Unified Vidya Games thread

[Cain]

Oh, and Requiem 1.8 dropped.  But, of course, many of the patches have not been updated to take into account the changes from the new version.

So I logged onto /r/requiem today, and found 50 new topics, all on a variation of "stuff doesn't work, halp".  I am amused. 

[Freeky]

No problem.  And I feel your pain...I'm currently downloading all 11.3 gigs of the game onto the new computer...and for some reason (namely updating Windows) its going at about 110 kb/s.  So, 4 days according to Steam.

Well, I was gonna use this weekend to catch up on my writing a bit anyway...

Gaaack. 

[Freeky]

Exellent, I'll check them out.

[Raz Tech]

Oh, and Requiem 1.8 dropped.  But, of course, many of the patches have not been updated to take into account the changes from the new version.

So I logged onto /r/requiem today, and found 50 new topics, all on a variation of "stuff doesn't work, halp".  I am amused.

When they do an update like that, will saved game characters be able to roll right into it or do you normally have to start a new character?

Also, I've been playing using the mod list you posted in this thread earlier, and so far it's been awesome, so I wanted to say thanks.  Without it I wouldn't have known where to start

[Cain]

1.8 unfortunately doesn't allow for backwards compatability with save games.  The mod authors did originally intend for it, but because some of the changes were so far-reaching, especially the NPC changes, it simply wasnt feasible.  I also suspect they were keen to roll 1.8 fairly soon, as it had been a while since 1.7.3 was released.  If you were using 1.7.3, I recommend you keep on doing so unless you are not very attached to your character, as compatability will take a while to sort out.

Plus Requiem has never played very well with other mods anyway.  Even if those mods were previous versions of itself.

Cool, I'm glad you're enjoying it.  Which modlist exactly is that?  I should probably alter a few of those, as I've tried mods and discarded them for disliking them, or discovering some incompatability or another.  In particular, that Requiem setup I posted on page 2 doesn't look quite legit....

[Raz Tech]

that one, less frostfall and a couple of others that I kind of got too impatient to download.

I wanted to figure out how requiem worked before I died of exposure.

[Cain]

Yeah, Requiem and Frostfall synergise really well.  Requiem makes stamina such a more important stat, and then Frostfall goes and makes it so getting cold puts some significant penalties on your total stamina and stamina regen.

It could be worse though.  If you use Alternate Life alongside those two mods, one of your options can be "shipwrecked".  Which happens around the coast north of Winterhold.

You can survive this at level 1, with vanilla Requiem and hardcore Frostfall settings.  It's just...not very easy.

It's also worth noting Frostfall and Realistic Needs have to be activated in the MCM before taking effect, so they can still be installed, if you prefer.

I would suggest something like this for a decent setup:

Audio Overhaul for Skyrim or Sounds of Skyrim
A Matter of Time
A Quality World Map With Roads and Hold Borders
Alternate Start - Live another life
Better MessageBox Controls v1.2
Better Stealth AI for followers - No Torch while sneaking
Book Covers Skyrim v2.2
Civil War Overhaul v3.01
Cloaks of Skyrim v1.2
D13 FASTER GET UP STAND UP Animation
Dragon Combat Overhaul
Even Better Quest Objectives
Follower Commentary Overhaul - FCO - 1.0.1
Frostfall - Hypothermia Camping Survival v2.5
Immersive College of Winterhold
Immersive HUD
Immersive Weapons
Immersive Armors v7.1
Project Reality - Climates of Tamriel v3.1
Realistic Lighting Overhaul or Enhanced Lights and FX
Realistic Needs and Diseases v1.9
Requiem - The Roleplaying Overhaul 1.7.3
Requiem - Resources
Requiem - Book Covers Skyrim Patch
Requiem - Civil War Overhaul Patch
Requiem - Cloaks of Skyrim Patch
Requiem - Dragon Combat Overhaul Patch
Requiem - Dragonborn Patch
Requiem - Immersive Armors Patch 3.0
Requiem - Immersive Armors Battlemage Gear 2.6
Requiem - Immersive Weapons Patch
Requiem - Rebalanced Potions Weight
Requiem - RND - Frostfall AiO Patch
Requiem Plus
SkyUI
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch
Unofficial High Resolution Patch
Unofficial Skyrim Patch
VioLense
Wet and Cold 1.402
Winter is coming - Cloaks - WIC Cloaks NMM 2_3
Winterhold College Improvements

Alongside whatever texture and mesh improvements you want (aMidian Born Book of Silence, Static Mesh Improvement etc etc).

I do recommend Interesting NPCs as a rule...however, I've discovered that the NPCs from that are set at level 30 and often don't have the correct perks assigned to them.  There is an attempt at a community mod for that, but it's going to take some time. 

But this should give you a good base Requiem and immersion/survival experience.

[Cain]

Also, a quick set of mod reviews.

Arissa the Wandering Rogue is fairly good, if you are in the market for a thief-like travelling companion.  Recruitment mission is fun, even if you see it coming, and the trust system, which allows you to unlock more commands and functionalities for her is a unique take on companions in Skyrim. Basically, she approves of: sneak attacks, lockpicking, stealthy theft, persuasion topic options.  She disapproves of threatening people, needless murder and cannibalism (though strangely she has no opinion on vampirism or werewolves). 

Voice-acting is decent (though the volume comes across as just slightly too high in comparison with other NPCs) and her commentary is frequently amusing and more in-depth than vanilla companions, while not being overbearing or in depth as, say, your average Bioware character (which may or may not be a good thing).  There is also no DLC commentary as of yet, though I believe it is planned for the future.

She's also useful in more hardcore settings because, as you gain her trust, you can borrow lockpicks and poisons from her.  If you play with a mod like Stealth Skills Rebalanced, where picks are almost like gold-dust, this can be useful.  Also, she has an unlimited carry capacity, which can be useful if you're not going for a full immersion or survival build, and just want to steal as much stuff as possible.

Alchemy Redone - an extension of vanilla alchemy, unlocking more options and more powerful potions in the late-game stages.  I've only looked at it a bit, but it seems balanced and useful.  Also because it doesn't alter basic game assets, it is very compatible with other alchemy mods.

Following Mercer - a very fun quest mod.  So, Mercer Frey has been looting the wealth of the Thieves Guild for 25 years.  Where did it all go?  This mod attempts to answer that.  You get five new dungeons (some quite sizeable), filled with traps and enemies to test the wits of any Nightingale, recover the stolen plans of the Thieves Guid and, if that were not incentive enough, a shit-ton of treasure.  I was clearing 7000 septims per location just from gold...throw in the jewellry, gems and levelled items and it was probably triple that.  Totally throws the economy of Skyrim out the airlock, but if you're not playing a realism/immersion mod, it's worthwhile.  Oh, and you also get Mercer's armour, which is much superior to the Guildmaster Armor, and even the Nightingale armor set.

Helgen Reborn.  Worth your time.  Like the name suggests, this mod allows you to rebuild Helgen, through a multiple stage quest system.  I played version 1.04 which used radiant quests for part of the mod, but I see this has been replaced by handpicked and personally designed dungeons and ruins - which should be good going by the quality of the rest of the mod.  There is a minor Civil War Overhaul incompatability, but all you have to do to avoid it is recruit independent guards for Helgen.

All in all, it feels like it should have been part of the game.  Helgen is where it all starts...and it's a great way to finish the game, by rebuilding the town and moving into the tower.

Thief player home in Riften Canal.  Best thief home, hands down.  Sure, it's small, and it's in the less desirable part of Riften (that's to say, it's in Riften).  But it has everything you need.  And I do mean everything.  All your smithing, alchemy, enchanting needs can be met here, there's a fully functional kitchen, a bed up on the second floor and plenty of named storage.  No more chucking everything in a chest at the end of your bed - you have specific places for ingots, animal remains, bows, scrolls etc. 

You can also easily access the Ragged Flaggon via the home, and vice-versa.  Which saves on endless loading screens and makes vendoring so much easier.

Oh, and there is a secret room.  Of course.  Inside you'll find an awesome display set for the dragon priest masks and claws, as well as some of the more unique items in the game (including all the thief guild "litany of larceny" quest items), an altar to Nocturnal and a place to keep your ill-gained loot.  Definitely an awesome themed home and a must-have for anyone who likes to play as a collector...and isn't terribly fussy about relieving the previous owners of their belongings.  I will probably use this one in my Requiem playthrough, but with a few adjustments (the gems will go in the river, the smelting will be done in town).

[Cain]

OK then.

I've unified three threads, to prevent the proliferation of spaggotry, for the conduct of peaceable public order, and for the sake of decency.  I make no apologies for any confusion.

It also means I can use this thread as a clearing house for videos.  So, current plans:

Dragon Age 1+2 playthroughs to be abandoned.  I basically wont have time to do them both, with player feedback, before Dragon Age: Inquisition comes out.  However, I have preordered Inquisition.  As a compromise choice, I might let you all vote on Dragon Age Keep settings, thus creating a unique and special snowflake player world without the tedious issue of having to play through it (Dragon Age Keep basically bypasses the need for previous gamesaves to create the correct world settings).

Assuming my internet doesn't get any worse, I'll likely do plenty of multiplayer videos for the game, as well as a blind single player playthrough.

Skyrim: Requiem.  Whether it's 1.7.3 or 1.8 depends on how quickly the patches are all updated.  I have no preference in that regard, I only wish for a working and stable game.  May occasionally break up the monotony with various Skyrim mods, on a more vanilla game.

Dishonoured.  I want to complete this.  Preferably before the second game comes out (hint: no-one knows when the second game is coming out).

Pillars of Eternity.  Because I backed it, and I damn well intend to play it.

Other games TBA as gameplays finish etc etc.

[LMNO]

Suggestion: Who gives a shit about voting, play and record whatever game will give the biggest thrill to the viewers.

Also, I have been twitching about seeing more Dishonored.

[Cain]

That was also an option, but I decided to throw it out there.  Just so you know, my "canon" savegame goes:

Human Noble Rogue (dual wielder, Assassin/Duellist/Shadow specializations).  Sided with the Circle of Magi in Broken Circle.  Undid the curse and recruited the Dalish elves in Nature of the Beast.  Sided with Prince Bhelen in A Paragon of Her Kind, killed Branka and destroyed the anvil.  Saved Redcliffe by calling upon the Circle of Magi to undo Connor's possession. Romanced Leiliana.  Recruited all possible allies.  Hardened Alistair.  Revealed the location of the Sacred Ashes of Andraste.  Killed Flemeth at Morrigan's request.  Duelled and then executed Loghain at the Landsmeet.  Alistair and Anora will go on to jointly rule Ferelden.  Did the "dark ritual" with Morrigan to avoid dying, and killed the Archdemon myself. 

In the DLC, Shale was recruited, Avernus was sided with and allowed to continue his research (but in a more ethical manner).
In Awakening, Amaranthine was sacrificed to the darkspawn horde.  The Vigil was fully upgraded and withstood the onslaught of the Mother.  The Amaranthine Conspiracy (first iteration) was uncovered and slain.  The Architect was slain as too great of a risk to allow loose on the world.  In Black Marsh, we sided with Justice over the Baronness.  All companions recruited, Nathaniel Howe stayed on in the Wardens.

In Witch Hunt, The Warden said goodbye to Morrigan and allowed her to walk through the Eluvian.

Dragon Age 2.  Played a female Hawke (Force Mage/Healer specializations).  Everyone was recruited.  During the Deep Roads Expedition, Carver was recuited into the Wardens.  Earned the respect of the Arishok.  Romanced Isabella, who returned with the Tome of Koslun, slew the Arishok in single combat.  Sided with the Mages throughout.  During The Last Straw, allowed Anders to live.  All companions bar Sebastian stood by Hawke during the final battle.  Feynriel was allowed to join the Dalish Elves, was not made Tranquil during Night Terrors, nor possessed.  Bartrand was allowed to live, and Varric took a shard of the Red Lyrium.

Not sure how I'm going to play my Inquisitor yet.  The Warden was an idealist who got much more cynical and pragmatic as the game went on, making alliances with people he knew to be suspect (the Antivan Crows, Bhelen) and involving himself in suspect magic (Avernus, Morrigan) in order to defeat the Blight.  Hawke was more diplomatic, more open to compromise...which of course didn't help much in a situation where fanatics on every side eventually took control.  She was always sympathetic to mages, but couldn't bring herself to use forbidden magics, and harboured a deep distrust of those who did (including Merrill - got a full rivalry with her).

Maybe my Inquisitor will be a bastard from the very start.  Would be different.

[Junkenstein]

Mainly as an excuse to talk about Pillars of Eternity, anything worth reporting about that beta? Combat and basics acceptable?

[Cain]

I really haven't had much of a chance to experiment with it, sadly.  My laptop could handle it, but it felt kinda...sluggish in places.

From what I did play though. my feeling was that it was very much like an Infinity Engine game in terms of combat and exploration.  Better animations and more options, of course, but otherwise much the same.  It really does feel like an updated version of Icewind Dale or BG2.

[Junkenstein]

Also, I think we were talking about watch dogs a while back, what's your take on this review?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw9cwOcdqs4

(spoiler heavy).

Seems on the money, I forgot it was ubisoft and I could kind of guess the problems ahead as soon as I heard that.

[Junkenstein]

I really haven't had much of a chance to experiment with it, sadly.  My laptop could handle it, but it felt kinda...sluggish in places.

From what I did play though. my feeling was that it was very much like an Infinity Engine game in terms of combat and exploration.  Better animations and more options, of course, but otherwise much the same.  It really does feel like an updated version of Icewind Dale or BG2.

Excellent. Will be nice to have something to in that vein to get into again.