Monte Carlo

I posted some stuff about the CoH: Modern Warfare mod elsewhere. USA versus China, squad-level combat. 'Tis very good.

It looks kinda cool. Might back it.

Drowsy, I can only offer a Western POV, but the Nazi war crimes are on the record. We all know about the barbarity of the Nazis in the East. But, because the Soviets were our allies, we tended to ignore the inconvenient truth that we'd joined forces with a regime arguably as repugnant as the Nazis in order to win the war. The Soviet Union's activities in Poland, against it's own people and indeed in Eastern Europe from 1917-1989 were disgraceful. So I think the resurgence in highlighting Russian (Soviet) war crimes isn't revisionism, more of an unveiling of a truth the West chose to obfuscate for a very long time. 'Uncle Joe' so beloved of the Western Left, was dripping in blood. As for the conduct of the Red Army in 1945 in Germany, well that too is on the record. Personally, I see it as a barbaric but not completely unsurprising quid pro quo for German conduct in the East. And the Soviet regime tried to reign in the excesses of their troops (eventually), unlike the Nazis. This isn't an excuse, but you have to see that in Western Europe the evil of the Nazis is simply a given in a way that the excesses of the Soviets was not.

Alpha Protocol's reviews were, IMO, based on (a) anger at stability issues and (b) some genuine confusion in the gaming media as to what the game was. If it had looked more FPS-polished then I think it would have done well. Drowsy's SC and SC2 comparison is very-well made. I guess if CoH had the competitive / pro scene around it like SC does then it might have been different. CoH's comp scene is very vibrant, but still niche as the game is primarily designed for more casual players. I'm in the middle: I play competitively (but have neither the time nor skill to be really good) but enjoy the casual pick-up-and-play aspects too. I really like the Theatre of War mode where you get AI-based scenarios and challenges, for example.

* shrugs * It's selling well. And there are NKVD officers in the game (the campaign). If you recruit penal troops or conscripts you trigger him, he sits at base and executes troops if you order them to retreat.

^ Yeah I finished the final Berlin mission today. It felt pretty epic, I burnt through three Stalin tanks assaulting the Reichstag (achtung minen!). I put the CoH2 campaign on a par with the first game, although the final mission in CoH2 trumps the final Normandy mission easily. Man I love those urban maps, digging out the enemy with nades, SMGs and flamethrowers.

Mission 11 (a stealth mission with Ania, a Polish partisan chick who also happens to be the CoH2 version of Tanya from C&C) is actually quite difficult even on regular difficulty and loads of fun. You can build a sniper hide, put down demo charges, fire flares and sprint away from enemy troops. There are also pesky Nazi snipers to deal with. It's the resistance meets Enemy at the Gates. Luring panzer grens into demolition charge traps is never old. Hopefully, given that there are resistance / partisan art assets we might see a Partisan / Irregular faction in future.

Ha ha James (HelpingHans) was VIP'd out to Relic in Vancouver the week before launch.

* shrugs * Darksun was meant to be post-apocalyptic fantasy. Mad Max meets Dune mebbe. I like some of the ideas, it's different without some of the wacky Planescape schtick. Then again, as these old 2E settings drift off into the fringes of the real-world version of the Google cache, hopefully new settings tailored for the computer will become as loved. The Dragon Age setting is quite good, tbh, for vanilla fantasy but hasn't hit the sweet spot. Let's hope PE does it.

Talk about being damned with faint praise. It's like saying "that meal was OK. The meat was tough and the vegetables inedible but there was a nice sauce."

Thought I'd fix that for you.

^ I'd like to know how many APM Hans achieves. When he streams on Twitch you can see people going "no hotkeys? WTF?" and still he beats the snot out of everyone (you can see a tiny avatar in my Steam sig for his group I think).

It's realistic if you're me.

I got a physical copy for UK£ 5.00 which was for the game + expansion so it must be pretty cheap elsewhere too.

I've got Sacred Gold. It seems fine. I like the combo skills / combat system where I can blend powaz to make bespoke attacks. I also like the deliberately cheesy / humorous feel which is very old-skool. Oh, and the world is huge. It's like a less serious isometric Skyrim but with even less of a plot but more combat ARPG lulz.

When you finish a round of bashing, do you "romance" the sock puppet? Oh yes. Yesssssss.

I have a secret man-crush on Dave Gaider. Srsly.

Yes, I am Dave's sock-puppet masochist account where I bash myself up.... for pleasure.

We didn't have the internet, computers or hybrid cars driven by smug twats when I was a kid. Luckily, Al Gore invented all three.

Isn't being an Inquisitor in a Bioware game going to be a bit difficult, if not downright kinky? Fifty Shades of Dragon Age. CHARNAME: Tell me the truth, dog! Lest I have your fingernails pulled out. Hot Pansexual Elf (HPE): You'd like that, wouldn't you? CHARNAME: You would too, admit it! HPE: Are those golden nipple clamps? (+50 Approval) CHARNAME: Yes, yes they are... * Fades to black *

Indira, maybe you want to just set up some hotkey groups instead.

Ha ha ha am playing a class called The Inquisitor in Sacred 2. He's called Fang. He carries a polearm and when he isn't chopping people up with it he sort of electrocutes them like the wrinkly dude from the later Star Wars films. He dresses like Vincent Price in drag and is evil in a **** Dastardly way (the plot for the 'Darker Path' is set up like that). It looks like a sort of prettier Diablo 2 and is a great little game (actually with the expansion it is a great *big* game the world map is huge) and I get to ride a crazy steed and stuff. Recommended.

^ Doesn't really feel like that. I just played my first 1 v 1 versus Calax. It's fair to say that the Red Horde was crushed under the boot-heel of the Kampfgruppe Monte Carlo.

^ D&D is cursed. It's like a minefield full of golden eggs.

I've tried the first one, which is OK (like the 1980s Cold War setting) but for me it's perhaps too macro (lots and lots of teeny units on a very big map) and lacks some character. Alternatively, I can recommend the Modern Warfare mod for Company of Heroes (the original) which turns the game into modern US versus China. http://www.moddb.com/mods/company-of-heroes-modern-combat Sadly it has no campaign, only MP or skirmish but it's very professionally done and the units are a lot of fun to play.