The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (18 September to 24 September)

[Kaamos_Llama]

It's been my dream to play through Divinity: Original Sin completely in coop, ever since I first read about the game. I started a game once, but my friend didn't really care for it so we never continued.

I doubt it's ever going to happen. My wife either loves something so much she can't wait for me to play or she can't be bothered at all and I think it would be the latter for D: OS. With other friends it would be hard to find a consistent time we could both play and then the chances of the other person losing interest is far too high.

My friend approached me about playing it, hes pretty into it. We've been doing 2-3 sessions per week of an hour or two for I think 3 weeks. I know the games pretty big, so lets see if we have the stamina long term

I ended up looking up how to feed animals today. I'm still not entirely sure, which probably means I can just leave the food somewhere they can reach and they'll figure it out for themselves.

I also looked up what the deal with my colonist walking into her own trap was. In my current game I have some premade traps built out of the way so I can set them up in the right spots when I get attacked, but a lot of the time I'm too late to drag them from their storage, so they end up being useless.

Turns out that your colonists will avoid pathing over traps automatically and only have a 0.4% chance of accidentally triggering one if they can't find an alternative path. My mistake was having the trap right in front of the only door, so it was just a matter of time before my colonist would set it off.

I've already been struggling with the encounters I've been getting, so now that I know I can just build traps as long as there is an alternative path for my colonists to pass them, it should be a bit easier to deal with those.

I've had half an eye on Rimworld for quite a while, and youre making it sound better all the time. I'll probably get it so its there to start a game next time a slot opens up.

It's not that I thought your advice necessarily contained too many spoilers of things that would be fun to figure out by yourself, but it assumed that the other person would want to built a large, successful empire. However, since CK3 has no victory condition, there is no reason to set that as your goal, which is what I wanted to clarify.

Fair enough, I got something of the wrong end of the stick. Some of my tips I think were pretty universal for a more efficient court which is helpful in any sort of game, but some do assume you'll be scaling that up as that's mostly what Ive done so far.

 

[ZedClampet]

I sort of tried Rimworld since you all were talking about it, but I'll have to come back to it on a day when my vision is better. It let me adjust most of the text, but all the icons sitting on the ground were at the very best unidentifiable, but most of the time I couldn't see them at all.

**************************

Still playing Tavern Master. Will probably "finish" it tomorrow. For me it will be over when I have worked the last unlock into my tavern. Right now I'm just coasting. Nothing is urgent anymore. I have tons of money. Not in any hurry. Still have some redesigning to do, but I'm doing just a little each in-game day.

The one event I haven't hosted yet is for the King and Queen. I could host it now, but I'm going to wait until I'm absolutely done with everything.

 

[Zloth]

Death Stranding is fully done. I just need to put some titles on some screenshots.

I did a big tour of most of my ziplines as another large recording. Why take a screenshot when you can take a half hour movie?? (Well, probably because a screenshot doesn't take 12GB of drive space, but space is cheap these days.)

It's been my dream to play through Divinity: Original Sin completely in coop, ever since I first read about the game.

So you don't own the game? You can always play it solo. I had a lot of fun in the game by roleplaying one character that was a care-free, easy-going, everything-will-just-work-out-in-the-end guy and a strict, mission-overrules-all gal. Obviously, the two would often disagree. If you're just roleplaying in your head, you would have to pick a side, but this game's rock/paper/scissors system lets you out of the decision, which makes sure you won't play favorites. It was quite a unique gaming experience!

 

[Brian Boru]

Why take a screenshot when you can take a half hour movie?

That would be because I'll look at a few screenies, but not 30-mins of zip lines—no siree, and I don't care whose lines are being unzipped.

I'd intended to move onto Far Cry New Dawn after finishing FC5, but decided to do another FC5 run. This time swapping out the SPAS shotgun for a bow, and making the D2 shawn-off sotgun my sidearm. I want to see what the explosive and fire arrows can do with planes and choppers—basically to replace the grenade launcher.

Start is slow and stealthy, with no money and only 2 weapons. Prioritized getting perks to get my 3rd & 4th weapons, then did plenty of hunting en route to objectives. Have plenty of money now, working on ramping up the perks—paying more attention to all the different ways of getting them.

For sidekicks I did what I'd said recently—got Boomer first since he's so close, and then went directly for Jess Black. My fav combo indeed, even if Jess is too chatty—of course had to get Peaches nearby to unlock the perk to allow a 2nd sidekick.

 

[Frindis]

@Brian Boru Did you experience extra GPU drain in the tutorial mission, the one with the fog covering the small island? My fans were going crazy but stopped right after the island was liberated. I'm going for bow and SVD sniper with a focus on the survival category.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've had half an eye on Rimworld for quite a while, and youre making it sound better all the time. I'll probably get it so its there to start a game next time a slot opens up.

I can recommend it. I'm only on my second try so far and have put 15+ hours in the game already. I've only done the mode where you start with absolutely nothing, which means I haven't seen most of the content yet as I've been too busy surviving and have only unlocked a few technologies so far. There's three other starts and three different difficulty modes with 6 difficulty levels, with the option to make your own custom difficulty level with a whole bunch of sliders. There's also a ton of mods as well as two official DLCs.

So you don't own the game? You can always play it solo. I had a lot of fun in the game by roleplaying one character that was a care-free, easy-going, everything-will-just-work-out-in-the-end guy and a strict, mission-overrules-all gal. Obviously, the two would often disagree. If you're just roleplaying in your head, you would have to pick a side, but this game's rock/paper/scissors system lets you out of the decision, which makes sure you won't play favorites. It was quite a unique gaming experience!

Playing solo wouldn't be the same though. It just seemed like the perfect game to do a whole coop campaign in, I just don't think I'll ever manage to make it happen.

 

[ZedClampet]

That would be because I'll look at a few screenies, but not 30-mins of zip lines—no siree, and I don't care whose lines are being unzipped.

I'd intended to move onto Far Cry New Dawn after finishing FC5, but decided to do another FC5 run. This time swapping out the SPAS shotgun for a bow, and making the D2 shawn-off sotgun my sidearm. I want to see what the explosive and fire arrows can do with planes and choppers—basically to replace the grenade launcher.

Start is slow and stealthy, with no money and only 2 weapons. Prioritized getting perks to get my 3rd & 4th weapons, then did plenty of hunting en route to objectives. Have plenty of money now, working on ramping up the perks—paying more attention to all the different ways of getting them.

For sidekicks I did what I'd said recently—got Boomer first since he's so close, and then went directly for Jess Black. My fav combo indeed, even if Jess is too chatty—of course had to get Peaches nearby to unlock the perk to allow a 2nd sidekick.

You should do a primitive, no gunpowder playthrough.

 

[Frindis]

@ZedClampet He is a bit primitive, so that should be perfect!

 

[ZedClampet]

Lie to me some more, Forza baby.

This actually causes me no end of trouble during Rivals events.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Got a chance to play some more Fenyx Rising yesterday. I'm loving that game more and more with every hour I put into it. It's so good.

 

[Pifanjr]

My starting character in Rimworld just died of an infection after her and one of my other colonists failed to hit the incoming raiders with their bows, forcing them to try to defend themselves in melee. I needed to get the other two colonists involved who have no experience in shooting to win, but my main character suffered some serious wounds and none of my colonists are particularly good at medicine.

I still have 3 colonists left and have now surrounded most of my colony with traps, which helped with the next attack. I also just researched plate armour, I just need to get the materials to make it.

 

[Brian Boru]

extra GPU drain in the tutorial mission

I don't pay attention to such unless I have a problem, so haven't noticed. I'm running a 1060 so my fans ramp up quite often. My guess is fog is stressful on GPU since it's 'volumetric' in nature.

a primitive, no gunpowder playthrough

Just bows, knives and shovels? Interesting idea, but I'd have to dial it back to Easy for that, and avoid most of why I play FC—the random mayhem out in the wild.

Could sidekicks have gunpowder? If not, I guess it would be Cheeseburger and Peaches mainly, with Boomer for scouting outposts.

Would need a big change in perk priorities. I ignore health early on now, but would have to ramp that up quickly. A lot of perks would be missing, with all the gunpowder ones gone…

Slightly tempting—but hang on, I'll just go play Primal instead!

 

[ZedClampet]

Lie to me some more, Forza baby.

This actually causes me no end of trouble during Rivals events.

@Frindis I don't know what they are counting, but I know one thing they aren't counting: driving skill The only thing more unlikely would be livery design skills.

Knowing Forza, it probably has something to do with accolades.

 

[Frindis]

@ZedClampet Yeah, I got the same thing and I only do drag races and flexing my cars to people. Definitely not good at driving.

 

[ZedClampet]

@ZedClampet Yeah, I got the same thing and I only do drag races and flexing my cars to people. Definitely not good at driving.

I actually figured out what it was. I had a lap at The Emerald Circuit that was in the top 1 percent for Class A cars. I've probably got that at multiple tracks. I just haven't checked, but when there are 4 million people who have driven the track in a Class A vehicle, that just means you are in the top 40,000, which doesn't have that same magical feel to it.

I checked out the Hall of Fame, which is based on accolades, and it said I was in the top 3 percent of 23 million players.

Anyway, it sounds like you have a top 1 percent drag racing time. That's pretty cool.

 

[Ryzengang]

Update: I got my Steam Deck today! Looking forward to testing it out. The first three games I'm installing are Vampire Survivors, Yazuka 0 and Final Fantasy VIII. All are verified on Deck.

On the Desktop side of things, I'm still playing AC: Black Flag and having a good time with it. I've also started a new playthrough of The Witcher: Enhanced Edition (the first game). I had to do a complete reinstall because I was getting very bizarre graphical artifacts, but it seems to be working as normal now. The Witcher 1 is pretty jank but I'm still fond of it. The atmosphere is excellent and the story is solid.

 

[Brian Boru]

10 BRAND NEW Survival Games That Are Trying Something NEW

Some interesting stuff in this 13m Gameranx video, kept my interest as a not particularly Survival fan.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmViXMcX9b8

 

[Brian Boru]

Anyone played the new Return to Monkey Island?
95% on Steam!

I loved the personality of the old ones, and they apparently have a number of the original devs involved in this.

 

[ZedClampet]

10 BRAND NEW Survival Games That Are Trying Something NEW

Some interesting stuff in this 13m Gameranx video, kept my interest as a not particularly Survival fan.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmViXMcX9b8

I'm saving this video for morning when I'm too tired from not sleeping to do anything

 

[Pifanjr]

Anyone played the new Return to Monkey Island?
95% on Steam!

I loved the personality of the old ones, and they apparently have a number of the original devs involved in this.

A friend of mine started playing it and was positive about it. It's apparently full of fan service, including the return of Murray and Stan.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

A friend of mine started playing it and was positive about it. It's apparently full of fan service, including the return of Murray and Stan.

I love the concept, but I've only played one game for about a half hour. So that kind of stuff would be meaningless to me, unfortunately.

 

[ZedClampet]

10 BRAND NEW Survival Games That Are Trying Something NEW

Some interesting stuff in this 13m Gameranx video, kept my interest as a not particularly Survival fan.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmViXMcX9b8

Thanks, @Brian Boru As much as I try to keep up with survival game news, I'd still only heard of 3 or 4 of those. Added some new games to my wishlist.

You had perfect timing, too. Just this morning, Forever Skies asked for volunteers to play their beta, so I imagine I was one of the first to sign up for that.

I'm really excited about a number of those games.

 

[mainer]

A stormy end of the week and weekend here in Maine, with rain today, and the remnants of Hurricane Fiona glancing us Friday night & Saturday. Not much of an impact, as it's headed towards Nova Scotia, but we will see some strong winds and surf with 6-8 foot waves.

Still playing Mass Effect 1 in my ME Legendary playthrough, and I'm still amazed at how good it looks and plays, though controlling your companions during combat is still a bit awkward and imprecise. I had a couple of weird random glitches during combat. One was Tali "T-posing" so she couldn't so she couldn't be interacted with or controlled. The other was Wrex just disappearing from the map completely in the middle of a firefight. I was able to complete the combat (thanks to Garrus), but it was still a bit annoying, nonetheless.

Both instances occurred during side quest missions and when I was trying to position my teammates. Moving to a new location with a loading screen fixed the issue. i don't think it was a bug or mod conflict, but more of a fact of the base game being old. I 'm finding it's better to just position myself in combat and let my teammates do their thing. And the photo mode is great fun to play with, taking screen shots that were never available to take in the original game.

Some of my non-gameplaying hours are spent downloading mods for ME2 & ME3 for the Legendary Edition and storing them on one of my backup drives. While there's not that many mods available, when compared to Bethesda games, some of them are quite large (the static lighting mod for ME3 is over 13gb), so it's easier to gradually download what I want, then install them when I'm ready to play.

 

[Brian Boru]

You had perfect timing

Yeah good, it's just a thing I do… Guess I'd make a good car engine, yeah?

trying to position my teammates. Moving to a new location with a loading screen fixed the issue

There's a slightly similar thing in Far Cry 5, but it's a design flaw rather than bug—in that it happens every time. Whenever you complete some objective, the key bindings G & H for the 2 sidekicks get reversed.

My usual pair are Jess and Boomer, which I assign to G & H respectively—'G' for Girl and 'H' for Hound as memory aid. I tend to forget this flaw after a small objective like find a Prepper stash, so next time I want Jess to KO an enhanced wolf, good ol' boy goes on attack instead and gets himself killed. Meanwhile, Jess has gone scouting into a nearby baddie spot, and yeah, you guessed it… Since it takes them 15 minutes to respawn

<aside> 'G' can get crowded, with Grace and Grizzly also in the mix. Then there's 'H' for Helicopter and Hurk too—I tell you, it's tough being a Guns/Fangs For Hire wrangler

 

[Zloth]

95% on Steam!

Ratings skyrocket if you can sell your game exclusively to the folks that are very likely to enjoy the game. (As long as the game is fairly well done. Even the most devout fanboi isn't going to upvote a game that won't start.)