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Dr Snofeld
Apr 30, 2009

Barudak posted:

There is an achievement that requires you to not beat the artist character to death the second you meet him. If you do beat him to death you get a tonic immediately, if you spare him and find him later you get other goodies. Beating him to death feels great and the rewards are negligible either way so I'd advise you go wrench crazy on his lovely, modernist face.

I'd actually disagree, leaving him for later allows you to reach a weapon upgrade station and you still get to beat his face in at that point.

The game trains you to use the lightning plasmid to stun security devices, but the ice plasmid is actually better because it also slows down the flow of water in the hacking minigame.

With the right tonics you can easily go the entire game using only the wrench, camera, and maybe the heavier weapons for dealing with Big Daddies.

If you have fun with the game then by all means give Bioshock 2 a go when you finish, it's nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe.

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Barudak
May 7, 2007

Dr Snofeld posted:

I'd actually disagree, leaving him for later allows you to reach a weapon upgrade station and you still get to beat his face in at that point.

If you have fun with the game then by all means give Bioshock 2 a go when you finish, it's nowhere near as bad as some would have you believe.

I can't help it, I'm impatient to kill him and his atrocious tryptich producing psuedo-performance art tastes.

Bioshock 2 really is an improvement on every fundamental level but the plot ranges from "awful retread" to "undermining the original game with its badness" so people get mad. Well that and the new way you protect little sisters was tedious from the start and should have just been scrapped.

blackguy32
Oct 1, 2005

Say, do you know how to do the walk?
Yeah, I say wait to beat his face in. Also, it has been said, but you should be taking pictures of things multiple times until it barely gives you any more research points at all.

Doing it on turrets and cameras allow you to skip that hacking minigame which was ok the first 10 times I did it, but was tedious the 30 other times I had to do it. Thank goodness for New Game Plus on the PS3, I won't ever have to do that crap again.

Also, the game kind of nose dives after a certain point. Just be expecting it.

bbcisdabomb
Jan 15, 2008

SHEESH

Barudak posted:

To get the good ending (and genuinely, a really sweet ending that makes sense unlike the others) you have to not kill a single little sister and save them all. While you get more immediate adam for killing the little sisters, you are given free tonics and adam as gifts at regular intervals for saving them thus negating any point to the choice since saving is just better.

Everybody says this, but you can still get the good ending if you kill one. My first time through I harvested the first one and saved the rest, which got me the good ending.

Don't harvest the Little Sisters, though. It's the only thing I've ever done in a video game that has actually made me feel like a horrible person :smith:

Gynovore
Jun 17, 2009

Forget your RoboCoX or your StickyCoX or your EvilCoX, MY CoX has Blinking Bewbs!

WHY IS THIS GAME DEAD?!

WarLocke posted:

So awhile back when I was going crazy over Steam sales I bought BioShock but never got around to installing/playing it. Looking through my liobrary the other day I decided I felt like playing another FPS so I installed it, finally. Thing is, other than the fact that a lot of people liked it I know nothing about the game. So I guess this is just a general 'any important stuff I should know before diving in?' post.

This isn't an incredible FPS, you're playing it mostly for the story and atmosphere. Take it slow, read everything and listed to everything. Unless you're a shooter n00b, set the difficulty to hard. Still, it's really easy, especially when you consider that there's no penalty for dying.

Don't hoard money, there's nothing big to buy. You can make infinite money by abusing save/load at the casino in Fort Frolic, but there's no real need.

Hack everything. The hacking minigame is a shameless ripoff of an old DOS game called Pipe Dream, track it down if you want practice.

Never attack a Big Daddy that isn't guarding a Little Sister.

Photography is boss. Always, always have enough film. If you take a picture that doesn't give you a bonus, film isn't expended, so snap away like crazy.

JackComa
Feb 9, 2012

Lifestyle choices
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (PC, gamersgate version).

Any advice on that besides what's on the wiki, like what's the more efficient expansion strategies and what kind of unit/building I should avoid?

RatHat
Dec 31, 2007

A tiny behatted rat👒🐀!

Contingency Plan posted:

Any advice for Infamous 2?

Don't bother trying to collect all the shards until you get the power that points you in the direction of the nearest one. It makes it a ton easier.

If you're planning on doing a normal playthrough and then a hard one, be Good on the hard playthrough. Good powers are better than their Evil counterparts.

Ein Bear
Mar 26, 2010

Oh Sirrah, how deliciously absurd!
Just about to start Borderlands (the GOTY version for what it's worth), does it matter which character I pick, or is it just a preference thing? I'm going to be soloing the game, and didn't want to wind up going with someone that's designed for group-play or whatever.

Palleon
Aug 11, 2003

I've got a hot deal on a bridge to the Pegasus Galaxy!
Grimey Drawer

Ein Bear posted:

Just about to start Borderlands (the GOTY version for what it's worth), does it matter which character I pick, or is it just a preference thing? I'm going to be soloing the game, and didn't want to wind up going with someone that's designed for group-play or whatever.

I personally feel that Roland is best suited for single player, because his unique ability (to spawn a turret) can kind of function as a temporary partner. You'd probably be fine with anyone though, so use whoever you feel best suits your playstyle.

Mayor McCheese
Sep 20, 2004

Everyone is a mayor... Someday..
Lipstick Apathy

JackComa posted:

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI (PC, gamersgate version).

Any advice on that besides what's on the wiki, like what's the more efficient expansion strategies and what kind of unit/building I should avoid?

It's been a little while since I wrote that entry/played the game, so bare with me. Unlike some of the previous ROTK games this one is a bit on the slow side, it's a bit more unforgiving, and has a learning curve. Don't be discourage if poo poo hits the fan, this is pretty normal. At its heart ROTK-XI is a warfare game, which is a shame because I find VI, VII, and VIII to hit the right balance between politics, resource & city management, and fun fluff like poetry contests or experiencing the eras as a ronin/soldier/prefect/general/warlord without being forced to be a liege.

I'm a little confused by "expansion strategies," are you referring to city growth, warfare, both, or something completely different? I would suggest making some alliances early on, and if you're more the pacifist type, stack troops near a province you're interested in; otherwise declare war to get the ball rolling.

You'll find that expanding your empire is a pretty rapid affair, even to the point that it can be counter-intuitive if you're spread out too thin. Balancing troops and food is its own little metagame when you're keeping your borders reinforced. By midgame you'll find that you're spending an awful lot of time just eyeballing your border regions; for sanity sake it's good to let the computer handle your core cities. Midgame is also notorious for the constant threat of war. Alliances help keep the pressure off your empire while you take time to reinforce your territory.

For your units avoid swordsman if you can help it. The units are fairly well balanced, and the game works on a Rock/Paper/Scissors system. With that said you should focus on one type early game but still have enough different units around, and you should always have crossbowmen. Spear is strong vs Cavalry, Cavalry is strong vs Pike, Pike is strong vs Spear.

Cavalry doesn't have as strong growth rates as the other units, however this balances out with how well they can maneuver on the field.

Siege should only be used on cities. Before you siege a city know what your goals are. Are you trying to destroy it, or are you there to wipe out its force? Rams/Juggernauts for city razing, Towers/Catapults for attacking enemy troops inside cities.

Ships are endgame units, don't bother with these early on. They are nice to have but that's about it.


I hope that clears a few things up, otherwise feel free to ask.

Edit: Oh and for building outposts and stuff, I wouldn't stress too much on those unless you have the resources to spare.

Mayor McCheese fucked around with this message at 23:35 on May 14, 2012

bbcisdabomb
Jan 15, 2008

SHEESH

Ein Bear posted:

Just about to start Borderlands (the GOTY version for what it's worth), does it matter which character I pick, or is it just a preference thing? I'm going to be soloing the game, and didn't want to wind up going with someone that's designed for group-play or whatever.

Each character has a special power and particular categories of weapons their skills synergize with -
Lilith uses SMGs and can disappear with a giant shockwave, becoming invincible.
Brick uses rocket launchers and some shotguns, and can go berserk, puncing everything in his path and becoming an unstoppable killing machine.
Roland uses "combat rifles" (really big-rear end machine guns), and can drop a turret to shoot dudes and heal him.
Mordecai uses sniper rifles and revolver pistols, and can throw a hawk out to damage enemies.

Skills matter less to damage than gun stats, so I really wouldn't worry about that. Of the powers (called Active Skills in-game), Mordecai's Bloodwing never really becomes the "oh poo poo" button that everyone else gets, though it's supposed to be pretty crazy powerful at later levels.

FWIW, I played as Lilith and basically used SMGs and my active skill the entire game. If you ever see an SMG titled "Double Anarchy" you need to pick it up, it's like a shotgun that fires at SMG speeds. It's stupid good in anyone's hands.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Ein Bear posted:

Just about to start Borderlands (the GOTY version for what it's worth), does it matter which character I pick, or is it just a preference thing? I'm going to be soloing the game, and didn't want to wind up going with someone that's designed for group-play or whatever.

Any character is perfectly viable in singleplayer. Personally I favour Lilith - she's a bit of a glass cannon, but I love turning invisible and backstabbing entire groups at once, and phasewalk makes a good escape skill when things go south - but that's purely personal preference.

Pretty much, it depends on what weapon types you favour. Any character can use any weapon, but is clearly geared towards a certain type. So, pick what sounds appealing:
- Lilith: SMGs and shotguns; power: ethereality, haste, and backstabs
- Roland: machine guns; power: deployable turrets, shields, and healing stations
- Mordecai: sniper rifles and single-shot pistols; power: semi-autonomous attack bird
- Brick: melee and explosives; power: crushing skulls

Ein Bear
Mar 26, 2010

Oh Sirrah, how deliciously absurd!
Thanks for the tips guys! :)

Started as Brick at first, but his skill tree looked a bit too focused on punching things, so have started again as Lilith - invisibility sounds pretty cool.

Have played up to the first 'boss' encounter, and this game is awesome! Only an hour in and I can already feel myself getting addicted to collecting loot... can't wait to get a bit deeper into it.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine
Brick is probably the least optimal character pick in Borderlands, because A. Rocket Launchers are the second shittiest class of weapons in the game and B. his Active Skill is rarely usable past the first handful of areas.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Ein Bear posted:

Thanks for the tips guys! :)

Started as Brick at first, but his skill tree looked a bit too focused on punching things, so have started again as Lilith - invisibility sounds pretty cool.

Lilith is my favorite character pretty much entirely because of her active ability. It's not just invisibility; she also becomes invincible and moves super-fast. Attacking cancels it, but she gets a damage multiplier on her first melee attack as she reappears, and that can be upgraded with splash damage and whatnot.

This means that against bosses, you can pound on them for a bit, then phase out once they've hurt you some (regenerating health and shields in the process) and pop out behind them for a critical backstab headshot; against trash you can just phasewalk into the middle of them and appear in a shower of explosions, then finish the job with your SMGs. Alternately, you can save it for a getaway - a few seconds of invincible super-speed lets you put a lot of distance between yourself and whatever jumped you.

In general I'm a fan of fast characters who rely more on preemptive strikes and evasion than outright durability, and Lilith fits that archetype perfectly.

Gynovore
Jun 17, 2009

Forget your RoboCoX or your StickyCoX or your EvilCoX, MY CoX has Blinking Bewbs!

WHY IS THIS GAME DEAD?!

Ein Bear posted:

Thanks for the tips guys! :)

Roland is easy mode. Once you get a few turret upgrades and an elemental crystal, you can basically drop a turret, then go have a coffee while it mops up spawns. Honestly, you can't go wrong by putting every single skill point into the turret.

Lilith is gimmicky but fun. Mordecai is OK due to his skill with sniper rifles, which everyone needs at times. Unless they patched it, his Bloodwing is buggy. His 'Trespasser' skill, which causes weapons to ignore shields, will rape the mobs in the endgame.

Brick sucks. His skills are in rocket launchers and grenades; rocket launchers suck, and grenades are situational at best. His skill, turning into an invincible punching machine, is an OK panic button against regular mobs but fails against bosses.

Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.

Ein Bear posted:

Thanks for the tips guys! :)

Started as Brick at first, but his skill tree looked a bit too focused on punching things, so have started again as Lilith - invisibility sounds pretty cool.

Have played up to the first 'boss' encounter, and this game is awesome! Only an hour in and I can already feel myself getting addicted to collecting loot... can't wait to get a bit deeper into it.

Just be aware that Lilith can be a bit fragile at the beginning of the game and for quite a while. The aggressive playstyle inherent to her class doesn't help.
At around 1/3rd into the game or so she becomes an unstoppable killing machine though.

Obviously you'll want to go with SMGs first and foremost with her. Double Anarchys are the weapon type with the highest DPS output in the game and work well with Mercenery class mods (it'll take a while until you get class mods). Alternatively, Hellfire SMGs and Phoenix class mods work well.

The game actually encourages you to stick to just a single type of gun because the more you use one type of gun, the faster your bonus skills (reload time, accuracy, etc.) for that type of gun will rise.
However, there's nothing wrong with carrying a shotgun or revolver as a secondary weapon and using that every now and then. Especially if you have a class mod that gives you a bonus to elemental damage, you can put out a lot of damage with a shotgun / revolver that has the same kind of elemental effect.

Holistic Detective
Feb 2, 2008

effing the ineffable
Anyone got anything for Yakuza 4? It's the first in the series that I've played and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the sheer amount of poo poo there seems to be to do. Is there anything I can miss by progressing too far in the main story? Oh and is there a reasonably easy way to earn money?

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~

Holistic Detective posted:

Anyone got anything for Yakuza 4? It's the first in the series that I've played and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the sheer amount of poo poo there seems to be to do. Is there anything I can miss by progressing too far in the main story? Oh and is there a reasonably easy way to earn money?

You can go back and do everyone's side quests once you reach the final chapter.

Savescum a maximum Draw bet in Baccarat, repeat to your heart's content.

Krypt-OOO-Nite!!
Oct 25, 2010
Picked up Dragon Age: Origins the other week for the Xbox 360.
I'm about 8 hours in and still haven't got a grip on the combat.
Has anyone got any tips because its putting me off an otherwise pretty fun game.

Krypt-OOO-Nite!! fucked around with this message at 13:32 on May 15, 2012

Luminaflare
Sep 23, 2010

No one man
should have all that
POWER BEYOND MEASURE


Anything not in the wiki I should know about Gods Eater Burst?

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

Krypt-OOO-Nite!! posted:

Picked up Dragon Age: Origins the other week for the Xbox 360.
I'm about 8 hours in and still haven't got a grip on the combat.
Has anyone got any tips because its putting me off an otherwise pretty fun game.

Dragon Age's AI reacts a lot like it would in an mmo, so you need at least one tank to take all the damage. Have one fighter focus on skills that get and maintain aggro so that your damage dealers aren't getting beat into a fine paste.

-Mages are incredibly powerful if used correctly. Open every fight with some area effect spells that incapacitate enemies. There are also spell combinations that result in even more powerful effects.

-Winter's grasp/Cone of cold are great, as they have a chance to freeze enemies. Frozen enemies will be shattered (killed instantly) by critical hits or the spell Stonefist.

-Horror and Sleep are also good incapacitating area effect spells. Cast sleep first, then horror afterwards for a combo that does extra damage.

-You don't have to mess with the Tactics menu if you don't want to, but at a minimum have everybody's first (highest priority) tactic be:
Self: if hp=<50%, drink the smallest health poultice available"
The last priority tactic should be:
Nearest Enemy: Attack

-The fighter skill Taunt is great for distracting enemies. You can also use single target skills like Shield Bash and Pommel Strike to stop single mobs from attacking your squishy party members.

Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 13:16 on May 15, 2012

Krypt-OOO-Nite!!
Oct 25, 2010
^
Oddly I've already done most of that.
I always pack Sten/Alistair & Morrigan in my party using Stren/Alistair as a tank and taking control of Morrigan during combat as she seems stupidly overpowered.

I have tinkered with the tactics menu and do have them drinking down a HP potion at 25% and switch between attack nearest and attack weakest/strongest depending on the fight.

But still every time I get a bit outnumbered in combat it turns into everyone else is dead run around in circles taking pot shots till I fluke out and kill them or die twice and turn difficulty down to casual.

If there was a better way to manage each team member better during combat I'd be happy but at the moment combat seems abit of scramble and kinda annoying.

Am I doing it wrong or is the combat abit uncontrolable?

Krypt-OOO-Nite!! fucked around with this message at 17:06 on May 15, 2012

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

Krypt-OOO-Nite!! posted:

^
Oddly I've already done most of that.


Possibly a dumb question, but are you using the pause button constantly? That's essential for the more difficult fights.

Don't be ashamed to lower the difficulty to casual for your first playthough. Also, Dragon Age's console interface is clunky as hell and makes things more difficult. I would recommend playing it on pc if you have a decent computer.

Sentient Toaster
May 7, 2007
Not the fork, Master!

Luminaflare posted:

Anything not in the wiki I should know about Gods Eater Burst?
-The tutorial missions are really informative. Check them out.

-It may not be initially clear, but the (B)urst mode bonuses and penalties from your control unit get more powerful during higher level link bursts.

-New-type NPCs will pass aragami bullets to you. They'll often make a conscious effort to feed you bullets and prolong your link burst.

-Custom bullets are a ton of fun, but you won't have access to some key modules until later in the game. Progress through story missions to unlock more stuff to play with. Useful mods include XS deco-shots (very cheap), M control (auto-aim) and sticky orb (multiple critical hits).

-When making your own bullets, remember that deco-shots are the best way to change the angle or behavior of a bullet. They cost almost nothing and can go through obstacles.

-If you create a bullet featuring multiple simultaneous impacts, there's harsh damage reduction after the first two hits. The trick is to delay the next two for a fraction of a second.

-Recovery bullets are normally expensive, but here's an easy and relatively effective one. Make a homing recovery shot which fires a cheap non-homing recovery shot when it hits an ally. 32 HP for an OP cost you can work with.

-Low cost bullets will deal more damage per OP, but they aren't time efficient or useful. 2-4 shots with a full OP bar is the sweet spot before you get into those fancy OP reducing abilities later on. Unload, melee as usual, then make room to aim and unload again.

-If you aren't sure what type your awesome custom bullet happens to be, choose to edit the icon and press triangle. This will set the suggested icon, which will always be the bullet's primary type. Then you can identify which type of gun gets the type matching OP discount.

-The wiki says assault guns don't get an OP discount, but it's actually shot types they're paired with. The real advantage of assaults is the ability to rapid fire. They also tend to have roughly even stats.

-You can combo devour at any point after the first hit in a combo, but you'll only get half a burst meter this way.

-The defense values on shields apply even when you aren't blocking. Blocking just gives you vastly higher damage reduction.

-While you can't block in gun mode, you can tap the button to switch modes and then hold the block button before your god arc finishes transforming. You'll go directly into blocking without any additional deploy time. If you have the Dextrous skill, you may as well be able to block in gun mode.

-My favorite shield for solo play is Common Shield. It gets very competitive defense values and some frankly amazing abilities. Stamina Recovery Up is like having burst mode stamina recovery all the time. It also eventually gets Guard Speed Up, which makes it deploy as fast as a small shield with none of the drawbacks! The very last upgrade will add Oracle Intake Up, which improves the amount of OP you recover just from landing blade hits.

Luminaflare
Sep 23, 2010

No one man
should have all that
POWER BEYOND MEASURE


Sentient Toaster posted:

-The tutorial missions are really informative. Check them out.

-It may not be initially clear, but the (B)urst mode bonuses and penalties from your control unit get more powerful during higher level link bursts.

-New-type NPCs will pass aragami bullets to you. They'll often make a conscious effort to feed you bullets and prolong your link burst.

-Custom bullets are a ton of fun, but you won't have access to some key modules until later in the game. Progress through story missions to unlock more stuff to play with. Useful mods include XS deco-shots (very cheap), M control (auto-aim) and sticky orb (multiple critical hits).

-When making your own bullets, remember that deco-shots are the best way to change the angle or behavior of a bullet. They cost almost nothing and can go through obstacles.

-If you create a bullet featuring multiple simultaneous impacts, there's harsh damage reduction after the first two hits. The trick is to delay the next two for a fraction of a second.

-Recovery bullets are normally expensive, but here's an easy and relatively effective one. Make a homing recovery shot which fires a cheap non-homing recovery shot when it hits an ally. 32 HP for an OP cost you can work with.

-Low cost bullets will deal more damage per OP, but they aren't time efficient or useful. 2-4 shots with a full OP bar is the sweet spot before you get into those fancy OP reducing abilities later on. Unload, melee as usual, then make room to aim and unload again.

-If you aren't sure what type your awesome custom bullet happens to be, choose to edit the icon and press triangle. This will set the suggested icon, which will always be the bullet's primary type. Then you can identify which type of gun gets the type matching OP discount.

-The wiki says assault guns don't get an OP discount, but it's actually shot types they're paired with. The real advantage of assaults is the ability to rapid fire. They also tend to have roughly even stats.

-You can combo devour at any point after the first hit in a combo, but you'll only get half a burst meter this way.

-The defense values on shields apply even when you aren't blocking. Blocking just gives you vastly higher damage reduction.

-While you can't block in gun mode, you can tap the button to switch modes and then hold the block button before your god arc finishes transforming. You'll go directly into blocking without any additional deploy time. If you have the Dextrous skill, you may as well be able to block in gun mode.

-My favorite shield for solo play is Common Shield. It gets very competitive defense values and some frankly amazing abilities. Stamina Recovery Up is like having burst mode stamina recovery all the time. It also eventually gets Guard Speed Up, which makes it deploy as fast as a small shield with none of the drawbacks! The very last upgrade will add Oracle Intake Up, which improves the amount of OP you recover just from landing blade hits.

Thanks, that helps a bunch.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Krypt-OOO-Nite!! posted:

If their was a better way to manage each team member better during combat I'd be happy but at the moment combat seems abit of scramble and kinda annoying.

Am I doing it wrong or is the combat abit uncontrolable?

Combat in DAO is kind of a clusterfuck, because it gives you an interface that only really works well for controlling one character and then gives you four characters to control with it.

Your best bet is to rely heavily on pausing, issuing orders to everyone, and then unpausing. Keep the camera pulled out so you can follow what's going on and pause again as needed. Personally I think it would have worked better if they'd just made it turn-based D&D3.x like they clearly wanted to.

Also, fill your party with mages, Winter's Grasp all day every day.

Krypt-OOO-Nite!!
Oct 25, 2010

Fruits of the sea posted:

Possibly a dumb question, but are you using the pause button constantly? That's essential for the more difficult fights.

Not a dumb question at all as I think that may be my problem. I didn't know you could pause and issue orders to different people.
I thought you had to chose a character then pause using the power wheel issue your order then flip to another character and repeat.
I didn't know you could just pause the game issue orders to all 4 then un-pause and repeat.
Guess I'm a idiot, I'll give it another go sometime later thanks guys

^ I also agree it would work much better if it was turn based.

JackComa
Feb 9, 2012

Lifestyle choices

Mayor McCheese posted:

It's been a little while since I wrote that entry/played the game, so bare with me. Unlike some of the previous ROTK games this one is a bit on the slow side, it's a bit more unforgiving, and has a learning curve. Don't be discourage if poo poo hits the fan, this is pretty normal. At its heart ROTK-XI is a warfare game, which is a shame because I find VI, VII, and VIII to hit the right balance between politics, resource & city management, and fun fluff like poetry contests or experiencing the eras as a ronin/soldier/prefect/general/warlord without being forced to be a liege.

I'm a little confused by "expansion strategies," are you referring to city growth, warfare, both, or something completely different? I would suggest making some alliances early on, and if you're more the pacifist type, stack troops near a province you're interested in; otherwise declare war to get the ball rolling.

You'll find that expanding your empire is a pretty rapid affair, even to the point that it can be counter-intuitive if you're spread out too thin. Balancing troops and food is its own little metagame when you're keeping your borders reinforced. By midgame you'll find that you're spending an awful lot of time just eyeballing your border regions; for sanity sake it's good to let the computer handle your core cities. Midgame is also notorious for the constant threat of war. Alliances help keep the pressure off your empire while you take time to reinforce your territory.

For your units avoid swordsman if you can help it. The units are fairly well balanced, and the game works on a Rock/Paper/Scissors system. With that said you should focus on one type early game but still have enough different units around, and you should always have crossbowmen. Spear is strong vs Cavalry, Cavalry is strong vs Pike, Pike is strong vs Spear.

Cavalry doesn't have as strong growth rates as the other units, however this balances out with how well they can maneuver on the field.

Siege should only be used on cities. Before you siege a city know what your goals are. Are you trying to destroy it, or are you there to wipe out its force? Rams/Juggernauts for city razing, Towers/Catapults for attacking enemy troops inside cities.

Ships are endgame units, don't bother with these early on. They are nice to have but that's about it.


I hope that clears a few things up, otherwise feel free to ask.

Edit: Oh and for building outposts and stuff, I wouldn't stress too much on those unless you have the resources to spare.

Thanks for all the pointers! What I meant by expansion is exactly that, territorial expansion.. well turns out I shouldn't really expand too fast, it seems I've taken too many cities too fast, now I don't have enough officers to develop everything at a nice pace or even set up a good logistic backbone...

Which brings me to another question, is planning logistic routes the right way to do it? Or should every city or pair of cities be self-sufficient? As in, right now i have 5 cities and didn't delegate anything, but it takes forever to move stuff around because I can only spare 1 officer for that.

Edit: Also regarding alliances, I've been trying to get He Jin to be my best bud since he's the first bordering me, but so far no luck. I sent what, 3 or 4 gifts to him. Should I keep insisting, or is there something I missed?

JackComa fucked around with this message at 17:40 on May 15, 2012

KingShiro
Jan 10, 2008

EH?!?!?!

Holistic Detective posted:

Anyone got anything for Yakuza 4? It's the first in the series that I've played and I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the sheer amount of poo poo there seems to be to do. Is there anything I can miss by progressing too far in the main story? Oh and is there a reasonably easy way to earn money?

Like SpazmasterX said, Baccarat is the best way to get money, so save/reload til you get as much as you like. I think there was a free DLC that gives you more items to use to win mini games.

When you get to the second character, you need a piece of Ash wood (I think). There are 2 ways to get one: Win one from the Batting Cages, or pick up a locker key. I recommend getting the key (it's stuck in some billboards by a parking structure). But make sure to only pick it up when you control that character because items don't transfer between characters until you hit the final act.

After you beat it you can do anything you missed in Premium Adventure, so don't worry and just have fun.

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

Krypt-OOO-Nite!! posted:

Not a dumb question at all as I think that may be my problem. I didn't know you could pause and issue orders to different people.
I thought you had to chose a character then pause using the power wheel issue your order then flip to another character and repeat.
I didn't know you could just pause the game issue orders to all 4 then un-pause and repeat.
Guess I'm a idiot, I'll give it another go sometime later thanks guys

^ I also agree it would work much better if it was turn based.

Well if you have gotten this far without relying on pausing, the rest of the game should be a piece of cake :)
With pausing you can coordinate your party to launch artillery from out of sight, finishing some fights before they even start.

Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 18:15 on May 15, 2012

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



Quick question on Metro 2033 I remember hearing at one point that it was best to play it on one of the hardest difficulties because enemies go down in very few shots but so do you while on normal difficulties they are just sponges. Any truth to that?

Goofballs fucked around with this message at 17:20 on May 20, 2012

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Goofballs posted:

Quick question on Metro 2033 I remember hearing at one point that it was best to play it on one of the hardest difficulties because enemies go down in very few shots but so do you while on normal difficulties they are just sponges. Any truth to that?

Yes. Ranger(?) mode in particular makes it so that ammo is scarcer but most targets go down very easily - including you. This both fits better with the atmosphere of the game, and is easier overall, because while you get less ammo, you spend much less.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.
I played the level below Ranger and it was fine. My biggest problem was the lack of airfilters for my gas-mask - poo poo got really intense at certain points.

Flipswitch
Mar 30, 2010


Goofballs posted:

Quick question on Metro 2033 I remember hearing at one point that it was best to play it on one of the hardest difficulties because enemies go down in very few shots but so do you while on normal difficulties they are just sponges. Any truth to that?
Play on Ranger Hardcore, make sure you stock up on filters at times and search the surface when you get there, there are hidden goodies abound.

Enjoy Artyom!

Pierzak
Oct 30, 2010
What should I know before I play E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy? Any useless stats/research/whatever I have to watch out for? Also, any useful missables (I'd prefer spoiler free)?

A Fancy 400 lbs
Jul 24, 2008
I'm playing Prototype 1. Is there a point of no return where I can't look for collectables and Web of Intrigue targets any more?

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



A Fancy 400 lbs posted:

I'm playing Prototype 1. Is there a point of no return where I can't look for collectables and Web of Intrigue targets any more?

You get a final mission and then its game over, would you like to start a newgame+. I can't remember what exactly the lead into it was but I remember thinking it was obvious at the time.

Bemis
Jan 5, 2010

Krypt-OOO-Nite!! posted:

^
Oddly I've already done most of that.
I always pack Sten/Alistair & Morrigan in my party using Stren/Alistair as a tank and taking control of Morrigan during combat as she seems stupidly overpowered.

I have tinkered with the tactics menu and do have them drinking down a HP potion at 25% and switch between attack nearest and attack weakest/strongest depending on the fight.

But still every time I get a bit outnumbered in combat it turns into everyone else is dead run around in circles taking pot shots till I fluke out and kill them or die twice and turn difficulty down to casual.

If there was a better way to manage each team member better during combat I'd be happy but at the moment combat seems abit of scramble and kinda annoying.

Am I doing it wrong or is the combat abit uncontrolable?

Use Alistair Wynne Morrigan. Wynne is the healer (make sure you get group heal) and load Morrigan with the crowd controlling spells (sleep, nightmare, paralysis, etc) then give her heal spells as well. I also enjoy giving her the mana burst spell. Make sure they both have the psychic spells, the immune to damage one (this is critical, tank draws aggro then cast immune spell. it even works when the ogres or dragons pick you up and do their animation) and mind blast. Congrats you just beat the game.

Bemis fucked around with this message at 21:27 on May 20, 2012

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A Fancy 400 lbs
Jul 24, 2008

Goofballs posted:

You get a final mission and then its game over, would you like to start a newgame+. I can't remember what exactly the lead into it was but I remember thinking it was obvious at the time.

Sweet, didn't even know there was a New Game + mode. One other quick q: Are there any dickishly hidden collectibles? Not well hidden but "You'd need a guide to know this area exists" hidden.

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