Does Deadfire do a good job on getting you back up to speed on the Pillars universe?
I have forgotten so much lore shit over the years. If my brain was a Hard drive, it would only have about 50gbs with stuff constantly getting deleted.
IIRC for the most part yes. It at least gives you an overview of the important revelations of the POE ending and what happened.
Wasn't there some sort of "remember what you did in PoE1" thing right at the start when you are sort of dead? Not sure if that only happens if you don't have a save to port.
In any case, a whole lot of Deadfire is about Colonialism vs Natives stuff that has no relation to PoE1 at all. Though once you've done all that and get to the ending bits it reverts back to the souls and gods stuff again.
I'd love to see more XP distributed in RPGs that doesn't come from combat. In fact, combat shouldn't provide any XP, but instead provide points to enhance your combat related skills. People learn things by doing and experiencing things, not farming monsters. If you want to upgrade and learn more you should have to engage in a variety of skills and activities.
I wish more RPGs would to for the system Bloodlines used. 0 XP from killing things, all XP is from completing quests in one way or another. It worked really well!
It did have one issue: A lot players had only put points into social or stealth skills and had exhausted potential sources of exp when they discovered they needed to fight things they couldn't drain blood from. An exp system like Bloodline's does require some exacting game design to really pull off.
I had this same issue with Risen - leveled up all sorts of cool social skills and lockpicking and whatnot, then reached the endgame dungeon that's full of lizardmen who just murdered me even if I used consumables. That was that.
You can in fact make a complete set of decisions in the Options menu of Pillars II. You have to do this before you start a new game though, annoyingly you can't load it during the opening sequence where it asks for your past deeds. I used that refresh my memory.
In other somewhat older games news, I gave 40k: Martyr another shot, but it just isn't clicking with me. And I think it's the way weapons are tied to your attacks, and the game wants you to commit to a spec. So it rewards playing nearly the same every single mission, except you slowly increase the numbers.
I'd love to see more XP distributed in RPGs that doesn't come from combat. In fact, combat shouldn't provide any XP, but instead provide points to enhance your combat related skills. People learn things by doing and experiencing things, not farming monsters. If you want to upgrade and learn more you should have to engage in a variety of skills and activities.
I wish more RPGs would to for the system Bloodlines used. 0 XP from killing things, all XP is from completing quests in one way or another. It worked really well!
It did have one issue: A lot players had only put points into social or stealth skills and had exhausted potential sources of exp when they discovered they needed to fight things they couldn't drain blood from. An exp system like Bloodline's does require some exacting game design to really pull off.
Oh definitely. That's a bit separate to me -- the game was rushed and the end-game became a combat fest. It's one of the flaws of Bloodlines, for sure! I think the solution is to avoid that for the end game, not add a bunch of monsters for non-combat characters to grind before the end to become combat characters.
I'd love to see more XP distributed in RPGs that doesn't come from combat. In fact, combat shouldn't provide any XP, but instead provide points to enhance your combat related skills. People learn things by doing and experiencing things, not farming monsters. If you want to upgrade and learn more you should have to engage in a variety of skills and activities.
I wish more RPGs would to for the system Bloodlines used. 0 XP from killing things, all XP is from completing quests in one way or another. It worked really well!
It did have one issue: A lot players had only put points into social or stealth skills and had exhausted potential sources of exp when they discovered they needed to fight things they couldn't drain blood from. An exp system like Bloodline's does require some exacting game design to really pull off.
Oh definitely. That's a bit separate to me -- the game was rushed and the end-game became a combat fest. It's one of the flaws of Bloodlines, for sure! I think the solution is to avoid that for the end game, not add a bunch of monsters for non-combat characters to grind before the end to become combat characters.
TBH, I think having some situations where you have to fight is appropriate for the setting. Not the amount that was in the sewers, but it felt appropriate for the end. A fledgling isn't going to be able to talk their way out of a fight against much older and experienced vampires. I would have had some sort of catchup mechanism for characters that were lacking in some stats for certain parts of the game, eg. a character that sucks at stealth might be able to get some training if they punch a bunch of people for an expert before the quests Lacroix wants you to stealth through, a social focused vampire might be able to bargain for some combat training before the sewers and end game from characters they've done favors for.
On a related note, the combat rebalance mod for The Witcher 2 made by one of the devs eliminated exp from kills and put it all in quests and it worked well once I got used to it. Geralt isn't going to have an epiphany from killing one more nekker but he's always going to be capable of doing the fighting and bargaining required of a witcher at a respectable level even with some amnesia.
I'd love to see more XP distributed in RPGs that doesn't come from combat. In fact, combat shouldn't provide any XP, but instead provide points to enhance your combat related skills. People learn things by doing and experiencing things, not farming monsters. If you want to upgrade and learn more you should have to engage in a variety of skills and activities.
I wish more RPGs would to for the system Bloodlines used. 0 XP from killing things, all XP is from completing quests in one way or another. It worked really well!
It did have one issue: A lot players had only put points into social or stealth skills and had exhausted potential sources of exp when they discovered they needed to fight things they couldn't drain blood from. An exp system like Bloodline's does require some exacting game design to really pull off.
Oh definitely. That's a bit separate to me -- the game was rushed and the end-game became a combat fest. It's one of the flaws of Bloodlines, for sure! I think the solution is to avoid that for the end game, not add a bunch of monsters for non-combat characters to grind before the end to become combat characters.
TBH, I think having some situations where you have to fight is appropriate for the setting. Not the amount that was in the sewers, but it felt appropriate for the end. A fledgling isn't going to be able to talk their way out of a fight against much older and experienced vampires. I would have had some sort of catchup mechanism for characters that were lacking in some stats for certain parts of the game, eg. a character that sucks at stealth might be able to get some training if they punch a bunch of people for an expert before the quests Lacroix wants you to stealth through, a social focused vampire might be able to bargain for some combat training before the sewers and end game from characters they've done favors for.
On a related note, the combat rebalance mod for The Witcher 2 made by one of the devs eliminated exp from kills and put it all in quests and it worked well once I got used to it. Geralt isn't going to have an epiphany from killing one more nekker but he's always going to be capable of doing the fighting and bargaining required of a witcher at a respectable level even with some amnesia.
VtM game design: I’d argue that an RPG should never gate main line progress behind a particular skillset. Or should know what the floor of that skillset is for that stage, and set up with that in mind.
You want additional content for combat/stealth/talky builds in your RPG? Go for it. Maybe I’ll roll another character and check that content out! (I will not). But the main narrative should not require combat skills of x, or stealth of y or speech of a, unless getting those things is the skill floor.
Bit late to the party on this one, but got together a full crew over Remote Play for Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. Worked out surprisingly well, all told - I was the one hosting and the other players experienced some lag, but we never actually died despite my best efforts drinking driving.
For those not familiar, it's a team-based 2D shooter with the players crewing a starship, and it's very cheery and psychedelic in its presentation. Your ship is literally powered by love and flies around freeing space bunnies to open hyperspace portals to the next map, while your crew runs around manning the defenses. Surprisingly, it looks more chill than it is, since the game can very quickly turn up the pressure and require some precise system use to safely get around. Frankly, though it allows for two players, you're highly encouraged to have all four, since there are more stations than there are players. With less you can't really afford to have someone at the helm constantly, which slows down the pacing.
If you do have a full party, however, it's a damn good time, and there's some simple-but-clever design at work. Shields are moved around the ship as they're needed, and a rotating superweapon requires careful timing to use effectively. Various upgrade gems either improve systems or change their function entirely: adding a flail to your guns, combining your engines with a minelayer, turning your shield into a ramming weapon, and several other combos. Planets have gravitational pull and orbital paths, some hazards require coordination between shields and navigation, and occasionally the game makes you outrun a massive explosion after pulling off a rescue. New elements spice things up from map to map, but it's all fairly intuitive as you play.
Overall it's a great party game, with the caveat that it's almost exclusively a party game. I'd liken the aesthetics to something like Rez, only not as abstract and more on the cutesy side; it still looks like an acid trip and will thoroughly test your ability to work together. Still, there's a lot to be said for getting a group together and trying to work as a team while sailing around space blasting stuff. Easy recommendation, and should be paired with a playlist that includes a lot of Huey Lewis and Pat Benatar for maximum effect.
I'd love to see more XP distributed in RPGs that doesn't come from combat. In fact, combat shouldn't provide any XP, but instead provide points to enhance your combat related skills. People learn things by doing and experiencing things, not farming monsters. If you want to upgrade and learn more you should have to engage in a variety of skills and activities.
I wish more RPGs would to for the system Bloodlines used. 0 XP from killing things, all XP is from completing quests in one way or another. It worked really well!
It did have one issue: A lot players had only put points into social or stealth skills and had exhausted potential sources of exp when they discovered they needed to fight things they couldn't drain blood from. An exp system like Bloodline's does require some exacting game design to really pull off.
Oh definitely. That's a bit separate to me -- the game was rushed and the end-game became a combat fest. It's one of the flaws of Bloodlines, for sure! I think the solution is to avoid that for the end game, not add a bunch of monsters for non-combat characters to grind before the end to become combat characters.
TBH, I think having some situations where you have to fight is appropriate for the setting. Not the amount that was in the sewers, but it felt appropriate for the end. A fledgling isn't going to be able to talk their way out of a fight against much older and experienced vampires. I would have had some sort of catchup mechanism for characters that were lacking in some stats for certain parts of the game, eg. a character that sucks at stealth might be able to get some training if they punch a bunch of people for an expert before the quests Lacroix wants you to stealth through, a social focused vampire might be able to bargain for some combat training before the sewers and end game from characters they've done favors for.
On a related note, the combat rebalance mod for The Witcher 2 made by one of the devs eliminated exp from kills and put it all in quests and it worked well once I got used to it. Geralt isn't going to have an epiphany from killing one more nekker but he's always going to be capable of doing the fighting and bargaining required of a witcher at a respectable level even with some amnesia.
VtM game design: I’d argue that an RPG should never gate main line progress behind a particular skillset. Or should know what the floor of that skillset is for that stage, and set up with that in mind.
You want additional content for combat/stealth/talky builds in your RPG? Go for it. Maybe I’ll roll another character and check that content out! (I will not). But the main narrative should not require combat skills of x, or stealth of y or speech of a, unless getting those things is the skill floor.
Yeah Bloodlines is maaaybe my favorite game of all time, and I still recognize that as a big failing in the end. You can't have it be so flexible for 80% of the game and then force combat for the end -- it clearly was a limitation of time, and the rest is amazing so I accept that bit of bad with the good. It's still a flaw though! The XP system isn't really at fault, just the game design in some spots, and particularly the ending bits.
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Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
edited July 2021
Taking suggestions for names for my evil ranger pet boar in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire.
Hey! So a lot of my old classmates and one of my professors (he was the producer for Far Cry 1 and Crysis 1) are working on a game called In the Blackthat just got added to Steam. It's a multiplayer focused spacefighter game with a focus on more realistic science. Basically, the ships aren't airplanes in space like Star Wars, but rather can move, rotate and traverse in 3D space.
Someone on your tail? Flip on spin your ship around in place and return fire while keeping your forward momentum.
The game is still early and is planning on a 2022 release. It should ship with single player and online co-op, although the focus is on squad-based multiplayer. Adding it to your wishlists would really help out. Thanks!
MNC Dover on
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
Hey! So a lot of my old classmates and one of my professors (he was the producer for Far Cry 1 and Crysis 1) are working on a game called In the Blackthat just got added to Steam. It's a multiplayer focused spacefighter game with a focus on more realistic science. Basically, the ships aren't airplanes in space like Star Wars, but rather can move, rotate and traverse in 3D space.
Someone on your tail? Flip on spin your ship around in place and return fire while keeping your forward momentum.
The game is still early and is planning on a 2022 release. It should ship with single player and online co-op, although the focus is on squad-based multiplayer. Adding it to your wishlists would really help out. Thanks!
That looks super cool, done; happy to help out but it looks wishlist worthy on its own merits. Looking forward to seeing more of it!
Take me out to the Black, tell 'em I ain't coming back...
everyone got their steam deck reservation in, or wait-and-see?
I just dont have the dosh to justify it, even if Satisfactory in bed or something would be great. Maybe if my stream takes off somehow (This is unlikely).
Vault of the Void continues to be rrrrreal good. I'm climbing up the difficulty levels at a pretty good clip. Honestly, my all the time in the Hyperbolic Slay the Spire Chamber is helping. (Though it's very, very far from being a StS clone - they're related games who at this rate are going to end up sharing the throne of Best Card-Rougelike). You get to do really funny stuff when a build comes togther too - here are some sample final boss fights from recently, one from each of the 3 current classes.
Also, i see Death's Door has released. (And @Karoz already owns it). Therefore, i summon Karoz to play it and tell us how good it is, because i'm really hoping it's good!
I don't know if it's been mentionned yet but Wildermyth https://wildermyth.com/ is the cat's pyjamas!
Been playing pretty hardcore. About to finish the fourth "scenario". The standard difficulty (Adventurer) feels a bit on the easy side to me if you're an Xcom or CRPG vet, but the next one up kicks my ass pretty hard when I get to the second or third chapter, which is a tough pill to swallow after you've spent a lot of time on a scenario.
For the uninitiated, Wildermyth is a tactical role-playing game with an emphasis on semi-procedural storytelling and tactical map control. I won't go into too much detail, but some of the highlights include (and are not limited to):
- Procedural and story events that can drastically affect your PCs (up to and including permanent buffs/debuffs/cosmetic changes and permadeath)
- Resource and time management are needed both to stave off the constantly growing enemy threat and upgrade your PCs
- PCs that grow old, have children, and eventually die or retire from the adventuring life
- Game is intended to be replayed multiple times, which includes various scenarios you can play, including "generic" scenarios that don't have an over-arching storyline
- A legacy system where characters become "local legends" upon completing a campaign, which is tied to your in-game profile. Such characters can then be recruited under certain circumstances in subsequent campaigns, or even pop up unexpectedly in later games
A few starting off tips for people who are interested (aka: things I wish I knew when I started)
- As your party can get pretty big towards the later game, I find it better to have your characters specialize as they level, instead of generalizing. You are bound to get multiple warriors, so you can have one be a tank and another be a damage dealer
- For example: if your warrior is going to be a tank, go full tank. Skills to focus on would be Sentinel, Paladin, and Engage, if possible, and buy them the defensive armor set and a shield
- Counterpoint - Embrace the weird/unintentional mishaps that happen along the way, including death and injury, as they can lead to fun side-missions/story hooks along the way (for example, a side-mission might come up to honor a fallen party member or something like that)
- Character equipment upgrades are permanent and non-transferable. Basically, if you give the awesome sword to your warrior, it's theirs forever. There's no lotting their body if they die or retire, and there's no going back to their previous gear if you decide later you don't like it after all. If possible, I try to go for a ranged and melee option for all of my characters
- Use COVER and Flank your enemies when possible. They make a huge difference!
- Mages are weird in this game and take a bit of getting used to, as they mostly rely on using pieces of the environment to activate their powers. Once you get the hang of it, though, they become the backbone of your party.
- You can customize your characters upon recruitment. Appearance is easy to figure out, but customizing their personality is a little less obvious. Options for changing that are found on their "stats" page and you have to click the "show" button under "personality"
- Legacy characters will retain any physical transformations (including injuries) and pets that they may get throughout their previous adventure, as well as any enchantments on their equipment. Their equipment will revert to tier 1, they will revert to their starting age, and go down to the level accorded to them by their legend status upon a restart. They will also lose all accessories. A record of all of their adventures will be saved to their character sheet, however, and you will have the opportunity to update their legendary status upon completion of any subsequent campaign you decided to take them on. Oh, they, as a character, will not really have any memory of their previous adventures, BUT they will retain relationship status with any other legacy character you might import, including children, which can make for weird situations when a parent and child come back in a later game but are now the same age...
Highly recommended for any Tactics/CRPG fans who don't mind the paper-doll look the graphics have. Should run fine on most systems.
Anyways, I could go on about this one as it has gotten a good grip on me. I'll post some mildly spoilery fun tidbits about my adventures in the spoiler below.
- For the scenario against the mechanoid-like enemies, I decided I would pretend they're like a fantasy version of the Borg and thus made a team of parody Star Trek TNG characters. My character Lucky John Picky specialized in the ENGAGE skill and ended up getting a robot arm at one point, which I thought was hilarious!
- The character interactions between Rivals are pretty hilarious, and rivals that end up hanging out together a lot get a pretty powerful buff called "Oh yeah? Watch this!" which amuses me every time it pops off
- At the beginning of the Trixl scenario, you have to create a pair of siblings. In my playthrough, one of the siblings got themselves fire powers, and the other has started to transform into a mothperson. I'm pretty sure that at least one of those events were procedural, so I enjoy the moth/flame dichotomy this has created with them.
I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the fun. Go check it out!
CrisTales has also released for all of y'all who have that on your lists since forever
Unfortunately, the PC release seems a little half-baked. Hitching all over the place, especially when new voice lines begin, and absolutely zero graphics options - not even V-Sync, which means screen tearing galore. Can't even change your resolution.
Thanks for the wildermyth tips, few chapters in and now I find my entire remaining party is warriors (thanks to transformations and death). Need to start a new hunter recruitment drive I suppose. Got one mage who deals death by the dozens, probably good to get a backup
I didn't like the art style at first and the conversations are sometimes too vague, but it's growing on me.
+1
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Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
I want to get in on the wildermyth hype but every time I hear procedurally generated story, I just lose all interest.
I want to get in on the wildermyth hype but every time I hear procedurally generated story, I just lose all interest.
Totally fair criticism, you will definitely see some procedurally generated stuff repeat after a while, which can break your suspension of disbelief. Also, once you learn some of the procedural events, you can start molding characters into more "optimal" forms gameplay-wise, which may be attractive to those of us looking to min-max a bit, and may be necessary at higher difficulty levels. There is a bit of randomness involved in how your characters develop, but recognizing these events can provide opportunities to mold a character in favorable ways (or avoid unfavorable changes).
Also, each "campaign" only takes about 12 to 20 hours to complete; much less if you just skip past story stuff you may have already seen.
Oh, also, some (not all) of the procedural events can change based on the "personality" of the characters involved, so be wary about clicking through a familiar setpiece too fast.
I want to get in on the wildermyth hype but every time I hear procedurally generated story, I just lose all interest.
They've actually done a really good job of coming up with multiple types of dialog for an event based on the personalities and relationships of the characters involved to make each time it shows up a bit different from the last, to the point that you'll have to play through several campaigns or look up all the possible ways an event can trigger to notice the set ways it can go.
Also, while the events between main campaign beats are procedural, the actual campaign plot isn't, to my knowledge. And since each one focuses on a specific enemy race (and IIRC completely excludes a second one from ever showing up) it's very unlikely you'll have a "I've seen all of this before" campaign until your second or third go-around.
I want to get in on the wildermyth hype but every time I hear procedurally generated story, I just lose all interest.
The main plots are not procedurally generated. Some of the names of characters in them are but the core is always the same, e.g. you'll always be aided by the Mothman against a Thrixl leader in the fourth story campaign. There are two options for a purely procedurally generated campaign, but those are labeled as such and not the four main campaigns + 1 tutorial campaign.
The main things that are procedurally generated are the layout of the campaign map, the player characters, and what side stories pop up when you finish scouting any tiles not required for the main plot. The storyboards themselves are prewritten but which ones pop up and who gets involved is procedurally determined, e.g. you won't get a few panels of a party member coming up with bad jokes if you don't have a character with the goofball personality and you won't get a parent-child chat if you don't have two party members related in that way. This is the stuff that gets the most talk because 1) no one wants to spoil the main plots of the campaigns because the non-tutorial ones are pretty intriguing, especially the one for the Dreevan, 2) they're all independent so none of them are a single main plot to dissect, and 3) the procedural events are the ones that make your characters memorable and feel like characters. They're the equivalent of banter with other players at a tabletop, side adventures that tie into a character's background hooks, and where a lot of the more memorable things happen like gaining an arm made of fire, a pet spirit rabbit that used to power a sword, or two characters entering into a romantic relationship.
We talk a lot about procedurally generated stories in the game because they're the ones about our characters that made them feel like our characters.
Posts
Wasn't there some sort of "remember what you did in PoE1" thing right at the start when you are sort of dead? Not sure if that only happens if you don't have a save to port.
In any case, a whole lot of Deadfire is about Colonialism vs Natives stuff that has no relation to PoE1 at all. Though once you've done all that and get to the ending bits it reverts back to the souls and gods stuff again.
I had this same issue with Risen - leveled up all sorts of cool social skills and lockpicking and whatnot, then reached the endgame dungeon that's full of lizardmen who just murdered me even if I used consumables. That was that.
In other somewhat older games news, I gave 40k: Martyr another shot, but it just isn't clicking with me. And I think it's the way weapons are tied to your attacks, and the game wants you to commit to a spec. So it rewards playing nearly the same every single mission, except you slowly increase the numbers.
Oh definitely. That's a bit separate to me -- the game was rushed and the end-game became a combat fest. It's one of the flaws of Bloodlines, for sure! I think the solution is to avoid that for the end game, not add a bunch of monsters for non-combat characters to grind before the end to become combat characters.
TBH, I think having some situations where you have to fight is appropriate for the setting. Not the amount that was in the sewers, but it felt appropriate for the end. A fledgling isn't going to be able to talk their way out of a fight against much older and experienced vampires. I would have had some sort of catchup mechanism for characters that were lacking in some stats for certain parts of the game, eg. a character that sucks at stealth might be able to get some training if they punch a bunch of people for an expert before the quests Lacroix wants you to stealth through, a social focused vampire might be able to bargain for some combat training before the sewers and end game from characters they've done favors for.
On a related note, the combat rebalance mod for The Witcher 2 made by one of the devs eliminated exp from kills and put it all in quests and it worked well once I got used to it. Geralt isn't going to have an epiphany from killing one more nekker but he's always going to be capable of doing the fighting and bargaining required of a witcher at a respectable level even with some amnesia.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
VtM game design: I’d argue that an RPG should never gate main line progress behind a particular skillset. Or should know what the floor of that skillset is for that stage, and set up with that in mind.
You want additional content for combat/stealth/talky builds in your RPG? Go for it. Maybe I’ll roll another character and check that content out! (I will not). But the main narrative should not require combat skills of x, or stealth of y or speech of a, unless getting those things is the skill floor.
Goodreads
SF&F Reviews blog
Road 96 will release on August 16th
For those not familiar, it's a team-based 2D shooter with the players crewing a starship, and it's very cheery and psychedelic in its presentation. Your ship is literally powered by love and flies around freeing space bunnies to open hyperspace portals to the next map, while your crew runs around manning the defenses. Surprisingly, it looks more chill than it is, since the game can very quickly turn up the pressure and require some precise system use to safely get around. Frankly, though it allows for two players, you're highly encouraged to have all four, since there are more stations than there are players. With less you can't really afford to have someone at the helm constantly, which slows down the pacing.
If you do have a full party, however, it's a damn good time, and there's some simple-but-clever design at work. Shields are moved around the ship as they're needed, and a rotating superweapon requires careful timing to use effectively. Various upgrade gems either improve systems or change their function entirely: adding a flail to your guns, combining your engines with a minelayer, turning your shield into a ramming weapon, and several other combos. Planets have gravitational pull and orbital paths, some hazards require coordination between shields and navigation, and occasionally the game makes you outrun a massive explosion after pulling off a rescue. New elements spice things up from map to map, but it's all fairly intuitive as you play.
Overall it's a great party game, with the caveat that it's almost exclusively a party game. I'd liken the aesthetics to something like Rez, only not as abstract and more on the cutesy side; it still looks like an acid trip and will thoroughly test your ability to work together. Still, there's a lot to be said for getting a group together and trying to work as a team while sailing around space blasting stuff. Easy recommendation, and should be paired with a playlist that includes a lot of Huey Lewis and Pat Benatar for maximum effect.
Love will conquer space. By FORCE.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Yeah Bloodlines is maaaybe my favorite game of all time, and I still recognize that as a big failing in the end. You can't have it be so flexible for 80% of the game and then force combat for the end -- it clearly was a limitation of time, and the rest is amazing so I accept that bit of bad with the good. It's still a flaw though! The XP system isn't really at fault, just the game design in some spots, and particularly the ending bits.
Frank
51st Feral Hog
Puumba
Aporkalypse
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Kevin Bacon.
Someone on your tail? Flip on spin your ship around in place and return fire while keeping your forward momentum.
The game is still early and is planning on a 2022 release. It should ship with single player and online co-op, although the focus is on squad-based multiplayer. Adding it to your wishlists would really help out. Thanks!
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
That looks super cool, done; happy to help out but it looks wishlist worthy on its own merits. Looking forward to seeing more of it!
Take me out to the Black, tell 'em I ain't coming back...
Steam | XBL
I named my boar Boatswine.
Steam | XBL
Child Aloy is an adorable little monkey - although some of her early animations almost seem a little toddler-y? I can't really tell
Mayham
Chris P Bacon
Ham Solo
Boss Hogg
Frankenswine
Hogzilla
Bratwurst
The Notorious P.I.G.
Soy Bacon
Nothing more evil.
+1 for Ham Solo
I just dont have the dosh to justify it, even if Satisfactory in bed or something would be great. Maybe if my stream takes off somehow (This is unlikely).
Vault of the Void continues to be rrrrreal good. I'm climbing up the difficulty levels at a pretty good clip. Honestly, my all the time in the Hyperbolic Slay the Spire Chamber is helping. (Though it's very, very far from being a StS clone - they're related games who at this rate are going to end up sharing the throne of Best Card-Rougelike). You get to do really funny stuff when a build comes togther too - here are some sample final boss fights from recently, one from each of the 3 current classes.
10 minutes of punching.
That one magic trick but with blades.
Corruption is used to make things go Boom.
Also, i see Death's Door has released. (And @Karoz already owns it). Therefore, i summon Karoz to play it and tell us how good it is, because i'm really hoping it's good!
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/thezombiepenguin/
Switch: 0293 6817 9891
On gamepass, too.
It's been on my wishlist only a bit over 2 years, it can easily spend a few more years there.
ETA: Apparently it's also on Xbox Game Pass so I guess I'll check it out after all.
Been playing pretty hardcore. About to finish the fourth "scenario". The standard difficulty (Adventurer) feels a bit on the easy side to me if you're an Xcom or CRPG vet, but the next one up kicks my ass pretty hard when I get to the second or third chapter, which is a tough pill to swallow after you've spent a lot of time on a scenario.
For the uninitiated, Wildermyth is a tactical role-playing game with an emphasis on semi-procedural storytelling and tactical map control. I won't go into too much detail, but some of the highlights include (and are not limited to):
- Procedural and story events that can drastically affect your PCs (up to and including permanent buffs/debuffs/cosmetic changes and permadeath)
- Resource and time management are needed both to stave off the constantly growing enemy threat and upgrade your PCs
- PCs that grow old, have children, and eventually die or retire from the adventuring life
- Game is intended to be replayed multiple times, which includes various scenarios you can play, including "generic" scenarios that don't have an over-arching storyline
- A legacy system where characters become "local legends" upon completing a campaign, which is tied to your in-game profile. Such characters can then be recruited under certain circumstances in subsequent campaigns, or even pop up unexpectedly in later games
A few starting off tips for people who are interested (aka: things I wish I knew when I started)
- As your party can get pretty big towards the later game, I find it better to have your characters specialize as they level, instead of generalizing. You are bound to get multiple warriors, so you can have one be a tank and another be a damage dealer
- For example: if your warrior is going to be a tank, go full tank. Skills to focus on would be Sentinel, Paladin, and Engage, if possible, and buy them the defensive armor set and a shield
- Counterpoint - Embrace the weird/unintentional mishaps that happen along the way, including death and injury, as they can lead to fun side-missions/story hooks along the way (for example, a side-mission might come up to honor a fallen party member or something like that)
- Character equipment upgrades are permanent and non-transferable. Basically, if you give the awesome sword to your warrior, it's theirs forever. There's no lotting their body if they die or retire, and there's no going back to their previous gear if you decide later you don't like it after all. If possible, I try to go for a ranged and melee option for all of my characters
- Use COVER and Flank your enemies when possible. They make a huge difference!
- Mages are weird in this game and take a bit of getting used to, as they mostly rely on using pieces of the environment to activate their powers. Once you get the hang of it, though, they become the backbone of your party.
- You can customize your characters upon recruitment. Appearance is easy to figure out, but customizing their personality is a little less obvious. Options for changing that are found on their "stats" page and you have to click the "show" button under "personality"
- Legacy characters will retain any physical transformations (including injuries) and pets that they may get throughout their previous adventure, as well as any enchantments on their equipment. Their equipment will revert to tier 1, they will revert to their starting age, and go down to the level accorded to them by their legend status upon a restart. They will also lose all accessories. A record of all of their adventures will be saved to their character sheet, however, and you will have the opportunity to update their legendary status upon completion of any subsequent campaign you decided to take them on. Oh, they, as a character, will not really have any memory of their previous adventures, BUT they will retain relationship status with any other legacy character you might import, including children, which can make for weird situations when a parent and child come back in a later game but are now the same age...
Highly recommended for any Tactics/CRPG fans who don't mind the paper-doll look the graphics have. Should run fine on most systems.
Anyways, I could go on about this one as it has gotten a good grip on me. I'll post some mildly spoilery fun tidbits about my adventures in the spoiler below.
- The character interactions between Rivals are pretty hilarious, and rivals that end up hanging out together a lot get a pretty powerful buff called "Oh yeah? Watch this!" which amuses me every time it pops off
- At the beginning of the Trixl scenario, you have to create a pair of siblings. In my playthrough, one of the siblings got themselves fire powers, and the other has started to transform into a mothperson. I'm pretty sure that at least one of those events were procedural, so I enjoy the moth/flame dichotomy this has created with them.
Unfortunately, the PC release seems a little half-baked. Hitching all over the place, especially when new voice lines begin, and absolutely zero graphics options - not even V-Sync, which means screen tearing galore. Can't even change your resolution.
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
I didn't like the art style at first and the conversations are sometimes too vague, but it's growing on me.
Totally fair criticism, you will definitely see some procedurally generated stuff repeat after a while, which can break your suspension of disbelief. Also, once you learn some of the procedural events, you can start molding characters into more "optimal" forms gameplay-wise, which may be attractive to those of us looking to min-max a bit, and may be necessary at higher difficulty levels. There is a bit of randomness involved in how your characters develop, but recognizing these events can provide opportunities to mold a character in favorable ways (or avoid unfavorable changes).
Also, each "campaign" only takes about 12 to 20 hours to complete; much less if you just skip past story stuff you may have already seen.
Oh, also, some (not all) of the procedural events can change based on the "personality" of the characters involved, so be wary about clicking through a familiar setpiece too fast.
They've actually done a really good job of coming up with multiple types of dialog for an event based on the personalities and relationships of the characters involved to make each time it shows up a bit different from the last, to the point that you'll have to play through several campaigns or look up all the possible ways an event can trigger to notice the set ways it can go.
Also, while the events between main campaign beats are procedural, the actual campaign plot isn't, to my knowledge. And since each one focuses on a specific enemy race (and IIRC completely excludes a second one from ever showing up) it's very unlikely you'll have a "I've seen all of this before" campaign until your second or third go-around.
The main plots are not procedurally generated. Some of the names of characters in them are but the core is always the same, e.g. you'll always be aided by the Mothman against a Thrixl leader in the fourth story campaign. There are two options for a purely procedurally generated campaign, but those are labeled as such and not the four main campaigns + 1 tutorial campaign.
The main things that are procedurally generated are the layout of the campaign map, the player characters, and what side stories pop up when you finish scouting any tiles not required for the main plot. The storyboards themselves are prewritten but which ones pop up and who gets involved is procedurally determined, e.g. you won't get a few panels of a party member coming up with bad jokes if you don't have a character with the goofball personality and you won't get a parent-child chat if you don't have two party members related in that way. This is the stuff that gets the most talk because 1) no one wants to spoil the main plots of the campaigns because the non-tutorial ones are pretty intriguing, especially the one for the Dreevan, 2) they're all independent so none of them are a single main plot to dissect, and 3) the procedural events are the ones that make your characters memorable and feel like characters. They're the equivalent of banter with other players at a tabletop, side adventures that tie into a character's background hooks, and where a lot of the more memorable things happen like gaining an arm made of fire, a pet spirit rabbit that used to power a sword, or two characters entering into a romantic relationship.
We talk a lot about procedurally generated stories in the game because they're the ones about our characters that made them feel like our characters.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772