The Video Game Thread: What are you Playing?

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Stumpydave said:
I don't understand the sentence so I think I'm just going on the one run?
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You've been very insulated from the Starfield community! I don't think it's a spoiler, but the end of the story isn't the end. Inhavent gotten there myself but when you get to the end you're given a choice... a chance to do it over or to keep going. Each time you do it over you keep your progression but lose your stuff and connections. And discover a whole new world with differences. You can do this again and again, each time being subtly different, and each time with you being more powerful starting out.

 
Finally got around to completing all the From Software games this year.

Sekiro was the hardest by a good margin, especially the last boss. Elden Ring was probably the best in my opinion, although I quite liked Armoured Core.

Cuphead I was surprised at as I saw it on a list of relaxing family games, it's harder than Sekiro if you try to get the achievements!
 
Urdlen's best boy said:
Look at him, this is Nebrek now. 10/12 Cleric/Thief. He has the super duper plate plus 3, the Weaboo Katana Supreme for extra fast spellcasting (casting through the billion times folded perfection of the katana) and is ready to cautiously murder everything in his path. Although Quayle died again, but whatever. Shar-Teel, Viconia, Tiax, Garrick and Edwin is a team I can live with. I'm not taking the sex offender, even Nebrek has standards!
hftrfht.png

Beautiful. Perfection. And he now can summon bugs to eat all the dumbass wizturds! Surely he wont die in a stupid way!
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We cleared Durlag and the werewolf Island without breaking a sweat (by wich I mean only a few resurrectable deaths), and even killed Sarevok. We officially entered Siege of Dragonspear, which we must do so I don't feel like a cheater for using SoD items in BG2. Also XP. Thankfully, I have gotten it down to an art, and since I've prepared my anti-undead scrolls, my fire wands and my ring of all-bypassing 2d6 magical damage it'll be a cruise with the exception of one or two fights.

The Urdlen priest class (from Deities of Faerun) is really coming together spell-wise and Stoneskin+Creeping doom is going to take care of most difficult fights, so I intend to go 100% XP hogging and murder everything I can. I killed the lich and am now advancing towards the temple of Cyric (a difficult part, as we'll kill the optional boss) and confrontation with crusader forces, which we fully intent on merrily exterminating to the last one in frontal assault.

It's time to propiciate the Crawler Bellow. Number one Urdlen's boy! Hopefully no one dies along the way and I don't have to deal with Beamdog's characters.
 
Séadna said:
Finally got around to completing all the From Software games this year.

Sekiro was the hardest by a good margin, especially the last boss. Elden Ring was probably the best in my opinion, although I quite liked Armoured Core.

Cuphead I was surprised at as I saw it on a list of relaxing family games, it's harder than Sekiro if you try to get the achievements!
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Do you mean all the games that From Software has made or just all the Soulslikes?

I have a great fondness for some of their earlier games. Stuff like Lost Kingdoms 1+2 and Otogi 1+2. I also remember Evergrace with fondness. That game has one of the weirdest soundtracks, I've ever heard in a videogame. Also a game thats Soulslike long before that became a term.



Lessa said:
Sir, you have great tast..


I mean, terrible taste. XD
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Why terrible taste? I would agree that Elden Ring is the best.

Here's how I would rank the ones I've played; Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls.
I'm not ranking Sekiro, because I've not finished it. One of the early bosses in the game broke me. Probably should give it another try at some point.
I haven't played Dark Souls 2 and 3.
 
The Mad Hatter said:
Do you mean all the games that From Software has made or just all the Soulslikes?
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I did play the Otogi and Lost Kingdoms series, but aside from Yoshitsune I haven't played the Japan-only releases.

The old Armoured Cores can be finished pretty fast.

The Mad Hatter said:
Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls
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I'd be pretty much the same. Having finished it I'd probably put Sekiro at the same level as Bloodborne. Sekiro has better gameplay, but Bloodborne is a really cool world to be in.
 
Séadna said:
If you don't mind me asking, who was it?
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Don't mind at all. Almost every boss I met in the game, was some of the hardest figths I've had in a videogame. I got through Lady Butterfly and Genichiro Ashina, both of which took me so long that my hands hurt from clutching the controller. GA I actually stopped trying and took a couple of days off from the game.
But it was the Guardian Ape of all things who broke me. I just had it at that point. According to the internet, that's about 50% into the game, so not that early I guess.
I do really like the world of Sekiro. I think it's just as great as Bloodborne in that respect.
 
I still haven't beaten the final boss in Sekiro. I will go back and finish it sometime, just to have done it.

As for the Guardian Ape, he also drove me insane until I discovered that popping one of the items that boosts your posture damage and reduces your health allowed me to stunlock and then kill him for the first phase of the fight. The second phase was still hard and took some time but I could go into it after healing practically untouched.
 
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Stumpydave said:
Darktide is the game 16 year old me wouldn't believe was possible. Actually going to a Hive world? Mad!!

If only Ogryns could get a heavy bolter :sad:
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I loved Space Marine, and am waiting for the second one. I'll get Dark Tide once I get a bit further in Starfield and BG3 and Phantom Liberty... have too much to play right now
 
The Mad Hatter said:
Why terrible taste? I would agree that Elden Ring is the best.
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Worst combat system in series by far, basically based on cheese, both by the player's (OP weapon art) and enemies (spasmic non-stop helicopter and delayed attacks). It's a cheesy fest.

Also, while it has some of best legacy dungeons in Stormveil and Leindel, the open world outside it is awfully bloated, with random dungeons (with random loot) everywhere. Next time I waste 2 hours on a dungeon just to find a loot unrelated to my build I'm gonna puke.

Last but not least, the lore/plot is needless complicated. A far cry from the elegant simplicity of dark souls.

But that's just me. I find Sekiro the best combat and bosses (Isshin, Father Owl and Headless Ape = love), Bloodborne the best ambience, original Dark Souls the best setting and world design, and DS3 the qualitiest boss ratio (even if it's peak was surpassed by Sekiro). Elden Ring was the least interesting to me together with DS2. Never played Demon Souls.

P.S: can't wait to try Lies of P, as lots of people say it's combat is a mix of Sekiro and Bloodborne.
 
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Lessa said:
Worst combat system in series by far, basically based on cheese, both by the player's (OP weapon art) and enemies (spasmic non-stop helicopter and delayed attacks). It's a cheesy fest.

Also, while it has some of best legacy dungeons in Stormveil and Leindel, the open world outside it is awfully bloated, with random dungeons (with random loot) everywhere. Next time I waste 2 hours on a dungeon just to find a loot unrelated to my build I'm gonna puke.

Last but not least, the lore/plot is needless complicated. A far cry from the elegant simplicity of dark souls.

But that's just me. I find Sekiro the best combat and bosses (Isshin, Father Owl and Headless Ape = love), Bloodborne the best ambience, original Dark Souls the best setting and world design, and DS3 the qualitiest boss ratio (even if it's peak was surpassed by Sekiro). Elden Ring was the least interesting to me together with DS2. Never played Demon Souls.

P.S: can't wait to try Lies of P, as lots of people say it's combat is a mix of Sekiro and Bloodborne.
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My picks would be:

Bloodborne - love the speed of the combat and setting/look.

Sekiro - again, love the speed of the combat and look/setting, may be a touch too hard even by DS standards though.

Demon's Souls - My favourite in terms of the look/setting of any of the DS games.

DS - Great look/setting, the PvP is broken though.

Elden Ring - So much to discover in this one.

DS2/3 - About even for me, they blur a bit in my mind but DS3 had the best of PvP of any of the DS games, put in hundreds of hours there.

To me one of the flaws of Soulsborne is how little dialogue the NPCs have, not as bad as Skyrim and its blank-eyed carboard NPCs, but it feels like they should be a bit more dynamic and responsive to you or the changes in the world.

The lore in pretty much all these games is very secondary to me, all the fan explanations I see are far too convoluted for my tastes, I hope its a case of over-reading.
 
Séadna said:
How are you finding Phantom Liberty? I finished it a couple of days ago myself.
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I wrapped it up yesterday. It was great!
The game tried really hard to make Songbird sympathetic but I found her an unlikeable almost from the start when she started acting like V was her best friend. I reached the "You know what? Fuck this bitch" point when Songbird announced her intent to kill a stadium full of people simply to cause a distraction.* It's Evelyn's tale all over again - a selfish, treacherous beauty who is incapable of honesty needs V's help.

*Yea, V kills a lot of people but only people who are "in the game" - mercs, criminals, and gangers who live in a world of violence

Black Future '88 is $2 on Steam for another week. I wouldn't pay $20 for it but it's a steal at $2.
 
I'm very surprised some gamers have such an issue with Evelyn and wonder why.

She didn't do anything to V.

But yes, my V's inability to save Evelyn is why they chose to save Songbird.
 
CT_Phipps said:
I'm very surprised some gamers have such an issue with Evelyn and wonder why. She didn't do anything to V.
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So that means you're cool with a backstabbing liar who lacks a conscience so long as they haven't burned you? Man, that's a gonk move!

Evelyn would have absolutely screwed V over after cutting out the fixer.

"Here's your half of the €$100,000 we got, V."

But V would never know the VDBs actually paid her 2 million.
 
Urdlen's best boy said:
We cleared Durlag and the werewolf Island without breaking a sweat (by wich I mean only a few resurrectable deaths), and even killed Sarevok. We officially entered Siege of Dragonspear, which we must do so I don't feel like a cheater for using SoD items in BG2. Also XP. Thankfully, I have gotten it down to an art, and since I've prepared my anti-undead scrolls, my fire wands and my ring of all-bypassing 2d6 magical damage it'll be a cruise with the exception of one or two fights.

The Urdlen priest class (from Deities of Faerun) is really coming together spell-wise and Stoneskin+Creeping doom is going to take care of most difficult fights, so I intend to go 100% XP hogging and murder everything I can. I killed the lich and am now advancing towards the temple of Cyric (a difficult part, as we'll kill the optional boss) and confrontation with crusader forces, which we fully intent on merrily exterminating to the last one in frontal assault.

It's time to propiciate the Crawler Bellow. Number one Urdlen's boy! Hopefully no one dies along the way and I don't have to deal with Beamdog's characters.
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I was sick today, so I played all the way through SoD and finally arrived at BG2 (well I will when the install is finished).

SoD went relatively well. No permadeaths, although I've had a good dozen (maybe 20, Viconia died often for some reason)regular resurrectable companion deaths, including 3 in the Dragonspear basement, but it was doable. Although, Nebrek was not to far from getting eaten by beetles. You see, they have a AoE no save stun effect, meaning for a few rounds you can't act and all attacks land. Like an idiot, I had separated from the group and underestimated how fast they deploy it. Then they chewed my stoneskin like nothing, and it got scary. I was at 26 hp when the group slew the last one, only a few hits away from death and end of run.

But other than that? Cautiously murdered everyone and everything in my path. Clapped the green dragon, the neothelid and the shadow aspect, crushed the Boarskyr Bridge siege force, killed everything in the Dragonspear underground and cellar, and then everyone above. Avernus was easy peasy and I even took a little time to farm XP at the last fight, before killing Belhifet.

Good run so far. I'm thinking about whom's going to go with me in SoA/ToB. I'm thinking either
(thanks to the mod BG1 NPC to BG2, all my team will be available)
-4 gnomes party (Quayle as Cleric/Mage, Jan Jansen the Mage/Thief, Tiax the Cleric/Thief and myself) + Viconia (Cleric)+ Shar-Teel (Cleric)
OR
-Full evil party : Me, Tiax, Viconia, Shar-Teel, Eldoth (Bard), and Edwin (Wizard) or Korgan (Fighter)

Difficult choice. On one hand gnomemaxing, on the other evilmaxing. What would Sun Tzu do?
 
Brock Savage said:
So that means you're cool with a backstabbing liar who lacks a conscience so long as they haven't burned you? Man, that's a gonk move!

Evelyn would have absolutely screwed V over after cutting out the fixer.

"Here's your half of the €$100,000 we got, V."

But V would never know the VDBs actually paid her 2 million.
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Yes, I'm comfortable with backstabbing when I'm a paid murderer. We're all playing the game. :smile:

And yes, my V was entirely persuaded by the fact she was hot.
 
Brock Savage said:
I wrapped it up yesterday. It was great!
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I liked the new ending where V essentially has to become a regular Joe/Janet. The cinematography was even a bit different compared with how the game usually is. Also gives you a look into where most of the characters will be in two years.
 
Urdlen's best boy said:
I was sick today, so I played all the way through SoD and finally arrived at BG2 (well I will when the install is finished).

SoD went relatively well. No permadeaths, although I've had a good dozen (maybe 20, Viconia died often for some reason)regular resurrectable companion deaths, including 3 in the Dragonspear basement, but it was doable. Although, Nebrek was not to far from getting eaten by beetles. You see, they have a AoE no save stun effect, meaning for a few rounds you can't act and all attacks land. Like an idiot, I had separated from the group and underestimated how fast they deploy it. Then they chewed my stoneskin like nothing, and it got scary. I was at 26 hp when the group slew the last one, only a few hits away from death and end of run.

But other than that? Cautiously murdered everyone and everything in my path. Clapped the green dragon, the neothelid and the shadow aspect, crushed the Boarskyr Bridge siege force, killed everything in the Dragonspear underground and cellar, and then everyone above. Avernus was easy peasy and I even took a little time to farm XP at the last fight, before killing Belhifet.

Good run so far. I'm thinking about whom's going to go with me in SoA/ToB. I'm thinking either
(thanks to the mod BG1 NPC to BG2, all my team will be available)
-4 gnomes party (Quayle as Cleric/Mage, Jan Jansen the Mage/Thief, Tiax the Cleric/Thief and myself) + Viconia (Cleric)+ Shar-Teel (Cleric)
OR
-Full evil party : Me, Tiax, Viconia, Shar-Teel, Eldoth (Bard), and Edwin (Wizard) or Korgan (Fighter)

Difficult choice. On one hand gnomemaxing, on the other evilmaxing. What would Sun Tzu do?
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Well... Nebrek died. Got level drained to level 1 by vampires, did not notice how depleted I was, got downed by bandits. God I love this game!

I am considering reloading given it was a vampire ambush from mod content which I was trying out but on the other hand, I had managed to flee and shouldn't have tried to take on the bandits, which I could easily flee too. We'll see.
 
Yeah, no it was on me. I think I'll solo BG1-SOD this time, to do it all a much faster (and hog more XP) and do more soloing in early SoA to get equipped before I assemble the team for BG2.

I should be able to start at BG2 at 14/16 C/T, with level 7 spells and all. Then get to 15/17 pretty fast, get a new katana, amulet of power and ring of free action. Then it should be doable.
 
Well, I made a new Nebrek and soloed BG1 and SoD pretty easily. The final fight in Baator gave me some difficulty. It started alright bu summons were ganging up on me : cornugons, abishais and hamatulas everywere. My sStoneskins were meling fast and so did my hp... So I had to resort to the Kiel helmet+Durlag gobelet, chug potions, flee, hide, chug more portion, and steadily regained my foothold.

In the end I massacred countless devils and slew the Belhifet with my Dragon Blade.
gerrr.png

How many Cornugons does it takes to stop a gnome Cleric/Thief from butchering all of Avernus? Not enough

And so it was BG2 now, the difficult part. But with Use Any Item and a bit of modding I was able to equip Keldorn's plate for the free action and all was going great. Doing easy missions like cleaning the slavers from the slums or doing some fetching and a little bit of murdering for the thieves guild, cleared a castle overrun with trolls, nothing crazy.

But at some point, I have to stop doing the easy missions only and start to gear up : time for the Guarded Compound for Celestial Fury aka Weeb Katana Supreme 2, a blade befitting such a master of war as Nebrek. And... it went horribly. Everyone but Nebrek died, and even he was really struggling. 70 hp, 50 hp, 30 hp... quick! drink a potion! But the potion does nothing!

Turns out I had been cursed by the mummies I was previously fighting in the cemetery, the curse that prevents healing. Nightmare! Thankfully some of the bad guys were dead and I quickly equipped my Celestial Fury and heroically ran to a corner to rest and rebuff.
tjyjtyjytj.jpg
There was still the evil, pathetic, very mean wizturd and two fighters, but they were no match for a fully rested Nebrek! Slash! Slash! Sploush! With the power of anime in my hands and Urdlen in my heart I cut them all down to pieces! Wizturd, underhanded as always summons 6 Boneguards! Divine pwer activate! They trigger my time traps! Butchery, death, destruction! I back the wizturd in a corner and summon insects while wailing on him with my katana, and death soon follows. Ah! I still have it.

No one had been chunked so I started resing, and remembering there were still traps, Jan, can you take care of it? Not detecting them, uh? Let's move Jan a bit. "trap activated" "62 acid damage", and Jan, whom I had stupidly not healed permadied right here right there, spoiling my glorious triumph!
dgrege.jpg

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
JAN WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?

Nebrek and I are so salty I am genuinely considering starting all over again just so I can have Jan Jansen. We were meant to be 3 gnomes, 3 hot girls, 4 Thieves and 6 spellcasters, the perfect party... And now... And now Jan is dead for ever! Tragedy! Horror! Despair!
 

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Well I decided to push through. After all, for all I know Jan would die again way too soon and it'd be the same issue again. So we mourned hiw loss, took Garrick and went on with cleaning the traitor guild of Mae'var.

I must have been inattentive for a second, and Edwin lost stoneskin! Backstab! Chunk!
grzegeg.jpg

Now I might go double bard and take Haer'dalis, or maybe take Quayle? Either way someone will have to leave for Imoen. Hopefully there are still people left alive by the time I get to Spellhold!
 
Urdlen's best boy said:
Well, I made a new Nebrek and soloed BG1 and SoD pretty easily. The final fight in Baator gave me some difficulty. It started alright bu summons were ganging up on me : cornugons, abishais and hamatulas everywere. My sStoneskins were meling fast and so did my hp... So I had to resort to the Kiel helmet+Durlag gobelet, chug potions, flee, hide, chug more portion, and steadily regained my foothold.

In the end I massacred countless devils and slew the Belhifet with my Dragon Blade.
View attachment 70125

How many Cornugons does it takes to stop a gnome Cleric/Thief from butchering all of Avernus? Not enough

And so it was BG2 now, the difficult part. But with Use Any Item and a bit of modding I was able to equip Keldorn's plate for the free action and all was going great. Doing easy missions like cleaning the slavers from the slums or doing some fetching and a little bit of murdering for the thieves guild, cleared a castle overrun with trolls, nothing crazy.

But at some point, I have to stop doing the easy missions only and start to gear up : time for the Guarded Compound for Celestial Fury aka Weeb Katana Supreme 2, a blade befitting such a master of war as Nebrek. And... it went horribly. Everyone but Nebrek died, and even he was really struggling. 70 hp, 50 hp, 30 hp... quick! drink a potion! But the potion does nothing!

Turns out I had been cursed by the mummies I was previously fighting in the cemetery, the curse that prevents healing. Nightmare! Thankfully some of the bad guys were dead and I quickly equipped my Celestial Fury and heroically ran to a corner to rest and rebuff.
View attachment 70126
There was still the evil, pathetic, very mean wizturd and two fighters, but they were no match for a fully rested Nebrek! Slash! Slash! Sploush! With the power of anime in my hands and Urdlen in my heart I cut them all down to pieces! Wizturd, underhanded as always summons 6 Boneguards! Divine pwer activate! They trigger my time traps! Butchery, death, destruction! I back the wizturd in a corner and summon insects while wailing on him with my katana, and death soon follows. Ah! I still have it.

No one had been chunked so I started resing, and remembering there were still traps, Jan, can you take care of it? Not detecting them, uh? Let's move Jan a bit. "trap activated" "62 acid damage", and Jan, whom I had stupidly not healed permadied right here right there, spoiling my glorious triumph!
View attachment 70127

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
JAN WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?

Nebrek and I are so salty I am genuinely considering starting all over again just so I can have Jan Jansen. We were meant to be 3 gnomes, 3 hot girls, 4 Thieves and 6 spellcasters, the perfect party... And now... And now Jan is dead for ever! Tragedy! Horror! Despair!
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Nooooo! Not Jan!

quiz-image
 
How is Baldurs Gate 3 choice & consequence / world-reactivity aspect?

It was very underwhelming in old entries and something always made me rank 'em under the Fallouts, Arcanum, Torment, etc of the day.
 
Lessa said:
How is Baldurs Gate 3 choice & consequence / world-reactivity aspect?

It was very underwhelming in old entries and something always made me rank 'em under the Fallouts, Arcanum, Torment, etc of the day.
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Just started Act 2. So far choice and consequence seems fairly minor but I’ve yet to see the bigger picture. Mostly comes off as being good or evil so far.
 
So I tried to pickpocket Renal Bloodscalp but forgot about him summoning that OP plot armor npc. Nebrek died. Skill issue. Sad!

But when a Nebrek falls a Nebrek emerges from the shadow to be the one to ascend! And this time we shall kill even more Cornugons for an even better screenshot! Maybe we even prep to get our vengence against Renal but not making any promises. Might solo the Guarded Compound to avoid the same issue as this is the third time this happens with Jan.

I guess I'sm still used to him being pretty sturdy in hard mode, but on insane difficulty+SCS he ends up being among the squishy companions. I need to adapt strategy. Maybe we also do a little bit more of cheesy XP farming before doing anything crazy.

After Nebrek ascends, I'll try with a Doomscribe of Jergal/Mage or the halfling Truesword of Arvoreen again. Or maybe I go back to Dweomerkeeper of Mystra to get the basics right again.
 
Lessa said:
How is Baldurs Gate 3 choice & consequence / world-reactivity aspect?

It was very underwhelming in old entries and something always made me rank 'em under the Fallouts, Arcanum, Torment, etc of the day.
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I've seen a few choices that have consequences, but it's usually either consequences in terms of Good/Evil and your interactions, what companions you have available, and what companions stay with you. Then again, I haven't made any choices that I'd think would affect the world yet.
 
We're playing Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. It's a lot of fun and if you like 40k it's almost a must-buy. My friend code is 2188347631.

Not sure it has mixed reviews on Steam as it is much better than Vermintide (which was quite popular). The pacing is noticeable better. Anecdotally, people I know with older, less powerful PCs struggle with poor performance and crashes. Also a lot of cheapskates are crying about the in-game cosmetics shop which makes zero sense to me as it has no effect on gameplay.
 
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Brock Savage said:
We're playing Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. It's a lot of fun and if you like 40k it's almost a must-buy. My friend code is 2188347631.

Not sure it has mixed reviews on Steam as it is much better than Vermintide (which was quite popular). The pacing is noticeable better. Anecdotally, people I know with older, less powerful PCs struggle with poor performance and crashes. Also a lot of cheapskates are crying about the in-game cosmetics shop which makes zero sense to me as it has no effect on gameplay.
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It has mixed reviews because this isn't the state it was in when released. There were balance and pacing issues, and they recently released a patch to overhaul all of that.
 
Man look at this encirclement! The combined forces of Turkey, Germany and Bulgaria didn't stand a chance!
20231101145456_1.jpg
It took a fine bit of Hoi4 Generaling. I put Napoleon IV on the throne of France and am now pretty much at war with everyone, including a monarchist Germany, a Trotskyist Soviet Union and a Communist Japan. Fortunately the communist UK and the Alf Landon led USA have decided that I'm not worth their time and are leaving me alone for now.
I almost lost this game, getting down to 0 manpower for a few months and more or less loosing all of northern Africa other than a tenuous hold on the Suez.
 
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