 07:43:23 AM
Quote from: Anguille on September 07, 2018, 02:25:20 AM
Thanks guys 8)
Quote from: Rayfer on September 06, 2018, 09:53:19 AM
Quote from: Anguille on September 06, 2018, 03:24:29 AM
Finally completed my first Grand Campaign in Oriental Empires: Cultural Victory. It's really a great game but i find it hard to win. Imho, the greatest challenge is that the map is so big that the AI empires can grow very big and make a lot of points.
Congrats. A great game I've put some hours into but have never finished a campaign. Well done!
Very much like Armada 2526 imho, Oriental Empires isn't too hard to get into and build a nice empire. However, i find it hard in both games to be number 1 in terms of points (and to win) especially with the bigger maps. It's also obvious when you see the steam achievements for Oriental Empires, not so many have won games.
That is very high praise from you. I'm not big on Asian culture (probably because of the Japanese in WW2), would that hinder my enjoyment of Oriental Empires?
The game is on sale on steam right now...11$
I finally finished a game that took me more than six years to finish :uglystupid2:
I won my long lasting game of Birth of the Federation with the Romulans. Balance of Power mod large. It took me 877 turns to win, conquered the Cardassians, most of the Federation (including Sol) and stopped just 3 Sectors away from Ferenginar. I was largely financing the Klingons who helped keeping the Federation and the Ferengi busy. I may post a few screenshots when i have the time.
Kinda of feeling strange to conclude this game after so many years.
Congrats on the win Anguille. I finally finished CMFI's Clearing the Nashemi Highway last night with a Total Victory. It was the very first scenario I played back when I bought the game 8/7/2012! So that's about 6 years also. It WAS a long highway after all.
Finished a Grand Prix season in an F1 game. The first time ever since Microprose Grand Prix 2!!
Excellent game. Excellent season.
I played as a McLaren driver and came 7th in the Drivers Championship and helped McLaren get 5th in the Constructors Championship.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. I can't remember the settings I had, but it was probably between 70% and 80% for AI strength and the only assist I had on was medium Traction Control.
I have had several F1 games prior to Codemasters getting the licence. The Microprose one was the best. GP4 iirc. However, these Codemasters iterations have been getting better and better and F1 2017 was bloody good fun. A few wee issues like repetitive commentary, AI being a bit dumb when you let them past because you're on an in lap...but overall a very solid experience.
Generally speaking I get about half way through a season and kind of give up. Each iteration of the game saw me racing the same circuits and getting bored. Not because of the game, but just because I had driven the same tracks every year.
But this one was wrapped up. Blinder and a new me...over to 2018 :)
Congrats on Birth of the Federation. I keep hoping that gog will pick it up.
Finished my latest Attila Campaign as the Roman Expedition. This one was the hardest one for me so far, the early fight in Africa was long and drawn out. Then with the end game, I basically had to take everything (didn't have enough religion for the earlier victory objectives).
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1919/31494883558_9155791e78_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PZ6vBL)
Well done! :notworthy:
Well done indeed, Tuna-maximus. This one is a pretty tough campaign if I remember it correctly. :clap: :clap: :clap:
Nicely done, Tuna!
Congratulations!
I'm jealous Tuna...played a variety of Total War games without ever finishing a campaign. :(
In Russia, you no finish Total War campaigns-- Total War campaigns finish YOU. :knuppel2:
I've yet to finish a Warhammer one, maybe I'll attempt that next. Last time I tried, I did get my butt handed to me! "A shamefrul dispray!"
Warhammer: 1, Me: 0 also. My butt doesn't look that bad when handed to me on a silver platter garnished with the frustration of others along side.
Same, just that horde from the North and then vampires, undead, on and on. But I think it was the dwarfs in the end that got me.
Quote from: Sir Slash on October 17, 2018, 12:47:46 PM
Warhammer: 1, Me: 0 also. My butt doesn't look that bad when handed to me on a silver platter garnished with the frustration of others along side.
Gotta love the epic pug poetry.
I managed to screw the Brittonian pooch in about 10 turns, my first campaign. Since then I restarted and am doing better but don't underestimate this game, it can Bitch-slap you outta nowhere.
Finished Layers of Fear, 6 hours to complete.
Spooky walking simulator with decent graphics and good sound effects with lots of jump scares. The puzzles are pretty good, there was about three that held me up a bit. From the start you can tell the game is heading you towards some kind of awful family tragedy, bit by bit you learn the extent of the tragedy through the usual notes left around and objects that start audio parts that advance the story. The game does a good job of giving you the feeling that the main character is descending into an ever spiraling decent into madness, and you kind of want to know the event that precipitated the tragedy for a once happy family, or maybe he's just bat shit crazy. I'm sure i missed some story parts but i don't thinks it's ever really concretely explained and maybe that's for best, leaving it to the player's imagination. I apparently got the most common ending , of which there are three. The game has a steady pace, except if you get stuck on a puzzle or two, it does a good job of moving forward. The crazy effects in an ever changing environment are well done. All in all for a couple of bucks i paid for it the ride was worth it. If you want to chill out with a spooky walking simulator with lots of jump scares, puzzles and a horrible tragic story this is one of the better ones.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1916/44981832624_ce0e45bc58_h.jpg)
Way to go Budd! :clap: I approve this message.
Since Slitherines PBEM server seems to be having issues which put my pbem turns in limbo, i thought i'd go for another short game.
Finished Amensia: A Machine for Pigs
Took 5 hours but felt like longer. The Dark Decent was better. You can pretty much put the story together when your not that far into the game. The audio is good and the environments are good enough, the environments do have a creepy vibe but that's about it.There are long stretches of pretty much not a lot going on, there's the usual Frictional Games puzzles, take a cog there, a fuse here, so on and so forth. I died 3 times but that probably had to do with i started running everywhere about halfway through the game, which is never a good sign. The story wasn't interesting enough to push me forward by itself and the game doesn't really have many danger elements to it. When i got near what i thought was the ending, nope, had to turn around and undo what i had done in game......that surprised me and not in a good way. In the end i had to force myself to complete it, i knew i was close because i googled average play time of the game. All in all i'd recommend a pass on this one, there are better ways to spend your gaming time no matter what the price of the game is.
Finished SOMA: 13 hours, slow pace, died 6 times. Probably could of finished sooner but got lost in the dark one long time, you know that door that is right where you left it but you can't find it ::). Another time i was playing hide and seek with a nasty in darkened corridors for awhile, that was funny and tense at the same time.
Soma was a satisfying gaming experience, Frictional Games redeems itself after the horrible Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs. Didn't know much about Soma going in and the premise came out of the blue. The pacing was good, and the puzzles were pretty logical and didn't hold up the story. The story deals with some weighty issues and your given a few weighty choices along the way, i think i got the good ending. The sound in Frictional games is always top notch and go a long way to setting the tense, wanna crap your pants mood :wow: Recommended to turn out the lights and throw the headphones on. I really enjoyed the stealth is this game, i mean its kinda mandatory since you cant fight back. The game really has a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere, and the screams......the screams. You'll find yourself stopping to listen, peeking around corners, and saying O shit a few times when the lights go out. There was one irritating chase sequence which accounted for 3 of my deaths and had me cussing because i kept taking wrong turns L:-) but that one section didn't ruin anything and had more to do with my lack of directional sense than anything else. I'd say turn the lights out, put the headphones, take your time and sink yourself into SOMA, i enjoyed it, and if this is your type of game i'm guessing you will to.
I'll post some screenshots in the screenshot thread.
Nice, budd! I think Soma is a bona fide masterpiece. It's a masterclass in storytelling within a game; the pacing is exactly right, the voice acting is excellent (particularly the two leads), the world is one of the most immersive and believable I've ever experienced, the reveals are handled superbly. It's one of the few games I've ever finished, and I can't usually handle scary games. I can't wait to see what Frictional make next. They didn't make A Machine for Pigs by the way, that was contracted out to The Chinese Room I believe.
The chase sequence where you died three times...was that [spoiler]after unplugging the cables in the engine room of the Curie?[/spoiler] That's the only place I had any difficulty with too, until I realised the foolproof way of finding the way out.
Stunning game. Anyone who is intrigued but won't play it for any reason, I strongly suggest finding a commentary-free walkthrough on Youtube. It's about 7 hours (depending on the Youtuber of course) and worth every minute.
Hey Huw, notice the date of that post of yours, reads for me as April 28, 2012...weird.
Yea, i know the Chinese Room did the game, but Frictional put their name on it, had to know it wasn't that good or maybe not. I had no experience with the Chinese Room, never played Dear Esther and don't get me wrong i like a good walk sim every now and then but the word i read on Esther was that was all their was to the game, walking and listening.
Soma was pretty damn good O0, i'm always looking for games like that. I just wish someone would make a game where there's a balance between forced stealth and an ability to fight back. Every time i play one of these games i'm trying to pick up blunt objects in the environment :knuppel2: it would at least make my character feel better.
Yup, that was the sequence. I'm just bad at remembering directions, i ended up doing 3 dry practice runs before starting. First i' tried to get some distance, then hide, that didn't work. Then i realized you have to run. How about that section where your playing hide and seek with the nasty,the mad dash for the ladder section, had a little trouble figuring out where to go :DD, must of played hide and seek for almost an hour.
I enjoy this guy's style, there's commentary but it pretty natural and not overdone. I think i like him because we have similar play styles. Here the first part of the series. Soma takes a bit to get going so its worth sticking with it, either playing or watching.
I'm installing the Evil Within 1, going to give that a go.
Quote from: -budd- on November 11, 2018, 12:14:36 PM
Yup, that was the sequence. I'm just bad at remembering directions, i ended up doing 3 dry practice runs before starting. First i' tried to get some distance, then hide, that didn't work. Then i realized you have to run. How about that section where your playing hide and seek with the nasty,the mad dash for the ladder section, had a little trouble figuring out where to go :DD, must of played hide and seek for almost an hour.
Yeah, absolutely terrifying. For me, the scariest part of the whole game is:
[spoiler]In Omicron after gathering the parts of the diving suit you need, when the last Robot Girl chases you into the room where the suits are. The screams as she chases you followed by the banging on the door after you frantically shout at Catherine to lock it...holy shit I can't believe I actually did this without having a breakdown![/spoiler]
Dang it Huw And Budd, you guys made me buy this game and I never finish anything!!! Did you guys like Bioshock at all?
Bruce
Quote from: bruce205 on April 29, 2012, 09:40:35 AM
Dang it Huw And Budd, you guys made me buy this game and I never finish anything!!! Did you guys like Bioshock at all?
Bruce
Bioshock series is one of my favorites, those games drip atmosphere also. Except for Infinite i've finished the first two games multiple times. If you can deal with the outdated graphics, System Shock 2 is awesome, there are some graphics mods to improve the look a little. If you haven't played it, you need to meet Shodan :-), it can usually be had on sale for cheap.
Don't forget to turn out the lights and put the headphones on for Soma O0
Quote from: bruce205 on April 29, 2012, 09:40:35 AM
Dang it Huw And Budd, you guys made me buy this game and I never finish anything!!! Did you guys like Bioshock at all?
Bruce
I only played the first one but I loved every minute, it's one of the most compelling computer game experiences I've ever had. :)
You will not regret buying Soma! I hope you don't know too much about it before playing - enjoy!
Finished Shadow of More War tonight. ;) And by 'finished' I mean I finished the story part, and then spent about an hour checking the extended epilogue story featuring the Elven assassin and Talion defending Mordor in an ongoing civil war until the One Ring was found. Tragic, but (despite sort of breaking Tolkien's lore in places) it does fit Tolkien's basic concept that there can be no victory taking the weapon of the enemy to use for yourself. (...um, spoilers, the One Ring is destroyed in the end, not used against Sauron. ;) )
Sets up for a curious sequel, tying up the main loose end to the plot (to the game's plot, not Tolkien's plot), to be set in the Far East of Middle-Earth, which will be a nifty place to expand the series should Warner Brothers decide they want to print some more money again!
Finished Warhammer 40K Mechanicus
Probably the best atmospheric computer rendition of WH40K universe that I played. The first couple of missions are fun - difficult. But once you get to the mid game and have a good handle on tactics/equipment you can pretty much mop all the enemies up. I killed the Necron overlord with the necron waking meter at 75% (once it gets to 100% you are forced to fight him).
Light game but still quite fun-I'd recommend it
Most Perturbatory
Con
Congrats on the Win Con. :clap:
Quote from: Con on December 04, 2018, 10:54:58 PM
Finished Warhammer 40K Mechanicus
Probably the best atmospheric computer rendition of WH40K universe that I played. The first couple of missions are fun - difficult. But once you get to the mid game and have a good handle on tactics/equipment you can pretty much mop all the enemies up. I killed the Necron overlord with the necron waking meter at 75% (once it gets to 100% you are forced to fight him).
Light game but still quite fun-I'd recommend it
Most Perturbatory
Con
Well done Con. But come on...perturbatory...? I thought the forum rules forbid any word with 4 or more syllables? :o ;) I had to Google it to see what it meant. :uglystupid2:
I routinely perturb that rule. With extreme perturbituity! :D
Hah it's a quote used in the game and by a mechanics character in Dan abnetts WH Eisenhorn novels
MD, when I reached Perturby, I became Interested in girls. There ya go!
Congratulations Con!
I finished the main story line in Assassins Creed Odyssey.
Took me 131 hours and got me to level 52.
WOW! :wow: I'm impressed. Very good Pete.
Quote from: Pete Dero on December 12, 2018, 04:06:55 PM
I finished the main story line in Assassins Creed Odyssey.
Took me 131 hours and got me to level 52.
Now that's dedication, well done.
I finished Order of Battle WW2: Endseig.
It had a much more believable ending than most "Germany wins WW2" games. You had a long series of battles in Russia where you were fighting against the odds. If you won ALL OF THEM you got another shot at taking Moscow. Taking Moscow got you peace on the Eastern Front (not the total capitulation of the USSR).
Then you go to the Western Front. You have a long series of battles. If you win all of them, you get a shot of winning the Buldge (you must win all victory conditions), Taking Brussels (must win all victory conditions) and then taking Calais. If you hit every victory condition, you get a negotiated peace.
Germany has a peace agreement that leaves them with considerable territorial gains, but not mastery over all of Europe.
Wow, good job, that's sounds like a long road. Got a pbem game going in OOB, a pacific scenario, were on about turn 35. I like how these pbem games have no set ending, meet the VP conditions or keep battling until one force is Kaput or surrenders.
That does sound epic! (Both posts, I mean.)
Well done airboy...! Sounds like it was a real slug-fest. :knuppel2:
Way to go Airboy! :bd:
Wow, this thread slipped back to page 5. I actual finished Pillars of Eternity a couple of weeks ago. Finished the main quest and White March 1 & 2, didn't do all the side quests but did a great many of them. I historically suck at these games so i appreciate being able to lower the difficulty on some parts, like the dragon fight :) . Also utilized the AI control of party members, i would usually let the AI control my two tanks and i'd stay in the back with the mage and druid and cast away. logged about 84 hours into the game, with a restart after 15 hours. Next time i cycle back to this type of game it will be Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition, then think about picking up the part 2's.
Finished Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire
It was a good game but near the end (third chapter) I just wanted to end it. My play style is to go and explore and do lots of sidequests and so sometimes I loose interest in the endgame. That was the case here. I did it alone without allying with any of the factions
Oh I forgot about this thread. I recently finished The Last of Us, having picked it up because of the universal praise.
I was totally underwhelmed. Hour after hour of sneaking slowly around boring, samey rubble-strewn environments, always looking out for that one route which always conveniently appears, barely any story, crap combat. I guess it picked up a little in the final act, but it was much too little, much too late. I just can't believe so many people cite it as a generation-defining game. It's also put me off Uncharted, which is another game I was going to investigate. Not any more!
Quote from: -budd- on March 15, 2019, 10:14:34 PM
Wow, this thread slipped back to page 5. I actual finished Pillars of Eternity a couple of weeks ago. Finished the main quest and White March 1 & 2, didn't do all the side quests but did a great many of them. I historically suck at these games so i appreciate being able to lower the difficulty on some parts, like the dragon fight :) . Also utilized the AI control of party members, i would usually let the AI control my two tanks and i'd stay in the back with the mage and druid and cast away. logged about 84 hours into the game, with a restart after 15 hours. Next time i cycle back to this type of game it will be Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition, then think about picking up the part 2's.
Well done budd...I'm jealous, I got the very end boss battle and just couldn't defeat him, even on easy. Maybe I went in prematurely at too low of character levels, I'm not sure. :-[
Quote from: Con on March 15, 2019, 10:14:40 PM
Finished Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire
It was a good game but near the end (third chapter) I just wanted to end it. My play style is to go and explore and do lots of sidequests and so sometimes I loose interest in the endgame. That was the case here. I did it alone without allying with any of the factions
I enjoyed PoE 1 but never finished. Some day I'll get 2 when it goes on sale. Regardless, finishing any of these RPG is quite an accomplishment....well done!
Quote from: Huw the Poo on March 16, 2019, 02:28:44 AM
Oh I forgot about this thread. I recently finished The Last of Us, having picked it up because of the universal praise.
I was totally underwhelmed. Hour after hour of sneaking slowly around boring, samey rubble-strewn environments, always looking out for that one route which always conveniently appears, barely any story, crap combat. I guess it picked up a little in the final act, but it was much too little, much too late. I just can't believe so many people cite it as a generation-defining game. It's also put me off Uncharted, which is another game I was going to investigate. Not any more!
I have the last of us but haven't played it yet. That said don't let it deter you from Uncharted, especially Uncharted 2. One of the rare games I did not put down until I beat it.
Well done budd and Con! O0 O0 O0 I really liked PoE 1, and 2 is great too but somewhat less enjoyable for me. I will finish it and want to get the add-ons.
Just tell me that POE 2 has the adjust the difficulty on the fly and the same AI control scheme. Controlling more than two gets to be a bit of a mess for my feeble brain, and the ability to lower the difficulty keeps me moving forward. I probably won't start another one of these types for awhile, near the end of White March 2 i was forcing myself to finish. Just every now and then I get a desire to play a badass spell casting sum bitch ;D
Oh Yeah. You can adjust the difficulty when you need to and the AI can be adjusted with even more choices than in PoE 1. I never played PoE 1 allowing my companions to be AI controlled but I've come to enjoy it a lot in PoE 2 because it works very well, though it is more complicated. Everything in PoE 2 has more choices and so is more complex such as Character Creation and combat choices but you still can play it more simply if you want. And your characters can now multi-class so you can go Fighter-Mage or whatever you want. :clap: Party size is down to 5 though which I don't like.
I won my first timeline playing Into the Breach! That's a brilliant little gem (sort of a thinking man's, turn-based FTL) that mixes different aspects of Panzer General, Tetris, and an RPG in a unique combo.
Ultimately, I was just able to power up my different weapon systems to just do enough damage, and push the enemy around the board, so that I was able to avoid catastrophic damage to my Mechs or the civilian power grid that they had to defend.
Having a good combination of Pilots really helped too. One guy had a special ability to avoid Web attacks, which really helped my Brute mech deal with the nasty little web-slinging melee fighters. And another had the Armor ability, which reduces the damage you receive from each alien attack by one. That made it really easy to throw him into harm's way to protect my civilian structures from the annoying little guys while I took care of the bigger threats.
I've been playing it 20 or 30 hours and this is the first timeline I've won. I'm very psyched about that.
Quote from: Con on March 15, 2019, 10:14:40 PM
Finished Pillars of Eternity II Deadfire
It was a good game but near the end (third chapter) I just wanted to end it. My play style is to go and explore and do lots of sidequests and so sometimes I loose interest in the endgame. That was the case here. I did it alone without allying with any of the factions
Congratulations! And I feel the exact same way you do. I still have not finished the last hour or so of Pillars 2 for the reasons you discuss.
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on March 17, 2019, 02:13:30 PM
I won my first timeline playing Into the Breach! That's a brilliant little gem (sort of a thinking man's, turn-based FTL) that mixes different aspects of Panzer General, Tetris, and an RPG in a unique combo.
Ultimately, I was just able to power up my different weapon systems to just do enough damage, and push the enemy around the board, so that I was able to avoid catastrophic damage to my Mechs or the civilian power grid that they had to defend.
Having a good combination of Pilots really helped too. One guy had a special ability to avoid Web attacks, which really helped my Brute mech deal with the nasty little web-slinging melee fighters. And another had the Armor ability, which reduces the damage you receive from each alien attack by one. That made it really easy to throw him into harm's way to protect my civilian structures from the annoying little guys while I took care of the bigger threats.
I've been playing it 20 or 30 hours and this is the first timeline I've won. I'm very psyched about that.
Congratulations!
I managed an, 'Overwhelming Victory' in TOAW 4's Cherborg '44 scenario-- a challenging but not particularly difficult fight. But it passed the 'fun' test in spades. This game has lots of smaller battles that are ideal to play and most turns can be completed in a quick sit-down. Nice break from the, 'monster' scenarios that take forever to play. Next up, I'll be sharpening my defensive skills by trying to pull Mc Arthur's chestnuts out of the fire in 'Luzon 41'.
Congrats on Cherborg. Luzon will boil down to how much can you bleed the Japs since it is strategically hopeless.
Don't tell Mc Arthur that! It is VERY frustrating with the Japs having total Air Superiority constantly bombing the crap out of my troops, even when in deep jungle. :hide:
Quote from: Sir Slash on March 28, 2019, 10:32:29 AM
Don't tell Mc Arthur that! It is VERY frustrating with the Japs having total Air Superiority constantly bombing the crap out of my troops, even when in deep jungle. :hide:
Remind McArthur he should not park his planes wingtip to wingtip after getting Flash war warnings.
I'll tell him YOU said to remind him. :P I don't want him to stick that corncob pipe somewhere I can't smoke it.
You know, I haven't seen any comprehensive treatment of the topic, but in a number of different books I've read, there's a compelling case that many of the early-war failures on the American side were not intelligence failures per se, but simply operational failures of command staff to use the intelligence that was given to them.
Which kinda underscores your point...
Just finished one more game in my library:
Oil Rush
It's kind of Tower Defense /Offense game. Short campaign but fun.
Quote from: Anguille on April 15, 2019, 03:10:34 AM
Just finished one more game in my library:
Oil Rush
It's kind of Tower Defense /Offense game. Short campaign but fun.
Don't know the game, but congrats anyway. Can't remember the last time I actually finished a game, no less just a campaign within a game. Sad. :-\ :'(
Quote from: Rayfer on April 15, 2019, 06:50:50 AM
Quote from: Anguille on April 15, 2019, 03:10:34 AM
Just finished one more game in my library:
Oil Rush
It's kind of Tower Defense /Offense game. Short campaign but fun.
Don't know the game, but congrats anyway. Can't remember the last time I actually finished a game, no less just a campaign within a game. Sad. :-\ :'(
Yeah, it's not easy. Sometimes, especially when there's a tougther scenario, you just want to give up and go on to the next game...
Oil Rush has been around for years. If you like the war-of-attrition style of gameplay it's actually pretty decent and I still play it several times a year. I believe their engine - Uniguine or something like that - is still used in some GPU benchmarks today.
Congrats
Thanks.
Bought the game in 2014 but just played it now...i try to mix between older games i haven't played yet and new games...
Congrats on the win Anguille. :clap:
Not sure if this counts but just finished the introductory Space Marines campaign/scenario in Warhammer 40K Gladius - yes I know everything was set to Easy but for someone as incompetent as me it was rather fun :)
The final turn 50ish battle against the Necron capital (well to be fair the only other city on the map) came down to my SM Captain (who was about to die) and Chaplain, my half dozen SM units in the city assault having been shredded by the Necron Lord, the Necron City and some pesky wasp things.
Started playing as per a normal Civ type game, that got my initial units I sent out exploring either dead or enslaved. Regrouped and started playing it more as a wargame and also running away from threats and things got better.
Quote from: Wolfe1759 on April 20, 2019, 09:23:33 PM
Not sure if this counts but just finished the introductory Space Marines campaign/scenario in Warhammer 40K Gladius - yes I know everything was set to Easy but for someone as incompetent as me it was rather fun :)
The final turn 50ish battle against the Necron capital (well to be fair the only other city on the map) came down to my SM Captain (who was about to die) and Chaplain, my half dozen SM units in the city assault having been shredded by the Necron Lord, the Necron City and some pesky wasp things.
Started playing as per a normal Civ type game, that got my initial units I sent out exploring either dead or enslaved. Regrouped and started playing it more as a wargame and also running away from threats and things got better.
Its done, you won - it counts, Congrats! :bd:
I've won a half a dozen Aggressors: Ancient Rome with a scramble start game beginning at the bottom of the tech tree and two units. My record was 6-2 on "easy" which is step 3 on a 7 step difficulty scale. I had 4 wins in a row at the end so I think I have the game down on difficulty level 3.
I just got a Culture victory in the main Aggressors campaign playing Carthage. That was a long game. I am about 90% certain I could complete a world domination victory. I have a couple of critical military techs that the other nations lack and I think I could crush Rome before they knew what hit them since most of their troops are tied up in Greece AND they don't have a paved road network to rapidly move troops. Took me 166 turns for the win. The map is huge and the number of opponents is high. I won on "easy" which is step 3 on a 7 step difficulty level. I did not handicap the opponents.
I'm pretty sure I could win as Ptolemaic Egypt. I'm not sure I can win as Rome - they have a very hard starting position. Winning with Rome on Difficulty level 3 or better would be a real accomplishment.
Carthage is the easiest nation to play in the long campaign game. There are 20 playable factions in the campaign game. I'm almost certain that somewhere between 33% to 67% are not capable of winning the campaign on difficulty level 3. Some of the nations start with next to nothing, are very low on the tech tree, and the best troops they can research cannot take out either Carthage or Egypt on the desert/plains for a military win. The cluster of civilizations around Greece have such a horrible position with tons of enemies with similar strength and no easy way to do an end-run.
I'm going to knock out a review in the next week based on 81 hours of game play and 9 completed games. Retirement is awesome! Review will appear "elsewhere" since someone else got me a review copy. The review will eventually appear on my blog. I also think I have enough things figured out for a bullet point strategy guide on the "start at the beginning game" and one for Carthage on the campaign game.
The game gives a good challenge and can be easily tweaked with the interface to speed up game play, display exactly the information you need (critical with all of the resources needed), or slow down game play and provide a ton of information per turn.
I rarely post here because it is very rare I finish anything, but yesterday I did finish all The Witcher 3's main storylines - base game, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. There is still a ton of secondary quests to do, but I can't help but be saddened by the huge, yawning RPG chasm in my gaming life...similar to when I finished Skyrim.
Quote from: Gusington on April 25, 2019, 08:12:44 AM
I rarely post here because it is very rare I finish anything, but yesterday I did finish all The Witcher 3's main storylines - base game, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. There is still a ton of secondary quests to do, but I can't help but be saddened by the huge, yawning RPG chasm in my gaming life...similar to when I finished Skyrim.
Congrats for finishing a game.
Well done Gus! Any idea how long that took?
Atta Boy Gus! O0 How many hot, Demon Babes did you shag during the game? :bd:
Shagged quite a bit 😎
Huw IIRC it took me about 135 hours. And that was only the main quests. According to the GOG tracker I still have 60% of the game to still explore.
Incredible.
I got an "Overall Victory" win as Rome in Aggressors: Ancient Rome in the 282BC 20 opponent scramble for power. I had researched Legionaires (late game), trained and built an army, and the beat-down started. Nothing in the game can stand against the top troops of Rome.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgrogheads.com%2Fforums%2Findex.php%3Faction%3Ddlattach%3Btopic%3D12688.0%3Battach%3D14231&hash=9d3dce524dc4fffe2f7b12d21eb97a3662436066)
Great job airboy....! I like the game but haven't won a campaign yet. Maybe it's time to try again.
I would play and win a scramble game before starting the 20 nation 282BC game. If you do not have a good handle on the game system the 282 game will clobber you.
I just sent off a 7 page review of the game and spent 110 hours playing. Only after I'd played half a dozen scramble start games did I finally get a firm handle on how to handle all of the resources and balance population growth with resource needs and military maintenance. The game has a ton of excellent macros to help you manage this - but you have to learn the game concepts and how to balance all of this stuff to win. How you handle the first 20 turns either puts you on a path where you might win or sinks you.
282BC puts you in a difficult resource situation initially - even if you are a powerhouse like Carthage. I've thought through all of this to the point where I could probably write a strategy guide on the 282BC game which would also apply for the scramble start game.
I've won the 282BC game with both Carthage and Rome - but I won the game in different ways with the two nations.
Very good Airboy! Or should I say, 'Airboy-ius Agustus'? O0
Finished Dusk, just over 12 hours. Overall the level design was excellent, with just a couple of lame levels. E3M7 i freaking hated, and E3M9 almost made me grab my comfort blanket, go in a corner and cry, save scummed that one. The soundtrack was excellent through out, and there were some really great level designs. I thought the later part of E3 kind of broke the flow a bit but overall an excellent FPS. Only got confused about where to go twice, and that was mostly on me. If you like an old school FPS i'd certainly recommend it.
Congratulations!
I finished the Battle of the Philippine Sea scenario in my 7 month long US Navy Campaign for Order of Battle WW2.
There is a very long AAR on my blog.
On a happier note, there are only three scenarios left in this campaign! :)
Finished Order of Battle: Red Star. I'll probably play it through again then write a review.
Congrats on the win Airboy. I'm assuming you won. Surely you did being the Admiral that you are. :clap:
Quote from: Sir Slash on August 12, 2019, 11:21:31 AM
Congrats on the win Airboy. I'm assuming you won. Surely you did being the Admiral that you are. :clap:
+1 I congratulate anyone who finishes anything, something I seem incapable of. :'(
Congrats on the finish. Someone has to keep this thread alive by actually finishing a game. Been awhile since i finished anything, other than scenarios.
Quote from: -budd- on August 12, 2019, 05:11:32 PM
Congrats on the finish. Someone has to keep this thread alive by actually finishing a game. Been awhile since i finished anything, other than scenarios.
Hey....I count finishing a scenario as a huge accomplishment. A full game...can't remember the last time I finished one.
I finished Age of Decadence following the Legion line of quests. I would not recommend spending the time to equal my achievement.
The game is a brutally hard RPG and I played a maxed out combat character. There is not a lot to do. Some of the game is enraging "find the pixel or the secret hex or person" that requires finding the right object, place to stand, or pixel to interact with among a veritable host of inert objects.
The game has multiple endings and you can probably win using different strategies (according to the internet). But there is surprisingly little to do and much of what you do is very hard.
Due to the short length of gameplay, annoyingly difficult to find specific objects/persons to interact with, and maddenlying hard combat with no means to adjust difficulty - I would not recommend this. Many of the quests, perhaps as much as a third, will not be achievable on any playthrough given whatever character type you decide to start playing. The only way to "experience the options" is to make very different characters and hope to survive - which is not easy.
Because the game is relatively short - it is possible to have multiple different starting character types and eventually grind your way through the play options - but I doubt it is worth the time and effort.
Congrats on the Win Airboy. Too bad the game wasn't more fun to play.
Congrats on the finish and thx for the info, taking this off the wishlist.
Finished Command Modern Air Naval Operations (and the last three scenarios in Command Modern) of Northern Inferno.
Its taken me a little over two years. Lots of times I picked it up and then got stuck in several scenarios causing me to stop playing when real life intervened and then restarting the whole campaign again when I was freed up with time. Part of the reason I couldn't get through some scenarios was my OCD when it comes to games like this the urge to get a max score leading to many oh so many different tries/starts until I can get past them. I am looking at you scenarios Mighty O, Deliverance and Beware the badger. I must have 100s of saves and tries on thos scenarios alone.
Overall its been a fun ride and i was able to use the updated command modern engine to compare to the previous version (well worth getting). The story and scenarios were great, seemed very realistic and utterly depressing when the nukes start going off (especially when Scotland gets nuked since I was living there during the time period this is set in). All in all time well spent. I have the other campaigns but I might take a little break for a while.
Con
Sounds like a labor of love. I have to imagine the feeling of accomplishment was of great satisfaction to you. I LOVE that feeling!
Finished Outer Worlds. It's a pretty fun game, but I think a touch overrated. It's got 25 or so hours of solid play but some of the off main quest stuff is a bit average.
All in all no regrets on it.
Congrats all on your finishes. :clap: The last thing I finished was a six pack of Coors.
Quote from: Sir Slash on December 08, 2019, 12:10:06 AM
Congrats all on your finishes. :clap: The last thing I finished was a six pack of Coors.
I finished a half handle of Wild Turkey.
Quote from: Con on December 07, 2019, 11:14:08 PM
Finished Command Modern Air Naval Operations (and the last three scenarios in Command Modern) of Northern Inferno.
Its taken me a little over two years. Lots of times I picked it up and then got stuck in several scenarios causing me to stop playing when real life intervened and then restarting the whole campaign again when I was freed up with time. Part of the reason I couldn't get through some scenarios was my OCD when it comes to games like this the urge to get a max score leading to many oh so many different tries/starts until I can get past them. I am looking at you scenarios Mighty O, Deliverance and Beware the badger. I must have 100s of saves and tries on thos scenarios alone.
Overall its been a fun ride and i was able to use the updated command modern engine to compare to the previous version (well worth getting). The story and scenarios were great, seemed very realistic and utterly depressing when the nukes start going off (especially when Scotland gets nuked since I was living there during the time period this is set in). All in all time well spent. I have the other campaigns but I might take a little break for a while.
Con
A worthy accomplishment...congratulations! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:
Well done to all of you.
I finished a season of watching college football yesterday, as my Sooners coasted into the College Football Playoffs by the skin of their teeth. I'm somewhere near finishing two or three different games, but not yet over the finish line for any of them.
Dang, having a full-time job sure does cut into my gaming hours! Ah well, I'm likely to finish my first bottle of egg nog for the Holiday Season today...
Cheers to all of you who are able to enjoy much greater follow-through than I have!!!
Finished Borderlands 3 story mode. Great game but story is slightly disjointed compared to 2 and prequel.
Congratulations to all three of you crossing the finish line!
Finally got a game controller for my computer, so wanted to try it out. I finished Limbo, a puzzle side scroller. Finished in 4 hours, the jumping and puzzles got harder as you go, a couple of areas had some real tough timing sections. A lot of the traps were unfair, meaning you had to die by them to find them or figure out what your supposed to do, some came so quick not much time to react. Nice visual theme, minimal sound, but minimal sound fit the theme.
After almost a full year, my US Pacific Campaign is complete!
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=23273.0
Well done ab....I see the USA won after nuking Tokyo twice.
That's dedication, missed a few episodes will have to catch up. Good work.
Last night I finished Warhammer: Chaos Bane
Finished the main campaign.
Finished Mark of the Ninja [remastered[, 10 hours, did both endings. Klei's got a pretty good stable of games, Don't Starve, Invisible, come to mind. I can recommend this game if you want some good ninja action. There's usually multiple paths to success, you can go full stealth or kill free.....i'm not that good, i'm like a bull in china shop ninja.......i kill everything. The pacing is good and it doesn't drag on to long. Would be a hell of challenge to make it through without being seen.....the whole game. Another quality game from Klei.
Congratulations Bulldozer Ninja!
Excellent work guys. Congrats to the winners. O0
budd with another finish 8). Little Nightmares, clocked in at about 2 1/2 hours. Started and was most of the way thru the first DLC when it crashed twice so i called it over.
The main game was just fantastic, short but great. Short is fine, as a lot of games over stay there welcome. The time in game actually felt longer. The graphic presentation, music, and gaming was top notch. If you have any interest at all in puzzle platformers you have to give this a play. If i had to criticize the game at all, its that maybe... i mean maybe, a couple of check points could of been placed better, but mostly even the check points were spot on and i hate check points. The scale of the game does a good job of making you feel small and vulnerable. The puzzles aren't over taxing, but some require some thought, some of the puzzles you just go WOW....whoever thought that up...bravo. The game and puzzles are fair, with some of the timing and chase sequences full of tension with the timing of the music changes spot on. I'd really be hard pressed to find something to complain about in this game, yea its short,but it felt long enough.
Go play it.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49294576553_81e616185b_h.jpg)
Ever had one of those games where you were certain you had won, only to make it to the finish line, and find off that they'd actually moved the race to somewhere else?
I had just finished off killing 7.3BN human beings in my first game of Pandemic, playing at normal, and I was very proud of myself. Unfortunately, apparently 38M healthy people were still alive somewhere in the world, even though the whole map was bathed in red!
The game was a riot. Clearly, I needed to infect a few more pigeons or something. And, uh, I needed to learn the interface a little better, because there was some country somewhere that never got infected even though I had managed to shut down the whole world.
Finished Doom 2016. I started it awhile ago, but got over halfway through the game and my save got corrupted, so i rage quit and uninstalled. Finally finished, somewhere between 14-16 hours. Got in the mood when i was watching some videos of the new Doom game. I'll probably go back in, there's some stuff i want to find, mainly the hidden original doom levels are hidden. You have to find a lever, pull it, and the levels will be available from the menu to play. I found three so far. A couple of areas or bosses were ball breaking, just flat out frantic and tense. All in all i enjoyed it. I'll get the new game around Christmas when the price drops. The level themes are certainly hellish. Except for a few levels, most of them were well designed. Posting some screens in the Screen shot thread.
Excellent Budd! O0
Going to the way back machine.
I finally finished the original Portal
Quote from: jamus34 on March 23, 2020, 08:11:16 AM
Going to the way back machine.
I finally finished the original Portal
The cake is a lie 😃
Portal 2 is good fun too with a few new twists as I recall.
Good job on the finish, I remember some mind bendingly difficult puzzles. Think I had to consult the internet on a couple of occasions.
Finished F.E.A.R. 2 -Project Origin, 10 hours to completion. Same shooting mechanics as the First FEAR, so that's solid. Good pacing, very well placed checkpoints, and quite a few of them, normally hate checkpoints, like to save when i want but these weren't as issue.
Quote from: -budd- on March 29, 2020, 04:33:57 PM
Finished F.E.A.R. 2 -Project Origin, 10 hours to completion. Same shooting mechanics as the First FEAR, so that's solid. Good pacing, very well placed checkpoints, and quite a few of them, normally hate checkpoints, like to save when i want but these weren't as issue.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Excellent Budd! O0
I finally won my 1st game of Deity Empires! I love the game, but am finding it a bit grindy in the later stages. I suspect I might need to toughen the AI up, and/or let there be more of them?
Just completed the Egyptian Campaign in Napoleon Total War! Great fun
WAY TO GO! I never finished that myself. :notworthy:
Good job, that's a commitment.
Do people fight the battles in these Total War games, or auto resolve? I own like 5 of the older ones, but i've only played Medieval 2 and Empire for just a little bit. The real time battles just put me off.
Another good game I own that I've never read the rules or played.
Congratulations!
Quote from: -budd- on April 04, 2020, 12:00:47 PM
Good job, that's a commitment.
Do people fight the battles in these Total War games, or auto resolve? I own like 5 of the older ones, but i've only played Medieval 2 and Empire for just a little bit. The real time battles just put me off.
I find the battles to be fairly intensive and, in some way, exhausting. So i Don't like to fight too many battles in a session. In the Italian Campaign, i played all the battles. In my Egyptian Campaign, only about the half...most of the battles at the beginning of the Campaign, and only the battles i might have lost in the end.
Quote from: -budd- on April 04, 2020, 12:00:47 PM
Good job, that's a commitment.
Do people fight the battles in these Total War games, or auto resolve? I own like 5 of the older ones, but i've only played Medieval 2 and Empire for just a little bit. The real time battles just put me off.
In general, I manually fight any battles where the odds aren't pretty lopsided (either in my favor, or against); my personal threshold is about a 3:1 ratio. So if there's basically either no chance of my either losing or winning (depending on which side has overwhelming force), I simply auto-resolve.
I'd estimate this leads to me fighting around 20% of the battles in my Total War games, and auto-resolving the remaining 80%, which I find to be a reasonable balance. I greatly enjoy TW's combat, but admit it can also be rather tiring (to echo
Anguille), especially if you're playing out battles all the time.
Quote from: -budd- on April 04, 2020, 12:00:47 PM
Good job, that's a commitment.
Do people fight the battles in these Total War games, or auto resolve? I own like 5 of the older ones, but i've only played Medieval 2 and Empire for just a little bit. The real time battles just put me off.
I own several of the Total War series, too, and have only played Medieval 2. I don't like playing the battles so I auto resolve all of them. I have played to completion more than one game and never missed not playing the battles.
I enjoy fighting the battles myself. Except for way lopsided beat-downs of course. Medi 2 and Shogun 2 had the best AI opponents in my humble opinion.
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 04, 2020, 11:05:17 PM
I enjoy fighting the battles myself. Except for way lopsided beat-downs of course. Medi 2 and Shogun 2 had the best AI opponents in my humble opinion.
The original Shogun and Medieval still have the best battle AI in my experience.
I should've mentioned NTW's AI was no slouch either, especially with muskets and arty.
My wife and I finished Secrets of the Lost Tomb defeating the Mummy with Blue Eyes!
We will probably play another scenario before putting it up.
Had to look this one up, board game right. Can't get my family to play anything with remotely complex rules. Good job on completion, how long did a play through take?
Quote from: -budd- on April 11, 2020, 12:43:34 PM
Had to look this one up, board game right. Can't get my family to play anything with remotely complex rules. Good job on completion, how long did a play through take?
It was our first play so there was a lot of rules reference. Perhaps 5 hours or so? Next one should run 2-3 hours.
Finished Erik2's North Afrika campaign. Rommel took Rangoon and linked up with the Japanese.
WHEW! I've FINALLY finished my first campaign of Dominions 5. Normal difficulty, medium-sized, and 4 contending factions in the Early Ages. I picked Ermor and played as a Demilich specialized in death magic and astral magic. Contenders were C'Tis, Xibalba, and Tien Chi.
The throne situation was a bit goofy in practice. I set 3 thrones total -- two easy tier-1 thrones and one hard tier-3 throne -- and to win you had to take the tier-3 throne and either of the tier-1 thrones. ALL the thrones ended up spawning next to a faction's home province, which made things interesting. :o
Early on, things were rough. I kicked the crap out of Tien Chi and laid siege to their capital, hoping to stab them in the heart before I take the throne next to them. I spent months in multiple prolonged sieges that cost me my best bishops, mages, and even my Prophet-Legionnaire general - and ultimately failed. That was about the time I figured out the throne they were guarding was the second tier-1 throne, not the tier-3 throne. #:-)
I pivoted south and exchanged blows with C'Tis and Xibalba, spending about half the game camped out next to the final throne waiting for my moment to strike. The C'Tis hilariously and rather pathetically attacked over and over with meager troops which gave me a good idea of how Zeus the Titan and his army of raptor riders were holding out on the Throne of Destiny. I mobbed in with my successor Prophet-Legionnaire, hundreds of Hastati and sacred cavalry, and a crapton of summoned Fire Drakes, Wights, and other fun gooble-gobbles. I was expecting the attack to fail horribly, actually, but I kicked Zeus's ass! :knuppel2: 8)
C'Tis made some meager attempts to dethrone me at the last second, but the survivors of my wild assault made short work of them -- and that was that. My prophet claimed the Throne of Destiny, and Lord Blackadder ascended to godhood. <:-)
Maybe now I'm ready to go online and get my ass kicked for real? :buck2:
(https://i.imgur.com/sjVZ09S.jpg)
Congrats to the both of you on a job well done, just like the steaks at Longhorn-- well-done. :clap:
Now that I've got my first win out of the way, I'm definitely finding it easier to consistently beat the AI on Normal. Wonder if anyone here is up for another Grogs Dominions game... ???
just completed the European Campaign as Napoleon (in Napoleon Total War)!
Quote from: Anguille on April 13, 2020, 02:57:51 PM
just completed the European Campaign as Napoleon (in Napoleon Total War)!
Congratulations! Another good game I picked up cheap that I've not played. On the bright side, I've not played a bad game in 2020.
Finally finished this thread!
In its honor I also finished the 2nd chapter of Diablo III and moved in to the 3rd, which started out amazingly.
But Civ VI beckoned and I finished the tutorial there as Gilgamesh. Really enjoyed it. I am thinking Civ VI will keep me occupied for 100s of hours at least 🤓
WAY TO GO Anguille! :clap: That's one tough campaign to beat. I managed it once as Britain. Give the Peninsula Campaign DLC a look if you already haven't. It was pretty good too.
Quote from: Anguille on April 13, 2020, 02:57:51 PM
just completed the European Campaign as Napoleon (in Napoleon Total War)!
Quite the haul! I assume you remembered to bring coats to Russia? >:D
O0 Good one al.
Quote from: al_infierno on April 13, 2020, 07:01:37 PM
Quote from: Anguille on April 13, 2020, 02:57:51 PM
just completed the European Campaign as Napoleon (in Napoleon Total War)!
Quite the haul! I assume you remembered to bring coats to Russia? >:D
Indeed...the winter of 1807-1808 was too cold and i had to leave my armies in the cities (one from St-Petersburg and one from Kiev). Took Moscow in Spring-Summer of 1808!
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 13, 2020, 06:43:24 PM
WAY TO GO Anguille! :clap: That's one tough campaign to beat. I managed it once as Britain. Give the Peninsula Campaign DLC a look if you already haven't. It was pretty good too.
I was thinking about the Peninsula Campaign as next! Way to go.
Tried Waterloo yesterday...very difficult!
Quote from: Gusington on April 13, 2020, 04:48:34 PM
Finally finished this thread!
In its honor I also finished the 2nd chapter of Diablo III and moved in to the 3rd, which started out amazingly.
But Civ VI beckoned and I finished the tutorial there as Gilgamesh. Really enjoyed it. I am thinking Civ VI will keep me occupied for 100s of hours at least 🤓
I Believe so....i've put more than 100 hours into Civ VI and still want to play it. :)
Won as Humans in MOO:CtS with an Economic Victory. Basically pre-empted a long slog (and looking inevitable) domination victory by buying-out 80%+ of the galactic stock market. Along the way I wiped out the Terrans (my usual go to race in MOO) and got their defeat screen with the Blade Runner quote "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." which made me feel a little bit guilty, though then again I did go on to (as my Steam achievement told me) Warren Buffet the galaxy :-\
Quote from: Wolfe1759 on April 17, 2020, 06:22:06 PM
Won as Humans in MOO:CtS with an Economic Victory. Basically pre-empted a long slog (and looking inevitable) domination victory by buying-out 80%+ of the galactic stock market. Along the way I wiped out the Terrans (my usual go to race in MOO) and got their defeat screen with the Blade Runner quote "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." which made me feel a little bit guilty, though then again I did go on to (as my Steam achievement told me) Warren Buffet the galaxy :-\
Congratulations!
How does this compare to the original Master of Orion and Moo2?
Although I got MOO1-3 as part of the MOO:CtS package I bought I really haven't played enough of any of them to make much of a comparison. I generally take a fairly casual rather than trying to micromanage and min-max everything approach to 4Xs and MOO:CtS is for me just at the sweet spot in terms of complexity to allow me to enjoy the game and spend my time thinking about what to do rather than how to do it.
From a post I made on the Steam forums about Stars in Shadow (which I also rather enjoy) but equally applicable to MOO:CtS:
It is on the lighter side of the space 4X genre but does what it does really well and I found the race differentiation to be enough to allow for different approaches dependent on race without the learning curve playing a new race has in Endless Space, I also found the style/personality/flavour of the game quite engaging. As a (totally subjective) comparison of complexity in terms both of ease of learning and depth of experience (though weighted more to the former) on a 1-10 (10 being most complex) scale from those I have played I would rank as follows (including most/all of their respective DLCs):
10 - Aurora
9 - Distant Worlds (with minimal automation selected)
7 - Stellaris / Gal Civ III
6 - Endless Space II / Gal Civ II
5 - Stars in Shadow / Master of Orion (the new one) / Endless Space / Armada 2526
4 - Sins of a Solar Empire
1 - Space Tyrant
From the above the ones I'm playing most at present are in order - MoO > Stars in Shadow > Gal Civ III > Endless Space II.
I find that the complexity level 5 games from the above allow me within a couple of short (i.e. less than 5 hours) games to know what I was doing enough that I could start thinking more about the strategy I was going to try rather than how to play the game, though dependant on skill level selected I'd still lose more often than I'd win :)
P.S. if you are going to play MOO:CtS I would strongly recommend the UCP and 5X mods (which have been designed to work together) which pretty much fix all the rough spots in the official release and are still very actively updated with improvements, most recently just last week.
Thanks. I have Stars of Shadow that I've yet to play.
Which Aurora are you talking about? (Because being me, I immediately jumped to the most complex thing to check out. ;) )
This one http://aurora2.pentarch.org/ which I believe has just had a newish C# remake. Can't really comment much on it myself as I remember downloading it a year or so ago (it is free) starting it up and very quickly deciding the complexity was not at all my cup of tea, maybe I'll give it a go again when I finish the full campaign of War in The Pacific Admirals Edition which still glares at me from my game shelf :)
Also note that on a scale of 1 to 10, I think Aurora deserves a 15. You design almost everything about your ships, missles, and weapons. You decide fuel, crew quarters (depends on intended mission length), sensors (different ones for ships vs missiles vs planetary resources vs jump points), missiles (size, speed, range, guidance), etc.
Quote from: Wolfe1759 on April 17, 2020, 06:22:06 PM
Won as Humans in MOO:CtS with an Economic Victory. Basically pre-empted a long slog (and looking inevitable) domination victory by buying-out 80%+ of the galactic stock market. Along the way I wiped out the Terrans (my usual go to race in MOO) and got their defeat screen with the Blade Runner quote "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." which made me feel a little bit guilty, though then again I did go on to (as my Steam achievement told me) Warren Buffet the galaxy :-\
Well done! What galaxy size did you play?
I just completed the Peninsula Campaign in Napoleon Total War with France. Not an easy one with all those spaniards hating you!
I managed a win in the second battle of CMBN's Market-Garden Campaign, a great little company-sized paratrooper scenario against some very tough Germans. We inflicted 80+ casualties on them including 41 K.I.A. against just 6 dead and 8 wounded. Great game!
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 20, 2020, 10:13:36 AM
I managed a win in the second battle of CMBN's Market-Garden Campaign, a great little company-sized paratrooper scenario against some very tough Germans. We inflicted 80+ casualties on them including 41 K.I.A. against just 6 dead and 8 wounded. Great game!
I always thought the market garden campaigns were some of the best battles in CMBN. I have many memorable fights esp when playing against human opponents in that theater.
Con
That I can believe. After the battle I cruised around the map and the German AI had 2 full squads in foxholes that could've caused me all kinds of problems but were never moved. A 'Meat Opponent' probably would've clobbered me. :hide:
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 20, 2020, 10:13:36 AM
I managed a win in the second battle of CMBN's Market-Garden Campaign, a great little company-sized paratrooper scenario against some very tough Germans. We inflicted 80+ casualties on them including 41 K.I.A. against just 6 dead and 8 wounded. Great game!
Nice!! Paratroopers for the win!! :)
Just finished the Xenonauts campaign last night. Very good game. I like this better than the modern X-COM.
Quote from: W8taminute on April 21, 2020, 08:20:28 AM
Just finished the Xenonauts campaign last night. Very good game. I like this better than the modern X-COM.
Well done! And I agree. This is an under-appreciated gem.
Quote from: W8taminute on April 21, 2020, 08:20:28 AM
Just finished the Xenonauts campaign last night. Very good game. I like this better than the modern X-COM.
Congrats! I never got far into a Xenonauts campaign. Did they include some of the more ridiculous late-game weaponry like the Blaster Launcher and psionics? Or is that stuff all toned down?
Quote from: al_infierno on April 21, 2020, 01:49:47 PM
Quote from: W8taminute on April 21, 2020, 08:20:28 AM
Just finished the Xenonauts campaign last night. Very good game. I like this better than the modern X-COM.
Congrats! I never got far into a Xenonauts campaign. Did they include some of the more ridiculous late-game weaponry like the Blaster Launcher and psionics? Or is that stuff all toned down?
Nothing ridiculous in this game. Each new technology you unlock to fight against the aliens makes sense and is realistically plausible. The aliens are not easy to beat despite all the new tech you discover however but it does even the odds a bit. The spoiler free ending is that it was a tough fight but it wasn't something that could not theoretically happen.
Quote from: W8taminute on April 21, 2020, 08:20:28 AM
Just finished the Xenonauts campaign last night. Very good game. I like this better than the modern X-COM.
Nice finish, all i ever do is play awhile, put it down, then restart sometime later, rinse and repeat. good job
Congratulations! I played it for 95 hours and cannot remember if I ever finished it or not.
Xenonauts was a great game. The free 60-page mininovel that came with it was some of the best game-related fiction I've ever seen. Totally captured the original X-Com feel, expanding on it one or two places to make it a little more original but totally being true to its predecessor.
I ended up running out of gas somewhere that felt like 70% or 80% of the way through the game. But, like Airboy, I had somewhere around 100 hours of great gaming time out of it.
Played and finished the Coalition campaign in Napoleon Total War with Prussia...so i finished all the campaigns and battles! Time to focus on the next game. :)
Quote from: Anguille on April 27, 2020, 02:46:53 AM
Played and finished the Coalition campaing in Napoleon Total War with Prussia...so i finished all the campaigns and battles! Time to focus on the next game. :)
:notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: Well done!
Excellent! :clap:
Congratulations!
Great job Anguille. I want to do the same myself but my list of games to be played is quite large.
Thanks! I am really glad i did. It's always my wish to fully discover a game. To me, it's like finishing a good book.
So, it's mod time then? >:D
(I have no idea what mods are good for NappyTW, but my rough guess would be American Civil War and WW1.)
Quote from: JasonPratt on April 28, 2020, 07:19:52 AM
So, it's mod time then? >:D
(I have no idea what mods are good for NappyTW, but my rough guess would be American Civil War and WW1.)
Oh no, no time for mods. First i have to complete the zillions other games i have in my library!
I played a good mod for NTW. I can't remember the name of it but it doubled the number of units in a stack(40) army or navy and the number of troops in a unit. It made for some truly epic sized battles. And beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, armies that large were almost impossible to control in battle and fleets.... forget about it. :hide: But it was fun for awhile.
Quote from: JasonPratt on April 28, 2020, 07:19:52 AM
So, it's mod time then? >:D
(I have no idea what mods are good for NappyTW, but my rough guess would be American Civil War and WW1.)
Darthmod for Napoleon, and most of the historical Total War games are great. Though personally I think Darthmod is far and away the best for Napoleon and Empire Total War.
The WWI mod for nappy is a bit janky, and the game really isn't designed for WWI, but it can be fun nonetheless.
Quote from: W8taminute on April 21, 2020, 08:20:28 AM
Just finished the Xenonauts campaign last night. Very good game. I like this better than the modern X-COM.
Thanks for posting your accomplishment.
I did not care for the modern X-Com very much but loved the first two in the original series.
I did not care that much for Xenonauts when originally released - I forget why.
But because you commented on it I loaded it up. I'd gotten into a tremendous rut/frenzy over Order of Battle and the community content.
The current version of Xenonauts is excellent. Only the music is weaker than the original X-Com. The music is very good - I keep it on (highly unusual for me). But it is not as good as the original X-Com for the sheer creepiness value.
Everything else about the game is just wonderful and much improved. I'm playing it on easy and am midway through month 4. I've fought two terror missions including a night terror mission. The AI tactical combat is better. The controls and the visuals are much, much better. And a lot of the frankly irritating troop loadout management & construction/sales micromanagement for cash has been either removed or made a lot more friendly.
I'm not enamored of aerial combat - and the current version lets you auto-resolve it. I'm sure there are advantages if you want to run your own aerial battles - but that is just not for me. I love the strategic management, research management, and tactical combat sides of the game.
Quote from: airboy on April 29, 2020, 05:18:13 PM
Quote from: W8taminute on April 21, 2020, 08:20:28 AM
Just finished the Xenonauts campaign last night. Very good game. I like this better than the modern X-COM.
Thanks for posting your accomplishment.
I did not care for the modern X-Com very much but loved the first two in the original series.
I did not care that much for Xenonauts when originally released - I forget why.
But because you commented on it I loaded it up. I'd gotten into a tremendous rut/frenzy over Order of Battle and the community content.
The current version of Xenonauts is excellent. Only the music is weaker than the original X-Com. The music is very good - I keep it on (highly unusual for me). But it is not as good as the original X-Com for the sheer creepiness value.
Everything else about the game is just wonderful and much improved. I'm playing it on easy and am midway through month 4. I've fought two terror missions including a night terror mission. The AI tactical combat is better. The controls and the visuals are much, much better. And a lot of the frankly irritating troop loadout management & construction/sales micromanagement for cash has been either removed or made a lot more friendly.
I'm not enamored of aerial combat - and the current version lets you auto-resolve it. I'm sure there are advantages if you want to run your own aerial battles - but that is just not for me. I love the strategic management, research management, and tactical combat sides of the game.
Awesome! Good to hear you're liking the game. Yes air combat is a bit tricky if you manually play it out. I do like that they gave an option to play it out or just autoresolve it.
I'm in agreement with you on the soldier loadout management screen. It's a screen a spent a lot of time on prior to each ground mission.
Just finished Divinity Original Sin 2. I got the happy hero ending.
I took every quest, scraped all the exp I could (my playstyle is I like to be overpowered going in to the final boss fight). unfortunately it does lead me to feel a certain fatigue playing these games - the last third of the game always seems long and more a grind/work than fun (apart from Witcher 3 thats the only one which I truly missed when it was all over). Still DOS2 was entertaining enough to keep me going.
Con
Good job, those games are tough to get to the finish line. I get that same fatigue, at that point i usually either abandon all side quests and focus only on the main quest, which on some games you can't do because "got to up those levels" ...sigh, or i put it down and comeback later. I Still have DOS1 to finish. These are the only types of games where i go "damn, does this game ever end ;D" then i usually go onto much smaller games i can finish quickly.
Excellent Con! Congrats on you, 'Divine' performance. :clap:
Congratulations Con!
You put in words how I end up feeling about a lot of RPGs. Perfectionism has a price.
Quote from: -budd- on May 04, 2020, 07:19:33 AM
Good job, those games are tough to get to the finish line. I get that same fatigue, at that point i usually either abandon all side quests and focus only on the main quest, which on some games you can't do because "got to up those levels" ...sigh, or i put it down and comeback later. I Still have DOS1 to finish. These are the only types of games where i go "damn, does this game ever end ;D" then i usually go onto much smaller games i can finish quickly.
Good job budd....! I'm in the early stages of the game, got my boat fixed and am now exploring the seas.
I completed the Road to Independance campaign in Empire Total War! The next two campaigns will be first India and then America.
Nice job!
Quote from: Anguille on May 19, 2020, 02:24:48 AM
I completed the Road to Independance campaign in Empire Total War! The next two campaigns will be first India and then America.
Nice! Some of those campaigns in Empire, at least for me anyway, proved to be tough enough that I gave up on them. I'll have to revisit them now that I have more Total War experience under my belt.
HA! I finished it! After 7 years of agony I finished it!
What have I finished you say? Dark Souls.
I started playing Dark Souls on Xbox360 back in 2013. As some of you may already know Dark Souls is a game that prides itself of being insanely tough to the point where most people give up on it.
Somehow though I managed to make my way all the way to the final boss. I looked forward to beating the game but when I encountered that last boss for whatever reason I couldn't figure out how to beat him. I must have failed at least a hundred times. I got so aggravated after putting in 150+ hours into the game to fail so miserably. Then Dark Souls II came out and I played and beat that game.
Over the course of the past 7 years I would revisit Dark Souls and try to beat that last boss but to no avail. I just couldn't do it even after watching every YouTube video and reading every written guide I could find on how to beat Gwyn Lord of Cinder.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ce/0d/71/ce0d71614c410f7ec5c8153da10065d5.jpg)
Everyone who wrote a guide or posted a video kept saying that he's really one of the easier bosses to beat which was disappointing for being an end boss. I just couldn't see that though and I couldn't figure out for the life of me what I was doing wrong. I never gave up however because I really like the Dark Souls series and I was determined to win. I'd play the game for a few days off and on trying to beat Gwyn but couldn't do it...until late last night.
I stopped trying out different strategies that people had recommended and just concentrated on what I was doing wrong. What were his attack patterns if any and what did I do over and over again wrongly to try to counter them. When I looked at the whole picture after clearing my mind of all the advice I had read or seen I finally identified what I was doing wrong and I beat that mo fo! I finally beat him!!! <:-)
It took me a total of about 210 hours of game time to do it but I did it.
Congratulations! That's an impressive achievement. I also hate it when i cannot finish a game.
There is a real rush when you are so deeply invested in a game through time committed etc to suddenly see that you might have a way to beat the game. The holy crap its working moment- the I am so close will I be able to do it- the panic over the thought of failing.
I find my heart pounding and breath shortening like I was a kid again doing some insanely dangerous thing. Its amazing that some electronic pixels can elicit such a strong feeling.
Congrats to all who finished their games/campaigns. :notworthy: I'm still trying to beat Pong. :hide:
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 19, 2020, 09:50:13 AM
Congrats to all who finished their games/campaigns. :notworthy: I'm still trying to beat Pong. :hide:
+1 congrats to all. I did finish a bottle of wine last night; does that count?
Depends. Did you finish it by yourself, or did you have help? <:-)
Congratulations! Admire the perseverance.
Quote from: W8taminute on May 19, 2020, 08:26:09 AM
HA! I finished it! After 7 years of agony I finished it!
What have I finished you say? Dark Souls.
I started playing Dark Souls on Xbox360 back in 2013. As some of you may already know Dark Souls is a game that prides itself of being insanely tough to the point where most people give up on it.
Somehow though I managed to make my way all the way to the final boss. I looked forward to beating the game but when I encountered that last boss for whatever reason I couldn't figure out how to beat him. I must have failed at least a hundred times. I got so aggravated after putting in 150+ hours into the game to fail so miserably. Then Dark Souls II came out and I played and beat that game.
Over the course of the past 7 years I would revisit Dark Souls and try to beat that last boss but to no avail. I just couldn't do it even after watching every YouTube video and reading every written guide I could find on how to beat Gwyn Lord of Cinder.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ce/0d/71/ce0d71614c410f7ec5c8153da10065d5.jpg)
Everyone who wrote a guide or posted a video kept saying that he's really one of the easier bosses to beat which was disappointing for being an end boss. I just couldn't see that though and I couldn't figure out for the life of me what I was doing wrong. I never gave up however because I really like the Dark Souls series and I was determined to win. I'd play the game for a few days off and on trying to beat Gwyn but couldn't do it...until late last night.
I stopped trying out different strategies that people had recommended and just concentrated on what I was doing wrong. What were his attack patterns if any and what did I do over and over again wrongly to try to counter them. When I looked at the whole picture after clearing my mind of all the advice I had read or seen I finally identified what I was doing wrong and I beat that mo fo! I finally beat him!!! <:-)
It took me a total of about 210 hours of game time to do it but I did it.
Congratulations, sir! Very well done. :clap:
Thanks guys! Con put it nicely and that is exactly how I felt as I was nearing the end of the fight, certain that I would win.
Quote from: Con on May 19, 2020, 09:16:32 AM
There is a real rush when you are so deeply invested in a game through time committed etc to suddenly see that you might have a way to beat the game. The holy crap its working moment- the I am so close will I be able to do it- the panic over the thought of failing.
I find my heart pounding and breath shortening like I was a kid again doing some insanely dangerous thing. Its amazing that some electronic pixels can elicit such a strong feeling.
Finished my Empire Total War main campaign....all of India (but the achievement did not unlock on steam :-\) and also Persia. Could be a cool game if the AI wasn't that bad (both on the strategic and tactical level).
Congrats, Anguille! Let's hope they come out with Empire 2 someday. 8)
After four years I finally reloaded and finished Doom 2016 today.
After they remove Denuvo from Doom Eternal I'll be giving it a go.
Quote from: SirAndrewD on May 23, 2020, 08:28:16 PM
After four years I finally reloaded and finished Doom 2016 today.
After they remove Denuvo from Doom Eternal I'll be giving it a go.
Took me about that long to finish also, uninstall, reinstall.
Whats this Denuvo crap, first i'm hearing about that. My plan is to grab Eternal during the holiday sale. The new Serious Sam 4 is coming out August, new engine, supposed to allow an absolutely insane number of enemies on screen at once. That's listed at $39.99 , might pre-order the game, love me some Sam carnage.
Quote from: -budd- on May 23, 2020, 09:53:52 PM
Quote from: SirAndrewD on May 23, 2020, 08:28:16 PM
After four years I finally reloaded and finished Doom 2016 today.
After they remove Denuvo from Doom Eternal I'll be giving it a go.
Took me about that long to finish also, uninstall, reinstall.
Whats this Denuvo crap, first i'm hearing about that. My plan is to grab Eternal during the holiday sale. The new Serious Sam 4 is coming out August, new engine, supposed to allow an absolutely insane number of enemies on screen at once. That's listed at $39.99 , might pre-order the game, love me some Sam carnage.
A DRM update they rolled out to Doom Eternal gives kernel-level access to your computer. In non-technical terms, it has fuck-you access to your whole PC, which would be a huge deal if there's ever a big security breach along the lines of Yahoo.
Last I heard they're rushing to undo all this fuckery.
Congratulations SirAndrew and Angille.
Quote from: al_infierno on May 23, 2020, 10:29:10 PM
A DRM update they rolled out to Doom Eternal gives kernel-level access to your computer. In non-technical terms, it has fuck-you access to your whole PC, which would be a huge deal if there's ever a big security breach along the lines of Yahoo.
Last I heard they're rushing to undo all this fuckery.
Just so.
They were making it non-optional for single players because of the new invasion mechanic, where if you open your single player campaign up, players can come in and occupy demons that you're fighting.
But yeah, the software is far too invasive. It wouldn't cause any slowing to my rig, but it has to others. Outside of just taxing the system, yeah, kernel level access.
I simply don't trust Bethesda and id to protect my data with something that invasive. I'll play it after it gets excised and it goes on a sale for the summer sale.
I finished Red Steel today after a long interlude of Xenonauts & Tales of Maj'Eyal.
Red Steel is really good - but I got the game after finishing 3 of Erik's Order of Battle Custom Campaigns (which are about double the length of "official" campaigns) and wanted a break from computer wargames. Just needed a break from OOB after finishing the review through no fault of Red Steel.
Game is very good and lacked any of the "space filler" scenarios that some of the other campaigns have had. The only fault I have with the AI is being too aggressive instead of retreating/reinforcing when getting overextended. You can sometimes sucker the AI into leaving their flanks open or sucker fighters into AA coverage.
To win Red Steel you must be able to win pure offensive scenarios, pure defensive scenarios (including those which strictly limit the number of armor or air units you can deploy) and a bunch of scenarios where you defend in some sectors and conduct offensive operations in others. The only small bugs I encountered got eliminated (or just did not occur) in the last 4 or so scenarios of the campaign. I can recommend it more strongly now after finishing it - but I was asked to complete the review by the release date.
Congrats on the Win AB. O0
Quote from: airboy on May 31, 2020, 06:13:11 PM
I finished Red Steel today after a long interlude of Xenonauts & Tales of Maj'Eyal.
Red Steel is really good - but I got the game after finishing 3 of Erik's Order of Battle Custom Campaigns (which are about double the length of "official" campaigns) and wanted a break from computer wargames. Just needed a break from OOB after finishing the review through no fault of Red Steel.
Game is very good and lacked any of the "space filler" scenarios that some of the other campaigns have had. The only fault I have with the AI is being too aggressive instead of retreating/reinforcing when getting overextended. You can sometimes sucker the AI into leaving their flanks open or sucker fighters into AA coverage.
To win Red Steel you must be able to win pure offensive scenarios, pure defensive scenarios (including those which strictly limit the number of armor or air units you can deploy) and a bunch of scenarios where you defend in some sectors and conduct offensive operations in others. The only small bugs I encountered got eliminated (or just did not occur) in the last 4 or so scenarios of the campaign. I can recommend it more strongly now after finishing it - but I was asked to complete the review by the release date.
I'm not familiar with Red Steel, know nothing about it, but regardless, anyone who actually finishes a game is to be congratulated. It's rare these days that I ever do.
Just completed Hercule Poirot's ABC murder....very well done game.
Quote from: Anguille on June 01, 2020, 03:58:43 PM
Just completed Hercule Poirot's ABC murder....very well done game.
Is that a point and click game? I have the Sherlock Holmes series, but have only dabbled in one of the games.
Quote from: -budd- on June 02, 2020, 02:26:12 AM
Quote from: Anguille on June 01, 2020, 03:58:43 PM
Just completed Hercule Poirot's ABC murder....very well done game.
Is that a point and click game? I have the Sherlock Holmes series, but have only dabbled in one of the games.
Yes, it's a point and click game. What i liked is that the game is faithful to the book, it's fairly short (it took me about 10 hours) and, if you really don't find a solution, there's always a help function available so the game's mysteries are not going to keep you from finishing the game. I also like the artwork, music and the mood. I don't play these games so often but i did play a few of them (one Sherlock Holmes, Black Mirror, Broken Sword 1&2 and the oldest one: Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis!). I think it's an easy one to get into.
Good to know keep it going..! :)
Quote from: Anguille on June 01, 2020, 03:58:43 PM
Just completed Hercule Poirot's ABC murder....very well done game.
Congratulations! Ever played Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers? That is the best one I've ever played. I bought the remastered version and have the original on gog which I would gift to you if gog will let me give a game to someone else and wipe it from my library.
I find the point and click games relaxing. The puzzles can make or break a game. I like the games where there is a help function, not up to spending two days figuring out a game puzzle anymore. I go to YouTube pretty quickly for solution.
I'll have to take a look at the redone Gabriel Knight game, I vaguely remember playing that a very very long time ago.
Quote from: airboy on June 02, 2020, 02:18:20 PM
Quote from: Anguille on June 01, 2020, 03:58:43 PM
Just completed Hercule Poirot's ABC murder....very well done game.
Congratulations! Ever played Gabriel Knight Sins of the Fathers? That is the best one I've ever played. I bought the remastered version and have the original on gog which I would gift to you if gog will let me give a game to someone else and wipe it from my library.
I just checked my GOG library and, surprise, i have it! Just installed. Will check it out. Thanks.
For a relaxing point-and-click game series, I can pretty well recommend the Hero of the Kingdom series. Reminds me I should check to see if there's a fourth game yet...! :smitten:
What is Hero of the Kingdom about?
Each story is self-contained (with a few nods to prior stories for flavor), but each involves a young man (only young men characters so far) leaving home and slowly working his way up in a medieval fantasy world until he's leading armed forces to save a kingdom and marry into a family. Very generic in that sense, but the details vary from story to story. My nieces love to guide him around doing things in the first game.
In the first game, you're helping your Dad take care of the family farm after your Mom has died, and while out doing chores the farm is raided by slavers working, ultimately, for an evil wizard trying to invade and overthrow the kingdom, so most of the game involves trying to track the slavers and get back your Dad along with dealing with the wider plot as the game opens up.
The second game involves pirates menacing a shoreline kingdom, where you and your sister have tried to settle as orphans. She's kidnapped and off you go, trying to figure out the pirate kingdom base and building a ship to travel the sea and take them down.
The third game I didn't recall (though I beat it): having been raised as a hunter by your uncle, monsters from underground are shattering the unity of four valleys of settlers. Defending your valley inspires you to reforge paths and connections to the other valley settlements, and putting down the source of the problem (an ancient buried god if I recall correctly). The plot is more diffuse and less directed than the first two, which is why I didn't easily remember it. ;)
There's gorgeous and detailed but not overly-showy hand-drawn art -- you basically play the game by clicking spots on each map, including transition links to other maps, talking with characters and picking up and using inventory. There's plenty of combat, but it's very simple: check what's necessary to beat the threat, find and/or create what's necessary, go back and use up those items or whatever to solve the problem. (All the problems get solved this way, more or less. The series is very much an inventory management game.)
Looking up on Steam, I see there's a new entry, Lost Tales 1! (Which looks like it's going to be a multi-story entry delivered in short portions.) The whole series may be on sale, hard to tell since I've got them all already.
The games are very pastoral and chill, no rush to do anything, a fair amount of reading, some simple storybook animations. It's an acquired taste, but I'd call it a cut above most point-and-click story games of a similarly simple type (in my admittedly limited experience. It isn't like the famous Sherlock Holmes series from Frogware, for example, much more complex.)
I completed the commercial campaign in Port Royal 3!
Quote from: Anguille on June 14, 2020, 01:29:55 AM
I completed the commercial campaign in Port Royal 3!
I don't know the game, but anyone who finishes a campaign in any game gets a thumbs up from me, O0
Congratulations!
What do you think about the game?
The PR series is essentially super-Pirates, since Sid Meir wasn't able or perhaps interested in updating his Pirates game at the time. The main drawback between PR3 and PR2 is the simplification of the combat, but honestly the game isn't so much about the combat as the original Pirates was anyway -- I still prefer PR2 to 3, but there's a good argument for quality of life improvements in 3. (Though I've played Patrician 3 a lot more than either of them. Its combat is significantly worse than either, but that seems to be on purpose to fit the setting: the pirates and anti-pirates weren't as developed, up in the Hanseatics.)
So, take Sid Meir's Pirates -- the original one I mean (for the C64 or early PC etc.). Now add a bunch more town interaction and even management options to it. You won't only be sailing from place to place trying to sell off your merchant and/or looted goods, you'll be looking to invest in property, both buying and building; and if you get cozy enough with one of the factions, and wealthy enough to afford it, they'll be expecting you to go found your own Caribbean colony from scratch! (Something Pat3 doesn't allow, by the way, although you can take over any number of the towns on the map theoretically.)
I'll be curious about Anguille's report on the game, too. The Pat/PR series is one I always want to get back to (in the back of my mind), and what amuses me most about Grand Ages: Medieval is that instead of being a city/colony builder like Grand Ages: Rome, it's really a land-based update to the Pat/PR games (thus an extension of Sid Meir's Pirates in that sense)!
Quote from: airboy on June 14, 2020, 08:52:03 AM
Congratulations!
What do you think about the game?
Thanks. It's a nice game with a good campaign. I don't think i'll get the sequel as it looks to be more of the same (they have been doing the same game for the last 20 years).
Quote from: JasonPratt on June 14, 2020, 10:57:35 AM
The PR series is essentially super-Pirates, since Sid Meir wasn't able or perhaps interested in updating his Pirates game at the time. The main drawback between PR3 and PR2 is the simplification of the combat, but honestly the game isn't so much about the combat as the original Pirates was anyway -- I still prefer PR2 to 3, but there's a good argument for quality of life improvements in 3. (Though I've played Patrician 3 a lot more than either of them. Its combat is significantly worse than either, but that seems to be on purpose to fit the setting: the pirates and anti-pirates weren't as developed, up in the Hanseatics.)
So, take Sid Meir's Pirates -- the original one I mean (for the C64 or early PC etc.). Now add a bunch more town interaction and even management options to it. You won't only be sailing from place to place trying to sell off your merchant and/or looted goods, you'll be looking to invest in property, both buying and building; and if you get cozy enough with one of the factions, and wealthy enough to afford it, they'll be expecting you to go found your own Caribbean colony from scratch! (Something Pat3 doesn't allow, by the way, although you can take over any number of the towns on the map theoretically.)
I'll be curious about Anguille's report on the game, too. The Pat/PR series is one I always want to get back to (in the back of my mind), and what amuses me most about Grand Ages: Medieval is that instead of being a city/colony builder like Grand Ages: Rome, it's really a land-based update to the Pat/PR games (thus an extension of Sid Meir's Pirates in that sense)!
I have a special thing for the first
Port Royale....love the intro movie and the mood.
Port Royale 2 was, from a gameplay point a view, an improved version. Unfortunately, both don't run well with windows 10. I feel that Port Royale 3 is weaker, gameplay wise, but i has a zoom function and a full story. Obviously, the same team made the story of
Grand Ages: Medieval, which is, as you say, first and foremost a medieval economic simulation. Having enjoyed
Grand Ages: Rome a lot, i was hoping to have something similar but you don't get new historical city-builders anymore :'(
So i think i'll keep on playing this from time to time (i also have to play
Rise of Venice and
Patrician 4) but think that i will skip sequels as long as these work in windows 10. But the motivation to keep on playing has dropped with the end of the campaign. By now, it's too easy to make money etc.
I think there's a PR4, too, isn't there? {checking} Ah, release date at the end of this September. (29th, Michaelmass Day!)
I forgot PR3 was upgraded in proper 3D gfx (Pat 3 isn't, it's just a patched up Pat2.) So the fleet combat differences must be between PR1 and PR2.
Quote from: JasonPratt on June 15, 2020, 12:24:37 PM
I think there's a PR4, too, isn't there? {checking} Ah, release date at the end of this September. (29th, Michaelmass Day!)
I forgot PR3 was upgraded in proper 3D gfx (Pat 3 isn't, it's just a patched up Pat2.) So the fleet combat differences must be between PR1 and PR2.
Port Royale 4 is going to have turn-based battles....not the same mood but could be a little more relaxing. I think battles were changed in every game, imho, the best being in
Port Royale 1 where you can control the bigger number of ships.
Just finished the US campaign in Empire: Total War on hard....i keep on playing so i can take all the Americas....Germans and British are a pain as they always bring large new armies.
Congrats, Anguille! Weird to think of the Germans invading the New World. (Do you mean the Prussians, by the way?) :P
Quote from: Martok on June 19, 2020, 02:46:43 AM
Congrats, Anguille! Weird to think of the Germans invading the New World. (Do you mean the Prussians, by the way?) :P
Yes....Prussians landed in New Foundland and Labrador! I think they were allied with the British.
Historical accuracy is not the greatest aspect of that game....i also had the Swedes declare war on me!
Congratulations! Another good game I own - unplayed.
I'm trying to gear up for a Civil War 2 game. I have the pdf of the rules on my laptop.
Great Anguille! :clap:
Finally withstood reams of rambling maddening prose to defeat all the bosses and the eldritch horrors that await you in the manor of darkest dungeon
Quote from: Con on June 19, 2020, 07:49:19 PM
Finally withstood reams of rambling maddening prose to defeat all the bosses and the eldritch horrors that await you in the manor of darkest dungeon
Damn, congrats dude! That's a real achievement. :notworthy:
Quote from: al_infierno on June 19, 2020, 07:59:41 PM
Quote from: Con on June 19, 2020, 07:49:19 PM
Finally withstood reams of rambling maddening prose to defeat all the bosses and the eldritch horrors that await you in the manor of darkest dungeon
Damn, congrats dude! That's a real achievement. :notworthy:
I had at least three complete rage quits blow it all up and start again moments. This game will drive you Cthulhu levels of insane
Quote from: Con on June 19, 2020, 07:49:19 PM
Finally withstood reams of rambling maddening prose to defeat all the bosses and the eldritch horrors that await you in the manor of darkest dungeon
Wow - never heard of anyone finishing this beast.
There were two things that happened to make it easier
1. There is a new mechanic where you can recover your lost trinkets from party wipes by fighting an eldritch crow that loves shiny things
2. I gave in and read all the strategy guides I could find for the manor boss fights. Its just too painful to perma lose your party in a wipe because you had the wrong combination for a particular fight.
Congratulions! These games are especially hard to win!
Darkest Dungeon definitely has a "what will I find at the end of the river" feel to it. I agree that using a strategy guide before bumbling into new boss encounters is the ideal way to play. I hated losing hours upon hours of progress just to find out what the game was gonna throw at me. Even knowing what I'm up against, the boss battles still feel like a desperate fight for survival.
FINALLY, finished the Short Campaign for M2TW as England to unlock all the other factions. O0 Next is a Turks Campaign but I decide if I want to do vanilla or Stainless Steel 6.4. Decisions, decisions.
Congrats to you both!
Quote from: Sir Slash on June 23, 2020, 10:46:56 AM
FINALLY, finished the Short Campaign for M2TW as England to unlock all the other factions. O0 Next is a Turks Campaign but I decide if I want to do vanilla or Stainless Steel 6.4. Decisions, decisions.
Congratulations!
Will your Pug Avatar wear a Fez while you play the Turks? :))
Great idea! And a silk veil for the Harem Pugs. :clap:
Well done....still have to do this myself i think!
Good job Con and Sir Slash. Nice to see people finishing games that they've worked on for a while.
Indeed. Congratulations, guys!
Thank you Gentlemen. The game's still a ton of fun to play. <:-)
I finished Erik2's US Campaign 42-43. This is everything North Africa.
Very good AB! O0 Did you bag the Fox?
Quote from: airboy on June 28, 2020, 03:27:07 PM
I finished Erik2's US Campaign 42-43. This is everything North Africa.
What game? My guess is either TOAW or Order of Battle?
Erik on the matrix forums has done a dozen or so lengthy Order of Battle Campaigns. They are much harder than the official campaigns.
Quote from: airboy on June 28, 2020, 03:27:07 PM
I finished Erik2's US Campaign 42-43. This is everything North Africa.
I don't own this game/series but I have high praise for anyone who finishes a campaign in any game. Can't remember the last time I did.
Completed the adventurer campaign in Port Royale 3....short but fun. Sometimes i wish more games were completed that fast...
Never played it but :clap: for the win.
^Nice Slash. Now the 'Sir' has been earned! Definitely Stainless Steel next. Probably the best mod ever done for any TW game.
I am slowly falling in love with it. The AI can be scarily competent. :hide:
Finally managed to take all of the Americas in Empire Total War....it was longer than i expected...i think i have one more little campaign left (the amerindians)...
That's a TW campaign I have never played.
Congrats!
I finished the Grand Campaign 1914 for Strategic Command WW1. I got the victory in July, 1916.
In a shocking development, the UK Parliament had a no confidence vote on the Prime Minister and they withdrew from the War before Christmas, 1914. The Central Powers never declared war on anyone (except Luxemburg whose demise was unnoticed by the world), the German Fleet never went into the North Sea and the Brits left the conflict.
The Germans bottled the French up in Alsace-Lorraine and took Nancy after the French exhausted themselves attacking. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire held off the Russians long enough for the Germans to get their army to the east. After that, it was just grind away at the Russians, Serbs, and Italians (when they stupidly double-crossed the Central Powers).
Quote from: airboy on July 04, 2020, 12:30:55 AM
I finished the Grand Campaign 1914 for Strategic Command WW1. I got the victory in July, 1916.
In a shocking development, the UK Parliament had a no confidence vote on the Prime Minister and they withdrew from the War before Christmas, 1914. The Central Powers never declared war on anyone (except Luxemburg whose demise was unnoticed by the world), the German Fleet never went into the North Sea and the Brits left the conflict.
The Germans bottled the French up in Alsace-Lorraine and took Nancy after the French exhausted themselves attacking. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire held off the Russians long enough for the Germans to get their army to the east. After that, it was just grind away at the Russians, Serbs, and Italians (when they stupidly double-crossed the Central Powers).
Well done airboy! :notworthy: But if the Germans won we wouldn't have had WW2, think of all the awesome wargames we wouldn't have to play today. :o
Good point Rayfer. And Congrats to AB for the campaign win. I played this game a little way back but never gave it the time it deserved. I'm glad to see an un-historical ending is possible. O0
I finished Erik2's US Corps Campaign 43-44. This starts with the invasion of Sicily and ends after the capture of Rome. This is another excellent, free campaign for Order of Battle WW2 you can find on the Slitherine Forum.
And AB continues the win streak another victory over the Silicon Enemy. Good one AB! :clap:
I switched sides and playing the Entente in the 1914 Strategic Command WW1 campaign.
The Germans were marching through Belgium, managed to take Brussels, and stopped. Antwerp is still in Allied hands.
The Austrians took Belgrade in Serbia, and were stopped after heavy casualties.
My Russian Hordes starting slaughtering the Austrian-Hungarians in Galicia taking several important cities, oilfields, and other industrial centers. Then the German Hordes transferred from the West and went on the counter-attack in Poland and stopped the Russian advance in Galicia.
It is January, 1915 and so far no German submarine attacks on British shipping. In something I've never seen, Austria-Hungary gave several cities to Italy to keep them out of the war.
The AI is largely trying to replicate my formula for victory: don't provoke the USA and concentrate on taking out Russia.
My Brits are shuffling a lot of troops into the Saini to attempt to knock the Ottomans out of Jerusalem and eventually Damascus. The Russians are attacking along the Black Sea on the Russian/Ottoman border. The Ottomans are the weakest link in the Central Powers with Austria-Hungary second.
The previous iteration of Strategic Command AI would have never attempted this strategy.
I have no idea who will crumble first: Russia, Ottomans, or Austria-Hungary. Nobody is attacking much in the West after Brussels fell. When the Germans make attacks and leave a weakened unit - I sometimes will pick it off. Otherwise, nothing much is happening in France and Belgium.
Be interesting to see what happens in 1915 when the heavy artillery starts arriving.
I managed a Win in Decisive Campaigns Warsaw to Paris by defeating the Brits in the final scenario, "Operation Sealion". I was able to bank a bunch of Political Points from the first 2 victories, Poland, and France, to play a bunch of options that helped get me off to a great start. Totally enjoyed to game especially my favorite, France 1940. :bd:
Well done.
For my part, i finished the Campaign of Northgard...only 11 missions long but fun nonetheless
Congratulations to you both!
Finished, the 'Beast of Winter' DLC for Pillars 2 LATE last night. While it's not the greatest thing I've ever played, it manages to be a bit of fun at the end and I enjoyed it. Nice loot and a Mother of a Boss Battle at the end along with some interesting interactions with the Deity of the day in this world, we managed to get things straightened-out for him in the end. Now, it's on to the Game finish I hope. :clap:
^ Congratulations! I never finished Pillars 2 because I wanted to tear that god's head off and shoot it into the sun.
Thanks AB. That maybe next on my list. The Big Bad in the end hints at a time before the current Gods reigned when 'they' ruled, so maybe a clue to Pillars 3 or more DLC coming.
I finished the (British) Desert Rats campaign designed by Erik and distributed for free. It was quite interesting. You started with three tiny raids against the Italians. You eventually end up taking Tunis. He did a wonderful job with the campaign with only two small bugs across the entire thing - which knowing Erik since I screen shotted them they will get fixed.
Erik2's campaigns are really excellent if you like the Order of Battle game. He has an astounding 22 campaigns (not scenarios, campaigns) for free. I have played around half of them.
See: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=374&t=80862
You are the Order of Battle Jedi of grogheads.........airboy for the win :bd:
Alright AB! O0 Making North Africa great again.
Nice job AB! O0
I finished Kokoda Trail - an Australian Campaign in the interior of New Guinea for Order of Battle WW2.
This was the toughest campaign I've played designed by Erik. The terrain was horrible. The Japs had lots of artillery and frequently numerical superiority. In two of the scenarios I only advanced with a draw.
Not designed by Erik but an out of the box campaign for Order of Battle, I finished the Morning Sun campaign a few minutes ago and conquered half of China by the beginning of 1941. Now it's on to the Rising Sun campaign, where I attempt to take on the U.S. after attacking Pearl Harbor. Banzai, byotches.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1497963514219568418/4B1CDD1B3B548BA38845ED821AE2D6375805052A/)
I nice added touch to the final mission of Morning Sun was the possibility of capturing Chiang Kai-Shek...
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1497963514219568019/D9E0F9FE2BD767F60D1576C8CEB9F2694408379D/)
...and I actually did it - got him!
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1497963514219568131/1F8FB34CA061810E6A4C24D8D98833584E9FB9CC/)
The Chinese had already collapsed by the time I got Chiang...it was the last piece of the 11 mission campaign needed to be completed. Took me a couple of weeks to finish this campaign. It was very fun.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1497963514219568232/AF082FBC387512CA02E371E1CF1F94003F640E87/)
WOW! :wow: Very impressive Gus and AB. I feel like a real Piker compared to the two of you.
Do you own Order of Battle? It's a hard game not to love.
Nice work Gus. O0
Thank you - highly recommended campaign if you're interested in Japanese history.
I played the hell out of Panzer General and the other SSI gems back in the day and for the life of me I can't seem to get excited about the current versions of that type game. I do understand they've come a long way.
Yeah me too. Now that you mentioned it I may be slightly burned out on OoB for now...not sure if I will start that Rising Sun campaign yet. But the game has become a mainstay on my desktop. The Morning Sun campaign, dealing with the 1930s, is awesome. For the same reasons I am very interested in the Spanish Civil War DLC for Panzer Corps 2 that just came out but I'm waiting for a price drop.
Quote from: Gusington on August 13, 2020, 08:10:55 AM
Thank you - highly recommended campaign if you're interested in Japanese history.
Good to know and yes I'm interested in Japanese history. I've been on the fence though with that game but after seeing all the positive feedback from everyone here I'm going to wishlist it and wait for a good sale. 8)
You can get some decent discounts during the seasonal sales. The base game is 'free.'
Order of Battle has the best modding support for any computer wargame released in the last decade.
You can download around 30 campaigns (campaigns, not scenarios) using this engine for free.
Admittedly, I've liked OoB since the initial release. But the modding community support for the game give you literally another 300 hours of play once you have any of the core games.
I've been playing free campaigns for OoB from the modding community for six months now almost nonstop. And I've yet to hit the 50% mark of completion even from the best of the best of the modders.
Congrats on your Victory!
Base game is free you say? So I could get the base game and would those awesome community campaigns work with just the base game?
Not sure, but I know Airboy would be able to answer that. There may be a chance those community campaigns need assets in the (for-pay) DLCs.
Quote from: Gusington on August 14, 2020, 02:26:51 PM
Not sure, but I know Airboy would be able to answer that. There may be a chance those community campaigns need assets in the (for-pay) DLCs.
You have to paste custom scenarios in <my documents>\My Games\OOB-WW2\Scenarios.
You need to own at least 1 DLC. (the free version does not support custom campaigns or scenarios)
Quote from: W8taminute on August 14, 2020, 01:44:49 PM
Base game is free you say? So I could get the base game and would those awesome community campaigns work with just the base game?
If you download the base game, and order one DLC (Kreigsmarine is priced at $10 all of the time), then you can run all of the community campaigns.
Quote from: airboy on August 14, 2020, 05:19:11 PM
Quote from: W8taminute on August 14, 2020, 01:44:49 PM
Base game is free you say? So I could get the base game and would those awesome community campaigns work with just the base game?
If you download the base game, and order one DLC (Kreigsmarine is priced at $10 all of the time), then you can run all of the community campaigns.
Quote from: Pete Dero on August 14, 2020, 03:45:38 PM
Quote from: Gusington on August 14, 2020, 02:26:51 PM
Not sure, but I know Airboy would be able to answer that. There may be a chance those community campaigns need assets in the (for-pay) DLCs.
You have to paste custom scenarios in <my documents>\My Games\OOB-WW2\Scenarios. You need to own at least 1 DLC. (the free version does not support custom campaigns or scenarios)
Thanks guys, this is good to know. The price of admission doesn't seem that steep then.
;D
Finished the Final Station https://store.steampowered.com/app/435530/The_Final_Station/
Took about 4 1/2 hours to finish, which felt about the right length for this game, not over staying it's welcome. i started the DLC and played about 30 minutes and shut it down, i was done. The DLC, same gameplay, different angle, new enemies, worse check points.
I'd recommend the main game, especially on sale. It's a side stroller exploration game with management aspects. Game it not overly hard, but can break your balls in a few areas, but the checkpoints are fair in this regard not making you start to far away from the ball breaking sequence. Managing your resources is defiantly a key aspect, ammo, medpacks, and food. You swear your going to save ammo, then you encounter one of those ball breaking areas and poof, suddenly your empty. Same with the medpacks. you want to save them for your passengers, but your survival is first. Ammo and medpacks you can craft on the train........O yea the train, you travel from area to area by train searching areas for survivors and resources. The survivors you find while searching areas go right to the train, that's where you find them when you finish an area. The survivors are in various conditions, some are hungry, hurt, so you need to scavenge supplies in these areas for survival. Any survivors you have still alive when you reach a station you get a reward for, until you reach the final station. Rewards are money and items, and there are shops at stations to buy supplies. To get clear of an area you need to find a code while searching that allows the train to pass. You don't have to search the whole areas to find the code, but there might be needed supplies in those places you haven't searched, but also danger, risk vs reward. I'm not sure if there are multiple endings, but pretty sure i got a bad one :'(
if the gameplay is in your wheel house, pick it up on sale. Skip the DLC and game plays better with a gamepad.
You know off topic but I never see jarhead in this forum. Is he a finisher? Who else doesn't visit here?
Finished Volume, took about 9 hours. https://store.steampowered.com/app/365770/Volume/
Volume is a stealth puzzle game that everyone who enjoys these types of games should play. Two thumbs up, one of the best stealth puzzle games I've played.
What makes it so good. The game is fair first of all, not one of these games with levels that have razor thin margins to get to complete a level, you know where you need exact timing to finish. There are a hundred levels to finish in the core game, and many more user created levels if you want some more. Some levels are harder than others but the games keeps a pretty even keel throughout. The game is just fun to play, and quite tense in a lot of spots. One of my favorite things about the game is the fact that it introduces new elements practically throughout the whole game. Either new tools for you to use, new enemies, or new environmental challenges. There are checkpoints in the levels, so you don't really have to repeat the whole level after a particularly hard stretch.
The enemies have different characteristics, for instance the sniper can see long range but slow to shoot so you can dash across an opening. Sometimes getting by an area comes down to small details like paying attention to which way the guard turns so you can slip by the other way. All the tools you find to help in a level are useful to one degree or another, sometimes there are multiple tools in a level. You can only ever carrying one tool at a time, so you kind of get to decide your play style in those moments. The tools only last a certain amount of time and take time to reload, which is important in those moments where you have to use the tool twice to get by an area....gulp....those are tough moments.
The art style and soundtrack fit the game, and it is best played with a gamepad. Another one of those games i picked up for few dollars that turns out to be a gem.
I am rarely in here, sadly.
So I finished Pillars of Eternity 2 last night. I wish I could say I won but really the game just ends after a brutally tough fight and some conversing the local Deities. I didn't really feel like my being there had any effect on the ending at all, though I'm sure my choices throughout and at the end had some effect, and there's probably more ways the game can end than I experienced. Overall, the game was great but a step down from the first game I felt and the Voice Acting was so good I didn't really mind the slow grind most of the time. But I was well ready for the game to end. I didn't finish the Inner Sanctum DLC so I'll go back and work my way through it now.
Here I am chatting it up with a God. Or as I like to call it, 'Tuesday'.
Of course everyone was so grateful for me and the Team, AGAIN, saving their asses they left me a note expressing their eternal gratitude. But.... where the hell's my huge bag of GOLD, Dammit?
Well Done Sir Slash, how many hours to completion? Takes some gaming stamina to finish games of this type. I'm usually ready for them to end also by the end.
I just finished Guns, Gore, and Cannoli, 4 hours to completion https://store.steampowered.com/app/322210/Guns_Gore__Cannoli/. i just finished this game on pure stubbornness, lets just say there was some wanting to smash my screen moments. I would of save scummed if i could, just don't have the patience for replaying areas over, and over again. The game isn't bad by any means, the graphics are good, guns are satisfying, and the levels are varied. What you see, is what you get, a very good side scrolling platformer.
I too need to finish Pillars of Eternity I...also curious how long it took you. I think I am about 25 hours in.
Congrats Sir Slash...well done. :notworthy:
Well done Sir Slash and -budd-!
Thank you all. And Congrats to you too Budd. 204 Hours into the game. My first saved game was May 2018 so about 2 years. I did the Beast of Winter DLC but not the Inner Sanctum so I'll get to that one later. It was fun but a bit of a chore toward the end.
WOW
Well done! :notworthy:
Civ 6 Science victory. Unable to do Domination victory as somebody else was able to take over an opponent original capital city.
It was Prince difficulty with a standard continent map.
O0
Quote from: fran on August 22, 2020, 01:02:16 PM
Civ 6 Science victory. Unable to do Domination victory as somebody else was able to take over an opponent original capital city.
It was Prince difficulty with a standard continent map.
well done, another one in the finished column.
Excellent Fran! :notworthy:
Nice win fran. I could never get a science victory in any of the civ games. I usually won by domination.
Congratulations Sir Slash!
I was about 3 encounters away from finishing - but I grew to hate all of the gods, especially Eothas so much that I did not care which faction won. I wanted to nuke all of them from orbit.
Thanks AB. I managed an ending without involving any of the game Factions for help and talking Eothas into not being quite such a dick about everything but damn, do these people need new deities! :wow:
Finished it...but not in the way I really wanted. I still have yet to win a campaign in this damned game.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1636451017225425010/2E1D1ED2FCEEB8258E6C94A6009A2F8D91838B25/)
Ouch! It happens to all of us sometimes.
Yeah :-[
At least your warriors feed the earth now. All the warriors I've fed the earth, you'd think it'd be full by now. How did you go wrong?
It happens....i lost my Sparta Campaign in Imperiums: Greek Wars as well (you can see my defeat on youtube)....happened fairly fast in the last 30 minutes of gameplay :(
Once I reached a certain strength level, the dreaded Realm Divide hit and all of Japan was against me. There is no way to really fight that, it's like a tsunami.
Was that vanilla STW2 or a modded game?
Shogun 2 Rise of the Samurai, no mods.
I had the same experience Gus. I only could survive, 'Ream Divide' I call it, by playing with the Darth mod.
Did you win? Was it Rise of the Samurai, Sengoku Jidai or Fall of the Samurai?
I attempt a new play through every year or so and every year get my ass kicked :/
I should probably be very embarrassed to say, but I completed the story mode on Dragon Quest Builders 2. It was 70 hours and quite enjoyable. The building part is very fun, the combat, not so much.
If you enjoyed it, don't be embarrassed!
Congrats on the win WYBaugh. :clap: Gus I won the main and FotS Campaigns using the Darth Mod. I never finished RotS but it was fun too. The Realm Divide was way toned-down in the main campaign with Darth and very survivable, but the AI plays much better with it and the armies for all sides get bigger. As I remember the Agents can get very lethal as well and nothing was more fun for me than having my Uber Agent go up against an enemy Uber Agent to see who would win. I played as one of the clans in the south, can't remember which one.
Since it is like months or a year between playthroughs for me I always forget about realm divide and the mods that alleviate the pain it brings. I will probably play the main campaign next but sooner. Gonna get the Darth mod now to avoid any further shamefrul disprays.
Quote from: WYBaugh on September 03, 2020, 01:09:04 PM
I should probably be very embarrassed to say, but I completed the story mode on Dragon Quest Builders 2. It was 70 hours and quite enjoyable. The building part is very fun, the combat, not so much.
Glad you had fun.
Quote from: airboy on September 04, 2020, 09:02:32 AM
Quote from: WYBaugh on September 03, 2020, 01:09:04 PM
I should probably be very embarrassed to say, but I completed the story mode on Dragon Quest Builders 2. It was 70 hours and quite enjoyable. The building part is very fun, the combat, not so much.
Glad you had fun.
WYB....any completed/finished game is an accomplishment worthy of praise. Congrats.
I finished Erik2's Germany 1939-1940 campaign for Order of Battle WW2 and saved the core force.
Onto Germany 1941 East campaign which I just downloaded & installed.
It ain't so much, but I just won my first game of Legion Wars: Hero Age.
It's curious, because (as was discussed here in the thread on the game), the characters have a very cartoonish/anime style that is indicative of a game developed in SE Asia. The game, however, seems quite deep. It's listed as being in "Early Access", but seems feature-complete and absolutely bug-free.
It's NOT a super-deep game, but it's a tight little beer and pretzels fantasy title if you want to mash up on a buddy halfway across the country in a couple hours of turn-based play.
Congrats! A completion is a completion! :bd:
Just finished Outlast, took me about 9 hours. Definitely one of the more frightening games I have played and I am actually surprised I did not quit in fear or in frustration with some of the puzzles. Something about the game kept me coming back, I think it is the exploration aspect of it...I wanted to see more of the game's settings and learn more about the totally f'd up story. The final ending scene pissed me off a bit...those who have played it will know what I mean.
So now what...Outlast Whistleblower (prologue to the original game released as DLC)? Outlast 2? Or something completely different?
<:-)
Congrats on the win Gus, or the finish at least. Sounds like an interesting game, though 9 hours is kind of short isn't it?
Well done Gus!
Gus....well done. :notworthy:
Thanks guys! Nine hours is actually longer than the average for most players with Outlast, which is 5-7 hours...I am just aging and was never very good at these games to begin with. The Outlast games are pretty short - under 10 hours for both games and under 3 hours for the first game's DLC. I would guess that is because they are extremely intense and scary, in spots.
Looking at the Steam achievements, I see only about 18% of people who start the game actually finish it. I can understand why.
Congrats!
Thank you!
5-7 Hours? Wow. :wow: I guess if it's good stuff it's worth it. But still, I've had marriages that lasted longer than that.
It felt longer...because of the cold sweat and sheer terror. I loved it!
Congrats Gus. Must feel even better knowing you finished a game genre that normally you're not good at.
Well it's debatable whether I am good at horror games or not - can a player be good at a game while crapping himself?
Surprisingly, NecroVision: Lost Battalion, despite being 10 years old, cheesy and campy, can still serve up some scares as well.
Well Done, i've had Outlast for awhile but have resisted starting because they won't let me have shotgun or at least a lead pipe or something.
Gus, the new Amnesia game Rebirth was just released, might be good for some scares.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/999220/Amnesia_Rebirth/
^Yeah I've been tracking Rebirth - I liked previous games in the series but they have been a little too 'out there' for me. Reviews for the new game are excellent, though.
Outlast makes it clear that you are not a fighter at all. Took a while to get used to but I did. Puzzles are not my thing either (I suck at them) but they are pretty non-existent in Outlast. May try the Whistleblower DLC this weekend if I finish Necrovision: Lost Battalion. Having more fun with that than I ever expected. Weapons are unusually satisfying to use and the whole game is like playing a damned Motorhead song.
I've finished Vampire the Masquerade: The Coteries of New York as a ventru in 5 hours. It was like an extremely immersive graphic novel.
I can replay as a ventru, or play as one of two other character types.
Unsure how much replay value it has - but I picked this up for $10 on the Halloween sale and I got my money's worth out of it.
Ventru?
I may have misspelled it. One of the vampire clans. Each one has different powers.
Congrats AB. :clap:
Finished it a second time in 3 hours. The story line was close to the same even though I followed some different leads. I think perhaps there may be a variant ending (aside from doing something really dumb and dying) - but there is still very little replayability to the game. So it was good. I enjoyed it. But weigh how much play you get for your money if you think about buying this title.
You'll all laugh but I finally had some time to finish Elder Scrolls V Skyrim last month (Main quest + Dawnguard) - eight years after I started playing it. Please tell me I'm not the only one who took so long. :hide:
We don't laugh at people who actually finish any game more complicated and lengthy than checkers! :))
Quote from: endfire79 on November 18, 2020, 06:49:39 PM
You'll all laugh but I finally had some time to finish Elder Scrolls V Skyrim last month (Main quest + Dawnguard) - eight years after I started playing it. Please tell me I'm not the only one who took so long. :hide:
Are you kidding, I'm still not finished. Think I've reinstalled 4 times to play a while, then uninstall until the next time I get the urge. Another benefit of Steam, my save will just stay in the cloud waiting for me. How many hours did you invest and what character type did you play.
Good job on the finish, way to persevere.
Quote from: -budd- on November 18, 2020, 07:03:27 PM
Quote from: endfire79 on November 18, 2020, 06:49:39 PM
You'll all laugh but I finally had some time to finish Elder Scrolls V Skyrim last month (Main quest + Dawnguard) - eight years after I started playing it. Please tell me I'm not the only one who took so long. :hide:
Are you kidding, I'm still not finished. Think I've reinstalled 4 times to play a while, then uninstall until the next time I get the urge. Another benefit of Steam, my save will just stay in the cloud waiting for me. How many hours did you invest and what character type did you play.
Good job on the finish, way to persevere.
I went as a Nord Barbarian the whole time for 8 years. I was going two-handed and sporting heavy armour all that time until the last 3 months. This time I completed the Thieves Guild main quest and went full light armor (Nightingale) with sword/shield instead. This was a lot more fun for me - might just start enough game to see what I missed. I finished the game after carrying over my saves from Skyrim into the Special Edition, so I'll have to check my other PC downstairs to see how many hours I had.
It's amazing how this game still entertains me. Just started The Witcher 3 this month, it will be interesting to compare these two (loving the story so far).
I never finished Skyrim either. Plus, many more. :-[
I achieved an ending in Skyrim but have never went back after that, even though I've wanted to.
After 28 hours of play, I finished Stirring Abyss. I restarted multiple times before getting deep into it. I completed every possible side mission to build my strength.
Although I "won," the survivors were sent away to "lab, mental hospitals and institutes." The underlying menace is still there.
Cool! Very X-Files-ish. A Win is a Win is a Win in my book. And my book unfortunately has very few Wins lately. So...Celebrate! <:-)
I really won as far as I can tell. That is just how a "good ending" goes in this game.
I finally won a game of Shadow Empire.
My "win" is embarrassingly meagre. I played on Beginner level with no other major powers (only minors and unorganized). This was a small planet.
My tech level and military are supreme. I've conquered 48% of the world population and about 30% of the planet's surface. This gave me a victory score of 39% (with 50% needed for an "official win.")
But this one is over after 16 hours of play.
Victory for Czar Panzer! Miniature Schnauzers Rule! [At least on the absolute easiest level possible].
Wow, congrats! Either way that's no small task. How many turns did it take?
Quote from: al_infierno on December 15, 2020, 06:52:48 PM
Wow, congrats! Either way that's no small task. How many turns did it take?
79
Way to go AB! :clap: You're the first I've heard to beat this game.
Congrats airboy...that is quite the accomplishment. It's tough unforgiving game.
Nice win. I'm playing on a similar planet with similar settings, but I'm taking a much longer time than you. I feel like I've spent 16 hours watching DasTactics videos as part of this first playthrough!
My "win" was on start #2 after watching the Das Tactics videos, reading the manual twice, and thinking about it.
Unless you are retired like I am, few are as fortunate as I to have lots of time for their hobbies.
Beat Conquest of Elysium 3 with a Baron and two AI opponents.
I think I'll play another pass as a Baron with 4 AI opponents and a different era before going back to Shadow Empire.
Quote from: airboy on December 15, 2020, 05:50:46 PM
I finally won a game of Shadow Empire.
My "win" is embarrassingly meagre. I played on Beginner level with no other major powers (only minors and unorganized). This was a small planet.
My tech level and military are supreme. I've conquered 48% of the world population and about 30% of the planet's surface. This gave me a victory score of 39% (with 50% needed for an "official win.")
But this one is over after 16 hours of play.
Victory for Czar Panzer! Miniature Schnauzers Rule! [At least on the absolute easiest level possible].
Moved my response to the Shadow Empire thread because more appropriate
http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=24408.msg682869#msg682869
Quote from: airboy on December 17, 2020, 01:47:41 PM
Beat Conquest of Elysium 3 with a Baron and two AI opponents.
I think I'll play another pass as a Baron with 4 AI opponents and a different era before going back to Shadow Empire.
Finished a much harder game of Conquest of Elysium 3 with a Baron and 4 AI opponents. I've gotten my fix from this one and have taken it off the hard drive.
Strongly considering playing some Bards Tale 1.
Argh. I was so close to finishing the roguelike Dungeons of Dredmor. So close...
I got to level 8 (out of 10, since I had the DLC disabled) and had an absolute arsenal of bolts and explosives saved for the final boss. But halfway through level 8 I ran into a tough-as-hell unique mutated carrot enemy named The President of Pork who kicked the crap out of me. I nearly killed him but I was moving more than I was thinking, so instead of baiting him away through the empty rooms to slowly regain my health and take a safe shot, I took a pot shot from melee range with a Skull Bolt (usually strong enough to finish off tough buggers like him), but it only knocked him down to 12 HP, and then the bastard smacked me upside the head and killed me from over 1/3 health.
Rest in peace Mick Madrisky the ass-kickin', bomb-throwin', crossbow-wieldin' perception master. :'(
I do gotta say this playthrough has got me wanting to play more roguelikes again. They're quite a satisfying tactical experience, even if it can be frustrating to die and lose all your progress because of a dumb mistake. One of these days I'll have Dredmor's head...
Quote from: airboy on December 18, 2020, 02:27:46 PM
Quote from: airboy on December 17, 2020, 01:47:41 PM
Beat Conquest of Elysium 3 with a Baron and two AI opponents.
I think I'll play another pass as a Baron with 4 AI opponents and a different era before going back to Shadow Empire.
Finished a much harder game of Conquest of Elysium 3 with a Baron and 4 AI opponents. I've gotten my fix from this one and have taken it off the hard drive.
Strongly considering playing some Bards Tale 1.
Have you played CoE 4? If I recall, it added quite a bit to the game. I think it was this release that had the more robust combat engine?
No on Conquest of Elysium 4.
I finished Queens Wish: The Conquest by Spiderweb Software. Took 45 hours to finish. My characters reached level 20.
I liked this one better than any other Spiderweb release. I found the meta-story interesting and subduing the four areas with the decisions on which faction to side with in each area was interesting. Taking 45 hours is not that unusual for me for an RPG game played to completion.
I'll probably write a mini-review for here and a more detailed review on my blog.
Well done airboy...! I enjoyed Spiderwebs other games but haven't tried this one yet.
Finished the main story in Cyberpunk 2077. Despite all the bugs and the hints of greatness left burned into the game like nuclear shadows, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It's a mother beautiful bridge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJNpxvdqd_o) of a game that I hope to keep playing for years.
Congrats on your win!
Wow you finished already eh? How many hours did you put into it?
Um.. about sixty hours. I'd play it in long sessions - sometimes 8 hours, not realizing the time was flying by - but I'd only play once every few days for that reason too. I could have done some more side missions, but I'd reached level 30 and was curious to see what was gonna happen. I'm not totally sure I understood everything that happened, but that might be me missing something along the way rather than the game spacing out on me.
Wow 8 hours at a time - you should get paid for that!
Just finished Jedi Fallen Order. Although very much on rails, it is a great Star Wars game - the story and the acting are excellent. It does get very difficult at times, and for the last quarter of the game I am embarrassed to say I had to put it on 'easy/story mode.' And even then I got my ass kicked a couple of times! But after about 33 hours I did finish it. Highly recommended for Star Wars fans, especially now that it is discounted in many places. It plays like a Dark Souls or Sekiro set in the Star Wars universe.
WOOT! Way to go Gus. The ass of that game you kicked Young One. :clap:
I feel kinda cheap that I had to lower the difficulty :/
Congrats - a finish is a finish.
Thank you :)
:o "A finish is a finish". That's the same thing my Ex. said to me as she packed-up my socks and underware before she left.
You wear underwear?
Quote from: Gusington on January 08, 2021, 12:38:51 PM
You wear underwear?
No, the "underware" that he used skin diving under water.
She packed YOUR underwear and left? :o
:2funny:
I don't know where she took my underware but where ever it was, it was wellware worth it. Now my socks....I miss them. Especially the ones with little pugs on them. :dreamer:
At least she didn't sock you in the underware! That'd hurt...
I myself just finished my first game of Shadow Empires. It was set on EASY mode (i.e., no major opponents, plenty of rainfall, ability to grow crops in the open air (if at reduced caloric value!), etc.), and mostly I was just trying to master the interface.
I'd spend ten or twenty turns trying to figure out how to build assets and resources while I just sort of screwed around with everything else. Then I'd spend ten or twenty turns filling a few new committees and see what the Hell they did. I figured out diplomacy last, which meant that I just started Unifying about 3 or 4 Minors every 2 turns. The last few turns were a grind, but I kind of knew this one would be a cakewalk. I ended up winning in 102 turns, but I wasn't really trying to win so much as figure out the interface, so I don't worry about how long it took.
My leaders were all deliriously happy with me as long as I paid them modest amounts. I'm assuming that this was a function of my difficulty setting.
My biggest frustration was that I ended up with about 2,000 stratagem cards that I never used. I clearly had some settings wrong somewhere in my committee priorities, but I have no idea where! Still, it's a fun and crazy deep game. I can't wait for the Alien Invasion scenarios to come out eventually... :bd:
Congratulations!
On Strategy cards, some of the committees on the slider bars generate a ton of stratigums and do "something" else. If you adjust the slider you get fewer of the cards.
I try to use all of the useful ones, but still by midgame I have a pile of the things many of which I would never consider playing.
Some committees only generate cards - like your spy group and your foreign affairs groups. If you dump lots and lots of spies on a neighboring country, you start getting very good intelligence on their troop deployment which is very useful.
But still, Congratulations! I stopped shy of an "official" victory when I knew that it was all over. I wish there was a victory condition setup like there is in Space Empires 4.
Nicely done, FarAway.
Quote from: airboy on January 10, 2021, 11:04:18 AM
I stopped shy of an "official" victory when I knew that it was all over. I wish there was a victory condition setup like there is in Space Empires 4.
Yeah, the End Game was pretty dreadful and grindy. I'd love to be able to toggle that lower myself. By the time I have 40% of the world map, there's no way anybody in that universe is stopping me, but getting another 10% can be really painful.
Congrats on the WIN Sooner. :notworthy:
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on January 10, 2021, 08:25:58 PM
Quote from: airboy on January 10, 2021, 11:04:18 AM
I stopped shy of an "official" victory when I knew that it was all over. I wish there was a victory condition setup like there is in Space Empires 4.
Yeah, the End Game was pretty dreadful and grindy. I'd love to be able to toggle that lower myself. By the time I have 40% of the world map, there's no way anybody in that universe is stopping me, but getting another 10% can be really painful.
I felt the same way. I found it very grindy when I had >40% of the population and 30% of the planet's surface and stopped.
Excellent game, but it gets grindy at the end.
There's an option to have an advanced AI regime somewhere on the planet. That may make the end game more interesting.
Well I just beat the main portion of Borderlands 3. Final battle was somewhat anti-climatic, I felt the previous boss battle was a lot more gripping and tense.
I'll run through the DLC as typically Gearbox does a great job with that and might look at some of the post-game stuff but I'm satisfied with my purchase. Borderlands is what it is at this point, you either like the style and humor or you don't.
Congrats on the Borderlands win!
Thanks AB!
All Right Jamus34! :clap:
I feel like I won the Olympics 👍
First long RPG I ever managed to finish....Wasteland 3 on normal but even so .....,
What a magnificent game. Real rollercoaster of emotions, difficult choices... great atmosphere and writing and when I finished having " succeeded" I was left with the awful feeling I had supported the wrong side ;D.....
Only two minor bugs in 120 hours playtime.
Kudos to the developers.
I just finished Ghost of Tsushima. Started it way back in September and played it steadily for nearly 2 months before a whole bunch of things got in the way. I finally got back to it and wrapped up the main story tonight.
All in all, I loved it.
What follows is my spoiler free mini review for those interested in my 2 cents.
The Bad:
I actually did not like most of the supporting characters. I found them to either be unpleasant overall, or cliched too heavily. Kenji is a good example of the latter, being your typical "cowardly used car salesman type trader." I found Yuna to be not very compelling either, which is rather unfortunate because she drives some pretty major story points. Towards the latter 3rd of the game I even actively disliked her, and her specific part of the ending felt like a loose end left untended. Lord Shimura felt a bit too overly stilted and also a bit cliched. I don't think he got quite enough time to develop as a favorable character, though in the end I think he was well done. Enough of him is conveyed to the player to get emotionally invested by the end of the story.
The first 2/3rds of the game are amazing, but the final act felt shallow compared to the previous two. That being said, story-wise I do not think much could be done to avoid that. Act 2 ends on a somber note, and much of Act 3 is dealing with the aftermath and then bringing everything to a conclusion. Acts 1 and 2 felt much larger, and felt like they had a lot more content and stuff going on in general compared to Act 3.
This one is extremely subjective but, I did not enjoy most of the Ghost segments in the game and wish they were more optional. For those that do not know, Ghost mode is the stealth part of the game, and becomes a major plot issue as being a ghost and stabbing people in the back is very dishonorable. There are many times in the story where you are forced to be the Ghost. Sometimes it is understandable and justified given the plot. Other times it is just annoying. For example, some of the villages you have to clear have hostages taken, and if you run in katana out, the Mongols will kill the hostages and you lose the side quest. To me, this got very old very fast. Others I am sure preferred to play the entire game in Ghost mode which is fine. I just wish that when it came to things that weren't major plot points, the game gave the player a bit more choice in the matter.
I had a minor technical annoyance, which was a tiny delay when blocking. I tended to block too late, and much of the games combat is based on timing. It felt more like a delay in the controller than a feature of the game. This is highly subjective though, and overall did not negatively impact my overall experience. The game has ample quick save locations, so I never felt cheated by dying due to a missed block and losing hours of gameplay.
The Good:
Despite what I wrote above, I really loved this game. I first saw the reveal trailer for the 2016 (?) E3 and was immediately interested. It delivers so well on so many points that all of my criticisms feel minor as a result.
The graphics and immersion are through the roof. I primarily play older games and simulators, both of which are not known for their graphical prowess. However, I do appreciate good visual and sound design, and I would be lying if I said I didn't wish for simulators to look a million times better. The visuals alone in Ghost are simply stunning. There were so many times throughout the game, both in cutscenes and other moments where I wish the game was on PC so I could grab quick screen captures. While it might not be a realistic depiction of how the island of Tsushima looks like in real life, it really nails the aesthetic down. I cannot overstate enough how immersive and aesthetically pleasing the game is. Simply looking at the game is enough to get you completely immersed into samurai dominated Japan. And that is before the excellent gameplay.
The gameplay is very well done. The combat is very rewarding and satisfying, and has an element of "easy to learn, hard to master" to it that is very fitting the samurai setting. There are skill trees to unlock new abilities and gear, and there is usually plenty of player choice in how they want to fight. There is also the previously mentioned Ghost mode that all complaints aside, provides some decent stealth action. If the player is so inclined, they can play most of the game in Ghost mode as well. In short, the game is very enjoyable to play.
The open world is open enough and varied enough to add to your overall experience without just being a stylized loading screen that you have to travel across to get from mission to mission, like in some other open world games. All of the various locations and art styles that come with them keep everything fresh and engaging. I actually like traveling across the world on horseback as opposed to using the fast travel feature most of the time due to the amazing visuals of it all. And then there are all the side quests, random encounters, Mongol outposts and villages to liberate, Haiku's to compose, new gear to find... The list goes on, and nearly all of it is interesting and entertaining the whole way through. In my opinion, this game is an open world done right.
The customization options are all fantastic. There is something in there for everyone, with different types of armor/clothing, and dyes to color them with. Plus, there are different gear items such as katana sheaths and hats, bandanas, and face masks to deck out your samurai with. Collecting gear through side quests and exploration, as well as coloring them and choosing the right, aesthetically pleasing outfit for the mission was surprisingly fun throughout the whole game.
The main story might not be the most revolutionary thing in the world, but it is satisfying all the way to the end, and there are more than a few "wow" moments that really help immerse the player. There are enough sensible twists and turns to keep the player engaged and on their toes, although in my case it was not hard to figure out what the ending was going to be like by the time I was midway through Act 2. Despite this, the story is still well executed and worth the journey.
For those who are curious, it took me around 48 hours of gameplay to beat the main story. I tried to do most of the side quests which certainly inflated my play time, and as I mentioned I tended to travel manually as opposed to using fast travel which also padded the gameplay hours. Still though, even if you only focus on the main story, there is a solid 15-20 hours of game here. Add to that the fact that the game is still playable after you officially beat the story, and a new patch back in October added a New Game+ mode, there is a lot of game here to enjoy.
I thought the voice acting and sound effects were great, and the game even comes with a few different presentation options. You can choose to play the game in English, in Japanese with English subtitles, and in Kurosawa mode, a mode that makes the game black and white and Japanese to emulate the well known samurai movie director Akira Kurosawa. These are all things that help add to the overall immersion and aesthetic of the game. Plus, you can change these presentation options at any time while playing, so there is plenty of player choice as well.
There is likely a lot more I could say about the game, but hopefully that will suffice as a mini review. To reiterate, I really loved the game. The immersion alone is amazing and makes the entire game worth it for me. I'm desperately hopeful that the game will eventually make its way to PC. I haven't heard any news to give me hope, but I can dream. With all that said, I'm off to start a New Game+ which brings with it some new gear items and other new game plus exclusives!
Quote from: devoncop on January 18, 2021, 02:43:12 AM
I feel like I won the Olympics 👍
First long RPG I ever managed to finish....Wasteland 3 on normal but even so .....,
What a magnificent game. Real rollercoaster of emotions, difficult choices... great atmosphere and writing and when I finished having " succeeded" I was left with the awful feeling I had supported the wrong side ;D.....
Only two minor bugs in 120 hours playtime.
Kudos to the developers.
Well done....!! Did you play Wasteland 2, and if so how do they compare? I really enjoyed 2 but never finished it and was wondering if 3 was as good.
Quote from: Rayfer on January 18, 2021, 07:03:53 AM
Quote from: devoncop on January 18, 2021, 02:43:12 AM
I feel like I won the Olympics 👍
First long RPG I ever managed to finish....Wasteland 3 on normal but even so .....,
What a magnificent game. Real rollercoaster of emotions, difficult choices... great atmosphere and writing and when I finished having " succeeded" I was left with the awful feeling I had supported the wrong side ;D.....
Only two minor bugs in 120 hours playtime.
Kudos to the developers.
Well done....!! Did you play Wasteland 2, and if so how do they compare? I really enjoyed 2 but never finished it and was wondering if 3 was as good.
Hi Rayfer
Well in common with my arse about face way of living I am yet to try Wasteland 2 though I bought it in the Cristmas sale as Wasteland 3 really piqued my interest in the backstory.
I think Wasteland 2 may be harder though so whether I will finish that one is a moot point !
Congrats on Wasteland 3!
I found Wasteland 2 way too linear in play.
Congrats Cpt Miller!
I would kill to play Ghost of Tsushima on the PC.
Quote from: airboy on January 18, 2021, 08:15:18 AM
Congrats on Wasteland 3!
I found Wasteland 2 way too linear in play.
Cheers Airboy
I think the difficulty with RPG's always revolves around the conflict between keeping a coherent overall narrative that engages the player and still giving the player freedom to explore and tackle tasks at their own pace and in their own way.
I personally felt Wasteland 3 got the balance about right. The narrative you end up with can vary hugely and as an aside I was blown away at the end of the game with the country and western song that was done based entirely on my personal decisions for the Rangers in my game and which presumably varies as the player makes different choices in another playthrough.
Very clever.
Quote from: devoncop on January 18, 2021, 10:58:53 AM
I was blown away at the end of the game with the country and western song that was done based entirely on my personal decisions for the Rangers in my game and which presumably varies as the player makes different choices in another playthrough.
Very clever.
Wow! Wow! Wow!
Yeah. I gave up on Wastelands 2 after 20 or 30 enjoyable hours because of the "story on rails" thing. It's a really difficult balancing act for even a real-life gamemaster to balance, so I'll be impressed if many RPG games can ever really get around that. Even the "side quests" trope feels tired to me after 25 years of PC RPGs.
Congrats CptMiller! It's always nice to finish one off, especially a game you really like.
Beat Vigilantes. Probably going to write a review if I get some time around the house renovations.
Congratulations ! Was looking at that one...quite an interesting writing style in the style of Raymond Chandler from what I have seen in a couple of clips on you tube but the UI looks a bit cumbersome would be interested in your verdict.
Quote from: devoncop on January 18, 2021, 02:43:12 AM
I feel like I won the Olympics 👍
First long RPG I ever managed to finish....Wasteland 3 on normal but even so .....,
What a magnificent game. Real rollercoaster of emotions, difficult choices... great atmosphere and writing and when I finished having " succeeded" I was left with the awful feeling I had supported the wrong side ;D.....
Only two minor bugs in 120 hours playtime.
Kudos to the developers.
Pretty off-topic, but I picked up
Suzerain the other day based on your glowing review and I've been absolutely loving it. Still early in the story and have not seen the consequences of my (sure to turn out awful) decisions, but I'm really digging the game and looking forward to posting here once I finish it. The writing is pretty damn effective at delivering character and setting relevant info while moving the plot along, and although I'm personally not a fan of the amateur prose-isms sprinkled in (I feel like I've read someone's eyes "glittering" or "flashing" a dozen times now), I have to applaud the writers for conveying all this important geo-political information about who's-pissed-off-about-what in a fairly concise format.
Yes it's a cracking game....Glad you like it.
No spoilers but I ended up being gunned down in the Persidential Palace after my army was crushed by a neighbouring state.....you have a low bar to beat 🤣
I will definitely play it through again....the choices you make can make a huge difference to how it plays out.
Quote from: devoncop on January 20, 2021, 02:24:36 AM
Yes it's a cracking game....Glad you like it.
No spoilers but I ended up being gunned down in the Persidential Palace after my army was crushed by a neighbouring state.....you have a low bar to beat 🤣
I will definitely play it through again....the choices you make can make a huge difference to how it plays out.
How linear is the story? I've found most text games to be linear as hell with a few branches with choices. I'm concerned about replay value.
Quote from: airboy on January 20, 2021, 08:01:39 AM
Quote from: devoncop on January 20, 2021, 02:24:36 AM
Yes it's a cracking game....Glad you like it.
No spoilers but I ended up being gunned down in the Persidential Palace after my army was crushed by a neighbouring state.....you have a low bar to beat 🤣
I will definitely play it through again....the choices you make can make a huge difference to how it plays out.
How linear is the story? I've found most text games to be linear as hell with a few branches with choices. I'm concerned about replay value.
Hi Airboy
I have only done the one playthrough but my instinct is that most of the main decisions you have to make ( and there are a lot) are likely to remain the same each playthrough but the choices you make will radically affect the result of those decisions so that new decisions will be presented each game if your own decisions are different. Given other players have not been shot by foreign troops....some have been successfully re elected ...as I was in the first election ...and lived to the end and others have been overthrown in an internal coup for example there should be decent replay value.
I finished Order of Battle: WW2 Allies Defiant just before it was officially released. It was one of the best in the series. I'll save further comment until the review is up on the Front Page of Mystery since I was given a press copy for review.
Good Show! :clap:
Allies Defiant review is up.
That will probably be my last contribution here for a while.
Goodbye to all - at least for a while. Life is too short to have "hobbies" that make you angry.
Quote from: airboy on January 31, 2021, 09:27:01 PM
Allies Defiant review is up.
That will probably be my last contribution here for a while.
Goodbye to all - at least for a while. Life is too short to have "hobbies" that make you angry.
Thank you for the review.
Just ignore that R&P is there and stay in this part of the forum.
I have not received any thanks from Jarhead for reviews. His inability to express appreciation for the work of others was what drove Brant off.
He has told me my reviews are "below standard" and receiving thanks is unrealistic.
I was raised to express appreciation when people did me favors. Jarhead and I disagree on this.
That was my last for Grogheads.
I liked your write-up AB. And completing ANY Order of Battle series is Hall-of-Fame worthy. :notworthy:
I finished a game of Shadow Empires. I'm not sure what metric they use for winning. I probably controlled over 50% of the planet. Some thoughts I've had are that managing logistics, economy, and research are a large part of the strategy, more so than combat tactics. I have really enjoyed the game, more than most lately.
Excellent Sparhawk. :clap:
Quote from: Sir Slash on February 08, 2021, 10:53:30 PM
Excellent Sparhawk. :clap:
+1 Well done. It's a tough game, but a good one.
I finally finished Far Cry 2 with Dylan's Realism mod. This makes the game feel like genuinely deadly and realistic guerrilla combat. At the end of the day it's still a Rambo power fantasy and not a simulation, like the rest of the Far Cry games, but you die so fast that combat feels brutally realistic and satisfying when you make it out alive by the edge of your wits. In most shooter games, I dislike mods that add "realism" in the form of shorter time-to-kill, but this game is different. The combat with NPCs feels weighty and deadly. When you see an African militiaman armed with nothing but a dirty FAL and a T-shirt, you know that he'll drop like a bag of rocks if you shoot him in the chest with a wimpy little Makarov. So the fast time to kill feels "give and take" in this game. If you smartly bushwhack your enemies, they'll all be dead or dying on the ground without even touching you. But if you make a big mistake in your plan, you'll find yourself scampering around the bush for survival with AK rounds snapping at your heels and you question the life choices that led you to this.
Even without mods, the AI feels satisfying realistic. Enemy soldiers display a sense of teamwork, autonomy, and self preservation. Most of the time, when you deliver a center-of-mass shot on a human target, they don't just get the life zapped out of them like in movies. Instead, they fall on the ground and cry out in pain. Then they either get up and keep fighting, or they call out to their friends to help them, or they stay silent and wait for a chance to bushwhack you while you're finishing off their friends. You never really know what they're gonna do, but you know they'll behave somewhat realistically. If you bring a sniper rifle, you can pick a guy in the leg to wound him and draw out his friends, only to blast anybody who tries to help him. Otherwise, you can go loud with something unconventional like a mortar and silenced MP5, or just go all out with big F'ing guns -- but even when heavily armed, you'll die in a split second if you get caught slipping by some chucklehead with nothing but a T-shirt and an AK.
The game's day-night cycle is not purely aesthetic as in future Far Cry installments. Guards at their post behave very differently if it's noon on a hot day instead of a quiet early morning. If it's a sunny day, you can expect to see a full detail patrolling around and hanging out in the shade. But if you play it safe and approach in the darkness, you'll catch them sleeping and off guard.
Overall it's a rather repetitive game, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. The ending left something to be desired, but open world games are generally not known for their compelling endings.
Quote from: al_infierno on February 10, 2021, 04:04:26 AM
But if you make a big mistake in your plan, you'll find yourself scampering around the bush for survival with AK rounds snapping at your heels and you question the life choices that led you to this.
And to malaria. #:-)
Incidentally, there's a side mission in FC4 which acts as an epilogue for FC2, bringing back the conflict diamonds and one of the characters. (I don't know who, never having played FC2, but apparently a semi-repentant enemy? He's converted to Christianity and is trying to find some way to do good with his ill-gotten goods, and as usual for the FC series things are more grey-and-gray than they may seem on the surface.)
^ That's pretty cool, I played through FC4 but never noticed any recurring characters. That was a while ago, though - looks like it's time to revisit FC4!
If you still have a save game, you should be able to find him in the post-game I expect. He's in the far upper right side of the map, on a hilltop near a deep but small pond at the eastern mountain edge, if I recall correctly. Nearby is the travel point for going to the Himalaya areas.
^ Interesting, I have FC4 but I never played it except getting the alternate ending, lol. I'll have to keep my eyes open for that.
I just finished my first playthrough of Suzerain. According to the post-game summary I was a capitalist-leaning centrist, but I wrecked the economy by trying to do too much in too short a time. Without going into spoilers, ultimately I got invaded by a foreign army and we got stomped so badly that they waltzed into our capital and stormed the palace in no time at all. I chose to take the ol' Adolf at my presidential desk after a glass of whisky, and avoided the phony trial and torture that I anticipated at the hands of my captors. Needless to say I screwed the pooch big time by focusing too much on radical social reforms. Ironically, I made the decision to retire at the end of my term anyways since my approval rating was at about 22% and I had no hope of re-election, but that didn't matter because I threw away our sovereignty in an unwinnable war. Yay me. :D
On the other hand, my understanding is that internal military coups are a super common game ender, but the usual culprits remained loyal and even died defending my presidential chambers from the invaders. It was kind of nice that I managed to gain their loyalty despite not bending to their every whim when they wanted to rattle sabers against our more aggressive neighbors.
Too bad about the loss al. Sounds like a challenging game. 'A' For effort anyway. :clap:
History is full of despots who tried hard, Al! ;D
I won my first game of Shadow Empires playing on Normal Difficulty, against real opponents. I was playing on a near-desert planet, but started out close to one of the few small-standing lakes in the game, so was able to harvest free water right from the start. That would have been a bigger advantage but my two major opponents ringed the same lake.
I had to revert to Saved Games a couple times to correct foul-ups (e.g., I overwhelmed my logistical system with so many resources flowing into my capital that I had no trucks left to send anything--including Food or Fuel--back out to my troops in the field, I inadvertently made friends with the religious zealots on my border before realizing that they were far too radicalized in The Church of the Holy Incumbent to ever peacefully join my nation). The systems in SE are so dense and unforgivingly groggy, if you try to play Iron Man mode, you'll restart about 20 or 30 games before you make it up the learning curve.
Well done FAS....I haven't come close to winning a game of Shadow Empires, but I may hold a record for quick restarts after realizing X number of turns in that I have totally misplayed some vital function in the game. :-[
Shadow Empire is unforgiving. I salute anyone who doesn't get slaughtered out the gate.
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on February 24, 2021, 12:10:42 PM
History is full of despots who tried hard, Al! ;D
Hear, hear! :uglystupid2:
Completed the campaign in Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy. Fairly short campaign but fun. Now i look forward to play the Battlestar Galactica sequel game.
Also completed the Star Wars: Starfighter campaign a while ago.
My pending list of games to play gets (a little) shorter.
Always nice to get a finish, bravo :clap:
Excellent Anguille! :bd:
Congratulations!
Quote from: Anguille on April 10, 2021, 03:12:06 AM
Completed the campaign in Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy. Fairly short campaign but fun. Now i look forward to play the Battlestar Galactica sequel game.
Also completed the Star Wars: Starfighter campaign a while ago.
My pending list of games to play gets (a little) shorter.
Yay!
:clap:
I can't even remember how long I have been playing Diablo III but this afternoon I finally finished Act III...Act IV and V to go.
Even better, I moved on and finally started a campaign of Planescape: Torment. Is Morte the Skull's dialogue done by Steve Buscemi??
Just looked it up and it is some guy named Rob Paulsen...he sounds just like Buscemi!
I always thought the same thing. Probably did that to, 'Torment' us. :2funny:
I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud at a game and I have only finished the intro to Planescape. Probably some of the best writing I have seen in any game.
Quote from: Gusington on April 12, 2021, 07:08:47 AM
I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud at a game and I have only finished the intro to Planescape. Probably some of the best writing I have seen in any game.
Ohhh man Gus you are missing out. Planescape Torment was probably one of the best RPG's to come out from that era and that has it going up against the likes of BG 2, Fallout and Fallout 2.
Almost every character is extremely well written and they have interesting backstories.
I dive back in tonight!
Quote from: jamus34 on April 12, 2021, 07:24:09 AM
Quote from: Gusington on April 12, 2021, 07:08:47 AM
I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud at a game and I have only finished the intro to Planescape. Probably some of the best writing I have seen in any game.
Ohhh man Gus you are missing out. Planescape Torment was probably one of the best RPG's to come out from that era and that has it going up against the likes of BG 2, Fallout and Fallout 2.
Almost every character is extremely well written and they have interesting backstories.
I agree...one of the greats. But beware...you will be doing a lot of reading, more so than any other RPG of this ilk.
^Yeah I have already and that was just the intro! It was a pleasure, though. Looking forward to more. And I found the combat oddly satisfying too.
That's the game I thought I would hate but turned-out loving instead. Truly a fantastic story-driven game. It's got quirks and oddities, and it's a bit of a long haul to the end in my opinion but at the end, I couldn't quit playing until I got all the, 'Answers' as it was. Also this game doesn't hold your hand all the way through, you'll have to figure it out and that can be kind of tough at times. But hang in there because the effort is worth it and in so many places you can't see what's coming until it hits you, and then I was stunned at times. Terribly sad in places and funny and if I'm remembering correctly, multiple possible ways to end the game.
Yes all those characteristics popped up already in just 2-3 hours!
I just finished The Last of Us Part II on Playstation 4, moderate difficulty.
The gameplay is incredibly fun when you're fighting against humans and rather dull when you're fighting the zombies, imo. The gunfights against human AIs are really satisfying, and they require you to think tactically and outmaneuver and ambush your enemies to survive, even if you're going guns blazing with a ton of ammo. Combat is super lethal and the game is happy to remind you that you are, at best, a well-armed meatbag.
You can pick up bottles and bricks and pipes to brawl it out when things get hairy, but your opponent's buddies won't just watch and wait their turn - they'll jump right in or shoot you or, rarely, shoot the guy you're fighting by accident (this happened once in my playthrough :DD). It's also great hearing the enemy soldiers shout stuff to each other and call each other by name. When you dome-shot somebody's friend right in front of them and they cry out "OH GOD, NOT JIM!" it feels great/horrible, depending on how you want to look at it. :buck2:
When you fight zombies it's just kinda, I dunno. You sneak around and stab stuff and if you get caught, it turns into Left 4 Dead for a few minutes. Yawn.
There are quite a bit more guns and ammo in general than the previous game so I didn't struggle nearly as much with scarce ammo management as the first game, but that's kinda to be expected with a sequel. The flamethrower is awesome but you don't get to use it nearly enough. I hated the mechanic of switching between 2 characters and using different loadouts and ability sets for each one, just as I hated it with GTA V, but you at least don't switch between them super often -- maybe 4 times total. According to my save file it took 23 hours to finish the game, which presumably includes time spent on failed attempts where I reloaded saves, which happened a LOT.
Without going into any spoilers, the story sucked ass. I'm not even one of those people that was upset about "that" plot point (if you don't know what I mean, don't worry about it and consider yourself lucky - the fanbase of this game was famously rabidly angry about an early plot twist). That said, the characters and setting were rendered in amazing graphics and incredible voice acting and convincing motion capture work, with some good dialogue here and there. It's just a shame that the few charismatic characters (Joel, Tommy, Owen, Isaac) barely had any time in the game, and the majority of your time is spent hanging around some cardboard cutouts (Dina, Jesse, Lev, Manny, etc).
The plot was an incoherent mess and the writers clearly spent more time coming up with ways to daze the audience with jarring time skips than coming up with plausible explanations for various plot points. Where the hell did Dina and Ellie find the unscathed farmhouse in a dreamy plain with no infected or bad guys around? How do characters keep managing to implausibly chance into each other in all of war-torn Seattle just when it's convenient? For that matter, at one point they suggest that Ellie effectively re-does the entire trek from their home town to Salt Lake City, where along which spent the entire first game dodging danger, but they just hand wave it away and act like Salt Lake City is just 15 minutes away from Jackson, MS. Ridiculous.
Anyway, if you can ignore the stupid story and lame characters, the gameplay is incredible and highly recommended if you need your fix The Road by Cormac McCarthy crossed with Uncharted.
Congrats on the win al. :clap:
Just made the last steam achievement for Stars in Shadow. One of the few games i will ever have 100% achievements. Made me play all the races and discover different mechanics of the game i may never have otherwise. 8)
Quote from: Anguille on May 30, 2021, 01:18:12 AM
Just made the last steam achievement for Stars in Shadow. One of the few games i will ever have 100% achievements. Made me play all the races and discover different mechanics of the game i may never have otherwise. 8)
Wow!
Quite the accomplishment. :clap:
Quote from: Anguille on May 30, 2021, 01:18:12 AM
Just made the last steam achievement for Stars in Shadow. One of the few games i will ever have 100% achievements. Made me play all the races and discover different mechanics of the game i may never have otherwise. 8)
Nice! I've platinumed a few playstation games but never a steam game. Good job!!
Thanks.
I think it should be possible to complete all achievements in a game in 100-200 hours. Many games have achievements nobody will have make which is kind of absurd i believe. Achievements should motivate casual players to discover all the facets of a game imho. You can keep some for the hardcore players but not everyone's going to spend 1'000 hours on a game (i look at you GalCiv3 ::)) or win a every possible type of victories with every faction (many games have this) or example. The team around Stars in Shadow made it good though i already got all of them with less than 100 hours of gameplay.
This is one of the best threads on the site.
For the first time ever, I have finished a game and it came as a total surprise. There I was, minding my own business in Assassin's Creed: Origins, enjoying side quests and scenery, when I broke the main game open in the last couple of hours.
Without giving too much away, the protagonists participate in the most famous assassination in history, and then found their new 'Assassin's Creed,' which spans ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome...thus the subtitle. Took me about 45 hours.
I still have the Hidden Ones and The Curse of the Pharaohs DLCs to play, but the main quest is done.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1767080313356321065/73FCAF3CE906F2F0613539A6B48990C2446C440A/)
Congrats! Miracles do happen ;D
Thank you, Sir. According to UbiSoft Connect, I am 75% complete in Assassin's Creed Odyssey as well. Who knew?
WA-HOO! I'll have a Manly drink to celebrate later. Probably would have had one anyway, but this makes it official. Congrats Gus.
Quote from: Gusington on June 04, 2021, 08:14:25 AM
Thank you, Sir. According to UbiSoft Connect, I am 75% complete in Assassin's Creed Odyssey as well. Who knew?
You are now officially booted out of the sad yet true "I never finish any game" club. But congrats none the less.
^Thank you. I do finish games, just not as often as my spending on them warrants :/
Taking some time off from much serious thinking (even in in games), means I somehow tonight finished the first game I've gotten entirely through in years (aside from finishing multiplayer games): Lumberjack Dynasty!
........it was okay. O:-) The game is kind of unfinished in the sense that there are plot points still lying around which, as the new Mayor of the town (or region of a county, there isn't really a 'town' in this game per se), I'd be able to get moving now by exercising mayoral power; but on the other hand, that's really just an administrative function which the game doesn't model, and not anything to do with my lumberjacking career. (Or exotic food career, or furniture making career.) But neither is there any tie-off, where the game shows these projects being completed automatically in a cut-scene afterward. It's just, hey, you've convinced the people to elect you Mayor, hurray, the end. It's so abrupt that part of the prior plot thread which leads to this conclusion, involving a polluted lake, can be started over within a few seconds, and goes nowhere (because there's no way to repeat the plot triggers now.)
The game just sandboxes from this point, which to be fair is very much the purpose of this game: if you want to kick back and listen to podcasts or lo-fi music and chill for a while as you murder some trees (and then clear their ground and replant new ones afterward), you can do that going forward as long as you like. Find a cute girl who doesn't look too inbred or deformed from alien cloning, marry, do nothing, a baby spawns eventually while she may or may not cook, buy a cat and a dog, etc. The scenery is pretty.
The developer, UMEO Studios (I'm pretty sure it's only one studio ;) ) , has gone onward into their next game, Trucker's Dynasty Cuba Libre, which will add more features (and no doubt fewer tree-sawing-chopping super-vehicles ;) , not being set in modern times). I'll be curious to see the new game. I could also go back to the original game in this series, Farmers Dynasty, which has practically no plot and also somewhat less grind; in which I've put 19 hours previously. Same basic concept, you inherit a broken-down farm from a dead relative (you arrive to help your favorite aunt and uncle in LJ, who remain in the game as characters), repair it, and bootstrap yourself up. I'm not as fond of the scenery which is more West TN than East TN, and trying to do anything in a straight line in a field is maddening: the games are a little wonky with controls, and still have bugs on par with ARMAIII.
The publisher, Toplitz Productions, has had a very hit-and-miss record over their career, but is improving its base with this "Dynasty" series, and now has Medieval Dynasty in early access under another/branch team, and Wild West Dynasty in development. I'll also be curious to see how these turn out. (MD can be played now, but I'm definitely waiting until the game is more complete, based on developments of the past two games!)
For whatever reason, FD usually costs $30 (not counting a couple of trivial DLC expansions), but LD costs only $20 (no useful DLC yet, or probably ever as development has ended minus some final bug hunting.) They go on sale with some frequency, and certainly help in training us to accept China's social credit system! :)) But seriously, while Farming Simulator is certainly better at the farming simulation (and even lumberjacking!), for a 3D approximation to a very abbreviated version of modern-day Stardew Valley (or the older Harvest Moon series), you could do a lot worse than picking them up on sale.
I am however ready to get back to slaying my enemies now in various fashions. >:D
tree-sawing-chopping super-vehicles
I cannot believe you finished this game without a screenshot of a super tree-sawing/chopping vehicle.
How can you tease us like this? >:D
Quote from: nobodyjune61944 on June 07, 2021, 08:56:32 PM
tree-sawing-chopping super-vehicles
I cannot believe you finished this game without a screenshot of a super tree-sawing/chopping vehicle.
How can you tease us like this? >:D
+1 Bring it on JP.
How have a I never heard of Lumberjack Dynasty? POST PICS PRATT POST-HASTE
Sounds like it could be, 'Cutting Edge' gaming. :2funny:
:-[
Ah! -- I shall do so later today! 8)
SWEET LUMBERJACK SOMETHIN' OR OTHER
Pix won't do the tree-sawing-chopping super-vehicle justice. So a video is uploading to Youtube as I type!
I'll post the link later tonight, hopefully, once it finishes processing.
http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=25669.new#new
Created a new thread for the Thing That Mercs Trees (and a tour around Lumberjack Dynasty more generally, for about an hour).
Well related to my last post in here, I have finished The Hidden Ones dlc in Assassin's Creed Origins, and have leveled up enough to unlock The Curse of the Pharaohs. I think Origins has become my favorite AssCreed of all...the crunchy combat, the missions, the ancient Mediterranean setting, the dlcs...all top notch.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1707409347438961599/9319685381C8B5442361A0E879D9B6737CCB0A2E/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
:clap: :clap: :clap:
First game I have played in a while that I can honestly remark that I'll be sad when it ends.
How's the replayability?
If you like an action RPG style game with parkour, assassinations, combat and exotic locales, the replay can be almost endless. The key is not the variety of things the player can do, let's be honest, it's that the things you do are fun...I never got bored of tomb raiding, I never got bored of visiting the massive ancient cities (Memphis, Alexandria, Thebes, etc.), I never got bored of swapping out the tons of gear, I never got bored of any assassination missions, I never got bored of anything...which is really saying something in this franchise where I have grown bored after 50+ hours in many of the previous games. My one knock is that I wish there was more galley combat.
Black Flag was my favorite until I really poured time into Origins and at 90 hours I am still excited by the last piece of DLC (Curse of the Pharaohs). Beautiful looking, well built and exciting game.
Cyberpunk 2077...first game I've played all the way through in a very long time. Just under 70 hours.
Congrats on the Win JH. :clap:
Well done.
Good job on the finish :clap:
Nice. Good job JH. Finishing those types of games is always satisfying.
Impressive JH! That's some dedication :notworthy:
My biggest surprise in the ending I chose was hearing one of my all time favorite poems. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. Totally weird and out of place, but pleasing nevertheless.
???
Finished for the second time the campaign of Gemini Wars(almost 10 years after the first time).
Well done X2! :bd:
Was it worth it? The game has a bad rap.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on August 02, 2021, 10:29:28 AM
Was it worth it? The game has a bad rap.
I seem to remember that you played it too in 2012 and that you didn't like it?
For me it was worth it and i think the rating is too hard on the game. I really like the story and the briefings. Reminds me a lot of Conquest Frontier Wars. The biggest problem the game had in 2012 was the DRM which was terrible (online) and didn't work well. They have removed it since then. The pacing of the game is fairly slow (speed can be increased when not in battle) but i am slow myself and so it's ok with me. Then there are some minor bugs. This time, my ships couldn't use the stargate when build but saving and loading the game solved it (don't remember this bug from 2012 though so it might be a windows 10 thing). I am open to suggestions to similar games (missions with videos briefings) that happen in space (i think Haegemonia was also similar).
I'm sure I had it and most likely tried it, but I have no recollection of it.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on August 03, 2021, 06:00:23 AM
I'm sure I had it and most likely tried it, but I have no recollection of it.
There you go ;): http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=1737.msg36362#msg36362 (http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=1737.msg36362#msg36362)
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on June 08, 2012, 08:26:32 PM
Well, its out, and while I've only played through the two tutorials so far, I must say I'm not impressed. So far, it feels like a poor man's Sins of a Solar Empire. It definitely has tossed some nice ideas into the mix, but it definitely hasn't grabbed me yet.
...and really, there is no reason for it not to be z-dimensional.
I love having this place as a digital archive of my thoughts. LoL
Also sad to see the names of so many friends who are no longer here. Was just talking to toonces about that late last night.
'A digital archive of JH's thoughts'
*shudder*
I thought that was all, 'Classified'? ???
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on August 03, 2021, 07:12:50 AM
Also sad to see the names of so many friends who are no longer here. Was just talking to toonces about that late last night.
Indeed. Don't know why.
Finally completed Conflict Desert Storm....last mission was tough.
Finally got my first win in a traditional roguelike, Tales of Maj'Eyal. I beat the game (pun intended) with Punchmaster, a Dwarf Brawler specialized in Antimagic. Turns out Brawler is the easiest class to win. The final boss (a pair of evil sorcerers) was surprisingly a cakewalk, whereas the mid-point boss (a vampire lord surrounded by minions) whooped my butt sideways and made me struggle to survive. Interestingly you have an NPC companion in the final fight, but apparently on Nightmare difficulty it's quite a battle. On Normal it wasn't hard at all. I also played on "Adventurer" mode, which is the standard difficulty where you get a few spare lives before you succumb to permadeath. I died 4 times in the course of my journey, so hardcore roguelike purists would argue it's not a "true" win. Personally I like the flexibility of having a few extra lives, and you can even disable lives completely just to play through the game.
Seems to be typical of roguelikes that the mid-game is the hardest part - at a certain point, your character becomes an absolute powerhouse that will only die to some instadeath bullshit (which ToME doesn't do) or a dumb mistake. I got my ass kicked by the post-game boss, but he's meant to be ridiculously OP.
One thing I like about ToME is that you unlock more classes and races as you play the game. I have a bunch of new stuff to try out after this run, including a Necromancer, a Temporal Warden (aka time police), Sun Paladin, Oozemancer, and some other really cool quirky-sounding classes. Definitely worth trying out, it's quite newbie friendly with its WoW-style ability bar.
Punchmaster's character sheet: https://te4.org/characters/247838/tome/f8e355a3-f047-40d1-9f3d-463aa816de11
<:-) :buck2:
Congrats on the Win al. :clap: :clap: <:-)
So I managed a, 'Major Victory' in WitE's Road to Leningrad Scenario, my first completed scenario. We managed to drive the Russkies out of Leningrad on the next to last turn of the game for the win. The AI played very good defensively but was kind of passive on offense, only launching one attack on my exposed Panzers. Maybe next I'll kick the Difficulty Level up one notch. Here's the final turn lay-out. Great game! O0
Congrats on the win!
Quote from: Sir Slash on August 23, 2021, 11:46:38 AM
So I managed a, 'Major Victory' in WitE's Road to Leningrad Scenario, my first completed scenario. We managed to drive the Russkies out of Leningrad on the next to last turn of the game for the win. The AI played very good defensively but was kind of passive on offense, only launching one attack on my exposed Panzers. Maybe next I'll kick the Difficulty Level up one notch. Here's the final turn lay-out. Great game! O0
:dreamer: :clap:
Well done Sir Slash....!
Yeah...that's a major accomplishment. Well done.
Thank you one and all. Now my Geriatric Brain needs a nap.
Congrats Slash! :clap:
Thanks al. Now it's on to, 'Road to Kiev' to see how Army Group South plays.
I know it's not really anyone's cup of tea here but I beat (and platinumed) Persona 5 Royal on the PS.
Story can be a bit cringeworthy but Altus makes some technically sound turn based RPG combat.
Very good Jamus, and Congrats on the win. :bd:
Nice job Jamus. Anytime anyone platinums a PS game it's worth celebrating as it's not easy.
WitE: The Road to Kiev. The AI managed to hang-on for a Minor Victory against me cause I was not able to drive-out the very stubborn Russian defenders and grab Kiev for the win on the last turn of the scenario, despite throwing 8 divisions at the city including 2 SS divs and a Panzer Div. :pullhair:
SS...is this the original WitE or the newer release?
Going to assume that a minor victory in WitE is a very major victory in anything else!
Quote from: Sir Slash on September 28, 2021, 10:52:37 AM
WitE: The Road to Kiev. The AI managed to hang-on for a Minor Victory against me cause I was not able to drive-out the very stubborn Russian defenders and grab Kiev for the win on the last turn of the scenario, despite throwing 8 divisions at the city including 2 SS divs and a Panzer Div. :pullhair:
First thing I thought of after reading your summary was "That must have been how Paulus felt at Stalingrad"! ;D
It's the original. I'm learning in this game, units attacking a heavily defended target like Kiev do much better attacking from a, 'Standing Start' meaning without moving first during the turn. Which makes sense when doing a Prepared Assault. I was playing on the, 'Normal' difficulty level which I had thought was getting too easy. But somewhere prior the crafty AI had gotten me about a turn behind schedule and I never made it back up. My own fault. Great game!
Quote from: Sir Slash on September 28, 2021, 10:52:37 AM
WitE: The Road to Kiev. The AI managed to hang-on for a Minor Victory against me cause I was not able to drive-out the very stubborn Russian defenders and grab Kiev for the win on the last turn of the scenario, despite throwing 8 divisions at the city including 2 SS divs and a Panzer Div. :pullhair:
When attacking cities the thing that really matters is loading up your units with pioneers.
Yes, and other Support Units from Corp HQ's. Along with a good bombing or two. O0
I just beat Diablo in Diablo III! What kind of wonky year it is that I have finished more than one game.
However, there is an Act V in Diablo III that I have now moved on to (Reaper of Souls expansion added it).
Also, Battlenet does not have as intuitive a screenshot feature as Steam, etc., so it will take me some more time to dig up some shots.
Took me about 15 minutes of button mashing to beat him and the sounds coming out of my study were like a combination of the finales of The Exorcist and Ghostbusters on steroids.
Fun times!
Congrats on the Win Gus. That's keeping the Grogheads end up. :notworthy:
Diablo III is a great game. Good job Gus!
Thanks W8 and Slash. Happy to report that Act V of Diablo III has a very Bloodborne-feel to it. So until Bloodborne appears on PC (if ever) this will do :)
Finished Resident Evil: Village tonight after a 3 hour long finale session \m/
Loved every minute of it. Best game I have played in a long time.
Miranda, below, the arch enemy...didn't quite 'take what was due':
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1823390356026376480/19C910D0D80C48F77E841FE49A69D865445EDC0C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1823390356026376575/7BE4BB350C78F432930BE00BE5DFB75FC76A8AD3/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
Isn't it has a long? How much took a time to complete Resident Evil?
It says about 13 hours there but Steam says about 21 hours. I think Steam is correct.
I used to know a Miranda that wasn't nearly that pretty. So, the price of the game is worth it for 21 hours?
Congrats on the finish. Haven't played an RE game since #5, and didn't think that was true to the RE theme. This on looks more true to form, maybe the last one also. Holidays sales coming up, see what the discount bring.
Gus there's not a shit load of cut scenes are there? Not a big fan of having a lot of long cut scenes.
Well there are cutscenes aplenty for the finale, but they are well done and didn't get on my nerves.
I picked up Village for ~30.00, so for me personally it was totally worth it.
Obviously the game is on rails, but that didn't bother me. I loved every second of it...very well done horror/survival game, and I think even JH would love the weapons and weapon modeling. Lots to customize, really fun.
Well I'll be darned...I actually finished a game, been a long time since I did. The original Mass Effect from 2007. Great game with an epic unfolding story.
Congrats! Unfortunately, story-wise the series goes downhill from there, whereas the gameplay improves with each sequel.
How many hours did that take, Rayfer?
Quote from: Gusington on November 23, 2021, 07:49:43 PM
How many hours did that take, Rayfer?
Not sure, I had a number of starts and mis-starts with different character types before settling on the one I played through with. Probably about 25 hours, and that includes doing about 1/2 of the side quests as well as the main quest line.
Quote from: al_infierno on November 23, 2021, 04:03:57 PM
Congrats! Unfortunately, story-wise the series goes downhill from there, whereas the gameplay improves with each sequel.
Disappointed to hear that. The combat was ok, a bit repetitive but fun....but it was the story that really made the game. If I see #2 on sale cheap I'll probably get it anyway.
Congrats on the win Rayfer. :clap: A win is a win no matter how long it takes. I'm still working on beating Pong. One of these days.....
Just finished the very fun, five-chapter Inca campaign in Age of Empires II - Definitive Edition. Learned a lot from this campaign too - the Inca were one of the largest land empires ever in history, etc. :nerd:
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1821141359756941608/51428A41ACBE924EF132D17A18379854E602129F/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1821141359756941728/50A4ED5DAE8C104093BBD35E257ADBE8FF24D839/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
:bd: well done.
Nice job! That first Incan campaign mission was hard as hell, I don't think I even tried the second mission after I finished the first one. :hide:
Thanks fellers. Weirdly I didn't think any of the campaign was overly difficult. I tried the Inca campaign after getting repeatedly pummeled by the Portuguese colonial campaign in Africa. The first mission of that campaign was very tough with a limited number of combat units that get their arse kicked and whittled down, and after multiple tries like al, I just gave up on that one.
Great job Gus.
Hey does anyone know if the new AOE has the wo-lo-lo-lo sound effect in it?
Can you further describe the sound effect? I think most of the original audio is intact and has been updated in the definitve edition.
Quote from: W8taminute on December 21, 2021, 10:58:11 AM
Great job Gus.
Hey does anyone know if the new AOE has the wo-lo-lo-lo sound effect in it?
Which new AOE? AOE 4 or AOE 2: DE?
In AOE 2: DE the only units who have the classic Wololo sound are Priests, a special reskin of Monks. However, if you have a Priest, all monks you recruit also get that same sound effect!
I don't think the classic sound is in AOE 4.
@Gus:
^Yes! That's the one from AOE2 I believe.
^HA that is definitely still in AoE2: DE!
Still loving AoE2 -DE.
Just won the new Lords of the West, six chapter campaign as Burgundy. Very well done, culminates with an urban raid against Joan of Arc.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1821142558644028175/CDB22EE871949E4E0D36325A6DD5479AC1245B8F/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
Congrats on the win Gus. Joan of Arc can't be a pushover.
Congrats! That's one of the original campaigns from AoE 2 IIRC but I still haven't gotten around to playing it. :-[
Have you played through the William Wallace campaign Gus? It's the tutorial campaign so it's pretty straightforward and fun.
^I did back in 1999 to learn the game but I haven't played the DE version. There's also a knew DE Edward Longshanks campaign, also part of Lords of the West. Next up I am thinking of one of the Central or Eastern European campaigns or maybe the Vlad Dracula campaign.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is one of the better games I have played in a while with one of most frustrating final bosses. Took me over 100 tries to finally beat this bastard but finally did tonight. Very much looking forward to the sequel A Plague Tale: Requiem, due out this year.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1811011260030027303/8D51948A0030A08659AA3B2FED4BA06B004466C2/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
Damn! A hundred tries? :o Way to hang in there Gus. :clap:
Might have been even more than that over the course of 3-4 evenings this week. Without fail, as the moment of clarity approaches, The Wife or one of my kids comes in to break my mojo and then suddenly after they leave...I get it. Happened again last night when I finally beat Plague Tale and was able to take the above shot. They are like annoying good luck charms.
^I feel your pain.
I've lost track of the number of times when I'm in the middle of a beastly throw down in a Total War battle when all of the sudden the wife calls out to me to help out in the kitchen.
Let me tell you, putting a Total War battle on pause, leaving the computer and then coming back to it how ever many minutes later really breaks concentration and I've lost quite a few battles because of this wife induced broken mojo.
^It's like clockwork, every time.
With mine it's always something very deep thinking-required like WitE or Decisive Campaigns. I sit down, totally quiet, nothing going on, and that's when the phone rings, somebody comes to the door, the grandkids show-up and my Wife wants to show me something on Facebook. #:-)
Oh boy. Sounds like I'm not the only one then.
All I'll say is that my face may be smiling as I say "yes dear, I would be happy to help" but inside my brain is raging with anger saying something like "I've got 10,000 men on the field right now and they're being flanked and you want me to abandon them to peel potatoes!!". :D
I always say something like, "Yes Dear, but do the potatoes really WANT to be peeled? Afterall, you're cutting off their eyes when you do that". It doesn't work but it confuses her enough for me to skate a while longer. O0
I just give the stink eye, like this >:(
Both good answers gentlemen!
Finished the short but excellent Call of Duty - Black Ops - Cold War single player campaign this weekend. It has some great choices to make at the very end. Enjoyed it a lot while it both took my mind off current events and laser focused them, simultaneously :uglystupid2:
Just finished the main campaign for Metro Exodus. Great game, excellent if tragic and sad ending. Watching the credits scroll by, sobering to see the amount of Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, etc., on the production team :/
:clap: :clap: :clap:
I finished Horizon Zero Dawn and the DLC.
Great game overall and I highly recommend. I have already started on Forbidden West. The sequel cribs heavily from Witcher 3 from my early first impressions.
Witcher 3 you say?
Quote from: Gusington on March 18, 2022, 08:42:30 AM
Witcher 3 you say?
I guess I should clarify my statement that the overall feel reminds me of Witcher 3.
The overall gameplay mechanics feel a lot like Witcher 3. Crafting is done at workbenches now, food as a temporary buff was added, a stash mechanic was added to help with inventory overflow. They added a mini game that plays more like Chess than Gwent but still a mini game. Also a long intro / prologue.
I haven't done much in the way of actual quests yet but I have a feeling they might follow a similar format. The game is definitely laying in on the exploration model more than the last one.
Plus the game is absolutely stunning on the PS5.
Alas the game is currently only on PS4 / PS5 but if they ported the old one I can't imagine they wouldn't port the new one eventually.
I know many players had issues with the combat and UI of Witcher 3 but I loved them both. You put Horizon Zero Dawn on my radar :)
Quote from: Gusington on March 18, 2022, 09:59:18 AM
I know many players had issues with the combat and UI of Witcher 3 but I loved them both. You put Horizon Zero Dawn on my radar :)
It's a good game but different feel from the sequel. All the things I noted are from the sequel.
That said, the sequel starts right after the end of the first game so there's going to be a ton of backstory you won't know without beating it.
I don't want to call the gameplay unique but it's definitely a different flavor than most of the open world games. Let's just say that it actually feels like hunting giant mechanical animals. If you try to go toe to toe with them you will get stomped. Even the smaller machine can easily overwhelm you.
You recommend both?
Quote from: Gusington on March 18, 2022, 10:37:49 AM
You recommend both?
Well, only 10 or so hours into Forbidden West but yes so far. I usually get bored and bounce off of open world games but Zero Dawn managed to suck me in after a 2 year hiatus and watching a couple of YouTube vids. it just "clicked" for me and I was having a blast and tearing through the game. Once you get some of the mid game weapons and unlocks there are many ways you can handle most encounters.
Thanks man.
Just finished Metro Exodus - The Two Colonels. I won't mention which one the player goes through this DLC as.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1813268038260189740/A5BA6327096D79ED01D3F9ECCCF21126891B6CE5/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
Congrats on the finish. How long's the game?
The main game and both DLCs are about 50 hours total. The above DLC was just a few hours. I just started Sam's Story, the final DLC, and that is 7-8 hours.
Just completed a diplomatic victory in Master of Orion CtS with the Meklars. That was a tougth one but i managed to have the votes of the Psilons and the Humans while being at war against the Klackons (the other candidate). Some of my best friends, the Alkari and the Trilarians, vanished a long time ago.
HURRAY for Anguille! Way to beat that game. <:-)
Nice job Anguille. O0
Thanks guys. Have had a blast playing the game again. Played about 60 hours in two weeks :hide: Don't think i've played it as much since 2016 (unlocked 28 steam achievements this month alone). And my kids still like this one the most.
You people and your "finishing," games. Pffft. :P
Exactly Carl. I prefer the old fashion method of getting tired and just giving-up on trying to win a game. >:(
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 16, 2022, 09:18:20 AM
Exactly Carl. I prefer the old fashion method of getting tired and just giving-up on trying to win a game. >:(
Well, this is what I do when I play any game from Paradox ;D
^Me too :/
And more games in general lately, as I age :/ :/
Quote from: Anguille on April 16, 2022, 01:53:24 AM
Thanks guys. Have had a blast playing the game again. Played about 60 hours in two weeks :hide: Don't think I've played it as much since 2016 (unlocked 28 steam achievements this month alone). And my kids still like this one the most.
This is a great game. It's deceptively deep and the AI is challenging and smart. I finished my first proper game yesterday and got my ass kicked by the Klackton.
Quote from: Ian C on April 22, 2022, 06:02:07 AM
Quote from: Anguille on April 16, 2022, 01:53:24 AM
Thanks guys. Have had a blast playing the game again. Played about 60 hours in two weeks :hide: Don't think I've played it as much since 2016 (unlocked 28 steam achievements this month alone). And my kids still like this one the most.
This is a great game. It's deceptively deep and the AI is challenging and smart. I finished my first proper game yesterday and got my ass kicked by the Klackton.
Yeah, i really like it :bd:
Finished Homeworld Deserts of Kharak.
Was fun but got a bit repetitive in the end - nice story though and very atmospheric - music as always is awesome in these games.
My promise to myself in 2022 is to finish a game before I get another one - so now onto Chaos Gate
How long did it take you?
Hard to say I had to start and stop several times due to work and real life so played over several months.
Its pretty short campaign - Without interruptions I can see someone bang it out in under 12 hours.
It's on sale this week for $5. Might pick it up as I've had my eye on it. Dunno if I still have the reflexes for RTS anymore though.
Wasnt too much of a click fest IMO and I dont like the frenetic RTS games either
Controls were pretty good and my style is to slowly grind away while harvesting as much resources as possible to make the subsequent missions easier - hence that takes longer.
It was great to re immerse myself in the always excellent and atmospheric Homeworld environment and it has me totally excited for Homeworld 3.
Con
Thanks Con...I would have guessed it would have been a little longer than 12 hours - but 12 high quality gaming hours is not bad.
Completed Mafia: Definitive Edition last night. Great game and I got attached to the characters. Bought it on sale so it was well worth the price to me. The only issue I had is that the game froze quite a bit while running at higher frame rates even though I have an i9-9900k OC'd to 5 Ghz and a RTX 3080 Ti. I had to lock the frame rates at 60 fps and then the freezes disappeared. I read that others have the same issue with the game. I have the second and third Mafia games and I'm looking forward to those.
How long did it take you? I have Mafia: Definitive Edition on my short to-play list.
Congrats on the finishes Gentlemen. :notworthy:
Quote from: Gusington on August 01, 2022, 11:47:18 AM
How long did it take you? I have Mafia: Definitive Edition on my short to-play list.
I imagine your short to-play list being about 30 games in length. Mine is only about 10.
Quote from: bobarossa on August 01, 2022, 01:34:16 PM
Quote from: Gusington on August 01, 2022, 11:47:18 AM
How long did it take you? I have Mafia: Definitive Edition on my short to-play list.
I imagine your short to-play list being about 30 games in length. Mine is only about 10.
My backlog is starting to look like the National deficit.
My short to-play list is around the same as yours Bob - about 10 games I own that have I have not touched at all since I purchased them.
IIRC I bought the Mafia: Definitive Edition before COVID so...it's about time.
Quote from: Gusington on August 01, 2022, 11:47:18 AM
How long did it take you? I have Mafia: Definitive Edition on my short to-play list.
Steam shows a total playing time of 20.5 hours. I played 95% of the game at the Classic difficulty level and only after about 10-12 tries would I drop it down to the Hard level just to finish the chapter. But completing a chapter at the Classic level sure gives a good level of satisfaction.
Thanks WW
YAAAS! Won my Tuareg campaign in the '634 Fire and Swords' mod of Attila: Total War. Took me exactly 50 years of game time (634AD-684AD) or 200 turns.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1839179120718435696/2301A43A0C57076506FCBFBC155538E4EE3D654C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
'Terrifying' >:D
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1839179120718435261/26EB4DF937575D3705180D94985C073E2DA409B9/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
Congrats on the Win, Gus! Tuaregs everywhere CELEBRATE. <:-)
O0
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/S5WGF28nF0c/maxresdefault.jpg)
Is that what you get when you win the game? :o
You'll have to win and find out :)
I did not take a screen shot but after about 33 hours, I won the main God of War campaign. Loved it, and there are extra missions still open for when Northgard finally frustrates me enough and I haven't quite yet had my fill of Norse myths.
Way to go Gus! Congrats on the win. :notworthy:
Thanks Slash.
And after 7 hours wouldn't you know that Northgard frustrated me. Tons of hectic micromanaging.
Good game, but I am not quick enough to be good at it. Yet.
Finished Dishonored Death of the Outsider.
But to be honest, it was a rather short game.
^I love the Dishonored series. Not enjoying Redfall getting raked over the coals the last few days.
I won my first Distant Worlds 2 game a few weeks back. To be honest, I probably could have won it about 100 turns sooner if I'd just gone to war earlier. I think I need to turn the difficulty level up next time I play, but it was nice seeing the Human-Ackdarian Alliance win the game.
Nice job FarAway! I like DW2 and will have to finish my current game someday.
Congrats Sooner and Az. Tank! Way to show them digital enemies how we roll at the Grogs. :CTF:
Just finished Mafia Definitive Edition. Probably one of the Top 10 games I have ever played since I was a kid in the 1980s. It is what I dreamed King of Chicago (Cinemaware) would have been like. Absolute classic.
(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2304216839483556035/7A8A249F6048E61B6067367AC29969C5DD7B8768/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false)
Well done Gus...been awhile since anyone posted here about finishing a game. Are we all just not finishing games or are we just not posting when we do? For me...I haven't finished a full game in a long time. But does finishing a senerio in a game with many senarios count as finishing a game?
^Thanks Rayfer, yeah looks like it's been about 6 months!
I would say finishing a scenario within a game with many does NOT count. Sorry :Nerd:
Yeah, Rayfer, I think that your scenario is about like if you were starting to have sex. As in, "I was starting to have sex with this girl once..."
:cool:
I finished Starfield and did a newgame plus play through. Not sure if you are truly finished with this game, because 3 years from now there will probably be a star wars conversion mod that will cause me to dump more hours into it.
Unexpectedly finished the Wrath of the Druids DLC for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla this afternoon.
Not quite powered-up enough to begin the Siege of Paris DLC so I am going to go back to England for a spell. I 'eliminated' 9 of 10 of the Children of Danu as well (evil druids) and the damned drinking game stopped me from getting the 10th one.
Gaming imitates life once again.
Scratch that. I went back to Dublin and found the last Child of Danu on a street and assassinated her from a roof. This unlocked the final mission in all of Ireland and I got a nifty lightning-shooting two-handed spear and leveled up a bit. Maybe I can take on the Siege of Paris sooner. :justice: