OT: Video Game Computers/Gadgets/Gizmos Thread

[StickeeFingaz]

Ghost of Tsushima.

Spoiler:

That final scene. I did what I had to do, but I actually thought about it far too long for a video game.

I'm only in Act 2 but I"m feeling kinda burned out on the game, I must have killed 1,000+ Mongols at this point. Maybe I did too many side activities during Act 1.

[StickeeFingaz]

Think I"ll buy Hades tonight and give it a go.

[ReasonablySober]

Think I"ll buy Hades tonight and give it a go.

It's amazing. Like I said earlier, you're gonna feel like you're banging your head against a wall, even as you're progressing. I can breeze through through levels without losing life when I used to get destroyed.

[Sauce Boss]

Got it. Hades is on my Steam wish list, and certainly would pick it up elsewhere if it's best on a particular console. I didn't get it the past couple days as I have fully cleared my gaming calendar for BG3 on Tuesday. I didn't want to pick-up something I couldn't commit to and/or finish before then.

Love to hear this comparison, though. I like, but generally don't love, rogue-likes. What I liked about Hades was that it sounded like dying was a more integrated part of the story, and less about starting over for another run. But it's even better to hear it has some D3 feel. Can't wait to check it out.

Kind of wish I hadn’t picked up a few games earlier in the year and grabbed Hades instead. Would get it now, but BG3 is Tuesday.

Speaking of, what kind of character you making Mike? I’m leaning one of Cleric, Fighter, or Wizard. I’d want to play Ranger, but Ranger sucks in 5E and if they faithfully converted stuff it feels like a good choice to steer clear.

Definitely wood elf first. I actually love playing non-backstabbing, archer-based thieves, so I'll probably try to roll that in some way and hope it's viable. I'm not up on 5E so not sure what is or isn't good. Any suggestions?

If I can't get that to work, probably either a wizard or warlock. I don't know much about the warlock, so intrigured to try that out. But I also love spell casting elves, so that would be my second choice. I suppose I'd roll high elf then.

I do love playing clerics, too. Surely will also give that a try. Fighter is the only hard pass for me - too boring IMO.

I could tell you what is good in 5E, but until I play BG3 I won’t know how literally they translated the rules to a video game. Like a rogue usually only has a single attack that can get Sneak Attack to do great single target burst damage. So that might be viable, but if they altered rules to be more like D:OS2 maybe that doesn’t work quite the same.

I’d say as a rule of thumb though, that if classes are close to their 5E counterparts I’d say Bard is technically the best class and Cleric, Wizard, and Paladin will be very strong options. Barbarian, Monk, Rogue are on the weaker side, and Ranger is pretty much universally the worst (most of its abilities are highly situational, like tracking specific types of creatures like dragons, giants, etc...).

[StickeeFingaz]

Think I"ll buy Hades tonight and give it a go.

It's amazing. Like I said earlier, you're gonna feel like you're banging your head against a wall, even as you're progressing. I can breeze through through levels without losing life when I used to get destroyed.

Yea it's a really good game, furthest I made it was to Elysium. The writing/dialogue between characters is so well done and there appears to be quite a bit of depth to the game. I think the bow is my favorite weapon so far? Then the spear, probably.

[MikeIsGood]

So I guess I'll give Genshin a run for about a week until BG3 EA is out. I am confused as all hell right now because of some of the mechanics (never played a gacha game), the story is weak, and the characters are like memes of anime tropes, but the world seems cool and I'm having fun so far regardless at about 2h in.

I tried out Genshin for a while yesterday as I wanted to be watching some TV and didn't enjoy Mario Galaxy in handheld as much.

Pretty solid for a free game once you get a hang of things. I got up to like AR12 I think, and leveling along the way I was able to do I believe 4 "pulls" in total. I don't know if that's normal or if it's because they're giving away currency like candy right now for launch, but I didn't feel under powered or gated at all. Which was surprising.

The combat feels pretty good once you start to get a feel for it, though I do feel like the lag - both intentional, but also unintentional - when switching between characters feels bad. I also continued to struggle getting into any of the characters or story. I'm cool with some anime, but this was too over the top for me. Especially the voice acting.

I definitely can see myself going back to it some, but as for now, all it really made me want to do was go play actual Breath of the Wild, which I never played more than ~30-40h of back when it came out. Something else ended up coming out, I moved on, and never went back. So I think that's what I'll do today. I remember BOTW working really well in handheld, so I'll give that a whirl while watching football today.

I really with BG3 had come out on Friday

[MikeIsGood]

Kind of wish I hadn’t picked up a few games earlier in the year and grabbed Hades instead. Would get it now, but BG3 is Tuesday.

Speaking of, what kind of character you making Mike? I’m leaning one of Cleric, Fighter, or Wizard. I’d want to play Ranger, but Ranger sucks in 5E and if they faithfully converted stuff it feels like a good choice to steer clear.

Definitely wood elf first. I actually love playing non-backstabbing, archer-based thieves, so I'll probably try to roll that in some way and hope it's viable. I'm not up on 5E so not sure what is or isn't good. Any suggestions?

If I can't get that to work, probably either a wizard or warlock. I don't know much about the warlock, so intrigured to try that out. But I also love spell casting elves, so that would be my second choice. I suppose I'd roll high elf then.

I do love playing clerics, too. Surely will also give that a try. Fighter is the only hard pass for me - too boring IMO.

I could tell you what is good in 5E, but until I play BG3 I won’t know how literally they translated the rules to a video game. Like a rogue usually only has a single attack that can get Sneak Attack to do great single target burst damage. So that might be viable, but if they altered rules to be more like D:OS2 maybe that doesn’t work quite the same.

I’d say as a rule of thumb though, that if classes are close to their 5E counterparts I’d say Bard is technically the best class and Cleric, Wizard, and Paladin will be very strong options. Barbarian, Monk, Rogue are on the weaker side, and Ranger is pretty much universally the worst (most of its abilities are highly situational, like tracking specific types of creatures like dragons, giants, etc...).

Can rogues "backstab" with bows in 5E? I see you called it sneak attack, so I'm hoping the rename is indicative of it being opened up. That would really lock me in for what I start with.

Love playing bards, also. Swashbuckler in BG2 is a blast with their spins. My only knowledge of D&D rule sets is through video games, though, so it'll probably be trial and error for me in finding good builds. Which I am fine with. If this turns out anything like BG2 was for me - and really has continued to be for like 20 years - I'll replay over, and over, and over, and over...

[Sauce Boss]

Definitely wood elf first. I actually love playing non-backstabbing, archer-based thieves, so I'll probably try to roll that in some way and hope it's viable. I'm not up on 5E so not sure what is or isn't good. Any suggestions?

If I can't get that to work, probably either a wizard or warlock. I don't know much about the warlock, so intrigured to try that out. But I also love spell casting elves, so that would be my second choice. I suppose I'd roll high elf then.

I do love playing clerics, too. Surely will also give that a try. Fighter is the only hard pass for me - too boring IMO.

I could tell you what is good in 5E, but until I play BG3 I won’t know how literally they translated the rules to a video game. Like a rogue usually only has a single attack that can get Sneak Attack to do great single target burst damage. So that might be viable, but if they altered rules to be more like D:OS2 maybe that doesn’t work quite the same.

I’d say as a rule of thumb though, that if classes are close to their 5E counterparts I’d say Bard is technically the best class and Cleric, Wizard, and Paladin will be very strong options. Barbarian, Monk, Rogue are on the weaker side, and Ranger is pretty much universally the worst (most of its abilities are highly situational, like tracking specific types of creatures like dragons, giants, etc...).

Can rogues "backstab" with bows in 5E? I see you called it sneak attack, so I'm hoping the rename is indicative of it being opened up. That would really lock me in for what I start with.

Love playing bards, also. Swashbuckler in BG2 is a blast with their spins. My only knowledge of D&D rule sets is through video games, though, so it'll probably be trial and error for me in finding good builds. Which I am fine with. If this turns out anything like BG2 was for me - and really has continued to be for like 20 years - I'll replay over, and over, and over, and over...

Yes, sneak attack is sort of thematically the same thing as backstabbing, but it has more ways to trigger than literally hitting someone from behind. If Weapon proficiency is a thing in BG3, rogues don’t get longbows by default, but an elf trait usually gives proficiency in longbows so you’d be set with wood elf.

Weirdly enough, since you mentioned it, Swashbuckler is a subclass of rogue in 5E. Not sure if they’re including it or not, but it does sound like they are adhering to the same leveling scheme as 5E where most classes pick their subclass at level 3. The EA goes level 1-4 so you might be able to pick that if you really wanted (not really suitable for a ranged build though).

[WRau1]

I want Hades but BG3 is going to be my top priority while I still have a couple trophies left to get in Wasteland. I haven't even touched Avengers even though I pre-ordered the ultimate edition. AC:Valhalla beginning of NOV. Such a great time in gaming.

[glenn]

Agree with the praise for Hades. I've been playing since yesterday and don't want to put it down. It's my first game in the genre, so I'm not sure how it compares to others, but it does a great job of keeping me engaged even after a frustrating death with upgrades and story progress. It's just a really polished experience.

For those playing, do you have a weapon you stick with or do you mix it up? I've been mixing it up but prefer the bow so far.

[MikeIsGood]

Yes, sneak attack is sort of thematically the same thing as backstabbing, but it has more ways to trigger than literally hitting someone from behind. If Weapon proficiency is a thing in BG3, rogues don’t get longbows by default, but an elf trait usually gives proficiency in longbows so you’d be set with wood elf.

Dope! I'm usually good with short bows, and even though longbows provide good RP element for elves, feel like short bows make more sense for a sneak attack-ing rogue.

Weirdly enough, since you mentioned it, Swashbuckler is a subclass of rogue in 5E. Not sure if they’re including it or not, but it does sound like they are adhering to the same leveling scheme as 5E where most classes pick their subclass at level 3. The EA goes level 1-4 so you might be able to pick that if you really wanted (not really suitable for a ranged build though).

Oh right, that makes sense. I was thinking of Blades, not Swashbucklers. It's been a few years since I've played either one, but have enjoyed both.

From the Bard POV though, I always enjoyed Blades in BG2 as they were still capable fighters, but their O/D Spins were fantastic.

Interesting about the subclass element. I guess we'll find out tomorrow

[ReasonablySober]

Agree with the praise for Hades. I've been playing since yesterday and don't want to put it down. It's my first game in the genre, so I'm not sure how it compares to others, but it does a great job of keeping me engaged even after a frustrating death with upgrades and story progress. It's just a really polished experience.

For those playing, do you have a weapon you stick with or do you mix it up? I've been mixing it up but prefer the bow so far.

The shield got me through my fist time finishing it. I like its crowd control ability.

[Siefer]

Agree with the praise for Hades. I've been playing since yesterday and don't want to put it down. It's my first game in the genre, so I'm not sure how it compares to others, but it does a great job of keeping me engaged even after a frustrating death with upgrades and story progress. It's just a really polished experience.

For those playing, do you have a weapon you stick with or do you mix it up? I've been mixing it up but prefer the bow so far.

I think the spear has been my favorite so far - I just love the throw/recall pattern.

[glenn]

The spear had been my second favorite. I liked the shield, but ended up getting my ass handed to me really bad by a boss and never went back. Maybe I need to give it another try.

[WRau1]

The spear had been my second favorite. I liked the shield, but ended up getting my ass handed to me really bad by a boss and never went back. Maybe I need to give it another try.

Just from looking and haven't touched the game yet, the shield looks like it would be my favorite.

[MikeIsGood]

12p EST (noon) worldwide launch for BG3 tomorrow. PC/Mac on Steam, GOG, Stadia. No pre-loading (boo), and it sounds like it's **** huge - 150GB.

[WRau1]

Anyone here use Stadia? I got an email about my Google account being credited for some dispute like 2 years ago so I picked up the Premiere Bundle for my TV.

[Sauce Boss]

Yes, sneak attack is sort of thematically the same thing as backstabbing, but it has more ways to trigger than literally hitting someone from behind. If Weapon proficiency is a thing in BG3, rogues don’t get longbows by default, but an elf trait usually gives proficiency in longbows so you’d be set with wood elf.

Dope! I'm usually good with short bows, and even though longbows provide good RP element for elves, feel like short bows make more sense for a sneak attack-ing rogue.

Depending on how literally the game translates, mechanically the short bow is a "simple weapon" and longbow is a "martial weapon" and the only difference besides that tag is that longbows just straight up do more damage (1d6 vs 1d8 respectively). You can totally do short bow if you want for RP or whatever, but if you are optimizing longbow is straight better.

Weirdly enough, since you mentioned it, Swashbuckler is a subclass of rogue in 5E. Not sure if they’re including it or not, but it does sound like they are adhering to the same leveling scheme as 5E where most classes pick their subclass at level 3. The EA goes level 1-4 so you might be able to pick that if you really wanted (not really suitable for a ranged build though).

Oh right, that makes sense. I was thinking of Blades, not Swashbucklers. It's been a few years since I've played either one, but have enjoyed both.

From the Bard POV though, I always enjoyed Blades in BG2 as they were still capable fighters, but their O/D Spins were fantastic.

Interesting about the subclass element. I guess we'll find out tomorrow

No idea what a blade is, probably something from 3 or 3.5 that I'm not familiar with. There are two martial bards, the College of Valor and the College of Swords. They each have their own little quirks (swords uses the Bardic Inspiration class mechanic to buff it's attacks, Valor get more weapon proficiencies and shields and are less about their martial damage).

[MikeIsGood]

Yes, sneak attack is sort of thematically the same thing as backstabbing, but it has more ways to trigger than literally hitting someone from behind. If Weapon proficiency is a thing in BG3, rogues don’t get longbows by default, but an elf trait usually gives proficiency in longbows so you’d be set with wood elf.

Dope! I'm usually good with short bows, and even though longbows provide good RP element for elves, feel like short bows make more sense for a sneak attack-ing rogue.

Depending on how literally the game translates, mechanically the short bow is a "simple weapon" and longbow is a "martial weapon" and the only difference besides that tag is that longbows just straight up do more damage (1d6 vs 1d8 respectively). You can totally do short bow if you want for RP or whatever, but if you are optimizing longbow is straight better.

Weirdly enough, since you mentioned it, Swashbuckler is a subclass of rogue in 5E. Not sure if they’re including it or not, but it does sound like they are adhering to the same leveling scheme as 5E where most classes pick their subclass at level 3. The EA goes level 1-4 so you might be able to pick that if you really wanted (not really suitable for a ranged build though).

Oh right, that makes sense. I was thinking of Blades, not Swashbucklers. It's been a few years since I've played either one, but have enjoyed both.

From the Bard POV though, I always enjoyed Blades in BG2 as they were still capable fighters, but their O/D Spins were fantastic.

Interesting about the subclass element. I guess we'll find out tomorrow

No idea what a blade is, probably something from 3 or 3.5 that I'm not familiar with. There are two martial bards, the College of Valor and the College of Swords. They each have their own little quirks (swords uses the Bardic Inspiration class mechanic to buff it's attacks, Valor get more weapon proficiencies and shields and are less about their martial damage).

2E. Wait wait wait, hold up. So you're this pumped for BG3 and you never played BG2, the greatest CRPG (and IMO one of the greatest games period) of all time?

Dude! I know BG3 has effectively nothing to do with BG and BG2 - which is a whole 'nother discussion - but you really need to fit BG2 into your schedule. It is such a masterpiece.

That does help explain the gap in our discussion, though. My only true knowledge of D&D comes from playing BG and IWD series, which are 2E. I am a full three editions behind your knowledge and frame of reference

[Sauce Boss]

Dope! I'm usually good with short bows, and even though longbows provide good RP element for elves, feel like short bows make more sense for a sneak attack-ing rogue.

Depending on how literally the game translates, mechanically the short bow is a "simple weapon" and longbow is a "martial weapon" and the only difference besides that tag is that longbows just straight up do more damage (1d6 vs 1d8 respectively). You can totally do short bow if you want for RP or whatever, but if you are optimizing longbow is straight better.

Oh right, that makes sense. I was thinking of Blades, not Swashbucklers. It's been a few years since I've played either one, but have enjoyed both.

From the Bard POV though, I always enjoyed Blades in BG2 as they were still capable fighters, but their O/D Spins were fantastic.

Interesting about the subclass element. I guess we'll find out tomorrow

No idea what a blade is, probably something from 3 or 3.5 that I'm not familiar with. There are two martial bards, the College of Valor and the College of Swords. They each have their own little quirks (swords uses the Bardic Inspiration class mechanic to buff it's attacks, Valor get more weapon proficiencies and shields and are less about their martial damage).

2E. Wait wait wait, hold up. So you're this pumped for BG3 and you never played BG2, the greatest CRPG (and IMO one of the greatest games period) of all time?

Dude! I know BG3 has effectively nothing to do with BG and BG2 - which is a whole 'nother discussion - but you really need to fit BG2 into your schedule. It is such a masterpiece.

I put some good time into Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Original Sin 2 (like 150hrs each I want to say) and have been playing 5E with friends for like the last 3-4 years, so it's the peanut butter and chocolate mixing moment for me. I really, really should play BG1 and BG2, but I also just don't like the pause and go combat usually. Much prefer the Divinity style turn-based stuff.