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

Brackhar · # ? Dec 1, 2008 20:01

Old Swerdlow posted:

Is there anything that I should know before I dive into FF X?

When doing the temples, take the time to find/use the destruction sphere and get the appropriate treasure. If you do this in all of the temples, you can get an additional summon in a temple that's hidden on the world map. Besides, it's a pain to go back into the temples later, so just grit your teeth and do it the first time.

Adbot · # ? May 9, 2024 18:47

muscles like this! · # ? Dec 1, 2008 20:13

Ornamented Death posted:

No one's mentioned this yet so I will. It is possible to skip large parts of the main quest if you're too enthusiastic in your exploring. Don't worry, you can still finish the game normally, you're just jumping the gun a bit.

As it happens, this is also a useful bit of info for subsequent playthroughs, since it can slightly slow down how fast you're gaining XP.

To avoid this I would suggest doing the story quest until you reach the Brotherhood of Steel Citadel. That's far enough into it that you won't have to worry about accidentally tripping over a quest location, going into it and finding stuff out of order.

Scalding Coffee · # ? Dec 1, 2008 21:32

I am installing Overlord and Raising Hell right now. Does the expansion stuff become available in the end game?

The manual says the game is "protected" by Starforce. Should I be paranoid and find some way to remove it, or is it something minor that won't mess up the computer?

Edit: I was finally able to start it and the title now says Raising Hell on it with the added Legendary difficulty.

Scalding Coffee fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Dec 1, 2008

Rirse · # ? Dec 1, 2008 22:16

Scalding Coffee posted:

I am installing Overlord and Raising Hell right now. Does the expansion stuff become available in the end game?

The manual says the game is "protected" by Starforce. Should I be paranoid and find some way to remove it, or is it something minor that won't mess up the computer?

Expansion stuff become available upon completing the map that is related to it. For example the Mellow Hill Abyss (first new dungeon from the expansion) probably will become available upon killing Melvin. I am entirely sure on that because I bought it around the time I was 2/3 into the game, but I was able to enter the new first dungeon upon installing it.

Palleon · # ? Dec 1, 2008 22:24

muscles like this? posted:

To avoid this I would suggest doing the story quest until you reach the Brotherhood of Steel Citadel. That's far enough into it that you won't have to worry about accidentally tripping over a quest location, going into it and finding stuff out of order.

There are also some significant rewards you can get by playing this far into the main quest that I think make it worth it before you go about doing too much side stuff.

muscles like this! · # ? Dec 1, 2008 23:01

Palleon posted:

There are also some significant rewards you can get by playing this far into the main quest that I think make it worth it before you go about doing too much side stuff.

Right, by doing that energy weapons will become more available and you'll be able to use powered armor.

For Assassin's Creed, the intelligence that you collect isn't just a prerequisite to doing the assassination. If you go into the options menu you can actually read the letters or look at the maps you collect. Which can be used to assist you in assassinations.

muscles like this! fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Dec 2, 2008

DoctaFun · # ? Dec 2, 2008 00:57

almostfearless posted:

Any pointers on Heroes of Might and Magic 3? I remember the game getting a LOT of acclaim back in the day, but I never got around to picking it up until recently. I have basically zero experience in strategy games outside of the Civilization series so the game is just kind of sitting around at the moment. Any starting advice would be greatly appreciated!

I used to play this game quite a bit, here's my advice, although it's limited to the regular games/random maps, NOT the campaigns...

-Get your capital as soon as possible. Getting that 4000 gold a day is much more important than being able to buy 2nd or 3rd level creatures right away.

-Get as many skill boosters for your hero as possible. It's called heroes for a reason, once you get your attack/defense/magic power/knowledge above 10 it helps soooo much. So stop at all those places that give you +1 skills. Also go out of your way to pick up the artifacts, some will boost your skills a ton. Learn which artifacts do what as well, as far as I'm aware, there aren't any artifacts that directly hurt you, there is no Hideous Mask for those Heroes II players.

-In the beginning, I'd take the gold whenever you pick up a treasure chest, but once you have enough money where you are able to buy out your creatures on day one, start taking the experience.

-If you take over another town, get it up to a City hall, the more money you make the better.

-Magic is very important, use it a lot.

-Get Expert Wisdom(Lets you cast level 5 spells), Knowledge(gives you double spell points), Air Magic, and Earth Magic. In my mind those are the four most important skills.

-Town Portal, and Dimension door are the two spells that will allow you to move far away from your castle, and be able to return any day you need to protect it from enemy heroes. Get those, and use them to your advantage.

-As far as choosing your town, I think they are all good, except I'm not a huge fan of Rampart(kind of weak), Tower(really expensive), Inferno, and Fortress. All the others, I find quite workable.

-Turn on movement shadow and movement grid and all those other things in the battle options. Right clicking will tell you how far a unit can move(speed), it helps to know how far your enemies troops can move, so you know what's going to get attacked. Remember, you always want to get the first attack in if you can, if you have 20 units against 20 units, say that first attack kills 5, then they are only retaliating with 15 guys, instead of 20.

that's all for now, I could go on, but this isn't a strategy guide....

Abugadu · # ? Dec 2, 2008 01:30

Any advice on someone about to start Oblivion? I've played Morrowind thoroughly, but am slightly worried about the scaling enemies I've heard so much about.

m2pt5 · # ? Dec 2, 2008 01:33

Abugadu posted:

Any advice on someone about to start Oblivion? I've played Morrowind thoroughly, but am slightly worried about the scaling enemies I've heard so much about.

Get a mod that fixes the leveling system. One of the most popular is Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul.

The way the default leveling system works is this - the more you use your major skills, the faster you level up. Due to this, the monsters can quickly become way too strong for you; the easiest way to counter this is to take skills that you barely use as your major skills.

Abugadu · # ? Dec 2, 2008 01:38

m2pt5 posted:

Get a mod that fixes the leveling system. One of the most popular is Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul.

The way the default leveling system works is this - the more you use your major skills, the faster you level up. Due to this, the monsters can quickly become way too strong for you; the easiest way to counter this is to take skills that you barely use as your major skills.

360 version, no mods

So, pretty much pick useless skills as majors?

dangerous.hotdog · # ? Dec 2, 2008 01:44

Abugadu posted:

360 version, no mods

So, pretty much pick useless skills as majors?

Yes, but it will also trivialize a lot of the game since enemies will never gain in strength. It's sort of boring fighting the same runts over and over, so feel free to "level up" now and again to face tougher monsters.

m2pt5 · # ? Dec 2, 2008 01:48

Abugadu posted:

360 version, no mods

So, pretty much pick useless skills as majors?

In that case, you probably want to pick the skills that are hardest to level up as your major skills, because if you pick running/jumping/stealth and skills like that (e.g. skills you use constantly) you'll very quickly run into monsters that are way too hard to beat.

Edit: Also, if you pick up the skeleton key as soon as you can, lockpicking becomes both irrelevant and very easy to level up.

Serious Michael · # ? Dec 2, 2008 02:34

m2pt5 posted:

In that case, you probably want to pick the skills that are hardest to level up as your major skills, because if you pick running/jumping/stealth and skills like that (e.g. skills you use constantly) you'll very quickly run into monsters that are way too hard to beat.

Edit: Also, if you pick up the skeleton key as soon as you can, lockpicking becomes both irrelevant and very easy to level up.

You have to be level 10 to do the very easy quest though. So if he doesn't level up much, he won't be able to.

McGravin · # ? Dec 2, 2008 04:03

From earlier in the thread:

CGChewie posted:

X-Com: UFO Defense

-Try to research Laser weapons as soon as possible. They are a large upgrade in terms of damage and speed, and they don't use ammo to boot. Rifles are best for combat, pistols are manufactured in bulk to sell for a good early profit, and heavy laser is regarded as useless due to lack of auto-shot.

This is a filthy lie. Laser weapons might be better than Rifles, but relatively speaking they are completely useless. By the time you're done researching them and have a batch manufactured, you should be almost done researching Plasma Cannons.

Plasma Cannons are the best weapons in the game. They have stats (accuracy and TU cost) comparable to or better than the Rifle, but they deal damage equivalent to a Heavy Laser. Ammunition for Plasma Cannons is pretty ubiquitous, too. Within a couple months of the start of the game, you should have all your soldiers carrying Plasma Cannons all of the time.

Abugadu · # ? Dec 2, 2008 04:30

rss feeder posted:

You have to be level 10 to do the very easy quest though. So if he doesn't level up much, he won't be able to.

So, pick skills that I only use moderately and can control how quickly they level up.

MrWeight · # ? Dec 2, 2008 05:05

If you are playing Odin Sphere make sure you get each character to 35/35 before you end their book. Also get about 6 or 9 elixers and 3 painkillers. You'll thank me if you follow this advice.

fozzie dunlop · # ? Dec 2, 2008 05:38

I've just started Planescape: Torment and I'm really enjoying it. Is there anything important that I need to know, or is it a sort of learn-as-you-go experience?

muscles like this! · # ? Dec 2, 2008 05:42

Just remember that the mechanics of gameplay are based off the old 2nd Edition D&D so sometimes things can get kind of stupid.

Wandering Knitter · # ? Dec 2, 2008 06:07

VarangianSam posted:

I've just started Planescape: Torment and I'm really enjoying it. Is there anything important that I need to know, or is it a sort of learn-as-you-go experience?

If you really want the most out of the dialog (the best part of the game) you need to up your intelligence and wisdom as soon as possible.

Morpheus · # ? Dec 2, 2008 06:08

MrWeight posted:

If you are playing Odin Sphere make sure you get each character to 35/35 before you end their book. Also get about 6 or 9 elixers and 3 painkillers. You'll thank me if you follow this advice.

Also, at the end of the game, you'll be able to choose what characters you want for certain parts. Make sure you read whatever literature you've received in the game to pick the right characters for the right parts.

SpitztheGreat · # ? Dec 2, 2008 07:42

Shenmue

- Before you get a job you are given 500 Yen a day for spending money. This is seriously nothing and can be blown very easily as most everything cost 100 yen or more. Unless you are a serious collector most everything you buy is worthless, toys, cassette tapes, food, candy, soda, household supplies, etc. At one point it all had a purpose (for Shenmue 2, 3 and 4) but unless you're going to take the effort to play Shenmue 2 on your Dreamcast and convert your save file (I did) 99% of everything is worthless. Spend your money at the arcade instead except for...

- Buy new moves. There is a little dojo in Dobita that has a selection of moves that you cannot access anywhere else. In my experience most are worthless, focus only on the easier ones.

- You are not a martial arts master. Ryo may be but you are not and the DC controller is certainly not. You're best bet is to stick with quick punch combos and a healthy dose of dodging your enemies attacks. Counters/throws are great and can be set up well with dodging. Kicks are generally to slow or leave you too open and should be used sparingly. Those moves I mentioned before? Mostly they are very complicated and complexity does not gain you anything in combat. Sure it looks really cool when you can do it to Fuku-san in practice but in real combat trying to land that great throw (left,down,right,down,left,punch/kick,left,throw) just does not work. Just keep punching the bad guys in the face and they'll get the idea.

- Practice. You can practice in any empty area like playgrounds and parking lots. You will looks stupid for sure but you can learn the button combos while increasing the move's strength at the same time.

- The motorcycle part. Seriously, slower is faster. I don't know why this was included in the game as it just plain sucks. The controls are not built for it and you will throw the controller at least once. Take it easy around corners and don't forget the brake.

Shenmue II

-Don't play this. It's awesome (if you liked Shenmue I) and will only make you miss Shenmue III all that much more.

Morrowind

- Magic is worthless in combat. Have some ability in restoration at least but avoid any idea that you should be a battlemage. The only way to make magic worthwhile in combat is to exploit the game and to me that doesn't seem like a good system. Carry around a ton of health potions and just hack and slash everything. Along the way you'll pick up what magic you will need no matter what kind of character you are. However it is much harder to start as a mage and realize that you really need to use a sword...you will get nowhere.

Sim City 4 w/Rush Hour Expansion

- There's so much to say but I'll keep my brief. When building a city with Avenues do not connect many roads to them. Avenues are the arteries of your city and can carry lots of traffic, by connecting roads or streets to them you are adding stoplights that slow down traffic. For long stretches only connect one or two roads into the ave (don't forget to connect BOTH lanes or else only one side of the road will have access). Use one way roads to connect the areas between your avenues. Normal roads will become highly congested once you get away from the avenues so instead make them one ways and place them in a circular fashion so that traffic can flow in and out.

- Along these lines the above advice works best if you have a major mass transit network. From day one of your city sink big bucks into subways and bus systems even if they have few riders. You will lose big bucks for awhile but once the city takes off you will have the infrastructure in place to handle lots of people trying to get to work. Basically, plan ahead.

- While in no way realistic or ascetically pleasing the grid system is your friend. Diagonal roads will gently caress up your placement and make it harder to build a coherent city. A good grid system with few stop lights on avenues, one ways and major mass transit system is easy to build and better yet easy to plan out. Traffic won't get out of control and your city will prosper. It may look pretty sterile but drat will it be easy to manage.

Brackhar · # ? Dec 2, 2008 09:58

VarangianSam posted:

I've just started Planescape: Torment and I'm really enjoying it. Is there anything important that I need to know, or is it a sort of learn-as-you-go experience?

In the NW quarter of the city there's a woman in a house who knows magic. Do her quest line and you can become a mage. I suggest doing this as soon as you're able to.

Morpheus posted:

Also, at the end of the game, you'll be able to choose what characters you want for certain parts. Make sure you read whatever literature you've received in the game to pick the right characters for the right parts.

Or not. You need to do all the permutations to get the extra ending scene anyway.

feraltennisprodigy · # ? Dec 2, 2008 13:55

VarangianSam posted:

I've just started Planescape: Torment and I'm really enjoying it. Is there anything important that I need to know, or is it a sort of learn-as-you-go experience?

Well, you might want to use a high-res mod, the game's standard resolution is rather low. Check out this thread and follow some of the links at the top.

Oh, and if anyone is about to start on Arcanum, be sure to grab this great collection of fixes.

Morpheus · # ? Dec 2, 2008 14:18

Brackhar posted:

Or not. You need to do all the permutations to get the extra ending scene anyway.

Well okay true. Though you don't need 'all' the permutations, you just need, for each segment, to pick the right character and the wrong character, so two playthroughs.

CAPTAIN DOOP · # ? Dec 2, 2008 17:10

Abugadu posted:

360 version, no mods

So, pretty much pick useless skills as majors?

Got Oblivion on the 360. Honestly, I never had a problem with overleveling or really even killing enemies. You don't really need to pick lousy majors. An important thing to remember is to pick skills that will boost the attributes you want for you character. For example, gaining levels in Armorer or Heavy armor will allow you to get a higher Endurance attribute when you level.

Scaled monsters shouldn't really give you a hard time if you have a decent way to kill things. If you're having trouble, do some Arena fights. Every aspect of combat improves you in some way. Blocking attacks increases Block, getting hit increases your armor type of choice, and attacking increases your Destruction/Blade/Blunt whatever.

And if you ARE having a tough time, get some enchants on your armor.

soapboxcritic · # ? Dec 2, 2008 17:33

So I just finished Baldur's Gate 2 and I'm thinking of getting Neverwinter Nights and playing the two expansions as everyone says they are great but I was wondering if it would be better to just jump straight to Neverwinter Nights 2? Is one better than the other? Having just played BG2 I could care less about graphics so that isn't a huge issue, but gameplay wise and for the story should I play the 2 NWN expansions as everyone says? Or go straight to NWN2? Or would it be smart to play the NWN original content and continue on to NWN2 there? Is there any story overlap?

Nate RFB · # ? Dec 2, 2008 17:34

The problem is once you've noticed that you're having a hard time with the scaled monsters in Oblivion it's usually too late. After all, if the monsters are hard and you go off to improve your combat, they'll be even harder when you come back.

Picking useless skills as majors won't really do you that much good, since the monsters scale up based around your overall level I believe. I think on a modless version like the 360 version the only way deal with the loving terrible scaled monster system is to devote your abilities to combat 100% of the time.

Little Shitaly · # ? Dec 2, 2008 17:49

Morpheus posted:

Fallout 3
- The Lady Killer perk appears drat near useless. I've had one extra dialogue option (which didn't do anything)

The dialogue options are mostly crap, but the extra 10% damage against female targets isn't bad.

chunderBunny · # ? Dec 2, 2008 18:09

Abugadu posted:

Any advice on someone about to start Oblivion? I've played Morrowind thoroughly, but am slightly worried about the scaling enemies I've heard so much about.

my advice would be to acquire an invisibility spell and some sort of conjuration spell ASAP. if you end up fighting a monster that's too tough for you, turn yourself invisible and run to heal up. conjuring something to fight for you will also take some of their efforts away from killing you since there's something else attacking them.

cnrkb · # ? Dec 2, 2008 18:14

soapboxcritic posted:

So I just finished Baldur's Gate 2 and I'm thinking of getting Neverwinter Nights and playing the two expansions as everyone says they are great but I was wondering if it would be better to just jump straight to Neverwinter Nights 2? Is one better than the other? Having just played BG2 I could care less about graphics so that isn't a huge issue, but gameplay wise and for the story should I play the 2 NWN expansions as everyone says? Or go straight to NWN2? Or would it be smart to play the NWN original content and continue on to NWN2 there? Is there any story overlap?

I really hate the campaign in NWN1. The one in HoU is quite alright, though.

While I love NWN2 (as long as you save frequently enough to load to a certain time due to gamebreaking bugs), I think the people behind it, Obsidian, also did the dismal NWN1 expansion SoU.

NWN1 is great because of the online potential and popular toolset; NWN2 is great because of its campaign. Not counting the HoU expansion, they're completely opposite.

cnrkb fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Dec 2, 2008

m2pt5 · # ? Dec 2, 2008 18:43

Abugadu posted:

Oblivion

Another thing - you can make the game almost cheatingly easy by enchanting armor/jewelry with chameleon. If your total chameleon equals or exceeds 100%, you are completely invisible to every NPC and monster in the game (unless you talk to them and they are able to respond, such as guards and other demihuman NPCs) even to the point that you can attack them and they won't be able to attack back.

Silentman0 · # ? Dec 2, 2008 18:49

Give me Defcon tips, please. I played a couple of matches online and got my rear end handed to me both times and I can't tell what I can do to improve.

CAPTAIN DOOP · # ? Dec 2, 2008 19:01

Also on Oblivion. If spells cost an insane amount of magicka, especially if you're not a magic based character, gaining skill in that particular school of magic reduces the cost. Try to get all of your magic skills to at least level 25 at your leisure, that's when all the helpful spells are useable in most schools (summoning creatures in conjuration, all sorts of helpful alteration, etc). Try to get Illusion up to level 50 (although I wouldn't make it a major skill because it boosts personality). Illusion 50 allows you to use the extremely helpful Debilitate (3 sec paralyze), Silence, and assorted Invisibility spells.

Lt. Danger · # ? Dec 2, 2008 19:08

Zuffox posted:

While I love NWN2 (as long as you save frequently enough to load to a certain time due to gamebreaking bugs), I think the people behind it, Obsidian, also did the dismal NWN1 expansion SoU.

Bioware did all of the NWN1 campaigns.

Shadows of Undrentide isn't so much bad as it is bland, but it does lead into Hordes of the Underdark, which is much better. NWN2 is variable - decent but with noticeable flaws - but, again, leads into Mask of the Betrayer, which is amazing and you should definitely play it.

So yeah, don't bother with the original NWN campaign, do bother with HotU and MotB, up to you on SoU and NWN2.

Eight-Six · # ? Dec 2, 2008 19:13

Old Swerdlow posted:

Is there anything that I should know before I dive into FF X?

A fair amount of people say to ignore Kimarhi, and while that's certainly what I did on my first playthough, it turns out that he's actually really great as a surrogate Lulu.

Here's why: looking around his portion of the sphere grid, you can get 100 MP (five MP nodes) and six Magic points (2 Magic nodes) before even setting foot on Lulu's grid. The 100 MP benefit is obvious, and the six magic points actually put you only a few points behind Lulu's Magic progression - only thing preventing him from catching up is that Lulu will probably be ahead of him in her part of the grid at all times.

At the same time that you're gallivanting around Kimarhi's portion of the grid, you should also be picking up HP nodes (all six of them, 1200 HP), since they're not even that much out of the way and you gain sphere levels like nobody's business. This gives him more durability that Lulu just doesn't have.

Finally, with this Magic-based setup, you'll find that the once useless Lancet becomes quite the weapon, as the damage it deals is, well, Magic-based. Even if you don't use it as a damage dealer (hitting weaknesses with spells is going to be better 99% of the time), you can use it to recover MP, making Kimarhi into a spell battery.

Eight-Six fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Dec 2, 2008

Aratoeldar · # ? Dec 2, 2008 20:20

soapboxcritic posted:

So I just finished Baldur's Gate 2 and I'm thinking of getting Neverwinter Nights and playing the two expansions as everyone says they are great but I was wondering if it would be better to just jump straight to Neverwinter Nights 2? Is one better than the other? Having just played BG2 I could care less about graphics so that isn't a huge issue, but gameplay wise and for the story should I play the 2 NWN expansions as everyone says? Or go straight to NWN2? Or would it be smart to play the NWN original content and continue on to NWN2 there? Is there any story overlap?

While most people can't stand the OC of NwN. I did enjoy it. I guess it's the hopeless romantic in me. The henchmen stories are well done. Part of the OC story that I really like is the story of the two brothers and being their judge.

So far as SoU is concerned, I don't think its' plot is any better then the overall plot of the OC. However it doesn't suffer from fetch 4 items in each chapter. Deekin and Mischa (mod) are the best NPCs in the expansion pack.

HotU is easily the best part of the NwN series.

While NwN 2 is good it does have faults. One of my biggest complaints with NwN 2 is that it forces certain NPCs on you in order to move the story along. The ending ish meh but MotB makes up for that. The Trial and Crossroad keep are well done. The NPCs are fairly well written.

MotB is one of the best RPGs written since BG2 or Planscape: Torment. I did not care for spirit gameplay mechanic.

I haven't played SoZ.

Shrecknet · # ? Dec 2, 2008 20:29

It's been about two hours now playing Midnight Club: LA, and (having played the poo poo out of Need for Speed: Underground), I need to know two things:

1) How the gently caress do you get away from cops, especially at low levels/with lovely cars? They stay right on you and there's no way to get away from them.

2) Car damage carries over from race to race? Seriously? I cannot find the "quick fix" button anywhere (do I need to go to a gas station?) and anyway I need to know how much it costs to repair a busted car, and at what point, damage-wise, should I quick-travel to the garage?

That Dang Dad · # ? Dec 3, 2008 02:10

Without spoiling them, does Dead Space have any good/bad endings that reward certain play styles? I have this from GameFly and only want to play it once. Anything I should do to get the most out of single playthru other than the "Upgrade the cutter and only carry two guns" tips?

Chinook · # ? Dec 3, 2008 02:28

Anal Surgery posted:

Without spoiling them, does Dead Space have any good/bad endings that reward certain play styles? I have this from GameFly and only want to play it once. Anything I should do to get the most out of single playthru other than the "Upgrade the cutter and only carry two guns" tips?

I don't think you can do anything to affect the ending.

Four things that I wish I had did in my single playthrough:

1. Get the Line Gun upgraded fairly early on, it's fantastic.
2. Bring the Ripper Sawblade gun with you all of the time, the ammo sells for a lot and is plentiful and you won't get ammo if you don't bring it along. Yes, even if it is fairly lovely as a weapon. (Just focus on the Line, Cutter, and one other that sounds fun to you)
3. Play on a harder difficulty than you want to. The game really isn't very difficult.
4. Don't use the stupid autopilot thing that shows you where to go next unless you really are very lost. It really took away from the exploration and fun.

Adbot · # ? May 9, 2024 18:47

Brackhar · # ? Dec 3, 2008 03:11

^^^^^
The game only has one ending.

Morpheus posted:

Well okay true. Though you don't need 'all' the permutations, you just need, for each segment, to pick the right character and the wrong character, so two playthroughs.

Well, most of the encounters have different scenes for different "wrong" characters. Some encounters don't have 5 different scenes, but I'm pretty sure that you need to see every scene for each encounter. Which is more than just choosing 5 wrong encounters and 5 correct encounters.