General gaming discussion

[Ian]

So getting onto the less pleasant stuff about Wardor, I just watched the video that Many A True Nerd did on the opener hour or so of it. He makes quite a big deal at both the start and end about the microtransactions which I honestly haven't noticed. We'll see how I fare once I get to the end game but at the point I'm at if anything the game is already, much like it did in Mordor once you got more control over the Nemesis system, is getting easier. I kinda wish I'd I'd bumped up the difficulty a touch given there's basically no punishment for death. It would probably have meant that on the point I'm at now where I have loads of skills* to tailor to a given encounter things would be more touch-and-go. So certainly at this stage it isn't made especially grindy or difficult and I could be way further ahead with the story than I am if I didn't love just dicking about with the Nemesis stuff and the world as a whole.

I have an awareness that it's there because there are references made to loot boxes in some of the daily challenges if you look at those and some options on the menu but I honestly don't find it intrusive, and didn't even in games that I like way less than I like this (Hello, Mankind Divided.) Maybe I'm not very observant or I've conditioned myself to tune this shit out but certainly at this point I don't get what the fuss is about.

* So each skill has two or three upgrades which you can only have one of active at a time but you can switch whenever you want. So there's an AOE attack thing that you can buff with poison, ice or fire. And certain captains will have weaknesses to fire or poison to either help you with a fight or basically insta-win it for you. If you game it properly, either in your own combat or with what captains you set against your enemies, you can really start to mop up a region.

[Ian]

So getting onto the less pleasant stuff about Wardor, I just watched the video that Many A True Nerd did on the opening hour or so of it. He makes quite a big deal at both the start and end about the microtransactions which I honestly haven't found to be pressing themselves upon me. We'll see how I fare once I get to the end game but at the point I'm at if anything the game is already, much like it did in Mordor once you got more control over the Nemesis system, is getting easier. I kinda wish I'd I'd bumped up the difficulty a touch given there's basically no punishment for death. It would probably have meant that on the point I'm at now where I have loads of skills* to tailor to a given encounter things would be more touch-and-go. So certainly at this stage it isn't made especially grindy or difficult and I could be way further ahead with the story than I am if I didn't love just dicking about with the Nemesis stuff and the world as a whole.

I have an awareness that it's there because there are references made to loot boxes in some of the daily challenges if you look at those and some options on the menu but I honestly don't find it intrusive, and didn't even in games that I like way less than I like this (Hello, Mankind Divided.) Maybe I'm not very observant or I've conditioned myself to tune this shit out but certainly at this point I don't get what the fuss is about.

* So each skill has two or three upgrades which you can only have one of active at a time but you can switch whenever you want. So there's an AOE attack thing that you can buff with poison, ice or fire. And certain captains will have weaknesses to fire or poison to either help you with a fight or basically insta-win it for you. If you game it properly, either in your own combat or with what captains you set against your enemies, you can really start to mop up a region.

[Dark Soldier]

Somebody on PC found how to give you unlimited loot boxes almost immediately. Seems its not a server side thing but a built into the engine thing, can just use Cheat Engine to give 'em to yourself.

[Ian]

That's part of the reason why it doesn't bother me. You can get XP boosts through some of them. If some other player wants to do that in their single-player then why the fuck do I care? As long as they haven't made the game unnecessarily harder to encourage it which pre-end game they obviously haven't because I'm an enormous cupcake and I'm not finding it a grindy hell of difficulty.

I remember a guy at work getting pissy over XP boosts, extra gear etc. and how some people would use them in Mankind Divided. When I asked him why it should bother him if somebody did it in their game and he didn't need to he just tailed off into random grumbling. MD also did not force anything upon you despite the initial furore.

[Dark Soldier]

Yup I give zero fucks about people cheating/buying boosts or whatever they wanna do in single player. I don't get the anger regarding it some hold. I cheat often in FM (alongside a couple of serious saves), can make the game more interesting if you just wanna piss about.

[Shindig]

See how you feel after 30 hours of the final act.

[wullie]

PS4, Xbox or pc, Wullie?

Sorry, didn't spot this post. PS4 over here

[phonics]

Yup I give zero fucks about people cheating/buying boosts or whatever they wanna do in single player. I don't get the anger regarding it some hold. I cheat often in FM (alongside a couple of serious saves), can make the game more interesting if you just wanna piss about.

I think people are just sick of it at this point. Wardor just caught the flak by being one of the big October releases and single player.

There was a rather disturbing Twitter discussion among teachers who all had stories of kids, nicking their parents credit card, spending hundreds of quids on FIFA packs and stuff. It's rife and manipulative. There's a reason these companies are spending more and more on psychologists and the like to get people coming back. It definitely needs legislating at a higher level than is currently the case.

[Pleb]

I brought Mordor through the steam sale for about a fiver ish and found it very meh but the combat system is smooth and godlike.

[phonics]

Spelunky 2 announced as a PS4 exclusive

[Yevrah]

Arse Creed Egypt?

Same formulaic mince as last time?

[Raoul Duke]

So getting onto the less pleasant stuff about Wardor, I just watched the video that Many A True Nerd did on the opening hour or so of it. He makes quite a big deal at both the start and end about the microtransactions which I honestly haven't found to be pressing themselves upon me. We'll see how I fare once I get to the end game but at the point I'm at if anything the game is already, much like it did in Mordor once you got more control over the Nemesis system, is getting easier. I kinda wish I'd I'd bumped up the difficulty a touch given there's basically no punishment for death. It would probably have meant that on the point I'm at now where I have loads of skills* to tailor to a given encounter things would be more touch-and-go. So certainly at this stage it isn't made especially grindy or difficult and I could be way further ahead with the story than I am if I didn't love just dicking about with the Nemesis stuff and the world as a whole.

I have an awareness that it's there because there are references made to loot boxes in some of the daily challenges if you look at those and some options on the menu but I honestly don't find it intrusive, and didn't even in games that I like way less than I like this (Hello, Mankind Divided.) Maybe I'm not very observant or I've conditioned myself to tune this shit out but certainly at this point I don't get what the fuss is about.

* So each skill has two or three upgrades which you can only have one of active at a time but you can switch whenever you want. So there's an AOE attack thing that you can buff with poison, ice or fire. And certain captains will have weaknesses to fire or poison to either help you with a fight or basically insta-win it for you. If you game it properly, either in your own combat or with what captains you set against your enemies, you can really start to mop up a region.

I haven't even looked at the loot boxes yet and the game isn't particularly hard. I've basically unlocked nearly every skill and I'm only on the second area. I worry it's gonna feel like there's a load of repetition if I have to grind through this much Nemesis stuff about 6 times.

Arse Creed Egypt?

Same formulaic mince as last time?

Reviews look good, and I like the games enough to pick it up - I'm just elbows deep in too many other games right now. Shame there's no more pirate-based shenanigans

[Baz]

What’s the COD WW2 single player campaign gonna be like? Worth £50?

[SincereTheRebel]

Anyone ever used CDKEY.com to buy anything? I want to buy some ps plus membership and it looks like they are by far the cheapest.

[wullie]

Yeah, can't remember what I used them for but it was completely fine.

[Mike]

I’ve used cdkeys loads. Like them on Facebook and get 5% off too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah, I use them all the time.

[phonics]

A PS Plus membership isn't bad but anyone buying actual games off them are scum.

You're just paying some guy in Russia to buy it with a stolen credit card so the developer sees none of the money but Vlad gets paid.

[Ian]

Yeah I think I've only used it once because it's clearly dodgy as fuck. Not from a customer point of view (from what I've heard) but for the other end.

[SincereTheRebel]

Agent Mahow is russian or ukrainian so he may well be involved in some time of way. I see he likes to give his point when I come to part with my money.

[Disco]

If they offer some kind of payment/transaction protection you'd be well advised to get it, that way when you buy something and the code has already been redeemed you're covered. Paying via Paypal is also a good idea as you can often get them to reverse the transaction if you end up getting screwed.

[Shindig]

RetroArch is just a great thing. It should come installed on every college and school PC ever. Along with Red Alert and Worms Armageddon.

[Dark Soldier]

am a weak man

[Mike]

Or a lucky man

[phonics]

It's good stuff. Shame you borrowed Zelda really or you'd have till Christmas sorted.

Odyssey just got announced as the fastest selling Mario game of all time.

[Dark Soldier]

I wanna do another playthrough of Zelda as ran through it due it being a lend

[Browning]

Mario odyssey is fucking brilliant. I’ve finished the main story but there’s so much post game stuff to keep me entertained.

[Dark Soldier]

Well Zelda seemed nailed on to be my game of forever but after 12 hours with Mario Odyssey, its looking like it'll usurp it. I've never seen eye to eye with Nintendo bar some Mario Kart games and some Zeldas, never been a huge fan of Mario, but fuck me its a masterpiece.

[Dark Soldier]

Also eurgh

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...tes-are-yucky/

[Yevrah]

Jim Sterling is going to shit his load over that.

[Shindig]

It's all he does now. That and dressing up and flouncing over forum comments.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

A Nephew bought a Switch and brought it round here as they came for lunch today.

Had one race on Mario Kart and the urge to buy one has risen.

Will probably try to hold off until just before or just after Christmas.

Edit: Got an old PS4, my old phone which Game will give £100 for and a load of games I don't play.

Tempting.

Edit: Fuck it, I think I'm going in on Friday.

[Danny]

Havent they started to do black friday sales over there?

Might be worth keeping an eye on that.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I doubt they'll reduce the price of the switch.

[Dark Soldier]

Yeah its actually gone up a little bit compared to a few months back. Cost me £323 with Odyssey.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Think I should have £330ish in trade-ins so I'm thinking of getting it with Odyssey and Zelda.

You using the normal joycon clip thing? Worth it to also get the pro/hori/whatever?

[Shindig]

I'm hoping for a couple of deals in December. I've got a fat PS4 to take the edge off and some clubcard points so I should save regardless. Should end up with Mario and Zelda which will keep me sorted for Christmas with the family.

[Browning]

The one thing you should buy for the switch is a charger so you can use it on the move without taking the whole console with you. Other than that I haven’t bought another controller, you already have 3 options in the box.

[Ian]

Flak Ranger-Killer.

Toggle Spoiler

Actually has a dead ranger strapped to his shield. Love the captains in this.

[Mike]

Giving this ago again. I tried about a year ago and it didn't run so well yet.

[phonics]

You can only get 100 quid for an old PS4? I'll take it off you for mates rates.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The slim has killed it really. You can buy one of those new for £200.

[phonics]

I'll give you 50 quid.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Can I cover the postage too?

[Danny]

[Raoul Duke]

Been playing a load more Shadow Of War, and I don't know how much else there is going for it now - it's great but I've just conquered my second fortress and it was pretty samey as the first. I'm not sure I can really be arsed with another 6 or so of these. I guess at some point I will get attacked at one I've already taken over, and that'll be something different. I've unlocked near enough all the skills that are worth having.

Aside from that I think I've basically done everything it has to offer outside of the story missions, where I'm seemingly buddying up with a "girl" who looks like Rodney from Only Fools and Horses, and Morgan Freeman's regen to, yet again, fight Sauron and friends. I'm fairly certain my ghost pal is going down the classic trope of power/corruption/ring obsession, which is a bit obvious.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think it gives you too many skills too soon. It means that early doors you can game a good number of the fights against the captains. If they're terrified of anything you can break them very easily once you have lots of skills / upgrades to play with.

[Raoul Duke]

Which is kinda the point of the strengths/weaknesses - but it can be a bit formulaic and repetitive.

I tend to just lure them near explosive shit and set it off or turn loose a load of Caragors/Flies. Twice now though I've been up against the main overlord and been saved by one of my captains after getting my arse kicked

[Ian]

Having a bodyguard is fun. It's a while since I've been in a properly bad scrape, it's easy to get yourself out of situations when you can summon a graug whenever you fancy, but it's nice when some big lad turns up and starts kicking ass when you're staring down the barrel.

I'd love to have a play with whatever generates the captains because I'm still getting new cool stuff. Hooks and peg legs and face paint and whatnot.

[Raoul Duke]

I'd love to have a play with whatever generates the captains because I'm still getting new cool stuff. Hooks and peg legs and face paint and whatnot.

Yeah, there are some great variations. I had one the other day called Something The Moaner and when I ran into him he just comes on screen and goes: WHAOAAARHGHA AAARGHHRA OOOHAHAGEHAGHHH"