lookin' forward to diving into far cry 3 with the near-final version of ziggy's mod

https://www.nexusmods.com/farcry3/mods/63/?tab=1

i wish you could roll your own version though. i'm stuck with "casual," which enables other things i'd prefer cut, because i don't want to play the game without item highlighting

@alyx I'd probably be fine with casual, because I was shit at the unmodded version of Far Cry 3 and the changes this makes to enemies sound fucking terrifying.

@fjthom hehe. the main thing i'd prefer to play without is the always-on minimap, because i have a tendency to "play the minimap" instead of actually navigating the physical world

turning off the free weapon unlocks would make money more useful too, something almost every action / rpg game i play could benefit from

@alyx True, there's always that tipping point where there's no longer an incentive to spend money because the item drops are so much better. I think I've got something like 15 billion gold stashed up in Diablo 3 now thanks to the Boon of the Hoarder gem and repair costs being inconsequential.

@fjthom yeah. a lot of games lose part of their hook for me when things start coming too easily

@alyx Destiny 2's been that way for me lately. Exotic drops are way more common than I'd expect, and with the DLC Xur's now selling exotics at the base game's max power level (before, his wares were capped at 280, max was 305). And they've made actual levels completely irrelevant since everything's based on item power level, and infusion removes most of the incentive to swap out your old items for something new.

@fjthom yuck. it seems really easy for games with super-convoluted item systems to lose the fun somewhere amid the tangle of modifiers, upgrade paths, and mandatory grinding

@alyx Yep. And don't even get me started on Nioh! I love the game, but the combination of Souls-esque gameplay with multicolored loot with randomized stats AND a Destiny-style infusion system makes things incredibly complicated.

@fjthom oh no, bummer

tbh dark souls 1's upgrade system was bad enough with the strange upgrade paths that were best explained by an FAQ. and that wasn't even that deep, just inconsistent between paths

@alyx I never delved too deep into that system- I went with the normal upgrade path for my weapons and left it at that. And I was glad that the Souls sequels and Bloodborne simplified weapon upgrades.

@fjthom i think i did too. +15, good enough

i started with a fire gem in DS3 tho so... my rapier is currently fiery

@fjthom oh, but DS1 (probably others) tied ACHIEVEABLEMENTS to maxing out every type of weapon upgrade path. my oc nature hate that shit!

i think i gathered all the materials, maxed one upgrade path, and alt-f4ed the game so i could get the mats back for the next, and the next, and the next

that is skill

@alyx I gave up on ever getting all the DS1 achievements as soon as I saw I needed to get all the miracles and pyromancies. I knew I would never bother to do that since I went with a melee build and didn't have anywhere near enough free time to make multiple builds.