The Video Game Thread: What are you Playing?

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we've been doing valheim as well. i like it. i feel like it might steal some thunder out of any viking game I do :smile: we've also been doing Gunfire Reborn, which is a fun rogue-like.
 
Ok, I bought Valheim cause their trailer uses Amon Amarth. Load up the game and I have to punch trees. Wasn't someone talking about killing weeds the other day?
If you are punching trees I am guessing you are a Minecraft player because Bunny did that too instead of foraging for branches and stones to make a stone axe like I did.

Yeah the trailer sold me so I sold my friends.
 
If you are punching trees I am guessing you are a Minecraft player because Bunny did that too instead of foraging for branches and stones to make a stone axe like I did.

Yeah the trailer sold me so I sold my friends.

Nah, never played Minecraft. Foraging for branches and stones, huh? Sounds a lot like picking up some other tree-punchers scraps, but I'll give it a try.
 
Finally got around to playing the Long War mod for XCOM: Enemy Within after ignoring it during my primary play of that game. There's definitely a learning curve in the differences...
 
And here's Mun Station with quite a bit of stuff docked to it - two tugs, the fuel shuttle, the miner and in the rear the heavy lander for dropping off Mun base components. KSP's sometimes dubious aerodynamics allow you to launch that in one piece, although it's a bit of a Heath-Robinson contraption and making a rocket that would remain stable while lofting this took a few attempts.

Mun Station 2.jpg
 
Here's the first dropped part of the Mun Base Aleph complex - Note the markers for the flag planted on the Mun and the original site marker satellite (used to judge distances for landing). The base was levelled by softening the sproinginess of the legs on the left hand side after landing. You can see the legs on the right hand side are a bit longer. This was also a bit of a faff to loft due to its awkward shape, but it did fit into the aerodynamic cowling on the rocket.

Munbase Aleph 1.jpg
 
Here are a couple of pictures of the Munar science ship. This is a mothership for science landers. It has a lab for processing results (labs amplify the amount of science points produced from experiments) and enough fuel to support a few science missions from the lander to different biomes. Landers for Duna and Jool's moons have different designs but the same mothership can be used to host the lab. The Munar and Minmus stations can supply fuel to the lab ship. A significant part of the Duna and Jool missions is getting fuelling infrastructure into the systems.

Science lander (launched separately) docking with the lab ship -
Munar Science Lander Docking.jpg
 
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Replayed the Mass Effect trilogy. This was a very slow replay where I'd play a little bit every once in a while.

My opinion is pretty much the standard one and you'll see a fairly detailed breakdown in Shamus Young's retrospective here. It's 50 parts long, but he has other essays about several other Bioware games. I particularly like his pointing out that Jade Empire had one of the best twists in gaming despite being a bit dull otherwise.

Mass Effect 1 is a nice high concept SciFi where humanity is pretty low in the galactic pecking order. It reuses some plot elements from the Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire but there's more than enough new content and a pretty original setting to make things interesting. Bonus points for a few very alien aliens. Your companions aren't fully fleshed out as in the latter Dragon Age, but I think they're more rounded and realistic. It does suffer from drab level design and sometimes confining the interesting parts of its setting to the in-game codex rather than bringing them out in conversations or similar. However overall it's a nice game and reasonably short, like 18 hours if you don't bother with the inessential side content.

The second game has a much higher budget, better character writing, far more impressive visuals and better gameplay. However the setting itself is altered in a way that's less interesting than and inconsistent with the first. There's also a bit of just swallowing people's nonsensical switches in allegiance to a terrorist organisation at the beginning. So I would say play the first and see if you can tolerate the start of second. It comes down to preferring setting consistency vs visuals and character writing.

ME3 then is just a mess really. Too much fan pandering (memes make it into the game as actual in-setting facts) and the inconsistencies introduced in ME2 snowball as they collide with the set up from the first game.

A simple example is the Turian fleet. In ME1 the first contact war between humans and Turians is a major point in human history, mentioned in the same breath as WWII. The Turians call it the Relay 314 incident, a minor skirmish. This and other dialogue implies the Turian fleet is possibly hundreds of times larger than the human fleet and fits into the whole feel of the game where human concerns are actually beneath the notice of the other races.

However in later games a human terrorist organisation, Cerberus, has the power to oppose every race combined simply to have a "dramatic" enemy.

There's many other bits and pieces like this where ME1 ends up feeling like a very different place to the other two. Other examples are the emergence of psychics and the prejudice they face, as well as the limited availability of habitable planets being plot points in ME1 that just vanish from later games.
 
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Giving Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain another spin on PS4, for real this time, and I'm baffled that they managed to make the best stealth gameplay ever - I'm a big Splinter Cell, Hitman, Dishonored, etc. fan, and this trounces those easily - with the most nonsensic story ever. LOL

I still recommend it, but be advised that you'll stay for the gameplay or you won't stay at all.
 
I am playing Urtuk: The Desolation. If you haven't guessed, I really like party-based fantasy combat strategy games. It 's a good challenging game with a lot of flavor and little story. The sheer volume of fights is a mixed blessing, it can either get grindy or put me in the zone for hours.

Bunny is playing Max Gentlemen Sexy Business! and it looks pretty good from what I can see. Whenever I buy adult games they are duds but she seems to pick the winners.
 
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First trip to the swamps in Valheim last night, five of us. Three in iron, me in bronze, one guy who's still really working with flint, but we've helped him with advanced gear, food and potions.

Scary, scary place. Draugr and Oozes hit like trains, poison is annoying and skeletons are always in the background plinking away at your HP. Got up over 160HP after we killed and cooked a sea serpent - still got killed a couple of times. We all did!

Just amazing fun - sailing into trouble in a longship, building a base, raiding sunken crypts for iron. No grandstanding, just everyone finding a chance to chip in with making things, sharing food and potions, covering someone's back when they got into trouble.

Not had this much fun online in ages. Only problem was the guy in the States whose broadband was causing him lag.
 
Valheim question!

So I’m mining lots of Tin, Copper and making Bronze. I’ve got almost a full set of Bronze gear (not all of it upgraded). Going into the Black Forest is usually pretty safe for me unless ambushed.

When should I be ready to face the next boss?
 
We started breeding boars on Valheim around midnight and by 8am we had 25 in the pen! Do yourself a favor and spring for a private server it's worth it

Valheim question!

So I’m mining lots of Tin, Copper and making Bronze. I’ve got almost a full set of Bronze gear (not all of it upgraded). Going into the Black Forest is usually pretty safe for me unless ambushed.

When should I be ready to face the next boss?
Upgrade fine bow to max and make a 100 stack of fire arrows. For this fight I prefer mobility and suggest full troll hide armor but YMMV. You can't face tank the boss attacks you gotta dodge or hide behind the stone pillars. There are also a ton of adds so you gotta be proficient at killing greydorfs quickly and efficiently. That said we did it in a group and boss encounters probably scale with party size so it might be easier solo who knows.

As for upgrading I do tools first, then weapons, and finally armor. Dodging or shield is superior to damage mitigation from armor.
 
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Is Troll armor better than Bronze armor?

Wondering whether or not to invest in upgrading all that stuff. It takes time (playing solo).
 
Is Troll armor better than Bronze armor?

Wondering whether or not to invest in upgrading all that stuff. It takes time (playing solo).
I normally use bronze armor but you will hear different philosophies. A full set of troll armor provides base armor of 19 with a 25% stealth bonus (not sure how that pans out exactly). A full set of bronze provides 24 base armor with a 10% move penalty. Whatever you do make sure you get the bronzed bucker it is a big upgrade from the wooden one.
 
YIKES

So I feel that I'm ready to fight the second boss.

I have full set of bronze armor (fully upgraded) a fine bow (also fully upgraded) and 100 fire arrows. I've got a stack of minor healing potions and stamina potions.

The location of the Elder boss is marked on my map. VERY far away from my settlements, but that's okay, I decide to embark on a long journey, bringing the materials to create a second portal once I get there.

The snag? There's a massive SWAMP between me and the Elder boss location.

Is... this supposed to happen? I can't get through there, it's nearly impossible.
 
YIKES

So I feel that I'm ready to fight the second boss.

I have full set of bronze armor (fully upgraded) a fine bow (also fully upgraded) and 100 fire arrows. I've got a stack of minor healing potions and stamina potions.

The location of the Elder boss is marked on my map. VERY far away from my settlements, but that's okay, I decide to embark on a long journey, bringing the materials to create a second portal once I get there.

The snag? There's a massive SWAMP between me and the Elder boss location.

Is... this supposed to happen? I can't get through there, it's nearly impossible.
The world seeds are randomly generated. Is there any way for you to sail around the swamps?

Each new biome seems to be significantly more dangerous than the previous one. Starting a new biome is challenging especially if you are solo and it's nighttime. Lots of poisonous attacks that can eat away great chunks of health in a few seconds. I learned the swamps bit by bit in day time expeditions with one or two partners, retreating back to the safer Black Forest during the night. Oh and set up a portals on expeditions to save yourself a lot of hassle.
 
For the football fans, this patch for PES 2021 on PS4 adds 81 classic teams in very good detail, with squad, uniforms and some real faces. From '70s Cruyff's Ajax to '88 Gullit's Milan and '03 Zidane's Real. It has it all.

I can't wait for this pandemic to drop so I can play it hotseat with my pals and prove that Pelé & Maradona are better than Messi & Cristiano! I'll destroy them with '62 Santos and '87 Napoli ! MWAHAHA! XD


 
Finished the final DOOM Eternal DLC which came out today. I've done the main game and the two DLCs on Nightmare which means I'm at least four times as hard as a marine and twice as hard as somebody who got their gnome to the end of a negadungeon.

The first DLC was brutally hard. Probably one of, if not the, hardest FPS I've ever played. This second DLC is a good bit easier and more similar to the last few sections of the main campaign. I think that's enough to judge if you should get it for those with experience of the previous games.
 
Finished the final DOOM Eternal DLC which came out today. I've done the main game and the two DLCs on Nightmare which means I'm at least four times as hard as a marine and twice as hard as somebody who got their gnome to the end of a negadungeon.
Dang dude that's hardcore, I haven't even finished the main Doom Eternal game. It started getting pretty hard towards the end on Hurt Me Plenty but I did do full clear of accomplishments for each level, so I got that going for me.
 
Dang dude that's hardcore, I haven't even finished the main Doom Eternal game. It started getting pretty hard towards the end on Hurt Me Plenty but I did do full clear of accomplishments for each level, so I got that going for me.
I'm an FPS nut, but get destroyed by stuff like Dark Souls and Sekiro or RTS games.

The only advice I'd give is it's basically a matter of learning off all enemy weaknesses. As the difficulty goes up the game is less forgiving of you killing enemies with a random gun as opposed to their weaknesses. Learning what enemies to use the ice grenade on can be helpful on Hurt Me Plenty. You probably know all this or have moved on from DOOM, but just in case.
 
I'm an FPS nut, but get destroyed by stuff like Dark Souls and Sekiro or RTS games.

The only advice I'd give is it's basically a matter of learning off all enemy weaknesses. As the difficulty goes up the game is less forgiving of you killing enemies with a random gun as opposed to their weaknesses. Learning what enemies to use the ice grenade on can be helpful on Hurt Me Plenty. You probably know all this or have moved on from DOOM, but just in case.
I could use more tips. I sorta understand using weapon versus different enemy types but fumble around when it's one of those really big, hectic battles. I still think Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal are some of the greatest games of all time.
 
Okay so here is what I think. This is tailored to not assuming "extreme" tactics. For example the Marauder advice is not how I kill a Marauder. I might repeat some points obvious to you.

Mods:
For mods have slow down time mod on. Others are a matter of taste but I would rate extra life and extended stun as quite good (gives more time for melee kill)

Weapon advice:
Chaingun and Rocket Launcher should be set to their second modes always. For Chaingun this is the four barrel version, for a Rocket Launcher this is the Lock on mode that shoots three rockets. When I say "Chaingun" I mean use their right click special mode indicated above, but first jump into the air to slow down time. Same with "Rocket Launcher". If slow down time is not yet recharged just get some distance.

"Plasma gun right click" refers to the draining stream mod, not the shunting one.

Enemies:
  1. Imps => Flame if you can and super shotgun for armour pick up. Otherwise just super shotgun
  2. Arachnotron => Rocket Launcher
  3. Pinky => Blood Punch. Spectres are just invisible Pinkies so same tactic.
  4. Baron => Chaingun
  5. Dread Knight => Chaingun
  6. Carcass => Just irratating and rarely a problem. Plasma gun is handy as it can take out their shields and them.
  7. Soldier with shield => Always plasma gun right click
  8. Hellknight => Back off from their point of impact before a jump and then run into their face and blast with super shotgun. Chaingun time slow down is a fine alternate tactic.
  9. Mancubus => Rocket Launcher. Shooting their weak point as in the codex is not worth it unless you have precision aim
  10. Toxic Mancubus => Blood punch and immediate back off a bit and super shotgun. If you can launch an ice grenade first.
  11. Snakes => Ice grande and right into the face with super shotgun or chaingun them (no need for time slow down here)
  12. Cacodemon and Pain Elemental => There is a tendency for people to use the grande fired from the normal shotgun here. My recommendation is instead in each fight learn when they will appear and pick them off with two (Caco) or three (Pain Elemental) ballista shots immediately upon spawning.
  13. Revanant => Again learn spawning point and immediately Rocket Launcher them

Special Enemies:
  1. Archville and Buff Totems => Find where they are, no problem dying a few times to do it. Once you know this head directly for them in each fight. Killing an Archville is the best use of the BFG, although I would advise use of the Crucible instead if you have it charged.

  2. Marauder => These guys rarely spawn at a time when you are under pressure. Stay middle distance and walk backwards away from them. When you see the eyes go green blast with the super shotgun. Use no other weapon.

  3. Doom Hunter => Jump into air and use slow down time Plasma gun right click to freeze them in place and drain shields. Once shields are gone, use lock on Rocket Launcher quickly in succession to knock them off their sled. Once they are off their sled use lock on Rocket Launcher to kill them. It can be useful to back off after knocking them off the sled to give yourself time to recuperate as they will have probably dealt heavy damage to you at that point.

  4. Cyberdemon => There's no clever tactic here as such. Stay the fuck away from him and pick him off with pot shots from your major weapons: Rocket Launcher, Chaingun, Ballista. I often stay on the other side of the arena from them fighting other stuff and then quickly dodge past them and gain distance again once they start to come to my side. All the while just getting the odd shot in when I can.
    However this tactic might be a bit much or too involved for the base campaign. It's more suited to the first DLC where they become a common enemy or where there can be two at a time.
    In the main campaign they tend to only appear late in the game and are thus the best enemy to save the Crucible sword for. Use the above tactic if you lack a Crucible charge.

General Advice:
If you are running low on health, ammo or armour just run, jump and boost around the arena avoiding the big enemies. All enemies are slower than you, so if you do this and dodge everybody you won't really get hurt. Use this to flame and chainsaw imps and zombies to build stocks and health back up until you are refreshed.
 
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@ Séadna Séadna Wow this is good stuff thanks. Some of it I already know but I was ignorant of an equal or greater amount. I am really stingy with my super shotgun and missile launcher ammo but no longer! I use the .50 assault rifle a lot but you don't even mention it so that says something. And here I am using shotgun grenades against arachnos and cacodaemons like a chump. Oh and was shooting mancubus arms off. I don't use ballista and chaingun in my rotation either. It is humbling to know I was playing so inefficiently but on the other hand now I can get back in the saddle again.

Edit: Hey is there a good level on Doom Eternal to practice on? When I stop playing an action game like Doom my skills need a bit to refresh
 
Odd question, anyone play Outer Worlds, and feel it+expansions are worth it? It got high ratings and I love SF, but it alone isn't bad, the expansion price makes it more expensive than I'd like.
 
Edit: Hey is there a good level on Doom Eternal to practice on? When I stop playing an action game like Doom my skills need a bit to refresh
Arc Complex or Mars Core are good warm up levels. The latter gets you into largish fights pretty quick and the former throws a good bit of varied fights at you.

I should also add to the above it's handy to ice grenade and then flame a group of small enemies and then super shotgun them, as it just results in a spray of ammo and health. For this reason it's best to have the health power ups for the ice grenade.

And here I am using shotgun grenades against arachnos and cacodaemons like a chump. Oh and was shooting mancubus arms off
So for say the cacodemons this is a totally fine tactic when they are up close and if you react fast enough, but quite often Cacos spawn a good bit away from you and can be picked off earlier. However I wouldn't say to definitely ditch this if you like it, just consider the ballista for distant Cacos. For Pain Elementals the ballista must be used.

For arachnos and mancubus using the grenades on the back cannon or shooting the arms is fine, but only when they are on their own with other small enemies. In larger fights and when other big guys are there it slows one down too much to set up these shots I find and it increases the chance to get swamped. My experience with DOOM is that it is best to avoid tactics that assume good aim, even if you have good aim. I'm virtually always running and hopping.

.50 assault rifle a lot but you don't even mention it
I only use that gun for one thing. The Blood Maykrs from the first DLC. This is because they are invincible until they drop their shields, but when they do they stay perfectly still and one head shot from this weapon kills them. Even then I jump to use the time slow down power. They are the only enemy where sacrificing mobility in order to aim is worth it.

One enemy I didn't mention is the Cyberdemon. I've added him above and some little edits.
 
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Building my first boat in Valheim. Is there a great risk that they drift away if unnatended?
 
As far as I’ve seen, they don’t move out of the area if you are not in it. If you are in or on it, it will drift, regardless of if you are steering.
 
Building my first boat in Valheim. Is there a great risk that they drift away if unnatended?
I have been led to believe that ships may drift away if unattended but cannot verify that claim. At the home base we park the ships in an inaccessible (to local monsters) dock presumably to prevent monster attacks or drift.
 
Just following on, the reaction to the recent DOOM DLC has one of the stupidest cases of fan rage I've ever seen.

At the end you fight God. God in a Warhammer 40K battlesuit. God delivers massively bombastic dialogue, etc. It's full on Horus Heresy style OTT techno-religious nonsense. However to stun God during the fight you have to hit him with the "sentinel hammer". So far, so OTT.

However when he is stunned he has little stars going around his head and there are twitty bird sound effects. An obvious pisstake/send up contrast to the OTT serious stuff before.

Que a bunch of morons raging online about how this "cartoonish shit" ruins the hard self-image rush they get from playing DOOM.
 
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Yes, Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal have pretty good lore.

That's cool, I think you may have misunderstood me.

I always dug the humour in DOOM and that it didn't take itself seriously. I get that one can dig the lore and still understand that the game has its tongue in cheek.
 
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