As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options

Steam - The Gardens Between & CrossCode out Sept 20th!

BroloBrolo BroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
edited September 2018 in Social Entropy++
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz33IDiUqIU
Crash Nsane trilogy out now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCePmnq1kJw
Warhammer 40K Gladius out July 12th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T75aYdQ1m1M
Mugsters! Out July 17th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByqmJfKvKLM
Banner Saga 3! Out July 24th

The steam sale is over! But that doesn't mean we can stop talking about Steam! Keep talking about games on Steam!

August/September releases:


Yakuza 0 - August 1st


Regular Human Basketball - August 1st


Star Traders: Frontiers - August 1st


This is The Police 2 - August 2nd


Overcooked 2 - August 7th


Dead Cells - August 7th


Unavowed - August 8th


Monster Hunter World - August 9th


We Happy Few - August 10th

Sword Legacy - Omen




Death's Gambit - August 14th


Phantom Doctrine - August 14th


EverGarden August 16th


Guacemelee 2 - August 21


Strange Brigade - August 28th


Donut County - August 28th


Two Point Hospital - August 30th


Divinity OS2 - Definitive edition August 31st


Frozen Synapse 2 August(?)


Planet Alpha - September 4th


Cross Code - September 2018

Brolo on
«13456799

Posts

  • Options
    VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    Ok, gonna start on Shadowrun: Dragonfall tonight.

    Anything in particular that I should know before jumping in?

  • Options
    JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    Also you get the best possible companion early on.

    You'll realize who very quickly.

    Oh hey, I think I found him. What a heckin' good companion.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • Options
    Crippl3Crippl3 oh noRegistered User regular
    Veldrin wrote: »
    Ok, gonna start on Shadowrun: Dragonfall tonight.

    Anything in particular that I should know before jumping in?

    From what I played, didn't beat it, the Etiquettes (aka extra personality/dialogue additions) you can pick didn't seem all that useful, so I wouldn't focus stats on trying to get those. Also, you get a decker in your starting squad, so don't feel you have to spec into that if you don't want to.

  • Options
    DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Picked up the BFG 9000 in Doom last night. Oh fuck yeah

    JtgVX0H.png
  • Options
    MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    Every time I look at the downloads graph I get a little angrier

    DuDbxSe.png

    If you're going to use two axes, fucking label them.

    And why is one of them a bar chart and the other a line? Get it together!

  • Options
    LasbrookLasbrook It takes a lot to make a stew When it comes to me and youRegistered User regular
    The line is hard drive usage, the bars are network.

  • Options
    MrMonroeMrMonroe passed out on the floor nowRegistered User regular
    I know what they refer to, I am questioning why they are the chart type they are

    And why 3.8 > 4.7

  • Options
    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    edited July 2018
    I've been playing Skyrim VR and having a fantastic time with it.

    I'm playing as a conjurer/archer, summoning a frost atronach to tank for me and then a bound bow and vr arrow shooting the crap out of skeletons

    also I just became arch-mage!

    that questline is super abrupt and doesn't really have any closure

    vr is real cool though

    Brolo on
  • Options
    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    I got like three episodes into kill la kill before I had to give up

    Just too much school girl titty going on there

  • Options
    Bluedude152Bluedude152 Registered User regular
    The plot and action of kill la kill didnt deserve the design it got

    p0a2ody6sqnt.jpg
  • Options
    DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Brolo wrote: »
    I got like three episodes into kill la kill before I had to give up

    Just too much school girl titty going on there

    Nsfw probably

    Darmak on
    JtgVX0H.png
  • Options
    MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    I uh

    I think that should be marked nsfw

  • Options
    JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    Veldrin wrote: »
    Ok, gonna start on Shadowrun: Dragonfall tonight.

    Anything in particular that I should know before jumping in?

    @Veldrin YO

    WHAT THE STATS MEAN
    Body increases your hit points (10HP per point of Body). 3 Body for 30 HP is a good solid number. If you plan to take more damage (by being a front-line fighter) pump that one up.

    Strength increases your chance to hit with melee attacks and your damage with them. Close Combat is a sub-skill of Strength that allows you to do more critical damage and use better melee weapons, and its max value is capped at your strength score. Melee Weapons and Unarmed Combat are in turn sub-skills of Close Combat and give you extra abilities and accuracy with those weapon types - and again, they're capped at the max value of your Close Combat score. So if you want a 5 in Melee Weapons, you need a 5 in Close Combat and a 5 in Strength first - does that make sense? That attribute > skill > sub-skill thing is the basic structure for all the character options.

    Quickness increases your movement speed and ability to hit with ranged weapons. Ranged Weapons is a sub-skill of Quickness, and Pistols, Rifles, and Shotguns are sub-skills of Ranged Weapons. Again, raising each of those tracks not only improves your general to-hit and damage with those weapons but also unlocks various special abilities with them, like at pistols 4 you can reload without using an action. The Dodge skill improves your general ability to avoid melee attacks and gunfire.

    On its own, Intelligence mainly lets you pass a few dialogue checks; statistically, what it does is contribute to the success of all the skills beneath it. Deckers (hackers) will want the Decking and ESP control skills, while Riggers (dudes who deploy portable combat drones on the battlefield) use Drone Control and Drone Combat.

    Willpower determines your ability to resist magical attacks. Its subskills are Chi Casting. which allows the use of Chi spells that improve unarmed and melee attacks, and Spellcasting, which allows the casting of arcane magic (D&D type stuff: throwing fireballs, lightning, paralyzing dudes, etc).

    Charisma unlocks Etiquettes, which are special social interactions that let you talk your way past difficult situations in the game - if you have the Security etiquette, you might know the right thing to say to talk your way past a security guard without having to fight him, for instance, while Gang etiquette lets you know the right thing to say when accosted on the streets. Charisma's subskills are Spirit Summoning and Spirit Control, which allow shamans to call forth powerful spirit creatures to help them in battle (albeit with an increasing chance each round that the spirit will break free from their control and wreak havoc) and Conjuring unlocks the ability to cast conjuration spells, which generally revolve around the creation of barriers/force fields/traps/etc.

    BUILDING A GUY
    Pick a concept for the character you want to make - the system is flexible and the classes listed at character creation are just suggestions; you can build your own by spending an equivalent amount of karma points as you choose.

    A good approach to character building is to focus on one (1) combat skill, two (2) utilities, and Charisma. (There's never really a good reason not to be a charismatic main character in a PC RPG, because it always opens up so many options.

    Pretty much any weapon approach is totally viable. Assault rifles are the best overall weapon, but tend to use both of your action points (leaving you unable to move after firing). Shotguns do really solid damage up-close. Pistols do less damage round-to-round but have decent range and the best critical hits in the game, and the best trick shot powers (hitting multiple targets, disarming enemies, etc). Melee is also a solid option, although it's better in Hong Kong than in Dragonfall, and better in Dragonfall than in Shadowrun Returns.

    Grenades are pretty nice too, but obviously with so few inventory slots you can't have that as your main thing.

    Pick one thing to start out with - "I'm going to be really good at pistols," or whatever, and jack it up to 4 or 5 as soon as you can.

    Now, the way the skills work, your chance to hit in ranged or melee combat is determined by the Ranged Combat or Melee Combat skills, NOT by the Assault Rifle, Pistol, Unarmed, etc skills for specific weapons. What the specific weapon skills do is improve your criticals and unlock better powers with those weapons. So if you have a good ranged combat and focus on assault rifles, there's no reason not to pack a backup shotty or pistol or whatever just in case.

    So after you've got your main combat weapon chosen, pick a utility skill. By utilities I mean stuff like Biotech (which lets medkits heal you more, and in Dragonfall opens up a surprising number of bonus dialogue options), or Dodge (the ability not to be hit), or Body (which affects your HP). I think any character should probably have a minimum of 3 in Body but if you plan on doing a lot of melee or being in danger it is definitely worth pumping that up to 6 or even higher.

    Some good general character concepts:

    Pure street samurai: a lot of Body, Strength, and Quickness, a melee or unarmed skill, and a gun skill. Put leftover points into Dodge. You'll be a pure combat beast.

    Decker: You'll need a Decker on most missions to unlock doors and access extra information and cash, so being that dude yourself is often a good call. Decking goes well with a ranged combat skill (I like Pistols but other people are very happy with Rifles) but you can also get a huge amount of mileage out of being a Decker/Rigger, putting all your points into intelligence and not even bothering to carry a weapon - your robot friends are your weapon.

    Mage/Shaman - You can be a pure spellcaster, pumping up both Willpower and Charisma to get access to as many casting options as possible, or you can devote yourself to one specific flavor of magic (only spirit summoning or only arcane spellcasting, for instance) and use the other points to improve a melee or ranged weapon skill to add to your versatility.

    "Face" - a high-Charisma character with a lot of Etiquettes may not be a killer on the battlefield, but they often don't need to be, because the game gives you ample opportunities to bypass fights entirely or resolve otherwise unresolvable situations if you're a good fast-talker. Corporate and Security etiquettes are by far the most useful, followed by Gang, Academic, or Shadowrunner, with Socialite and Street coming in somewhat last.

    Lastly, unless you're a caster, you're going to want cyberware, but - and this is frustrating - WAIT. Don't buy the first stuff you see. The game releases progressively better and better cyberware as you progress, so your best bet is to wait till the later-game and stuff as much of that sweet 'ware into you as can fit rather than settle for some bulky, crappy cyberleg that will drop your Essence by a ton and prevent you getting something better later on.

    THE INTERFACE
    Press C to open your character sheet. f5 quicksaves and f9 quickloads. Left-Alt highlights all interactable objects you can currently see on the map. You can't trade items between characters, no dragging and dropping party member A's medkit onto party member B or whatever.

    COMBAT
    Combat works like XCOM, if you've played that. Characters get 2 Action Points. You can see, in their little portraits in the top right of the screen, a little number 2, 1, or 0 on the bottom right of the portrait; that is their current number of Action Points. You can use an Action Point to move or to shoot, and you can move twice, shoot twice, etc. Some actions - like certain powerful spells, or well-aimed shots from a rifle - take 2 action points to complete, so they will consume your full turn to use. You can tell what the action's AP cost is by looking at the number in the bottom right of the icon for that action.

    Characters with multiple weapons can switch between them by clicking the little weapon silhouettes on the bottom left of the screen. This costs no actions to do. Characters with multiple inventory types - like a spell book and a backpack full of grenades, or a list of miscellaneous special powers granted by equipment - can switch between those lists by clicking the little head and backpack icons on the bottom right of the screen. Again, this costs no action points to do.

    The goal of combat is to get your dudes into cover (symbolized by a little shield icon that is empty, half full, or full) and shoot at enemies that are out of cover (symbolized by either having no shield at all, which indicates that they are out in the open, or a shield that's been X-ed out, which indicates that they would have cover except that they're currently Flanked). The advantage of cover is that it reduces all incoming damage and also makes you immune to critical hits. Flanked enemies or enemies out in the open are not immune to critical hits and will explode into very satisfying blood chunks very quickly if you focus on them first.

    If an enemy is in cover, either try to work your way around to an uncovered side to attack them from, or hit them with an area of effect attack such as a grenade or a spell. Stunning attacks, such as flashbang grenades and tasers, drain enemy action points, making the enemy unable to move as much or take as many actions on their turn. If you drain ALL of an enemy's AP, they are completely stunned and fall out of cover, making them an easy target!

    You'll notice that some bigger or tougher-looking characters have little white pips along their health bars. This indicates their armor. Armor reduces all incoming damage by a flat amount (so armor 3 subtracts 3 damage from all incoming shots, let's say). Heavily armored enemies might be able to shrug off some attacks completely; that means your best bet is to use max-damage attacks or any sort of special ammunition, spells, or powers that grant an armor-piercing effect.

    Overwatch, the little dot icon with a semicircle over it, is unlocked for all weapons or melee attacks at rank 3. So if your character has Spellcasting 4 and Pistols 2, he can do Overwatch with his Arcane Bolt spell but not with his pistol. When you select Overwatch, you need to select the attack they'll be using and the direction they'll be looking for trouble in.

    Your party members' inventories replenish themselves after every mission so don't be shy about using their equipment. You already know what medkits and grenades do. Trauma kits automatically heal your characters for some amount of HP when they hit 0, OR, if a character without a trauma kit is downed, a character with a kit can run over and use it to revive them (within three rounds). Fetish totems are one-shot consumable items that shamans can use to summon spirits into battle. Most major battle areas in the game also have a couple of interactable points (visible during the shaman's turn) where you can click on them and a shaman character can summon a spirit for free, without a totem, and these spirits are often pretty powerful.

    THE MATRIX
    The electronic cyberwebs of the information superfreeway work exactly like movement and combat in the real world except that the decker character has a single basic attack and a suite of more powerful abilities (better attacks, area attacks, self-heals, buffs, debuffs, etc) based on what Programs he has chosen to install before hacking in - Programs have pretty self-explanatory names like Blaster, Killer, Medic, Shield, and so forth. ESPs are special programs that summon a digital ally to help out in combat, and although ESP programs are bought and sold from merchants under the "consumable" tab, they never actually go away. If your ESP dies in the Matrix you can't summon it again during that particular hack but if you jack out of the system and come back later it will be ready to summon again.

    LEVELING UP
    There seem to be three big competence thresholds: early on, if you have something (particularly a gun skill) at 4, you're about at the target difficulty. Later, in the mid game, you wnat things around 7. Finally, at the end game, you want your marquee stats at 9 or 10. So focus on getting your skills to those targets at those points.

    DRAGONFALL-SPECIFIC ADVICE
    The best Etiquettes in Dragonfall are Corporate and Security, easily. No others come up nearly as often or yield such tangible rewards. Academic is fantastic - it gives ok in-game rewards but is super handy for players who want to dig deeper into the story, as it lets your guy decipher scientific documents etc (this is also why the Biotech skill is useful specifically in this game)). Criminal and Shadowrunner are both useful on a couple of important occasions. Gang comes up like once and I am not sure if Socialite ever does.

    I think all the leveling up your party member paths are pretty valid but in Dietrich's case I was all about free extra spirits and Eiger's upgraded sniper rifle is a fucking beast.

    Finally,

    - talk to every NPC after important missions. It does affect the outcome of the late game in small but cool ways.
    - just like a Bioware game, all your companions have side stories (bar Dietrich, whose quest is also part of the main chain). Push them on their backstories. Glory doesn't want to talk to you and the options are kind of misleading and make it seem like if you wait she'll open up - she doesn't. You have to actually push her into talking a bit, but once you start it opens up some of the best content in the game.
    - Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, never make a deal with a dragon

  • Options
    VeldrinVeldrin Sham bam bamina Registered User regular
    Heck yeah, @Jacobkosh that is super helpful! I'll be saving this post.

    Thank you!

  • Options
    JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    Dude, it's my pleasure. I love these games and I love getting the chance to blab about them.

  • Options
    EddyEddy Gengar the Bittersweet Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    I'll need captioned screenshots before I awesome

    Eddy on
    "and the morning stars I have seen
    and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
  • Options
    PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    MrMonroe wrote: »
    I know what they refer to, I am questioning why they are the chart type they are

    And why 3.8 > 4.7

    I think the scale of each of them is based on their peak.

    Though I guess if you have all these complaints about the chart, you'd want them to use the same scale always.

  • Options
    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
  • Options
    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    c2cdae8a-2df3-4c27-b26f-082a0d10ef8f.jpg
    https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/07/06/biggest-games-on-steam-2018/

    Some interesting things on here - Jurassic Park Evolution sold really well for a game that's only been out for ~3 weeks
    GTAV still on the platinum list 5 years after its release
    KC:D doing better than I thought

  • Options
    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    What is the point of having Platinum, Bronze, etc. when we don't know what sales numbers they correlate to?

    Couscous on
  • Options
    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    Couscous wrote: »
    What is the point of having Platinum, Bronze, etc. when we don't know what sales numbers they correlate to?

    Steam being secretive.

  • Options
    InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    I assume they correlate to other sales numbers?

  • Options
    HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    Brolo wrote: »
    I got like three episodes into kill la kill before I had to give up

    Just too much school girl titty going on there

    I understand it to be very satirical school girl titty

  • Options
    BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    the school girl tiddy is played completely straight

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • Options
    HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    I also understand satire to be a bankrupt concept

  • Options
    BlankZoeBlankZoe Registered User regular
    I haven't really seen anyone bring up the ArenaNet cluster fuck yet

    So


    Essentially Jessica Price, a female writer on GW2 posted a thread about the difficulties of writing for an MMO. A GW2 streamer replied, ultimately saying why she was wrong. She fired back saying she didn't need a guy who has zero experience in her field to tell her how she should be doing her job. She was defended by a co-worker, Peter Fries.

    The toxic fan base that exists in every single video game every threw a fit and yelled at ArenaNet who immediately fired both employees.

    This has now emboldened the mob, who has not stopped attacking Price, with posters on the GW2 Reddit claiming "no one at ArenaNet is safe from us".

    It fucking sucks!

    CYpGAPn.png
  • Options
    DepressperadoDepressperado I just wanted to see you laughing in the pizza rainRegistered User regular
    fuckin' dangit

  • Options
    TheStigTheStig Registered User regular
    Eat a dick Arenanet

    bnet: TheStig#1787 Steam: TheStig
  • Options
    ShortyShorty touching the meat Intergalactic Cool CourtRegistered User regular
    brands are not your ally pt. 102938587987

  • Options
    CorporateLogoCorporateLogo The toilet knows how I feelRegistered User regular
  • Options
    MorivethMoriveth BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWN BREAKDOWNRegistered User regular
    That is super gross. Fuck off, Arenanet.

  • Options
    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    I never get when gamers consider it great for a developer to be hostile to clueless people and when they hate it and justify trying to ruin lives over it.

  • Options
    BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    I can't stop laughing at "that's how it works at my dad's restaurant"

    BahamutZERO.gif
  • Options
    XeddicusXeddicus Registered User regular
    She should not have been fired, but she comes off bad in the initial exchange, not the guy who replied why he thought she was mistaken. So she started this whole thing by jumping down someones throat instead of ignoring it.

    Then they fired people over fucking twitters posts. Twitter was a mistake.

  • Options
    JedocJedoc In the scuppers with the staggers and jagsRegistered User regular
    I can't stop laughing at "that's how it works at my dad's restaurant"

    And boy howdy, I think all of us have worked for that young sociopath's dad at one time or another.

    GDdCWMm.jpg
  • Options
    Houk the NamebringerHouk the Namebringer Nipples The EchidnaRegistered User regular
    Xeddicus wrote: »
    She should not have been fired, but she comes off bad in the initial exchange, not the guy who replied why he thought she was mistaken. So she started this whole thing by jumping down someones throat instead of ignoring it.

    Then they fired people over fucking twitters posts. Twitter was a mistake.

    That's kind of the thing - she doesn't look great in her reply (possibly her taking out very real and longstanding frustrations with other fans on him) but at no point and in no way is it worth getting fired over. Huuuge overreaction by ANet and definitely emboldens Internet assholes to push it even further.

  • Options
    ShortyShorty touching the meat Intergalactic Cool CourtRegistered User regular
    also: further proof that when conservatives whine about how companies firing Nazis is a first amendment issue, they are completely full of shit

  • Options
    HobnailHobnail Registered User regular
    I think if a hideous horde of internetty undesirables demands anything of you, ever, it is probably wise to do the opposite. I believe the politic move would have been to showily promote this person or perhaps cut them one of those big novelty cheques

  • Options
    Beef AvengerBeef Avenger Registered User regular
    Played through Prey after getting it during the sale. Enjoyed that game a bunch.

    Steam ID
    PSN: Robo_Wizard1
This discussion has been closed.