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Morpheus
Apr 18, 2008

My favourite little monsters

JaggerMcDagger posted:

Those red doors? They are post game. Don't worry about them.

Figured as much. Well, I figured I'd get a key at some point later, considering the doors are in every dungeon.

Any recommended ways to score some cash quickly? As far as I can tell it's pretty profitable to run through the first tower collecting grains and dawn lotuses, but I'm sure there are better places to run through.

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Infinity Gaia
Feb 27, 2011

a storm is coming...

Morpheus posted:

Been playing Pandora's Tower for a bit - not too far (two towers completed), but is there anything in particular I need to keep in mind, or anything I should be looking out for?

Okay, since this defies the way most rational and emotional people play the game, I'll just say this: At least once, save your game, go into a random tower, get a piece of meat and then just wait until the timer is in the red, then go back. Most people never get to see this scene, and you should not save after it, but it's worth seeing at least once.

Hank Morgan
Jun 17, 2007

Light Along the Inverse Curve.
Any advice for playing or recommended mods for SWAT 4 + expansion?

McCoy Pauley
Mar 2, 2006
Gonna eat so many goddamn crumpets.
Any tips for Dragon Age Origins (on steam, the complete edition with all the DLC), beyond what's on the wiki? In particular, with all that DLC, when and how do I access it (like when can I get the golem companion, for example)?

Gyshall
Feb 24, 2009

Had a couple of drinks.
Saw a couple of things.

Hank Morgan posted:

Any advice for playing or recommended mods for SWAT 4 + expansion?

First off, great loving game. One of the best. I never play it with mods, but I do force all the high quality graphics options for the game in my graphics panel (16x AA, etc.)

I honestly don't think it needs mods at all. I'm going to reinstall it now that you mentioned it, hot drat.

KoB
May 1, 2009

McCoy Pauley posted:

Any tips for Dragon Age Origins (on steam, the complete edition with all the DLC), beyond what's on the wiki? In particular, with all that DLC, when and how do I access it (like when can I get the golem companion, for example)?

I think the DLC is kind of broken since they shut down the servers.

Mokinokaro
Sep 11, 2001

At the end of everything, hold onto anything



Fun Shoe

McCoy Pauley posted:

Any tips for Dragon Age Origins (on steam, the complete edition with all the DLC), beyond what's on the wiki? In particular, with all that DLC, when and how do I access it (like when can I get the golem companion, for example)?

Some of it is standalone (it'll come up when you start a new game.) Of the standalone stuff I only recommend doing Leliana's Song partway through the game as it's a flashback that is supposed to give you a nice armor reward for rogues (no idea if the reward still works.) Witch Hunt is for after you finish the base game. Darkspawn Chronicles lets you play as the "villains" in a short alternate story that spoils a bit of the main.

The rest, iirc, are integrated into the main game. The golem companion can be recruited as soon as you get proper world map access, iirc. Look for a town in the southern part of the map.

Ainsley McTree posted:

Any more tips for escaping the cops in GTA 5? They seem much more relentless, even at the 1 and 2 star level, than in previous games. I can do ok in the city, by ducking into alleys and hiding out on foot, but out in the countryside I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to do. They're usually faster than me which means I can't outrun them, and because it's all open space everywhere, I can't seem to hide from them, either. I usually just let them kill me unless I'm in the middle of a mission or something.

A big tip: if you get offroad without them seeing you do it they won't follow you. Also, you can hide in foilage (your indicator on the map will go darker when you're hidden and cops will have to get a lot closer to catch you then.)

Mokinokaro fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Sep 26, 2013

Twitch
Apr 15, 2003

by Fluffdaddy
Sorry if this has been covered already, but what should I do about properties in GTA5 to keep from screwing myself over? I've only done one heist, and I've played far enough that I have all three characters. So far the only properties I've bought are the gun running hangar for Trevor, and Franklin bought the weed store, because I switched to him and he was working out at the beach nearby when he got his cut of the heist, and immediately walking across the street and buying a dispensary seemed funny.

Basically, I figured I'd try to spread the properties between all three characters, will this be good enough?

Bedurndurn
Dec 4, 2008

Twitch posted:

Sorry if this has been covered already, but what should I do about properties in GTA5 to keep from screwing myself over? I've only done one heist, and I've played far enough that I have all three characters. So far the only properties I've bought are the gun running hangar for Trevor, and Franklin bought the weed store, because I switched to him and he was working out at the beach nearby when he got his cut of the heist, and immediately walking across the street and buying a dispensary seemed funny.

Basically, I figured I'd try to spread the properties between all three characters, will this be good enough?

Most (if not all) of the properties are kind of worthless from an income perspective. I might not have the math exactly right, but they won't pay for themselves until you've played the game for like 150+ hours of real time after purchasing them. The cab and tow companies are particularly lovely in that buying them just lets you run cab or tow-truck missions for a few hundred bucks at a time. I bought into Pitchers, the cheap bar up north and the weed place in my game; all three of those would rarely generate delivery missions for me, but the only outcome I saw was if I failed the mission (or didn't start it within a very short time of it being announced) then I didn't get paid for the week, which hardly seemed like a selling point.

The dock in the NW of the map is neat though. Buying it gets you a submarine and a quest to collect radioactive waste underwater. For each pickup you find, you get something like $23,000. There's 30 to find (and they give you an indication of where they are), so that's one property that will actually be profitable fairly easily.

KoB
May 1, 2009

Twitch posted:

Sorry if this has been covered already, but what should I do about properties in GTA5 to keep from screwing myself over? I've only done one heist, and I've played far enough that I have all three characters. So far the only properties I've bought are the gun running hangar for Trevor, and Franklin bought the weed store, because I switched to him and he was working out at the beach nearby when he got his cut of the heist, and immediately walking across the street and buying a dispensary seemed funny.

Basically, I figured I'd try to spread the properties between all three characters, will this be good enough?

People seem to say just keep all the money and dont do the assassination missions (Lestor's) until after the last heist. Then do the assassination missions with all that money, getting stock in the appropriate companies.

Smerdyakov
Jul 8, 2008

McCoy Pauley posted:

Any tips for Dragon Age Origins (on steam, the complete edition with all the DLC), beyond what's on the wiki? In particular, with all that DLC, when and how do I access it (like when can I get the golem companion, for example)?

The DLC doesn't add a lot of play-time in terms of new quests and areas, but they do give you quite a few really powerful items that compare favorably with end-game gear. The DLC locations will be marked in gold on your map, so if you want more of a challenge get to them in the mid-game or later, except soldier's peak, which is worth doing early if you want the storage chest.

Play on hard, don't play on normal. It may be tricky at first, but with all the DLC on, normal will be a tedious cake-walk after you get all the fat loots and extra levels, while hard will still have a lot of strategic depth.

Smerdyakov fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Sep 28, 2013

Project1
Dec 30, 2003

it's time
I want a stat allocation for Fallout 3, not because I don't know how the game works, but because I'm suffering terribly from "how the hell should I allocate these???" OCD. I can work the tag and perks out myself, though.

I like skills, talking, and small guns, in that order.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Project1 posted:

I want a stat allocation for Fallout 3, not because I don't know how the game works, but because I'm suffering terribly from "how the hell should I allocate these???" OCD. I can work the tag and perks out myself, though.

I like skills, talking, and small guns, in that order.

It really doesn't matter. Find out what perks you want in the long run and aim for those.

Starting out the gate I would go Intelligence 7, Charisma 6, Agility 7. Charisma past 6 is useless as the max for charisma based perks and it's better to just pump barter or speech if that's what you want. Intelligence and Agility 7 will give you access to the higher level perks down the road but you'll want to get Perception to 6 soon because agility perks are largely dependent on perception.

Project1
Dec 30, 2003

it's time

al-azad posted:

It really doesn't matter. Find out what perks you want in the long run and aim for those.

Starting out the gate I would go Intelligence 7, Charisma 6, Agility 7. Charisma past 6 is useless as the max for charisma based perks and it's better to just pump barter or speech if that's what you want. Intelligence and Agility 7 will give you access to the higher level perks down the road but you'll want to get Perception to 6 soon because agility perks are largely dependent on perception.

:doh:

Yeah, I really should have realised I need to be looking at the perk list and assigning stats from there.

Goofballs
Jun 2, 2011



Project1 posted:

I want a stat allocation for Fallout 3, not because I don't know how the game works, but because I'm suffering terribly from "how the hell should I allocate these???" OCD. I can work the tag and perks out myself, though.

I like skills, talking, and small guns, in that order.

Just don't put more than 9 in anything because there are collectibles that give you +1 to each stat. I thought intelligence was the most useful because of skill points, after that strength for carrying stuff

Orkut Users posted:

I just picked up State of Decay on steam and I was wondering if there's anything I need to know?

You've probably played it loads already but for posterity

- try to avoid destroying cars with reckless driving, there are limited numbers of them around. Oh and leaving them parked outside your base can repair them over time if you have an upgraded workshop. I'm not saying dont smash zombies with cars ever, just try to keep a few in repairs so you aren't always hunting around for another as the game progresses

- firing guns attracts zombies. This makes guns bad. You can make silencers in a workshop that stop this or find them in the world. These make guns great. Or at least the guns you can attach silencers to. You can totally mow down a horde like nothing with a silenced weapon or severely thin out a crowd in a fight.

- Blunt weapons seem to be better than edged. They last longer and put zombies on the ground faster.

- Nimble characters are great because they can get a sweep kick that puts multiple zombies on the ground

- When a zombie falls on the ground do the finishing kill move because as far as I can tell you are invulnerable during it.

- You can pick a specialization and character upgrades on the second tab of the menu. The game tells you this nowhere and you don't want to play and miss out on sweep-kicks

- At some point you can move your base. Don't pick the location the npc suggests with the treehouse. On the same side of town there is a trucking place that is bigger and better. I think after you visit the house he wants he makes you drive to like directly outside of it. There are other places that might be better I'm just less sure of them because they are outside of town with less places you can build outposts around them. Also scavenging is easier in town because obviously there are more buildings around.

- The game doesn't explain this too well but you should build outposts directly around your base. You can put traps in the outposts on the building menu (though they may go in automatically). The traps kill passing zombies and prevent the hordes from making it to your base which is good because defending it constantly is bad.

- Oh and if you find resources in places you intend to turn into outposts its probably not best to take them immediately because they get slowly transferred to your base when the area is turned into an outpost. So if you find a lot of food in the house you intend to turn into an outpost you could take it and get like 15 food units immediately or it will serve as a very constant source of food units. I'm not sure for how long but it seems to be quite a while.

- Oh and finally when building stuff. Most of it happens fairly quickly but some stuff way down the chain can take 4 hours or as I've heard 24 hours gametime. Set those going when you are finished playing. When you come back the next day it will be finished because the game keeps track of real world time too. Its weird like that.

Goofballs fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Sep 28, 2013

Project1
Dec 30, 2003

it's time

Goofballs posted:

Just don't put more than 9 in anything because there are collectibles that give you +1 to each stat. I thought intelligence was the most useful because of skill points, after that strength for carrying stuff

I've actually played and finished the game, so I know about those. I just get terrible OCD about stats, for some reason.

Outpost22
Oct 11, 2012

RIP Screamy You were too good for this world.
Just downloaded The Witcher. Are there any essential mods I should download? So far all I've downloaded is the fast walk mod, are there any others needed?

SolidSnakesBandana
Jul 1, 2007

Infinite ammo

Outpost22 posted:

Just downloaded The Witcher. Are there any essential mods I should download? So far all I've downloaded is the fast walk mod, are there any others needed?

Here's a post made about this subject. It's up to you whether or not you believe all of it.

Dominic White posted:

So, The Witcher 1 & 2 are super-cheap on Steam right now. About $7.50 combined.

DO NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO PLAY THEM UNMODDED.

Why? Because the lead combat/gameplay designer at CD Projekt (the developers) spent months after the release of each game, tweaking and tuning and refining and responding to community feedback. The result is two massive overhaul mods that completely change how the games play, generally agreed as being changes for the better. They'd have probably rolled these out as official patches if they weren't so huge.



Full Combat Rebalance for The Witcher 1
Full Combat Rebalance for The Witcher 2

One warning: They both make the games harder. FCR for The Witcher 1 asks you during installation whether you want to make it harder. If it's your first time playing, say no - stick to Normal, which will be challenging enough. FCR2 moves all the difficulty settings up one notch, so Easy is now Normal. This is fine, though - both games got very, very easy after the first third or so of the story. These mods rectify that.

Just read the documentation on them, really. FCR1 in particular comes with a completely revised manual for the game due to the overwhelming differences.

FCR2's biggest change is that the block button has been removed, and Geralts default stance has been made defensive. When standing or even running, he will automatically parry incoming sword attacks. While dodge-rolling or attacking, you're vulnerable. The block button is replaced by a fast-cast version of Quen, the magical shield spell. It makes for a much faster, more mobile game, and the 'cooldown' parts of almost all combat animations have been eliminated.

Seriously, I can't recommend these mods enough, and they come direct from the studio that made the games in the first place. Don't be that guy who insists that they want to experience the game 'as the creators intended', because THIS IS how they intended it, but it took longer to reach that point.

Outpost22
Oct 11, 2012

RIP Screamy You were too good for this world.
Thanks! Looking forward to playing with these.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Outpost22 posted:

Just downloaded The Witcher. Are there any essential mods I should download? So far all I've downloaded is the fast walk mod, are there any others needed?

The first chapter is kind of boring so if you don't like it, ride it through. It's basically an introduction to all the poo poo happening in the world. Chapter 2 is make-it-or-break-it for your enjoyment of the game. It basically turns into a dark fantasy detective story. If you don't like the first couple of quests you probably won't like the rest. Don't be afraid to ignore the many side quests because "find 10 monster dicks" in every chapter doesn't have much of a payout and just ruins the pacing IMO.

Fergus Mac Roich
Nov 5, 2008

Soiled Meat
I don't agree that any mods are appropriate for either Witcher game for your first runthrough(except fast walk for TW1 I guess) but whatever floats your boat.

CAPTAIN CAPSLOCK
Sep 11, 2001



Bedurndurn posted:

The dock in the NW of the map is neat though. Buying it gets you a submarine and a quest to collect radioactive waste underwater. For each pickup you find, you get something like $23,000. There's 30 to find (and they give you an indication of where they are), so that's one property that will actually be profitable fairly easily.

The best part is that you get 250k bonus after collecting all 30 barrels.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Yeah, I didn't play with any mods for my first run through The Witcher and I had a fine time. No harm trying it plain first, and if you don't like it, check out the mods.

Pr0phecy
Apr 3, 2006
Wasn't there a big, big patch that re-worked combat a bit? Is that combat overhaul mod still necessary?

Fergus Mac Roich
Nov 5, 2008

Soiled Meat
The combat in TW1 still sucks but that mod isn't the complete overhaul that it's sometimes advertised as. It does make the combat better, but it's fundamentally still the same old click click click combo that's at the heart of the problems with TW1's gameplay. TW1 is a very good game, but no mod will fix its problems, even a very considered and well designed one. TW2's combat is great out of the box, I don't know why a FCR mod even needs to exist for that game.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Fergus Mac Roich posted:

The combat in TW1 still sucks but that mod isn't the complete overhaul that it's sometimes advertised as. It does make the combat better, but it's fundamentally still the same old click click click combo that's at the heart of the problems with TW1's gameplay. TW1 is a very good game, but no mod will fix its problems, even a very considered and well designed one. TW2's combat is great out of the box, I don't know why a FCR mod even needs to exist for that game.

For a series that's about gritty sword combat it's really goofy that your parry is useless and you're forced to dive roll around the battlefield like a gymnast to survive. I haven't used the mod but if it means there's more focus on positioning and timing your strikes because you block automatically then I can already imagine it being really great.

Fungah!
Apr 30, 2011

Hey, just picked up Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth the other day, anyone have anything for that?

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Fungah! posted:

Hey, just picked up Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth the other day, anyone have anything for that?

If you want the good ending, and you really do because the other endings are unfulfilling, you need a guide. There are very specific things you need to do at specific points in specific chapters and you'll never figure it out on your own because the logic behind it basically amounts to "do the opposite of what you're told to do by every major character."

Mokinokaro
Sep 11, 2001

At the end of everything, hold onto anything



Fun Shoe

KoB posted:

People seem to say just keep all the money and dont do the assassination missions (Lestor's) until after the last heist. Then do the assassination missions with all that money, getting stock in the appropriate companies.

The first is mandatory. After that ignore Lester missions as Franklin until after the final mission.

Properties that have benefits besides money (that I find useful)
-NW dock (Paleto Cove:) grants access to the sub in freeroam + collection mission (which pays around 960k total, double the cost of the dock. Note: all money goes to the dock owner no matter who collects the canisters.) Also unlocks a second collection mission for Michael, no matter who owns it. Don't bother with this one, though starting it gives you an easy to access scuba dinghy.)
-Downtown cab: free cab rides for all characters (though I find it sometimes charges the hurry fee.)
-Los Santos Customs: free car upgrades for Franklin (but ONLY at that location)
-Smoke on the Water: has a small mission chain associated with it
-Hangers + helipads: needed if you want Michael and Franklin to be able to store/buy helis and planes. Don't let the map fool you as each can buy one at the location despite there only being one sign. The marina docks are similar but for all three. Also, buying a hangar at the airport means that character can access the runway without the wanted level. All bought aircraft and boats (plus a few special vehicles like the tank) respawn for free if destroyed.
McKenzie Field hangar: the drug running missions are kind of fun, but the hangar will barely make up 50% of its cost. However, it's a second runway in the desert which is handy.

Properties with benefits that aren't really worth it
-Golf club: heavily discounted golfing for owner + they can golf in their normal outfit
-Scrapyard: pays per vehicle destroyed in a week, caps at 5,000 (so one measly hospital visit)
-Tow yard: pays 500$ per car. Appears to cap at 5,000 too.
-Movie theatres: all let you watch movies for free. However, the 10,000,000 and 20,000,000 theatres have the best price:payout ratio even though it'll take close to an in game year to pay them off.

The bars/nightclubs are just money payouts with the odd robbery/delivery mission. Not really worth it.

However, if you use Lester's missions right you can end the game easily with about a billion per character. The trick is to invest in the stock boosted by the mission right before starting it (you might want to find a guide, but beware of spoilers,) wait for it to peak before selling and then buying out the stock the mission tanked since that will recover within a few in-game days. Money will roll in VERY quickly with this strategy and you'll easily be able to buy everything.

Fergus Mac Roich
Nov 5, 2008

Soiled Meat

al-azad posted:

For a series that's about gritty sword combat it's really goofy that your parry is useless and you're forced to dive roll around the battlefield like a gymnast to survive. I haven't used the mod but if it means there's more focus on positioning and timing your strikes because you block automatically then I can already imagine it being really great.

I haven't read the novels but my experience with the short story collection The Last Wish and the games, I think The Witcher as a series is emphatically not about Geralt being a straight up swordfighter who likes to stand around and fight other sword wielders in a traditional knightly way.

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Fergus Mac Roich posted:

I haven't read the novels but my experience with the short story collection The Last Wish and the games, I think The Witcher as a series is emphatically not about Geralt being a straight up swordfighter who likes to stand around and fight other sword wielders in a traditional knightly way.

Check out the ending cinematic for the first game. That's how I imagine witchers fight. Rolling around like Jackie Chan in a two-handed sword fight is just really goofy when none of the characters in either game are portrayed as being Wuxia agile.

But the focus on rolling also brings up some game balance issues. Blocking uses up vitality but doesn't guarantee you'll negate damage and some attacks can't be blocked at all. Rolling is free and once upgraded it practically guarantees you'll avoid damage because it clears such a wide distance. There are also enemies, like the elves, who have weak but rapid attacks. You can't block their puny daggers because of vitality despite having a larger weapon. There are also several abilities that tie into blocking which are more skill based than rolling like riposte and deflect arrows but once again your vitality limits what you can do with them.

al-azad fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Sep 29, 2013

Ciaphas
Nov 20, 2005

> BEWARE, COWARD :ovr:


The recommend-a-game thread pointed me toward Path of Exile for an ARPG to play to distract myself for a while. Anyone have any startup tips for that one? I know generally about how the systems work (skill gems, lack of gold, etc) but not really where to start with it.

MussoliniB
Aug 22, 2009
I just bought The Pit for a couple bucks off of Steam and I'm really enjoying it. There is so much to learn with the items and everything (as is any Roguelike), there's nothing on the Wiki, does anyone have any advice?

Walton Simons
May 16, 2010

ELECTRONIC OLD MEN RUNNING THE WORLD
Anno 2070 is big and scary. I feel like I understand the basic mechanics somewhat.

Is the Campaign worth jumping directly into or is the continuous play where the meat of the game is?

Mzbundifund
Nov 5, 2011

I'm afraid so.

Continuous Play or the various challenge maps are where I spent most of my time, but the campaign functions as a sort of extended tutorial with occasional gimmick events. You can jump right in on it first without playing any other maps if you want.

Walton Simons
May 16, 2010

ELECTRONIC OLD MEN RUNNING THE WORLD
Cheers, will probably go with the continuous play once I'm happy with the mechanics, I usually plump for free play in this sort of game but it's hard to know if the bulk of the game is in the missions or not.

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord
Two games I would like to know if there is anything I should know before playing:

3DS Fire Emblem: Awakening

PS3 Shadow of the Colossus

pentyne
Nov 7, 2012

Red Robin Hood posted:

Two games I would like to know if there is anything I should know before playing:

3DS Fire Emblem: Awakening

PS3 Shadow of the Colossus

Shadow of the Colossus: Check the strategy guide for how to beat the bosses, some of them can take up to an hour if you don't know where the weak points are. The game is crazy atmospheric and half the enjoyment is wandering around while searching for the next boss monster.

PRL412
Sep 11, 2007

... ... MINE

Red Robin Hood posted:

Two games I would like to know if there is anything I should know before playing:

3DS Fire Emblem: Awakening

PS3 Shadow of the Colossus

The wiki, is almost all you need to know.

http://www.beforeiplay.com/index.php?title=Shadow_of_the_Colossus

Strangely the wiki mentions the lizards but not the fruit.

-While exploring, you will find different kinds of fruit trees. You can shoot them down and eat the pieces to increase your life bar.

-The lizards (mentioned in the wiki) are often found by the climbable landmarks with the walkthrough archway and buttress. Black tails and white tails are scattered across the land, but the ones on these landmarks will all have white tails that increase your stamina.

-When you find one of these landmarks, take the time to shoot down the lizard. That way if a tower is on your map, you know you've taken the time to grab the lizard.

-The structure you start the game inside has a tablet at the bottom of the stairs where you can save your game by pressing triangle. The climbable landmarks also have these tablets, so make sure to use them from time to time because it's easy to fall off cliffs etc.

As pentyne said, explore. Get lost. Take your time. Hang out with Agro.

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Wolfsheim
Dec 23, 2003

and god is on your side
dividing sparrows from the nightingales
I've been dabbling with Sleeping Dogs and I'm not too far in, but my question is which DLC is worth getting, and when should it be played? Is it legit or mostly piecemeal costume bullshit a la SRTT DLC?

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