Unified Vidya Games thread

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I am hearing that the cartridge for the new Zelda game tastes bad. 

Why this particular trait was tested, I do not know.

Keep dogs from chewing it up?

[Freeky]

I am hearing that the cartridge for the new Zelda game tastes bad. 

Why this particular trait was tested, I do not know.

Keep dogs from chewing it up?

Who even knows.

[Cainad (dec.)]

As far as I know, a bittering agent was added specifically so that tiny children (and presumably pets as well) would not be so quick to use their incredible powers of putting literally everything that isn't food into their mouths.

This has resulted in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of grown-ass adults tasting pieces of plastic.

[Cain]

The should've just put a bounty/reward on any tasty cartridges.  That's what I would have done.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

As far as I know, a bittering agent was added specifically so that tiny children (and presumably pets as well) would not be so quick to use their incredible powers of putting literally everything that isn't food into their mouths.

This has resulted in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of grown-ass adults tasting pieces of plastic.

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

(I've been carting Bel Biv DeVoe around with me for these moments for the last 3-4 years.)

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Kid #1 has me sold on buying one of the new Nintendo systems so I can play Zelda.

I don't have time to play Zelda, so my new goal is to figure out how I can be a part-time researcher. Maybe I do an MD/PhD, research 1/3 time, do clinic hours 1/3 time, and play video games 1/3 time.

[Cain]

Jesus fucking Christ I forgot how much of a pain in the arse modding Skyrim is.  Someone remind me in like, 2 weeks time, to make a backup of my Mod Organiser folder, so I never have to do this bullshit again.

On the plus side, this does mean I have successfully weeded out a bunch of legacy mods that were proving increasingly difficult to patch for.  But still...urgh.

Nigel, you should see if you can do a PhD on Zelda.  Then it's research.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Jesus fucking Christ I forgot how much of a pain in the arse modding Skyrim is.  Someone remind me in like, 2 weeks time, to make a backup of my Mod Organiser folder, so I never have to do this bullshit again.

On the plus side, this does mean I have successfully weeded out a bunch of legacy mods that were proving increasingly difficult to patch for.  But still...urgh.

Nigel, you should see if you can do a PhD on Zelda.  Then it's research.

YOU, SIR, ARE A LIFE-CHANGING GENIUS.

[Don Coyote]

Jesus fucking Christ I forgot how much of a pain in the arse modding Skyrim is.  Someone remind me in like, 2 weeks time, to make a backup of my Mod Organiser folder, so I never have to do this bullshit again.

On the plus side, this does mean I have successfully weeded out a bunch of legacy mods that were proving increasingly difficult to patch for.  But still...urgh.

Nigel, you should see if you can do a PhD on Zelda.  Then it's research.

And that is why I stopped playing Skyrim. I'll stop playing and then decide I should start play again but all the mods are broken for some reason and HOURS of work and fuck it I'll just go wander around in Dark Souls.

[Cramulus]

There was a two year period of my life where I beat games in this order:
Dark souls 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, bloodborne, bloodborne, 1, 3, 3

GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

Fallout 4 - I didn't like. And I loved Fallout 3, I just didn't feel like 4 was adding anything to it.

I played Neverwinter for a little bit. I think it sucks. Basically another WoW clone but with a D&D skin.

Then No Man's Sky came out. I love it, it's replaced minecraft as my zen zone-out game.

I just beat Final Fantasy XV. It was good! One of the better final fantasies. The combat is really fun. The story... there were a lot of plot holes for something without much going on, but the main character was slightly less obnoxious than the lead from numerous other FF games. What I didn't get about the game was the aesthetic. Like the setting is, for the most part, the American Midwest (but ... not). You're playing their Prince, which is this Japanese male fashion model looking kid. You just don't feel like you belong in the setting. But overall, the gameplay was actually fun, so, I could get over it.

Axiom Verge is a must-download for fans of Super Metroid.


I'm looking for a good PS4 tower defense game. I've played Defense Grid 2, it was awesome. Any suggestions?

[00.dusk]

There was a two year period of my life where I beat games in this order:
Dark souls 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, bloodborne, bloodborne, 1, 3, 3

GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH
-snip-
I'm looking for a good PS4 tower defense game. I've played Defense Grid 2, it was awesome. Any suggestions?

If you liked the Soulsborne franchise, try Nioh. It's very different and very similar at the same time. I've noted it comes a bit closer to Hotline Miami-style action within the same framework -- you die faster but you're stuck for a shorter period of time at the frustrating parts. Also: mission-based instead of open world, loot-based character progression instead of stat-based progression, and a slightly more "fighting-game-y" combat system. I've described it as "Onimusha 3 and Dark Souls make nasty love with bad ARPG loot system" when talking to the boyfriend about it.

I have a big ol' list of PS4 TD games here. Let's see which ones are good... (List is here.)

Unholy Heights is a good one. It's weird -- you're managing an apartment complex of monsters and you need to make sure they have appropriate furniture and neighbors, kind of distantly reminiscent of The Sims, or Animal Crossing a bit I guess. But you're also trying to strategically direct the monsters to move into certain parts of the complex, because every so often some humans come by and it turns into tower defense on a door-by-door basis -- the enemies stop at each door, beat up the monsters, and move onward, aiming to reach your office and kill the Prince of Darkness (Oh, right: you play as Satan).

I described it once as "Animal Crossing in Hell, except your hellneighbors defend your office from LARPers with their lives." Weirdly compelling.

I haven't played or highly dislike most of the others on this list. There's two Plants vs Zombies games on PS4, though, if you like that series.

On the other hand, if you like your tower defense games to be nails-hard, of variable pace, with decent visual quality but questionable design decisions, Deathtrap is apparently coming out on PS4 soon -- and that is a special game. Spin-off of the Van Helsing Diablo clone series, no mazing but /lots/ of available delaying tactics, and your character as a force multiplier when necessary.

And it's still tough as all hell. You have to not die (death takes gate points and it's impossible to get the full bonus on a three-star mission without doing a perfect map clear) but your defenses are very often not anywhere near enough damage being laid down, especially in the three-star missions, so you need to tank enemies at strategic locations to whittle their health down -- and they hit you like you're Richard Spencer, so that's easier said than done.

And you absolutely need to do the three-star missions, because vital unlocks (Trap Skill Points) are locked behind them -- you can't grind them up except by playing missions you haven't already beaten. EXP is limited too, everything's limited, it's /weird/ and feels oddly unnatural -- and yet I don't see how they could improve upon the end experience with what they brought to the table.

Underrated, viciously difficult in a way no other Tower Defense game I've ever played has been. Worth a shot when it comes out on PS4. (If you don't mind playing games on PC, it's already out on Steam. So is Unholy Heights.)

[Cain]

Jesus fucking Christ I forgot how much of a pain in the arse modding Skyrim is.  Someone remind me in like, 2 weeks time, to make a backup of my Mod Organiser folder, so I never have to do this bullshit again.

On the plus side, this does mean I have successfully weeded out a bunch of legacy mods that were proving increasingly difficult to patch for.  But still...urgh.

Nigel, you should see if you can do a PhD on Zelda.  Then it's research.

And that is why I stopped playing Skyrim. I'll stop playing and then decide I should start play again but all the mods are broken for some reason and HOURS of work and fuck it I'll just go wander around in Dark Souls.

Last year it was discovered that a lot of "stable" mods...are not. ugridstoload, Duel....a shit ton of others I can't recall.  And then USLEEP was released and while most modders changed their dependencies to account for it, old mods like SkyRe have not been. 

I will say if you want a simple plug and play approach to mods, Enai Sinaon's stuff is great.  Ordinator (perks) plus Imperious (races) plus Apocalypse (spells) plus Thunderchild (shouts) plus Sacrosanct (vampires) plus Aurora (standing stones) open up so many different playstyles, are stable, have low script-load and requires virtually no patching.  Throw in USLEEP, Campfire/Frostfall, Immersive Weapons/Armours, Interesting NPCs/Inigo/Arissa and a combat mod of your choice and you're good to go.  Plus he deserves some respect, the amount of bullshit nonsense he has to put up with from people who took a perk and complain that the perk did exactly what it said it did is unbelievable.

I'm currently trying to work on the Requiem overhaul, which is a bit trickier because it requires patches for a lot of stuff.  Not everything, not as bad as it used to be, and lots of stuff is incompatible anyway.  But it requires a bit more attention to detail.

And yeah, sometimes I just say "fuck this shit" and boot up Inquisition.  Throw on Walk Softly and it might as well be a Souls game, "defeat the mage with infinite barrier who spams Fade Cloak to become invulnerable every 2 seconds...in your first fight outside of the opening sequence."

[00.dusk]

Jesus fucking Christ I forgot how much of a pain in the arse modding Skyrim is.  Someone remind me in like, 2 weeks time, to make a backup of my Mod Organiser folder, so I never have to do this bullshit again.

On the plus side, this does mean I have successfully weeded out a bunch of legacy mods that were proving increasingly difficult to patch for.  But still...urgh.

Nigel, you should see if you can do a PhD on Zelda.  Then it's research.

And that is why I stopped playing Skyrim. I'll stop playing and then decide I should start play again but all the mods are broken for some reason and HOURS of work and fuck it I'll just go wander around in Dark Souls.

Last year it was discovered that a lot of "stable" mods...are not. ugridstoload, Duel....a shit ton of others I can't recall.  And then USLEEP was released and while most modders changed their dependencies to account for it, old mods like SkyRe have not been. 

I will say if you want a simple plug and play approach to mods, Enai Sinaon's stuff is great.  Ordinator (perks) plus Imperious (races) plus Apocalypse (spells) plus Thunderchild (shouts) plus Sacrosanct (vampires) plus Aurora (standing stones) open up so many different playstyles, are stable, have low script-load and requires virtually no patching.  Throw in USLEEP, Campfire/Frostfall, Immersive Weapons/Armours, Interesting NPCs/Inigo/Arissa and a combat mod of your choice and you're good to go.  Plus he deserves some respect, the amount of bullshit nonsense he has to put up with from people who took a perk and complain that the perk did exactly what it said it did is unbelievable.

I'm currently trying to work on the Requiem overhaul, which is a bit trickier because it requires patches for a lot of stuff.  Not everything, not as bad as it used to be, and lots of stuff is incompatible anyway.  But it requires a bit more attention to detail.

And yeah, sometimes I just say "fuck this shit" and boot up Inquisition.  Throw on Walk Softly and it might as well be a Souls game, "defeat the mage with infinite barrier who spams Fade Cloak to become invulnerable every 2 seconds...in your first fight outside of the opening sequence."

Enai actually stopped making quest mods after some massive drama. Dwemertech and the one about the Magna-Ge, they both got a ton of backlash because they locked people getting the cool spells and stuff behind /gameplay/, how /dare/ he. Also he used a trick, the same trick Skyrim teaches you to rely on when navigating dungeons -- of falling into water to mitigate fall damage. And put the player up high enough that they'd have plenty of time to steer toward such safe liquid. Unconscionable.

Last I heard he was also working on a combat mod that didn't rely on a million scripts that would end up orphaned and bloating saves to hell, since he helped uncover that all combat mods out currently rely on dangerous methods and sane people don't have many options now. He's a cool guy and definitely deserves the support.

[Cain]

Yeah, he actually made it in the end.  Two of them in fact - Wildcat and Smilodon, though the latter is Special Edition only.  They're not bad, though they cut a little against Ordinator because they increase weapon damage (Ordinator relies a lot on combos instead of passive damage buffs, such as following a normal attack with a directional power attack for additional effects, so if everything dies in one hit...)

Still, you can tailor them to mitigate that, and they're worth taking for the enemy combat forms and stamina cost improvement if nothing else.  Combat Evolved does the same thing, but slightly differently and in a more frustrating way, as anyone who has fought an enemy with a shield with CE installed can attest.

And yeah, he's a really cool dude.  He's always in the comment sections of his mods...which probably isn't making his life any easier, given how many idiots complain to him about things.  "This perk says it will drain charges from my enchanted weapon when I draw it and whenever I draw it I lose charges?!"  "This perk says I can only cast a limited number of spells a day and now my spells are limited?!"