cakedotavi

I also completed GTA V last weekend. I posted some thoughts over in the GTA thread, which I've quoted below for convenience, discussing a bit about what I thought the game did well to resolve issues chronically present in games of that style.

Just finished Wolfenstien: The New Order over the weekend, and I thought it was really well done. A great balance between being true to a classic series, and modernizing it at the same time. Some very minor spoilers below. (Back-of-the-box stuff, plus one boss name) Last paragraph is a spoiler-free TLDR. The addition of compelling stealth, and a surprisingly relatable narrative were two particularly good changes, but of course there is still tons of good ol' nazi killin' to go around too. I specifically liked the balance between stealth and action options, and the seamless transition between the two. (Try to kill a commander quietly, fuck up, kill 500 nazis with dual-weild shotguns instead) Despite not being much for stealth typically, I actually wished there were more stealth options later in the game. (This was probably at least partially due to the fact that I was playing on the 2nd highest difficulty, and ammo was pretty scarce late in the game so I often wanted to conserve it if I could) The story was also quite well done considering that it's a Wolfenstein game, moving the series out of the WWII era it has trod over many times and in to an alternative history of the 1960s where Germany won the war. There is a *ton* of really great environmental storytelling such as little newspaper clippings about how history changed in this universe, and German-ized popular music from the 1960s, (think The Beatles in German) which all help to build a pretty convincing and interesting world. The love story was less compelling to me, but served to move the plot along while humanizing Blascowitz a bit so I suppose it did its job. All that said, I felt like some of the later boss fights, (London Monitor and the final boss specifically) were just really boring grind-fests. The Monitor was pretty dull and I never felt like I was at any risk of dying due to how little you have to actually expose yourself to the boss, and the last boss was just a boring "stand there and fill him full of bullets for 10 minutes" other than one extremely minor twist at the start. Overall. on top of the solid gunplay you'd expect in a Wolfenstien game, The New Order has some *really* great worldbuilding and environmental storytelling, plus a very nice balance between stealth and action for the most part, but boring, same-y boss fights.

I belive you will restock any and all depleted potions upon rest IF you have one of the alcohol reagents; it consumes one of then. So actually you're kind of encouraged to drink potions frequently because it costs just as much to replenish one as it does to replenish your whole stock.

Food for thought - there are new ATI cards hitting this summer that are claiming they have comparable performance to a Titan At the high end. Who knows if that is true, but they'll certainly drive prices down on existing GPUS. You could likely save a ton of money if you waited until black Friday or so.

Well, first, you are not supposed to parry against monsters; I believe there is even a line in the tutorial to that effect. (Though maybe it was a loading screen tip? Can't remember) Second, I think the dodging just takes some getting used to. I have sunk a ton of time in to the Souls games, and I find the combat here pretty comparable, just a bit less responsive. The lack of an instant response seems more like a design decision than a bug or limitation, (it's very similar to how Geralt has a few extra frames at the end of a run after you let go of the stick) and once you've sunk a few hours in it starts to feel pretty natural. (At least to me) The timing is just different here, and it takes a while to get rid of the preconceptions you come in with if you're used to the Souls style games.

If any PC users are having troubles configuring gamma, be aware that there are some bugs with fullscreen vs borderless windowed and the gamma slider. I posted some details here.

Hi guys. I spent some time thinking about why I enjoy GTA V so much, and I wanted to share that here. Please feel free to pick apart my thoughts and also my writing style! I welcome your feedback. (There is a tldr at the end) tldr: I think that GTA V is really good and the most important changes are 3 protagonists (which helps with pacing and variety) and the changes to how cops pursue players. (Which make a core GTA mechanic far more enjoyable to interact with)

Also, I agree with brkl; the AI seems to not even realize this is a competitive game. They are far too passive. On my last game I chose the "fuck you" option in literally every single diplomatic interaction, and I still never had the AI declare war on me, or be overtly hostile in any way. (Though I did have one of the AI players flip one of my cities with spies, which was cool) In fact, at one point 2nd place asked me to be friends and join their war against 3rd place just a few turns after I finally stopped bombing the shit out of 2nd place for the past ~50 turns. I really, really wish the AI reacted more strongly to aggressive/hostile play.

I’ve now “finished” (read: played to the point where victory was inevitable) three full games, spanning a little under 1000 turns. Overall, I find the game underwhelming but still enjoyable. Beyond Earth feels too much like its predecessor to warrant a full price-tag. When you consider the improvements from Civ IV to Civ V, and then compare those to what’s changed with BE, it’s pretty disappointing. Civ V introduced hexes, ranged combat, one-unit-per-tile, and a beautiful graphical upgrade among many other features. BE has given us some interesting alien AI, (which are really just better barbarians) a non-linear tech tree, (which has a *wealth* of problems), a few minor new systems, (quests, expeditions, etc) and a fresh coat of paint on existing visuals and mechanics. (“Happiness” is now “health,” etc) The tech web is a cool idea that I’m enjoying playing with, but the way it is presented leaves considerable room for improvement. Understanding what to research in order to support your chosen play style is much harder than it needs to be, as techs are not distinguished or categorized in any meaningful manner. For instance, yesterday I was trying to find a tech that would make my cities harder to attack, and I had to literally expand each tech and read what it unlocked one-by-one to understand which one I wanted. My difficulty learning the tech web has been compounded by the fact that the technologies are now, (pardon the pun) completely alien to me. Techs are no longer grounded in real history, so I have trouble intuitively understanding what they do or where they might fit in. For instance, in Civ V, if I saw a tech called “flight” I had a pretty good idea of what it unlocked and when I should try and get it just based off of that one word description. (“OK, it probably gives me flying units and I probably don’t want to try and get it *before* I get gunpowder”) However, with a lack of linearity and tech names like “alien biology” I have *no* idea what that’s going to unlock, or when in my game it would make sense to get it. The new theme of BE combined with the lack of guidance/linearity in the tech web means that the designers need to hold the players had a bit more than they actually have, and I think a few simple UI changes would really help to address this problem. For instance, color-coded techs based off of the bonuses they unlock would help players focus their research in a way that supports their playstyle. (In fact, there is already a mod out that does this) Also, simply showing the required affinity level without having to mouse over the unit/building would help players get a sense for when in their playthrough they should target certain techs. Right now, the only way to answer these questions is to re-read the tooltips for each tech until you (eventually) memorize the answers. The alien faction is a fun addition, but not really that different from barbarians in previous games. The only real change is that there seem to be more spawned from a single camp – er, I mean nest - at any given time, and they now start as passive to you instead of hostile, with a random chance to “go rogue” and attack a nearby unit. The more aggressive you are towards them, the greater the chance that they will attack; not that huge of a change really, but an enjoyable one none the less. Aside from that the game largely seems like more of a total conversion mod than a full-fledged iteration in the Civ series. There is no graphical upgrade to speak of, and the resources are simply re-skins of existing systems that have almost no difference when compared to previous games. The changes they’ve made are largely good ones, (with a few potential quality-of-life improvements sadly missing) but there is not nearly enough here to warrant a $60 price tag and a brand new Civilization title. This would have made outstanding $30 DLC for Civ V, but as its own product it fails to sufficiently distinguish itself.

I do agree with this. The AI, at least on the default difficulty and on Vostok, seems far too trusting and passive. I play a very aggressive/militaristic style, and even after taking out several AI players I've never had the remaining AI declare war on me, or even be overtly aggressive at all really. They just patiently wait their turn until I invade them, without the others ever reacting to me being a huge warmonger. To be fair, this is based off of only 3 games, but still... it is pretty joyless to play against such an exploitable AI.

I actually find the theme of BE to be a great fit for the mechanics of Civilization. In fact, I'd argue it's the best mesh of theme and mechanics the series has ever seen. First, Civ has *always* felt like you were exploring a new and unknown world, even when playing on "real Earth" maps. Resource locations are always random, barbarian/alien spawns are unpredictable, your starting area is not fixed, etc. Mechanically speaking there has always been an element of unpredictability and uncertainty in the Civ series, so meshing that feeling with the theme of literally exploring a new world works really well. It even allows a thematic reason for choosing your map. (Deciding on which "world" to settle). All this results is a close alignment between the mechanics and theme, especially early on, which is something I really love to see in games. Second, and this is partially just personal preference, it allows the more complex mechanics to unfold earlier. Specifically I really enjoy having naval and air units be available and relevant far sooner. I've always been a fan of loading up carriers and protecting them with a few destroyers, then just devestating anything near a coastline with my armada. In previous Civ titles, this meant waiting until nearly the end of the game; only a fraction of each play-through lent itself to my favorite strategy. However, in BE you can employ these tactics much earlier because, thematically, it makes sense to have those options available early on. There are plenty of issues with BE, (balance and UI problems come to mind) but personally I really enjoy the futuristic theme.

Hi everyone. I've been a Idle Thumbs listener for a long time, and finally decided to sign up for the forums. Since it's just come out, I thought I'd start by sharing my thoughts on Civ: BE. I'm about 230 turns in to my first real game now, playing as Harmony with an emphasis on science and culture. Some initial thoughts: Good: I really dig the alien AI. It does a decent job of mimicking indigenous life, and so far it behaves fairly believably and seems to respond appropriately to my actions. However, I do wish the aliens were a bit stronger. (Except for the worms, which are just right) Explorers and excavation sites make the starting game a bit more interesting; they're a really good addition. Naval and air units now seem much more viable. Partially they seem a bit more powerful, but also they are simply accessible *much* earlier than in previous Civ games thanks to the new setting. I'm looking forward to seeing how this changes the early-mid game. Bad: The UI is, in my opinion, a step backwards from Civ V. I dislike how the edges of the screen seem to be the only place with any UI elements; even tooltips show in the top right of the screen instead of where your cursor is. It puts information into tidy boxes, instead of where they player is actually looking/expecting the information to show up. I find this pretty annoying, and it results in lots of clutter around the edge of the screen. They do a poor job of explaining the long term impact of certain decisions, especially affinity. The resource web is really hard to wrap your head around, and having a layer of customization beyond just techs embedded in there is a bit intimidating in its complexity. I'm sure this will go away as we overcome the learning curve, but I feel like they could have tutorialized this stuff a bit better. Purity 1 bonus is really overpowered. It prevents aliens from attacking your explorers under any circumstances, so you can just move them into a huge swarm of aliens, wait for them to eventually leave their nest, then roll in to destroy it for free with the explorer that they cannot attack. Hugely overpowered for a single affinity point, I'd say. Why did they remove the "just finished" readout from the city screen when you need to assign new production?? That was such a useful feature! I should clarify that I do quite enjoy this game, despite my "bad" list being longer than my "good" one. There are just some weird decisions that bother me a bit, and I notice those more readily than other changes. Overall I agree with what others have been saying; it's an enjoyable change from Civ V, but not a radical one and not without its share of issues.