What video game are you playing?

[IrishLion]

I thought I was pretty good with GoW combat through the game...

But if you really want to improve your combat skills and efficiency, master the Niflheim maze lol.

1. Encounter groups of high level enemies
2. Dispatch them as quickly as possible
3. Sprint to the next area
4. Repeat 4 more times

It was frustrating as hell at first, but once you get the patterns and general layout down, it’s a really fun grind.

Only thing left for a platinum trophy are some Odin’s Ravens to squash and a Valkyrie Queen to defeat.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Only thing left for a platinum trophy are some Odin’s Ravens to squash and a Valkyrie Queen to defeat.

She's no joke. Time to git gud.

 

[IrishLion]

She's no joke. Time to git gud.

Ive got the realm-shift amulet to make sure I’m maximizing a few runic attacks during the fight, and I’ve got a decent enchantment lineup. My favorite for Valkyrie fights might be the one that increases the speed and distance of evasion moves... makes it much easier to avoid the Valhalla slam (and every other attack) during the fight.

Gonna be sad once I’ve finished everything.

 

[IrishLion]

Update:

My wife yelled at me last night because I was in the basement with my headphones on longer than I said I would be... I was on my 57th attempt at defeating Sigrun and had no idea how late it was lol.

I finally beat her this morning when my wife took the kids out to visit her parents.

It took sooooooo many tries to make sense of her various attack patterns and find the best spots when she’s vulnerable.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I finally beat her this morning when my wife took the kids out to visit her parents.

Well done! I assume you're wearing the full Valkyrie set now. Have you given Retribution a whirl yet?

 

[ACamp1900]

NCAA14,... started a new dynasty with UTEP. Amazing how easy this game is now after playing Madden the last few years

 

[IrishinSyria]

I'm currently deep into Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and The Outer Worlds, and I'm loving both of them. Outer Worlds, in particular, is what Fallout should be, but hasn't been for years.

I really liked Fallen Order but found Outer Worlds really disappointing, because it was a game I really thought I was going to like.

 

[IrishLion]

Well done! I assume you're wearing the full Valkyrie set now. Have you given Retribution a whirl yet?

I think I’m actually gonna stick with my Cursed Mist armor set if I do a NG+. I don’t need the protection from the mists, obviously, but the constant health regen is nice, as is the combination of insane runic and strength stats... and my combat revolves almost entirely around popping runics back-to-back-to-back-to-back, then evading and spamming arrows until they reset.

I’ll use the retribution handle, though, and ride out my armor until I get one of the themed God sets.

 

[tussin]

Really enjoying Return of the Obra Dinn on Switch

 

[ACamp1900]

Really enjoying Return of the Obra Dinn on Switch

Another one where the style seriously turns me off... was excited when I heard of it the. I actually saw it. The black and white doesn’t really take away??

 

[tussin]

Another one where the style seriously turns me off... was excited when I heard of it the. I actually saw it. The black and white doesn’t really take away??

It kind of is what it is. I like funky art direction and I think the game incorporates the aesthetic well enough that it’s an overall positive. But I can definitely understand why it turns some off.

 

[ACamp1900]

NCAA14,... started a new dynasty with UTEP. Amazing how easy this game is now after playing Madden the last few years

I'll find out how true this is today. I started with UTEP and I remember I used to think Heisman (especially passing and defense) was a real challenge. I went 11-1 in year one and won the Liberty Bowl over UCinn. I'm 4-0 to start year two but now go to the big house... so yeah... I'f I come away with a win there I may have to play with some sliders to make it more of a challenge.

 

[IrishLion]

I'll find out how true this is today. I started with UTEP and I remember I used to think Heisman (especially passing and defense) was a real challenge. I went 11-1 in year one and won the Liberty Bowl over UCinn. I'm 4-0 to start year two but now go to the big house... so yeah... I'f I come away with a win there I may have to play with some sliders to make it more of a challenge.

Playing on "All American" with a good set of sliders is where it's at.

It gives you some realism in the way the AI defense plays against you, and also makes penalties a factor if they're set right.

Playing on Heisman is hit and miss, because it is basically just the computer picking and choosing when to cheat and jump your routes as a perceived change in 'difficulty.'

All-American with sliders doesn't have that problem, but you can still make the game very challenging. It's nice to have to actually play well as a QB and find good throws, instead of going 20-24 passing every game with 300+ and 4 TD's without breaking a sweat.

 

[NorthDakota]

Playing on "All American" with a good set of sliders is where it's at.

It gives you some realism in the way the AI defense plays against you, and also makes penalties a factor if they're set right.

Playing on Heisman is hit and miss, because it is basically just the computer picking and choosing when to cheat and jump your routes as a perceived change in 'difficulty.'

All-American with sliders doesn't have that problem, but you can still make the game very challenging. It's nice to have to actually play well as a QB and find good throws, instead of going 20-24 passing every game with 300+ and 4 TD's without breaking a sweat.

Nothing more annoying that playing on Heisman/All-Madden and having the opposing QB go ham every game no matter what you do.

 

[ACamp1900]

Playing on "All American" with a good set of sliders is where it's at.

It gives you some realism in the way the AI defense plays against you, and also makes penalties a factor if they're set right.

Playing on Heisman is hit and miss, because it is basically just the computer picking and choosing when to cheat and jump your routes as a perceived change in 'difficulty.'

All-American with sliders doesn't have that problem, but you can still make the game very challenging. It's nice to have to actually play well as a QB and find good throws, instead of going 20-24 passing every game with 300+ and 4 TD's without breaking a sweat.

I remember this being my thing too... if I consistently start to run into any cheap BS on Heisman I'll go that route... thus far it's been pretty cake though. My only loss was to Tulsa in year one and it was a good game where they just had the ball last. UTEP is awful talent wise so I'm kind of sitting here like, "Will I ever lose once I move to a bigger program??"

I think I just got so used to Madden playing faster and harder. I will say though, it's every bit as fun as I remember. I'm all in thus far. Nothing beats recruiting and building in NCAA.

 

[IrishLion]

Nothing beats recruiting and building in NCAA.

It's so satisfying to advance the week after you had a bunch of visits scheduled, and then see all of them committed once the new week loads.

I think my favorite part is offseason, though, particularly orchestrating position changes and then seeing the training results.

I like getting to a point in a dynasty where I can sim most games, play the good/important ones, and get to my offseason management more quickly.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I think I’m actually gonna stick with my Cursed Mist armor set if I do a NG+. I don’t need the protection from the mists, obviously, but the constant health regen is nice, as is the combination of insane runic and strength stats... and my combat revolves almost entirely around popping runics back-to-back-to-back-to-back, then evading and spamming arrows until they reset.

I’ll use the retribution handle, though, and ride out my armor until I get one of the themed God sets.

I never saw the appeal of Cursed over Deadly. The latter has a much better balance of Strength and Runic. I also think you may be undervaluing Cooldown: (1) the higher your Runic, the more valuable Cooldown becomes; and (2) you want at least 100 to get a quicker startup on Executioner's Cleaver. Lastly, the on proc effects of the Valkyrie set are really powerful, and actually make Luck a decent stat at end game.

Since you're obviously over 200 Runic, I hope you're utilizing Pride of the Frost and Blessings of the Frost.

 

[NorthDakota]

I'm surprised Whiskeyjack has not become a Europa Universalis fan. Would have expected him to jump at the opportunity to rewrite history by stomping out the Reformation, and perhaps more humanely proselytize the New World.

 

[IrishLion]

I never saw the appeal of Cursed over Deadly. The latter has a much better balance of Strength and Runic. I also think you may be undervaluing Cooldown: (1) the higher your Runic, the more valuable Cooldown becomes; and (2) you want at least 100 to get a quicker startup on Executioner's Cleaver. Lastly, the on proc effects of the Valkyrie set are really powerful, and actually make Luck a decent stat at end game.

Since you're obviously over 200 Runic, I hope you're utilizing Pride of the Frost and Blessings of the Frost.

I liked the cursed over deadly because my weapon loadout, prior to endgame, was buffing Strength pretty well, and I wanted as much Runic as possible for the Sigrun fight.

I've been switching my enchantment sockets based on situation, but my general loadout uses all legendary enchantments that buff my cooldown (unless I'm using the Infinity Gauntlet, in which case I can sub in a couple extras), so I'm not hurting too bad in that regard. I was rarely waiting on any of my Runics to cooldown during the boss fight.

Pride of the frost is my go-to non-runic combo; Blessings of the Frost is off-and-on... I was using the one that sent icicles ahead as a stun move for a while.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I'm surprised Whiskeyjack has not become a Europa Universalis fan. Would have expected him to jump at the opportunity to rewrite history by stomping out the Reformation, and perhaps more humanely proselytize the New World.

I am (sadly) a console peasant, so there are plenty of great PC games I've missed completely. My gaming rig died 8 years ago, and I haven't had a good opportunity to replace it yet.

 

[GowerND11]

Playing on "All American" with a good set of sliders is where it's at.

It gives you some realism in the way the AI defense plays against you, and also makes penalties a factor if they're set right.

Playing on Heisman is hit and miss, because it is basically just the computer picking and choosing when to cheat and jump your routes as a perceived change in 'difficulty.'

All-American with sliders doesn't have that problem, but you can still make the game very challenging. It's nice to have to actually play well as a QB and find good throws, instead of going 20-24 passing every game with 300+ and 4 TD's without breaking a sweat.

I'm pretty sure Operation Sports still has an active community with NCAA 14 and they'd have very good sliders posted as well.

 

[ACamp1900]

I'm pretty sure Operation Sports still has an active community with NCAA 14 and they'd have very good sliders posted as well.

Tonight (at least that's the plan) will tell the tale. If I go into Michigan with my current UTEP roster and win then I prob need to keep it at Heisman and play with those sliders... if they boat race me, as they should honestly, then I may play around with AA.

 

[gkIrish]

Really enjoying Return of the Obra Dinn on Switch

First time I heard of this game. Sounds like something I would love. Plan to buy it.

 

[koonja]

Going to retry Witcher 3, I wss about 6 hours in when I left off.

I love solo mission/story mode game, but generally suck at ones where you need to improve skills/weapons/armor along the way and there are 100s of options (skyrim, for example).

Ran into a beast in the Witcher that just kept mauling me and I got tired of it and gave up. Wishfully thinking I'll have better luck this time. Other than this, I've enjoyed the game.

I much more enjoy the games where the weapons/armour/health is fixed, and it's up to you to just figure out the best strategy for any combat (ex, metal gear).

 

[NorthDakota]

I am (sadly) a console peasant, so there are plenty of great PC games I've missed completely. My gaming rig died 8 years ago, and I haven't had a good opportunity to replace it yet.

My cheap-ish laptop can run these types of games fine. Get with the times my man. 8 years of no PC games is far too long.

 

[greyhammer90]

I'm going to spend 4 days at my in-laws' around Christmas and there are long stretches of nothing going on and there's only so many Christmas movies I can watch. Plan on bringing Luigi's Mansion 3, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Baba Is You. I've been saving those for this vacation.

 

[greyhammer90]

MLB The Show just announced that it will be going multi-console as soon as 2021. Big, big news for baseball fans.

 

[NDdomer2]

MLB The Show just announced that it will be going multi-console as soon as 2021. Big, big news for baseball fans.

of course right after i finally dive back into playstation

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I love solo mission/story mode game, but generally suck at ones where you need to improve skills/weapons/armor along the way and there are 100s of options (skyrim, for example).

It's not as complicated as it seems. You put your first talent point into Cat School Techniques, and then the next 30 into Combat. Only use light armor, quick attacks and Quen in battle. Parry against humanoid enemies when you can, but otherwise dodge a lot (only roll to avoid big AoE monster attacks).

The best gear available is crafted, but you can do just fine using stuff you've found. Oils, bombs, potions and decoctions can make certain monster fights much easier, but you don't have to rush them unless you want to. As long as you're looting everything you can, you'll find the upgrade recipes naturally as you explore. They mostly require rare herbs and monster parts to craft. You can buy the materials from herbalists if you really want a certain upgrade quickly, but otherwise just wait until you find the right ingredients.

Making money is mostly about: (1) looting everything you can (without getting caught stealing); and (2) selling it to the right vendor in Novigrad or Oxenfurt. This brief guide will show you who to sell which items to. If you haven't made it to Novigrad yet, that should be your top priority.

Ran into a beast in the Witcher that just kept mauling me and I got tired of it and gave up. Wishfully thinking I'll have better luck this time. Other than this, I've enjoyed the game.

TW3's combat system strongly discourages you from fighting higher level enemies until you're ready, as they get a significant boost in health and damage (which disappears once you reach their level). It also burns through the durability of your weapons quickly. The level of any enemy 1-5 levels above you will be displayed in red. Anything 6+ levels above you will show up as a skull. Just come back for it when you're ready.

 

[ACamp1900]

So I crushed Michigan and then lost to Tulsa for the second straight year... beat Miss St in the bowl game and finished 5th in the country. Got offered the Kansas job (they won 3 games in 3 years in the game) and took it. Sticking with Heisman difficulty and gonna see how I do with KU in a much more challenging conference. I'm, not surprisingly, having a lot of fun with it.

Love targeting the athletes in recruiting... fill multiple spots.