What are you playing now

[Deraldin]

Slowly working my way through the city of Baldur's Gate. I've done about half the quests in the city so far and I'm currently taking on the group on the fifth floor of the Iron Throne. It's supposed to be an optional fight, but I've never actually beat them before. I've managed to take out 4 of the 6 guys so far, but the last two are the clerics that never seem to suffer spell casting failure no matter how many times I hit them. It's even more annoying because I can't seem to lure them downstairs one at a time. Every time I try, the both come after me and that flamestrike wand the one has really, really freakin' hurts. The ring of free action that the rogue dropped has been very helpful though. It cancels out the boots of speed, but speed doesn't help when you fail your save on a hold spell.

 

Currently they are standing by the north staircase so I could send Imoen up the south staircase and sneak past them to loot the rest of the tower, but I would really prefer to actually kill them. They give good experience after all.

Edited July 23, 2009 by Deraldin

[Oner]

Borrowed MW4: Mercenaries 'till the real thing comes out (again). Somehow survived a huge battle with 3 lances against my 2 lances, the enemies were suddenly polite enough to not spam me with everything they had. Didn't loose a single 'Mech, though two ended up being crippled, and lost 3-4 Clan Gauss Rifles and can't buy new ones from the free market. Oops.

And I'm kinda disappointed about how crap my MK II Mad Cat (2 CGRs and CSTRK 6s) is compared to my lancemates' Daishis (4 Extended Large Lasers and 2 CGRs). At least I never overheat.

[Tigranes]

Slowly working my way through the city of Baldur's Gate. I've done about half the quests in the city so far and I'm currently taking on the group on the fifth floor of the Iron Throne. It's supposed to be an optional fight, but I've never actually beat them before. I've managed to take out 4 of the 6 guys so far, but the last two are the clerics that never seem to suffer spell casting failure no matter how many times I hit them. It's even more annoying because I can't seem to lure them downstairs one at a time. Every time I try, the both come after me and that flamestrike wand the one has really, really freakin' hurts. The ring of free action that the rogue dropped has been very helpful though. It cancels out the boots of speed, but speed doesn't help when you fail your save on a hold spell.

 

Currently they are standing by the north staircase so I could send Imoen up the south staircase and sneak past them to loot the rest of the tower, but I would really prefer to actually kill them. They give good experience after all.

 

They're always a good fight - a lot more so with SCS2 because they beef themselves up. They then dispel your buffs immediately, and the thief backstabs your mage. Then there are the skeletons, flame strikes, hold persons and that unstoppable tank. I typically start off by sharing some Potions of Explosion (and the Oil versions) round, as well as the fireball wand and the neckless of missiles - even 5-6 explosions typically don't drop any of them, but it helps (and I dont' consider it cheese if they're in LOS and I don't re-charge wands with late-game cash).

 

If you want to lure, it's actually easier to go UP one more stair, to the rooftop (where you also get a much more enclosed fighting space, for better or for worse).

 

I'm in the Underdark of BG2 now - typically this is where I lose interest and let the game hang for a while, I'm not too sure why. I might just check out the Drow shops then kill Adalon just to be out of here.

[Deraldin]

They're always a good fight - a lot more so with SCS2 because they beef themselves up. They then dispel your buffs immediately, and the thief backstabs your mage. Then there are the skeletons, flame strikes, hold persons and that unstoppable tank. I typically start off by sharing some Potions of Explosion (and the Oil versions) round, as well as the fireball wand and the neckless of missiles - even 5-6 explosions typically don't drop any of them, but it helps (and I dont' consider it cheese if they're in LOS and I don't re-charge wands with late-game cash).

 

If you want to lure, it's actually easier to go UP one more stair, to the rooftop (where you also get a much more enclosed fighting space, for better or for worse).

 

I'm in the Underdark of BG2 now - typically this is where I lose interest and let the game hang for a while, I'm not too sure why. I might just check out the Drow shops then kill Adalon just to be out of here.

 

As an archer with boots of speed, I'd rather not put myself into an even smaller area if I don't have to. The two thieves I killed in straight up melee, while the sword using fighter I kept dancing just out of his reach and peppering him with arrows till he went down. The second fighter and I had an archers duel. He totally would have creamed me in a straight up fight, but I have a crap load of minor healing potions. Two sets of 5 allowed me to take him out while he used two extra healing potions before he ran out. I swear the die roller hated me against him. I looked through the log and only once out of every four shots did he roll something lower than 15 which is total bull**** since I was getting results like 4,4,6,2. Even with a +4 mod to my rolls and a THACO of 9, those weren't even close to hitting him.

 

I've got SCS installed for the AI updates, but I left out the improved end of chapter battles. I've never actually finished BG1 before because of technical issues so I'm hoping to actually make it through the entire thing this time. And no cheating! First time I played I was still in my "cheat at everything first time though" phase and ctrl+y was like the best thing ever. I've felt guilty even using ctrl-j to save time by jumping across city maps on this run, but it's much more enjoyable to actually beat those tough encounters after a couple reloads.

[cronicler]

Oner: Personally I hate Madcat Mk:2. It is such a useless piece of crap. Besides those missles cost freaking lot. Generally I don't like missle heavy mechs as primary combatants as some artillery is needed only now and then.

 

Try using your second lance as battleline positioned somewhat away from the enemy so you can fall back onto them and have them rip apart your pursuers with concentrated fire. I generally used my lance as missle platforms (if there was need for extremely fast destruction) positioned behind the battleline or light mechs to act as spotters.

 

I favoured Light to Medium mechs with a mix of Laser (PPS if possible) and Kinetic heavy weapons at long range depending on heat budget. Putting in a heavy salvo of 8+ shots in some poor bastards ****pit at long range is the best medicine :D

[Oner]

Oner: Personally I hate Madcat Mk:2. It is such a useless piece of crap. Besides those missles cost freaking lot. Generally I don't like missle heavy mechs as primary combatants as some artillery is needed only now and then.

 

Try using your second lance as battleline positioned somewhat away from the enemy so you can fall back onto them and have them rip apart your pursuers with concentrated fire. I generally used my lance as missle platforms (if there was need for extremely fast destruction) positioned behind the battleline or light mechs to act as spotters.

 

I favoured Light to Medium mechs with a mix of Laser (PPS if possible) and Kinetic heavy weapons at long range depending on heat budget. Putting in a heavy salvo of 8+ shots in some poor bastards ****pit at long range is the best medicine :D

Thing is, since my MK II got busted, I piloted a Fafnir which came as salvage from the last mission, put the dual Heavy Gausses and 3 ER Large Lasers on it. If the enemy Longbows wouldn't have rocket spammed me all the time, I would've felt sorry for them.

For tactics, I found telling 7 lancemates with ~40 damage/Alpha Strike each to shoot the same guy was very effective.

Thanks for the advice though. Campaign finished with Davions, last mission was kinda anticlimactic (and effin' hard when I was unlucky).

[Gorth]

Playing Dead Space again... finally made my way out of the military vessel (like 25+ reloads later). On a side note, Dead Space is the only game where I suffered death by hentai so far. Damn tentacles

[Aristes]

Hahahaha Death by tentacles. That was unexpected.

 

...AND! You should play Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth for a chance to get killed by even more and stranger tentacles.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Aristes

[Oner]

stranger tentacles.

stranger tentacles.

stranger tentacles.

Must not imagine, must not imagine, must not imagine.

[Deraldin]

stranger tentacles.

stranger tentacles.

stranger tentacles.

Must not imagine, must not imagine, must not imagine.

 

Too late.

[Aristes]

 

Anyhow, I'm in the last chapter of Max Payne. You know, this is my third time and I have to say, I still really enjoy the game. Yeah, I now bypass all the cutscenes, but no biggie. I'm really glad about the purchase. ...And it just goes to show that I get good gaming advice from you freaks.

[Deraldin]

 

All the talk about MW4 above made me break out my copy of Mercs to give it another run. I've bumped up the difficulty a notch above regular this time because I recall absolutely dominating last time I played the campaign. I actually lost a couple missions this time! The early Steiner escort mission ended in stupid cheap failure three times before I managed to complete it. Having the enemy take out one of the convoy trucks from 800m on the first blast is just totally not fair. My Uziel can't run that fast! Ended up sending my three lancemates to guard the third checkpoint right off the bat to intercept the enemy when the arrive and that worked out this time while I dealt with everything before that.

 

Battled through the Light and Medium circuits on Solaris but Heavy hasn't opened yet. My 5x Clan ER Medium Laser Wolfhound tore through everything in the light division and my 3x Clan UAC5 made short work of most of the medium division. Had a little trouble with the jungle getting started right next to someone with an AC20 that seemed to be able to home in on my center torso. Finally got fed up with him and just took off that arm before he got a second shot off and he was good as dead.

 

Currently I've got an Awesome, a Black Knight, a Mauler and various medium mechs stomping around. I'd forgotten just how poorly that Mauler maneuvers. It's really tough keeping some of those lighter mechs in your sights. Had a Thanatos give me all sorts of trouble because I just couldn't turn fast enough. Had to keep zig zagging to shake him loose until I could get a couple shots off.

[mkreku]

I reinstalled Mercenaries 2 again. It's funny, everytime I start playing I go online. And everytime someone unknown joins my game after a few minutes (in co-op). People are so weird.

[Gfted1]

n00b time. So Im over at maxdps.com and I plug in all the stats for my mage and hit submit. After, the top of the page shows "DPS cycle" and then four spells; Fireball, Living Bomb, Pyroblast and Scorch and a DPS rating of 2168. In reality, I dont do anywhere near 2100 DPS but I also dont use the spell rotation listed at the top of the page. My method is close, I do Scorch, Living Bomb, Fireball but not usually Pyroblast since its cast time is so long unless my talent that makes it an insta-cast procs. So is the site telling me that if I follow that rotation I should be busting out 2100 DPS or am I reading it wrong?

 

 

Well, Ill be a monkeys uncle, but it works. Went into Naxx for the first time since changing up some talents and following the recommended rotation and sure enough my DPS jumped to 2100+, then a little later was at 2200+. This leads me to the inescapable conclusion that I dont know what DPS actualy means. I always envisioned DPS as basically starting when you pull the boss/mob and stopping when the body hits the floor. Take that time and divide it into the total damage done over that time and voila, theres your DPS. So I would try to pour as many spell into a battle as possible, heavily relying on my faster casting spells, which flies in the face of the above method that favors slower casting but higher damage spells.

 

So, can anyone give me a quick and dirty breakdown of how DPS is actually calculated? While Im tickled pink to have drastically increased my DPS it irritates me that I dont understand the mechanic.

[Calax]

n00b time. So Im over at maxdps.com and I plug in all the stats for my mage and hit submit. After, the top of the page shows "DPS cycle" and then four spells; Fireball, Living Bomb, Pyroblast and Scorch and a DPS rating of 2168. In reality, I dont do anywhere near 2100 DPS but I also dont use the spell rotation listed at the top of the page. My method is close, I do Scorch, Living Bomb, Fireball but not usually Pyroblast since its cast time is so long unless my talent that makes it an insta-cast procs. So is the site telling me that if I follow that rotation I should be busting out 2100 DPS or am I reading it wrong?

 

 

Well, Ill be a monkeys uncle, but it works. Went into Naxx for the first time since changing up some talents and following the recommended rotation and sure enough my DPS jumped to 2100+, then a little later was at 2200+. This leads me to the inescapable conclusion that I dont know what DPS actualy means. I always envisioned DPS as basically starting when you pull the boss/mob and stopping when the body hits the floor. Take that time and divide it into the total damage done over that time and voila, theres your DPS. So I would try to pour as many spell into a battle as possible, heavily relying on my faster casting spells, which flies in the face of the above method that favors slower casting but higher damage spells.

 

So, can anyone give me a quick and dirty breakdown of how DPS is actually calculated? While Im tickled pink to have drastically increased my DPS it irritates me that I dont understand the mechanic.

Basically it's they count up the raw amount of damage you do while you're alive, then divide it by the amount of time it takes to do that damage.

[alanschu]

So I would try to pour as many spell into a battle as possible, heavily relying on my faster casting spells, which flies in the face of the above method that favors slower casting but higher damage spells.

 

 

Errr, not necessarily.

 

 

If you can cast 5 spells in 10 seconds that each do 1000 damage, you do 5k damage or 500 dps.

If you can cast 2 spells in 10 seconds that each do 8000 damage, you do 16k damage or 800 dps.

[mkreku]

So I recruited Misha (the jet pilot in Mercenaries 2) just now. I was just out driving towards my goal and collecting the important targets along the way, when a clone of myself appeared in the game. Usually I get stressed out by having some unknown person in my game, but this time I thought "Screw it" and just kept on playing (instead of nervously logging out 2 minutes later..). And it was fun! This guy kept following me around, riding shotgun and shooting everything up like a madman with the mounted cannons and guns. Then we raced around the islands on jetskis before taking on the mission. He grabbed a helicopter and I grabbed a tank and together we wrought HAVOC. It was fiery, burning hell all around!! The cool part was that when he went down, I revived him and he actually did the same for me (which unknowns usually don't do).

 

We ended the mission by ordering our drunken jet pilot to drop a bunker buster on a.. uh.. bunker and then we ran like little rabbits, but we were both caught in the enormous blast. We survived.. barely. It was chaotic and incredibly fun! Then, when the mission ended and we were transported back to Solano's villa, I saved the game and quit. I wish there was some way of saying thanks, at least..

 

Oh, and I don't understand how this game 'only' got a 70 on Metacritic ( http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/...s2worldinflames ). It's kind of harsh, seeing as the game is very stable and a lot of fun. Sure, there are lots of bugs and visual flaws, but nothing game breaking. I'd easily give it more.

[Oner]

Stopped playing Thief 3, since my save game got corrupted, thanks a bunch computer.

DMC 4 won't start up either. What the hell?

[Jaesun]

Baldur's Gate Trilogy (WeiDU).

 

The sheer fact I can play BG1+TotSC+BGII+ToB as one huge giant game... was too awesome to pass up.

 

I have cleared the Nashkell mines, and have not had any bugs or problems so far. *crosses fingers*

 

I also LOVED the idea that after Killing *cough* S, you get the cut scene, but the game does not end. You then need to head to the Palace, and THEN continue your journey (to BGII). NEAT!

[Rosbjerg]

I saved the game and quit. I wish there was some way of saying thanks, at least..

 

I love those moments.. Random Coop fun! unfortunately they are rare, but the games become that much more fun when they happen.

[Aristes]

I just finished Max Payne 2 for the 'happy ending.' I actually liked this ending much better than the happy ending for Painkiller for the simple reason that we didn't get to play through the last levels of Painkiller on that setting. I think Max Payne 2 will probably go down as one of my faves. I've heard some of the criticism, and as usual I can see why critics would make those points, but I still thought it was a thoroughly enticing game. Now I'm playing a bunch of little facebook games until the end of the month where I'll have to get serious about things again.

[Calax]

Champions online has a 3 day beta event going on! I'm going crazy in that (It's not as laggy as der said it was anymore)

[alanschu]

Currently playing HOI2 as I anxiously wait for HOI3.

[Aristes]

Champions online has a 3 day beta event going on! I'm going crazy in that (It's not as laggy as der said it was anymore)

Hey, now that you've played it for a bit, how does it stack up to CoH?

[Vilhelm]

I'm playing Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky these days. It's good ol' Dragon Quest but ****, I want to beat the **** out of that annoying fairy Sandy.