What are you playing at the moment?

[Anthile]

Well... guess.

After giving the seven the beating of their lifetime (well, except for Milton - that was one of the most bizarre bossfights ever) and rolling over some of the most profilic rare monsters, I thought I did rather well - until I tried to take on The Fallen. In all the previous bossfights, no matter how tough they were, I never got the feeling they're impossible to defeat. This time I really have no idea how either now or at any time in the future I could ever beat him, bar insane level grinding. He has so many cheap attacks but that's not even the real problem. The fight also has a time limit. Grmbl.

[Whitmore]

Did you install the melted wax faces mod for the complete oblivion look?

I did one better! I replaced every head with a candle.

[Drake Sigar]

I'm right at the beginning of the game, I don't even have the option to buy different armor. The default armor has a sound suppression of 4, civilian clothing have one of 5, surely the armor is the better bet there?

I think, much as I want it to be otherwise, that I just don't have the patience for pure stealth play. What are the consequences of just shooting the damned terrorists?

Yeah I'd stick with the armour.

Nobody seems to care how you perform in Saudi, but there are many points throughout the game where a basic level of stealth is required. You’re also sometimes given extra rewards (you can kill a boss in Saudi’s last mission without him even being aware of you), and most characters are impressed by professionalism.

Then again, some characters are downright turned on by you blowing away anything that moves. Stealthing is the preferred way to play so you have all the options available to you, but if you want to be a gun-toting mercenary, who’s obsessed with redecorating every warehouse in hint of brain, go for it. At least you’ll get to thoroughly search every place you clear out.

[Heliocentric]

Finished Alpha protocol, end game for me turned into 48 seconds of invisibility (shadow, excellence, shadow) walk around a room punching everyone in the neck.

I'll try and keep spoilers to a minimum but I kept to my less than lethal run, but I want to try a no stealth powers and no reloads run, I guess I can do a veteran run as well since that that run wad recruit.

The aimbot assault rifle skill sounds like fun. Also after checking the wiki on triggering alternate endings I think part of the end is bugged because I saved a life that isn't indicated and the talking in a cutscene suggested I picked to opposite ending for Taipei.

[Heliocentric]

I re-dug through Alpha Protocol started a veteran game, nice having foreknowledge at times, but a lot of the magic is gone. Eager to get heck and call on him often, but actually I realised that after this I don't have a "next" game.

Downloading GTA4 on steam, maybe running people over in the big pear (just like an apple right?) will suit me.

[Giaddon]

Both Rookie and Normal have really invasive tips at the top of the screen telling you what to do next; do these continue after the first mission or should I kick it up to Expert or even Professional?

The first mission is a tutorial mission. There are no tips in any other missions at any difficulty (I believe, never played easy).

[vinraith]

Yeah I'd stick with the armour.

Nobody seems to care how you perform in Saudi, but there are many points throughout the game where a basic level of stealth is required. You’re also sometimes given extra rewards (you can kill a boss in Saudi’s last mission without him even being aware of you), and most characters are impressed by professionalism.

Then again, some characters are downright turned on by you blowing away anything that moves. Stealthing is the preferred way to play so you have all the options available to you, but if you want to be a gun-toting mercenary, who’s obsessed with redecorating every warehouse in hint of brain, go for it. At least you’ll get to thoroughly search every place you clear out.

I'd like to continue to play stealthy, but not feel compelled to reload every time I'm spotted or set off an alarm. I'm very unclear of the consequences of that, if there even are any, so I've been playing it like an "instafail" stealth game even though it's not one. I'm holding myself to a sufficient standard that I'm actually killing the game, because frankly I suck at/have little patience for pure stealth games. In short, I seem to be hitting some internal psychological defect that's screwing up the game for me.

In other news, I started playing Revenge of the Titans again, for the first time since the beta. I quite like what they've done with it, though I haven't worked out a strategy I'm happy with just yet. Great game though, strategically, graphically, and musically.

[Giaddon]

Vinraith:
Specialize in pistols and stealth, at least (I believe you are already doing this?). Sooner rather than later you will find a silencer for your pistol, which makes the stealth game much easier.

Use "awareness" (a stealth ability) to see where guards are and where they are facing.

Don't play the game as an instafail stealth game! The checkpoint system is built into the game to encourage players to roll with their failings and experience the consequences of their play. This goes for both gameplay and conversations. Especially early on, before you get advanced abilities/equipment, it is very hard to go through a mission without being spotted. Don't worry about that -- it's not a pure-stealth game.

Consequences of an alarm are: guards know where you are. In a few missions, there will be specific outcomes if you trip an alarm, but it is never game-failing/ending to trip an alarm.

Consequences of killing: Depends. You are expected to kill your enemies, and not kill civilians. You will later meet certain factions whose members you may want to kill or not -- both options are viable and lead you through the game.

It's also useful to have some combat skills for the boss fights. Chainshot (pistol) is perfect for this.

Really, try to get through Saudi Arabia as quickly as you can, because the game really opens up and improves once you're out of the desert.

[vinraith]

Thanks Giaddon, that's good to hear. I'll try to quit worrying about it. :)

[Drake Sigar]

Vinraith:
Don't play the game as an instafail stealth game! The checkpoint system is built into the game to encourage players to roll with their failings and experience the consequences of their play. This goes for both gameplay and conversations. Especially early on, before you get advanced abilities/equipment, it is very hard to go through a mission without being spotted. Don't worry about that -- it's not a pure-stealth game.

I’m a perfectionist. Reloading at the last checkpoint every time someone spots me may be frustrating at times, but it’s all worth it just to get those words of awe from my associates and a neat reputation boost.

*Dissolves into the background*

[Heliocentric]

Want to really stop worrying about stealth? Ban yourself from reloading, and unlock sabotage 1, buy a bunch of emp grenades so you can speed past any hacks or lockpicks you don't fancy your chances with and turn off alarms.
I'm thinking I'll take a shotgun and kung fu Chuck Norris style.
But I won't be replaying for a while though, so...

I've already progressed quite far quake 4, dead space and overlord 2 but I think I've given up on them, at least for now.
GTA 4, Stalker or The Witcher are my Current singleplayer shortlist titles.
Suggestions anyone?

[vinraith]

I’m a perfectionist. Reloading at the last checkpoint every time someone spots me may be frustrating at times, but it’s all worth it just to get those words of awe from my associates and a neat reputation boost.

*Dissolves into the background*

You're really not helping, you know that? :)

Ban yourself from reloading

I suspect that's very good advice. I'm driving myself mad reloading, I need to just take my damned lumps and roll with it.

[Casimir Effect]

Well... guess.

After giving the seven the beating of their lifetime (well, except for Milton - that was one of the most bizarre bossfights ever) and rolling over some of the most profilic rare monsters, I thought I did rather well - until I tried to take on The Fallen. In all the previous bossfights, no matter how tough they were, I never got the feeling they're impossible to defeat. This time I really have no idea how either now or at any time in the future I could ever beat him, bar insane level grinding. He has so many cheap attacks but that's not even the real problem. The fight also has a time limit. Grmbl.

Milton teaches you the meaning of dickmove with Overdrive. The seven fight is actually one of my favourite, especially if you've met them all previously. And getting Torgal his 'Lugh's Revenge' move is great.

The Fallen is... yeah... I did warn you. He goes something like this: you have 10 turns to beat him and at the end of every turn he almost always uses a certain bigass spell (one of the Magica spells as they're known). If he uses a spell called Life Spring at the end of one of these turns then you're basically fucked. It heals him completely and you won't have time to beat him without being superhighlevel. The worst he casts at you is Animalcule because it can give every status effect known to man which effectively disables a union. And as you mention his normal moves can be entirely dickish as well, especially when they hurt more than 1 union.

The other bad part of the fight is Wyngale. This guy... this fucking guy. You'll accidentely heal him rather than the union who needed it. You'll mistakenly resurrect him when all your other unions are down. Yet he does nothing in terms of damage and can be the cause of all your unions being hit by something. He's a dick and there should be a "Dump this asshat" option before the quest.

To beat him you need lots of people knowing Vivification herb or some resurrection Art (like Kiss of Life), lots of healing Arts in general (like Revitalize), some well levelled morale-reducing Arts (like Addle), and some high-level combat arts. I got my ass kicked a few times at first and had almost given up. I decided to give it one last go and got his health flashing (<30%) and must have gotten close before turn 10 rolled around and killed me. So I gave it another shot, had far worse luck but my final guy standing killed him. Everyone else was down, it was turn 10, and my guy won initiative and beat his ass. One of my proudest gaming moments.

He's only worth beating to get to the Ancient Ruins, which is a nice place for fighting & looting and something the PC version screwed up on (this area is just bought as DLC in the 360 version). But it isn't necessary to go there, only really if you're a completionist.

And I should also mention there is a DLC form of The Fallen too (there is for all the big bosses including the Seven). He's called The Lost, hangs out in the Southwestern Road, had twice the hitpoints, higher level attacks, and you only get 5 turns. I'm not even touching that.

[Casimir Effect]

Want to really stop worrying about stealth? Ban yourself from reloading, and unlock sabotage 1, buy a bunch of emp grenades so you can speed past any hacks or lockpicks you don't fancy your chances with and turn off alarms.
I'm thinking I'll take a shotgun and kung fu Chuck Norris style.
But I won't be replaying for a while though, so...

I've already progressed quite far quake 4, dead space and overlord 2 but I think I've given up on them, at least for now.
GTA 4, Stalker or The Witcher are my Current singleplayer shortlist titles.
Suggestions anyone?

If you haven't played GTA4 it is well worth it. That game does a lot right and has a great feel. Like all GTA games it starts to suffer towards the end when you're getting a big bored and the mission get so long you yearn for some sort of checkpoint system. It's worth it for some of the characters though, which are the strongest point of the game.

I have Stalker but something about it doesn't agree with me - possibly its punishing nature. But it is well thought of around here so I'm sure someone else could persuade you to play it.

The Witcher is a fun game but has quite a poor flow: plot highs are often followed by drudgery where there's an overreliance on collect this, kill that and fetch this quests, made all the more annoying by them being dependant on the time of the day somehow. But the story and characters are often excellent, the world and atmosphere are what Bioware wish Dragon Age could have been, the combat and progression system are decent and allow for a variety of character builds, and the sex cards should be treated as a developer mistake and never spoken of again.

Just coming off Alpha Protocol, I'd recommend GTA 4.

[Anthile]

Well yeah, these are the moments I just want to throw the game out of the window:
2011-09-17_00003.jpg

[hamster]

Ehh I hated GTA 4. The "missions" felt like v. simple templates (chase after him, kill him, blah) and when reloading a mission doesn't take you to the mission area, but all the way back to where you GET the mission, which means a crap load of driving. It was so bad i quit after 10 hours.

Go for Witcher. Some tedious bits with the sidequests (lots of running back & forth between quest giver and quest area) but everything is fairly enjoyable. Story is nice, plot is intriguing and the environments are nice. You should try & download a difficulty mod though for some degree of challenge - otherwise the alchemy system is pretty redundant since you can just hack/blast everything to pieces.

[Heliocentric]

Cant you just hop in a taxi to get to the mission?

[Althea]

Ehh I hated GTA 4. The "missions" felt like v. simple templates (chase after him, kill him, blah) and when reloading a mission doesn't take you to the mission area, but all the way back to where you GET the mission, which means a crap load of driving. It was so bad i quit after 10 hours.

The Witcher is different how? Kill 20 of these to get 10 items, kill Y monsters to get X items to place in objects A thru G, go talk to Person 1 then go to Person 3. At least GTA made things fun, and you could always spend a lot of time not doing missions and just dicking about in Liberty City. The multiplayer can be pretty good, too, and Rockstar are still holding events for it after all this time.

GTA IV isn't the greatest game ever, but Helio won't find a better GTA-esque sandbox until Saints Row The Third in November.

[Heliocentric]

GTA IV isn't the greatest game ever, but Helio won't find a better GTA-esque sandbox until Saints Row The Third in November.

My favourite GTA-esque game is assassins creed brotherhood, it really is one too.

But you remind me I have saints row 2, but performance concerns always put me off.

[GothicEmperor]

Dawn of War II: Retribution. The Ork campaign is hilarious, from the pirate Warboss to the item descriptions. ALso some damn good fun.

I'll take Relic-style RTS over DotA any day.