What are you playing now?

[LadyCrimson]

Planet Explorers alpha .6 delayed a bit again...hopefully end of this week. Not that I mind too much ... when it's ready. Can't wait tho...something to play in-between changing profession tasks on NWO's Gateway. Maybe this next version I'll actually spend more time trying to build that uber fort+dungeon.

[melkathi]

Playing a bit of Defiance again.

This week's mini-episodic-content foreshadows stuff for the next episode of the TV show, so I'm happy

(btw, if anyone ever considers for some reason to try the game, gimme a chance to refer you as a friend )

[Monte Carlo]

CoH2 beta (release is very soon) and Dragon Age: Origins as an evil dwarf noble / rogue. The Dwarf origin stories are easily the best in the game, I love the Sopranos / Medici vibe.

[Oner]

(btw, if anyone ever considers for some reason to try the game, gimme a chance to refer you as a friend )

I'd like to, but I just don't have the time for another MMO.

[AGX-17]

Tried out Painkiller after getting it on sale on GOG. Wildly overrated. It might be decent if the level design weren't so atrocious (even for 2004, this is bad, Wolf3D had more depth to its maps.) But it's not.

[BruceVC]

I just finished Alan Wake American Nightmare, it was okay but I don't recommend it. It took me 5 hours to complete and you had repeat the same level 3 times. The game positions  this repetition as part of the plot but I think this was more to do with budgetary constraints and laziness on the part of the developers

 

Okay I need some input on my next game, Bioshock 1 or Darksiders 1? I haven't played either franchise so any views would be appreciated

[melkathi]

I found Darksiders to be stupid. Simple as that. The over the top muscle bound dude witha  big sword running around trying extra hard to be cool. I felt as if I was in a ManOWar song, while no longer being a teenager and thus fully capable of realising how embarassingly ridiculopus everything is. I think I lasted 20 minutes before I uninstalled.

 

Bioshock is very atmospheric. Though I think the best part of the game is the first minute, before you have any weapons, while you are still completly scared. After that... eh...

I love Andrew Ryan's welcome speech.

[Bokishi]

70% finished in Last of Us, and already it's my goty

[mkreku]

Started a new game of Arcanum. I've never made it out of the first village you get to before (the game bores me to death), but I thought I'd try it with a high resolution patch and see if that helps.

 

It's still an exceptionally ugly game though, even in 1920x1080.

[melkathi]

 

(btw, if anyone ever considers for some reason to try the game, gimme a chance to refer you as a friend )

I'd like to, but I just don't have the time for another MMO.

 

 

 

Hmm "another MMO" ? A lof of people on the Defiance forum would ask you since when Defiance counts as an MMO

 

I think I'll try to make an attempt at an objective write up.

 

So here goes:

 

DEFIANCE as seen by an internet teddy bear:

 

Gameplay:

Defiance is a 3rd person shooter. In that, many compare it to games such as Borderlands. The player character has been fitted with an EGO implant, the nanotec AI that allows for the use of special abilities (and constitutes the attempt to explain tutorials and other system messages with in-game lore). Gaining experience and leveling up reflects not a change in the character, but the ability to use the capabilities of the EGO implant. Thus levels are called EGO Rating, with a current maximum of 5000. Reaching higher ratings unlocks EGO upgrade points which can be used to unlock and upgrade EGO abilities and perks.

There are four abilities to choose from: Cloack, Overcharge (a damage boost), Blurr (a speed and melee boost) and Decoy. Eventually a player can unlock all four and each has five ranks, making them more powerful and xtending their duration.

Perks are passive abilities with three ranks each. They provide improvements such as increased reload speed, reduced damage when shot in the back, increased criticals when crouching etc. Based on their EGO rating a player can have between 1 to 10 (I think) perks equiped at one time.

The loadout screen is where things are equiped. Ina  given loadout a player can have two weapons, one grenade, one shield, one vehicle, one power and a number of perks (as mentioned based on the EGO). With a higher rating up to five different loadout tabs unlock, making it fairly easy to swap from one combination to another on the fly.

Weapons can also be upgraded, through four upgrade slots.On top of that some weapons can unlock "synergy" bonuses by adding specific mods of a set. As weapons are used, they gain experience (or the player gets experience using the weapon). Each weapon can be lveled up once, unlocking another ability on it (+ reload speed, accuracy etc). As players gain experience with weapons, their own weapon skills improve with the specific type of weapon. Player skill with weapons reaches a max of 20, giving things like 3% rate of fire etc at level up. Exp for the skill can only be gained though if the specific weapon itself hasn't been leveled up yet. As a result players will dicard a leveled up assault rifle for example for a fresh assault rifle to continue leveling the weapon skill.

 

Missions and stuff:

A main story arc will take the player through the whole gameworld. As the story pogresses, smaller side missions unlock as well. It has been mentioned by players that they have raced through the main story in a short time reachign an EGO rating of around 400. I, playing casual and doing a lot of stuff on the side, took far longer: about a month and EGO rating around 1700+

Some missions take place in instanced areas, but many are in the open world, allowing for encounters with other players ont he same mission. Progress ina  mission area counts for everyone currently in that area - so if you need to rescue five miners, it doesn't matter if you are the one who interacts with them or some random other person. Events happening at specific locations will continue to be plyable after the mission is completed - a farm attacked by raiders during a mission will get attacked by raiders again the next time you go there, even though you have completed the mission. Still, specific locations will stay altered based on player actions. Thus a roadblock may not eist for a player further along the story while exisiting for others.

Beside missions there are Challenges. Hotshot Challenges equip the player with a specific weapon and have them kill waves of enemies until they run out of bullets and/or the time is up. Time Trials are racing challenges, where players try to drive a course in set time.

Emergenices I find more interesting. They are similar to Open Missions or Public Quests in other MMOs. The can happen in numerous locations throughout the gameworld and are part of what makes the world come alive. At one location Echelon mercenaries may be fighting hellbugs, at another raiders may be kidnapping people. Most locations that spawn emergencies will spawn a random one from a pool appropriate to the area.

Contracts unlock after a certain EGO rating. They are the daily and weekly missions of the game. Defeat 15 raider blasters at farms. Defeat 40 skitterlings in Marin. Complete the Explosives 101 Co-Op instance. Things like that.

 

Multiplayer:

PvE:

Open World:

Arkfalls are the main thing that can gather a crowd. There are two types of Arkfalls, major and minor. They happen based on a random timer throughout the gameworld. Minor arkfalls have some arkdebris drop from the sky and players and npcs fight over who gets the salavege. Major arkfalls have many minor arkfalls happen simultaneously and, once all those are won, a final boss fight begins. While some tactics may be required, nothing is so complicated as not allowing a bunch of random strangers to complete it. Especially as EGO will happily comment on what you need to do ("Shoot the glands underneath the Hellion's arms!" or "That skitterling's bite opened a weak spot on the crystal!").

Two weeks ago Sieges were added and while they have been temporarily removed again, new sieges should be added in July. During a siege players defend specific locations from hordes of enemies.

Instanced group content:

There are a number of Co-op maps (I think 6 at the moment). As most parts of Defiance, they are not too difficult and can be completed with a random group, though certain bonus objectives (such as defeating a specific boss in under 3 minutes) may require a pre-made team that can cooperate properly.

PvP:

PvP is not exactly balanced. A fully modded synergy weapon can far outclass some random rare weapon. The bonuses, even small, that a player gets from their weapon skills add up and so do the not so minor bonuses from perks. Add to that that certain weapons are just overpowered to begin with and exploiters exist and PvP can quickly turn into an exercise in frustration. It's current state is one which has me saying that anyone who would be interested in the game primarily for PvP should consider steering clear of Defiance.

There are two types of PvP: battlegrounds and shadow war. Battlegrounds are the usual death matches and capture and hold scenarios (for now), while shadow wars spawn capture objectives in the actual game world and have large teams of players compete for them. As they require many players to queue for them, Shadow Wars are fairly rare.

 

Travel:

Players very quickly earn their first vehicle, allowing them to speed across the game world. Fast Travel to specific locations is also free of charge, meaning players can be anywhere quite quickly without having to waste too much time just getting from point A to point B.

 

Bottom Line:

Without anything to truly require deep strategy with long planning, ventrilo/teampseak and specifc builds, while also allowing players to move fairly quickly, this is basically a casual game. It is properly based played in short sessions for relaxation. log in, doa  mission or challenge. Do a couple of contracts. While doing those notice an Arkfall happening nearby and head there like everyone else. While moving from one objective to another do the odd emergency on your way.

People who may like this game:

Anyone who likes to just fool around in a third person shooter. People with e helper syndrom like myself, who when they see a farmer being attacked by raiders just have to run over and save him. People who like to play in large groups without having to stress over doing everything right.

People who this game just isn't made for:

Anyone looking for a truly challenging experience. Anyone who enjoys MMOs for raids and similar organised "end-game" experience. PvPers who enjoy balanced, skill based fights. Lady Crimson - this game doesn't have feline pets.

 

 

 

That's all I could think of for now.

 

Edit: oh and yeah. I bought it 30% off

Edited June 18, 2013 by melkathi

[Drowsy Emperor]

I came to the very end of my Beyond Good and Evil play through (right before the final boss fights) and one of my companions disappeared and the other one either won't trigger a crucial elevator button properly. Apparently its a known game breaking bug. Not being used to these things on the PS2 I kept only one save all the while. Now I can't complete the game and all my effort was ruined.

 

[Gfted1]

Ouch.

[melkathi]

That's not fun

I tried playing it on PC, but controls were akward and the screen was flickering. Witha  huge backlog of games to play, I just couldn't put the effort in to try and make it playable.

[Nordicus]

I found Darksiders to be stupid. Simple as that. The over the top muscle bound dude witha  big sword running around trying extra hard to be cool. I felt as if I was in a ManOWar song, while no longer being a teenager and thus fully capable of realising how embarassingly ridiculopus everything is. I think I lasted 20 minutes before I uninstalled.

I hardly think "trying too hard" is what's wrong with Darksiders in any aspect. In fact it puts very little effort into a lot of things

 

If it did feel like a heavy metal album cover, that'd be cool, but in Darksiders it feels like I'm playing as Captain Diomedes' cosplaying little brother in a world that looks ridiculously like Diablo 3, that same sterile-feeling grimdarkness with no bite. I can't tell if the story's worse or not, haven't played past the first few moments in Diablo 3, but I do know that the Darksiders writers did not give a **** about the story beyond turning Book of Revelations into a game. The very first opening exposition dump breaks the entire premise of the game into tiny little incompatible pieces

[melkathi]

At least you didn't comment on my typo.

What the hell does "ridiculopus" mean ?

[Nordicus]

I think it should be some kind of noun

 

"He's such a complete ridiculopus"

[HoonDing]

Despite it being a pretty horrible console port, I kinda liked the first Darksiders, but that level in the giant cathedral near the end nearly killed the game for me. The protagonist is also an acquired taste, but much more palatable than other action game heroes like, say, Kratos or Geralt of Rivia.

 

Kinda torn on Darksiders 2. It tried to do a lot of new things compared to the first game, which is commendable, but didn't really succeed at most of them.

[Deraldin]

70% finished in Last of Us, and already it's my goty

Winter = so good. I didn't touch the bow until that section of the game and from that point on it was my favourite weapon.

 

I thought I was doing pretty good at getting all the collectibles and then I checked my stats at the end of the game and I only had half of the items.

[Bokishi]

For real? I always miss with the bow, although I haven't got to winter yet

[Deraldin]

For real? I always miss with the bow, although I haven't got to winter yet

It's a 1 shot kill weapon that you can fire without alerting everyone to your presence and arrows are retrievable around half of the time.

 

Also, for when you get to winter ->

Don't forget to double check your backpack for new items. I missed out on that on my first run.

 

[Bokishi]

Your right! The bow really is useful for stealth takedowns, not so much for regular combat though. I'm finally in winter, 82% done

[LadyCrimson]

Lady Crimson - this game doesn't have feline pets.

What?! Sacrilege! Imma gonna have to picket this game's offices right now.

 

...I remember wondering if hubby might like this game as something he and I could play together, but I decided probably not. One of the things I liked about Borderlands is it works fine for two people ... don't need that group of 5+ people to do end game stuff etc.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I'm playing a game of "Memorize the 500 page book for the upcoming exam", so you'll see me in three weeks when I slay the final boss or die trying.

 

Until then, ta-ta

 

/Battlefield control terminated

[melkathi]

 

...I remember wondering if hubby might like this game as something he and I could play together, but I decided probably not. One of the things I liked about Borderlands is it works fine for two people ... don't need that group of 5+ people to do end game stuff etc.

 

 

Endgame stuff is not the problem. The problem this game does have for people playing together is that certai instanced missions in the main story are locked to just the player and auto-disband the team. So you happily play as a group, driving around (some later vehicles even are designed for more than one player), shooting stuff ~pew pew, then you reach the bunker and entering it disbands the team. Then both players have to solo the instance and team up after completing it.

Don't know if its a bug or some idiotic design decission. It's annoying either way and something to consider before purchase, I guess.

Edited June 19, 2013 by melkathi

[melkathi]

I'm playing a game of "Memorize the 500 page book for the upcoming exam", so you'll see me in three weeks when I slay the final boss or die trying.

 

Until then, ta-ta

 

/Battlefield control terminated

 

Good luck. If I see you on Steam before that, I'll shout at you to go study