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Hey Kanfi, just wanted to say I finished reading the playthroughs of the first two games on the let's play archive. I adored playing through them, and seeing a completionist who knows how to open the game files to get every possible choice and conversation helps rediscovering these games. I was pretty bummed out when I saw the date at which Dragonfall had been concluded and thought there would be no Hong-Kong playthrough. I started toying with the idea of trying my own hand at a narrative let's play, looked up ressources on the forums. And that's more or less when I stumbled on this thread. And drat I'm glad I found it, so I bought an account to say thanks for playing these amazing games and I hope you're having a good time going through them as well.
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Jun 7, 2023 17:25
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 01:27 |
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I'm always wary of books that pick up on characters from video games or movies (or vice-versa) as I often feel it caters more to easy fan-service than actual story telling or character development. But from the description you made, I gotta admit this fits Blitz to an absolute T. I'll take a look one of these days when I have some more free time.
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Jun 18, 2023 10:10
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I just noticed that of all the three games, Hong-Kong is the closest one to pick up the Knight of the Old republic 2 method of letting your character give his own backstory organically through answers during normal dialogue instead of filling it up before the start of the game. Like, the important parts are set in stone, but you get choice of many details in there. It's both seamless and works its way well into conversations, yet few RPG's do that I feel.
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Jun 25, 2023 19:59
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Thaumaturgic armor As for a party, I'd say we need social butterfly Isobel, cosplayer gaichu and enjoyer of the finer things in life gobbet.
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Jun 27, 2023 19:58
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Quackles posted:So, what are the odds the Whampoan Elders hire us again to uhhhhhh infiltrate an anime con or something? All it takes is an elder butting heads with others while having an anime kink. Considering what we saw of them so far, it wouldn't be the weirdest scenario. I really just want to see gobbet chugging down food like an animal to the horror of all the fancily dressed guests. Heck, she could let her rats lose or something for extra fun.
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Jun 28, 2023 12:48
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Yes! Partycrasher party! Dead Man's Switch biggest weakness is that it's always compared to the next games, which are so good that it makes DMS look like a draft. But without that draft, no Dragonfall or Hong-Kong, so credit where it's due. Sometimes it takes a first game to see what works well and what doesn't to build upon it. The one thing that I remember most about DMS though is the crime solving part that takes the first half or a little more of the game as the main red thread. I thought the explanation and resolution at the graveyardto be a pretty nice thriller on its own.
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Jun 29, 2023 09:11
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Xander77 posted:I have 10,000 hours of TF2 under my belt (most of it idling) and would never recommend it in its current state. Other people hate play management games etc for thousands of hours. I felt that. Although, I think it's not necessarily the same case as other people discussed. Being online, TF2 changes with time. Many LP's are about solo games that are the same since the start, and the masochists just go for it despite these games being just as bad. I got mere 700 hours into TF2, and while I play a lot less now, most of these 700 were a pure joy. Sometime between 2010 and 2012 its was pretty much my only game.
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Jul 2, 2023 12:52
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JustJeff88 posted:Mine was 2008 and I had tapered off by 2012, but that was largely due to starting a new job that demanded a lot of hours. My divorce from TF2 had far more to do with the negative evolution of the game than boredom, burn-out, finding another game or people being dicks (common problem in online games). The death of community servers did it for me. Once Valve cut the valve (heh) that put players on all servers left and right to only put them on official servers, the whole modding community - that hodgepodge of weird servers but great creativity (team deathmatch on a mario kart map anyone?) - just left. It's still a game with great mechanics, and I think they did some stuff to curb bots as I encountered a lot less of them lately, but it's not the same anymore. In my mind, TF2 during that period goes along with gmod and all the gmod videos that were put on youtube, I loved seeing the weird stuff people would think up, or wait up the next meet the... video, and it's just a great memory. I wish Valve would put more aftercare in that game, but still, for a multiplayer shooting game, going fifteen years strong and still having so many players is a feat in itself, I suppose it's normal that games have their high point and then slowly fade. I'll keep the good times in memory.
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Jul 2, 2023 18:13
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Gobbet and Gaichu acting exactly like I hoped they would. Three out of the first four sentences are about food, and we nearly provoked a scandal by bringing a cosplayer along. Out of principle, I will try my hand at a Buddha's delight, even if I will have to replace several ingredients with european ones. I like games that mention dishes that aren't utterly impossible. And drat it, I knew the music of the game was phenomenal, but I completely forgot about the track during this level. The composer did one hell of a great job.
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Jul 10, 2023 20:06
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MJ12 posted:Also, things that are transparent in visible light are often opaque in the astral realm. Following that logic, could I appear as large and muscular to a blind person who uses astral perception? Asking for a friend.
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Jul 12, 2023 08:27
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Oh! Thanks for sharing Boat Stuck, that's super interesting. I think parts of blood sports (yes, that movie with Van Damme and nut-punches) was filmed in the walled city. Apparently there aren't many videos of the insides of this place. Van Damme would also flawlessly pass as an adept if he had to play in a Shadowrun flic, come to think of it. Mindopali fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Jul 22, 2023 |
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Jul 22, 2023 16:19
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I'm throwing a furtive look at the thread every now and then in the hopes of getting my dose of Asian Cyberpunk Fantasy.
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Aug 19, 2023 07:52
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Kanfy posted:Chipping away at it, hang in there. Take your time, don't overdo it lest it gets stressful. I don't think anyone will mind. ProfessorCirno posted:Get the game and play along! My troll "smokey" who's cybered up to the gills attests to me doing just that.
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Aug 19, 2023 10:20
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I love how fitting it is that in a world where nearly everyone is part of a fantastic species, has magical capabilities, or has so much cyberware into them they could be called cyborgs, we're also bound to meet people who did find some power but never were in a position to make the most use of it. Gaichu was a red samurai trained from birth before adding the power of a ghoul. Duncan is a well-trained, muscle bound cop. Gobbet has been running deadly missions long before she was of legal age, and from what little we know Isobel had to claw her way out from where she was born. Recter has deadly machinery at his beck and call. Oh, and our troll is a walking engine of destruction. But Ku Feng? She's just an accountant who is appropriately a pushover and improvising with a position she never expected or wanted. Gaichu may scold her, but he's talking from a position she simply doesn't know. He's been taught absolute loyalty and strength from birth. Ku Feng probably went to school to find a well paying job and hope she'd never had to use a gun or get shot. And now she just happens to be in a position where a lot of people would love to drill a hole in her head for quick cash. In her situation, many of us would do the same, try to make the best with what we have even without a bigger plan on the horizon. I wanted another job than the one I have, still ended up working where I am unexpectedly, and I'm trying to put that together with the other aspects of my life. Ku Feng is trying to figure out the next day without some further plan on the horizon, I am, I'm sure that describes some of you as well. "I still have to wash my hair and pay for parking" I find her a very humane and relatable character in that sense. I also believe the developpers have a thing with food. Between Gobbet the recycling bin, Gaichu who describes the way he prepares sashimi, us taking bites and sips when food is already prepared and there's nobody around, and Ku Feng professing her love for steamed buns, I suspect they put some of their own love for food in game. And I won't complain. Mindopali fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 11:03
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Isn't that bias due to our protagonist's point of view though? Heck, even the way I worded the first sentence in my previous reply shows that bias. Our group is fighting mercenaries and monsters on the daily, but that's just us. Shadowrun never hid the fact that it's also full of office drones, poor workers and managers who are just ecking out a living. Sure, they might have a few more teeth than usual, but they are still your average working joe. Ku Feng has an advantage on them on account of being infected by a strain putting her above said average joe, but that's about it. It also put a target on her back and the the potential attention of a lot of bullets. What was she going to do? Go public and risk the guillotine? Hiding and trying to carve out a discreet place for herself is basically trying to stay alive and not in complete squalor. The opportunity of an actor offering you gifts and money and thus taking care of a lot of your worldy problems isn't even punching above her weightclass. She found another shmuck who happens to be rich. She couldn't have known said schmuck would attract the attention of a boxfull of murderous and connoisseur of fine cuisine mercenaries who routinely carve holes through abominations for breakfast. If that's feckless, what about out group? We're forced in a situation we didn't expect - like Ku Feng - where we have to work for a fixer who could execute us if we so much as displease her, routinely fight armed mercenaries and monsters for bobbles and trinkets we ascribe no value to but other people do, merely to stay alive and - perhaps - get some information about a disappeared person we know preciously little about while also having a gigantic bounty and an entire government wanting us deader than dead. Take away the prism of this piece of media being a videogame that has to go forward, and say you"re someone who knows of the team and the current situation, what odds would you give them to get out of it on top? We got a bad hand and are trying to make the best of it. On that accoutn, we're not so different from Ku Feng. We're just better at the murdering thing. Mindopali fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Sep 15, 2023 |
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Sep 15, 2023 17:03
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Stroth posted:I would say that it's a gift to her from the Rat Spirit, but honestly Gobbet happily eats things actual rats would definitely refuse to touch. I'd love it if even the Rat Spirit didn't know how the hell she's able to eat all this without falling sick.
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Sep 28, 2023 13:08
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I suppose Andrew Tate would be an Avatar of the Adversay in the Shadowrun universe.
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Sep 29, 2023 16:16
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achtungnight posted:You can see a faction of the latter Toxic Dog Shamans in the recently released film Strays. That movie… it’s too disturbing for me to watch, whether the villain deserves their fate or not. Let’s leave it at that. We are talking about that lighthearted and dumb movie with two dogs, one of them voiced by Will Ferrel?
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Oct 1, 2023 16:34
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achtungnight posted:Yes. Like I said, let's leave it at that. I smell deep-seated trauma and shall not dig any further.
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Oct 1, 2023 22:54
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Harebrained schemes new game just came out, lamplighter's league, for these who hadn't seen it. I played it a bit, it's... well, some game design decision are kinda annoying, not gonna lie.
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Oct 13, 2023 08:28
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Holy.... drat it, I wasn't aware. And just like that, the company that made some absolutely great games was shot to shreds. However, I wonder if that wouldn't have happened either way with the commercial failure of lamplighter's league. Small to mid-sized studios are very dependant on the success of every game due to them potentially taking years to be made. Hell, the studio that made shadow tactics and the desperado 3 games, all great games that make you hit your head against the desk and bring you to the fundamental realization that you never were a smart person, announced they would stop making games, despite them being rather succesful. Simply because banking several years of work on a single game is way too risky. Not a good time to be a middle sized development company.
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Oct 13, 2023 13:49
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habeasdorkus posted:Reminds me of how Larian almost died before being able to hit it moderately big with Divinity: Original Sin - they had to essentially push out Dragon Commander as an unfinished product to get some income in order to survive the dev time for D:OS even with the extra million dollars from Kickstarter. It's real fuckin' hard out there for smaller devs. I remember that too. Heck, CD project red nearly went bankrupt after one of the two first witcher games, can't remember which one, when they weren't that big. At least the little hands and talents that made the shadowrun games still exist, I hope they find employment again fast. I dont know posted:Mimimi is shutting down as well? poo poo, that sucks! I had no idea, because as you said, their last few games have been pretty successful. Shadow Gambit just released a month or two ago to rave reviews, good buzz, and I assumed at least decent sales. Sales were apparently so-so, and the studio stated that's it's just no livable to work on a single game for years and then bank your survival on it. So they went out before a bad game would bring them crashing down in flames for real.
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Oct 13, 2023 15:52
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habeasdorkus posted:Racter is a nightmare of a person and also a great character and party member. Honestly not sure how he put his impulsiveness/desires into the drone, though. That seems like it'd definitely go wrong given how wrapped up those things are in, well, all of the rest of us. To his credit, he had over 20 something years to tinker and perfect the formulae. As he says, he used to be quite impulsive, I guess it didn't go without some hiccups. But I suppose a scientific mind and enough luck to stay alive will lead you to a proper solution sooner or later. Also, no wonder folks love Racter. He's one of the few RPG's companions that fits the "token evil" buddy, but unlike many it's not gratuitous. You know where he comes from, where his medical condition comes from, how it led him to think the way he does. And even if you don't agree with it, the reasoning makes sense and he's not just a "evil for evil's sake" sort of character. On top of that, he's cultured, can be witty, and has one heck of a style with Koshei. Gaichu's pretty great too, what with being born and raised in a company with a very specific set of morals quite removed from the usual right or wrong. I'd say the biggest problem with that is that it makes other characters - who might have been less inspired during writing - stand out more. But that's a good problem to have I think.
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Oct 21, 2023 06:27
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ProfessorCirno posted:I always just accepted this as a divorce between gameplay and story. The intention seems pretty clear cut that Racter is meant to have maybe 1 or less essence remaining, and thus why it's meant to be a big shock moment to discover it, as, at that level of Essence, he should have significantly more side effects then he's presenting. It's meant to be a "wait, how are you not affected by that? EVERYONE is affected by it!" I've never read a shadowrun text/book, but I'm sure as hell reading that one. You got me interested with that first person descritpion of the process, thanks!
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Oct 22, 2023 06:47
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Sylphosaurus posted:To be frank, I always felt that it was a bit weird that chrome that simply mimicked an ordinary limb would cost Essence. As far as I´m concerned it´s when you start putting in stuff like a cyber dick that can double as a assault rifle/bladed implement you start losing humanity since you are turning yourself into a weapon and not simply mimicking the old limbs functionality. Don't kink shame me.
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Nov 1, 2023 16:56
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It's pretty lit that instead of making Them stock evil, they gave large reasons as to why racter and gaichu would follow up on the more brutal decisions. Especially Gaichu, in his case, it's pretty much the cultural shock of having been part of a special unit with special treatment and special trains of thought. Racter, Gobbet, Isobel and even our gunshow have standards on which they can find common grounds from time to time. Gaichu though is a stranger in strangerland, his customs so to speak very different from shadowrunners. Makes him super interesting.
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Dec 3, 2023 10:17
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Agaragon posted:What I like about Gaichu is that the truly scary part about him isn't the obligate cannibal part. If anything, it's the chillest part of him. He gladly admits that he has no need for live subjects, corpses work just fine, and he has a knack for cooking them a certain way. He's one of the few cannibals whose hunger for flesh is the least threatening part.
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Dec 4, 2023 10:04
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The Lone Badger posted:Cooked no. Prepared yes. Gaichu has a talk where has says that anything above a certain temperature ruins it for him so he does a low-temperature soup-vide to tenderise tough meat. It's in one of the first updates where he appears. If memory serves, he makes sahimi out of them, which normally takes raw fish but in this case takes raw meat. So he can have some fun in the cuisine while still keeping it raw enough for him.
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Dec 5, 2023 10:22
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I stand corrected. Nice to know that even in the cut-throat world of Shadowrun, you can take a few minutes to discuss cannibal cuisine and the intricacies of ghoul culinary preferences.
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Dec 5, 2023 13:04
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Kanfy posted:
Mathew made me sad back then when I played the game the first time, he still does now. I recognize parts if myself in him. Props to the writing team, and here's to all the Mathews trying to find a place they fit in. I'm going to sit this vote out. We've seen the type of interactions Gaichu is about to have, but I don't recall Racter having a lot of stuff to say. Either way works for me. Mindopali fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Dec 10, 2023 |
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Dec 10, 2023 09:53
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To Reliable Matthew... hold true, little buddy. There's a rest for you at the end of the tunnel.
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Bentai posted:I had a soft spot for Is0bel when I first started playing, but when I got to her side mission it was cemented. Yes Is0bel, I will absolutely shove this nerd into a locker for you. It had the opposite effect on me. Well, opposite is too strong a word, it's not like the mission made me dislike Isobel. But I felt it was less inspired than the other personal missions. Still, it was years ago, I wonder what I remember and what I don't, maybe I'll change my mind once I see it again.
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Dec 12, 2023 09:54
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JT Jag posted:Yeah, this is something that people lose sight of: literally any runner who survives while doing regular runs for longer than like 5 years is a scary motherfucker. The biggest failson of any given Shadowrun team is still probably one of the best dozen people at what they do in that city Does this make Gobbet a sort of Alpha among shadowrunners for managing to survive that long while consistently killing off the rest of her various crews?
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Dec 14, 2023 10:32
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Stroth posted:To be fair she didn't so much kill them off as fail to save them from their own idiocy. Not quite the same thing. That's true, but even jokingly, the point would still remain. It's already hardass to survive long as a shadowrunner, even in a crew of smart people. It goes into legend territory to do so while your crew composed largely of idiots keeps on dying. I already liked Gobbet for being a foody with a tendency for horrible food - sometimes, it's the little things in the writing that make you like a character - but I can't wait to see her personal quest again. It's one of the parts of the game I remember the most vividly and fondly. And the music during that quest sells the mood extremely well.
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Dec 14, 2023 12:50
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"all around you, you hear a smattering of polite applause" I'm picturing Racter bowing slightly to the public and our protagonist flexing their biceps. Security is probably thinking that not a single one of the convention guests have any sort of social skills.
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Feb 11, 2024 10:56
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Yes! An update! that makes my day. I half expected some more knocking out opportunities covered by the fact most convention goers are antisocial and try to avoid making any noise. And if you come across a hurdle you have to convince: [Charisma 5] [One person knocked out] I just knocked out that one guy, you sure you wanna stand in my way? [Charisma 4] [Two persons knocked out] Never two without a third, I'd advice you to move from the spot in the next few seconds. [Charisma 3] [Three persons knocked out] For your own cranial health. Leave. [Strength 5] Knock him out too while you're at it. Expectations aside, if we're to play mission control and lead Isobel through her mission, I expect antisocial hijinks to happen naturally.
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Mar 29, 2024 11:37
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By popular demand posted:Is that accurate down to the lack of personal hygiene and refusing to acknowledge he might be mistaken literally at the price of his own health? In his defense, this being shadowrun, lack of hygiene might give him actual supernatural powers where health is concerned. I mean, look at Gobbet.
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Mar 30, 2024 10:26
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This being shadowrun, there's a good chance to see some more CEO's to be compared to our real-world CEO's. Rogue AI Goddess posted:More RPGs need [body count] dialogue checks. I think the age of decadence (there's a screenshot LP on LP archive, I heavily recommend it), has a few to outline how bloodthirsty you can get. Apart from that though, none comes to mind.
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Apr 1, 2024 10:37
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:Oh, I didn't know the AoD guys put out a new game. Thought they were still mucking around with Dungeon Rats By unfun, you mean stroke inducing rage sort of unfun, right? I like how cutthroat the game can be, even dialogue can get you killed in a moment if you're not careful. But the combat felt more difficult due to clunky mechanics than voluntary philosophy.
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Apr 2, 2024 20:42
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DoctorTristan posted:Their follow up game makes things even more rage inducing with a mechanic where skills increase based on how often you use them. So if talk yourself out of too many combats you’ll suddenly find yourself woefully underlevelled when one of the unavoidable fights rocks up! Ouch. Yeah, I can get why that can be bad. In other games it could be okay, but in such a hardcore game? I understand it makes more sense from a leveling perspective, like elder scrolls where you get better by using your skills. But if the game doesn't give you enough alternatives to help during unavoidable fights... Yeah, no wonder people can have struggle with colony ship. That said, both this game and age of decadence stand at very positive on steam. These are games with a specific niche but won't go mainstream for obvious reasons.
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Apr 4, 2024 12:00
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 01:27 |
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quote:It's too late, Nancy. At least a dozen people have already eaten from the thing. We can't shut it down now, and we sure as hell can't let anyone know about it. If people were to get sick, the show could be held liable! Look. If it's any consolation, I've been poring through the logs of old shows to see if anyone had mentioned the Noodle Extruder, and I found something. This is amazing. Deckers discussing how eating lovely noodles is part of the convention makes for a fun tidbit about tradition and habit. Then the noodles being made from nothing makes for a great punchline. But the bit about the conversation having happened every year for fourteen years adds just the right absurd and horror. I mean, what if you were the person writing the e-mail and realizing you've already had that exact same talk for so long? I love it.
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Apr 7, 2024 14:25
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