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Geralt's a dorky monster detective dad with layers. Like an onion.The Sharmat posted:I doubt the rest of the game is gonna be any better for him honestly. If a guy's dropping thirty bucks to give a game a shot, I figure he's approaching it in good faith. There's been a lot of sensational overreactions to the franchise over the years and it's had an effect on this game too, especially wrt gender politics and race. And it's a shame, because this is probably the one game that plays the most with expectations that media narrative created. And it deals with Geralt's relationships, romantic or otherwise, in the most humanly written way. Moreso than any relationship written in a Bioware game, that's for sure.
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Dec 8, 2015 11:07
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And on the topic of the Witcher's tawdry reputation, lmao at all the people who tried to get with the Nilfgaardian twins.
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Dec 8, 2015 11:16
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T.G. Xarbala posted:If a guy's dropping thirty bucks to give a game a shot, I figure he's approaching it in good faith. His post made me think he's enjoying the game but entered the story looking to be offended by its portrayal of women. Which in itself is probably a form of entertainment, I guess. This is not helped by the reputation it got from the first game. I don't think they'll ever live down the sex card thing. Which is weird because the sex cards were the least sexist thing about TW1's portrayal of women. It was just some cheesecake fantasy art. The real problem was all the women falling all over Geralt in an almost comical fashion. The next two games rectified that and I think have the best female characters in the market more or less, but they haven't been able to overcome that stigma from TW1. T.G. Xarbala posted:And on the topic of the Witcher's tawdry reputation, lmao at all the people who tried to get with the Nilfgaardian twins. That was a great troll by CDPR.
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Dec 8, 2015 11:22
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El Hefe posted:I thought I was about to finish the game so I look up a guide to see how far I'm into the main quest and it turns out I only just finished act 1 Act 1 is around 2/3 of the way through the main quest. The rest of the game moves at a very fast pace.
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Dec 8, 2015 11:24
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The Sharmat posted:The next two games rectified that and I think have the best female characters in the market more or less, but they haven't been able to overcome that stigma from TW1. The Witcher, whether book or game, has always enjoyed it's Game of Thrones or Spartacus, erotica/sexy elements even if like the other two, they are clearly doing something with it. All of them recieved a lot of negative buzz, press, and reactions for it. Even if The Witcher wasn't amateur hour on handling that poo poo maturely, it's always going to be a point of contention. Sex is a touchy subject, so naturally there are going to be people both offended and people pretending to get offended to make a point. It's why it took forever for Film/television/games to touch touch sex with a five foot pole and why sensuality in media comes in and out of style.
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Dec 8, 2015 11:34
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TW2 and TW3 handle sex and violence a lot more tastefully than HBO's Game of Thrones and Spartacus but that's not exactly a high bar to set to be honest.
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Dec 8, 2015 11:35
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The Sharmat posted:TW2 and TW3 handle sex and violence a lot more tastefully than HBO's Game of Thrones and Spartacus but that's not exactly a high bar to set to be honest. Spartacus was REALLY into throwing women a bone and throwing big dicks at them as often breasts though. It genuinely wanted a raunchy show that women and men both could enjoy.
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Dec 8, 2015 11:37
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Gratuitous sex is still gratuitous even if it caters to both genders equally. Also what was the thematic role of Game of Thrones' dick leech? Comte will the Enhanced Edition finally have CDPR suck it up, get in the motion capture studios, and give Geralt dong physics?
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Dec 8, 2015 11:43
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The Sharmat posted:Ciri can't fail at that though, and she knows it. She's not trying to learn to play the piano or something. She has to learn to control these abilities or everything's hosed. I took her to the grave and refused payment from the emperor, but like you followed her in with the Lodge (which I took as an offer, not a demand and I don't think that really was 'weakening' her), didn't play with snowballs, and told her to calm down in the lab (the other option I believed she would go apeshit and use her powers to raze the place).
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Dec 8, 2015 11:55
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Barnsy posted:the other option I believed she would go apeshit and use her powers to raze the place). She specifically says right before you make that choice that she couldn't even if she wanted to. Ironically, you end up doing something much worse to Avallac'h that way. I think he'd be pretty pissed about Lara Dorren's necklace being stolen, way more than just messing up his makeshift office. Accompanying her to the Lodge was an offer yeah, and Ciri is appreciative of it, but it does help her to give her the confidence to handle it on her own the other way. It also leads to an amusing scene where you see Geralt and Yennefer eavesdropping on the conversation and acting like nervous parents outside the Principal's office. Of course, if you only do that "right" way you never find out what the Lodge's idea was in the first place. That one's worth doing either way and is the only one that doesn't end with Geralt looking like an rear end I think. I really hate how the Emperor thing is handled in this game. One of my biggest problems with the plot. It's one of the only things in the series that only makes sense if TW3 is your first exposure to it.
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Dec 8, 2015 12:05
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The Sharmat posted:She specifically says right before you make that choice that she couldn't even if she wanted to. Ironically, you end up doing something much worse to Avallac'h that way. I think he'd be pretty pissed about Lara Dorren's necklace being stolen, way more than just messing up his makeshift office. I agree with your assessment of the lodge, but I think it contradicts the whole snowball scene. If the message for Ciri is to go out on her own, then she should be alone in the lodge and learn to deal with her problems (i.e. not go on for a childish snowball fight with daddy, rather than realize she's flawed in any way, learn to restrain her anger etc.). Meh, as I said before it's a tiny flaw to an otherwise near masterpiece. I really can't wait for the next DLC that's supposedly offering like 20hrs of playtime.
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Dec 8, 2015 12:13
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Barnsy posted:I agree with your assessment of the lodge, but I think it contradicts the whole snowball scene. If the message for Ciri is to go out on her own, then she should be alone in the lodge and learn to deal with her problems (i.e. not go on for a childish snowball fight with daddy, rather than realize she's flawed in any way, learn to restrain her anger etc.). Those situations aren't really comparable though. One is about being taken seriously by an outside threat, the other is her just needing help to blow off steam. They're entirely different scenarios and problems. "Rather than realize she's flawed in any way"? That's a really weird reading of the situation. So your advice to her there would be "You need to accept that you're just not good at this thing that you absolutely have to be good at or you'll kill yourself and everyone else. Stop being such a little girl."? I really don't think it's the game's writing that's at fault in this particular instance. EDIT: Though come to think of it given the choices you made, if you didn't pick the wrong option there you'd have gotten the Empress ending, which isn't nearly as well done as the Ciri dies ending. So really you lucked out. The Sharmat fucked around with this message at 12:24 on Dec 8, 2015 |
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Dec 8, 2015 12:22
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My wife got me a gtx 970 for my birthday (up from a gtx 470) Oh my god oh my god this game looks nice And I can do Ultra in 1080p at 60fps! I couldn't even do low settings at 60fps. Now I'm really glad I didn't finish this yet.
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Dec 8, 2015 13:51
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THE AWESOME GHOST posted:My wife got me a gtx 970 for my birthday (up from a gtx 470) Now get an SSD.
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Dec 8, 2015 14:36
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The Sharmat posted:Those situations aren't really comparable though. One is about being taken seriously by an outside threat, the other is her just needing help to blow off steam. They're entirely different scenarios and problems. This really surprised me after seeing people complaining about a "you don't have to be good at everything" dialogue option, I'm still not done with the game so I may find some of the rest of the choices regarding this unfair in some way, but this one seemed pretty clear cut considering she absolutely does need to be good at this one thing.
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Dec 8, 2015 15:55
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The only one I felt a bit cheated on was [shoving Dijsktra, forcefully] but it was funny so I accepted it. If I'd ending spoilers accidentally gotten the Empress ending my first time through I'd have been pretty mad since there's not much build up for it at all, but there was no way I was going to have Geralt persuade Ciri her warmongering wife murdering wannabe daughter rapist father was entitled to a visit from her.
The Sharmat fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Dec 8, 2015 |
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Dec 8, 2015 16:06
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Are there only the two endings or something because I don't think I can handle two open-world games in a row where I kill my video game child.
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Dec 8, 2015 16:11
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RBA Starblade posted:Are there only the two endings or something because I don't think I can handle two open-world games in a row where I kill my video game child. There's three, on that count. Multiple permutations on each but the big thing has three outcomes.
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Dec 8, 2015 16:14
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The unmentioned ending is the best ending. Perfect in every way.
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Dec 8, 2015 16:29
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From the storytelling perspective I thought the bad ending was the best one anyway. I love that ending and it resembles the style of the books too. I can see people getting mad at the protagonist not living happily ever after but as a proper story it's the strongest ending. The world gets saved after all but there is a price to pay for that - for Geralt and Yen the highest price possible. It fits the gameworld perfectly.
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Dec 8, 2015 16:33
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Playing this after beating fallout 4 is a pretty big shock, just in terms of dialog/writing quality. I don't know, maybe it all goes down the toilet and you become emperor yet can't tell them to stop invading people and are bossed around to go delivery 10 wolf pelts to the northern garrison so they aren't too cold for the upcoming attack. "Good work emperor, we need all the support from the toops we can get, I'll let you know if other imperial detachments need anything"
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Dec 8, 2015 17:20
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It never really takes a dive, which I think is what makes it so impressive. There are a few late-game head-scratchers just because some characters act bizarrely (loving Dijkstra, I swear to poo poo) and honestly the ending feels rushed enough that I thought it could've been its own entire game, but it's really just good as hell the whole way through. It makes Fallout 4's attempt at a parent-rescuing-child story look amateurish at best.
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Dec 8, 2015 17:25
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Baronjutter posted:Playing this after beating fallout 4 is a pretty big shock, just in terms of dialog/writing quality. I don't know, maybe it all goes down the toilet and you become emperor yet can't tell them to stop invading people and are bossed around to go delivery 10 wolf pelts to the northern garrison so they aren't too cold for the upcoming attack. "Good work emperor, we need all the support from the toops we can get, I'll let you know if other imperial detachments need anything" You're playing the games in the right order. Playing Fallout 4 after this is....ugh. And I LOVE Bethesda games to death but holy poo poo Witcher 3 schools them in open world design, interesting characters, and solid writing.
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Dec 8, 2015 17:31
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Come to think of it Mad Max the game is an open-world game about a dad who already lost his child so I guess technically it's three games right now. 
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Dec 8, 2015 17:31
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chaosapiant posted:You're playing the games in the right order. Playing Fallout 4 after this is....ugh. And I LOVE Bethesda games to death but holy poo poo Witcher 3 schools them in open world design, interesting characters, and solid writing. Yup, $60 and like 12 hours and I'm pretty done with Fallout 4. What a let down.
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Dec 8, 2015 17:36
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I really just can't believe I didn't already learn my lesson with Bethesda games: they're fun for what they are, but for the way I play games, not worth buying at launch or at full price. I'm sure they are for lots and lots of people, just not me anymore. I played Fallout 4 a bunch and dropped it the moment Bloodborne's DLC came out and I don't really have any intention to go back and finish it. I had a good time, but I've also had enough, and that's fine.
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Dec 8, 2015 17:40
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I'm enjoying FO4 a lot more than Witcher 3 but I think both are pretty good games. The combat and horseback isn't doing it for me that much (though I like it more than W2 so far I think) and something about how alchemy and oils work now isn't grabbing me. It's not helping that most quests I seem to get are level 13-22 and I can't do it yet, but if I go off the beaten trail to explore a similarly high level enemy gets in my way. I'm still early in the story so I'm assuming it's just pushing me along a little longer but that's the opposite of what I did in W1 and 2, where I did all the side stuff I could before advancing the plot.
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Dec 8, 2015 17:44
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Harrow posted:I really just can't believe I didn't already learn my lesson with Bethesda games: they're fun for what they are, but for the way I play games, not worth buying at launch or at full price. I'm sure they are for lots and lots of people, just not me anymore. I played Fallout 4 a bunch and dropped it the moment Bloodborne's DLC came out and I don't really have any intention to go back and finish it. I had a good time, but I've also had enough, and that's fine. This, but Ubisoft games. I loved AC Pirates edition, but I got burned so hard by following games I refuse to purchase Ubisoft games at launch.
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Dec 8, 2015 17:48
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^ God yes. I was frustrated with all the games I was playing when AC Syndicate came out so I caved and bought it. I had a decent enough time, mostly because my girlfriend was watching me play and really liked watching me Batman around as Evie and making fun of Jacob being a total blockhead the entire time, but it wasn't worth $60 by a long shot. Fun enough game, but I probably would've had just as much fun replaying AC2 or Brotherhood.RBA Starblade posted:I'm enjoying FO4 a lot more than Witcher 3 but I think both are pretty good games. The combat and horseback isn't doing it for me that much (though I like it more than W2 so far I think) and something about how alchemy and oils work now isn't grabbing me. It's not helping that most quests I seem to get are level 13-22 and I can't do it yet, but if I go off the beaten trail to explore a similarly high level enemy gets in my way. I'm still early in the story so I'm assuming it's just pushing me along a little longer but that's the opposite of what I did in W1 and 2, where I did all the side stuff I could before advancing the plot. There's so much side stuff in TW3 that you'll be hilariously overleveled if you do even half of it while you advance the story. They didn't balance that very well at all. I like how potions work this time around (even if it is much farther away from how they're "supposed" to work in the stories/novels) but not oils, those are just cumbersome to use. And I like the combat well enough, though I honestly can't articulate a defense of it, so I can totally understand being really underwhelmed by it. Fallout 4 really did improve the shooting part of the FPS Fallout games quite a bit.
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Dec 8, 2015 17:49
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Dec 8, 2015 17:57
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So the expansions, do I play them after the base game or do I need to own them while playing, as in before I beat it?
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Dec 8, 2015 18:37
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Baronjutter posted:So the expansions, do I play them after the base game or do I need to own them while playing, as in before I beat it? You can continue playing after the credits, so I'm reasonably sure you should be able to just go do the expansion stuff then.
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Dec 8, 2015 18:44
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Hearts of Stone is suggested for an end-game character level anyway and features the toughest enemies in the game so you will get to it by the end anyway. I would still rather have it installed during a normal playthrough because it features an enchanter and runes for weapons which I'd rather have used during normal gameplay. Blood and Wine will still take some development time before it releases and will feature a new map that is separate from the main game so it will be a separate thing. Also: Holy poo poo CDPR.
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Dec 8, 2015 18:51
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Geralt is going to Disney Land.Palpek posted:From the storytelling perspective I thought the bad ending was the best one anyway. I love that ending and it resembles the style of the books too. I can see people getting mad at the protagonist not living happily ever after but as a proper story it's the strongest ending. The world gets saved after all but there is a price to pay for that - for Geralt and Yen the highest price possible. It fits the gameworld perfectly. I think it's the best done of the three from a writing and directing perspective but it is kind of weird that the whole ending of the books is basically Geralt and Yennefer going through hell and sacrificing themselves so Ciri can be alive and free but then she ends up getting herself killed anyway. Also it sucks that you have to make Geralt a lovely dad to see it. The fakeout in the good ending makes it second best I think. E: Also any ending that precludes a Ciri sequel loses points automatically.
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Dec 8, 2015 19:20
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Palpek posted:Hearts of Stone is suggested for an end-game character level anyway and features the toughest enemies in the game so you will get to it by the end anyway. I would still rather have it installed during a normal playthrough because it features an enchanter and runes for weapons which I'd rather have used during normal gameplay. Is there a release date for Blood and Wine? I haven't played Hearts of Stone yet but I might just wait until Blood and Wine comes out and then go on a nice Witcher 3 binge. I have an endgame save. Is NG+ fun? Would I regret doing Hearts of Stone on NG+ instead of just normal NG endgame?
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Dec 8, 2015 19:22
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I see why the people in fantasy France don't fight back as hard as those in fantasy Poland, their houses aren't easily rebuilt mud huts.
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Dec 8, 2015 19:23
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I think Toussaint is technically just a vassal rather than directly administered as a province but I may be misremembering. Ending chat: actually Yennefer doesn't really get any kind of send off in the non-Empress endings now that I think on it. That's kind of weird. I guess in the dead Ciri ending we can probably assume she's already committed suicide offscreen. She has a history of that. Seems like she should be in the Witcheress ending though.
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Dec 8, 2015 19:25
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Y'all know anbout how I hunted down every ? in this game... but playing FO4, which is my first fallout game, it's just mildly disappointing. Don't get me wrong, it's fun enough, just not very engaging. The sidequests suck, and generally I don't give afuck about any of the characters. Also while the crafting system is alright, the weight thing is absurd. Which is really saying something considering the W3 patch making a bunch of poo poo weight 0 didn't even come for me until I was almost done and I grabbed everything not nailed down. If you're going to make a game where you need to hoard poo poo, the weight poo poo just has to go. It's not fun, most people just mod it out, and honestly, all it does is annoy me becuase I just have to fast travel back to base dump my poo poo and begin anew. Like W3 is far and away better in terms of looks and story. Gameplay even, though I know some of y'all don't like it. Granted I did a swordsman build so dodge igni slice was fun for me.
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Dec 8, 2015 19:26
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Harrow posted:Is NG+ fun? Would I regret doing Hearts of Stone on NG+ instead of just normal NG endgame? I wouldn't recommned NG+. I mean, I guess if you want to play the game over again, do it, but otherwise meh. If you want to do HoS, realize that it scales up as well in NG+ so you'll have to get to like level 65 to be able to do it in NG+. Maybe I'm too old, but I think of NG+ in the way Chrono Trigger did it. Same exact game and levels, you basically slaughter everything in sight. It's like a speed run through the game, and you get to explore different options easily. But I guess that's not a thing anymore. I just loaded my pre NG+ save and did HoS on that. Glad I saved it.
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Dec 8, 2015 19:29
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JetsGuy posted:Y'all know anbout how I hunted down every ? in this game... If you feel like playing another Fallout game at any point, I'd recommend giving New Vegas a shot. Gameplay-wise it's definitely worse than Fallout 4, but its writing and quest design are far superior. It's less about exploring and having adventures and more about navigating a tense frontier standoff as someone who just kind of falls into the position of getting to be the wild card. It's about factions and ideas more than characters, but I still find it really engaging.
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Dec 8, 2015 19:29
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