GhostofAnakin

Finished the main story for Sleeping Dogs tonight. Overall, it's a fun game, IMO. My only complaint is on how ... shallow ... certain parts of the game are. For instance, like GTA, you can meet some girls and then get their number, which usually opens up additional quests. But in Sleeping Dogs, you only get one or two quests from them, and then abruptly you never see these girls again, even when it's left as though they'll be ongoing NPC contact options. I even had to Google a certain character to see if I did something that screwed up any further contact with her because it just seemed as though she was dropped from the story for no reason.

I'm nearing completion of the main story in Sleeping Dogs. I find that it's really difficult to max out my Triad stats because a]there doesn't seem to be many missions to boost it and b]the XP I do get during the Triad missions isn't much. Contrast that to the Cop stats, where doing those drug bust side missions really boost the XP, and I've already maxed that one out.

The shooting is so much better in Sleeping Dogs than GTA. If GTA had Sleeping Dogs' shooting/melee combat, I'd still be playing it.

I'm not very far in, but I'm enjoying Sleeping Dogs way more than I enjoyed any of the Grand Theft Auto games. I think it's mainly due to the combat. GTA's combat was horrible.

The combat mechanics in Sleeping Dogs is a lot less responsive than the one in Batman Arkham City. The counter-attack button only works about 50% of the time, even when I've timed it perfectly. It's resulted in me getting beat down anytime there are groups larger than about 4 enemies.

I ended up going on a bit of a shopping spree, and now I don't know which game to play first. Bought Batman Arkham Asylum for cheap, decided to buy Spec Ops the Line for cheap, and also went ahead and bought Sleeping Dogs. I'm leaning towards Sleeping Dogs.

Is Spec Ops: The Line worth the purchase? It's currently on sale for $39.99, so I was thinking of picking it up while it's cheap.

Finished up Harley Quinn's Revenge. Solid DLC. Not nearly as open world as the main game, but still fun. I also like being able to play as Robin. It would have been cool to have more missions as him in the main campaign, similar to the Catwoman parts.

Who said I "failed" the predator challenges? I said they piss me off, and that I find them more annoying than fun. The ones I did bother to do, I got all 3 medals on each of the maps I tried (Only have 3 left, but didn't bother with them because I earned enough medals for my silver achievement after doing the ones I did). So it's not that I can't do them, it's that II simply don't find those types of game modes entertaining. I just found it strange that you arbitrarily decide one aspect of the game makes one good at the game. It would be like saying someone sucks at Call of Duty because they find those timed obstacle courses boring or frustrating, even though they've finished the main campaign on veteran and have a 2:1 kill/death ratio in multiplayer.

How is that where the "real fun" is? You go onto a map and do three different gadget challenges. It's the least fun aspect of the entire game. The main story is the best part, and the combat challenges are for fans of "beat 'em up" style fighting games. The predator challenges are like taking the most annoying aspect of the other modes and making them the basis for the mode. Also, not sure how not being able to get all the medals on the simplest one means someone sucks at the game as a whole. I've finished the main campaign on normal and halfway through on hard right now, not having any actual trouble when use of those gadgets were called upon in those situations in the main story. But the difference being I can usually CHOOSE when to use those gadgets. I don't get told to use 3 different gadgets on a map and fail (or not get medals) if I kill the enemies any other way.

I just don't bother with them, same as AA. When I've finished the game, I like to then go back and finish off as many achievements as I can. Unfortunately, I need to finish a bunch of the predator challenges to reach the silver achievement, as there just aren't enough medals available in combat challenges to reach that alone.

God do I hate the predator challenges in Batman: Arkham City. The combat challenges are fun, but the predator challenges just piss me off.

Hmm.. interesting to hear. Still have a gut feeling it'll be a game I don't get my money's worth out of though. But maybe when I've run out of stuff to play and it's my last resort, I might change my tune. I'm the opposite. I play games for the story, and finishing said story is one of the main things that allows me to enjoy the entire experience. If I give up on a game's story before I've finished it, it's essentially me giving up on a game because I became bored with it. Running around causing mayhem gets old real quick for me, so eventually the game's main story has to keep my interest. Oddly enough though, it's the difficulty of some of the later missions in the GTA series that cause me to quit, not necessarily the actual story. Especially the ones that involve shooting, I get frustrated because of just how lousy the shooting mechanics (IMO) are in the GTA games. That, combined with the missions where you have to keep someone else alive or you fail.

I was in EB games today and was thinking about picking up Sleeping Dogs, but there's just something about it that makes me think it'll be one of those games I never finish. I really can't put my finger on why that is. Maybe I'm expecting it to be similar to Grand Theft Auto, and I've yet to finish a single GTA game.

Seeing the Dark Knight Rises recently has sparked an interest in replaying Arkham City. I might go ahead and get the Harley's Revenge DLC, even though I hear it's quite short.

Finished Risen 2. I found a "workaround" for that quest glitch I mentioned earlier, so I was able to continue on the main quest. Overall, I had fun. Not sure if I'd replay the game, but enough fun that I'd buy the next one if it were similar to it. I might continue from one of my saves just to see if I can finish off some of the remaining achievements, like the frustrating one where I have 19 out of the 20 special treasures.

Well, looks like a major questline bug has ruined my play through of Risen 2. I'm at the point in the Maracai village where I have to report back to Corrientes about finding the wall of fire entrance, but the problem is I've already uncovered who Corrientes is. So when I converse with him, the only dialogue option to me is to reveal what I know, which instigates a fight with him and his men. This also means the entire village attacks me and sides with him, despite the fact I'd just finished helping solve all their issues. Apparently this is a widespread issue on the 360 version. Hopefully it gets fixed soon. I'll try different quests for the next little bit and come back to this one when it's resolved.

A lot more combat/shooting than I recall most episodes of Star Trek having.

The only sidequests I found difficult (until I had all the equipment) were the Riddler and Szasz's.

Keep in mind I'm playing on the 360 version, so it might not be as polished (or as easily correctable) as the PC version. But minor stuff, like texture popping -- sometimes when a cut scene loads, the characters' faces won't come in. It'll just be the outline of their body, then the faces come into focus a couple of seconds later. I've also had a couple of freeze ups where I had to reboot -- one was especially annoying because I'd JUST beaten the main end level boss and had to re-do that entire fight sequence again. Additionally, I've got issues with companions not moving or getting stuck on objects in their path, forcing me to have to fight on my own and watch my companion standing a dozen meters away just "watching" the fight. One time I had a companion (Steelbeard) not walk to where he had to go to trigger the next part of the quest, so I spent an hour running around the jungle trying to figure out what to do next. Luckily he eventually made his way to where he needed to be for the trigger, but it took about an hour of actual play time for him to do it. Nothing game breaking, but I've certainly come across a few issues during my first 15 or so hours of playing.

I'm starting to enjoy Risen 2. Maybe I'm just in the mood for a pirate RPG, but it's one of the better RPGs I've played this year -- minor bugs/issues notwithstanding.

One minor irritant that I've come across -- not sure whether to call it a "bug" -- is sometimes my companion won't follow me, or will just stand in one spot. This becomes an issue for two reasons. 1- It's a minor issue in combat when I'm then forced to take on multiple enemies by myself, with my companion standing literally 20 feet away but not moving an inch to engage in combat. 2- This one is a major issue. A certain quest early on needs one of my companions (Steelbeard) to make his way to the top of the hill by a guard tower in order for a cut scene to play and move the quest along. But instead, after we'd finished fighting with a group of enemies he just stood in one spot and wouldn't move. So I ended up running around the Island trying to figure out what to do next, only to then, after probably an hour or so running around, come back to see him FINALLY make his way up the hill and trigger the next phase of the quest.

Play as a mage, that way you only have to resort to button mashing when you are out of mana. The game is following a long riseb tradition of wonky melee mechanics. What about during duels? The actual random combat I come across in the wild isn't too bad, mainly because I have a sidekick helping me out. But the duels where it's 1 on 1 are where I get killed. Can you use magic in a duel, or will you automatically lose because you're not actually, you know, dueling?

Decided to pick up Risen 2 for the 360. It's okay so far. Not a whole lot seems to be going on though. Right now I'm doing a bunch of fetch quests, with no real urgency to carry on the main quest I set sail to achieve in the first place. Also, combat's a bit annoying. Unless my character is just horribly weak, I get killed badly in most sword fights because blocking doesn't seem to work. Even when I click block, the opponent just powers through my block and I can't do anything to stop it. Meanwhile, 4 out of every 5 of my attacks is successfully blocked by the opponent. And I'm playing on the easiest setting! I can't imagine combat on a tougher setting.