Keyrock

That's a pretty defeatist attitude, Felithvian. Worthwhile games still get made all the time. Look at World of Goo, or FTL, or Portal, or Machinarium, just to name a few from the last 6 years or so. There is, always has always been, and always will be, a giant sea of mediocrity out there, but if you're careful with your fishing you can always catch some keepers. Even better, since so many of the truly worthwhile games these days aren't "AAA", you don't have to drop $50 for them, you can get them for $15 or $20 (or cheaper on a sale).

In order of amount of time sunk into said game: Neverwinter Nights (vast majority of the time spent in HotU and user made mods) X3: Reunion X3: Terran Conflict Gran Turismo Twisted Metal 2 Jet Moto ZAngband Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (vast majority of the time spent in the Shivering Isles) Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind Final Fantasy 6 Chrono Trigger Starflight 2 Gradius R-Type Goldeneye Planescape: Torment Legend of Zelda Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon GTA: San Andreas Blaster Master Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link

Had a run through Epic Grey Wolf Den last night with a group. Man, the final boss in that dungeon is ridiculously hard. Our group was working really well together, we absolutely steamrolled through the entire dungeon, including the sub-bosses, without breaking a sweat, but we just kept on getting slaughtered by the end boss. The problem was that he had one particular attack that did several circles of AoE damage that would also knock you prone and he did that attack quite often. There is a long animation on that attack but it's still not the easiest thing to get out of the way of because the AoE circles are randomly all around him. This was compounded by the sheer number of adds. The first couple waves of adds were pretty easy to clear out, but eventually the waves of adds just got ridiculous, consisting of groups of the most difficult non-boss enemies in there. Some of them have AoE attacks that knock you prone too and they take a really long time to bring down, especially when you're dodging AoEs much of the time. You make one tiny mistake and get knocked prone and there is a high likelihood of getting stun-locked to death as you get hit with AoE after AoE. We never did beat him, the closest we got was getting him down to about 20% health, at which point the sheer number of adds just got too overwhelming and dodging AoE attacks became ridiculously hard. That was a good time despite the defeat. We'll get him eventually.

I've seen people running around with "more unique" looking gear on. I'm assuming those are the higher tier purples. I'm also assuming those drop in the higher difficulty epic dungeons that require a really high gear score. I also have seen some more unique looking blues drop, like a pirate hat, but it didn't have nearly as good stats as this helmet so I sold it in AH. Item variety is still definitely lacking, though. Supposedly it's something they're going to address, but I suspect they're likely more concerned about getting whatever is the next class out the door first (please, please, please, pretty please with a cherry on top let it be an archer class) and introducing another race (I doubt it will be full blooded orcs, but a man can dream).

Bought this helm using Seals of the Unicorn: I'm starting to build up a good collection of purples and blues. You get a lot of Seals of the Unicorn in epic dungeons, especially when a Dungeon Delves event is happening. Pretty soon Seals of the Unicorn will become useless to me and it will be completely about Seals of the Drake and drops. Still don't know what Gyrm Coins do, but I guess I'll find out eventually. @LadyCrimson - Your characters must do an awful lot of cardio.

Actually, I'm not objecting anything, I love that series. I just wanted to post that image. My plate remains the same: End game dungeon farming in Neverwinter Grim Dawn GRID 2 Wizardry 6 Surprisingly enough, I'm finding end game dungeon farming at least as fun, often more so, than all the stuff leading up to that. Even though Epic Dungeons are just dungeons from earlier in the game turned up to 11, they're really fun because of the challenge involved. There is frustration when you're with a crappy group, though I can usually sense when a group is not working rather early and I'll usually give it until the first sub boss for the group to get its **** together and if it doesn't then it's time to bail. However when you're with a good group working as a well oiled machine then end game boss fights are a freaking blast. Everyone does their job: The TR and GF tackle the main boss and do their best to keep him/her occupied. The GC drops AoE heals in just the right spot. The CW does AoE damage and drops status effects on mobs, and I, as a GWF, clean up groups of adds, trying to keep us from getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers, then jump on the boss during those moments when adds have been cleared. I have a couple of abilities that knock enemies prone so I can semi-stun-lock many enemies. This tends not to work on bosses, with a few exceptions, so I can't control them, but I can control lesser mobs and always make sure to try to keep the most dangerous lesser mobs (read: casters) stun-locked as much as possible.

And, as Drowsy Emperor already established, all elves are on crack. Seems like LadyCrimson's half-elf may have inherited that particular trait from her elvish half. My character, Murzush Gro Ruhm, on the other hand inherited all the best characterics from both halves of her heritage: From her orcish half: Strength Toughness Cunning Fearlessness Resolve Devilishly good looks From her human half: ... ... ... Curiosity, I guess?

That 5% was nearly 85-90% during the 80s, 90s & 2000s. I highly doubt they "fell on their face", since most if not all our glorious childhood memories came from those ages. Plus they used to sell like hell during those years. I think you're looking back at those times with rose-tinted glasses. It's natural that the successes are remembered and failures are forgotten. I'll give you that success rates for unconventional projects were likely higher in the past, but 85% is a ridiculously optimistic figure. I don't have any hard data to back me up, but I have complete confidence that that number is nowhere near realistic. One thing I will say about the past is that major publishers were generally more willing to take a chance on an unconventional project back then. The market was still saturated with clones of Super Mario Brothers and Double Dragon and the like, but budgets back then weren't nearly as uncontrollably out of control as they are now, so going out on a limb meant potentially a loss in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe a million or two in the worst possible scenario. These days publishers are looking at potential losses of 8 or 9 figures if **** goes south, and that's just bonkers. This has led to major publishers basically just sticking to clones and retreads of established game types with and established fanbase while the vast majority of outside the box thinking and innovation comes from small independent studios working on limited budgets. The "innovation" in games from major publishers these days consists mostly of "we crammed more polygons into it" and "moar explosions in set pieces". This ties in to the Is PC Gaming Dead thread where greylord obsessed over some mythical lack of "AAA" games on the PC. To me whether such a "lack" truly exists or not is irrelevant since that's not where the innovation comes from any more. It's the indie studios that are bringing interesting and fresh games, and while they do have a presence on XBLA and, to a lesser degree, PSN, the PC is still overwhelmingly the #1 playground and testbed of indie games.

Same thing goes for Fargo. Its like someone cast mass resurrect on the graveyard of gaming. We're going to find out really soon if Fargo still "has it". I personally thought The Bard's Tale (the new one) was fairly enjoyable, albeit thoroughly unspectacular, mostly for its tongue in cheek humor. Wasteland 2 will be the litmus test. The problem with going outside the norm is that 95% of the time it's going to spectacularly fall on its face. While nothing is a sure bet to make money, outside of Call of Duty 83: Modern Warfare 17: Ghost Protocol 3: Elite Unit: Squad Alpha: Classified Ops and Madden's yearly full game price roster update DLC, it seems, because people are sheep, doing retreads of the same tired garbage is a safer bet than going out on a limb. (that's my entry for Run On Sentence of the Year ) It's still thoroughly worth it, in my opinion, for that 5% of the time that going outside the norm does produce something revolutionary, or at least fresh and interesting. I have to sadly agree. Dungeon Keeper was fantastic, as was, to a lesser degree, Populous (for its time, at least), but since then, he's pushed out a steady stream of mediocrity, in my opinion.

That's horrible. My condolences to his family.

Whoa! My fighter grew a beard! Also, extra arms and legs!

I cashed in like a champ tonight. Those past several dungeon runs of mostly striking out on important loot rolls came back around karma style and I was winning rolls like a mad man. I now have purple (aka EPIC LOOTZ!!!1!!1) armor, boots, gauntlets, and a blue (aka semi-EPIC LOOTZ!!1!!1) weapon... and IT'S NOW A SWORD! (It's a club, a giant spiked club). Woohoo! Not a sword!

Woohoo! It's not a sword!

Playing some more GRID 2. Once I got past the first season, which basically shoved drifting down my throat, the game got 1000% more fun as I finally have access to racing with my beloved (mostly) European grippy precision cars. I'm still early in the game so I'm driving relatively tame cars. My favorite so far is the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. It doesn't have as much power as most of the other cars in its class, and thus doesn't accelerate as well, but it's lighter and is all types of butterlicious through the corners. Not surprisingly, I do the vast majority of my passing under breaking. There are some real pretty tracks in the game. Cote D'Azur, as expected, is ****ing spectacular. Just the thought of ripping through that winding coastal road in a ridiculous beast like the Koenigsegg CXX gives me all type of wood.

#include <scrwjb.h> int getGreedyProfit(void) { if GhostofAnakinBalance >= Price Price = GhostofAnakinBalance + 20; return(Price); }

Got my first piece of EPIC LOOTZ!!11!1!1

I got a lev 60 blue belt, but I didn't like the stats so I sold it in the AH. I've gotten several shards which will eventually beef up a piece of EPIC LOOTZ!!!11!1!11 I'm starting to get Seals of the Drake which I can use to buy EPIC LOOTZ!!!111!1!1, though it will take a while as most items are 60 or more seals and you generally get 1 or 2 per Epic Dungeon. I'm actually enjoying end game dungeon runs. The boss fights are so frantic. Trying to keep all the baddies off the Cleric is difficult because Clerics pull so much aggro.

While I don't hate grid based inventories, list based just seems intuitively easier to sort and categorize. If the grid based system can be set up so that I can easily arrange the items by a number of different parameters with the click of a button then I'm all for it, this just seems easier to achieve with a list based view. In the end, I'm mostly concerned with efficiency, flexibility, and functionality.

/holds hand over thread [Altered Beast] Rise from your grave! [/Altered Beast] Here's a quick video showing off what the inventory screen is going to look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHN7QTcuqI4 I have to say that I'm very impressed. The way it's set up seems extremely logical, functional, and efficient. I particularly like the 'favorites' feature and the way you can sort by a bunch of different paramaters. Bravo, inXile.

Always interesting to hear things like that. Wonder why they didn't go all the way. The publisher claimed they were tired and had a headache and just wanted to go to sleep.

I've had my eye on this one ever since the Kickstarter campaign. I love the setting and concept. Right now my plate is way too full, but it's definitely something I'll look to scoop up in the future, especially if the feedback is favorable, which it has been so far.

Got a lot on my plate right now: Playing some GRID 2 - It's very much like the original Race Driver: GRID, with a few minor differences. The inexplicably did away with the ****pit cam, which is my preferred view (Help me modders, you're my only hope!), so I have to live with the 'just beyond the windshield' view where your see the front of the hood, as that's the nearest facsimile. There are some really cool and pretty new tracks, including some familiar real world tracks, and a new feature where the game changes the configuration of the track on the fly, so you can't memorize the track and have to fly by the seat of your pants. It's a good game, my biggest gripe being how it shoves drifting down your throat early on. I know some peole like that style of racing, and that's cool and should be represented in the game, but the game essentially forces you to do races with all drift vehicles (Japanese cars tuned for drifting and big ol' American muscle cars that drift because they're big heavy pieces of ****) for a while before you even have the option to drive cars that stick to the road. Still, it's good fun. Besides GRID 2 there's more Neverwinter, more Grim Dawn, and more Wizardry 6.

A party of six Imoens? /cringes It's taller than I'd like, but otherwise I like attempt #2 (the top one). I know a lot of people will disagree, but I'd rather have the portraits smaller so the bar can be shorter and the dialogue could just be written in a slightly smaller font, I don't need to see more than 4 or 5 lines at a time anyway, especially if they include a button or something so that you could pop out the dialogue/message window to full screen in case you want to scroll through it to find something from way back.

Yep, I got the same Skyrim story to tell as the rest of you folks. Occasionally I'll fire up an old game, and quickly enough I get quite bored and stop playing. I had a blast with the game for the first 10-15 hours, but then I grew tired of it and I really have no motivation to go back. This happened in the Oblivion main game too, but I did keep coming back to the Shivering Isles, that area was flat out awesome. I still think the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion is the best thing Bethesda has ever developed.

Training rank 3 workers takes soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long. I have 1 rank 3 in Mailsmithing and am just over halfway to another. I'll eventually get to rank 3 workers in Leadership. I don't foresee getting anywhere near rank 3 workers in any other profession. Even if I stop playing this game, I'm likely to log on each day just so I can keep accumulating ardent coins so I can get that companion that costs like 350 coins... So, a year from now, basically. Edit: Also, I just did a run of the final 'regular' dungeon, it's full of Mind Flayers and brain dogs and there is a GIGANTIC brain to fight at the end. Our group worked really well together. The regular fights were a cake walk. We only hit one snag, the second to last boss fight. We took the boss down, but there were so many adds, SOOOOOO MANY ADDS, that we just got overwhelmed. The final boss was a fairly easy even though he has other bosses as adds.