What are you playing now?

[Humanoid]

i wish flashback was easier. i want to replay it but i remember that game being hard as hell.

 

I recently replayed it and it wasn't quite as hard as I remember it being as a kid - only gets tricky in the final couple two chapters.

 

I'm probably better in general at platformers now, but worse than ever at shooters. Hmm.

 

 

As for input devices, the one I wish they still made is the trusty ol' Thrusty FCS.

 

Edited July 28, 2011 by Humanoid

[Calax]

I've always had trouble with my joysticks never calibrating correctly, and when you pull right you go much faster than trying to swing left.

[Tale]

I guess I can give my impression of Catherine.

 

Oh, look at me, I'm a cute blonde. GIGGLE

 

Oh, that's not the kind of impression you were looking for? Fine! Anyway, Catherine is about a guy named Vincent, who ends up cheating on his girlfriend. There's a rash deaths of young men that seems tied to a nightmare he's having where he must climb up blocks to survive.

 

It definitely falls into the WJT category. The plot is mature, dealing with issues of becoming an adult in relationships, infidelity, and a couple other themes. But it's not exactly deep. There's a sort of karma system, red and blue. Depending on responses to questions, your phone texting, and things, it will slide one way or the other. One side, blue, seeming to correspond with Vincent's girlfriend and maturing. The other side, red, seeming to correspond with cute girl 10 years younger than him and him preferring a more carefree lifestyle. The consequence of these choices isn't transparent. I've been siding with blue and while Vincent will occasionally make comments that take from that (the meter pops up to show me it's recognizing where he is on the scale), the rest of the time, it doesn't seem to care. If you expect C&C from what I've described, I may have misled you, but I don't really know.

 

The meat of the game is definitely the climbing. Push and pull blocks to make your way up a tower that's slowly falling away. Essentially a puzzle game. This part is hard for me to talk about. They are timed segments and largely seem to be a trial and error. Simple mistakes can get you instantly killed. But it's pretty generous with the limited retries. I am no fan of trial and error most of the time and this seems like no exception. But it's not as bad as it could be. The block climbing system does have some depth to it. Some tricks and techniques you can use, that other characters will tell you about if you talk to them between stages. So, the intellectual component is there, but it's easy to miss out on with the time pressures. The learning curve doesn't feel very smooth and I don't know if that's because they don't manage the curve or if the time pressure is just not letting me actually learn.

 

It's very much a game you'd expect from the Persona team. Very VN-like social activities during the day, drinking at the bar, talking with people, then going to the macabre dungeon to climb at night. If you don't like Persona 3 and 4, for whatever reason, I can't recommend it. If you do like them, I can only half-heartedly recommend it. The climbing isn't too exceptional. It has a depth that is hard to get into.

[Gorgon]

I have HTTT but after a while I realised its new battle system really makes EU3, well, not EU. You'd think it removed the most frustrating element of EU, but it speeds everything up so much that it feels like you're playing the wars on hyper-speed, then slowing down again for 15 years of badboy or whatnot. Never tried Divine Wind, I probably won't stick with my return to EU3 long enough. I just wish Victoria 2 would become interesting

DW does add a lot of nifty features, including ways to keep your BB rating under control by offering a selection of Casus Bellis (if one or more applies), giving different BB modifiers for various actions. You can also chose whether or not you want to call on allies when going to war, so you can (with enough prestige) seriously gang up on select opponents when declaring wars, not just when being attacked.

 

Of course, things sometimes comes back and bites you in the butt, because the AI does it too. As Byzantine Empire, I declared war on the lilliputanian state of Avignon, being only guaranteed by Portugal (defender of Catholic Faith). Portugal then declared war on me, summoning England and Spain to the conflict, Spain summoning France to the war, who again summoned all their sycophant vassal states. I was suddenly very alone in an all out war against all of Western Europe...

 

Time for a reload

Logitech makes the best gaming mouse, other than that stay away from them. You can't even download a driver without being forced into a survey. If you don't 'register' your hardware, they nag-screen you untill you do. I have never experienced that level of arrogance from any other hardware producre, ever.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Gorgon

[Orchomene]

Playing a bit of HoMM4. It's not as good as the third, but has good potential with more rpg oriented campaigns you can download.

[Tale]

In a bored spot. I got my mouse and went back to Old World Blues. The dialogue is cool and stuff like roboscorpions, but I do think I'm tired of shooting things in this game. I've done enough of it by now.

 

So... I'll be browsing through my GoG games for something to play.

[Majek]

Valkyria Chronicles.

 

I cant make myself play Ja2 1.13 so i play the next best thing. The skirmishes are quite fun on Hard and Expert.

[C2B]

Finished both Heavenly Sword and Enslaved. Both IMO underrated games. Really liked them. Though I definitly liked Heavenly Sword better. May be weird but while Enslaved had definitly the better gameplay Heavenly Sword incredible orchestrated plot grabbed me more. They scaled back on that in Enslaved and the disappointing and rushed ending didn't help.

[Malcador]

Realized I still have to finish Caesar IV, Tropico 3, Divine Divinity as well as replay all the C&C games. Hmm. This will take a while.

[vault_overseer]

Replaying ME1 and RDR. Keep trying to get into DS3, to no success:(

 

Anxiously awaiting DE:HR

[Flouride]

Civilization 5 and I can't stop! Send help!

[Malcador]

I should really try playing that again

[Tale]

Played and finished Old World Blues. Too much combat. Right before the "final boss," I fought something like 6-8 roboscorpion 4bs at the same time. That was not fun.

 

Started and finished Hydrophobia Prophecy. Good game, not great. It was fun, if predictably unpolished. Hints at a larger game or sequel we'll never see.

 

Now to start Two Worlds, which I got off a GOG sale.

 

Edit: About an hour and a half into Two Worlds. Not bad. But I don't see it holding me. If mouseclicking at tons of enemies just to loot and level up wasn't the part of RPGs I liked the least, I might actually say it's really good.

[Starwars]

Playing some Tropico 3 again. Doesn't have quite the pull the first game have for me (probably because the third game is largely easier) but it's still a great little time-waster.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Having lots of fun with DS3, hard to put it down. I'd say the third best Obsidian game.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Stronghold Crusader (first time)

 

AvP2 Primal Hunt

Quake III

CS 1.6

Age II

[Fleapants]

Finished DA2 for the first and last time a few days ago. Ugh.

 

Bought Vampire Bloodlines on sale after that - playing a rpg without mapmarkers (or even a map!) and no breadcrumbs is hard! Hulp!

[GhostofAnakin]

Playing Dragon Age 2, trying to level my character up to a certain level before playing the Legacy DLC.

[Gorth]

Bought Vampire Bloodlines on sale after that - playing a rpg without mapmarkers (or even a map!) and no breadcrumbs is hard! Hulp!

No map needed...

 

1) Find neck

2) Bite

 

Ok, so there is a bit more to it. VMBL's journal entries usually have all the information you need

[Tale]

My advice for RPGs, find the nearest cave, and kill the people for loot. That should work in VtMB, right?

[Gorth]

My advice for RPGs, find the nearest cave, and kill the people for loot. That should work in VtMB, right?

Presumably, although the game actually allow you to substitute killing with sneaking in a number of places. Heck, some things in the game can only be done by being sneaky. Oh, and keep an eye out for the UV Index, too much sunlight is detrimental to your health

[Mamoulian War]

Just finished Atelier Rorona and Hyperdimension Neptunia. Both pretty fun, but not for everyone. Having trouble to decide what to play next O.o

[Fleapants]

Bought Vampire Bloodlines on sale after that - playing a rpg without mapmarkers (or even a map!) and no breadcrumbs is hard! Hulp!

No map needed...

 

1) Find neck

2) Bite

 

Ok, so there is a bit more to it. VMBL's journal entries usually have all the information you need

 

Oh, I know. Neckbiting is good :>

 

I was making a funny at the extreme handholding in modern RPGs.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Bought Vampire Bloodlines on sale after that - playing a rpg without mapmarkers (or even a map!) and no breadcrumbs is hard! Hulp!

 

You'll run out of area to explore 5-10 minutes in any direction. It aint that hard.

[Hell Kitty]

Just bought From Dust after playing the trial version.