well, sorry for not replying, i've (still am) without electricity thanks to hurrican Maria.
currently I'm on a gasoline "generator", a 2000 watt model (cost a pretty penny) and am currently utilizing the (limited) data from a cell phone I bought recently just so I could have access to the 'net.
on the plus side I played and finished Tyranny and whole-heartedly believe it is Obsidian's best "Codexian-style cee-and-cee" adventure-game/RPG hybrid.
In one fell swoop Obsidian managed to solve all of the problems that have accumulated throughout the years with:
- companion "like/dislike" systems (they chucked the good/bad parameters and instead companions will stay with you either out of loyalty or because you've dominated their wills/lives, and neither "path" is wrong or right either in terms of gamification: both produce tangible and unique feats/perks/benefits so there is no need to always treat a companion one way or the other due to wanting a specific outcome in terms of their prowess)
- faction reputation "system" (they did the same thing here as with the companions and instead of either always alienating a faction or alternatively being their serf, instead you do your thang and either piss them off, or court their loyalty, or go for "neutral" faction alliance, a 3rd choice not present with the compnaions; neither of the 3 possible faction outcomes are bad or good, and each path plays into Tyranny's codex-style cee-and-cee, of which it has a lot)
the writing itself in Tyranny is miles above what is present in PoE and thanks to (now currently at 3 months) without electricity or internet (or running water the 1st month...), I was bored enough and without anything else much to do that I actually fucking sat down and read every single fucking dialog.
Dialog-wise I think Tyranny is the best Obsidian has done, 2nd only (obviously) to Mask of the Betrayer. In terms of writing F:NV is still their materpiece as it a masterclass in how to write an endlessly iterative CRPG.
It's amazing how much more precious your attention becomes when you literally don't have anything else to do but play whatever it is you are playing; and since I played Tyranny on literally dollars-per-watt (elec generator running on gas) literally every single thing I did cost me money.
It's a shame they decided not to utilize the totally serviceable (if not outright above-average) "rules systems" from PoE and instead they implemented a terrible mish-mash into Tyranny of skills and shit, and a horrible skill-raising system that put the icing on the cake. The encounter design, however, at least in the 1st Act, was very fun though.
--------------
The only shit I had installed when Maria struck was:
PoE
Tyranny
XCOM 2
FNV
ToEE
NIER: AUTOMATA
and Dragon Quest 7 for 3DS emulator.
Needless to say by now I plowed thru XCOM 2 (terrible game, incredibly simplistic, an insult to the series legacy), and hurricane or no hurricane there is simply no way I am/would play again:
- PoE, FNV, or ToEE. I have simply finished those 3 already way too many times.
So, currently am playing (thanks to that generator I got):
CITRA-emulated Dragon Quest 7 remake, and I have also flip-flopped my thoughts on this one as well. Yes, they butchered the class system and, yes, they cut down the amount of content/puzzles/dungeons, but I had not expected the complete and incredibly loving remake of the entirety of the game done in animated 3D graphics.
the original DQ7 was/is 2D Sprites, and this 3DS remake is completely 3D and Polygonal and I had not anticipated the lengths they would go to re-enliven this huge, huuuge game: long story short the first time I saw Maribel smirk at Kiefer in 3D polygonal animated glory... I was got.
I have about 5gb's left of data on this phone/sim-card, and I'm planning on using it to download something with tons of episodes that I can watch on laptop/tablet (I can charge these throughout the day at work). Am gonna try to get a torrent less than 5gb of Babylon 5 season 1 or something like that; if not i'll think of something to download.
...and yeah, that 1st month without running water was fucking brutal. Word to the wise, keep your bunghole clean people.
currently I'm on a gasoline "generator", a 2000 watt model (cost a pretty penny) and am currently utilizing the (limited) data from a cell phone I bought recently just so I could have access to the 'net.
on the plus side I played and finished Tyranny and whole-heartedly believe it is Obsidian's best "Codexian-style cee-and-cee" adventure-game/RPG hybrid.
In one fell swoop Obsidian managed to solve all of the problems that have accumulated throughout the years with:
- companion "like/dislike" systems (they chucked the good/bad parameters and instead companions will stay with you either out of loyalty or because you've dominated their wills/lives, and neither "path" is wrong or right either in terms of gamification: both produce tangible and unique feats/perks/benefits so there is no need to always treat a companion one way or the other due to wanting a specific outcome in terms of their prowess)
- faction reputation "system" (they did the same thing here as with the companions and instead of either always alienating a faction or alternatively being their serf, instead you do your thang and either piss them off, or court their loyalty, or go for "neutral" faction alliance, a 3rd choice not present with the compnaions; neither of the 3 possible faction outcomes are bad or good, and each path plays into Tyranny's codex-style cee-and-cee, of which it has a lot)
the writing itself in Tyranny is miles above what is present in PoE and thanks to (now currently at 3 months) without electricity or internet (or running water the 1st month...), I was bored enough and without anything else much to do that I actually fucking sat down and read every single fucking dialog.
Dialog-wise I think Tyranny is the best Obsidian has done, 2nd only (obviously) to Mask of the Betrayer. In terms of writing F:NV is still their materpiece as it a masterclass in how to write an endlessly iterative CRPG.
It's amazing how much more precious your attention becomes when you literally don't have anything else to do but play whatever it is you are playing; and since I played Tyranny on literally dollars-per-watt (elec generator running on gas) literally every single thing I did cost me money.
It's a shame they decided not to utilize the totally serviceable (if not outright above-average) "rules systems" from PoE and instead they implemented a terrible mish-mash into Tyranny of skills and shit, and a horrible skill-raising system that put the icing on the cake. The encounter design, however, at least in the 1st Act, was very fun though.
--------------
The only shit I had installed when Maria struck was:
PoE
Tyranny
XCOM 2
FNV
ToEE
NIER: AUTOMATA
and Dragon Quest 7 for 3DS emulator.
Needless to say by now I plowed thru XCOM 2 (terrible game, incredibly simplistic, an insult to the series legacy), and hurricane or no hurricane there is simply no way I am/would play again:
- PoE, FNV, or ToEE. I have simply finished those 3 already way too many times.
So, currently am playing (thanks to that generator I got):
CITRA-emulated Dragon Quest 7 remake, and I have also flip-flopped my thoughts on this one as well. Yes, they butchered the class system and, yes, they cut down the amount of content/puzzles/dungeons, but I had not expected the complete and incredibly loving remake of the entirety of the game done in animated 3D graphics.
the original DQ7 was/is 2D Sprites, and this 3DS remake is completely 3D and Polygonal and I had not anticipated the lengths they would go to re-enliven this huge, huuuge game: long story short the first time I saw Maribel smirk at Kiefer in 3D polygonal animated glory... I was got.
I have about 5gb's left of data on this phone/sim-card, and I'm planning on using it to download something with tons of episodes that I can watch on laptop/tablet (I can charge these throughout the day at work). Am gonna try to get a torrent less than 5gb of Babylon 5 season 1 or something like that; if not i'll think of something to download.
...and yeah, that 1st month without running water was fucking brutal. Word to the wise, keep your bunghole clean people.