Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread Number Two

[Dark Cloud]

@SleepingSilence well reading the guide/tips on Tamer it sounds like a very mobile and versatile class despite a high skill ceiling.

[SleepingSilence]

@Dark Cloud Of course the site itself isn't going to rebuke any of its classes. :P

I tend to look up the best/worst characters, before I play an MMO like this. So when I see the "this game is perfectly balanced" more than any actual answers or opinions based on the question provided. I know I'll be surrounded those type of fanboys that think critiquing their game will cause it to burst into flames.

But I've seen several threads about the Tamer and none of them were positive. So I guess I'll have to stick to my ARPGs, if I want a fun and overpowered summoning class. ;-; (Though many of the favorite classes threads came down to whose the hottest...) So, I'll likely pick from one of the other twenty-something classes at random. Especially since most of them are various flavors of human, and I'm usually selecting anyone other than that...

[Dark Cloud]

@SleepingSilence Pick Tamer to do PvE content and something else to see how different it feels. I've only really seen people say the best choice is to choose the class that you like then if you don't like it check another. It's NOT about the meta, look at me: I'm choosing the most difficult class to master. Just cause it's Awakening has a dang Katana.

@Lithfangel do you have any advice for Sleepy here?

[SleepingSilence]

Here's my experience of playing Black Desert.
>Starts for first time and gets blocked by anti-cheat software, and goes "Oh god. It's one of those games."
>Second time I create my character. The detail sliders don't move and makes the character customization shockingly limited.
>Unskippable cutscene
>Tutorial to move character forward and not lose target. Watch target float and freeze after two seconds. Makes me repeat.
>Watch the target float and freeze after two seconds. Makes me repeat. And I go, "Oh God! It's one of those games."
>Third times the charm and unskippable cutscene. (The person's name you don't know betrays you. Fascinating stuff.)
>Tries to edit UI and realizes it stops you from doing so until you're level 10 arbitrarily.
>Gets cash shop ad and mobile game rewards spammed in face.
>Do a fetch quest and the game hard crashes.
>Reload and gets another cash shop ad.
>Then. Every. Single. Fucking. Quest. Since Level 20. Is. Go Somewhere. And/Or. Kill Imps. (Please! I beg you! Let me kill ANYTHING ELSE!)
>Including three bosses (two were one after the other) that are all health sponges that can; stun and knock you over, use aoe effects that cover the whole screen, move and attack faster than you, hitboxes are larger than area on screen, play an overly long cutscene when you've got them down to half HP, lose all HP on the health bar and yet don't die, before spamming attacks until the game starts to lag (basically forcing you to consume HP potions) and THEN they die.
>But don't mistake that for me saying the gameplay is a challenge or even remotely engaging. Because otherwise, I kill absolutely everything in ONE HIT! I click to win combat! You have no idea how boring that is!
>Among every other thing that I could pick at. Like; the game has skills that you can't put in the quick slot bar for reasons completely unknown. (Frankly, I can't even tell how to improve skills yet.) The game is optimized like complete shit compared to FF14. Every NPC speaks without moving their mouth, and often before even showing up on screen. Unskippable cutscenes. The endless dialogue between NPC quests and your own personal Navi, Etc. Etc.

Yeah...I can't say I'm having a blast thus far...

Though my friend isn't having the same issues on his PS5. The screen shake and tiny UI (with a giant TV) until level 10 was hurting his eyes. (And what game is better than one that's actively painful to experience.)

[Lith]

@Lithfangel do you have any advice for Sleepy here?

@Dark Cloud

I'm afraid not.

While I didn't want to taint their perception of the game without trying it.. well there's a reason why I "formerly" played BDO.

There is a good game trapped in bad design choices is the nicest way I can put it. lol It "does" let you skill slot [some] abilities, but guess what? To punish you for the convenience, those will do less damage! Remember all your inputs at all times.

As for the plot, while I am critical of most any MMORPG story line, I had a lot better time mashing through the badly translated NPC dialogue until real story segments with the main character of the game hereafter dubbed Black Semen. I wonder if they have Black Semen Adventures active right now, a board game event that gives you pretty okay rewards for a kRPG.

But yes. Basically TLDR of the plot: Black Semen's a jerk and you used to be somebody important with your friend pre-sort of death, (insert NPC based on class here), but now you got amnesia and shiet. So Black Semen tries tainting you into becoming a corrupted version of who you were. (Aka Awakening.) However you can more recently regain your humanity and fight Black Semen once and for all, to improve your base weapon's abilities. It's not balanced at all, some classes are complete trash and it varies patch to patch wildly.

Berserker for example. Late game they do fuck all amounts of damage. They're hyped as a tank but not really. The reason for this is they have the most grabs/interrupts in the game. So if you can memorize all the chains right, it won't matter you do 2 damage because you're gonna do 2 damage from when the opponent is at full health to when they are dead. None of this is intuitive in game though, it's all meta adjustment nonsense.

Also they really, really want your premium currency which you have to convert like Monopoly money.

You *can* get premium things for free, as I have.

You *can* also win the lottery while dodging lightning. Those auction houses are botted and monitored 25 hours a day.

[Dark Cloud]

@Lithfangel Oof well at least I downloaded Phantasy Star Saga 2: New Genesis, the studio behind it are working very hard to improve the game. I am still excited to play BDO though, after I pay my subscription to PlayStation (FUCK YOU SONY) but at least I can play Phantasy Star without a sub. Also lol Black Semen, I know what your speaking of but still lol.

[SleepingSilence]

@Dark Cloud I'm putting yo ass in the hot seat. Black Desert IS NOT cross platform for PC players. Only PS4/Xbox allows cross platform. So I can't play with you. (Especially if you use the Switch.) Or my friend that bought the game.

So now I might hunt for a refund. Likely too late now.

[Dark Cloud]

@Dark Cloud I'm putting yo ass in the hot seat. Black Desert IS NOT cross platform for PC players. Only PS4/Xbox allows cross platform. So I can't play with you. (Especially if you use the Switch.) Or my friend that bought the game.

So now I might hunt for a refund. Likely too late now.

@SleepingSilence

Oh dude I'm sorry, I read somewhere it was. Guess I was wrong, my bad. Didn't you buy it on sale tho? Is it on Switch?

[SleepingSilence]

@Dark Cloud Nevermind. You did mention renewing your PSN sub. Thought you had a Switch only. For some reason. It was morning and I just had to fix my furnace. So mind was somewhere else.

Yeah. Got it for 99 cents. But I still feel cheated. Lol.

[Dark Cloud]

@SleepingSilence Curses, 99 cents down the drain lol.

[Dark Cloud]

NGL, Phantasy Star Online 2: NGS is pretty fun. Just finished the prologue, the story is meh so far but I'm finding the combat fun. Definitely gonna invest some time into it. What's better is it's FREE to PLAY (with premium items)

[Dark Cloud]

Octopath Traveler II cannot come sooner, and I already know who I'll choose to start as first. But waiting til February for my pre-order is the wait I must endure like everyone else. Anyways I wanted to as what consoles do people plan to play it on?

I pre-ordered it for the PlayStation 4, myself.

@Yankee I know you're a fan of the series, are you going to play it on Switch or PlayStation?

---

In other news I'm replaying Triangle Strategy in NG+ to experience different story paths, specifically Utility due to it being important to Benedict as the character it involves. I went Morality my first playthrough, which was five months ago and it was an emotional roller-coaster to say the least.

I plan to do all the story paths while I wait for Octopath Traveler II. Triangle Strategy is probably the most underrated game I've played by Square and it's a shame it wasn't as much of a hit as Octopath but still it's a definite must play for a fan of meaningful player choice in a JRPG.

[Yankee]

Octopath Traveler II cannot come sooner, and I already know who I'll choose to start as first. But waiting til February for my pre-order is the wait I must endure like everyone else. Anyways I wanted to as what consoles do people plan to play it on?

I pre-ordered it for the PlayStation 4, myself.

@Yankee I know you're a fan of the series, are you going to play it on Switch or PlayStation?

@Dark Cloud

Switch!

[Dark Cloud]

I knew as soon as I saw the trailer I'd like Patritio, the Merchant. He sounds like a sly snake-oil salesman and I dig that shit. That or the scholar with the background almost too close to being Batman's backstory (Osvald his name is Osvald).

[Lord Orgasmo]

I've been thinking of getting Vampire Survivor. Apparently it's basically crack cocaine and really addictive. I've watched someone play a round of it and I couldn't tell what was going on half of the time because there was so much going on on-screen, but at the same time it was very much a "mmmmmm numbers make brain happy." The guy I watched the video of compared it to a slot machine in terms of addictiveness. Plus, the game is only like 5 bucks.

[Dark Cloud]

Shit bro for 5 dollars? I just looked it up and it's got more 10/10's than a IGN review gives. Definitely get that addictiveness factor. The trailer instantly sold me on the premise. I need this game.

[Dark Cloud]

Getting back into Elden Ring, I decided to go Prisoner and I'm enjoying ganking horse berserkers with the glintblade spell. Sorcery be stronk.

[SleepingSilence]

That game has genuinely been pushed/name-dropped on Youtube harder than any other game I've seen recently. (Aside from things like Among Us, or actual paid mobile games ads ala, Raid Insert Title Here.) To the point that I can't help, but it having the opposite effect on me...

Vampire Survivor looks like it uses slot machine tactics to keep people playing. (The dev supposedly worked in the gambling industry.) So the game uses lots of noises and flashing images of money on screen, etc. Just without the microtransactions, and endless spending that usually goes along with it. Thus, mobile game addicts or whales like most of the streamers who gave Blizzard all of its free advertising, are now playing that and praising it to high heaven.

But it appears that the game is essentially a mindless clicker game, without any input from the player aside from moving around. So, I can't say that kind of thing appeals to me.

Though upon further looking into it. I guess the dev is at least transparent that this game was already being developed to be a clone of another free-to-play IOS game. "Magic Survival" (So I guess his goal was fairly successful...)

[Ammokkx]

Since my XIV thread locked (rip) I'm posting this sickass art commission I got gifted from a friend here.

Khenda!

[SleepingSilence]

Death's Gambit Afterlife is dead to me.

The moon logic required to even find the last few bosses that I need to kill, is where I stop. (Since fighting bosses is still easily the worst f*cking part of this game.)

And I refuse to waste any more of my time. Because the guides online continue to be misleading or downright false. Mostly because it's all based on the unpatched game, and therefore, has now become completely useless information.

I give it credit for having decently rewarding exploration. And that alone kept me going through the vast majority of this. But I'm moving onto the next game. So maybe I can play a fun one instead...