Games besides 14 u play

[Hazama999]

Aside from XIV, my other "background game", aka game-I-can-always-turn-to-if-I'm-bored, is Destiny 2. Helps that it provides a much more... kinetic experience compared to XIV, being a different genre and all.

As for other games, well, it's been tough. Recently went through Pokemon Violet and enjoyed it a bit. I only briefly played Legends Arceus, and Violet kinda kindled that long-lost interest in Pokemon. I might pick Arceus back up or pick up the new Snap game if I'm feeling like something a bit more nostalgic.

All in all, it has been a real challenge to actually complete games while in residency. I have a predilection for JRPGs and those can be kind of long. Depending on the rotation that I'm on, I may or may not be able to play them semi-consistently. Presently, I'm on Psychiatry rotation, and have a lot more time to play video games. That said, my responsibilities in clinic have doubled since we're now squarely on second half of intern year. My issue is that if I am, busy, I go on long stretches of time between play sessions and it really just sucks going back to an RPG and feeling rather lost about the world, its characters, the plot, etc... If I'm only a few hours in, I may even consider restarting it, but if I'm say, 20+ hours into it, yeahhh no chance. Would likely have to read a bit of a summary to catch back up. The last one I played, and still haven't finished, was Tales of Arise. Now, fortunately those games have a "diary" function that can help catch you up on what you were doing but mannnn, it still sucks lol...

This is to say nothing of XIV and Destiny 2. Regarding the former, I've also noticed a tendency to forget a bit of certain plot points in the time between patches. Some of this is no doubt due to my ADHD, but I feel like the game, for obvious reasons, just doesn't occupy the same headspace that it used to. Back when I was in college, I feel like I could remember details of the game easily because I'd let them marinate in my mind. Nowadays it's more of a "get through this. OK GREAT. NEXT THING." sort of mentality by necessity. With regards to Destiny 2....... well, I very much enjoy the lore of that game, as I did since I started playing vanilla D1 back in 2014. Problem is, as you may have surmised, that it's actually kinda hard to keep up with lore of two on-going games and work an average of 80-hour weeks... lol.

Well, can't say I don't try hahah

[NanaWiloh]

Tales of Vesperia, FF9, Xenoblade chronicles 2 and 3, pokemon sword.

[SaitoHikari]

I'm going through all my Crystal Project videos from last year, and I'm reminded of a curious fact that my FFXIV raiding experience actually helped me quite a lot with formulating strategies and party builds for that game. Since it's one of the few turn-based games with an actual aggro/threat system, proactive mitigation and countering enemy actions is FAR more effective than raw healing in most cases (especially because eating an AoE from late-game bosses without any mitigation will probably result in a party wipe).

The developer was a FFXI player - I never played FFXI myself, but after reading about XI in this thread, it reminds me of how you could absolutely wander into higher level areas or run into hidden bosses in Crystal Project that would absolutely kick your ass before you come back to wreck them later. I think a lot of the classes in Crystal Project are actually designed around concepts that existed in XI too - like Samurai was supposedly a tank class in XI, and they seem best utilized as a tank in Crystal Project too (since getting hit by physical attacks charges your AP faster, and Samurai has the ability to spam multiple attacks per turn as long as they have the AP to do so).

This is the only video I recorded that doesn't veer too far into actual spoiler territory, showcasing a lot of the concepts behind Crystal Project's combat.

Namely, my tank is utilizing a Reaper/Warrior build, which is basically 'your max HP is your mitigation' tank build. Reaper has the ability to increase their max HP with every successful hit, along with some lifesteal abilities. A popular mid-game build is to give them the Counter passive and lifesteal gear, though it falls off later on due to Reaper having lower accuracy (by endgame you want accuracy accessories instead). Warrior has general tanking abilities designed around aggro management (their most damaging attack requires the enemy target to consider them the top threat) along with useful debuffs and stances. Yes, stance dancing is a thing for some classes in this game, though I build my party around enabling my tank to remain in the damage increasing Berserker Stance as much as possible (the stance also comes with a physical defense penalty, but I get my Assassin/Rogue to blind the enemy if I see a physical attack incoming - a lot of Rogue skills require them to be the lowest threat among the party, and are best utilized for their ability to interrupt enemy spellcasting and blinding enemy physical attacks). My Warlock/Hunter is basically Red Mage with a bow, with a wide variety of useful buffs and debuffs along with decent physical damage. My Cleric/Scholar (the latter is basically Blue Mage) is my main mage, though I only ran that build for the buff that blocks fire damage in this fight.

Accuracy rates are only as low as they are in this fight because I'm challenging this boss like 5-8 levels earlier than intended, with my primary mage possessing a spell that nullifies all fire damage (though it doesn't block burn debuff damage).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK_anxWyVxM

This game's turn-based combat is so good. Straight up ruined most other turn-based JRPGs for me. Sometimes you can just straight up humiliate bosses by outsmarting them and countering everything they do ahead of time.

Crystal Project and Divinity Original Sin 2 were the only two turn-based games I've played in the entire past decade that were able to convince me that turn-based games still have a valid place in the gaming industry.

[Fhaerron]

Currently also play Diablo III, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Resident Evil 0, Dark Souls Remastered & Tom Clancy's: The Division 2.

Almost finished with my replays of RE & DS. Then I'll replay Dark Souls 2 & Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

[Araxes]

Elder Scrolls Online for the PvP

[VictorTheed]

This is the only game I play. For the last 15 years I played WoW. That being the only game as well. I quit a year ago, because the game got too boring and I was busy doing other things, like cgi and animation. But I wanted to go back into gaming. I had heard about FFXIV and decided to try it out on the PS4. Fell in love with the game from that moment. So since last october, I bought all the expansions for the pc. Just last week I removed everything WoW from my system...I will never go back.

Np in that, u chose an awesome game to make your sole game, I usually play just 1 or 2 games myself instead of multiple games but this year has some interesting prospects I gotta play.

Some of friends are like me & some of my friends play tons of games at once, I can't play a bunch of stuff at once cause it prevents me from diving deep into one game if I'm playing multiple games at once.

[VictorTheed]

Yeah, it's kind of one of those games where you will either like it or you will not. It can be very rewarding but also very punishing. It is designed by default to frustrate its players to some degree. I'm not a huge Souls person, but I did play Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 (and got pretty far in both) and I've gotten pretty far in Elden Ring as well.

I keep trying to get some of my friends to get it so we can multiplayer it, I wonder if that would make it easier? I loved the Samurai class on there what little bit I got to experience it.

[Vahlnir]

I keep trying to get some of my friends to get it so we can multiplayer it, I wonder if that would make it easier? I loved the Samurai class on there what little bit I got to experience it.

I played DS3 and Bloodborne almost exclusively with a friend. It's more than doable, and it does make things slightly easier. If nothing else, misery loves company. I've been on my own with Elden Ring though because I have it on my PS5 instead of PC. You can summon random people to help if all else fails. Just had to do that with a boss myself who is arguably the hardest boss in the game. Took me a bit, but I got it. I think it helps that if people have gotten past a certain point, then they've been conditioned pretty well. lol

[VictorTheed]

https://youtu.be/0yPpBKFZvW0

Nuff said. Warrior was 2nd. Escape Slash was broken.

Nice vid, immolation is the greatest move for climbing damage imo on Dogma, especially if you got the opportunism argument as well as clout/ vehemence augments

I've seen Niliho vids, I think that's how his name is spelled, about warrior moveset, next time i do a warrior playthrough I'll try escape slash out, when I play warrior I like using corona slash and that move that does the running charge, plus i use double barbed nail rings with warrior.

[SaitoHikari]

Nice vid, immolation is the greatest move for climbing damage imo on Dogma, especially if you got the opportunism argument as well as clout/ vehemence augments

I've seen Niliho vids, I think that's how his name is spelled, about warrior moveset, next time i do a warrior playthrough I'll try escape slash out, when I play warrior I like using corona slash and that move that does the running charge, plus i use double barbed nail rings with warrior.

Immolation is hilarious. Even more that they gave it to a freaking archer class, and it's a legit amazing ability for so many reasons regardless.

You know shit just got real when the magical archer sets themselves on fire and decides to kick your ass in melee.

Dragon's Dogma was so ahead of its time. There's some useful really obscure things you could do in that game, like picking up beholder eyes and using them to petrify enemies. Or letting a fighter pawn only equip a shield and watch as they stunlock the hell out of everything.