What are you playing now?

[Humanoid]

Following on from a post in another thread (where it was off-topic), I've run into a problem with starting a single player game in Age of Empires 2, post UserPatch. It turns out that the Ubisoft-published "Collector's Edition" implements a community-sourced No-CD crack in order to get around the problem of the game executables not recognising the DVD on which the rerelease is on as valid media. The UserPatch executable, on the other hand, retains the standard CD check and therefore "breaks" the CE release. Now, I only really ever intend to play the game multiplayer, so it's not really unworkable as such, but a trap to be wary of.

 

Additionally, it's also worth noting that the music in the game is present as a Redbook audio track on the CD and therefore does not play on any DVD release. I'm used to playing without the CD since it's never been required for multiplayer, but eh, a lazy effort all-around by both MS and Ubisoft.

[Zoraptor]

Fired up MoTB again and within minutes remembered why I didn't even get out of the starting dungeon on my last attempt, years ago. *Every* bloody thing in that dungeon is immune to sneak attacks. Screw D&D rules, I'd be just as effective waving around soft fluffy cushions as a rogue. Not really having any fun playing as a spectator, so I am once again snookered.

If you want a rogue specifically for the trap skills Safiya's familiar can detrap etc and you can pick a different class. Having said that, I played a rogue(/swashbuckler, iirc) last time without any problems.

[Keyrock]

So we don't get to have an online Obsidian forum Numenera campaign because you couldn't control your gaming urges...

Well, the book isn't out yet, I have time to learn restraint.

[Humanoid]

 

Fired up MoTB again and within minutes remembered why I didn't even get out of the starting dungeon on my last attempt, years ago. *Every* bloody thing in that dungeon is immune to sneak attacks. Screw D&D rules, I'd be just as effective waving around soft fluffy cushions as a rogue. Not really having any fun playing as a spectator, so I am once again snookered.

If you want a rogue specifically for the trap skills Safiya's familiar can detrap etc and you can pick a different class. Having said that, I played a rogue(/swashbuckler, iirc) last time without any problems.

Nah, I play a rogue because my preferred RPG class is always a rogue thief. Indeed I pretty much blundered into every trap in the short time I played because I don't have the patience to walk half speed to detect them (and to have to reenable search after every fight). Just a shame that it means I end up being completely ineffectual in the beginning. I assume it's mostly just a starter dungeon thing, but starter dungeons can make or break games, unfortunately.

 

From a gameplay design standpoint, it does make me wonder how much this kind of slavish adherence to rulesets to the detriment of gameplay is down to obligation and how much is just failure to consider.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Humanoid

[melkathi]

 

So we don't get to have an online Obsidian forum Numenera campaign because you couldn't control your gaming urges...

Well, the book isn't out yet, I have time to learn restraint.

 

If you are making excuses before the book has even hit the shelves, that doesn't bode well for the campaign

[pmp10]

From a gameplay design standpoint, it does make me wonder how much this kind of slavish adherence to rulesets to the detriment of gameplay is down to obligation and how much is just failure to consider.

IIRC there was a back-stab enabling rapier in the starting dungeon.

[Majek]

borderlands 2 is painful to play the first 30 levels or so

 

once you have enough skill points to actually customize your character a bit it gets more fun (though overall, i rate it lower than the first game -the pacing is worse and the loot is less satisfying imo)

Well i might even get there to see if that's true. I went back to the Siren. Didn't really like Mecro skill tree, since it looks like it might always force you to choose Anarchy to survive in the long run.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Fired up MoTB again and within minutes remembered why I didn't even get out of the starting dungeon on my last attempt, years ago. *Every* bloody thing in that dungeon is immune to sneak attacks. Screw D&D rules, I'd be just as effective waving around soft fluffy cushions as a rogue. Not really having any fun playing as a spectator, so I am once again snookered.

 

Downloading Divinity 2 from GOG now.

 

High level DnD was always a pain in the ass. Everything either works too well or not at all.

[Nordicus]

High level DnD was always a pain in the ass. Everything either works too well or not at all.

This was definitely one of my gripes in Mask of the Betrayer. A fight that'd otherwise be pretty hard, can be turned into a joke by resting, using all the buffs and then charging straight into combat with your best spells prepared

[Drowsy Emperor]

I think its less about MotB and more about the system itself. It didn't appear to be designed for high level characters, regardless of the supplements detailing the rules/advancement post lvl 20. 

 

And of course, a party. Going around with one or two characters is a good way to be obsolete in a combat situation. I still remember the extremely humiliating moment my uber monk endured in HotU when I encountered that boss that's immune to bludgeoning attacks. And attacks less than +5.

 

I had to sell off the family silver to get some pos but expensive sword to get rid of the bugger.

[mkreku]

 (though overall, i rate it lower than the first game -the pacing is worse and the loot is less satisfying imo)

 

I agree with this. The first game was "wilder" in its item spawning. No more "fire-rate-so-high-it-crashes-my-soundcard" SMG's

 

Also, maybe I need to start looking more in the menus:

 

 

I'm guessing this isn't really necessary since I seem to be doing OK without it?

[LadyCrimson]

lol! ... have fun spending all those BA points. After a while they do make a noticeable difference across the board.

And yeah, agreed with the item generation in BL2 vs. 1, as well.

 

 

...went back to playing Planet Explorers again. I can't stop building forts, now. Tried to make a car, that didn't work out so well. More practice required. I wish it was time for the next alpha already. On their forum there's a casual contest to name one of the tiny creatures in the gameworld. It looks a bit like a hamster so I offered that it should be named a NomNom. Think they'll go for it? .....

[Labadal]

More Divinity 2.

 

I feel stupid for not upgrading my dragon skills and equipping items in dragon form. I have a much easier time as a flying terror of death now.

[Keyrock]

 

Fired up MoTB again and within minutes remembered why I didn't even get out of the starting dungeon on my last attempt, years ago. *Every* bloody thing in that dungeon is immune to sneak attacks. Screw D&D rules, I'd be just as effective waving around soft fluffy cushions as a rogue. Not really having any fun playing as a spectator, so I am once again snookered.

 

Downloading Divinity 2 from GOG now.

 

High level DnD was always a pain in the ass. Everything either works too well or not at all.

Agreed.  I've long considered levels 5 - 12 to be the sweet spot for D&D, and that has carried over from edition to edition, all the ones I've played, anyway (AD&D 2nd, D&D 3rd, 3.5) 

[Majek]

Also, maybe I need to start looking more in the menus:

picture

 I'm guessing this isn't really necessary since I seem to be doing OK without it?

Well you can turn it off and on at will, so you can check out if it makes any difference to you. It definitely should with that many tokens to spend. Edited April 13, 2013 by Majek

[LadyCrimson]

Well you can turn it off and on at will, so you can check out if it makes any difference to you. It definitely should with that many tokens to spend.

Last time I played BL2, I think my BA ranks were something like 35k-40k with most things at 10% and some at 15%. At that point it's nice because you can forgo a skill point in certain skills, here and there, and put them somewhere else instead if you feel like it. And any new characters have it really easy at the start, since it applies to all chrs. at once. For a while you can get BA ranks fairly rapidly by making new chrs to lvl8 (get to Sant.) and then do nothing but gamble, but eventually that becomes less effective.

[trulez]

Trackmania 2: Stadium ; the game gives you medals for successfully completing the tracks inside the allotted time. That can get very OCD after a while because I just have to get the best medal before I can move on, even though some of the tracks I find quite annoying. Also, very enjoyable in multiplayer mode, testing your driving skills against others WITHOUT collision (time attack mode), no fear of some douche ruining your perfect run by driving you off the track.

[Keyrock]

I've been playing the **** out of GRID.  Man, the game is awesome.  It's not a hardcore sim, there are no tuning options and the cars don't handle completely realistically, but it's not really an arcade racer either.  It's somewhere in between, and I'd say slightly closer to sim than arcade.  You need to break with precision, study tracks, all that good stuff.  Also the driver AI is really good.  Most importantly, the game makes you really feel like you're in the race, and the racing is super intense and really fun.  It's one of the best racing games I've ever played.  It's also hard to believe the game is 5 years old, the graphics are phenomenal.  I only did 1 race on the standard difficulty setting, stepped up to "Serious", then after a few more races stepped up to "Savage", the second highest difficulty.  That should be my happy place for a good while.  Quite challenging but doable.  Eventually I'll step up to "Extreme", but I'll need to have tracks memorized and be super comfortable with all the cars before I do that.

 

As an aside, GRID 2 comes out in a month and a half.  If Codies do as good a job on that game as they did on this one, they have my money.

Edited April 14, 2013 by Keyrock

[Rosbjerg]

Total chaos in my game of Crusader Kings.. I decided to press a holy war on Jerusalem (as Sunni vs Shia) called my allies.. So now we are 5 Sunni fighting liords fighting one Shia empire.. Then a rebellion breaks out, then the lieges rebel against the rebellion and the pope calls a crusade.. What, who? And.. What? I don't even know who I am fighting now haha There's like 18 different parties all duking it out. It's insane.

[GhostofAnakin]

Playing through Bioshock Infinite right now.  I'm really enjoying it.  Some games/stories just draw me in for a reason I can't quite place a finger on, and this is one of them.

[marelooke]

For some reason I decided to pick up my unfinished second DA:O playthrough that I abandoned somewhere in 2011 (according to savegame date). Damn, I wish BioWare had gone further down this path instead of the action rpg crap that was DA2.

 

My two major gripes were/are the number of party members (4 is too few imo) and the lack of real sidequests. Ok, make that 3 if you count the bugs (I had 8 CTDs during a 2 hour session...)

Edited April 14, 2013 by marelooke

[Nepenthe]

I have 4 DAO playthroughs under my belt and at this point, I greatly prefer DA2, even with its obvious issues. I think DAO gets stale really quick.

[HoonDing]

I've been playing Age of Conan. I'm almost off Tortage.

[melkathi]

I've been playing Age of Conan. I'm almost off Tortage.

 

I don't think I ever made it off Tortage

[Labadal]

Playing Guacamelee! Ridiculous and fun. It's metroidvania type of game set in a Mexican setting. I'm not Mexican, but I think they have managed to capture a great atmosphere with this game. You play a luchador that has to help stop an evil sun of gun from completing his evil plan during  dia de los muertos. I've gotten some new skills that allows me to go back for treasures I couldn't reach before. Reaching some of them is really tricky, but it feels great when you can finally grab them. The fighting isn't anything special at first, later on however, you can buy some new skills and use combos. I think my highest so far is a 117 hit combo. You can also play with a friend in co-op. I'll try that after I beat the game on my own, maybe I'll do it on the hard difficulty you unlock after beating the game.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Labadal