What Are You Playing Right Now, Part 2: Daggerfall

[Kaptin Keen]

I think it automatically makes a character level 100. Kinda defeats the purpose to playing in my opinion, but if you're someone who only cares about endgame I can see why you'd like it.

That's precisely my take on it. Once I've levelled one character to max level, I might take the opportunity to boost another to 100. But otherwise, it seems like .. not playing the game. Last time I was onboard was 2-3 expansions ago, so there's a lot of content I've never seen.

[GhoulKaven]

Dota 2, CS:GO, and PUBG.

[DavidSh]

I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII, doing various post-game tasks for a while now. The various quests in the lower world have some difficulty attached to them, and aren't the pure single-corridor that everyone complained about when the game was released. Finishing the final trophy -- getting all items, including upgrading lots of them into new forms, was really tedious, however.

[factotum]

I fancied some old-school RPG and I saw that Eschalon book 1 was free on GoG, so I decided to give it a go. I'm finding the story interesting enough to keep me going, although I don't like the levelling system much--it doesn't give the real sense of getting stronger that I like to have in my RPGs, with equipment seeming to count for more than your actual level does. I also think not getting lock picking as a skill was a mistake, because the number of locked doors and chests I'm finding are quite annoying, and bashing through them just takes way too long (and too much ammo, considering I'm playing an archer and arrow usage is a thing).

[Yora]

I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII, doing various post-game tasks for a while now. The various quests in the lower world have some difficulty attached to them, and aren't the pure single-corridor that everyone complained about when the game was released. Finishing the final trophy -- getting all items, including upgrading lots of them into new forms, was really tedious, however.

To me, it felt like a single corridor with no branches, except for one area where you can endlessly run in circles to do infinite random encounters.

Though I don't see how that's different from FF10, where nobody seems to complain about it.

[Rodin]

To me, it felt like a single corridor with no branches, except for one area where you can endlessly run in circles to do infinite random encounters.

Though I don't see how that's different from FF10, where nobody seems to complain about it.

Really? I remember a ton of complaints about how little exploration was possible in FFX, and how you only got the airship available right at the end of the game. That and the sphere grid (which was a pretty new concept at the time) were the two biggest things the game got slammed on.

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I'm currently dipping my toe into the new character in Slay the Spire. Her stances have been difficult to manage so far, but when I can manage to spike damage with Wrath she's pretty impressive. I still foresee a lot of deaths where I decide to go into Wrath to finish off an opponent and then fail to draw damage and wind up getting squished.

[Anteros]

I fancied some old-school RPG and I saw that Eschalon book 1 was free on GoG, so I decided to give it a go. I'm finding the story interesting enough to keep me going, although I don't like the levelling system much--it doesn't give the real sense of getting stronger that I like to have in my RPGs, with equipment seeming to count for more than your actual level does. I also think not getting lock picking as a skill was a mistake, because the number of locked doors and chests I'm finding are quite annoying, and bashing through them just takes way too long (and too much ammo, considering I'm playing an archer and arrow usage is a thing).

Thanks for posting this. I'm going to give it a try since it's free. I enjoy old RPGs, but don't usually play them long enough to justify actually spending money on them.

To me, it felt like a single corridor with no branches, except for one area where you can endlessly run in circles to do infinite random encounters.

Though I don't see how that's different from FF10, where nobody seems to complain about it.

I think FF10 does a better job of giving you the illusion of an open world, even though it's mostly linear. It's hard to explain exactly why I feel that way though. I remember being frustrated with how linear FFXIII was but not with FFX. Maybe it's just because the characters, world, and plot of X were so much better.

I'm currently dipping my toe into the new character in Slay the Spire. Her stances have been difficult to manage so far, but when I can manage to spike damage with Wrath she's pretty impressive. I still foresee a lot of deaths where I decide to go into Wrath to finish off an opponent and then fail to draw damage and wind up getting squished.

There's a new character? That's interesting news. I'll have to load it up and try her out.

[Rodin]

There's a new character? That's interesting news. I'll have to load it up and try her out.

She's currently in beta, so only on PC and there's no card art. We'll also likely see a bunch of changes to the cards as they get the balance right.

So far though, she's pretty fun. She runs on 3 main mechanics, similar to the other classes.

1) Stances. She has two regular stances, Calm and Wrath. Calm gives no benefits while you're in it, but when you leave Calm you get 2 Energy. Wrath causes you to both take and deal double damage. The idea is that you stay in Calm until you spot an opening, then go Wrath and use the extra energy to alpha strike your enemy into oblivion, then if anything is left alive you swap back into Calm before anything can hit you. I've already wiped several times by failing that last part. There's a third stance that I haven't managed to use yet, that gives big bonuses if you can get into it but you have to build a charge meter to activate it.

2) Scrying. This is a new keyword to describe what Reprogram did for the Defect - look at the top X cards in your deck, discard any number of them. She has a lot of cards that can Scry, as well as cards that benefit from being discarded like a 0 cost attack that will be put into your hand if you Scry it. She also has a lot of cards that benefit from cards of the same type being played, so you can use Scrying to build a good hand for that.

3) Retain. These cards simply don't leave your hand at the end of the turn, but they benefit from staying there. There's mana cost reductions, effect improvements, etc. I've found it quite effective to hold onto a high cost Retain attack, then swap into Wrath stance and slam it when the cost has been reduced (Or not, sometimes).

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I've been finding her a bit easier to play than the Defect, but not as easy as Silent or Ironclad.

[Anteros]

Sounds interesting. I'll probably wait until she's in a base game though. Not too interested in being a beta tester. Thanks for the update.

[warty goblin]

Been digging into Greedfall a bit. The jank is strong with this one - and the lip syncing is actually nightmarish - but I'm definitely liking it. The combat's fine, but the writing is pretty solid, and actually interesting. You get cast as a legate, which means that your role is less 'save-the-world hero' and more person who deals with a lot of messy backroom political stuff. Or rather the RPG equivalent of messy backroom political stuff, which is to say open ended morally grey quest design. It also means that people can dislike you without being evil, stupid or misguided. They might simply have a different point of view. And when people praise you extensively, it's not because you're Dragonborn Spectre Pathfinder Inquisitor Jesus, it's probably because they're sucking up. In other words I feel like my character's actually part of the world, and I dig it.

Also, the lighting is drop dead beautiful. It's basically like playing an oil painting.

[Yora]

I just played through Bound by Flame again. I still greatly enjoy the artistic elements of it, but there actually isn't that much content and it's not that strong as a game. Which is suspiciously similar to what I've been hearing about Greedfall.

And I still can't beat the final boss. The difficulty curve on this game is insane. You could say it start's at 40%, then quickly goes down to 30%, goes back to 40% in the last chapter and then goes to 110% for the final boss. You basically have to learn a very different game than anything you did in the 12 hours before. And you can easily die in 3 seconds, or before getting a single hit on the boss. And from videos I've seen, it takes some 10 minutes to beat the boss when you're doing well.

[Razade]

Slowly growing closer to finishing up Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Honestly getting a little burnt out but with Zelda: Link's Awakening coming in along with Astral Chain which I've picked up and Fire Emblem Warriors in the mail I feel I'll have some palatte cleansers. It's going to be a busy busy end of the year for me.

- The aforementioned Zelda game the end of this month, I expect I'll 100% fairly quickly since I've played it on the Gameboy and GB Color.
- Next month is Dragon Warrior 11, which I will for sure be grabbing, and Little Town Hero by Gamefreak.
- November is Pokemon Sword, which I am still fairly excited for.

On top of all that, considering Dragon Warrior 11 has around 100 hours of gameplay from what I've heard, more DLC for Fire Emblem coming down the pipe and a few other already released games, I might not need to snag anything coming out by mid-next year.

[Zevox]

I've been on a Smash Brothers kick ever since Banjo and Kazooie came out, playing almost every evening. They're a ton of fun, probably in my top 5 favorite characters in Smash Ultimate now. I've managed to get them into Elite Smash, along with the Dragon Quest Heroes and Mii Gunner (meaning Proto Man, since his costume was released), bringing my total number of characters there to 25. I half want to keep going and try to get someone else I like up the ranks - maybe Lucario or Wolf, or if I want to really go for a long shot try to finally get somewhere with Bayonetta despite how badly she was nerfed - but Dragon Ball FighterZ is about to release Gogeta, and he actually looks fun enough that I'm considering getting him, so I might be moving my fighting game time back to that soon.

[Cozzer]

I'm late by several years, but I'm playing through Enderal, the Skyrim "mod" that's actually a completely different game based on the same engine. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do, especially consdiering I've gotten bored with Skyrim in a few hours every time I tried restarting it. The gameplay is same old Skyrim (though the character building system is more traditional), but this time the story is actually interesting!

[Yora]

I am playing Command & Conquer Tiberium Sun. It was all the rage 20 years ago, but now I find it to be dreadfully slow, needlessly clunky, and frankly rather boring. The entire time I am thinking how much better Starcraft is, and that game is even half a year older. There's really no excuse for the clunky controls.

[Kaptin Keen]

I'm late by several years, but I'm playing through Enderal, the Skyrim "mod" that's actually a completely different game based on the same engine. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do, especially consdiering I've gotten bored with Skyrim in a few hours every time I tried restarting it. The gameplay is same old Skyrim (though the character building system is more traditional), but this time the story is actually interesting!

Enderal now has DLC that you may not be aware of. It's even on Steam.

I've downloaded it, but not played it yet, so I cannot vouch for it's quality. But Enderal in many ways is much better than Skyrim.

[Zombimode]

Enderal now has DLC that you may not be aware of. It's even on Steam.

I've downloaded it, but not played it yet, so I cannot vouch for it's quality. But Enderal in many ways is much better than Skyrim.

I can. It's great. You should definitely play the Forgotten Stories version. Enderal is an outstanding game. Breathtaking, really. The comparison to Skyrim is a bit.. off. Those two games are not really in the same genre (besides both being under the big RPG umbrella).

[Cozzer]

Yeah, I got the Steam version which includes the Forgotten Stories DLC, but thanks for the heads-up!
I'm playing a light armor, sword + elementalism battlemage, with a bit of light magic for flavor. For talents, I follow the Vagrant + Elementalist branches. I brew my own potions, build and enchant my own equipment, it's pretty great! I've just bought a house in the Market district of the capital, though I'm always low on cash and cannot afford to furnish it yet.

[Anonymouswizard]

Well I finished Oracle of Ages (that was an annoying final boss) and began Oracle of Seasons. The knowledge from having played it over a decade ago and extra heart allowed me to breeze through the first two dungeons, especially as the Subrosian Dancing minigame isn't as annoying as the Goron Dancing one.

[DigoDragon]

Well I finished Oracle of Ages (that was an annoying final boss) and began Oracle of Seasons. The knowledge from having played it over a decade ago and extra heart allowed me to breeze through the first two dungeons, especially as the Subrosian Dancing minigame isn't as annoying as the Goron Dancing one.

Heh, I finished Seasons, but only managed to get through the second dungeon of Ages before my interest waned.

[Gray Mage]

I've been playing FE: 3 houses and the new remake of Link's Awakening (hero mode is actually being challenging, a first for Zelda games for me since Majora's Mask, I think) with the little free time I'm having.
Been debating getting Dragon Quest XI for the Switch, since I've been able to play it more than my PC, but I think I'll put it on hold, I still have a lot of ground to cover in FE (got it only this month).

[Kantaki]

Daemon X Machina.
Great game.
I mean, who doesn't like piloting a mech Arsenal to beat up even bigger robots?
The cast is fun too, most of them are at least somewhat likeable even if your missions clash.

Although some of the characters seem to think they're applying for a role in Evangelion...
Seriously, spare me the pseudo-cryptic jabbering guys.
You want to tell me something?
Say what you mean.

Also, beating the boss to scrap with my (Arsenal's) bare hand was both epic and satisfying.
Not to mention desperate...

[Zevox]

And with Gogeta's release in DBFZ I've spent several hours in the lab with him today, just having fun figuring out what he can do. And he's got some pretty cool stuff - probably the best looking supers in the game (which is a high bar in a gorgeous game), a lot of different combo routes in the corner, an unblockable attack that hits from full screen away. Okay, that last is stupidly slow and probably punishable as hell if they just jump and super dash at you, but come on, that's going to hit some people online, guaranteed, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's setups for it that can make it a potential reset tool (especially with the right assists).

To my slight disappointment though I don't think he goes that well with Vegito, so full team fusion might be out. I definitely see some synergy with Gotenks though, so thinking about a team with the two of them and one of my go-to anchors (SS Vegeta, Goku Black, or Yamcha) to start with.

Oh, and interestingly enough, they just announced there will be periods coming up where you can try some of the older DLC characters for free. Starting October 12th base Goku and Vegeta will be available, then starting November 2nd it will be Fused Zamasu and Cooler. No word on how long those will last, but it's a nice thing to see them trying - not being totally sure whether you'll enjoy playing the characters is always a reason to be hesitant about picking up fighting game DLC after all. I already have Vegeta and Cooler, and I'm pretty certain I don't care about Goku, but I might try out Zamasu to see if he catches my fancy more than I've expected.

[Cozzer]

I really hate the idea of buying more hardware for exclusive when there are already more PC games suited to my tastes than I'll ever have time to play... but the new Fire Emblem really seems like my kind of game.

[Resileaf]

About 25% of the way in the main storyline of Batman: Arkham Knight.

That game sure likes its jump scares.

[oxybe]

With my PC just recently being fixed (couldn't get a hold of the dept that handled repairs, i putzed for a bit then simply ordered the part and fixed it myself as it was something simple) I've been getting back into minecraft.

It's nice. Im currently aying the "all the mods 4" pack for 1.14, but it's feeling... lacking? I may go back to ATM3 for 1.12 for now. at least until we get the 1.15 bee update.

Been looking into getting Rimworld though. Seems like the right mix of wacky, survival and rogue like aspects to keep my attention for a bit.

My mobile game of choice, DFFOO is currently undergoing a sort of mini event, where we can permanently unlock upgrades for one of the summons, as well as characters, and the we should be getting the fall/Halloween events in short time next week or so. this is going to give me something to grind during lulls in my upcoming birthday vacation.

[breck_sk]

A lot of Team Fortress 2. I'm not very good *at all*, but the closest thing I have to a main would be either scout or engineer. My usual scout loadout is Soda Popper+Crit-a-Cola+Atomizer. I sometimes use the Baby Face's Blaster because it's just so fun despite what most people would say.

[tonberrian]

Banjo-Kazooie! I spent a bit scrounging together a working n64 and then finished off the first world. Only 88 jiggies, 800 notes, 40 jinjos, 16 empty honey combs, and 70 mumbo tokens left to collect!

[Yora]

After two years I've picked up Horizon again. It's a bit odd. By pretty much all objective measures, this game is excellent. It looks really good, great controls, and the combat and enemies are fantastic.
But the story, characters, and even the setting feel really boring and generic. I don't care about any of these things. I'm now 30-something hours in and the progress counter says 45%, and I've reached a point where I skip through the dialogs I get when finishing side quests. They talk and talk and talk, but they are really just telling you the other half of their tragic but utterly generic life story. Even when I get a new quest of the main story, I never feel like asking any of the optional questions after the NPCs have told me what they want. Because it's always just backstory on what their lost loved ones mean to them, how they got the trinket that they lost (it's always the last thing they have from a dead loved one) and so on. And I almost immediately stopped trying to learn more about the apocalypse and the old world. The pieces I got all sounded like the most generic robo-apocalypse ever.
The overall presentation is really well done, and the language and the sentences are all fine and never cringy. But the game still has very poor writing because it never says anything interesting.

Though the game still is really a lot of fun because the enemy design and combat controls are so great. It just feels like the game really tries to be a story focused RPG, and it really sucks at that.

[Cozzer]

I finished Enderal! That was a... more powerful experience than I expected. Got pretty invested in the story and all of the major characters as I played. I loved how the story played with the "wish fullfillment" theme of more or less every main character of such an RPG. Definitely advised to everybody who doesn't hate Skyrim's basic gameplay.

This morning I bought Disco Elysium on impulse, after reading a few reviews that made it look like exactly my kind of game. Will play it a bit over the weekend.