What are you playing now - the plays the thing

[Drowsy Emperor]

I got back to playing my PS2 and once again I'm floored by how many good games there are for the platform.

 

Also, my jaw hit the floor when I finally got around to playing God of War 2 for the first time. Considering the hardware its running on the graphics are flat out awesome. It looks better than some current generation games too.

 

Other games on the waiting list:

 

Final Fantasy XII

Metal Gear Solid 3

Dragon Quest VIII

Rogue Galaxy

The Warriors co-op

 

and quite a few others. I won't be returning to PC gaming for quite a while.

[quantum_freak]

I`m trying to conquer Europe in Rome: Total War. A few more turns and I`m the all mighty Emperor of Rome!

Also as a build up till Project Eternity is finished, I`m playing my old rpg collection. Planescape Torment is first on the list. Currently, I`m in the Weeping Stone Catacombs. After that I`ll hit Baldurs Gate.

[Labadal]

I got back to playing my PS2 and once again I'm floored by how many good games there are for the platform.

 

Also, my jaw hit the floor when I finally got around to playing God of War 2 for the first time. Considering the hardware its running on the graphics are flat out awesome. It looks better than some current generation games too.

 

Other games on the waiting list:

 

Final Fantasy XII

Metal Gear Solid 3

Dragon Quest VIII

Rogue Galaxy

The Warriors co-op

 

and quite a few others. I won't be returning to PC gaming for quite a while.

 

A great selection of games. Despite the development hell FFXII was in, it is still great. A shame Yasumi Matsuno left Square Enix during the project, because one will easily notice during the story where he no longer had any involvement in the game.

 

Rogue Galaxy looked good and was very fun at first, but then you'll learn to hate the repetitive dungeons. They look interesting at first, but when I had to play a long @$$ dungeon with identical floors, I was ready to give up. I continued on and instead of giving up at that dreadful dungeon, I gave up on the final fights. I was so pissed off after my third attemp, so I deleted all save files. Felt like a moron an hour later.

 

DQVIII is also a good looking game, especially played on an emulator. Games is very slow paced, so if you're not into that, you might want to reconsider. Because when I say slow paced, I mean sloooooooooow paaaaaaaaceeeeeed. I did enjoy it however and am playing DQIX on NDS.

[HoonDing]

Don't play FFXII but Odin Sphere

 

It has a way cooler bunny character

 

[Hurlshort]

Decided to pick up a copy of Assassin's Creed 2 and play it. So far so good.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I got through Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 FES (76 hours without 100% completion) and IT HAS A 250 FLOOR RANDOMLY GENERATED DUNGEON FFS. Only a japanese could still consider that appropriate for an RPG. So I think I'll survive DQ8.

 

Still I have to add Persona 4, Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 to that list. DDS1 has a really intriguing premise but is really boring so far gameplay wise but since people are saying the second one is much better, so I'm suffering through the first for story purposes.

 

I gave up on Odin's Sphere. Its very pretty but way too repetitive with the parallel storylines all taking place in the same locations over and over again.

 

I really like FFXII's gambit system. When set up properly its the most tolerable RPG combat system I can think of, though the game, like every japanese RPG and most western ones could do with less combat to start with.

 

After experiencing games like Shadow of the Colossus and Planescape Torment, I'm convinced that its time to move beyond outdated gameplay mechanics like incessant repetitive combat geared only to improving irrelevant and abstract statistics.

Edited November 4, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[Bendu]

Replaying NWN2 OC for the first time and I it's a blast. Way better than I remember. Also playing Anno 2070 Deep Ocean.

[BBMorti]

Listening to the Morrowind soundtrack, apart from Nobuo Uetmasu it's one of the few soundtracks I actually enjoy. It makes me want to play, but I probably won't enjoy that as much, actually.

Get on that BG2 LP *waves hand*

[alanschu]

Continuing the chug along in Inquisitor.

[Hurlshort]

AC2 is way better than AC1 so far. Ezio is a better character, and really the whole pace of the plot is moving nicely. I'm only about 5 hours in, but I'm enjoying it and hopefully it will keep me engaged throughout.

[Labadal]

I liked AC2 better than AC, but Altair was missed. I disliked Altair, but it was the way it was supposed to be. The way he was set up, was for the player to dislike his personality. A shame they didn't try to develop his character further in the sequels.

[GhostofAnakin]

Making my way through Icewind Dale. Finished that Elven tower, but for whatever reason I can't finish the one quest to give the barrel of holy water to the priestess. It's in my inventory, but there's no option to give it to her when I engage in dialogue. That's the only thing left for me to do there.

[Gorth]

Making my way through Icewind Dale. Finished that Elven tower, but for whatever reason I can't finish the one quest to give the barrel of holy water to the priestess. It's in my inventory, but there's no option to give it to her when I engage in dialogue. That's the only thing left for me to do there.

If I remember correctly, you find two different sources of water during the course of the game. One is holy water for the priestess and the other is for the guy in the garden thingy (can't remember the English word for it) at the top of one of the towers.

[Cantousent]

Okay, you guys have piqued my interest. I must now play IWD again, which I already have installed on my system. One of my favorite alltime games.

[alanschu]

Installed Medieval 2. Definitely not quite as polished as Shogun 2 hahaha. But I like the unit diversity and tech tree.

[quantum_freak]

AC2 is way better than AC1 so far. Ezio is a better character, and really the whole pace of the plot is moving nicely. I'm only about 5 hours in, but I'm enjoying it and hopefully it will keep me engaged throughout.

 

I actually liked AC2 a lot. I didn`t expect much from the game, but i was pleasantly suprised.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I liked AC2 better than AC, but Altair was missed. I disliked Altair, but it was the way it was supposed to be. The way he was set up, was for the player to dislike his personality. A shame they didn't try to develop his character further in the sequels.

 

His character arc always felt weird and didn't work on any level to me. Granted, Ezio's is really really predictable, but at least it kind of works? Though it's a part of mindboggingly insane overarching plot.

[melkathi]

Playing Age of Wonders while taking notes is a lot of fun. Taking notes actually makes any game more fun I find. You can turn any game into a role playing game with ease:

Day 18: The town of Hillsberry joins the cause just as Shorty McLeod's main army spies the city of Beslath on the horizon. Bunto, the goblin general seems determined to make his stand there.

Day 19: Without siege weapons to breach the strong stone walls, the assault on Beslath has to be wait... for now.

 

And doing quite well in Guild Wars 2. Did some World vs World (something I am not good at) and got some nice loot, loads of karma and xp. Even came out with more cash than I went in. And that is while we were being zerged by another server. It's fun being the underdog... as long as you still are in a position to actually do something.

[Nepenthe]

Not sure why people seems to hate the characters. I don't expect excessive realism in my games. As long as they stay true to the nature that the game has defined for them, I'm quite happy. My favourites are still Isabella for her happy go lucky attitude, Varric for being the coolest dwarf ever and Aveline for being a woman shaped battering ram (I think that was the in-game comment). Bethany only played a role in first act and Sebastian only really in the second act.

 

I really like the fact that Bethany can a) die b) become a tower mage c) a grey warden depending on what you do. Also, like the fact that she can join you for the DLCs, if you play them in Act 1 OR at endgame, since she rejoins you at the very end of Act 3 in certain circumstances.

 

[HoonDing]

Assassin's creed series is purely about climbing and diving off historical buildings, the Erich von Däniken novel copy pasted into the game should be ignored as much as possible. Ubisoft stories are only decent when they are relatively low-key and don't try to be dark and epic (compare Sands of Time with Warrior Within) and plot twists are always terrible (even Beyond good & evil is guilty of this).

 

AC1 avoided the nonsense until the very end and while the game was (too) repetitive, combat at least required some effort. AC2 combat is soul numbing, at least in Brotherhood you can chain kill or summon your bros to do the dirty work. Also, fist fighting the goddamn Pope.

[Morgoth]

Assassin's Creed is about pressing a button or two and watch Ezion/Connor doing marvelous things that look awesome but have the gameplay depth of a screensaver. Avoid at any cost.

[Lorfean]

Assassin's Creed is about pressing a button or two and watch Ezion/Connor doing marvelous things that look awesome but have the gameplay depth of a screensaver. Avoid at any cost.

This, pretty much. Also, a major turn-off in the first game (haven't played the others) were the big sword fights with groups of guards in the middle of populated areas -- any self-respecting assassin would be ashamed if an assignment turned into an all-out brawl like that, yet half of them did in AC... Don't put "assassin" in your game's title unless you're committed to making a game with actual stealth mechanics that focuses on *avoiding* enemies.

[pmp10]

Assassin's Creed is about pressing a button or two and watch Ezion/Connor doing marvelous things that look awesome but have the gameplay depth of a screensaver. Avoid at any cost.

There used to be depth to climbing/freeruning.

Sadly from what I hear they removed it in AC3 to keep in line with rest of the game.

[Calax]

I liked AC2 better than AC, but Altair was missed. I disliked Altair, but it was the way it was supposed to be. The way he was set up, was for the player to dislike his personality. A shame they didn't try to develop his character further in the sequels.

They did, in Revelations. Ezio "Sees" the memories of Altair during specific points in his history (around the Assassins home), where he gets a LOT of development.

 

The thing that annoyed me about 2 was that EVERYONE knew who Ezio was. He popped up with the "I'M AN ASSASSIN" stuff and then yelled at everyone around him that "I am EZIO AUDITORE da FIRENZE! YOU KNOW ME!" really early on. Assassins are faceless blades in the crowd, this runs totally counter to that.

 

AC3 has the structural issues I've mentioned, the OVERLY long tutorial period... and a protagonist that just..... doesn't get to emote at all. It sounds like they were trying to make him the native american stereotype with his voice, but the way he says things and doesn't use contractions gives him all the emotional depth of a can of coke. This become really jarring when he ends up playing Buddy Assassins with somebody who's got a pretty awesome personality. It would have been a lot more fun if they'd given him a better voice (His one liners are doa for the most part).

[Tigranes]

Played 5 hours of AC1, the terrible, terrible unskippable cinematics about the Present + Click The Button QTE gameplay killed it and I haven't gone back since. I hear they've gotten really good at making realistic cities (AC1 was good too), but I'm going to need real gameplay and a story that has the good graces to shut up and get out of my way if it's crap. Then there was Ubisoft DRM, and the franchise was dead to me.

 

I think they have gotten better over time and DRM has been resolved though? No?