What are you nerds playing this weekend?

[mvmiller12]

*sigh*

Baldur's Gate: EE.

lol

 

[Axman]

lol

I just rolled up a swashbuckler thief for BG:1 and plan to dual-class in BGS at level 12 to mage. Should finish that with a level 6 mage with a 19 strength, 19 dex, and 76 hit points. Not a great spellcaster, but slaps hard with a stick.

Should be toward the beginning of BG:2 where I finish dualling and get all the thief abilities (max out open locks, find traps, pickpocket, and detect illusion) and then continue on to be up to thief 12/mage 30.

The maximum level you can get a mage up to in BG:2 is 31. So literally for the price of a single level in mage, with dual-classing, you get 12 levels in thief. That doubles your hit points, gives you a leg up with combat, plus not needing any other thieves in the party.

I wish today's D&D devs understood how the linear level curve, combined with the exponential experience curve, was a thing to exploit. It was an investment with a great payoff.

 

[mvmiller12]

I just rolled up a swashbuckler thief for BG:1 and plan to dual-class in BGS at level 12 to mage. Should finish that with a level 6 mage with a 19 strength, 19 dex, and 76 hit points. Not a great spellcaster, but slaps hard with a stick.

Should be toward the beginning of BG:2 where I finish dualling and get all the thief abilities (max out open locks, find traps, pickpocket, and detect illusion) and then continue on to be up to thief 12/mage 30.

The maximum level you can get a mage up to in BG:2 is 31. So literally for the price of a single level in mage, with dual-classing, you get 12 levels in thief. That doubles your hit points, gives you a leg up with combat, plus not needing any other thieves in the party.

I wish today's D&D devs understood how the linear level curve, combined with the exponential experience curve, was a thing to exploit. It was an investment with a great payoff.

My initial run through with BG1, back in the day, was with a human fighter I Dual Classed to a mage later. Early in BG2, I finished the DC, so I was a tanky mage. I love mages, but in 2nd edition, they are super squish, and in Baldur's Gate, when they are your main character especially... they LOVE to go balls deep into melee with next-to-no HP. It was a practical consideration at the time. I pre-ordered BG2 and got the Collector's Edition and got started on that right away. But, like I said earlier, I never actually got out of Athkatla. Life happened and I just never got back to the game.

Fast forward to now where we have BG:EE and all the advanced kits from BG2 have been backported to it (technically, it is more accurate to say that all the BG1 assets have been forward-ported into the BG2 version of the Infinity Engine I suppose). It was an excuse to play through the game again, this time as a dual-wielding Kensai with the intention to Dual Class later into a Mage. I should be kicking ass and taking names wholesale ~ 1/3 of the way or so into BG2. Even so... when I get a few levels under my belt so a random arrow shot from the trees in the wilderness doesn't 100-0 a character in a single shot will be good . Also... the designers were a little sadistic putting some Huge Spiders out there with nowhere to buy any Cure Poison potions. I had to save scum the shit out of that fight in the townhouse with 5 of them just sitting there waiting for you in Beregost.

Still, even after all this time... BG 1 is a beautiful game. The characters are a little dodgy looking, but the backgrounds still hold up really well, though when you zoom way out in 4K you can clearly see some of the tricks the artists did that would be impossible to see at the original 640x480 game res. Things such as vertical stripes where the artist applied filters to lighten up some areas of foliage.

 

[Furious_Styles]

Should finish Tomb Raider (2013) before this weekend. Been playing a lot of into the breach this past 2 weeks and working on Gwent: Rogue mage.

 

[FrgMstr]

 

[Comixbooks]

Nazi Zombie Army 4

 

[Axman]

Also... the designers were a little sadistic putting some Huge Spiders out there with nowhere to buy any Cure Poison potions. I had to save scum the shit out of that fight in the townhouse with 5 of them just sitting there waiting for you in Beregost.

Utility thief going mage checking in: you can pickpocket 6 antidotes off of her on the way to the quest!

But it's clear the amount of effort that went each tile of every area never went unnoticed. This is still one of the best-looking games ever made, even at its peak; I rarely notice the fuck-ups, and I often find myself digging into details in the backgrounds that are plainly laid out in text or literally in the quest descriptions.

I can see some of the failings in the mechanics of the UI, that they didn't figure out until NWN2, but the gameplay and world detail were later scrubbed over.

Also I can't not play this without EE Keeper. I'm not changing the core of the characters, or their stats, but some of their starting skills and proficiencies were based on the original game engine, with all of its limitations.

Rangers should not start out specialized in dual-wielding and halberds.

 

[VF31Tomcatters]

The DIvision 1, help some newcomers from Reddit get geared up
Continue working on completing Far Cry 6 100%
Stray, thats the cat game that just came out.

 

[kamxam]

Will continue playing State of Decay 2, The Ascent, Probably continue housebuilding in the Sims 4, maybe try some sort of RPG depending on my mood, and dabble a bit in SWTOR.

 

[Gran Maju]

Stray

 

[Deleted member 83233]

Played a bit of Souldiers on the Switch. Semi-Vania-Thing. So far it's ok, but definitely hasn't completely grabbed me yet. Got it on sale, and people seemed to like it. The main thing bothering me is that it doesn't feel like it's running at 60FPS (at least in handheld mode). We'll see if I keep with it.

I also played some favorite PC Engine shooters, and a few arcade shooters over the weekend. (Ray Force, Air Buster, Gates of Thunder, etc.)

 

[VF31Tomcatters]

The Division 1, getting noobs geared up
Stray

 

[Comixbooks]

Solastra

Last Epoch

Ready or Not

 

[DooKey]

Solastra

Last Epoch

Ready or Not

Then you'll refund them. Nice.

 

[GoldenTiger]

Then you'll refund them. Nice.

Spending more time refunding than playing? News 10 with our expose at 5...

 

[Comixbooks]

Then you'll refund them. Nice.

I'll keep all those games only refund games that waste my time because that is all anyone has. I'm pretty good at picking out gems. If you refund too many you get a warning from Steam so you gotta be carefull.

 

[Toriessian]

I'm showing how wise a new video card purchase was by playing Shadow Empire and Stardew Valley...

 

[Westwood]

Played Path of Exile last night on Standard. such a fun game.

Might try that Crossout game where you build cars and battle them. I did that a few years back. Think it was fun. I'm looking for something else to get into.

 

[GoldenTiger]

I'll keep all those games only refund games that waste my time because that is all anyone has. I'm pretty good at picking out gems. If you refund too many you get a warning from Steam so you gotta be carefull.

Can't be that good at picking out the gems if you refunded so many you got a warning. That takes a LOT of returns.... EDIT: Got a rage pm from Comixbooks... Really classy.

 

[Axman]

Still, even after all this time... BG 1 is a beautiful game. The characters are a little dodgy looking, but the backgrounds still hold up really well, though when you zoom way out in 4K you can clearly see some of the tricks the artists did that would be impossible to see at the original 640x480 game res. Things such as vertical stripes where the artist applied filters to lighten up some areas of foliage.

FYI, and for anyone interested in going back through BG, I just did some back-of-the-napkin character generation and figured out a really nifty dual-class build.

Shadowdancer 7/mage 31.

With the shadowdancer thief kit, you can max out both stealth skills a little over 100 each by level 7, which means you can use some equipment that lowers your stealth and still succeed in broad daylight. Shadowdancers can hide in view of enemies using "hide in plain sight."

You can hit level 8 mage in BG:EE/ToSC, which means you can get full access to your thief skills before the first game ends.

That means you can have a mage that can essentially cast invisibility whenever, use thief weapons, including shortbows and katanas, and have one point in any fighting style. Opens up some caster armor and gets you the extra spells katana in BG II:EE. Single-weapon style gets you double crits, weapon and shield style gets you bonus AC against missiles with bucklers.

Also, all attacks from hiding are at +4, which makes a difference, even for enemies that are immune to backstab.

The drawback is you lose the utility thief benefits of dual-classing, so you will still need another thief in your party.

Edit: this only works at night, for full hide/MS, you'd need to hit level 17, which kinda makes this worthless.

 

[CaptainClueless]

Playing Spider Man Remastered on PS5. Need to get through this one before the PC version comes out so that I'm not tempted to buy it a third time before playing it. I'm about 2/3 through already and the game is phenomenal. The visual quality and peformance in RT Performance mode is simply stunning for a console game as well. Really making me wish I had an OLED TV instead of this 2016 Vizio P series dinosaur though.

 

[AceGoober]

Horizon Zero Dawn

4th playthrough. 3rd playthrough kept crashing late game and had massive stuttering with more than 6 machines or a couple of large ones visible on the screen. Made a couple of adjustments so hopefully it fixes the problem.

 

[harmattan]

Dune: Spice Wars. Loving it so far, suprisingly good production values and streamlined. Reminds me of a cross between Northgard, Age of Empires, and yes... Emperor: Battle for Dune. The Spice must flow!

 

[Deleted member 83233]

Horizon Zero Dawn

4th playthrough. 3rd playthrough kept crashing late game and had massive stuttering with more than 6 machines or a couple of large ones visible on the screen. Made a couple of adjustments so hopefully it fixes the problem.

My daughter has just about finished it I think. Cool game!

I do have one thing to say though.

Aloy sit!
Stay!
Staaaaaaaaay!
Aloy roll over!

 

[AceGoober]

Was browsing Steam Store and happened upon Lost Ark. Watched vids, did a little research and since the game is FtP am downloading right now. Also picked up the Apprentice Starter Pack.

Looks like my kind of game so Horizon Zero Dawn may be put aside for the time being.

 

[VF31Tomcatters]

Second play through of Stray to get all the achievements and collectables that I missed during my first play through.

 

[Gran Maju]

Continuing with stray. I play a bunch of different games so havent got too far in it.

 

[frank78]

Rain on Your Parade. You play as a cloud and torment people - simple and funny.

 

[pandora's box]

Xenoblade 3

 

[t1337duder]

Deep Rock Galactic coop with my brother. Addicting.

 

[TheSlySyl]

What I want to be playing: Xenoblade Chronicles III

What I've actually had time to play: Nothing. =(

 

[cvinh]

Had a lot of fun with Warhammer Vermintide 2 and FF XIV this weekend.

 

[Domingo]

I'm going to try and get into Sea of Thieves at long last. A friend has been pestering me to give co-op a try for months. My previous attempts were thwarted by performance issues and not knowing what in the hell I was supposed to do. Performance seems great now, but I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do.

 

[Westwood]

I'm going to try and get into Sea of Thieves at long last. A friend has been pestering me to give co-op a try for months. My previous attempts were thwarted by performance issues and not knowing what in the hell I was supposed to do. Performance seems great now, but I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do.

The highlights come up on my YouTube feed now and then. it looks so aggravating with people sinking your ship and stuff. cutthroat like Eve Online. Does look neat though.

I've been playing Crossout lately. Bought a battlepass or whatever for $10. its not bad I guess.

 

[Comixbooks]

Zombie Army 4

 

[Domingo]

The highlights come up on my YouTube feed now and then. it looks so aggravating with people sinking your ship and stuff. cutthroat like Eve Online. Does look neat though.

...and once again I'm bailing on it. It feels like a game that might be fun if you have a group of several friends that all want to play and battle other crews. As someone playing solo at least 1/2 the time, it's just not compelling. If anything, it's tedious and slow.

 

[kamxam]

Too many idiots or griefers are the main reason why i'm not much interested in the PvP aspect of a lot of games anymore. Way back when, you could have fair player versus player fights a lot of the time in games. But nowadays, at least to me, you have way too many high levels killing low levels for fun, or ganging up in groups against solo players, or cheating then screaming how awesome they are to anybody who'll listen. Not to say you can't find fair PvP still in games, but it's a lot rarer than it used to be imho.
As for what i'll be playing this weekend, it'll most likely be State of Decay 2 as i have this urge to build up my base and kick Zombie butt. Maybe even continue Dead Island and Dying Light.
Also will most likely play more of The Ascent, possibly Saints row 3 if i get bored of Zombies.

 

[CastletonSnob]

I just beat Paper Mario.

 

[Comixbooks]

Sifu

Ghostwire Tokyo

Aloloth

Ghosts and Goblins

 

[Gran Maju]

New season of apex legends so going to grind that.