September 2023 Random Game Thoughts Thread

[Zloth]

I only played a few hours of Solasta Co-Op, was the verticality of the levels used much outside of combat? I remember there was a part where you had to find the way up some stairs to access the first dungeon. Then theres a fight on some pillars at the end of that where they kind of tutorialize pushing.

It has some find-your-way-to-here puzzles and, especially early on, some chests you need to get to with fly/jump/teleport spells. My ranger has a cloak that gives him spider climb, which is pretty funny to watch as he runs around the dungeon on walls and the sides of stairs.

I'm getting into the end game of the first campaign now. The baddies had a downright diabolical plan!!

Spoiler: Solasta end game spoiler

The whole game takes place in a land that's just put together a sort of fantasy United Nations. Your party finds the titular crown, keeping it for most of the game, but eventually the UN decides it's too dangerous for your band to keep taking around all the most evil places of the world. So, they take force you to sell it to them (for 10 kilo-GP!), then lock it away in the goody-goody's temple.

One night, the entire delegation from one of the more annoying nations is poisoned to death! Obviously, the nation is mad and starts amassing for war. One of the other nations, however, offers enough gems so the priests can resurrect the entire delegation! The dead delegation is taken to the temple and brought back!

Then, with the priesthood exhausted by the healing rituals, the delegation is able to easily steal the crown and run off with it. It turns out they weren't murdered - they killed themselves specifically so they could get into the temple and steal the crown!

I love it!

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The attunement limit is getting annoying,

Had to look this up no attunement of items in BG 3.

It has some find-your-way-to-here puzzles and, especially early on, some chests you need to get to with fly/jump/teleport spells. My ranger has a cloak that gives him spider climb, which is pretty funny to watch as he runs around the dungeon on walls and the sides of stairs.

I'm getting into the end game of the first campaign now. The baddies had a downright diabolical plan!!
love it!

Seems in Solasta you can actually fly and hang in the air and do stuff, which seems pretty cool. BG 3 flying is just like better jumping to places.

I intend to go back to it, wasnt meant to sound that dismissive earlier. It went on sale when we were 50 odd hours into a Divinity 1 playthrough and I gently twisted my buddies arm into giving it a go instead.

 

[Pifanjr]

The attunement limit is getting annoying, too - seems like there should be a way to push that up as you level up.

In the tabletop version magic items are supposed to be very, very rare. I think the attunement limit only exists so that, if the DM does decide to give a bunch of magical items, you can't just stack them all on the same character.

Wost of all, though, are all the concentration spells! The skill to let you keep concentration even when slightly hit is a must-have for spell users, but the worst part is that you can only have one concentration spell going at a time. Want to summon an elemental? OK, but you've got to drop that fire shield you've got going. Want to use a bless spell? OK, but you've got to drop that spiritual armor. UGH! When I cast a concentration spell, half my spell choices essentially vanish!

It's essential when picking out which spells to learn to keep an eye on which ones are concentration based. If half of your spells are concentration based, you probably messed up your spell selection. Though it seems that in Solasta the spell selection screen doesn't have an icon or something to show which spells are concentration spells, so you have to open the description of each spell to check, which does suck. It doesn't seem there's a mod that fixes it either.

 

[ZedClampet]

The latest major update for Big Ambitions came out, and it was much better than their last update and, in fact, solved the major problem I had with that previous update, which had turned the game into a personnel nightmare. You can now completely avoid that nightmare by employing headhunters and letting them find better employee candidates.

Another great thing that they added were blueprints and workshop support. I love setting up stores, in general, but had grown tired of setting up the largest clothing stores. Now I can just download someone else's blueprint from the workshop and then pay an in-game crew to set up the store. I can then tinker with it to my heart's desire.

The new businesses they added were hair salons and nightclubs. Both are fun to build, but the hair salons are poorly balanced. You hardly earn anything from them. In fact, if you fully staff a salon, it will lose money because you don't make enough money to cover salaries.

 

[Brian Boru]

hair salons are poorly balanced. You hardly earn anything from them

So don't take a cut, let it grow

 

[Zloth]

Had to look this up no attunement of items in BG 3.

Phew!

Seems in Solasta you can actually fly and hang in the air and do stuff, which seems pretty cool. BG 3 flying is just like better jumping to places.

Awww - though I can kinda see why. Spells like that must be a nightmare for level designers.

I intend to go back to it, wasnt meant to sound that dismissive earlier. It went on sale when we were 50 odd hours into a Divinity 1 playthrough and I gently twisted my buddies arm into giving it a go instead.

You didn't sound dismissive - but I'm impressed you played... wait a minute? Do you mean Divinity 1 as in Divine Divinity, the Diablo-on-steroids game of yesteryear, or Divinity: Original Sin?

In the tabletop version magic items are supposed to be very, very rare. I think the attunement limit only exists so that, if the DM does decide to give a bunch of magical items, you can't just stack them all on the same character.

I wonder... they added the whole "dungeon maker" system that lets you make new adventure modules using the game assets. Naturally, those adventures could give characters every magic item in the game - then the characters could be imported into other games, mangling the balance. Maybe this system is in there to keep a lid on that?

It's essential when picking out which spells to learn to keep an eye on which ones are concentration based.

Yeah, I learned that the hard way. (I learned that they actually pay attention to the spellbook size rules the hard way, too.) I have to look up spell descriptions anyway to see how the spell works in the new edition, so seeing the 'concentration' tag wasn't a big deal - I just assumed I would eventually be given a way to concentrate on more than one spell at a time eventually.

What irks me isn't the problem of seeing it, though, it's the fact that so many exist now. Most spells that aren't instant now seem to require concentration - particularly the buffing/debuffing. The net result is that your character will probably use only one or two concentration spells on an adventure. Once they get high enough level to have a new favorite concentration spell, the old one never gets used again. Meanwhile, instant spells (particularly attack spells) are used forever.

The 'battle cleric' worked out nicely. His healing spells were junk until he actually got "Heal," which didn't show up until near the end of the game. That didn't matter, though. The wizard's "court wizard" power of shielding himself and one other character gave enough bonus HP to get through a battle. Then the whole party could simply do a "short rest" and get back all their lost HP. The game provided enough long rest points where full healing and spell restoration could be done that I often didn't even need the short rests. It was weird having the wizard being the best healer, but it worked.

 

[Pifanjr]

I wonder... they added the whole "dungeon maker" system that lets you make new adventure modules using the game assets. Naturally, those adventures could give characters every magic item in the game - then the characters could be imported into other games, mangling the balance. Maybe this system is in there to keep a lid on that?

That too. I'm pretty sure the official adventure modules from WotC for 5e hand out some magic items too, so if you go through all of those with the same party you'd probably end up overpowered for those modules if you could equip all of them.

What irks me isn't the problem of seeing it, though, it's the fact that so many exist now. Most spells that aren't instant now seem to require concentration - particularly the buffing/debuffing. The net result is that your character will probably use only one or two concentration spells on an adventure. Once they get high enough level to have a new favorite concentration spell, the old one never gets used again. Meanwhile, instant spells (particularly attack spells) are used forever.

I suspect that's a symptom of long rests being so plentiful. You can use your highest level spell slots for concentration spells and the rest for blasting, because you'll be able to get all spell slots back before you run out anyway. Whereas if long rests were less abundant, you'd probably save low spell slots for concentration spells as well, as that is typically more effective than using low level slots to try to blast something.

The 'battle cleric' worked out nicely. His healing spells were junk until he actually got "Heal," which didn't show up until near the end of the game. That didn't matter, though. The wizard's "court wizard" power of shielding himself and one other character gave enough bonus HP to get through a battle. Then the whole party could simply do a "short rest" and get back all their lost HP. The game provided enough long rest points where full healing and spell restoration could be done that I often didn't even need the short rests. It was weird having the wizard being the best healer, but it worked.

The so called "action-economy" in D&D makes healing spells generally a waste of a turn. Monsters typically do more damage than you heal in a single turn, so it makes more sense to kill a monster faster than to heal one of your characters. Their main use in combat is to get downed characters back into the fight.

 

[Pifanjr]

All this talking about Baldur's Gate 3, Solasta and D&D has made me want to play something like that. Sadly I own neither Solasta nor Baldur's Gate 3, so I installed The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos instead.

So far I'm enjoying it. The humour reminds me somewhat of Magicka, but with less fourth wall breaks. The combat is good. The backtracking is a bit bothersome, but not too bad.

 

[ZedClampet]

All this talking about Baldur's Gate 3, Solasta and D&D has made me want to play something like that. Sadly I own neither Solasta nor Baldur's Gate 3, so I installed The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos instead.

So far I'm enjoying it. The humour reminds me somewhat of Magicka, but with less fourth wall breaks. The combat is good. The backtracking is a bit bothersome, but not too bad.

Magicka was hilarious and not just from the writing. I wish I could remember exactly what happened, but I accidentally killed myself during the tutorial. I laughed so hard I got dizzy.

****

Warning to anyone who might ever play Total War Three Kingdoms. DO NOT concentrate your building efforts on increasing population and food production (as you might do in every other Total War game). You will regret the hell out of that later because large populations increase the chance of rebellion. I have regions that are revolting every two turns and am having 5 to 6 rebellions a turn overall. My new solution is to let them build up their army and attack and take over my cities and then I come in behind them and raise the city to the ground so I can start over.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Awww - though I can kinda see why. Spells like that must be a nightmare for level designers.

You didn't sound dismissive - but I'm impressed you played... wait a minute? Do you mean Divinity 1 as in Divine Divinity, the Diablo-on-steroids game of yesteryear, or Divinity: Original Sin?

No experience with Larian games before Divinity Original Sin, sorry to disappoint!

The so called "action-economy" in D&D makes healing spells generally a waste of a turn. Monsters typically do more damage than you heal in a single turn, so it makes more sense to kill a monster faster than to heal one of your characters. Their main use in combat is to get downed characters back into the fight.

That's interesting, In Baldurs Gate 3 healing potions only use a bonus action, so you can still attack or cast after drinking them. They're pretty easy to craft or buy so I've been keeping them on everyone. The heal all spell is useful still, especially as my cleric has a helmet that heals herself for 1d6 everytime she heals others.

Watched a video last night on 5e rules and BG3. Seems BG3 messes with the TT rules quite a bit, there's magical loot all over the place that often has an ability or effect attached and melee classes have options for AOE, slow and fear effects on attacks with certain feats and weapon types. If I understood right you also cant multi-class at any level up in TT rules while you can here, and there arent any class ability point requirements for doing so.

 

[ZedClampet]

I'm kind of confused about he blueprints people are uploading for Big Ambitions. I only intend to use one blueprint from someone else, but the blueprints people are uploading haven't been designed to maximize profits. Instead, the concentration seems to be on aesthetics. The game ranks your design in several categories, and these categories combine to create a customer satisfaction rating which is hugely important. If you are letting those categories get scores like 44/100, then you are severely limiting your sales.

Another thing that confuses me is that nearly every design has extra things, like cleaning stations, that they don't need. There's never any reason to have more than one cleaning station. Also, checkout lines and cash registers have a specific number of customers they can handle. You want enough of these to be able to handle your store's max number of customers. Putting more than that does nothing, and if you staff these extra, useless registers, then you are just wasting money.

Most of the blueprints look pretty good. I'm a lot better at interior design than I am at painting cars in Forza, but I wouldn't hinder my sales just to make the store prettier. You can have both. It's not a one or the other situation.

 

[Pifanjr]

That's interesting, In Baldurs Gate 3 healing potions only use a bonus action, so you can still attack or cast after drinking them. They're pretty easy to craft or buy so I've been keeping them on everyone.

Using healing potions as a bonus action instead of a regular action is a very common house rule.

Crafting in 5e is honestly a mess. The simplest healing potion takes a full day to craft, with stronger potions taking even longer.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Using healing potions as a bonus action instead of a regular action is a very common house rule.

Crafting in 5e is honestly a mess. The simplest healing potion takes a full day to craft, with stronger potions taking even longer.

They simplified that a lot as well. You find ingredients around, extract an essence or whatever from them all with one click. The potions you have a recipe for show in the menu and are available instantly when you click make.

 

[Zloth]

Solasta's travelling mechanic provided a lot of time to do a lot of crafting.

And yeah, the healing potions were pretty weak. They also were very rare - I think I found at least as many recipes for making them as the actual potions. I used the next-to-strongest healing potions through the low levels and the highest on the medium levels but, beyond that, I only rarely used them and usually regretted it.

One thing's for sure: Everquest's tank/healer/blaster trinity is completely gone now. It's been shrinking in video games, too, thank goodness.

So, onward to the next game. All this talk of space and planets tempted me greatly....

Credits received.

 

[Pifanjr]

I decided to play on normal difficulty for The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos, because I half-remembered reading somewhere that the game is fairly hard. So far I'm glad with that decision, as the fights feel challenging, but easy enough that I can easily recover from mistakes.

I think one of the main reasons the fights feel challenging is because it's pretty easy for your characters to go down. You get 8 of them though and a downed character can rejoin the fight if they're healed within 3 turns, so it isn't actually that big of a deal if one goes down, but it feels impactful.

I've played a little bit of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade recently too, where characters die permanently if their health goes to 0. Which seems like it would be more tense, but on normal difficulty it means that you never really get close to losing anyone (at least so far), which makes the game feel much less challenging I think.

 

[Zloth]

I decided to play on normal difficulty for The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos, because I half-remembered reading somewhere that the game is fairly hard.

That might have been me. I played on hard and it was... hard.

Something that helped me out a bunch: save just before the end of each battle. Sometimes, there are big decisions to make right after the battle ends with no time to save between the end of the battle and the decision. If your last save is from right before the battle, you'll have to do the battle over to change your mind.

Did you pick your additional character yet?

 

[Pifanjr]

That might have been me. I played on hard and it was... hard.

Something that helped me out a bunch: save just before the end of each battle. Sometimes, there are big decisions to make right after the battle ends with no time to save between the end of the battle and the decision. If your last save is from right before the battle, you'll have to do the battle over to change your mind.

I'll have to try to remember that, thanks.

Did you pick your additional character yet?

Yes, I picked the Bard Minstrel. Which one did you pick?

 

[Colif]

we should go back, could make a pc using rgb bulbs

 

[ZedClampet]

The Crew Motorfest is less than 35 GB. Congrats to Ubisoft for doing something right.

I don't want to get carried away, though. They didn't put it on Steam, so they are still morons.

 

[Pifanjr]

I think I'm going to up the difficulty of The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk next time. The last two fights were cakewalks and I noticed I'm not using any of the buff skills because it's easier to just kill the enemies.

 

[Zloth]

I think I'm going to up the difficulty of The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk next time. The last two fights were cakewalks and I noticed I'm not using any of the buff skills because it's easier to just kill the enemies.

I don't remember it being all that difficult until the Orktoberfest. Oh, except going down into the basement. I got to a point down there where I just couldn't deal with all the nasties, so I simply came back later.

On character choice: I got the cleric - I needed all the healing I could get. The bard! A brave choice! The elf will be happy about that.

Is your Ranger... stinky?

 

[Pifanjr]

I don't remember it being all that difficult until the Orktoberfest. Oh, except going down into the basement. I got to a point down there where I just couldn't deal with all the nasties, so I simply came back later.

I suppose I can always lower the difficulty again if it turns out to be too hard.

Did you do all of the side content?

On character choice: I got the cleric - I needed all the healing I could get. The bard! A brave choice! The elf will be happy about that.

I haven't needed much healing yet and I felt like I had enough melee fighters, so the Minstrel seemed like the best option. His area of effect that stuns enemies has been pretty useful so far.

Is your Ranger... stinky?

I don't think so?

 

[ZedClampet]

And with the batch file to run the thing, my AI is done.

All I actually did was stitch together various things I found on Github, but it was a great learning experience. Think I'm ready now for something more challenging.

For my troubles I now have my own AI photo enhancer. I might still add some things to it, like upscaling.

 

[Pifanjr]

And with the batch file to run the thing, my AI is done.

All I actually did was stitch together various things I found on Github, but it was a great learning experience. Think I'm ready now for something more challenging.

For my troubles I now have my own AI photo enhancer. I might still add some things to it, like upscaling.

Stitching together software other people have made is my entire job.

 

[Brian Boru]

All I actually did was stitch together various things I found on Github

"Picasso had a saying 'good artists copy, great artists steal' and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."
—Steve Jobs