What are you playing now?

[Calax]

Playing Advent Rising. It's kinda hard to describe. I'm not even sure if it's running as intended on my PC, because frankly, it behaves strange. In one cutscene the textures are low res, then in another, they're much higher. In vehicle sections, I can barely hear anything because of the unbearably loud motor noise. The game is supposed to be written by Orson Scott Card, but it's crap.

 

At the beginning of the game, you choose to save your brother, or your girlfriend. I chose the latter, and after escaping the planet on some woman's ship, suddenly she disappears from 90% of the cutscenes, barely says anything, even when she damn well should be there (like when the main char is relaxing after ESPer training sessions). Then later, she just *poof*, dies, and not 5 hours later the PC almost confesses his love to the earlier mentioned captain. WHAT. THE. HELL.

 

 

But apart from that, it's pretty fun, but only in small quantities. Playing longer then 2-3 hours makes the game rather boring.

Yeah... on advent rising I only got to the senate planet thing before it bugged out beyond repair, but I was unimpressed by the writing or the general game.

[Oner]

I'm not there yet. I'm at the huge human statue in the whatchacallit temple, when you get the timeshift power. Only bug I got so far was (=I'm absolutely sure it's a bug) that when selecting the surge power, and immediately clicking with the mouse crashed the game every time.

[Calax]

I'm not there yet. I'm at the huge human statue in the whatchacallit temple, when you get the timeshift power. Only bug I got so far was (=I'm absolutely sure it's a bug) that when selecting the surge power, and immediately clicking with the mouse crashed the game every time.

I didn't get a single power... I think I basically escaped then got rescued by the "good" aliens then was running through a ship as it disintigrated when the thing crashed.

[Oner]

Oh. Slight misunderstanding then, I got past that part.

[Nihilus5078]

Somehow I get this strange feeling that I'm posting to talk to myself, anyway it's not important, what am I playing now, two words, Mass Effect.

Edited June 21, 2009 by Nihilus5078

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Somehow I get this strange feeling that I'm posting to talk to myself, anyway it's not important, what am I playing now, two words, Mass Effect.

That happens to me a lot too.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Just bought Empire: TW for $25 on Steam, on sale this weekend. And there's another patch coming in a couple of days.

[Aristes]

Somehow I get this strange feeling that I'm posting to talk to myself, anyway it's not important, what am I playing now, two words, Mass Effect.

That happens to me a lot too.

 

You would be surprised at how many folks read your posts here but don't say anything. I used to lurk a lot and read folks posts without responding.

 

EDIT: Sorry, a bit out of it. I'm playing WoW with friends and Call of Cthulu alone. Wrath's thread inspired me.

Edited June 21, 2009 by Aristes

[Slowtrain]

Somehow I get this strange feeling that I'm posting to talk to myself, anyway it's not important, what am I playing now, two words, Mass Effect.

That happens to me a lot too.

 

You would be surprised at how many folks read your posts here but don't say anything. I used to lurk a lot and read folks posts without responding.

 

EDIT: Sorry, a bit out of it. I'm playing WoW with friends and Call of Cthulu alone. Wrath's thread inspired me.

 

 

Do you remember what prompted you to go from lurking to posting?

 

You certainly don't seem particularly reticent in speaking your mind and your posts are well thought out.

[Hurlshort]

Somehow I get this strange feeling that I'm posting to talk to myself, anyway it's not important, what am I playing now, two words, Mass Effect.

That happens to me a lot too.

 

You would be surprised at how many folks read your posts here but don't say anything. I used to lurk a lot and read folks posts without responding.

 

Sometimes it helps to post more detail about what, exactly, you are doing in Mass Effect. It often sparks discussions.

 

I've been absolutely addicted to Mount and Blade. It's a bit of a tough game, but I've been trying to help build up my little village that the King of the Nords granted me. I'm up to about 55 soldiers in my army, not quite enough to lead a siege, although I've helped win a few. My guy is pretty awesome but I still get beat every once in awhile, it's tough to fight off ten guys in this game!

[Bos_hybrid]

I've been absolutely addicted to Mount and Blade. It's a bit of a tough game, but I've been trying to help build up my little village that the King of the Nords granted me. I'm up to about 55 soldiers in my army, not quite enough to lead a siege, although I've helped win a few. My guy is pretty awesome but I still get beat every once in awhile, it's tough to fight off ten guys in this game!

 

I would say its the best indie game I've ever played and by quite a large way. Waylaying caravans never gets old.

 

Just bought Empire: TW for $25 on Steam, on sale this weekend.

 

You sir are a legend, thank you for pointing that out.

[Maria Caliban]

Dead Space is scary and that centrifuge has killed me four times now. Why would starting a centrifuge turn a zero gravity area with air into an airless area with gravity? And why would a ship in orbit of a planet require a centrifuge to stay in orbit?

Edited June 21, 2009 by Maria Caliban

[Llyranor]

Going through Demon's Souls on PS3 right now. Utterly fantastic dungeon crawler gameplay/combat. The game makes no apology for outright killing you - essentially removing all the souls you've accumulated (the currency to buy/repair/upgrade items, and boost your stats) - then you respawn in 'dead' form at the very beginning of the map and having to recover your corpse. If you die a second time, you respawn in dead form again, but your previous corpse is gone forever, along with all the souls it had.

 

It features real-time combat, and is very timing-based. As your stats/equipment become better, you can become very efficient at killing things, but it remains extremely skill-based. Even the early level enemies can still kill you if you're careless. Actions available in combat include running/dodging/rolling/backstep, blocking (with a shield - which drains your stamina, which can stun you if your stamina is low to begin with; or with a heavy weapon, which drains stamina but doesn't nullify hp loss, just reduces it), parrying (requires exact time with the shield or a secondary weapon you're holding in the left hand; if you time it right, you can stun the enemy and leave them open for a riposte attack), and all your various attacks depend on your current state (if you've just done a roll or backstep, for example, or whether you're holding a weapon one or two-handed, whether you're using a regular or strong attack). It's also important to note that all weapons having completely different attacks (also, again, depending on whether held one or two-handed). A longsword will allow you slashing attacks, or a lunging piercing attack as a strong attack if held in one hand, but it'll deal a stronger slashing attack if held two-handed. A long spear will be more unwielding to use if you hold a shield at the second time (however, the option is still available to you), but its longer piercing reach allows you an advantage. In enclosed spaces, though, that turns into a disadvantage as your attacks may end up hitting the walls. A halberd will allow piercing and slashing. Unlike other games where this can just seem visual, this has direct implications with combat.

 

The interface works pretty well. You're allowed two weapons in the right hand slot, and two on the left hand slot (can be a shield or a second weapon). You swap between them with one quick button press. Another button will quickly switch you between holding your primary weapon one or two-handed, thus shelving away your shield/2nd weapon. This all happens during combat, switching back and forth depending on the tactical situation.

 

Here's a standard example. I'm crossing a bridge that's being guarded by a firebreathing dragon. I need to time it properly so as to avoid its breath attack (which would kill me in one hit), run across the bridge towards the tower gate, which is guarded by 5 archers and 2 knights. I'm sprinting towards them, shield held up to block the arrows coming my way, equipped with a longsword. One of the knights moves forward. I roll diagonally, evading his attack and nearing the archers. As I finish my roll, I do a spinning attack that hits 2 of them (this is the standard attack after making a roll with this weapon). It brings them down to 1/4 health, not strong enough. As I do that, two arrows land in me. The knight, in the meantime, is behind me. He lunges forward. I turn around quickly, raise my shield back to block it just in time. My stamina being already drained. I get knocked back a bit, but managed to get out of the way before he follows through. I roll sideways, evading the next wave of arrows. Shield raised, I time it so that as soon as the next wave of arrows flies past, I switch to my bastard sword, hold it two-handed, and land a strong attack on the archers. I take down 3 of them in one swing. Being a wieldy weapon, it drains my stamina pretty quickly. The knight lunges at me again, I block it with my sword (but take damage and stamina drain for it), I swing back, but he blocks it as well, which ends up with an arrow in my back. I switch back to my longsword, get rid of my shield and hold a dagger in my left hand. I roll a few times, land next to the archers and make work of the ones I've injured before with some quick dagger thrusts. By then, the second knight is approaching me (from the opposite direction of the other knight). I roll behind him, slashing him a few times with the longsword, then deflect his incoming attack with my dagger. It stuns him very briefly and I stab him with the longsword. It's not too effective, but I'm in a good position now. I switch to my shield as they both near me, blocking both attacks with raised shield. I attack back, but one blocks it. I back away, switch to two-handed bastard sword again. I lure them both past a doorway. As one makes it through, I roll sideways past his spear attack, then follow up with a strong attack, stunning him briefly. I follow up with another fierce blow, which kills him. I then draw up my shield and deflect the second's attack and riposte with the bastard sword. I then roll behind and end him with a two-handed swing.

 

It's not a very *flashy* game, and combat videos don't really do it justice, but it's all about the controls. There's a lot of tension given how punishing death can be, and how easily you can die in a few hits if careless.

 

It puts other real-time CRPG combat systems (Gothic, TES, other hack & slashers) to shame, really. The one it would most remind me of would be Mount & Blade, minus the mount, but with much better/diverse melee combat.

 

I'd recommend the game for anyone with a PS3 who enjoys challenge and dungeon crawlers. And who has better reflexes than Hades.

Edited June 21, 2009 by Llyranor

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Just sprint to the next little wedge in the wall. Just need to go right after the centrifuge passes... don't see what was so hard about that section.

 

Still, I thought it was a pretty nice part of the game.

[Hell Kitty]

Currently addicted to The Sims 3.

 

It was strange at first to have a whole town for your Sims to roam around in, rather than the individual lots (separated by really long load times) of the Sims 2.

 

I played around a bit with the default town, but then I started again and wiped out all the preset characters and houses and built my own town from scratch (you can't place lots like in 2, instead you a limited to what is already there), and I probably spend more time building homes and creating and setting up families then I do actually playing the families, just as I did with 2.

 

I'm using the AwesomeMod, which changes Story Progression (and a whole bunch of other stuff) somewhat. Sims will no longer leave town, which causes that Sims to disappear forever, and Sims will no longer have babies unless there are two parents, though I used the mod too late for several women who experienced virgin births.

 

One thing it doesn't change is allowing randomly generated Sims from moving into town. I thought I stopped that by making sure the houses I build aren't furnished until I move a Sim in myself, but it seems the game decides to just stick the new Sims into an existing family, even if the house doesn't support it. One single Sim living in a shack had five strangers move in with him. The strangest thing though, was that one of the women in the group has three toddlers, but they didn't move in with her and as such it means she has abandoned them. The original owner of the house fell in love and married her, though, so it's all good.

Edited June 21, 2009 by Hell Kitty

[Morgoth]

One day I'm getting this Demon's Souls, when they actually find a publisher for Europe.

[Llyranor]

Which might never happen. Either import the Asia version (in English), or wait until Atlus releases the North American version. PS3 is region-free.

[Morgoth]

Yeah, I know. But I'm gonna wait for a major price drop first.

[Majek]

I have to get PS3 first, waiting for a major price drop on that :D

 

Dead Space is scary and that centrifuge has killed me four times now. Why would starting a centrifuge turn a zero gravity area with air into an airless area with gravity? And why would a ship in orbit of a planet require a centrifuge to stay in orbit? 'Gravity tethers?' You're telling me in the future, space ships will have a mechanism just to cause a problem space stations don't currently face?

 

And I'm tired of the area resetting *completely* after I die. I shoot the legs off three corpses, start the centrifuge, die, respawn to right before I start the centrifuge, and the corpses have all their legs! Notice that my ammo is still low though.

Don't know how to Save/load? :D

Edited June 21, 2009 by Majek

[alanschu]

I have loaded up Mount and Blade.

 

It has it's charm for sure.

[Aristes]

It took me about ten tries to get through that damned attack of the fisherman scene in Cthulu. I was actually quite irritated because I didn't understand everything going on. I finally made it to a safe area but thought I was still running. Anyhow, I was beat up pretty bad when I got there so I tried to do it again. I went to a walkthrough and found out one tiny thing I could have done. I did it and made it without a single wound.

 

I don't know if I like that aspect or not. On one hand, I find the idea irritating. On the other hand, it does make the game kind of like an adventure/fps hybrid, which could be interesting.

[Wrath of Dagon]

10 tries is actually pretty good. I lost count of how many times I had to retry that. Still, for me that chase was the high point of the game. I think that was also the point I started to become completely dependent on the guide.

[SteveThaiBinh]

I've been playing through the four Monkey Island games in anticipation of the new Telltale series, and it's amazing how gorgeous Curse of Monkey Island looks and how ugly and dated Escape from Monkey Island looks by comparison. Not to mention the horrible control system.

[Rosbjerg]

I've been playing through the four Monkey Island games in anticipation of the new Telltale series, and it's amazing how gorgeous Curse of Monkey Island looks and how ugly and dated Escape from Monkey Island looks by comparison. Not to mention the horrible control system.

 

It's a great example of why good style always beats good graphics..

[Maria Caliban]

Just sprint to the next little wedge in the wall. Just need to go right after the centrifuge passes... don't see what was so hard about that section.

 

Still, I thought it was a pretty nice part of the game.

 

It's not a hard section. It's in fact very, very easy, which is what made dying four times frustrating.