What do we think about Krater? It's $3.75 on gamersgate looks like.
I played it for like 15 minutes a while back (last summer maybe?). I don't recall that it was bad or anything but it totally failed to grab my attention before something else distracted me. Of course, that's not exactly hard to oh look shiny!
This was my reaction to it as well, though I put 2 hours in.
It just completely failed to grab me.
Krater always came off to me like a sci-fi Torchlight.
That isn't a bad thing, mind you.
It has that semi-top down perspective that's been used since Diablo. It has a variety of 'classes', and hirable minions you use to create a party of three, and then go out and wreck stuff. The setting, a post-apocalyptic Sweden, is interesting, but didn't carry much depth for me - mind you I only got a couple of hours in, myself. Having said that, I'm coming to realise that lack of depth may be symptomatic of the genre.
Still, it's run a party around a dungeon/pit/maze/whatever, explode NPC's, grab the <shiny> of choice, and get Phat Lootz.
It's not a bad game, good for a quick run around, and I do mean to get back to it - is it worth $15? Maybe not. Is it worth $4? Probably, depending on if you've bought today's coffee or not.
(Disclaimer: It does feel a bit...brown. I really, really wanted a few shattered undeground labs or something. A few more sci-fi environments)
BrocksMulletInto the sunrise, on a jet-ski. Natch.Registered Userregular
quote="Houn;26693818"]Yeah, play Ep1. The Alyx companionship is in many ways a prototype for Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth, and her writing and voice acting was incredibly engaging.
Plus that one part. You all know what I'm talking about.[/quote]
Yeah, play Ep1. The Alyx companionship is in many ways a prototype for Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth, and her writing and voice acting was incredibly engaging.
Plus that one part. You all know what I'm talking about.
Episode 1 is beautiful because it is an escort mission, only you are the one being escorted.
Plus, Alyx's stupid zombie jokes are hilarious. She's got some really cool dialogue and reactions depending on what you do, especially in the tunnels.
I wish Valve would at least acknowledge that the Half Life series even exists anymore. It's been five and a half years since Episode 2 and its ending, the least they could do is be like "Yeah, we're working on it" or "No, we're not working on it right now".
I understand that they've got a lot on their plate right now with trying to enter the peripheral space and Steam for Linux and the Steambox and the hatconomy and and and... but still man, just a quick blurb about HL2 E3/HL3/whatever they are planning on calling it would be really nice for all of the fans that have been waiting for so long. I mean (EP2 ending spoilers):
you spend an entire game and two expansions getting the player to really care about the characters, get them super invested in their well being and the story in general, then you give them a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, and then nothing outside of like two pieces of leaked concept art and a couple of nods in the Portal series for half a decade.
Ok, I've finally gone ahead and purchased Telltale's The Walking Dead.
Let's see how I do in a zombie apocalypse...
ehh
I think the newer Walking Dead game, Survival Instincts, probably has better emotional impact
plus its an amazing shooter as well so you don't need to bother playing spec ops afterwards
(people usually need to do that after finishing the telltale one because there is hardly any shooting and they start needing good old fashioned FPS gameplay)
Ok, I've finally gone ahead and purchased Telltale's The Walking Dead.
Let's see how I do in a zombie apocalypse...
ehh
I think the newer Walking Dead game, Survival Instincts, probably has better emotional impact
plus its an amazing shooter as well so you don't need to bother playing spec ops afterwards
(people usually need to do that after finishing the telltale one because there is hardly any shooting and they start needing good old fashioned FPS gameplay)
Wait, what? I thought Survival Instincts was supposed to be a piece of shit cash in.
Okay, I may have lied about not wanting to play more Alan Wake and being burned out on it. American Nightmare was incredible and I may have just finished it in one sitting. It is only 6 hours or so. Though I did spend four hours prior to that playing and finishing the base games' dlc. 10 hours straight on the same game. Haven't done that in a while!
+3
RoshinMy backlog can be seen from spaceSwedenRegistered Userregular
Okay, I'm at the first boss in Prime World: Defenders and this seems to be a serious difficulty spike. I have upgraded (and maxed out) some of my cards and I'm throwing everything at him, but the best I can do is chip him down to half health before he casually strolls out of the level. I guess my only option is to grind for cards, upgrades, and money now?
Yeah, play Ep1. The Alyx companionship is in many ways a prototype for Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth, and her writing and voice acting was incredibly engaging.
Plus that one part. You all know what I'm talking about.
Episode 1 is beautiful because it is an escort mission, only you are the one being escorted.
Plus, Alyx's stupid zombie jokes are hilarious. She's got some really cool dialogue and reactions depending on what you do, especially in the tunnels.
I wish Valve would at least acknowledge that the Half Life series even exists anymore. It's been five and a half years since Episode 2 and its ending, the least they could do is be like "Yeah, we're working on it" or "No, we're not working on it right now".
I understand that they've got a lot on their plate right now with trying to enter the peripheral space and Steam for Linux and the Steambox and the hatconomy and and and... but still man, just a quick blurb about HL2 E3/HL3/whatever they are planning on calling it would be really nice for all of the fans that have been waiting for so long. I mean (EP2 ending spoilers):
you spend an entire game and two expansions getting the player to really care about the characters, get them super invested in their well being and the story in general, then you give them a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, and then nothing outside of like two pieces of leaked concept art and a couple of nods in the Portal series for half a decade.
Not cool man.
They confirmed "Ricochet 2" was in production a few months back, along with Source 2.
I mean, I suppose they could really mean Ricochet 2, but given the last time they used that name in was in reference to continuing story, I doubt it.
EDIT: Basically
In April last year, he said: "In terms of Ricochet 2, we always have this problem that when we talk about things too far in advance. We end up changing our minds as we're going through and developing stuff, so as we're thinking through the giant story arc which is Ricochet 2, you might get to a point where you're saying something is surprising us in a positive way and something is surprising us in a negative way."
Newell answered, "We've been working on new engine stuff for a while." The audio then became garbled, but subtitles read, "We've just been waiting for a game to roll it out with." Regardless of the incomprehensible audio, someone asked a straightforward follow-up question: "Is it more than just an extension to Source? Like, is it an entirely new engine?"
"Yeah," Newell said.
In August a group uncovered code for a "Source 2 engine" in the Source Filmmaker application, alongside "Source 2 tools" icons. The engine was labeled "next-gen."
Also during /v/'s Valve takeover, Newell and co. confirmed that Ricochet 2 is in development.
Okay, I'm at the first boss in Prime World: Defenders and this seems to be a serious difficulty spike. I have upgraded (and maxed out) some of my cards and I'm throwing everything at him, but the best I can do is chip him down to half health before he casually strolls out of the level. I guess my only option is to grind for cards, upgrades, and money now?
@Roshin, that's the first map where you really need to use towers to move the boss/mob's path. (I didn't do this, but presumably on his return voyage you could do the classic TD move and take him down one path and then switch a cheap tower to make him go an alternate route.) Here's the path I took him down:
Those are my current towers. I think back when I first played that level I made liberal use of slow + poison. There are windier paths to be made, too.
Do you have a bunch of stars? The "unique" cards and boosters from the store have generally been terrific. Maybe fire up a pack of those if you can swing it. (Note to those of you who don't have it - that's 'store' with only in-game currencies. No pay to play here.)
Edit: I should like to point out that not only have I never beat the main quest for Skyrim but I have never gotten further than the first quest after going up the mountain to meet the old dudes for the first time.
All Elder Scrolls Games follow the exact same pattern with me:
Step 1: Finish forced starter/tutorial quest
Step 2: Get bread crumb trail to first plot quest
Step 3: ????
Step 4: Randomly wander back into the beginning town/area several in game years later wielding the power of the gods
Step 5: Get thanked for quickly coming to their aid
Step 6: Complete Quest, and get bread crumb trail to second plot quest
Step 7: Snowflake becomes blizzard, see Step 3
After playing these games for so long, I can feel when my interest is starting to falter a bit. At that point, I rush back to the main plot line and finish it up to complete the game before apathy sets in and I put the game down.
Ian McConville's classic MOG*MOD for Morrowind has a part in the accompanying/explanatory comic, toward the end, where he follows a very similar path - bails on the main quest, eventually shows up on the doorstep of the putative Big Bad all leveled up and kitted out in fantastic gear, and forces/threatens said Big Bad into doing all the tedious and/or menial side-quests for him.
Steam, Warframe: Megajoule
0
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
First, a brief recap of my adventure that I mentioned last Friday:
So, somehow I survived the trip to Illinois, although I am without reliable internet (currently tethered through my phone). Basically, on Friday morning my fiancee picked me up, and we drove north for 4 hours to Gainesville, Florida. We got a moving truck, started loading it up with her stuff from the storage facility, and then her dad and siblings showed up to help. We finally got on the road with the moving truck + car carrier with my fiancee's car and another car being driven by her dad around 3:30 PM. We made it to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois by 12 PM Florida time, or 11 AM Illinois time. I cannot ever recommend doing this sort of thing in one shot like we did. I think I'm finally properly recovered today. Anyway, my fiancee now lives here in the same city as Volition, the creators of Saints Row and Red Faction! Sadly, I'm headed back to Florida on Saturday.
Anyway, I see we're posting about Steam games we've completed this year. Here's mine!
Far Cry 2
Half-Minute Hero
No Time to Explain
Metro 2033
Ys
Ys II
BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Little Inferno
Red Faction Armageddon
Bioshock Infinite
Strong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands
Deadlight
Section 8 Prejudice
Man, I'm pretty deep into the game, but I have no idea what towers those are that look like melted blobs.
For me, it's been Dragon Towers almost all the time lately.
The boulders smoking the dapper pipe? Those are cheap (6p), no damage towers just for blocking lanes.
Those are generally a wasted card slot though as you can use your normal towers to do the same thing but they cause damage. I think I got Mortar which made that first boss not to bad... That or maybe I just upgraded my Wooden towers to max. I don't remember.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
0
RoshinMy backlog can be seen from spaceSwedenRegistered Userregular
Okay, I'm at the first boss in Prime World: Defenders and this seems to be a serious difficulty spike. I have upgraded (and maxed out) some of my cards and I'm throwing everything at him, but the best I can do is chip him down to half health before he casually strolls out of the level. I guess my only option is to grind for cards, upgrades, and money now?
@Roshin, that's the first map where you really need to use towers to move the boss/mob's path. (I didn't do this, but presumably on his return voyage you could do the classic TD move and take him down one path and then switch a cheap tower to make him go an alternate route.) Here's the path I took him down:
Those are my current towers. I think back when I first played that level I made liberal use of slow + poison. There are windier paths to be made, too.
Do you have a bunch of stars? The "unique" cards and boosters from the store have generally been terrific. Maybe fire up a pack of those if you can swing it. (Note to those of you who don't have it - that's 'store' with only in-game currencies. No pay to play here.)
Well, I got past the boss (barely) by leading him along the absolute longest path around the map. I get the feeling this game is going to be a lot of grinding mixed up with really difficult boss battles to stop you in your tracks. And you better like the maps, because goddammit, you'll be seeing them a lot.
0
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Wait, you went to all that trouble to move your fiancee away from you?
Crazy, eh? We were already a 4-hour car trip away from each other. But yeah, I'll be looking into jobs up here over the next few months. And I figure if I can't find one within a certain amount of time, I'll move up anyway and live off my savings for a while.
...which is why I am trying my best to avoid buying stuff on Steam these days.
They confirmed "Ricochet 2" was in production a few months back, along with Source 2.
I had heard that they were working on a Source 2 because in some ways Source, as awesome as it is, is really, really, stupidly archaic when it comes to content creation, but I don't remember ever hearing about "Ricochet 2". Hopefully it'll be what we all hope it'll be, since lately Valve has seemed to develop an inability to count to 3 that is rivaled only by early to mid 90s Capcom.
0
KoopahTroopahThe koopas, the troopas.Philadelphia, PARegistered Userregular
Are we still listing games we've beaten this year on Steam? I'm a little late to the party, but here's what I've tallied so far:
The Walking Dead
To the Moon
Spec Ops: The Line Alice: Madness Returns
I can't recommend this game (and the first one) enough. I'll admit it gets bland and repetitive half way though the game, but holy fuck is it beautiful.
About 10 hours into Kingdoms of Amalur this time, really enjoying it now that I'm playing it without being halfway through something else.
I keep telling myself to not pick up every side quest but most of them have been pretty fun so far, think the only ones I've skipped are the obvious "get potion" or "collect ingredients".
Also chakrams are civilisation. Giving mages a really active combat weapon like that was a great idea.
Man, I'm pretty deep into the game, but I have no idea what towers those are that look like melted blobs.
For me, it's been Dragon Towers almost all the time lately.
The boulders smoking the dapper pipe? Those are cheap (6p), no damage towers just for blocking lanes.
Those are generally a wasted card slot though as you can use your normal towers to do the same thing but they cause damage. I think I got Mortar which made that first boss not to bad... That or maybe I just upgraded my Wooden towers to max. I don't remember.
Well sure. I just popped them into my loadout for a quick run for Roshin between walking the dog and getting in the shower this morning.
I do like them on this particular map since there are a lot of spots where you get 90 degrees or less value out of a cheap wood or stone tower. That little uphill jaunt in particular pains me to block with a firing tower since the mobs don't go that way once you block it. Plus, since the cost of each type of tower goes up the more you use it, that can really add up on this map starting at 30 instead of 6.
Definitely agree, Roshin, that map variety is not a strength of the game. Having different boosts in different spots on the same map does help a little.
About 10 hours into Kingdoms of Amalur this time, really enjoying it now that I'm playing it without being halfway through something else.
I keep telling myself to not pick up every side quest but most of them have been pretty fun so far, think the only ones I've skipped are the obvious "get potion" or "collect ingredients".
Also chakrams are civilisation. Giving mages a really active combat weapon like that was a great idea.
I've also recently restarted KoA and am having a helluva lot of fun with it, now that I'm taking on its own terms and really getting into reading/absorbing the lore and whatnot. I'm probably 10-12 hours in, as well.
Playing a rogue this time and absolutely loving some of the combat skills. Plus, faeblades are win.
As KoopahTroopah said above in regard to Alice, the same applies to KoA: It's so fucking beautiful. Gobstoppingly so.
Between KoA and a recently reinstalled Vampire:TMB** plus my continuing quest to see every road in Europe in Euro Truck Sim, I'm pretty well booked for gaming time!
**I mentioned it. So who's gonna be the next to reinstall it?
Yeah it does look really nice when you're out in the forests. Also having a complete respec option is welcomed, every weapon and skill looks super fun so might switch from pure magic in a few hours and try some of the warrior or rogue stuff.
Anyone interested in buying Anomaly 2 together? It might take a few days for the money to get transfered to my PayPal account, but the 2 for 1 deal seems to be going 'till May 15th, so there's still quite some time left.
Man, I'm pretty deep into the game, but I have no idea what towers those are that look like melted blobs.
For me, it's been Dragon Towers almost all the time lately.
The boulders smoking the dapper pipe? Those are cheap (6p), no damage towers just for blocking lanes.
Those are generally a wasted card slot though as you can use your normal towers to do the same thing but they cause damage. I think I got Mortar which made that first boss not to bad... That or maybe I just upgraded my Wooden towers to max. I don't remember.
Well sure. I just popped them into my loadout for a quick run for Roshin between walking the dog and getting in the shower this morning.
I do like them on this particular map since there are a lot of spots where you get 90 degrees or less value out of a cheap wood or stone tower. That little uphill jaunt in particular pains me to block with a firing tower since the mobs don't go that way once you block it. Plus, since the cost of each type of tower goes up the more you use it, that can really add up on this map starting at 30 instead of 6.
Definitely agree, Roshin, that map variety is not a strength of the game. Having different boosts in different spots on the same map does help a little.
The upgraded mortar is civilization.
Once you get all your tower slots open up, it's not a bad idea to just leave the boulder in one of them at all times. The other 6 slots are generally more than enough to provide as much versatility as you'd ever need. Usually you have enough Prime, if you're not worried about score or anything, to just use Cannon Towers or something to block paths, but if you're going for scores you can't afford to be dropping 30+ prime early on to block a path you could with 7-11.
Also map versatility isn't bad once you unlock them all; so raid maps are just chosen randomly from everything you've done. There is definitely a disparity in the quality of maps though; and the randomness of the boulders placed in raid maps can make 'easy' maps pretty annoying.
The boss fights aren't so bad once you kinda get the groove with them. They're just a change of mindset from the normal TD maps because what trivializes everything else might not even put a dent in bosses.
But if you're willing to do some raiding between maps and/or have good luck with the card choices, things are much smoother.
Mortar, fully upgraded, particularly on buff relic (of any type really; they all technically increase damage...bigger range = more hits, faster shots = more hits, more damage = more damage) is usually all you need for the bosses, except the flying one; I'd recommend 'grinding' up a lightning tower, if not forged, evolved to III.
Also, It can be tricky to use right, but an upgraded Tower of the Sun is brutal on every boss because of how its damage works; combine it with curse or an accursed tower and it will eat any boss for breakfast in short order. The problem is, it needs to be 'off' of trash, and in a place where its only getting the boss so it doesn't get distracted.
EDIT: Oh, and so upgrades. The game handles them weird. I wanna say that many TD's the scaling on upgrading your towers on maps is higher than the 2x/4x that this game has (or they have more levels, and the pricing is different). Prime for Prime, upgrading is usually the most cost efficient thing to do, like every other TD, but here it's only because of the cost scaling for placing more of the same tower. However, the price difference is often trivial enough as to make it not the best option. Two level 2 mortars costs the same as 1 level 3 and do the same overall damage because of the multipliers. Aside from the base cost (that can increase after 4+ towers of the same type), the cost of upgrading is identical to the cost of placing. Plus those 2 mortars are going to provide you much more coverage and 'up time', as it were, for those shots to hit, even at half the damage, making 2 mortars, particularly if they're on relics, do substantially more damage, in the end, than one 3.
My point being, given how some of the enemies work (many, actually, particularly if you're pushing tab a lot to speed up the waves) you are often better off having 2 level 2's instead of 1 level 3. One level 3 lightning tower is usually going to let through just as many bats/kobolds as one level 2; so to pick up the remaining bats you'll need another tower anyway; so you're better off placing 2 level 2's spaced to pick up the runners.
I think Nival made a mistake with their upgrade stats. They should either keep the current upgrade prices and change the multiplier to 2.5x and 6x, to make the value of upgrading more important, or keep it 2x and 4x but reduce the price of upgrading to .75% and 1.5%. Or make another upgrade tier. What I'm saying is that the linear upgrade cost/power actually makes it counter-intuitive to upgrade; unlike pretty much every other TD game where upgrading is obviously the right choice. Changing it up isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong, but their linear upgrade cost/power just doesn't work for TD games. Placing 6 level 1 cannon towers, even with the bit of cost increase for placing those last 2, are actually going to be more effective overall than placing 2 level 3's. And that shouldn't be the case.
I'm not meaning to sound overly critical. According to steam I have 28 hours played this week so....I'm clearly enjoying myself. But with 28 hours played you start noticing where the imbalances are a lot easier and it gets hard to not nit-pick.
But for a rational human who wouldn't get OCD obsessed, these things probably won't even come up as an issue.
Yeah I'll be annoyed if those achievements don't trigger. I have almost all of them already, and I don't particularly want to do them again.
I just also want to add that folks should not neglect magic. Magic can make or break your score, and can make some things that would otherwise be frustrating trivial. Rain of Fire is fucking brutal and if you're rushing through waves with tab, you can take out multiple waves with one spell if you have things set up right. Curse has a super low cooldown and leaves an area of effect on the ground, that can take the place of an accursed tower for the harder waves when you need it anyway; and ditto with ice storm. Upgrading these spells can make a substantial difference too.
EDIT: I'm torn on Meteor though. It does a ton of Damage, its cooldown is decently low, but it's a one shot spell. The stun is relatively short, but it's long enough to make a substantial difference on, say, a boss already taking damage from a Tower of the Sun. You just often don't really need the stun for general use, and the damage it does is overkill for most non-bosses.
EDIT: @Iolo you're on my friends list but your scores aren't showing up in my game. Am I showing up in yours?
I wish I was at home playing Prime World or Darksiders II. Both are far better games than "CSS and HTML and complete horseshit" which is what I'm playing today at work.
Posts
You are in for a fantastic time.
Krater always came off to me like a sci-fi Torchlight.
That isn't a bad thing, mind you.
It has that semi-top down perspective that's been used since Diablo. It has a variety of 'classes', and hirable minions you use to create a party of three, and then go out and wreck stuff. The setting, a post-apocalyptic Sweden, is interesting, but didn't carry much depth for me - mind you I only got a couple of hours in, myself. Having said that, I'm coming to realise that lack of depth may be symptomatic of the genre.
Still, it's run a party around a dungeon/pit/maze/whatever, explode NPC's, grab the <shiny> of choice, and get Phat Lootz.
It's not a bad game, good for a quick run around, and I do mean to get back to it - is it worth $15? Maybe not. Is it worth $4? Probably, depending on if you've bought today's coffee or not.
(Disclaimer: It does feel a bit...brown. I really, really wanted a few shattered undeground labs or something. A few more sci-fi environments)
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
Your handle could not possibly be more appropriate for what you are about to experience.
Plus that one part. You all know what I'm talking about.[/quote]
I don't, actually. What do you mean?
Steam: BrocksMullet http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197972421669/
Sweet, I'll have to keep an eye on these.
Episode 1 is beautiful because it is an escort mission, only you are the one being escorted.
Plus, Alyx's stupid zombie jokes are hilarious. She's got some really cool dialogue and reactions depending on what you do, especially in the tunnels.
I wish Valve would at least acknowledge that the Half Life series even exists anymore. It's been five and a half years since Episode 2 and its ending, the least they could do is be like "Yeah, we're working on it" or "No, we're not working on it right now".
I understand that they've got a lot on their plate right now with trying to enter the peripheral space and Steam for Linux and the Steambox and the hatconomy and and and... but still man, just a quick blurb about HL2 E3/HL3/whatever they are planning on calling it would be really nice for all of the fans that have been waiting for so long. I mean (EP2 ending spoilers):
Not cool man.
ehh
I think the newer Walking Dead game, Survival Instincts, probably has better emotional impact
plus its an amazing shooter as well so you don't need to bother playing spec ops afterwards
(people usually need to do that after finishing the telltale one because there is hardly any shooting and they start needing good old fashioned FPS gameplay)
Wait, what? I thought Survival Instincts was supposed to be a piece of shit cash in.
edit: I'm missing some sarcasm here, aren't I?
They confirmed "Ricochet 2" was in production a few months back, along with Source 2.
I mean, I suppose they could really mean Ricochet 2, but given the last time they used that name in was in reference to continuing story, I doubt it.
EDIT: Basically Source
Source
@Roshin, that's the first map where you really need to use towers to move the boss/mob's path. (I didn't do this, but presumably on his return voyage you could do the classic TD move and take him down one path and then switch a cheap tower to make him go an alternate route.) Here's the path I took him down:
Those are my current towers. I think back when I first played that level I made liberal use of slow + poison. There are windier paths to be made, too.
Do you have a bunch of stars? The "unique" cards and boosters from the store have generally been terrific. Maybe fire up a pack of those if you can swing it. (Note to those of you who don't have it - that's 'store' with only in-game currencies. No pay to play here.)
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I blame @Iolo. Well, it could be the fault of any of half a dozen of you peoples, but I think I prefer to blame Iolo anyway.
For me, it's been Dragon Towers almost all the time lately.
The Walking Dead
To the Moon
Spec Ops: The Line
Alice: Madness Returns
I blame my rekindled love of Black Ops 2 on the 360 as my main detractor from completing more Steam games.
2008, 2012, 2014 D&D "Rare With No Sauce" League Fantasy Football Champion!
The boulders smoking the dapper pipe? Those are cheap (6p), no damage towers just for blocking lanes.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
Ian McConville's classic MOG*MOD for Morrowind has a part in the accompanying/explanatory comic, toward the end, where he follows a very similar path - bails on the main quest, eventually shows up on the doorstep of the putative Big Bad all leveled up and kitted out in fantastic gear, and forces/threatens said Big Bad into doing all the tedious and/or menial side-quests for him.
Steam, Warframe: Megajoule
Anyway, I see we're posting about Steam games we've completed this year. Here's mine!
Far Cry 2
Half-Minute Hero
No Time to Explain
Metro 2033
Ys
Ys II
BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
Little Inferno
Red Faction Armageddon
Bioshock Infinite
Strong Bad Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands
Deadlight
Section 8 Prejudice
Hm, not bad!
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
If more than 3 people want one, the winner will be decided by gladiatorial combat.
Those are generally a wasted card slot though as you can use your normal towers to do the same thing but they cause damage. I think I got Mortar which made that first boss not to bad... That or maybe I just upgraded my Wooden towers to max. I don't remember.
Nintendo ID: Incindium
PSN: IncindiumX
Well, I got past the boss (barely) by leading him along the absolute longest path around the map. I get the feeling this game is going to be a lot of grinding mixed up with really difficult boss battles to stop you in your tracks. And you better like the maps, because goddammit, you'll be seeing them a lot.
Crazy, eh? We were already a 4-hour car trip away from each other. But yeah, I'll be looking into jobs up here over the next few months. And I figure if I can't find one within a certain amount of time, I'll move up anyway and live off my savings for a while.
...which is why I am trying my best to avoid buying stuff on Steam these days.
- ... umm, crap.
Well, I've still got 8 months left to finish something...
edit: WAIT, wait! Borderlands 2. HA!
Do you have the season pass? Because you're not finished yet if you do
I had heard that they were working on a Source 2 because in some ways Source, as awesome as it is, is really, really, stupidly archaic when it comes to content creation, but I don't remember ever hearing about "Ricochet 2". Hopefully it'll be what we all hope it'll be, since lately Valve has seemed to develop an inability to count to 3 that is rivaled only by early to mid 90s Capcom.
I can't recommend this game (and the first one) enough. I'll admit it gets bland and repetitive half way though the game, but holy fuck is it beautiful.
I keep telling myself to not pick up every side quest but most of them have been pretty fun so far, think the only ones I've skipped are the obvious "get potion" or "collect ingredients".
Also chakrams are civilisation. Giving mages a really active combat weapon like that was a great idea.
Well sure. I just popped them into my loadout for a quick run for Roshin between walking the dog and getting in the shower this morning.
I do like them on this particular map since there are a lot of spots where you get 90 degrees or less value out of a cheap wood or stone tower. That little uphill jaunt in particular pains me to block with a firing tower since the mobs don't go that way once you block it. Plus, since the cost of each type of tower goes up the more you use it, that can really add up on this map starting at 30 instead of 6.
Definitely agree, Roshin, that map variety is not a strength of the game. Having different boosts in different spots on the same map does help a little.
The upgraded mortar is civilization.
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Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
ARGH. You're right.
Nevermind, still nothing.
I've also recently restarted KoA and am having a helluva lot of fun with it, now that I'm taking on its own terms and really getting into reading/absorbing the lore and whatnot. I'm probably 10-12 hours in, as well.
Playing a rogue this time and absolutely loving some of the combat skills. Plus, faeblades are win.
As KoopahTroopah said above in regard to Alice, the same applies to KoA: It's so fucking beautiful. Gobstoppingly so.
Between KoA and a recently reinstalled Vampire:TMB** plus my continuing quest to see every road in Europe in Euro Truck Sim, I'm pretty well booked for gaming time!
**I mentioned it. So who's gonna be the next to reinstall it?
Once you get all your tower slots open up, it's not a bad idea to just leave the boulder in one of them at all times. The other 6 slots are generally more than enough to provide as much versatility as you'd ever need. Usually you have enough Prime, if you're not worried about score or anything, to just use Cannon Towers or something to block paths, but if you're going for scores you can't afford to be dropping 30+ prime early on to block a path you could with 7-11.
Also map versatility isn't bad once you unlock them all; so raid maps are just chosen randomly from everything you've done. There is definitely a disparity in the quality of maps though; and the randomness of the boulders placed in raid maps can make 'easy' maps pretty annoying.
The boss fights aren't so bad once you kinda get the groove with them. They're just a change of mindset from the normal TD maps because what trivializes everything else might not even put a dent in bosses.
But if you're willing to do some raiding between maps and/or have good luck with the card choices, things are much smoother.
Mortar, fully upgraded, particularly on buff relic (of any type really; they all technically increase damage...bigger range = more hits, faster shots = more hits, more damage = more damage) is usually all you need for the bosses, except the flying one; I'd recommend 'grinding' up a lightning tower, if not forged, evolved to III.
Also, It can be tricky to use right, but an upgraded Tower of the Sun is brutal on every boss because of how its damage works; combine it with curse or an accursed tower and it will eat any boss for breakfast in short order. The problem is, it needs to be 'off' of trash, and in a place where its only getting the boss so it doesn't get distracted.
EDIT: Oh, and so upgrades. The game handles them weird. I wanna say that many TD's the scaling on upgrading your towers on maps is higher than the 2x/4x that this game has (or they have more levels, and the pricing is different). Prime for Prime, upgrading is usually the most cost efficient thing to do, like every other TD, but here it's only because of the cost scaling for placing more of the same tower. However, the price difference is often trivial enough as to make it not the best option. Two level 2 mortars costs the same as 1 level 3 and do the same overall damage because of the multipliers. Aside from the base cost (that can increase after 4+ towers of the same type), the cost of upgrading is identical to the cost of placing. Plus those 2 mortars are going to provide you much more coverage and 'up time', as it were, for those shots to hit, even at half the damage, making 2 mortars, particularly if they're on relics, do substantially more damage, in the end, than one 3.
My point being, given how some of the enemies work (many, actually, particularly if you're pushing tab a lot to speed up the waves) you are often better off having 2 level 2's instead of 1 level 3. One level 3 lightning tower is usually going to let through just as many bats/kobolds as one level 2; so to pick up the remaining bats you'll need another tower anyway; so you're better off placing 2 level 2's spaced to pick up the runners.
I think Nival made a mistake with their upgrade stats. They should either keep the current upgrade prices and change the multiplier to 2.5x and 6x, to make the value of upgrading more important, or keep it 2x and 4x but reduce the price of upgrading to .75% and 1.5%. Or make another upgrade tier. What I'm saying is that the linear upgrade cost/power actually makes it counter-intuitive to upgrade; unlike pretty much every other TD game where upgrading is obviously the right choice. Changing it up isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong, but their linear upgrade cost/power just doesn't work for TD games. Placing 6 level 1 cannon towers, even with the bit of cost increase for placing those last 2, are actually going to be more effective overall than placing 2 level 3's. And that shouldn't be the case.
I'm not meaning to sound overly critical. According to steam I have 28 hours played this week so....I'm clearly enjoying myself. But with 28 hours played you start noticing where the imbalances are a lot easier and it gets hard to not nit-pick.
But for a rational human who wouldn't get OCD obsessed, these things probably won't even come up as an issue.
Everyone should buy the game either way.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
I just got the dragon and lightning towers at the end of my session last night. I'm looking forward to playing around with them.
I hope all my cheevos trigger correctly on Steam once the game goes live.
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Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I just also want to add that folks should not neglect magic. Magic can make or break your score, and can make some things that would otherwise be frustrating trivial. Rain of Fire is fucking brutal and if you're rushing through waves with tab, you can take out multiple waves with one spell if you have things set up right. Curse has a super low cooldown and leaves an area of effect on the ground, that can take the place of an accursed tower for the harder waves when you need it anyway; and ditto with ice storm. Upgrading these spells can make a substantial difference too.
EDIT: I'm torn on Meteor though. It does a ton of Damage, its cooldown is decently low, but it's a one shot spell. The stun is relatively short, but it's long enough to make a substantial difference on, say, a boss already taking damage from a Tower of the Sun. You just often don't really need the stun for general use, and the damage it does is overkill for most non-bosses.
EDIT: @Iolo you're on my friends list but your scores aren't showing up in my game. Am I showing up in yours?
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand