What are you playing now? Part 3'ish

[GhostofAnakin]

I agree. Great game, just not quite up to the standards set by Piranha Bytes previous work. And what bugs? I thought it was surprisingly bug free.

 

Keep in mind I'm playing on the 360 version, so it might not be as polished (or as easily correctable) as the PC version. But minor stuff, like texture popping -- sometimes when a cut scene loads, the characters' faces won't come in. It'll just be the outline of their body, then the faces come into focus a couple of seconds later.

 

I've also had a couple of freeze ups where I had to reboot -- one was especially annoying because I'd JUST beaten the main end level boss and had to re-do that entire fight sequence again.

 

Additionally, I've got issues with companions not moving or getting stuck on objects in their path, forcing me to have to fight on my own and watch my companion standing a dozen meters away just "watching" the fight. One time I had a companion (Steelbeard) not walk to where he had to go to trigger the next part of the quest, so I spent an hour running around the jungle trying to figure out what to do next. Luckily he eventually made his way to where he needed to be for the trigger, but it took about an hour of actual play time for him to do it.

 

Nothing game breaking, but I've certainly come across a few issues during my first 15 or so hours of playing.

[Nepenthe]

Still on KOTOR 2 TSLRCM. Nar Shadda is criminally bad design. I don't want to hurt the feelings of whoever was responsible for it, but WTF man? Playing as Mira, Atton, or whoever you pick for the ship. If you don't have a jedi, it's a painful slog. The only way to survive is to play as cheap as humanly possible, hoping you stocked up on mines.

Yeah, I can't really disagree much there. And while I think the mod added more waves of Bad Doodz, IIRC, the core experience wasn't that different in the vanilla game. The whole "use a shield or medpac in the inventory screen" dodge is invaluable there, especially if you hadn't put much effort into twinking out your companions' gear at a workbench. I made the mistake of basing the party for the G0T0's yacht on a roleplaying call of who the Exile would trust the most. That gave me Bao Dur and Atton (the latter of whom was a Jedi, but only at, like, level 2 in his Jedi class), who got rather torn apart by the robots until they managed to find the Protagonist.

I think we've all made that mistake at some point. I know you brought up suppressed memories of my first kotor2 playthrough back in the day. *shudder*

[Enoch]

Still on KOTOR 2 TSLRCM. Nar Shadda is criminally bad design. I don't want to hurt the feelings of whoever was responsible for it, but WTF man? Playing as Mira, Atton, or whoever you pick for the ship. If you don't have a jedi, it's a painful slog. The only way to survive is to play as cheap as humanly possible, hoping you stocked up on mines.

Yeah, I can't really disagree much there. And while I think the mod added more waves of Bad Doodz, IIRC, the core experience wasn't that different in the vanilla game. The whole "use a shield or medpac in the inventory screen" dodge is invaluable there, especially if you hadn't put much effort into twinking out your companions' gear at a workbench. I made the mistake of basing the party for the G0T0's yacht on a roleplaying call of who the Exile would trust the most. That gave me Bao Dur and Atton (the latter of whom was a Jedi, but only at, like, level 2 in his Jedi class), who got rather torn apart by the robots until they managed to find the Protagonist.

I think we've all made that mistake at some point. I know you brought up suppressed memories of my first kotor2 playthrough back in the day. *shudder*

It's funny how the KotOR games subtly influence the player to pay less attention to the RPG numbers. When you get down to it, Bao Dur and Atton are pretty clearly low-HP, low-BAB skill monkeys. If this were a D&D game, I wouldn't consider sending two Rogues in on a rescue mission without either Fighter or magical support unless I was intending to stealth through most of it. But for whatever reason, playing KotOR2, my RPG-grognard instincts didn't sound those warning bells.

 

The RCM restoration of the battle for Khoonda on Dantooine was nicely done. I also keep stumbling into examples of how good the writing is in parts of this game that I had totally forgotten about. I keep marvelling at how well they manage to inform the player of things that the Protagonist knows through unselected dialogue options or lines from other players. (E.g., we learn that the Exile fought a battle on Dxun not from him or from the Mandalorians, but from Kreia's warning to Atton.) And then the game has a knack of hitting you with a laugh line when you least expect it. (The "use the reward money to build a statue of me to honor my heroism" line is a classic, and although I realize it's lame as hell, I cracked up at "[Persuade] I want to hold your gland.")

 

That said, the writing isn't all great. Every one of the "I'd like to train you in the ways of the Force" conversations comes off really awkwardly (with the possible exception of Handmaiden's).

 

I'm now at the point where I'm trying to decide who deserves my extra starport visas on Iziz. Which mostly means micromanaging Influence levels. I'm playing mostly lightside, but I prioritize Influence over LS points, so I don't worry about falling out of the "mastery bonus" range from time to time. I'm pretty sure I've got all the Influence I need with the LS characters, and I think that I've exhausted my conversation options with G0T0, as well. But there's at least one conversation tree with HK-47 I can't reach yet, Mandalore is of course a blank slate, and you can't get too much Kreia influence. I think that widow is going to be crying in the town square for a while yet...

Edited August 12, 2012 by Enoch

[Tale]

I do like how the PC is a character with a rich and important history. And how the details are filled in by answering questions or narration.

 

It brings you out of the moment, sure, but it's uncommon. PCs with important histories tend to go the amnesia route or making it a secret of their birth. Here, they just don't bloody tell you until it's important. But he definitely knows. Like I said, it brings you out of the moment to have such a significant separation of player and PC knowledge, but it's cool for the novelty.

[Nihilus5078]

I just picked up Final Fantasy XII, turning out pretty good. I'm also playing Uncharted 2: Drake's Fortune, Mass Effect 3, and NHL 12 on the side as well.

Edited August 13, 2012 by Nihilus5078

[Malcador]

I liked that Runaway 3 basically skips right past following up Runaway 2. Runaway 1 was a fun little adventure with the mob. Runaway 2 turns into some supernatural alien conspiracy. 3 will tell you what happened, but luckily, it goes back to focusing on ripping off mobsters again.

 

Finished it off, ending was rather 'meh' I found. Overall was a pleasant game, puzzles were not too bonkers and the integrated UHS-like system was a helpful crutch. Still had some "oh I just missed that pixel.." moments. I agree with you on the third game not following up with the second - the ending of that one was ridiculous, the pirate dream.

[Tigranes]

Wizardry 8 is interesting but just taking so long for each battle is wearing me out at the moment. Might do a rerun of Thief 2, also eyeing some modded versions of RTW. Hope they release Europa Barbarorum 2 mod for M2TW one day, it'll likely be better than anything CA have made for a decade.

[Cantousent]

I thought Wizardry 8 was a dreadful slog of never ending respawns. It ruined the game for me. I know it's that Wizardry thing going, but the game could have been a lot more fun with a breather to enjoy the exploration a little bit.

[Tigranes]

Hard to say, really. I agree that it's too much of a slog, but it feels like there's not much to the game besides the fighting. I'm only up to Trynton, but the wilderness areas are terrible, and writing/quests/etc are just cardboard placeholders. The Monastery was great and maybe it should be more like that, e.g. an Arx Fatalis kind of world, though of course older Wizardries were set inside dungeons entirely.

 

Having been on my old laptop since May I'm also kind of keen to go back soon and fire up Witcher 2 or Risen 2 or something, though that probably won't last that long. Maybe Alpha Protocol, since I can never get sick of that game for some reason.

[Hassat Hunter]

The "use the reward money to build a statue of me to honor my heroism" line is a classic

*cough* http://deadlystream.com/forum/files/file/136-my-dantooine-statue/ *cough*

 

Haven't had time to game at all myself, so still at the exact same spot of Batman: AC. I wonder how long it's going to take me with my meager gametime

[Raithe]

Whiling away the odd hour here and there with TOR at the moment, although should have Sleeping Dogs turn up this friday, so that will no doubt have some weekend gaming plotted..

 

Uninstalled Batman: AC, since I'd completed the storyline, done all bar 1 side mission, and just couldn't be bothered going back to wrap up all the Riddler Trophies..

Have to say, Stana Katic did good voice for Talia.

 

Keep meaning to plug away at Space Marine , but I just can't seem to be in the mood for that run of linear violence..

[Humanoid]

I take back all the crap I said about ME3's ending, and bestow it all upon ME3's beginning. I've had a gutful of the emotional sledgehammer, the contrived melodrama, the senseless cheerleading for Earth. The idiotic dream sequence after the first real mission of the game was the straw that broke the camel's back - I'm done with the game, for me my worst game purchase since Oblivion. The marginal improvements in the shooty bits don't compensate for the insulting delivery.

 

 

Have instead started my second run through New Vegas, and my first with any sort of DLC (disabled all the loot ones though). Hardcore, stealth bomber. Struggling with any sort of difficult combat which doesn't involve me getting the drop on foes with my dynamite however - can't drop my compulsion to raise non-combat skills to make every check I see so aside from explosives I'm pitifully low on any skill that enables murder. Had to skip the Repconn plant quest because of that but no big loss I guess.

 

Also finding that sneak seems much less effective than, for example's sake, Skyrim: it seems that it's balanced around guns range instead of melee range, I've barely been able to get close enough to anyone for a melee/pocket-dynamite sneak attack. I'm talking ~50-60 skill here, not high but I don't expect to have to nearly max out a skill to be able to even start using it. Even with walk toggled, light armor and at most a knife equipped I can't get close enough.

 

As for hardcore mode comments, I imagine I'm mostly echoing previous comments: I like making health recovery more restrictive, i.e. the delayed effects of "potions" and that sleeping is not a panacea; but on the other hand, food and water management is a bit too mechanical for me. Not sure if it'd be better to simplify it or remove it altogether however. No comments on the companion changes or ammo weight since I'm using neither in this run.

 

 

 

Finally, with it being discussed here, I'm tossing around the idea of KoTOR2 as my next game in line. I never got past the tutorial first time around, my video card died on me during that attempt and I never returned to it. Vaguely curious, to me at least, is that the dead card was a 7900 series (nVidia), and now I've just bought a 7900 series (AMD), come around full circle, sort of. Anyway I know there's the restoration patch, and am aware of the movie and music patches. I think that's the "complete" installation?

[Starwars]

Started up another replay of New Vegas, this time using some of those nice cut content/restoration mods that have been popping up.

 

I gotta say that the mods that restores/opens up Freeside and the Strip really enhance those areas in terms of atmosphere. They feel a lot more bustling now, and navigating Freeside is less of a pain (as it opens up some streets).

Of course, you also see why Obsidian had to do what they did to the areas. You can literally hear the engine groaning under the pressure, and I've gotten a crash already in those areas. But if the random crash doesn't bother you much, then I really recommend trying the mods out.

[Tale]

Anyone pick up Darksiders 2 today? I'm hoping to grab it this month after a replay of Darksiders 1. Initial impressions are very good.

[Hassat Hunter]

Dammit Rocksteady... another riddler room that needs future items... *sigh*

[HoonDing]

I barely bothered with any of the side-content in Arkham City, I only finished Bane's fetch quest and Zsasz's inane phone booth hunting.

 

Only interesting sidequests may have been Azrael and Deadshot, but at that point I was already sick of the game.

[Lexx]

Never finished the side quests either (other than the Bane-quest, which also turned out very predictable). It was just too much grind for not enough reward.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Lexx

[Labadal]

Starwars: You should try a no kills playthrough. I'm really enjoying playing the game like this. I'm still a jerk most of the time, but only in dialogue.

 

Tale: Have the game installed, but it won't unlock for a few days for us inferior Euro folk. Gotta love digital distribution.

[Tale]

Tale: Have the game installed, but it won't unlock for a few days for us inferior Euro folk. Gotta love digital distribution.

Us Americans need something in our favor, what with our distinct lack of top hats and "cheerio."

[GhostofAnakin]

The only sidequests I found difficult (until I had all the equipment) were the Riddler and Szasz's.

[MacMichael]

Currently playing Sleeping Dogs, and continuing to play a little ME3 multiplayer with a friend every couple nights. Not too far into SD yet, it only unlocked last night and I worked today, but it's been fun so far.

[Humanoid]

Tale: Have the game installed, but it won't unlock for a few days for us inferior Euro folk. Gotta love digital distribution.

Us Americans need something in our favor, what with our distinct lack of top hats and "cheerio."

 

But when I see the words "top hat" the first thing I think of is Abe Lincoln.

[Blarghagh]

Slender.

 

 

 

I think my heart may explode.

[Monte Carlo]

Diablo 2 of course.

[Calax]

The old republic, supreme commander forged alliance, wow, a bit of battlefield 3 and getting ready for classes on monday