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Unified Vidya Games thread

Started by Cain, November 21, 2013, 05:10:58 PM

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Cain

#720
Quote from: Cramulus on October 23, 2018, 03:25:36 PM
funny you should mention it, I just started a new Dual Weapon rogue in Inquisition. What do you think are the go-to perks I should take?

Depends heavily on the specialization.  I would always recommend putting a lot of points in the Sabotage tree though, when you can afford to, especially the left hand side.  Leeching Poison will keep you in the fight for much longer, and Lost in the Mist is heavily underrrated (the poison cloud that appears when you kill poisoned enemies will also give you stacks of Elusive.  Since you are in melee range, this will keep constant re-applying stacks on your character).  Also stealth, evasion and evade are mandatory.

For a low level, pre-Skyhold build, the one I used in the videos should cover you.  Stealth, Evasion, Evade.  Poison Weapons/Leeching Poison.  Twin Fangs, Dance of Death, Flank Attack and Skirmisher.  Any extra points to whatever you'd like (Shadow Strike is nice).

For a Tempest, I would only take Flank Attack/Skirmisher, Twin Fangs and Dance of Death, more for the utility than the damage in all cases.  Your real bread and butter should be Throwing Blades, with the Precision Targeting upgrade, and the Flask of Fire with the no cooldown upgrade.  Hit the flask of fire, hit poison, spam the throwing blades and if the enemy doesn't die, hit the Lightning Flask and go in for the kill.  Throwing Blades are also affected by the Pincushion passive from the Archery tree, which does not require you to be using a bow to benefit from.  Equipment wise, I'd focus on a mix of Cunning and Dexterity boosting gear, to increase both crit chances and crit damage.

For an Artificer, the power of spam is key.  The more hits you can do, the more chances to crit, the lower the cooldowns, the more stamina you get back.  So you want to go down the left hand side of the Dual Dagger tree, to get Spinning Blades and Neverending spin.  In Sabotage, you want to get Caltrops and then Looked Like It Hurt.  This is the key passive, along with the Artificer Opportunity Knocks perk.  Combine the two, and every time you (or an ally) crit, you get a 0.5 cooldown bonus, and 10 stamina back.  Cunning-boosting equipment will give you a higher chance to crit, so prioritise that until you can get them reliably.  Once you can, consider using the Sigil of the Great Bear, since you wont have stamina management issues, and then take Elemental Mines along with Throw Everything.  You might want to take anti-seizure medication before doing this, even if you don't suffer from seizures.  You must also name your character Michael Bay.

For the assassin, it's all about getting back into stealth.  I Was Never Here eliminates the stealth cooldown on a kill, and Knife in the Shadows grants automatic criticals when attacking from stealth.  So for the assassin, stacking dexterity boosting/crit damage equipment is the key.  You'll hit as hard as you can with that first attack, and likely kill them outright.  You can then go back into stealth and repeat.  Skirmisher/Flank Attack gives you a second way of getting into stealth, Dance of Death will keep your stamina up.  Later on, Deathblow/Thrill of Victory will allow you to follow up your first attack with something that is very likely to kill.  Poison weapons and the clouds they produce are an excellent bonus, as you can draw the enemy into them, then vanish back into stealth, and they will stand around like idiots, taking constant poison damage.  However, do not take the Clinging Shadows upgrade on Stealth, it has messy interactions with I Was Never Here and can prevent you from getting stealth back when you need it.  Lost in the Shadows is more useful, I would only toggle the Clinging Shadows upgrade when fighting a dragon, which can pull you out of stealth regardless.  Mark of Death is also awesome, and along with Potions of Might (+100% crit damage bonus) pushes the assassin into "crazy damage" territory - Poison Weapons, Stealth, Hidden Blades (upgraded to Overkill), Mark of the Rift and an early detonation can do over 60,000 damage.  The assassin is also the best class for using the Bosun's Blade - the 500% damage bonus from behind is noticeable, and if you're not soloing, you should always be attacking from behind while the tank grabs the attention.

Cramulus


Cain

No problem.  All builds are Nightmare and Trials vetted, with a good party build (ie; Cass, Solas & Dorian) and proper Fade-touched gear you will crush mostly everything.

Cain

Purchased Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

Looks like it could be what NWN was originally promised to be, before Bioware decided having a "plot" or "engaging characters" or "workable tools for controlling a party" was too much work and just decided to hawk the Aurora Toolset.  Well, with Pathfinder rules instead of 3rd ed., but we all know Pathfinder is D&D 3.75 Edition.  Also with kingdom management, for those Civilization fans out there.

Anyway, give me some OP Pathfinder builds.  By all accounts the game hews very closely to the PnP version, so I assume meta builds in PnP would work fine in the game, for the most part.

Doktor Howl

Quote from: Cain on December 15, 2018, 03:24:49 PM
Purchased Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

Looks like it could be what NWN was originally promised to be, before Bioware decided having a "plot" or "engaging characters" or "workable tools for controlling a party" was too much work and just decided to hawk the Aurora Toolset.  Well, with Pathfinder rules instead of 3rd ed., but we all know Pathfinder is D&D 3.75 Edition.  Also with kingdom management, for those Civilization fans out there.

Anyway, give me some OP Pathfinder builds.  By all accounts the game hews very closely to the PnP version, so I assume meta builds in PnP would work fine in the game, for the most part.

The pencil and paper version of that was fun, but too complicated.  It was more or less written for a computer.
Molon Lube

Cain

Yeah, I got a few of the source books a few years back and I got lost fairly quickly.  By all accounts the game is very similar in that regard - between the subraces, the subclasses and the feats, it's very easy to lose track of it all.  I'm half-tempted just to go sword and board fighter for the sake of simplicity.

Fujikoma

#726
I didn't play bloodborn, but the entire dark souls series was great. My only complaint was, there's not many friendly PCs to interact with, but I quickly got over this because I love the scenery.

EDIT: Once I got into the rythm of crushing everything like it was a bug, then I was fine with this. It made it hard to figure out the lore about the land, and about the undead, but the few clues there were pretty much explained everything. I just, didn't like getting hooked on NPCs, then having to kill them because they went hollow.

Cramulus

I've been playing Shakira: Hips Don't Die Twice


Yeah, it rules

I don't even miss leveling up my stats, because when you level up you get new moves and stuff like that. And I don't miss having different weapons because I just end up playing the whole game with one weapon anyway.

It took a little bit to realize that it doesn't quite work like bloodborne or dark souls -- you can't just dodge everything because enemies turn as you roll, so the attack follows you. They made parrying a lot easier - the parry animation is fast (it doesn't have a "start up animation" like many Dark Souls shields), and hitting Parry can cancel an attack (if the attack is still in the first half of the animation). Also, the enemy animations telegraph their swings pretty well - like they're designed to be parried. So parrying is now the way to go.

But really, it takes a mix... in dark souls, you could play defensively, just hang out with your shield up, waiting for an opportunity. In bloodborne, they rewarded aggressiveness -- the right strategy was to attack before the enemy can attack, rush into the crowd, then get out before they can respond. Sekiro has a mix of both strategies. The enemies have a rhythm you have to be mindful of. You've gotta attack and defend.

and it feels really fluid, kinetic, quick - really fun to play.


Some of the bosses are hard as fuuuck... but when you beat them, you stand up and flex, and electricity radiates from your body, levitating small objects around you and making your cat piss on the carpet. I'm sorry I didn't change your litter. But we're shinobis now, and we live a life of pain and piss.

Faust

I picked it up and the combat is an impressive departure, I haven't been able to find my flow for it yet though I can tell mechanically they have tried something new again and succeeded in keeping it fresh.
I find the Japanese aesthetic hard to get into though, Dark Souls Japanese-Look-At-Western-Mythology was instantly engrossing, and Bloodbornes over the top Victorian nightmare was like a fantastic music video for a death metal band.
Feudal Japan is formal, in the way people speak to you and the environments, it's well constructed but I'm not sure if it is what I am in the mood for.
Sleepless nights at the chateau

chaotic neutral observer

I too, have been playing Sekiro.  Although I picked it up because of my "positive" experiences with Souls / Bloodborne, there are enough changes that I'm inclined to put it in a separate category (due to the different approach to story-telling, and almost no RPG elements).

What I love about this game is that once I figure out how to proceed, it's fast.  I spent well over an hour working on a certain mini-boss, but once I had the pattern down, my victorious run took less than a minute.

Quote from: Cramulus on April 08, 2019, 01:53:15 PM
But we're shinobis now, and we live a life of pain and piss.
And running along the tops of walls.
Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

Fujikoma

#730
Ok, I'm sold, Sekiro sounds, amazing. I had a similar experience with dark souls, CNO, in that I was, hilariously wtf murdered sooo many times getting used to the rythm of each game, but once I did, nothing could stand in my way, except, well, the next boss, who would proceed to dish out a most unwelcome and unwholesome lesson in humility. *eyes Fume Knight accusingly*

EDIT: The fume knight was, actually, possibly the best boss I've fought in the series, while also being the most frustrating. I tried EVERYTHING, like, well, almost everything. I only managed to beat him by two-handing havel's greatshield and swinging it around like a loon.

Cain

One positive about the upcoming ESO Elsweyr DLC:

Dragons
Have
16 million
Hit Points

This is assuming they don't nerf them into mediocrity before they release it, of course. But for the purposes of reference, most overland bosses have 2-5 million health. This level of health is more in line with Trial bosses, which suggests they expect 12+ people to take them down. They also appear to have some fairly sophisticated tactics, so likely there will need to be healers and tanks along for the ride, rather than just stacking and burning it like a normal overland boss.

They also fly around, so it's very possible to be minding your own business, only for a dragon to land and push your shit in.

All of which is good. Overland hasn't had a healthy dose of terror since One Tamriel introduced level scaling except, arguably, in Craglorn.

altered

And no one ever went to Craglorn.

I would know, I tried my best to get anyone to go traipsing through it with me back around Thieves Guild release. I found a friend and we went into an area completely untouched by players. It felt like we got stuffed into a secret main quest instance. The magic didn't last long, though. We got chased by marauding, 2HKOing atronachs around Belkarth and swore it off, because we were cowards.

Also, did they nerf Orsinium and Gold Coast world bosses? I remember the riekr boss requiring a squad of at least 8 V16s to have a hope in hell of beating it. And Limenaaurus was famously brutal when Gold Coast was new.

Or I guess general power creep (or nerds from player whining) could have leveled it out a bit, but ESO was really good about that before I left, so that'd still be worth knowing.
"I am that worst of all type of criminal...I cannot bring myself to do what you tell me, because you told me."

There's over 100 of us in this meat-suit. You'd think it runs like a ship, but it's more like a hundred and ten angry ghosts having an old-school QuakeWorld tournament, three people desperately trying to make sure the gamers don't go hungry or soil themselves, and the Facilities manager weeping in the corner as the garbage piles high.

Cain

There's quite a few people farming fortified nirncrux there. One Tamriel also rebalanced Craglorn, though it's still more dangerous than other overland content, the mobs hit harder and have about twice as much average health. About half of the content still requires a group, but you can solo most of the main quest and then do the trials to finish it off.

I don't recall the Orsinium or GC world bosses being too difficult. But Champion Points, as a replacement for VR levels, and new sets do mean a significant level of power creep. Perfect Arms of Relenquen, Zaan etc hit obscenely hard. Not to mention some balance changes, they do keep buffing Templars for some reason.

It will be even worse when the Necromancer comes out with Elsweyr, as their Ultimate inflicts major vulnerability - 30% more damage.

altered

That sounds horrible. Are we at least likely to get some cool lore out of it, or is it looking bad there too?

On one hand, ESO gave us half of the coolest lore in the series, but on the other hand it also gave us Namira, formerly the goddess of filth and cannibalism, now the goddess of the goth Tron furries, so I'm kind of nervous about anything khajiity.
"I am that worst of all type of criminal...I cannot bring myself to do what you tell me, because you told me."

There's over 100 of us in this meat-suit. You'd think it runs like a ship, but it's more like a hundred and ten angry ghosts having an old-school QuakeWorld tournament, three people desperately trying to make sure the gamers don't go hungry or soil themselves, and the Facilities manager weeping in the corner as the garbage piles high.