The "What should I know before I play this game for the first time?" Q&A!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The "What should I know before I play this game for the first time?" Q&A!

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Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

I agree, a new thread would probably be fine. It's not like anyone would actually read those twelve years of posts on a search for game tips.

# ? Jun 25, 2020 11:52

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 06:26

Sleekly: Aug 21, 2008

this thread has been super useful even if im usually months behind whatever is being talked about.

if i know im gonna sink my teeth into a game checking the site is a matter of habit. ill miss it if it cant be updated anymore and wanna thank u all for the work

# ? Jun 25, 2020 12:53

Narzack: Sep 15, 2008

Just decided to start playing Star Wars Empire at War Gold on a whim unmodded. Any good beginner tips?

# ? Jun 25, 2020 19:17

Zushio: May 8, 2008

I saw that the Metal Max 3 translation had dropped. Anyone have any tips?

# ? Jun 26, 2020 19:08

limp_cheese: Sep 10, 2007; Nothing to see here. Move along.

Grredfall is on sale on Steam and I was wondering if there's any advice.

# ? Jun 27, 2020 21:40

Der Kyhe: Jun 25, 2008

In Satisfactory it should be said that at least for the V0.3.5.4

-The desert starting area is actually the best starting area in the game. You should rush for the first Tier 3/4 update via the starport to get coal mining to automate electricity.

EDIT: Everything you need later is relatively close, and if you rushed to the Tier 3 coal mining you do not need to go full Brazil on the few spots of biomatter and biofuel in the region.

Der Kyhe fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Jun 27, 2020

# ? Jun 27, 2020 23:29

YggiDee: Sep 12, 2007; WASP CREW

Can anyone give me advice for Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate?

# ? Jun 28, 2020 04:18

bbcisdabomb: Jan 15, 2008; SHEESH

YggiDee posted:

Can anyone give me advice for Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate?

It starts out with like four or five gathering quests in a row, IIRC. After that you don't have to do any more gathering quests, so stick with it for the first two hours.

All weapons are viable, try them all and use the ones that speak to you.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 04:38

Pseudoscorpion: Jul 26, 2011

YggiDee posted:

Can anyone give me advice for Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate?

Make sure Monster Hunter World isn't the game you want to play instead. MHGU is great but it's very much the series veteran's sendoff game, layering everything from all previous monster hunters on top of one another in a gigantic, inaccessible content lasagna. MHW is a lot less content-dense, but infinitely more accessible for a variety of reasons. If you've already played World, there's not much to give advice on other than have fun and try out all the hunting styles for each weapon.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 05:17

Bedurndurn: Dec 4, 2008

YggiDee posted:

Can anyone give me advice for Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate?

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

If this is your first non-MHW monster hunter game, you're going to need to go watch some youtube stuff about it, because it's fundamentally very different (and way less user friendly). Gaijin hunter, arrekz gaming are good. BTW I'm sorry if that seems like a dickish answer, but it's unfortunately true.

Highlights include:

There's no tracking of monsters and they can literally jump and/or fly to any subzone on the map like a real loving rear end in a top hat. You can hit them with a paintball to mark them on the map for a few minutes, but it will run out.
There's no damage numbers or health indicators beyond body language (and even that isn't a guarantee). So trapping monster will be a fair bit more difficult.
You need to bring gathering tools (unless you're playing as a cat), and they break from use.
Flash bombs kind of suck, especially in comparison to base MHW. They're still important, but using them sucks.
Similarly, ranged weapons are hugely disappointing compared to MHW's third person shooter-style controls. They can be powerful, but you're going to spend hours fighting the controls more than the monsters.
The multiplayer *works* (and is fundamental to half of the game's content), but you cannot join hunts in progress and you are going to have to negotiate with strangers about what hunt to do. You can plug a USB keyboard into the Switch to help with this, but you cannot type to people mid-hunt for no goddamn good reason whatsoever.

That said, it's still a pretty drat good game and there's a *ton* of stuff to do.

Actual before I play type tips:

There are huge differences weapons and huge between the weapons' styles. Valor style is probably going to be "best" on a lot of weapons, but you can make anything fun. Aerial greastsword and hammer for instance are just constantly jumping in the air and smashing things with a big gently caress-off weapon. Detailed info on styles/weapons is going to be a 'Go to youtube' thing.
If you get stuck on a monster, try different styles / hunter arts.
Check your minimap in town after each hunt. Any place with a speech bubble on it has a person you can talk to to progress the 'story'. Doing that is important to unlocking features, hunts, overall progression.
Redeeming all the downloadable addon nonsense will get you an absolute ton of money and supplies that will make your start in the game a *lot* easier.
There are two main sections to the game, a single player (village) part and an online guild hall part. Village hunt monsters have less HP and that's where you should generally focus to start.
Because the game design is old as hell, progression is tied to completing a specific subset of quests (generally called key quests / urgent quests by the community). The game won't tell you that though, so here's the wiki that does Village Keys Guild hall keys
It's the last game in its series and it foolishly assumes you already knew how to play it before you bought it. If you don't know what to do, go to a wiki/discord/the SA thread/your weird friend/etc for help.

Bedurndurn fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Jun 28, 2020

# ? Jun 28, 2020 07:05

Oh dear me: Aug 14, 2012; I have burned numerous saucepans, sometimes right through the metal

limp_cheese posted:

Grredfall is on sale on Steam and I was wondering if there's any advice.

There will be some political shenanigans maybe half way though the game - until then, do your companion's quests promptly.

After then, make sure you visit the Bridge alliance to get their quests. The game doesn't tell you they're available at that point and you'll miss out if you don't check.

Those are the only traps I can remember - otherwise just play as you like.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 09:34

pentyne: Nov 7, 2012

The Steam Sale has me looking at a few games and I was planning to play them blind unless anyone here has some basic advice other then what's already posted

Pathologic 2
-nothing

The Outer Wilds
-nothing

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- This seems like a typo "Unless you're playing on the highest difficulty health upgrades are a priority."

Guijan 3
- nothing

Metro Exodux
- Steam thread said play Metro 2033 on normal survival and Last Light on Spartan as those were the 'intended' modes, anything similar?

# ? Jun 28, 2020 10:41

Kanfy: Jan 9, 2012; Just gotta keep walking down that road.

Outer Wilds (without "The", you're thinking of The Outer Worlds :v:

) is pretty simple in its concept and all about finding things out for yourself, there's mostly the fact that the ability to skip to the end of a loop from the pause menu is pretty arbitrarily hidden for such a convenient feature - you need to talk to the astronaut on Giant's Deep twice on separate loops to unlock it.

I'll probably add a page for it with just that on it for now since it's likely to come up fairly often.

E:

It's alluded to in the in-game settings but guess I could also add that Shadow Quality is a major resource hog compared to the other graphics settings and likely the main place to tweak to improve performance on a midrange PC.

Kanfy fucked around with this message at 11:20 on Jun 28, 2020

# ? Jun 28, 2020 10:53

Mierenneuker: Apr 28, 2010; We're all going to experience changes in our life but only the best of us will qualify for front row seats.

pentyne posted:

Metro Exodux
- Steam thread said play Metro 2033 on normal survival and Last Light on Spartan as those were the 'intended' modes, anything similar?

This is coming from someone who likes to play stealthy and rarely has continued firefights (unless the game forces them on you):
- Normal is fine, but although once you are fully kitted out it doesn't feel challenging.
- Hardcore might be better for a veteran Metro player, but will kick your rear end constantly in those first hours. Enough for me to be cautious about recommending it.
- Ranger Hardcore is definitely something you want to save for New Game+. There is a modifier you can select that allows you to preserve your weapons and upgrades from the previous playthrough. It's quite fun when you have a upgraded crossbow for the entire duration of the game, but you die super quickly and you are constantly scrounging for resources. There is a weapon cleaning system and you just end up ignoring it and sticking to slow-firing weapons that never jam, because you can't afford to spend materials on cleaning.

Mierenneuker fucked around with this message at 11:14 on Jun 28, 2020

# ? Jun 28, 2020 11:10

Kazzah: Jul 15, 2011; Formerly known as
Krazyface; Hair Elf

Some additions to Outer Wilds:
-You don't unlock the ability to save the game until about half an hour in. Try not to die in that time!
-You should do every tutorial in the starting village, it'll save you a lot of frustration down the line.
-If you're stuck, consider pursuing one of your other leads. Some things are not meant to be solved the first time you see them.
-It's sometimes possible to reach a hard-to-get area if you're extremely good at piloting the ship/jetpack. However, you never need to do this; there's always an easy way, you just haven't learned about it yet.
-The computer in the back of your ship has two ways of displaying data: map mode and rumour mode. Make sure to look at rumour mode from time to time, it's really good!
-In the settings, you can make it so that time doesn't pass while your character is reading, using the computer, or talking to someone. I would suggest you don't enable it for conversations; occasionally the other characters will have animations mixed in with their dialogue, and this setting messes that up.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 11:32

Kanfy: Jan 9, 2012; Just gotta keep walking down that road.

The last one's probably a bit redundant since it says the same thing under the setting itself, but they're in there now.

E: The Metro stuff too, summarized in a single tip regarding difficulty.

E2:

While I'm at it I'd also add to Noita that enemies killed by environmental causes (like explosive barrels or acid) or by some other indirect method (such as flying physics objects or even certain wand effects) doubles the gold they drop.

Kanfy fucked around with this message at 12:33 on Jun 28, 2020

# ? Jun 28, 2020 11:55

YggiDee: Sep 12, 2007; WASP CREW

Thanks for the advice all, for the record it's my first Monster Hunter and it's the one I'm playing because the only console I own is a Switch.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 13:14

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Kanfy posted:

While I'm at it I'd also add to Noita that enemies killed by environmental causes (like explosive barrels or acid) or by some other indirect method (such as flying physics objects or even certain wand effects) doubles the gold they drop.

Every death through indirect means counts as environmental for this. Drop a bomb, it is environmental, because the bomb did not kill them, the explosion did. This also applies to things like the concussive effect of Thunderstrike wands.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 15:13

Kanfy: Jan 9, 2012; Just gotta keep walking down that road.

Cardiovorax posted:

Every death through indirect means counts as environmental for this. Drop a bomb, it is environmental, because the bomb did not kill them, the explosion did. This also applies to things like the concussive effect of Thunderstrike wands.

I admit I haven't played a ton yet but a November patch seems to list those as bugs that were fixed?

quote:

BUGFIX: Enemies killed with lightning dropped double gold
BUGFIX: Enemies killed with bombs dropped double gold

# ? Jun 28, 2020 16:01

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Kanfy posted:

I admit I haven't played a ton yet but a November patch seems to list those as bugs that were fixed?

I last played the game in April and it still seemed to work, but I do admit I do not usually read the patch notes for games I play, so maybe that's me misremembering.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 16:09

srulz: Jun 23, 2013; RIP Duelyst

Any tips for Griftlands and Monster Train please? Just picked up both from the summer sale.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 16:33

Kanfy: Jan 9, 2012; Just gotta keep walking down that road.

Cardiovorax posted:

I last played the game in April and it still seemed to work, but I do admit I do not usually read the patch notes for games I play, so maybe that's me misremembering.

Having just tested it bombs definitely don't do it anymore, so I assume the notes are right. Advice is always trickier with early access and other frequently-patched games since things can change so quickly.

E: For what it's worth I mentioned "certain wand effects" since the spores from Prickly Spore Pod at least did count as indirect and I assume there's other stuff as well.

Kanfy fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Jun 28, 2020

# ? Jun 28, 2020 16:34

Zaodai: May 23, 2009; Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.

srulz posted:

Any tips for Griftlands and Monster Train please? Just picked up both from the summer sale.

Monster Train doesn't really have any traps for new players. Basically everything is spelled out in tooltips and stuff, and there's no time limits to rush you or anything. The only other thing I can really think of is that if you ascend/descend friendly units onto a floor that lacks capacity to support it, it generates "overflow capacity". So if you've got 5 normal maximum capacity, and all 5 circles are full and you Ascend a size 3 friendly unit into that floor, you'll have your normal 5 capacity filled with yellow circles and then 3 reddish orange ones tacked onto the end that represent the unit being crammed in where there isn't room. There's no penalty for doing this, its just that if those units die the extra capacity disappears so it doesn't permanently expand the floor or anything.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 18:16

Quiet Python: Nov 8, 2011

srulz posted:

Any tips for Griftlands and Monster Train please? Just picked up both from the summer sale.

In Griftlands, you have two decks of cards. One is for negotiation, the other is for combat. It can be tempting to neglect one in favor of the other, but you level up cards(and get new ones) by using each deck so you want to use both approaches fairly evenly. Getting to the end of a run with a rarely-used combat deck will result in you having to start over.

Pick a focus for your deck. Are you all about Diplomacy or Intimidation? Do you stack Bleeds on your foes, or unload massive Combo strings on them? You can't plan for everything, but you want to do at least one thing really well and acquire cards that play to your strengths.

The characters in Griftlands all play very differently, often using different mechanics for similar actions. Sal fights differently from Rook, for example. So don't assume that you'll be using the same cards in every story.

The more you play, the more new cards you will unlock for each character. Try shaking up your deck with new options as they become available.

Put in the effort to make friends. Making enemies will take care of itself.

# ? Jun 28, 2020 19:47

Omi no Kami: Feb 19, 2014

Anything for Elex? I never played the Gothic games so I have no clue what to expect beyond weird combat and hilarious levels of eurojank.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 04:53

Dr. Quarex: Apr 18, 2003; I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

Oh I should have written something up for that when I had just played the hell out of it.

Combat is insanely hard until you get your first companion, which if you follow the main quest will not be long. Do not be like me and wander the world for literal weeks by yourself, hoping to occasionally eke out a win over a bird because you found a safe vantage point to shoot from.

Flamethrowers seem to be the only weapon that can unexpectedly turn you from zero to hero, so either try to find one at all costs or try to avoid them to keep the game more properly scaled in challenge.

Elex is the absolute best. You do need to know this before you play.

You can put off choosing sides in the faction war basically until the end of the game, no matter how much they try to make it sound like you have to pick early on. Though I am sure you miss out on something by staying neutral.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 08:38

Omi no Kami: Feb 19, 2014

Ooh rad, thanks! When it comes to progression, how on-rails should I stick after I get a companion? Like, can I skyrim it up and just wander around like a lost rear end in a top hat, or should I stick in one area and/or systematically focus on core story content?

# ? Jun 29, 2020 08:46

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

Omi no Kami posted:

Ooh rad, thanks! When it comes to progression, how on-rails should I stick after I get a companion? Like, can I skyrim it up and just wander around like a lost rear end in a top hat, or should I stick in one area and/or systematically focus on core story content?

You will need to explore to unlock more content - you will run out of quests to do in an area eventually, especially if you don't join the first faction you encounter. Just do whatever feels best at the moment.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 09:12

Bhodi: Dec 9, 2007; Oh, it's just a cat.; Pillbug

Surprised there's nothing for Astroneer. I picked it up on the steam sale, I gather there was a big automation update?

I played for a few hours, my biggest problem so far is figuring out when hitting a tether Y junction which path leads back to civilization, how to carry all these materials with a 8 slot backpack, and how to make circular ramps leading down. Any tips?

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:28

Danger - Octopus!: Apr 20, 2008; Nap Ghost

Got a question about Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

With the recruitment mechanic for people on my ship, is it like MGSV: Phantom Pain where I should just knock out and recruit everyone I can, or should you only recruit people with particularly special abilities? I couldn't really tell if I was meant to just recruit occasional people who could be lieutenants or if I was meant to recruit general crew as well?

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:33

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Bhodi posted:

I played for a few hours, my biggest problem so far is figuring out when hitting a tether Y junction which path leads back to civilization, how to carry all these materials with a 8 slot backpack, and how to make circular ramps leading down. Any tips?

I can't help you much with the Y junctions, except to recommend that you carve a little arrow into the ground with your multitool. Just something that marks the correct branch, somewhere downchain into the general direction of your base area.

When it comes to making ramps, though, I have one big recommendation that always worked very well for me: don't make them circular. Instead, make them oblong-rectangular the way real-world stairwells are constructed. Down a bit, make a flat, down 180 degrees into the other direction, make a flat, down another 180 into into yet another direction, make a flat, etc. From there, the trick is just figuring out how much flat space you need to properly turn your truck chains around, but that tends to work out well for me more often than it doesn't. That way, you can easily and sustainably get into the lowest areas of the map without experiencing any major problems, so far as I've found.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:34

Kazzah: Jul 15, 2011; Formerly known as
Krazyface; Hair Elf

Danger - Octopus! posted:

Got a question about Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

With the recruitment mechanic for people on my ship, is it like MGSV: Phantom Pain where I should just knock out and recruit everyone I can, or should you only recruit people with particularly special abilities? I couldn't really tell if I was meant to just recruit occasional people who could be lieutenants or if I was meant to recruit general crew as well?

Recruiting someone adds them to your lieutenant pool, which can be used to buff your ship's fight-stats. No interaction with the regular crew. You should only grab people you notice to have cool, high-level traits. Or ignore it, naval combat isn't super hard.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:39

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

Krazyface posted:

Recruiting someone adds them to your lieutenant pool, which can be used to buff your ship's fight-stats. No interaction with the regular crew. You should only grab people you notice to have cool, high-level traits. Or ignore it, naval combat isn't super hard.

You can also summon them into combat with a special ability. I don't remember whether you need to buy it or if you just get as a freebie, but it's there.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:41

exquisite tea: Apr 21, 2007; Carly shook her glass, willing the ice to melt. "You still haven't told me what the mission is."

She leaned forward. "We are going to assassinate the bad men of Hollywood."

You can use Ikaros to scout potential lieutenants before recruiting them. Legendary mercs are generally the best to have because they come with an additional trait. There are also some lieutenants you can redeem from the Ubisoft Club website that are actually really good and scale with your ship, like Evie and Bayek.

I found that for naval combat the traits that increase javelin/fire javelin damage and let you start each encounter with a free bar of Adrenaline are the best. And these stack so if you can find 4 mercs with the +1 firepower trait you start each round of combat with 4 free bars.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:45

Ainsley McTree: Feb 19, 2004

Danger - Octopus! posted:

Got a question about Assassin's Creed: Odyssey

With the recruitment mechanic for people on my ship, is it like MGSV: Phantom Pain where I should just knock out and recruit everyone I can, or should you only recruit people with particularly special abilities? I couldn't really tell if I was meant to just recruit occasional people who could be lieutenants or if I was meant to recruit general crew as well?

It's just lieutenants, don't treat it like MGS5 or you'll go nuts. If they don't have stats that you want, just kill 'em.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:56

Oh dear me: Aug 14, 2012; I have burned numerous saucepans, sometimes right through the metal

Danger - Octopus! posted:

should you only recruit people with particularly special abilities? I couldn't really tell if I was meant to just recruit occasional people who could be lieutenants or if I was meant to recruit general crew as well?

I like ramming so I prioritize lieutenants that help with that, but note that you will get good lieutenants just by doing quests so do not agonize about it. You can dismiss less useful lieutenants if you have too many.

You also get access to new crews by doing quests as well.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 15:59

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

You can recruit whoever you want, but there isn't really a point recruiting anyone except named mercs. Your regular crew is just assumed to be there, this isn't Sid Meyer's Pirates. Recruits have rarity ranks like anything else and names mercs tend to rank highest.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 16:01

Danger - Octopus!: Apr 20, 2008; Nap Ghost

Cardiovorax posted:

You can recruit whoever you want, but there isn't really a point recruiting anyone except named mercs. Your regular crew is just assumed to be there, this isn't Sid Meyer's Pirates. Recruits have rarity ranks like anything else and names mercs tend to rank highest.

Thanks to the various folk replying to my Q - that's been super helpful!

# ? Jun 29, 2020 16:20

Der Kyhe: Jun 25, 2008

Danger - Octopus! posted:

Thanks to the various folk replying to my Q - that's been super helpful!

This "you can recruit anyone" extends to the regional leaders and ranked mercenaries. They also tend to be legendaries and are available if the last used attack was non-lethal.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 18:34

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 06:26

Ainsley McTree: Feb 19, 2004

Der Kyhe posted:

This "you can recruit anyone" extends to the regional leaders and ranked mercenaries. They also tend to be legendaries and are available if the last used attack was non-lethal.

An easy way to do this, I've found, is to use nonlethal arrows for the final blow. They do a good chunk of damage so I find it a lot easier to finish the enemy off with a few of those than trying to find the right moment to switch to your fists (pitiful damage so the last sliver of health can take a surprising amount of time) or do a perfectly-timed spartan kick (if you gently caress it up and don't KO the enemy you have to wait for it to come off cooldown; plus it takes an ability slot which you may or may not want for something else).

The latter two options are perfectly valid mind you, I just found the bow easiest personally.

# ? Jun 29, 2020 19:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The "What should I know before I play this game for the first time?" Q&A!

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