Octopus Overlords

Blackhawk wrote:Sitting down and trying to finally finish Icewind Dale. I've had a game I've been playing off and on for probably five years now.

I'm remembering what I love about the Infinity Engine games, and what I hate. Specifically the way you don't just fight your way through - every fight requires going in, dying twice, burning all of your spells to buff your party, then burning every other ability, then resting, then repeating the process for the next room.

You do know you can save your characters and import them as many times as you want. You have to start a new game, but I'm just sayin...

Yes, but to what end?

Blackhawk wrote:Yes, but to what end?

You can build up your level and equipment to the point where you do not die in every battle.

Steam insists there's no internet connection when there is. Restarting the computer. Neither did resetting my modem. <sigh>

dbt1949 wrote:Steam insists there's no internet connection when there is. Restarting the computer. Neither did resetting my modem. <sigh>

Any system updates or security changes recently? Maybe a firewall issue? It sounds like Steam isn't getting in though your firewall.

I had to go to the top left of the interface and click on "Steam" and then click on "go online" and that did the trick. First time I've had to do that.

dbt1949 wrote:Steam insists there's no internet connection when there is. Restarting the computer. Neither did resetting my modem. <sigh>

Steam did do maintenance earlier today. I know I tried to go online, but wasn't successful until I tried later. I checked a website that checks Steam downtime and said it was down, and it said Tuesdays are maintenance days. I wish they would do something about notifying from within the client.

I figured it was something like that but I didn't know how to find out.

I used this site:
https://steamstat.us/

I think the fact that it worked for you when you clicked "go online" must have been a coincidence that they had finished maintenance, because I wasn't getting anywhere and using that trick didn't work either. It only worked after I waited and tried again later once they were done.

Ah, okay. I'll use that site from now on to check things. Thanks!

I think I need a twelve step program for my addiction to Civ 5. 71+ hours in the last two weeks. And I've been higher.

dbt1949 wrote:I think I need a twelve step program for my addiction to Civ 5. 71+ hours in the last two weeks. And I've been higher.

"Hello, my name is dbt1949 and I'm a Civ 5 addict"

"Hello dbt1949"

"I don't remember the name of my children but I can spell Sid Meier's name correctly"

At least you know where to find Paris on the map. It is right there, next to Mexico City!

In the mood for a Total War game, so I'm installing Rome II, widely considered to be the worst of the series. Why? I don't have Atilla (but I have every other Total War title, minus some DLC), and feudal Japan doesn't appeal to me all that much. I actually toyed with just playing Rome 1. Then again, I haven't spent much time with Napoleon (mostly because it is a time period that I know nothing about.)

It is too damned hard keeping track of which Total War games are broken, which are good, and which were broken but have been fixed.

Start with Metacritic.

Isgrimnur wrote:Start with Metacritic.

The one that put Empire above Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai?

Cross check against user scores. Empire has a 6.9 vs the reviews' 9.0. Just don't trust the user reviews on Company of Heroes 2. There be some pissed off Russians there.

Yeah, I remember that happening.

Is Napoleon really that much better than Empire? The limited scope was one of the main reasons I've avoided it. I want to take over the world, and I want to take my time doing it!

I have no clue. I still haven't finished the tutorial campaign on Rome.

Blackhawk wrote:Yeah, I remember that happening.

Is Napoleon really that much better than Empire? The limited scope was one of the main reasons I've avoided it. I want to take over the world, and I want to take my time doing it!

Empire definitely takes the cake as far as having a huge world to conquer, but Napoleon added a lot of engine improvements, much better AI, and most importantly added the replenishment system for repairing units which is probably the main reason I have trouble going back to any TW games previous to it.

Also the Napoleon campaign map is really pretty expansive... it only feels small when compared to Empire's massive map.

IMHO the pinnacle of the Total War games to date was Fall of the Samurai followed closely by Attila. FotS is nicely balanced, has a large pool of units you can choose from, lots of different approaches to winning, and even better gunpowder battles than Napoleon did.

I much prefer Roman history to Japanese, but I still rank FotS above Rome 2 and Attila.

Should not spend money on a new game.
Have no time to play a new game.
Man I want to play a new game this weekend.

Total War, you say? I haven't played a total war game since medieval was new...

Stop!

(Empire is complete is $35... That just helped cure me of the urge...)

I often wonder why I can't be more consistent in multiplayer games. I've revisited MechWarrior Online - and one night I'm on top of the world match after match - high scores, long survivals, taking people down ... then the next night I'm a complete dumbass and doing 26 points of damage and ending up the first person killed. Back when I played Counterstrike, I'd have runs where I was a monster, and runs where I was a complete tool. The only thing consistent is my inconsistency.

Is this a common problem with other folks?

Oh yeah. Before the kids were born, I was an avid Battlefield (Insert current # here) player and had this exact same problem. Some days, I was surprising myself with my seeming accuracy and timing and other days I just seem to spawn with a knife-wielding stealther behind me, or crash choppers consistently by running into power lines I know are there or just seem to be generally bad.

On those days, I fire up either a mindless browser game and some tunes or an open-world single player that I can explore and just zone out, enhancing my calm.

Yeah, I think it's based partly on luck of the draw, ie spawning location and number of people on a server at any given time vs the EQ people have. I'm generally bad at online shooters, but there was one time where I ended up owning everyone at WarThunder where I was the last of my team in surviving long enough to obliterate the enemy and win the match for my team. How I did it is beyond me, and I had never been able to replicate it afterwards. But what a rush it is when you're in the zone.

Rumpy wrote:How I did it is beyond me, and I had never been able to replicate it afterwards. But what a rush it is when you're in the zone.

In those moments, that rush is pretty awesome. I've had an adrenaline rush so strong that my hands were shaking and I needed to stop playing for a while and calm down.

Haha yeah, and it can feel quite intense with all those sounds surrounding you when you have headphones on. I can remember that when it happened, I was in disbelief, as in "How the _uck did that happen??"

It was on a fairly open map too, in a game where you pretty much have to keep moving unless you want to be a target, but being a tank and suffering damage can also mean you're a sitting duck. It happened that I was severely damaged and I didn't think I could take another hit, but somehow, in the midst of all the chaos, managed to evade anymore enemy fire and crush the remaining enemy. It was intense.

Actually I think this is analogous to sports. I played a lot of competitive basketball back in the day and one day you'd be in the zone and couldn't miss. The basket looked as big as an ocean. The next day you'd be cold and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. It's just the way it is when there are really fine physical margins between success and failure. Biorhythms, sleep, tired muscles, a lot of physiological factors are involved in it. It's the same in multiplayer e-sport type games like shooters. In both, you can work your way into a rhythm or zone though. Even if you start off cold.

Way back in the day in UT and Quake 3 I could work myself into that zone where your reflexes are just a bit sharper and you make those split-millisecond decisions and finger twitches just a bit faster, and you dominate the map. Some days though, you just plain don't have it and it's really frustrating. Or, you can get tired and lose that edge even on days you're on. Nothing beats being in that zone though, whether in real sports or e-sports. It's a rush.

Dirt Rally is giving me a 17.3 G patch.
Wow, just wow.

That's no patch, that's a whole game disguised as a patch.

Paingod wrote:That's no patch, that's a whole game disguised as a patch.

No, the game is a 32GB install on my computer. That is however the update to coincide with the release to consoles. I'll be checking it out once the whole thing downloads.

When I play Civ5 and I start the game they have this one load screen that looks like an old type factory with these giant smoke stacks. Everytime I see that I think "Left Twix or right Twix ?"

Today I decided to play Craft the World.
It's been over a year and a half since I looked at it.
Put in over 8 1/2 hours into it today.
Has some changes and tweeks and now had multiplayer (which doesn't interest me).
Basic gameplay's the same tho.

Rip wrote:Submarine Simulators 1982-2015

That was great..brought back many memories. Still own many of those games here beside me. I can see Aces of the Deep. Wow what a game for its time.

The BBC has a pre-E3 article up, with some "games to look out for" provided by Harvey Smith (Deus Ex, Dishonored). He includes a couple of interesting rumours that would be awesome if they prove to be true:

• Red Dead Redemption 2
• State of Decay 2

Where to watch the announcements
Sunday 12 June

• EA - 21.00 BST (13.00 PDT)

Monday 13 June

• Bethesda Softworks - 03.00 BST (Sunday 19.00 PDT)
• Microsoft - 17.30 BST (09.30 PDT)
• PC Gaming Show - 20.00 BST (12.00 PDT)
• Ubisoft - 21.00 BST (13.00 PDT)

Tuesday 14 June

• Sony - 02.00 BST (Monday 18.00 PDT)
• Nintendo - 17.00 BST (09.00 PDT)

Count me in for RDR2 if it's on PC.

jztemple2 wrote:Count me in for RDR2 if it's on PC.

Count me in for RDR1 if those a-holes ever release it for PC.

gbasden wrote:

jztemple2 wrote:Count me in for RDR2 if it's on PC.

Count me in for RDR1 if those a-holes ever release it for PC.

Absolutely one of the biggest missed opportunities of the last generation, without question.

I'm uninstalling all the grindy games. If it doesn't have a story, missions, or an end to it, I'm not playing it any more in the immediate future. I've spent too many hours over the past year in World of Warship and War Thunder, not getting anything but the next upgrade or ship in the line, being faced with learning a new platform and having to start all over again.