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McKracken
Jun 17, 2005

Lets go for a run!
Anything major for Yakuza 3?

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Barudak
May 7, 2007

McKracken posted:

Anything major for Yakuza 3?

Unlock the move that adds combo-breakers to the end of your moves ASAP. I don't remember which of the 4 upgrade paths its on, but look it up and get it. Without it, the game is often a tedious game of timing and bosses who will block absolutely everything. With it, you lay the beat-down like its the last rear end-kicking on earth.

Other than that, building relationship with your daughter unlocks nothing, buy tons and tons of food from the 7-11 equivalents as they are cheap, portable free heals, and weapons aren't really useful or necessary once you get combo-breaking.

Spermando
Jun 13, 2009
I just bought Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. I've played all MGS games except for POps, so it should be no problem, but this is my first NG. Is there anything I should know?

mystery at hog island
Aug 16, 2003
Captain of Outer Space

Spermando posted:

Ninja Gaiden Sigma

I ended up using a checklist from gamefaqs for the Golden Scarabs. A good few of them are permanently missable and they can be traded for some one-of-a-kind weapons you probably don't want to miss.

If you're spamming a certain jumping attack you're playing the game wrong. It took me a few levels to really "get" NGS. The name of the game is to know when to block (90% of the time) and when to dish out the pain (the 10% of the time your enemies are open and practically asking to get decapitated.) It will come with time.

The charge attack is difficult to use, but practically doubles your income from murdering enemies.

From my experience, the game practically has a reverse difficulty curve. Your life bar grows as the game goes on (a la Zelda) and once you have plenty of health you can afford to play more offensively and the game will get easier.

Nearly all bosses (even Alma) have a pattern you can take advantage of. Be sure to look for it.

Big Tits McBlonde's levels have some optional encounters. I found them fun but some people think they're the worst part of the game. The prizes are generally poo poo but there aren't exactly a lot of them.

Be sure to upgrade your weapons. Go with what feels best to you.

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Spermando posted:

I just bought Ninja Gaiden Sigma and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. I've played all MGS games except for POps, so it should be no problem, but this is my first NG. Is there anything I should know?

Portable Ops is gonna be a huge step backwards in quality from Peace-Walker. Portable Ops+ is basically an expansion pack with a bunch of one off missions and some in previous MGS locals. Kinda neat.

Tranqs still are monstrous. If you knock out a guard you can drag him to any truck to add him immediately to your team. The WIFI guards tend to be random quality, but ultimately you don't really need to recruit a lot of people given how awesome Naked Snake is.

Unlocking EVA and Ocelot requires chicaknery/equipment not in the US so don't worry about it.

NGS: The stage 2 boss (guy on bridge) can basically be one-shot if you kill his helpers, use their souls to charge an attack, and then hit him with it.

Fiannaiocht
Aug 21, 2008
Any tips for Shinobi and Nightshade for PS2? I've been stuck on the last boss with Moritsune on hard and the bug boss with Joe Musashi also on hard for a couple of years. Both have pretty frustrating levels and I was wondering if maybe the games aren't as hard as I'm making them out to be.

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Fiannaiocht posted:

Any tips for Shinobi and Nightshade for PS2? I've been stuck on the last boss with Moritsune on hard and the bug boss with Joe Musashi also on hard for a couple of years. Both have pretty frustrating levels and I was wondering if maybe the games aren't as hard as I'm making them out to be.

They are exactly as hard as you think they are. My only advice is if you fail to one shot the boss, start over. Other than that check the letsplayarchives.com for video LPs of both bosses so you can see exactly what you should be doing.

McKracken
Jun 17, 2005

Lets go for a run!

Fiannaiocht posted:

Both have pretty frustrating levels and I was wondering if maybe the games aren't as hard as I'm making them out to be.

Shinobi is the only game I've ever not finished due to frustration over difficulty.

Monicro
Oct 21, 2010

And you could feel his features in the air
A wide smile and perfect hair
He had complete control of the rising tides
And a medicine bag hanging at his side

In the flowing blue world of the death-dealing physician
Tips have probably been asked dozens of times for this game, but is there anything I should know about Fallout 3? Tried it two times and couldn't get into it for knowing gently caress-all about what I was supposed to be doing, played New Vegas and now I'm gearing up for a third attempt.

Edit: VVV Wow, thanks! VVV

Monicro fucked around with this message at 16:51 on Dec 12, 2010

SiKboy
Oct 28, 2007

Oh no!😱

Monicro posted:

Tips have probably been asked dozens of times for this game, but is there anything I should know about Fallout 3? Tried it two times and couldn't get into it for knowing gently caress-all about what I was supposed to be doing, played New Vegas and now I'm gearing up for a third attempt.

If you've played new vegas you should have a good idea how FO3 works, although NV added some extra stuff and changed how some skills worked (for example FO3 doesnt have a hardcore mode or survival skill, and the repair skills sets a maximum on what condition you can repair an item up to, it also has a "Big guns" skill that governs rocket launchers, miniguns etc).

Hang on 2 seconds and I'll find and copy/paste the post I always make when someone asks about fallout 3.

Edit: Or I could just quote myself, save messing around with spoiler tags again;

SiKboy posted:

I'm just going to quote the post I always make when someone asks for FO3 advice;


Okay, this is gonna be a wall 'o text, which I will try to keep spoiler free.

First up, things that are in the manual, but you would be amazed how many people dont know about. Your pip-boy has a built in flashlight. On the Xbox you turn it on and off by holding down B. When you are hacking computers, move the cursor around and if it highlights a matching open and closed bracket select that, it will either eliminate a wrong answer or replenish your guesses. If you are drinking from a water source you can hold down the button to keep drinking instead of repeatedly pressing the button. You can fast travel to locations you have already discovered through the pip-boy map. VATS exists. That last one is because a couple of people in the "times you missed a vital game mechanic" thread somehow missed it, despite it being part of the manditory tutorial section.

Oh, and if you get a book that goes to your inventory, you can read it to gain a skill point. I was an idiot and didnt figure that out for like 5 hours playtime.

Secondly, general hints about the game.

1) Dont try to be a jack of all-trades. If you try to do melee AND energy weapons AND big guns AND small guns you will spread yourself too thin. Pick maybe 2 combat skills to specialise in. Small guns are the most powerful/plentiful near the begining of the game, energy weapons take over around the two thirds mark.

2) I would NOT recommend either unarmed or melee for your first play through. If you want to give either of them a go, you NEED to also boost stealth to get close enough to enemies, and you NEED a back-up combat skill (most people go explosives) because there are the occasional enemies that you just cant reach.

3) The tutorial starts with you as a baby, but you dont need to worry about any decisions you make until Amata wakes you up with news about your dad. At that point, if you want to have all options open to you, try to get out of the vault WITHOUT killing the overseer, and looting everything you can carry on the way. If you do kill him its not a huge deal, but a later quest has fewer possible outcomes.

4) On your way out of the vault, you may want to grab the medicine bobblehead from your dads desk . If you dont, you only get one other chance to get it in the game. If you are wanting to get all the bobbleheads, you NEED to get that one either during the initial escape or the trouble on the home front quest. The only other permanently missable one is in raven rock . You only get one chance to get that one.

5) The game autosaves just before you leave the vault, and lets you change all your skills and stats, how you look, everything. If you want another playthrough, just load that save and make changes and off you go.

6) Lockpicking and Science are both important if you want all the loot. Speech lets you bypass a few minor bumps, and get better rewards, but isnt vital. Similarly Barter. Repair is important, unless you are running an unarmed character.

7) It is possible to sequence-break the main quest. If you want to see all of it, there are a couple of places you do not want to go into if you find them through randomly exploring, before a quest directs you to them. DO NOT go into; the rivet city science lab, Caseys garage or Galaxy News Radio. Obviously once a quest tells you to go there, you can.

8) If you are thinking about getting the DLC for it, the general consensus in the Fallout 3 thread boils down to: Broken Steel is great (and extends the main storyline, without this the end of the story is game over, with this you can get back to the wasteland after completing the story). Point lookout is also great for high-level characters. The Pitt is decent. Operation anchorage is linear and pretty much just combat, but with fantastic rewards. Mothership Zeta is frankly missable.

9) Dont bother taking the perks that give you +10% experience (swift learner). There is more than enough content in the game to have you hitting the level 20 (30 with broken steel) level caps without them. Similarly, I personally find the perks that give you +5 to 2 skills to be a waste of time. On the other hand, the perks that give extra skill points every level or everytime you read a book (Educated and Comprehension) are well worth taking as soon as possible.

10) You can stash things in containers and come back for them later, however most containers arent secure and the stuff you put in them may vanish. The only secure containers are in your house. There are only 2 houses in the game you can obtain, and you can only get one or the other, not both. Which one you get depends on your resolution of the "Power of the Atom" quest. Personally for a first playthrough I would recommend saving the town to get a house there, but whatever floats your boat. If you decide to go the other way, remember to loot the place before you do it. Including the strength bobblehead in Lucas Simms house. If you blow it up, its gone. You can get his key by pickpocketing him or by killing him and looting the corpse

Lastly, if you are wanting to break the game over your knee and make it your bitch:
Get the Operation Anchorage expansion. It scales to your level, I've run a level 5 character through it before without significant problems. The rewards for this mission include a laser sniper rifle, power armour training, power armour that doesnt degrade and the chinese stealth suit, otherwise known as the easy mode armour. You can also do the quest in rivet city to find the runaway robot ridiculously early, get his gun (the best energy weapon for about 75% of the game) and then the reward for turning him in.

If you come across frosted sugar bombs, pre-war books or scrap metal, stockpile them until you find the characters who will buy each off you for signicant amounts of caps.

If you have a lot of patience you can leave the vault, go up the hill to the barn behind the vault enterance which is a random encounter spot. Reload until you get a good random encounter (either the one where you find a wounded deathclaw and a wastelander with the dart gun schematics, or the crashing alien ship).


Other points to note; Speech is not NEARLY as useful in FO3 as it is in New Vegas, and when a kid asks you to find out what happened to his dad you may want to put that quest off until you have a load of ammo and some decent armour.

SiKboy fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Dec 12, 2010

RillAkBea
Oct 11, 2008

Like what the guy above me said, be careful about exploring before visiting Rivet City to avoid missing out on some good items.

If you get into exploring, try to do as much as possible before the main quest leads you to the Jefferson Memorial as it may become more difficult afterwards.

For a pleasant first playthrough, take Small Guns. For the first half of the game especially and even overall, most of the guns fall under this category.

Try to take perks that give you an ability otherwise unavailable, the game gives you more than enough opportunities to max out most of your skills without stat enhancing perks.

If you're using fairly common items, it might be a good idea to put some points into Repair, you'll save some caps and do a better job than most of the vendors in the game.

As for Mothership Zeta, yes, none of the content really makes it worth the chore of the actual quest.

m2pt5
May 18, 2005

THAT GOD DAMN MOSQUITO JUST KEEPS COMING BACK

MurraneousX posted:

As for Mothership Zeta, yes, none of the content really makes it worth the chore of the actual quest.

I would argue this point - Alien Epoxy can fix any weapon without needing another compatible weapon or paying a merchant to do it; your repair skill affects how much each tube repairs.

That said, the rest of Zeta isn't very good, and one of the NPCs has a tendency to appear randomly in the regular game world, making Zeta unfinishable unless you use the console to bring her back to the ship.

pizza valentine
Sep 19, 2007

DON'T FAKE THE FUNK
Grimey Drawer
Is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as difficult as reviews say? I planned on picking this up soon but looking into some reviews a common theme seems to be the difficulty of the game while playing solo. I don't mind playing with other people the only problem is I don't know anyone else with a PSP. With game reviewers it can be difficult to gauge how far they really got into the game or how hard they tried before moving onto the next game to review. I don't mind a challenge and I consider myself pretty good at games but I don't want to have to try to find someone to progress or cheese my way through boss battles.

Sarkozymandias
May 25, 2010

THAT'S SYOUS D'RAVEN

Ramagamma posted:

Anything to take into consideration before beginning the critically acclaimed godsend that is Beyond Good and Evil?

Take pictures of basically every creature. Most boss-types give you only one chance and true professionals will photojournalize their way through the strange and wonderful world you live in.

Dr Snofeld
Apr 30, 2009

Jjaarreett posted:

Is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as difficult as reviews say? I planned on picking this up soon but looking into some reviews a common theme seems to be the difficulty of the game while playing solo. I don't mind playing with other people the only problem is I don't know anyone else with a PSP. With game reviewers it can be difficult to gauge how far they really got into the game or how hard they tried before moving onto the next game to review. I don't mind a challenge and I consider myself pretty good at games but I don't want to have to try to find someone to progress or cheese my way through boss battles.

It's entirely possible to complete every mission solo. I've done it. The problem is boss battles - sometimes you just don't seem to do enough damage. That means you probably need to research better weapons. Presumably the reviewers don't bother with the Extra Ops, and so they had less time to research and fewer new weapons.

Some of the optional post-game bosses (of which there are a LOT) are quite hard, but still doable.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Getting back into Galactic Civilizations 2 after putting it on the shelf, and I remember why I put it there - it's kind of overwhelming!

I read the tips on the wiki page but I still have some questions.

1) What should I be building on planets? I know that different races have different construction trees now, but as a general rule, what kind of things should I be focusing on? The wiki said that too much production is bad because it's expensive, and too much population is bad because it affects morale, so it seems like focusing on morale is the way to go, at least early on. But surely I ought to be building some factories and farms and stuff as well. What about research buildings, or wonders? Is there a rule of thumb to follow? I seem to remember back before the expansions there was a rule of two morale buildings to each farm, but I don't remember if that's right or if it still works.

2) Research. The tech tree's huge and I don't know what I'm doing. For military tech, I know that there are three kinds of weapons and three kinds of defense. I'm guessing I want to pick a weapon and go hog wild with it and hope my enemies don't counter it too much but what about defenses? Should I spread my research out there? What about the non-military techs? What are the areas to focus on there?

3) Ship design. Any rules of thumb here? Modules that are must-haves or must-nots?

I'm sure there are other things I'm confused about too, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Foam Monkey
Jun 4, 2007
Lurkzilla
Grimey Drawer
I've beaten Yakuza 1 (finally) after beating Yakuza 3, and I figured I might as well start playing Yakuza 2. I know there's a LP going on right now for it, but I was wondering if there were any other tips besides beating everybody senseless until I get no more random encounters?

A Real Happy Camper
Dec 11, 2007

These children have taught me how to believe.

Jjaarreett posted:

Is Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker as difficult as reviews say? I planned on picking this up soon but looking into some reviews a common theme seems to be the difficulty of the game while playing solo. I don't mind playing with other people the only problem is I don't know anyone else with a PSP. With game reviewers it can be difficult to gauge how far they really got into the game or how hard they tried before moving onto the next game to review. I don't mind a challenge and I consider myself pretty good at games but I don't want to have to try to find someone to progress or cheese my way through boss battles.

I have never completed a MGS game with the difficulty above Normal and I beat Peace Walker fairly easily. As long as you remember to do some Extra Ops to unlock more weapons and upgrade them you'll be fine. I didn't get a game over until the last 1/3 of the game. Like Dr. Snofeld said, a lot of the post-game stuff gets hard, but it's doable if you do a little bit of grinding. The most difficult part is sticking with the game through the 30 not-very-different vehicle battles after you beat the game.

Astfgl
Aug 31, 2001

Mr E posted:

What should I know about Dead Rising 2?

Didn't see anyone respond to this. The game is super easy and entirely straightforward. Remember that you can "restart" the story at any time, which lets you keep your experience and level progress. It's a good way to farm some quick experience (by completing easy sidequests) early on. These are just things that made the game less tedious once I figured them out:

- At first, the name of the game will be inventory management. You start with three slots, and they should all be filled with weapons. Your weapons will break quickly at first, so you should never be lacking a slot to pick up and use a health item, but you should always focus on carrying the max amount of weapons any time you leave the safe room. Once your inventory has expanded (say, 8+ slots), you should start carrying health-items and magazines with you. I typically carry three magazines (one boosts the health restoration of any food I consume, one increases my PP with combined weapons, and one increases the PP gained from survivor-related bonuses) and anywhere from 1-3 containers of orange juice, depending on what enemies I expect to face. If I'm just facing zombies, then I only carry one OJ, but if I know I'm going to fight a psychopath or a boss, then I bring as many as possible.
- Over long distances, the underground really is the fastest route, provided you resist the urge to kill zombies. The underground is only faster if you drive, and the vehicle will eventually explode if you hit too many zombies with it, like any other item in the game. And if the vehicle runs out and you're halfway or less to your destination, it's going to take you much longer to wade through a dark tunnel full of zombies than it would if you'd gone aboveground. (The underground is a bad idea if you are travelling with more than one follower. The vehicles can only seat two, including yourself, so any excess companions will have to run to catch up.)
- You should try to arm your followers. You'll notice they come in different varieties, namely Aggressive, Passive and Weak. Give shotguns or automatic weapons to the aggressive ones and they'll mow through most zombies. Passive survivors won't attack except to defend themselves, so give them handguns or swords. And weak survivors need to be returned to the safehouse ASAP as they slow your whole group down. Remember, you can tell your followers to stand still, and if you've armed them well then the aggressive ones will completely protect the passive and weak survivors, letting you wander off on your own.
- The best combined items are the the Defiler (Sledgehammer + Fireaxe), the Knife Gloves (Boxing gloves + Bowie knife), and the Lightsword (Gems + Flashlight). Their components are relatively easy to find and they give decent amounts of PP.
- The best non-combined weapons are the the Broadsword (you can find several in the Americana Casino), the Tomahawk (in the Chieftain's Hut in the Royal Flush Plaza), the Fireaxe (you can find at least two in the safe room), the Shotgun (you can usually find some in the Arena lobby, carried by security guard zombies near the door to the South Plaza), the Large Machine Gun (on top of the statue in the Yucatan), and the Handgun (you can find two in the security office of the Americana, but most security guard zombies will carry one).

Here are some tips for fighting psychopaths:
  • Restart the story or wait. You won't be able to fight any psychopaths the first time you encounter them on your first playthrough. Until your health/inventory expand, they'll kill you in one or two hits.
  • Leave. Not the area, but just the general 10-metre radius that you're fighting in. Head for a mob of zombies (if possible; some bosses won't leave a certain area and it might not have any zombies in it--more on that in a second). Odds are that the boss will have trouble targeting you or reaching you. If you're lucky, they'll be immobilized by the zombies and you can hack away at them both in one shot. Some bosses can even be knocked down by zombies, letting you attack them with relative ease.
  • Do things they can't. Some bosses, for instance, cannot jump. At all. This gives you a huge advantage, since you can jump AND climb. More to the point, if you go somewhere inaccessible to them, they'll run against a wall as the AI tries to process what to do next. So if Leon is proving difficult, jump behind a barricade and watch him spin his wheels against it. This one is especially useful for boss fights where you're confined to an area with no zombies to use as distractions/meatshields.
  • If all else fails, make a run for the LMG. This is usually only a last resort, since you have to plan it in advance meaning you've probably died several times already at the hands of this boss. More importantly, if the boss moves constantly, like Slappy or the katana-wielding lesbians, then the LMG will be of no use. But for bosses like Brandon, who stay in a confined space with no zombies but who move in straight lines for a lot of the time, it's a lifesaver.
  • The last option is lovely, and it's basically that all the bosses in the game have a vulnerability. It's just that they're always a real bitch to exploit. So with Brandon, successfully dodging his attack will leave him disoriented. Randy will stop to catch his breath if you make him run too much. You can run headlong into Slappy while he's charging to discombobulate him. And so on and so forth. The problem is that your timing needs to be impeccable, both to pull off the move and then to actually get any damage done in the small window of opportunity you have, as the boss will only stop for about 5 seconds. More to the point, it can be challenging to take down a boss just using this method as it really only gives you time enough for 1 or 2 good hits, and that's if you're both lucky and fast. It's far easier to trap them in the scenery or surround them with zombies.

Astfgl fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Dec 13, 2010

Scalding Coffee
Jun 26, 2006

You're already dead

Ainsley McTree posted:

Getting back into Galactic Civilizations 2 after putting it on the shelf, and I remember why I put it there - it's kind of overwhelming!

I read the tips on the wiki page but I still have some questions.

1) What should I be building on planets? I know that different races have different construction trees now, but as a general rule, what kind of things should I be focusing on? The wiki said that too much production is bad because it's expensive, and too much population is bad because it affects morale, so it seems like focusing on morale is the way to go, at least early on. But surely I ought to be building some factories and farms and stuff as well. What about research buildings, or wonders? Is there a rule of thumb to follow? I seem to remember back before the expansions there was a rule of two morale buildings to each farm, but I don't remember if that's right or if it still works.

2) Research. The tech tree's huge and I don't know what I'm doing. For military tech, I know that there are three kinds of weapons and three kinds of defense. I'm guessing I want to pick a weapon and go hog wild with it and hope my enemies don't counter it too much but what about defenses? Should I spread my research out there? What about the non-military techs? What are the areas to focus on there?

3) Ship design. Any rules of thumb here? Modules that are must-haves or must-nots?

I'm sure there are other things I'm confused about too, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
Get the Ultimate (all expansions) pack if you don't have it.

Just stick with one factory for each planet that suits it and your long term budget. I sometimes go by a rule of 50 turns of paying upkeep. When you start getting tons of cash and able to expand like crazy, build another factory. It wouldn't be good to build all the production buildings in Civ games from the start.

I always make my race with full morale and stave off part of that annoyance. Just be sure to keep growth at double by keeping taxes small enough and raise it when it is better to make money off them.

Just build where there are bonus squares and compensate around them for each planet. Power game later when you have a hang of it.

Defenses are only good on larger ships and one defense mod protects equally against the other two types of weapons by its square root. Four shields give you the protection of two for the others. 16 gives 4.

Research and stick with one weapon type when someone (a counter to their defense) knows Planetary Invasion (big red flag).

Research what is worthy from the settings. Technology bonuses are added on top of what you already have.

Scalding Coffee fucked around with this message at 05:02 on Dec 13, 2010

StupidSexyMothman
Aug 9, 2010

Mr E posted:

What should I know about Dead Rising 2?
To add to what Astfgl said:
Case 2-2. You'll go into the Underground for the first time. After you head down the stairs, there's a black and yellow striped strip on the ground separating you from the tracks, and once you pass it you trigger the case cutscene. Just before this strip, there'll be a bathroom.

:siren:SAVE YOUR GAME HERE.:siren:

The case is a two-parter, and the second part of the case is something you can easily fail the first time you try it regardless of level. If you muck it up you are royally hosed, because you will have failed story mode for that savegame & you'll miss out on your chance to get the Underground Key (i.e. you have to travel all the way back to where you entered the Underground to get out).

Orfeo
Nov 27, 2007

Ectobiology sure does involve a lot of button pushing.
I just found a copy of Vagrant Story, and all I know is that the crafting system can be pretty obtuse. What else should I know?

al-azad
May 28, 2009



Orfeo posted:

I just found a copy of Vagrant Story, and all I know is that the crafting system can be pretty obtuse. What else should I know?

If you see a save point, save. Even if you're backtracking, save. Even if you saved five minutes ago, save.

Keep one weapon of each type with you. Even if a weapon has really high damage against a particular enemy type, certain enemies are practically immune to certain weapon types.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


^^ To expand on the above, try to have a set of weapons that between them cover all three damage types (blunt/slashing/piercing) and all six enemy classes (human/beast/undead/phantom/dragon/evil). Damage types are built into the weapon; enemy classes will change as you use the weapon, with it getting better against the enemies you're attacking and worse against the following two classes. For example, if you attack a lot of humans with a given weapon, it'll get better at killing humans, but worse against beasts and undead.

If you have to choose, covering all three damage types is better than covering all six enemy classes, since as al-azad said some enemies are nearly immune to certain damage types. But you should be able to cover all damage types and enemy classes with just three weapons.

Don't forget that you can rename your weapons, which makes it easier to keep track of which weapons you should be using on which enemies.

Crafting

There's four things that could all be called "crafting": changing which gems are attached to a weapon or shield; taking a weapon apart; putting a weapon together; and combining weapons or armour to make new items.

You can add and remove gems from weapons and shields at any time. You can also break down weapons into their component parts anywhere - this is especially important because you can carry a lot more parts than you can complete weapons, so if you pick up a weapon you don't need, take it apart!

At a workshop, you can reassemble weapons, combining a grip and blade (or stock and bolts, for crossbows) to make a usable weapon. This is especially useful for upgrading blades you've had for a while (which contain the enemy class affinity) with better grips that have higher stats or more gem slots.

Finally, combining items can also only be done at a workshop, and only using materials the workshop supports - for example, if a workshop supports iron and bronze, the only items you can combine are those made of iron or bronze. The item type and material that result are pre-coded and gamefaqs has lots of spergalicious charts if you don't feel like experimenting; the enemy type and elemental affinity is based on the affinity of the parent items.

Crafting isn't particularly complicated - combine two items, get new item with stats based on its parents - but figuring out which combinations result in which items is a heavy undertaking simply because there are so many possible combinations.

Random stuff

- You have a relatively small inventory limit, so store stuff you aren't using in the save chests.
- Partway through the game you gain the ability to teleport between save points at will. Until then you'll need to walk.
- Doors that are "sealed with the Rood Inverse" cannot be opened until New Game +.
- Similarly, some titles can't be achieved until NG+
- Buff and debuff spells are fantastic in this game and often more useful than direct damage spells

crime fighting hog
Jun 29, 2006

I only pray, Heaven knows when to lift you out
I'm trying to install tutu but it says I can't use it with the US version of Baldur's Gate.

I've installed BG 1 with Swordcoast and BG2 with Throne of Bhaal. What am I doing wrong? I've tried both versions of tutu and have gotten the same problem.

E: I got BG 1 off of GOG, if that matters.

crime fighting hog fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Dec 13, 2010

Thwack!
Aug 14, 2010

Ability: Shadow Tag
Just starting out Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga. Any good character builds and other things useful during my playthrough?

Justin Godscock
Oct 12, 2004

Listen here, funnyman!

al-azad posted:

If you see a save point, save. Even if you're backtracking, save. Even if you saved five minutes ago, save.

Keep one weapon of each type with you. Even if a weapon has really high damage against a particular enemy type, certain enemies are practically immune to certain weapon types.

The reason for all the saving is because you will constantly run into enemies that will kick your rear end.

Alris
Apr 20, 2007

Welcome to the Fantasy Zone!

Get ready!

Orfeo posted:

I just found a copy of Vagrant Story, and all I know is that the crafting system can be pretty obtuse. What else should I know?

When you first boot up the game, set your controller aside and wait until a cutscene begins detailing all the poo poo going down at the manor. It's a major piece of plot that almost everyone misses the first time around, and sets up the scene well.

There's a second cutscene that plays after another loop, but it's not necessary to watch it. In fact, I would advise you deliberately skip it as it reveals some information that I would have rather not known the first time I played. Don't worry, you will not be missing out on anything.

crime fighting hog
Jun 29, 2006

I only pray, Heaven knows when to lift you out
I got Tutu to work, but the game is still buggy as hell. I'll get over it though

Jokymi
Jan 31, 2003

Sweet Sassy Molassy
(Dead Rising 2)

Astfgl posted:

Here are some tips for fighting psychopaths:

Restart the story or wait. You won't be able to fight any psychopaths the first time you encounter them on your first playthrough.
This isn't necessarily true. Just like the first game you can beat any boss on your first playthrough, it just might be harder. I played through the game my first time without restarting, and I was able to get the true ending and kill all of the optional psychopaths along the way.

Dr. Quarex
Apr 18, 2003

I'M A BIG DORK WHO POSTS TOO MUCH ABOUT CONVENTIONS LOOK AT THIS

TOVA TOVA TOVA

Thwack! posted:

Just starting out Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga. Any good character builds and other things useful during my playthrough?

For starters, Divinity 2 plays more like the first two games in the series than you might expect for such a drastic change in perspective and game mechanics (though this does you no good if you have not played them). If you are any good at basic CRPG/MMORPG kiting (attacking from afar, avoiding retaliatory attacks if any, repeat), then you can basically put your points wherever you want. I am level 29 at this point, and have still not spent any of my stat points (though at this point out of stubbornness and refusal to believe there is never going to be a stat requirement for anything as there was in the first two games). Because none of the skills particularly strike me as all that much fun to have (except the dragon skills, but naturally they are far more limited), other than raising lockpick to 4, I spent no skill points until level ~25 either, when I raised ranger strength (just to make kiting go a little quicker).

Mindread and Wisdom are both tempting to the right kind of player, but I cannot help but think that mechanically speaking you do yourself an overall disservice by investing in them (particularly in mindread, as that is an occasional reduction of experience cost versus wisdom's continual increase in experience gain, looking like a worse deal).

So, though I have no specific build advice, but if you can make it through huge parts of the game with no build at all, then you are good to go with whatever sounds like fun to you.

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry
Planescape: Torment is turning out to be quite enjoyable, however what really bugs me is when you talk to someone the game gets a bit....wordy with its descriptions. This makes talking with people to be quite a chore. I wish there was a way to make actual spoken dialogue within quotation marks a different color to make them stand out. God knows how many conversations I've skipped over because I lost interest after the third or fourth paragraph of needless extra description.

The game isn't as bad as Fallout when it comes to "need a walkthrough to know what the gently caress", but it still kind of suffers from "you have to talk to every god drat NPC to know what to do". And that's hard to ask of someone when these characters just drone on and on and on.

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


^^ I quite like it, personally. The Infinity Engine isn't capable of providing that level of detail, so they do it in text instead; I think it works well.

Then again, I don't usually complain that books I'm reading have too much description and scene-setting and not enough dialogue, either, even when, arguably, they do.

Thwack! posted:

Just starting out Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga. Any good character builds and other things useful during my playthrough?

After completing Broken Valley you can respec skill points (but not stat points).

Ignore Wisdom and Mindread and put your points into useful things instead, you'll hit the level cap easily even with no points in either. I played a sword & shield character and put most of my points into Whirlwind, Charge Attack, Bleed, Life Leech, Mana Leech, Heal, Jump Attack, and Thousand Strikes, and it worked great, but since you can respec the game rewards experimentation, so try stuff out.

Mindread everyone as soon as the option appears. If it comes back on someone you've mindread earlier, mindread them again.

Do everything in Broken Valley before you leave, because it'll be a long time before you come back.

After leaving Broken Valley you get infinite sources for every enchanting and alchemy ingredient except malachite gems, so don't worry overmuch about hanging on to them. Conversely, malachite gems are needed for the best enchantments in the game - get them whenever you can and hang on to them.

Talking to an enchanter NPC will remove from your inventory the blueprints for all enchantments you don't already know and add them to your enchanting list. Ditto alchemist NPCs and recipes. Use this to save inventory space (and determine which blueprints/recipes you already know and can thus safely sell).

Hang on to items with good enchantments on them. Even if you don't plan to use them, you can strip the enchantments from them at an enchanter and apply them to something you are using.

The only enchantment on jewelery that stays useful past the first hour of the game is Healing Aura, and it is amazing. However, it also requires a malachite gem regardless of how powerful the enchantment is.

Gaggins
Nov 20, 2007

crime fighting hog posted:

I got Tutu to work, but the game is still buggy as hell. I'll get over it though

I don't really know but you should ask in this thread:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3136028

Even though it's about BG2 it seems to be the default BG thread. People in there know so much it's disgusting.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Scalding Coffee posted:

Get the Ultimate (all expansions) pack if you don't have it.

Just stick with one factory for each planet that suits it and your long term budget. I sometimes go by a rule of 50 turns of paying upkeep. When you start getting tons of cash and able to expand like crazy, build another factory. It wouldn't be good to build all the production buildings in Civ games from the start.

I always make my race with full morale and stave off part of that annoyance. Just be sure to keep growth at double by keeping taxes small enough and raise it when it is better to make money off them.

Just build where there are bonus squares and compensate around them for each planet. Power game later when you have a hang of it.

Defenses are only good on larger ships and one defense mod protects equally against the other two types of weapons by its square root. Four shields give you the protection of two for the others. 16 gives 4.

Research and stick with one weapon type when someone (a counter to their defense) knows Planetary Invasion (big red flag).

Research what is worthy from the settings. Technology bonuses are added on top of what you already have.

This helps, thanks.

I thought of another question - I know that in the early game it's important to build colony ships and quickly scramble for the good habitable planets, but when do you stop? Do you just stop when they're all taken, or is there a point where you need to stop taking empty planets before you overextend yourself? Is there a rule of thumb for that, or is it just something you get a feel for with experience?

Scalding Coffee
Jun 26, 2006

You're already dead
Consider that those planets you take will never be invaded any time soon, yet will become the core of a fledgling juggernaut. If there are lots of opponents, try to take what you can quickly, since any planets they take will become a source of culture clashes/travel restrictions and close warship factories.
If there is little threat to nearby planets being settled, try to find the good ones far out. If someone is dumb enough to take a nearby planet deep inside your territory, build culture starbases and make them flip.

If you can easily build around what you colonized, then it should be good enough. You have to consider they will be invaded after so many turns and being far from your main factories.

Scalding Coffee fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Dec 14, 2010

The Chad Jihad
Feb 24, 2007


Gundam Crossfire. I'm a little ways into it and I have to be doing something wrong as regardless of stats everything I use gets absolutely torn up by the slightest bit of enemy fire, and my weapons can barely scratch them

ToxicFrog
Apr 26, 2008


Just Cause 2. Grabbed it on Steam along with the Air and Boom packs.

Thwack!
Aug 14, 2010

Ability: Shadow Tag
Thanks Quarex and ToxicFrog. Though I am aware of respec your skill points, I'll start again due to the fact that I missed out on the Malachite gems on Broken Valley as well as skipping the side-quests aside from the one where you gotta save some pigs.

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A Real Happy Camper
Dec 11, 2007

These children have taught me how to believe.

ToxicFrog posted:

Just Cause 2. Grabbed it on Steam along with the Air and Boom packs.

Grab a mod that makes it so you have the parachute thrusters all the time. It gets annoying spending $50,000 every time you die. After you finish the story you can still dick around, so do it whenever.

Upgrading weapons also upgrades the enemy weapons, too. IMO, don't upgrade the SMG, since enemies always have them and you're just making it harder on yourself.

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