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Ornamented Death posted:Assuming you're talking about alignment... In one of the G3 mods you can change Jaheira's alignment to NG. Which is what she really should be. Viconia - You have to romance her to get her to be NG.
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Jan 9, 2009 17:39
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Zuffox posted:I've just begun playing Baldur's Gate 2: Shadow of Amn, and the companions are a mixed bunch compared to games such as Neverwinter Nights 2, where you have one of every class. A good tip for BG2 companions is that you don't have to be stuck with the ones the game provides. Start a multiplayer game, and you can create all 6 party characters. You can make less, or create more and just save some characters for later. Then you have two choices: (1) You can play through in a multiplayer game, which has the added bonus of letting you swap characters for other pre-made ones at any time, or (2) you can find your BG2 directory, find the MPSAVE folder, find your savegame, and then copy it over to your SAVE folder. Then, you can play with those custom-made characters in a single-player game. The upside here is that you can swap out a custom-made character for an NPC if you want a mix in your party. A lot of the entertainment value of BG2 is in the NPCs who join your party, but after a couple runs through the game you'll realize that they are both tedious and poorly crafted characters (on average). Taking the time to roll all six party members while maximizing available special classes will make for a much more interesting game.
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Jan 10, 2009 15:21
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Palleon posted:That last post just made me think of something. I recently got Morrowind and its expansions for the PC, and I'm wondering if there are any mods out for it that are considered "essential", or that I should at least take a good look at. I'd recommend Better Bodies 2.0. Makes the characters look a lot better.
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Jan 10, 2009 17:23
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Far Cry 2 *Avoid guard posts as much as possible, but if you have to assault one, just come in close with an attack jeep and hit C to switch to your mounted gun as you roll in. You should be able to mop up everyone with minimal damage. most guard posts have water bottles so you won't even have to use up a health kit. *There are infinite health kits at gun shops, so when you reoutfit, replenish your health kits (syringes) *Do the Gun shop missions first to unlock a greater assortment of guns, and the cell tower missions in between to be able to afford the new weapons. *Sniper rifles will make your life really easy, even though you are terrified of going in without a nice AK-47. *You can save anywhere (PC VERSION ONLY), you do not need to be at a safe house or gun shop, as I assumed for about 30% of the game. *Unlock every safe house you pass by. It involves killing maybe three guys and gives you all the perks you have unlocked. You never know when a mission will take place in that area and having instant access to weapons and vehicles is nice. *If the enemy is in a vehicle, stay the heck in yours, or get behind a tree. They will simply drive into you any chance they get. *Missions are way more effective ways of getting diamonds. Briefcases net you 1-2 diamonds average per find. Granted there are 200+ briefcases in the game, and if you see your GPS beeping, by all means grab the case, just don't expect to buy that new rocket launcher by finding 3 or 4 cases. You'll need to find like 10-12. *Don't don't don't pick up enemy weapons...ever! They are crap, will jam a lot, and unless you want a quick rocket launcher for a single shot, just use your own shiny new ones. *Visit a gun shop to replace your weapons every two or so missions, just in case, and to replenish your ammo if needed. Enemy weapons will provide you ammo if you walk over them, and get the webbing upgrades ASAP because 90 rounds is NEVER enough, even for short missions. *It's worth it to do the buddy missions. Really. *Vehicles without mounted guns are faster, generally, but can be deadly in a vehicle on vehicle firefight. You will need to get out of yours, and they will simply drive over you repeatedly. *In large towns, you CAN get up on the rooftops for some serious stealth based kills. Help me out here, guys, any more? ZenMaster fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Jan 11, 2009 |
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Jan 10, 2009 23:15
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ZenMaster posted:Far Cry 2 This is only true of the PC version. The console version you HAVE to save at a save point (you're also given the option of saving whenever you complete a mission objective.)
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Jan 11, 2009 02:12
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muscles like this? posted:This is only true of the PC version. The console version you HAVE to save at a save point (you're also given the option of saving whenever you complete a mission objective.) I hate stuff like that, but I am a save whore, so... I'll update.
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Jan 11, 2009 02:22
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With Empire: Total War coming out soon I've recently taken an interest in the series and I was wondering if someone could give me just a brief rundown on how the Total War games play out gameplay-wise. I have plenty of experience with RTS games going all the way back to Dune 2, but the only real-time tactics game I've played was Sid Meier's Gettysburg and that was years ago when it came out. The Total War games seem to be universally praised, but before I purchase them I wanted to get some idea of how they operate compared to your average RTS game.
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Jan 12, 2009 20:35
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All right we doin this!! Persona 4 · The most "efficient" Social Links to get are those of your party members and Hermit. Your party members gain new in-battle abilities as you improve their social links. You'll know why Hermit's so important when you get to it. · November 2nd is the last day you can rank up Hierophant, and November 3rd the last day for Justice. If you'd like a full list, here's one, but those two are the only dates that will really blindside you... Fool: n/a Magician: 21 Dec Priestess: 20 Dec Empress: Available to the end. Emperor: 22 Dec Hierophant: 2 Nov Lovers: 18 Dec Chariot: 19 Dec Justice: 3 Nov Hermit: 24 Dec Fortune: 21 Dec Strength: 22 Dec Hanged Man: 22 Dec Death: 23 Dec Temperance: 23 Dec Devil: 23 Dec Tower: 22 Dec Star: n/a Moon: 22 Dec Sun: 22 Dec Judgement: n/a · Remember that unlike other RPGs, buffs and debuffs actually work. You really shouldn't overwrite them if you can avoid it. I did overwrite them on all my party members and I found that I had to grind like a horny rabbit to beat all the bosses. · Guarding makes it so getting hit with a weakness won't knock you on your rear end. Also guard if you see the enemy use Mind Charge or Power Charge. · I don't think there's any need to use a guide until December. Once December 3rd rolls around, consider getting a guide to get the best ending.
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Jan 13, 2009 01:26
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ZenMaster posted:Far Cry 2 To add to the comment about renewing your guns at a gun store: buy the weapon crates. Not as a priority, but they come in handy later on when you get into trickier and lengthier missions in areas which aren't near a gun store. Basically if you put a weapon in the crates inside your gun store, they'll be waiting for you in the crates in any safe house you've unlocked. Comes in handy if you wear through guns quickly and need backups, or just to have a stealth/sniper set handy if a mission isn't what you were expecting. On the other hand, don't bother with the camo upgrade unless you really like to stealth (it only makes you less visible while crouched and stationary in grass, not a situation that comes up a whole lot), and ignore the car/jeep upgrades completely. It takes 10 seconds tops to repair a car and your gems are better spent elsewhere, especially since you have to upgrade each model individually. Also I personally found the syringe upgrades useless as I rarely ever ran out, but your mileage may vary, and they're probably necessary on infamous. As for weapons, don't bother with the Carl Gustav rocket launcher. The RPG-7 is powerful enough to take out anything in one hit and you'll never notice the comparative lack of accuracy. The CG also burns anything the rocket's trail touches, including the grass directly beneath your feet when you fire it. Besides which the grenade launcher is far better than either of them, because it frees up your special slot for the dart rifle. (And also because you can pretend like you're the terminator.  I mean uhhhh)
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Jan 13, 2009 02:47
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Another one for Valkyria Chronicles
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Jan 13, 2009 09:51
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CloseFriend posted:Persona 4 Strength gives a boost to Diligence and Sun gives a big bonus to Expression in addition to the standard S. Link. Temperance, Devil, and Tower have stat requirements, but give you money, stats, and S. Links. Try and be level 17 by 5/21 and beeline the Priestess S. Link as much as you can before then. The reason for this is that the Fusion Forecast on that day gives Priestess Arcanas bonus experience. The Priestess persona to make is Sarasvati, which gets Invigorate 2 at level 19. Spread that skill like the plague and never worry about SP worries again, assuming you don't mind hitting Guard for a billion rounds. Sarasvati also gets Null Wind at level 23, but good luck spreading both that and Invigorate.
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Jan 13, 2009 10:53
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I've messed around with it for quite a while, but whatever I do I really feel like there is something I don't quite "get" about Etrian Odyssey 2. I mean I was expecting to die a few times but honestly, seems I can barely scrape through just a few random encounters. I'm yet to take down a FOE. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
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Jan 20, 2009 16:11
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Is there any good advice for Killer7 and Hitman Blood Money? Just started playing both of them the other day and hate to screw up real early in both games due to bad decisions.
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Jan 20, 2009 17:05
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For Blood Money, experimentation often pays off. It might take a while for you to explore the level and get a feel for what happens when, what disguises are the best etc. There's always multiple methods to kill a person, some of which are pretty obvious (shooting them), others that are painted as accidental deaths. It's really, really hard to gently caress yourself over as you can replay levels until you get them perfect and the only real thing that effects you detrimentally is notoriety, which is easily removed.
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Jan 20, 2009 17:08
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Simcity 4 - get the expansion and seriously consider getting at least the NAM addon and a terrain retexturing - don't build in a grid because it's both ugly and not functional, build like you would a real city, with closed neighborhoods that are not attractive for traffic to use as shortcuts to divert air pollution from cars away from residential areas - guide your traffic from the residential areas to the industrial areas via the commercial areas - the easiest cities to maintain are the ones based on high tech industry, but conversely high tech industry loathes pollution (and doesn't produce any itself) so it's very difficult to get an industrial area to turn high tech once the dirty and manufacturing industries are already there. instead, crank up taxes for d&m industries up to the max at the beginning and focus on high education so your city has a hightech economy from the start. the cost of your education is easily bridged with some cash-rewarding missions or a large amount of commercial zones - once your city starts turning a profit, let it run for a while to get it to flesh out and grow you a nice budget - don't forget to get rid of trash, preferably to a neighboring dirty city to get it out of your rich guy areas - this is not a "game" so much as a creative program or a simulator. a mature city should turn a huge profit, the real challenge in simcity 4 is not to beat the game but to build something that looks cool
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Jan 20, 2009 17:41
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Mr E posted:Anyone have any tips for Final Fantasy XII ? Should I worry about the ultimate weapon that goes away if you open certain chests? The armor has several stats on it that you can't see until you buy it or equip it or something like that. I didn't realize this for a while and just went off the listed armor value for a while. This resulted in poor damage from melee and abysmal healing. Also, although you only need three characters, you can switch out live characters at any time if I remember correctly. Completely ignoring characters would make them useless as back ups, but your other characters should be stronger to compensate. Definitely use the gambit system though.
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Jan 20, 2009 18:11
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daspope posted:The armor has several stats on it that you can't see until you buy it or equip it or something like that. I didn't realize this for a while and just went off the listed armor value for a while. This resulted in poor damage from melee and abysmal healing. Expanding on this. Mystic Armor gives you +magic power, and so +MP by extension. Light Armor gives +HP, and Heavy Armor gives +attack power.
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Jan 20, 2009 18:22
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Anyone got any tips for Mercenaries 2? I picked it up cheap for something to play because there is a bit of a drought in new games I'm interested in playing for like another month. So far I've not played much more than the tutorial level.
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Jan 20, 2009 22:45
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SiKboy posted:Anyone got any tips for Mercenaries 2? I picked it up cheap for something to play because there is a bit of a drought in new games I'm interested in playing for like another month. So far I've not played much more than the tutorial level. Ignore the cash pickups and the bombs that are just lying around in the overworld. The cash is something stupid like just $100K which isn't really worth the time and the bombs are usually poo poo that you can buy in any store. For stuff like bombs, before you use one check what it uses to mark the bombing zone. Smoke will bomb wherever it lands, beacons can be attached to moving objects like vehicles, lasers will hit whatever you have it pointed at BUT YOU MUST KEEP THE POINTER ON THE OBJECT UNTIL THE BOMB HITS if you stop early it will go off course, satellite lets you just chose where you want to hit from above. If you're having trouble with Pirate faction missions you can safely ignore them as they do not contribute to the story mission progression. To steal owned fuel tanks without having to deal with people calling you in and getting hit with negative rep towards that faction all you have to do is mark the fuel and then run off where they can't see you before you pop smoke. The best way to make money is (after its unlocked) to do the winch challenge. Its super easy so you can just keep on betting the maximum allowed.
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Jan 20, 2009 23:10
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Jive One posted:With Empire: Total War coming out soon I've recently taken an interest in the series and I was wondering if someone could give me just a brief rundown on how the Total War games play out gameplay-wise. I have plenty of experience with RTS games going all the way back to Dune 2, but the only real-time tactics game I've played was Sid Meier's Gettysburg and that was years ago when it came out. The Total War games seem to be universally praised, but before I purchase them I wanted to get some idea of how they operate compared to your average RTS game. You have two basic modes in Total War games - the World Map and the Battle Map. World Map plays very similarly to the Civilization series in that you manage construction for your various cities and try to keep the public happy while you move your armies around. Once combat is instigated, you can auto-resolve as a Civilization battle would do, but that's no fun. You want to fight the battle in real-time. You'll go into the Battle Map and you can array your troops in formation before starting the battle. Once you do, the game plays out very similarly to an RTS. The main difference is that you can only control massed units of 60+, not individual soldiers. You'll have to use tactics like troop counters and flanking a lot in battle. If things go hilariously/horribly wrong one side, then a few of their units will start to rout. You won't be able to control them, they'll just run away in panic. Total annihilation of the opposition rarely happens in Total War; it's a rout that you're aiming for, so make sure to damage enemy morale as well as enemy numbers.
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Jan 21, 2009 00:20
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ZenMaster posted:Far Cry 2 Regarding buddies. You need 2 buddies to be offered subversion missions and 3 if you want a buddy to rescue you when you die. Doing the subversion missions upgrades your safe houses with ammo, health and better vehicles. Use the buses, plan your routes around minimising skirmishes. Don't think you can kill everyone without being spotted. If you do get spotted don't stay still, keep moving and make sure you have a good close/medium range weapon for when they close in on you. The shotguns are overpowered and very effective. Don't think you need to kill everyone or not be spotted to complete missions. Once spotted, you can normally be evasive and still get in to complete the objective and then get out.
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Jan 21, 2009 01:38
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For the people earlier in the thread who asked about Dragon Quest/Warrior IV: * Search every drawer, pot, and barrel you can find. If you've ever played RPGs before you should know this already. * In Chapter 1, make sure to find the friendly monster in the underground well. You will have to go off the proper path to do this. * In Chapters 2 and onward your characters begin as total weaklings. Grind them up a few levels around your home base before going anywhere. * The preceding tip is especially important in Chapters 2 and 3. In Chapter 2, your characters begin with virtually no equipment and money is scarce, so in addition to grinding levels use a hand-me-down system for weapons and armor--don't immediately sell old equipment back to the shop. In Chapter 3, your enemies will routinely drop chests with powerful and expensive items in them; equip these if you can or sell them for startup cash if you can't. * An NPC character will join you about a third of the way through Chapter 4. Get him ASAP because your PCs are weak on their own. * NES version only: In Chapter 5 you lose control of all characters who aren't the hero. If you're carrying items that have an effect when used in battle keep them with the hero. Your other characters won't use them reliably. * NES/DS difference: In the NES version, the character Alena has very low defense and cannot equip much armor, but makes up for it with extraordinary speed and attack power. The difference between her and Ragnar is that Ragnar is slower and a little less strong, but has more HP and defense. In the DS version, Alena has tremendous natural defense and improved HP, making her better than Ragnar in every way. * NES/DS difference: In the NES version, the character Nara has abysmal stats and the game's slowest level-up rate, making her a mostly useless character. In the DS version (where she's named Meena), her stats and level-up rate are greatly improved, making her competitive with the other healer-type.
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Jan 21, 2009 03:21
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Thanks for nothing. I already beat that game.  Also, make sure you keep everybody with good equipment, since you can use everybody during the final boss fight. You will run out of MP if you don't, unless you grind like a motherfucker.
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Jan 21, 2009 03:23
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If only Meena had a spell that healed the whole party, I don't think you could do much better than Hero/Alena/Maya/Meena. As it is I used that configuration for almost all of chapter 5 in DQIV but switched out Meena for Kiryl near the end game.
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Jan 21, 2009 04:53
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Nate RFB posted:If only Meena had a spell that healed the whole party, I don't think you could do much better than Hero/Alena/Maya/Meena. As it is I used that configuration for almost all of chapter 5 in DQIV but switched out Meena for Kiryl near the end game. Holy poo poo. I did the exact same thing.
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Jan 21, 2009 04:54
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Nate RFB posted:If only Meena had a spell that healed the whole party, I don't think you could do much better than Hero/Alena/Maya/Meena. As it is I used that configuration for almost all of chapter 5 in DQIV but switched out Meena for Kiryl near the end game. Same here, Hero/Alena/Maya/Kiryl was the best party I could come up with.
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Jan 21, 2009 16:31
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That Dwarf Fortress is basically Simcity in braille.
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Jan 21, 2009 17:31
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I'm starting TimeShift tonight. Any pointers on how to make the first few stages as painless as possible?
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Jan 21, 2009 17:35
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ultrachrist posted:
Stealth? gently caress it, Go in guns blazing if you want. It screws your rank, but thankfully you can just go balls out if you want and trash a place. I played nearly that whole game like a normal 3rd person shooter. It was a blast that way. I know, old post. But damnit it need to be said, and said over and over. Blood money is fantastic fun if you just play like a psychopath killer who dont give 2 shits about getting caught.
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Jan 21, 2009 17:41
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For anyone starting Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, here's a few skills you may not want to give up on your hero: Analyze - This one is obvious, but know that you'll eventually get an item to replace it. So, don't worry about it taking up a skill slot for the entire game. Tornado - For the time that you get it in the game, it'll be your best magic option in many situations. It does medium damage, which is great for that part of the game, and can hit a single enemy more than once (Excellent for bosses, of course). Just make sure you keep track of what may null it. I remember a horse-like demon that reflected it. Wasn't pretty. Focus - Don't be an idiot and drop this like I did. Yes, magic is much more useful than physical attacks in the beginning of the game - almost everything has a weakness and you can't really depend on criticals. But, when you get near end game, you'll gain access to absurdly powerful physical attacks and even a fire elemental attack that Focus can modify. Critical hits from focused HP-using attacks will make you really loving strong. Plus, you'll get Pierce - a skill that lets you bypass physical resistance with your attacks and basically makes physical attacks the strongest option for any demon that has it (Yeah, you can put Focus on Pierce on demons too, just know that you'll still have better skills to use it on than them). It all combines to make focused physical attacks really effective. You won't get another chance to put Focus on your hero, so never give this up! Fog Breath/Warcry - These skills work like Sukunda and Tarunda, which decrease enemy evasion/accuracy and physical/magical power respectively. The difference is that these skills are twice as potent, making them powerful abilities to have on your hero. Note that as you can still only decrease an enemy's stats to the same amount as you would the regular -unda skills, it'll just take less turns.
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Jan 21, 2009 18:38
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Rirse posted:Is there any good advice for Killer7 and Hitman Blood Money? Just started playing both of them the other day and hate to screw up real early in both games due to bad decisions. Staging accidents and pulling off insane or creative precision kills is really what the game is about. The resulting hilarity from some of the situations you find yourself in while playing stealthily also makes the game fun. One other problem with taking the murder everything route is that you will also miss bits of dialogue and certain scripted situations. Also take your time with the game it's pretty short. I finished it in under 15 hours. Zombie Layne fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Jan 21, 2009 |
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Jan 21, 2009 18:55
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Fray Joker posted:I've messed around with it for quite a while, but whatever I do I really feel like there is something I don't quite "get" about Etrian Odyssey 2. I mean I was expecting to die a few times but honestly, seems I can barely scrape through just a few random encounters. I'm yet to take down a FOE. As far as I can tell, you haven't grinded the level enough times yet. The whole game appears to be one huge grind with minimal plot. I couldn't take it after I realized I had little to no way to restore mana except through resting at an inn and realizing that you have to pay more as you do it meaning you have to progress even further to keep a profit which costs more mana unless you preserve it like a precious commodity and so on. The only way I've killed a FOE is to build up whatever the stat is called that unleashes the character's special move, unload all of them at once, and hope you've killed it. Of course, this resets if you leave the level for whatever reason, so be prepared to do it in one shot. Fortunately, they don't respawn (or at least I haven't seen them do so).
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Jan 21, 2009 19:10
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tendrilsfor20 posted:I'm starting TimeShift tonight. Any pointers on how to make the first few stages as painless as possible? Ignore the Reverse power unless you have to use it in a scripted part. It drains power too fast and isn't really that useful for what it does.
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Jan 22, 2009 01:02
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muscles like this? posted:Ignore the Reverse power unless you have to use it in a scripted part. It drains power too fast and isn't really that useful for what it does. Seconding this. It's not a bad game, but it's best treated like a mod for FEAR (which it is, pretty much - same engine, I believe). Get in, switch to slowmo/timefreeze and chew everything up before retreating and repeating until everything around you is a pile of meaty chunks.
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Jan 22, 2009 01:03
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muscles like this? posted:Ignore the Reverse power unless you have to use it in a scripted part. It drains power too fast and isn't really that useful for what it does. Edit: gently caress, beaten.
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Jan 22, 2009 01:06
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Timeshift probably would have been better received if it had, I don't know, a PLOT. There are some vestiges of one but they somehow forgot to tell you what it was. Also for a game where you had a time suit you did very little traveling through time. You spend most of the game in just the one era. A game that looks like it might be much better at time manipulation is Raven's new one Singularity. Instead of using the time manipulation on yourself (like slowing down time, freezing it or reversing) you do it to enemies and the environment. Like aging enemies until they turn to dust or turning back time and making an empty rusted barrel new again and full of nice explosive fuel.
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Jan 22, 2009 01:35
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A brief aside: The character's helmet has some sort of flux capacitor design going on, so when I showed him the game box, he squinted and asked, "TimeShitty?", since there's a bit to the right of the last 't' that looks like a 'y' and the 'f' blended in with the helmet. After playing for an hour or so, can't say I really disagree with his assessment. 
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Jan 22, 2009 03:19
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Gears of War 2 I've played #1 before and I'm just in the opening minutes of #2 - I want to bag as many achievements as I can on my play through without any major spoilers. I'm playing on Hardcore difficulty. Good/bad guns/tactics/etc. would be appreciated!
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Jan 24, 2009 16:42
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Jagtpanther posted:Gears of War 2 Once you get a sniper rifle, keep it at all times (unless you opt for a Torque Bow, either are good). Since you're playing on Hardcore just stick with the Lancer/Sniper (or Torque) combo. And no matter what difficulty you play on, Dom will be useless. Stay in cover when available until all enemies are dead (No infinite respawning enemies ala CoD games) If you want to pick up all the collectibles during your first play through, Achievement Hunter has video guides for all of them.
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Jan 25, 2009 00:15
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I've just started Final Fantasy XII thanks to everyone here loving it, and I was wondering if you guys had any tips for it. For example, are there any party members who get removed halfway through the game and I shouldn't spend LP on? Any other general tips or tricks would be awesome.
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Jan 25, 2009 19:04
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