Cassylvania's Miserable Little Pile of Platinums

[Cassylvania]

On 2/17/2019 at 0:44 PM, SuperSmash5U said:

Also, you named one of your troops Jackie Chan. Having watched that corny cartoon about him and his fictitious relatives (Jade was my favorite character) I am pleased.

 

Jackie Chan is one of the greatest human beings on the planet. i didn't hesitate to have him join my XCOM squad.

 

XCOM IRONMAN, MISSION NO. 8

OPERATION BLACK NIGHT

 

My greatest regret in this playthrough so far is not Liam's death; it's forgetting to put an Interceptor over North America. I ALWAYS forget to do that when I launch a satellite over a new continent. And, unfortunately, it's probably going to cost us the US. Unless we get a council mission between now and the end of April (probably tomorrow or Wednesday), they'll likely going to pull out of the XCOM project, and take their big fat checkbook with them.

 

I'm also going to take the mission in Australia, despite it having a panic level of 1. The other two choices are Russia and Mexico, which are at a panic level of 4 (one less than max). If the US pulls out, we might as well sacrifice Canada and Mexico, and focus our satellite efforts on Europe instead. Thus, we can afford to have Russia pissed at us. Asia...not so much. Yes, their panic level is as low as it can be, but let's try to keep it that way. We've got enough to worry about.

 

I'm not going to accept failure for this mission. We're bringing Margot, Ameera, Trump, Wlad, and Chan. It's time we steamroll these fuckin' aliens.

 

We rolled up on a city street, in broad daylight (despite the operation name). There's a big building ahead. We're going to sneak around...

 

Got a nice overwatch trap set up in the back alley. I will admit to having to "cheat" once, though, as the game lied to me about how many aliens were hunting for me. If the game isn't going to play fair, neither am I. (Now it's not even letting me go through a door, even though it's clearly open.)

 

Margot creates her own door -- WITH A FUCKIN' GRENADE. Last alien was caught in the explosion. Bad place to stand.

 

MISSION: COMPLETE

 

Wow. Six countries in mass panic now. This could almost be a game over. They better give me a council mission...

 

Hilariously, there's a UFO flying over the US now. At least I was able to shoot this one down. I guess that's where we pick up tomorrow.

 

CURRENT ROSTER

Lt. Ameera "Princess" al-Taweel (Support)

Cpl. Donald Trump (Heavy)

Sq. Eddie Van Halen (Support)

Sq. Jackie Chan (Support)

Lt. Margot “Harley” Robbie (Assault)

Sq. Sheena Easton (Heavy)

Sgt. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko (Sniper)

 

KILLED IN ACTION

Cpl. Liam Neeson (Heavy) – blown to smithereens in Operation Rotting Thorn (Mission No. 4)

Edited February 18, 2019 by Cassylvania

[Kent10201]

Here’s another random post so you don’t have to double post. 

 

Darkest Dungeon 2 got announced which I think you’d find pretty exciting. I’ve yet to play the first but it’s on my radar which means I’ll probably get to it by the time Darkest Dungeon 7 is out. 

[Jens]

[...]

Edited September 30, 2019 by Jens

[Cassylvania]

4 hours ago, Kent10201 said:

Darkest Dungeon 2 got announced which I think you’d find pretty exciting. I’ve yet to play the first but it’s on my radar which means I’ll probably get to it by the time Darkest Dungeon 7 is out. 

 

That's awesome to hear. I didn't really expect a sequel for that one. I hope it's like XCOM 2, where they keep the core mechanics the same but improve on everything else. From what it sounds, though, it won't be released until sometime next year, which gives us plenty of time to clear our schedule.

 

Until then... We're back to XCOM!

 

XCOM IRONMAN, MISSION NO. 9

OPERATION DARK LAW

 

Getting a late start to today's mission because I was at the movies to see Liam Neeson in Cold Pursuit. It was...not the greatest movie I've ever seen. Needed more snowplowing. But it had a few good parts, and reminded me a bit of Fargo... Dark humor and all.

 

We're going to keep the same team as yesterday. I'm too lazy to create a new rookie or do anything but mimic my overall strategy of standing in one place and letting the aliens come to us.

 

So, it's just a UFO mission. I'll let you know if there's anything major to report. Hopefully nobody else runs off in the middle of the mission to make movies like Liam.

 

Outside perimeter was easy to deal with. Two Floaters and three Sectoids. Didn't even touch us. Into the UFO!

 

Margot took out the Outsider with two Rapid Fires to the face. That was easy.

 

MISSION: COMPLETE

 

Flawless, once again. Trump earns a nickname. I'm going to let you guys vote on what we should call him. The RNG gave him the nickname "Nuke," which...may not be far off from the truth. We're also going to give him Shredder Rocket and Disabling Shot for Wlad. I'm not in love with DS, but it could save our asses someday.

 

Got a nice haul from that mission. Lots of damaged goods (thanks, Trump), but we can sell them for some quick cash. We got the Thermal Generator being built, and we're nearly at the end of April. This would be a good time for a council mission, game.

 

Nope. Terror mission. Almost instantly. This...is going to be bad. The first terror mission is arguably the hardest mission in the entire game. Someone -- maybe everyone -- will be joining Liam in the Memorial tomorrow.

 

CURRENT ROSTER

Lt. Ameera “Princess” al-Taweel (Support)

Sgt. Donald [TO BE DETERMINED] Trump (Heavy)

Sq. Eddie Van Halen (Support)

Cpl. Jackie Chan (Support)

Lt. Margot “Harley” Robbie (Assault)

Sq. Sheena Easton (Heavy)

Lt. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko (Sniper)

 

KILLED IN ACTION

Cpl. Liam Neeson (Heavy) – blown to smithereens in Operation Rotting Thorn (Mission No. 4)

[Kent10201]

@Cassylvania Nuke is ironically really good. Some other options are Cheeto, Government Shutdown, Crybaby, The Wall, and my personal favorite CHINA.

[Jens]

[...]

Edited September 30, 2019 by Jens

[Cassylvania]

11 hours ago, Kent10201 said:

@Cassylvania Nuke is ironically really good. Some other options are Cheeto, Government Shutdown, Crybaby, The Wall, and my personal favorite CHINA.

 

I didn't even consider Cheeto. ? I gotta go with that. (Yours is good too, @Jens, as that was the first to come to my mind as well.)

 

Alright, back to doing this in the morning. I should also mention that I've started playing King's Quest. Those of you who have been with me for a long time will recall that this was my favorite PC series growing up, so I've been really excited to see what the reboot is all about, and it's an amazing recreation from what I've seen so far. I was a little put off by the animations at first, but they've grown on me, and the voice acting is fantastic. The music too. I'm just not a big fan of the trophies, as there are too many missables and trophies that require playing through the same chapter multiple times. Anyway, more on that when I finish!

 

XCOM IRONMAN, MISSION NO. 10

OPERATION BLACK APOLLO

 

I've been holding off on this, but it's time we buy a Laser Rifle for Margot, Ameera, and Chan, and a Laser Pistol for Wlad. (Trump gets nothing.) This terror mission is often the deciding point of the game because it introduces the scariest enemy of all: the Chryssalid. These bastard bugs have a tremendous HP pool and hit like a truck. They don't have any ranged attacks, but they turn their victims into zombies (yes, I'm serious) and eventually another Chryssalid by...force-feeding eggs into their victims' mouths, which is just as disgusting as it sounds. Also, this is a bit of a timed mission, as there are 18 civilians wandering around the map, and we're supposed to save them or something. (I just don't want them turning into zombie bugs.) But before we do this, I gotta ask: what's up with the emo operation names lately?

 

We rolled the courthouse map, which could be good or bad, depending on enemy placement. I prefer this one over the tank base, at least. The strategy? Stick together. We don't need any stragglers getting picked off by a Chryssalid. Y'all gotta have each other's backs on this one. And Trump -- keep that rocket handy. We're gonna need it.

 

Well, that's bad. Triggered the bugs on our first turn, and they're right in Wlad's grill. Why Wlad? Because I moved him ONE space ahead of Chan, after everybody else was in position. This is likely the end of everybody. Sorry, guys.

 

Chan says, "Fuck that!" and fires a laser into the bug's face for 5 (!) damage. Glad I got those upgrades. 3 damage to go. We can do that. Princess does 6. OK. OK, good. The other bug is in the fog of war somewhere, so Margot and Trump will go into overwatch. The other bug crunches on a civilian snack... Better them than us!

 

Next turn: Margot saves a civilian and the bug walks right into our overwatch trap! I get annoyed seeing Missed! pop up on my screen a hundred times, but we still manage to take him down. Time to move into the courthouse (or museum or saloon or whatever it's supposed to be).

 

ZAMBIE! WE GOTS A ZAMBIE, BOYS! The girls don't take kindly to zombies, doing 9 critical damage each. They only have 10 HP, so that's a little overkill...

 

Losing civilians left and right. Fortunately, I don't think they ALL turn into a zombies. But we do gotta save SOME of them, or Bradford will consider this mission a bigger failure than his last dinner date with Dr. Vahlen.

 

Margot and Princess rescue two more poor saps (putting us at 3-3 with the aliens), and the others advance into the courthouse. This place is a burning wreckage. Two more civilians down. I think the magic number is six. If we can rescue just six people, this mission isn't a critical failure.

 

I see three more people in the back right of the courthouse, so let's just stay inside...and away from the windows. We'll do like Thomas Jane in Standoff.

 

Laurence Fishburne is already inside! Floaters! Margot blows a hole in one of them. The other retreats into the darkness.

 

Margot and Trump save two more, making the score 5-6. No sign of the Floater. Chan makes a risky decision to go off on his own and save a civilian on the other side of the courthouse. Guy has too much heart to let an office grunt die. Wlad, back him up!

 

Margot misses the Floater. Think he's on the roof now.

 

It's an even 6-6 score. I'm not about to let the aliens win this hockey match. Let's save four more! Chan finds three more in the back parking lot. It seems devoid of aliens... But do we really want to risk it?

 

Before I can decide, Trump opens the back door on the other side of the building, revealing two more Floaters! They take shelter behind a civilian. The cowards.

 

Trump takes out one with a 64% chance shot! I'm honestly surprised he connected. Princess takes out the other. Margot rescues the civilian! Good teamwork, guys. The Floater looks mighty pissed at our good fortune, which was certainly not helped at all by a quick restart. He punishes Margot with a 5 damage hit! I take it, since I deserved that for my carelessness on that totally imaginary turn that only took place in my head.

 

Trump takes out the Floater! The end score... Cass: 12, Aliens: MURDERED.

 

MISSION: COMPLETE

 

OK, OK. I took a mulligan because Margot died. That happened in Operation Black Night too. But I'm allowed ONE restart per map. If it was anybody else, I would've accepted the loss, but we need Margot to get to Captain rank so I can get Squad Size II. After that, no more mulligans.

 

My wish has been granted! Margot reaches Captain, but she's gravely wounded. Trump gets promoted and takes HEAT Ammo, which will allow him to annihilate robots, and Jackie Chan earns a nickname!

 

Will the game finally let me advance more than one day? I swear, the last three missions have all taken place on April 22. I'm dying to know if we're going to get a damn council mission to save this playthrough. (I'm also dying to know if I'm going to go back to making this a legitimate playthrough, since I said I'd accept whatever outcome the missions gave me.)

 

The game gives me the middle finger. No council mission. We've reached the end of April. Our success in Operation Dark Law appeased the US, but Canada and Mexico are about to withdraw. We can launch three satellites, but France, Russia, and the UK are about to pull out too. We don't really have a choice here. We HAVE to save Canada and Mexico. The question is: what we do with the third satellite? Europe is fucked. We could save one of them, but the bonus is gone. I think...we'll save Russia. Trump would like that. Plus, they're dealing out $150/month. Better than what the UK is offering. Also, let's remember to send an Interceptor over to Europe...

 

France and the UK pull out of the XCOM project! Y'all should trust me more. I wrote the guide on this game.

 

Bradford says I suck for letting that UFO escape over the US. You're going to give me a "C"? Really? Do my parents have to sign my report card too?

 

We have nearly $700 to spend going into May. Let's be smart about this. First thing: let's get the Alien Containment facility built. Let's also buy an Arc Thrower. Three more satellites, and one more Satellite Upl...oh, not enough engineers. Great. OK, fine. One Workshop, to get us more engineers. No, make it two.

 

Oh, a request from China. Two SCOPES for four engineers? Yes, please.

 

OK. That will do it for today. Tomorrow we decide between Egypt for four engineers or Japan for $200. We'll probably also encounter our first Berserker. You know what they say: April showers will bring May fuckers, and nobody fucks up a squad quite like a Berserker. Be prepared!

 

CURRENT ROSTER

Lt. Ameera “Princess” al-Taweel (Support)

Lt. Donald “Cheeto” Trump (Heavy)

Sq. Eddie Van Halen (Support)

Cpl. Jackie “Cannonball” Chan (Support)

Cpt. Margot “Harley” Robbie (Assault)

Sq. Sheena Easton (Heavy)

Lt. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko (Sniper)

 

KILLED IN ACTION

Cpl. Liam Neeson (Heavy) – blown to smithereens in Operation Rotting Thorn (Mission No. 4)

[Arcesius]

Hi there! 

 

Very nice profile you got there... very varied and filled with great and fun games! ? Congrats on that!

And also very nice checklist you have going on. I have been lurking but didn't write yet since I've never played XCom and that seems to be what has kept you busy lately ?

 

But, I see that you started Nioh.. And I reeeeally hope you like that one! You name the DS games and Bloodborne in your list of favorite games, so I guess that's already a good indicator. Looking at your profile, I guess you are going for 100%. The game really shines on higher difficulties, when you need to start thinking about builds and optimization, so you'll have a ton of fun I'm sure. 

 

Are you planning to do all missions and DLC first in Way of the Samurai, or is the plan to unlock Way of the Demon quickly and do everything there? I'm curious since I played Nioh first before the DLC came out, so I did all missions on the standard difficulty first and then again on WotD to get 100%. 

 

Have fun! 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Cassylvania]

7 hours ago, Arcesus7 said:

But, I see that you started Nioh.. And I reeeeally hope you like that one! You name the DS games and Bloodborne in your list of favorite games, so I guess that's already a good indicator. Looking at your profile, I guess you are going for 100%. The game really shines on higher difficulties, when you need to start thinking about builds and optimization, so you'll have a ton of fun I'm sure. 

 

Are you planning to do all missions and DLC first in Way of the Samurai, or is the plan to unlock Way of the Demon quickly and do everything there? I'm curious since I played Nioh first before the DLC came out, so I did all missions on the standard difficulty first and then again on WotD to get 100%. 

 

Hi there, Arc! Welcome to the patch...erm, pile. And yeah, I guess listening to the music in Mahjong (which I finished yesterday, by the way -- not a bad game, but it cheats to make you lose levels) inspired me to play Nioh. I've had it on my shelf for over a year, but I needed that Souls itch to come back. And after playing it for a couple hours, I can definitely say it feels exactly like a Souls game.

 

I don't know anything about builds, optimization, or the DLC. I don't even know if I own the DLC. I guess I do because I was able claim some gold-plated armor, but it's too heavy to wear. I did a little research to find out my "preferred weapon" choice doesn't matter, but I went kusarigama and spear, and chose Kato as my guardian spirit. Because of course I did. I love wolves. I then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening getting my ass kicked.

 

But yeah, any advice you can give me is welcome. I don't really know what I've gotten myself into, or how I'm going to get out of it, but that's always been the fun part of Souls games. And it really does look like you can't mess up your build here...

 

 

XCOM IRONMAN, MISSION NO. 11

OPERATION DRIVING SAVIOR

 

I'll take Japan for $200, Alex. We finally have Squad Size II, so we can bring SIX soldiers on every mission for the rest of the game. For this one, though, let's keep it simple: Margot, Ameera, Sheena, Chan, Trump, and Wlad. We also have an Arc Thrower and an Alien Containment facility, so we can begin trying to capture aliens. We'll give that honor to Chan... Let's do this.

 

We land in a parking lot of a paper factory. You know, Bradford, we could at least TRY to deploy somewhere where we aren't sitting ducks.

 

No more extra lives, Margot. You're now expendable, like everybody else.

 

We took out a Floater, but got flanked by Thin Men. Now we got creeps hiding in the darkness on either side of us. Wlad doesn't like being exposed like this. We're going to have to retreat into the warehouse. Should be safe inside.

 

Nope. Thin Man was hiding in there. Now his body is plastered everywhere. Hope you like your newspapers RED.

 

I mean, I guess the alien blood is green, but...

 

Anyway, I wish we could shut doors behind us in this game. Would be nice for not exposing our backs.

 

Second Floater is dead, thanks to Wlad. Think everybody else is in the main office. I'd LIKE to get the jump on them, so Chan can capture one of their asses alive.

 

Two more Floaters. Margot is going to try to lure them to Chan, who is hiding behind a double door.

 

Wlad apparently has x-ray vision, as he was able to shoot one Floater through the roof.

 

Having Margot open the back door... Surprise! A stupid Floater, inches away. She tosses a grenade to weaken him to 1 HP and Chan throws a Pokeball! *wiggle wiggle* *wiggle wiggle* *FWOOSH!* Fail.

 

WHAT THE HELL, CHAN!? That was a 90% chance... Fine. Try again. I'm not sure WHY the Floater didn't even bother to attack on his turn, but maybe he knew he was fucked. He had Ameera and Trump on his rear, and Sheena waiting in the wings. We're bringing this one back alive, Dr. V!

 

MISSION: COMPLETE

 

Actually, one of the easiest missions so far. I don't even think they got a shot off. Wlad and Ameera join Margot as Captains, and I relax a little, knowing that we've hit the turning point in the game. Things SHOULD get easier from here on out.

 

Our two Workshops are done! Let's build that other Satellite Uplink. Another UFO! BAM! Downed almost instantly. That's where we'll pick up tomorrow, but let's ready another rookie for deployment. We need a backup Sniper...and Assault.

 

CURRENT ROSTER

Cpt. Ameera “Princess” al-Taweel (Support)

Lt. Donald “Cheeto” Trump (Heavy)

Sq. Eddie Van Halen (Support)

Cpl. Jackie “Cannonball” Chan (Support)

Cpt. Margot “Harley” Robbie (Assault)

Sq. Sheena Easton (Heavy)

Cpt. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko (Sniper)

 

KILLED IN ACTION

Cpl. Liam Neeson (Heavy) – blown to smithereens in Operation Rotting Thorn (Mission No. 4)

[Kent10201]

@Cassylvania Nioh is fantastic! I think you’ll love it. I haven’t played it in a while but the one tip I can give is that upper stance spear is extremely OP, at least early game. It does great damage and also lets you keep your distance from the enemy. Make sure that your armor heaviness level (yeah let’s call it that) is always in the green because the increased mobility helps a lot. Other than that it’s not too bad. I’ve found it to be easier than Demons Souls and Dark Souls 3, so I’m sure you’ll be fine. 

[Arcesius]

14 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Hi there, Arc! Welcome to the patch...erm, pile. And yeah, I guess listening to the music in Mahjong (which I finished yesterday, by the way -- not a bad game, but it cheats to make you lose levels) inspired me to play Nioh. I've had it on my shelf for over a year, but I needed that Souls itch to come back. And after playing it for a couple hours, I can definitely say it feels exactly like a Souls game.

 

I don't know anything about builds, optimization, or the DLC. I don't even know if I own the DLC. I guess I do because I was able claim some gold-plated armor, but it's too heavy to wear. I did a little research to find out my "preferred weapon" choice doesn't matter, but I went kusarigama and spear, and chose Kato as my guardian spirit. Because of course I did. I love wolves. I then proceeded to spend the rest of the evening getting my ass kicked.

 

But yeah, any advice you can give me is welcome. I don't really know what I've gotten myself into, or how I'm going to get out of it, but that's always been the fun part of Souls games. And it really does look like you can't mess up your build here...

 

Probably what I wrote above didn' make a lot of sense if you went in blind then ?

 

But you definitely choose wisely with Nioh, and in my opinion going in blind is right thing to do, so I think it makes sense to discuss builds and optimization later... ? Once you find your playstyle. Personally I loved the Dual Katanas, but I also used two-handed shortswords in DS3 and wherever I can, so.. that's just me ? 
 

I can recommend playing the game the way I did, which is doing the first playthrough blind and experimenting with all the available weapons. You'll have to use all of them for the platinum anyways. There are no missable trophies, so there you go! Aiming for the plat without DLC should take you anywhere between  60 and 80 hours (it took me ~70). 

 

If you got the disc version of the game   I doubt you have the DLC.. the golden armor is no indicator, as I had it too and the DLC wasn't out then yet. They are three DLC in total as you probably know, each adding a new region to the already huge game. One of the trophies in the first DLC requires you to finish every single mission (yes, Twilight Missions, Dojo Missions, Story Missions, EVERYTHING!) on Way of the Demon, which is basically NG++. And here is where deciding on a build and optimizing it is crucial. 

 

If you split it up this way, platinum first then DLC content, it will take a bit longer. After my 70h for the plat I finished the last trophy with around 185 hours on the clock. I assure you, this is probably the only game that I've played for 100+ hours that I've enjoyed every single second of. 

 

Keep us updated! ?

 

 

Edited February 22, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Cassylvania]

On 2/21/2019 at 0:21 PM, Kent10201 said:

@Cassylvania Nioh is fantastic! I think you’ll love it. I haven’t played it in a while but the one tip I can give is that upper stance spear is extremely OP, at least early game. It does great damage and also lets you keep your distance from the enemy. Make sure that your armor heaviness level (yeah let’s call it that) is always in the green because the increased mobility helps a lot. Other than that it’s not too bad. I’ve found it to be easier than Demons Souls and Dark Souls 3, so I’m sure you’ll be fine. 

 

Oh, wow. I thought it's been just as hard as those games. I must've died to Satan and his big balls (and crazy bat lady) like 20-30 times, and I think the only reason I won was because of Kato. Maybe I need to chill out on my attacks.

 

Thanks for the advice, @Arcesus7! I think we'll do the main game first and then chip away at the DLC. But why is it longer to do it that way? Is it because I could theoretically play through the whole game on WotD first?

 

Either way, that's good game design, when you can play through a game blindly and not miss anything or do something irreversible. It's nice to learn as I go. I found a rare spear, so I've mostly been using that, but I like the dual swords too. I got up to the lightning dog last night. I thought he was going to be easy to kill, but then he started doing that rolling attack, like the giant fat cats or the bonewheel skeletons in Dark Souls, and I had to shut the game off. Too many bad memories. Tonight, maybe we'll make a little more progress! But first...

 

XCOM IRONMAN, MISSION NO. 12

OPERATION CRIMSON DRUID

 

Crimson Druid. I like that. Anyway, yesterday's mission was so easy that I decided to bring another rookie along for this mission. I'd like to say I had a lot of choices when it came to choosing an American woman (? STAY AWAY FROM ME ?), but I really only had one. Betty White joins the team! Margot, Ameera, Trump, Chan, and Wlad accompany her to the UFO site, where we're likely to encounter some resistance.

 

I also realized I made a mistake. I said the next enemy that should be introduced is the Berserker, but what I meant was Muton. Berserkers are advanced versions of Mutons. We MIGHT encounter one in this mission...

 

Or two! There they are, hiding in the UFO. Trump decides they'd look good with a rocket up their butts. Betty White picks off one of them for an easy rank up! Come on, Sniper...

 

An Outsider appears. We break his knee caps and then decapitate him.

 

MISSION: COMPLETE

 

If I make it look easy, that's because it is. Betty turns into an Assault, which I guess is the second best thing I could ask for, and the Carapace Armor research is finished! We'll take five of those, thank you for very much. (Wlad shouldn't need a set, because he shouldn't be getting shot.) Another UFO gets in our way. Pew pew! I think the game really wants me to capture an Outsider. We...probably should've spent today's mission doing that... My bad.

 

OK. Tomorrow, we'll grab the Outsider, interrogate him, and get ready for the Alien Base Assault mission. It's always good to do that around the end of May, because that basically gives us a free pass on this month's panic levels.

 

CURRENT ROSTER

Cpt. Ameera “Princess” al-Taweel (Support)

Sq. Betty White (Assault)

Lt. Donald “Cheeto” Trump (Heavy)

Sq. Eddie Van Halen (Support)

Cpl. Jackie “Cannonball” Chan (Support)

Cpt. Margot “Harley” Robbie (Assault)

Sq. Sheena Easton (Heavy)

Cpt. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko (Sniper)

 

KILLED IN ACTION

Cpl. Liam Neeson (Heavy) – blown to smithereens in Operation Rotting Thorn (Mission No. 4)

Edited February 23, 2019 by Cassylvania

[Kent10201]

6 minutes ago, Cassylvania said:

 

Oh, wow. I thought it's been just as hard as those games. I must've died to Satan and his big balls (and crazy bat lady) like 20-30 times, and I think the only reason I won was because of Kato. Maybe I need to chill out on my attacks.

Satan Big Balls took me forever and I stopped playing the game when I got to bat lady. Then I switched to the high spear strat, beat her first time and haven't had any problems since. 

 

Lightning dog was a very fun boss. I believe I beat him on my second try so hopefully you won't have too much trouble. 

[Briste]

So I was sick as a dog this week and I want to thank you for your XCOM posts since it broke up the monotony of movies, tv and games in between my re-enactments of the Exorcist. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning or at least a bad mussel in the paella I ate Monday, but it could have also been a stomach bug...either way I was out of work three days from it. My PSVR arrived Monday, but I didn't have the stomach to try it out until Thursday evening. I spent most of my time on Banner Saga 2. I know you're possibly planning on playing it sometime (trilogy is on sale right now fyi) so I'll give you a big piece of advice...make sure you bank a lot of renown from BS1 to bring to BS2.

 

I had to replay BS1 on easy and bank renown for BS2 just to get the Master Tactician trophy. Before replaying BS1, I had attempted to use the exploit first on the level where enemies are constantly summoned until the boss is defeated. However, apparently on my Alette run in BS1, I let Eirik leave the caravan and his 'Rally' skill of replenishing will is needed to consistently be able to keep yourself alive long enough to take advantage of the exploit. I was able to replenish my will long enough to get about 130 renown in that one level...but I was still short by about 120 renown by the end of the game to get six level 10 characters to use. I didn't purchase supplies once either. I speed ran BS1 on easy and banked about 500 renown by not leveling anyone. It was still really easy to beat without leveling up. The biggest benefit to this is that when you start BS2, all of the characters you carry over, start at least at level 3 and it costs you no renown to get there. Some were even at level 5. With the 500 renown, I was able to level up 7 characters to level 10 from the start and was able to get that trophy in the beginning as soon as the training tent becomes available.

 

My second recommendation would be to do your Hard run with Alette instead of Rook. She gets an ability 'Overwatch' that works like XCOM only better. Instead of one shot during overwatch, she'll shoot anyone that comes within range between her turns. If you equip her with an item that knocks back enemies who take 3 or more damage, they basically miss their turn and take damage. In conjunction with another characters ability that grants the person it's used on to basically be able to ignore armor, it makes hard difficulty somewhere between easy and normal. It doesn't work every time since there are a couple of enemies that have a workaround, but it makes most levels much easier on hard.

 

Survival Mode DLC is actually kind of fun if not very long. You basically do every battle map (40) per run-through and the trophies require you to run the gauntlet using different setups. To do it comfortably, it takes at least four runs through the gauntlet, but if you are extremely skilled or lucky, possibly three. I thought it was going to be more annoying than it was, but each setup has brought a different challenge (except for easy...that was....easy) and my run using only human women proved to be very fun and challenging. I did hit one annoying snag that caused me to restart my Hard run...but that was flukey and at least I was only 10 battles in. We lost power for a minute last night while I was in the middle of a battle and my PS4 turned off. The game counts that as exiting out and you need to use a 'reload' to do the battle over. One of the trophies requires you to do the hard run with no reloads, so I had to start over. At least it's been fun.

 

Looking at this, I realize I wrote a lot, but I think this information would save you a lot of headaches when you go to play BS2 for yourself. I have started doing some homework on BS3 and it seems like that game will take several playthroughs to get all of the trophies. It seems like some of them will be easier to get without using an imported save depending on choices/who's left alive by the time you hit the third installment. I'll let you know since I'm playing that next.

 

I tried Batman VR for a while last night and I have some thoughts, but this post has gone on long enough so I'll save my comments for when I finish it. Happy Saturday!

Edited February 23, 2019 by Briste

[Cassylvania]

14 hours ago, Kent10201 said:

Satan Big Balls took me forever and I stopped playing the game when I got to bat lady. Then I switched to the high spear strat, beat her first time and haven't had any problems since.

 

I'm not sure I understand the whole stance thing. I get low stance is faster and high stance is more powerful, but I hope the game doesn't expect me to switch between them on the fly. I have enough to worry about, with trying to stay alive and all.

 

I didn't play any Nioh yesterday. Played Chapter 4 of King's Quest instead. I gotta say... I really love this game. My favorite joke so far is when Graham is talking to his son after they solve a puzzle and he's like, "What is it with your generation and always wanting a reward? You don't need a reward for everything you do." *DING* Trophy pops.

 

The Rumpelstiltskin reference from the first KQ game was good too...

 

30 minutes ago, Briste said:

So I was sick as a dog this week and I want to thank you for your XCOM posts since it broke up the monotony of movies, tv and games in between my re-enactments of the Exorcist. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning or at least a bad mussel in the paella I ate Monday, but it could have also been a stomach bug...either way I was out of work three days from it. My PSVR arrived Monday, but I didn't have the stomach to try it out until Thursday evening. I spent most of my time on Banner Saga 2. I know you're possibly planning on playing it sometime (trilogy is on sale right now fyi) so I'll give you a big piece of advice...make sure you bank a lot of renown from BS1 to bring to BS2.

 

Mwaha. I bought TBS trilogy last week! In fact, I was going to play it, but then I got sidetracked with Nioh...

 

I guess we should at least see if my saves will carry over from the digital version. I'm pretty sure I stocked Renown on my third (?) playthrough, but I can't remember.

 

Well, the answer is no. The game just told me no save data from TBS1 exists, even though I can clearly see it in my Storage folder. That's a fine howdy-do. So I guess the approach is... Easy playthrough on Rook to get all the trophies I can, quick run through TBS1 to bank Renown, then a Hard playthrough on Alette with that Renown so I can get Master Tactician (and have an easier time with the game). Or I could spend an hour trying to figure out how to import my save. Maybe if I install TBS1 on disc and then load my save from the digital version...

 

Hope you feel better! Looking forward to the VR update.

[Kent10201]

1 hour ago, Cassylvania said:

 

I'm not sure I understand the whole stance thing. I get low stance is faster and high stance is more powerful, but I hope the game doesn't expect me to switch between them on the fly. I have enough to worry about, with trying to stay alive and all.

The developers probably intended for us to switch between them on the fly but I never really found it necessary. High stance for bosses and tougher enemies and low stance for the small fry always seemed to work out for me. 

 

All of this Nioh talk is making me want to go back to it. Maybe after Far Cry 5. 

 

 

[Briste]

1 hour ago, Cassylvania said:

Well, the answer is no. The game just told me no save data from TBS1 exists, even though I can clearly see it in my Storage folder.

I actually was annoyed at first myself because it told me that I didn't have a save file that exists either. I only have digital everything and still got that error. I originally tried without having BS1 installed on my PS4 and got that the no save existed error. I then installed BS1 (but didn't open it) and got the same message. I opened BS1 to check and I was like "bull shit...it's right there". I think I then re-downloaded my saves from the cloud and then selected the local save when BS2 loaded? I can't remember exactly, but it took a couple of tries. It might have been something as simple as just loading and running BS1 to have the save file appear for BS2. I really wanted to continue from my original saves since I thought it was such a cool concept. I've heard it's not the end of the world to start from scratch though.

 

I would skip the easy run on BS2 unless you need to for an emergency and just do a normal on Rook and hard for Alette. There is no trophy for easy and the Normal/Hard trophies do not stack I believe. This game is MUUUUUUUCH more forgiving with supplies and easier in general I felt. I didn't buy supplies on either playthrough for BS2.

 

11 minutes ago, Kent10201 said:

All of this Nioh talk is making me want to go back to it. Maybe after Far Cry 5. 

 

I really want to play this at some point too, but I have too much shit on my plate right now to add another that I can't get to. I'm finally going to be starting the entire KH series after I beat BS3, so that will take me several months at least. I'll wait for a good sale or see if it pops up for free with PS+ at some point until I can actually play it.

[Kent10201]

12 minutes ago, Briste said:

I really want to play this at some point too, but I have too much shit on my plate right now to add another that I can't get to. I'm finally going to be starting the entire KH series after I beat BS3, so that will take me several months at least. I'll wait for a good sale or see if it pops up for free with PS+ at some point until I can actually play it.

Enjoy KH! I platted KH3 a couple days ago and loved every minute of it. 

 

Would now be a bad time to let you know that it’s on sale right now with all of the DLC for only $25? 

[Arcesius]

17 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

Oh, wow. I thought it's been just as hard as those games. I must've died to Satan and his big balls (and crazy bat lady) like 20-30 times, and I think the only reason I won was because of Kato. Maybe I need to chill out on my attacks.

 

Thanks for the advice, @Arcesus7! I think we'll do the main game first and then chip away at the DLC. But why is it longer to do it that way? Is it because I could theoretically play through the whole game on WotD first?

 

Either way, that's good game design, when you can play through a game blindly and not miss anything or do something irreversible. It's nice to learn as I go. I found a rare spear, so I've mostly been using that, but I like the dual swords too. I got up to the lightning dog last night. I thought he was going to be easy to kill, but then he started doing that rolling attack, like the giant fat cats or the bonewheel skeletons in Dark Souls, and I had to shut the game off. Too many bad memories. Tonight, maybe we'll make a little more progress! But first...

 

Yeah Onryoki can be tough at first.. And Nu is... Let's say I understand why you quit ? But once you learn how to dodge his lightning it's much easier.. I reeeeally wanna write some things right now, but I don't wanna spoil anything ?

 

Anyways, you cannot play WotD from the start.. you always unlock the next difficulty by beating the last mission, "The Queens Eyes". That mission is unlocked by beating other missions, though it doesn't matter which ones. You just need to do a certain amount. In principle, you could go to NG++ with as few beaten missions as possible (unlock The Queens Eyes on Way of the Samurai, then again on Way of the Strong (NG+)), you could ignore all of the Twilight missions, all Dojo missions and whatever seems hard. That would save a LOT of time, but I wouldn't recommend it. The experience in Way of the Samurai and Way of the Demon is completely different, and if you don't know the game well enough you'll have a hard time on the higher difficulty. 

Then there is that one trophy that requires you to do 60 requests at the blacksmith. You get one point to make a request every Million gold (what's the currency here again??) you spend at the blacksmith, so during your first playthrough that won't come naturally and can mean a lot of grinding. However, you'll spend many hundreds of millions of gold soul forging equipment during WotD, so don't grind this out.. 

 

As for switching stances: yes, you should learn to switch on the fly ? Certain abilities and parries can only be activated from a specific stance, so you need to adapt to the situation. Also, KI-Pulse is super important. Learn to do it perfectly!! 

 

But nothing is crucial during your first playthrough.. just have fun learning the game! 

 

 

51 minutes ago, Kent10201 said:

The developers probably intended for us to switch between them on the fly but I never really found it necessary. High stance for bosses and tougher enemies and low stance for the small fry always seemed to work out for me. 

 

That is absolutely sufficient at the beginning, yes. But once you start unlocking weapon abilities that require specific stances you'll need to be able to switch on the fly ? You should definitely continue with this game!! 

Edited February 23, 2019 by Arcesus7

[Cassylvania]

8 hours ago, Briste said:

I actually was annoyed at first myself because it told me that I didn't have a save file that exists either. I only have digital everything and still got that error. I originally tried without having BS1 installed on my PS4 and got that the no save existed error. I then installed BS1 (but didn't open it) and got the same message. I opened BS1 to check and I was like "bull shit...it's right there". I think I then re-downloaded my saves from the cloud and then selected the local save when BS2 loaded? I can't remember exactly, but it took a couple of tries. It might have been something as simple as just loading and running BS1 to have the save file appear for BS2. I really wanted to continue from my original saves since I thought it was such a cool concept. I've heard it's not the end of the world to start from scratch though.

 

I was able to get it to work by installing TBS1 from the physical disc and starting up the game. It asked me if I wanted to import my local save, I said yes, and then it suddenly worked on TBS2. After playing through the first few chapters, though, I can tell it's going to take three playthroughs anyway. I already dipped to poor morale and had some clansmen starve to death.

 

Hopefully I'll get most of the rest of the trophies on this playthrough.

 

8 hours ago, Arcesus7 said:

Anyways, you cannot play WotD from the start.. you always unlock the next difficulty by beating the last mission, "The Queens Eyes". That mission is unlocked by beating other missions, though it doesn't matter which ones. You just need to do a certain amount. In principle, you could go to NG++ with as few beaten missions as possible (unlock The Queens Eyes on Way of the Samurai, then again on Way of the Strong (NG+)), you could ignore all of the Twilight missions, all Dojo missions and whatever seems hard. That would save a LOT of time, but I wouldn't recommend it. The experience in Way of the Samurai and Way of the Demon is completely different, and if you don't know the game well enough you'll have a hard time on the higher difficulty.

 

Hm. Okay. We'll just work on NG for now and figure out the rest as we go. I at least want to work towards figuring out what kind of weapon and build I like the most. My usual sword-and-board approach doesn't seem to be an option here.

 

ANYWAY, Saturday night XCOM time. We should be near the halfway mark now.

 

XCOM IRONMAN, MISSION NO. 13

OPERATION PURPLE HYDRA

 

The plan is simple: shoot down a UFO, capture an Outsider, and interrogate him. Or...uh, we can fail to shoot down the UFO. Yeah, that's an option too.

 

Sidetracked yet again. We'll be going to Germany for an alien abduction mission instead. Same team as yesterday.

 

At least we rolled my favorite map. The rooftop construction site! I just really like the compactness of this zone. You often don't even need to leave the starting area to clear the map. Let's be smart, careful, and vigilant. I don't want any causalities on this stupid side mission.

 

Hilarious overwatch trap annihilates three aliens at once. Two Thin Men decide to join in on the fun! Their guts are sprayed from the rooftop. I don't even know who is getting these kills.

 

We got a runner. He took off for the other side of the roof, so I can only assume he has friends there waiting for us. Guess we should go introduce ourselves.

 

Nope. He had no friends. But Wlad's bullet said hi.

 

Seems we got one more pod left. It'd be nice if Chan could get the drop on them and capture one... It won't be an Outsider, but more interrogations isn't a bad thing.

 

Bah. They're just Floaters. Waste them, guys.

 

Oh, shit! There are FIVE of them. Trump launches a rocket! Chan misses a 96% chance shot. Betty White doesn't. Princess sneaks in from behind and puts a bullet right between the last Floater's eyes.

 

MISSION: COMPLETE

 

Well, that was quick and pointless. South Africa is flipping out on us for not helping them. But like I tell the people in Sim Theme Park who complain that my ticket prices are too high and also that there's a 50% mortality rate on the roller coaster, "You can't please everybody." Trump and Chan get promoted for their heroics, while I question why I didn't take the mission that had a cash reward. At least we have a lot of Floater corpses to sell...

 

We got a request for Laser Rifles. It'll cost us Alloys, but $290 for $60 worth of equipment is hard to pass up.

 

Oh, look. The game FINALLY decides to give me a council mission. $135, panic reduction, and 2 engineers. Now we're talking. Sure, it's another stupid side quest, but at least it'll get Russia to chill. Get ready tomorrow where we go toe-to-toe with Thin Men carrying Plasma Rifles! That roller coaster won't be the only thing with a high mortality rate.

 

CURRENT ROSTER

Cpt. Ameera “Princess” al-Taweel (Support)

Sq. Betty White (Assault)

Cpt. Donald “Cheeto” Trump (Heavy)

Sq. Eddie Van Halen (Support)

Lt. Jackie “Cannonball” Chan (Support)

Cpt. Margot “Harley” Robbie (Assault)

Sq. Sheena Easton (Heavy)

Cpt. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko (Sniper)

 

KILLED IN ACTION

Cpl. Liam Neeson (Heavy) – blown to smithereens in Operation Rotting Thorn (Mission No. 4)

Edited February 24, 2019 by Cassylvania

[Cassylvania]

XCOM IRONMAN, MISSION NO. 14

OPERATION FALLEN HEART

 

Same team as yesterday. Our mission this time: rescue Thomas Hutch. That means finding him and escorting him to the evac zone, while Thin Men try to put holes in our bodies where holes don't belong.

 

This map is a little annoying because there's an overpass, and I'm 95% certain that Hutch is on the lower level. We'll send the guys to the left and the girls to the right. The key will be creating a path for Hutch to take that minimizes the amount of turns between rescuing him and helicoptering him out of here, because Thin Men will start dropping in from the sky once we have him in custody. Also, there are probably six or seven of them here already. The nice thing is -- to my knowledge, anyway -- the AI can't kill the VIP until he's actively been "found," so we're not on a timer here.

 

The usual strategy of sending Margot forward to trigger a pod, taking one alien out with Wlad, and then Run&Gunning Margot back to her original position so that we can set up an overwatch traps works flawlessly. You would think the aliens would have my techniques figured out by now.

 

God, the music in this game gets me PUMPED. It's so intense when the aliens know you're there.

 

Should take fact of the advantage that the only enemies in this map are Thin Men by capturing one. We need a Sectoid at some point too...

 

Hutch's bodyguards are pinned down by a limo. We'll send in Margot to give them a hand. She claps sarcastically at their pathetic attempt to save their boss.

 

Chan shows how much he cares about capturing an alien by shooting one right off the bridge.

 

The girls hurry to the van in the back of the map, where our boy Hutch is huddled in a fetal position like a coward. Let's get his ass to the chopper! The path should be clear. Go, go, go!

 

Four Thin Men just dropped in and immediately went into OW. Kinda cheap how they're allowed to do that.

 

Wlad takes one out from downtown! Trump is too far away to hit the others with a rocket, and I don't know what the heck Chan is doing on the bridge. Does he expect an alien to just drop down next to him for an easy capture? Margot fires a laser up the second Thin Man's ass. Princess wipes the third from the face of the earth. Can Betty take out the fourth? No. No, she cannot. Why is she using a shotgun anyway?

 

Margot pays the price for Betty's mistake. A decent shot from skinny boy, but she's still standing.

 

This time, Betty doesn't miss.

 

Hutch runs past his security detail, giving them the middle finger on his way to the Skyranger!

 

Wlad takes out the last Thin Man. We're coming home, boys!

 

MISSION: COMPLETE

 

The operation name had me a little worried, but that was a fairly routine mission. Margot's injuries COULD be problematic if she's kept out of the next mission, though.

 

We'll use the cash reward from Hutch to purchase Iron Will, because getting more Will per rank up would be nice. Experiment Warfare is done being researched, so we can finally build a Foundry. I guess we'll start autopsying the aliens now, since we'll never be getting that sweet, sweet South America bonus (and Tech Creds will go a long way to speeding up the rest of our research). We'll also equip our ships with Phoenix Cannons, so we can maybe not suck at shooting down large UFOs...

 

Well, we've reached the end of May. That month was much easier than I expected. I guess now we get to play everybody's favorite game: WHICH-COUNTRIES-WILL-WE-FUCK!? ?

 

Four countries with high panic levels and only three satellites. While I think it's stupid to save South Africa and Argentina (since we already have Africa's bonus and lost out on South America's), I don't see any reason to target Asia yet. They're literally all at the lowest possible panic level.

 

We get a "B" on our month progress report, and $874 (!) to spend. Hot DAMN, that's a lot of moola. Let's get an Interceptor over South America, a fourth (and hopefully final) Satellite Uplink, and let's dig to the bottom floor of our base. Wet Work (more experience per kill) is nice too.

 

Ah, beautiful. The Foundry is done. Improved Pistol I and SCOPE Upgrade are worth purchasing for now. That'll turn Wlad into a super badass. Ammo Conservation WOULD be good, but we don't have enough Muton butts yet. Really didn't see many of those in May, did we?

 

OK. UFO landing site. That took so long that Margot completely recovered from her injuries. I'm pretty sure that Outsiders appear in any UFO mission, so tomorrow will be an epic one. We gotta get a soldier into that UFO and close enough to the Outsider that we can capture him. Is Jackie Chan up for the job? Will Betty White learn to land a shot? Will Trump destroy most of the UFO with an ill-timed rocket? Will Wlad kill the Outsider before we can even get close? Find out tomorrow on IRONMAN XCOM-MEN.

 

CURRENT ROSTER

Cpt. Ameera “Princess” al-Taweel (Support)

Cpl. Betty White (Assault)

Cpt. Donald “Cheeto” Trump (Heavy)

Sq. Eddie Van Halen (Support)

Lt. Jackie “Cannonball” Chan (Support)

Maj. Margot “Harley” Robbie (Assault)

Sq. Sheena Easton (Heavy)

Maj. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko (Sniper)

 

KILLED IN ACTION

Cpl. Liam Neeson (Heavy) – blown to smithereens in Operation Rotting Thorn (Mission No. 4)

[Jens]

[...]

Edited September 30, 2019 by Jens

[Cassylvania]

3 hours ago, Jens said:

You can never say that I don't listen to recommendations @Cassylvania  

 

Did you enjoy it? You finished it rather quickly.

 

I've been working my way through TBS2. I wasn't able to kill Eyeless at the end of Chapter 13 for the Sundr Slayer trophy. I can finish the first part of the battle, but with too many causalities to handle the reinforcements. Just going to wait until my Easy playthrough to deal with that. In fact, I might do my Easy playthrough next, just to come up with some new tactics. I mostly rely on Bolverk to charge into battle recklessly and take out as many enemies as he can before he's knocked down. Sure, it's usually not the best approach, but I'm pretty sure he was designed to be used that way.

 

Also, did you see? https://psnprofiles.com/trophies/8791-pic-a-pix-classic

[Jens]

[...]

Edited September 30, 2019 by Jens

[Briste]

On 2/23/2019 at 0:54 PM, Kent10201 said:

Would now be a bad time to let you know that it’s on sale right now with all of the DLC for only $25? 

lol no that would not be a bad time to let me know! Thanks for the tip

 

16 hours ago, Cassylvania said:

I've been working my way through TBS2. I wasn't able to kill Eyeless at the end of Chapter 13 for the Sundr Slayer trophy. I can finish the first part of the battle, but with too many causalities to handle the reinforcements. Just going to wait until my Easy playthrough to deal with that. In fact, I might do my Easy playthrough next, just to come up with some new tactics. I mostly rely on Bolverk to charge into battle recklessly and take out as many enemies as he can before he's knocked down. Sure, it's usually not the best approach, but I'm pretty sure he was designed to be used that way.

This isn't actually bad that you'll have a playthrough where you didn't kill Eyeless. Apparently there is a trophy tied to Eyeless in BS3 and the level changes depending on whether you killed him/her or not. There is also a trophy tied to whether you kept the Sundr baby from BS1. I killed Eyeless in both of my playthroughs so I need to finish up my Easy playthrough where I banked all of the Renown and let Eyeless live. FYI you also need to not kill that Dredge in the cave when given the option on at least one playthrough. It is needed for a trophy as well in BS3. What are your thoughts so far? Do you like the improvements?

 

So I teased my VR review, and I finished up Batman the other night and I'm glad I waited to write about it. At first I was really frustrated and annoyed, however I've learned that was mostly my fault. When I plugged in the VR on Thursday night, I hadn't charged the move controllers yet so I needed to use the controller. It wasn't a problem at all during the introduction, which blew me away with how cool it was. But once I actually needed to use my hands for stuff..the controller was not very immersive and clunky. After I played for about five minutes, I decided to wait until my move controllers charged.

 

I thought I had charged both of them overnight and when I went to pick up the game again on Friday, only one of the move controllers was registering, so I initially thought you could only use one hand in the game (turns out the second one didn't charge since I wasn't using a proper cable....) It was super annoying and my hand kept disappearing just before I could reach stuff. After about 15 minutes of pure frustration where I couldn't even reach the piano keys to get into the Batcave, I realized the problem was my camera was set too far back on my TV stand, so the move controller was getting cutoff. Once I moved it to the end of my stand, that problem became less of an issue. It wasn't totally gone...but it went from constantly disappearing to only once in a while. So it went from a completely frustrating experience to a merely annoying one.

 

It was annoying because with only one move controller, I had to reach across my whole body to get the gadget on the left side of my belt every time I needed it. The game took me about an hour and a half to beat considering all the re-calibration and hardware movement I needed to do. I was originally going to give it a 'meh' rating since the visuals and everything was really incredible (remember I grew up playing Super Mario so this kind of immersion was crazy) but the controls were super annoying. I ended up watching a clip on the trophy guide and saw that the dude was able to use both hands. I then charged the other controller for a bit and the game got exponentially better when I could use both hands during the Riddler cleanup. It still needed to be re-calibrated more often than I'd like and the game was exceptionally short, but it was still overall a really cool experience. I don't think I'll play a ton of VR games since it did mess with my eyes a bit and normal games are just smoother...but I'm happy I can mix some VR games into my repertoire. My son loved it also. It was highly entertaining to watch him try and reach for stuff. I bought the Apollo 11 VR experience so he could see space and he loved it.

 

So overall, if you happen to win your fantasy football league or have extra disposable money laying around, it's a good purchase...but I don't think anyone needs to go out of their way to buy it. It seems more novelty considering how short a lot of the games are than truly fun like most of the games I've played. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by Briste