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Post by timmywimmywoo on Nov 27, 2021 22:59:02 GMT
FH5 is just gorgeous. Hadn't seen light quite like this - it's always surprising with the combinations of weather and time of day... |
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Blue_Mike
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Post by Blue_Mike on Nov 28, 2021 3:06:44 GMT
Star Trek OnlineI am a being of pure shadow. I am the inverse Billy Corgan.
Aww.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Nov 28, 2021 15:35:41 GMT
Some screenshots of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, a classic RPG akin to Baldur's Gate and other classics from the 90s.
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minimatt
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hyper mediocrity
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Post by minimatt on Nov 28, 2021 16:22:10 GMT
keep meaning to give one of those modern Divinitys or Pillars isometric rpgs a go. Was a huge fan of them back in the 90s (I know, I know, I don't look nearly old enough) but now wonder if it's just nostalgia driving my curiosity
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Nov 28, 2021 16:40:14 GMT
Some more screenshots of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire with some explanations.
You can now own various ships, sail the Deadfire archipelago and discover it on your own leisure.
Ships basically have different layouts (slots for equipment and crew) and stats, and can be outfitted with various sails, hulls, cannons, etc. They obviously have to be manned by crew to work (for example, if you have cannons, but no cannoneers, you won't be able to fire in combat). Crew (which are different people than your adventurer companions) gains experience during sailing and can be hired in ports or sometimes in quest locations. You also have to stock food and drink to keep your crew happy, and you have to pay them regularly, or they will start a mutiny.
When you encounter another ship at sea, you can choose how to deal with it. Here I intentionally crossed a neutral ship to make some screenshots for naval combat, which is why the Parley option is not available (you can use it when you are attacked by pirates, for example).
Naval combat is then a turn based multiple choice affair. It might sound boring, but it's actually quite well done, and feels pretty good as far as a layman like me can imagine naval combat. You got options on how to position your ship relative to the opponent's (distance and orientation, the UI element in the lower middle of the screen), and you can choose from some actions, such as firing your cannons, trying to ram them or reassigning your crew to different posts (because some might get injured and become unable to fulfill their duty during combat).
Here I first turned my ship to port and then chose to fire my cannons, which brings up this menu that lets you choose the type of cannonballs (regular mostly damages hull, chained shot damages sails and grapeshot is against crew). As you can see, I am very outmached in this encounter.
This is the result of my two entry level cannons firing some grapeshot. Yeah, it would be better to try to run away.
Once you have found an island with a landing point, you can debark and explore it on foot. It can feature some resource gathering locations, encounters or complete towns/settlements which you can enter and then navigate in isometric view (as seen in the previous post).
The larger towns/settlements have an own submap that lets you navigate between different quarters. It can take some simulated time to walk between the subsections, during which random encounters with brigands or whatever can happen.
From time to time, you get scripted multiple choice dialogs illustrated with some static drawings. This can happen when you enter a new area, or when you interact with complex objects. There are often options that run some check against the attributes or skills of a character, and have good or bad outcomes, depending on if you ace or fail the check. Sometimes you can select a companion to do the check, sometimes it's the main character that has to do it.
Here, I am talking to the goddess Woedica.
This is a screenshot showing the UI during isometric exploration. When you press Tab, you see interactable objects highlighted in blue, and important interactable people are named (nobody important here). It also displays other helpful icons, e.g. for area transitions and stuff that you can look at (lore fluff).
I've made a death aspected godlike cypher/fighter specialized on greatswords. I usually make more adult choices for main characters when it comes to RPG games, but this time I went with edgy teenage fantasy superhero, because I felt like it and thought he looked cool. Godlike characters all have strange head growths, and because of that, it is illegal for them to even think about wearing headgear. They get some special abilities to compensate, but the death aspected ones are pretty meh. But they look like demons.
You can multiclass now, and each class has specializations that subtly change how it works. I am a "soul blade" cipher and "devoted" fighter multiclass. Soul blade basically has lower "mana" than regular ciphers, but gains an ability to convert "mana" into more weapon damage. Devoted fighters gain bonuses with one weapon type, and penalties with all others.
The game still inundates you with items. Thankfully, the inventory has very convenient filtering and sorting options. And it also lets you compare items to what you are currently wearing. Here is the shop interface.
This street vendor sells deluxe food with some ridiculous buffs.
Here is an interesting shield for dual-wielding monks. Combat mechanics are pretty complicated, and it unfortunately takes a while to get a grasp on how the various classes work and which items are good for them. It hasn't changed that much from Pillars 1, though, so if you play it soon after, you should still be able to work most things out quickly. It also has five difficulty settings, and is already pretty easy on the middle "normal" one, so even if you don't really care about optimizing stuff, you can enjoy the game just fine on a lower setting.
Since my character is devoted to greatswords, I've restored the fragments of two weapons from the first game into a new unique weapon. Those unique weapons can be upgraded in different ways by using this interface.
One last thing I wanted to highlight is how they used various english dialects to voice different origins of characters. Here I'm talking to a (voiced!) minor npc with a very funny slang.
If you foolishly helf off from playing this game because you thought pirates were a little overdone in recent times, reconsider, because the game is fantastic so far. Much better than the first one (which I already liked a lot) in my opinion.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Nov 28, 2021 17:08:16 GMT
keep meaning to give one of those modern Divinitys or Pillars isometric rpgs a go. Was a huge fan of them back in the 90s (I know, I know, I don't look nearly old enough) but now wonder if it's just nostalgia driving my curiosity I can recommend Tyranny, the Pillars games and Tides of Numenera. They are all very good and play very similar to Baldur's Gate. Tyranny is the shortest one and probably the easiest one to get into, so maybe start with that. It wastes no time and starts you with an epic background and throws you into a war with multiple sides to choose from.
The Pillars games are much longer and more lore heavy, and especially 1 starts pretty slow in my opinion. The addon is better than the main game there. Pillars 2 then starts much better, with a very short introduction before it throws you into the world. I'm not very far in 2 yet, but the 20 hours or so have been utterly enjoyable.
Tides of Numenera is closer to Planescape Torment than to Baldur's Gate. More lore, less combat. It's a very refreshing setting though, more phantasy than fantasy, if you know what I mean. Lots of people think it's set in the same world as Planescape, but it's not. It's more of a run down sci-fi world in which people forgot how most technology works, so it's like magic to them.
I've tried to get into Divinity: Original Sin, but I've put it away after a few hours. It didn't really click with me. Maybe I'll give it another try sometime.
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Post by skalpadda on Nov 28, 2021 20:19:02 GMT
I really need to get round to playing Pillars 2 at some point. Bought it ages ago and it's become like a precious treat just sitting in a cupboard for ages; I know I'm going to enjoy it when I finally indulge, but the perfect occasion never seems to present itself.
(I'm entirely aware that this is a very silly way to think about computer games).
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britesparc
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Post by britesparc on Nov 30, 2021 11:11:45 GMT
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Dec 2, 2021 23:22:19 GMT
Fired up Minecraft again after years of absence. Made a new vanilla world to check out some of the new stuff. Probably old stuff for regulars, but it was new for me. Unfortunately, forgot to hide the GUI.
It seems there are lots of new stone types, like granite, andesite, diorite, calcite, etc. As a Dwarf Fortress fan, I really like this. The terrain generation algorithm also seems to have changed a bit, because I found lots of strange geological structures that I have never seen before, like slanted clefts in the ground spanning hundreds of meters long, deep cauldron like impressions, and huge cliff faces bordering the ocean.
Also found some new to me leftovers from civilization, like a sunken ship and what seems to be a ruined nether portal.
Haven't found any diamonds yet, seems they are harder to find or maybe spawn differently.
Some underground cave vegetation.
The inside of a huge amethyst geode.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Dec 3, 2021 5:15:22 GMT
Pillars 2 then starts much better, From what I remember there was some praise for Pillars 2 having an open world which allows for interesting encounters that are challenging and for a sense of exploration. The writing and the story were sometimes criticized, but I haven't seen a lot of specifics on it. Neketaka did also get some praise as a well-done RPG-city. I don't quite remember what the reactions to the changes in combat balance and character building were, but I think overall people seem to agree that it's mostly better than the first one. Though I'm personally disappointed that the clutter of a million unimportant items is still there. Still, overall I'm looking forward to it. |
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Blue_Mike
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Post by Blue_Mike on Dec 3, 2021 20:31:57 GMT
If you enjoyed FTL, you will enjoy Crying Suns.
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Quasi
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Post by Quasi on Dec 4, 2021 7:57:37 GMT
A hundred hours later, I learned you can remove the HUD in Stellaris. It's a hell of a light show.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Dec 4, 2021 22:30:35 GMT
A few pro forma shots from Arcanum.
Went with a Dwarf that has since become a Gunslinger/Gunsmith. The high Intelligence and fairly weak Consitution and Dexterity are because of the "Sickly" background.
Fate Points are an interesting idea. They are awarded a few times at critical points in the game and they can be used to guarantee success on something. I used it to lockpick a door for instance. Without any skill in it.
The Black Mountain Mines. It's a lovely place with lots of assassins, Ore Golems and most importantly, traps, traps, traps. This place is literally the only reason in the game why the player might want to invest in Spot Trap and Disarm Trap.
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britesparc
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Post by britesparc on Dec 9, 2021 12:24:57 GMT
Couple of shots from my first night with Halo Infinite. I played it till I got onto Zeta Halo then went to bed, as it Was Late and I Am Old. There's something about the opening levels, with their stark coloured lighting and hard surfaces, that reminds me of Quake II.    |
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Dec 11, 2021 19:20:09 GMT
Yet more Space Hulk - Deathwing.
Excuse the mess.
That occasionally happens when hitting pipes. And it does indeed burn the Xenos.
Mining laser. Some of the Hybrids use them.
The Flamer always makes a mess. Which is part of why it's so fun to use.
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Blue_Mike
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Post by Blue_Mike on Dec 13, 2021 4:11:14 GMT
RDR2
Why you bite my hat, doggo?
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britesparc
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Post by britesparc on Dec 15, 2021 14:37:16 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2021 20:50:58 GMT
First time ever bothering using photo mode but GoTG looks great.  |
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Post by Aunt Alison on Dec 15, 2021 20:54:45 GMT
Interesting that the one photo you took/decided to show of is quite phallic. Look at that big penis right in the centre
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2021 20:57:02 GMT
His names Starlord.
/tap in
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Dec 15, 2021 21:22:37 GMT
Why is the image so small, though? You aren't playing in this resolution, are you?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2021 21:23:51 GMT
The look of that game is phenomenal. For my money, nobody beats Eidos Montreal when it comes to art design.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2021 21:28:21 GMT
Why is the image so small, though? You aren't playing in this resolution, are you? Just shared it from PS5 and uploaded it from my phone. |
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Dec 15, 2021 22:25:15 GMT
Ok, so where in the process did it get scaled down? I mean, it's ok, it's still a great shot, but I'm curious.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2021 22:30:17 GMT
There's probably an "Upload Actual Size" setting he didn't toggle somewhere. It's not that serious. And to be honest, most of us browse from our phones so it looks the same as everything else in this thead. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2021 22:56:25 GMT
It's probably going to win screenshot of the year™
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Post by Psychotext on Dec 16, 2021 1:47:58 GMT
Yet more Space Hulk - Deathwing.
Excuse the mess.
Wow... it has to have been nearly 20 years since I played a Space Hulk game. I had no idea there was a new one. |
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Post by 😎 on Dec 16, 2021 2:07:43 GMT
If it helps it’s not new, Deathwing was released five years ago.
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Post by Psychotext on Dec 16, 2021 10:39:57 GMT
If it helps it’s not new, Deathwing was released five years ago. Given it's been about that long since I've played any sort of non mobile game, that would still be new to me! |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2021 11:14:50 GMT
I reinstalled Deathwing the other day but by the tits of the emperor it's bloody difficult. Too hard to solo it. A shame.
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