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!

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Captain Novolin posted:

I read the wiki, but are there any other things I should know about Shadow of the Colossus? So far I've beaten two colossi, and I'm just running around hunting lizards.

Don't wuss out on the harder ones and check a FAQ. The satisfaction you get figuring 'em out are worth the effort.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2010 07:11

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 18:41

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Any advice for Fable 2? I've only played for like an hour or two. It seems like the game wants you to invest in all 3 of those ability trees equally(Strength, Skill, Will), but knowing how jack-of-all-trades characters can be in RPGs, I'm kinda worried that doing that will gently caress me over.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2010 16:50

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Okay, so I'm giving Final Fantasy Tactics another try and hoping it sticks with me this time. Any advice to keep it interesting or certain things to watch out for?

# ¿ May 14, 2010 23:45

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

21stCentury posted:

On-topic, any tips for Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance? That game is daunting to me, with its permadeath and lack of grinding.

I haven't played this game in awhile(but now you're making me want to), but I used to know alot, so I'll toss up whatever tips come to mind.

-Don't over depend on already promoted units(like Titania, the Paladin you get really early on). Promoted units only get half exp and early on you really shouldn't be wasting potential exp when you could be getting it for your lower leveled guys who you want to use.
-Never ever promote via a promotion item. Sell those fuckers off always. Unlike past Fire Emblems, a unit auto-promotes once they level up at Level 20, so there is literally no reason to use the promotion items.
-Pay attention to who can support with who once you unlock supports. Don't just choose the first ones that pop up unless you know you're gonna wanna use both units. Having two character support each other give them bonuses when they're within 3 squares of each other, but you're limited to only 5 supports per character(C support costs 1, B support costs 2, A support costs 3, but the bonuses also go up with each rank and you also get to learn more about the characters).
-Ike only promotes after Chapter 17, so make sure he's already hit level 20 by the end of it.
-When you hit the first desert chapter, go look up a map on GameFAQs for where hidden items are on it. One of the out of the way areas on that map has a new character who comes with an S-rank sword.
-When you're given the choice to hire Volke, do it. He's the only Thief who can promote and he's a plain good unit. There's no real downside to hiring him, as money is really plentiful.
-Speaking of money, make custom weapons. I'm pretty sure you can only make one per intermission, but they can make up for whatever a unit is lacking and you really don't have too much else to splurge your money on.
-There isn't any possible grinding, yeah, but you can make up for it with Bonus EXP. Don't just spend it all right when you get it; save some of it for when you want a new unit to catch up to your old crew or you wanna bring someone into rotation again and they've fallen behind.
-Don't play the sequel.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2010 01:36

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Handgrip posted:

Anything I should know before I start Mass Effect? Just picked it up on Steam.Are there any character builds that make the game unplayable or far too easy?

The game is probably easiest as a Soldier or Adept, but honestly unless you're playing on Insanity, you should be able to go through the game with whatever class you want without too much trouble. Just go with whatever sounds the most fun to you.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2010 13:40

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Capsaicin posted:

I thought Condemned was that prison themed survival horror game? Where all the enemies are like, convicts who have been killed?

Nah, Condemned was the hobo killing game. I know which game you're thinking of, but I forget the name. All I can remember is that it had a sequel.

# ¿ Jul 26, 2010 23:14

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Any good advice about Chrono Cross?

(yes, I know that it apparently shits on the plot of Chrono Trigger or something like that, but I'm not super attached to that game's story, so it probably won't bother me)

# ¿ Sep 2, 2010 12:51

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Actually it's that LP that got me interested in trying it for myself.

Is that choice that locks out some characters you mention the one with the rock star, the mage, and the french guy or something later on?

# ¿ Sep 2, 2010 13:53

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Father Wendigo posted:

I got Final Fantasy XIII in a 360 bundle pack a while back, and I'm considering breaking it out soon. Any suggestions?

Buffs/Debuffs are actually pretty useful, so get some good use out of Synergists/Saboteurs.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2010 01:52

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Nate RFB posted:

Going to start No More Heroes 1 for the first time.

Anything to know?

The overworld is pretty empty, but make sure to open any dumpsters you find. They'll either have money or unique clothes.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2010 04:44

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Orvin posted:

Any tips for Dragon Quest 9. I tried searching this thread, but nothing much came up.

Don't make your main character your primary damage dealer, since your main guy is the only one to learn a skill that boosts the tension of other party members.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2011 16:26

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

President Ark posted:

As for general gameplay tips: If you're on the default speed AIs will trade about 240 gold (or 8 gold per turn) for luxury resources (generally slightly less unless they really like you);

Note that since BNW the AI will only trade with lump-sum cash if you've established a Declaration of Friendship with them.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2014 14:25

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Robzor McFabulous posted:

Speaking of which, if you find yourself wondering what the hell they're talking about during girlfriend missions, don't worry. You haven't done them out of order by accident or anything, they cut a lot of the girlfriend stuff out of the game in the end, so the cutscenes will reference stuff that never happened and never will.

Did they also cut out the last third of the game or something? I beat it last week and the ending felt super abrupt. Good game and all but it really felt like they ran into major problems during production.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2014 21:37

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Mick Swagger posted:

I've just started up Dragon Quest IX and have just gotten to the bar where you can choose your party, but I have almost zero experience with the combat, class, or skill system for this series. I don't want to build myself into a corner in the postgame, so I'm looking for gameplay tips as well as suggestions for party builds, especially anything with the potential to break the game open.

It's kinda hard to mess up with DQ9 from what I remember, you can switch classes pretty freely. The only thing that's sorta good to know is that you don't want your main character to be your primary damage dealer; they're the only one that can raise the tension of another party member, meaning other party members can hit max tension in two turns with that assistance instead of four.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2015 10:57

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Renoistic posted:

FFXV opened up pretty drat fast which I appreciated.

speaking of which, anyone got any tips for ffxv? there's a couple things up on the wiki but i feel like those were put up before they continued to add poo poo to the game for 2 years or however long it's been so i dunno if anything's outdated/what new important info might have come up since then

# ¿ Jan 22, 2018 03:53

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

i haven't done a capture quest yet but if it's like in past games low-rank capture quests will be kind enough to give you a couple traps and tranqs in the supply box at your camps

# ¿ Jan 27, 2018 04:06

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

anything for watch dogs 2 or tales of berseria? the wiki pages on both are pretty thin

# ¿ Feb 11, 2018 03:35

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Panic! at Nabisco posted:

If you find the game is too button-mashy and easy, swap off Velvet. She's comically overpowered and the other party members are all a bit more balanced. Generally a good idea anyway because they all have unique and fun playstyles, even the casters. You also might want to consider putting the difficulty up to Moderate or Hard, since Normal is very easy.

oh yeah i started with moderate since it's not my first tales game and i like to be at least sorta challenged and i've been thinking abotu bumping it up to hard now that i've got a full party

i heard somewhere that some of the other characters(like rokurou or aizen) take awhile to get the important skills for how they play, is there any truth to that? i've only really messed with velvet so far but i tend to bounce around between different characters in tales games

# ¿ Feb 17, 2018 22:25

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

PMush Perfect posted:

I've heard that Stellaris has changed pretty significantly since the wiki entry was made. Any fresh tips?

looking at that wiki page, anything referring to starbases, frontier outposts, or border range need to be cleaned up 'cause those have all been changed dramatically with the 2.0 update yesterday

# ¿ Feb 23, 2018 17:16

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

PMush Perfect posted:

Man, I deliberately cut those kinds of tips out of the wiki for the Persona games. Information overload is A Thing.

yeah i don't think 'here's a lategame way to grind a bunch of exp and break the difficulty curve of an already not difficult game' is very Before You Play

# ¿ Mar 2, 2018 21:30

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

so about a week ago someone asked about Stellaris and the big ol 2.0 Apocalypse update, now that it's been out for a bit for thoughts to percolate here's what i could come up with. i'd suggest whoever's in charge of the wiki delete what was there since i kept the ones that still apply to the game right now

quote:

- The following assumes you have all Stellaris DLC because a) it's all cool and good and worth it and b) it's a mild pain in the rear end to remember what is / isn't DLC mechanics in these kinds of games(only exception being the Nova / Galaxy Edition upgrades, as those are literally just a single portrait and some eBook nonsense).

- As of 2.0 the way to expand your territory is to send a construction ship to an unclaimed system and build an outpost there. Then once it's claimed you can set up your mining / research stations and colonize any planets that are currently colonizable.

- You don't HAVE to claim your territory contiguously, but you get increasingly higher influence costs the further the system is from any of your claimed systems, so the bulk of the time it'll make the most sense to always grab a system adjacent to your empire's borders

- Even basic Outposts can have some Defense Stations built around it without upgrading it to a Starbase. Handy if some small-scale nuisances like pirates keep up gunning for the same system.

- Speaking of pirates, they pop up in unclaimed systems adjacent to your claimed systems. They also increase in chance if they have multiple claimed systems around one unclaimed system. So this is an incentive to eventually fill in any unclaimed bubbles left over in your territory that you might've skipped past initially because the system itself wasn't super valuable.

- Don't sleep on Starbases and their upgraded forms though. They are great for defensive wars, especially when you get upgrades like FTL Inhibitors that forces the enemy fleet to take care of it before being allowed to move past that system and into your more vulnerable territory.

- Like a lot of 4X games grabbing more territory will increase the costs of obtaining new technologies / traditions, with a colonized planet increasing the costs a lot more than a system. You can see the exact percentage by hovering the tooltip over the current cost of a technology / your next tradition unlock. This isn't super crippling or anything but it's something to keep in mind when it comes to what buildings to construct and whether or not that 2 energy and nothing else system is worth claiming.

- The priority of what systems to grab: systems with colonizable planets(either immediately colonizable or colonizable soon-ish), systems with high resources, systems that make good chokepoints because of how the hyperlanes are situationed (either for waging war or cutting off nearby neighbors for expanding in a certain direction you'd like to expand), filling in space to not have to deal with so many drat pirate attacks

- The general agenda of other empires can be deduced by their trait description. One who's a "Spiritualist Seekers" will like other spiritual empires, and a "Fanatical Purifier" is probably going to try and kill you at some point. Gifts and deliberately favorable trade deals are usually the only way at first to improve relations, until you can get a treaty which starts building trust.

-When you start making Sectors, look at their planets and see if they lend themselves to a specialization rather than just generic resources. They may have really good energy planets for instance.

- Lasers beat armor, kinetic weapons beat shields, missiles beat a little of both and are more accurate, but can be shot down by point defense. Normal guns and lasers are not point defense.

- Energy production is important, even if you have a good surplus throughout the game, a sizable late game fleet can put you in a pretty big deficit if you don't have a large production. Keep in mind that a fleet costs a lot more upkeep when it is not docked.

- Energy Credits are primarily used as maintenance costs for ships / buildings / stations and for buying new leaders. Outside of that though, some not immediately obvious uses for bulk Energy Credits: getting bonuses from the various Enclaves(they're sorta like Civ V/Vi City-States; Curators will give boosts to science or buying new scientists, Artists will gives boosts to Unity, Traders can trade your energy for minerals), paying off Raiders to attack enemy Empires, Campaigns in the Policies and Edicts tab

- Research is stored when your scientists are busy with special projects so don't be concerned about falling behind on tech due to projects.

- Look through the Ascension Perks tied to your traditions at the start of the game, and try to pick a few to go for. Some are locked behind tech, so its helpful to decide, which type of endgame you want to pursue, so you can pick the techs as they come up.

e: i realize this is a lot of info but 4x games are honestly real dense with mechanics and player options so i feel it's sorta justified

# ¿ Mar 2, 2018 22:26

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Danger - Octopus! posted:

I really enjoyed Hearts of Iron 2. Is Hearts of Iron IV cool and good with worthwhile DLC or is it a weird opaque buggy mess to be avoided? Also, is there a good beginners guide anywhere?

i haven't played hoi4 personally but in general paradox games have gotten a lot better about having good ui and avoiding majorly game breaking bugs, so if those are the things holding you back from trying it things'll be fine

# ¿ Mar 21, 2018 01:59

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

any advice for endless space 2? i'm familiar with 4x stuff and i played a couple of hours of both ES1 and EL when they both came out

# ¿ Apr 26, 2018 23:44

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

KirbyKhan posted:

This game is so god damned esoteric I love it.

- You will want to invest in military ships tech at around turn 20-40, always just slightly sooner than you think necessary. You have to research the weapons on the top tree and the frames on the left tree.

yeah i just ran into this in my first game, spent too much focus just on upgrading my empire and then those slaver guys started to roll me after i ran into them

# ¿ Apr 28, 2018 08:21

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

something worth bringing up for spider-man is that some base challenges don't get unlocked until the latter half of the game; for awhile i was worried that i was gonna have to double back and re-do any base i hadn't gotten all the base tokens out of yet if i was gonna squeeze out enough to keep unlocking suits and whatnot but then act 3 rolled around and now i have a buttload of new bases to do

e: also if you do enough side-content early on you can get in a situation where you need challenge tokens to unlock new stuff but you haven't unlocked challenges yet; just beeline the story and it'll eventually point you towards them

Brother Entropy fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Sep 23, 2018

# ¿ Sep 23, 2018 02:34

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 18:41

Brother Entropy: Dec 27, 2009

Zaodai posted:

The short breaks it has given me so far have all been extremely short, like "don't even make it to a side event before it tells me to go do the story again" type short.

from what i can tell it wants you to do exactly 1 thing, be it a side quest or an enemy base or even just stopping a rando crime on the streets and then it'll drop you the next thing to do in the main quest

# ¿ Sep 23, 2018 18:58

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