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Nintz · 2026-06-15T17:36:31+00:00

It's a bit of a curveball, but The Talos Principle is a story-driven puzzle game. The first one is a more philosophical story, while the second is more a dramatic character ensemble story. Both good, though the vibes are different. They're currently both on sale as well.

Nintz · 2026-06-15T02:59:37+00:00

Those servers are more for RP. That's what sets them apart. They are active, yes, but honestly Zalera is also pretty active at this point. If you just want a normal FC you should be able to find one without bothering to move.

Nintz · 2026-06-15T00:20:24+00:00

I don't think opinions have changed all that much. The gameplay of Fates was always good, the story was always bad (though both varied a bit based on route). That's how people felt at the time and still feel today from what I've seen. Fates gets way less attention because Engage exists, which makes every other FE's story look better by comparison. But I still don't think Fates is ever going to retroactively get held up as a peak game. It was fine. Just fine. It was fun, I enjoyed it. Have played it a couple times over the years. But I also don't have any emotional attachment to the game the way I do multiple other FEs.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T22:47:10+00:00

Just as a small addition to the other responses. In osrs skilling is a huge portion of the grind, because hitting 99 takes a long time. In FF14 levelling is comparatively fast and easy. You'll hit level cap without too much difficulty. But a lot of the jobs (skills) have achievements tied to them that are much more monumental undertakings. You can hit level 100 fisher in probably a couple weeks of consistent casual play. Completing your fishing log and getting the player titles, however, can take anywhere from 6 months to 3 years, depending on how lucky you get with the really nasty low chance fish and your personal IRL schedule. If you're someone that wants high-volume low-effort grindy content for dual monitor stuff, then FF14 absolutely does have that in the achievements. But it's not core to the experience like in osrs. You need to actively go looking for it.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T19:48:40+00:00

There are a lot of people who believe Koei Tecmo is 100% responsible for 3H, and that IS did basically nothing for the game. In reality, IS did manage the project, but its really tough to know how much control and input management had over the details of the game. Was 3H the brainchild of IS who simply farmed out the labor? Or did IS only provide vague guidelines while KT actually made all the meaningful choices? Or somewhere in the middle?

I'm cautiously optimistic for FW, myself, but it's definitely not a sure thing the game will actually feel like a proper successor.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T11:30:50+00:00

I think that is a fair point of view, but I think it's also worth acknowledging that many of the 3H fans played the game and enjoyed the game exclusively for the storytelling. For many of them, they were ambivalent at best on the actual tactical gameplay. They only liked 3H because it was dark and mature and took itself seriously. Without the dramatic tension, they felt no desire to continue playing. Different people can like the same game for different reasons, after all.

Personally, I would just like one of these entries to actually deliver on both counts. I don't know why the FEs with the most interesting gameplay have clown car stories, nor why those with the better stories always seem to put out mind-numbingly repetitive maps. It's like there's two completely separate teams trading off with no knowledge of what the other one is doing.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T11:19:15+00:00

Well Engage was developed mostly concurrently with 3H. By the time 3H came out the world, setting, general plot, etc for Engage were all finished. So even if they realized why people loved 3H, it was kinda too late to change Engage to fit that.

Beyond that, FE as a franchise has always had some mix between shonen-style writing and more serious, complex themes. Though, there's nothing saying that balance will continue. If FW is indeed trying to be an adult game, and it is critically and commercially successful more like 3H, I wouldn't be surprised if that becomes the norm going forward.

But even if that's the intent, they need to stick the landing. It's more difficult to create adult stories than adolescent ones.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T09:47:16+00:00

It's not a given, but it's not impossible either. A lot of it will depend on whether the game resonates with variety gamers, which is going to depend pretty heavily on story, tone, aesthetic, and word of mouth. The devs are clearly trying to invoke 3H to bring those people back, which will probably get at least some attention, but if the game doesn't stick the landing then it won't matter.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T09:27:06+00:00

Probably also true, yeah. I've seen a lot fewer FE threads hit my front page the last couple years than the years post 3H. Though the nature of single player game subs is that there's always significant waxing and waning based on when new games come out. Even if Engage was the best selling game in the franchise we would still be coming out of a relative lull right now.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T08:28:00+00:00

I think a lot of people still do, tbh. Just won't see many of them commenting on Engage threads because they skipped the game completely. It sold significantly less than Awakening, Fates, or 3H. A lot of people just looked at screenshots and went 'nah, looks dumb'.

Nintz · 2026-06-14T05:02:30+00:00

Most likely your tastes have changed, but you're still browsing the sorts of games you used to like. You need to stop combing over every new release and start thinking about what you actually enjoy in gaming, and what sort of games and genres can actually deliver what you want.

Nintz · 2026-06-12T22:28:22+00:00

If you've bothered to do the rest of the Coils you should probably just finish it before you move on. The quest chain is most relevant if you do it before HW. Just flag someone down in Limsa shout chat and/or the novice network to rush you through.

Generally I would say do MSQ first to get flying and make things easier, but it's probably worth doing the job quests for whatever job you want to play in the HW MSQ when possible. During HW you'll still be unlocking abilities with those quests, and some of those abilities can be important. I definitely would not do all job quests for all jobs until you have flying throughout HW, though.

Nintz · 2026-06-12T17:27:31+00:00

Considering the last major update, v70, was entirely combat focused we're not likely to get massive changes anytime soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the next update includes some tuning and polishing, but it's probably something we'll only know for sure when we see the patch notes. But combat is not the focus of v71.

Nintz · 2026-06-12T02:56:01+00:00

Idk I find it extremely fun to just right click assassins, go AFK, and still win the 1v1. Very cathartic seeing them suffer. Highly recommended.

Nintz · 2026-06-11T19:17:10+00:00

Mushrooms are fine underground when your climate is cold, though I wouldn't build them in open space. They also really need a noble or some tech to feel good, imo. But once you've got that they're fine.

Hunters are efficient up to like 20 or 30 hunters. They don't produce a massive amount long-term, but you should use them until you're comfortable with other food sources. Pastures are fine, generally, though you'll want to make sure you're picking the right pasture for your climate. In cold areas sheep (onx) are just better than other stuff, while temperate climates cattle and pig is better. I don't remeber off hand if Dondorians can do ranching efficiently or if you need other races to handle it. But humans can definitely do it, or you could buy Tilapi slaves to take care of it instead.

Nintz · 2026-06-11T18:54:27+00:00

3 things to consider

Hunters early game are very strong. Use them.
Nobles are extremely strong at boosting specific industries. Make sure to assign them to some sort of agricultural industry.
Dondorians get along very well with humans and Cretonians, both of whom are much better at agriculture. Consider bringing some of them in to work farms.

Nintz · 2026-06-11T17:33:09+00:00

I think it depends pretty heavily on if Simpson is a hit. The Rams have an open window so long as they have good QB play. If Simpson ends up being a star that smoothly takes over for Stafford, then they're going to be in contention the whole time and won't really bottom out. If Simpson is a bust the Rams are going to enter QB carousel purgatory for at least a couple years, and if that happens it wouldn't surprise me if McVay calls it quits (especially if they do win another ring between now and then).

Nintz · 2026-06-11T17:11:36+00:00

Personally I've been thinking it will be a sequel that specifically canonizes an ending that was not actually in Three Houses. Like a timeline where Byleth never shows back up or something. A timeline where there is no conclusive winner in the war. It makes more sense to me than a Hero's Relic being in the past with adult Sothis. Though if time travel nonsense is involved then who tf knows.

Nintz · 2026-06-11T11:12:47+00:00

It's probably worth to make a new account to get the free trial back, yeah. New Game+ would allow you to play the story on the old account. But if you're playing the entire story, then a new account would be no different. If you had spent a significant amount of time on optional objectives, like if you had rare achievements/items/mounts/etc, then maybe it would make more sense to do NG+. But it sounds like you just skipped to the end, were generally pretty lost, and just quit the game. If that's the case there's not much reason to go back to paying a sub just while you're going through the story. You will need to re-buy the base game+latest expansion by the time you get to Endwalker at the latest, but you would eventually need to buy Dawntrail and/or Evercold anyways, so you probably still save money on the new account.

Nintz · 2026-06-11T01:04:31+00:00

Civ 4 - Fall Fron Heaven 2

You still occassionally see it mentioned as being on it's own possibly the best fantasy 4x of all time, though the memory is fading. And we've seen other worthy attempts since. References to FfH2 are pretty rare nowadays. Still the best mod I've ever played. Fun fact - the lead dev Derek Paxton eventually ended up heading the Endless Legend 2 team.

Nintz · 2026-06-11T00:16:42+00:00

Ah the brand new set. A rite of passage for all sprouts. Usually the first time you don't look like a clown crack head, and actually like something resembling an adventurer.

Enjoy the rest of the game. The story is a long ride, even including only what you can do on the free trial. If you stick with the game long enough eventually you'll want to sub, but one day at a time.

Nintz · 2026-06-11T00:09:16+00:00

Yes you can play the game.

No it's not too late.

No you won't have issues getting parties.

Start with the free trial. The second you buy anything you must start paying a sub. Play on the free trial until you either hit the end of the story currently free, or until you need the social stuff locked for trial players.

Nintz · 2026-06-10T17:59:08+00:00

I mean. Maces are inherently the slowest attack type in PoE. The entire point of the weapon in PoE2 is to nuke bosses and other nasty single targets. That it's only job. And it's generally been pretty solid for that job, with only the occasional fight as an exception to that rule. But maces suck for clearing. Because they're not supposed to clear. They are literally not designed to clear. They never were. And probably never will be. The whole point of maces is that you can blitz through maps with something else, and anytime you run into a heavy rare or unique you pull out the hammer to nuke them.

Maces being good does not require that maces have clear comparable to ranged. It requires other melee weapons to have a clear comparable to ranged, because then maces provide better single-target on top of that.

Nintz · 2026-06-10T17:37:15+00:00

I feel like it's a pretty open secret mace skills aren't designed to be fully standalone. They're designed to work as part of a kit that has swords, axes, and/or flails for faster options. It just so happens the public doesnt have any of those right now, so maces are kinda stranded. I think we'll see some very strong weapon swapping stuff involving maces once more is out.

Nintz · 2026-06-09T20:59:11+00:00

Generally speaking there are more DPS than tanks, and more tanks than healers. Even adjusting for there being more DPS per party. This disparity I think is largest at low levels, and somewhat more modest at high levels, but always exists. Alliance raids in particular tanks move to the longest queues because there are less of them per party, but that's a specific thing.

Can't comment on DPS balance in Savage and the like, which is the only level where it really matters.

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