Lurker's Lair

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A long time tradition in the original Elder Scrolls forum kept alive by The Hall of Torque through the years.  Don't lurk, post!

smells like a new forum lurk

Amra wrote:Nothing going on, just hiding some eggs here.

Easter lurk

hehe, found 'em!

Darkened Angel wrote:I've been stopped up a lot every day this past week. It sucks. It's also made it hard to wanna get outta bed, which hasn't helped my sleep at all.

Kinda been slow with Your Chronicle stuff too, but I did beat a bonus boss that unlocked, which has tripled my max level cap from what it was, so that's a big help getting through dungeons quicker.

Hopefully once it gets into spring more and the season change is done with, I'll start feeling better.

* lurk *

Take care and if you need to sleep, then sleep!  When I went through my illness I slept all day and night sometimes.  You gotta listen to your body.  

Been slow going with everything still.

* lurk *

I have nothing to say really, I'll just throw in a lurk for free.

empty lurk

Amra wrote:I have nothing to say really, I'll just throw in a lurk for free.

empty lurk

Thank you for stopping by, Amra! I really appreciate it! I put Wotan's section on the archive yesterday and it really hurt. I wish I knew what happened to him.

I really hope it's just that he's been insanely busy, maybe with RL stuff, and is otherwise fine. It's the not knowing that sucks the most, IMO.

Had a treatment this week and I've been on/off sick since as well, so this week's been pretty crappy for me in terms of getting things done.

Fortunately, I'm nearing the end of my 2nd playthrough in Your Chronicle for a particular ending, and the 5th one's now implemented, which means 25 total playthroughs to do because each ending has to be reached 5 times to get every single bonus from them.

So, at least I'll have that to keep me busy even when nothing else is going on.

* lurk *

Saturn Celeste wrote:

Amra wrote:I have nothing to say really, I'll just throw in a lurk for free.

empty lurk

Thank you for stopping by, Amra!  I really appreciate it!  I put Wotan's section on the archive yesterday and it really hurt.  I wish I knew what happened to him.

So do I. The only conclusion I can reach is rather grim since he's disappeared across the board, not just here but everywhere I knew where to reach him. But since nobody has replied in his stead and there's no trace of anything, it just remains a mystery. That's the downside of having friends on the internet, you can't just walk up to somebody's door and see if all is well.   Anyway I'll just keep dropping by, even if it's just the three of us.

Btw 25 playthroughs? I wouldn't have the stamina!

groundhog play lurk

Well, it's a semi-idle game, so half the gameplay is just clicking options and then waiting a while for things to happen.

You might remember games like Mass Effect where you play through, start a New Game+, and that's the only way to really max everything because you can't do it all in 1 go. It's like that, only less carries over.

What really sucks is that I still can't do the next dungeon even though I got a massive level cap increase. All the enemies still 1-shot everything so I can only sometimes get into the 2nd wave, which means at best I'm gradually unlocking the monsters for myself and slowly getting the research to increase them up towards their respective max levels.

Ironically, the final boss is stupidly easy even in just the 1st playthrough before I got that massive level cap increase, but this is the 1st of 5 storylines, so yeah.

* lurk *

Darkened Angel wrote:Well, it's a semi-idle game, so half the gameplay is just clicking options and then waiting a while for things to happen.

You might remember games like Mass Effect where you play through, start a New Game+, and that's the only way to really max everything because you can't do it all in 1 go. It's like that, only less carries over.

What really sucks is that I still can't do the next dungeon even though I got a massive level cap increase. All the enemies still 1-shot everything so I can only sometimes get into the 2nd wave, which means at best I'm gradually unlocking the monsters for myself and slowly getting the research to increase them up towards their respective max levels.

Ironically, the final boss is stupidly easy even in just the 1st playthrough before I got that massive level cap increase, but this is the 1st of 5 storylines, so yeah.

* lurk *

It seems to me the game is unbalanced then, making certain things artificially difficult just to make you play longer. But I guess from your description it's a lot more casual than Mass Effect. I don't think I replayed Mass Effect with the same character, I always created a new one with different stats to change the gameplay a bit. But I did port them over from one game to the next, several times even. Speaking about replaying Mass Effect, they're doing a graphical update of the series right now, to be released next month, called Legendary Edition. The second and third game are remastered but the first one has had a major upgrade since its original graphics were so poor by comparison. I'm looking forward to seeing that one, it's been about a decade since I last played it. Wikipedia also mentions a fifth installment that follows up on Andromeda. Maybe I should play Andromeda some time, I skipped that one because players said it had issues at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect:_Legendary_Edition

effective lurk

It's not so much unbalanced as just very unconventional. You don't do the EXP and level system like you'd expect. EXP goes to Sacred Ritual, which gives Inspiration and Habits. Inspiration is used as a sorta permanent upgrade currency, because all the upgrades you can get with it carry over through reincarnations. However, some either taper off or have limits to how many you can get, like one particular upgrade will say 0/10, which means you can get it a total of 10 times, then it's off the list. Habits are are used to do idle buffs, such as expanding your energy reserves and regeneration, or the temporary buffs that last until your next Dark Ritual.

Dark Ritual resets your Sacred Ritual rank back to 1 but also changes your Talent, which is basically your EXP multiplier, so the more Talent you have, the more EXP you get for the same things. Dark Ritual also resets pretty much all Habit-related buffs except the energy ones. Class stuff gains a proficiency buff based on how many points your habits gained in each respective field, which means levelling those back up is faster.

Your level works in 3 ways. There's the level cap, seeds, and increasing the cap. The 1st time you clear a particular dungeon, your level cap will increase. Level alone means nothing, it's the seeds that matter, because those are what increase your actual stats. The level cap is just how many seeds can be dumped into buffing you. So if your level is 100, that means 100 of each physical, magical, and special seeds can boost your stats. Physical is HP, attack, and defense, magical is magic attack and defense, and special is your passive effects. Some monsters do things like increasing material limits when added to the party, and increasing their special seeds will mean they give a larger increase, etc.

Reincarnating is basically New Game+ with your unlocked monsters, levels, and Inspiration upgrades carrying over, along with giving you Sin, which is like a stronger Inspiration upgrade currency for even more powerful upgrades. As well, clearing a chronicle to unlock reincarnation grants a bonus on its own, depending on the chronicle. There's the 1st time, each subsequent time, and a final upgrade after the 5th clear.

So yeah, it's a bit complicated, but once you learn how it works, it's alright. It's just that it's also a grind at times because, being an idle type of game, you're not meant to get through it quickly. The main benefit is that your kept levels and all mean you can clear dungeons sooner and get through all the intro stages quicker, but you still gotta do all the same stuff as usual, just that you'll now have upgrades to help make it less tedious, like Sloth, which lets you set a string of commands to do instead of a single action. For example, you can have milk and butter at 10 max each. You can make it automatically get 10 milk, churn all of it into butter, get 10 milk again, then loop doing desk work for EXP, instead of having to manually do each one yourself.

Despite the heavily gating a lot of mechanics have, it's a decent enough game, just one you gotta be patient with playing.

* lurk *

Darkened Angel wrote:*complicated stuff*

So yeah, it's a bit complicated[...]

I'll say. Forget I said casual, you can get a bachelor's degree learning this stuff!  I guess that's part of the attraction then, it really keeps your brain juices flowing.

graduated lurk

Amra wrote:

Darkened Angel wrote:*complicated stuff*

So yeah, it's a bit complicated[...]

I'll say. Forget I said casual, you can get a bachelor's degree learning this stuff!  I guess that's part of the attraction then, it really keeps your brain juices flowing.

graduated lurk

Hey Amra! I was just on your FB page, are those models you made? That blue and white ship was awesome!!!

I'm an Alpha Centauri veteran of sorts, so I'm no stranger to some complex mechanics. That was a game where you had to actually build your units, the bonus being that you had a whole bunch of options to customize them, but you really only needed a few once you learned what the best stuff was.

Your Chronicle is also a text-based RPG, so there's no actual visuals except watching meters turn colors as progress is made. The storyline is interesting too, but I'm also only doing the 1st chronicle still. I completed it the 2nd time of 5 total times I plan on doing it, so there's no telling how different it'll be once I start the 2nd chronicle. Right now, I'm just waiting to get my last Sin point before I reincarnate so I can get as many upgrades as possible once I do.

I also unlocked the ability to get new spells, which I'm sure will be very useful once I actually get to them.

Also, consider FO2's armor system. Armor class, damage threshold, and damage resistance. Armor class is the likelihood that an attack will simply bounce harmlessly off your armor, doing no damage at all. If the attack goes through, damage threshold applies, which subtracts a static amount of damage you would normally receive from the incoming attack. After that, damage resistance further reduces it by a percentage of what's left. So, every time you take a hit, 3 different calculations apply to how much damage you receive.

So yeah, some games, in turns of understanding their mechanics, can be quite the puzzle. It helps to know how to work numbers.

* lurk *

Saturn Celeste wrote:

Amra wrote:

Darkened Angel wrote:*complicated stuff*

So yeah, it's a bit complicated[...]

I'll say. Forget I said casual, you can get a bachelor's degree learning this stuff!  I guess that's part of the attraction then, it really keeps your brain juices flowing.

graduated lurk

Hey Amra!  I was just on your FB page, are those models you made?  That blue and white ship was awesome!!!

Thank you! Yup, that's all my own handiwork. I build about 1 a month on average, it keeps me off my computer when I'm not working. And also away from gaming most of the time. There's only so many hours in a day. 

constructive lurk

Darkened Angel wrote:Armor class, damage threshold, and damage resistance.

I don't think most people even consider how all of that works, at least not in detail. It's more like, this gear works better than that one, or, this gear is more expensive or harder to get than the other so it must be better. And then finding out you die less, of course. Or not.

mechanical lurk

It helps when strategy matters because knowing how the mechanics work means you can make better plans. Like, if you know how much damage a certain attack will do and how likely it'll successfully hit VS a different one, you can determine which option works best.

Of course, calculating damage in Your Chronicle, at least ATM, is a complete crapshoot. There's an elemental strength and weakness routine that sometimes makes no sense. Okay, water beats fire, so hitting a fire monster with a water attack does bonus damage, and a rock golem takes more damage from wind attacks, but here's a wind dragon that also takes more damage from wind, which is the opposite of what you'd think, because wind is strong against anything that flies even if the element would suggest otherwise.

Then there's your ATK and MATK stats plus the skills themselves having their own point values. For example, the default Tackle skill does physical damage of 8. However, the damage you actually do will be higher than your ATK plus that value, assuming it's a x1.0 value and not something that's strong or weak against whatever you're attacking.

Anyways, reincarnated again once I got 7/7 Sin capacity, so I can, once I get the Inspiration needed, increase my cap, then get another 7 points and have enough for next reincarnation to get Class Inheritance, which will let me keep the class routines I unlocked, not just whatever one I pick each playthrough. That will translate to a buff for pretty much everything.

* lurk *

I do not care about my country's royal house at all, and they have no power whatsoever anyway (something that a lot of Americans don't seem to grasp, that's why I mention it), but at least we get a day off for his birthday... which is actually in January. His mother's birthday was on 30 April, and they rescheduled the official day to the 27th so at least the day of the month would match. April has better weather for public events, of course, so they didn't want to do it in January. So there.

By the way, a while ago (at least two years ago I'm sure) a group of Chinese came over from abroad to join the festivities, but they hadn't seen the memo about the change of day, so they came all decked out in orange shirts and whatnot, three days late!  Oh well, as long as they had fun. It sure made us laugh! No festivities today of course, lockdown will be slightly alleviated (not lifted) as of tomorrow but actually it's too early to do that because we're still in deep viral shit despite the vaccines. Politics, eh?  

King's Day lurk

I believe the term is Constitutional Monarchy, though I could be mistaken. At least in the case of England, it started when King Richard was killed and Prince John took the throne as King John. He was such a terrible ruler that the people basically took his power as king from him, he had to sign the Magna Carta, and from then on, being king was just in name only. Ever since then, the royal family has just been more of a celebrity dynasty. What I don't get is why they're so insanely adored just for being in that family line.

Then again, we have the Kardashians. Same thing for all intents and purposes. Sure, some of the girls are pretty sexy when they pose for bikini pin-ups and all, but who really cares in the end?

I hit one of the two slow drag parts in Your Chronicle again. At least now that I've got 3 shotcut slots and access to the sloth routine, that helps get through the tedius crap faster because I can just let it do its thing automatically while I just check back every 10-ish minutes and do other things.

* lurk *

Darkened Angel wrote:What I don't get is why they're so insanely adored just for being in that family line.

I don't know but in the Dutch case I partly blame their last name, which is the same as a cheerful color and a fruit. Orange was the name of the possession they had in France, way back when. Had it not been for that last name, and the current queen being a hot chick (at least when they married) and highly popular (she's from Argentina of all places, olé!) who knows what might have happened. You guys kicked the British out but they forced a king  on us instead when Napoleon left. So annoying when you know the history. Most of those adoring flag-wavers probably don't.

silly emoticonned lurk

I wouldn't mind if say, it was a queen or princess who's still young and sexy and goes on tours to wave to the populace in a bikini, does little sexy dance routines just to be eye candy, and struts around for the camera like she lives to objectified, maybe even autographing her own centerfold nudes for fans.

Because at least then the adoration would make sense, plus hot royal.

* lurk *

Aside from the state of (un)dress in public or on autographed photos and the lack of dancing routines, your description is pretty much why we're probably stuck with those people for at least the rest of the century. By then it will be one of their daughters or grandchildren, but I'm not going to live to see them quit.

royally stuck lurk

This is continuing to bee a really crappy spring. I've been stopped up pretty much all the time this past week.

* lurk *

Pray for me! I get my covid shot on Monday! I'm so scared, it's the Johnson & Johnson shot but my eyes are failing and I won't go to the eye doctor without my shot so here goes!

Dang, that really sucks. Hopefully everything goes well for you.

* lurk *

They cancelled my son's appt with me and there is doubt about mine. I'm going to still go and see what I can find out. I really want that shot!

You'll be fine, it's the vaccine they developed here in Leiden, which is like down the road from where I live, and you only need the one shot. So cheers and have a good one!

Janssen lurk