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CS4 is much better than 3. 3 made me mad. 4 only made me mad a couple times, and it made me smile several times. It's much better than 3 in every way.
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Oddly I liked a lot of CS3 more than 2. I think it was because the wheel spinning it's doing was by creating a new setting with a new smaller circle of characters, which is what I kind of wanted. But then you end up jamming those new people into the cast of 1&2 and guests from earlier games and it rapidly spins out of control plot wise again, and then still every big climactic plot moment gets forestalled for some later resolution that's already long overdue.
seems the channel has a couple of videos in the same vein
- start a mission
- tap the tilde key
- type debug
- type mapedit
haven't played with it yet myself, but it might be interesting
As I've been going through and listening to the old Giant Bomb podcasts from the beginning, just last week I got to the original 6 Days of Fallujah announcement. It was both interesting to see how much more tolerant the staff was to the website was at that point (sans Ryan, who called it out for what it was), and how they are doing the same song and pony show that the original developers tried.
My big concern after playing the demo was how long the game would be, and if the choices would diverge enough to make replays worthwhile. The first two chapters took me about 2 hours to play through, and even going for very different playstyles, seemed to end up in a pretty similar place. Finishing up the full game took a good 10 hours more, and I feel like I'd need to play it at least 2 more times to see most of everything going on because in chapter 3, you pick your occupation, and the 3 choices seem to have totally different storylines.
I compared the story to Dragon Age 2 before, and the further I got into the game, the more accurate that description became. The game is really about your city, and watching over the years as it slowly lurches into a revolution. You're a powerful and important person in the city, but not so much that you can control the city's future on your own. Your family, friends and foes have all got their own agendas that will shape what comes to be. Sometimes you're an active participant in their story, and can try to influence them. Sometimes they pull an Anders, and leave you scrambling to salvage their mess.
General Story Spoilers
Chapter 4 looks like it is where the real replayability of the game lies. As a priest, I was focused on finding and exposing a sect of heretics, and overseeing the struggle between the traditionalists and the reform movement in the church. However, one of the possible outcomes of the chapter was that my mother would pass away forever if the family was too divided. Everything else took a backseat at that point, as keeping the family together became my primary goal. Our wealth was spent, our good name dragged through the mud. My morals were broken, and one of my 4 lives was lost. My co-workers hated me. But in the end I succeeded. The family, while ruined, had finally come together to put away their differences and mother's good health returned. Even better, I managed to scrape out a victory on my other goals by the barest of margins! The heretic plot was thwarted and the reform movement was endorsed by the ranking church officials! A victory all around.
I went into chapter 5 confident. I built support with the various factions and took down my remaining enemies. The revolution was on the path to success. And then I watched in horror as it all fell apart. A face from my past returned to take control of the movement, and she had no intention to build a new society. She wanted revenge and her own spot at the top of the empire. I'd overspent myself building the revolution, and had nothing left to challenge her for control. All I could do was join her or be labeled a traitor to the cause. And so I choose to run. My final choice has just one option, desperately crawling through a sewer drain to escape the city. Not my highest moment.
From there, things only got worse as the game tells the outcome of my choices. My family are branded traitors and did not survive the night. My reformist movement stays in power, but goes on a bloody purge across the land. The revolution continues to take down the empire, but chaos takes it's place. I spend the rest of my life on the run.
And then, after my final death, I'm brought before the twin gods for judgement. They have a few questions for me first.
"Did you enjoy the life we gifted you?"
Not particularly.
"What was your goal in life?"
To make the world a better place.
"Did you make the world better?"
Who can say.
"Are you ready to be judged?"
Get it over with.
But then, before the Younger twin can render his judgement, the Elder has one more question.
And I already liked the game, but here is where I start to love it.
End Game Spoilers
And with that, the gods let you go back to life to try and fix your mistakes. You could go all the way back to the start, but I decided I would just go back to the fateful day of the revolution. The game gives you all the information you need. Every choice tells you which stat points it effects. And having played through already, I knew what I needed to get the results I wanted. So making a few changes, I get back to the spot where I lost control of the revolution. This time though I have the strength to hold it. Only this time, in doing so, I don't have the strength to beat the empire. The revolution fails. I'm hung for treason. The reform movement are labeled heretics. My family falls apart.
"If you had the chance, would you have done anything differently?"
And so I try, again and again. Trying to find the perfect combination of choices. Like Groundhog's Day, I've been condemned to relive this day until I can get it right. I see countless terrible outcomes, until finally, it all comes together. A peaceful victory. The church and the empire agree to the progressive movements I fought for. My family and friends find fulfilment in their lives. I can finally meet the gods one last time.
"Did you enjoy the life we gifted you?"
Yes.
"What was your goal in life?"
To make the world a better place.
"Did you make the world better?"
Yes.
"Are you ready to be judged?"
Yes.
And then the game hits me with one more surprise.
Super End Game Spoiler
This is seriously the very end of the game. I'd recommend skipping over this if you have any intention of playing the game.
What was the date on that episode? I'd be kind of interested to pull that up
but i'm at the "starting to get assault mechs" phase of things, and dang
these are pretty nuts. Makes things a hell of a lot slower, but still
Steam // Secret Satan
The base game is just a slow grind up the weight scale and lighter mechs just get left behind, which is sad because my favourite mechs are in the medium and heavy classes.
I’m trying to scrub through the episodes, but it was either episode 04/21/2009 or 04/28/2009. The latter one has it listed in their description, but I also know they talked about it two weeks in a row.
once you get through the Arano restoration storyline, it is advantageous to maintain 3-6 lighter mechs
I bring this up because a song from the fourth game (apparently describing events of the third, so, you know, spoilers)
came up on spotify today. Thought it was pretty good, all things considered.
this is very silly
Steam // Secret Satan
I think I have some real advice for getting better now.
This is basically the majority of what I do to get a high score. Also read the helpful "10 things you should do when you start Caves of Qud" tips that the game tells you to look at with every new character. Live and drink, wanderer.
Text:
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
Text:
anyway please check out my deedlitXparn AMV i set it to my favorite taylor swift song
here's three recent ones
Fuck yeah anime D&D symphony of the night
Is that anything?
maaaan I am going to be such a fucking mark for this game if it's any good at ALL
anybody who grew up in the 70s and 80s knows "buy a magazine and..." is a filthy trap
It was honestly a delight. If you're not familiar, it's a game in which you, a pre-teen girl, explore a cute little Mediterranean island for a couple of days and try to take pictures of all of the animals and fix birdhouses and clean up trash or do favors for people so they'll sign your petition to stop the evil land developer. It's a pretty simple game, all told, and there were only a couple of animals that really caused me any sort of trouble trying to find. But it makes for an absolutely charming four hours of gameplay, and if you're into the idea of like, A Short Hike or maybe a bit of A Night in the Woods crossed with Pokemon Snap, I definitely recommend it.
I just got an email about it and wondered if Stellaris is a good game. I've been out of the PC gaming loop for too long.
They hit all their stretch goals. The one I'm most interested in is the new starting background the Occultist. They point out that you were an Occultist before the fall, so all your bullshit mystical knowledge has no connection to the real weirdness going on in London, but you should be able to adapt to it quicker!
https://www.humblebundle.com/games/stellaris-discovery-bundle
Yes. And that's a really solid selection of DLCs.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]