What Games Are You Playing 2013?

[Shale]

It's fine in the first such stage of FE9, because that's a defense level where your best strategy anyway is to set a line and hold it against incoming waves of enemies. Not being able to see exactly how many are coming fits with the theme of the fight. The upcoming one is a kill-the-stationary-boss mission which is less fitting.

[Meeplelard]

Fog of War in a defensive map isn't too bad, yeah.  It's more that Fog of War has a huge unfair advantage for enemies in ways it shouldn't in any other kind of map.  Ran into an enemy you couldn't see because he was in your path of movement?  That unit loses their entire turn!   Defensive maps don't have that nearly as much as anything that requires you to take an offensive.

[DjinnAndTonic]

FE13: Still chugging away at this. I'm hitting that point in every Fire Emblem where I've played with all the features and now I'm kinda bored with it. Characters are still pretty fun, there's just too many of them so even the awesome character work isn't selling me on it anymore. I'll prolly finish it, but it'll be a lot slower now. It was the same way with every FE except FE10, which despite the larger cast, managed to get -more- streamlined towards the end instead of throwing out too many optionals that distract me from the goal of "get it finished".

[Fenrir]

BG Yattaf Solo:
Baldur's Gate 1's mechanics are rough but it's nice to see a non-Biowarised Bioware game.
BG1 is basically like Zelda 1 and 2, they're a bit clunky but interesting games before the Great Homogenization began in their respective series of games.


Anyway I went up to the final battle with nothing really notesworthy happening, and level 8/9/10.
At somewhere around that point the game thinks those levels are totally ludicrous and basically doubles the exp required every level. (Yes you're supposed to finish BG at level like 6)
Levels don't really matter much anyway, they give a few more spells and make the main character less squishy.
It's just nice not having all that xp wasted. Seriously I have 10x more exp than the regular cap now.

Auto strategy against difficult enemies is now Mirror Image + Blur + Haste + Invulnerability globe, then monster summoning (which isn't really that great) in battle (+ Chaos if enemies are human-ish) + lots of arrows.
Variations include sneaking in, leaving the field of view of enemies and throwing a poison cloud in there.


Anyway I immediately left the climatic scene to do the expansion. Specifically Werewolf Island. Greater Werewolf on a solo is totally nuts. And I bet he's probably already nuts in a normal game. The guy regens HP at a crazy rate and resists magic. His damage is pretty good too.

I had to kill all his buddies, come back and test 40 different strategies. What ultimately worked: Obv Mirror Image/Blur/Haste ASAP. Then Greater Malison to reduce his status resistance, then Hold Person to reduce his evade to 0. Potion of Cloud Giant Strength (23 Strength), then Spider Bane spam. I barely made enough damage to kill him but this worked. Then I discovered a Long Sword of Werewolf Slaying +10 right behind him.
......
Not sure this would have worked that much better than the Spider Bane anyway.

[Nitori]

GTA5: Like GTA4 except interesting, less awful tutorial misssions

Chop > Riley for videogame dogs 2013, CoD loses again

[Sierra]

Because Fenrir gives me bad ideas, I started up BG1 with an intent to run one PC through the whole series. Never played BG1/ToB before, so 2/3 of a new experience for me! Oh god the Bhaalspawn grew up in Tutorialville. No wonder you guys complain about the intro to this game.

I was going to run a druid just because I never have and I figured I might as well have the party healbot be someone who can never leave or permanently die. But then I thought, you know what spell I've never used? Find Familiar.

So instead I'm running a sorcerer just so I can have a cat.

Wizard would be more practical because diverse spell selection but you don't really get to be pretty when you're a wizard (you can, but sorcerers are just obligated to be so). I prioritize responsibly.

So at level one I get two spells. One of them is Find Familiar. The other one is Magic Missile and oh god I have six HP. Level 1 D&D PCs. But that's okay because summon cat = triple HP. Cat power! I'm sure I will regret this later when competent enemies show up and he nukes my HP by getting killed, but whatever, cats. I will probably savescum constantly to keep him alive through the whole series just like I did with my wife in Fallout 2 (I had to glitch the game to let her survive the electric floor room on the oil rig--save/reload, she respawns outside the scenery). Also the cat moves at something like 2/3 my speed and often paths in front of me to slow me down. So I am basically on the road with Hobocats.

Speaking of, man, the walking speed in this game is a thing. Was it always this slow in the series? I don't remember it being exactly unbearable in BG2 (although I still spammed Haste constantly for getting around the city).

[Shale]

FE9: well, that was easy. I had one reset when an invisible bandit burned down the house with Vantage in it, other than that it's a pretty simple stage, fog of war or not. The enemies are weak and predictable enough to feed to Astrid for quick levels, too.

[Fenrir]

Big mistake Cid. Big mistake.

I really really would have hated the 2/3 walking speed. (I didn't get Find Familiar because I'm just too scared about the -1 CON but now I'm glad) Walking speed is definitely pretty bad in BG1. Right now I actually have 2x walking speed thanks to the boots of speed and it still feels kinda slow at times. Your familiar has one third of that.

You'll find that the game likes throwing you naked in a middle of nowhere right after Tutorial Town.


Edit:
BG1 text cutscene: "Holy shit this dude is going to give you so much money!!! Awesome!!"
Five seconds later: *Dude betrays you*

[VySaika]

Rogue Legacy: Beaten it for the first time. It toke me 65 generations.

The game was rather fun, but the new game+ hasn't been so far. I think I just start over and avoid unlocking the Lich and the Dragon. They kind of clutter the gene pool.

...I find this kinda funny, since for me Lichking/queen is the best class in the game hands down. I admit I haven't played Spellblade with a decent spell yet(came up once so far. Had DAGGER), so that might be better. But generally I'll take lich over anything except MAYBE a ninja, and only then when the ninja has better spell/abilities then the lich.

[Shale]

I think I beat the game with a dagger-using spellblade. It's a really good class, at least after promotion.

[Fenrir]

BG1 Yattaf Solo: Finished everything.
The expansion's "riddles" were annoying, and Sarevok remains the cheapest motherfucking final boss I've seen in an RPG. Wands of summoning are not broken against him, they're absolutely essential.


...
Yet all is forgiven.




SWAG



Despised? The fuck?





As long as she donates some of her 180 000 gold pieces, nobody cares about Drizzt (and ALL THOSE OTHER INNOCENT PEOPLE)
You can feel Yattaf's lawful-evil smugness as she thinks about the pathetic plebe.



Sorry stat screen, Yattaf's numbers are 2 big 4 U



Yattaf's entire biography.

[Sierra]

I really really would have hated the 2/3 walking speed. (I didn't get Find Familiar because I'm just too scared about the -1 CON but now I'm glad) Walking speed is definitely pretty bad in BG1. Right now I actually have 2x walking speed thanks to the boots of speed and it still feels kinda slow at times. Your familiar has one third of that.

Nah, it's not that bad. You can chuck him in your backpack if you don't feel like waiting all the time/worrying about it getting nuked by AoE spells (not an issue where I am now but I'm sure it will be eventually). Which I guess kinda defeats the purpose of having it other than bonus HP, but hey, I am actually using it in fights because its astonishing 2 damage counts at level 1 and anyway it's absurdly tanky vs starting enemies (0 AC, 24 HP). Obviously this won't last, but it has better odds of short-term survival than any of the humanoids I've picked up so far. So basically Hobocat is also Jeigancat.

I have no idea if all the familiars are that slow-moving though, only tried the one (I ran chaotic neutral specifically to get a cat. Other alignments get something different). Anyway, I modded the game to pick up what is more recognizable to me as BG2 walking speed and there was much rejoicing.

So I left home for the first time ever and immediately met a dude who looks like he is trying to rip the skin off his face. He walks around saying, "I am become death, destroyer of worlds!" and offered me something to drink. I am sure that this partnership cannot end badly. (Wait I recognize him from BG2 and already know it does.) Then some other dude attacked me in broad daylight and got annihilated by the local guards. Pro assassin strats.

[Fenrir]

Woah I'll get one immediately in BG2 then.
Lawful evil gives you...
An imp.

He can still polymorph into a bear!

[Fenrir]

Ok nevermind about the imp. He's great!





BG2 has great ways of alienating every party member.
Yattaf just couldn't get over how Jaheira's head before bizzarely diformed since the last time she saw her. Didn't even release her from her cell. Jaheira went crazy.
Anomen just got told to shove it.
Oh and I need to talk about that Ogre Mage that screamed like a little girl running from Yattaf's arrows in the circus tent. Yattaf found this hilarious. Andrew don't hurt me

[Monkeyfinger]

in all my years of being a BG2 fan I never found out that familiars have dialogue, or that they can be put in backpacks

[Captain K.]

The DL - entertaining *and* educational

[Grefter]

Really?  And here I was going to make a comment about how I am not sure the Familiar is worth the inventory slot in a solo run without a bag of holding.  The extra HP at level 1 though is pretty amazing though if you are a Wizard.  As a Sorc I probably would have held off to cast it from a scroll though (one is in BG itself Edit - This is with Tutu, it is a baseline Tutu thing.  Mileage may vary with Trilogy and Enhanced Edition) to free up the extra spell slot.  Sleep and Magic Missile or something at Level 1 goes very far.

Sadly familiar dialogue is static and never changes.  It would have been cute to have them be responsive (and far too much work for BG2.  That shit ain't Torment).

Edit - And also one thing of note, if you have free Level 1 spell slots and aren't sure what to take, Scare (Fright?) is a rare spell that you can't really find on scrolls and scales way better than level 1s other than Chromatic Orb (take Chromatic Orb).  It is pretty niche, but it is a fun little toy.

[AndrewRogue]

Why would I hurt you? I like Nalia, not Aerie >_>

[Fenrir]

Oh sorry. Nalia fares relatively better, castle cleared and everything. Only problem is that I left in a hurry and never told her about it (I just can't decide about the stronghold right now) so she's probably dying from not knowing what is going on.

I found that Magic Missile was pretty terrible at level 1 as a mage but I guess I don't know about their probably awful physical offense. It's my favourite lvl 1 spell (... this is getting confusing) at high levels because it can be used near instanteously right after a physical attack.
I just got the awesome Robe of Vecna though so this probably changes everything.
(Edit: Ok I've tested Chromatic Orb against trolls, so good)

At least it sounds like they made different dialogue for each of the 9 mutually exclusive familiars, which is cool as hell. Unless every familiar of the same evil/neutral/good alignment has the same dialogue.

[Sierra]

Cat dialogue is definitely different from what you copied, yeah. It is appropriately tsundere (I hate using that word, but cats, they're amiable little sociopaths and it fits).

Critical cat damage is six in case anyone was wondering.

[Grefter]

All 9 have different dialogue yes.

Saint's Row 4 - So this is dumb as hell and amazingly fun.  Stuff has been said before.  The chance to run around using Deckard's pistol, Robocops fullt automatic pistols, a Jawa Ion Blaster as a shotgun and the Alien Marine Pulse rifle is pretty great.  My only sad times is not finding enough opportunities to use the Dubstep cannon. 

Dubstep is also the perfect soundtrack to this game.  It is stupid stupid music but so much fun.

[Meeplelard]

The Last Story: Started this up, finished chapter 1.  This game's first impressions are "It's kind of a mess." Mind you, the game could easily sort this out quickly in the next few parts by simply getting out of tutorial mode (to be fair tutorial stuff had plenty of actual "You control the character" stuff and were quick, so that's good), as well as actually going into a bit of exposition as it literally throws you in the middle of a bunch of ruins and says "there is stuff happening to 4 characters, by the way, that black haired dude you start as?  Yeah, he's not the main, the white haired guy you're going to use in 2 minutes after that is his companion is!"  At least, it seems to imply Zael is the main anyway...

...reminds me of Golden Sun 2 how it spontaneously made you start as Jenna, then after like 5 fights, they're like "Oh yeah, Felix is the actual leader here!  We made you play as Jenna because reasons."

...I should just shut up, though, and not judge a game based on it's intro tutorial dungeon that is likely meant to be mostly a gameplay introduction with some plot teaser things that are meant to leave you a sense of "What the heck is going on" as a hook to get you to play more.  IOWs, take everything I've said about the game thus far with a grain of salt and then some!

[Shale]

FE9: Is it Alliterative Desert Level O'Clock already? How time flies. Didn't bother stealthing/pacifisting that one, since the bonus EXP for it is barely more than what you get for just murdering everything, and dodging the active Laguz would make it a bitch to get all the items.

[Meeplelard]

Most people agree a pacifist run, barring personal challenge of "can I do it?" is not worth it precisely for the reasons you laid out.

[AndrewRogue]

I have gone from playing not enough games to too many really suddenly.

Mark of the Ninja: Yeah, this is pretty much how a stealth game should be done. Could have snuck around people more, instead opted to murder them good. My master shall be avenged... even though he survived originally, still. Killed the German dude and now PLOT TWIST. NINJA PLOT TWIST. My murder spree shall not end.

Planescape: Torment: Had to cheat a bit and use an FAQ on the whole convincing Ravel's daughter thing. I apparently missed a key bit of dialogue and, as a result, had no idea what to do next. Derp. I also cheated after annoying the Lady of Pain, but seriously, fuck that section. Current party is Annah, Morte, Fall-From-Grace. TNO is a fighter because I didn't find the Wizard trainer. I am currently hunting for the gate. It is not going well.

Orcs Must Die 2: Played this a little more. Acid spitters 2 gud. Spikes floors 4 gud.

Rayman Legends: Maingame beaten. Now all the unlocked stuff and perfecting levels to go. Ashley and I may kill each other. Doing the daily/weekly challenges as well which are fucking nuts. Game is great. Seriously, go buy it. It was well worth the 60 quid.

World of Warcraft: Wanted to see a bit of what the Panderia expansion was like, so I did a trial for 7 days. Had a little fun, although am completely clueless about what is happening due to changes. Pokemon system is awesome and fills my vanity pet collecting heart with glee. <3 account wide pet pools. Started a Monk because triple threat classes are best. Wanted to be a Worgen Monk but =(.