Dragon Age 3

[Venkman]

Exactly. Game's fun. Eat a dick if you can't see why.

Hey now, come on, I don't think schild is off on this one (not that he needs nor wants defending ). I'm enjoying it, but it's wonky as hell. It might have been better if they didn't launch a PC version at all, as maybe a lot of the crap is because of the porting. It's got the stuff I liked from DA2 with a smidge of DA1, but with less polish and more "why the fuck" design decisions (like, the zoning method for Haven, the stupid UI, the retarded looting, production values put to shame by other games launched this year, stuff that even controllers can't justify).

So, good game when there's not much else I'm interested in. But empirically good? I don't see it.

[rk47]

Will Darniaq eat a dick if it's goty?  

[Polysorbate80]

Wish I'd been running screen capture when it came time to pass judgement on the Avvar chieftan who "attacks" Skyhold.  That plot bit came at the same time I was getting major graphic glitches; it got pretty surreal.

[Venkman]

Will Darniaq eat a dick if it's goty?  

Ya know, after like 5 whole seconds of google image search, there is literally no image for "dick" that I could spin into something I would actually eat.
 
I leave it to someone with better google-fu.

But I will say, if this is goty by some metric I respect, Ima ragequit gaming.

[rk47]

Will Darniaq eat a dick if it's goty?  

Ya know, after like 5 whole seconds of google image search, there is literally no image for "dick" that I could spin into something I would actually eat.
 
I leave it to someone with better google-fu.

But I will say, if this is goty by some metric I respect, Ima ragequit gaming.

*holds Darniaq's hand tightly*
Bare your blade. And raise it high. Stand your ground. The dawn will come.

[Paelos]

 

[Goreschach]

Will Darniaq eat a dick if it's goty?  

Ya know, after like 5 whole seconds of google image search, there is literally no image for "dick" that I could spin into something I would actually eat.
 
I leave it to someone with better google-fu.

But I will say, if this is goty by some metric I respect, Ima ragequit gaming.

Seriously, have you never heard a spotted dick joke before? How long have you been on the internet?

[Tannhauser]

Edit:  Never mind, I thought enchanting was different from rune crafting.

[Samprimary]

goty 2014


wouldn't be surprised



because 2014



like, what's honestly going to compete with it?

this?

http://assets2.ignimgs.com/2014/11/13/289650screenshots2014-11-1100007jpg-e14c24.jpg

[Paelos]

Apparently Bayonetta 2, Hearthstone, Shadow of Mordor, and Dark Souls 2.


So yeah.

[Tannhauser]

Of the games I've purchased this may be GOTY by default:

Because
Civ:  Beyond Earth was beyond disappointing
Tomb Raider started GREAT but you need a controller really.  TAP THOSE KEYS REALLY FAST! Blearch.
Hearthstone is a terrible game according to f13 internet experts.  Comes in a close second to me.
Endless Legend seemed like it would never end.

Turrible year for games, just turrible.

[Paelos]

I liked hearthstone just fine, but it's shallow.
Didn't play the other ones.

[Falconeer]

goty 2014


wouldn't be surprised



because 2014



like, what's honestly going to compete with it?

Dark Souls 2 is still way better than anything else. But yeah, yeah...

[Rasix]

I didn't play a whole lot this year, but I never got into Dark Souls so 2 wasn't even on the list of things to try.   Shadow of Mordor was an awesome proof of concept and it had about 15 hours worth of excellent gaming in it.  The FFXIV reboot is excellent, but I have no idea when that started.  Perhaps 2013, dunno.  

I'm nearly 20 hours into this, enjoying every minute of it (well, except that desert level and its pathing issues) and there's no end in sight.  

I find it hard to gripe about lack of solid, blow-your-mind GOTY candidates when I'm enjoying this so much.  Sure there's been some dry patches this year, but that's what your Steam backlog is for.

[Bunk]

I kinda liked the pathing issues in the desert mine. Figured out I could jump down to a ledge to grab something, then switch focus to another character and walk away, the guy who jumped would teleport to me.

[Venkman]

Goddamn posting from an iPad sucks. Can't edit quotes for some whatever reason. Anyway, funny gif is funny. That's a keeper. And I don't go on the internet, it comes to me by way of Feedly. 

I didn't play enough this year to have a list. Ones I felt were best were Divinity and Shadows. I enjoyed Titanfall but it was shallow. Need to pick up Dark Souls 2, but that does seem like a controller game, so if I'd gotta go get one. Starting a some new schoolin'' in January though so, yea, there goes 2015 for that.

Someone mentioned Tomb Raider, and that would be my #2 behind Shadows, except TR was last year.

[eldaec]

Only computer games I've played a significant amount of in 2014 were Civ5, Blood Bowl, and Hex.

Which surprised me when I thought about it.

[eldaec]

Oh, and TSW I guess.

[Khaldun]

My problem with the desert level was just finding the wandering miner a second time. For some reason that was really hard.

[AcidCat]

Have to say how much I enjoy the levels. BioWare has finally gone past their tired "smallish arenas connected by corridors" design. These are game environments I just love being in. Even if I'm just taking a breather from the story drama and collecting bear asses, I enjoy just taking in the views and wandering into the nooks and crannies.

One thing that I also remember from previous games is that feeling when you're well into a story mission and realize you brought the wrong damn peeps, story wise. Storming that Warden fortress and the subsequent shit that went down, I was wishing I had Solus and Blackwall (for once) in my party. The only thing I got out of Bull and Sera were how freaked out they were. Though... the after mission conversation with Bull was fucking priceless, I don't know if I would have gotten that had I not taken him?

[Comstar]

Party banter is broken. It only goes off less than 10% of the time. Bioware is aware of it, but has no fix yet. Makes me want to stop playing the game till they do.

[Tannhauser]

Really?  Because it hasn't bothered me at all so far.  I don't like a lot of yapping anyway, but Bull and Sera have a funny chat.  She's ran Varric clean out of my party.  Tired of his lame ass anyway.

[Falconeer]

So, it's not Mass Effect 3, but how is multiplayer? Any fun, at all? Maybe with friends (as opposed to random quick joins)?

[Velorath]

So, it's not Mass Effect 3, but how is multiplayer? Any fun, at all? Maybe with friends (as opposed to random quick joins)?

I've put a lot of time into it, although just playing with random people. Overall when I'm grouped with people who have a mic, they've tended to be decent enough people. Only a small handful of people I just didn't want to play with after finishing a round. In keeping with the theme of bad port though, there is no "push to talk" button for mics. They're just on all the time which can be pretty annoying at times.

Getting the negatives out of the way, there's only three maps with three enemy types, and there's not a lot of randomization. After playing a lot you'll really start to recognize the patterns. The crafting system and unlocking classes isn't particularly intuitive at first. Weapons have an item level listed, but I don't think I've seen anything that's actually restricted by character level. That means once you get some ok weapons the ton of common ones you'll find or get out of chests just get salvaged immediately for crafting materials.

On the plus side, the 3 classes you start out with are some of the most useful ones. Archers are arguably the best single target DPS class, and Keepers have Barrier and some good options for increasing its usefulness as well. Combat for some reason feels better than the single-player game, although I'm still not entirely sure why since most of the abilities and mechanics are just copied over. I'm not sure if it's just that the camera feels better, that the level layout is more suited to combat, or that you aren't transitioning from doing non-combat stuff, but for whatever reason, even playing a one-hander and shield guy feels better to me in multiplayer although I still sometimes have trouble getting in a good position to block.

I've unlocked most of the classes, and found a couple good people I play with from time to time and we've been able to get as far as the last boss on the hardest difficulty (at which point we were fairly quickly demolished). At this point I think I just need to farm the middle difficulty until I can get some better gear. The gold comes at a fairly decent pace. Once you're getting through the easiest difficulty on a consistent basis, which should happen pretty quickly, 2-3 runs should net you a large chest (which will likely be filled with common crap but still...).

[satael]

Somehow this game is leaving me with a kind of a sad feeling as the combat isn't really that good and I'm not really enjoying the plot that much (nor are the companions and their personalities really shining during the actual gameplay and not just talking to them in the keep). I'm not saying that it's bad but I was hoping for more I guess. Some of the individual scenes do feel "cinematically epic" in a good way but the rest of the writing just doesn't support it. Part of it might be that they felt the need to cram every nook and cranny full of sidequests making it feel bloated at times.
Actually the thing I'd compare it to is the second Hobbit movie; looks great, has some nice scenes but feels drawn out and just doesn't have the writing to make it a really memorable experience.

[Paelos]

My problem with the desert level was just finding the wandering miner a second time. For some reason that was really hard.

I gave up. Where the hell is she?

[Bhazrak]

I put this off until the weekend due to peoples responses about the PC controls, but turns out they don't bother me a whole lot. Guess nothing can get worse than Dark Souls with a mouse and keyboard, except maybe FFXI.

I'm only level 9, but this game is just pure fun for me. Very much like how I enjoyed Skyrim. There's too damn much to do and explore. Kind of put off the main story to check out all the other areas you can open up on from the war table, so I'm just now starting the mission where you choose the templars or the mages after close to 28 hours on this character. Games like this I don't mind playing terribly slow in thankfully.

[Comstar]

Really?  Because it hasn't bothered me at all so far.  I don't like a lot of yapping anyway, but Bull and Sera have a funny chat.  She's ran Varric clean out of my party.  Tired of his lame ass anyway.

Reports are they should be saying something every 10 minutes. For me it's about once an hour or two.

[Tebonas]

If they would fix the "click to walk to target" thing, the controls would basically be fixed for me. Without that fix its infuriating and I have to play a ranged character, which isn't really my thing.

[Quinton]

I'm only level 9, but this game is just pure fun for me. Very much like how I enjoyed Skyrim. There's too damn much to do and explore. Kind of put off the main story to check out all the other areas you can open up on from the war table, so I'm just now starting the mission where you choose the templars or the mages after close to 28 hours on this character. Games like this I don't mind playing terribly slow in thankfully.

Choose the mages!  That mission is awesome.

I am loving the hell out of DA:I.  Yeah, it's a bit wonky in places, the tactical camera is a bummer, etc, but it's just so goddamn fun, there's so much to do, the scenery is so enjoyable to hike through, the party members are fun, etc, etc.  I'm like 50 hours in (counting a restart after 20 when I decided I enjoyed archer-rogue but just had too many rogues in my party).

I killed a dragon yesterday morning and it was pretty epic (45 minute battle, running dry on all consumables, general mayhem, etc, etc, but victorious in the end)...
(spoiler for big 'ol screenshots)
It's worth taking Iron Bull along to a dragon slaying, and then going drinking with him after.  Hilarious.

[Tannhauser]

Good deal, I killed him yesterday myself.  I have a dragon hunting team; well all I do is put Cole in instead of Sera so we have two archers, Dorian and Cassandra to tank.  My ace in the hole was Fire Resistance potions.  I was a little underwhelmed about potions until I saw that you can upgrade them and that's a little collectible mini-game.  Nice. Those dragons are good fights and good loot.  Cass and my archer wear some cool looking gear now.


 

[Quinton]

I haven't found non-healing potions yet.  Will have to keep my eyes open.  I love my jar of bees though.

[Khaldun]

I eventually left the desert and came back and the miner was where she had been the first time. So it might just be that there was something glitchy about her. Though getting the key turned out to be something of an anticlimax.

[Quinton]

Speaking of the desert, I love Varric's bitching about "how many keys does this place need?" every time you pick up a shard out there (probably only after you've opened a door with them).

[Rasix]

I eventually left the desert and came back and the miner was where she had been the first time. So it might just be that there was something glitchy about her. Though getting the key turned out to be something of an anticlimax.

She wanders.  If you just set the quest to active it shows you where she currently is.  Problem is, she can go up to the highest level if she can path her way through some caves.

The Crestwood zone is my favorite so far.  Do yourself a favor and find the dragon after finishing off the quests.  Close fight, but I did the last 3rd while being completely out of potions.  I found out the AI wasn't maximizing the use out of Solas' Fist of the Maker (I may be mixing up the Rift Mage spells).   With a +25% crit staff, that think was hitting for 650+ dmg more than half of the time.

So, how do you get a class specification on your character?  Do you need to talk to the NPC that has it?