Any gamers around here?

[Mike Cl]

What are your opinions on Enderal: The Shards of Order?

I was able to download Enderal: Forgotten Story for free some time ago.  About 5 months ago, I gave it a whirl.  I loved it!  It is Skyrim on steroids.  Graphics a touch better; story line excellent; bigger than I'd thought; multiple endings; and more ways to play.  It is a game I will be returning to in my established replay games.  Morrowind, Oblivion,  FO3, New Vegas, FO4, Skyrim and now Enderal and Grim Dawn--all games I dust off and do again.  Added all together I have over 10,000 hours into those games. 

[drunkenshoe]

It's on steroids,lol. Those skeletons are designed to take the revenge of the Skyrim ones! :)

[Munch]

Downloaded streets of rage 4, and dam this game is fun!

Played the original first and second game on the mega drive/genesis decades ago, and they were hard games to master but so much fun. And they really paid homage to the series with this. Feels just like stepping back into my childhood but with better graphics and smooth gameplay. Retro style but done right.

[Munch]

also been playing street fighter V a lot lately.

With mods.






this is why I love being a pc gamer.

[Hydra009]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oUJ90KfrvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX4WDse9Dbo

In this game, there are two very different but equally viable playstyles -  you can choose to face your enemies openly or rely on stealth and misdirection to take your enemies unawares.

My brother and I have long been champions of these diametrically opposed playstyles.  I nearly always play a crusader-type character - heavy armor, limited magic, open and honest, leading the charge.  My brother is more of a sneakthief - light armor, lockpicking, deceiving, committing foul deeds behind enemy lines.

I detest such cowardice and dishonor - and consider stealth a sign of weakness (why would you need to hide unless you are likely to lose in open combat?).  And he dislikes my bluntness and predictable, straightforward ways of doing things.  We shall see which playstyle is better.

Sadly, this game is only on the PS4, but I'm confident that a PC port will be available in the future.

[Mike Cl]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oUJ90KfrvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX4WDse9Dbo

In this game, there are two very different but equally viable playstyles -  you can choose to face your enemies openly or rely on stealth and misdirection to take your enemies unawares.

My brother and I have long been champions of these diametrically opposed playstyles.  I nearly always play a crusader-type character - heavy armor, limited magic, open and honest, leading the charge.  My brother is more of a sneakthief - light armor, lockpicking, deceiving, committing foul deeds behind enemy lines.

I detest such cowardice and dishonor - and consider stealth a sign of weakness (why would you need to hide unless you are likely to lose in open combat?).  And he dislikes my bluntness and predictable, straightforward ways of doing things.  We shall see which playstyle is better.

Sadly, this game is only on the PS4, but I'm confident that a PC port will be available in the future.

I'm with your brother on this one!  Give me some cammy's, a good sniper rifle, good reflexes and I'll put a bullet in your head from a mile away.  Or in Skyrim, an arrow.  I see nothing inherently honest in riding up to the enemy and challenging him to hit me in the head!  But I applaud your doing so, since I can then sneak to the side/behind the enemy and put on some real hurt!

[Hydra009]

Bah, Skyrim excessively rewards stealtharcher builds to the point that practically everyone is drawn to its siren's call within their playthrough.  Fallout is kinda at the other end, where everyone and their brother is sporting power armor.

While I have no doubt that sneaky, underhanded moves will be more popular, I can hope that the purity of open combat will also be popular.

[Mike Cl]

Bah, Skyrim excessively rewards stealtharcher builds to the point that practically everyone is drawn to its siren's call within their playthrough.  Fallout is kinda at the other end, where everyone and their brother is sporting power armor.

While I have no doubt that sneaky, underhanded moves will be more popular, I can hope that the purity of open combat will also be popular.

In FO4 I am stealth and sniper rifles all the way.  I hate the power armor.  I usually play on survival mode and stealth really pays off then.

[Hydra009]

I finally got around to playing Road Redemption (very similar to Road Rash - motorcycle racing game with a LOT of combat)

For starters, the combat is absolutely amazing.  Very thrilling.  And few things are better than slapping a bomb on an enemy jeep surrounded by enemies and zooming away as it erupts into flame and shrapnel.  And there's a steady stream of enemies, so it's definitely a target-rich environment.  And in addition to metal bats and a machete (yes, you can decapitate enemies), you can also unleash your inner Matrix Reloaded and spray-n-pray with a Tec-9 at 150mph.  Good luck hitting anything.

The racing is kind janky.  With the utter mayhem of the combat, it's difficult to focus on the road and it's extremely easy to fall behind and not easy to catch up.  The enemies seem to have a superhuman ability to stay alive unless the player personally destroys them, which is easier said than done as cars literally rain down from the heavens.

I'm pretty sure that simply owning the game has me on some sort of watchlist, but I already burned down that bridge with Carmaggedon in the 90s.  Suffice it to say that it's about as family-friendly as the Deadpool movie.

The part I strongly dislike is its progression system - you carry over damage from mission to mission and you only have one life and health refills somewhat difficult to get and don't do much to staunch the bleeding.  So you're going to die a lot.  "That's fine" you say, "I'll just restart where I left off."  Except you can't.  You have to restart the campaign all the way from the very beginning.  But at least whatever meager XP you earned can be used for permanent, albeit fairly minor upgrades.  "No problem" you say, "I'll just use my 190xp to buy the first upgrade".  That'll be 200 xp.  Oh, and xp doesn't carry over.  :'(

I could handle them being stingy with the xp if it carried over or awarding decent-sized chunks and removing the remainder.  Individually, either of those is fine.  But combined, that creates quite a slog.  And while things do get easier as you learn and unlock those first passive boosts, it is a hell of a timesink.  This game is basically a 5-hour game stretched out into easily 30 hours, if not more.  That's ridiculous.

I mean, FFS, I didn't expect the racing equivalent of Dark Souls.  And while the actual gameplay is decent, everything else - the menu, the interface, the music - is pretty subpar.  I mean, I get loading screen tips that basically say "don't die" and the game over screen shows me the button map over a diagram of a console controller, even though I'm playing on PC on a keyboard.  That's so stupid.  The whole game design is like having a V8 engine in an ugly, dated Russian sedan.  It just doesn't make sense.

Initially, I wanted to give it a decent 7/10.  But given its progression issues, I'm going to go with a 5/10.  Not great, not awful.  Delicious first bite, bad aftertaste.

[Hydra009]

Started a new game of Fallout New Vegas.  I've never gone all the way down the House path and gotten credit for it, so I decided I'd go for it.  Plus, I get to hear the voice of the late Rene Auberjonois (voice actor for Mr House)

All in Hardcore mode and the even more daunting challenge - no console command mode!  On the last playthrough, I didn't "cheat" so much as free myself from stuck terrain and resetting a bugged quest, but the game flags that the same, unfortunately.  This time, no mistakes and no resets!  I'm even gunning for the Gun Runners challenges, as well.

I've already gotten pretty far, wiping out most of the Legion long before the battle of Hoover dam and repeating history by stabbing Caeser.  Never once had to hear their famous "degenerates like you" line or endure Caesar's dialectics ramblings.  My favorite tactic: using a grenade launcher to get their attention and then moping up with an assault carbine.  ^_^

[Hydra009]

I wish I could do the mission to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel again and again.  It's always so entertaining.

So I knock on their bunker and three guys come out in powersuits.  Before they've even said a word, out comes Mr Sniper Rifle.  Outside of vats, I'm not much of a marksman, but I got really lucky today.  I get in the bunker and catch Paladin Ramos off guard without his helmet.  Their armor is amazingly protective, but it can only protect what it's covering...

Next, I grab a terminal and rewrite the friend/foe sensors on the turrets.  Now things start getting loud.  I just waltz down the bunker to the main terminal, tell it to go boom, then skedaddle to the bunker exit.

BA-BOOM!

The ground rumbles for a bit, and I head over to tell Veronica the news.  She doesn't take it very well at all.

Screw it, this run I'm taking out all the companions.  Except Rex and ED-E, they're cool.  Maybe Cassidy.  We'll see.

[Mike Cl]

I wish I could do the mission to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel again and again.  It's always so entertaining.

So I knock on their bunker and three guys come out in powersuits.  Before they've even said a word, out comes Mr Sniper Rifle.  Outside of vats, I'm not much of a marksman, but I got really lucky today.  I get in the bunker and catch Paladin Ramos off guard without his helmet.  Their armor is amazingly protective, but it can only protect what it's covering...

Next, I grab a terminal and rewrite the friend/foe sensors on the turrets.  Now things start getting loud.  I just waltz down the bunker to the main terminal, tell it to go boom, then skedaddle to the bunker exit.

BA-BOOM!

The ground rumbles for a bit, and I head over to tell Veronica the news.  She doesn't take it very well at all.

Screw it, this run I'm taking out all the companions.  Except Rex and ED-E, they're cool.  Maybe Cassidy.  We'll see.

I've not done this game on hardcore.  I usually play the hardest level except for hard core.  I love to use the Legion as my money maker.  I attack them as often as possible trying to get the assassination squads out as soon as possible since they have the best gear with the best resell value.  Because I usually play with a sniper rifle (although my fav is the gauss rifle I get from the mercenaries out by the tumbleweed ranch), the antimaterial rifle with the exploding shells.  I have not tried to forcefully take over the air base; maybe next time I will.  ED-E is my fav companion followed by Veronica since she is the tank that is useful with my style of play.  This really is a great game.

[Hydra009]

I just get my money from blackjack.  I'm broke as a joke before that.  Then a shiny new gun from the Gun Runners is all I need to maintain my new fortune.

It helps that I have a mod that liters the more abandoned parts of the Mojave with Vertibird crash sites, guarded by either stranded Enclave or robots or whatever faction that took it from them.  The guards have ludicrously good weapons and put up a hell of a fight.  Those are probably the toughest fights outside of Deathclaws and the Battle of Hoover Dam, but success there means access to some primo gear, albeit with little ammo or ability to maintain it.

I love the Boomers.  They're the one faction I would never ever attack.  They're just so nice, you know?  They're just doing their thing, don't cause any trouble, don't want any trouble, but will feed you your ass if you start something.  I respect that.

I'm kinda mixed about companions.  It kinda kills my immersion when they take obviously fatal damage and just shrug it off.  But on Hardcore, they're so fragile that I worry too much about them dying.  And they kinda get in the way.  But I also kinda like having a hand to hold in the more nightmarish areas.  Guess I have to pick a lane.  Lone wolf, then.

In this run, I want them all dead just so I can hear their eulogy in the epilogue.  Not many games offer tearful goodbyes like that.

[Hydra009]

[Hydra009]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9V0bOB8sXQ

Come on guys, don't tease us like this.  Give us Dawn of War 4.  Just update the original's engine, make flying units viable but not op, give us another risk-style map with progression and I'll be happy as a squig in mud.