Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Sat Jul 04, 2020 7:30 pm**

I’m just playing the free base game. There’s a lot of content included for $0.

I may end up buying xpacs at some point, but will likely burn out before I get to the point where that content becomes necessary.

Posted: **Sat Jul 04, 2020 7:39 pm**

When they moved it to Steam, I thought they gave all but the last 1 or 2 expansions. So now the "base" game includes the first couple expansions. No?

Posted: **Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:28 pm**

I quite enjoyed Destiny 2 but it didn't really have staying power for me. I didn't find it to be as fun as Warframe.

Posted: **Sat Jul 04, 2020 10:12 pm**

now back to Arcade Moonlander as some updates have been thrown in and ten new levels. (and achievements...)

https://8bithorse.blogspot.com/2019/09/ ... -plus.html

Posted: **Sun Jul 05, 2020 12:28 am**

TheMix wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 7:39 pm When they moved it to Steam, I thought they gave all but the last 1 or 2 expansions. So now the "base" game includes the first couple expansions. No?

Correct. Only the last two are for purchase.

I quite enjoyed Destiny 2 but it didn't really have staying power for me. I didn't find it to be as fun as Warframe.

I've tried Warframe twice, but could never really wrap my head around the gameplay loop. There was just so...much. I also think D2 just feels better to play. The controls and movement feel much more fluid to me.

Posted: **Sun Jul 05, 2020 5:07 am**

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 12:28 am I've tried Warframe twice, but could never really wrap my head around the gameplay loop. There was just so...much. I also think D2 just feels better to play. The controls and movement feel much more fluid to me.

Coming from Warframe, D2 felt like I was running through mud all the time. I quite liked the shooting mechanics and the beautiful worlds though.

Point absolutely taken about how daunting Warframe can be. I don't envy newcomers to the game at all. There's been an absolutely insane proliferation of systems within systems over the years. I still get confused myself sometimes. I don't always agree with the new directions the game takes either - I will forever hate Nightwave and wish they'd kept the old alerts system.

The main reasons I like Warframe are the tons of different frames, weapons and mods, and that the core gameplay is just ridiculous fun. The frames are absurdly agile and the weapons incredibly numerous, it does the power fantasy thing far better than most games I've played. And it's even better with friends of course, as most games are. I'm kind of burnt out for now but I will definitely return in the not too distant future.

Posted: **Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:13 am**

I haven't played Warframe in a couple years, but it did an amazing job of portraying a future so advanced that it feels foreign and unsettling. Its settings are beautiful, but lonely and strange. The gameplay and movement abilities are indeed far beyond the average third-person action game. But as said, it's dense, grindy, and not user friendly (at least, it wasn't at the time). To make real progress, wikis and video guides were necessary. I remember learning that one of the most profitable runs at the time were something I never would have figured out on my own. I'm curious to see what's changed since then.

Posted: **Sun Jul 05, 2020 11:39 am**

Sudy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:13 am I'm curious to see what's changed since then.

I can sum it up in one word: more. They just add and add stuff to it all the time, and that's not always a good thing either. To be fair they did drop a pretty massive rework update early this year which refined a lot of things, but on the whole if you thought the game was dense a couple of years ago, you should see it now!

Posted: **Sun Jul 05, 2020 11:25 pm**

Played Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist. While it had a lot of hunt-the-pixel moments and a few annoying timed events, it was absolutely hilarious, one of the funniest games I've played recently. One part that had me laughing out loud was a guy who was half italian and half irish and who's accent would switch between the two mid-sentence.

Posted: **Sun Jul 05, 2020 11:36 pm**

Forum effect got me to play Warframe this evening. Played through the tutorial and the first mission. Not bad, although I am not digging the keyboard mapping for powers. I will continue to give it a shot until I decide to completely revamp it if I return to it.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:28 am**

Cool, which frame did you pick? I think I got used to just using 1-4 for abilities but I'm pretty sure you can use the mouse wheel to select and use them too, unless that changed. Let me know if you need any pointers - the new player experience sucks and a hell of a lot of stuff simply won't be apparent to you for a long time.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:58 am**

I went with the recommended one for starters.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:17 am**

Is that still Excalibur? He was my favourite frame for a long time.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:21 am**

I think so.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:47 am**

When I played the one recommended for beginners was Rhino and he was a great choice.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:17 pm**

Yeah Rhino is one of the tankiest frames in the game. You can't start with him but you can build him early on. He'll get you through the majority of the star chart, but he will also make you lazy; at high levels you need to know how to evade enemy fire instead of just tanking it. So Rhino is a great choice but my advice would be not to get too attached to him.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 12:26 pm**

Oh, yeah, my bad... Excalibur was my starter frame too, not Rhino. But Rhino was also great.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:43 pm**

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:58 am I went with the recommended one for starters.

I was going to ask if you got your Twitch prime starter pack, but then I realized that was for Warface not Warframe. They do have some stuff for Warframe.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 1:49 pm**

Thanks.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:00 pm**

I've been playing Persona 5 Royal since I finished The Last of Us 2. I'll say that PS4 remote play is the best. My PS4 is in a less comfortable room in my house. I am streaming it to my main gaming laptop and it works wonderfully. I even put in a few hours lounging down by the pool.

My only complaint is the game is extremely long, I like the life management for the most part but the balancing elements drive me crazy sometimes. I'll get to the point where I've teed up some achievement...and then 4 or 5 straight nights I am not allowed to even read books in my own room. COME ON. I just sometimes want to get to the action and the story elements can really drag on ad infinitum. The pacing in general could be better.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:02 pm**

I might have stalled out on Tale of Wuxia Pre-Sequel. After 50 hours I'm fairly close to the end but the last few quests have involved changing to a different party and running around to talk to rather obscure NPCs (little help in the mission journal) and the constant running back and forth is wearing on me. I'll probably head off to what I think is the main quest location and see if I am strong enough before trying to finish all of the side quests.

Posted: **Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:45 pm**

When did pre-sequel become an actual thing? Are there post-prequels now, too?

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:06 am**

Wouldn’t a “pre-sequel” just be, you know, the game?

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:16 am**

It can be (as in the first use I know of) set between the original game and the sequel, or it could be set in any time but be focuses on stuff in the sequel that wasn't in the original game. Not really a prequel, but not really a sequel, either.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:24 am**

I thought it was just a Borderlands joke. Seeing it used presumably legitimately perplexes me.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 4:41 am**

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Fri Jul 03, 2020 7:27 pm
going with Hitman GO now.

too bad all the levels weren't like the airport one. that was genuinely fun all the way through.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:03 am**

Sudy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:45 pm When did pre-sequel become an actual thing? Are there post-prequels now, too?

It's not (normally) a thing.

In this specific case the game is the second game in the series (at least in the English language world) but is set right before the actions of the first game. Due to a mistranslated from Chinese it is labeled the Pre-Sequel on Steam. Yet it does sort of make sense in a way.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 9:31 am**

Scraper wrote: ↑Mon May 18, 2020 8:25 am Here's my latest update:

Splitting into finished during quarantine and still working on:

Finished:
Borderlands the Pre Sequel (Beat it on PS4 with Athena)
Borderlands 3 Moxxi DLC and Sir Hammerlock DLC (finished both on PS4)
Far Cry New Dawn (Beat it on PS4)
Borderlands 1 (Beat the main campaign with Lilith)
Control (I got to what I think is the final boss, wiped a couple of times, finally beat him only to have the game crash, this happened to me twice in a row. I haven't gone back and probably won't)
Final Fantasy 7 Remake (Finished it)
Far Cry 3 on PS4 (finished it and got the Platinum)
Assassin's Creed 2 on PS4
Bard's Tale 4 Director's Edition on PS4

Still working on:
Xenoblade Chronicles Remastered on Switch
Borderlands 3 DLC 3
Fifa 20 (I'm working on both my career as a forward for the Crew and my FUT)
Zelda Link's Awakening (Playing this when my kids let go of the Switch, which isn't very often)

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:51 am**

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:21 am
Sudy wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 11:13 am I'm going to go in for a taste of the new D3 season later today I think. I don't think I've played it for a good year or more. Burned out hard on it before that though. Monk's the only class I haven't played to end game. Dare I give it a try? I always hit a wall for some reason. Monk was the class I thought looked most interesting before the game launched, but I never enjoyed its abilities much. Witch Doctor and Barb were just too much fun in comparison.

The various season themings seem so disappointing. It seems like they could do so much more to shake things up. It doesn't have to be PoE-level that requires significant development time. But something.
Ooh, a new season! That's tempting. Lesse, I just finished a barb and a monk. Witch doctor, maybe?

Well, that was not enjoyable.

I went with a wizard. I disliked the wizard, mostly because between the endless spell effects and the season spell effects, I honestly couldn't see anything but fire/explosions/pretty lights. I couldn't see my character, I couldn't see my cursor, I couldn't see my target. Just pretty lights. I died quite a few times because I ended up standing in something (and explosion, a spinner) that I couldn't see was there.

I finished chapter 4 of the journey, though, and was very disappointed to learn that they'd moved all of the cool rewards (pets, wings, banners) to the end of the journey where only those with a group who are want to spend hours and hours grinding repetitive content and coordinating the most obtuse stuff ("Finish the campaign in under an hour", "pick up 50,000,000 gold all at once") can get to it. It's one of the things that finally drove me away from WoW. Blizzard takes the best stuff and limits it to people who play the game as their sole hobby and whose social circle is all about the game, then give people who don't have that kind of time breadcrumbs.

I always liked that stuff. It was silly cosmetic stuff, but I knew I'd be able to use it the next time I played. Now there isn't really any reason to do seasons, at least for me. When I get done with my usual limit (chapter 4), I'll be given a set of gear for a character that I will be retiring. That's not much motivation, and will likely keep me from bothering in the future.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:18 pm**

I don't want to look to see how much time I have on my season character (and I didn't play at all on Saturday). Demon Hunter is the meta this season and coincidentally what my son wanted us to play, so I made one. Only my second demon hunter. I deleted a couple of my level 70 barbs to make room, I think I had 5. I've had a lot of fun with the Shadow Impale build that is based on the season set. I am at T58 and can probably go higher, but I haven't been getting the drops I need at all and gambling (blood shard and cube upgrades) has been unkind to me as well. I have all the pieces for the GoD set which is the real meta set for the season, but it still needs a couple things to make it surpass my current Shadow Impale capability. I am around paragon 250 I think. Kinf oin between where I fizzled in the early seasons and the 5-6000 I've been hitting in more recent seasons. I am just not dedicated enough to play with the big boys.

Anyway, I don't really care about cosmetics. I did get a new pet (Unicorn) that is cool and was particularly fun running through Whimsy-whatever killing all his prettier cousins. I've never equipped banners or rings and have a hundred portrait frames that are largely indistinguishable. I get new pets mostly from the goblins that drop pets. They are super rare. Oh I also never play outside the season so that's less of a concern.

I haven't seen a convention of the elements, a compass rose, a bovine bardiche or a restraint. Stuff that I always get a bunch of each season. I've only seen one puzzle ring too.

I will agree that the season effect is much more distracting than it is useful.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:49 pm**

Agreed on the season effect. Earlier on I did find it useful a few times. But generally just the lightning (Diablo's attack). The other ones either went off after a fight was over or simply missed.

Now that I'm ramping up in difficulty (just got my 6pc set bonus), I'm even less interested in the season bonus. The Barb set bonus boosts some of my skills by 20k % damage. No way is the season effect going to stack up. They needed to have a default setting where the season effects get the bonuses from the sets. Then maybe I'd care about them. For now I mostly wish they weren't confusing things.

As for the season journey, I think I still have one more stash tab I can grab. So this may be my last season. We'll see. I'm not thrilled about the challenges, but I don't think they are too bad. The gold collection is pretty easy. I've done that a number of times. The 350 kills is tougher. gilraen and I pulled it off last season, but it took a number of tries. The Thrill will be my third. By the time I need a 3rd challenge, I will have a lot of gear. Leveling the Legacy of Dreams makes that one a piece of cake. I skip the one to complete the acts in an hour. Reading up on it, that one does seem to require a 4 man group and a bunch of planning. But the others shouldn't be too bad. Only the 350 kills one is challenging. I don't know if you can do it with only 1 character, but it is definitely doable with 2.

Posted: **Sat Jul 11, 2020 9:20 pm**

Finished Tale of Wuxia Pre-Sequel. Good game. There were a few issues related to side quests and choosing skills that didn't have much in game info but I can't complain. The last few battles are a big step up in difficulty but that also meant you got to see just how powerful some of your party had become. 9.5/10 as a Covid summer game but probably only a 9/10 in a normal year when the 60 hour length would have seemed a little too long.

I've also been messing around in Stellaris but I'm not feeling it. I like Paradox games as world simulations. I play on default difficulty and just see what comes up. Somehow because Stellaris has fewer NPC nations/empires I feel much more of a push to actually Win and I don't find it as pleasant as just seeing what I can do as a random Duke in CKII or a not quite so random nation in EUIII. It probably doesn't help that I added extra events and archaeology digs because I like the flavor. So I have good flavor but more micromanagement.

Posted: **Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:12 pm**

I feel like I'm going through a game progression. (Joking, obviously, since I have multiple different games going on right now.)

Started with Dear Esther. Lovely walking game. I basically mapped walking forward to the left mouse button and zoom to the right.
Moved on to Valley. Running simulator. But with jumping puzzles and a cool life/death mechanic. Still, not too many buttons required.

Finally started The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. This one has walking, running, and crouching! Though no jumping. So maybe it's a sideways move. But it does have some complex puzzles.

After this one maybe I should try Observation on XBox for Windows.

Posted: **Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:27 pm**

TheMix wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:12 pm I feel like I'm going through a game progression. (Joking, obviously, since I have multiple different games going on right now.)

Started with Dear Esther. Lovely walking game. I basically mapped walking forward to the left mouse button and zoom to the right.
Moved on to Valley. Running simulator. But with jumping puzzles and a cool life/death mechanic. Still, not too many buttons required.
Finally started The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. This one has walking, running, and crouching! Though no jumping. So maybe it's a sideways move. But it does have some complex puzzles.

After this one maybe I should try Observation on XBox for Windows.

You should add “What Remains of Edith Finch” to your list.

It’s been my favorite of the walking simulator/mystery/ exploration style of games.

Posted: **Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:31 pm**

Started going through my Steam list and looking for stuff to play or classify out. Threw a few into the MP-only bin, fired up Warface to see what it's like, which isn't bad. Also started on Portal Stories: Mel. Not a bad mod so far, what with it being community-made.

Posted: **Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:53 pm**

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:27 pm
TheMix wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:12 pm I feel like I'm going through a game progression. (Joking, obviously, since I have multiple different games going on right now.)

Started with Dear Esther. Lovely walking game. I basically mapped walking forward to the left mouse button and zoom to the right.
Moved on to Valley. Running simulator. But with jumping puzzles and a cool life/death mechanic. Still, not too many buttons required.
Finally started The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. This one has walking, running, and crouching! Though no jumping. So maybe it's a sideways move. But it does have some complex puzzles.

After this one maybe I should try Observation on XBox for Windows.
You should add “What Remains of Edith Finch” to your list.

It’s been my favorite of the walking simulator/mystery/ exploration style of games.

Noted. Thanks. It's on my wishlist. But it's been there so long that I don't even remember why I added it. Like many of the games on my wishlist.

Posted: **Sun Jul 12, 2020 11:15 pm**

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:31 pm Started going through my Steam list and looking for stuff to play or classify out. Threw a few into the MP-only bin, fired up Warface to see what it's like, which isn't bad.

Hey, I heard there's a free starter pack for that on Twitch Prime. You might want to check it out.

Posted: **Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:02 am**

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:27 pm
TheMix wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:12 pm I feel like I'm going through a game progression. (Joking, obviously, since I have multiple different games going on right now.)

Started with Dear Esther. Lovely walking game. I basically mapped walking forward to the left mouse button and zoom to the right.
Moved on to Valley. Running simulator. But with jumping puzzles and a cool life/death mechanic. Still, not too many buttons required.
Finally started The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. This one has walking, running, and crouching! Though no jumping. So maybe it's a sideways move. But it does have some complex puzzles.

After this one maybe I should try Observation on XBox for Windows.
You should add “What Remains of Edith Finch” to your list.

It’s been my favorite of the walking simulator/mystery/ exploration style of games.

I'd have put in The Talos Principle. You'd get walking, running, crouching, and jumping, plus puzzles.

Posted: **Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:30 am**

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:02 am
Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:27 pm
TheMix wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 9:12 pm I feel like I'm going through a game progression. (Joking, obviously, since I have multiple different games going on right now.)

Started with Dear Esther. Lovely walking game. I basically mapped walking forward to the left mouse button and zoom to the right.
Moved on to Valley. Running simulator. But with jumping puzzles and a cool life/death mechanic. Still, not too many buttons required.
Finally started The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. This one has walking, running, and crouching! Though no jumping. So maybe it's a sideways move. But it does have some complex puzzles.

After this one maybe I should try Observation on XBox for Windows.
You should add “What Remains of Edith Finch” to your list.

It’s been my favorite of the walking simulator/mystery/ exploration style of games.
I'd have put in The Talos Principle. You'd get walking, running, crouching, and jumping, plus puzzles.

also add Gone Home and Tacoma, if walking simulators are your thing

Talos Principle is good, but could have been much more. really nice atmosphere, in any case - this is the game that made me want to visit Greece, purely on the strength of its environmental and light modeling. deciding if i want to start over in the VR version (bought the Croteam VR bundle for cheap last year)

Posted: **Mon Jul 13, 2020 1:45 am**

And nobody has mentioned Firewatch! Or, I suppose, The Stanley Principle.

Octopus Overlords

What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

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Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..

Re: What are you playing in quarantine? Also, MP invites here..