What are you playing now?

[BruceVC]

Roaming around Ticaragua in Risen 2.  The graphical mods aren't a huge change, but you can definitely notice the higher res textures when the camera shows a close up of a wall or a door, and the speedtree draw distance mod makes the pop-in significantly less jarring.  Risen 2 really is a pretty game.  Don't get me wrong, it's not Metro: Last Light or The Witcher 2, but it's visually pleasing nonetheless.  The character models aren't the greatest, particularly with all the armor/clothing clipping and the nappy plastic hair, though they do get bonus points for Patty showing off camel toe, but the landscape/scenery is gorgeous.  The lush tropical islands of the Risen series are definitely more pleasing to the eye than the landscapes of the Gothic series.  Even with this not being Piranha Bytes best effort, it's still an enjoyable game.  A lot of RPG developers with much larger budgets could stand to learn a thing or two from this German developer.

 

Yeah I enjoyed the Risen series, it may not be a Gothic but it still has that " open world map that you need to explore to find things" vibe about it.

 

Also there are some good non-critical quests that force you to explore the islands

[Keyrock]

 

Roaming around Ticaragua in Risen 2.  The graphical mods aren't a huge change, but you can definitely notice the higher res textures when the camera shows a close up of a wall or a door, and the speedtree draw distance mod makes the pop-in significantly less jarring.  Risen 2 really is a pretty game.  Don't get me wrong, it's not Metro: Last Light or The Witcher 2, but it's visually pleasing nonetheless.  The character models aren't the greatest, particularly with all the armor/clothing clipping and the nappy plastic hair, though they do get bonus points for Patty showing off camel toe, but the landscape/scenery is gorgeous.  The lush tropical islands of the Risen series are definitely more pleasing to the eye than the landscapes of the Gothic series.  Even with this not being Piranha Bytes best effort, it's still an enjoyable game.  A lot of RPG developers with much larger budgets could stand to learn a thing or two from this German developer.

 

Yeah I enjoyed the Risen series, it may not be a Gothic but it still has that " open world map that you need to explore to find things" vibe about it.

 

Also there are some good non-critical quests that force you to explore the islands

 

Piranha Bytes world building is truly impressive.  They have an uncanny ability to cram a 14 story building's worth of exploration into a seemingly 1 bedroom loft's worth of space and yet make it look natural.  There's a real wonder to coming around a seemingly plain looking corner that seems not to lead anywhere or even have much room for anything, and suddenly there's all this cool stuff for you to explore.  Imagine if they had Bethesda's budget to work with?

Edited October 4, 2013 by Keyrock

[BruceVC]

 

 

Roaming around Ticaragua in Risen 2.  The graphical mods aren't a huge change, but you can definitely notice the higher res textures when the camera shows a close up of a wall or a door, and the speedtree draw distance mod makes the pop-in significantly less jarring.  Risen 2 really is a pretty game.  Don't get me wrong, it's not Metro: Last Light or The Witcher 2, but it's visually pleasing nonetheless.  The character models aren't the greatest, particularly with all the armor/clothing clipping and the nappy plastic hair, though they do get bonus points for Patty showing off camel toe, but the landscape/scenery is gorgeous.  The lush tropical islands of the Risen series are definitely more pleasing to the eye than the landscapes of the Gothic series.  Even with this not being Piranha Bytes best effort, it's still an enjoyable game.  A lot of RPG developers with much larger budgets could stand to learn a thing or two from this German developer.

 

Yeah I enjoyed the Risen series, it may not be a Gothic but it still has that " open world map that you need to explore to find things" vibe about it.

 

Also there are some good non-critical quests that force you to explore the islands

 

Piranha Bytes world building is truly impressive.  They have an uncanny ability to cram a 14 story building's worth of exploration into a seemingly 1 bedroom loft's worth of space and yet make it look natural.  There's a real wonder to coming around a seemingly plain looking corner that seems not to lead anywhere or even have much room for anything, and suddenly there's all this cool stuff for you to explore.  Imagine if they had Bethesda's budget to work with?

 

 

That's a good way to summarize the Piranha Bytes game design, good one

[Gorth]

Xenonauts

 

 

Everything XCOM should have been but will never be.

[Hurlshort]

Spec Ops The Line - This is a beautiful game and I love the setting.  That being said, I don't really understand why everyone is shooting at me and not willing to talk a little bit.  I've killed a lot of people, you'd think they'd take a moment to stop and talk things over.  I guess this is why I don't play many shooters.

[BruceVC]

Spec Ops The Line - This is a beautiful game and I love the setting.  That being said, I don't really understand why everyone is shooting at me and not willing to talk a little bit.  I've killed a lot of people, you'd think they'd take a moment to stop and talk things over.  I guess this is why I don't play many shooters.

 "I don't really understand why everyone is shooting at me"...you're American?

 

I also want to play this game, in fact this is the  next game on my list

[Tale]

Dragon Age II

 

Back to it after a GTA hiatus. Thankfully I got through the DLC before it, because I'm in Act 3 now and it's hard to be motivated to push forward. It's not Mass Effect's Mako bad, but I don't see it interfering with my nightly reading or writing.

[NOK222]

 

 

 because I'm in Act 3 now and it's hard to be motivated to push forward.

 

Act 3 is the worst. 

[BruceVC]

Dragon Age II

 

Back to it after a GTA hiatus. Thankfully I got through the DLC before it, because I'm in Act 3 now and it's hard to be motivated to push forward. It's not Mass Effect's Mako bad, but I don't see it interfering with my nightly reading or writing.

 

Finish the game for Isabela, finish the game for Isabela

[GhostofAnakin]

Strangely enough, I'm having quite a bit of fun playing Splinter Cell's Spy versus Mercs online mode.  Playing as a spy is pretty fun, but it seems a bit unbalanced in spy's favor.  Most maps are dark, and spies can climb walls and such and hide in dark corners.  Mercs take a lot more damage, but not enough to offset the spy class.  When I play, 80% of my kills are playing as the spy, while the majority of my deaths are playing as a merc.

[Lexx]

Still playing Shadow Warrior. It's a fun indie game for sure, though I am kinda scared it might become a bit too long. Many things start to repeat and repeat already.

 

Using the Katana to slay monsters is super fun.

[JFSOCC]

Played a bit X-Com for the 2-day free action of Steam.

Think it got me hooked. Probably gonna buy it to play more later.

 

Even though I suck (playing on easy (yes, all you pro's can laugh) and already lost a recruit in one of the earlier missions)... who cares as long as it's fun right. Can't all be experts at a genre's...

you're going to lose soldiers, and recruits die faster than anyone.

I got to say, it's one of my favourite games of the last few years, perhaps my new most favourite. when the expansion pack comes out, I might actually not wait and just dole out the big bucks.

Good luck! and remember, higher difficulties will be much more fun to play, after you finish it on easy.

[Bos_hybrid]

NBA2K14

 

My PG got drafted by the Celtics but they told me they want to move me to SG to play alongside Rondo rather than be his backup

 

Any new changes to Myplayer mode? Or is it the same?

[mkreku]

Piranha Bytes world building is truly impressive.  They have an uncanny ability to cram a 14 story building's worth of exploration into a seemingly 1 bedroom loft's worth of space and yet make it look natural.  There's a real wonder to coming around a seemingly plain looking corner that seems not to lead anywhere or even have much room for anything, and suddenly there's all this cool stuff for you to explore.  Imagine if they had Bethesda's budget to work with?

 

This is the reason they became my favourite developer. It was especially evident in Gothic and Gothic 2, where the world is absolutely chock full of incidental detail. There's no forgotten spaces in either one of those two games. Everything has a purpose and it's all so cleverly put together that the areas always feel a lot bigger than they actually are.

 

I loved Fallout: New Vegas, but it was in the world building that I could definitely feel they were inexperienced. I blame Piranha Bytes for spoiling me.

[ShadySands]

 

NBA2K14

 

My PG got drafted by the Celtics but they told me they want to move me to SG to play alongside Rondo rather than be his backup

 

Any new changes to Myplayer mode? Or is it the same?

 

 

Some slight menu changes and GMs look a lot better

 

Nothing major that I've noticed so far other than graphical improvements and it seems a little easier. 3 games in and I've been moved up to 6th man

[Osvir]

 

Xenonauts

 

Everything XCOM should have been but will never be.

You should check out these 2 as well One is Incognita by Klei (Man, Klei makes such awesome games!) and the other one is Halfway (which I think looks rather uninteresting but their Map Editor looks fantastic!).

 

Incognita

Halfway

[melkathi]

Knock-Knock

 

Only played a bit so far. It is quite scary though. Great atmosphere. I am not going to follow the devs' advice though to play it with the lights turned off, when what I do in the game is try to turn the lights on for the nightmares to go away...

[Nordicus]

WTF IT'S ALREADY OUT???

 

Thanks for making that post Melkathi

[melkathi]

WTF IT'S ALREADY OUT???

 

Thanks for making that post Melkathi

 

You are welcome. I got my backer key about 2 hours ago apparently. Didn't notice of course as I didn't expect it to come out anytime soon either The way they were writing updates it was hard to understand what they were trying to say sometimes... Of course ingame it isn't any different

So if you backed it, keep an eye on your inbox. They hope to have all keys send out by tomorrow afternoon the latest (I think they are just trying to be safe with that announcement).

[SadExchange]

Hey Keyrock.  Where did you get your Risen 2 mods from?  Just wanted to ask.  Have it installed, but was looking for any mods that have been released.

[Guest Slinky]

Edit: Holy crap, wall of text warning!

 

My game is turning to bit boring in Civilization IV.

 

Started like usual, the first and closest neighbor was, of course, one with the aggressive trait, the Vikings. This tend to cause some problems because I've alwas like to play peaceful in Civilization games. That's usually bit hard when theres some blood thirsty maniac yelling demands and threats right next to my border from the start. But wait, there's more! The second civ I meet is also aggressive one, the Japanese! After I summon the will to lift my head from the desk I had been banging for a good while, I think what the hell. I might go down in flames, but not before I crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and hear the lamentation of their women.

 

So there I was, in the southern part of small to medium size continent. To the north of me, in the middle of the continent was the two trouble makers the Vikings and the Japan, but also the peaceful India. Unsurpisingly both the Vikings and Japan immediately began to hate India. In the northest part of this barrel of gunpowder about to explode was the Incas.

 

Things went like they always go in my games, other civs get the early game religions while I go for bronze working so I can cut down forests to speed production and get a second city going fast. But then things change, I manage to build the oracle world wonder which gives a free tech. And what I see amongst the tech I can get, theology! The first one who gets theology also invents christianity! And by some miracle the two bastards about to go nuclear for the lack of war and slaughter at in the first 10 minutes don't yet have state religion! A cunning plan emerges in my devious mind: I'll get that christianity and shove it down their throats, that should keep them on leash. Or at least drop me down on their list of things to destroy.

 

Fast forward from the stone age to 1750. The Vikings, the Japan and India have christianity as their state religion. The Vikings and India are also my vassals. I've spread christianity EVERYWHERE. I'm getting ludicrous amounts of money every turn. The cities of other civilizations by my border are rebelling and giving themselves to me. I've got the biggest and the most advanced army in the world. Everyone is begging to be my friend. I can practically choose what ever victory the game has and just take it. All this and I haven't been in war for a single turn. I'm also bored as hell. Religions are so over powered in this game.

 

BTW, I didn't manage that by having mad skills, that was mostly luck. I'm playing on warlord difficulty which isn't anywhere near the hard end. This is because every time I finish a good play of Civ, I feel content enough to have a break long enough to forget just about everything, forcing me to re-learn the ropes. Thus the easy difficulty setting.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Slinky

[Keyrock]

Hey Keyrock.  Where did you get your Risen 2 mods from?  Just wanted to ask.  Have it installed, but was looking for any mods that have been released.

Just download the Risen 2 Mod Starter.  You can find, download, and install mods right through the Mod Starter.  It works much like the Nexus Mod Manager.

[Kissamies]

Finally got around playing that HD version of Ur-Quan Masters last weekend. It's fine job. Spotted only a few bugs and Star Control 2 is great as always. Now I'm trying their alpha of "Project 6014" fan expansion. That looks pretty promising as well so far.

[Katphood]

Dragon Age II

 

Back to it after a GTA hiatus. Thankfully I got through the DLC before it, because I'm in Act 3 now and it's hard to be motivated to push forward. It's not Mass Effect's Mako bad, but I don't see it interfering with my nightly reading or writing.

Despite all the criticism in teh interwebz, I loved this game because most of the times I really had a hard time telling who was actually "good" and who was "bad". 

[LadyCrimson]

--Hubby's been obsessively playing BL2 again. He wants the new cheapie dlc/max level upgrade (level upgrade isn't a free patch like I'd thought it might be....) with the new "overlevels." Sounds weird, but ok. Guess we'll be getting that sometime soon.

 

--Used my oodles of dust-gathering diamonds in NWO to get a few dozen Keys and opened some of the new lockboxes. On the 25th lockbox I lucked out and spawned the Pseudodragon pet. It's a cutie. I also got a ton of "planar idols" so I ended up with 550k AD back. Done with that. Don't care about the CTA skirmish event...

 

--Haven't bought the black cat in Path of Exile.   The game will be "officially released" soon I think...maybe a year after that, I'll be interested in playing it some more.