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!

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Morpheus posted:

I'm about to start playing Ultima 4 (I'm on a retro kick at the moment), and could use any tips anyone can give.

Pay attention to the virtue system as you will need to grind virtue in order to win. Make regular visits to the seer in Castle Britannia and ask about the different virtues.
The most useful early weapon is the sling. Everyone can use it and it requires no ammo. Make sure you understand the runic language as you'll need it to find certain items.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2009 12:33

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 01:02

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Rirse posted:

I just bought Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich off of Steam, but what are some general tips on how to play the game. Also bought Empire Total War as well.

Pause the game and take a minute to search the map for canisters. These can provide health, power and xp bonuses.
Try to have a flyer on your team when possible.
Seconding the knockback recommendation. It's almost cheating on the final missions in the first game.

# ¿ May 30, 2009 22:23

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Little Blue Couch posted:

If I'm gonna start playing Thief and Thief 2, is there anything I ought to know? I specifically want to know if I should play it on the hardest difficulty or not. You get extra mission objectives which seem like they'd add to the flavor of the game, and everyone raves about the atmosphere and writing being top-notch so I'd hate to miss stuff.

Play at the highest levels. It adds more content and the game is more fun that way. At the highest difficulty you won't be allowed to kill any humans. That's okay though because if you have to kill anyone you are playing the game wrong. When you are playing the Haunted Cathedral and Down in the Bone-hoard always keep a couple of fire arrows spare until you see a specific use for them: Lighting a couple of torches in order to open a door. Your equipment and cash doesn't carry over between missions so don't be afraid to use the tools you are given.

# ¿ Jul 9, 2009 14:14

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Deus Ex. I've finally decided to do a stealth/no kills/no offensive actions run on realistic. I'm just about to start Lebedev's airfield but are there any tips on how to handle some later encounters such as Walton Simons, Anna Navarra and Gunther without getting blood on my hands. I'm guessing running like a coward will work for the most part.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2010 16:26

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Sunday Punch posted:

What do I need to know about Alpha Protocol before I dive in?

You can freely travel back and forth though the hub cities. This can make one of the boss fights easier for you as you can use an intel buy from a character in one hub to help out in another. Specifically Heck in Taiwan can help with the Brako fight in Moscow

In combat always try for critical hits. You charge up criticals by aiming at your target for a few moments.

If you are struggling with the hacking, lockpicking or bypass put a point into sabotage and use EMP's to skip the minigame.

Also don't worry too much about making the right/wrong decisions in dialogue. Just do what you feel is best.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2010 14:50

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

MeatBomb posted:

Can someone work some Google mojo and make a string to search this tread?

Try this.

code:

site:forums.somethingawful.com intitle:"what should i know" "game name"

# ¿ Dec 30, 2010 13:14

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Ainsley McTree posted:

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. As for companions - I found the brotherhood of steel power fist woman (Veronica? Victoria?) but she just completely disappeared somewhere in New Vegas or Freeside. Like, she stopped following me, and I can see her icon on my map, somewhere in Freeside, but no matter where I look, I can't find her. She's just....gone. But she still counts as being a companion for "other companions not wanting to join my crowded team" purposes. And I can't fire her because I can't find her. It kinda sucks because that power fist was handy!

There's an elevator in the game possibly in the overgrown Vault 22 west of Vegas that resets your party members to your current location.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2011 16:46

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Quoting myself from the gog.com thread about Ultima Underworld 1

quote:

A couple of tips for Underworld 1.

* Although you may be tempted to control the game exclusively with your mouse. I find that using keyboard only controls the game better especially in combat. Use your left hand to control movement around wasd and attacking using p, ; and /.
* Keep a eye out for Mantras written on walls and scrolls. They are used at shrines to improve your stats. Each level has at least one shrine.
* You can write notes on your map. Take note of anything and anyone that you come across as you may need to return later.
* As mentioned earlier for fighter classes you need to maximise strength as there is no in game way of improving it.
* I'd recommend using swords as your primary weapon. One of the best swords in the game is required to complete the game.
* Don't hurry down the stairs too quickly. Spend the time exploring levels and improving your abilities.
* On the first level of the abyss go straight ahead and take the first door to the right. Immediately to your right there is a door which is unlocked by a key which is found in a nearby backback you'll come across on the route towards Bragit the outcast. Behind that is the silver seed. Take it and plant it anywhere there is dirt. Any time you die you will be resurrected at the tree.
* Take note of any visions you receive. Especially ones from crystal balls. You'll know why when it happens.
* There are a couple of fountains on the first two levels that can heal you up. Find them and take note on your map.
* Carry a long pole with you at all times as it can be used to activate switches that are out of your reach. If you have a spare pole combine it with thread to make a fishing rod.
* Try and find the ring of levitation and the dragon scale boots.
* Late on in the game you will be asked to find a corpse. The corpse in question is tucked away on level 8. It will be the set of bones that don't stack.
* There are a few items you will need that may not seem obvious a first. Such as A crown, a bottle of port, a flute, thread, a recipe and it's ingredients, incense(you'll need to light up). Anything with a special sounding name(obviously).
* End game spoiler. Just run and don't turn back. A path back to Britannia is before you.
* Deco Morono.

Hank Morgan fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Jun 5, 2011

# ¿ Jun 5, 2011 20:28

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy. All I have is questions? :psyduck:

# ¿ Jul 14, 2012 13:21

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Funcrusher posted:

Any useful info for Thief: Deadly Shadows? I played the first Thief back in the day, but can't say I remember much.

Terminally Bored posted:

Play the game at hardest difficulty. Even at that it's way easier than the previous two.

Just make sure you have a patched version of the game. There is a bug in the original release of Deadly Shadows that resets the difficulty to each after each reload or level transaction. The Steam version should be okay.

Getting back to Far Cry 2. I have a few questions based on Act 2 spoilers

I just got past the mission where the factions attack Mike's bar and wipe us out. I know I'm supposed to get taken out at this point but what about my buddies. I'd being rolling with Joseph who was a real cool bro and he's now listed as missing. :ohdear:

Is there anyway to make sure they survive or do they have to die at that point?

Also about how much game time is left once I reach Act II if I just continue doing main story missions and is there any other points of no return?

# ¿ Jul 25, 2012 12:33

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Hank Morgan posted:

Getting back to Far Cry 2. I have a few questions based on Act 2 spoilers

I just got past the mission where the factions attack Mike's bar and wipe us out. I know I'm supposed to get taken out at this point but what about my buddies. I'd being rolling with Joseph who was a real cool bro and he's now listed as missing. Is there anyway to make sure they survive or do they have to die at that point?

scamtank posted:

You'll meet up later on.

Well I beat it and all I can say is at least you didn't lie to me.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2012 13:44

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Cross posting from the gog thread. Ultima V
Personally although I love the game and story but I have a dislike of grinding up my stats so I just use a save editor to boost my characters once I've felt that I've put in enough time. But if you aren't lame like me then the best place to head to in the early game is Minoc which is located in the north eastern region of the map. Find out the word of power from the council member hidden there for the nearby dungeon (Covetus) and you can work over the first couple of levels to get started off. This is also a good base to start from as you get free healing and food in the city. There are also a set of regularly re-spawning skeleton keys hidden in a hollowed out tree so stock up on them as they will be useful.
After a bit of that head back to Britain and raid the basement of the castle for a full set of magic axes. These will randomly re-spawn whenever you enter that floor but you will loss Karma for taking them so do this as early as you can. These are some of the best weapons in the game and have the advantage of being ranged. While in the castle try and find the magic carpet and check the nearby villages for the HMS cape plans which boosts the armour of your ships (just use them when you board a ship). Magic wise you should mix up a few batches of cure poison and healing spells for emergencies. A decent party composition should be the avatar and two fighters, a couple of bards and a mage for healing and support. Ranged combat is king in this game as most enemies need four or five moves to close in on you.
Once you have done all that you should be prepared to start following the plot. Asking around Britain and the villages should point you in the direction of the resistance in Yew and that should get you started on what you need to do to beat the game. The jist of it is that you need to find the crown jewels, find out the Shadowlords names and the locations of the shards. To do this just go everywhere and talk to everyone.
You should aim to do the shrine quests early on in the game as they provide stat boosts to your strength, dexterity and intelligence. These are fairly standard find the mantra in each city, go to the shrine, get the quest and go to the codex shrine on the south-eastern island. Once you've done all eight you will get the word of power for the final dungeon.

To actually beat the game you'll need in detail:

Complete the eight shrine quests and take note of the message you receive after the last one.
The Sandalwood box. Play Stones on the harpsichord in the British's room.
Lord British's crown located in Blackthorn's castle. This artefact negates magic which is super useful against demons and dragons.
His spectre located in Stonegate which is used to dispel magic fields which will block the way in dungeons. Stonegate is located in the mountains somewhere north of Cove. You will need the grapple from the pirate in Bucc's Den to get there. The carpet is super useful inside Stonegate.
His amulet which can be found in the Underworld. This provides light at the entrance to Shame. It's a bit complicated explaining how to find it but if you follow the journal in the manual you should get to it.
Mystic armour and arms. Someone should tell you how to find these in the Underworld but they are hidden in a pool of lava. They may not be strictly required but the armour is handy to have.
The three shards. These are found in the underworld. Various characters in the three strongholds should tell you how to get to these and how to find out the names of the Shadowlords. Once you have the names and the shards you Yell out the names at the matching flames and use the shards to destroy the Shadowlords
Once you've done all that head to the underworld through the dungeon shame. The codex will tell you the word of power and I think how to get there. It is somewhere west of Trinsic.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2012 21:03

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Any advice for the King Arthur collection?

# ¿ Jan 4, 2013 23:02

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Any tips for King's Bounty:Armour Princess (playing it as part of the Crossworlds pack). I'm never very good at turn based SRPGs so it's really combat advice I'm looking for. Basically what rocks are good against which paper until I can get on my feet.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2013 16:31

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Hanks Lust Cafe posted:

Sim City 4? The burden of building my very first city weighs heavily on me.

The big concept with SC4 is the idea of demand caps. The gist is every now and then growth will hit a cap (despite having demand) and until you construct a cap buster (parks, schools and other facilities) you won't grow any more. If you just concentrate on building a nice attractive city and only build facilities like police and hospital when you absolutely need them you should have no problems.

We also have a SC4 thread with plenty of good tips, better explanations of caps and links to plugins etc. The only essential mod to get is the Network Addon Mod.

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2783218

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 13:26

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

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

# ¿ Sep 26, 2013 18:26

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Cirosan posted:

Playing Ultima 7 (GOG version) for the first time using the Exult port. The wiki page hasn't been updated since like 2011, so is there anything crucial I should know?

I love U7 but it is piss easy from a mechanics point of view. Treat it more like a graphic adventure with RPG elements. Most of the stuff is okay on the wiki although it mixes tips for Black Gate, Serpent Isle and even Ultima 6.

In fact I'm just going to reorder the tips and add one or two to make a bit more sense if anyone with wiki access wants to update the page:

quote:

Black Gate and Serpent Isle
Play the game with Exult. Either version 1.2 or one of the recent snapshot releases that doesn't have the disappearing object bug.

With these games, the secret is to try to talk to everyone and see what you can find out. Usually someone has a hint about what you're meant to do next. A lot of plots won't advance until you do so.

On BG and SI, get lets of bags inside your backpack and use them to manage it a bit better or re-organise your non-plot equipement to different characters.

Also, having to constantly buy food for your companions is a bitch. The cheapest deal is dried meat from Britannia.

Oh, and one more important thing (especially in SI) - if you click on anything, it tells you its name. Most walls are called "wall". Secret, openable (either by double-clicking or by using a hidden switch) walls are called "Wall". This is vital to completing the game in many situati

Lastly, if you are deciding to have an inventory clean out and there is even the remotest chance that an item you have may be useful later on, have a designated area with chests or barrels that you store everything you drop. Don't drop them on the ground!! Put them in containers so you know exactly where they are and so the game's memory manager doesn't decide to delete them.

Also learn your shortcut keys. "Ctrl + F" is food, and in Exult "Ctrl + K" will always choose the right key for a lock.

Learn how to spot invisible chests, non solid walls and other things like switches and keys hidden behind other objects. If you can see a room that you can't get into then there is probably one of those there. You will need to walk through walls to beat both games.

Ultima VII The Black Gate:

Play this before Serpent Isle as the plot of Serpent picks right up from the situation at the end of Black Gate.

Look for a spellbook behind the secret doors in the castle. Learn mark, recall, unlock, heal, cure poison and seance at a minimum.

You can use mark and recall with the virtue stones found in the museum.

Having a sextant in your inventory will show your position on the map.

Unlike Ultima 6 the world is round instead of flat.

Use a barrel instead of backpack when you're strong enough. You'll know when you're strong enough.

This is cheating, but in the opening town, grab all the crates you can and make yourself a ladder onto the roof of (I think) the blacksmith's shop. You'll be put into a room with all the best items and every quest item in the game.

Go south once you can leave the first town and search around a little, you'll find a nice magic item hidden in a tree or something. Look for like a single pixel of magical sparkle.

East of Britain near the field with the spaceship (A reference to the Wing Commander series) you can bust into a shack and acquire a hoe with a red head. This is a sweet weapon.

There's a magic carpet you can get very early on, but it kind of breaks the game (You can literally skip 8/10 of it by flying into a certain compound you have to work half the game to gain access to. Be carefull not to fly over the Isle of Avatar on it. Thats the island to the south east of the map.

Moving things around in someone else's container is considered stealing. Steal too much and some party members will leave for good and you can't get them back.

When you get to Britain, notice all the gold reserves guarded and locked up? Wait for the bank manager to leave at night. Follow her home, and kill her in her bed. Loot the keys from her body, then go loot the bank. Now drop her body in front of Lord British and ask for a rez. She'll go back to work like nothing happened, and exchange all those gold bars and nuggets for you!

On the pirate island there's a way to make infinite gold through gambling. It's something like 1 in 6 rats will win a race, and you put money on the number you like, but you get back more money from winning than it costs to cover all the numbers.

You can get the most powerful weapon in the game and a massive stats boost by doing the Forge of Virtue. 2 of the 3 tests do not require much combat so it's useful for an early boost

From there just see where the game takes you. Don't go around killing random people because it could be easy to break the plot. Don't throw away items that seem "important" (Rudyom's Wand, the Prisms).

If you kill anyone or one of your party dies take their corpse to Lord British for free resurrection services.

Different trainers give different stats, so use game hints or a guide to figure out which ones you'd prefer your companions to be strong in.

If you walk into a portal and all your companions disappear, load the game and politely ask them to leave, so they can rejoin when you're done with that portal.

Don't let your companions carry important items, because sometimes they'll randomly drop all their poo poo and lose it forever.

Bake lots of bread. Pick up the Hoe of Destruction (go fishing for the key or use a cannon on the door).

Cast Armageddon (but don't save) once you know the main villains identity and go visit him, Lord British and the Ferryman for some fun dialogue.

Use the Black Sword on Lord British and search his body (but don't save). A plaque over a door has the same effect.

Don't forget to pick up the Prisms.

You'll get a free boat from Lord British.

Serpent Isle This is the second part of the Ultima VII story.

Finish up everything that you can before confronting the guy that you've been chasing for half the game. This means do all your quests, training, purchases, etc

Don't wear gwani cloaks (I don't think doing so will break the plot, but just to be safe). Make sure you have a full set of furs when going north.

When you're collecting special waters, it'll save you time if you get two buckets of each type. Not all of the water sources are found in the temples.

If you're not averse to cheating then in the cheat console (press F2, enabled from exults menu) and edit your avatar's status (npc #0) so that they have the (R)ead attribute. This allows them to read in english any runic and serpentine language. If you use a device or spell that has that effect you will lose that setting though.

Do not double-click any pillars within the Silver Seed expansion (this bug might be fixed in Exult, anyway)

Go to Silver Seed as early as possible and at least talk to everyone in the command post until you get the key ring. You'll have to die at least once in order to even get the ability to enter Silver Seed before arriving on Monk Isle, so let some wolves kill you or something

As soon as you get a spell book go back the the Silver Seed and track down the ring of Reagents. You will be depending on a lot on magic in the late game.

When someone gives you a magic scroll cast transcribe on it as soon as possible to get it in your spellbook.

When bribing the prison guards drop all but one of your gold bars.

Hank Morgan fucked around with this message at 21:11 on May 13, 2014

# ¿ May 12, 2014 00:27

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Centipeed posted:

I don't see any tips in there for Ultima 6? I haven't played the games, but I'd like to fix the wiki page, so if you could make it super clear which tips belong where, that'd be great.

And does it make sense to have Serpent Isle and Back Gate on their own pages, or are they expansion packs for Ultima 7?

There was a single tip for U6 mixed in that I had excluded from my post. I've edited my original post to make the division between the U7 series of games clearer.

I'd keep both games on the same page. They are practically identical from a mechanics point of view and the Gog.com version just includes them as a single package anyway.

# ¿ May 13, 2014 21:12

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Draile posted:

Ultima VII - I've either lost or never received Batlin's package, so I can't deliver it to Minoc. Am I screwed? Do I need to start over? I'm finally getting into this game after many false starts and I don't know if I could start over yet again.

I want to say the only reason to join the fellowship is in order to get in to particular location late in the game. But you can bypass that by just flying your carpet over the wall of that place. Although I think you can just go to the character in Minoc and admit you lost the package and all that will happen is that you get bitched at by her and Batlin.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2014 21:48

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Dravinski posted:

Friend bought me Prison Architect for Christmas. Any suggestions on how to start my first prison?

Go to the reports screen and accept the basic starter grants. There are a few of them there that will give you a check-list of things you need for a basic prison.

The PA thread has some guide advice too.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2014 19:12

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

superstepa posted:

Does the easy mode for Ultima Underworld affect anything other than the enemy damage? Am I a big baby for wanting to play through it on easy mode?

If anyone has general tips that are not on the wiki I would really appreciate them too. I'm a huge fan of UU inspired rpgs (like the first Deus Ex) but I've never played a first person rpg from that era.

Just combat difficulty.

I'd recommend playing as a paladin for your first time through. Combat is the easier path to take with your character but being able to cast a basic heal spell or magic arrow is always useful. Magic can be a bit frustrating to use as mana regen is so slow and a later section of the game has an effect on magic use.

If you focus your early skill points on attack, defence, acrobat and your primary weapon skill you should become all powerful in no time. Google the mantras for each skill. Explore the maps completely before descending levels. If you run into enemies you can't kill at your current level just take note of them and come back in a level or two. Being able to kill these creatures is a good way to gauge your general character skill progress.

Keep an eye out for magic rings, especially the levitation ring. Finding them will make the late game (Level 7 onwards) a lot easier

Experiment. Try objects on other objects. Examine walls and objects. Drink potions and read scrolls to see what happens.

If you want to go the magic route here are a few tips from some recent play
�Use dosbox's key mapper to map a convenient key for spell casting.
�You can only cast spells of your current level divided by two.
�Due to engine limitations you can only cast projectile spells when there is a gap between you and your target.
�Pump your skill points into mana and casting. Casting should be the focus here as mana regen can be overcome by sleeping but the ability to reliably cast the spells is more valuable. A magic ring will help with mana. Don't neglect attack and defence as you will occasionally need to be able to fight.
�The level 2 spell rune of warding is fairly over powered. The manual says it just informs you of enemies that walk over it but in actuality it's an easily spammed invisible landmine.
�If you can isolate an enemy and attack them with a rapid stream of magic missiles before they can close the distance on you can give you an edge in combat.
�At higher levels spells like flame wind and sheet lighting are fairly murderous but expensive to cast. Just watch out for splash-back on yourself.

Hank Morgan fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Dec 10, 2016

# ¿ Dec 10, 2016 14:01

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Pierzak posted:

Yes.

Other tips:
shift+J for standing long jump, 1-3 for looking up/down.
You can use grid-based movement by holding shift while moving, it's kinda cheaty because it trivializes swimming.
You can bash most doors, if you do that do it with your fists to avoid weapon damage (you won't be harmed). That said, most doors have keys if you look around.
Pay attention to the gargoyle, its eyes are an enemy HP indicator.

If a door says it is massive then it cannot be bashed down. All other door types can be bashed in.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2016 14:03

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Mass Effect Andromeda. My instincts are telling me not to waste my time on tasks. Am I right without spoilers?

# ¿ Mar 25, 2017 18:01

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Anything for Shogun 2 total war? Especially advice for the early campaign stages. I've being playing as the Shimatzu since that was the clan I used in the first game. I keep find myself running into a brick wall after I conquer my first 2-3 provinces where I suddenly see my rivals out produce and out tech me and end up putting my clan into a death spiral.

# ¿ May 31, 2019 23:36

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

KirbyKhan posted:

I have begun playing Void Bastards

It seems that staplers to the face are ideal for Spooks. I have no idea how many damage upgrades I will need for screws.

The trick with the Spooks is to shoot when their glowing chest is revealed. Even a pistol will do heavy damage to them.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2019 21:27

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 01:02

Hank Morgan: Jun 17, 2007; Light Along the Inverse Curve.

Anything for Caesar 3? I'm playing using the Augustus port.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2021 16:28

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