What Video Games Have You Been Playing, Part 10: Or; A Shameful Display!

[aimeeandbeatles]

the massive success of Skyrim, when everybody and their brother thought that a zillion radiant side quests were awesome because, uh, worldbuilding or something.

A zillion radiant sidequests of "go to this cave full of draugr and kill someone/get something."

 

[Synobun]

I love Skyrim, but yeah, the worldbuilding behind its dungeons is pretty lame. The next ES definitely needs more diversity. There's only so much flavour text you can add to "draugr crypts" before it becomes, well, just another draugr crypt.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I loved the quests in Oblivion. There was one where you actually went inside a painting.

 

[Synobun]

Far Cry 2 is more of a Driving While Being Shot At By Men In Technicals Simulator than anything resembling an actually fun video game so far.

 

[Phrossack]

Far Cry 2 is more of a Driving While Being Shot At By Men In Technicals Simulator than anything resembling an actually fun video game so far.

I liked the setting. But all armed people are your enemies, your buddies are useless, and there are checkpoints to stop you everywhere. Definitely not what it could have been.

I got Attila: Total War, all its DLC, and Thrones of Britannia on sale. Not sure I have the memory space for them, but we'll see.

 

[cardgame]

I picked up a VR threesome for the lunar sale: Beat Saber at full price because it's worth it, Contractors for $3 off because it's super promising, and 11 table tennis for 50% off and the most highly reviewed sports game of its style. Beat Saber has taken the new #1 game favorite away from Superhot, it's amazing.

 

[Hygro]

Post started with a VR threesome had so much promise

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Post started with a VR threesome had so much promise

I was pretty worried since I had just jumped from a thread that took a strange turn to torture porn...

 

[cardgame]

Post started with a VR threesome had so much promise

Further details mustn't be posted to this family-friendly forum

 

[777]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I like it

 

[Senethro]

I liked the setting. But all armed people are your enemies, your buddies are useless, and there are checkpoints to stop you everywhere. Definitely not what it could have been.

Drive off-road you big babies! Use the boat or fast travel and approach from wild country. It defeats the point of an open world game if you act like there are “Keep off the grass” signs everywhere.

 

[Synobun]

Drive off-road you big babies! Use the boat or fast travel and approach from wild country. It defeats the point of an open world game if you act like there are “Keep off the grass” signs everywhere.

I tried that, but the cars hit small rocks as though they're immovable objects.

I haven't tried the boat, though. Did try fast travel, and I've been using the bus when I can. Although I've forgotten the hotkey for switching maps so I'm mostly guessing which corner of the map I need to fast travel to...

 

[Phrossack]

I tried that, but the cars hit small rocks as though they're immovable objects.

I haven't tried the boat, though. Did try fast travel, and I've been using the bus when I can. Although I've forgotten the hotkey for switching maps so I'm mostly guessing which corner of the map I need to fast travel to...

I use boats very heavily. They're fast and fun and you can run past any trouble pretty quickly. I also invested in the dart rifle and the ghillie suit once I could. Nice to be able to sneak around at night.

 

[Lexicus]

I just beat the Egyptian campaign in Napoleon: Total War on the second try. The first try I attempted to conquer the whole Nile, but sending armies south of Cairo is a waste of time. Second try I captured the northern Nile delta, left a strong garrison in Cairo, and sent Napoleon to take Acre and Damascus asap, which worked quite well: I finished the campaign something like 18 months before the end date.

The starting position in the "Europe" campaign looks really messy, too many generals and not enough units. I'm thinking the best move initially might be to defend France's borders in Europe while staking everything on landing Napoleon in England with a full stack. Should be easy to avoid the Royal Navy, the problem I'm anticipating is constant revolt from the English population tying up my forces there and leading to problems on the Continent as Prussia declares war a few turns into the campaign.

If anyone has played Napoleon I'm curious to hear how you approached the European campaign. As it's my first playthrough of the game I'm playing on Normal battle difficulty and Hard campaign difficulty.

 

[MaryKB]

I've been playing Civilization 6 with some guys I met, and I had a lot of fun winning our game. Poundmaker declared war on me, so I launched nuclear missiles at all of his cities, my friends started freaking out because none of them knew what's happening lol. And then a Nuclear Emergency got declared on me, but only Poundmaker accepted it.

Now these guys have asked me to try playing Grand Theft Auto Online. I was at a clothing store shopping for a new outfit for my character, and someone walked in and shot me.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I tried that, but the cars hit small rocks as though they're immovable objects.

I haven't tried the boat, though. Did try fast travel, and I've been using the bus when I can. Although I've forgotten the hotkey for switching maps so I'm mostly guessing which corner of the map I need to fast travel to...

I remember playing one of the old battlefield games where my 50-ton tank hit a small wooden road sign and exploded......

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I remember playing one of the old battlefield games where my 50-ton tank hit a small wooden road sign and exploded......

They were ahead of their time...that was an IED.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

A zillion radiant sidequests of "go to this cave full of draugr and kill someone/get something."

I don't even mind these kinds of quests, in fact I loved kill quests in WoW. but I hated them in Skyrim. it seems hypocritical, but actually isn't. while WoW was all about growth and effort, Skyrim feels utterly meaningless, decisions hardly matter and a level 80 character feels almost the same as a level 10 character. that's why the quests are no fun, because you know they lead nowhere. like when WoW introduced daily quests and everybody knew you only had to do them in order to keep up, not because you wanted to. game psychology is complex af the more I tink about it.

I loved the quests in Oblivion. There was one where you actually went inside a painting.

that was Oblivion's best quest. but many were phenomenal, like the Dark Brotherhood and Thieve's Guild Questline. Others were horribly underwhelming, like the main quest and the mages guild (aside from spellbuilding!)

 

[EgonSpengler]

Far Cry 2 was an odd duck. It was like a movie that changed directors halfway through. It seemed like it was supposed to be an open-world RPG, then changed its mind and went straight FPS. So you end up with this big, open world, with potentially interesting politics and difficult ethical choices to make, and then you just shoot, burn and blow up everything that crosses your path like The Punisher on a cocaine bender. I think I played it for many hours and never figured out what the [bleep] this lunatic I was playing was doing, besides trying not to die from malaria. I think the game would have made sense if, right at the end, your character looks into a mirror and you realize it's Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight, and then you board a plane for Gotham City right as the credits begin to roll.

 

[cardgame]

I just beat the Egyptian campaign in Napoleon: Total War on the second try. The first try I attempted to conquer the whole Nile, but sending armies south of Cairo is a waste of time. Second try I captured the northern Nile delta, left a strong garrison in Cairo, and sent Napoleon to take Acre and Damascus asap, which worked quite well: I finished the campaign something like 18 months before the end date.

The starting position in the "Europe" campaign looks really messy, too many generals and not enough units. I'm thinking the best move initially might be to defend France's borders in Europe while staking everything on landing Napoleon in England with a full stack. Should be easy to avoid the Royal Navy, the problem I'm anticipating is constant revolt from the English population tying up my forces there and leading to problems on the Continent as Prussia declares war a few turns into the campaign.

If anyone has played Napoleon I'm curious to hear how you approached the European campaign. As it's my first playthrough of the game I'm playing on Normal battle difficulty and Hard campaign difficulty.

Consolidate a few generals into one super stack until you can recruit enough new troops. Liberate/puppet Bavaria to create a buffer so Austria won't attack you directly.