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[Zykon TheLich]

Okay, I just started Total Warhammer 2 back up because I have a vacation coming up. I continued the Chaos campaign as Kholek Suneater... and whatever dumb twat designed this faction can choke on a fat chode. Because when Kholek was defeated and then returned, I literally had to start his horde entirely from scratch. All of it: every upgrade, every unit. Which is just so goddamn assblasting stupid. It means you have to waste literally dozens upon dozens of turns waiting for population surplus to accumulate doing literally nothing. There is no way to speed this process up in any way. And don't forget, if an enemy army way stronger than you shows up, you're fucked, because you have no way to accumulate enough units to stand even a ghost of a chance against anything more dangerous than a mildly annoyed kitten. And you can't rely on other armies for support either, because for some goddamn reason CA decided that chaos should just start infighting any time two armies are within the same post code. So you'll regularly be outmatched by multiple armies of enemies.

I assumed that at least you would retain the upgrades with your legendary lords but nope, fuck you, you're back to level 1. And basically back to square one as well, because in the time it takes to build your horde back up, all the progress you made so far can easily become undone. This is one of the most punishing design flaws I've ever seen in a game. Who made this shit?

As chaos you really do need to rush horde growth, there are lord perks and some hero perks that help.

Horde growth happens each turn, you don't need to be camped, you should not be doing nothing. Just raise an army of chumps, go sack a few outlying towns.

Chaos is probably one of the trickiest races to play, you need to be aggressive, have a backup army nearby, scout with heroes, get lightning strike skill. Basically as a horde faction there's a way to play them, you can't just think of it like a regular campaign. Almost always need to sack, then raze. Gets you more money and xp, and you really do need to get your lord's levelled asap.

Chaos needs to start by subjugating the northern tribes, don't go rushing straight for the empire or kislev

That's kind of the thing with the Total War games and Total Warhammer in particular, as I believe you found out when you first started playing it, you need to learn how to do things.

 

[meiam]

Started on Like A Dragon: Isshin.

My first every Yakuza game (this is a Yakuza game right...). So far I am enjoying it, although I do wonder if the shitty non-combat controls are a deliberate choice. I have to admit that I don't really get the combat yet. So far I am just mashing the attack button, and occasionally the special attack button. There was a moment where I had 6 guys rushing me and I just pulled out the revolver and pressed square till they all died. I genuinely could not tell if I am playing right.

The story and setting are the highlight of course. The Japanese know how to cast a damn good voice actor. I just got to Kyo, which is exciting because I am planning to visit Kyoto next year.

Combat is kinda a second though in it, the only thing that matters is your level and if you do most content you'll vastly over level every encounter you'll do.

Okay, I just started Total Warhammer 2 back up because I have a vacation coming up. I continued the Chaos campaign as Kholek Suneater... and whatever dumb twat designed this faction can choke on a fat chode. Because when Kholek was defeated and then returned, I literally had to start his horde entirely from scratch. All of it: every upgrade, every unit. Which is just so goddamn assblasting stupid. It means you have to waste literally dozens upon dozens of turns waiting for population surplus to accumulate doing literally nothing. There is no way to speed this process up in any way. And don't forget, if an enemy army way stronger than you shows up, you're fucked, because you have no way to accumulate enough units to stand even a ghost of a chance against anything more dangerous than a mildly annoyed kitten. And you can't rely on other armies for support either, because for some goddamn reason CA decided that chaos should just start infighting any time two armies are within the same post code. So you'll regularly be outmatched by multiple armies of enemies.

I assumed that at least you would retain the upgrades with your legendary lords but nope, fuck you, you're back to level 1. And basically back to square one as well, because in the time it takes to build your horde back up, all the progress you made so far can easily become undone. This is one of the most punishing design flaws I've ever seen in a game. Who made this shit?

Horde faction are all about snowballing, in exchange for not having to worry about guarding a city you really can't afford any setback. You should mostly focus on staying mobile and attacking poorly defended settlement and just leaving before the cavalry show up. You can just go to their neighbour and start a war there.

 

[BrawlMan]

I completed Separate Ways Remake on Professional NG+ with an A Rank. I got the Chicago Typewriter!

 

[Bartholen]

As chaos you really do need to rush horde growth, there are lord perks and some hero perks that help.

Horde growth happens each turn, you don't need to be camped, you should not be doing nothing. Just raise an army of chumps, go sack a few outlying towns.

Chaos is probably one of the trickiest races to play, you need to be aggressive, have a backup army nearby, scout with heroes, get lightning strike skill. Basically as a horde faction there's a way to play them, you can't just think of it like a regular campaign. Almost always need to sack, then raze. Gets you more money and xp, and you really do need to get your lord's levelled asap.

Chaos needs to start by subjugating the northern tribes, don't go rushing straight for the empire or kislev

That's kind of the thing with the Total War games and Total Warhammer in particular, as I believe you found out when you first started playing it, you need to learn how to do things.

That's fine in theory, but it's basically an impossible problem: To level up your lords you need to win battles, and to win battles you need a strong enough army. For a strong enough army you need strong units, for which you need advanced buildings instead of just basic ones. And for advanced buildings you need pop surplus which, as mentioned, only accumulates through time. The only way to speed it up aside from the tech upgrades (all of which I already had) is razing settlements, which brings us back to the point about needing a strong enough army, and the cycle is complete. And since recruiting new armies also uses pop surplus, it's very easy to get into a death spiral of recruiting a new army, having them get killed in 2-3 turns, and ending back at square one with less pop surplus than you started with.

Additionally, the recruiting pool starts out so miniscule that even if you start recruiting right away, you have so few (and very weak to boot) units that all it takes is even a moderately strong enemy army to wipe it all out and put you back at square one. Global recruitment is so slow that in the time it takes to recruit anything stronger than basic marauders and dogs, an enemy army will likely show up and mop the floor with you. I know how the faction plays, I'd been playing the campaign for like 15 hours prior to uninstalling the game.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

That's fine in theory, but it's basically an impossible problem: To level up your lords you need to win battles, and to win battles you need a strong enough army. For a strong enough army you need strong units, for which you need advanced buildings instead of just basic ones. And for advanced buildings you need pop surplus which, as mentioned, only accumulates through time. The only way to speed it up aside from the tech upgrades (all of which I already had) is razing settlements, which brings us back to the point about needing a strong enough army, and the cycle is complete. And since recruiting new armies also uses pop surplus, it's very easy to get into a death spiral of recruiting a new army, having them get killed in 2-3 turns, and ending back at square one with less pop surplus than you started with.

Additionally, the recruiting pool starts out so miniscule that even if you start recruiting right away, you have so few (and very weak to boot) units that all it takes is even a moderately strong enemy army to wipe it all out and put you back at square one. Global recruitment is so slow that in the time it takes to recruit anything stronger than basic marauders and dogs, an enemy army will likely show up and mop the floor with you. I know how the faction plays, I'd been playing the campaign for like 15 hours prior to uninstalling the game.

Look, I'm not going to sit here and give you a long guide, it's perfectly doable. You can win with chod in the early stages of the game. Stick to hitting Norsca at first. Play on normal or even easy difficulty until you have the hang of it. There is a learning curve and it's quite steep with chaos, which can be frustrating. I'd suggest watching Legend of Total War on YouTube for some guides if you don't want to git gud through bloody experience.

 

[Bartholen]

Look, I'm not going to sit here and give you a long guide, it's perfectly doable. You can win with chod in the early stages of the game. Stick to hitting Norsca at first. Play on normal or even easy difficulty until you have the hang of it. There is a learning curve and it's quite steep with chaos, which can be frustrating. I'd suggest watching Legend of Total War on YouTube for some guides if you don't want to git gud through bloody experience.

I don't doubt it's doable, I'm just saying the design of the faction sucks donkey ass. I already cleared the short campaign with Beastmen, another horde faction, and had tons of fun. But Warriors lack every element that made them fun.

 

[BrawlMan]

Sonic Superstars - Pinball Zone complete. Tough one and lots of traps you won't see coming your first time through. I noticed where some of the slippery shit gets annoying. Caused me a death at the end boss act, and a few other spots beforehand. Now for the dreaded water level.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

I don't doubt it's doable, I'm just saying the design of the faction sucks donkey ass. I already cleared the short campaign with Beastmen, another horde faction, and had tons of fun. But Warriors lack every element that made them fun.

Yeah, they are very much a challenge on the campaign map, especially at higher difficulties with AI cheats, and there is a recipe for success that is tighter than other factions If you like that sort of challenge it's fun, if not you won't like them. I can't stand playing as Queek, because you have to play differently and I just can't be bothered to learn.

On the battlefield their strong suit is heavy infantry, they aren't very mobile so usually your battles amount to harass archers and artillery with any mobile units until the infantry get in and grind them to a pulp and pin them in place for magic attacks. Chaos does have some decent magic at least. They get much harder as you go up the difficulty as missile troops become more valuable and infantry become more of a liability.

PS, with Kholek, dragon ogres, dragon ogres, dragon ogres, they are really the only good "cavalry". Also shaggoths.

 

[Bartholen]

PS, with Kholek, dragon ogres, dragon ogres, dragon ogres, they are really the only good "cavalry". Also shaggoths.

Oh, goodness me! I totally played 15 hours of a campaign with Kholek, the f-off huge dragon ogre, whose army specifically gets bonuses for dragon ogres, recruits and maintains dragon ogres cheaper, all of which are the first things you're told about Kholek when picking him as the starting hero, but now I realize that I should maybe recruit some dragon ogres to his army.

Come on.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Oh, goodness me! I totally played 15 hours of a campaign with Kholek, the f-off huge dragon ogre, whose army specifically gets bonuses for dragon ogres, recruits and maintains dragon ogres cheaper, all of which are the first things you're told about Kholek when picking him as the starting hero, but now I realize that I should maybe recruit some dragon ogres to his army.

Come on.

Good job I'm here to point these things out. You should probably make sure your keyboard and mouse are plugged in too, that always helps.

Look, I don't know what you're doing wrong, it's not something I can really give anything other than general advice on without seeing you play. My first chaos campaign didn't go well, so I started again, changed strategy, tactics etc and then roflstomped my way across the map.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I did an RE4R playthrough and decided to take a chance on a different rifle. Instead of my usual SR M1903 (the bolt action rifle) I switched it out for the CQBR Assault Rifle (which you find in the library where you play as Ashley). And while the gun is actually pretty alright - just the raw in-the-moment stopping power is suberb - in the Boss fight against Salazar it just becomes useless. That fight with the bolt action rifle is pretty easy; 2 or 3 shots (fully upgraded) and Salazar goes down for a stab oppertunity. But with the assualt rifle (also fully upgraded) it takes ages for him to go in a downed state. I even had to fall back on my shotgun due to running out of ammo for the assualt rifle, which never fucking happens with the bolt action rifle. So yeah, that gun sucks. Serves me right for trying new things.

 

[CaitSeith]

Finally playing Hyrule Warriors: Definite Edition on Switch. I think it's a bit messy to have all the characters unlocked for the Bazaar in Legend mode. Also Gibdos and Re-Deads are usually a pain in Zelda games; but Hyrule Warriors take them to a whole new level of annoyance.

 

[BrawlMan]

Finally playing Hyrule Warriors: Definite Edition on Switch. I think it's a bit messy to have all the characters unlocked for the Bazaar in Legend mode. Also Gibdos and Re-Deads are usually a pain in Zelda games; but Hyrule Warriors take them to a whole new level of annoyance.

With that said, both Warriors and Age of Calamity are the best Dynasty Warriors spin-offs and games you'll ever play. My only problem with either game is that like a lot of these titles, tedium or boredom does sit in at some point when you nearly unlock everything or have to grind to get a specific thing. It's why I later sold both games. I don't regret my time with them, but with the return of 2D brawlers, I don't have a need for them anymore. I wasn't that big into Dynasty Warriors to begin with, though I had my fun with Dynasty Warriors 8 and Samurai Warriors 4.

 

[Piscian]

Callisto Protocol - I am currently already halfway through the game; on the chapter, "Lost". I finally got the Shotgun. It takes you 5 missions to get the shotgun. This game has only 5 weapons in total, and the game clearly wants you to use either melee or combination of range and melee. I upgraded my pistol to near maximum and it's doing fine. I'll try and get some more GRIP moves. "Lost" is also the chapter where you get the suit and your health and inventory gets an upgrade. You go from 6 to 12 on inventory slots. Why couldn't let the player just upgrade their inventory at store stations or find them around the environment is beyond me.

When the game opens up more, it gets fun, but there is still a lot held back or wasted potential. The story is whatever (the end game twist I already know about and is dumb), but I do enjoy the characters that are present.

OK, are you "putting yourself through this game" or actually doing it cause you want to? So far it sounds like working a double at taco bell.

 

[BrawlMan]

OK, are you "putting yourself through this game" or actually doing it cause you want to? So far it sounds like working a double at taco bell.

You must have missed my most recent post from yesterday. I quit the game. There's a really crappy checkpoint in the last part of that chapter, and it sucks hard. I traded the gaming yesterday for some extra cash. I got more back anyway, because I got it from GameStop for $5. The trade-in I did somewhere completely different. I went back to Resident Evil 4 remake and completed Separate Ways on Professional. I'll be playing more Sonic when I get back home.

 

[Piscian]

You must have missed my most recent post from yesterday. I quit the game. There's a really crappy checkpoint in the last part of that chapter, and it sucks hard. I traded the gaming yesterday for some extra cash. I got more back anyway, because I don't have a GameStop for $5. The trade-in I did somewhere completely different. I went back to Resident Evil 4 remake and completed Separate Ways on Professional. I'll be playing more Sonic when I get back home.

oh ok, its free on psn this month..I thought maybe that was your incentive. ggmanlives did a rather excruciating breakdown of the game and completely put me off even trying it and I beat Cold Fear on og xbox.

 

[BrawlMan]

oh ok, its free on psn this month..I thought maybe that was your incentive. ggmanlives did a rather excruciating breakdown of the game and completely put me off even trying it and I beat Cold Fear on og xbox.

My PS plus expired last year. I was going to renew, but Sony raised the price to $80. I'm not paying $80, nor the cheaper options just to play a "free game". It's why I chose the $5 option in the first place. I don't need GGman to figure that out. I figured I'd give it a chance because of the updates, but they still have crappy checkpoints that still have not gone answered. So fuck'em.


Cold Fear is a better option though. Shadows of the Damned is a better option. At least that game has better and more fun mechanics, and more consistent checkpoints. Even darkSector is a better option.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Been playing some of Spider-Man 2, a.k.a. The Big Production Value Game, a.k.a. The Everybody's Face Looks Super Awkward Game.

Anyway, it's more Spider-Man, which I guess is a good thing, but so far it just feels like a more stuffed version of the previous game without anything new or fresh. It also has one of those big bombastic openings that's impressive enough, but even when first experiencing it I could already tell this is going to be a slog to get through on subsequent playthroughs.

The game looks fine, but I can't help but feel the graphics appear a little... dry. It's like there's some finish missing - A layer of texturing to make the hair look just that bit more like hair, the skin that bit more like skin, and the bricks like that bit more like bricks. This feels most noticable in character faces, they just look a tad flat.

So far the story and characters aren't gripping me that much, though I haven't gotten to the symbiote stuff yet, maybe it'll pick up some once it gets introduced.

 

[BrawlMan]

Been playing some of Spider-Man 2, a.k.a. The Big Production Value Game, a.k.a. The Everybody's Face Looks Super Awkward Game.

Anyway, it's more Spider-Man, which I guess is a good thing, but so far it just feels like a more stuffed version of the previous game without anything new or fresh. It also has one of those big bombastic openings that's impressive enough, but even when first experiencing it I could already tell this is going to be a slog to get through on subsequent playthroughs.

The game looks fine, but I can't help but feel the graphics appear a little... dry. It's like there's some finish missing - A layer of texturing to make the hair look just that bit more like hair, the skin that bit more like skin, and the bricks like that bit more like bricks. This feels most noticable in character faces, they just look a tad flat.

So far the story and characters aren't gripping me that much, though I haven't gotten to the symbiote stuff yet, maybe it'll pick up some once it gets introduced.

Thank you for the partial input. I can already see myself disagreeing with you on certain things, aside from the repeat playthrough of the intro. I know the game is great, but I'm not wasting $70 on that. I'll wait till either a Black Friday price drop, or I'll ask it as a Christmas gift.

 

[Casual Shinji]

More Spider-Man 2, and I'm having more fun with the combat now that Kraven's forces have shown up. The fighting up till that point was pretty easy even on the hardest difficulty, but his goons make for some nice bouts.

There was also the inclusion of something that changes the dynamic of this particular Spider-Man universe which I didn't see coming, so that was kinda neat. Oh, and Kraven straight-up kills Scorpian, which good riddance that guy. The dude was always lame, and his look in the Spider-Man games only made it worse.