What are you playing now

[213374U]

Uh, he's actually talking about a MODDED version of BG. Vanilla was a piece of cake.

[Enoch]

And most of the "thinking" that you had to do in the old days was "how can I abuse the arbitrary game mechanics to defeat the enemy in a wholly unrealistic fashion?"

 

 

I'm playing Bloodlines, for the first time. Just about to go to the

Malkavian primogen's house

. After everyone here seemed to recommend playing Malkavian, I tried starting one out, but felt entirely lost right off the bat. When I started again as a Tremere (chosen based on the relative interesting-ness of the abilities and the avatar not looking like a complete ****wad), I realized that I must have somehow picked a dialogue response with Jack that led to me skipping the whole introduction sequence. Thing have gone much smoother since I got through that. I think I've been a bit too schizophrenic in my character build thus far, though. For example, I've weighted diplomacy and stealth relatively evenly, which is probably a bit redundant from what I've seen of the quest design. I'll have to focus on specializing more as the game goes on (I'm leaning towards the diplomatic side).

 

Anyhow, it's interesting enough so far. The gameplay isn't as awful or bug-ridden as the other Troika games I've played. The animations are a little wonky (I cringe when I see my character run in 3rd person mode), but the VO is mostly good. The ability balance seems a tiny bit out-of-whack, but nowhere near the complete brokenness of Arcanum. And I love the quest-only XP mechanic. As for the story, the factions seem reasonably well conceived. I'm assuming that at some point towards the end of the story, I'm going to have to decide some kind of faction allegiance. So far the story seems to be bending over backwards to

make me like the Anarchs. I'm not buying-- the attorney in me is too 'lawful neutral,' and the music in their bar makes me want to turn around and leave as soon as I enter it. I also hope the story comes up with some answer to the "why the hell am I so damn special that I'm getting all these important missions and personal attention from the head honchos" and "how did they catch us within hours of my siring, when there seem to be no shortage of other vamps the camarilla know squat about" questions.

 

 

Also, I think having a few Bloodlines-related searches in my cookies file has resulted in Amazon sending me an email to recommend a Stephanie Meyer novel. That's a mark against it right there.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Enoch

[Jaesun]

Yea DONT play a Malkavian the first time. You won't really appreciate it as much. Awesome game. <3

[RPGmasterBoo]

Uh, he's actually talking about a MODDED version of BG. Vanilla was a piece of cake.

 

It was hell compared to games that came afterwards. Or rather they were a joke compared to it.

[Maria Caliban]

I'm not buying-- the attorney in me is too 'lawful neutral,' and the music in their bar makes me want to turn around and leave as soon as I enter it. I also hope the story comes up with some answer to the "why the hell am I so damn special that I'm getting all these important missions and personal attention from the head honchos" and "how did they catch us within hours of my siring, when there seem to be no shortage of other vamps the camarilla know squat about" questions.

 

I'm going to answer this in reverse order.

 

2. It was a set up.

1. The Prince does it because he wants everyone to know how generous he was. If you die, it's no biggie. Others do it because vampire society isn't as large as the real world. Jenette might act like she's powerful, but she likely only has two vampires and a bunch of ghouls working under her. You can assume that all the vampires you meet in the game represent 50-80% of all the vampires in the area.

[Kaftan Barlast]

Played the ArmA 2 demo today. That's the sort of game where the developer chew off too much that they couldn't handle. Some awesome graphics, but wierd AI behavior and...well, the fact it's a simulation doesn't help me to like the game much either. Man, I played that stupid mission where I ran 20 min around in some valley, then I finally approch the village, and BAM! I'm suddenly dead. Hurrdurr.

 

Its a hyper realistic military simulator from the makers of the heavily modded Operation Flashpoint.

Its hardcore, and not for the impatient. Its what you get when you have too much realism - the desire to whack your monitor.

 

And yes they screwed the AI.

 

 

But it has some really cool stuff going on in the campaign that are sort of like RPG-ish things. Like how you're given a team and some vehicles and told "go hunt down this war criminal" and you're absolutely free to accomplish that any way you see fit. In a lot of ways it has more depth than sandbox-rpg's like Fallout3. I liked it alot.

 

But the DRM is completely insane. You never know if something is a bug or because the drm has triggered and is corrupting your install.

[Oner]

I'm going to answer this in reverse order.

 

2. It was a set up.

It is my belief that the Prince knowing you exist was either a small plot hole, or

he's paranoid/obsessed with control enough to have every one of his underlings observed.

 

Edited August 7, 2009 by Oner

[Deraldin]

Woo! I finally managed to beat BG1 without cheating! I also showed those bastards outside the temple that they can't push me around this time. After 5 failed attempts I said screw it, went back up to the city and bought 40 arrows of detonation. 1x fireball = nice. 3x fireball per round from a character that is hasted and has boots of speed = OMG YOU GOT PWNED!

 

Sarevok went down a lot easier than I thought he would. Didn't even need summoning cheese. One casting of monster summoning II, 3 hasted tanks with cloud giant strength and my archer with an initial arrow of dispelling followed by arrows of piercing. I lost one of my summoned ogres and Ajantis was near death, but Sarevok went down first.

 

Now I can take my character over to BG2 and cheese the Ranger/Cleric dual class! :D

[RPGmasterBoo]

I just got my hands on the german RPG Drakensang, and I've only words of praise of for it so far.

The interface and controls function much like NWN2 although they are much better implemented, the graphics have a very pretty fairy tale quality (engine optimization is great), the music is relaxing,and the character creation and stat system complex.

I've heard the story isn't the best but I play this game much like Icewind Dale for the fun of an old school RPG romp.

Edited August 7, 2009 by RPGmasterBoo

[Malcador]

Been playing Star Wars Rebellion, finally found the manual so I figured - what the hell. Pretty fun game, I'm not seeing what everyone hated about it. Might play some HoI3 tonight.

[Hurlshort]

Finished Fallout, now I'm on to Fallout 2.

 

The only bad thing I did was let the desert raiders live. I'm also confused why I didn't get an end screen for the Boneyard/Adytown after liberating them from the regulators.

[Majek]

The mutants killed them all. They always do.

Edited August 7, 2009 by Majek

[Morgoth]

Played the Batman demo today, and it was surprisingly good. Definitely a pickup for the bargain bin.

[Calax]

Been playing Star Wars Rebellion, finally found the manual so I figured - what the hell. Pretty fun game, I'm not seeing what everyone hated about it. Might play some HoI3 tonight.

I think the reason people played it is because it's really boring but you don't realize it until you've spent four hours in it. The way it was hyped you thought it would be something like homeworld in terms of fights, but really all it was was something similar to HoI but with a star wars theme. Sure the space battles were controllable but they weren't exactly very fun, and the ground battles were simply done off screen with you viewing the results. Add to that the fact that it was fairly unintuitive and you found that people viewed it as very boring and not what was promised. I mean I'm sure wargame enthusiasts (those that LOVE HoI and it's sibilings) love it, but to the general public it's pretty boring and to complicated.

[213374U]

I think the reason people played it is because it's really boring but you don't realize it until you've spent four hours in it.

Folks used to play games on the Zone back in the 90's man. FULL games, I mean. You just gotta know what you're doing... and be a micromanagement GOD.

[Gorth]

Getting ready to make a dash for the end of Dead Space. I like the game. It isn't "horror" and it isn't a shooter either. I just enjoy running around in ruins and derelict space ships I suppose

 

I hate the control schema though, nothing that any key remapping can fix. In sheer stubborness I bought a Microsoft XBox 360 controller for Windows. Time to fight the enemy on its own territory

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Buy all the ammo you can. You'll need it.

[HoonDing]

The interface and controls function much like NWN2 although they are much better implemented, the graphics have a very pretty fairy tale quality (engine optimization is great), the music is relaxing,and the character creation and stat system complex.

...but the camera is even more of a loose cannon than in NWN2.

[karka]

Just beaten PoP: Sands of Time.

[Nihilus5078]

I dont know what it is with people and games like Fallout 3, Halo 3, Call of Duty series, World of Warcraft, etc. Maybe just me, but I dont know. Anyway, playing Monster Jam: Urban Assault.

What is it with them?

 

Somehow, I always knew I'd piss someone off by saying that. Theres nothing wrong with the games, except I think Halo 3, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft are some of the most over-rated games ever made. Fallout 3 is okay, just not a game I'd like to be sitting on my wretched ass playing all damn day.

[Purkake]

I dont know what it is with people and games like Fallout 3, Halo 3, Call of Duty series, World of Warcraft, etc. Maybe just me, but I dont know. Anyway, playing Monster Jam: Urban Assault.

What is it with them?

 

Somehow, I always knew I'd piss someone off by saying that. Theres nothing wrong with the games, except I think Halo 3, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft are some of the most over-rated games ever made. Fallout 3 is okay, just not a game I'd like to be sitting on my wretched ass playing all damn day.

 

People's options are subjective, news at 11.

[Nihilus5078]

I hate WoW really because it'll only take about 15 minutes before I get bored with it. Halo, Call of Duty, I like First Person Shooters, but Call of Duty, there's a spawn point on some maps that you can just easily find it and shoot the respawns. Halo 1, 2, and 3 I think needs to have more point than just blasting people to hell and jumping into tanks, make it with puzzles and situations, like Jedi Outcast for instance.

[Purkake]

I hate WoW really because it'll only take about 15 minutes before I get bored with it. Halo, Call of Duty, I like First Person Shooters, but Call of Duty, there's a spawn point on some maps that you can just easily find it and shoot the respawns. Halo 1, 2, and 3 I think needs to have more point than just blasting people to hell and jumping into tanks, make it with puzzles and situations, like Jedi Outcast for instance.

 

As I said, people's opinions are subjective, there's no point in starting a discussion about those games, it won't go anywhere.

[Morgoth]

But maybe these games go away if we hate them much enough.

[Purkake]

But maybe these games go away if we hate them much enough.