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conan_edw

Arbiter
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Joined
Dec 3, 2017
Messages
846
Grab the Codex by the pussy Pathfinder: Wrath
was playing the beginning of alpha protocol and then tried a little bit of dark messiah and now I'm more than half way through. Really enjoying it except the fact that I've never experienced more crashes in my life
 

PulsatingBrain

Huge and Ever-Growing
Patron
Joined
Nov 5, 2014
Messages
6,165
Location
The Centre of the Ultraworld
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Codex+ Now Streaming! Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
Tyranny. I've gotten to the part where I've just picked sides. I realise that it might get going as I'm only a few hours in, but so far I'm underwhelmed. The constant shifting of relations with characters and factions is weird as fuck to manage, and the system only really rewards you for going all-in with one side.

Also messing around in Rage, which has good shooting and meh everything else. The DLC is actually pretty good though, it adds a javelin launcher which is fucking great to use.

Edit: After playing for a few more hours I think I was a little harsh on Tyranny. It's not blowing me away, but after a few more hours and getting pat act 1, it's really opening up. I'm way more excited to see what happens at this point
 
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Dux

Arcane
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
635
Location
Sweden
So I've played Risen all the way through now and there's some positives and there's some negatives. It's Piranha Bytes, after all.

The big positive is of course the world, or rather the island, which is meticulously crafted and designed, bolstered by a favourable graphics engine. It really is a beautiful and atmospheric setting. The task to explore this place bit by bit - which is done mostly in chapter 1 and 2 - is the highlight of the game. You could say the same for Gothic I & II as well. Then we have chapter 3 which is sort of decent, and lastly chapter 4 which is so bad that it actually threatens to drag down the entire game with it. It is absolutely fucking abysmal. It all culminates with a final boss straight out of God of War or some such shit. It's bad. It's really, really bad. Running through caverns and ruins fighting hordes upon hordes of lizards. Whereas Gothic I & II had dubious final acts, Risen's is so badly and tediously designed that it boggles the mind. It's a real shame.

As I said earlier, exploring the setting and doing the quests, advancing within the faction has always been the quintessential Gothic experience. When the plot demands actual focus and resolution, it goes downhill fast.

The combat is another thing which bothered me throughout the playthrough. I played on the Don's side, specialising in axes and crossbows. Things like timing, momentum and plain old physics seemed like the key components of fighting. That's the impression I got. However, these rules are routinely bypassed and ignored by AI monsters and fighters whenever it's convenient for them. Automatic dodging and blocking, pulling off physically impossible feats to get out of a jam. It becomes tiring really, really quickly. Then there's the countless fighting techniques and combinations which made me feel like I was playing a fucking Street Fighter game, nearly all of which are rendered moot whenever you're fighting more than one opponent. The soft lock-on mechanism makes every group fight a complete clusterfuck. I was running around at the very end with maxed out gear and stats, and I still couldn't manage to fight two elite lizard warriors at the same time or ashbeasts for that matter. The combat just made me tired and frustrated. It's arbitrary nonsense, filled with cheap AI scripts.

Ranged combat. Towards the end I had maxed out my crossbow skill and I had the best crossbow in the game. Did that finally make the weapon a viable option in combat? Not really. For 90% of the game the crossbow is just a way to whittle down the health of an enemy, before they reach you. Mostly you'll just annoy them. I don't get it. It's a complete waste of skill points. The terrible projectile velocity compounds the problem further.

The lockpicking mini-game is also horrendous. It's a game of chance. You either press left or right with a 50% chance of success. Why even bother with that shit?

Neither Gothic games had great final bosses but they were decent enough. In Risen it is pure arcade Mountain Dew decline. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. I had literally done all of that bullshit just for that fight...

The first two chapters save this game from the abyss, because they are quite fun and rewarding, just like the classic Gothic experience. The exploration and the early quests really elevate the game. Just brace yourself for when the decline hits you like a sledgehammer later on.

:3/5:

I would have given it a solid four if not for the atrocious final third.
 

Gepeu

Savant
Patron
Joined
Oct 16, 2016
Messages
986
However, these rules are routinely bypassed and ignored by AI monsters and fighters whenever it's convenient for them. Automatic dodging and blocking, pulling off physically impossible feats to get out of a jam.
It's not true. Every monster has a different set of moves and reactions, and has one or two ways to deal with them effortlessly (either by dodging mid their combo and attacking from the side, or blocking, or just waiting for that big frame window in between their combos). If you don't read their moveset right, they will dodge or block you likewise. Reading enemies in Risen is really easy and getting hit is always entirely the player's fault who either didn't learn patterns or failed at crowd control.
Rules are exactly the same, but available movesets differ.
 

Dux

Arcane
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
635
Location
Sweden
You know I'm not even going to argue with you, considering you've obviously given it more thought than I ever did. There's a good reason I never played Dark Souls. Combat 1v1 has some semblance of tactics, I guess, although it mostly boiled down to me getting up close with a shield, then sidestepping after their attack to strike the flank or back, or giving myself room for a power attack. As for the rest of it, I just couldn't be bothered to put it to memory. I decided about midway through not to indulge the game on that front, quite frankly.
 

Mastermind

Cognito Elite Material
Patron
Bethestard
Joined
Apr 15, 2010
Messages
21,144
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Chronicon.

obv diablo 2 inspired pixel art arpg that plays like a twin stick shooter (wasd movement, mouse aim). 4 classes with a fuckton of skills each. bought it on a whim and now dark souls 3, which i was playing, can eat shit for all i care.
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
4,283
Location
Massachusettes
I'm replaying the game unmodded. Gun sounds are a bit weak but it's a minor issue. It's not only as amazing now as when it was released - it's in fact much better in retrospect given how bad the state of games is now. If anyone is replaying this, make sure to grab the latest OpenAL from here: http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html, and move the 32 bit soft_oal.dll into the /bin Stalker folder, then rename it to OpenAL32.dll - this will restore the game's excellent surround sound support. People who play Thief should be familiar with this procedure.

I downloaded the openal-soft-1.18.2-bin.zip from the site in your link, extracted "soft_oal.dll" from the Bin/Win32 folder, renamed it to "OpenAL32.dll" and placed it into my Thief 2 folder. Is this really all I need to do to get the enhanced OpenAl audio over the standard OpenAl that was installed in my Windows folder? I'm using a Soundblaster Z soundcard and NewDark with Thief 1 & 2.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,871
To be on the safe side, also transfer and rename the 32 bit DLL into the SysWOW64 folder (if you're using a 64 bit version of Windows) and move the 64 bit DLL into the System32 folder. It should work. There's a config file inside the zip file that you can use to see if everything's working (under the alsoft-config folder - alsoft-config.exe), but you need to run it from a command prompt as it auto closes the window.
 
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Azalin

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
7,305
Finished Thimbleweed Park a good old school adventure by Ron Gilbert with a meh ending.If anyone is hungry for an old school adventure you should consider this one. Btw I didn't know Ron was so butthurt about the deaths and dead ends in old Sierra adventures that he has to bitch about them 30 years later
 

Kabas

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
1,258
I think that i finished the beginning scenario for Realmz - The city of Bywater. So here is a conclusion of sorts.
By the end of it my party was level 7-9 and have accumulated enough treasure to crash any local economy.

My MVP started to show some weakness. While the fully charged second tier touch spells can be pretty solid on Battle Mage they're still the second tier attack spells. Enemies started to resist those from time to time even without the [2 tier spell immunity]. His exp progression has also noticeably slowed down after acquiring magic.
Assassin is great now thanks to her ridiculous crits, will still think twice before moving her on the frontline because of squishiness though.
Fighter has finally stopped with his constant missing and is now approaching a Battle Mage in prestige score. I attribute his improvement to finding a nice Axe that gives [Strong] buff, which improves accuracy.
Priest is still failing to land her control spells such as [Major Soul Bind] and my 94 stamina Archer is still making me regret not making him a melee guy.
Relying on Enchanter summons is boring and annoying IMO, i used her primarily as an AOE caster. Her 2nd tier [Plane of Fog] was suprisingly still effective until the end.

All in all i must that Bywater is a nice scenario. There is no forced main quest to pursue and it's choke-full of secret areas to explore and optional fights to find.
Now, which scenario should i try next? I heard that the Sword Lands trilogy is good.
 
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Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
4,283
Location
Massachusettes
To be on the safe side, also transfer and rename the 32 bit DLL into the SysWOW64 folder (if you're using a 64 bit version of Windows) and move the 64 bit DLL into the System32 folder. It should work.

Another way I was able to verify that it was in fact using the OpenAL32.dll I dropped into my Thief 1 & 2 folder was to just delete all instances of OpenAL32 in my Windows directories and if I got audio it meant it was working and using the OpenAL32.dll in my Thief folders. I discovered that if you selected OpenAL in Thief's Audio Options menu with EAX enabled and there was no OpenAL32.dll installed anyhere, you got no audio at all.
 

Dux

Arcane
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
635
Location
Sweden
Trying to play Might and Magic IX for some nebulous reason. I guess it's because I finished every other MM game. I installed the fan patches and got the game working okay, although so far I've encountered a very nasty bug where neither I or the enemies could attack anymore. I was forced to load an old autosave. No idea what to make of that or what it entails for my playthrough.

It's strange playing such an unfinished game.
 

HansDampf

Arcane
Joined
Dec 15, 2015
Messages
1,471
Shadowrun: Drachenuntergang again...
Turns out the AI is even more handicapped than I thought, and enemies can attack only once per turn. That explains a lot of their retarded behavior. Thanks to agris there is a mod to fix this, perfect for a replay. :salute:

Once again, playing without manual saves, and this time as a decker/rigger type, just so I don't have to take that idiot Blitz with me all the time. The battles are still manageable, so far, with more liberal use of consumables. That is, until I got to the MKVI mission yesterday... I've had some tough encounters before, but this was the first instance of rape. Without the mod, this is actually one of the easiest missions, thanks to the op cyberzombie. But now when there are 7 or 8 guys waiting for you, and every one of them can attack twice, it's like their numbers just doubled. Look at this scheisse.
14636460590101430272_c3r0o.png
I survived, somehow, but I've used up all of my 4 BuMoNAs that mission, and felt like I was doing ok. And of course, on the way back home there is a small extra encounter, with almost all of my consumables ... consumed.

I love it! :mixedemotions:
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,523
However, these rules are routinely bypassed and ignored by AI monsters and fighters whenever it's convenient for them. Automatic dodging and blocking, pulling off physically impossible feats to get out of a jam.
It's not true. Every monster has a different set of moves and reactions, and has one or two ways to deal with them effortlessly (either by dodging mid their combo and attacking from the side, or blocking, or just waiting for that big frame window in between their combos). If you don't read their moveset right, they will dodge or block you likewise. Reading enemies in Risen is really easy and getting hit is always entirely the player's fault who either didn't learn patterns or failed at crowd control.
Rules are exactly the same, but available movesets differ.
This might actually convince someone who didn't play the game. But then you do play it, and get stuff like two enemies attacking you at once, one clipping through the other and hitting you. Or you die 20 times in a row in your first ashbeast encounter, because you only see the leaf textures. Also the teleport dodges of many enemies were irritating as fuck and there is no way in hell you could foresee/avoid that, horrible design. Did it also have this stupid shit that Risen 2 and 3 had, that when you clicked to attack and the animation already started if the enemy decided to attack as well they were always quicker and would get a free hit on you no matter how skilled you were? I don't remember.

The combat in Risen was really, really fun when using melee and fighting humans (and some monsters) 1 on 1, but apart from those scenarios, not really.
 

Gepeu

Savant
Patron
Joined
Oct 16, 2016
Messages
986
Bugs and the git gut echo.

R2 and 3 had revamped the combat almost completely (for the worse).
 
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Renegen

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
4,062
Bought Borderlands 2 GOTY and having a blast going through it for the first time in years (erhm..). Any bro wants to form a mini party and level up together? The game is seriously addictive, and light hearted. We could play the D&D DLC, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, it's simply majestic, everyone would need to be around lvl 30. Or maybe we could start new characters at lvl 1.
Steam name is Renegen.
 

flyingjohn

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2012
Messages
2,945
Bought Borderlands 2 GOTY and having a blast going through it for the first time in years (erhm..). Any bro wants to form a mini party and level up together? The game is seriously addictive, and light hearted. We could play the D&D DLC, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, it's simply majestic, everyone would need to be around lvl 30. Or maybe we could start new characters at lvl 1.
Steam name is Renegen.
If you are enjoying the game i would recommend your next play through be with the community patch:
https://mentalmars.com/game-news/borderlands-2-unofficial-community-patch/#install
It s mostly a bug and re balance mod,and you can play it solo or with other people.
 

flyingjohn

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2012
Messages
2,945
Well wasting my time with saints row 2 co op.It is not good whatsoever.
-Driving model sucks.
Cars feels harder to control then they should and anything that isn't a car is a nightmare to control.
-Shooting feels underwhelming
The weapons just don't feel right.The animation don't help and certainly make things feel off.When i shotgun somebody to the stomach i don't want him to have the "oh my balls" animation.
Also the weapons power just feels underwhelming,can't fully describe it but it gets noticed very easily in the game.
-Side activities ubisoft style
I know each activity has its intro and more though put then the generic ubisfot one,but they are still repetitive.There is way too much of them and you repeat what you are doing from lv 1 to the end.
Now i do like the uniqueness like the plastering shit all over but it gets boring quickly.I prefer side missions ala gta style.
-Gang elements are useless.
Your gang is useless and the entire crib buying element is just useless as well.

For positives the city is nice(much better then 3 and 4) and the story has a nice mix of humor and seriousness,bu that is all.You will be mostly driving or shooting or both and those things don't work very well.
Rating so far: A big meh.
And yes i am playing with gentlemen mod.
Oh and it does have some nice customization options for our character,especially with the mod.
 

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