Play 'em or slay 'em?

I've been going through a bit of a weird gaming spell.  Pillars of Eternity frustrated me to the point of exasperation, then I felt like shooting things and switched gears to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel which I'm not that crazy about.  Then I felt like driving so I started up a new round of Grand Theft Auto V.  My manic bouncing from game to game isn't over but I think I've finally settled on something that I can spend some time with.  Dishonored is one of those classic games that is severely underrated.  I had played through it several years ago but hadn't touched it since finishing the main storyline and all the DLC.  There's something special about stalking through the streets of Dunwall and the upcoming sequel has been a welcome reminder of what I've been missing.

A few weeks ago one of my former students posted a funny quote on Facebook about how she always wants to help people in video games and will play the "good guy."  I, too, have this exact same mentality and find myself leading Corvo on a quest of non-lethal takedowns.  But where's the fun in that?  Assassinations feel so much more rewarding than choking out every guard you come across.  I've always wanted to play a higher chaos campaign....

One of the main reasons I've avoided the high chaos scenario is that the game (and many others) seems to reward players more for choosing the less lethal approach.  There's a special box to check off for killing no one, for not being detected or raising any alarms.  This seems to be steering players toward the more stealthy approach--which, I fully agree with, but secretly I've always wanted to opt for the less peaceful option.  I feel like I'm missing out on some of the best parts of the game when I choose to be a pacifist.  I never get to shoot anything or do any of the cool drop assassinations or set a group of ravenous rats onto a guard.  No fun, no fun!  I mean, it's still fun, but the stabby stuff is kind of awesome.

The drop assassination.  Peaceful players are missing out on this fun move.

Players are awarded special points for never being detected and for not killing anyone.  Why isn't there an award for masterful assassination?  Or for going on a vengeful killing-fest of all the guards on a level?  This sounds a little bloodthirsty, but isn't that sort of the point of the game?  You're on a mission to avenge the death of the empress whose assassination you were framed for...what's a little revenge?

I finished Dishonored for the second time on a low-chaos playthrough.  The reality is that I struggle at playing the bad guy.  Even though I find it hard to kill mercilessly in a video game I do feel that many games intentionally steer players along a specific style of play.  I'm torn about this illusion of freedom and choice.  I'm also really looking forward to the next installment of Dishonored, Dishonored 2, which is scheduled to come out later this year.

...And Then You Remember.

Last week I was thoroughly enjoying the CRPG Pillars of Eternity.  Then, after one tragic and very frustrating encounter, I decided I'd had enough.  My trend of being unable to finish CRPG's continues.  I am an utter failure.  /sadface.

My whole frustration started with a bounty.  Once you have built the warden's lodge as part of your stronghold, you can accept bounties that send you after different characters scattered all over the map.  These bounties are designed to be high paying, high experience, and high difficulty encounters.  So yeah....they should be a challenge.  The first bounty sent me to kill a large earth elemental creature called "The Dweller."  The Dweller possesses some unique abilities--he can cast druid-like spells that inflict sickness on your group AAAAND the best part....he can summon these ridiculous earth elementals which are giant, floating balls of rock.  Along with his obnoxious spells, it is also accompanied by several trolls.  The first major difficulty of the fight is to decide if it's better to just mow down the big, baddy itself or to try to take out the minions.  Despite being made of rock, The Dweller is surprisingly squishy.  My advice to anyone who wants to take on this bounty is to go straight for him.  Don't waste time on the minions because he will just keep resummoning more earth elementals.

One of my biggest frustrations with PoE has been the difficulty of keeping enemies focused on my "tank" characters.  I have found that in many instances enemies will either completely ignore my fighters or become very easily pulled off.  It's easy to deal with the aggro from a few small enemies that are killed off easily, but it's much more irritating when the big ones won't stay in one place.  I am not sure what I am doing wrong--I am focusing fire on one target so there shouldn't be a reason for them to attack anyone other than my fighter.  I do not fully understand "engagement" and how it works.  I know my fighters can only engage so many enemies at a time and that it is partially determined by the talents you take for your fighters.  I have been rolling with one tank and that might be my mistake.  I have read that it is recommended that you take two fighters and I think I'm going to have to adopt this strategy.

It took me a few or twenty attempts before I finally managed to down The Dweller.  The battle was challenging, but not so hard that I couldn't manage it.  I decided to move on to another bounty and immediately hit a wall.   Sly Cyrdel is no slouch.  He also really hates any casters in your party and will completely ignore your fighters to smack your squishies around.  Beside his un-tankability the fight is further complicated by the presence of casters who will heal Sly.  A head-on battle resulted in failure every time.  The strategy I settled on was highly unorthodox--I would send my wizard running across the map which would allow him to kite Sly away from the group.  In the time it took Sly to chase and kill my wizard, the rest of the team could take out his posse which would allow me to focus all efforts on taking out Sly.  This actually worked!

Sly Cyrdel and his band.  I hate them.

Taking out Sly on his own turned out to be just as difficult.  Sly was far enough away that my group came out of combat and could crawl away and re-group.  Re-engaging Sly was much easier, but he still felt the need to go straight for my wizard.  It's no easy matter trying to whittle him down--he has a big, two-handed weapon and hits like a Mack truck.  He also has freakishly high resistances.  It didn't matter how many spells I slung at him trying to reduce his damage or damage reduction...he continually managed to slay my group.  I spent hours trying to kill him.  Then, I threw my hands up in futility.  I give up!

I think I just need a little break from Pillars and then I will end up finishing it.  Where I initially found the complex mechanics to be refreshing, now I am finding them frustrating.  Maybe I am just not "hardcore" enough for CRPG's?  I struggled with Divinity:  Original Sin and still haven't finished it.  Ugh.

UPDATED 5/31/16:
I decided to give PoE another go.  I skipped over good ol' Sly and his bounty and returned to the main questline and side quests.  I was having a pretty good time and had almost forgotten how frustrating the complicated combat systems can be when I was reminded of something else...the game crippling reality of bugs.  The Endless Paths of Caed Nua were needing some exploring and I bravely ventured past the fifth level.  Once on the sixth floor I discovered the progress blocking door that requires you to find three seals (from the quest with the title something like "Seals of the Endless Paths").  I already had the quest for the seals since I had stumbled across one of them on the fourth floor in my previous explorations. But, lo and behold, when I went to slot them into the door I found that I only had two in my bags.  The third seal had mysteriously disappeared, which meant that my progress on the Endless Paths had come to an end.  Did I sell the seal?  Nope.  It's a quest item which means it's unsellable.  I ventured back to the fourth floor to explore the original spot of discovery only to find that the seal was not there, which I already knew.

Could I keep playing?  Yes, I could.  Not being able to explore the Endless Path's isn't really a game-killer.  Do I want to keep playing?  Nope.  I think I've had my fill and just need to give up on CRPG's.  Maybe it's just not meant to be.  /sigh.

Sometimes You Just Don't Know Why

Do you ever have those games that you barely play and then revisit later and think to yourself "why didn't I keep playing this?"  I've been having one of those moments lately with Pillars of Eternity.  I had played it for about ten hours and then it sat in my library for months.  No second thoughts...just pure neglect.  Stardew Valley has been getting a little stale so I decided to give something else in my library a whirl.  I couldn't remember exactly why I stopped playing Pillars of Eternity.  I had some vague recollections of difficult fights that I couldn't figure out but it was odd that I had played for ten whole hours before setting it aside.  Well, I've dusted off my adventurers mantle and decided to take on this modern CRPG.

CRPG Magic!

CRPG's had a big comeback in 2014/2015 with games like Divinity:  Original Sin, Wasteland 2, and Pillars of Eternity all aiming to bring back one of the staple genres from the heyday of PC gaming.  I thoroughly enjoy a good CRPG but sometimes find that their complexity, depth, and length can be slightly overwhelming.  Even though I was 80% through Divnity, I still haven't finished it.

As I plunge back into PoE, I am remembering the many enjoyable parts of this game.  The character creation process is rich and full of choices to make your character unique.  Not only do you get to select a class but you get to select a specific background and backstory.  Each choice yields up special stats that can help you craft your hero into exactly who you want them to be.  My character is a fighter who I opted to make into a tanking type.  She wields a sword and shield and has stats that support being a fully effective meatshield.  Most games today have simplified their character creation process into three or four different classes with numerous cosmetic choices.  Is it more important for your character to be unique or to look unique?

CRPG's can be more than a little daunting and I am finding the challenge of combat in PoE a nice change from the simplified formats present in many of today's games.  That doesn't mean that I have mastered it or that I actually understand much of what is actually happening.  For some reason my fighter has a very difficult time keeping enemies locked down in true "tank" form.  My priest is commonly reduced to a thin, priesty paste as the baddies make a beeline for him.  I have managed to cobble together a diverse group of characters from many different classes, but actually utilizing all their abilities is difficult.  Wizards possess many powerful AoE attacks but it is difficult to find the exact moment to use those spells.  Friendly fire is real and forces you to focus on where you're laying down a huge fireball.

I'm also finding that I'm enjoying the lore at the center of the game.  I didn't pay much attention to the story during my brief 10 hour adventure and honestly, you can't expect to briefly play a big RPG and really get a grasp on the story.  The central concept of souls being reborn and the ability to manipulate them is unique.  Your character's unique ability to "read" souls allows you to learn about random NPC's.  Every NPC with a name has a backstory that you can "view."  These brief glimpses are well-written mini-stories that can easily be skipped if you don't like to read.

Despite having neglected Pillars of Eternity, I am really enjoying it and am counting on eventually finishing the entire thing.  I am hoping that as I progress that I will become more masterful at the combat aspect of the game.  My poor casters can't keep taking the poundings that they have been.

Invisible Inc. and Using Your Melon

This is my confession.  I am a save scummer.  I like to save...and load...and re-load.  Those saves are like a comfy safety blanket to reassure me while I thoughtlessly push ahead.  They've saved my bacon on numerous occasions as I did many, many stupid things.  Things like carefully maneuvering my XCOM team into a position where everyone could be hit by a grenade lobbed by a single, vicious Muton or thinking "that car is on fire" and then promptly forgetting it and watching as it explodes into a giant fireball of death.  Even better than mashing the save button is the convenience of the auto-save.  What would we do without auto saves?  Well, the answer is that we would probably play much more thoughtfully and not rush through things.  This, I have discovered through the challenging, but very enjoyable turn-based spy game, Invisible Inc.

I love the art style in Invisible Inc.

In Invisible Inc. players are placed in charge of a recently-raided, now weakened spy agency.  This agency is on a mission to re-locate their mega-super-computer/AI to a new network that is currently under the control of a different organization.  Re-locating this agency is no simple matter and requires you to recover lost assets including agents being held prisoner and actual cash money that can be used to train and improve your agents.

The first thing I noticed about Invisible Inc. is its fun, The Incredibles-esque art style.  Your agents are cartoony spies--both serious and goofy at the same time.  Each mission is a turn-based sneakfest the requires players to maneuver their team through a map filled with obstacles like guards, security cameras, roving robots, and turrets.  Plus, you have to do it with no saves and a limited number of options to re-play a turn.  So much for save scumming....

Each mission players select allows them to bring up to four agents.  Every agent has his or her own special skill set.  Some are skilled hackers who can access the many electronic devices scattered around a level.  Accessing these devices allows players to unlock safes or override security cameras and robots.  Other agents can be given talents that increase their strength or speed allowing them to carry more items or to move further on each turn.  Players can bring up to four agents on a mission and more agents become available as players progress and opt to rescue new ones from detention facilities.

The first step on each mission is to figure out exactly where your chief objective is located.  There isn't a handy map or any kind of indicators to tell players if they're heading in the right direction.  Along the way players have to override and possibly subdue any security guards that might block the way forward.  If you do opt to take out a security guard they are only knocked out for 3 turns and when they wake up they will be at a much higher level of alert--they will definitely be looking for you.  Players have to make a choice about how to handle guards.  It's best to try to avoid them as much as possible.  Stealth is the best strategy but is not always an option.  Another part of the challenge is finding the exit teleporter and navigating your whole squad to it.  Oh, and there's a turn timer that will add in some sort of new security every 5 turns.  Some cameras that you might have previously hacked might re-boot themselves or a new guard might start patrolling.  Haste, like stealth, is also a safe bet.

All of this must be done with one save.  ONE!  Once you start a mission...that's it.  If you screw up, it's all over.  On lower difficulty levels you can have several rewinds that allow you to play the beginning of a turn.  But that's it.  There's no restarting a mission.  There's no endless loading and re-loading.  On the lowest difficulty setting I will admit to fully utilizing those rewinds on several occasions.  After completing a full campaign, I decided to start a new game and picked the next highest difficulty.  It's definitely harder.  You only get three rewinds per mission so you really need to play cautiously.

Invisible Inc. is a highly enjoyable and challenging game, so much so that I am almost afraid to screw up my current campaign.  I've made it through about four missions without failing and having to restart.  My advice to new players of this very enjoyable and intense game is to just take it slow.  Don't rush haphazardly through every door you see!  Take your time and scout ahead.  Stealth and speed seem to work much better than strength and greed (ooh that was very rhyme-ey).  Avoiding the guards is in your best interest as is selectively looting safes.  I would highly, highly recommend starting on the lowest difficulty level until you've gotten a handle on how things work.