What video game are you playing?

[Underseer]

One thing: my PC monitor is at the standard 1920x1080, but the tablet is somewhat higher. The Steam Link app did not upscale the image on my tablet, so only 1920x1080 of the pixels on my tablet were used. That made everything seem even smaller on a screen that is already smaller than my PC monitor.

I do hope they fix that.

 

[KeepTalking]

My obsession with Civ 6 has finally been transferred to a new game. I have had BattleTech for about 2 weeks now, and I cannot stop playing it. The turn based tactical combat is superb, and layered under it are full Mechwarrior rpg character building, and mech customization to your heart's content. There is a linear storyline, consisting of "priority missions", but it is broken up by a nearly endless succession of side missions that can be taken in between the priority missions. The game actually encourages you to do a bit of both, as the priority missions would be extremely difficult to complete without leveling up your pilots, and more importantly, salvaging new mechs in the side missions. The side missions slowly ramp up in difficulty, and pay much less than the priority missions, however, which eventually pulls you back into the priority missions so that your entire mercenary company does not got broke (thereby losing you the game).

 

[Emily Lake]

My obsession with Civ 6 has finally been transferred to a new game. I have had BattleTech for about 2 weeks now, and I cannot stop playing it. The turn based tactical combat is superb, and layered under it are full Mechwarrior rpg character building, and mech customization to your heart's content. There is a linear storyline, consisting of "priority missions", but it is broken up by a nearly endless succession of side missions that can be taken in between the priority missions. The game actually encourages you to do a bit of both, as the priority missions would be extremely difficult to complete without leveling up your pilots, and more importantly, salvaging new mechs in the side missions. The side missions slowly ramp up in difficulty, and pay much less than the priority missions, however, which eventually pulls you back into the priority missions so that your entire mercenary company does not got broke (thereby losing you the game).

Witcher 3 had a similar mechanic, that I found pretty effective. Similar to your description, the main story is very linear, but there are tons of side quests of various sorts. The side quests net very little in terms of experience points, so they're not particularly useful for leveling up quickly... but they pay a lot more cash, and they give you better gear. The main quests provide significantly more experience, but little to no cash and no gear. To survive the main quests, you need to have adequate gear... which costs cash and resources... which are best got through side quests. You definitely don't have to do all the side quests, but I think it would be very difficult to survive without doing about a third of the side quests. If you didn't use any of the special gear at all, and didn't use the buffing potions, you could probably still make it through the main story but it would be immensely more difficult. I found it to be a very nice balance - you don't end up over-leveled via side quests... but the side quests still serve a useful purpose and don't feel forced or unnecessary.

That was one of my frustrations with Elder Scrolls and Fallout (even though they're still some of my favorites ever). The main story was okay, but it was perfectly reasonable to do the main story without ever doing more than one or two side quests. On the other hand, it was also possible to spend dozens of hours doing nothing but side quests (which were admittedly more fun most of the time)... and by the time you got back to the main story, you were level 50 and indestructible... at which point it was kind of boring.

 

[prideandfall]

God of the Uncharted Last of Us Darksiders War

god of war dev team: hey you know how we came up with this game that at the time was kind of innovative at the least in that it took a bunch of existing staples of a certain style of game and kind of perfected them, and a bunch of other games copied us (to some extent or another) and the genre evolved and now action/rpg games are at this particular point in their lifecycle where there are a bunch of tropes of design and presentation, and other games that took the basics of the formula we started are now the standard bearers for that new dynamic?
what if we totally did the same thing and just stole all their shit and put kratos on it? that would be AWESOME

... and for most part, it is. it isn't "god of war" as the games existed prior to this, but i'm about halfway through it so far and what it is works pretty well.
i don't like the new combat system (it's the god of war formula but slowed down - turns out "frantic system at a slow rate" is really just "vaguely annoying"), i don't like the up-close camera (i liked the zoomed-out epic scale of god of war - which, combined with the combat, makes for a frustratingly high amount of "i don't know precisely where i am in relation to the thing i'm attacking for the purposes of judging attack range distance), and the story... only works if you followed the series up to now and the blatant Last of Us ripoff wasn't made sort of ironic and poignant specifically because it's kratos.

but these criticisms are, much like with my movie reviews, a result of the fact that i critique everything i engage with because that's the way i am.
i have been finding the game quite enjoyable to play, the story engaging for the most part, and i'm not feeling much of a sense of a regret over the purchase of a newer game or the fact that i bought an entire gaming console pretty much just for this game (i've been waiting for this to come out so enough games were released for the ps4 that i felt actually justified in owning one - woohoo 450 dollar impulse purchase for a console and a bunch of games!)

 

[Emily Lake]

I've been on the fence about God of War. I enjoyed the prior games, and I've been a little worried that the new format would diverge too much from the "feel" of the prior ones (which were very, very "video-gamey").

 

[prideandfall]

I've been on the fence about God of War. I enjoyed the prior games, and I've been a little worried that the new format would diverge too much from the "feel" of the prior ones (which were very, very "video-gamey").

if you like the last of us and uncharted and games like that and think the idea of one of those games with a little bit more involved and action-RPG themed combat would be fun, and don't mind a game like that having part of its narrative be somewhat predicated on:
A. you having an awareness of kratos as a character and,
B. enjoying the the idea of juxtaposing that character's presentation up to this point with the more self-serious style of modern "cinematic" narrative-driven games going for an air of maturity and drama,
then it's pretty damn good and very enjoyable.

if you don't like that style of video-games-as-interactive-stories type game, or if you have a really serious personal attachment to the notion of GoW games being frenetic button mash-fests that are basically linear 3D platformers, i could see this new game being a real big disappointment.

 

[Emily Lake]

I've been on the fence about God of War. I enjoyed the prior games, and I've been a little worried that the new format would diverge too much from the "feel" of the prior ones (which were very, very "video-gamey").

if you like the last of us and uncharted and games like that and think the idea of one of those games with a little bit more involved and action-RPG themed combat would be fun, and don't mind a game like that having part of its narrative be somewhat predicated on:
A. you having an awareness of kratos as a character and,
B. enjoying the the idea of juxtaposing that character's presentation up to this point with the more self-serious style of modern "cinematic" narrative-driven games going for an air of maturity and drama,
then it's pretty damn good and very enjoyable.

if you don't like that style of video-games-as-interactive-stories type game, or if you have a really serious personal attachment to the notion of GoW games being frenetic button mash-fests that are basically linear 3D platformers, i could see this new game being a real big disappointment.

I'm in!

The button mashing aspect of GoW was only tolerable because it didn't require me to do so in any sort of an order, or with any real thought at all. I can do mashing, it's aiming that's a challenge! And I always liked the underlying story and character of Kratos more than the combat anyway. The combat was acceptable, but not the part I was most interested in.

Kind of like Diablo 3. I enjoy it, despite the channel-driven constant fighting escapade that it is. The costumes and weapons are so absurd and comical, and the bits of banter were entertaining enough that I had fun, despite it not really being very engaging for me at all. But I only played it through once, and when I've tried to go back to it, it just doesn't hook me having already gone through it. On the other hand... I'll go back and replay the original Mass Effect trilogy, Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, and Fallout again and again and again... Story and immersion matter to me. Apparently I really like really pretty choose-your-own-adventures

 

[Underseer]

My obsession with Civ 6 has finally been transferred to a new game. I have had BattleTech for about 2 weeks now, and I cannot stop playing it. The turn based tactical combat is superb, and layered under it are full Mechwarrior rpg character building, and mech customization to your heart's content. There is a linear storyline, consisting of "priority missions", but it is broken up by a nearly endless succession of side missions that can be taken in between the priority missions. The game actually encourages you to do a bit of both, as the priority missions would be extremely difficult to complete without leveling up your pilots, and more importantly, salvaging new mechs in the side missions. The side missions slowly ramp up in difficulty, and pay much less than the priority missions, however, which eventually pulls you back into the priority missions so that your entire mercenary company does not got broke (thereby losing you the game).

That's pretty much the basic outline of my favorite MechWarrior games from the series.

Unfortunately, a lot of games in the series strip out the strategy and RPG elements where it's just a typical shooter: mission, cut scene, mission, cut scene, repeat.

 

[Patooka]

Finally got a salvaged King Crab to go with my HGN-732b and AS7-D-H. My lance is unstoppable! Also fun fact; there is a way of obtaining two gauss rifles after the 'raising the dead" mission

 

[Underseer]

I remember playing one of the earliest MechWarrior games on a 80386. DOS. Polygons only. I quickly figured out that if you used the tiniest mech, you could run right into the shins of a larger mech and they couldn't target you, so it didn't matter how weak your weapons were. Since the later missions all involved giant mechs, I outfitted my NPC crewmates with the biggest baddest mechs, got them to engage the big bad enemies, then patiently shot at their shins until they went down.

 

[Emily Lake]

Any time I finish up a particular long and engaging game, I go through some weird ennui*. I have a hard time getting into something new, because I am still in the mindset of the game I just finished. It tends to make it difficult for me to go from one immersive game to another without something shorter and less invested in the middle. Over the past year, my "in-between" games have been things like Dishonored, Prey, Tomb Raider, and even Ratchet & Clank. They're good, solid games, but there's a bit of remove from the characters and the focus is more on the game-play than the character development.

Having just recently finished replaying Witcher 3 (which is a really long game with all the DLCs in there), I'm now replaying Portal 2. It's been years since I've played that one, and it is just as much fun as it was the first time though!


*I do the same thing with books. I love long sagas... but I always end up reading something short and "fluffy" when I'm done, because I just can't get back into a new saga yet.

 

[Underseer]

I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but that one time I used that Steam Link app to play Civilization 6 on my Android tablet, I stopped using the tablet and switched to streaming to my laptop. At the end of the day, when i went to my desktop, there were two different instances of Civilization 6 running on the desktop.

- - - Updated - - -

Any time I finish up a particular long and engaging game, I go through some weird ennui*. I have a hard time getting into something new, because I am still in the mindset of the game I just finished. It tends to make it difficult for me to go from one immersive game to another without something shorter and less invested in the middle. Over the past year, my "in-between" games have been things like Dishonored, Prey, Tomb Raider, and even Ratchet & Clank. They're good, solid games, but there's a bit of remove from the characters and the focus is more on the game-play than the character development.

Having just recently finished replaying Witcher 3 (which is a really long game with all the DLCs in there), I'm now replaying Portal 2. It's been years since I've played that one, and it is just as much fun as it was the first time though!


*I do the same thing with books. I love long sagas... but I always end up reading something short and "fluffy" when I'm done, because I just can't get back into a new saga yet.

What about using casual games as in-betweeners?

 

[Emily Lake]

I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but that one time I used that Steam Link app to play Civilization 6 on my Android tablet, I stopped using the tablet and switched to streaming to my laptop. At the end of the day, when i went to my desktop, there were two different instances of Civilization 6 running on the desktop.

- - - Updated - - -

Any time I finish up a particular long and engaging game, I go through some weird ennui*. I have a hard time getting into something new, because I am still in the mindset of the game I just finished. It tends to make it difficult for me to go from one immersive game to another without something shorter and less invested in the middle. Over the past year, my "in-between" games have been things like Dishonored, Prey, Tomb Raider, and even Ratchet & Clank. They're good, solid games, but there's a bit of remove from the characters and the focus is more on the game-play than the character development.

Having just recently finished replaying Witcher 3 (which is a really long game with all the DLCs in there), I'm now replaying Portal 2. It's been years since I've played that one, and it is just as much fun as it was the first time though!


*I do the same thing with books. I love long sagas... but I always end up reading something short and "fluffy" when I'm done, because I just can't get back into a new saga yet.

What about using casual games as in-betweeners?

Those are my casual games!

What did you have in mind?

 

[KeepTalking]

Finally got a salvaged King Crab to go with my HGN-732b and AS7-D-H. My lance is unstoppable! Also fun fact; there is a way of obtaining two gauss rifles after the 'raising the dead" mission

What I wouldn't do for a 100 ton mech and a couple of gauss rifles right now. I am currently stalling on doing the raise the dead mission, opting to do a side mission of equal difficulty on my way there. It is one of those "kill a lance of mechs" missions. The lance of mechs is only a 3 mech lance, but a couple of turns in reinforcements show up in the form of another lance of 3 mechs. Usually not a huge problem, but in this case there is a 70 ton Grasshopper in each lance, and I only have one 70 tonner in my stable (a Black Knight). To top it off, it is on a Martian world and pretty much all of my heavy mechs have terrible heat efficiency. After a couple of attempts with different lance configurations, I discovered something crucial about Martian terrain types: the "ice" patches are only actually ice if you do the mission at night. In this mission there is an ice patch that is reachable just before the reinforcements show up. The enemy mechs are all terrible at heat efficiency as well, so if I restart until I get a night mission, sprint to the ice and camp there for the rest of the mission, I should be able to regulate my heat well while the enemy mechs overheat like crazy. I still need fairly efficient mechs to pull it off, so I am thinking the Black Knight is still out of the lance, as well as my Jagermech refitted with an AC20++ and AC10+, but my pair of Dragons along with two other 60/65 ton mechs should do the trick.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Got back into Mario Rabbids. I was having issues with Phantom. But got through it. The whole Phantom song was unbelievably unexpected and funny. The people that Ubisoft have running the Rayman/Rabbid (well reborn now, as the earlier rabbid stuff was a bit weak) franchise are particularly warped, but creative people.

[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-cpqE-efw[/YOUTUBE]

And there is new Donkey Kong DLC material coming out soon. Looking forward to that after I finally beat this game, now that Stardew Valley isn't taking up all of my precious spare Video Game time.

 

[Patooka]

Finally got a salvaged King Crab to go with my HGN-732b and AS7-D-H. My lance is unstoppable! Also fun fact; there is a way of obtaining two gauss rifles after the 'raising the dead" mission

What I wouldn't do for a 100 ton mech and a couple of gauss rifles right now. I am currently stalling on doing the raise the dead mission, opting to do a side mission of equal difficulty on my way there. It is one of those "kill a lance of mechs" missions. The lance of mechs is only a 3 mech lance, but a couple of turns in reinforcements show up in the form of another lance of 3 mechs. Usually not a huge problem, but in this case there is a 70 ton Grasshopper in each lance, and I only have one 70 tonner in my stable (a Black Knight). To top it off, it is on a Martian world and pretty much all of my heavy mechs have terrible heat efficiency. After a couple of attempts with different lance configurations, I discovered something crucial about Martian terrain types: the "ice" patches are only actually ice if you do the mission at night. In this mission there is an ice patch that is reachable just before the reinforcements show up. The enemy mechs are all terrible at heat efficiency as well, so if I restart until I get a night mission, sprint to the ice and camp there for the rest of the mission, I should be able to regulate my heat well while the enemy mechs overheat like crazy. I still need fairly efficient mechs to pull it off, so I am thinking the Black Knight is still out of the lance, as well as my Jagermech refitted with an AC20++ and AC10+, but my pair of Dragons along with two other 60/65 ton mechs should do the trick.

There's your issue. Assault mechs don't turn up until after the raising the dead mission. When you pick side missions, the description is generally more helpful than the difficulty star rating. To make thing easier for yourself, choose missions where you are fighting pirates instead of Directorate forces; pirate forces have 25-50% of their armour missing at the start.

 

[KeepTalking]

Finally got a salvaged King Crab to go with my HGN-732b and AS7-D-H. My lance is unstoppable! Also fun fact; there is a way of obtaining two gauss rifles after the 'raising the dead" mission

What I wouldn't do for a 100 ton mech and a couple of gauss rifles right now. I am currently stalling on doing the raise the dead mission, opting to do a side mission of equal difficulty on my way there. It is one of those "kill a lance of mechs" missions. The lance of mechs is only a 3 mech lance, but a couple of turns in reinforcements show up in the form of another lance of 3 mechs. Usually not a huge problem, but in this case there is a 70 ton Grasshopper in each lance, and I only have one 70 tonner in my stable (a Black Knight). To top it off, it is on a Martian world and pretty much all of my heavy mechs have terrible heat efficiency. After a couple of attempts with different lance configurations, I discovered something crucial about Martian terrain types: the "ice" patches are only actually ice if you do the mission at night. In this mission there is an ice patch that is reachable just before the reinforcements show up. The enemy mechs are all terrible at heat efficiency as well, so if I restart until I get a night mission, sprint to the ice and camp there for the rest of the mission, I should be able to regulate my heat well while the enemy mechs overheat like crazy. I still need fairly efficient mechs to pull it off, so I am thinking the Black Knight is still out of the lance, as well as my Jagermech refitted with an AC20++ and AC10+, but my pair of Dragons along with two other 60/65 ton mechs should do the trick.

There's your issue. Assault mechs don't turn up until after the raising the dead mission. When you pick side missions, the description is generally more helpful than the difficulty star rating. To make thing easier for yourself, choose missions where you are fighting pirates instead of Directorate forces; pirate forces have 25-50% of their armour missing at the start.

Well, my strategy worked, although I found out that the ice patches on martian biomes are actually a function of your drop tonnage rater than the day/night cycle, which is weird. So, going in with just under 250 tons was key to having the ice, and having the ice was key to winning the mission. Also, the lower tonnage I took made it so that I only had to face one Assault mech, rather than two, which does actually make sense (enemy tonnage being predicated on your own drop tonnage, that is). As predicted, the AI consistently overheated their mechs until they shut down, so I targeted their more heat efficient mechs when I could, and made it out with only one mech that had severe structure damage. From there, I went to the raising the dead mission, and was gifted a 90 ton Highlander with one gauss rifle. Not sure how you are supposed to obtain the other gauss rifle, but that Highlander is an indispensable mech at this point, mostly owing to the massive heat sinks it has. I can fire all the weapons all day long in most biomes, without building up any heat at all.

 

[braces_for_impact]

Started the Rise and Fall of Civ 6. I like the loyalty and Governors and how you earn new golden ages. I seem to be getting a handle on it, but I've only played a few half games through on Prince. I really want to try the Mech Warrior game you all are talking about when I get the funds.

 

[Terrell]

Bethesda Game Studios has put up a "Please Stand By" teaser.

 

[Patooka]

Not sure how you are supposed to obtain the other gauss rifle, but that Highlander is an indispensable mech at this point, mostly owing to the massive heat sinks it has. I can fire all the weapons all day long in most biomes, without building up any heat at all.

Short answer is by cheating. You are "gifted" the -732b Highlander regardless whether it survived the mission or not. If it gets destroyed in the mission (like for example when the Zeus, Awesome and Battlemaster show up), you can salvage its parts and still get a brand new -732b in the process.