What are you playing now?

[Keyrock]

"As for areas being brighter in Last Light, you know that you can turn off circuit breakers and blow out flames, right?"

 

Uh...but the rest of my criticism was that enemies weren't generally properly reacting to the game being brighter than 2033, not that the game was harder because it was brighter...

Personally, I found that light did have an effect on stealth in LL, at least with human enemies.  In the areas that it took me several tries to get past I found that the times that I didn't bother turning off the lights I was spotted much quicker and forced into a firefight, whereas the times I made the effort and extinguished light sources I had a much easier time remaining unseen and killing off baddies like a shadow in the night.  I never bothered doing much stealth against monsters outside of scripted sections.  The one exception was gargoyles, I generally tried my best to avoid getting spotted for as long as I could, but gargoyles appear almost exclusively in well lit areas (read: outside) anyway, so there's not much I could have done about light against them.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah maybe they should have hired Bioware writers to make the Anna love story better. *cackles*  

 

I agree, Anna going from ''I hate you'' to I ''Love you'' was WTF-quick, but truth be told I've met far crazier people in real life. - And lets be honest, living & surviving in a world like metro would drive anyone on the brink of insanity, a proper love story would have actually made less sense in such a horrible environment. 

Thats not an excuse for bad writing though, but considering this the whole Anna arc is not that bad. 

 

if the game recognized that you, as the player, could possibly think she was crazy and that maybe you didn't want to go along with this nonsense, then it would've been great. But you're not given a choice, and instead the extreme opposite happens.

 

@Keyrock: Obviously light has *some* sort of effect...but my point is, the game seemed a bit brighter in general than 2033, even when light isn't directly shining on you. The Nazi prison room, for example, when you're "stealth" killing the Nazis with your silenced revolver...that room just is NOT that dark, and you're shooting a bloody revolver...and somehow, nobody notices. It seems so ridiculous and immersion-breaking to me.

[Woldan]

Personally I did have no problem whatsoever hooking up with Anna, even if she wasn't completely right in her head. 

[Bartimaeus]

Well, you wouldn't, now, would you? To be fair, I pretty much universally detest all so-called "romance" in all games regardless of context or setting (...because they're done awfully equally universally)...but this specific game was particularly horrifying to me, especially since I liked the first game.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Nonek]

Utterly and hopelessly addicted to Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat. Just managed to lead the Grudgebringers into the besieged Dwarfhold of Zhufbar, a desperate attack on the gates and then a frantic race into their welcoming embrace. Really required fine micromanagement, a lot of daring and the practise of tactics i've been working on throughout. I'm really loving this level of challenge.

 

If Total Warhammer is half as good as this then i'll be more than satisfied, however i'm doubtful.

 

Why the devil have Games Workshop abandoned this great, vivacious setting after thirty two years of development? It boggles the mind, they are sat on a gold mine of creativity and potential that has been utterly squandered, really imbecilic.

[Wrath of Dagon]

From the way Anna ridiculed Artyom she was obviously attracted to him from the beginning, you guys just don't understand Russian romance.

 

Btw, I finished Styx, the stealth system was very well done. The game feels like a AAA production too, except some seams do show, especially later in game.

[Keyrock]

X3: Albion Prelude - Finally got my secondary transport (the Mercury I started the game with) over to my ore mine and assigned it to service the station (buy resources and sell products).  It took a little while for me to get the transport there because it was quite a number of sectors away and I don't have it fitted with a jump drive, plus I had it make several stops along the way to buy and sell wares while I serviced the station manually with my Caiman transport.  Sure, the trip took a little longer, but that transport also made a good bit of profit along the way.  Having a transport fly empty for several sectors is a terrible sin (that's my inner trader talking).  Anyway, my Mercury is now bound to the station, production is in full swing, and I'm off in my Caiman doing trading elsewhere working toward buying another transport and another station.  A couple hundred hours from now, when my galactic trading empire stretches across dozens of sectors and I'm making millions of credits per minute and buying up war ships to build my conquering fleet, I'll look back fondly at this moment.  The moment when my trading empire first truly got off the ground. 

Edited July 22, 2015 by Keyrock

[Bartimaeus]

From the way Anna ridiculed Artyom she was obviously attracted to him from the beginning, you guys just don't understand Russian romance.

 

Yeah, okay, but still only like five minutes of being together, so... Also, if that's true, why wasn't Artyom ridiculing her back? Now that would've actually helped make the entire thing feel a little appropriate...but of course Artyom is a silent protagonist (...outside of the loading screens).

[Cantousent]

The Long Dark is awesome. It's a complete waste of time, to be sure, but I love it. I can hardly wait for the release of story mode. Right now, I alternate between the female and male characters. I tangled with the bear a while back and ended up mangled. I survived, but sadly I decided to harvest the bear before I went back to get warm and rest. Night fell and my character died. This time, I was smart about how I hunted the sumbitch. So, after bagging two bears, and having already crafted the wolfskin coat, the deerskin pants and boots, and the rabbit fur mittens, I'm about one toasty bastard! I've completely explored the Coastal Highway and the Mystery Lake maps. I've seen a lot of the Pleasant Valley map. I don't know how much of the abandoned mine or cave system on the other side of the Carter Dam I've seen because I haven't taken the time to try to map them out. I don't think there's another map than those, but I'll probably shelve the game soon to wait for the story mode later this year.

[GhostofAnakin]

Finished CoD Ghosts single player campaign.  Never really drew me in, so I just finished it because I hate leaving games I've started unfinished.  Plus it wasn't a very long campaign.

 

Of course it ends in sort of a cliffhanger.  Hate when games do that when the sequel isn't for another few years.

[Hurlshort]

So I've been putting a ton of time into my RPGMaker project, and I've got 20+ maps done with all sorts of characters, events, etc.  So I sat down to run through it from start to finish, to get a gauge on the length.  I figure I've put about 60 hours of work into it.

 

It clocked in at 18 minutes.  Making games is hard.  

[Bartimaeus]

Hey, don't worry about it: as the creator, you're sure to have an edge in finishing the levels you've made much more quickly than the average player. Somebody who's never played is sure to spend closer to...oh, maybe 20 to 25 minutes...

Edited July 22, 2015 by Bartimaeus

[Katphood]

 Making games is hard.  

 

 

I wanted to make my own game too. I was thinking of a graphic adventure. Sadly, playing games is one thing but making them is a totally different process.

[Humanoid]

Sounds about right really, just put in more fetch quests and unskippable cutscenes.

[Namutree]

So I've been putting a ton of time into my RPGMaker project, and I've got 20+ maps done with all sorts of characters, events, etc.  So I sat down to run through it from start to finish, to get a gauge on the length.  I figure I've put about 60 hours of work into it.

 

It clocked in at 18 minutes.  Making games is hard.  

I've actually made an RPGMaker game in the past. If it helps the more you use the program the more efficient you become at getting things done faster & better. So, no worries.

 

BTW: Do you create your own resources or do you get them off the internet/initial RTP?

Edited July 22, 2015 by Namutree

[Tale]

Vanishing of Ethan Carter

 

I thought I was on the right trail, but now I'm positive I'm lost.

[marelooke]

Actually enjoying EverQuest 2 quite a bit again. I'm one of those people that always logs off in his character's house so when I loaded the game I was immediately greeted by lots of curio of past exploits, stuff like this sets this game squarely above pretty much every other MMO out there. Of course, not everbody cares about such things, but me, I do, a lot (I also always kept my Tier-gear sets in WoW, for example, even long before you could use them as appearance gear)

 

It's a bit hard to get around without a guild (at least when you're used to having a guild at your disposal) and the same goes for crafting, but figuring out stuff and running into the familiar is good fun, for now at least.

 

EQ2 has quite a few problems though (a terrible graphics engine, extreme top-heavyness, lack of participation of players outside of their guilds and the fact that SOE made the stupid decision to "borrow" some of WoW's worst ideas instead of focusing on what sets their game apart of the competition, which imho is: the ability to really discover things that most people have forgotten about or that just aren't obvious as there's no big ass quest marker to point you the way).

 

There's also talk about cross-server dungeons, which, imho, is a terrible idea (I attribute much of WoW's decline to the cross-realm group finder and the resulting death of realm-communities, combined with a focus on making everything easily accessible to everyone, because, yeah, you can't have hard dungeons if you plop a bunch of random people together in a group, that would only lead to frustration*...)

 

* Blizzard actually tried this with Mists of Pandaria (iirc), the resulting backlash was...well, lots of people quit then. Because the general way groups went was: group enters heroic dungeon, group wipes once, tank says "FU BUNCH OF NOOBS!" and drops group, group falls apart, everybody gets to join the group finder for 2 hours again (not making this number up, it really was that bad for DPS) to find a new group, except for the tank, who is locked out from grouping for 20min (as "punishment" for dropping group), but instantly has a new group after those 20minutes...

 

Net result is that heroics were nerfed into the ground, so the only way to find challenge in the game is to raid (actually raid, not raid finder, which is snoreworthily easy), which takes a lot of time and commitment...

Edited July 22, 2015 by marelooke

[Hurlshort]

 

 

I've actually made an RPGMaker game in the past. If it helps the more you use the program the more efficient you become at getting things done faster & better. So, no worries.

 

BTW: Do you create your own resources or do you get them off the internet/initial RTP?

 

 

I am using RPGMaker 2003 for this first project, so there aren't many resources available (unless you want to manually change them to work in 256 colors.)  But the base stuff fits my project pretty well, so I'm not too worried about that.  I have been getting a lot faster at setting up maps and events, which is very nice.  It's been a fun experience.  I think I'll use RPGMaker VX/Ace for whatever I do next, it has more resources, more flexibility, but is also more complex.  

Edited July 22, 2015 by Hurlshot

[Keyrock]

Vanishing of Ethan Carter

 

I thought I was on the right trail, but now I'm positive I'm lost.

Could it be that the trail has...

 

...

 

...vanished?

 

*crickets*

 

I'll see myself out. 

[teknoman2]

i finished NOX... the last battle gave me cancer. 1 hour of running around chasing a constantly teleporting boss that could randomly one shot me

[Namutree]

 I think I'll use RPGMaker VX/Ace for whatever I do next, it has more resources, more flexibility, but is also more complex.  

 

I was thinking of making another RPGMaker game myself (my old one is long gone sadly). My biggest issue is that with no one to work with I can get bored and quit before I finish. My first completed project I worked on with my friend (though I did most the work).

 

I did manage to finish another project, but it was a small project by design. Really more of a choose-your-own adventure game (similar to "Way of the Samurai", but with JRPG mechanics) than a JRPG adventure.

 

If you're a newbie I would have some advice though:

 

1) Worry more about finishing the project than making every single area perfect; perfecting the game should be AFTER the core game is finished. There are multiple reasons for this I won't get into, but trust me; it's for the best.

 

2) Plan out your story in advance and WRITE DOWN NOTES to keep your story fresh in your memory. It's not good to wing it with major plot events.

 

3) Make a few easy & short puzzles or something to keep things fresh in dungeons.

 

4) I don't recommend random encounters. I usually use patrolling monster groups.

 

I've actually got an RPGMaker itch right now so I'll just start making a RPGMaker game right now. I'll try to actually finish it...

Edited July 22, 2015 by Namutree

[Hurlshort]

I'm actually just using the journal of Cabeza de Vaca to recreate the Narváez Expedition.  It is more about getting the storyline to fit within the game mechanics.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

Vanishing of Ethan Carter

 

I thought I was on the right trail, but now I'm positive I'm lost.

Could it be that the trail has...

 

...

 

...vanished?

 

*crickets*

 

I'll see myself out. 

 

 

I gave you a "like" just so you wouldn't feel bad, Key. 

[Humanoid]

Actually enjoying EverQuest 2 quite a bit again. I'm one of those people that always logs off in his character's house so when I loaded the game I was immediately greeted by lots of curio of past exploits, stuff like this sets this game squarely above pretty much every other MMO out there. Of course, not everbody cares about such things, but me, I do, a lot (I also always kept my Tier-gear sets in WoW, for example, even long before you could use them as appearance gear)

 

It's a bit hard to get around without a guild (at least when you're used to having a guild at your disposal) and the same goes for crafting, but figuring out stuff and running into the familiar is good fun, for now at least.

 

EQ2 has quite a few problems though (a terrible graphics engine, extreme top-heavyness, lack of participation of players outside of their guilds and the fact that SOE made the stupid decision to "borrow" some of WoW's worst ideas instead of focusing on what sets their game apart of the competition, which imho is: the ability to really discover things that most people have forgotten about or that just aren't obvious as there's no big ass quest marker to point you the way).

 

There's also talk about cross-server dungeons, which, imho, is a terrible idea (I attribute much of WoW's decline to the cross-realm group finder and the resulting death of realm-communities, combined with a focus on making everything easily accessible to everyone, because, yeah, you can't have hard dungeons if you plop a bunch of random people together in a group, that would only lead to frustration*...)

 

* Blizzard actually tried this with Mists of Pandaria (iirc), the resulting backlash was...well, lots of people quit then. Because the general way groups went was: group enters heroic dungeon, group wipes once, tank says "FU BUNCH OF NOOBS!" and drops group, group falls apart, everybody gets to join the group finder for 2 hours again (not making this number up, it really was that bad for DPS) to find a new group, except for the tank, who is locked out from grouping for 20min (as "punishment" for dropping group), but instantly has a new group after those 20minutes...

 

Net result is that heroics were nerfed into the ground, so the only way to find challenge in the game is to raid (actually raid, not raid finder, which is snoreworthily easy), which takes a lot of time and commitment...

Cataclysm was actually the peak of WoW dungeon difficulty, and MoP actually went to the other extreme as a result, dungeons were the easiest they'd ever been. WoD dungeon difficulty is somewhere in between, but they've messed it up in a completely different way - there's no longer any incentive to do them because the loot is hopelessly outdated and you can get better stuff easily from solo outdoor content. This was once again an overadjustment, previous expansions had the opposite problem where people felt obliged to run old dungeons that had long been trivial for them to acquire special currencies.

 

You're conflating two separate things with the cross-server thing though. Cross-realm groups in themselves I consider a boon, I can get friends from off-server together to do stuff, that's nothing but positive. The group finder functionality, on the other hand, achieves the opposite of that: everyone you find with it is essentially anonymous, someone you will never meet again, and it kills the social aspect of the game. That said, I'm probably not the best judge of what impact it's had in general because I've been part of the same guild since 2007, a guild I effectively co-founded with people I've played with since 2005, so there's no real need or want to use the tool.

 

A large part of the problem is that WoW just has too many servers relative to its subscriber base, a relic of its heyday when it had close to double its current population. A significant number of people are stranded on these servers, not wanting to pay the fee to transfer to somewhere more populated, and therefore have no option but to use these tools to be able to do any sort of multiplayer content. There's been a sort of band-aid fix applied where realms are "connected", that is, having groups of two or three servers linked so the outdoor zones are shared between them. I suspect they went this route largely for PR reasons, the headlines would look really, really bad if they merged and/or shut down servers like SWTOR did: headlines like "Blizzard closes down HALF of all servers!" would get the suits a bit antsy.

[GhostofAnakin]

Got Killzone: Shadowfall for cheap, so that's my current game.  Way too early to say for certain, but it seems about on par with your typical Halo/CoD sort of game.  I'm a sucker for Sci-fi/space settings, so it's keeping my interest a tad bit more than CoD Ghosts did just because of that.