What are you playing now?

[Humanoid]

Play the first two and then don't play the third at all.

 

In all seriousness, yes, go through in order because the third will likely kill your desire to ever go back if you start with it.

[Jackie_]

mortal kombat      

[Gfted1]

Just 5 short years since its release, I finally got around to starting DA:O (acquired free in some Origin giveaway). Rolled an Elf mage and played through the harrowing up to returning to the circle. I hate the zoom and the graphics are a bit crap but otherwise it seems "ok" so far.

[Bokishi]

Just bought Elite Dangerous, ready to geek out in the space sim again

[Bartimaeus]

Just 5 short years since its release, I finally got around to starting DA:O (acquired free in some Origin giveaway). Rolled an Elf mage and played through the harrowing up to returning to the circle. I hate the zoom and the graphics are a bit crap but otherwise it seems "ok" so far.

 

Yeah...that's one thing that bothers me in these third person "tactical"-RPG games like Neverwinter Nights and Dragon Age...the camera is an absolute nightmare to use in actual tactical combat. Constantly rotating and jumping around as you go from character to character, need to zoom in and out to be able to actually see what you're doing...makes me nauseated. And for some reason, they always make the isometric-style camera unusable in some way...(Dragon Age's was arbitrarily limited in the distance from how far you can move it from your characters, for example - and the range is shorter than enemies can shoot at you, which makes fighting back in a timely manner...difficult).

[Enoch]

Just 5 short years since its release, I finally got around to starting DA:O (acquired free in some Origin giveaway). Rolled an Elf mage and played through the harrowing up to returning to the circle. I hate the zoom and the graphics are a bit crap but otherwise it seems "ok" so far.

 

I guess I'll now have to be a little more spoiler-conscious about my present DA:O game in this thread. 

 

I'm in the midst of the elfy-wolfy ruins, which is one of the points where the game starts to drag, to me. 

 

The relative lack of enemy variety in the game is starting to bug me.  Maybe it's because I'm doing these ruins just after I did the Warden's Keep DLC and the first 2/3rds of the Redcliff questline, but I'm sick of smashing skeletons.  (I'm sure the Deep Roads will get me similarly sick of Hurlocks, too.) 

[Gfted1]

I appreciate the consideration but you don't have to worry about it.

[Enoch]

Well, then I'll add that it bothers me that this is one of the missions where I feel like I have to bring Leliana along.  She's neither my favorite character nor a particularly effective combat build, but there's just so damned much trap-disarm XP available that the powergamer in me needs to have somebody with lots of Deft Hands ranks along. 

 

It's just such an odd design choice-- apart from the initial skill ranks (e.g., mages get a point in herbalism) and roleplaying stuff, Locks/Traps are the only non-combat ability that is locked to a particular class.  It feels like it should be a skill, alongside the likes of herbalism and persuasion, but it's a Talent for some reason.  And, to top that off, they limit the party size to 4 and give the player only 2 Roguey NPC options, neither of whom is immortal and only one of whom starts out with any points in Deft Hands.  Oh, and unlocking and disarming gives meaningful XP on use. 

 

It's as if they realized that their Rogue class design was lousy late in development (while a well-built melee Rogue isn't, an archer certainly is) and flipped a previously-universally-available skill to a class-specific talent to compensate. 

Edited December 16, 2014 by Enoch

[Malcador]

Fiddling with mods for GTA 4, rather shiny now, even if the night sky box is broken. Also finding it interesting how many shots civilians can take and not die.

[GhostofAnakin]

Still on my second play through of Dragon Age: Inquisition, playing as a warrior.  After this play through I might give the MP a shot.  If it's boring, I'll probably move along to Far Cry 4.

[Tale]

Playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, but the Shadow of Mordor DLC is supposed to come out today and I might take a break for that.

 

On the other hand, I am almost done with my first playthrough of DAI...

[Lexx]

New Rome 2 dlc is out. Started a new campaign yesterday, will probably continue it on weekend.

[cid]

dungeonmans and tactics ogre (psp remake)

[Keyrock]

Still playing The Talos Principle, 20 hours and counting.  I could likely have finished by now if I wasn't trying to get ever sigil and star and without using any hints.  As it stands, I'm almost certainly more than halfway done, but still have a ways to go.  Some of the puzzles are fiendishly difficult, especially getting the stars.  The biggest problem is finding some of the stars.  Of the ones I haven't collected yet, at least half are due to the fact that I simply can't find them, much less collect them.  I refuse to look up a walkthrough, though.  The whole point of a puzzle game is figuring things out on your own.  There have been puzzles that had me stumped for half an hour, which I gave up on temporarily, returned to, tried for another 10 minutes, gave up again, returned again, then finally had my breakthrough and solved it.  I will figure everything out on my own if it kills me. 

[Humanoid]

My one-month renewal to WoW expired yesterday, and as the single-player content is uncompelling as ever, I'll leave it alone for now, will try another month next year once people are back from holidays to check out what's happened in the raiding scene over the last couple years.

 

With less than a week before I leave for holidays myself, I'm going to avoid any big commitments like Wasteland 2 or XCOM Long War which I've been wanting to (re)start for a while, and just mess around with The Sims 4. Holiday period itself will likely be a whole lot of co-op local multiplayer gaming, so not doing any of that yet either.

 

Incidentally, new Sims 4 patch just released earlier today, couple new careers which were inexplicably mission obvious inclusions - being Business and Athletics - plus some other minor things. At this rate it'll be worthy of being the new title that it is in 6-12 months. (There's also a free Holiday Celebration Pack DLC but it's just fluff)

[Labadal]

I completed Scribblenauts Unlimited and Torchlight II. I think that makes it 57 beaten games for the year. I have lost count. I still think I can make it to 60 beaten games before years end. My backlog is still bigger than any previous year. I will take it slow with game purchases next year and finish a lot of the games I already have in my collection.

[Keyrock]

 I will take it slow with game purchases next year and finish a lot of the games I already have in my collection.

I've thought the same thing to myself several years going now.  It hasn't worked out exactly like that any of those years for me. 

[marelooke]

Played through the Warden's Keep content in my DA:O game.  First time with this DLC, and I found it underwhelming.  Some nice loot, I guess, and I appreciate the effort that went into the backstory, but the gameplay was pretty brief and more-of-the-same from the base game. 

 

I've done the Circle Tower and 2/3rds of the Redcliffe questline (order restored, but Eamon still sick).  I've also visited Denerim and picked up/completed a few minor quests there.  (And it really bothered me that I couldn't properly warn/threaten/kill the operators of the Pearl for hosting that anti-Grey-Warden honeytrap.)  But I got a reminder about what a pain in the neck those inner-city random encounters are, and I have no real desire to fight another half-dozen of those anytime soon.  So I'll stick to the countryside for the time being.

 

Some of the sidequest content has reminded me how sharp the difficulty swings can be in this game.  I cruise through the demons and undead on the main-quest missions, but checking up on some lost caravan in the woods takes me 2 reloads to avoid a full-party wipe.  (I ended up with 0 civilians saved, and Sten and Wynne lying in the dirt.)

 

Probably going to see the Dalish next.  Not sure what order I should do the Urn and Orzammar after that.  I'm going to hold off on Return to Ostagar until I have Loghain the party.

 

 

I thought most of the DLC for DA:O were pretty meagre, content-wise. Especially when compared to the ones for Fallout 3 (which was released around the same time iirc)

 

I'll be wrapping up Dragon Age Inquisition soon. I'll play Mass Effect 3 next. Should I play the first two before this?

I would strongly recommend playing them in order if it's your first play through of the series, though if you dislike the Mako in the first game I'd also recommend skipping the optional missions that use it (you know, the mineral fetch missions on random planets, though a very few of them do have somewhat interesting content

 

Like the one related to the orb you can get from the Consort

 

)

[LadyCrimson]

I noticed Frontiers is now Early Access on Steam. Has anyone tried this? I've been looking at it for a while now, waiting and waiting...if they manage to make the open world interesting, it sounds up my alley re: more focus on exploration/other rather than combat or stat/skill focus rpg.

[Bos_hybrid]

I'm pretty sure I've got dummer over the years because Elite seems bloody hard.

 

Or I just suck using K&M controls. Probably a bit of both, but enjoying it immensely.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Bos_hybrid

[Labadal]

Playing New Vegas. Dead Money DLC. Collars are annoying but in general, I do like it.

[teknoman2]

i just finished Risen 2. they really tried to do something too big for a small studio and it backfired, just like gothic 3. it is overall a decent game, but the feeling i got throughout was that they tried to include too many "ingredients" in a small pot and ended up putting in too little of each. and talk about anticlimactic final battle... in the first game it wasnt much better, but at least you had to cross a mega dungeon to reach it. here you arrive at the place, kill 5 enemies, walk up some stairs and you are in the boss' room (and the boss is not harder to beat than any humanoid enemy... doesnt even have any special attacks, its just a regular sword fight)

[Keyrock]

i just finished Risen 2. they really tried to do something too big for a small studio and it backfired, just like gothic 3. it is overall a decent game, but the feeling i got throughout was that they tried to include too many "ingredients" in a small pot and ended up putting in too little of each. and talk about anticlimactic final battle... in the first game it wasnt much better, but at least you had to cross a mega dungeon to reach it. here you arrive at the place, kill 5 enemies, walk up some stairs and you are in the boss' room (and the boss is not harder to beat than any humanoid enemy... doesnt even have any special attacks, its just a regular sword fight)

Anticlimactic yes, but I'll take that over Risen 1's endgame.  That mega dungeon, as you put it, was pure tedious torture, as far as I'm concerned.  I hate the endgame of Risen 1 with a passion.  I found it so excruciating that I wouldn't wish it upon my enemies.

[Gizmo]

Splinter Cell, Eye of the Beholder 2, Menzoberrenzan; DragonAge:Origins; Wasteland 2.

[teknoman2]

 

i just finished Risen 2. they really tried to do something too big for a small studio and it backfired, just like gothic 3. it is overall a decent game, but the feeling i got throughout was that they tried to include too many "ingredients" in a small pot and ended up putting in too little of each. and talk about anticlimactic final battle... in the first game it wasnt much better, but at least you had to cross a mega dungeon to reach it. here you arrive at the place, kill 5 enemies, walk up some stairs and you are in the boss' room (and the boss is not harder to beat than any humanoid enemy... doesnt even have any special attacks, its just a regular sword fight)

Anticlimactic yes, but I'll take that over Risen 1's endgame.  That mega dungeon, as you put it, was pure tedious torture, as far as I'm concerned.  I hate the endgame of Risen 1 with a passion.  I found it so excruciating that I wouldn't wish it upon my enemies.

 

what i liked about the dungeon is that it presented a chalenge for all the hard earned combat experience you (with the controls) and your character (levels, skills, spells) have gained durring the rest of the game. in 2, from the moment you get a musket and a couple of related skills, you can kite the world, final boss included

now im off to start bioshock infinite

Edited December 18, 2014 by teknoman2