What are you playing?

My girlfriend's in Portugal for her work for a week. Even though I work 6 out of the 7 days (and 10hour or more shifts each time), it still means I've got some more gaming time. Looking around, I decided to try and go back to Heroes of Might and Magic VI - when it came out I played it for a little bit but never quite got into it - there was another game coming out at the same time, though I don't remember what....Maybe Diablo III?
Anyway, the game still starts....In Offline mode. With all ports open, Firewall off, Defender off, my computer completely open to anything and anyone (brrr), it still simply won't connect to their servers. Which means no access to DLC, no access to the expansion, no acces to bonuses, no acces to pretty much anything but local skirmish games.
Well whoop dee doo.

Screw you Ubisoft, Uplay is really the most shitty piece of software around. As far as I can tell, "online support" ended, but they never posted they took the servers and cloud off line. Heck, I don't really see why they should - the game requires Steam AND Uplay, it's connected all over anyway, Uplay tells me I do own al lthe DLC....but it just won't unlock/connect in game. Blergh.
DRM sucks, gaming clients suck, all this useless hassle sucks. What happened to "here's the CD, just plop it in".

Bubble181 said:

My girlfriend's in Portugal for her work for a week. Even though I work 6 out of the 7 days (and 10hour or more shifts each time), it still means I've got some more gaming time. Looking around, I decided to try and go back to Heroes of Might and Magic VI - when it came out I played it for a little bit but never quite got into it - there was another game coming out at the same time, though I don't remember what....Maybe Diablo III?
Anyway, the game still starts....In Offline mode. With all ports open, Firewall off, Defender off, my computer completely open to anything and anyone (brrr), it still simply won't connect to their servers. Which means no access to DLC, no access to the expansion, no acces to bonuses, no acces to pretty much anything but local skirmish games.
Well whoop dee doo.

Screw you Ubisoft, Uplay is really the most shitty piece of software around. As far as I can tell, "online support" ended, but they never posted they took the servers and cloud off line. Heck, I don't really see why they should - the game requires Steam AND Uplay, it's connected all over anyway, Uplay tells me I do own al lthe DLC....but it just won't unlock/connect in game. Blergh.
DRM sucks, gaming clients suck, all this useless hassle sucks. What happened to "here's the CD, just plop it in".

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I misread your post at first and was all like, "Wait, what? Diablo 3 requires Uplay?"

Reply from Ubisoft Customer Service: "this is a known issue on our side, our developers are hard at work trying to resolve it but there's no ETA when it will be resolved"'.

Considering this game has no more on line support, I'm going to guess that'll be "never". Well, glad I got that game on sale. -_-

bhamv3 said:

I misread your post at first and was all like, "Wait, what? Diablo 3 requires Uplay?"

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Just b.net luckily

Bubble181 said:

Reply from Ubisoft Customer Service: "this is a known issue on our side, our developers are hard at work trying to resolve it but there's no ETA when it will be resolved"'.

Considering this game has no more on line support, I'm going to guess that'll be "never". Well, glad I got that game on sale. -_-




Just b.net luckily

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If you enter a steam ticket they might refund it for you. Unless you have a ton of playtime from when you first got it.

Ravenpoe said:

If you enter a steam ticket they might refund it for you. Unless you have a ton of playtime from when you first got it.

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Hmm, only about two hours, and nothing of the expansion. I might try, though I doubt it - I bought them back when there was no refund policy. Might be worth a shot.

Still trying to get through Zero Time Dilemma, and I think I may truly be stuck after watching like an hour of cut scenes.

On the bright side, in order to lure my daughter to complete her work faster, I offered to let her start my copy of Borderlands 2 with me. I remembered all of you saying that it was better multiplayer, so I figured I might as well.

And as is typical of Zero Escape games, when I break through being stuck, there's one WTF moment after another, but always in the best way.

I love these games so goddamned much.

So I finished KotFE for the first time. I will probably play through again, particularly with my Bounty Hunter. I noticed something interesting though - there is quite a disparity on the companions that get brought back, either in story or via recruitment.

Jedi Knight gets T7-O1 back in plotline in Chapter III, and once you've finished Chapter XVI, you can recruit Rusk. No Kira, no Doc (huzzah!), no Scourge. That's kind of an issue, which I'll go into.
Jedi Consular allows you to recruit Qyzen Fess back after Chapter IX. That's it - no Theran & Holiday, Zenith, Felix, or Nadia Grell.
Smuggler companions Bowdaar and Guss Tuno can be recruited after Chapter IX and XV respectively. Corso, Akaavi, and Risha are don't show up.
The Trooper gets the most back for the Republic, with Aric Jorgan returning in Chapter XI, and the ability to recruit Yuun and M1-4X after Chapter IX. Tanno Vik makes an appearance much earlier (Chapter VI), but he can't be recruited, only killed if you choose to. The only person who doesn't come back is Elara Dorne.

Among the Imperials:
Sith Warrior gets Vette back in the plotline in Chapter XIII, and can recruit Pierce and Broonmark after chapters IX and XII respectively. Jaesa and Quinn don't show up.
Sith Inquisitor can recruit Xalek and Talos Drellik, both after Chapter IX. Khem Val's fate is unknown despite the suspiciously similar substitute, Ashara and Andronikos are no shows.
Imperial Agent gets Kaliyo back in Chapter X, SCORPIO back in Chapter VII, and can recruit Dr. Lokin after Chapter IX.
Bounty Hunter gets Gault back in Chapter XIII, Torian back in Chapter XIV, you can recruit Blizz after Chapter X, and Skadge after chapter XVI. Only Mako doesn't return, and that's addressed in game.

The big thing is that most of the love interests don't return, and that's kind of interesting. Vette, Kaliyo, Aric, and Torian are the only 4 romantic partners who return. And I'm not sure you can resume your relationship with Vette or Kaliyo.

Why is the lack of Kira and Scourge an issue? Because they have direct ties to the Emperor. Scourge was literally the Emperor's Wrath for 300 years. For him to not know about Zakuul would be shattering for him, and could allow for a lot of character growth, instead of him being the token evil team mate, doing things for the evulolz, etc. Kira was a Child of the Emperor - to find out that he has biological children as well would have impacts on her, not to mention Valkorian being in her mentor / lover's head, just as he was in hers. Scourge would be a sort on inverse version of Senya - Sith instead of Knight of Zakuul, the Emperor's Enforcer instead of his Bodyguard and lover, and yet both with their lives bound to his.

Again, this is a missed opportunity for SWTOR. Now, I really enjoyed it overall, warts and all, but it just makes you wonder what could have been.

As for Mako, when the Bounty Hunter disappears, she gets out of the business entirely and doesn't want to come back, because she's lost everyone she ever loved, and even if the Bounty Hunter comes back, she isn't willing to try again. So that explains her absence.

It's worth mentioning that the next storyline is starting later this year... in fact, we're getting a trailer for it on the 7th. So I'm assuming at least some of these people will be coming back and I'm almost CERTAIN that we're going to force Mako back into the game, considering she's always been a fan favorite character.

I appreciate they give us an option to kill Skadge.

AshburnerX said:

It's worth mentioning that the next storyline is starting later this year... in fact, we're getting a trailer for it on the 7th. So I'm assuming at least some of these people will be coming back and I'm almost CERTAIN that we're going to force Mako back into the game, considering she's always been a fan favorite character.

I appreciate they give us an option to kill Skadge.

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Yes, that was nice of them. Though with the literally hundreds of people I saw requesting that, I'm not surprised.

One theory that makes some sense is that since some of the companions have celebrity voice talent, getting them back was too costly or ran into scheduling conflicts. Mako was voiced by Lacey Chabert, and Jaesa by Rachel Leigh Cook, so there might be something to that.

I still don't like Johnny Yong Bosh for Torian's voice. I find myself repeatedly saying, "Shut up, Ichigo." I might have gone with Paul Mercier instead... or Brandon Keener. Mando Garrus. That could work.

YOKAY-I know I'm late to this but.....did anyone else get some Ace Attorney 2 episode 4 vibes with Ace Attorney 6 episode 5? COS I did, and its a TOTAL nostalgia trip.

Well, hello old friend.


That, my friends, is Doug the Troll, my old character from City of Heroes. And what you're looking at is a NEW screenshot using Paragon Chat. It's a fan-made program that lets you create characters and log into the world of City of Heroes. Unfortunately, there aren't any NPCs or enemies to fight. There's also no PVP. Really, it's a glorified chat program. But you can play around with various travel powers, chat with other people, and pretty much do everything in the game except for fight.

Which, given that Doug was the only character I ever got to level 50 in all the time I played it, a glorified chat program is basically what the game was for me, anyway.

Still, it's surreal to actually log back into Atlas Park.

GasBandit said:

As long as all the different emotes came across, it's good.

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From what I've seen, they are.

So, I learned tonight that Doug and serious role-players do not mix.

ThatNickGuy said:

So, I learned tonight that Doug and serious role-players do not mix.

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By "serious roleplayers" do you mean they complain you don't have boobs?

Ravenpoe said:

By "serious roleplayers" do you mean they complain you don't have boobs?

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More the "We absolutely must tell our little stories with these VERY SERIOUS characters while also ignoring the GIANT GREEN TROLL IN THE ROOM who is nearly three times your size. Like, every one of them acted so bloody normal, even some with real names instead of code names. Half of them were spy characters or some such and acted accordingly. Barely any weirdness or fun to be had. Which made it all the more odd that they were nonplussed by the giant green troll wearing a wrestling singlet.

Also, I decided to have Doug get drunk and collapse behind the bar while slurring random responses to things they were saying. Finally, someone came in who indulged me and went along with the humour. They said it was the best thing to happen to them in months.

GasBandit said:

Reminds me of old javascript chat rooms back in the 90s. Everybody just went to the RP rooms to monologue their origin story.

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Or WoW rp servers, where the people who aren't just cybering (badly) in goldshire are trying to tell everyone how they're the secret child of Illidan and Tyrande and also they're part dragon somehow and possessed by a demon that used to be a Titan.

Ravenpoe said:

Or WoW rp servers, where the people who aren't just cybering (badly) in goldshire are trying to tell everyone how they're the secret child of Illidan and Tyrande and also they're part dragon somehow and possessed by a demon that used to be a Titan.

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Special snowflakes everywhere.

Way back when I was in a Fires of Heaven MUD my origin story for a Warder stood out just because it was "I was a soldier in Shienar who went to be trained at the White Tower because he thinks guarding the Aes Sedai is the best way to fight the Dark One" instead of being like, some famous hero's mentor's brother's cousin's former roommate or some shit.

Goes to show that even a GTX1080 Ti is no substitute for an active imagination.

--Patrick

Bioshock Remastered

Guys, it's official. I've become a wuss in my old age. I remember being able to play the original Bioshock for hours on end, completing multiple chapters in one sitting. Now, though, I can only play for brief periods before the atmosphere becomes too intense and I need to shut it down for a while. The graphics aren't that much improved, so I have to conclude the issue is with me.

It's rather saddening.

Null said:

Special snowflakes everywhere.

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I think some of my favorite RP came from playing just a soldier of Arachnos in City of Villains. Like, a really villainous one. Everyone else was on a "Oh, we're Arachnos but that doesn't make us terrible people" kick and I was just "You know Arachnos is a facist organization, right? Whatever. I'll be over here playing my baby-eating Arachnoid, as I plot to turn the people of the world into spider-people. Have fun being boring!"

AshburnerX said:

I think some of my favorite RP came from playing just a soldier of Arachnos in City of Villains. Like, a really villainous one. Everyone else was on a "Oh, we're Arachnos but that doesn't make us terrible people" kick and I was just "You know Arachnos is a facist organization, right? Whatever. I'll be over here playing my baby-eating Arachnoid, as I plot to turn the people of the world into spider-people. Have fun being boring!"

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That reminds me of that exchange between Spider-Man and Sauron. "Whoa, you can re-write DNA on the fly? That's amazing! Instead of turning people into dinosaurs, you could cure cancer!" "I don't *want* to cure cancer. I want to turn people into dinosaurs."

I may despise the kingdom of Ku'rain...but I fucking love Ace Attorney 6. Its the same kind of legal insanity I loved as a teenager-BUT-amplified to an insane degree that I didn't think possible.

EDIT: MINOR QUALM THOUGH...I...saw 99 percent of the twists coming. Its a good thing this is primarily an Inverted mystery game, where its not "whodunnit" but more "howcatchem" but still, maybe a little more subtlety in the next installment would be nice. Still fun though.

I beat Dragon Quest 8. Well, I beat the main quest, I'm done with the grinding so I'm not going to bother with the super difficult after game dungeon.

Now I'm onto Rogue Galaxy in my PS2 RPGstravaganza.

Frank said:

I beat Dragon Quest 8. Well, I beat the main quest, I'm done with the grinding so I'm not going to bother with the super difficult after game dungeon.

Now I'm onto Rogue Galaxy in my PS2 RPGstravaganza.

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You really do need to complete the Dungeon at least once if you want the "true" ending for the game. But yes, it's just unlock fun stuff otherwise.

I was gifted Dead By Daylight by a twitch follower. It's actually not bad, and looking at recent patch notes, they've done a lot of work on the game. I've only tried Killer so far. Trapper seems to be my type.

Terrik said:

I was gifted Day By Daylight by a twitch follower. It's actually not bad, and looking at recent patch notes, they've done a lot of work on the game. I've only tried Killer so far. Trapper seems to be my type.

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In before Terrik drops out of med school to become a professional streamer.

GasBandit said:

I'm assuming you meant Dead By Daylight.

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Thats uh..exactly what I said *whistle*

GasBandit said:

Maybe I should finally get around to figuring out how to make my streaming work.

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You probably just need to jiggle it a little. But if you're having THAT much trouble, maybe see a doctor.

Frank said:

I beat Dragon Quest 8. Well, I beat the main quest, I'm done with the grinding so I'm not going to bother with the super difficult after game dungeon.

Now I'm onto Rogue Galaxy in my PS2 RPGstravaganza.

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Rogue Galaxy is super fun, but something about it just didn't click in the long term and I stopped playing near the end of the game.