What are you playing right now?

[Kasimir he/him]

Somewhat off-topic, but is anybody else vaguely annoyed when a game penalizes you karma-wise for killing named characters but won't care at all if you mow down thousands of mooks? I'm looking at you, dark-side meter. Especially you, Force Unleashed.

My impression was that TFU doesn't do karma-penalties, unless you're referring to:

The final decision to go after Vader or to save the Rebels.

The one I can think of that does this in the Star Wars series is KOTOR + KOTOR 2, but IMO, the Dark Side options there tend to promote petty cruelty and the Light Side options tend to promote being a saint. Because seriously, if I stopped to help everyone between Taris and Dantooine and never got paid for my trouble, who's gonna pay for my fuel? :/

Edited November 18, 2015 by Kasimir

[azninvasion99 he/him]

I always felt that KOTOR I/II was one of the few successful ones for a karma meter, since there were certain abilities that were only unlocked if you went one way or the other. Like if you didn't go through that game going dark side and using force lightning, you missed out on major faceroll. 

The one I can think of that does this in the Star Wars series is KOTOR + KOTOR 2, but IMO, the Dark Side options there tend to promote petty cruelty and the Light Side options tend to promote being a saint. Because seriously, if I stopped to help everyone between Taris and Dantooine and never got paid for my trouble, who's gonna pay for my fuel? :/

This is why you help them, get your light side points, then kill them afterwards for their money. Then the light side/dark side points were negated and you went away with money. Lol particularly on Taris, those people were so annoying in KOTOR. 

[Kasimir he/him]

I always felt that KOTOR I/II was one of the few successful ones for a karma meter, since there were certain abilities that were only unlocked if you went one way or the other. Like if you didn't go through that game going dark side and using force lightning, you missed out on major faceroll. 

This is why you help them, get your light side points, then kill them afterwards for their money. Then the light side/dark side points were negated and you went away with money. Lol particularly on Taris, those people were so annoying in KOTOR.

Honestly, I had to use a cheat to go DS. I just felt really, really (morally) bad about killing people for their money. This is why I'm not supposed to play RPGs :/ Force Scream in KOTOR 2 was pretty cool too.

Pfft, I prefer to work within the game/character where possible. Just gonna have to disagree here

 

[azninvasion99 he/him]

Honestly, I had to use a cheat to go DS. I just felt really, really (morally) bad about killing people for their money. This is why I'm not supposed to play RPGs :/ Force Scream in KOTOR 2 was pretty cool too.

 

I definitely felt morally awful the entire time I would go DS but I was determined to play it that way since it felt like a different experience, with the choices and events that unfolded when you were evil. 

[Voidus]

Fallout 4 has been awesome so far, though now I'm stuck in a mission since it keeps crashing whenever I travel to the mission objective.

Ah well, guess I'll just have to build more settlements.

[Kestrel she/her]

Wolfquest 2.7

Its soo much better than the original. I love the new map they have; I've spent a few hours just exploring it alone.

Kinda want Fallout, but I know it'll go just as well as Assassin's Creed did. Basically, I'll play it a bit but eventually stop for no reason. Yay.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

I just hate karma meters in general, especially in an RPG where they keep offering you choices but there's only ever a benefit to going down one path or the other, alternating between them just reduces your rewards. Looking at you Infamous. 

 

The thing with Infamous is that they never intended for you to alternate, or at least that was never my impression. They had two stories to tell, one in which Cole chose to be a hero despite the world hating him, and one in which Cole chose to be the villain that the world pushed him towards. I always thought it would have been nice if they'd included the neutral path, but that likely would have been harder to write, since the late game events tend to reference earlier happenings, and so having players choose which hero/evil actions to take could become complicated.

[Voidus]

The thing with Infamous is that they never intended for you to alternate, or at least that was never my impression. They had two stories to tell, one in which Cole chose to be a hero despite the world hating him, and one in which Cole chose to be the villain that the world pushed him towards. I always thought it would have been nice if they'd included the neutral path, but that likely would have been harder to write, since the late game events tend to reference earlier happenings, and so having players choose which hero/evil actions to take could become complicated.

That's kind of my point, why give you the illusion of choice if you don't really get to choose anything? It should have just been a selection at the start, do you want to be good!Cole? Or do you want to eat babies for breakfast and throw lightning bolts at grandmothers?

[Blaze1616 he/him]

That's kind of my point, why give you the illusion of choice if you don't really get to choose anything? It should have just been a selection at the start, do you want to be good!Cole? Or do you want to eat babies for breakfast and throw lightning bolts at grandmothers?

 

I see your point. The only thing I can think of is that they didn't want to make the good/evil choices obvious, but I can only think of one or two situations in which that was the case. Most of the time your choices are pretty black or white...er, red or blue...as to which karma they'll give, so it's a weak argument at best.

[Observer]

I definitely felt morally awful the entire time I would go DS but I was determined to play it that way since it felt like a different experience, with the choices and events that unfolded when you were evil.

Why give you the illusion of choice if you really don't get to choose anything?

 

And stuff like this is why you'd love Undertale's narrative Good endings, good-neutral endings, bad-neutral endings, and of course evil endings so messed up they exist for the sole purpose of seeing how horrible a human being you're willing to be for no other reason beyond 'it was a thing I could do, so I did it' and 'I wanted to see something new'.

 

I was also referring to that exact part of the Force Unleashed. You can murder everything that moves in the nastiest way imaginable, but if you just 'make the right choice' in the very end you're totally forgiven and everything is great. The drawback of karma systems. It's hard to predict how messed up a player can be and still stay within the bounds of a good ending.

[Voidus]

 

I see your point. The only thing I can think of is that they didn't want to make the good/evil choices obvious, but I can only think of one or two situations in which that was the case. Most of the time your choices are pretty black or white...er, red or blue...as to which karma they'll give, so it's a weak argument at best.

I much prefer a system like that found in Dragon Age, particularly in Inquisition, your choices still matter, they still influence the overarching story and they influence how other characters interact with you but it's not just a binary choice, you need to choose carefully over the entire game.
It also avoids the absurdities in most Karma systems, they want you to proceed at a predictable pace so your karma is minorly influenced by gameplay aspects like killing people or healing them and instead most of your karma comes from cutscene decisions. So you can murder everyone you meet and so long as you're nice when you talk to people it's all totally fine.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

It also avoids the absurdities in most Karma systems, they want you to proceed at a predictable pace so your karma is minorly influenced by gameplay aspects like killing people or healing them and instead most of your karma comes from cutscene decisions. So you can murder everyone you meet and so long as you're nice when you talk to people it's all totally fine.

 

That's actually one of the reasons I like Infamous's system; it's mostly your side actions that offer the largest effect to your karma. It's all the times you helped the cops, healed an injured civilian, murdered an annoying street performer, or slaughtered a pedestrian to drain their nerves of electricity, that make up the main portions of your karma. Sure, missions that are specifically good/evil will offer larger chunks of karma, but by the time you max either of the two sides, you've still got five or six more of those decisions to go, because all those little contributions added up in big ways.

[Observer]

Agreed. A 'good' karma or good/evil system is usually one that counts your little actions as much if not more than your cutscene/big actions. How you act in the towns or in minor dungeons matters just as much as how you deal with the Big Bad.

On the side, has anybody played Bastion? I'm thinking of getting it sometime soon but have heard mixed opinions.

[RippleGylf she/her]

You mean the old one from Xbox days or the current MMO?

 

The MMO.

[Briar King]

I really had a great time with MMO till Disney bought SW and trashed everything except movies so I've never subscribed again. It was really fun especially in a PvP server. I love random Imp/Pub throw downs. Imp all the way!

[Infinite Citadel]

I've really cut down on my console gaming. I spend a lot of time on a nation building MMO though (basically build a nation/join a clan and war other clans. Lot's of politics for the warring side and a lot of math for the building side heh). 

[Left he/him]

I finished Tales of Zestiria. It was a lot of fun, and compares well to Symphonia(the only other tales game I've played.)

I thought the story could've gone deeper. Symphonia really awed me by how deep the plot was, but also by how impressive the side stories could be. I think the plot was somehow understated in Zestiria, it felt like they tried to deepen it, but maybe implied the depth too much.

Despite my criticisms, it really was a great game, and I'm looking forward to 100% it and an eventual replay.

During the holiday sale I bought Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for $5. I've put almost ten hours into it so far, and my money was well spent. I'm playing a female Mage, and really quite enjoying it. I could see myself really enjoying a melee or stealth style though, or some combination. The leveling system is pretty friendly too, which is good because some RPGs can get kinda crazy with the leveling.

My biggest issue so far, is that the dungeons I've been in so far have been lackluster, and the world feels flat. It's supposed to be an open world game, but to me, a game is only open world if there's plenty of climbing and such. I like my batman and Xenoblade skyscraper and mountain climbing.

[Patar he/him]

So quick question. I'm thinking about getting either The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask or Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for my 3DS. Which one do you guys recommend? 

[Zathoth]

So quick question. I'm thinking about getting either The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask or Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for my 3DS. Which one do you guys recommend? 

Depends, have you played Majoras Mask? It is my favorite Zelda, but the 3DS version is missing the charm, I dont know if it is that blocky graphics are creepier, or that they had to add an obvious weak spot to every boss, but the original is just better.

 

But if you havent played it buy it, it is a fantastic game.

 

Honestly, flip a coin, you'll be satisfied either way.

[Dunkum he/him]

I've played Link Between Worlds, but have held off on Majora's mask because I would rather play that one on a full size screen, rather than the tiny 3DS screen. Link Between Worlds is fun, and a bit more open ended than Zelda games usually are, but it also felt way easier to me than the other games I've played

[Blaze1616 he/him]

If you don't like game play in which you have to retry because you ran out of time (i.e. trial and error), don't get Majora's Mask until you're far more invested in the Legend of Zelda series. Though the trial and error isn't too bad, you have to be well versed in the mannerisms of the series at that time to get anything done (one example of such mannerisms being to talk to literally everyone you can).

 

Not knowing how much you enjoy the LoZ series, or whether you prefer the 2D or 3D games within the series, I'd recommend going with Link Between Worlds. It's accessible to newbies, and a love-letter to long time fans by harkening back to A Link to the Past (it is not a remake). The puzzles are clever, the story intriguing, and overall was extremely enjoyable. It was good enough that I bothered to 100% it (also true for Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time).

 

Of course, that's not to say Majora's Mask isn't good. But it is the most divisive game in the series, in my opinion. People usually either think it's the best game in the series, or one of the worst; not a lot in between. Getting LBW is the safe bet in buying a game you'll enjoy.

[Kestrel she/her]

I've just been playing Flight Rising. Its a holiday there, so I'm trying to get all the exclusive items to sell later.

[ThirdGen]

Played a pleasant little Zelda-lite on Steam called Shipwreck.  It's really easy, but charming.

[ChickenPlague he/him]

Playing Assassins creed 4. It combined with Alestorm is pure pirate awesomeness.

[Blaze1616 he/him]

Playing Assassins creed 4. It combined with Alestorm is pure pirate awesomeness.

 

Wench!

Wench!

I want more wenches!

Wench!

Wench!

More wenches and mead!