What are you playing now

[Bartimaeus]

Age of Empires II: HD Edition. Played against four moderate AI opponents, (if I recall correctly, moderate is the hardest version of the AI, and the subsequent difficulties just give them ridiculous starting resources...possibly other bonuses, too - at least it was that way in the non-"HD" edition of this game), with the four of them divided into two teams, and then myself.

 

I ran into framerate issues...at first, I thought it was because, you know, huge amount of units being individual controlled by each AI would probably hurt my CPU, especially considering this game is almost absolutely single-threaded. But I realized towards the end of the match, by which time I'd killed off three of the four, that it was not as I thought - whenever I was personally directing a large amount of units, my game would lag, particularly if it were ships I was moving, it seemed. So that's pretty weird - never ran into that in the original game, as far as I can remember. There's also not really any good reason for my GPU to be struggling...

 

The AI really needs to learn to bunch up their units together into an actual army - it's ridiculous that they still have the horrible vulnerability of throwing each of theirs *individually* at their foes, instead of as a group, so if they're fighting a group of cavalry archers, the cavalry archers are able to just pick off each unit as they come, while slowly backing up or slowly advancing, depending upon how thick the stream of units coming at them is.

 

The previous point also plays into my next issue with the AI: they burn through their resources, particularly their gold, (which is extremely finite!), much too fast, and their economy crashes and burns as a result. It doesn't help that they're unable to make any real dents into my cavalry (archer) army thanks to the previous point, and they're constantly trying to replace their own units that were recently slaughtered. Eventually, they run out of gold, sometimes even wood, depending upon the map, (and then food, too, as a result), and then just sit there like buffoons, unable to do anything. I looked at their economy scores at the end of the game, (economy score consisting of both the value of all their remaining units/buildings on the map, as well as their remaining resources), and they just had nothing left. By the end, I had kill about 900 units, lost sub-50, razed around 300 buildings, lost less than a handful, and they had lost 200-300 units each, and 50-100 buildings. Pretty dumb.

 

Also spotted a stupid bug that I've known about since the release of the *original* AoEII expansion - in the Attila campaign, in the first mission, you can make an ally with another band of nomads called the Scythians against your Persian and Roman foes - except, by the time you do that, the Romans are already dead, (necessitated by the fact that you must destroy them to become allies with the Scythians), and the Persians are, for some reason, allied with the Scythians, yet the Scythians are not allied to the Persians. Ergo, the Scythians attack the Persians constantly, and you can sit back and relax while the Persians have their base destroyed, as they're unable to attack the Scythians in kind. Pretty stupid that that was never fixed...in the first mission of that campaign, nonetheless.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Bartimaeus

[Humanoid]

From what I understand, AoE2HD has the option of picking a 'random' new AI (these AIs are community-developed) or using the terrible original AI. Custom AIs have some hardcoded limitations, e.g. always sending out single monks to pick up loose relics, not being able to attack villagers on sub-moderate difficulties, etc, that can't be overcome by scripting, but in general they're very impressive - and perhaps importantly, lag nowhere near as much due to using more efficient routines. And these AIs know how to optimise trade routes so in teams they can manage a very healthy economy.

 

Perhaps the best measure of the new AI is pitting them against the old AI in a non-player match. The new AI can win 5vs1 against the old.

[Lexx]

That sounds pretty cool, tbh. Probably going to check that out at some point in the near future.

[teknoman2]

im almost at the end of unepic and it goes from good to better with every line of dialogue. i also gave a little trial run on divinity original sin that i just got from my ks backing. seems nice but i havent even played it for an hour so i cant make any judgements yet

[Humanoid]

For people without AoE2HD, you can get the same AIs (and indeed, probably more updated versions) here - it's actually a thread about competitive AI building where people compete to program AIs to beat other AIs. The UserPatch is required for most of them, but there's no reason to not use it, since it turns the original game into something like AoE2HD, but better.

 

Apparently of those, Barbarian, The Horde, Khanate, Crusade and Promi are implemented in AoE2HD.

[marelooke]

I've put Remember Me (and the rest of the games I have active playthroughs in) aside for Divinity: Original Sin.

 

I'm having a blast so far, ran into one annoying "issue" where I didn't move forward far enough in the second non-optional fight in the game so the Legionaires stood idly by while I was trying to survive against a bunch of Orcs (and doing a rather terrible job of it at that). Not sure if picking the default characters was such a good idea either, but I'll stick with it for now and see where it goes.

[Bartimaeus]

From what I understand, AoE2HD has the option of picking a 'random' new AI (these AIs are community-developed) or using the terrible original AI. Custom AIs have some hardcoded limitations, e.g. always sending out single monks to pick up loose relics, not being able to attack villagers on sub-moderate difficulties, etc, that can't be overcome by scripting, but in general they're very impressive - and perhaps importantly, lag nowhere near as much due to using more efficient routines. And these AIs know how to optimise trade routes so in teams they can manage a very healthy economy.

 

Perhaps the best measure of the new AI is pitting them against the old AI in a non-player match. The new AI can win 5vs1 against the old.

 

That's awesome. I'll have to try that...and, uh, probably get destroyed because I'm only okay at best. Thanks.

[Malcador]

EUIV game is screwed up as I fell behind in tech somehow. France is facerolling their way to glory, was kind of hoping other EU powers would stop them, but now they've formed some super-bloc with the Ottomans so I have to be very careful else I get stomped. Still, feel it wasn't a bad go for a relatively clueless first game, will have to read more.

[mkreku]

Nice. I was looking at Sacred 2 during the sale, but it never went below 50% and I felt 10€ was too steep for that game. Checked into Steam just now and it's on a daily deal at 80% off (4€). I feel lucky.

 

Installing now.

[Keyrock]

Mario Kart 8, as awesome as it is, and it is awesome, is still a Mario Kart game, through and through, and, as such, delivers some truly infuriating moments.  Nothing makes a man want to rip his hair out more than leading on the final lap of the last race of a cup, about to 3 star it, then getting gang raped by a barrage of blue shell, red shell, green shell, all in the span of about 3 seconds, going from 1st to 5th with nowhere near enough time to recover.  On the other hand, there is serious perverse satisfaction in hitting someone with a shell a split second after they've gone off a jump over a chasm, sending them plummeting to their doom.  I guess you gotta take the good with the bad.  Supposedly, it is possible to escape the wrath of the dreaded blue shell in this installment, though I haven't been able to pull it off yet.  If you have a mushroom and use it to go turbo the split second the blue shell begins to plunge to ruin your day, you can escape it, though it takes insane timing (better timing than I have).  There may be other ways, but it's the only way I know of.

[Humanoid]

You can use the horn item to kill the blue shell too, though of course you're not likely to have that item if you're racing in first place.

[ManifestedISO]

Dammit I want Mario Kart. The last time I played it seriously, there were only red and green shells. The red ones were powerful, like taking acid, and the green ones were milder, like herb. At least that's what I heard. 

 

How is the controller ... I just cringe whenever I see a picture. I'm afraid it would be like holding a big ol' phablet with uncomfy controls. 

[Humanoid]

I was fine using the controller for one or maybe two consecutive grand prix (i.e. 4-8 races), but got kind of tired afterwards. But the game is flexible in its input, you can use a Wiimote, a Wiimote plus Nunchuk combo, a Classic Controller (wired gamepad that connects to a Wiimote) or a Pro Controller. Of course, being a Wii owner meant I wasn't starved for options, but for those without, they're all separate purchases.

 

I think the tablet gamepad has its place, Nintendoland shows off its capabilities well. And while I haven't tested it personally, Wii Sports Club Golf apparently makes great use of it to create possibly the best golf game ever - the tablet acts as your virtual tee with the golf ball displayed on it, and you can actually see your virtual clubhead moving around and making contact with the ball on the screen as you move your Wiimote.

 

P.S. Wouldn't be surprised if Gamecube controller support for Mario Kart was added later, once the adapter thing (slated for release alongside Smash Bros) is released.

[ManifestedISO]

Now we're talking. The only game I have more hours in than Skyrim, is Waialae Country Club on N64. The previous best golf game ever.

 

Dammit now I have to resist the urge to window-shop Wii U's.

[Keyrock]

Dammit I want Mario Kart. The last time I played it seriously, there were only red and green shells. The red ones were powerful, like taking acid, and the green ones were milder, like herb. At least that's what I heard. 

 

How is the controller ... I just cringe whenever I see a picture. I'm afraid it would be like holding a big ol' phablet with uncomfy controls. 

I, personally, find the Wii U gamepad to be surprisingly comfortable.  It's big, very big, but it's also surprisingly light.  The back has some nice molded ridges (not sure if "ridge" is the best description, but it's the best I can think of right now) to give your hands something to comfortably grab on to.  I like it a lot, but your mileage can vary.  Some people find it uncomfortable.

 

And, as Humanoid wrote, there are plenty of other control options available.

[Humanoid]

You can also just use it as a minimap - MK8 stupidly doesn't have a way of showing the minimap on the TV - using the stand to keep it upright in front of you and (or prop it up on the coffee table somehow if you have a Basic model that comes without a stand).

 

Battery life for the tablet is pretty poor, but I haven't found it too awkward to use while plugged in, or alternatively you can buy a larger official battery.

 

 

P.S. I ended up buying a Wii U Pro Controller, which is basically near-identical to an XBox controller (except the buttons and the stick on the right side are swapped). Worth it I think, as comfortable and lighter than the XBox gamepad, and the battery lasts forever (and is rechargeable with a generic mini-USB cable, one is included).

Edited July 3, 2014 by Humanoid

[Keyrock]

Humaniod, how long does it (the Wii U tablet gamepad) last before the batteries run out?  It's uncommon for me to game more than an hour straight, rare to game 2 hours straight, and almost unheard of for me to game 3 hours straight, so as long as it can go 3 hours straight, that should suit me fine. 

 

Also, do you have Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate?  If so, we should do some co-op in the future.  I'm going to get it next week.  Granted, it will take me a while to get used to the game, I'm a total n00b and have only played the demo a few times.  That series is like digital crack in Japan, so I wanted to find out what all the hoopla is about.

[Humanoid]

3-4 hours maybe? Not a problem for a typical gaming session, but could be if you forget to charge between sessions even once. The larger battery is "up to" double the battery life, though probably a bit short considering the labels indicate 1500mAh vs 2550mAh capacity.

 

Comparison image of battery size:

 

 

 

 

I bought MH3U on a whim, never played it and no idea what it's even like, heh.

[Keyrock]

Cool.  3-4 hours is plenty.  The gamepad goes directly back on the charging cradle whenever I'm not using it, so it shouldn't ever be a problem, though it's good to know there are larger capacity batteries available.

[Starwars]

Finished up Year Walk, a game that I got during the STEAM sale. http://store.steampowered.com/app/269050/

 

It's very short, a first-person puzzle game. It's made by swedes, and makes heavy use of swedish folklore which was wonderful I thought. Kinda enhanced the atmosphere for me personally a lot, though I've never heard of the practice of "year walking" before (then again, not many records of it exists according to the game's encyclopedia).

 

The game's main puzzles were mostly fairly simple though one or two had me stumped for a bit. A fun thing is that the game has achievements that are real puzzles in themselves that you don't need to complete the game. Some of these are really hard to figure out I think!

 

It has a neat little story. And you get a pretty big backstory if you finish up the game and then solve a certain puzzle after that.

 

I don't know if I could recommend it at the current price but if it's on sale, it's a neat and creepy little game with a wonderful atmosphere that will keep you entertained for a few hours assuming you like puzzles.

[marelooke]

On level 10 of Legend of Grimrock, damn some of the puzzles are hard. I can't believe that some people played this game and didn't use walkthroughs around some of the puzzles?

 

I suppose I have become lazy when it comes to challenging games

Some of the optional puzzles are really tough, especially since they involve trapdoors and timed switches, so even if you know what to do they can be hard to complete and until you complete them you won't know whether you're doing it right or are just banging your head against a wall. Rather annoying at times (luckily there aren't many of those)

[Oerwinde]

Bought a bunch of Assassins Creed games during the steam sale so I booted up my xbox copy of the first one to play through it. Yipes it gets repetitive quickly. Killed my 4 th target and getting bored. So I booted up AssCreed 2. Soooooo much better.

[Nepenthe]

Bought a bunch of Assassins Creed games during the steam sale so I booted up my xbox copy of the first one to play through it. Yipes it gets repetitive quickly. Killed my 4 th target and getting bored. So I booted up AssCreed 2. Soooooo much better.

 

So let me get this straight. You bought a game on the steam sale and then started playing them on the xbox?

 

[Raithe]

I've been having a slow, steady roll through LA Noir having picked it up.  I'm not being hugely impressed by it, but I'm curious how the story goes. The interrogations are quirkily interesting, but the open world aspect seems kind of pointless since there aren't really any reasons for you to be randomly wandering around since anytime you do get out in a car.. You're meant to be involved in a criminal investigation.

[Oerwinde]

 

 

Bought a bunch of Assassins Creed games during the steam sale so I booted up my xbox copy of the first one to play through it. Yipes it gets repetitive quickly. Killed my 4 th target and getting bored. So I booted up AssCreed 2. Soooooo much better.

So let me get this straight. You bought a game on the steam sale and then started playing them on the xbox?

 

I had the first one for xbox, got it years ago, and bought 2, brotherhood, revelations, and 3 on Steam because they were like $5 each. Edited July 3, 2014 by Oerwinde