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SckizoBoy

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A Hermit's Cave
So its only got a Cygnar campaign?

Neat, I have been meaning to get back into the lore for Warmachine, I recall it being really good but I haven't kept up with things since I stopped playing.
Jakes' campaign is Cygnar, but it also focuses a lot on Deneghra in the Haley Twins' campaign (it swaps between the sisters).

Re: Lore of Warmachine, with Doug Seacat's departure from Privateer Press, it's slowed down a lot, and COVID's done a number on their development & production process, a bit of a period of upheaval atm, unfortunately (pressing ahead with their equivalent of GW's Specialist Games and they're doing pretty well). In terms of fan created content, there isn't much since the IK audience is the diametric opposite of GW's customer base (interest is highest in competitive play, then casual play, then narrative play, then lastly the lore completely unlike the lore/narrative/casual/competitive dynamic for GW). It's out there, but it takes a bit of digging to find, and because of the lack of audience, channels (& wikis, come to think about it) come and go or concentrate on something else and output only occasional lore content. Regrettable though it is, given what I'm trying to do, though WMH has one of the best rule-sets in the miniatures gaming niche, its setting and background does not have the support from the community (whether by apathy or ignorance (willful or otherwise), the vast majority of WMH players fall into one of those categories) to properly thrive unless its forced on them by the developers (since the creative team is a shadow of what it used to be).
 
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NerfedFalcon

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I just completed Ghost of Tsushima, getting the platinum trophy as the last thing that happened in the story.

I've read CriticalGaming's review, and while I don't fully disagree with a lot of their criticisms, including the early issues with lacking options, slightly weaker third act and that the game can get somewhat repetitive, I just had so much fun the entire time that I didn't even mind its issues. The mechanics all work well enough that they don't really get boring, both the main story and the sidequests are really well-written and designed, and just the fact that it's a complete game with nothing carved out to sell back to the audience later is laudable in 2020, though it shouldn't be. Overall, I'd say that Ghost of Tsushima is up there for one of the PS4's best first-party titles, and one I'd recommend to pretty much anyone with a PS4.

I'll probably move on to Sekiro next. I've played some of it before borrowing my friend's PS4 copy, but I'll be starting over to play it on PC because I gave it back.
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Jakes' campaign is Cygnar, but it also focuses a lot on Deneghra in the Haley Twins' campaign (it swaps between the sisters).

Re: Lore of Warmachine, with Doug Seacat's departure from Privateer Press, it's slowed down a lot, and COVID's done a number on their development & production process, a bit of a period of upheaval atm, unfortunately (pressing ahead with their equivalent of GW's Specialist Games and they're doing pretty well). In terms of fan created content, there isn't much since the IK audience is the diametric opposite of GW's customer base (interest is highest in competitive play, then casual play, then narrative play, then lastly the lore completely unlike the lore/narrative/casual/competitive dynamic for GW). It's out there, but it takes a bit of digging to find, and because of the lack of audience, channels (& wikis, come to think about it) come and go or concentrate on something else and output only occasional lore content. Regrettable though it is, given what I'm trying to do, though WMH has one of the best rule-sets in the miniatures gaming niche, its setting and background does not have the support from the community (whether by apathy or ignorance (willful or otherwise), the vast majority of WMH players fall into one of those categories) to properly thrive unless its forced on them by the developers (since the creative team is a shadow of what it used to be).
Hmm, interesting.

That sucks, cause one of the cool things about Warmachine is that it seemed to be really willing to move the story along, where something like 40k was mostly just a setting that barely seemed to change. It might have changed a lot at this point and I just don't know about it since I just really play the games.
 

SckizoBoy

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A Hermit's Cave
Hmm, interesting.

That sucks, cause one of the cool things about Warmachine is that it seemed to be really willing to move the story along, where something like 40k was mostly just a setting that barely seemed to change. It might have changed a lot at this point and I just don't know about it since I just really play the games.
Depending on when you left the hobby, the story's moved along quite a bit. They introduced two mini-factions as a result of the story moving along. Points of lore dating back hundreds of years have now been made uncomfortably relevant and some very high profile characters (and a few low profile ones) have been permakilled (story only, doesn't affect ability to take them in armies).
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Depending on when you left the hobby, the story's moved along quite a bit. They introduced two mini-factions as a result of the story moving along. Points of lore dating back hundreds of years have now been made uncomfortably relevant and some very high profile characters (and a few low profile ones) have been permakilled (story only, doesn't affect ability to take them in armies).
I stopped paying much attention after hordes was released. I mean I do have the hordes book, but only the initial one... I think.
 

Jarrito3002

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Actually playing that Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remake on the Switch. It is just so chill. The warmth of the colors, the pace is at your leisure and that fact you can make every go fast foward I do not mind. I cut my teeth on RPGs during the PS2 era so a fast foward button is so much more welcomed.
 

SckizoBoy

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I stopped paying much attention after hordes was released. I mean I do have the hordes book, but only the initial one... I think.
Oh, wow, that is... a long time ago! Yeah, had two edition updates since then, the number of factions has increased by five (not including the original Hordes release factions), a fair few casters have a third incarnation, Vinter's been pretty busy and loads of conspiracy theories have been confirmed/denied. The story has moved on a lot since the release of Hordes (to be expected given Warmachine is only three years older than Hordes).
 

Worgen

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Oh, wow, that is... a long time ago! Yeah, had two edition updates since then, the number of factions has increased by five (not including the original Hordes release factions), a fair few casters have a third incarnation, Vinter's been pretty busy and loads of conspiracy theories have been confirmed/denied. The story has moved on a lot since the release of Hordes (to be expected given Warmachine is only three years older than Hordes).
I messed up, the last book I saw was the one that introduced the elfs.
 

Trunkage

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Wasteland 3.

I'm quite annoyed about this. There was apparent Steam pre-order, but apparently (through whatever alternative service) it could have been preordered at a a normal price (~£30-40). Without preorder it, it cost ~£55 in the UK. That is disgusting. They got away with it only because I'd been so short of things to play and getting very bored, otherwise I would have skipped it for a long time until the price came down.
I'd be interested in your review. I didn't finish Wasteland 2 because I just couldn't find cutting one’s arm off an interesting tribe. Or mutant rabbits. I was hoping they'd improve the story a bit
 

SckizoBoy

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I messed up, the last book I saw was the one that introduced the elfs.
Start of MkII by the sounds of things. Still a lot of story has happened if you don't mind spoilers.

Serious Immoren plot spoilers -
Goreshade is still looking for a way to deal with the Iosan 'soulless' issue, tries to nick Nyssor from the Khadorans/Retribution, fails, then infiltrates Ios and confronts Scyrah/a newly returned Nyssor, only to get de-eldritch-ified.

Vinter tries to return AGAIN, but gets crocked when Magnus betrays him for his son Justin, and the merc raises an army to put Justin on the throne but teams up with Leto to beat Vinter one last time before Leto abdicates for his nephew.

Khador/Cygnar agree peace based on a proviso that Khador get to own Llael if a legitimate heir can't be found, except Justin is already sheltering a known heir with strong claims (with plans to marry her to solidify alliances, rush another heir etc.) while the Khadoran covert ops are tracking down and killing the extended royal family. They find out about this & resume war. Cygnar sneak a win (but Stryker perma-dies).

The Old Witch realises the Infernals are on their way and tries to screw with their plans by tearing a hole between Caen/Ur-Caen and releasing the Grymkin.

Infernals aren't pleased by the Grymkin arrival and bring forward their plans. All hell breaks loose, literally everyone teams up against them. Asphyxious sweeps in as a wannabe saviour, gets slapped (and goes epic for the third time), Skorne invasion of Ios is put on hold and they team up to vivisect as many captured Infernals as possible (Goreshade and Hexeris buddy cop comedy in the writing).

All the while, Everblight gets his fight with Pyromalfic (wins, makes Archangels from his corpse, the most dragon-y of dragonspawn), Toruk still needs to deal with Blighterghast and everyone else (read: Krueger) wants that to go on for as long as possible.


That should cover all the big things. Gameplay wise, colossals/gargantuans and battle engines are the big things that were introduced (basically anything on a 120mm aka huge base, colossals/gargantuans being basically much larger & stompier warjacks/warbeasts while battle engines are large independently operating control/dps pieces).
 

NerfedFalcon

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Actually playing that Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remake on the Switch. It is just so chill. The warmth of the colors, the pace is at your leisure and that fact you can make every go fast foward I do not mind. I cut my teeth on RPGs during the PS2 era so a fast foward button is so much more welcomed.
I always preferred Explorers to Rescue Team, but I've heard nothing but good things about the remake. Maybe I'll check it out once I'm done with Sekiro.
 
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Worgen

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Start of MkII by the sounds of things. Still a lot of story has happened if you don't mind spoilers.

Serious Immoren plot spoilers -
Goreshade is still looking for a way to deal with the Iosan 'soulless' issue, tries to nick Nyssor from the Khadorans/Retribution, fails, then infiltrates Ios and confronts Scyrah/a newly returned Nyssor, only to get de-eldritch-ified.

Vinter tries to return AGAIN, but gets crocked when Magnus betrays him for his son Justin, and the merc raises an army to put Justin on the throne but teams up with Leto to beat Vinter one last time before Leto abdicates for his nephew.

Khador/Cygnar agree peace based on a proviso that Khador get to own Llael if a legitimate heir can't be found, except Justin is already sheltering a known heir with strong claims (with plans to marry her to solidify alliances, rush another heir etc.) while the Khadoran covert ops are tracking down and killing the extended royal family. They find out about this & resume war. Cygnar sneak a win (but Stryker perma-dies).

The Old Witch realises the Infernals are on their way and tries to screw with their plans by tearing a hole between Caen/Ur-Caen and releasing the Grymkin.

Infernals aren't pleased by the Grymkin arrival and bring forward their plans. All hell breaks loose, literally everyone teams up against them. Asphyxious sweeps in as a wannabe saviour, gets slapped (and goes epic for the third time), Skorne invasion of Ios is put on hold and they team up to vivisect as many captured Infernals as possible (Goreshade and Hexeris buddy cop comedy in the writing).

All the while, Everblight gets his fight with Pyromalfic (wins, makes Archangels from his corpse, the most dragon-y of dragonspawn), Toruk still needs to deal with Blighterghast and everyone else (read: Krueger) wants that to go on for as long as possible.


That should cover all the big things. Gameplay wise, colossals/gargantuans and battle engines are the big things that were introduced (basically anything on a 120mm aka huge base, colossals/gargantuans being basically much larger & stompier warjacks/warbeasts while battle engines are large independently operating control/dps pieces).
Ugh dammit, that does sound cool, I wish they would just release some novels already with pics of what things look like.

I have kept up with the models, but I don't know their stats. I'm guessing much higher than the Behemoth.
 

SckizoBoy

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Ugh dammit, that does sound cool, I wish they would just release some novels already with pics of what things look like.

I have kept up with the models, but I don't know their stats. I'm guessing much higher than the Behemoth.
There are a few novels and other associated fiction published for all of it. The highest profile release being Acts of War Bks 1/2/3 which cover the Cygnar/Khador conflict, Wrath of the Dragonfather having a predictable premise with a title like that, and Blood of Kings which is about Vinter's fall. The rest pop up in other media (league narrative and expansion books, mostly). Oh, forgot about what's happening with the Protectorate, but that's not as high impact as the rest (spoiler - Severius dies and there's a scuffle over succession to the Hierarch's position and there's a novel about that, too: Fire & Faith - Godless).

Re: model stats, for the gargossals, only really the HP is much higher than Behemoth's, the rest is comparable for the most part (strength is higher, but not that much higher). New special rules and weapons are what makes them powerful but not ridiculous. Battle Engines have their own thing going on across the entire game's worth of them (they vary a great deal).
 

Worgen

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Re: model stats, for the gargossals, only really the HP is much higher than Behemoth's, the rest is comparable for the most part (strength is higher, but not that much higher). New special rules and weapons are what makes them powerful but not ridiculous. Battle Engines have their own thing going on across the entire game's worth of them (they vary a great deal).
I like how the Khador Battle engine would be able to be easily mass produced and they could make entire divisions of.
 

stroopwafel

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Finally 'completed' Ghost of Tsushima. Enjoyed it but I think it was just one Act too long. The last region didn't really add anything and felt disconnected from the rest of the game with the snow and frozen lakes. I guess they wanted to try for a different aesthetic but it felt like you were in a different country. The gameplay was alright but fighting the same four enemy types got a bit repetitive towards the end. I also never really felt like a 'ghost'. I mean you could destroy entire mongol armies with ease so I never really saw the point of a stealth approach and it was also pretty broken with the braindead AI. But for an open world title the combat was pretty good.

The story didn't really grab me either. I liked the tale between Jin and Shimura but it's so every cliche you can possibly imagine about samurai that it was also very predictable. Kotun Kahn didn't really got time to develop either. He's pretty much just a generic bad guy.

The highlight of the game is definitely the setting and the dynamic wind effects. The perpetually falling leafs and vibrant color palette gave the game a look and feel of it's own. The guiding wind is one of the most elegant solutions for map markers I've ever seen in a game.

Also massive spoiler:

7Ip17og.jpg
 
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NerfedFalcon

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Finally 'completed' Ghost of Tsushima. Enjoyed it but I think it was just one Act too long. The last region didn't really add anything and felt disconnected from the rest of the game with the snow and frozen lakes. I guess they wanted to try for a different aesthetic but it felt like you were in a different country. The gameplay was alright but fighting the same four enemy types got a bit repetitive towards the end. I also never really felt like a 'ghost'. I mean you could destroy entire mongol armies with ease so I never really saw the point of a stealth approach and it was also pretty broken with the braindead AI. But for an open world title the combat was pretty good.
I think the thing about Act 3 involving a lot of snow is that it's meant to represent the passage of time and the seasons. Act 1 is in summer, Act 2 in autumn, and Act 3 in winter. Though I guess that only really makes sense in the world as presented if you don't go back and forth between regions after each act, it makes the most sense to me.

The story didn't really grab me either. I liked the tale between Jin and Shimura but it's so every cliche you can possibly imagine about samurai that it was also very predictable. Kotun Kahn didn't really got time to develop either. He's pretty much just a generic bad guy.
True enough, but the characters and the dialogue carry the story, I think. YMMV though.

Also massive spoiler:

...why would you show me this.
 
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Drathnoxis

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Was playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door again, but I didn't really feel like doing the last chapter and SGF had to go and demo Disco Elysium, whetting my appetite for the game and thus I needed to drop everything and play it immediately.

I knew the game would appeal to me ever since I saw the ZP review and saw people talking about it, but I've been putting it off, kind of just because. Now that I'm playing it, it's amazing. It's like it was written just for me. I love the dialogue. I love the mysteries. I love how our character can just spout total nonsense for half the dialogue choices or just have a complete meltdown and start crying. I love how there are a million things to talk about with people and you can go back and bring up new things with them from time to time. I love how many of your dialogue choices come back at unexpected moments to form silly little injokes in your playthrough. This may very well be the greatest RPG since Planescape: Torment.
 
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Dalisclock

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Was playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door again, but I didn't really feel like doing the last chapter and SGF had to go and demo Disco Elysium, whetting my appetite for the game and thus I needed to drop everything and play it immediately.

I knew the game would appeal to me ever since I saw the ZP review and saw people talking about it, but I've been putting it off, kind of just because. Now that I'm playing it, it's amazing. It's like it was written just for me. I love the dialogue. I love the mysteries. I love how our character can just spout total nonsense for half the dialogue choices or just have a complete meltdown and start crying. I love how there are a million things to talk about with people and you can go back and bring up new things with them from time to time. I love how many of your dialogue choices come back at unexpected moments to form silly little injokes in your playthrough. This may very well be the greatest RPG since Planescape: Torment.
Yeah, I was shocked just how well everything worked. They nicely set it up you can act like a complete nut, even unintentionally, and it works. It helps that other people acknowledge your seemingly random, unhinged behavior. And how the quests are often random piddy shit like "FInd your heraldic animal" and "Find out what's behind the locked door in the kitchen" and yet they feel strangely compelling because of how the whole thing is presented.

Also, Kim may be the best RPG buddy ever. I don't think I could ever bear to roleplay the Racist route just because it would make him disappointed. I mean, that and the whole Racist thing.

Also, a lot of wonderful humor. In one bit, you're trying to get the corpse out of the tree. One possible exhange.
You: Can't someone else do it?
Kim: Someone else? You mean like... *the police*?
You: Yes, exactly — call the police.
Kim: Someone already did. You know who came? We did. Because we have made bad life decisions.
 
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SilentPony

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I played the Iron Harvest beta and at least the campaign was fun enough I bought it. But that bear can go fuck itself, its a horrible game mechanic!