What are you playing now?

[Darth Keyan]

Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes

[mkreku]

Final Fantasy 12.

 

The game is weird. It's like a mix of open ended and linear, real time and turn based.

 

The graphics are among the nicest I've ever seen on the Playstation 2. The character development system is bad though. No matter which puny enemy you fight, you get learning points. Some fights only last for like 5 seconds (because you're much to powerful for the enemies you face) but even then you end up getting a bunch of learning points. With these learning points you unlock new skills and powers on this weird chess board. The problem is that there's no really expensive skills to learn. I was messing around with the first few missions and unlocked basically everything the game had to offer within the first 20 levels (they hand out levels like candy in this game). I am level 40 something now and I have 10,000 unspent learning points. I have the choice of hoarding the learning points for no use at all, or spend them on all skills available and make every character exactly the same. I've been trying to distinguish my characters from another by making some use magic instead of weapons, some use axes instead of swords, and some use heavy armour instead of light armour. But I could easily buy every skill available on the entire chess board for every character by now.

 

The story so far (not sure how far I've gotten) is complicated and not very gripping. I just trudge along, fighting bosses and watching incredibly beautiful cut-scenes every now and then. I'm having fun though.. I think. I have a feeling I'll get tired of this game relatively quickly. The killer is the character development problem. I mean, spending 20 levels without actually getting anything from it is just not fun.

 

Luckily there are other things to occupy one's time with. You can hunt special monsters that are hard to find for a Hunter's Guild (very difficult). You can do contract kills for your clan (fun!). There are plenty of hidden side quests that you can work your brain over. Stuff like that is fun.

 

I don't think I'll ever finish this game though.

[Tale]

I don't think I'll ever finish this game though.

I take no pride in welcoming you to the club. I know several people in the same position, me included. :/ I WILL finish it one day, though. Maybe not soon.

[Bokishi]

Just bought Supreme Commander

[kirottu]

World of Warcraft

 

Friend loaned his game to me with some 10 day free guest pass.

[Xard]

Just to get his/her free month I guess

 

Jade Empire and C&C3 demo.

 

Now, I would've never thought that I could say this about Bioware game but anyway, dialogue and other storytelling aspects are AWESOME. Not to mention combat rocks (its definetly not too easy like in Xbox version ((at least I've heard that Xbox version was quite easy). Music...

 

Of course game has its weaknesses. Even though character development is quite good, its nonetheless too simple. Dialogue (although not very often) has general "biowarenianism" problems, there isn't enough phat loot (even though that wouldn't exactly fit in wuxia game so that "minus" propably even isn't one.) and game's too linear. Followers are ok/good but not spectacularly great. Khelgar and Ammon beats some silly Dawn Star anyday.

 

C&C3 Demo is awesome and I'm considering getting Kane edition. What it exactly has?

 

I've been playing as Nod lately (it's funny that there isn't voice over for "unit ready, constuction complete" etc. yet) and I propably found an bug. I can't get phat abilities or weapons from other nod units by destroying them. Heck, I can't even destroy them with that ability :sad:

[Zoma]

Just got Super Robot War W for DS and its super awesome since its got many series I'm in love with with Voltrons being one of the playable characters.

 

^.^

 

Its sweet! Its delicious! Its Sweetlicious!

 

Video:

 

 

The nostalgia of my childhood days.

Edited March 12, 2007 by Zoma

[Dark_Raven]

K2. I am just about ready to leave Dxun now that I have Mandalore and did the Onderon quests.

[Musopticon?]

I've been playing as Nod lately (it's funny that there isn't voice over for "unit ready, constuction complete" etc. yet) and I propably found an bug. I can't get phat abilities or weapons from other nod units by destroying them. Heck, I can't even destroy them with that ability :sad:

It can be a bit quirky, but I was able to get invisibility, extra laser, probably better mobility and anti-air capabilities with the war mech. If you can conquer GDI war factories and tech centers, it's possible to get railguns to the mech.

[Wistrik]

Taking a break from system hog games to play some older stuff, namely Icewind Dale (+ both official add-ons). It looks great at 1024x768, and even though the combat gets old if I play too long per sitting, the atmosphere and locations are fun to experience. There were occasional bugs, such as not being able to place certain items (armor, large shields, generic items) into a bag of holding, and more than a few broken dialog triggers, but I fixed thom with Near Infinity. I modded the bag of holding into Pomin's bedroom so I don't have to play 80% of the game before getting one.

[Calax]

Just to get his/her free month I guess

 

Jade Empire and C&C3 demo.

 

Now, I would've never thought that I could say this about Bioware game but anyway, dialogue and other storytelling aspects are AWESOME. Not to mention combat rocks (its definetly not too easy like in Xbox version ((at least I've heard that Xbox version was quite easy). Music...

 

Of course game has its weaknesses. Even though character development is quite good, its nonetheless too simple. Dialogue (although not very often) has general "biowarenianism" problems, there isn't enough phat loot (even though that wouldn't exactly fit in wuxia game so that "minus" propably even isn't one.) and game's too linear. Followers are ok/good but not spectacularly great. Khelgar and Ammon beats some silly Dawn Star anyday.

 

C&C3 Demo is awesome and I'm considering getting Kane edition. What it exactly has?

 

I've been playing as Nod lately (it's funny that there isn't voice over for "unit ready, constuction complete" etc. yet) and I propably found an bug. I can't get phat abilities or weapons from other nod units by destroying them. Heck, I can't even destroy them with that ability :sad:

One of my personal problems with Jade is that It'll buffer all my mouseclicks so I watch my guy do a combo and one or two extra strikes into thin air (because combos always end with knockback). Plus the open palm closed fist system needs to change, if it's good and evil the system is great, but when it's "save a town or kill a town" and both of the paths are considered viable by EVERYONE then you need to make it "save a town, save a town but for an exuberant price" or somthing similar.

[metadigital]

Playing Jade Empire I can say that Bioware are to game development what pedagogists are to teaching.

 

The game is cleverly compartmentalized so that learning a new battle skill or defeating an EndBoss is logical and proportionally rewarding. I (think I) picked the plot in the first minute ... but that is not necessarily a criticism nor avoidable.

[Musopticon?]

I saw a couple of hours of FF12 today. The start nearly floored me("That's some major graphics extravaganza"), but the grinding is tiring.

[Tale]

I definitely enjoyed JE's story. I would mirror many of the criticisms about the combat system from reviewers, it occasionally felt cumbersome.

 

Like many other men, though, I'm considering playing a second time through, this time as a female, just to see if I can encourage any girl - girl romance.

[metadigital]

I am playing as a girl on my first time through. "

[mkreku]

I've replayed Jade Empire on the PC, and although I still don't see it as any kind of masterpiece, I think slightly higher of it now (seeing as I completed the game on my own and didn't have a three (five? I forget) year old girl handle the boring combat for me. The combat is useless though. I used the same two skills the entire game. One sword and one fist. When I got the Jade Golem, I had enough points to immediately max it out and from there on it was a breeze (not that it was ever difficult anyhow). But the first two-three chapters were really good! I did every side-quest (Open Palm) that I could find, "explored" the tiny maps and had a lot of fun. Then came the last chapters, where the game just rushes on and dies. The shoot'em up sequences are still lame as hell. Why didn't they at least put some sort of end boss in them?! Shooting wave after wave of generic enemies for a minute at a time is BORING.

 

I finished the game in 18 hours.

[@\NightandtheShape/@]

If I approched gaming like you man... I'd quit.

[Volourn]

That's the way to do. Dislike a game on xbox and then react to it by rushing out to play the PC version. That'll sure show develoeprs what kind of gamer you are, and what they do when you criticize their games. Nothing, that's what.

 

You just didn't buy a game you dislike 9and now claim to mildly enjoy); you bought it twice. There is absolutely no logic to that course of action whatsoever.

 

 

Anyways...

 

 

THE GERMANS HAVE SURRENDED! THE GERMANS HAVE SURRENDERED!

 

Call of Duty 3's single player campaign is over and the Allies win!!!!!

 

Best FPS ever!

Edited March 12, 2007 by Volourn

[mkreku]

That's the way to do. Dislike a game on xbox and then react to it by rushing out to play the PC version. That'll sure show develoeprs what kind of gamer you are, and what they do when you criticize their games. Nothing, that's what.

 

You just didn't buy a game you dislike 9and now claim to mildly enjoy); you bought it twice. There is absolutely no logic to that course of action whatsoever.

Stop crying and stop lying. Jade Empire doesn't get better just because you get a Bio-gasm every time we talk about it.

 

My cousin has an Xbox. I have a Playstation 2. Now who do you think bought Jade Empire the first time?

 

I work as a games reviewer. I get games sent to me, even crappy ones. Now who do you think "bought" the second one?

 

I would never pay for that piece of ****. Unfortunately, slapping "Special Edition" on a game and adding two previously scrapped combat animations to a game apparently warrants a second review. Not my call, but there it is. The forthcoming review will show the distributors (don't think the developers read Swedish) what I think of bad console ports and dumbed-down-for-the-masses Bioware game design.

 

You just don't have a clue about anything, do you? But keep on lying, that's what you do best.

[Xard]

Before bitching about difficulty you should try playing the game with Jade Master difficulty setting...

 

JE has been very pleasant surprise for me. I was sure it would be ok/good, but not great in any way. Its not even nearly dumped down as I feared it would be. Simplified but not "dumped down" IMO. Too linear though. Open Palm/Closed Fist was much better than I expected, they're not only different names for Good/Evil. Too bad this is best implementation of good/bad I've encountered because it still sucks. Much less than in other games though.

 

This game kinda restored my faith for Bioware's writers/storytelling skill, although there still isn't any great companions apart from Sagacious Zu. Bioware uses same archetypes over and over again.

 

I have to give credit for music. Absolutely magnificent.

 

About C&C3: Forgot to mention that I was talking about Avatar but it looks like it was clear enough. For me that ability just doesn't work.

 

Oh, and I'm going to get Kane Edition

Edited March 13, 2007 by Xard

[Volourn]

"Stop crying and stop lying. Jade Empire doesn't get better just because you get a Bio-gasm every time we talk about it.

 

My cousin has an Xbox. I have a Playstation 2. Now who do you think bought Jade Empire the first time?

 

I work as a games reviewer. I get games sent to me, even crappy ones. Now who do you think "bought" the second one?

 

I would never pay for that piece of ****. Unfortunately, slapping "Special Edition" on a game and adding two previously scrapped combat animations to a game apparently warrants a second review. Not my call, but there it is. The forthcoming review will show the distributors (don't think the developers read Swedish) what I think of bad console ports and dumbed-down-for-the-masses Bioware game design.

 

You just don't have a clue about anything, do you? But keep on lying, that's what you do best. "

 

*yawn* You keep making excuses, and have no balls. You keep lying, whining, and crying. That's what you do.

[Hurlshort]

Oh yeah, well I'm a rhyming, miming, timing machine sent to say, hey, what's that in the bay?

[Volourn]

R00fles!

[Morgoth]

Jade Empire was awesome, and clearly superior to the newer NWN2 in almost every possible way. Although the most exciting thing was the imaginary created setting and the totally hilarious followers. Too bad I didn't really exploited the whole rolelaying aspect of that girl with the two demons inside. Maybe next time...

[Tale]

While I enjoyed Jade Empire, I definitely don't enjoy it more than NWN2. It was a significantly more polished affair, and the story was less predictable, but it has near 0 replay value for me.