Octopus Overlords

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 30, 2018 1:02 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Fri Nov 30, 2018 11:34 am

MonkeyFinger wrote: ↑Fri Nov 30, 2018 11:09 am

coopasonic wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:04 am

MonkeyFinger wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 9:58 am This will more than likely be a day one purchase for me.

With a pre-order it can be a day minus three game. Three day head start with pre-order and it's $28 ($35 MSRP) on GMG.

Not seeing any discount there this morning.

I am still seeing it at 20% off. It may not show up if you aren't logged in.. maybe?

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/mu ... o-eden-pc/

I'm seeing the discount, but only after going to my GMG VIP page first. Just going in through the home page, the game doesn't show any discount.

Gotcha - I was logged in but did not go to the VIP page first. Thanks!

[le sigh] After all that, I found out that I am not (no longer am?) a "VIP". Could have sworn I was but may be mistaken. Haven't bought anything for a while from them so this is what I see:

Sorry you're not eligible to access the VIP area yet.
It's by invitation only so do keep shopping and you might see that invitation in your email soon!

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:57 am An extra 3 days with ducks is not a compelling argument.

For the record, a few hours in you get a 4th character which allows you to dump Dux.

Yeah, at this point I'm just dragging out the joke.

I'm serious about not liking ducks in my video games, but not serious enough to pass on a strong game just because it has ducks in it.

It's good to know there are a variety of characters though.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 1:13 pm I'm serious about not liking ducks in my video games, but not serious enough to pass on a strong game just because it has ducks in it.

To be clear, I am not ready to call it a strong game. If there isn't more to it than I am seeing in the first few hours (Steam says 6 hours but I spent a lot of time "perfecting" certain encounters), it's a pretty shallow game with a decent tactical combat system. Normal is too easy and Hard is too hard. I am only playing it for 45-60 minutes at a time and I am not yet sure why I keep stepping away from it. There is no strategic layer to be seen yet. You go back to base whenever you want primarily when you have attachments you want to attach or enough weapon parts to upgrade a weapon. If you are playing hard you're going back for medkits too.

The elder talks too slow. The real time stealth aspect is pretty cool. Damage is very predictable. To hit% is in 25% increments. Ambush is underwhelming.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 2:11 pm

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 1:13 pm I'm serious about not liking ducks in my video games, but not serious enough to pass on a strong game just because it has ducks in it.

To be clear, I am not ready to call it a strong game. If there isn't more to it than I am seeing in the first few hours (Steam says 6 hours but I spent a lot of time "perfecting" certain encounters), it's a pretty shallow game with a decent tactical combat system. Normal is too easy and Hard is too hard. I am only playing it for 45-60 minutes at a time and I am not yet sure why I keep stepping away from it. There is no strategic layer to be seen yet. You go back to base whenever you want primarily when you have attachments you want to attach or enough weapon parts to upgrade a weapon. If you are playing hard you're going back for medkits too.

The elder talks too slow. The real time stealth aspect is pretty cool. Damage is very predictable. To hit% is in 25% increments. Ambush is underwhelming.

So, the elder is a mutated sloth?

I haven't been able to muster any interest in this game. Part of it is my general gaming apathy, I'm sure, and part of it is getting tired of turn-based combat games (heresy!). But a big part of it is indeed the duck. The world is full of mutations, and the best they can do is make essentially people in animal suits? I can't even wrap my head around how that would happen. It's like a 5-yr old was in charge of character development.

Is it good or bad when you finish a game two days before it is released?

So I finished up just now. Steam says 15.3 hours played. Obviously I decided it was good enough to keep playing to completion, but if it dragged out much longer I probably wouldn't have. After playing the first couple hours on hard, I played the rest on normal. As I mentioned before normal is too easy, but hard was too hard and I wouldn't have kept going on that difficulty. Late game enemies have 3-4 armor which, combined with their bullet sponge levels of health means that the stealth gameplay becomes much less feasible. I stopped going quiet when I could no loner get kills in ambush, I guess if you stayed quiet you might limit the number of friends that came to help, but on normal with the "possession" ability, the huge fights were manageable, though you still had to be careful.

Anyway, it was a nice diversion, but I'd rather be playing XCOM2:WOTC for my tactical combat thrills. Back to waiting for Jagged Alliance Rage and Phoenix Point.

Thanks for taking the bullet for us Coop . I swear I was really getting caught up in the hype train on this one.

I pre-ordered Just Cause 4 so I'll be doing the same over on that thread, posting impressions and bug reports.

There should be a thread of honor for people who try out a game and take the hit if it's underwhelming or outright sucks!

We'll just call it the jztemple thread. He's taken more figurative bullets than the rest of us combined.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 7:02 pm We'll just call it the jztemple thread. He's taken more figurative bullets than the rest of us combined.

It's due to a combination of being retired and having some disposable cash. And being very susceptible to hype

Impressions, goddamn it!

It's apparently out today.

Buatha wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:18 am Impressions, goddamn it!

Hear, hear! (Type, type?!)

coopasonic wrote: ↑Sun Dec 02, 2018 3:42 pm Is it good or bad when you finish a game two days before it is released?

So I finished up just now. Steam says 15.3 hours played. Obviously I decided it was good enough to keep playing to completion, but if it dragged out much longer I probably wouldn't have. After playing the first couple hours on hard, I played the rest on normal. As I mentioned before normal is too easy, but hard was too hard and I wouldn't have kept going on that difficulty. Late game enemies have 3-4 armor which, combined with their bullet sponge levels of health means that the stealth gameplay becomes much less feasible. I stopped going quiet when I could no loner get kills in ambush, I guess if you stayed quiet you might limit the number of friends that came to help, but on normal with the "possession" ability, the huge fights were manageable, though you still had to be careful.

Anyway, it was a nice diversion, but I'd rather be playing XCOM2:WOTC for my tactical combat thrills. Back to waiting for Jagged Alliance Rage and Phoenix Point.

Is the fact that I already finished and told you not to bother not enough?

It's included on Xbox Game Pass if you are into that... I imagine there is a free trial for game pass if you are desperate.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:43 am Is the fact that I already finished and told you not to bother not enough?

Yup, that was appreciated, for sure, but I didn't really hear "don't bother" in your summary, tbh.
I heard: It's short, and X-Com 2 is better.

On a scale of 1-10, where would you put it? 10 being....modern X-Coms or MAYBE even something like Silent Storm (don't want to go too far back in time, as I don't think it would be fair to compare against original JA or X-Com)

For a game that hangs on the stealth ambushes and turn based combat because there is nothing else, those elements are just not strong enough. You have very limited tools for ambush. There is variation in the terrain around the enemies and their pathing that gives you some different challenges and options, but basically once you get to the mid game stealth isn't much of an option. For the tactical combat, character abilities are what make it but they are very limited, primarily around getting high ground and a couple of crowd control options. On equipment, you never get better silent gear. Attachments can increase crit chance and damage which are necessary, but I'd rather have them on my much more "go loud" powerful gear and you can't switch attachments around in the field. I guess you could take out the singles, warp back to the Ark and switch the attachments and then warp back for the big fight. That seems lame. Weapon upgrades are boring, +1 dmg, +1 crit.

I am probably just repeating what I already said, but I was playing some XCOM2 last night and it just reminded me how disappointing Mutant Year Zero was. On a scale of 1-10, I'd maybe put it at a 6. I like the concept more than the execution. There just wasn't enough of anything. I guess the $35 price point is supposed to reflect that. On the plus side, I *did* want it to be more. I mean it's just good enough that I want it to be more and better.

That's a good summary Coop, and it addresses one of my biggest gripes in games, that the gameplay gets repetitive with only non-significant tweaks or upgrades. I'm at about forty hours in AC Odyssey and I got tired of getting new weapons every few minutes that were just a tiny upgrade from the previous one.

It reminds me of a Harry Flashman quote from one of the Flashman books by George MacDonald Fraser. Harry Flashman notes that the Kama Sutra is a bunch of nonsense, position 79 is just the same as position 78 except with the fingers crossed .

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:43 am Is the fact that I already finished and told you not to bother not enough?

Doh! I'm sorry, man. I scrolled past your last post.

No worries. You don't generally expect someone to post about finishing a game two days before it is released.

So... I come here, hat in hand, looking for some insight into what's going on. Started off and got to The Ark with some combat and scavenging along the way. My two dudes are Level 4 and I've only had enough whatevers for one "mutation" apiece and not enough scrap or weapon parts to do all that much with but not sure there's any salvage left around The Ark. I've wandered around a bit to places marked on the map like The Iron Serpent, The Metal Bird and some places south and west of The Ark but all of the baddies there seem to be Level 25. Yikes! Run away! I head off to Hammond's Cabin for the next story quest and the Level 5 dudes there kick my ass when the alarm sounds and more show up for a Five-on-Two Hootenanny. Assuming I need to try and be totally stealthy here (rather than "mostly" stealthy), take out the initial dudes there before they call in reinforcements. Is there some way I can level up a bit more before heading down that path? Thanks.

Yup, that was it. Single out the Shaman first and team up on him so he dies in one turn. Then handle the others. Now we head off deeper into the Zone. And I "leveled up" in the process but not really sure what that brings to the table.

Sorry, I wanted to help but I remember very little about the game, other than I am not playing it again unless they decide to seriously overhaul it. Kill off whatever you can in isolation, Shaman dies before it summons backup, there are plenty of grenades in the game, don't be too stingy. There is NOT really that much scrap in the game so don't spend it too frivolously.

Thanks. Was wondering if the scrap re-spawned or was random in nature but sounds like once it's gone, it's gone. And made what I decided was a bad choice spending the Artifact I found and exited the game before it could save. D'oh.

Game is part of Humble Bundle's March (edit: sorry, April's I guess?) bundle, fyi. 12 bucks (or so) gets you this plus whatever else they're offering this month. Vermintide II for one. Cultist simulator and Absolver Downfall as 2 more.

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:49 pm Game is part of Humble Bundle's March (edit: sorry, April's I guess?) bundle, fyi. 12 bucks (or so) gets you this plus whatever else they're offering this month. Vermintide II for one. Cultist simulator and Absolver Downfall as 2 more.

Vermintide II and Cultist Simulator were in March. This one and Absolver are in April. If anyone wants Mutant Year Zero, my copy is up for grabs. I already have it but I am much too uninterested to pause my humble sub.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:18 pm

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 3:49 pm Game is part of Humble Bundle's March (edit: sorry, April's I guess?) bundle, fyi. 12 bucks (or so) gets you this plus whatever else they're offering this month. Vermintide II for one. Cultist simulator and Absolver Downfall as 2 more.

Vermintide II and Cultist Simulator were in March. This one and Absolver are in April. If anyone wants Mutant Year Zero, my copy is up for grabs. I already have it but I am much too uninterested to pause my humble sub.

I'd take you up on that coop. I was thinking of re-uping just for it and then giving the rest away.

I just finished this in the past few days and enjoyed it. For me, I could only survive by isolating my opponents as much as possible and picking them off in stealth mode. Difficulty = Normal.

Other notes:

Jolor wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:50 pm For me, I could only survive by isolating my opponents as much as possible and picking them off in stealth mode.

I found that to be true as well, sometimes brutally so.

I'm just now playing this game since my son got it for me as a Father's day gift. So far I agree with the impressions here. It's OK but not XCOM, it just makes me want to quit it and fire up XCOM WOTC. Stealth and ambush is key and what is irritating is if you miss killing that initial ambush target in the first turn you pretty much have to reload. XCOM there are so many ways to get through a mission, this one seems like it is on rails although it's not but there is really only a few ways to get through a mission and a crucial miss here or there can be devastating. It's quite annoying. I love the atmosphere but not the limited combat options.

Now available for free from the Epic Storefront.

Indeed. Grabbed it on EGS.

I just finished the game. I give it a thumbs up, 6 tentacles out 8. Once you get past the harder missions at the beginning that can be really frustrating and you advance in levels and upgrade weapons, the avenues for winning battle opens up with a bit more variety which makes it feel a little more open instead of on rails. I'll probably get the new DLC for it in the future. What a turn around for me, going from quitting the game out of frustration to battling through and really liking the game.

Lassr wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:24 pm Once you get past the harder missions at the beginning that can be really frustrating and you advance in levels and upgrade weapons, the avenues for winning battle opens up with a bit more variety which makes it feel a little more open instead of on rails.

Interesting, thanks for that. I'll need to get back to this, it would seem. I just remember having been what seemed like everywhere but being low in levels and seeing areas on the map I hadn't been to yet being WAY above my pay grade that I kind of... gave up.

MonkeyFinger wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:43 pm

Lassr wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:24 pm Once you get past the harder missions at the beginning that can be really frustrating and you advance in levels and upgrade weapons, the avenues for winning battle opens up with a bit more variety which makes it feel a little more open instead of on rails.

Interesting, thanks for that. I'll need to get back to this, it would seem. I just remember having been what seemed like everywhere but being low in levels and seeing areas on the map I hadn't been to yet being WAY above my pay grade that I kind of... gave up.

that's what I did, I gave up for a month before coming back, but once I got everyone eqpt with silent weapons as their second option and Bormir got the knock people down for 2 turns ability it really opened the game up. i could pick off the enemy on the perimeters without alerting the rest of them. Whittle them down to 2, 3 or 4 remaining and it was much more manageable. And EMP grenades and EMP attachment to weapons become super important later in the game.