What game are you playing?

[Ilovecheezecake]

Been playing They are billions campaign mode on 800% apocalypse difficulty, really enjoying the game so far.

[Big Red Dog]

xenonauts 2
it's good but there is no toggle to turn off female troops so at the start of the game you have to restart until you get a minimal amount that you can just dismiss without suffering from no troops to rotate in early game when people are injured
example of a good set to dismiss, only two women. you'll be a bit more ****** if you cant tolerate blacks and browns though i've usually only gotten one or two and i don't mind that many

[Classix]

speaking of WoW...

decided to give private servers a try since Wrath Classic is gone now

some weird **** in the Warmane servers i chose like cross-faction dungeon finder for lower level **** and some few oddities here and there, but i'm glad i can enjoy peak WoW without paying a cent to the hacks at Blizzard.





Zug Zug brothers

[KnightoftheWind]

I've been playing "The Witch's House MV", a remake of a 2012 RPG Maker horror title. I had been introduced to the game years ago through Youtube let's plays, and I'm finally giving it a shot for myself. It's a well-paced game with minimal story, that has you piecing things together through the various notes and diaries you find. The puzzles are straightforward and enjoyable, but what I like most is the atmosphere and unpredictability. Objects and events can move and occur at a moment's notice, and rooms rarely stay the same. It has the same vibe as an Alice in Wonderland tale, fantastical and alien.

That's what sets this game apart from many titles, and I wish more games had this element of "dynamic" horror where the environment isn't so static and enemies so predictable. The Witch's House MV even incentives you to revisit completed rooms, just to see if something changes or moves. It's almost as if the developer accounted for everything the player 'might' decide to do, which is great. I recommend it for sure, as it's definitely not Youtube fodder.

[Silvanus]

I've been playing Jagged Alliance 2 with Stracciatella. Great game, but I can't get the line of sight overlay and cover display overlays to work - Perhaps my fault for cheaping out and using Wildfire's JA2 classic instead of just buying JA2 Gold.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Finished World End Economica part 2. It's been a while since I was this enthralled by a VN. It's very good at explaining financial concepts that I didn't understand at all even when taking college courses. You understand it better when you have characters you care about being threatened by or trying to capitalize with these mechanics to achieve their goals. It is also the only game story I can think of off of the top of my head where you interact with a lot of suits such as moneylenders, shareholders, CEOs, bankers, etc, and they aren't demonized as strawmen capitalist caricatures.













Currently half way through part 3. Things were looking so good

[KnightoftheWind]

Been playing Valkyria Chronicles, first vanilla then with the "Imperial Onslaught" rebalancing mod after quitting halfway in sheer frustration. I feel the mod significantly improves the experience, making each class useful and giving you a better chance at obtaining an A rank through proper strategy, rather than by attempting to rush the enemies' base with your scouts. The story isn't remarkable, but it's entertaining enough and deals with realistic themes such as fighting for one's homeland, and racism. In this case towards the so-called "Darcsens", people with dark hair who used to be part of an evil world-spanning empire some centuries ago. You seldom see such concepts played relatively straight, if it were western devs the "Darcsens" would be black and gay and the allied units you'd be playing as would be white and be portrayed as subversive as possible. Because there is no room to depict the human condition naturally.

Regardless, the game does look like your typical anime, but has a neat painterly-esque look to it that sets it apart from most games, especially in this genre. I am very fond of the game despite it's shortcomings, primarily because it removes the tedious aspect of having to move each individual unit on a grid in a turn-based fashion. In Valkyria Chronicles, you can move units in real time and the enemies can even fire at you as you move, which adds some intensity to your manoeuvring and overall makes the act of playing the game more exciting than any other I've played. It's a shame there aren't many games like this.

[SoLong]

Gemcraft: Frostborn Wrath.

I wanted to play something older and a tower defense game as a palette cleanser after my latest disappointing game.

It's actually not bad!

[Roguey]

Finished Scarlet Nexus and I do mean finished (but not 100%, that's too much even for me).



Extremely anime and extremely Namco Bandai jrpg with a kicking soundtrack, friendly companions, and some weirdly sexy monsters.



I was seething a bit about the difficulty of some of the boss fights early on, but I pushed through it, learned how to properly play. Got to the point in the late game where killing everything had become very quick and routine.

There are two protagonists, and to get the entire story, you have to complete both campaigns (I agree with others on the internet that Yuito's should be done first because it leaves you in the dark more). There's a bit of overlap, especially in the endgame when both groups merge together, but the middle is almost entirely different story-wise. Though it was a bit disappointing that a subplot with a recurring boss in Kasane's story just fizzles out without a resolution. When it comes to level design, they face different enemies (including unique bosses), one character typically has a different starting position from the other, and there's one location completely unique to Yuito.

I bought the total package with all the DLC. The additional character bond episodes were nice, but I didn't like how you eventually have to grind materials to unlock them. It's exasperating because you have to fight the same boss battles over and over again for a chance for the materials you want to drop. And the game allows you to buy a good number of materials, but just not these in particular. The epilogue dlc episodes, where you see things from the antagonist's perspective, were also great. But the boss they make you fight to unlock the final parts is ridiculously hard; even though I was max level I dialed the difficulty down to Very Easy (after dying the first time having only made a small dent in his health bar) and still struggled.

However what I liked most is that 40% of the characters in your team are on the spectrum, including the female main character. Naturally I preferred the girls over the boys. The two autistic girls interacting? Classic.

(timestamped to peak autism)

[DagothGeas5]

Finished Scarlet Nexus and I do mean finished (but not 100%, that's too much even for me).



Extremely anime and extremely Namco Bandai jrpg with a kicking soundtrack, friendly companions, and some weirdly sexy monsters.



I was seething a bit about the difficulty of some of the boss fights early on, but I pushed through it, learned how to properly play. Got to the point in the late game where killing everything had become very quick and routine.

There are two protagonists, and to get the entire story, you have to complete both campaigns (I agree with others on the internet that Yuito's should be done first because it leaves you in the dark more). There's a bit of overlap, especially in the endgame when both groups merge together, but the middle is almost entirely different story-wise. Though it was a bit disappointing that a subplot with a recurring boss in Kasane's story just fizzles out without a resolution. When it comes to level design, they face different enemies (including unique bosses), one character typically has a different starting position from the other, and there's one location completely unique to Yuito.

I bought the total package with all the DLC. The additional character bond episodes were nice, but I didn't like how you eventually have to grind materials to unlock them. It's exasperating because you have to fight the same boss battles over and over again for a chance for the materials you want to drop. And the game allows you to buy a good number of materials, but just not these in particular. The epilogue dlc episodes, where you see things from the antagonist's perspective, were also great. But the boss they make you fight to unlock the final parts is ridiculously hard; even though I was max level I dialed the difficulty down to Very Easy (after dying the first time having only made a small dent in his health bar) and still struggled.

However what I liked most is that 40% of the characters in your team are on the spectrum, including the female main character. Naturally I preferred the girls over the boys. The two autistic girls interacting? Classic.

(timestamped to peak autism)

[KnightoftheWind]

Been greatly enjoying this obscure gem called "Swords & Souls: Neverseen". It's a turn-based RPG with a unique gimmick, in order to level up you need to play a minigame depending on the stat you wish to increase. This ranges from using your mouse to aim and shoot a bow, block incoming objects with your shield, or WASD to slash at incoming projectiles. It doesn't sound like much, but the gameplay loop is very enjoyable and it's perhaps the most addicting game I've played in a long while. It's Newgrounds aesthetics betray a surprisingly enjoyable game, and I wish more people knew about it. I bought it for $20 on GOG and have no regrets doing so.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I have finished World End Economica. It was great up until the last 10 minutes. The ending was a little underwhelming. It is abrupt and there is no epilogue for a send off. Some of the music was nice but the tracks were too short, being about 60 to 90 seconds in length.

► Show Spoiler

The second and third games were building up to their reunion, but Hal and Hagana only got to spend two scenes together. You never get to savor it. There is no epilogue and you don't get to see if Lisa and Serrault got their happy ending. We never found out if John Eagle survived the apocalypse or fled to Earth. Chris turned her back on the Church to focus all in on climbing the corporate ladder, but then in the credits CG she is apparently eating there again? And I was not convinced that Barton was repentant. I'd be worried that he would be back to his old ways and create another ponzi scheme/crush more people and then leave our heroes out to dry again. I was also expecting that Christianity would have established more of a presence on the moon after 8 years. Lisa and the Church being in that blockbuster movie surely would have spurred more interest in it. What about Hal's housing project? Or the other cities that were envisioned? Did he use his billions to kickstart those? Did Toyama and Chris' father and everyone else who got evicted by Barton come back to settle in Hal's new houses?

Overall very good. Up there as one of the tighter VNs I've read. Recommended.

[1998]

Finally finished SteamWorld Heist. Second time I am attempting it. It was fun for a couple of hours, but **** I am happy its over. The constant screen recentering really made me nauseous. But eh, guess its good for a few hours of distraction.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Playing Pathfinder: WOTR for the third time but getting tired of constant buffing and needless bloat so probably going to play RoboCop: Rogue City instead.

[Oyster Sauce]

Playing Pathfinder: WOTR for the third time but getting tired of constant buffing and needless bloat so probably going to play RoboCop: Rogue City instead.

RoboCop was pretty good. Did you try a mod for automatic buff presets? I think I used one called Bubbles Lite or something similar which worked incredibly well. Wouldn't want to play without it.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Playing Pathfinder: WOTR for the third time but getting tired of constant buffing and needless bloat so probably going to play RoboCop: Rogue City instead.

RoboCop was pretty good. Did you try a mod for automatic buff presets? I think I used one called Bubbles Lite or something similar which worked incredibly well. Wouldn't want to play without it.

Unfortunately I play on console so QOL benefits like bubbles mod or having more then two character portraits is no go. Funny enough Owlcat did mention in a there most recent Q&A that there heard the complaints of buffing issue especially in higher core or unfair difficulties, but said they wanted to keep the old school design feel of D&D experience…******* lol.

[WhiteShark]

Funny enough Owlcat did mention in a there most recent Q&A that there heard the complaints of buffing issue especially in higher core or unfair difficulties, but said they wanted to keep the old school design feel of D&D experience…******* lol.

That's interesting, I don't remember needing click a million times to cast my standard buffs in the morning when playing actual D&D.

[rusty_shackleford]

3.5e/pathfinder would be greatly improved by the 5e concentration mechanic. Perhaps to not such a degree of having so many spells share a single typed concentration, but it would go a long way towards fixing one of the bigger issues I have with the system.

[WhiteShark]

3.5e/pathfinder would be greatly improved by the 5e concentration mechanic.

I don't mind buff stacking in 3.PF. I think it's part of the charm, really.

Perhaps to not such a degree of having so many spells share a single typed concentration, but it would go a long way towards fixing one of the bigger issues I have with the system.

If you wanted to limit it, maybe casters could gain additional concentration slots at certain levels. I also like the way GURPS handles it in the core magic system: casting spells requires a skill roll, and the difficulty goes up for each other spell you're already maintaining.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

That's interesting, I don't remember needing click a million times to cast my standard buffs in the morning when playing actual D&D.

Really want to be on the fly on the wall on Owlcat game design meeting. When the most popular and most used ( second being toy box mod) in the game then you kinds ****** up somewhere.
I understand not wanting to automate everything but I can think they can be a middle ground of not having to buff for half an hour for each trash mob encounter or boss fight.

[Tweed]

Finally finished SteamWorld Heist. Second time I am attempting it. It was fun for a couple of hours, but **** I am happy its over. The constant screen recentering really made me nauseous. But eh, guess its good for a few hours of distraction.

I actually liked it quite a bit. @agentorange of all people recommended it to me and I think it was just at random, I don't xie ever actually played it.

[Roguey]

Funny enough Owlcat did mention in a there most recent Q&A that there heard the complaints of buffing issue especially in higher core or unfair difficulties, but said they wanted to keep the old school design feel of D&D experience…******* lol.

That's interesting, I don't remember needing click a million times to cast my standard buffs in the morning when playing actual D&D.

It's how 90s-00s D&D crpgs are played.

[rusty_shackleford]

Funny enough Owlcat did mention in a there most recent Q&A that there heard the complaints of buffing issue especially in higher core or unfair difficulties, but said they wanted to keep the old school design feel of D&D experience…******* lol.

That's interesting, I don't remember needing click a million times to cast my standard buffs in the morning when playing actual D&D.

It's how 90s-00s D&D crpgs are played.

Only thing that comes close is NWN/NWN2, it simply was not anywhere near as prevalent prior to 3E.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

It's how 90s-00s D&D crpgs are played.

I don’t like to use words dated but this the few times were this certainly fits the case. Wouldn’t be much of issue in most cases In other old CRPG’s but Owlcat encounter design is throwing endless trash mobs with inflated stat numbers that becomes ludicrous by late game. Now you get away with this on normal difficultly with the right character build but higher then that it becomes mandatory with buffing.

[Roguey]

Only thing that comes close is NWN/NWN2, it simply was not anywhere near as prevalent prior to 3E.

3rd edition exacerbated it, but it was still very much present in 2e. Josh Sawyer talking about Brian Mitsoda QA testing Icewind Dale:

Even among hardcore PC RPG fans, there is a wide spectrum of skill, experience, and preference. When I started at Black Isle, I designed a bunch of fights in IWD that only a handful of veteran BG testers could get through. Memorably, I saw a QA tester blow a fuse because a fight in Lower Dorn's Deep was "impossible". When I showed him how I got through it, I started off by having my casters go through six rounds of buffs. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Uh... buffing my party?" This seemed normal to me. DUH YEAH BUFF YOUR PARTY TO HELL AND BACK LOCK AND LOAD PAY ATTENTION FFFFFFFFFF. Despite his high experience with RPGs and Baldur's Gate, he just... never thought of it. The problem was that the entire fight was balanced around a party that was optimally built and lit up like a Christmas tree from stacked buffs.

About halfway through IWD's development, a QA tester (who went on to become a pretty well-respected developer) came up to Black Isle and was furious at the difficulty of a fight in Lower Dorn's Deep. He had been trying to legitimately get through it for 2 hours and hadn't succeeded. Kihan Pak and I loaded it up and beat it on the first try. He asked to see what we were doing. Naturally, we were pre-buffing for 5-6 rounds before we even went into the fight. Because there was no opportunity cost to using buffs, this was "the way" to get through fights, but it was tedious -- and for people who were not D&D veterans, it was not something they ever thought to do, which resulted in a full roadblock (see also: Burial Isle misery, which was also pretty easy for me and Kihan).

It's how 90s-00s D&D crpgs are played.

I don’t like to use words dated but this the few times were this certainly fits the case. Wouldn’t be much of issue in most cases In other old CRPG’s but Owlcat encounter design is throwing endless trash mobs with inflated stat numbers that becomes ludicrous by late game. Now you get away with this on normal difficultly with the right character build but higher then that it becomes mandatory with buffing.

I wouldn't say it's dated, just a particular way of doing things. Though ideally there should be a way to make it easier through the UI or perhaps restrictions on how many buffs any given character can have.

I didn't care for 5e's implementation of concentration and Sawyer's way of handling the pre-buffing problem by not allowing it was also unpopular.

[Stack of Turtles]

Buffing should not exist.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

I wouldn't say it's dated, just a particular way of doing things. Though ideally there should be a way to make it easier through the UI or perhaps restrictions on how many buffs any given character can have.

I didn't care for 5e's implementation of concentration and Sawyer's way of handling the pre-buffing problem by not allowing it was also unpopular.

I would be ok on limits on the amount of pre- buffing but Owlcat would have to completely overhaul the combat design since pre- buffing is how they build all enemy encounters by( there’s a reason why world map random enemies surprise attack can be a death sentence)

Owlcats Rogue Trader emphasis the action economy then buffing which is a welcome change since it doesn’t slow the game to crawl ( still a **** ton of trash mobs) like WOTR however the new patch for RT fucks that up.

Sawyer's design philosophy is an over correction that real limits spellcaters (Honestly character builds in general) which is why I only played BG3 once and have no interest playing again( welll I may check out the new ending coming in September for the urge but that’s debatable)

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Buffing should not exist.

It could work in situational circumstances, such as a high priority target who NEEDs to die ASAP, be it a dangerous heavily armored enemy, or an enemy character who has kidnapped a princess and is about to escape the level with her. You have one character use an expensive/long cool down buff on your damage dealer and he uses his most powerful attack/spell possible to stop that high priority target. Cheap buffs that last for several turns or minutes incentivize the player to be always playing with them.

[Stack of Turtles]

Buffing should not exist.

It could work in situational circumstances, such as a high priority target who NEEDs to die ASAP, be it a dangerous heavily armored enemy, or an enemy character who has kidnapped a princess and is about to escape the level with her. You have one character use an expensive/long cool down buff on your damage dealer and he uses his most powerful attack/spell possible to stop that high priority target. Cheap buffs that last for several turns or minutes incentivize the player to be always playing with them.

That's fair. When I think of "buffing" I mean the cases where it becomes paperwork you always do, which is just pointless and sad.

[aweigh]

Playing Pathfinder: WOTR for the third time but getting tired of constant buffing and needless bloat so probably going to play RoboCop: Rogue City instead.

RoboCop was pretty good. Did you try a mod for automatic buff presets? I think I used one called Bubbles Lite or something similar which worked incredibly well. Wouldn't want to play without it.

took me a solid minute to realize u meant buff presets in WOTR