What are you playing now?

[Hell Kitty]

^ That's not heartburn, you just aren't very good at eating bacon.

[fastpunk]

Playing through Assassin's Creed. Some of these sidequest assassinations are really difficult. o.o

 

Nah, they're easy, just like the rest of the game.

 

What a ridiculous statement.

 

Sometimes I get heartburn from eating bacon. Would you like to argue that as well?

 

Alright, alright. I should have said "It is my personal point of view that they are easy, just like the rest of the game." Also, you should eat more high fibrous foods in order to avoid heartburn.

[HoonDing]

I fired up Fallout 3 again yesterday when I was bored and somehow the game got me going again for a couple of hours. The same thing always happens when I start up Oblivion. I really do not understand how Bethesda manages to do this with their games.

Edited June 9, 2009 by virumor

[Monte Carlo]

The Lord of the Rings Third Age mod for MTW2.

 

I'm finding it tough, even on Medium / Hard. Playing as Rohan I just get hordes of orc armies marching all over me.

 

Having said that, as a mod, it's an impressive achievement. Art assets, music etc are excellent. They capture the cinematic LotR battle vibe (the first time you charge your Riders of Rohan heavy cav into five hundred Uruk Hai is pretty special). It's just that it's obviously designed for the hardcore, grind-house TW crowd, of which I am at best a fair-weather member.

 

Cheers

MC

[Darth InSidious]

Played and finished Jade Empire over the weekend. Shiny tat with amusing gameplay and little else, but fun nevertheless for a single playthough every so often. Dialogue is terrible, and the characters absurd.

 

Started Fallout and... either I'm missing something, or perhaps because I'm a bit new to this whole arr-pee-gee thing, really not finding it much fun at the moment. At Junktown, so... blah. The rad-scorpion sidequest in Shady Sands is MMOtastic, the dialogue is OK but not great. Mostly find the game frustrating rather than fun. The dialogue is OK but pretty dull so far, and the hex system/switching between cursor modes is wearisome. Combat is also quite dull. Also, the game has about as much immersiveness as the drops at the bottom of a Coke can. But since most Fallout fans seem to believe that immersion is a dirty word, perhaps I'm simply not getting it. Possibly the juxtaposition of this with JE is just too great.

 

*Ducks rotten fruit*

[Gfted1]

Started Fallout and... either I'm missing something, or perhaps because I'm a bit new to this whole arr-pee-gee thing, really not finding it much fun at the moment. At Junktown, so... blah. The rad-scorpion sidequest in Shady Sands is MMOtastic, the dialogue is OK but not great. Mostly find the game frustrating rather than fun. The dialogue is OK but pretty dull so far, and the hex system/switching between cursor modes is wearisome. Combat is also quite dull. Also, the game has about as much immersiveness as the drops at the bottom of a Coke can. But since most Fallout fans seem to believe that immersion is a dirty word, perhaps I'm simply not getting it. Possibly the juxtaposition of this with JE is just too great.

 

*Ducks rotten fruit*

 

Lol, thats what I was afraid of. I was considering buying the game just to see exactly what this sacred cow was all about but what you decribe is exactly what I figured it would be. I think its one of those games that you had to play when it first came out to appreciate it.

[Malcador]

Been playing Operation Flashpoint and Space Empires IV. With regards to the first, does anyone else have trouble seeing enemies in that game, I've got lousy vision so that might be it, but jeez, can't see those pesky Russians.

[HoonDing]

Lol, thats what I was afraid of. I was considering buying the game just to see exactly what this sacred cow was all about but what you decribe is exactly what I figured it would be. I think its one of those games that you had to play when it first came out to appreciate it.

Try playing a truly classic RPG like one of the Wizardry games or Champions of Krynn, not to mention the evergreen World of Xeen. It really opens one's eyes about the fickle concept of a 'true RPG'.

Edited June 9, 2009 by virumor

[Tigranes]

Started Fallout and... either I'm missing something, or perhaps because I'm a bit new to this whole arr-pee-gee thing, really not finding it much fun at the moment. At Junktown, so... blah. The rad-scorpion sidequest in Shady Sands is MMOtastic, the dialogue is OK but not great. Mostly find the game frustrating rather than fun. The dialogue is OK but pretty dull so far, and the hex system/switching between cursor modes is wearisome. Combat is also quite dull. Also, the game has about as much immersiveness as the drops at the bottom of a Coke can. But since most Fallout fans seem to believe that immersion is a dirty word, perhaps I'm simply not getting it. Possibly the juxtaposition of this with JE is just too great.

 

Fallout takes a while to get into, I only played them like, 7-8 years after release (in fact, just before BIS closed). It sort of helped that I started with FO2, because that game has more immediate lulzness. It still took me a weekend when I had absolutely nothing else to do to stick with the game, but once you get into it it is amazing.

[Tagaziel]

Started Fallout and... either I'm missing something, or perhaps because I'm a bit new to this whole arr-pee-gee thing, really not finding it much fun at the moment. At Junktown, so... blah. The rad-scorpion sidequest in Shady Sands is MMOtastic, the dialogue is OK but not great. Mostly find the game frustrating rather than fun. The dialogue is OK but pretty dull so far, and the hex system/switching between cursor modes is wearisome. Combat is also quite dull. Also, the game has about as much immersiveness as the drops at the bottom of a Coke can. But since most Fallout fans seem to believe that immersion is a dirty word, perhaps I'm simply not getting it. Possibly the juxtaposition of this with JE is just too great.

 

Fallout is one of the most immersive games ever created. If you have trouble connecting with the game, well, the problem is on your side of the keyboard.

[Maria Caliban]

Fallout is one of the most immersive games ever created. If you have trouble connecting with the game, well, the problem is on your side of the keyboard.

 

Fallout is one of the most unimmersive games ever created. If you connect with the game, well, there's a problem on your side of the keyboard.

 

(As opposed to the other side of the keyboard, which would be your desk)

[Tigranes]

Ironically, your example doesn't invalidate the immersion argument.

[Hell Kitty]

Arguing what is and isn't immersive is as useful as arguing what is and isn't fun.

 

Anyway, currently playing The Sims 3, which is most fun and immersive game in the history of the universe.

 

Everyone should read this: Alice & Kev: The story of being homeless in The Sims 3

[bhlaab]

I was kind of confused about Fallout when I first played it. Mostly because I didn't know what I was doing (I beat the game without ever finding out what FEV was) and some of the quest design wasn't as tight as people like to say.

 

By the time I got to the end credits it was my favorite game ever. Until I started up Fallout 2 (immediately after the credits finished rolling in Fallout 1)

 

Never had a problem with the combat system, though. Missed out on a lot of its features-- Again, it took me until the final dungeon to learn that you can use stimpacks straight from the inventory and you don't have to set them individually as your active item in the middle of battle. Doh.

[Jaesun]

WAT?

[Tagaziel]

I was kind of confused about Fallout when I first played it. Mostly because I didn't know what I was doing (I beat the game without ever finding out what FEV was) and some of the quest design wasn't as tight as people like to say.

 

I had the same at first. I attribute it to laziness and not wanting to read through everything at first playthrough.

 

To be honest, as I work on the wiki, more and more things click, even now, twelve years after release. It's incredibly rich, detailed and requires research to put together. It's awesome.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Very few games that I've played have a plot that felt like an onion, where every play through would reveal some interesting new detail or understanding of the events and none of the Fallouts had that feeling (to me).

 

The only games that come to mind like that would be Planescape Torment and KotOR 2. While much of KotOR 2's missing plot feeling is obviously thanks to the ending that was hacked to pieces, a lot of this was also due to evil & good playthroughs each revealing bits and pieces you would miss with one play through.

 

AH, and I almost forgot... The Marathon series. Bungie may get a lot of flak for the shallowness of 'generic space marine' Halo series, but their Marathon series had a really amazing storyline that still has people going through every little line of text to dissect it. Back when I had a smash n' toss (cough, macintosh) I had all three games and I never really understood the story. Years later I replayed them and I found it brilliant... hints sprinkled in... plot arc about an advanced AI trying to become a god by escaping the closure of the universe. Really wish Halo had captured the story telling of Marathon.

Edited June 10, 2009 by GreasyDogMeat

[Tagaziel]

In Fallout, the world is an onion, in Planescape: Torment and Planescape: Torment IN SPACE! the plot and characters are onions.

 

The post-nuclear world is damn complex and multilayered, important elements are often but a single sentence in the mouth of an NPC, like Lydia further emphasizing Vault City's hypocrisy - their hatred for mutants doesn't prevent them from buying Uranium ore from Broken Hills to fuel their Vault's nuclear power generator. Or Decker, when asked about Far Go Traders, mentions that Butch Harris is just a figurehead while he is really the one who calls the shots. This puts the hit on Daren Hightower in perspective - the Water Merchants would disintegrate with their master merchant dead and allow the Far Go Traders to estabilish themselves as the masters of the Water Tower and, by extension, give the Hub over to the Underground.

 

There's a proverbial crapload of little details crammed into the game.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Perhaps, but those examples are a far cry from the mind blowing revelations in the other games that replays would often bring.

 

Fallout certainly had its 'WOW' moments of discovery the first time (exploring the glow had a real sense of awe and forboding atmosphere), but for me it didn't pack any real amazing revelations in subsequent play throughs (even if it was still a blast to play it again).

[Tagaziel]

I'm not saying those are revelations, just added layers of complexity, something noticeably absent from most modern games, including Fallout 3.

 

Revelation is being proved that Kreia is Handmaiden's mother. Now that's mind blowing.

[HoonDing]

Revelation is being proved that Kreia is Handmaiden's mother. Now that's mind blowing.

Thought it was Arren Kae... can't picture Yusanis laying down with the old hag.

[Tagaziel]

Kreia = Arren Kae

 

MCA commented, when asked about it, that it's a good catch.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Mikael Grizzly

[GreasyDogMeat]

I do think more games should let the player put the pieces together and not spell everything out. Again, thats why Marathon's story is still discussed. The 'big reveal' of the player being

an undead cyborg is never directly said, only given through minor hints

.

 

I remember some of the interesting forum chats about plot points in KotOR 2, with people not understanding why this or that happened and long drawn out replys connecting one event or another to this or that coming together to make sense.

 

Its something special when a game can have people come on to a forum and really dig through the story and have little revelations.

 

I just didn't get this 'extra layer' feeling with any of the Fallouts. Atleast, nothing that really made an extra layer stand out.

[Majek]

Psychonauts. ... i feel so ashamed for missing this pearl

[Tagaziel]

Just completed it.

 

It's crazy, in a very, very good way.