It's not super buggy. The biggest issue I've run into is run and gun not letting me have my shot after a double move. As for mechanics, it's fairly intuitive via the in game prompts. Deciding what is optimal/what to research/how to loadout, that's the same ol' trial and error that we know and love.
I've watched a few episodes of Christopher Odd playing it on Youtube, and picked up a decent chunk of knowledge from that before I started playing, but I don't think that is necessary to experience the game and have fun.
You do go through a lot more missions though, and you don't have the "choose one of three" crap anymore, you generally just get all three slightly staggered. However, now you have fatigue, which necessitates a few days of downtime whenever someone goes on a mission. If you really have to have them along, you can take them before they rest, but then they get injured and are out for twice as long. Becomes a fun juggling act a few months in.
While it leaves a fair bit to be desired and has the random annoying bug which makes quests impossible to complete, like quests appearing that go: "Build X in city Y" but you haven't even researched the tech to build X, and then X requires a specific resource available to that city that might never be in that city's range, so you end up screwed. One would think it would be able to detect if you have the tech for that quest... or at least if you have direct access to the tech so you can research it next... and then be able to detect if the city, spreading to full range would have that particular resource in its work zone before dumping an impossible quest on you...
Ok, I went off on a bit of a tangent there... you can tell I'm a bit annoyed by the quests.
That said, I'm definitely liking the game, but I will also add that unless you're a die hard Alpha Centauri/Civilization fan, you should try and wait for it to be on sale before picking it up.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
I'll give it the same treatment I did Civ 5. Wait for a couple of patches, and catch it on a sale. Hopefully the winter sale knocks a decent chunk off of it.
Winter sale won't knock off much yet, it's a highly anticipated game and they know it will do well. Maybe next summer or the winter sale after that. My guess is right now at best it will be 25% off.
And I am finally done with King's Bounty Crossworlds. I picked up a few short indie games during the halloween sale so those are next up, and then I am going to continue on with Mass Effect 2.
One of the games, called The Room, is actually a really fun puzzle game. You have this vault you are slowly trying to break into, and all the locks are puzzles. It used to be a mobile game but they translated the swiping movements well to mouse movements. Quite enjoy it because I really feel like the protagonist in a novel or movie trying to crack the safe.
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order. Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
Oh, I forgot one thing. Cavedog's ``Total Annihilation'' can be found via Start->Programs->Administrative Tools->Total Annihilation. That's where I think it belongs in my system anyway.
Oh my! It would seem Bethesda used Bornald for their compiler. Well, now I have something to contribute to the wiki regarding rand() and srand(). How's everyone else?
I really didn't think Beyond Earth was any good. It was(clearly and directly) a reskin of 5 that removed a number of perfectly good features. It'll probably be up to snuff after an expansion or two, but release price for the release product? Nah. The latest round of bug fixes is nice at least.
Been playing ffxiv recently. Enjoying circumventing the 2.5s gcd via being a monk. Seriously missing wildstar movement and aiming. I have come to realize that tab targeting for deeps is gross. Still nice for healing, at least.
Kalnid, the POINT of that scene was that it was fake! The entire lesson of that entire scene that Tidus was thrusting at was 'if you're not happy just fake it until you are' (which is a terrible lesson but still, fake laughter to feel better)
FFX is fantastic and I won't hear otherwise from anyone. Okay, there are some really terrible mini games, but everything else holds up, even the voice acting. I've heard much worse in more recent games!
@Marcella, I'm on your side on this one. Just this one thing though. Nothing else.
So.... Dragon Age Inquisition comes out tonight. Can't wait. xD
GIVE US A FULL REPORT ON HOW AWESOME IT IS because some of us are cramming the end of the semester oh god.
Played for something close to 4 hours last night. Ended up almost oversleeping for work due to that, but.... it was awesome.
The skill system is pretty similar to that of DA II, I'm trying out an archer rogue (Because I feel that archer rogues have been sucking something fierce in both previous games. So far I'm not impressed by the class. I think I'll reroll with a dual-wield qunari rogue - yes, qunari is a playable race.)
On to the differences. The controls are very much over-the-shoulder third person. Hold down right button to look around, left button for basic attacks. Certain enemies tend to take ages to kill even when employing freeze-shatter tactics (Templar defenders are horrendous in that regard). The first area I spent exploring throughout that time was simply huge. I discovered at least twelve side quests in that area alone so far and I doubt I've explored even 40% of the area. Certain quests have map markers to lead you to them, but a lot of it is about exploring every nook and cranny. For instance, you might find a drawing on the ground in a cave that points to a landmark that you then have to locate and search to find some treasure.
Riding is a bit unwieldy, turning the horse is a tricky endeavour, but otherwise allows for faster travel than on foot... except when you're exploring somewhere in the woods where you just can't get a good turn of speed. Crafting is pretty darn awesome. You get to find recipes, then use materials you've harvested in the wild to create pieces of gear (With gear stats varying based on materials used). There's less gear slots than the previous games - I only saw body and head armor + main/off-hand weapons, belt, two rings and an amulet. On the plus side there's 'mods' you can add to pieces of gear, for instance a set of gloves that adds 3% crit chance to medium body armor, etc. I wasn't too thrilled about material gathering, as it requires spelunking for metals and such, and chasing down and killing creatures for their pelts for leather.
The missions one can send one of the three members of the war council - Ambassador (Don't think I remember her from the previous games), spy (Leliana, of course), warrior (Cullen, the templar who has the hots for a female mage PC in DA:O) could do with a bit more information on what exactly they are supposed to accomplish, but otherwise appear to add an extra bit of play that might bring in rewards (I actually have not yet completed any of them - I started three last night right before I got to bed). Inquisition perks - i.e. buffs that require doing a whole lot of side quests to gain inquisition influence and then purchase to improve some aspect or another of all the characters are interesting, although some of them appear to be must haves.
The graphics are pretty beautiful. You can actually see moisture on the lips of characters, everything is very detailed. I am not usually taken in much by the graphics side of things... I do play a MUD after all... but damn... I was pretty speechless. The game has expanded beyond Ferelden and into Orlesia as well. Voice acting is definitely on the level and there's plenty of ambiance going on in towns and villages. There's also area exploration quests that are definitely going to tickle the completionists the right way, and there's creature research stuff to do where every creature you kill has a chance to drop an item that might then be handed off to the researcher in base to help improve attacks and defenses against that type of creature.
Okay, I think that's it for first impressions so far... while definitely avoiding spoilers. I hope this gives a bit of an impression of how awesome it is.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
I tried Archeage and it was terrible. Farmville as an MMO is not a concept I will ever understand.
I've been playing FF14 in my sparse free time. I have a fairy because I'm cool.
I don't understand this. Archeage is closer to runescape....which is the world's number 1 free mmo
There is definitely a large quantity of farming/mining/resource collecting, much like EVE, which I just personally find insanely tedious for a "game." Some people enjoy it, which is great! I'd just rather eat the eyelids off my face than manage labor points to grow trees/cows/whatever to build a 1 room house ad inifinitum. Not coincidentally, I hated the grind as a mortal here. Just not my thing!
So...you never played Runescape? All I'm saying is that it's quite unfair to label something 'farmville' which really is just something played by today's losers that have generally no grasp on gaming and has no business being part of any actual comparing.
I tried Archeage and it was terrible. Farmville as an MMO is not a concept I will ever understand.
I've been playing FF14 in my sparse free time. I have a fairy because I'm cool.
I don't understand this. Archeage is closer to runescape....which is the world's number 1 free mmo
There is definitely a large quantity of farming/mining/resource collecting, much like EVE, which I just personally find insanely tedious for a "game." Some people enjoy it, which is great! I'd just rather eat the eyelids off my face than manage labor points to grow trees/cows/whatever to build a 1 room house ad inifinitum. Not coincidentally, I hated the grind as a mortal here. Just not my thing!
There is so much more to EVE though than that. I can rave at you for hours about the awesome adventures I've had in that game and people I've met and friendships which were forged and all. I agree though, in itself, it is boring as all hell. But when these things become parts of a bigger story that you are forming with many other players, then it can be the most amazing thing ever. I do love me some grind though. But it is not something I can play for exclusively any longer.
Coincidentally I've stopped playing Archeage because there was a falling out in the group of friends I play with, and while I still would play with a few of them, we were all kinda like "meh" because it took the joy out of things. We thought briefly of finding a bigger guild to play in and all but then we realized there are other games we can play together which don't cost a monthly fee to keep all the goodies. I learned there that games who go "you cannot have nice things unless" are not my style. Paying a subscription is one thing. Not being allowed to have game content unless you pay up is a whole other thing. Imagine Lusternia going "you can't have guild skills unless you pay for them monthly". Yeah...
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order. Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
There is so much more to EVE though than that. I can rave at you for hours about the awesome adventures I've had in that game and people I've met and friendships which were forged and all. I agree though, in itself, it is boring as all hell. But when these things become parts of a bigger story that you are forming with many other players, then it can be the most amazing thing ever. I do love me some grind though. But it is not something I can play for exclusively any longer.
Coincidentally I've stopped playing Archeage because there was a falling out in the group of friends I play with, and while I still would play with a few of them, we were all kinda like "meh" because it took the joy out of things. We thought briefly of finding a bigger guild to play in and all but then we realized there are other games we can play together which don't cost a monthly fee to keep all the goodies. I learned there that games who go "you cannot have nice things unless" are not my style. Paying a subscription is one thing. Not being allowed to have game content unless you pay up is a whole other thing. Imagine Lusternia going "you can't have guild skills unless you pay for them monthly". Yeah...
I remember running around nullsec on a month-old character and getting shot down by our 'allies' because I didn't state what I was doing. I dunno, when I popped out of the jump point, there was an ally sitting right next to me that saw me launch my scanner probes. Anyway... the guy that was doing the asking was not in an aligned organization, but none of the others patrolling from the aligned organization said a peep when I questioned about who was asking. Instead they just went ahead and shot/podded me. That's about when I said... screw it and EVE went down the drain. I never really cared to do much in that game but explore. I never tried to jump or gank anyone, never bothered to try and screw anyone over... but nah, can't have the nice things, all you get is a bunch of goons who have been playing for ages thinking they're the Alpha and the Omega or somesuch. Granted, I was also fairly bored because I was swimming in isk... I mean really, about a month of playing and I had somewhere north of 400m.
Then there was the so-called EVE University/Ivy League alliance. Essentially a bunch of idiots who do nothing but teach new players how to be pirates and jump other newbies. If you're going to be doing that, have the decency to name yourself something that makes sense for that line of work as opposed to claiming you're some sort of teaching organization. Heck, I was thinking of signing up with them to learn about research and similar stuff. Then a bunch of them jumped and podded me in low sec.... talk about stupid. (And no, I definitely do not get the idea behind shooting down/podding a week-old character. What exactly is the thrill there?)
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Comments
I tried Archeage and it was terrible. Farmville as an MMO is not a concept I will ever understand.
I've been playing FF14 in my sparse free time. I have a fairy because I'm cool.
While it leaves a fair bit to be desired and has the random annoying bug which makes quests impossible to complete, like quests appearing that go: "Build X in city Y" but you haven't even researched the tech to build X, and then X requires a specific resource available to that city that might never be in that city's range, so you end up screwed. One would think it would be able to detect if you have the tech for that quest... or at least if you have direct access to the tech so you can research it next... and then be able to detect if the city, spreading to full range would have that particular resource in its work zone before dumping an impossible quest on you...
Ok, I went off on a bit of a tangent there... you can tell I'm a bit annoyed by the quests.
That said, I'm definitely liking the game, but I will also add that unless you're a die hard Alpha Centauri/Civilization fan, you should try and wait for it to be on sale before picking it up.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
And I am finally done with King's Bounty Crossworlds. I picked up a few short indie games during the halloween sale so those are next up, and then I am going to continue on with Mass Effect 2.
One of the games, called The Room, is actually a really fun puzzle game. You have this vault you are slowly trying to break into, and all the locks are puzzles. It used to be a mobile game but they translated the swiping movements well to mouse movements. Quite enjoy it because I really feel like the protagonist in a novel or movie trying to crack the safe.
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order.
Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Been playing ffxiv recently. Enjoying circumventing the 2.5s gcd via being a monk. Seriously missing wildstar movement and aiming. I have come to realize that tab targeting for deeps is gross. Still nice for healing, at least.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."
The skill system is pretty similar to that of DA II, I'm trying out an archer rogue (Because I feel that archer rogues have been sucking something fierce in both previous games. So far I'm not impressed by the class. I think I'll reroll with a dual-wield qunari rogue - yes, qunari is a playable race.)
On to the differences. The controls are very much over-the-shoulder third person. Hold down right button to look around, left button for basic attacks. Certain enemies tend to take ages to kill even when employing freeze-shatter tactics (Templar defenders are horrendous in that regard). The first area I spent exploring throughout that time was simply huge. I discovered at least twelve side quests in that area alone so far and I doubt I've explored even 40% of the area. Certain quests have map markers to lead you to them, but a lot of it is about exploring every nook and cranny. For instance, you might find a drawing on the ground in a cave that points to a landmark that you then have to locate and search to find some treasure.
Riding is a bit unwieldy, turning the horse is a tricky endeavour, but otherwise allows for faster travel than on foot... except when you're exploring somewhere in the woods where you just can't get a good turn of speed. Crafting is pretty darn awesome. You get to find recipes, then use materials you've harvested in the wild to create pieces of gear (With gear stats varying based on materials used). There's less gear slots than the previous games - I only saw body and head armor + main/off-hand weapons, belt, two rings and an amulet. On the plus side there's 'mods' you can add to pieces of gear, for instance a set of gloves that adds 3% crit chance to medium body armor, etc. I wasn't too thrilled about material gathering, as it requires spelunking for metals and such, and chasing down and killing creatures for their pelts for leather.
The missions one can send one of the three members of the war council - Ambassador (Don't think I remember her from the previous games), spy (Leliana, of course), warrior (Cullen, the templar who has the hots for a female mage PC in DA:O) could do with a bit more information on what exactly they are supposed to accomplish, but otherwise appear to add an extra bit of play that might bring in rewards (I actually have not yet completed any of them - I started three last night right before I got to bed). Inquisition perks - i.e. buffs that require doing a whole lot of side quests to gain inquisition influence and then purchase to improve some aspect or another of all the characters are interesting, although some of them appear to be must haves.
The graphics are pretty beautiful. You can actually see moisture on the lips of characters, everything is very detailed. I am not usually taken in much by the graphics side of things... I do play a MUD after all... but damn... I was pretty speechless. The game has expanded beyond Ferelden and into Orlesia as well. Voice acting is definitely on the level and there's plenty of ambiance going on in towns and villages. There's also area exploration quests that are definitely going to tickle the completionists the right way, and there's creature research stuff to do where every creature you kill has a chance to drop an item that might then be handed off to the researcher in base to help improve attacks and defenses against that type of creature.
Okay, I think that's it for first impressions so far... while definitely avoiding spoilers. I hope this gives a bit of an impression of how awesome it is.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
Estarra the Eternal says, "Give Shevat the floor please."
There is definitely a large quantity of farming/mining/resource collecting, much like EVE, which I just personally find insanely tedious for a "game." Some people enjoy it, which is great! I'd just rather eat the eyelids off my face than manage labor points to grow trees/cows/whatever to build a 1 room house ad inifinitum. Not coincidentally, I hated the grind as a mortal here. Just not my thing!
Coincidentally I've stopped playing Archeage because there was a falling out in the group of friends I play with, and while I still would play with a few of them, we were all kinda like "meh" because it took the joy out of things. We thought briefly of finding a bigger guild to play in and all but then we realized there are other games we can play together which don't cost a monthly fee to keep all the goodies. I learned there that games who go "you cannot have nice things unless" are not my style. Paying a subscription is one thing. Not being allowed to have game content unless you pay up is a whole other thing. Imagine Lusternia going "you can't have guild skills unless you pay for them monthly". Yeah...
You have received a new honour! Congratulations! On this day, you have shown your willingness to ensure a bug-free Lusternia for everyone to enjoy. The face of Iosai the Anomaly unfolds before you, and within you grows the knowledge that you have earned the elusive and rare honour of membership in Her Order.
Curio Exchange - A website to help with the trading of curio pieces in Lusternia.
Then there was the so-called EVE University/Ivy League alliance. Essentially a bunch of idiots who do nothing but teach new players how to be pirates and jump other newbies. If you're going to be doing that, have the decency to name yourself something that makes sense for that line of work as opposed to claiming you're some sort of teaching organization. Heck, I was thinking of signing up with them to learn about research and similar stuff. Then a bunch of them jumped and podded me in low sec.... talk about stupid. (And no, I definitely do not get the idea behind shooting down/podding a week-old character. What exactly is the thrill there?)
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
I didn't intend to drum up such a visceral reaction to farmville. Who knew you could dislike e-turnip farmers so much?
I downloaded FF8 and FF7 for a trip down memory lane. Why was the materia system fun again? HOLD ON I NEED TO SWAP OUT 87 THINGS BEFORE WE CAN FIGHT.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.