[Video Games] What are you playing? (Omikron Edition)

Welp... Just "finished" Starfield. Now I'm deciding whether or not I want to

Spoiler

continue playing the game as Starborn in or not in New Game+ or not. Seems like it would be a lot of the same stuff over again, and I usually don't play games over again unless they're something like 4X or sandbox games

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Overall, I'd give the game about a 6-7, tops. It was fun running around shooting at stuff. There was a lot of repetitive locations, but I went around killing so many things, I think I'm level 68 or something now, but could've been finished with the game long ago if I had focused on the main storyline. Hell, I have 4 skill points I still haven't assigned. I also never did the Terrormorph quest which I thought may end up being a fun quest. Also didn't do a lot of the minor quests or pick up all the NPCs I could (or probably even most of them). You can basically "finish" the game without doing a lot of stuff. Playing on "normal" was a bit too easy, too. The battles/fighting were too easy, but probably the most enjoyable aspect of the game. Even the endgame was kind of easy in terms of combat. It's a game with a lot of great potential if they (or mods) fix a lot of the half-assery in it. lol. I still liked the game, even though it was a bit of a letdown from what I had hoped, but like I said, I'm still deciding on the spoiler above.

 

Good for you, play your story and don't have characters you don't want in your party. You can always do another playthrough if you feel you missed anything, or watch videos. I know I've seen permutations in the storytelling for the main character and the companions that I would never have believed possible. My personal favorites were Karlach and Lae'zel, and a couple other companions you can recruit later in the game.

Level ups in D&D are huge buffs for a variety of reasons, so yes, every level up is an event, but odd level ups feel more impactful than even levels ups most of the time for me. I think this reddit link makes a good job of explaining it.

Damage is a combination of factors including the main stat for your class, the damage of the weapon, the ability modifier (strenthg, dexterity, etc.) and further damage buffs/debuffs. That being said, it's all about the build and stats plus gear. Saving throws are basically what you roll against attacks, using your dice, plus proficiency, plus other modifiers (resistances, bonuses, ect.). It's like damage but for defending against attacks.

I played a dual hand crossbows bard and I had a blast with the character, a good mix of spellcaster and ranged attacks, plus I liked the option of dominating conversations as needed and lockpicking. I would recommend looking up ranged/rogue builds and choose one you like because I'm not a very good D&D min/max player, but in D&D you can have extremely broken builds if you know how to abuse mechanics. I saw a rogue video literally soloing encounters in the highest difficulty that I had my entire party barely make it through in a normal playthrough. I would link the videos but they can be considered spoilers. Here is an article explaining damage: https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-attack-roll-calculating-damage-explained/

Probably better guides out there if you look. Personally, I would just look up a build that you like and just learn that one for now and along the way you will learn the rest of the basics. Don't try to learn everything at once.

 

Crazy messed up saves in my first play on this game, so I started over, and this play is very different. I was a Bard the first time and now I'm a Paladin. Many more companions this time and they really change the options of this game in a cool way.

Also the timing of when I came across certain activities changed the options and story parts.

In February when the new patch comes out for Starfield, I'll probably jump back into that. I opted to not yet start the New Game+ on that one, because I have quests which are bugged that I'd love to finish.

Then I'll either finish Bg3 or if I already finished it, I'll choose between replaying Starfield or another run at BG3.

 

Great choices, I did notice from early replays by choice that doing things different could lead to a completely different outcome, a reactivity to such levels I had not seen before. How they managed to keep track of all the permutations of that branching set of choices tree just blows my mind. I've watched videos of different outcomes and it's almost a completely different game based on what you choose, truly incredible freedom being able to lock yourself out of entire outcomes.

 

Agreed. Really amazing the way they made choices really matter and also the number of different ways they matter. The game was incredibly well done.

 

What kind of characters/races are you guys playing in BG3?

 

I started half-elf Bard, but my new character is Human Paladin. I wish I would have chosen something other than human that had dark vision, but that's fine.

 

I'm an elf Gloomstalker Assassin. I prefer ranged characters and it's close to a sniper playstyle.

 

Back in the 80s and 90s, when playing CRPGs, I was usually a mage or a fighter class. Nowadays, I usually play RPGs as a mage of some type, and usually fire-based for the pyrotechnics (lol). So in this run I'm a half-elf draconic bloodline sorcerer. I'm not much of a D&D person, though I play tons of RPGs based on D&D, and I've got to say, there's some learning I'm going to need to do in this one to understand some of the mechanics. Once I understand it all, I may even re-start the game. A couple of these battles my party is getting owned (and not even close), and I'm only at level 3, I think.

So far I love the dialogue, though I'm disappointed most of the time my character seems to be a mute. The acting is pretty good on the part of the others, though.

Oh well, time to go kill some spiders and goblins ...

 

Combat has been challenging for me throughout. Remembering concentration is a a difficult task for me. So many times, I forget that a spell requires concentration and the very next turn I'll cast a different concentration spell.

 

I don't think I use many, if any, concentration-based spells. I think Shadowheart has a few, but I never have really used any of the spells of hers except healing spells (lol), but I'm still figuring that mess out, too. I just decided to take on a Level 5 phase matriarch spider in the whispering depths and her phasing minions she keeps calling and got eaten alive. It was going well until she started phasing all over and poisoning me and my squishy level 3 party. *sigh*

 

That's a huge problem in this game. I saw some thread on reddit about game mechanics that they never realized until so many hours into the game. It wasn't very spoiler heavy. But there are so many things that people didn't know that the game never tells you, it assumes you know from D&D. The game is fun, but it's very complex and unless you are a D&D veteran, you will miss so many things. Like, apparently, wizards can learn spells from scrolls instead of by leveling up.

 

The wizards learning from scrolls I already kind of knew just from playing other games, but yeah, I know the first time I encountered that in an RPG, I was like "damn... and I was sitting here selling all my scrolls for money". lol.

But ... I just saw a bugbear and an ogre ... in a barn ... and I just want to delete the game off my computer. Seriously, you have to be a bit demented to come up with some of this crap. LOL.

 

Didn't Shadowheart warn you not to disturb them? Lol.

I think I have to presume everyone in the Forgotten Realms are mating with anything and everything 24/7.

 

Was sick in bed over Christmas and started playing Hearthstone again after 4 years off. Hit Legend last week, not sure if I'll keep playing as it's already getting a little dull and repetitive for me.

 

Yeah, but I was like "whatever, Shart ... you'll be mine and singin' my tunes by the end of of this game, anyway". Actually, I just wanted to fight whatever was behind the doors to gain XP.

 

I just turned off all nudity on this game and the dialogue choices I had as a bard made that particular encounter hilarious.

 

The best spells in the game are concentration spells. Spirit Guardian is IMHO the best spell. But you need to be level 5 to cast it.

My first pay trough was paladin Gith Dark Urge, but I became an oathbreaker, which I didn;t want. So I started again an played as a Paladin/warlock Tiefling. I finished the game as that character. My curent Character is a Gnome Warlock/rogue.

I am also Playing Alan wake 2, and Marvel Snap on my phone.

 

That is almost better than any basketball talk unbeknownst of what game you all are playing......