Re: General Non-game Chat Thread

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

The setting wasn't really the problem. I can easily take setting in context. It was more the naked lady collectible cards that irked me. While I'm very fond of naked ladies, the assumption by the game developers that I would want to sexually 'collect' women like they were swimming certificates as part of my gameplay was, for me, quite problematic and reeking of toxic masculinity.

[Reader]

The setting wasn't really the problem. I can easily take setting in context. It was more the naked lady collectible cards that irked me. While I'm not very fond of naked ladies, the assumption by the game developers that I would want to sexually 'collect' women like they were swimming certificates as part of my gameplay was, for me, quite problematic and reeking of toxic masculinity.

Yeah, that was pretty iffy. The developers appear to have grown up a bit between the first one and the second/third title: it's still grim, but more "
grim because the world is grim"
rather than weird medieval playboy, sniggering teenager weird.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

Oh! lol, yeah that sounds pretty annoying actually.

There's some nakedness in 2, and I am led to understand in 3, but it's part of scenes at least. And there's guy nakeds as well.

[Lady Corrine Marsten]

Nakedness and grim world are fine for me. It was just, as Reader puts it so well, the "
Medieval Playboy sniggering teenager"
vibe in the first game that was off-putting.

[Samurel Manderly]

I'd agree

[Loreia]

I just don't like Geralt. I hate his tone and I don't really care what the reason is why he talks and behaves the way he does(being that he's near-immortal in age and generally bored with the world and to his eye, its repetition), it just puts me off that he doesn't seem invested in what's happening around him. I don't like that he's bored. He's elf-years, he's powerful, he's smart, he gets all the sexings, it's all Mary Sueish in its own way, him and his lovers. The modding community is partly responsible for me becoming jaded to it. Triss this and that, Geralt hair that.

I remember getting as far as the dwarven stronghold in the 2nd game(the only game I've played), hating the combat and interface, and quitting after walking around for half an hour to a full trying to reach an objective on that map wondering the whole time, "
where do I go?"
Half an hour trying to navigate a map to find an objective that is actually marked, and another half hour starting and completing a cave quest believing it to have been the quest for the objective I was actually searching for. That's when you've lost me.

Fine, I'll pick up Witcher 3 and give it a chance. It's really all 2's fault I'm like this. And probably my fault as well. Whatever!

Will definitely be keeping an eye on Cyberpunk 2077, though. I hope they get to keep on being them in order to get 2077 done...well, "
right"
, for lack of better phrasing. That's coming from someone who's never played anything Cyberpunk related, but from what I understand, it's cybernetics, guns'n'swords, and hefty helpings of roleplay, and that excites me.

[Samurel Manderly]

I just don't like Geralt. I hate his tone and I don't really care what the reason is why he talks and behaves the way he does(being that he's near-immortal in age and generally bored with the world and to his eye, its repetition), it just puts me off that he doesn't seem invested in what's happening around him. I don't like that he's bored. He's elf-years, he's powerful, he's smart, he gets all the sexings, it's all Mary Sueish in its own way, him and his lovers. The modding community is partly responsible for me becoming jaded to it. Triss this and that, Geralt hair that.

I remember getting as far as the dwarven stronghold in the 2nd game(the only game I've played), hating the combat and interface, and quitting after walking around for half an hour to a full trying to reach an objective on that map wondering the whole time, "
where do I go?"
Half an hour trying to navigate a map to find an objective that is actually marked, and another half hour starting and completing a cave quest believing it to have been the quest for the objective I was actually searching for. That's when you've lost me.

Fine, I'll pick up Witcher 3 and give it a chance. It's really all 2's fault I'm like this. And probably my fault as well. Whatever!

Will definitely be keeping an eye on Cyberpunk 2077, though. I hope they get to keep on being them in order to get 2077 done...well, "
right"
, for lack of better phrasing. That's coming from someone who's never played anything Cyberpunk related, but from what I understand, it's cybernetics, guns'n'swords, and hefty helpings of roleplay, and that excites me.

All fair and good, reasons abound as always.

Witcher 3 is substantially better then witcher 2, having playing all three, and having enjoy 2 quite a lot, I can say with confidence that I would not enjoy 2 now that I've played 3.

with that said, Cyberpunk is more about Crime, underground, espionage, rebellion against the corporations, and nihilism then that, Deus Ex is cyberpunk yet there is very little swords is what I mean. Out of all the Punks, I think I prefer Biopunk though Cyberpunk is a close second.

[Septon Arlyn]

I've tried plaing a few games of shadow run but the number of options in those books tends to drive people insane and the groups only last about 3-4 sessions tops. Which is unfortunate but also life :ugeek:

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

I'm very hopeful for Cyberpunk. And I agree that Geralt isn't the character I'd want to play...which is one obstacle to my enjoyment of the games. I literally didn't get out of the prologue of Witcher 2. I forced myself a bit farther in 3, but just can't get into it.

I'd love the game, I think...despite the unintuitive combat...if I could just make my own character. I realize that makes the plot and story kind of hamstrung, but...I don't really care?

[Samurel Manderly]

I'm very hopeful for Cyberpunk. And I agree that Geralt isn't the character I'd want to play...which is one obstacle to my enjoyment of the games. I literally didn't get out of the prologue of Witcher 2. I forced myself a bit farther in 3, but just can't get into it.

I'd love the game, I think...despite the unintuitive combat...if I could just make my own character. I realize that makes the plot and story kind of hamstrung, but...I don't really care?

The closet you can get I think is going the skyrim route, apparently a guy cobbled together 3 mods that basically turn witcher 3 into skyrm... you can't make your own character but you can play as any one of them.

[Samurel Manderly]

oh, side note, while I might not find the character of geralt to be interesting per se, I find his character design to be quite pleasing. and the general lore of Witchers as well.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

I really like the lore of the world as well!

Sadly, I can't do mods. I have the PS4 version of Witcher 3. I didn't make that mistake with Fallout 4, happily.

[Septon Arlyn]

I got Inquisition but have yet to finish it

same here. Thankfully for my sanity and marriage, I haven't got anything capable of playing Fallout 4

^what he said. Besides, in pretty sure my significant other would likely take a hammer to the computer if I spent any more time playing games

[Yoren longshore]

I've tried plaing a few games of shadow run but the number of options in those books tends to drive people insane and the groups only last about 3-4 sessions tops. Which is unfortunate but also life :ugeek:

Shadowrun is easy enough once you get into it. I'd advice using herolab to make characters, to avoid confusion. Then start with a quite railroaded scenario to get the players into it. Then their story will develop easy from there :;
):

[Baelon Drakeson]

I've tried plaing a few games of shadow run but the number of options in those books tends to drive people insane and the groups only last about 3-4 sessions tops. Which is unfortunate but also life :ugeek:

I use to play HERO system, 4th (5th?) Ed. The book was so think it could literally stop bullets. Almost all of it was player options.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

Wa hah! HERO! Man, I remember that.

Remember how time was like...turns, which consisted of phases that were based on character speed? But then they were ALSO based on 12 objectively measured divisions too, so each character's phase consisted of a different number of those smaller 1/12th turns, and...you had to juggle all that. Every turn.

But it gave you this super-concrete measure of exactly how fast each character was acting and when in the turn they acted. Which was fun if you had a speedster.

That's kind of HERO in a nutshell. Mind-boggling detail, which was great for just imagining in concrete terms what a super could DO...and hideously fiddly to actually play with.

Also, I love Shadowrun. I've yet to play a game that's lasted more than 6 months or so though. And grenades are...a bit OP. I mean, they're OP in real life too, but dang after awhile you just start carrying around 50 grenades. Who needs guns?

[Septon Arlyn]

People who have GM's who punish you harshly for killing corporate drones/ security. That was how one of our sessions ended. I ended pepper grenading an upstairs hideout where there was a corporate hostage, hostage was allergic to the pepper grenade, ended up killing her. Brought the knights down on us and pop, game over. Sometimes discretion is needed when picking your targets

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

lol...that seems a bit weird to me. Sort of like maybe the GM was tired of running it and looking for a way out. Because really...that's all just GM fiat.

But it's true that Shadowrun, even more than usual, requires a LOT of teamwork between players, and with the GM, otherwise it just devolves into a shouting match.

[Loreia]

If you're a good DM, your games don't devolve into 'shouting matches'(sometimes literal). If you're a cool player, you don't get into a shouting match with the DM.

If I were in charge of a Shadowrun game, I'd have the grenades damage the environment as well, depending on what kind of grenades they are. And then dress the tougher enemies in extra padding to nullify or mitigate the damage from grenades, but leave the mooks for the players to have their quick 'n' easy fireworks victories. Then you'd have to find a way to bypass or destroy the padding on the tougher guys, then use your grenades. Also, bullets are cheaper. Everything in moderation, as one chem dealer in Fallout 4 would say.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

Grenades DO do structural damage in Shadowrun. And armor does work on them, so heavily armored guys can sometimes mitigate the damage.

There are times when you want to bust out the Ares assault rifle and unload a clip of APDS rounds into some cybered up foolio, to be sure.

The trick with grenades is that they're just super hard to avoid, and unless you RUTHLESSLY minmax your defenses, a couple will shred a party.

Anyway, it's not as big a deal as I'm probably making it sound. But it is one of those things that sometimes comes up.

[Baelon Drakeson]

Wa hah! HERO! Man, I remember that.

Remember how time was like...turns, which consisted of phases that were based on character speed? But then they were ALSO based on 12 objectively measured divisions too, so each character's phase consisted of a different number of those smaller 1/12th turns, and...you had to juggle all that. Every turn.

But it gave you this super-concrete measure of exactly how fast each character was acting and when in the turn they acted. Which was fun if you had a speedster.

That's kind of HERO in a nutshell. Mind-boggling detail, which was great for just imagining in concrete terms what a super could DO...and hideously fiddly to actually play with.

Yup, that's it. Human standard speed: 2. You act in phases 7 and 12. Speed 3, you act in 4,8 and 12...
Super complicated character design system, but you could do just about anything in it. Coming up with character concept first was a must;
and there were probably at least a dozed different ways to build any particular concept, all of which would end up playing more or less the same, but with slightly different odd cases and interactions.

[Gwyneth Drakeson]

I actually really enjoyed HERO, even though I never found anyone who wanted to play it.

But then, I'm that guy who not only played and loved GURPS, but who loved GURPS Vehicles. So there's a crazy part of my brain that loves that much detail in my RPGs...at least, in the bits that can be dealt with away from the game table.

[Reader]

Kind of game-chat, kind of not game.

Big spoilers for the Canon Dance of Dragons - a dramatic end for two of the main characters (protagonists? antagonists? :;
): )

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2015/12/21/gam ... first-look

[Loreia]

Well now I might know one of them, thanks a lot. >
:[

[Reader]

Sorry Loreia, that was thoughtlessly written of me in my enthusiasm, tweaking my previous post.

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