Just another 2 weeks until the home construction is essentially finished and everything will return to normal. So looking forward to gett8ng my flight and VR gear set back up.
Until then, maybe Steel Division 2 with new dlc, some more GR Breakpoint and Close Combat TBF.
Enjoy.
So lazy in my gaming still so probably just puzzle quest and slay the spire again!!!!
Oh and some fun on the Wii, that we plugged back in after a few years. Forgot how much fun and how simple these games were :)
In a gaming rut, officially. Spellforce III was good for a time but little annoyances built up and I've uninstalled. And after a second campaign, I have to finally admit defeat and say that I just did not enjoy Vampyr, at all. With games out there like AssCreed Odyssey and Witcher 3, it just felt claustrophobic, shallow and dead inside (pun intended).
Moving in this weekend to try out Warlock 2 (with the Renaissance mod), Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition and Witcher 2.
A huge dose of real life this weekend. Traveling to PA for a family get together. Lots of flying and driving.
I will continue my current game of Stellaris. I will also continue my first Let's play on youtube (playing Horizon, first attempt in french, next one will be in english, maybe with Oriental Empires). I think i'll start a new campaign in Fields of Glory: Empires with the last patch.
Take care guys
Probably limited gaming time this weekend but if I do get some quiet time, Rome 2 with the DEI Mod. If not then a little CMBN with the user made scenario, Wittman's Swords at Villars Bocage. Or back to killing spiders in Baldur's Gate 2. Have a great weekend Grogs everywhere. :bd:
I've been trying to play Phantom Doctrine since picking it up on sale last week. It's not bad but I want it to be more like Covert Action.
The Grogs Barbarians Field of Glory Empires pbem
TOAW IV PBEM
Tillers Danube Front PBEM
Disco Elysium a strange game but I got sucked in last night the highlight digging through a dumpster it was amazing.
A few weeks ago I started a Baldurs gate 1 campaign but got really bored fired up Pillars of Eternity 1 complete which I bought ages ago and totally fell in love. Such a great game despite the bad reviews I have read for years.
Usually this time of year I indulge in a run through the
Batman: Arkham games; but this year I settled for compiling a nice soundtrack from ArkKnight's music, and I've been taking my time punching through the
Shadow of Middle Earth duology (or whatever the official name is). Which reminds me that I want to get back to my bard character in LotRO again someday: I really enjoyed that, but too many sparkly things.
The Shadow duology confuses parts of my brain about whether I like it or not. The action, especially in the first game, tends to be very samey, compared to other games borrowing the Arkham combat system (although the underlying engine comes from somewhere else... Mass Effect?? That can't be right, but it was something that didn't seem connected to Monolith's gaming history, and surprised me when I heard it.) The aesthetics are mostly ugly, as appropriate to the setting (Mordor overrun by orcs.)
But the combat system itself remains very hooky... (hookish? ...hookery??), as well as the mission system, and it's easy to lose several hours wiping through points of interest going across part of the map.
And while the story tends to be rather decompressed, it highlights just how grimdark Tolkien's world can be: the games absolutely nail Tolkien's concept of "The Long Defeat", where until the eucatastrophe the best you can do is try to keep the dark at bay and carve back some gains while trying not to become a monster yourself. "Desire for power, revenge, war: these are the tools of Sauron, and we must be careful not to become enslaved by him," says a character with loads and loads of ironic foreshadowing (and backshadowing). ;) It's impossible to defeat evil using necessary evils, and yet to survive they are currently necessary.
The lyrics to the main theme of the second game (sung probably from the perspective of an important side character in that game), evoke the same fading desolation:
QuoteStone by stone...
Cracked, crushed, fallen...
Beauty burned.... erased -- but not forgotten...
I'll take your melodies; may your last breath...
Fill the air with embers...
I... inhale
In their blood, I will stand!
Let the waning light of Man,
Cast my shadow on the Fires of War
Till our time burns away,
Till our embers fade to grey,
Cast my shadow on the Fires of War!
My grief is swollen... in rusty chains...
Tethered to the killing wheel...
Sun up, sun down, sun up, sun down again.
One burning candle...
One wind-whipped flame...
I carry in my teeth like an animal...
Vengeance my strength!
In their blood, I will stand!
Let the waning light of Man,
Cast my shadow on the Fires of War
Till our time burns away,
Till our embers fade to grey,
Cast my shadow on the Fires of War!
Now that I've got internet again, I've no idea what to play! IL-2? World of Tanks? RO2? RS2? Or chuck them for something else?
My gaming habits have been all over the place lately. I've been balls-deep in John Wick Hex, which is a surprisingly satisfying tactical experience. Now and then I'll switch things up with some Tekken 7 or my latest Crusader Kings 2 playthrough where I'm actually trying to play as a Ned Stark-esque good guy for once! (Spoiler alert: It doesn't go quite as planned!)
CC: The Bloody First has been calling my name as well. There was a new patch the other day that seems to have tightened the game up quite a bit. On the initial First Blood defense scenario, the Germans actually put up a vicious fight for once! Might have to sink some serious time into this game, lately I've only been playing it piecemeal due to the 1.0 jank.
More 7 days to die alpha 18 exploration, a lot of big changes. FOG2 pbem and some CC: TBF.
Two questions: can I enjoy Baldur's Gate 2 without having played the first one?
And which Batman Arkham game is the bestest? I have a few of them.
Balder's Gate 2 really does carry on the plot from the first game, and picks up after you've already gained some levels. So it finishes out the growth from level-0 nobody killing rats in basements to slaying at least one major D&D demon. Some of the character development from the first game makes a difference in the second game, too.
However, I've never played the full series out myself, being distracted from playing BG1 too often by other shiny things. :coolsmiley:
Best Arkham game varies. No one believes Blackgate is the best at anything, though, so if you're going for a full Batman career (which is more-or-less covered in the games, focusing mostly on the final three years or so) you're just as well off finding an hour and a half movie compilation of that one. (Ditto the VR Arkham, which mostly serves as an elaborate prologue to ArkKnight while spoiling some plot developments that most Bat-fans of the comics saw coming miles away anyway.)
You can skip to a briefer summary looking for **************** below.
Leaving over the other four main games (in boldface, their chronological order (including DLC) would be:
Initiation DLC for ArkOrg (which has practically no important story and means nothing, unfortunately, so don't bother with it)
Arkham Origins: generally regarded as the best story and boss fights (though boss fights are kind of a weak point in the series anyway). Music and voice talent are largely different from the main trilogy, but are still very good and fit well. Has the advantage of being as close to the start of Batman's career as the series really gets, so you can continue on later. Christmas themed, not Halloween themed. Annoying Riddler trophies can be mostly ignored with no loss (other than extra points to level up abilities); and the mandatory Riddler things work and conclude well enough.
Cold, Cold Heart: epilogue DLC for ArkOrg, essentially retelling an expanded version of the classic Batman Animated Series first season episode Heart of Ice (codifying the origin story for Victor Fries / Mister Freeze). Often regarded as the best of the story DLCs, and well worth playing in my opinion, if you complete ArkOrg.
Archival note! -- the now-abandoned multiplayer component had some snippets of story featuring the first Robin, Dick Grayson, working with Batman for the first time. Likely to be retconned and/or incorporated into a 5th Batman game set after ArkOrg (which Rocksteady is definitely working on.)
A Matter of Family: DLC for ArkKnight, featuring Batgirl's first big mission (teamed up with the Tim Drake Robin). It's pretty good, especially if you're a fan of Barbara Gordon / Batgirl (and the Arkham suit design) -- which I am. (Combat Librarian! :smitten: ) Takes place a little before ArkAsy, but you can only get it to play with ArkKnight. Included for chronology sake. Generally regarded as the 2nd best story DLC.
Arkham Asylum: the original entry in the series. Has the most plot focus, due to having the smallest game area; and generally the most consistent tone. Best at a Halloween vibe -- everywhere you go is like one big haunted house/trail (with groaning music to match, introducing the series' main themes). Except being Batman, you're better at scaring the other people. Not unlike a "good Xenomorph from Alien fighting evildoers!" Uses a number of classic voice actors from the BTAS days, including Arleen Sorkin's final Harley Quinn performance (a character she helped originate and codify). Written by a major contributor to the BTAS show, too (and the DCAU series generally), Paul Dini. Some people like this entry best due to its thematic focus and plot design. It's also no doubt the easiest of the four main games, which can be a plus. ;) Served as a testbed technology prototype for the game the developers really wanted to make (ArkCity)! Annoying Riddler trophies can be ignored as much as you like, aside from points to help unlock abilities; not worth beating him with 100% collection.
Arkham City: the game the devs really wanted to make, and were testing tech for in ArkAsy! Only third in free-roam size, but area's design helps a lot and the relatively restricted area keeps focus. References the plot of ArkAsy in at least one key way, so not a bad idea to watch a story dump of that first. Nowadays, is generally regarded as having the second best of everything in the series, and therefore on average still the best game overall! :D Best Riddler sidequests, worth completing the Riddler missions. Catwoman side missions are distracting at worst, also distracting at best.
Harley's Revenge: short ArkCity epilogue DLC (about an hour playtime), mostly featuring the Tim Drake Robin rescuing Batman. No story impact for this game or later, very skippable.
Unnamed Harley Quinn storypack: prologue to ArkKnight, but fairly skippable.
Arkham Knight: biggest and most packed of the games, released in a buggy state for Windows but patched up better than ArkOrg (your mileage may vary). Also most difficult, but lots more to do with more capabilities (and difficulty can be tweaked of course). "Season of Infamy Most Wanted" expansion set (originally released in pieces) includes sidestories not originally ready in time for release (and milkable for extra charge woo hoo), and should be included. Halloween themed but not as much as ArkAsy (due to locale). Story is ambitious and tries REALLY REALLY HARD! :D Riddler sidequests are tolerable mostly thanks to including Catwoman during the main portions; non-mandatory Riddler worth beating but barely, and mainly to help unlock the "true ending" (which most people will prefer to find on Youtube anyway). The Batmobile is practically it's own sidekick character! -- and it turns into a small mobile tank! A lot. Waaaaaay too often a lot. Top graphics will burn your rig alive; but looks really good even on 720p with gfx scaled back. (I know, I played it completion that way on its first release.) A lot of people like this one the best for being the grand finale total ultimate Batman experience.
There are various epilogue short storyline dlcs for two Robins (Tim Drake and the first one, Dick Grayson, now "Nightwing"), as well as for Catwoman, and for someone else I won't mention. They're fine, but nothing mandatory or special. If you have them, great; if not don't worry about it.
********************************************
In summary:
ArkOrg (plus CCH dlc): best story and cut-scenes and boss-fights (relatively), but buggyness on PC could be Russian Roulette (I don't have problems, but others do.) Second largest free-roam area.
ArkOrg:Blackgate: 2.5D Metroidvania side scroller converted to Arkham mechanics, sort of. Story is okay, though less so than other games. Art between gameplay is atrocious. Catwoman is introduced and plays a big role in the story, so at least worth finding a "movie" compilation, but I always skip playing it now. No one's favorite Arkham game.
ArkAsy simplest and easiest, with best Halloween seasonal theme. Smallest free-roam area, but helps focus the tone to a nice autumn haunted-house/trail vibe. Some people like it best for this reason. Ending is somewhat meh compared to other entries. Worst bossfights. (Even moreso than Blackgate!)
ArkCity: does some things better than the other games and nothing worse than second-place, so some people like it best for this reason! Catwoman DLC is included as mandatory nowadays I think.
ArkKnight: by far the biggest, best looking, most to do in the series, and references all prior games along the way. Favorite for some fans for this reason (myself included), but not the best game to start with since it's designed to be a grand finale ending! Might be buggy on your PC, hard to guess: it did get more patching than ArkOrg.
Thank you Pratt - I actually read through your entire screed!! So according to what you wrote I think my choice is obvious...Arkham Asylum. But now that I know there are demons in Baldur's Gate ... I may have to fire that up, finally.
Work and more work and a little of the new Mius Front dlc. I'm excited about this.
Tomorrow with the kids and grandchildren for the evening. The little ones still think we're the sh*t. :smitten:
ArkAsy is a good choice for one more reason: as the first game produced in the series, you can proceed in release order as you get better at the games! :coolsmiley: (The release order being next ArkCity, ArkOrigins, and then ArkKnight.)
Just installed it :nerd:
Meanwhile, strolling through the Shadow of Mor-dough grind ;), I've reached the point where the game starts allowing me to take "Vendetta" missions against orc captains who slew real-life Steam friends in the game!
So I just avenged JudgeDredd. I have no idea when the last time was that JD even played ShoM. :))
LongBlade will be the next to avenge apparently; I think he played the game a little more than 4 hours seven years ago. ;)
You'll probably find me in there too.
Yes, you can certainly can enjoy BG2 without playing BG1 but it's like walking in halfway through a really good movie. If you don't mind that then go ahead. You can transfer your character over from BG1 but it doesn't come over, 'as is' meaning you still pick the skills and assign the attribute points and such like a new character. BG2 is also quite long and features some very tough opponents beside demons. Such as high level mages, vampires, beholders ( I HATE them), golems, and.... DRAGONS. However you can always switch the difficulty level whenever you want or need to. Also.... some truly EPIC items and spells are included. And a great story.
Similar types of enemies in BG1?
Less tough stuff. Less epic loot but still good fights and story as I recall. It's been a l-o-n-g time.
Not sure how it's handled in the modern edition of BG1, but in the original version if you want to roll up more than one character and play them together in your party (rather than just have one character rolled up as the main character who picks up NPCs to manage and lead along the way), you set up a multiplayer game with only one player and port in the characters you roll up.
This leads to an interesting situation where whichever 'player-character' is first in line will be the main character currently around which the plot adjusts to develop, so who gets into all the main plot and side plot conversations.
It also leads to an unavoidable game-over party-wipe in the original version of BG1, if you run across a minor sidequest involving a neired or dryad or some nymph of that sort: she kisses and kills the first person in the group! This can be a game-over anyway if you're only playing one character and are the first in line (which is why if you're only playing one character you should never be first in line ;) ); but if you've got a number of player-characters in co-op mode (even if you're solo-ing them in co-op mode so to speak) then the chances of her crushing your game (...pun not originally intended!...) rise proportionately. (.......pun also not originally intended!...)
Hopefully that broken side-quest has been fixed in the modern remake of BG1. ;) But it does exemplify another point which is that no matter how many 'player-characters' you bring along in co-op (whether with other human beings or by yourself), you should always leave one slot for an NPC, since sometimes you'll need them for plot details anyway.
O0
Arkham Asylum first, then BG1 for me.
***UPDATE***
I changed my mind. I bought the remaining Blood Bowl II teams I was missing and am now playing that.
I finished John Wick Hex last night. The final boss was super easy, barely an inconvenience, especially considering how tough the second one was. Very good game and definitely worth the $20, but the end-game content is a tad disappointing in its difficulty considering how much I struggled with the second boss, and expected it to just get tougher from there. Not that the later levels were a breeze, but nothing a little tactical min-maxing couldn't beat. :knuppel2:
Played some Oxygen not Included and Slay the Spire
Thinking about reintroducing myself to Dominions 4 and or some other graphically minimal fantasy 4x
Also after every time watching my daughters soccer game I get a hankering to play some Football Manager so may do that too
Quote from: Gusington on October 18, 2019, 07:34:10 PM
... I may have to fire that up, finally.
Just my usual: DCS and Dreadnoughts.
Quote from: al_infierno on October 18, 2019, 02:02:44 PM
My gaming habits have been all over the place lately. I've been balls-deep in John Wick Hex, which is a surprisingly satisfying tactical experience. Now and then I'll switch things up with some Tekken 7 or my latest Crusader Kings 2 playthrough where I'm actually trying to play as a Ned Stark-esque good guy for once! (Spoiler alert: It doesn't go quite as planned!)
CC: The Bloody First has been calling my name as well. There was a new patch the other day that seems to have tightened the game up quite a bit. On the initial First Blood defense scenario, the Germans actually put up a vicious fight for once! Might have to sink some serious time into this game, lately I've only been playing it piecemeal due to the 1.0 jank.
Important update on my "good guy" campaign in CK2: I just smothered a 4 month old baby. Whoops.
She was the product of my niece being kidnapped and forced to become a pagan concubine so it's totally justified, I swear! I killed her captor and rescued her, and decided to "rescue" her from her baby as well. My character is the embodiment of paragon and virtue. :-" That "the cleansing flame" nickname is just happenstance.
:o
Just played Mission #1 of the Radio Commander campaign. The dramatic radio chatter flavor is about as expected (and some of the acting suffers a little from the dialogue having been translated from something other than English) -- it's kinnnnd of on-the-nose and stereotypical of a Vietnam movie featuring Southern US characters, be that as it may. ;) The voice-acting itself is mostly fine although I caught at least one line reading that wasn't directed for context so had weird inflections. I appreciate that the designers wanted to add some plot flavor to keep things moving along between contact plot points.
Gameplay was fine; wasn't sure how much to micromanage being on and off paths. The replay only partially clarified this: I was pleased to see the platoon (I chose to only use one) stay on paths as much as possible when broadly traveling to a location, but then later I was trying to clarify they should use paths and they seemed to be paralleling the path instead. Could be a glitch in the system's own internal mapping of the piece to the "map" graphics, so to speak. I had the option for variable coordinate accuracy turned on, and when the firefight started I got somewhat unreal variations when asking for position reports on the platoon and the enemy. (Um, spoiler, there is an enemy on the board to fight.) I might turn variable coordinate reports back off again, hard to say. I think I may have accidentally turned off click-coordinates (point-clicking to assign coordinates) without understanding what the result would be, too; so I had to visually map-read and dial in coordinates. This appears to have broken the "click on suspected VC site to send them there" functionality, so that the tutorial was telling me to do something I couldn't do.
The tutorial is very decent, by the way.
I enjoyed it, but I came away from the first mission with more of a desire to play Vietnam 65 or the Afghan sequel again, than to continue onto the second mission yet.
I'd probably restart the campaign and bring in Bravo company for support next time: they're around and after the fact I feel like I should have gotten them some experience, too. Plus not doing so seems to have broken the opportunity to call in air or arty support, so Alpha took more casualties than they might not have done otherwise against an enemy that outnumbered them.
Multiplayer Dominions 5, TW Warhammer II and Sword of the Stars I (modded). I need to get some Sword of the Stars II time in with the player patch sometime....?
Just got down to the family place near Leakey. Still no deer :( That's five years in a row with no white-tails because of the coyotes. Looks like we'll be thinning the pigs and shooting the encroaching imported exotics again. They seem to laugh at the coyotes.
Had buddies over, played poker, watched Auburn roast the Hogs. Made bambi chili for the first time in six months which everyone likes.
Watched Tennessee pretend to nearly not lose to Alabama last night. Or rather, heard about it at close second-hand.
(Commentators, both on the network and at hand, seemed to agree that this represented an improvement in Volunteer capability this year so far... :P )
The Vols played a good game. They were in it right until the last quarter. Much closer than the score indicates. The Tide's season maybe done unless they get their Quarterback healthy quick... they got L.S.U. coming soon. :hide:
LSU is always tough.
The family's general opinion is that we might have won if our freshman qb hadn't injured his neck again, requiring him to get out of the game. The players apparently don't like the first string qb at all, or don't work well with him, or something: our play quality goes straight down the toilet.
This wouldn't explain our amazingly weak defense during the first part of the season, but I've seen us getting better (again) there. The Vol Wall used to be fearsome, with blitzes and dogs shutting down the opposition qb and forcing turnovers. (Which we basically had to do because our secondary has always been traditionally weak, so we had to stop the pass and long runs at the source.)
Well,
I had two "family functions" - A Wedding on Saturday and a Birthday Party for my nephew on Sunday
So the gaming has been minimal this weekend.
I did successfully install and run my copy of Sword of the Stars (with Argo Naval Yards) so I'm trying to grok that. I forgot how rusty I was. YIKES.
My rut sinks deeper. Arkham Asylum is definitely solid, just not what I am looking for right now. And Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, while clearly a classic, just played and looked to dated. Hoping that Witcher 2 (whose combat flummoxed me years ago) or the new Wasteland game will break me out of this. I tried Wasteland when it was new but it also didn't engage me at the time. Fingers crossed.
If both fail I may be Divinity 2 Definitive Edition on sale this weekend. Maybe I just need something new/shiny.
I recall you've had trouble getting into ArkAsy in prior years, too. :-\
Hm. It's Halloween. You need something seasonal and atmospheric but not the usual thing.
...
...
...late 1700s French Canadian Irish hunter-trapper (or lumberjack) vs werewolf invasion simulator? :D
https://store.steampowered.com/app/227220/SangFroid__Tales_of_Werewolves/?snr=1_7_15__13
Cost is
totally free for some reason right now! -- and has been for some time, although I've forgotten it.
My review from mid-Sept 2017:
QuoteI am a lumberjack and I'm okay!
I hunt all night and I chop alllllAAAGGHGHGSHSRHLLLL.. {killed by werewolf}
Sang-Froid. Currently free for reasons I have no understanding of, but well worth the original full asking cost.
I would try to include some critical realism about the game's shortcomings, which do exist, but I literally write silly songs for this game when it goes on sale, so I'm just going to pretend this game is made entirely of awesome.
I don't have to pretend hard. This game drips atmosphere and charm, even if the graphics seem a tad cartoony and the English voice acting is... passable, at best. Might be better in French; the game is fully subtitled in English anyway, and listening to Irish settlers in French Canada, one of whom has a Native accent for reasons that sort of make sense in the plot, should be stunning in at least two senses of that word.
Be aware, as other reviewers have said, that the controls are going to seem... well, actually ARE, a bit clunky. I'm not sure if this is by design, or if the devs have made a virtue of an engine problem, but you aren't supposed to be a whiskey'd up Irish French Canadian ax ninja. (Note to self: suggest this for volume two when-if-ever the devs get around to it...!) In fact, I recommend that even beginners should start with Jaques, the brother who's better at hunting and not so great with an ax, anyway. He's designed to be harder to survive, but I find that adds an extra bit of tension to the game.
Looking back, I think you tried Sang Froid before but couldn't get involved in it.
Here's my written demonstration AAR (with screenshots) from back in 2014; my Steam review borrows from it slightly. http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=11576.msg298987#msg298987
This was my first try with Arkham Asylum - I'll go back to it just not right now. BTW there has been more interwebz chatter on the next Arkham game yesterday and today with not so subtle hints dropped on The Twitter, etc.
I have never played Sang Froid either - a couple of years ago I did play through a similar sounding game - can't remember the name of it but it was originally produced in Poland, with a top down view, set in Poland or somewhere similar in eastern Europe...
Doesn't ring a bell. This is definitely a 3rd-person shooter (or chopper as the case sometimes is), with some strong defensive strategy pathing, a little like a tower defense. Comparisons to Orcs Must Die would not be completely wrong, but the game design is meant to be a little more realistic, especially if you're playing as the hunter/trapper brother (as I think the game was originally designed). He can axe-fight, but he isn't a lumberjack like his brother so it's easy for him to tire out and to over-reach and overstep taking a swing.
And even though he's a much better shot than his brother, he still only has a muzzle loader. Loading powder and shot and tamping it down etc., is done automatically when loading or reloading, and it can be hastened at no cost other than right-clicking furiously, but it still takes A WHILE -- which when you've got wolves (or werewolves) gearing up to eat your face, can be stressy. :smitten:
Back when I wrote my introduction to the game and its mechanics (in its first mission), I couldn't save video so I had to try to take screen snapshots manually as things happened, or in between things happening, and in this game that was disastrous! I have played with the idea of doing eps for Halloween...
Well I played through The Witcher 2 tutorial and I think because I completed The Witcher 3, combat is not as difficult anymore...found my game, I think.
Also played through the Endless Legend tutorial...that game is damned complex! Almost as complex as Endless Space...
I managed to get in some quality time with BG 2 this weekend. Anybody have a really, really big shoe I can borrow?