SadExchange

I enjoyed the demo of DS3. After reading all the rants in the DS3 boards here, I thought I'd try it out and I thought it was pretty decent. I can run the game maxed out and it looks fine enough. The music was good, environments were snug, but I'm assuming it's only the beginning of the game and the story had potential. I didn't find the controls weird, however probably due to using a Xbox controller, so that would be a difference. I find the game suited for the controller, however I play The Witcher 2 with a controller. After reading all the whining and crying, I guess my question is, "What do people want?" I feel that society has only brought us to a point to be disappointed by everything and it's pretty sad. Obsidian look to have done a decent job with this game so far and I look forward to playing the whole game in a couple weeks. I just wish everyone would calm their expectations down a notch or two so they can actually enjoy a game now and then.

Right now, spending my time between The Witcher 2 and also Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale. Having a good time with both for what they're worth.

I enjoyed the demo, and am mainly looking at this game for SP. I can't wait to check out the PC demo, (I have PC version preordered) to hope for better graphics. I've only ever wanted dropin dropout MP due to just having fun with a friend whenever they drop by.

Has anyone looked into Dungeons and Dragons: Daggerdale? I believe it's coming out tomorrow the the pc, xbox, and ps3. A action RPG that seems to be based around MP and loot.

I agree that the combat takes a little bit of getting used to. Certainly a curve, however, after being at approximately 2/3 the way through Chapter 2 and having a bug which wouldn't allow any save to generate more xp for my character and having to start over, I've found the combat to be far easier, once you know how to utilize all of your components. I didn't end up dying at all in the prologue and Chapter 1 has been quite easier this time around almost making me think of switching the difficulty to hard now, but we'll see. Getting the xp big really did suck, but I'm enjoying the game a lot the second time through, seeing the different choices and what they affect and how they play out, plus I really enjoy the combat, so that's been helping as well.

I had a bad experience last night where I stopped collecting XP, from quests or killing and it affected all of my saves, so I've since deleted and now have started over and find the beginning part to be quite easy as compared to my first time.

I agree slightly. In the beginning I thought the combat was a serious step back, but after playing the game for a good amount of hours, I've actually come to really enjoy the system, using all my assets during many battles. The ending, however, I can't comment on as I've just entered chapter 2.

Also wanted to add, the game runs beautifully 1t 1920 X 1080 with everything on except motion blur(not big fan of it), ubersampling (just afraid to turn it on), and only high on the two shadow components instead of ulta, but everything else jacked up and not a stutter. Specs include: AMD Phenom Quad 3.2 8 GB Ram Nvidia 275GTX

I believe I'm pretty far into Chapter 1 so far. Don't want to give spoilers, but believe I'm coming to an understanding of the different components of the game including mutagens, counterattacks, enhancements, potions, crafting, etc. I don't believe the game has the best tutorial for all of these components, but once you learn them, they just sort of click and everything is coming together. The combat took a little bit of getting used to and I was trying to point my finger on it and feel, after the amount of time I've played, it's the way you have to go into battles. You really need strategy with this game, using everything at your disposal including signs, bombs, potions, and swords, even on normal where as with TW1, you didn't really need to do much besides attack with your sword for most fights if you were good. I believe, this combat brings more fulfillment out of this component of the game though and is certainly more rewarding. I'd also like to say I'm enjoying the extras including soundtrack and artbook, both pretty superb!

I thought I read somewhere that CDProjeckt were going to take a strong stand against piracy. Some press release a long time ago where they were going to scour the torrent sites and bring people to court or something along those lines. Ahh, here it is... Fines for downloaders

I'm doing another run of The Witcher as well due to not keeping my completed game save from last time. I just hit the dinner party in Chapter 3, but won't be able to finish the game before I download the final files from GOG, so I'm gonna complete TW2 first, then come back, complete my game on TW1 and then transfer that save to see how they differ.

Just got preloading and can't wait for the next few days to pass by for sure.

I'm gonna try and make a character on that server and hope to be able to play with you guys. Name of character will come soon. Also, anyone on the fence about the game, I had some time while playing on a different server and wrote up thoughts and information about the game while playing a Warrior Guardian. You can check out the write and pictures as well here.... Shameless Plug of Website

I would be willing to start a new character with people who are gonna group up. Right now, I'm on Todrin with a lvl 47 so far and various alts, but if you let me know what server and Defiant or Guardian, I'd really like to join. My Steam name is SadExchange. I'm in the central states as well.

How long did it take you? I'm at 3 hours right now and feel like I'm quite far as opposed to others who said it took them 9 hours to complete the SP.

I'd be interested as non of my friends have picked up this game yet, for reasons I'm not quite sure of. lol

Been putting a bit of time with Portal 2 and really enjoying it. All single player though, can't wait for Co-op. Interested to see the online "matchmaking" for co-op with this title.

I currently have this preordered at gamestop for a physical copy, but am highly thinking to cancel that and go with a preorder through gog themselves. What is everyone else doing for this release?

I just picked it up today and am installing the other 4 GB besides the disk install. Been looking forward to this one for awhile after reading the novel about it. Trying to finish up work so I can try it out.

Bok, are you using DX 11 then with everything else maxed?

Dragon Age does look pretty decent when it's portrayed like that, I just wonder about the gameplay. Anyway, spending more time with Rift lately... Messing with the different mounts..Game looks good..Plays good...Really enjoying it.

Good to hear your thoughts. I started the Guardian Warrior and am at level 26 right now and am really enjoying it so far. I started a quick rogue but shied away a little on the amount of different abilities and opportunities available. I also started a Cleric and enjoyed some of that class a little, only a few levels, but so far, I'm really enjoying the warrior, even with the tons of abilities offered to me. I feel that about 10 levels or so ago, I really hunkered down and figured out the best combinations for my abilities in the way they need to be used and since then, I feel like it's really helped out a lot. I do look forward to going back to the rogue or even the mage, but in good time.

Yep, my kill to death ratio is fairly horrific in multiplayer. But every few rounds I get a really satisfying on in, the other night I was doing pretty decent as a sniper and had 5 headshots in one round, plus I destroyed a tank with C4 and even managed to gun a guy down with my pistol when I ran out of ammo. This is after getting killed 8 times straight in a previous round, so there are highs and lows. In other news, I bought Rift and turns out it is awesome. I love the Defiant's storyline, it is awesome. edit: I used awesome twice in two sentence. That's how awesome Rift is. I need to get a thesaurus. Haha, that's "awesome." Glad you're enjoying it, I haven't spent any time with the Defiants yet, but am looking forward to doing so. Look forward to your thoughts on the game.

Oh, for those playing Rift, I'm on the Todrin server for the Guardians.

Alright and next post about it... Alright, after spending a little more time and taking breaks during patching sessions, I've reached level 22 on my Warrior, while messing around with a rogue, cleric, and mage just a little bit. I'm moved into the first contested area in the PvP server and have not been victim to any ganking so far, although I talked to another character who was running from the direction I was heading, talking about a couple guys messing with him in the quest area. But when I got there, I had not worries as I didn't come across anyone. After putting in a few more hours, well, a good amount of hours, I'd have to say that this game is really providing some good entertainment. I initially created my characters on a low population server and a good 4 hours in, I thought that I had made a mistake, due to lack of seeing anybody and realizing a good portion of this game is presented to a group form. I'm not saying you can't solo everything, because a huge percentage of the quests are soloable, and even the rift openings, if done correctly, can be done by one person within reason of their respective level, but sometimes you just want to group up and start closing rifts and footholds that have opened up across the map. Last night was just that night, as I was doing some questing on my own, a zone wide message was spread about an invasion from rift invaders, which started out with multiple large rifts opening up across the map and large and small town/settlement invasions taking place, so I headed to the second largest settlement on the zone I was in and started helping out the locals. While I was there, I easily grouped up with a few guys, who then became a good amount of people and it instantly became a raid. This zone wide event went on for a while as we closed rifts and defended towns until the last component of it took place, with a large boss battle against Markul. After a large group of us took him down, we were all rewarded accordingly for what we put into it. There are a few different types of currency in the game including, silver, gold, platinum, planarite, soul shards, and lucky coins. Once you're playing, it all makes sense. What I enjoy is the opportunity to always find something new along the same paths. What I mean by that is that there are a multitude of artifacts to find everywhere which belong to sets, which when completed can be turned in for lucky coins, which can then afford you the option to buy special items. I know what the developers are doing. It seems quite easy. It's your average everyday consumer running along a path going, "ohh, shiny." And it works, because the sets make you build towards a completion which in turn rewards you with cool stuff. Which only adds to the argument about achievements, which it has. And with any MMO out, it has daily quests which keep appearing to help you level. One thing I should say is the game looks good. Although it takes a pretty current computer to max it, it looks good with everything almost at max as well. And with having a good engine to support the game, I have to say that the environments look really good so far with just moving into the next zone and getting a whole different range of colors and places. I know I touched on it last time, but it really needs to be said, especially now that I've delved into a couple different classes for a few levels, but the class system is great to say the least. The amount of options afforded to you for what you want your character to be like in the field of battle, whether it's support, offense, defense, etc, you can do it with any class, but in totally different ways. The class system allows anyone to create a character of their own design. Want to play a warrior class, but have a pet? Go with the Beastmaster Soul as one of your classes. You really can't begin to understand the amount of options until you open up a couple characters. Here's a screen taken of the class system layout with the three souls with their abilities given. Above the class names is where you allocate your points and below is what they call the "root system." As you begin to put more and more points into the class, that will in turn start unlocking more abilities for that class giving you more instant and passive abilities. The nice thing is, if you really want, you can just stick all of your points into your main class and forget the other two, or respec your character when you want. Also, after about level 13, you'll even get the chance to pick new souls if you don't like your current selection. You'll begin doing quests to unlock those souls to trade in when you'd like, all pertaining to your main class such as Warrior/Mage/Cleric/Rogue, but this is a nice feature. From everything within the game, it appears that the developers are making things easier, but not making them dumb. One thing that is not present, that I hope can be patched in soon enough is the "looking for group" feature to say run a dungeon. Although it's easy to get into a group when running around doing events, you're not able to just set up a group like other MMOs out, but hopefully that will change. Also, I did experience a weird bug where after awhile, my armor would change to a dark red/brown color, but in the past 3-4 hours, that hasn't happened, but I have read about other having the same issues. I'm gonna post one last pic to show off how the rifts look from a good distance away. It really sets the mood for a sort of apocalyptic sense of urgency to either get away or to shut it down. There's a lot more to this game that I'm missing, but hopefully with more posts to come, I can illustrate all the features that make this game shine so far. I will also note that they've been going offline here and there to implement patches on what seems like a daily basis. You can take that different ways, but 45 minutes here, 2 hours there, as long as the game becomes better, I don't mind, because I'm already enjoying it.