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

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sean10mm: Jun 29, 2005; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD-2R World

Shadowrun: Hong Kong tips? I played it once before but have forgotten almost EVERYTHING. Planning on playing a decker, but beyond that :iiam:

Want to maximize my bang for the buck with karma but I really have no idea. I forgot how :psylon:

the character screen is.

# ? Nov 13, 2017 23:55

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# ? May 18, 2024 13:04

Kenny Logins: Jan 11, 2011; EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A WHITE WHALE INTO THE PEQUOD. IT'S HELL'S HEART AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I STRIKE AT THEE ALONGSIDE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER, ISHMAEL.

sean10mm posted:

Shadowrun: Hong Kong tips? I played it once before but have forgotten almost EVERYTHING. Planning on playing a decker, but beyond that

Want to maximize my bang for the buck with karma but I really have no idea. I forgot how the character screen is.

The problem with playing a decker is you get a free NPC decker who is going to be better at it than you in any important way because she has progression bonuses/skills geared towards it. You can still buy programs etc to loan her if you want.

I played a mage (specializing in damage/AP areas of effect) as you don't get a free NPC in that area, although the shaman you do get is still cool. Magic AoEs are pretty useful in the expansion where everyone can throw grenades back at you.

Also because of the way Body has a Cyber sub-skill you can play magic and still use some cyberware such as the anti-grenade arm or the anti-stunlock upgrade.

# ? Nov 14, 2017 16:01

OutofSight: May 4, 2017

Kenny Logins posted:

The problem with playing a decker is you get a free NPC decker who is going to be better at it than you in any important way because she has progression bonuses/skills geared towards it. You can still buy programs etc to loan her if you want.

I played a mage (specializing in damage/AP areas of effect) as you don't get a free NPC in that area, although the shaman you do get is still cool. Magic AoEs are pretty useful in the expansion where everyone can throw grenades back at you.

Also because of the way Body has a Cyber sub-skill you can play magic and still use some cyberware such as the anti-grenade arm or the anti-stunlock upgrade.

On the other hand there are lots of dialogue checks with intelligence or the subcategories like "Biotech" or "Decking" involved. So, if you enjoy roleplaying Mr. or Ms. cyberpunk smartypants, you always get your kicks being some Decker hybrid in the series. Add charisma of 4+ and good etiquettes to the list and you can be the king/queen of skills checks and avoid some combat altogether.
(Good ettiquettes should already be covered n the wiki.)

Mage is okay in all three games, but i always feel i just could play some fantasy rpg.

The interesting point here would be choosing a complementing combat option. Problem is HK gives plenty of karma but barely any money. Unless you go for some third rate drones decker/rigger is off the list. Same may be for rifle/decker. Those high end rifles are bloody expensive.
I did go for (smartlink) pistols and you can add some special cyberware (monowhip) for attack options later.

OutofSight fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Nov 15, 2017

# ? Nov 14, 2017 17:32

Kenny Logins: Jan 11, 2011; EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A WHITE WHALE INTO THE PEQUOD. IT'S HELL'S HEART AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I STRIKE AT THEE ALONGSIDE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER, ISHMAEL.

OutofSight posted:

On the other hand there are lots of dialogue checks with intelligence or the subcategories like "Biotech" or "Decking" involved. So, if you enjoy roleplaying Mr. or Ms. cyberpunk smartypants, you always get your kicks being some Decker hybrid in the series. Add charisma of 4+ and good etiquettes to the list and you can be the king/queen of skills checks and avoid some combat altogether.
(Good ettiquettes should already be covered n the wiki.)

Mage is okay in all three games, but i always feel i just could play some fantasy rpg.

The interesting point here would be choosing a complementing combat option. Problem is HK gives plenty of karma but barely any money. Unless you go for some third rate drones decker/rigger is of the list. Same may be for rifle/decker. Those high end rifles are bloody expensive.
I did go for (smartlink) pistols and you can add some special cyberware (monowhip) for attack options later.

Biotech and magic are not mutually exclusive, especially since certain mage spells have intelligence requirements. There are also interesting conversation checks which require Aura Reading (i.e. a Magic score) on your main. But yeah, it's not like there's zero point to being a decker, especially if you dislike Is0bel.

I tend to like playing high (6) Charisma Mages with a good spread of Etiquettes, at least 2 Biotech to see HP, and enough in whatever spirit stat to get a passive Totem. And, as alluded, some Body and Cyber to get a little QoL 'ware.

There is a weird trick where, on missions, you can take checks that normally fall on your main with your NPC companions, if there's a combat potential in the area. It can be a bit of a pain but it's good for, I dunno, getting pistol prototypes or passing Decking checks with Is0bel.

Although the game provides sufficient (interesting) melee NPCs, technically there's no NPC adept, and that's another way to go too.

# ? Nov 14, 2017 17:50

Shibawanko: Feb 13, 2013

limp_cheese posted:

Anything for Children of the Nile ?

I haven't played in a while but I remember a few things:

- Your palace is the first thing you should build, as I recall. It feels really strange because it's a massive white building you build before anything else, this building can support (oversee) a certain number of farmers, so build about 6 farmhouses near the nile, and a bread shop as well as all of the basic (not luxury) shops.
- Noble mansions control more farmers after your initial palace building
- The game's really "physical", meaning you need a certain amount of raw materials to build anything, food to keep people alive and so on, similar to Banished. This game is basically Banished in ancient Egypt.
- It's all about ratios of things. A certain population needs a certain amount of shops and luxury shops, a certain number of farms needs a certain number of nobles, if you get a lot of nobles you will start to need stuff like dentists and doctors and schools. Everybody needs bread
- Shops produce the things they sell, you don't need production buildings for luxury goods, there are a few sources of them on the map, so try to place shops near these or just in a central cluster
- Monuments generate prestige, a resource you can use to open trade routes to get exotic stuff to grow your town with
- The nile floods sometimes which can destroy buildings, build expensive stuff higher up, it doesn't matter if some shacks get wrecked
- Upgrade the palace for prestige and other crap, I forgot, but it's easy to overlook that you can do this

Shibawanko fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Nov 14, 2017

# ? Nov 14, 2017 19:31

Memnaelar: Feb 21, 2013; WHO is the goodest girl?

I am about to experience the Evil Within... Too.

Anything I should know before I go jump face-first into the newly open world of STEM?

# ? Nov 14, 2017 19:53

Mierenneuker: Apr 28, 2010; We're all going to experience changes in our life but only the best of us will qualify for front row seats.

Memnaelar posted:

I am about to experience the Evil Within... Too.

Anything I should know before I go jump face-first into the newly open world of STEM?

- Some of the tougher creatures will require a ton of ammo to take down initially, but once you've fully upgraded weapons they'll become easy. So don't be afraid to avoid them until you have more upgrades.
- The bow has an upgrade path for smoke arrows that will allow you to (repeatedly!) stealth attack enemies inside the smoke cloud. It is really good.
- I think the game seems to have some kind of system a la Dead Space where it'll spawn ammo for the weapons you prefer to use. Never use the sniper rifle? You won't find ammo for it.
- You can craft stuff by using a workbench and you can also craft stuff from anywhere. Using a workbench will use up less resources, so only use "field crafting" if you are in dire straits.

# ? Nov 14, 2017 22:12

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

Anything for Oxenfree? I heard there's stuff like endings locked behind collectibles, so kinda worried about that.

# ? Nov 14, 2017 22:42

im cute: Sep 21, 2009

anilEhilated posted:

Anything for Oxenfree? I heard there's stuff like endings locked behind collectibles, so kinda worried about that.

I had a post a little while back about it, let me see if I can find it.

E:

im cute posted:

Well alright. So for Oxenfree:

-This is a walking/talking game. There are no game over scenarios so just relax and be spooked.

-You'll need 3 playthroughs to see the whole story as it continues through NG+ and NG++. Conveniently, you can also 100% the game in exactly 3 playthroughs.

-There are two kinds of collectibles. Anomalies are the rock piles you'll have to go a little out of your way to find. Just tune your radio like you would with the cursed objects/portals. Two of them are behind radio-locked doors.

-The other are Maggie Adler's letters. They're a little trickier to find because they are not obvious like the piles and can be even farther out of the way. You can't pick them up until you find the WAL radio either. Tune to 140.1 in every map section to hear a clue on its location.

-Adler's letters give valuable insight into the story. Anomalies are just for spookin. Neither will affect how your character acts.

-If you want to preserve Nona and Ren's romance, make sure you leave them together and also talk to them about each other at every opportunity. Make sure to tell Nona that Ren knew she liked him at the bridge.

-It's difficult to make Jonas or Nona hate you, but it's possible: Take the ghost's deal and tell both of them you took it. Near the end, don't help Jonas with the tape player.

-Taking the portal dooms a certain character.

-Whether your brother lives or not depends on what you tell him in the little dream sequence at the very end.

-You can't make Clarissa like you. Sorry.

-Save Ren first.

-I don't think it ever comes up before the game asks you, so: 85 officers died.

-The game saves on every area transition. If you badly mess up a dialogue option or get stuck in terrain due to spooky bugs, quit out before you do anything else.

-One particular part will loop indefinitely unless you go down instead of up.

-Ren lied: the radio definitely gets reception in most every part of the island.

To address your concern directly: some lines of dialogue change toward the end if you've seen more of Adler's letters. There is an achievement tied to finding some, most, and then all of them. They don't really gate off endings; the endings are more concerned with: how much your pals like or hate you, whether you went through the portal at the end, whether you convinced your brother to stay or go and in NG+ and ++, what you said into the radio when they appear

im cute fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Nov 14, 2017

# ? Nov 14, 2017 22:43

CuddleCryptid: Jan 11, 2013; Things could be going better

Memnaelar posted:

I am about to experience the Evil Within... Too.

Anything I should know before I go jump face-first into the newly open world of STEM?

- Stealth is way more viable than in the first game and is your primary method of saving health and ammo. Use it as much as you can.

- Upgrade crit before you upgrade straight damage if you can. The pistol never stops being useful.

- Shooting the legs to drop an enemy then stomping them is often better than shooting them in the head, since a lot of enemies can take a second kill-shot to the head due to weird head worms

- It's actually pretty easy to ditch alerted enemies after they start chasing you if you can juke around corners. This becomes incredibly useful later on when you encounter stealth-killable enemies that take two stealth kills to go down.

# ? Nov 14, 2017 23:10

The Shame Boy: Jan 27, 2014; Dead weight, just like this post.

Yeah, most of the normal, human looking enemies will die to a single stealth attack. the exceptions are ladies dressed in white that have knifes, they take 2 and can take a TON of punishment for no real reason at all, don't feel bad if you die to them over and over again. The other is also humanoid looking, you'll know them when you see them. But they will also take more than 1 (and in fact can take many more than that if your'e playing on Hard mode off the start, something like 5)

Also when you get the crossbow, you will want to eventually upgrade the smoke bolts to level 3, that will let you do stealth attacks on enemies caught in them. It will be useful to have that later on.

The Shame Boy fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Nov 15, 2017

# ? Nov 14, 2017 23:14

limp_cheese: Sep 10, 2007; Nothing to see here. Move along.

Shibawanko posted:

I haven't played in a while but I remember a few things:

- Your palace is the first thing you should build, as I recall. It feels really strange because it's a massive white building you build before anything else, this building can support (oversee) a certain number of farmers, so build about 6 farmhouses near the nile, and a bread shop as well as all of the basic (not luxury) shops.
- Noble mansions control more farmers after your initial palace building
- The game's really "physical", meaning you need a certain amount of raw materials to build anything, food to keep people alive and so on, similar to Banished. This game is basically Banished in ancient Egypt.
- It's all about ratios of things. A certain population needs a certain amount of shops and luxury shops, a certain number of farms needs a certain number of nobles, if you get a lot of nobles you will start to need stuff like dentists and doctors and schools. Everybody needs bread
- Shops produce the things they sell, you don't need production buildings for luxury goods, there are a few sources of them on the map, so try to place shops near these or just in a central cluster
- Monuments generate prestige, a resource you can use to open trade routes to get exotic stuff to grow your town with
- The nile floods sometimes which can destroy buildings, build expensive stuff higher up, it doesn't matter if some shacks get wrecked
- Upgrade the palace for prestige and other crap, I forgot, but it's easy to overlook that you can do this

I appreciate the advice but the thing killing me when I went back was I couldn't figure out how to speed up time. Without that feature a city building game takes way too long.

# ? Nov 15, 2017 00:13

Vil: Sep 10, 2011

im cute posted:

I had a post a little while back about it, let me see if I can find it.

E:

To address your concern directly: some lines of dialogue change toward the end if you've seen more of Adler's letters. There is an achievement tied to finding some, most, and then all of them. They don't really gate off endings; the endings are more concerned with: how much your pals like or hate you, whether you went through the portal at the end, whether you convinced your brother to stay or go and in NG+ and ++, what you said into the radio when they appear

What's different in NG++ than in NG+? You can still get that coda at the very end even in NG+, if you do the stuff in your last spoiler tag correctly.

# ? Nov 15, 2017 00:41

im cute: Sep 21, 2009

Vil posted:

What's different in NG++ than in NG+? You can still get that coda at the very end even in NG+, if you do the stuff in your last spoiler tag correctly.

I bring up NG++ because it takes three play throughs to see all the things that can happen, narrative-wise. But I'm also pretty sure there are some dialogue changes. Alex initially doesn't know what the intercoms do or what the voice is talking about when it says "LEAVE. IS. POSSIBLE." in NG+, but in NG++ she recognizes the intercom and intuits that she can send a message to herself. Also the voice taunts her differently the third time around, alluding to her doing this whole thing over and over again.

im cute fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Nov 15, 2017

# ? Nov 15, 2017 00:53

Rockman Reserve: Oct 2, 2007; "Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"

I got Titanfall 2 cheap for PS4 and have played like three multiplayer matches so far. I'm in love with the game. What do I need to know that's not particularly obvious?

# ? Nov 15, 2017 02:45

Neddy Seagoon: Oct 12, 2012; "Hi Everybody!"

food court bailiff posted:

I got Titanfall 2 cheap for PS4 and have played like three multiplayer matches so far. I'm in love with the game. What do I need to know that's not particularly obvious?

You should play the story mode, because it's really good.

# ? Nov 15, 2017 03:45

!Klams: Dec 25, 2005; Squid Squad

Neddy Seagoon posted:

You should play the story mode, because it's really good.

I've seen a lot of reviews of the game and they all say its worth it just for THAT ONE LEVEL. And none of them actually spoil what that entails, which means it must be SUPER spicy. I decided I was going to wait until it came on sale and pick it up based solely off that fact, but then I forgot and now I'm poor anyway. I guess what I'm saying is "Yeah, apparently you should play the story mode". Wowzers what a useful comment. Uhm... I guess for some kind of value:

In League of Legends: ARAM if there are enemies coming to your tower, you should always be thinking 'KILL ALL THE MINIONS WHILE TRYING TO JUKE', and basically nothing else. It seems so obvious, but for some reason I see people in every match either try and attack the enemy heroes or just hold off using their abilities on the minions, saving them for the enemy heroes. But the thing is, minions are easy to kill, and when they're gone, the tower shoots your opponents, and nothing you have is as strong an attack as the tower. It's also essentially the equivalent gold value to kill a single minion wave as it is to kill a hero. Obviously the math isn't that simple because of assists etc, but generally it's going to be a LOT easier to farm by getting CS, even in ARAM, but for some reason people tend to ignore it here.

In a similar vein, always be cognizant of whether or not you are fighting beyond your minion line. If you don't have minions with you when you fight, you'll probably lose the fight, so don't do it unless you're confident you're going to actually wreck them. The minions attack you if there are no other minions there, and the damage adds up.

Similar again to that, AA damage is always good. Even strictly AP characters can put hurt on just by right clicking, its important not to neglect this.

And related to THAT, getting armor is usually good, even if you're not a tanky character.

# ? Nov 15, 2017 15:07

Zaodai: May 23, 2009; Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.

If you're throwing ARAM specific advice in, the best advice is actually this:
People go into ARAMs assuming damage is the most important thing. It's not, as ARAMs are ultimately a battle of sustain since you can't go back to the fountain. So don't neglect your defenses, don't neglect Grievous Wounds items if they have a lot of regen or healing, and in general don't assume the same item build you would use on Summoners Rift is going to be the one you should run in ARAMs. Also, surviving with 10 hp is actually worse than dying if the rest of your team gets smashed and you have no way to heal up. If your team is fighting, you stay and fight. Don't run off to save yourself, because then they'll just dive you and kill you because the rest of the team died trying to fight a man (or two) down.

Oh, and "it's just an ARAM!" is not an excuse for being a retard/trolling.

# ? Nov 15, 2017 17:25

SolidSnakesBandana: Jul 1, 2007; Infinite ammo

!Klams posted:

I've seen a lot of reviews of the game and they all say its worth it just for THAT ONE LEVEL. And none of them actually spoil what that entails, which means it must be SUPER spicy. I decided I was going to wait until it came on sale and pick it up based solely off that fact, but then I forgot and now I'm poor anyway. I guess what I'm saying is "Yeah, apparently you should play the story mode". Wowzers what a useful comment.

Titanfall 2 is part of Origin Access, so theoretically you could beat it for just $5. I haven't actually played it though so I can't comment on its quality.

# ? Nov 15, 2017 21:49

Lunchmeat Larry: Nov 3, 2012

Like 2/3 of the game is That One Level but there's two in particular that are amazing and equal candidates

# ? Nov 15, 2017 22:15

Barudak: May 7, 2007

The Titanfall 2 singleplayer campaign basically revolves around giving each level a unique gimmick and some are really good and inventive and its worth playing. To be frank, you probably wont habe experienced an FPS with that interesting level design before or again. .

Unfortunately multiplayer isnt half the game the first one was so maybe Titanfall 3 will figure out how to make a complete title.

# ? Nov 15, 2017 22:43

Rockman Reserve: Oct 2, 2007; "Carbons? Purge? What are you talking about?!"

I seriously can't tear myself away from the multiplayer to start the campaign. Maybe this weekend...

# ? Nov 15, 2017 22:46

Ainsley McTree: Feb 19, 2004

It�s a fairly short campaign; call of duty length I�d say. Not a huge time investment, but clearly made with love

# ? Nov 15, 2017 23:01

Luminaflare: Sep 23, 2010; No one man
should have all that
POWER BEYOND MEASURE

I've beaten Titanfall 2. What two levels are you referring to?

# ? Nov 15, 2017 23:22

SkeletonHero: Sep 7, 2010

Luminaflare posted:

I've beaten Titanfall 2. What two levels are you referring to?

Can't speak for them but for me it's easily the fake house factory and the time trip.

# ? Nov 16, 2017 02:35

Ainsley McTree: Feb 19, 2004

SkeletonHero posted:

Can't speak for them but for me it's easily the fake house factory and the time trip.

time trip is it for me. i was literally laughing out loud in joy at the part where you fall down the tube and have to rapidly switch back and forth to avoid getting splattered by lasers and the other thing. That was an extremely creative level.

# ? Nov 16, 2017 03:13

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

How about Dead Cells? I'm kinda lost regarding the attributes to upgrade, weighing items pros and cons and speed versus thoroughness of exploration.
Also is there any way to tell which area hides the next powerup rune?

# ? Nov 19, 2017 10:55

girl dick energy: Sep 30, 2009; You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?

In honor of it coming to Steam:

Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links
TL;DR
- It's time to d-d-d-duel!

- Play whoever you like, buy their structure deck with gems, level up your stage, have fun.

Tips for casual players
- Start as whoever you like more, it takes a while to unlock the one you don't pick. If you can't decide, Kaiba's slightly better, mechanically.

- Your first 500 gems should go towards the structure deck for whichever character you like most.

- Focusing on leveling up your Stage by doing the goals given. That's where most of the good unlocks are gated behind, including other characters, and AI opponents who don't suck.

- PVP is almost entirely optional, though it's worth doing a bit of pubbie-smashing whenever there's reward goals for it.

- GX is a recent addition, and can quite happily be basically completely ignored if the characters grate on you.

Tips for obsessives
- This game seems to be where all the people in Konami who know about balance patching went, so specific tips about high-end play will fairly quickly be outdated. Consider the below very general PVP guidelines.

- Of the other early characters, Tea is mostly garbage until you've got the cardpool to pull off the deck she wants to play, Mai's level 4 skill is reliable if not very exciting, Tristan is Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Game, and leveling Joey is important because his rewards are useful for other, actually good decks. Jaden's a bit too gimmicky to be of much use, but at least his unlocks are laser-focused on helping that gimmick.

- The first sets you should focus on are Ultimate Rising and Neo-Impact. They're packed full of cards for building a very respectable budget Ritual deck, and have some solid general-purpose staples besides.

- GameA is probably your location of choice for looking up specific information, including current tier-listings and walkthroughs for end-game farming.

girl dick energy fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Nov 19, 2017

# ? Nov 19, 2017 11:22

Kenny Logins: Jan 11, 2011; EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A WHITE WHALE INTO THE PEQUOD. IT'S HELL'S HEART AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I STRIKE AT THEE ALONGSIDE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER, ISHMAEL.

A few things for Assassin's Creed: Origins:

The game drops you in media res for an opening act/tutorial that lasts about 5 hours. If things don't make a ton of sense yet, give it a little more time.
You can set your mount to autopilot and scout ahead with your eagle while still making progress on the road. Most useful for spotting hunting opportunities en route to a distant target.
Horses are just slightly faster than camels but not much. Chariots/carts are fast and fun but they don't play nice with pedestrians/fellow travellers, and will start conflicts with soldiers.
You can upgrade weapons to be useful at your current level. Accordingly, never sell/disassemble yellow (legendary) weapons/shields.
Unfortunately, upgrading weapons is expensive and money is tighter in this game than others in the series. Pick two melee weapon categories you like and two bows categories you like to keep reasonably upgraded (or else to keep the level-appropriate weapons you'll be finding). Choosing a melee weapon with reach is handy for fighting/hunting on horseback and fighting mounted foes.
On that tip, the skills to equip a second bow and a second melee weapon are extremely good quality-of-life improvements.
Until you've upgraded most of your upgradeables, do not sell but only disassemble blue/purple weapons/shields. Wood, bronze and iron are difficult to effectively hunt for until mid-game, so disassembly will be your best source for those.
The game waits a while to give you certain loading screen tips. One important one they sleep on is to push the left stick in (or equivalent on pc) on the main gear screen to get a legend of all the different weapon attributes (like 'stealth damage', etc).
Generally, most of the inner ring 1 ability point skills are worth taking. Also, combat in this game is more in-depth so overpower skills are useful to prioritize to make it more fun.
XP bonus skills are very small awards and this game is full of sidequests with substantial XP rewards which will be your main way to level. Don't bother with XP bonuses unless it's on the way to another skill you want.
The improved predator bow upgrade is fun as gently caress and let you curve around obstacles in many situations to do one hit ranged kills; worth getting early but it only has an effective range of 70m max.
Tool skills aren't as useful as they used to be as they generally only work on enemies lower level than you and berserk is no longer ranged. Fire bombs are handy for keeping foes at bay while sailing, sleep darts are as useful as ever, and smoke bombs (with damage/knockdown upgrade) remain helpful, to give you options.

Kenny Logins fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Nov 22, 2017

# ? Nov 22, 2017 18:12

Sandwich Anarchist: Sep 12, 2008

Kenny Logins posted:

You're making it sound like this one is good. How does it hold up compared to say, AC2? I know comparing it to Black Flag is apples and oranges. I haven't given a poo poo about AC since Revelations dissapointed me.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 18:46

Ainsley McTree: Feb 19, 2004

Adding onto the above; chariots kind of suck for combat because you can�t do melee attacks, you can only use bows. Horse melee is fun as hell in this game, and the faster you�re moving, the harder you hit.

A weapon with reach is good, and the regular sword has a surprising amount of it. If you attack after a dodge, you do a lunging thrust attack that�s a quick distance closer.

A good skill to get is the one that lets you charge strong attacks to break tower shields. This is great for normal shields, too; on lighter weapons like the regular sword, you can continue to move, block, and dodge like usual while you charge the attack, and when you unleash it, it�s very quick. I find it easier to use than the regular heavy strike, which is slow and has a tendency to get dodged or interrupted.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 18:54

Kenny Logins: Jan 11, 2011; EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A WHITE WHALE INTO THE PEQUOD. IT'S HELL'S HEART AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I STRIKE AT THEE ALONGSIDE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER, ISHMAEL.

Sandwich Anarchist posted:

You're making it sound like this one is good. How does it hold up compared to say, AC2? I know comparing it to Black Flag is apples and oranges. I haven't given a poo poo about AC since Revelations dissapointed me.

I've played all of them except Liberation and Rogue. It's really good game-wise, story-wise it's a bit light although characterization is fine. The biggest plus is no notoriety mechanic - you're free to be your best Egyptian Murder Batman. It also doesn't have many scripted "sequences" and there's no bonus objectives to agonize over. There's one set of optional collectibles and one set of locations to visit to unlock a costume. Costumes are purely aesthetic now. You're mostly in the one huge map and you plan your assassinations like you did in AC1. The "premium currency" is very optional and even though there's a loot chest mechanic you can buy them with in game currency and you get one per day as a daily mission anyway.

The notable downside is the lack of passive investment mechanics which make money really tight, considering you're supposed to be upgrading your favorite weapons on pace with your level. Some of the side quests do get a little repetitive after a while but there's many that are interesting/memorable and they all have scripted voice acting/conversations.

Overall it's really fun to play and the setting is interesting to explore and chill as hell. I bought it a couple weeks ago before this BF sale hit and I feel like it was still worth it for the base game. At the BF discount it's a solid recommend from me at least.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 18:56

Ainsley McTree: Feb 19, 2004

I actually advise against trying to keep your weapons consistently upgraded as you level. It gets extremely pricey, especially with legendaries, and the game does a good job of dumping useful gear on you as you play, i don�t recommend upgrading anything with gold until you hit level 40 and don�t have to worry about it becoming obsolete anymore.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 18:59

Kenny Logins: Jan 11, 2011; EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP AND OPEN PALM SLAM A WHITE WHALE INTO THE PEQUOD. IT'S HELL'S HEART AND RIGHT THEN AND THERE I STRIKE AT THEE ALONGSIDE WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER, ISHMAEL.

Ainsley McTree posted:

Horse melee is fun as hell in this game, and the faster you�re moving, the harder you hit.

A weapon with reach is good, and the regular sword has a surprising amount of it. If you attack after a dodge, you do a lunging thrust attack that�s a quick distance closer.

Hell yeah, I have a heavy blade with a high crit rate (the Nebuchadnezzar Axe one) so ride-by hunting and shipments is rad as hell.

I forgot to mention that melee auto-loot skill is also a real QoL improvement as it makes said ride-by hunting/raiding super breezy.

Ainsley McTree posted:

I actually advise against trying to keep your weapons consistently upgraded as you level. It gets extremely pricey, especially with legendaries, and the game does a good job of dumping useful gear on you as you play, i don�t recommend upgrading anything with gold until you hit level 40 and don�t have to worry about it becoming obsolete anymore.

Keeping more than one gold weapon upgraded is impossible. I only do it every 5 levels or so and generally just for aforesaid heavy blade because I figured out what weapon attributes I like. Definitely don't upgrade golds until you find the combo that works best for you.

I edited my advice somewhat to reflect what you said, but I'd still say it's pointless to keep one good weapon in every single melee category.

Kenny Logins fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Nov 22, 2017

# ? Nov 22, 2017 19:00

Leave: Feb 7, 2012; Taking the term "Koopaling" to a whole new level since 2016.

Tips for The Force Unleashed? I got the Ultimate Sith Edition, if that matters.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 20:31

Brother Tadger: Feb 15, 2012; I'm accidentally a suicide bomber!

Leavemywife posted:

Tips for The Force Unleashed? I got the Ultimate Sith Edition, if that matters.

Force lightening melts bad guys when fully upgraded. I remember force push being pretty clutch too as a lot of fights take place on catwalks above bottomless chasms.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 21:10

safe harbor: Jul 18, 2004; EMO AS FUCK

About to start up the first Halo Wars. Any advise? This is also my first RTS.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 21:14

TheHoosier: Dec 30, 2004; The fuck, Graham?!

safe harbor posted:

About to start up the first Halo Wars. Any advise? This is also my first RTS.

Build more tanks. I'm not even kidding. Once the game opens up your build options a bit, building Tanks and Attack-Moving them to the objective is pretty viable.

Here's a link to a hard counter chart of what beats what:
http://www.halowars.com/news/devblog/archive/2009/04/15/Rock_2C00_-Paper_2C00_-Spartan-and-what-it-means-in-Halo-Wars.aspx

But really unless you're playing on Legendary the game is pretty easy. If you want, you can mix in some air units as well. Some missions give you Spartans; these guys will wreck just about anything with few exceptions. Add a healthy dose of Tanks and steamroll the missions.

There are hidden collectibles to find in each mission tucked away in little corners.

Don't neglect building turrets. The AI loves to constantly hit your base and can sometimes do more damage than you would expect.

Heroes never die; they only nap. If a Hero "dies", they'll slow recover health. Once they're halfway (IIRC), you can move a friendly unit next to them to pick them up.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 21:40

Zaodai: May 23, 2009; Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.

So I picked up Nioh on Steam, been loving it so far despite having not played much of Souls games in the past.

I do have a couple of specific questions, however. I've played with most of the weapons, and I think for my first playthrough I'm going to go Axe/Spear (though I also liked Tonfas, Single Swords, and to some extent the chain sickle for future playthroughs), and I feel like Heavy Armor would go well with that. That said, I've found a bunch of good medium armor early and not much good Heavy armor. Does that get better later? Is Heavy Armor with an Axe a not-poo poo choice?

Oh, and are there Souls style mimics in this game? I ran into the Doppleganger in the chest that wants you to match his gesture when he hops out and the mimic wall guys, though that took me longer to figure out what he wanted rather than just shanking them but I'm curious if there are those mimics where you go to touch something and it just loving one shots you out of nowhere like an rear end in a top hat.

# ? Nov 22, 2017 22:51

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# ? May 18, 2024 13:04

DanZX: May 5, 2015

I picked Witcher 3 for PS4. Any good tips for a beginner on this whole Witcher business?

# ? Nov 22, 2017 23:12

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

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