Tayl

I don't care if it's via Steam or whatever, I'm gonna get it. Steam works for me, so I don't mind buying stuff through it. I'm excited, I'm interested to see where they are gonna go with the story.

Yeah, it seems rather short. I'm probably going to beat it this week after getting it on Friday. Still, I think it was definitely worth a buy.

I picked it up on Friday, and have played 6 or so hours so far. It's pretty fun, but it's a straight-up action game. It has some puzzles that at times sort of remind you of Prince of Persia, but none of them are brainbusters. The coolest part of the game is having all the power that you do. You can seriously pull off some wicked attacks and combos, and it never gets old when you completely decimate a crowd. The controls are smooth and responsive, and it's easy to pull off the combos and stuff. It's extremely bloody and gory, and definitely earns the Mature rating, but for some reason even though it is over the top it all fits. The world they created is dark, deadly, and gory, so it doesn't feel bad or weird or anything to see so much blood. The Greek setting is cool, and the art is absolutely amazing. It's almost cinematic, and almost every area is just plain awesome, visually. Sometimes I can't believe it's a PS2 doing all of this. There are some stutters, but for the most part it's smooth. I'm not a big console gamer, but this one has me. It's a great play for when I come home from a long day and need to play something that doesn't require me to use my brain. Anyone else played it? What do you think?

Yeah, at a certain point you can gather enough 'intelligence' in the Ace so that you can grab him, but you won't have had to get every single card in the suit. I always go back to finish them all off, though, since it would bug me if I didn't. ^_^

I have it. It's a really fun game for what it is, an unapologetic action game. It has a lot of freedom to run around, but it does get kind of repetitive at points. I mean, the whole point of the game is to blow stuff up and capture people. Once you've played through half of the game you've really seen most of what it has to offer, other than more complicated missions and the like. I haven't beaten it yet, but my roommate is on the final mission. He has quit playing the game in frustration. He says the mission is over an hour long, and it has no save points, and parts of it are incredibly hard. And it is the kind of hard where the developers just throw an insane number of enemies at you and you seriously almost have to rely on blind luck to get through. I haven't played it since he told me that, since I really don't want to deal with the frustration. I played it nonstop for almost 2 weeks, though. It is fun to really roleplay the mercenary part, running around, playing different sides against each other and blowing the **** out of anything and everything. The controls are mostly pretty good once you get used to them. The graphics are mostly pretty good. I played it for Xbox, and load times were great. Once the game loaded you didn't really experience load times for the most part. You could drive from one end of the map to the other, and the maps are pretty big. It is definitely like GTA in the Demilitarized Zone, that is a great way to describe it. It was worth a purchase to me. I downloaded it to try it out, and since I played it so much I had no problem going out and picking up a copy. Definitely worth my money for the amount of time I have put into it, even though it has its flaws.

Fair enough, can't argue with that. Like I said, the patches don't fix problems for everyone. Just from what I have heard it fixes a lot of problems for a lot of people. And yes, I've heard about it not running on ATI cards on release. The release was downright terrible, I'm not going to argue that. I'm hoping the english release will be smoother, but...who knows? <_< Well, of course I'm not going to argue with your frame of mind upon playing the game, I was just going off what I saw in the mini-review. I guess I just expect a lot of RPG's to start off slow and/or not capture me right off the bat. I just started playing KOTOR2 and I am really forcing myself to get involved, for some reason I can't get sucked so far. I'm sure it will pick up, but right now it seems boring. Same went for NWN and KOTOR1. Even Torment didn't have me from the get-go. Fallout had me from the beginning, but...well, it's Fallout. :D

So just to be sure, you have the latest patch, right? That solves a lot(although definitely not all) of the problems. I have no idea if the German versions come with the 1.6 version of the game, but I have been told 1.6 solves a lot of issues. And 1.7 is coming out soon, so that might be worth a look, too. I'll be honest, I read the entire mini-review and it really sounded like you went into it already disliking it. *shrugs* I've talked to a few German players that have told me that once the technical issues were ironed out it was a pretty decent game for the most part. From what I hear it's not outstanding but I've been told it's definitely not the suck-fest you describe. To each their own, I suppose. I'm not going to argue since I haven't played it. :D

The game itself looks interesting and fun, but the way it was created is what has me excited. Such a cool idea.

I tried to tell one of my coworkers about this "Monkey vs Man" discussion at work today. It didn't go so well. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm insane. EDIT: Oh, and my money is on the monkey. Sorry, Kumquatq3, I'm just a monkey kind of guy.

I don't know anything about Jade Empire other than Bio is making it, but right now it is higher on my list than Fable for PC is. Yeah, that's how much I disliked what I saw from Fable.

I watched my younger brother play it for a while...no, thanks. I have better ways to spend my time.

Yaaay! Thanks! :D

Just to reiterate what I posted in the TSL forum on the subject:

Agreed! Man, would that ever be fun to read! :D On topic, though: I don't post much here, but I definitely lurk here everyday. Personally, I think forums like this are a really really good thing. In my humble opinion leaving the boards open and either A) Electing more moderators or B) Allowing current moderators to be more strict(as Feargus said) would work best. I don't know if the decision to close the boards has already been made or what, but I think that with more active moderation the problems could be ironed out.

I've been using Firefox for...well, forever. Back when it was still called Firebird. Wouldn't switch away from it for anything.

I have it, and I'm hooked. It's really really fun. A great diversion from my day. I can't really put my finger on it, but it's just a great overall feeling of the game. You really feel like a mercenary. Very fun. It's not without its little niggling flaws, but all in all it's worth a purchase in my book.

I agree with you. The rating system is enough in my opinion. That is my biggest problem with the censorship of violence/sex/nudity in videogames. Why is the developer's or game store's job to make sure violence is kept out of the hands of the kids? I agree that kids generally aren't mature enough to be allowed access to ultra-violent games, but I don't think passing laws outlawing it or forcing game companies to tone down their games is the answer. It's just pushing the blame away from the parents and onto someone else and ignores the original problem of parents needing to have more responsibilty for their children. I mean, Heaven forbid a parent actually has to monitor what their kid is doing. <_< I absolutely hate the level of irresponsibility that is present in almost of every facet of society. Everyone wants to push blame for any little mistake or problem on someone else. This is just another example of it. Parents are responsible for making sure their kids are ready for violent things. My parents raised me that way and I am a mature, responsible adult. My little brother is being raised that way, and he is more mature than a lot of kids his age. It's no coincidence that the kids that have problems at my college are the kids that were taught to pass the blame and that they can do anything they want without consequences. But before I go off on society in general, violent games are ok if the violence isn't the only reason for the game's existance. I avoided Manhunt because it seemed to tout violence for no other reason than because it wanted to shock you. No, thanks. Half Life 2, on the other hand, isn't violent just for the sake of it.

Hm...maybe we could all give it a try together next weekend. Would be better than playing with total strangers, right?

Maybe if I can find some friends to play with. I didn't like it as much playing with random people back during the E3 beta last year. But maybe I'll give it another go either way, it was pretty fun. EDIT: Gah, I have *no* willpower. I just downloaded the client and got my passcode. "

I like the lighting effects. :D

No, I'm pretty sure it is. All the 'Source' part adds is the physics and water. Although I was almost sure they were gonna use the HD pack. Meh, glad I didn't pay for it now.

It really sounds to me like you are speculating about this. How do you know how dialup users will 'continue to have dialup for the forseeable future'? I see the opposite as broadband prices are at an all-time low. Around me it only costs like 5 dollars more a month for DSL over dialup. Many neighbors I know have it for that very reason. Do you have any figures to back up the claim that a majority of people still use dialup? I won't dispute your claim simply because I have no concrete evidence to refute it, but in my experiences an overwhelming majority of people/familes I know have some form of broadband. And I can only expect this to grow in the future. But show me some evidence supporting you're claim and I'll gladly concede the point. I only argue this because I don't think Valve made a blunder by expecting people to have some kind of broadband. As for the story: I actually enjoyed it. I rarely play a game that allows me to slip into the story and get immersed so much. I have an overactive imagination, and I don't like being bludgeoned over the head with explanations and stuff in a game. For example, I saw that some people really hated how no one told Gordon what happened in the years before his arrival, but it would have only made sense that they would assume he knew what happened. I mean, look at it from the NPC's perspective. He's Gordon Freeman. A legend. He started this whole thing. Of course he knows what happened. If Valve gave some stupid explanation to the events of the past then it would have ruined the immersion. The acted exactly as it should have in order to keep the immersion level up. Same thing with the rest of the story. Nothing is told to you outright, you have to figure it out just like Gordon has to do. I like stories like that. But you know what? This is pointless. Arguing over whether or not the story was good will be fruitless. It's totally a subjective thing, much like music. We can sit here and argue about whether or not the story was up to par until the cows come home and none of us will change their opinion. I just wanted to get my views up. Oh, and I've been told that HL3 is a definite thing, although my 'source' was someone on IRC, so take that with a grain of salt. Dunno if they would immediately start working on it, though. :D @DesertHawk: Awww! You didn't like Ravenholm?! But it was so much fun! I like being scared in games, though. I was so immersed into the game by this point that I almost dreaded going on in some parts. That's awesome that a game can do that, in my opinion. But to each his own.

I'll sort of concede that point. I did think at the time that by cutting out the middleman of the publisher the game should be cheaper, and was a little surprised when it wasn't. On the other hand I really can't blame a developer for wanting to get all of the profits out of their title. I mean, if I can find a reliable way to get my product to the consumer without having to pay someone else to do it or let them have a share of the profits I'll wholeheartedly go for it. It goes back to my earlier point: I can't blame Valve for wanting to get as much money out of the product they have put their hearts and souls into for the last 5(or however many it has been) years. It just doesn't bother me, maybe because I am so close to entering the job market myself and I am starting to get worried about my money situation after exiting college. :D

I bought it, played it for about an hour, and then it sat on my HD for about 2 months while I tried to convince myself to play more of it. I just never got into it, the combat was boring, and from what I read the beginning was the best part and I didn't even like it that much. No, thanks. Uninstalled.

Well...213374U and I are having a nice civil discussion so far. But the day is still young. :D