Arcanum. (with Drog’s patch)
Somehow I’ve never played it. As a 90s cRPG veteran it is interesting to go fresh into a cRPG and be smacked with a lot of confusion about mechanics and stats that I don’t have from games I’m used to playing. It took me a frustratingly long amount of time to figure out how to use the world map travel.
As seems to be a trend with Tim Cain games, the combat isn’t very good but the game is carried by the social detail, world, and variety in how to approach quests. I’m going for a social build with a lean towards magic in order to get the most out of social interactions.
curious if you are on [email protected]
I am now.
Arcanum, is it that one that starts with a blimp crash?
If so, what’s Drogs patch?
Looking for something along those lines…
Cheers
Yes it is. Drog’s patch is the universally recommended patch that fixes bugs and has a lot of optional changes like adding new playable races, removing annoying sound effects, and more evenly distributing party experience instead of a per-hit system.
Is Drog’s patch the Multiverse Edition? That’s what I played back in like January when I played Arcanum for the first time. Fixes a lot of things but still can’t polish the turd that is Arcanum combat sadly.
No, it’s from here:
Ah I see. It’s included in Multiverse (plus a lot more). I can recommend it if you’re ever doing a second playthrough, I thought it was pretty good!
Thanks! I might have a go at it again then. Or if you have any better recommendations 😊!
Better recommendations for… what? For Arcanum or for RPGs in general? 😄Multiverse Edition was pretty good as far as Arcanum goes and I’m glad to have played it, but there are certainly better CRPGs out there.
I’d love a good old rpg 😊! Especially a non group one, or like a side kick or small group but when you start out with 7 it’s too much for me.
I will begin by pushing my personal agenda: Jade Empire is a super underrated older Bioware game and I think could fit your description. While you do amass a large set of followers over the course of the story, they mainly reside at camp. While out and adventuring you’re only ever bringing with you one at a time: exactly the sidekick you’re looking for!
If you want to stay isometric I hold Baldur’s Gate 2 very highly as far as retro RPGs go. You do have a party of six there however. You only have 3 companions for the first few hours though, so at least you get eased into it. And you could just choose to not have a full party if you want. Will make the game a bit harder, mind.
Fallout 1&2 are also retro RPGs and pretty much just better than Arcanum in every way. Not really a party focused experience, you can have companions but they’re more like the sidekicks you mentioned.
Neverwinter Nights 2 just recently got an enhanced edition and that’s also a smaller party experience. The main campaign is decent, but the expansion Mask of the Betrayer is often brought up as one of the best CRPG stories of all time and heralded for its stellar writing.
Getting back into Schedule 1 after a few months, it’s still fun and decently chill to just be a drug dealer for wacky cartoon drug addicts.
I have almost all the properties - all I’m missing is the docks warehouse - I have all possible customers, I’m almost done taking out the rival drug cartel in the game, and I’m still only based out of the barn. I also finally got around to hiring my first few employees so I don’t have to constantly be mixing up new shit to sell or give to my dealers. I’m excited to see what else they add to the game (it’s still in EA).
After I’m done with that, I’ll probably jump back into Abiotic Factor and try to finish the story of that one.
Jump Space
Playing with a mate and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a new game so not quite “patient gamer” but it’s cheap enough that I’m fine with it and looking forward to updates.
Football Manager
It got a hold of me these past couple days. I wanted something chill to do while I drink my coffee but then time just flies by… and it’s suddenly 3 hours later :/
Football Manager
God, I don’t miss sinking time into this monstrosity. Biggest time drain in existence.
just kicked off borderlands 3 over the weekend (it was a freebie on epic a while back).
i can see where they were trying to take the series, but i think they need a “back-to-basics” moment; there were a few decisions that really detract from the ability to be immersed.
(ux)the skill tree system has changed in a way that makes upgrading confusing to the point that i dont even use my special ability (it spawns a mech)
(ui)there are multiple advertisements for DLC that are always on your minimap and block your view of POIs - they look like questgivers
(bug)sometimes fast travel works and sometimes it doesnt (and sometimes it does but doesnt let you travel unless you close and reopen the map)
these 3 issues make it really difficult to enjoy a gaming session without being reminded that i need to spend more money so this convoluted system wont be fixed.
3 days in and i give it a meh 5/10; it seems like the budget was too big.
Finally playing through Cyberpunk 2077. It still has some bugs but nothing that prevents me from enjoying it. I picked up the game and dlc like 40% off recently.
Seems like it was worth waiting for, it’s actually really fun!
For The King 2
It’s definitely got some issues, especially with camera angles, but my friends and I have been having a good time with it. The campaigns are shockingly short, but that makes it way more doable with friends. We all know coordinating time is difficult
Doom 3 on the Steam deck. 20 hours so over the average playtime but I keep getting lost 🧭
Great game. I’ve played it through several times and now am struggling to finish it on nightmare. It’s just so hard when you get down to like 2 health and have to creep around until you can find enough health to be bold again
😰 I’m just on normal difficulty and it’s hard enough!
I recently started playing Revenge of the Savage Planet. So far I really like it. I’ve never finished the first release Journey to the Savage Planet, but it was a nice game.
I’ve had Airship: Kingdoms Adrift for a while and gave it a go. It’s got neat broadside naval combat in the air and you can customize components in ports. There’s a small chance to capture enemy ships under certain conditions and make yourself a fleet or send trade convoys on their own from port to port.
It has a main mission though and kinda acts like a tutorial so, not sure how far along one has to follow it to unlock everything.
Butt the mission rewards are kind of silly. Gave me some warehouse plans to increase port storage, but no idea when I’ll get to use it or where, if at all.
Need resources probably, but i didn’t get that far and the costs are way above what i can poach.
Then gave me a piece of equipment too big for the ship I have, so again, useless at the moment.Anyway, feels off. Maybe I’ll get back at it, maybe not… Who knows.
I’m currently playing through Mass Effect Legendary Edition. I’m done with 1 and am now working through 2. Great games so far!
Enjoy! I’ve been wanting to get back into the ME series again, but the stupid EA launcher requirements have halted me. I know you can modify some files to get around it, and I did do that and it worked, but the next time I tried to open the game steam verified the files and corrected them. I haven’t gotten around to removing the launcher requirements again yet.
I’m back in skyrim VR but i’m using VRocker that let’s me walk or run in place to move in game. It’s been pretty fun. :)
I just got back into modding Skyrim again. It’s my first time modding on Linux, it’s been far smoother than I was told it would be. I’m using ModOrganizer2, it’s been great for the most part. It’s a little iffy to start up, sometimes it forgets I’ve used it before and I need to reboot a couple times which is pretty annoying, but as long as I don’t fully close MO2 it works as expected.
Does No Man’s Sky count? I just got it a few weeks ago on sale and have been having a blast!
I’ve seen it mentioned a lot on lemmy recently, I’m pleasantly surprised. I haven’t played it in a few years but really enjoyed my time with it. It had a really rough launch but even after they fixed it I felt it was quite under-appreciated. I’m glad it’s getting more attention now.
Halo 2: Anniversary
The further into the series I get, the less enjoyable my Heroic playthrough becomes. I’m currently doing the first halo mission as the Arbiter and the amount of shotgun-totting floodlings who can one-shot me while running and jumping around like they’re on speed is… tiring, to say the least. I actually ended up taking a break for a few days for the first time since I started playing MCC due to this very level. Hopefully I’ll be able to start fresh once I’m back.Other than that I still like the game - not as much as Reach but it’s fun for the most part. Gameplay has a nice mix of on-foot and vehicle combat, levels are pretty varied (both visually and in terms of design). New weapons are alright, can’t say I like them more than anything I used in other games.
I’m still not sure how I feel about the story, will have to wait until I’m done before I decide on that.I mentioned it before but boy do I appreciate the presentation when using remastered graphics. All the colour, details and updated art style make the locations look appropriately sci-fi, otherworldly (when needed) and just overall beautiful and pleasant to look at. It’s a fantastic upgrade, one that hits even harder if you play like me - constantly switching between the two versions.
I’ve got another small but annoying problem to mention this week: why does my flashlight turns off randomly? Sometimes it’s after a few seconds, other times when moving between the rooms. Either way, it’s making it pretty much useless. Why? What possible reason could you have for that? It’s not like I’m running out of battery or anything, just let me use it when I want to.
I’m waiting for Ruby’s Reblanced Halo 2. Based on the quality of the Halo: CE rebalance it will probably fix many of those issues. I hope, but maybe shouldn’t expect, that mod includes the proper shading. Part of the reason Halo 2 looks so strange is it was designed for a full dynamic shading system which was pulled late in development for XBox performance reasons. What’s left is baked shading and very limited and scaled back dynamic shading, but in a world and art style that was designed with full dynamic in mind.
I recently played though Halo 2 partially with another restored content/rebalance mod and it was alright, though it didn’t have the skill of the Ruby Rebalance in making new/restored content feel organic to the game.
I heard about the dynamic lighting situation but completely forgot about it until now, thanks for the reminder!
I didn’t dive into Halo modding yet so I wasn’t aware of rebalance patches, makes sense. This is my first playthrough of the series (sans 1 and Spartan Assault) so I wanted to play them vanilla anyway but I’ll keep that in mind if I ever decide to play them again.
If you’ve played Halo CE, playing the Ruby Rebalance is still worth it. You’ll probably appreciate it more with the vanilla experience fresh in mind.
The Halo: CE mod is very tastefully done and improves the game. There are a lot of invisible tweaks like making the assault rifle more accurate in short bursts and tweaking spawns (the Library level is much better) as well as visible changes like adding ODSTs where it makes sense, adding new enemy types, and a few new to CE campaign weapons like a usable energy sword.
The new enemy types include a lot of new flood forms which makes them less of a slog to play against. There’s elite zealot flood still carrying energy swords, which are terrifying.
I still have 2.5 games ahead of me so I probably won’t be doing a full playthrough of H1 but I might take a look. It does sound promising and a bit more involved than I expected to be honest. Thanks again for letting me know!
The improved graphics look great for H2A, especially cutscenes, but it always bummed me out that it also changes the soundtrack. The original OST is just worlds better, with works from known artists (Incubus, Hoobastank, Breaking Benjamin), and the new music is just much more generic and mid.
I think the new versions of atmospheric tracks are pretty decent alternatives. Better? I can’t say I compared them this way but I’d say… a bit different and fitting with the new visuals for the most part. Dunno about the licensed stuff as my only experience with classic releases was playing the first game a few years ago.
I did find a few spots over all the games I played so far where I felt like the music was lacking a bit but I’m not sure if that’s just a normal experience or something exclusive to MCC/updated versions of the games. It wasn’t something that affected my enjoyment too much so I just moved on and focused on the good.
Yeah, admittedly I did play the originals on release so nostalgia is certainly a factor for me. I did have the thought “maybe it’s a licensing issue?” Until I realized the tracks are still in the game, just only if you’re using classic visuals. I would have liked the ability to shift between classic/remastered visuals and audio separately (though I think with the remastered cutscenes at least, this wouldn’t have been an option)
May be worth noting that, for the licensed music, in the game it’s all instrumental versions, regardless of whether the track has lyrics or not. Searching for the tracks online will probably provide versions with lyrics where applicable.
Speaking of cut scenes, I was a bit bummed there was no option to switch art styles during those (the in-engine ones at least). It would be just as, if not more, interesting comparison (depending on how much they changed) so I was really curious about that but alas.
Yeah, I THINK the reason this was cut is because some of them are shot a little differently and actually have slightly different run times
I’d still like to have that option but it’s completely understandable.
I don’t think I had this issue with H1 (or at least not to such extent) so I didn’t even think of it until now but I finally realised why I’m leaning towards remastered soundtrack as much as I do - original is more muted/less audible for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s the compression of old audio files or something else but when switching between both versions, original just doesn’t pop up as much. I might have to play around with sound levels.
Thanks for making me think about it, it actually made me stop to figure it out.
Ninja Gaiden Black, actually. I was watching the Combat Overview video on it, and it made me realize I never really gave it a fair shake because I prefer NG2 by a lot.
BTW, if you in any way like action games, do yourself a favor and follow Combat Overview on YT. No one does what this guy has been doing for last couple of years, sadly. It’s been my go-to channel for long form breakdowns of action games since matthewmatosis shifted focus to making his game and TGBS moved on from making videos covering action games altogether.
I love both games. I think NGB is a better game, but NG2 has higher highs. The combat in NG2 is more viscerally satisfying and fun to play around with, but the game is an unfinished, untested and unbalanced mess. I still love it, and Chapter 1 of NG2 is the best Ninja Gaiden level or the whole series, but NGB feels much more complete and balanced.
From the shit Flying Swallow to the nonlinear level design, my issue with NGB is it’s less committed to being an action game.
To me, NG2 is 3D Ninja Gaiden finding and accepting what it is: a brutal action game where nothing matters but combat interactions. Level design and balance be damned: it’s combat, combat, and more combat.
In that way NG2 is one of the most unique games out there. I can maybe liken it to God Hand, but NG2’s commitment to nonstop combat is so singularly deranged.
For that same reason I always found it difficult to compare them because they clearly set out to achieve different goals. It just happens that what NG2 tried to do is exactly what I need as an action game fan.
If they would have finished and polished NG2 then it could have been the best action game of all time, for sure. It still delivers that “playable cocaine” feeling that’s very unique, and Chapter 1 of NG2 is probably the best level in the whole franchise and one of the best action game levels of all time.
The problem is all the absolute nonsense in the game, and the abundance of pretty much garbage levels. I think like half the levels in the game are outright bad. Also stuff like how completely broken UTs are. It’s obvious the game wasn’t fully playtested and balanced, and so the super powered UTs were slapped on as a bandaid. But they’re not really fun to use and end result is a mechanic that you at best feel forced to resort to just to get through levels, but most of the time try to actively avoid using in order to actually have fun.
The problem is all the absolute nonsense in the game, and the abundance of pretty much garbage levels. I think like half the levels in the game are outright bad.
I don’t think it has more garbage levels than Bayonetta or The Wonderful 101, for example. Like 3 or 4 bad levels? Predominantly where you have water, bow and arrow, and bullshit enemy behavior/checkpoint placement segments.
Most bosses suck in both games, and in most action games, TBH. I don’t understand why they’re hellbent on serving us giant monstrosities. Action games need more humanoid bosses overall.
Also stuff like how completely broken UTs are. It’s obvious the game wasn’t fully playtested and balanced, and so the super powered UTs were slapped on as a bandaid. But they’re not really fun to use and end result is a mechanic that you at best feel forced to resort to just to get through levels, but most of the time try to actively avoid using in order to actually have fun.
How are they broken? You absolutely have to earn using them and be strategic about it. Enemies will mess you up if you misuse OTs on higher difficulties.
IME, most action games feel messier than they actually are on the first playthrough and the more you replay them, the more patterns start to emerge and first playthrough issues fade.
Now, if you didn’t enjoy the first playthrough enough to go back for more that’s fair, and a rather big risk these games typically take.
UTs were perfectly balanced in NGB in my opinion. You need a perfect equilibrium between the power/damage of the move, the amount of safety it gives you (i-frames), the charge time it requires and the enemy count (essence generation). NGB hit all of these were UTs were a powerful tool that felt earned whenever you pulled them off and never too powerful.
In NG2 you get an eternity of i-frames, insane tracking that often has you teleporting around the room between enemies (like Tonfas) and a delimb system that means it’s easier for UTs to feed themselves. Which is exacerbated by the design philosophy being “kill hordes of enemies quickly” without tweaking the 2-essence-cost of a full charge UT and even reducing the basic charge time.
See, this is why I think the comparison doesn’t work. They may be called UTs and function the same as they do in NGB, but enemies behavior is different. If my only strategy is UT spamming regardless of context, I’ll get my teeth kicked in because enemies are too aggressive, volatile, and while they’re not as tanky as they are in NGB, they attack in larger numbers.
Timing is also key if I aim to use essence to instant charge UTs/OL UT. I windrun at the wrong time, and enemies will hunt me down because their tracking is also ridiculous, never mind suicide runs.
All that space between UTs is not exactly a walk in the park and there’s so much to be aware of and get right before you can reliably pull them off to the extent that undermines difficulty in a game where one mistake can easily snowball into a good chunk of your health gone.
Caveat is I have not played NG2 on Master Ninja because I already hate myself enough, I don’t need more misery . Apart from some single chapter challenge stuff I guess. But I have never felt like pulling off UTs was significantly challenging compared to relying on combos and OTs. You’re moving around so much anyway that an on-landing UT is often easy to pull off as long as you have 2 essences in the air.
What I find most fun in NG2 combat is using all the combos from the move list of the various weapons, and using OTs strategically for i-frames. But UT spam just seems so much more efficient and easy.
Maybe Master Ninja is significantly different, I don’t know.
RIP Itagaki
Trying to mod/ROM hack [email protected] Soul Silver, so that also necessitates playtesting that. Never actually fully finished playing the first time around.
You might want to edit the title to Recommendations instead of Recommendstions
Fixed the title, thanks.
