Video Games

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:26 am

Ted the Flayer wrote:I like the one that summons the snarky Dremora merchant.

Want.

Do tell more.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:57 am

Avoraciopoctules wrote:http://store.steampowered.com/app/220700/
Is RPG Maker VX Ace really worth 70 bucks?

It's ~$33 in Russia/CIS, so if anyone is serious about it, PM me and I'll gift it.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:20 am

Darth Rabbitt wrote:
Ted the Flayer wrote:I like the one that summons the snarky Dremora merchant.
Want.

Do tell more.

In the ruins of Benkongerike you'll find the black book Untold Legends. After getting through Apocrypha, you'll be given the choice of one of three abilities:

Black Market: Summons a Dremora Merchant. When I summon him, he only has Daedric Armor, a random Daedric weapon, and a random enchanted version of both. But he has 2,000 gp and is useful to unload stuff.

Secret Servant: Summons a dremora butler to carry shit for you. He can carry 148 pounds of stuff. Keep in mind that he vanishes and you need to wait 24 hours to summon him again to get your stuff back. I didn't pick that one, but my research has indicated that the butler is even snarkier and puts Lydia to shame

Bardic Knowledge: 300 second stamina regen boost for you and your allies. Seems kind of lame to me, as it seems that skyrim is much like oblivion in that increasing your stamina/mana/health will give you more noticeable boosts than increasing regen, but I don't play a lot of mages (and the ones I do play tend to max out chanting quickly so I can get mana reduction out the ass).

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 8:18 pm

...Huh. Xbox Live has some piddling rewards if you get over 10k and then 25k gamerscore. You get Microsoft points back when you use 'em, all that shit.

I'm at 23700 gamerscore last time I looked, and still have a couple of games to finish, and one I've never started because it was given to me as a "Here, take this, my Xbox died and I don't need it."

So, the rewards are piddling, but since I'm so close, I might as well make the effort and get over 25k.

Gamerscore meaning something other than how big you Xbox penis is. How about that.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:47 pm

Starmaker wrote:
Avoraciopoctules wrote:http://store.steampowered.com/app/220700/
Is RPG Maker VX Ace really worth 70 bucks?
It's ~$33 in Russia/CIS, so if anyone is serious about it, PM me and I'll gift it.

I was under the impression Steam did some kind of region-locking. If that works, though, holy crap what?

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:14 am

DSMatticus wrote:
Starmaker wrote:
Avoraciopoctules wrote:http://store.steampowered.com/app/220700/
Is RPG Maker VX Ace really worth 70 bucks?
It's ~$33 in Russia/CIS, so if anyone is serious about it, PM me and I'll gift it.
I was under the impression Steam did some kind of region-locking. If that works, though, holy crap what?

You can't lie about your region or resell gifts on an industrial scale. Actual gifts made through steam are legit.

ishy · Post by **ishy** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:29 pm

Yeah I believe if you're german, you need to get people to gift you games too, so you can get uncensored versions.

Calibron · Post by **Calibron** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 4:29 pm

That new Sim City that's coming out looks pretty great.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 7:24 pm

Borderlands 2 is easily the best new game I've played all year.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:46 am

I keep hearing good things about the game from just two people here and a talking coconut monkey living in Arkansas. This must mean that Borderlands 2 is worth getting. Should I get the first one as well, or do I not need too? I mean, will I understand the game and story and shit if I haven't played Borderlands 1?

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:50 am

The story's not worth knowing. There are some cameos from the first game, but nothing that actually adds to the story in a meaningful way.

I'm on the fence as to how good the game is. It's great co-op with friends, but arguing with 12yos about who grabbed loot is less fun. Also, the developers keep pumping you for mini expansions.

It is my go to for mindless FPS slaughter ATM, though.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:55 am

Blasted wrote:The story's not worth knowing. There are some cameos from the first game, but nothing that actually adds to the story in a meaningful way.

Gotcha.

It's great co-op with friends, but arguing with 12yos about who grabbed loot is less fun.

Fortunately, all my friends are either imaginary or comprised entirely of self-loathing fungal colonies. So, no problem there.

It is my go to for mindless FPS slaughter ATM, though.

Ah, well, slaughter and gore are best when mindless. So, now that ratchets up the "recommend" count to 3. I think. Anyway, Ima gonna get it once I have some video game monies available.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:11 am

Yeah.

So far, the expansions:

1) Mechromancer. New playable class. She has the strongest class power. Definitely interesting to play as.

2) Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty: Pirates. Looking for treasure in the desert. It adds a few hours, has some nice loot and a couple of fun quests

3) Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. Holy crap, I enjoyed this. So, so much. The missions are pretty bent, the fights are different enough...

Anyways, I saw the guy who voiced the game's villain, Handsome Jack, won an award for it. Which is fair enough. Handsome Jack sounds like a douchebag most of the time, but he'll sometimes get extremely angry and actually sound scary.

As far as story/setting, Borderlands happens in the way future. Technology is really advanced. But the planet Pandora is a lot of unsettled/sparsely settled wastes, with legendarily hostile wildlife. There was a corporation, Atlas, in the first game. The events of the first game crashed the company. So another corporation, Hyperion, moved in to take over. Both corporations have a 'because we say so' approach to law and government.

The Vault is a storehouse of an ancient alien galactic civilization. IIRC, the company from the first game, Atlas, made their fortune from finding a vault and reverse-engineering the tech inside. And they set up shop on Pandora because they heard about the Vault there, which was opened in the first game. Now, there's supposed to be a second one.

Here's the intro video: it shows a bit of backstory and a little thing for the four playable characters (it hasn't been updated to include the Mechromancer).

I'll answer any questions I can.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 5:20 am

So far it seems pretty good. I'm sure I'll have more questions once I actually aquire the game. Which will be soon, as the crow flies.

... Sorry, I just always wanted to say that. That, and "Impossible, our laserfire is making him stronger!"

JigokuBosatsu · Post by **JigokuBosatsu** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:54 pm

I haven't finished Dragonborn yet, but am loving it. Becoming chief of a goblin tribe is the cutest ever. I am glad about the Companion's Insight power- I was highly frustrated that I was always murdering my followers, and wanted a "Spray & Pray" type perk.

Also- just played Artemis. It's fucking awesome. We only tried it with three people, but I think the full complement of players, a charmingly assholish captain, and plenty of alcohol will make it the best game ever.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 12:49 am

If anybody wants a game partner on Steam, my page is here: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198049115006/

I have TF2, Borderlands 1, Borderlands 2, FEAR 3 and Shoot Many Robots for multi-player and co-op.

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:33 am

JigokuBosatsu wrote:Also- just played Artemis. It's fucking awesome. We only tried it with three people, but I think the full complement of players, a charmingly assholish captain, and plenty of alcohol will make it the best game ever.

You'd be right about that, it's great with 6 crew and booze. I think the first red alert called was for the captain being out of booze. The drunk science officer who gave up 1 round and intentionally lied to the helm so that they'd jump the ship into a black hole is one of my favorite memories from that game.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:54 pm

"The only thing that could make this game more awesome would be if it came with a large, sand-colored set ready to simulate any planet and equipped with the makings for a gunpowder cannon."

K · Post by K » Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:39 pm

I had a weird video game experience.

I was looking at user comments for Alpha Centauri on GOG.com to see if the expansion was included, and someone mentioned that they hate the movies in the game because of the liberal bias.

WTF? Can anyone explain this to me?

angelfromanotherpin · Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:05 am

Probably the kind of person who believes that the sun comes up leaning left.

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:14 am

Probably because you can win the game by basically being a giant liberal hippie who creates a magical anarchist utopia.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 1:07 am

Some people just like throwing out the words "liberal bias."

I learned a long time ago that reading comments sections make me lose faith in humanity, and so I should avoid them.

As it turns out, I'm terrible at my own advice.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 1:23 am

I love Alpha Centauri, but some things always made me laugh. I remember back when I was a young lad with my first ever PC I had that game (barely ran at all)... Had a 100 year war with Chairman Yang and had worn him down to just 2 or 3 bases. He then continues to send me demands and threats. It was like talking to Kim Jong Il, I guess.

Or having allies or neutrals start to try and demand protection money from you, despite your having a 2 or 3 tier advantage in tech. Bitch, there's a reason my army is so small.

I love the game, but the AI interactions can be weird.

PS. Does Miriam of the believers turn on everybody else, or is that me? We *ALWAYS* have a Vendetta between our factions.

Archmage Joda · Post by **Archmage Joda** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:12 am

So, I picked me up a copy of Dark Souls. I remember previously being advised to try a pyromancer as my first character, rather than a sorcerer (I like the magey types regardless of the game), so I started out with that. Aside from that though, I really have no clue what I'm doing at this point, except that I am terrible at parrying and riposting. Also, fireball is slow to cast and I have a bitch of a time hitting anything with it before getting impaled by a greatsword.

Ah well, just the beginning of the learning curve for me, still gonna make the most of the 7 day period I have to make sure I like this game or else return it for a refund...

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:34 am

You won't get by just magicking your way into things, though you can destroy bosses and players with some spells (the DLC ones are especially "fuck you, PvP"). People advise pyromancer not because its pyromancies (indeed, its no better at pyromancy than anything else), but because it has the "most" points (fewest wasted in resistance, and some more than other classes). So nearly all builds start pyromancer because it gets them more points in what they care about by a target SL. Wanderer is another common-ish one. Parrying and riposting are pretty critical, and you learn by doing. Playing with a wiki open to make sure you aren't making terrible decisions isn't a bad idea.

Dark Souls has a weird curve going on: it starts with frustration (and fun, if you enjoy being frustrated by videogame challenges, I guess). Then you will start to learn combat mechanics and stop failing miserably all the time, and it will be challenging but rewarding and no longer "you die at every mook you see." And then it drops off to boring where you can thoroughly destroy most of the games mooks and instead look for ways to run past them. I found boss fights pretty much always fun.

But yeah. It has a learning curve, like anything that combines skill intensivity and pattern memorization.