What are you playing now?

[BruceVC]

Risen 1, went with an axe-wielding Inquisition mage. That means a shortage of skill points, which suits me just fine. Eventually I'll be freezing then hulk-smashing things. The island is just really, really well designed for exploring. In the central areas you get a little disoriented but not too lost, there are natural and subtle dividing lines between different regions, you never go too long without finding something odd, and cavernous systems, heights and small paths are used to interconnect areas in unexpected ways. And of course monsters.

 

I enjoyed Risen 1. I remember the excitement when I finally became a Fire Mage, it was a real sense of achievement. And I agree that Piranha Bytes does do the whole open world RPG game well from an exploration perspective

[Labadal]

Risen 1, went with an axe-wielding Inquisition mage. That means a shortage of skill points, which suits me just fine. Eventually I'll be freezing then hulk-smashing things. The island is just really, really well designed for exploring. In the central areas you get a little disoriented but not too lost, there are natural and subtle dividing lines between different regions, you never go too long without finding something odd, and cavernous systems, heights and small paths are used to interconnect areas in unexpected ways. And of course monsters.

I hope if they get to make Risen 3 or Gothic 5, they do a handcrafted world like Risen 1. Risen 2's gameworld was a letdown after the fun exploration in the first game.

[Zoraptor]

Can't say that I particularly liked Risen 1, something about the progression seemed a bit off. In Gothic 2 if I ran into low level enemies after a certain point there was no way they stood a chance, but in R1 my high level guy still contrived to lose to things like vultures (and those gnomes, those horrible horrible gnomes). I think it was the locked camera perspective if you dodged, way too easy to lose where your enemies were.

 

Played a bit more BG2, got past Suldanesselar and killed Gromnir- Ha! Good fun-  who proved that it isn't just my party that sometimes suffers hilarious saving throw failures. Yaga Shura's fire giants are absolutely brutal for guys that don't cast spells and with better calls for help, plus the inclusion of a dragon (can't remember him being there in previous playthroughs) really puts the molten sulphur on the cake.

[Keyrock]

I'm at what I can only assume is the final boss in Serious Sam 3: Jewel of the Nile, a gargantuan version of the fat dudes with rocket launchers, except holmes has a massive cannon that shoots cannon balls and smashes everything to bits.  So far I got splatted 3 times.  I'll try a few more times before I search online as to whether there is a trick to it.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Keyrock

[entrerix]

6 hours into far cry 3, gave it up, its kinda boring

 

6 hours into sleeping dogs, this game is amazing so far, can't wait to go home and play it some more tonight!

[Keyrock]

6 hours into far cry 3, gave it up, its kinda boring

 

6 hours into sleeping dogs, this game is amazing so far, can't wait to go home and play it some more tonight!

I'm glad so many people are getting into Sleeping Dogs now, too bad it didn't sell better initially.  I hope Squeenix still lets United Front do a sequel because for a first sandbox effort, they did an amazing job.  Imagine what they could do having learned from their mistakes?

[GhostofAnakin]

I'm glad so many people are getting into Sleeping Dogs now, too bad it didn't sell better initially.  I hope Squeenix still lets United Front do a sequel because for a first sandbox effort, they did an amazing job.  Imagine what they could do having learned from their mistakes?

You mean like introducing Emma Stone's character, then seemingly dropping her and never hearing from her again after your date? :D

[Raithe]

The dlc for Sleeping Dogs was .. interesting. I mean, they encapsulated the feel of two completely different styles of Hong Kong movie., but they weren't exactly extensive or overlong. The Zodiac Tournament in particular was, what, 3 missions and 1 short "Finale Battle - Chase - Battle"?  Good atmosphere, but not all that fulfilling. But I can't really complain since I picked them up cheaply on Steam sale....

[AwesomeOcelot]

Finally got around to playing Bulletstorm. It's two games, a competent shooter with a wide selection of fun varied weapons and nice fast simple gameplay, and then there's the other game, that's full of QTE, rail shooting, press Q, R or Space to do something, unskippable in-game cutscenes, and other bull****. If I were to give an example of what's wrong with modern games, I'd probably say Bulletstorm, but that's probably because I don't plan on ever playing Duke Nukem Forever. It's too linear, I don't get to explore or find my own way, I'm presented with only an illusion of anything but a corridor. I blame consoles for much of this, because gamepad's are so bad at FPS they can't make a straight up FPS you want as little shooting as you can get away with (the game defaults with aim assist) and they haven't got the memory to have large detailed maps. The macho dumb bull**** and "epic" "massive" scenes with explosions and giant things don't do it for me either. It's crazy that the people behind Unreal Tournament and Painkiller can come up with this crap. That stuff about going back to the good old days of FPS is a complete lie.

Edited March 5, 2013 by AwesomeOcelot

[Tale]

Bored of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer again. Gold is still the antithesis of fun. I like that they mixed it up, added new enemies, added weather conditions. Some of the new classes are fun, but the balance is terrible. And others are so boring, it seems like they just slapped powers on a model to fill out the list.

[Malcador]

Splinter Cell, failed the CIA mission due to alarms again. So I guess I'll have to go back and make sure I hide the unconscious people - could have sworn I took down everyone in some levels so no one to find the bodies, but ah well.

[Tigranes]

Can't say that I particularly liked Risen 1, something about the progression seemed a bit off. In Gothic 2 if I ran into low level enemies after a certain point there was no way they stood a chance, but in R1 my high level guy still contrived to lose to things like vultures (and those gnomes, those horrible horrible gnomes). I think it was the locked camera perspective if you dodged, way too easy to lose where your enemies were.

 

Played a bit more BG2, got past Suldanesselar and killed Gromnir- Ha! Good fun-  who proved that it isn't just my party that sometimes suffers hilarious saving throw failures. Yaga Shura's fire giants are absolutely brutal for guys that don't cast spells and with better calls for help, plus the inclusion of a dragon (can't remember him being there in previous playthroughs) really puts the molten sulphur on the cake.

 

The camera-bound auto-targeting does get wonky sometimes, but I genuinely believe that for Gothic and Risen games it has a lot to do with player skill. When I first started Risen 1, I hadn't played much of them and killing a single wolf took more than a dozen reloads, even at higher levels. Having played G1-3 & R1-2 at least twice each, now coming back to R1, I could take on Black Wolves and Boars much earlier than I was meant to and survive. Now that I'm halfway through the game I can beat anything, including multiple enemies, though it does take some hair-raising finesse, and I'm playing on Hard. 

 

Yaga-Shura with SCS is really 'epic' in the sense that it's probably the only time I've ever seen high-level CRPG parties truly fight to the last second-level spell and potion.

[Calax]

So, I just beat Far Cry 3.

 

Honestly? Underwhelmed. The shooting and hunting was well done, but after a point it seemed like the devs couldn't find a way for you to keep doing your missions (for the story) as a "predator" and instead just had you do the standard FPS "run in, shoot people, run out" schtick in an open world. A few mechanics were WOEFULLY under used too (wingsuit, I'm looking at you!)

 

As to Vaas? Yeah he was cool, but you didn't get much interaction with him. At least it didn't feel like it. Most of your story missions on that island didn't deal with him, and instead dealt with sorting out retrieving your friends or getting your Tattoo empowered or whatever. If Vaas had a bigger role and interacted with you more directly, I'd see the outcry that's been made. Currently, however, you don't get much time with him to enjoy the crazy personality before you off him. The other guy that crops up feels like he is seen a lot more because everything you do is directly related TO killing that guy, and you interact with him a few times.

 

Basically, they needed to keep Vaas in the story line more (instead of being the background enemy for most of the first section of the game) instead of relegating him to the background.

 

One thing I LOOOOVE about this is that it twists one of Valves iffy game design commandments to great effect. Valve has said that they have a goal, when creating a game, of NEVER removing control from the player for any reason. That's why in HL2 you spend stupid amounts of time sitting in a corner and watching other NPC's interact, rather than the more efficient cutscene. Far Cry twists this beautifully into "never pull the player out of first person", and creates a few seriously interesting moments revolving around the fact that the island has some... special properties.

 

 

The best part is that after the final boss fight (which I think actually does a good job with QTE's rather than just turning him into a mook with stupid health), you're wondering HOW ON EARTH you're standing here with 8 dead bodies around you. Makes you wonder just how much other stuff happens over the course of the game that you don't see, because you're seeing the world in a very very odd light

 

[Blodhemn]

"That's why in HL2 you spend stupid amounts of time sitting in a corner and watching other NPC's interact, rather than the more efficient cutscene."

 

This is what I liked about Half Life actually.

[HoonDing]

 

I'm glad so many people are getting into Sleeping Dogs now, too bad it didn't sell better initially.  I hope Squeenix still lets United Front do a sequel because for a first sandbox effort, they did an amazing job.  Imagine what they could do having learned from their mistakes?

You mean like introducing Emma Stone's character, then seemingly dropping her and never hearing from her again after your date? :D

I guess this explains why not she but Kari Wahlgren voices Gwen Stacy in the Spider-Man game. Not that I'd ever recognize her voice anyway.

 

Throwing away money on Hollywood celebrity voice-over is always a bad idea. Eh, Bethesda?

Edited March 5, 2013 by Drudanae

[Katphood]

Risen 1

 

 

That game, along with Risen 2 and the Gothic series are in my ever-growing backlog.

[Keyrock]

 

I'm glad so many people are getting into Sleeping Dogs now, too bad it didn't sell better initially.  I hope Squeenix still lets United Front do a sequel because for a first sandbox effort, they did an amazing job.  Imagine what they could do having learned from their mistakes?

You mean like introducing Emma Stone's character, then seemingly dropping her and never hearing from her again after your date? :D

Yes, all the girlfriends in Sleeping Dogs are woefully underutilized and underdeveloped.  I can live with them having the others drop in for a cup of coffee and never be heard from again, but I wanted more Not Ping in my life.  She did get a small part in the Nightmare in North Point DLC (as mentioned, the story DLCs are fun, but really short), but that's still not nearly enough Not Ping for my tastes.

[HoonDing]

Not Ping, really?

[Keyrock]

Not Ping, really?

Yeah, Not Ping was easily my favorite of the five(?) girlfriends in the game.

 

If you're wondering about her name, you first meet her in a store called "Ping's" so Wei Shen assumes she's Ping, to which she promptly tells him that she's not Ping.  Since she never tells him her real name, she remains "Not Ping".

Edited March 5, 2013 by Keyrock

[SunBroSolaire]

Just finished another run through of New Vegas, and now picking The Witcher 2 back up. Gotta say, I don't like the combat at all. It feels really sticky and clumsy. The story seems pretty dry so far, but I appreciate that they put a lot of work into making everything realistic and detailed. I'm fighting the Kayran now, which is extremely frustrating. I can consistently get to the point where the bridge crushes the thing, but then when I try to run up the ramp and finish the fight, I ALWAYS get swatted back or crushed to death by it's tentacles. Is there a trick to this? I've died like five times just running up the ramp, and I'm getting dangerously close to rage quitting. I want to soldier on, because it seems like the game is really going to start getting cool once I get out of Flotsam.

[Tigranes]

That part is actually the easiest part of the fight, but yeah, dying there really sucks. Just try and run up the middle of the 'ramp', which should give you enough time to reflexively dodge the tentacles. Actually, you don't need to dodge a lot of them. Put it on easy for the fight. 

 

Flotsam has good quests but not much story; after the Kayran you go through the climax, then to either the army camp or the dwarf city for Chapter 2. Both are excellent, and both are worth playing. You could have a save at end of Flotsam then try both.

[BruceVC]

 

 

I'm glad so many people are getting into Sleeping Dogs now, too bad it didn't sell better initially.  I hope Squeenix still lets United Front do a sequel because for a first sandbox effort, they did an amazing job.  Imagine what they could do having learned from their mistakes?

You mean like introducing Emma Stone's character, then seemingly dropping her and never hearing from her again after your date? :D

Yes, all the girlfriends in Sleeping Dogs are woefully underutilized and underdeveloped.  I can live with them having the others drop in for a cup of coffee and never be heard from again, but I wanted more Not Ping in my life.  She did get a small part in the Nightmare in North Point DLC (as mentioned, the story DLCs are fun, but really short), but that's still not nearly enough Not Ping for my tastes.

 

 

Not Ping, really?

 

My favorite date was  the hot Russian hostess, that accent did it for me

[Fighter]

Tomb Raider. It's good. Yes the main story is linear and it has qtes. But it's good.

[Gorth]

it has qtes. But it's good.

A contradiction of terms?

 

Playing a bit of Warlock - Master of the Arcane. Just wanted to test I got my backups restored properly after re-assembling my PC. Suddenly it was 2:30 in the morning. Damn, the game is addictive.

[Nordicus]

Going through my first playthrough of Mask of Betrayer.

 

"Huh, so these spirits want the husk of Okku? Okay, this could be inter-"

"Oh no..."

"OH GOD NO! What the hell have I done?!"

 

This expansion has quite the tricks up its sleeve