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Fruits of the sea posted:Yeah Halo is gonna be a nostalgia trip for a lot of folks but coming in fresh, the first game will feel really dated. Maybe some of the later games are a better introduction? How about Mass Effect 1? I know everyone and their dog has played it, and someone gifted me the original (non-legendary), but I got about 20 seconds in before the first character I talked to started expositing to me at length. Um, is the shooting/storytelling worth this?
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Jul 8, 2021 10:05
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Alright yep, sounds like I'm giving it a hard pass then!  Thanks for the advice
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Jul 8, 2021 10:14
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Serephina posted:How about Mass Effect 1? I know everyone and their dog has played it, and someone gifted me the original (non-legendary), but I got about 20 seconds in before the first character I talked to started expositing to me at length. Um, is the shooting/storytelling worth this?
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Jul 8, 2021 10:58
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More last minute sale-related game impressions, casual edition: solitaire games. Regency Solitaire - Pride and Prejudice in solitaire form? Between the 18th century soap opera story beats you get to decorate the protagonist's room where every piece of furniture gives a certain bonus or new ability during the solitaire rounds. It's a touch above a casual title but still retains the kitchy hidden-object-like aesthetic so be aware of that.  Shadowhand - this is a surprisingly solid game. Pirate-themed solitaire game with robust rpg mechanics. You get level ups, skills, special items and powers, an inventory, enemy resistances, items shops all that jazz. More importantly though it's the only game on this list where enemies actually have the ability to fight back so they clear your solitaire table during their rounds. This makes a giant difference - this title is easily the Puzzle Quest of the solitaire genre but it's even deeper than that.  Ancient Enemy - the next title from the same devs (they also made Regency Solitaire, you can clearly see their progression in the genre) so it's more polished in a lot of ways. The game also finally breaks away from the hidden object visuals and looks like a real game and features a pretty decent fantasy setting. HOWEVER the enemies don't clear the board during their turns anymore, they only charge their attacks/blocks/abilities which you can react to. This is a big miss imo, Shadowhand felt more robust because of this. I'm guessing that getting rolled by the enemy having an insane solitaire turn might have felt unfair for some players but gently caress them, this aspect was better. If you care more about the visuals, the setting, a slick UI then get this one, however if you want to play a better game get Shadowhand.  Comrades and Barons: Solitaire of Bloody 1919 - oof this is a difficult one to rate. This is almost an educational game that teaches about a few historical battles that happened at a specific location directly following The Great War. The game's taskbar icon is the freaking German Empire's Totenkopf that since has been made infamous forever by the SS-Totenkopfverbände. So that's a thing. The game's graphics are striking, cinematic music sounds like something straight out of a war movie, the atmosphere is oppressive. Between rounds you can spend earned points on regiments that give you various bonuses like for example the ability to see how many cards are left in your deck. Overall it's an original albeit short title with some cognitive dissonance built in. It could have also used one more development pass too (it's a one-man project) - the silent pauses between music tracks are way too long, the special abilities could use some sound effects and the complete randomness of the cards (they don't follow deck logic) makes too many games end with one unpaired card.  The Solitaire Conspiracy - by far the most graphically impressive and "main feature" feeling title of the bunch + it has some wacky (in a good way) FMV dude giving you missions during cutscenes. At the same time the game is surprisingly easy, Shadowhand and Ancient Enemy are way more complex titles. A lot of the times the super duper "special power" faction cards stand in the way of gameplay and it's better to just move plain cards around because of how the board is designed. It's a compact, polished, fun rollercoaster ride overall but it could have used a tick more difficulty and it would have cleaned out, as it is I'd rather be playing Shadowhand where I can actually die from time to time. 
Palpek fucked around with this message at 11:32 on Jul 8, 2021 |
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Jul 8, 2021 11:04
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Shadowhand was a big letdown for me, because of the heavy focus on duels that were not fun and the rpg mechanics were pretty pointless or annoying. Then again, I'm not sure if playing another faerie solitaire without new gimmicks would have been any better.
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Jul 8, 2021 11:25
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Kennel posted:Shadowhand was a big letdown for me, because of the heavy focus on duels that were not fun and the rpg mechanics were pretty pointless or annoying. Same, I really did not enjoy it at all The Solitaire Conspiracy seemed cool initially and I love the aesthetic but then I found out Greg Miller's in it and he sucks rear end
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Jul 8, 2021 11:34
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One other game that seems to stand out in the genre is Solitairica but the vertical screen orientation seen on the screenshots is off-putting to me.
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Jul 8, 2021 11:55
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Serephina posted:How about Mass Effect 1? I know everyone and their dog has played it, and someone gifted me the original (non-legendary), but I got about 20 seconds in before the first character I talked to started expositing to me at length. Um, is the shooting/storytelling worth this? Mass Effect 1 has one of the better story moments I've ever had in a game towards the end. Just skip past anything that's boring you and don't get caught up in completionism. In particular if you're getting annoyed with the inventory system just put the difficulty down and stop worrying about it. If you feel like it there are texture mods that make the game look nicer.
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Jul 8, 2021 11:55
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Palpek posted:One other game that seems to stand out in the genre is Solitairica but the vertical screen orientation seen on the screenshots is off-putting to me. I've played that! I don't remember noticing the screen orientation as a problem during play but it was a fair while back. It was fun.
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Jul 8, 2021 11:56
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Serephina posted:How about Mass Effect 1? I know everyone and their dog has played it, and someone gifted me the original (non-legendary), but I got about 20 seconds in before the first character I talked to started expositing to me at length. Um, is the shooting/storytelling worth this? The talky exposition bits are kinda frontloaded, the game opens up after you leave the first city area. The game settles into a rhythm of chatting with your space buddies and doing missions. Storytelling has some good moments. As for shooting, I highly recommend playing a class that can use the force or whatever it’s called. The cover shooting is bad by today’s standards but ragdolling dudes is always fun. Good times levitating soldiers and pouring bullets into them while they scream in terror. IIRC they eased the weapon restrictions in the remaster, which is very convenient. This means you can play one of the fun close quarter combat Jedi classes and still delete annoying enemies with a sniper rifle. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 12:31 on Jul 8, 2021 |
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Jul 8, 2021 12:23
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If you don’t like talking to characters, I’m not sure if Mass Effect is going to be the right game for you
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Jul 8, 2021 12:32
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I hate talking to characters in RPGs. The writing is generally awful. Mass Effect is one of the rare exceptions where I really enjoy it. It's unique enough to be actually fun, and there isn't endless monotonous exposition.
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Jul 8, 2021 12:36
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Serephina posted:How about Mass Effect 1? I know everyone and their dog has played it, and someone gifted me the original (non-legendary), but I got about 20 seconds in before the first character I talked to started expositing to me at length. Um, is the shooting/storytelling worth this? no, the writing is extremely dull
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Jul 8, 2021 12:37
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ME1 starts with a poo poo-ton of plot exposition. The only good memory I have from the Citadel is the Shakespeare bit, luckily the game got good after that.
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Jul 8, 2021 12:37
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that's ME2 (elcor shakespeare) or do you mean the Newton bit (that's also ME2)
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Jul 8, 2021 12:38
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Oh dang you’re right. Been a while. All kinda blends together in my memory. A blur of synth music, elevator chats and choosing whichever dialogue that lets me shout at/punch the npc I’m talking to.
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Jul 8, 2021 12:43
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luckily the next borderlands is entirely based around tina https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuxXzCfpfWM
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Jul 8, 2021 12:54
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queeb posted:luckily the next borderlands is entirely based around tina The only good thing about borderlands
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Jul 8, 2021 12:55
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queeb posted:luckily the next borderlands is entirely based around tina  thanks for the takes folks, I'm gonna pass on BL3 for now, maybe revisit down the line if I hear the situation's improved but right now the game and every piece of DLC seems to have too much controversy surrounding it it sounds like they made a season pass and an ultimate-style edition that included it, except then they released a second season pass and an even more expensive edition which contained some things they originally said would be in the first season pass?
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Jul 8, 2021 13:37
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Serephina posted:How about Mass Effect 1? I know everyone and their dog has played it, and someone gifted me the original (non-legendary), but I got about 20 seconds in before the first character I talked to started expositing to me at length. Um, is the shooting/storytelling worth this? it's archaic in every sense - the gameplay, the story and how it's told, the hilarious renegade/paragon system, the bioware™ bang any member of your party power fantasy, etc.
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Jul 8, 2021 13:40
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Gay Rat Wedding posted:
You can always just wait and see if they do another free weekend, that's what I did to play through the entirety of it since I wasn't going to give Randy Pitchford money.
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Jul 8, 2021 13:44
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Always sticking with the renegade choices in ME is one insane ride.
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Jul 8, 2021 13:47
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Palpek posted:One other game that seems to stand out in the genre is Solitairica but the vertical screen orientation seen on the screenshots is off-putting to me. Completely missing a story if that's a deal breaker though.
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Jul 8, 2021 13:58
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I used to always do two playthroughs. Male - Paragon (boring) and Female - Renegade (hilarious) I would steer slightly away from the pure racist/idiot options though.
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Jul 8, 2021 13:58
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ME2 and 3 both actually hold up (with all the caveats about 3 that were there years ago of course, and be warned that 75% of 2's DLC is kinda terrible) but yes, ME1 is really, really rough in the beginning. I highly recommend just mainlining the plot worlds and only doing the side content that actually interests you. Do not be completionist about it. I do suggest actually playing it though, because as some other folks have said upthread ME1 actually has a really spectacular climax. There's a specific point where the game starts going full speed and doesn't stop till the credits. It's really, really good.
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Jul 8, 2021 14:01
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The original version of ME1 is pretty rough game play wise, you can't hit poo poo early game because your accuracy is determined by how many skill points you put into that gun. You're forced to carry around every gun but you can't put points into any gun your class isn't trained in, or even look down the sights. So snipers are completely useless if your class isn't a trained in them. The LE changes this by making you accurate in all guns from the get go, including guns you class isn't trained in. Putting points into a gun in the LE only boosts damage and unlocks that weapon class's special ability now. There are a bunch of other game play changes in the LE, like a dedicated melee button, so melee is actually useful now. I find OG Mass Effect unplayable now after finishing the LE version.
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Jul 8, 2021 14:14
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ME only really has good writing in 1. It still has bad moments but it’s the most coherent writing of the three. It falls apart pretty quickly after that
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Jul 8, 2021 14:41
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CharlestheHammer posted:ME only really has good writing in 1. It still has bad moments but it’s the most coherent writing of the three. The big problem for me was how the games are a series, but the writing of each game doesn't have a lot to do with either of the other two games. I was hoping they'd take the opportunity with the re-release to make the series into more of a continuous narrative, but apparently writing is hard while updating textures and UIs is easy. Big missed opportunity.
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Jul 8, 2021 14:47
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you might as well just play alpha protocol if you want to play an old game that feels like poo poo to play for the story, it actually got close to delivering the plot reactivity the mass effect games promised.
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Jul 8, 2021 14:48
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You cannot legally download Alpha Protocol anymore as the 13th and final copy was sold sometime in 2015.
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Jul 8, 2021 14:50
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Proud owner of #12 
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Jul 8, 2021 15:02
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Fun fact - Alpha Protocol still sold way better than Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadifre.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:12
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no wonder obsidian were eager to be bought
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Jul 8, 2021 15:13
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Palpek posted:Fun fact - Alpha Protocol still sold way better than Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadifre. 
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Jul 8, 2021 15:14
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Palpek posted:Fun fact - Alpha Protocol still sold way better than Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadifre. As it should've.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:15
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Check this:Alpha Protocol posted:A month after release, the game had sold 700,000 copies in the US and Europe. The game's slow sales contributed to Sega's lower-than-expected financial results in the three months ending on June 30, 2011. Pillars of Eternity 2 posted:We now have a sense of just how badly #deadfire sold. I invested $1000 in getting it made, and the first dividents from that are in. For all sales from launch through September - the period when any game makes the vast majority of its money - I got $192.67...the "breakeven" for investors was about 580,000 sales at $50. This tells us they sold about 110,000.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:17
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Palpek posted:Check this: There is no justice in this world.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:34
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Did they think a CRPG sequel to a property people don’t care about would be a success? Doesn’t matter how good Deadfire is, the lovely Space Fallout game will always draw in the money.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:35
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MS had bought Obsidian by the time OW released, so I don't know that it actually had much of a bearing.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:37
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My stance remains that I haven't liked an Obsidian game since AP and I am aware that this makes me a raging psychopath for not liking NV but I have tried and tried again to play that game and I just cannot. I will give minor points to Tyranny for basically being Baldur's Protocol but the foreshortened development on that game just does not leave most of it in a good place.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:47
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