What are you playing now

[Amentep]

Playing Dragon Quest IX single player, so far I'm having fun with it. My biggest gripe with the game is that one cannot choose a class in the beginning of the game, default starting class is a minstrel and it takes a bit before the player reaches a certain area where they can change jobs.

 

But so far it's only dragon quest game that didn't bore me within the first hour or so. To an extent I'll describe it as a mix of a JRPG and Icewind Dale; light on story, heavy dungeon crawling.

 

I've been playing it too - and so far it hasn't annoyed me like other Dragon Quest games.

 

It is a bit of a jRPG & western dungeon crawl mash-up (plus side-quests and skill paths cor classes).

 

My only other experience with a DQ game with jobs was that it took a bit before you could switch over as well.

 

Also been playing a bit of Persona3Portable, Sacred 2 and Lego Harry Potter.

[213374U]

Grr. I would be playing BG1tutu, if my video card hadn't died on me. I got the unusual urge to play the original and installed it just a few days ago. (I generally find it too long and grindy; I doubt that I've played past the Cloakwood with more than 2 characters.) Got as far as shooting some bears for extra XP on the map where Gorion died, and when I started up the next morning, the best the machine would do was 4-color 640X480.

 

Now I'm stuck on my notebook while I wait for a replacement to arrive. The notebook could certainly handle the BG games, but it lacks a disk drive and I don't like to mess with noCD cracks. So it's a round of Civ 4 for me.

 

The original BG1 is unique - it's better balanced than any modded copy, as Tutu can introduce various weirdities and summoning is broken-ish. I'm just too used to the high resolution now, though, and various modded things like faster bears and BG2-style contingency-loaded mages.

 

That said, good old wand of fireball + oil of fiery burning hasn't failed me so far... now on to TOTSC content before returning to Baldur's Gate for the final showdown. I'd play some Icewind Dale ironman, but need to find my CDs... maybe I'll make an ironman thread when/if I do.

Get BGT, n00bs. It's better supported/debugged, I hear. And it has neato transitions.

 

I'm also starting a new game. I had planned on soloing but since Imoen is so deeply ingrained into the plot (especially as SoA doesn't seem to care if she was left dead by the side of some road...), I figured it'll be <CHARNAME> and her. So I changed her class to F/M/T and went with a F/M/C for <CHARNAME>.

 

"Nestled atop the cliffs..."

[Vilhelm]

I'm playing Puzzle Quest on the iPhone these days. I wish I had time to play other games, but since I have my final exams coming up in the next two days. As soon as its over with I can finally play something meaty!

[Nihilus5078]

Empire at War and Resident Evil 4 and 5 for me.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

The invisible thief warehouse is famous for its idiocy, sure. But that's one broken area - and even then, if you know how the game mechanics work it's not difficult. I think there was one other encounter similarly broken, but in general? NWN2 is not a difficult game, unless you don't know how the D&D stuff works and make screwed up parties (which, to be fair, is a bit too easy to do).

That's exactly where I am - City Watch/thieve's warehouse. My spells work fine, if anything they're insanely powerful, but my companions will always struggle hitting the last enemy, which will wind up killing me somehow. I've been spoiled by real-time combat and for companions I simply used "Recommended" on their level ups, which might have left them useless, I'm not sure. It's also the fact that the story is just... uninteresting. Maybe I should skip to MotB?

 

Also resting in between fights to reuse spells? I know it makes sense in a DnD setting, but to me it just sounds silly.

[Starwars]

I'm not gonna argue for the NWN2 OC, I don't like it much overall myself. But you have definitely entered the worst part of the campaign and unfortunately, that awfulness carries on a bit beyond the warehouse. It *does* get quite a lot better (Act 1 is a real drag in general) but I don't think it ever reaches great.

 

MotB is loads better but even though I dislike the NWN2 OC, it does give a rather nice context to the MotB story and your character in it.

[Tigranes]

NWN2 OC is overall a fairly ordinary experience, I'd argue. Combat is fairly solid but nothing amazing tactically, the story is pretty hum ho but it allows for a couple of really interesting bits like the Trial and the Keep, and the writing is generally fairly run of the mill with occasional good bits.

 

I think if you like the core gameplay (i.e. you're enjoying it as a whole not just particular bits) then stick with it, as its probably best bit is how big it is, but if not just go to MOTB, which is superb.

 

I don't know. I think the Trial at least is worth getting to.

[Purkake]

I'd say that the characters in NWN2 OC are bland and uninspired, especially by Obsidian's standards.

[entrerix]

just played red faction guerilla:

 

 

 

wow. I was expecting a very very mediocre shooter. Boy was I surprised! A= Not a shooter, and B= totally fun game!

 

downsides first: open world ala gta game. I just don't like this style of game much, and felt like it was holding this game back from greatness, good open level design ala deus ex but with this games physics would = top game of the year material imo.

 

upsides: game is insanely fun. Virtually blowing stuff up has never been better. Taking a building apart beam by beam = priceless entertainment. Ironically (usage?) another upside of the game WAS the price, $5 on steam.

 

Overall, I highly enjoyed this simplistic game for the sheer spectacle of it. The game design was a bit poop, but the actual game PLAY was excellent... if some good level designers got ahold of this gameplay then we'd be in for a real treat indeed...

 

value = 15 hours of awesome fun for $5, well well worth it

[Tale]

Rented to completion Singularity, rather enjoyed it.

Played some Ultimate Alliance 2 since they re-released the DLC I missed.

Am downloading Alien Swarm, a free game from Valve for those who are unaware. If I remember, I'll render an opinion later.

Tried out the Deathspank demo, the humor is nice, but I see the game getting repetitive before I would get too far into it.

 

Tomorrow or the next day, I'm looking to play Cryostasis and maybe replay all the Dragon Age DLC I missed. Maybe some Mass Effect 2 DLC. I'm getting a new power supply tomorrow, so I should be able to play them for the first time in months without my computer powering down after 5 minutes. Mass Effect 2 is the last new game I completed prior to my power supply going wonkers. With Dragon Age: Awakenings being the last game I completed in spite of it.

 

 

And Alpha Protocol is supposed to be shipping to my place on the 23rd, so I'll be looking forward to that.

 

Edited July 19, 2010 by Tale

[Purkake]

just played red faction guerilla:

 

 

 

wow. I was expecting a very very mediocre shooter. Boy was I surprised! A= Not a shooter, and B= totally fun game!

 

downsides first: open world ala gta game. I just don't like this style of game much, and felt like it was holding this game back from greatness, good open level design ala deus ex but with this games physics would = top game of the year material imo.

 

upsides: game is insanely fun. Virtually blowing stuff up has never been better. Taking a building apart beam by beam = priceless entertainment. Ironically (usage?) another upside of the game WAS the price, $5 on steam.

 

Overall, I highly enjoyed this simplistic game for the sheer spectacle of it. The game design was a bit poop, but the actual game PLAY was excellent... if some good level designers got ahold of this gameplay then we'd be in for a real treat indeed...

 

value = 15 hours of awesome fun for $5, well well worth it

I kept telling you people, but nobody listened...

 

I think the open world design fits it just fine. You can choose your angle of approach, fly around like a madman, arrange daring escapes when the bad guys show up, etc. I didn't even realize there was a cover system until half way through the game.

 

Try Just Cause 2 if you haven't yet, it's just as fun, except that you do crazy stunts and blow things up instead of dismantling them beam by beam. The world is way larger and you get to parachute and grappling hook around it.

[Deraldin]

The invisible thief warehouse is famous for its idiocy, sure. But that's one broken area - and even then, if you know how the game mechanics work it's not difficult. I think there was one other encounter similarly broken, but in general? NWN2 is not a difficult game, unless you don't know how the D&D stuff works and make screwed up parties (which, to be fair, is a bit too easy to do).

That's exactly where I am - City Watch/thieve's warehouse. My spells work fine, if anything they're insanely powerful, but my companions will always struggle hitting the last enemy, which will wind up killing me somehow. I've been spoiled by real-time combat and for companions I simply used "Recommended" on their level ups, which might have left them useless, I'm not sure. It's also the fact that the story is just... uninteresting. Maybe I should skip to MotB?

 

Also resting in between fights to reuse spells? I know it makes sense in a DnD setting, but to me it just sounds silly.

 

The recommended level up stuff actually isn't too bad for the companions in NWN2 OC. Who are you taking with you and what is your PC? You're in probably the worst part of the game and if you can power through it, there is some neat stuff to come, the trial being one of the best parts and is definitely worth playing.

[Gorth]

NWN2 OC is overall a fairly ordinary experience, I'd argue. Combat is fairly solid but nothing amazing tactically, the story is pretty hum ho but it allows for a couple of really interesting bits like the Trial and the Keep, and the writing is generally fairly run of the mill with occasional good bits.

The Trial and Crossroad Keep are the highlights, the Warehouse and Orc Caves the "stains". The rest is a bit on the bland side. It sort of shows that too many cooks participated in that dish. Especially the orc caves irritated me because I played a ranger in my very first playthrough, using my tracking skils and stealth. Completely useless skills in OC when your orc hordes are instant spawns when you hit trigger plates.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

The invisible thief warehouse is famous for its idiocy, sure. But that's one broken area - and even then, if you know how the game mechanics work it's not difficult. I think there was one other encounter similarly broken, but in general? NWN2 is not a difficult game, unless you don't know how the D&D stuff works and make screwed up parties (which, to be fair, is a bit too easy to do).

That's exactly where I am - City Watch/thieve's warehouse. My spells work fine, if anything they're insanely powerful, but my companions will always struggle hitting the last enemy, which will wind up killing me somehow. I've been spoiled by real-time combat and for companions I simply used "Recommended" on their level ups, which might have left them useless, I'm not sure. It's also the fact that the story is just... uninteresting. Maybe I should skip to MotB?

 

Also resting in between fights to reuse spells? I know it makes sense in a DnD setting, but to me it just sounds silly.

 

The recommended level up stuff actually isn't too bad for the companions in NWN2 OC. Who are you taking with you and what is your PC? You're in probably the worst part of the game and if you can power through it, there is some neat stuff to come, the trial being one of the best parts and is definitely worth playing.

I just got to Neverwinter and got demolished trying to get into Lesdon's (?) hideout.

 

The rest of the game was pretty lackluster too, to be honest.

[Gizmo]

Currently Bloodlines & Disciples 3 (Both are [so far] better than I had imagined ~which is to say, Fantastic!)

I'm playing the ever addictive Kings Bounty: The Legend. To those who have played the sequel, how does Armoured Princess measure up?

I'd like to know as well (same reasons).

 

Gothic 2 and Painkiller are horrible games for today's standards. So do yourself a favor and play through the HL2 series.

 

Best shooter evah!

What is your opinion of Monolith's 'Blood'?

 

Gothic 2 and Painkiller are horrible games for today's standards. So do yourself a favor and play through the HL2 series.

Best shooter evah!

 

This only makes more and more interested in playing Gothic 2.

Indeed... I have

Gothic 2

, and was seriously looking at GOG's

Painkiller:Black edition

.

Edited July 20, 2010 by Gizmo

[Gorth]

Currently Bloodlines & Disciples 3 (Both are [so far] better than I had imagined ~which is to say, Fantastic!)

I'm playing the ever addictive Kings Bounty: The Legend. To those who have played the sequel, how does Armoured Princess measure up?

I'd like to know as well (same reasons).

 

Gothic 2 and Painkiller are horrible games for today's standards. So do yourself a favor and play through the HL2 series.

 

Best shooter evah!

What is your opinion of Monolith's 'Blood'?

 

Gothic 2 and Painkiller are horrible games for today's standards. So do yourself a favor and play through the HL2 series.

Best shooter evah!

 

This only makes more and more interested in playing Gothic 2.

Indeed... I have

Gothic 2

, and was seriously looking at GOG's

Painkiller:Black edition

.

Painkiller is sheer unadulterated non-stop violence from start to stop. A not uninteresting underlying story and some really weird/creepy levels every now and then. My favourite FPS

 

I have both Kings Bounty: The Legend and Armoured Princess. The later is probably more fine tuned than the first. I haven't completed neither yet though.

 

So, whats the verdict on Disciples III. I'm dying of curiosity here. As many details and impressions as you can. Even better if you can compare pros and cons to Disciples II. It's on my wishlist, but I read a lot of negative feedback (from old Disciples II fans) on various forums.

[Deraldin]

NWN2 OC is overall a fairly ordinary experience, I'd argue. Combat is fairly solid but nothing amazing tactically, the story is pretty hum ho but it allows for a couple of really interesting bits like the Trial and the Keep, and the writing is generally fairly run of the mill with occasional good bits.

The Trial and Crossroad Keep are the highlights, the Warehouse and Orc Caves the "stains". The rest is a bit on the bland side. It sort of shows that too many cooks participated in that dish. Especially the orc caves irritated me because I played a ranger in my very first playthrough, using my tracking skils and stealth. Completely useless skills in OC when your orc hordes are instant spawns when you hit trigger plates.

 

I never had as big an issue with the orc caves as other people. The thieves were sneak attack machines while the orcs, annoying as their insta spawn behind you was, were never really much trouble. It was a slog, it was boring, but it was never frustrating.

[Malcador]

Alien Swarm is kinda fun. Wonder when NS2 will come out.

[Tigranes]

I don't know why I have a soft spot for NWN2 OC - I can totally sympathise with arguments that it's too long, bland, has a couple of particularly badly designed areas, has bland characters, cliche story, etc. But hell, I played it through 3 times with a computer that could only run it at 5fps. I just liked the fact that it was a big traditional fantasy romp I think, it was like BG2's younger, blander brother. Probably because it came after the monstrosity that was the NWN1 OC, and then the KOTORs & Jade Empire.

 

Of course, then MOTB came and took the cake.

 

edit: my BG1 playthrough reaches Durlag's Tower, with characters on around 1mil XP. I can draw the place in my head by now (in fact, I can probably reconstruct the entire series from scratch in the event of an apocalypse), but you still really have to watch out or traps will bust you, bad. You know, Durlag's Tower would be awesomely done with the Oblivion engine - if there's one thing that game did right it was traps (well, when you modded up the damage). It would be amazingly terrifying.

 

Kivan is like a machine of death with his bow by now, something like 5/2 attacks per turn and a THAC0 of ~0, from memory: summon some fodder in front of him and he tore three greater dopplegangers before they got to him.

[HoonDing]

The trial is one of the worst parts of NWN2, imho. No matter how brilliantly you use dialogue checks and humiliate Torio, you're railroaded into fighting that fat lump anyway. Why even bother holding a trial if everything can get decided with a barbaric duel? Dragon Age's Landsmeet is the same silliness.

 

That's exactly where I am - City Watch/thieve's warehouse. My spells work fine, if anything they're insanely powerful, but my companions will always struggle hitting the last enemy, which will wind up killing me somehow. I've been spoiled by real-time combat and for companions I simply used "Recommended" on their level ups, which might have left them useless, I'm not sure. It's also the fact that the story is just... uninteresting. Maybe I should skip to MotB?

 

Also resting in between fights to reuse spells? I know it makes sense in a DnD setting, but to me it just sounds silly.

1. Change difficulty from hardcore rules to normal.

2. Put Qara in party

3. Fireball!

4. ...

5. Profit

 

Of course, then MOTB came and took the cake.

Yeah sure, until Kelemvor appears in the game and renders the entire story superfluous.

Edited July 20, 2010 by virumor

[Jackalmonkey]

WH40k: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes. Got 'em for cheap at THQ, who apparently are trying to get whatever they can for their RTS catalog before SC2 comes out next week and renders every other strategy game ever made laughably obsolete.

[Oner]

Uh-huh, you must've played the beta a lot then.

as good as it is, it's an updated SC 1, nothing more.

[taviow]

That's all I ever wanted, so it's fine by me.

 

Blizz couldn't risk changing anything too significant. ****storm ensues if they do so.

[Oner]

That's all I ever wanted, so it's fine by me.

Great.

[Calax]

Relics RTS's and Blizz RTS are VERY different beasts.