Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:38 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:44 pm
ColdSteel wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:57 am https://www.consumeraffairs.com/compute ... er_pc.html
That is some truly abysmal customer ratings, though I suppose people don't go to Consumer Affairs very often to applaud the experience they had.

They have gone completely down hill the last 8 years or so. I quit buying from them on my last two builds due to horrible customer service my friend had on his. I went with Microcenter's in house builds and couldn't be happier.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:30 am

morlac wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:38 am
Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:44 pm
ColdSteel wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:57 am https://www.consumeraffairs.com/compute ... er_pc.html
That is some truly abysmal customer ratings, though I suppose people don't go to Consumer Affairs very often to applaud the experience they had.
They have gone completely down hill the last 8 years or so. I quit buying from them on my last two builds due to horrible customer service my friend had on his. I went with Microcenter's in house builds and couldn't be happier.

While I really enjoyed my last Cyberpower system, this experience kinda soured me on them. So I skipped Cyberpower this time, and grabbed one from Newegg instead. It's an Asus system, which I've had good luck with in the past. Ended up landing on this one.

- i7 7700 3.6 ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Geforce GTX 1070 8 GB
- 256 SSD + 1 TB HDD

It was quite a bit cheaper than other systems with equivalent specs...hoping that's not an indicator of poor quality.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:52 pm

.
... Bus Simulator 18 Beta Signups ... (in case your gaming dance card isn't full)

Proper noun-challenged publisher astragon Entertainment and developer stillalive studios announce they are now accepting applications for closed beta testing for Bus Simulator 18, the next installment in their transportation series. Here are some details on testing and the game, which allows you to get in touch with your inner Ralph Kramden:

The development of Bus Simulator 18 is a big step into the future of this popular city bus simulation franchise for creators and players alike. Thanks to the use of Unreal® Engine 4, bus fans can now not only look forward to huge changes in the game’s visuals but also the implementation of a wide variety of new features and detail enhancements.

Players who would like to test Bus Simulator 18 already before its official release and provide the developers with valuable feedback during the polishing phase of the game are welcome to complete their application form between March, 27 and April 4, 2018 under the following link: http://bit.ly/2DJgMvf

In comparison to its successful predecessor, Bus Simulator 16, Bus Simulator 18 comes with a brand-new, freely driveable map that is 2.5 times as large as the one of Bus Simulator 16 and will offer an even greater number of interesting city districts. Another new feature that will delight Bus Simulator fans: In addition to the originally licensed city buses by famous makers such as Mercedes Benz and MAN, Bus Simulator 18 will for the first time also include buses by the manufacturer IVECO.

Players will also find that many wishes coming from the game’s faithful community have been implemented in the newest version of the game. This includes the options to drive by day and night as well as an improved progression system and significantly expanded modding options, which now allow not only for the addition of the player’s own bus models but also the creation of whole new cities. To top it all off, Bus Simulator 18 now comes with a synchronous multiplayer mode where up to four players will be able to play together at the same time.

In order to give players and fans of the series a chance to thoroughly test the already very advanced stage of development, publisher astragon Entertainment and developer stillalive studios have now opened applications for a closed beta test of Bus Simulator 18. A unique chance not to be missed by any bus or simulation fans!

From the Application link:

This is the official closed beta application for Bus Simulator 18. Please fill out the form below if you want to get a closer look on the new game by stillalive studios. Bus Simulator 18 will be released on PC in Summer 2018. This closed beta will run from April 13th 2018 till April 16th 2018. It is not representative for the final game experience.

from: blues

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:55 pm

I looked at my Steam library and was shocked that according to steam, I've bought over 2500 bucks of games on Steam, and that doesn't count any key redemptions from other sources. *sigh*

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:26 am

Tried playing through the tutorial in Arma, and it's a f***ing soldier sim, not a shooter. Argh. The controls are also a little iffy. However, I was able to qualify for all weapons in expert, including sniper rifle. The squad command interface, however, gets quite unwieldy.

Decided to play Halcyon 6. It's quite interesting! I know I backed this on Kickstarter, so I'm basically buying it again, but it was on Humble Bundle so I didn't pay much. Hahaha. I got 4 officers and a couple modules built. I guess I need another ship so I can go beat up on pirates, while leave one on station building stuff. I think I also need to assign an officer to improve the mines, but I need more material, which means a 3-ship convoy. I need to promote a scientist (the crew have 3 major types and several subtypes in each major type, I think it's tactical, engineer, and scientist?)

I think I want to try Just Cause 2 again. Running around causing mayhem before didn't quite appeal to me, but I guess I can give it another try.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:14 am

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:26 am Tried playing through the tutorial in Arma, and it's a f***ing soldier sim, not a shooter. Argh.

It's the successor to Operation Flashpoint, so yeah - a sim.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:45 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:30 am While I really enjoyed my last Cyberpower system, this experience kinda soured me on them. So I skipped Cyberpower this time, and grabbed one from Newegg instead. It's an Asus system, which I've had good luck with in the past. Ended up landing on this one.

- i7 7700 3.6 ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Geforce GTX 1070 8 GB
- 256 SSD + 1 TB HDD

It was quite a bit cheaper than other systems with equivalent specs...hoping that's not an indicator of poor quality.

ASUS ROG line is their "gamerz" line, should be quite good. But 1300? Ouch.

I was eyeing this one:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... gnorebbr=1

Almost same specs (6th gen I7 instead of 7th gen, and no SSD), $919. it's a refurb, but it shouldn't matter. It's a funky case. Unfortunately, I'll have to save up a bit of money to get this one. And I can't justify that expenditure right now.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:30 pm

I've gone the refurbished route once. Never again.

I looked at a ton of places before I bought, and $1,300 seemed just about right. Everything with similar specs (that wasn't refurbished) was typically in the $1,500-$1,700 range. Here's similar specs (1070 vs 1070 ti seems to be the only difference) for $1,600. Here's the exact same specs for $1,534. Another identical build for $1,600. Hell, here's the same thing for $1,950!

Maybe you're seeing something I'm not...

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:31 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:14 am
Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:26 am Tried playing through the tutorial in Arma, and it's a f***ing soldier sim, not a shooter. Argh.
It's the successor to Operation Flashpoint, so yeah - a sim.

I loved Operation Flashpoint. I thought the combat was realistic and intense. I never could get into Arma.

Never Mind. I'm thinking of America's Army.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 3:36 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:30 pmI've gone the refurbished route once. Never again.

I've never bought refurbished gaming equipment. That seems looney.

I have been working IT for over a decade and can safely say that refurbished units have approximately twice the failure rate of brand new ones when it comes to computers - aside from that and sometimes a diminished warranty, there's not much wrong with them.

I hate dealing with computers that fail, though, so it's worth it to me to push to buy new and save half the headaches.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:38 pm

Just spent 2 hours downloading all 75 GB of Final Fantasy XV on Steam. As soon as it finished, Steam thought for a sec...then started the entire download over again. WTF???

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 8:35 pm

Playing Just Cause 2. Have to turn off all the eyecandy and turn resolution down to 1280x800 to get decent frame rate. And that reminds me why I did NOT like this game... Every "base" or village I had to "conquer" is basically a scavenger hunt. I run around like crazy looking for crates and whatnot scattered around the area, while enemies shoot at me, but they are easily discouraged as I can shoot them or just grappler-fly beyond their range. Repeat ad infinitum. In the past 1 hour I cleared 2 villages, where as I can't even complete one base in the 4 hours I spent long time ago. I've cleared the base of all enemies, and it's been taken over by the militia, yet it doesn't count as "completed", because I didn't grappler my way all around the buildings looking for those crates. ARGH!

Now I need to clear a couple more villages to trigger the other missions.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:42 pm

Kasey. ...That Halcyon 6....do you know which order they were released in ?Which is the latest?

That company's games look interesting. In 1994 1995 or 1996 they would have been dream games for me. Now I may still like them. They seem cheap too. Maybe in a few months I can try one but want the latest or better one.

Im thinking the Lightspeed Edition is it.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:22 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Mar 28, 2018 10:42 pm ...That Halcyon 6.... ... cheap too. ... Im thinking the Lightspeed Edition is it.

One dolla !!

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:39 am

Classic (base game) first, then Lightspeed is the upgrade.

It's a spinning plate game that's a little bit XCOM (in the anthill mode, where you build base modules), a little bit freedom force or Japanese RPG (turn-based combat, you pick who strikes first), which handles both starship and ground combat, a quite a bit of hero, where your officers grows and levels up (quite a bit like XCOM). There's a strategic or story layer about how the galaxy was suddenly invaded by hostiles jumping through from wormholes, all the fleets are gone, and only the base is left. You never have enough, you need to research tech, build ships, manage resources (getting them from a mine to your station is problematic) and eventually, figure out where the invaders come from and how to stop them.

Combat is tricky sometimes, as most of the choices is when to use disable or damage over time vs. actual firepower, as some attacks are multiplied when enemy's shields are down, or engines crippled, or stuff like that, but firing order is random, so you need to choose among 3 different attacks, 3 different ships. The combos gets a bit tricky. I'm sure there's a wiki somewhere.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:56 am

I am NOT getting Just Cause 2 at all. All I do basically is run around the country side, all around the village, looking for either things to blow up, or the crates to nab. It's the only way to "complete" a village, and just on the starting island, there's a dozen or more villages. All I do, basically, is run all over the village, dodging the enemy patrols, shoot them if I have the ammo, looking for those crates or things to blow up. Your life goes back up if you stop getting hit, at least on easy, but it's PITA, as enemies pop up from all directions.

You have various guerilla groups, but they barely help. You can get special missions from them, and some of those missions are interesting. The "Cape Carnival" one is fun.

Spoiler:

But again, to conquer a camp / facility, you need to find all the crates, and destroy all the Panay government facilities. Cape Carnival is HUGE. You'll need a vehicle to get around quickly, and the crates are hidden all OVER the f***ing place, various vertical levels, and you only get a nav marker when you're close to it (like 100 meters). Even in small villages I had to run all around the perimeter, and spiral inwards toward the center, and even then I had to criss-cross the village multiple times as I tend to miss one corner or another. I know I can chain kills and come up with inventive ways to take out soldiers, but this scavenger hunt in EVERY village is boring me to tears. The special missions are fun, the conquering hearts and minds by destroying government property is just lame, and crate hunting is even worse.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 4:27 am

Just finished Metro Last Light REDUX and am unable to choose my next game. I have installed Mafia 3, Wasteland 2 Director's Cut, and and thinking about some of the zombie games I own.

Im modding up Wasteland 2 right now with portraits and rebalancing mods.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:20 am

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 2:56 am I am NOT getting Just Cause 2 at all. All I do basically is run around the country side, all around the village, looking for either things to blow up, or the crates to nab.

Are those the crates with the upgrades? Are you going for a 100% run? Then, as I recall (and it's been a while), you don't need every crate. Play it like an over-the-top 90s action flick and get the crates you happen to stumble on. Only go hunting if you feel like it or need to upgrade something specific.

For me it was usually about trying to get in and take down a location in an efficient, smart way, following that plan as far as I could, then riding the wave when all hell broke loose.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:00 pm

No, I'm not. I guess I'm still thinking about Homefront: The Revolution when I'm playing Just Cause 2, as I'm thinking I need to 100% the village to stop the goons from showing up or something. Grrr.

OTOH, if you 100% a village, does that count as a good chunk of "chaos" against the government? I know chaos advances your "progress" among the various factions, which leads to new missions.

I am mainly miffed at the choice of transportation. Driving so far, is a PITA in this game. The controls are TOO sensitive, yet not sensitive enough. The response curves are all wrong. My car end up fishtailing all over the road and keeping it on the road is almost impossible, esp. among traffic, that i've resorted to only drive on the shoulder. Only major bases have helos and only airports and major bases have planes. At least they just appear out of nowhere.

Sure, there are regular traffic along the routes, but try to hitch a ride, as soon as you grapple on and jump on top to stunt ride, the driver either go nuts and drive like a madman, or stops the vehicle and runs away screaming. Or end up doing both. It's a PAIN to get to where you need to go. Argh.

Guess I'll stop 100% the villages and just play missions.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 7:38 pm

Paingod wrote: ↑Wed Mar 28, 2018 3:36 pm I have been working IT for over a decade and can safely say that refurbished units have approximately twice the failure rate of brand new ones when it comes to computers - aside from that and sometimes a diminished warranty, there's not much wrong with them.

I must have been one lucky SOB then.

My current rig, a Dell XPS 17 L701X laptop, was bought used off ebay auction for $500, IIRC. It has TWO drive bays and room for 16 GB of RAM. And I've used it for more than 5 years. And it's still going strong.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:41 pm

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:00 pm

I am mainly miffed at the choice of transportation. Driving so far, is a PITA in this game.

Once you get a good handle on the grapple/parachute system, you'll never drive again. It's slow and incredibly limited compared to the 'chute, which lets you move around much more quickly than the vehicles. I'd recommend a YouTube video or two on it to get the technique down.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:49 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:41 pm
Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:00 pm

I am mainly miffed at the choice of transportation. Driving so far, is a PITA in this game.

Once you get a good handle on the grapple/parachute system, you'll never drive again. It's slow and incredibly limited compared to the 'chute, which lets you move around much more quickly than the vehicles. I'd recommend a YouTube video or two on it to get the technique down.

So much this. Still remains one of my favorite travel systems. It felt like being Spiderman... well, except that you could "swing" using the ground. I liked climbing mountains using it. When you got up to speed, you could easily out pace the cars traveling below.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:33 pm

.
...

... Lindsay Lohan loses court appeal vs. ROCKSTAR and GTA-5, initially launched in 2013, and settled TODAY, (Mar 29), regarding her opinion that her likeness was used in game media
.

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 29, 2018 11:12 pm

I would have thought Kate Upton would have had the better case. But apparently it's Shelby Welinder.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 1:11 am

.
Rockstar has been using real-world glamour photos for all of their promotional imagery ... just re-tuning (toon'ing?) them in photoshop

or so a friend told me, I wouldn't know

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 2:03 am

TheMix wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 8:49 pm So much this. Still remains one of my favorite travel systems. It felt like being Spiderman... well, except that you could "swing" using the ground. I liked climbing mountains using it. When you got up to speed, you could easily out pace the cars traveling below.

I need more practice. I got the Roaches mission to defuse 4 bombs in 5 minutes. Except I had to climb a huge building, and I can't seem to move fast enough or high enough or both. First time I was within 10 seconds, but ran out of time diffusing the last bomb (the controls are not responsive during the bomb phase, and apparently when you got hit it also ruins your defuse attempt) I'm using a controller, so it's even more questionable why.

And I periodically crash "app stopped responding", which adds to the frustration.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 2:30 am

I own this game but its not my type game so not tried it I dont think. Is it better with kb/m or a controller?

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 2:41 am

IMHO, controller. The problem is my rig is old enough I can't get it to run right. I can get 20-30 FPS in the benchmarks if I turn off all the eyecandy, but I don't have the reaction time needed to evade shots, and such , as in combat the frame rate drops into teens. Right now, I basically have cheats enabled and blast everything with infinite ammo for grins, while trying to chain together some kills.

I'll have to try something else.

Good thing is I have TONS of backlog games I can go get into. and some of them should even run right on my rig (which is from 2010, actually).

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:05 am

KDH wrote: ↑Fri Mar 30, 2018 1:11 am .
Rockstar has been using real-world glamour photos for all of their promotional imagery ... just re-tuning (toon'ing?) them in photoshop

or so a friend told me, I wouldn't know

At least they're not rotoscoping.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:22 am

So, what are the go-to "eye candy" games these days? My first three out of the gate for the new PC have been Final Fantasy XV, Elite Dangerous, and Doom. All of which look great, but I've spent countless hours with all of them already. Thought about putting modded Skyrim through it's paces, but I just barely (i.e. last week) finished playing through that on Switch.

Any other recommendations?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:23 am

The Witcher 3. Always Witcher 3.

Ghost Recon Wildlands also looks pretty bananas, but it doesn't have an advanced hair and beard simulator like The Witcher 3.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:24 am

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:23 am The Witcher 3. Always Witcher 3.

Thought about it, but I played it through about halfway PS4 about a month ago. Kinda burned out on it, tbh.

JetFred · Post by **JetFred** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 2:08 pm

HOW DO YOU NOT LOVE ROTOSCOPING?

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 30, 2018 2:11 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 30, 2018 10:22 am So, what are the go-to "eye candy" games these days? My first three out of the gate for the new PC have been Final Fantasy XV, Elite Dangerous, and Doom. All of which look great, but I've spent countless hours with all of them already. Thought about putting modded Skyrim through it's paces, but I just barely (i.e. last week) finished playing through that on Switch.

Any other recommendations?

Fallout 3, FNV, or FO4 with some uber mods?

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:34 pm

I tried to play Chaos Reborn, which is from Julian "I created XCOM" Gollop. The hex combat field has some XCOM qualities, but it's NOT tactical combat. It's card-based style wizard combat, and while there is a little bit of terrain, the beginning battle made ZERO sense, and there's no tutorial to ease you into the combat. In the first battle, I'm up against a wizard who's apparently 3 levels above me, and I don't know what I'm doing. I got a free unit but it didn't help me the least. The guy just keep casting summon and just overwhelmed me. ARGH.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:54 pm

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:34 pm I tried to play Chaos Reborn, which is from Julian "I created XCOM" Gollop. The hex combat field has some XCOM qualities, but it's NOT tactical combat. It's card-based style wizard combat, and while there is a little bit of terrain, the beginning battle made ZERO sense, and there's no tutorial to ease you into the combat. In the first battle, I'm up against a wizard who's apparently 3 levels above me, and I don't know what I'm doing. I got a free unit but it didn't help me the least. The guy just keep casting summon and just overwhelmed me. ARGH.

Yeah, I don't remember the first battle, but most battles in that game boil down to a very high dose of luck. There's no "hit points", the attacker either kills the defender or doesn't. The fragility of the wizards leads to a mix of "obnoxious bullshit" where you get killed by a random dog or a stray arrow kills the enemy wizard. It sounded good in theory but I didn't enjoy it.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sun Apr 01, 2018 1:17 am

Playing the free "Darkness II", and I'm bemoaning I have a sucky PC now. I need to lower the res to less than 1080, as I've already turned off all the eyecandy possible. At the boss fight with Bragg my frame rate is in the teens and aiming becomes almost impossible. Fortunately, damage to me is small and eating hearts is enough to restore a quarter of my health. So far, it's got one of those rarities in games: a decent story, background, and a load of badass-ery, where you and your demon arms are making mincemeat of any one in your way, until enemy introduces armored guys and guys with riotshields, and spotlight wielders (that makes the darkness arms go away AND hurts your HP if you stay in the light too long).

There was a couple segments where you play the hell goblin where it turned into a stealth game, and there's a segment where you lost the darkness powers and you have to fight with guns alone.

Basically, some goons went on an all out attack on Estacado's estate, and he need to bring out the Darkness again to fight the attack off. After doing that, he chased down the perp, only to learn that some outfit called "The Brotherhood" wants the Darkness, and they'll drag it out of the protagonist with an artifact called "The Siphon". In the next several levels, you fight Brotherhood lieutenants, while popping between that reality and a reality where you're in an insane asylum where you're told all that was a delusion, all your mob crew are patients, and even Jenny is a nurse. Except in "the real world" Jenny is dead (in previous game?) and somehow Darkness has her soul. Brotherhood wants the Darkness, but the protagonist can't give it up because then Jenny will be trapped forever.

The ending was exactly as I expected.

Spoiler:

The game certainly is interesting variation on the dual wield shooter. No cover, no lean, it's blasting all the way. The "fun" is you get two demon arms to play with while your regular hands wield gun(s). You can shoot WHILE demon arm can slash (both vertical and horizontal slashes are possible, each with different uses. Slash up will toss enemy into the air, and down again will slam the enmy into the ground. It's possible to create combos too, esp. if you buy upgrades to your powers with "Essence", collected after each kill. Though collecting essence is kinda busy work as you get 10-20 per kill, bonus if you buy upgrades if you "eat heart" (your demon arm rips the heart out of a dead body which also regens your hitpoints), and the most expensive upgrades are like 1000 points. I imagine if you do a good combo you get bonus essence. Later, you can buy special attacks like blackhole. (If you kill enemies they random leave a blackhole behind. Pick it up and throw it with the demon arm, and it'll suck in enemies for you.)

A lot of objects in the gameworld can be picked up and thrown. Rods can be use to impale, smaller objects like chairs can be thrown for attack. Fans (ceiling fans and ventilator fans) can be picked up and thrown as giant blade weapons. Certain flat objects including car doors can be plucked off ground or vehicles and used as impromptu shields (but that also means your demon arm won't be doing pickups and attacks). Smacked and stunned enemies (via the demon arm) can be picked up for "executions" and different executions gain different things like shield, ammo, or bonus essence. There are also other attacks like "swarm of flies" that can kill or just stun (distract enemies to give you more time to attack them). You can even pick up your buddy the hell goblin as a weapon (if you buy the upgrade)

Game sure is bloody. Lots of blood, mutilated bodies, dismembered bodies, and more. Definitely R-rated.

The game makes good use of the shoulder buttons on the gamepad. I wouldn't play without a gamepad.

All in all, Fun 8 hours, and I admit I was using a trainer. So I probably didn't get the full experience.

Even if you finish, there's New Game PLUS mode (extra hard) and there's Vendetta mode where you tackle a shorter mission either alone or with a friend co-op. For the in-game item hunter, there are 29 "relics" in various "shrines" hidden on the game levels, each of them telling a piece of the story between Angelus and the Darkness. There is a display case in the mob mansion where the artifacts you collected are displayed, which is really cool.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:42 am

I went through Vendetta mode once. There are like 4 different characters you can try, they each have a different "signature" weapon, and different ways of using it. The characters in Vendetta mode, being only darkness powered, but not darkness host, have lesser powers. The skill tree only has 3 categories (instead of Jackie's 4 categories): buff auras, gun mods, and unique character skills. Buff auras are only useful in MP, where you play the mission co-op, or you can play alone. Mechanics are similar, and the missions are basically "side-story" to the main campaign, like you see the main campaign talk about "get me Johnny", and in the first mission is you go rescue Johnny from whatever goons that grabbed him.

* Inugami -- he's a sorta modern day ninja, dual wield a one-handed gun and a katana, slash or stab. His special skills is basically Jackie's fly swarm power, with upgrades enhancing swarm lethality and duration. (The kanji on his shirt is almost nonsense)

* Shoshanna -- gunslinger, with a unique darkness gun, and starts with Jackie's "gun channelling", which lets you shoot darkness energy at enemies for extreme damage without consuming ammo. Upgrades improve lethality and duration, and even possible auto-targeting, like gun-kata.

* JP Dumond --voodoo master at MP buffing, he starts with jackie's "blackhole" power, cast a blackhole and it sucks in tons of enemies and whatnot. Upgrades makes the black hole bigger and more effective.

* Jimmy Wilson -- axeman, the axe is a throwing weapon that does a lot of damage and acts more like a straight boomerang with recall. Jimmy starts with Jackie's Darkling powers, sends darklings off to harass / kill enemies. Upgrades make darkling explosive and sends up to 4 of them at once. However, recharges are slow.

The missions are straight forward, you can choose any of the four characters, they go through the same missions, basically. First mission is rescue Johnny. Then you're sent off to chase down another Brotherhood lieutenant called Graves, who is after an artifact that can definitely hurt Jackie: Spear of Destiny (yes, the spear that killed Jesus). You chase down the leads dug up by Johnny and Jackie, encountering the Brotherhood, shoot a lot of folks, fight your way into a warehouse, then into a bank vault, then into the huge hall, except when you get there... Well, let's just say it leads to the big fight for the end.

Spoiler:

I was able to finish with Inugami. I tried Jimmy and made it to the end fight, but after dying like 3 times I decided I had enough. I don't think I really want to try the other two characters, or the tougher Game Plus mode.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:56 am

Playing Minimetro. I like this game, simple graphics, but gets more and more complicated as you go on. I was able to zone out until it gets too hectic, as passengers are popping up faster than your trains can get to them. The different cities also adds new wrinkles, like some cities have slow trains, Japan has the superfast bullet train, some cities have a ton of coasts and thus need more tunnels, and other cities give you more locomotives per "week", but have to go without interchange stations, and so on.

I've made it to Osaka, and while the achievements usually specify like 300-500 points, I can usually do 800-1200. Once I did 1700.

From what I can see, the trick is constantly revise your line lay out, keeping in mind

1) you need a central hub, or more than one

2) Try to equal the length of stops on each line, if possible

3) Keep each line to only ONE rare symbol (the popular symbols are circle, square, and triangle. Cross, pentagon, etc. are rare)

4) Keep something in reserve. Whether it's locomotives or tunnels, so you can deal with crises that pops up, redraw the line, and so on.

5) Constantly re-evaluate train utilization. If a train is not close to full and one of the stations are showing excessive wait-time, remove a locomotive or the extra carriage, and either keep them in reserve or deploy them where they'll do more good.

6) Delay the inevitable by pulling trains out of queue or regular run and put it on the crisis stations that may go under.

7) Longer routes need longer trains (extra carriage). Shorter trains for shorter routes.

morlac · Post by **morlac** » Wed Apr 04, 2018 5:23 pm

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:30 pm I've gone the refurbished route once. Never again.

I looked at a ton of places before I bought, and $1,300 seemed just about right. Everything with similar specs (that wasn't refurbished) was typically in the $1,500-$1,700 range. Here's similar specs (1070 vs 1070 ti seems to be the only difference) for $1,600. Here's the exact same specs for $1,534. Another identical build for $1,600. Hell, here's the same thing for $1,950!

Maybe you're seeing something I'm not...

Nope you got a really good deal. Just beware the power supply. That is the one spot they go cheap on for rebuilds that will bite you in the ass.