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Count Chocula
Dec 25, 2011

WE HAVE TO CONTROL OUR ENVIRONMENT
IF YOU SEE ME POSTING OUTSIDE OF THE AUSPOL THREAD PLEASE TELL ME THAT I'M MISSED AND TO START POSTING AGAIN
Anything for Shadow Warrior, the 2013 one? The amount of skills and powers is overwhelming.

Count Chocula fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Oct 23, 2016

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girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?

Zaodai posted:

[EDIT] "We were going to genetically engineer this Foxdie virus, but it turns out it was a lot cheaper and faster to just give a bear a lot of PCP and air drop it into the base."
I just want to acknowledge that this post made me laugh so hard that I started crying and choked on my own spit.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

Count Chocula posted:

Anything for Shadow Warrior, the 2013 one? The amount of skills and powers is overwhelming.
-Big money pickups are mostly tied to finding secrets, explore the levels.
-Get your sword techniques first, then whatever.
-The most useful magics are healing and the forward + cast knockdown. Barrier is worthless and the liftoff is powerful, but s situational.
-You don't really need to use the guns at all but they make dealing with certain enemies much easier. The fully upgraded SMG with alt-fire is the most damaging thing you'll have for quite a while.
-All that being said, while you won't max out everything in one playthrough, you'll probably get all the skills you want. There no really bad way to spend those points.
-Use the environment. A lot of poo poo explodes in various interesting ways and you can do a lot of damage that way.

Chernobyl Peace Prize
May 7, 2007

Or later, later's fine.
But now would be good.

Vidaeus posted:

Anything for Grim Dawn apart from what's on beforeiplay.com?
If you played Titan Quest by these guys: the Shaman tree is kinda like Dream from that game, in that it's the "basically anyone can benefit from something here, and the individual skills are strong as gently caress."

Easiest mode is playing Shaman+Anything and maxing out Devouring Swarm. You can start a new character on Normal or even Veteran and faceroll through most of the game while feeling out what sort of character you want to play within that.

Respec is point-for-point at "Spirit Guide" NPCs, one is in the northernmost corner of the starting village/keep. It starts off pretty cheap (like, 25 bits a point) so don't feel like you have to restart because you mis-allocated a level or two. Also this means if you want to try out a skill, drop a point in it, see if you like how it feels, and you can go buy it back later.

Keep Aether Crystals, Scrap, and Dynamite in your inventory as you collect them, because the things that will want them are frequent enough that it's annoying to have to personal rift back and forth to grab stuff.

The Crucible DLC doesn't give you loot/XP until you finish a segment (by either opting out every 10 levels, or dying). You get some loot for dying but not as much. If you want to give yourself a buffer through the early game of the story mode + a few quick levels, jump into Crucible at level 1 and smack stuff until you die, this should get you level 5 or 6 + a decent assortment of basic magic items.

Gray Area
Nov 17, 2007
What should I know before playing Age of Decadence ?

Rupert Buttermilk
Apr 15, 2007

🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

I remember reading advice for Mercenary Kings but can't remember what it was. Anyone have some? I heard that I shouldn't sell any materials or stuff like that.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!
Yeah, it's generally a bad idea to sell materials because the drops are unreliable and you never know when you'll need a particular part. For cash, my best suggestion is--and take this with a grain of salt 'cause it's been a long-rear end time--to find a mission the main objective of which is to kill a boss where you can encounter it quickly and then run that a few times. You'll probably get some of the boss's drops as incidental rewards after the mission, and anything that you can gather that effectively will basically be surplus that you can just use to fund yourself.

I swear coins and treasures and poo poo were also safe to sell, but I can't remember 100%. Unfortunately, they tend to be rewards for gathering-type missions, and those tend to suuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Rupert Buttermilk
Apr 15, 2007

🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

The White Dragon posted:

Yeah, it's generally a bad idea to sell materials because the drops are unreliable and you never know when you'll need a particular part. For cash, my best suggestion is--and take this with a grain of salt 'cause it's been a long-rear end time--to find a mission the main objective of which is to kill a boss where you can encounter it quickly and then run that a few times. You'll probably get some of the boss's drops as incidental rewards after the mission, and anything that you can gather that effectively will basically be surplus that you can just use to fund yourself.

I swear coins and treasures and poo poo were also safe to sell, but I can't remember 100%. Unfortunately, they tend to be rewards for gathering-type missions, and those tend to suuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Yeah, it took forever to get my last pelt, so that kind of sucked, but overall, I had fun playing it, so for now that's ok. I didn't really like not being able to find 8 hostages, though... part of the level seemed to be totally blocked off to me, despite looking like it was ok via the map. Are there upgrades that give me WAY more mobility? I have the paratrooper one so far.

ahobday
Apr 19, 2007

I bought Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

I've read the wiki page, but I'm curious if there are any tips specifically related to breaking the game and making it extremely easy?

For example, over-levelling? I remember this was difficult in Final Fantasy XIII because the levels were gated or something.

I'm already playing on Easy mode.

Afriscipio
Jun 3, 2013

Gray Area posted:

What should I know before playing Age of Decadence ?

You have to specialize. No one character can do everything in a play through. Play to your role - if you're not a combat character avoid fighting at all costs, if you're not a smooth talker, don't get involved in politics. Most characters are not smart enough to figure out the weird magic/tech from previous eras - this is intentional. The role you pick will give you different insights into the world. Military roles will give you an idea of the wars and the conflicts of the world, the lorekeeper role will give you more world-building background, the Praetor role is for political shenanigans.

If you're going combat, choose between high armor or low armor. Heavy armor tanks your dexterity, so building a quick character with dodge means high armor is actively bad. Certain weapons rely on dexterity, so don't be a dagger-wielding heavy-armor user.

LawfulWaffle
Mar 11, 2014

Well, that aligns with the vibes I was getting. Which was, like, "normal" kinda vibes.
I recently started playing Strangers of Sword City, is there any advice for someone just starting? I got to the first save point and I'm thinking that because the main character can't lose life points, I should reroll them to be an old person so I can get maximum bonus stat points. Is this sounds, and is there any other advice?

Dr. Quarex
Apr 18, 2003

I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

owl_pellet posted:

Ever wondered what Macedonian country music sounds like?
This is the most compelling argument I have ever seen for playing Euro Truck Simulator, as now I do indeed desperately want to know what it sounds like.

blackguy32 posted:

Also depends on what kind of twist you are looking for. Bioshock has a pretty big twist. In fact most of the story FPS games I can think of have plot twists.
They're waiting for you, Gordon... in the test chamber!

Zaphod42
Sep 13, 2012

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Dr. Quarex posted:

They're waiting for you, Gordon... in the test chamber!

HL1 did have some good twists though, like The army showing up and then attacking the scientists instead of helping you fight the aliens

GhostBoy
Aug 7, 2010

A few things for Stellaris since the Heinlein patch

The advice to split fleets on the wiki is a bit outdated, since the patch increased repair and upgrade speed majorly, assuming you have the minerals on hand. The sector AI is also improved a lot and can handle building up planets without you having to do it for them.

The point about tech cost and pops needs some clarification. Maybe something like

- The cost of tech takes a big jump with each new colony, and scales in a smaller way with Pop, so it takes a while for new colonies to make up the difference.

Dr. Quarex
Apr 18, 2003

I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

Zaphod42 posted:

HL1 did have some good twists though, like The army showing up and then attacking the scientists instead of helping you fight the aliens
Oh I totally agree, that was just the first thing that came to mind when I tried to remember a Half-Life 2 twist and since it made no sense I posted it. "And since it made no sense, I posted it: the Quarex story"

I was just watching some random YouTube video rant about the top ten lookalike/ripoff games (as in, I think the intent was anyway, games that were good despite blatantly aping other games) and when they mentioned Red Faction was "basically a fun Half-Life ripoff" I was like OH DANG WHY DID I SKIP THAT IN 2002

Oh uh

I wish any Virtual Reality games were deep enough yet to actually require entries in this thread.

Hmm, what else on my upcoming list do I have nothing for ... I Am Alive? The Thief reboot (I could have sworn I saw hints for this somewhere, but nothing on BeforeIPlay)?

What about Hack, Slash, Loot or Paranautical Activity (I assume both of those are just "dude it is a Roguelike just play it?"

Lobok
Jul 13, 2006

Say Watt?

Playing Tomb Raider (Definitive Edition for what it's worth). Do the skills make much of a difference to the gameplay?

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

Lobok posted:

Playing Tomb Raider (Definitive Edition for what it's worth). Do the skills make much of a difference to the gameplay?

They do indeed.

Mr. Dragoon
May 7, 2008
So, now that its out of early access and I'm finally sinking my teeth into it. Anything on Clockwork Empires?

double nine
Aug 8, 2013

Mr. Dragoon posted:

So, now that its out of early access and I'm finally sinking my teeth into it. Anything on Clockwork Empires?

I mean ... there's a whole thread available?

Mayor McCheese
Sep 20, 2004

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

double nine posted:

I mean ... there's a whole thread available?

There's a thread for most games that are asked here, like Dark Souls. It's not that strange.

A Bag of Milk
Jul 3, 2007

I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.
Is it possible to beat Axiom Verge 100% without a guide first runthrough as long as I'm familiar with metroidvanias in general or are some things just bullshit? I want to go in as blind as possible, otherwise.

Rectus
Apr 27, 2008

Dr. Quarex posted:

The Thief reboot (I could have sworn I saw hints for this somewhere, but nothing on BeforeIPlay)?

Some of the side missions are a lot better than the main story missions.

betamax hipster
Aug 13, 2016

A Bag of Milk posted:

Is it possible to beat Axiom Verge 100% without a guide first runthrough as long as I'm familiar with metroidvanias in general or are some things just bullshit? I want to go in as blind as possible, otherwise.

It has some fairly obscure secrets. I wouldn't count on getting 100% blind, but I also wouldn't worry about it.

Dr Snofeld
Apr 30, 2009

Centipeed posted:

I bought Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

I've read the wiki page, but I'm curious if there are any tips specifically related to breaking the game and making it extremely easy?

For example, over-levelling? I remember this was difficult in Final Fantasy XIII because the levels were gated or something.

I'm already playing on Easy mode.

There aren't actually any levels in Lightning Returns. You increase your stats by completing quests, with the five main quests offering huge boosts, side quests giving small increases and Canvas of Prayers quests giving maybe a couple of points.

As far as breaking the game goes. using the DLC garbs would probably do the trick. The Summoner Yuna garb has a built-in maxed-out Element spell which is ridiculous. That aside, you can get the Miqo'te Dress from a sidequest in Yusnaan which has Magic Slash, a melee attack that does physical and magic damage at the same time and is great for staggering.

Can't say I agree with the wiki's suggestion to play on Easy though, my first playthrough was on Normal and it wasn't too bad, but it's your game so you do you.

Valiantman
Jun 25, 2011

Ways to circumvent the Compact #6: Find a dreaming god and affect his dreams so that they become reality. Hey, it's not like it's you who's affecting the world. Blame the other guy for irresponsibly falling asleep.

Pumpkinreaper posted:

Now for a question myself: For The Witcher 2, are there any trap skills/skill trees you can put points into? Or rather ones that aren't very good? The game also recommended easy for me, so should I follow that suggestion? Finally, how nicely does the game play with a controller? Figured it might actually be simpler to play with one since there's hotkeys all over the place for the assorted signs (press 8 to cast this, etc.)

I've played Witcher 2 only once but my experience is that if you haven't started it already, go for the hardest difficulty no matter what the game recommends. All the Witcher games start out pretty hard but if you manage to teach yourself how to play properly, the endgame will be enjoyable instead of boringly easy. You will die a lot all the time, even to seemingly easy enemies (it think I retried the first proper boss like 15 times) but when the game progressed, it became a game where I died if I was reckless and survived if I prepared and focused. Do note that I assume you have experience in gaming in general and that you want to play the alchemy game since it will be mandatory. Since I only played through once I can't say for sure but I think you have to try to screw up the skill tree. Usually in games like this the jack-of-all-trades approach is inferior but I had no problem with it myself.

Valiantman fucked around with this message at 12:18 on Oct 27, 2016

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer

Valiantman posted:

Witcher 2 on hardest
I wouldn't be so sure about that; there is a boss fight that's an absolute bitch at the end of chapter 1. I mean, yeah, you can learn how to deal with every attack but it will be pretty drat frustrating.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

Rupert Buttermilk posted:

Are there upgrades that give me WAY more mobility? I have the paratrooper one so far.

The best upgrade to get WAY more mobility is to (... uh, sorry man you're gonna have to kinda play around with the controls until you figure this out, like I said I haven't played it since my buddy and I blitzed through it hard as soon as it got the full release in 2014) utilize the equipment swap command to put away your weapon. When it's holstered, you get a 0 weight penalty from it and the only weight/speed reduction you receive is from your add-ons and you'll be able to move the way god intended. Paratrooper is almost negligible.

Valiantman
Jun 25, 2011

Ways to circumvent the Compact #6: Find a dreaming god and affect his dreams so that they become reality. Hey, it's not like it's you who's affecting the world. Blame the other guy for irresponsibly falling asleep.

anilEhilated posted:

I wouldn't be so sure about that; there is a boss fight that's an absolute bitch at the end of chapter 1. I mean, yeah, you can learn how to deal with every attack but it will be pretty drat frustrating.

Yeah, that is the hurdle. First boss in Witcher 1 was really tough on hard as well, ditto Witcher 3. I agree 2 was easily the worst though. In each of the games it was the hardest challenge in the entire game, however and the later game was worth it.

Well, okay, there's one other boss like that too now that I think about it. The story is great nevertheless but if you don't want to sweat and swear at times, there's no shame in going below the hardest.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!
I'm playing Witcher 2 on the easiest difficulty because I killed zero things in the tutorial battle and I'm okay with that

It's a single-player game, what am I gonna prove

Valiantman
Jun 25, 2011

Ways to circumvent the Compact #6: Find a dreaming god and affect his dreams so that they become reality. Hey, it's not like it's you who's affecting the world. Blame the other guy for irresponsibly falling asleep.

The White Dragon posted:

I'm playing Witcher 2 on the easiest difficulty because I killed zero things in the tutorial battle and I'm okay with that

It's a single-player game, what am I gonna prove

I killed 0 enemies in the tutorial as well and enjoyed the hardest difficulty. So yeah, your mileage may vary but I have no doubt I would have liked the game less on easy. Which would still mean it would be one if the best stories I've played through in recent years. The only thing you can do wrong is to assume that the tutorial is in any way fair to throw at a new player. :)

Count Chocula
Dec 25, 2011

WE HAVE TO CONTROL OUR ENVIRONMENT
IF YOU SEE ME POSTING OUTSIDE OF THE AUSPOL THREAD PLEASE TELL ME THAT I'M MISSED AND TO START POSTING AGAIN
I played through on hard - it forces you to think about combat and play it like Dark Souls.

Rupert Buttermilk
Apr 15, 2007

🚣RowboatMan: ❄️Freezing time🕰️ is an old P.I. 🥧trick...

The White Dragon posted:

The best upgrade to get WAY more mobility is to (... uh, sorry man you're gonna have to kinda play around with the controls until you figure this out, like I said I haven't played it since my buddy and I blitzed through it hard as soon as it got the full release in 2014) utilize the equipment swap command to put away your weapon. When it's holstered, you get a 0 weight penalty from it and the only weight/speed reduction you receive is from your add-ons and you'll be able to move the way god intended. Paratrooper is almost negligible.

Appreciate it, thanks!

A Bag of Milk
Jul 3, 2007

I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.

betamax hipster posted:

It has some fairly obscure secrets. I wouldn't count on getting 100% blind, but I also wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks friend. I just beat Cave Story and couldn't imagine anyone unlocking the final level (and best level) without a guide. I mean, maybe, but also come the gently caress on. As long as I won't miss great content even after being thorough, I won't sweat the 100%.

Renoistic
Jul 27, 2007

Everyone has a
guardian angel.

Count Chocula posted:

I played through on hard - it forces you to think about combat and play it like Dark Souls.

It also makes the game even more boring to play. If you actually enjoy it, fine. But there's no reason to force yourself to play it on hard. DS was designed to be played that way, W3's battle system isn't nearly polished enough to pull it off.

Retroblique
Oct 16, 2002

Now the wild world is lost, in a desert of smoke and straight lines.

Dr. Quarex posted:

The Thief reboot (I could have sworn I saw hints for this somewhere, but nothing on BeforeIPlay)?
For starters it's nowhere near as bad as some people make out.

I'd describe myself as a pretty hardcore fan of the original Looking Glass games -- I've loaded up Thief Gold and Thief 2: The Metal Age every other year since their original release and consider them some of the best games ever made -- but I quite enjoyed New Thief and it didn't send me into the paroxysms of rage inflicting much of the Thief community. If you wade into the game expecting a Looking Glass-esque experience, looking for things to annoy your inner Thief fan, you're going to have a miserable experience. Go into it with a more open mind and treat it as a new stealth IP that just so happens to borrow some trappings from the original games.

Before you start playing the game though, head into the Game & HUD options menu to turn off as many of the Babby's First Thief crutches as you feel comfortable with. By default the game holds your hand way too much, so by turning all those aids off you'll make it more like the original Thief experience. For the record I've got mine set as follows, but your mileage may vary:

Focus mode: On
Navigation prompts: Off
Interaction prompts: On
Waypoint markers: Off
Threat icons: Off
Threat health meters: Off
Mini-map: Off
Mini-map rotation: Off
Reticle feedback: On
Journal updates: On
Pick-up notifiers: On
Light gem: Off
Object highlights: Off
Loot glint: Off
Lock-pick helper: Off
Frame-search helper: Off
Location updates: On
Health meter: Timed fade
Focus meter: Timed fade
Ammo counter: Timed fade
Weapons bar: Timed fade

All of that actually encourages you to explore your environment, take note of your surroundings, and really dig into every nook and cranny, rather than just blindly running from one waypoint marker to the next, grabbing everything shiny along the way. You can still access a map via your journal screen if you do get hopelessly lost though. Turning the light gem off might seem odd given how the original Thief made use of it, but there's other subtle clues as to your level of visibility -- the edges of the screen take on a dark or light vignette depending on whether or not you're "hidden" or "visible", which functionally does the same thing as the light gem.

Also, when you start a new game, check out the the Custom difficulty level and take a look at the various things that further tweak the Thief experience. You can do things like turn off the manual saving system to use a checkpoint one instead, reduce the number of upgrades or tools available to you, turn on no-kills or no-alerts, enable iron man mode, etc. You may want to just ignore these for your first play through, especially if you haven't played a Thief game before, but they're all there to essentially let you customize your own New Game+ experience.

I'm not blind to the game's flaws, but really most of them are blown way out of proportion. There's a lot to enjoy there and it's a fun experience, just as long as you leave any existing Looking Glass/Classic Thief baggage at the door.

Dr. Arbitrary
Mar 15, 2006

Bleak Gremlin

Gray Area posted:

What should I know before playing Age of Decadence ?

I just wanted to say thanks for asking about this game. Reading the responses to your question piqued my interest and now I'm deep into the lore of this hosed up world.

Neat game!

Pumpkinreaper
Jan 19, 2010

Dr. Quarex posted:


What about Hack, Slash, Loot

Get a refund, it's honestly awful and lacks any kind of depth at all. No, I'm not kidding, it's loving garbage and it made me regret buying the bundle it was in just by the sheer suckitude that is Hack, Slash, Loot.

Lunchmeat Larry
Nov 3, 2012

What should I know before playing Tugs of the Tugster? It's a fairly obscure old game but it's kind of intimidating going in blind

double nine
Aug 8, 2013

Anything on Crookz, the big heist? Is it a stealth game or more of a puzzle game?

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Dr. Quarex
Apr 18, 2003

I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

Pumpkinreaper posted:

Get a refund, it's honestly awful and lacks any kind of depth at all. No, I'm not kidding, it's loving garbage and it made me regret buying the bundle it was in just by the sheer suckitude that is Hack, Slash, Loot.
Hahaha. I appreciate the advice; I know I got that from a Humble Bundle, possibly the same one as you. Which I see also included Paranautical Activity and Teleglitch. Well, Teleglitch was fun at least!

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