So, what're you playing?

[Cyrrex]

The first thing being "oh, combat is initiated?  Good thing your group is all clumped together whether you like it or not and oh here is some major AOE damage you will not be able to avoid and it will probably happen again on the next round as well".  Seriously, not only is your own team clumped together all the time, but so are all the spell effects and everything else, half the time I cannot even figure out what the fuck is happening.

You can break up your party and move members around individually.  You can use that to initiate combat with one tanky character while everyone else stealths nearby, moves to optimal locations and tries to get a free shot in before the enemy notices them.  It helps a lot with certain fights when combat essentially pauses on your turn while you sneak your other characters around to take out an extra irritating mage or sniper.

I mean, sure, but that assumes that I know that combat is imminent and/or I don't mind micro-managing the movement of my party at literally all times.  A lot of fights literally start with a bad guy rushing in an making two AOE attacks on my group because they are all standing within 10 feet of each other.  Everyone is so damn close and covered in fire, blood and acid (or whatever) that I cannot even see who is who.  If there was a simple option to set follower and group distance, that would completely solve the problem.

BG3 is already a better game in this respect.  I am sure I will figure out how to deal with it, but it is annoying.

[Mosesandstick]

It's going to happen the whole game, pretty much every fight is designed the same in that aspect. It really promotes save scumming and preparing for a fight once you know where and how they're going to happen. You could try to mitigate it with your party formation, but I found it didn't help that much, and my party would be forced into all sorts of random positions at the start of battles. I think cheesing it the way Phildo suggested is the most reliable, but tedious and unfun way of approaching the fights.

I finally finished Dragon Age Inquisition. It was OK but I found the ending pretty disappointing. It just wasn't enough for a game that long with that many decisions. Still, at least I'm all caught up and read for Dragon Age 4.

Did you play Trespasser (DLC)? The vanilla ending was trash, but I thought Trespasser was amazing.

[Phildo]

It's not cheesing if you die in the fight and have to start over!

[Sky]

I made it maybe 5 hours into Inquisition, just couldn't deal with it. Felt ancient and too by the numbers, combat sucked, characters were laughably bad...and that's pretty much all that was on offer. Maybe it got better, but I couldn't slog through the early parts to find out. And I played maybe 80% of Mass Effect Andromeda and enjoyed it (for what it is, low expectation). And it spoiled me for Inquisition.

And yet I'm hooked on Empyrion, still. Stopped fighting their weird building system and just go with it now. Got a good tip to try out ships in creative before purchasing, and realized I could build ships (and bases!) there and save the schematic to run in the factory in survival and that was a game-changer.

Not sure why the game gels for me like it does, but it's a nice hybrid that doesn't overcomplexify unless you want to. I don't think it's got long legs, but I'm already approaching 70 hours, so definitely worth the $15 I paid on a lark. And I've only been to the moon, as I haven't developed a warp drive yet! So I guess the legs are certainly long enough for me...

[Reg]

Oh! Right. I've just started on Trespasser but had been playing too much Inquisition so I'm taking some time off from it. I'll reserve judgement until I finish that then. I'm also looking forward to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. It'll be a chance to replay it all without it being quite so dated.

[Sky]

Now that I know to test and build ships in creative, I found a couple really nice prefabs that include instruction blocks!

Two that were really nice inventions - a Small Vehicle (think fighter size) that can dock a Hover Vehicle to bring it into orbit, and a SV with a warp engine that can dock another SV (that doesn't have a warp engine). These let you get a lot more utility out of your vehicles in the stages before Capital Vessels. Officially, only CVs can have docked HVs and SVs.

Learned how to tweak designs to make builds more customized to how I play and it's fantastic. With a mix of prefab and tweaked prefabs, the game feels much less clunky (right tool for the job kinda thing). And I haven't even checked out the Steam Workshop yet...

[Mosesandstick]

I think I might enjoy you describing the game then if I had to play it Sky.

Oh! Right. I've just started on Trespasser but had been playing too much Inquisition so I'm taking some time off from it. I'll reserve judgement until I finish that then. I'm also looking forward to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. It'll be a chance to replay it all without it being quite so dated.

I get where you're coming from, I was completely burned out on DAI, and plenty of other folks were too from the thread we had. Trespasser is a bit funky in parts, but it's much tighter, self-contained and better paced. It also meaningfully progresses the overall Dragon Age story.

I played Mass Effect 3 pretty recently, and it didn't feel dated at all to me. I'm pretty sure it won't take much to get the games up to a modern spec. I wonder if they'll tidy up some of the dated mechanics from Mass Effect 1.

Been trying a lot of the "best" old games recently, such as Symphony of the Night and Super Mario 64. I stopped playing most of them, just found them too janky.

[Cyrrex]

I was only recently musing giving the ME games another whirl, so I will definitely play an enhanced remake.  Haven't read up on it, but will they remove some of the planet driving bullshit from the first one?

[Falconeer]

Last night they announced a new Mass Effect, like for real, right after two of the very few remaining original creators left the team (last week).

[Reg]

Oh my god I hope so. The goddamned driving is what killed my replay of Mass Effect 2 a couple of years ago. And if I remember correctly it was even worse in the first game.

Falconeer : Do you think they'll bring Sheppard back for it? One of the new endings had him survive, right?

[Rasix]

There was driving in Mass Effect 2?

I can't say I have any faith in the current iteration of Bioware. I still have not even touched Andromeda. We need to see something significant on DA:4, which they failed to produce.

[Velorath]

There was one small piece of optional DLC in ME2 that had driving.

As far as the new game goes, from the trailer it looked like the might be using the Destroy ending as canon (which is the one where there's a hint at the end that Shepard is alive). That said, this is just the latest in a line of "yeah we're working on Mass Effect" announcements. Their Dragon Age trailer was only very marginally more substantial.

[Reg]

Here's a trailer for DA4 that was released just yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxqBle_O6jI


Velorath: Oh that could very well be. On my last ME2 replay I bought up all the rest of the DLC I didn't already have.

[HaemishM]

What the fuck is that supposed to be, Dragon Creed?

[Mandella]

So all the talk of how crappy Star Citizen still is got me wanting to play some overly detailed life sim game, and I remembered I took a "break" from Subnautica and never actually finished it.

Booting it up, and kinda fell back in love with it. I don't think there has ever been a more beautiful survival game out there, and the absolutely natural and lifelike behavior and appearance of nearly all of the denizens of 4546B still blows me away. It's not a procedurally produced map so not that much replay value, but I might just go back in and do it all again, and I never do that.

But that said:

Same bugs as when I last logged out two years ago. PRAWN still gets stuck in bases. Creatures clip into air filled spaces and keep swimming around. You can clip outside of the world. Certain types of damage that never stops.

And of course, instead of fixing it they are deep into the sequel, already Early Access. I understand the economics of that decision, but it still sucks.

I guess that's what modders are for...

[Cyrrex]

Spent a bunch more hours in Divinity OS2, and my opinion of it improves greatly.  Regarding the problem discussed before, there is - duh - a Formation option in the main menu that lets you set the spacing of party members.  It fixes some issues, but introduces others.  But on the whole, at least I can manage shit now in a more sensible way.  Have only just finally made it out of the Fort, and I like they way there are different options to do so, but none of them were really obvious or easy.  The game never seems to tell you exactly what to do, which is a refreshing change.

[Rasix]

Beat Horizon: Zero Dawn over the course of a week. I've only had that game sitting around for 2 years. Highly enjoyable once you get used to the clunkiness of the combat.

I may just have to get a PS5 for Forbidden West.

Now with Cyperpunk and H:ZD beaten, I think I need a narrative driven open world game break. JRPG, crafting survival game, sim? Dunno. Something has to fill a few weeks.

[Velorath]

crafting survival game, sim?

Some of the folks in Discord just started giving Eco a try.

[Mosesandstick]

Tried some Sunless Skies (and Sea). Couldn't stick with it, the game was just way too tedious for me. Which is unfortunate, because there's good writing and stories in the game I would've like to have experienced.

[NowhereMan]

I binged Shadow of Mordor over the holiday period and finished most of the main content on Normal difficulty. It's been years since I played it but I think mechanics are pretty much unchanged from the original bar the siege mechanism. It's fun and the open world aspect is well. I know it's been out a while but I hit bugs a couple of times both times related to being mounted on creatures. Once I got stuck on the wrong side of a cliff and couldn't move, dismounting dropped me off the edge of the world. Another time dismounting while my mount was stuck somehow vaulted me out of the map, failing the quest I was on due to leaving the area

I did like how they finished up Talion's story line, not a happy ending but really the only way that could go within the context of canon. Only complaint towards the end was that sieges basically let you set your own difficulty by disabling traps, taking out enemy captains and recruiting/training your own people. The problem is that means the player needs to make a call about how much they want to play to prepare for a siege and when they think it's going to be a fun level of challenging to actually attempt it. In that sense it really rewards attempting a siege and running some missions to take out obstacles if it's too tough but in reality I just ran through all the regular map content (including those missions) and roflstomped the sieges every time because I have no self control and didn't want to refight sieges again and again.

If you skipped this and enjoy open world Batman Asylum type games (or just love LotR) it was definitely worth a playthrough.

[Sky]

At a hundred hours, Cyberpunk says my progress is 30/10/10% 

I've been enjoying the story missions but mostly I just drive around doing NCPD stuff. Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?

[Rasix]

crafting survival game, sim?

Some of the folks in Discord just started giving Eco a try.

This was right what I was looking for. I only wish this project was a bit farther along, but what's there is very interesting. Oh, and I wish I could unspec from stuff, because farming isn't that interesting.

Stop cutting down Old Growth Redwoods, you monsters.

[Cyrrex]

Creeping up on 30 hours in Divinity OS2.  I am rather surprised out how much I like this game, I get totally sucked in whenever I play it.  Possibly my favorite isometric RPG ever, although BG3 may end up surpassing it.

[Rendakor]

Finally started playing Persona 5, and enjoying it so far. I forgot how frustrating the days where you have to just watch story stuff are though; my favorite part is developing your character and your social links, so all the days where you get home and its like "You should just go to bed" are annoying. Otherwise, the game is fantastic. SMT and Persona games really nail the concept of attrition in dungeons that I strive to replicate in D&D; even on Normal I've had a few game overs because I either tried to push too far without much mana remaining, or because I tried to clear a fight with just basic attacks instead of spending the mana to hit their weaknesses. The soundtrack is amazing as always, although I haven't found that one track that I'm always humming (like Heartbeat, Heartbreak from P4). My only other complaint would be that I'm ~14 hours in, just starting the second dungeon, and it still kind of feels like I'm in the tutorial with new systems still being unlocked.

[HaemishM]

You kind of never leave the tutorial of P5 - I found at somewhere near the 80-90 hour mark, there was ANOTHER new game system they introduced. It's probably 20-30 hours in before most of the training wheels get taken off. It's still one of my favorite RPG experiences ever.

[Kageru]

P5 for steam would be very nice, P4G was fun but I'm up for some more. The PC is getting strikers but apparently that's a dynasty warriors style game and I've never understood them, plus getting it first seems like it would be quite the spoiler.

Been playing way too much Battetech... the least tactical turn based tactics game I've played, but everything explodes so nicely and then you can collect the pieces!

[Rasix]

Finally started playing Persona 5, and enjoying it so far. I forgot how frustrating the days where you have to just watch story stuff are though; my favorite part is developing your character and your social links, so all the days where you get home and its like "You should just go to bed" are annoying. Otherwise, the game is fantastic. SMT and Persona games really nail the concept of attrition in dungeons that I strive to replicate in D&D; even on Normal I've had a few game overs because I either tried to push too far without much mana remaining, or because I tried to clear a fight with just basic attacks instead of spending the mana to hit their weaknesses. The soundtrack is amazing as always, although I haven't found that one track that I'm always humming (like Heartbeat, Heartbreak from P4). My only other complaint would be that I'm ~14 hours in, just starting the second dungeon, and it still kind of feels like I'm in the tutorial with new systems still being unlocked.

Are you playing the Royal Edition? It removed some of the "you must sleep today" blockage.

Starting FFVII Remake. It's fine. I'm not very far in yet, but the combat is definitely less boring.

New PoE league + Atlas expansion in 4 days. Giggity.

[Rendakor]

Finally started playing Persona 5, and enjoying it so far. I forgot how frustrating the days where you have to just watch story stuff are though; my favorite part is developing your character and your social links, so all the days where you get home and its like "You should just go to bed" are annoying. Otherwise, the game is fantastic. SMT and Persona games really nail the concept of attrition in dungeons that I strive to replicate in D&D; even on Normal I've had a few game overs because I either tried to push too far without much mana remaining, or because I tried to clear a fight with just basic attacks instead of spending the mana to hit their weaknesses. The soundtrack is amazing as always, although I haven't found that one track that I'm always humming (like Heartbeat, Heartbreak from P4). My only other complaint would be that I'm ~14 hours in, just starting the second dungeon, and it still kind of feels like I'm in the tutorial with new systems still being unlocked.

Are you playing the Royal Edition? It removed some of the "you must sleep today" blockage.

Starting FFVII Remake. It's fine. I'm not very far in yet, but the combat is definitely less boring.

New PoE league + Atlas expansion in 4 days. Giggity.

Nah, just the original + DLC; bought it all years ago but never felt like firing up the PS4. I'm still hoping the Royal edition will come out on PC and if so, I'll play it then.

[Falconeer]

The soundtrack is amazing as always, although I haven't found that one track that I'm always humming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fszZdaW0lc 

[Rendakor]

Still working on Persona 5. Got to the Treasure in the 3rd Palace in one go, so I finally feel like I've done enough grinding that I can relax a little. I like that the social stats are integrated better here, with some routes requiring Knowledge 3 to start or Guts 4 to continue.

[Morat20]

Finished Red Dead Redemption 2. (Wish I'd played the first one. Or they'd remaster it). Well, I'm done with the Epilogue but still doing things like "Murder all the animals". Fucking cougars.

Started playing with Fuser, which is quite fun. Audio/video calibration is pretty critical and that took a solid hour of doing it by hand to be mostly happy with it.

I plan to pick up The Witcher 3 next, which tells you where my backlog is. :)

[Phildo]

Oh man, wait until you discover Skyrim!

[Khaldun]

The funny thing about RDR2 is that it kind of lets you play RDR1 in an odd way--all that desert area is the RDR1 map. I didn't really realize that's what was going on until I was allowed to go there with Marston and I was like hey this is really familiar.

[MediumHigh]

Asking here for a PC gaming recommendation.

Want a game where you can customize a character but isn't pretending to be a survival sim. The RPGs I like are dragon age inquisition, divinity 2 original sin, the witcher 3, and xcom.

While I maybe disappointed about the story, cyberpunk is a good jank build simulator game if it wasn't for the lack of an effective reroll system.

[Reg]

Well in March Bioware is releasing remastered versions of all 3 Mass Effect games. It's been years since I've played any of them so it sounds like a good time for a replay to me. Failing that, how about the Outer Worlds? It's got a new DLC you may not have played.