Random Game Thoughts Thread - February 19 - February 25

[Brian Boru]

Far Cry 6

Surprise!
Bounced back to this after a couple of quick detours with Warpips and AoE4, neither of which grabbed me.

I got to Meet the Monteros after an annoying firefight to help their doghater Espada.

I built the Hideout Network fully buffed there, and also the Guerilla Garrison. I was short on resources to buff the GG and to build the Hunter's Lodge at the next camp—only 2 buildings per camp—so I did a couple of rounds of the ~dozen hideouts, each visit netting some of those resources.

I also discovered that the ranking system has teeth, via trying to attack the Oil Rig at top NW corner—chasing the Supercharger shotgun I want. Got hammered within 5 minutes of getting on the rig—it's a Level 6 target, and I was Level 3.

Later I got to the Legends of '67 camp in the south. This enabled me to build and buff the Hunter's Lodge, which means I now get undamaged meat from all animal kills. Also means I get to sell all the building resources for pesos—which hasn't been of much use yet.

Mostly I've been capturing road Checkpoints, which provide Fast travel points, and also taking out anti-air sites, which allows me to air drop at any FT point—a major aid to getting around the huge map. These also up my rank, I'm now L6, so Oil Rig visit again soon

Amigos

Only 2 so far. You get Guapo the croc near the start.

Guapo's claim to fame is he can revive himself when killed. He's useful, especially with scaring wildlife before I had a shotgun.

Then I stumbled across Boom Boom, here with an admirer…

…while exploring—heard barking from a container, opened it, and there was Boomer from FC5! He likes to tag nearby enemies and animals, and collect extra resources from enemy kills.

Weapons

On the hard Action difficulty, I've had to use the standard Supremo a few times to deal with choppers. That 'annoying firefight' above… a gunship was one of the awkward bits, and I totally forgot I had the Supremo! Found a fixed gun eventually which did the job. Supremos auto-target the toughest opponent—typically chopper or tank—but clearly have a range limit. I pointed gun at a chopper a bit away, hit the Supremo key, and it blasted some cavalry guy

Sidearm is a waste of a weapon slot, I've used the pistol a few times to shoot locks or boards—after I discovered pumping 5-6 shots into a dude only got me killed. Would be nice if I could have a sawn-off or a launcher as sidearm.

The other 3 I've settled on are MS16 L assault rifle, a placeholder shotgun, and Recurve Bow with blast arrows—I will need this when there are multiple nasty choppers and tanks around at the same time, since Supremo has a very long recharge time.

I had a sniper rifle for a good while, but the MS16 L with armor-piercing ammo has made it redundant—only drawback being the 4x scope rather than sniper's 8x, but I think I can get the max 5x on it now.

I'm bouncing around the map as the humor takes me. They've expanded on FC5's method of showing targets—you go out and about and bump into scouts wandering the land. So you can't clear a section and be done with it, some later scout will mark some new stuff on your map. I like this sort of haphazard discovery, feels more organic.

 

[ZedClampet]

Far Cry 6

Surprise!

OMG OMG OMG. SHOOK!

********

Played more of Warpips. It's alright. Not sure I'll play it again, but you never know. It's very short, so you can just hop in and play for a bit. I feel like I already have the strategy down, though.

*********

Played a bit of House Flipper. Trying to do my first real luxury house, and I'm not doing so great. If I don't find a recent lotto winner who's impressed by gold colored door knobs, I could be in trouble.

**********

Played a bit of Hogwarts this week, though I slowed down some. It's not you; it's me. Trying not to drop it completely. It's just difficult for me to play this type of grand SP narrative game right now.

***********

Played Into the Flames with Guido. Is the game good? No, I wouldn't really say that. Did we have some hilarious times playing as firefighters? Absolutely. Game is fairly realistic and very ambitious and out of this world janky.

 

[mainer]

You get Guapo the croc near the start.

Guapo's claim to fame is he can revive himself when killed. He's useful, especially with scaring wildlife before I had a shotgun.

How exactly do you squeeze a crocodile into a t-shirt?

 

[Zloth]

Keep an eye on each of his thumbs, Guapo!!

 

[Johnway]

With the amount of action games i've played, its time to get back to clearing my backlog. So its time for strategy games, i finished the DLC for Shadow tactics, but that didn't last so long so we need to play a proper strategy. So... in my backlog i picked Phantom Doctrine (bought it years ago and got side tracked). So far i'm engrossed by it. yes, its like XCom but its more stealth then combat. Still getting my head around the mechanics like special abilities, what the stats do, economy management, whether there is a doomsday clock etc etc.

The Cork board is pretty neat (even if its not particularly difficult or complex) rewarding as it slowly grows/expands. I do have a few raised eyebrows with the mechanics but we'll see how it pans out.

On other news, my artwork for my next picture. I've finally started on the figures and yeah, just working on one/2 figures to get the colors right and work out some issues. But yeah, slow going as i take my sweet time. The main issue with it is that its a bit too dark.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I restarted my Troubleshooter Abandoned Children game so I could actually have some of the tutorials stick this time. There's been a bit of an abilitease with what I assume is some potential future team members of a higher level. Getting a bit more of a handle on how resources work in the game now. Just opened up crafting. The story really doesnt grab me so I hope they lay off it a bit and let me get to the turn based combat, which seems great so far. I suspect theres a lot more depth to come there too.

Started Elden Ring up again, doing a run without spirit ashes to help against bosses. Picked up the Great Axe and aiming for a strength build currently. I may revert to a plain old Great sword/parry shield eventually, but collossal weapons might be fun too. No set plan, use what I find.

Divinity OS continues slowly but surely, but also picked up a couple of hours of Star Wars Battlefront 2 with a buddy. I'm terrible at online shooters, but I'd forgotten how fun the chaos can be if you're just playing along for fun. No idea how it compares to other online shooters of the last 10 years but its pretty cool getting slice and diced by Yoda and Darth Maul.

 

[Zimbaly]

I've been hitting up Farcry 6 this free weekend. I gotta admit I'm impressed. Still the same format for the game, but it's really improved. They upped it and I like it.

I don't got the cash now, but when it goes on sale again I'll pick this up. I hate to say it. It's hilarious and good.

 

[DXCHASE]

Had to get the last copy of Destiny 2's Lightfall purchase out of the way (i wind up getting 3 copies for the wife and son but spread them out purchasing wise. So i have been relying on the free games i get to play.

I've been running through Shadow Warrior 3 via gamepass, and its been a treat. Runs really well in 4k on my 3070ti, so its been fun playing this from the couch. Its like an Asian Doom. They really ran with how Doom Eternal is played, but its still Shadow Warrior and its been fun af. I will be playing Atomic Heart on there when that drops and have been also playing Wild Hearts via the EA Play that im subscribed to because of Deadspace

I also got this in the mail last week: (Gjallarhorn rocket launcher from Destiny 2)

 

[Brian Boru]

How exactly do you squeeze a crocodile into a t-shirt?

Very carefully!

I hate to say it

Why? Isn't it a good thing to like a game?

 

[Zloth]

Got a few mods set up for starting Mass Effect 2. The game now requires the new EA App. Installing that uninstalled the old Origin application and put in the new one. No need to re-input my password or anything, so no issues.

When I finished my playthrough, I noticed I got no achievements. Odd - AAA games like to give one or two out real early. It turns out that the EA app has had this problem for several months now. It has been reported numerous times. EA's answer was to make the app REQUIRED to play EA games.

That's exceptionally pathetic.

It seems that the issue can be worked around by using some firewall rules but, jeez, this is a AAA company? Really?

I restarted my Troubleshooter Abandoned Children game so I could actually have some of the tutorials stick this time. There's been a bit of an abilitease with what I assume is some potential future team members of a higher level.

Whaaaaaat???

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Whaaaaaat???

Abilitease (I just liked the word)

Maybe not then. There's an event for Sion where he has a day off and goes to get dumplings. He meets Heixlung and a lot of the other characters introduced earlier end up fighting together. They're a lot more powerful than Albus and Sion, or maybe I just built them badly so far.

I guess Irene will join soon, but was thinking the others do at some point too. Heixlung has an AOE thats super powerful and only on a short timer.

 

[Pifanjr]

I had a bit of time to play something yesterday, but couldn't decide what I was in the mood for. I ended up trying Warpips, but uninstalled it after the second tutorial mission. I thought I would be able to control my units directly.

The rest of the time I spend organising all of the free games I've claimed over the past few months on GOG Galaxy, then went to bed early.

There's tons of games I still want to play, but it's hard to get enthusiastic for any of them when I'm not sure when I'll actually have time to play them. I'm terrible at organising my time, but it seems I'll have to get better if I want to play any of the larger games in my backlog. Should be good for my sleep schedule too, as I still have a habit of going to sleep too late and being exhausted isn't a great state of mind to start a new game in either.

 

[Brian Boru]

Far Cry 6

That worked out well, now that I'm Level 9—base is Level 6.

This base is worth capturing—far NW, in sea. I got ~12 Industrial Circuits lying around there, a rare resource.

I also got the special Supercharger shotgun I wanted, except…
I had already stumbled on a much better one, the KSG. Have a look:

That's it compared to the KSG—those red sections mean worse performance, AND since Supercharger is a special, it cannot be modified. I have the KSG modded to the limit there.

KSG with azure color scheme:

A shotgun with a suppressor and a 3x telescopic sight, plus a mag of 20—most are mag 2, one of Supercharger's big selling points was mag of 7!

 

[Brian Boru]

Far Cry 6

Current loadout—I expect I'm set now, unless a non-useless sidearm shows up out of the blue:

 

[Pifanjr]

Company of Heroes 3 review

Relic's latest is a failed experiment but a great game.

www.pcgamer.com

It's a shame the campaign part of the game fell flat, but the battles themselves seem to be just as great as ever. And there's a decent chance the campaign will get some major improvements before I get to play the game, which will realistically be in at least 2 years anyway.

 

[Zloth]

Maybe not then. There's an event for Sion where he has a day off and goes to get dumplings. He meets Heixlung and a lot of the other characters introduced earlier end up fighting together. They're a lot more powerful than Albus and Sion, or maybe I just built them badly so far.

Oooh! Sorry, I thought you meant Dandilion was teasing some new add-in that would add yet another character. I like that word, though, I've seen it in a few games. (Trails of Cold Steel, Dragon's Dogma, ....)

Heixing and Ray join up later, as do several others. In fact, that's the pattern after a few missions with just Sion to help out. You start learning a lot more about the next character to join up, then get that character on the team. There are quite a few! (9? Plus two more in the free DLC.)

Also, I kind of feel like the random card system hampers strategy a bit. Each battle plays out differently, but they never play out the way I intended them. Also, I got to that first fight with the demonesque guy, and the reinforcements came every round. There's no strategy to that. You have no choice but to wipe out the reinforcements every...single... round...or you are going to start taking too much damage.

You NEED those guys! They're trivial to take out and doing so raises up the 'heroism' count so you can do strong moves. If you use 'quick' moves to do it, it doesn't even cost one of your three plays!

Once you get delt your cards, there's very little randomness in your own turn, quite possibly none at all. You can plan out all three plays plus quick moves plus environmental damage right at the start if you don't do any redraws or play any cards that draw more cards. Compare that to something like XCOM, where you can do whatever move you like but you need to roll dice to see if it will actually work or not. In Midnight Suns you can plan quite a few moves in a row, but in XCOM your plans always have to account for unexpected misses, making it just very hard to plan an entire move, even if you only have 3 soldiers.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Oooh! Sorry, I thought you meant Dandilion was teasing some new add-in that would add yet another character. I like that word, though, I've seen it in a few games. (Trails of Cold Steel, Dragon's Dogma, ....)

Heixing and Ray join up later, as do several others. In fact, that's the pattern after a few missions with just Sion to help out. You start learning a lot more about the next character to join up, then get that character on the team. There are quite a few! (9? Plus two more in the free DLC.)

Ah, no sorry. There's a new season of the game coming as you probably know, but I dont think theres any more DLC for this game. The game is huge!

 

[Frindis]

Currently downloading Atomic Heart, so will be playing that one for a while. Slowly leveling in Grim Dawn, trying out a new build. Probably meet @Colif somewhere in the game as a duel-wielding NPC screaming at me for stealing his loot. A little Warzone 2.0 with my nephews. I got a new role in the team as a spawn mule. Basically means I hide and when they die, they spawn at my hiding place. At least I can be of some use since I can't shoot for ****

 

[ZedClampet]

Oooh! Sorry, I thought you meant Dandilion was teasing some new add-in that would add yet another character. I like that word, though, I've seen it in a few games. (Trails of Cold Steel, Dragon's Dogma, ....)

Heixing and Ray join up later, as do several others. In fact, that's the pattern after a few missions with just Sion to help out. You start learning a lot more about the next character to join up, then get that character on the team. There are quite a few! (9? Plus two more in the free DLC.)

You NEED those guys! They're trivial to take out and doing so raises up the 'heroism' count so you can do strong moves. If you use 'quick' moves to do it, it doesn't even cost one of your three plays!

Once you get delt your cards, there's very little randomness in your own turn, quite possibly none at all. You can plan out all three plays plus quick moves plus environmental damage right at the start if you don't do any redraws or play any cards that draw more cards. Compare that to something like XCOM, where you can do whatever move you like but you need to roll dice to see if it will actually work or not. In Midnight Suns you can plan quite a few moves in a row, but in XCOM your plans always have to account for unexpected misses, making it just very hard to plan an entire move, even if you only have 3 soldiers.

No, that last part is BS. An unexpected miss, which is rare (unless the player is just an idiot and never expects to miss), is not strategy breaking at all and one of the only reasons that kind of game is fun. And "Once you get your delt cards..." is a far worse situation than an unexpected miss. Sorry, you won't convince me a card system is better than Xcom's system.

And I'm aware how you play the game, and any system where you need to constantly knock out reinforcements for a superhero to get "super" is pretty dumb.

 

[ZedClampet]

@Brian Boru have they fixed the cooking buffs? Used to be you were stuck with whatever buff you got from the first thing you ate (stuck, as in, for the rest of the game).

******

Looked for things to uninstall to install Atomic Heart and having problems deciding. There's little chance that Atomic Heart will be something I play a lot of since I don't generally like shooters, but I do want to try it,

 

[Brian Boru]

have they fixed the cooking buffs?

No idea, I never built La Cantina and don't intend to. Never built the Fishing Hut either, and the Bandidos one only once to see what it was about and then dropped it.

 

[ZedClampet]

No idea, I never built La Cantina and don't intend to. Never built the Fishing Hut either, and the Bandidos one only once to see what it was about and then dropped it.

That's weird as seriously as you take the game and your loadouts.

 

[Alm]

I started playing Halo Infinite on PC to see how it differs from Xbox. The KBM inputs are like a cheat code.

CoD had a system where you didn't have to be as accurate on controller (aim assist) and that seemed to work to level it out mostly.

Halo Infinite, I went from 4 kills a game and about 15% accuracy to averaging 14 kills a game and about 30% accuracy. The last game I played I got 45% accuracy, so - close to half my shots hitting.

 

[ZedClampet]

Company of Heroes 3 review

Relic's latest is a failed experiment but a great game.

www.pcgamer.com

It's a shame the campaign part of the game fell flat, but the battles themselves seem to be just as great as ever. And there's a decent chance the campaign will get some major improvements before I get to play the game, which will realistically be in at least 2 years anyway.

I really want to try it out, but I swore only one full price game a month, and I ended up buying Hogwarts. I, too, am concerned about the campaign troubles, though, as I'm not planning to play it in multiplayer, so waiting seems to be the correct thing to do, anyway.

*****

I can't tell you how many times I've come close to buying Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord, and I just now realized it's on Game Pass, so I'm pretty excited.

 

[Colif]

trying out a new build.

Its addictive trying the combos. I had to stop as Steam won't let me make any new character without sacrificing another. All the low lvl ones are first to die.

i hope you using builds from https://www.grimtools.com/ as it can save time.