What are you playing now?

[Luridis]

A nice lore dump in Trespasser. A lot of good info even though I didn't really care for the story. Well maybe that's not exactly true, it's more that I didn't really like where they took it. Was hoping for more political stuff and some things unfold without much input from you for plot reasons.

 

Also, looking like Dragon Age Next may be in Tevinter

 

You don't care for the story... I didn't either, until I thought about it for a while and read between the lines a little. Consider that he may be an unreliable narrator. A lot of what he says does not coalesce with established lore, with what Justinia said, nor with things he has said before. Lastly, consider the being he is known to be in established lore. I find a lot of what he says dubious at the very least.

 

To give an example of the devs doing this... If you started with different characters, in the first part of the game when you can ask Varric where he got Bianca, he will have different answers. On one of mine he said he found it in a junk barrel in the black emporium. For another, he said he won it in a card game.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Luridis

[Starwars]

I'm pleasantly surprised by the amount of depth in Renowned Explorers: International Society.  At first the game seemed pretty casual, but there are a lot of different skills and effects and moods and interactions with moods and abilities that can give you advantages or disadvantages.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a super deep strategy game, but it's definitely a lot more nuanced than in looks on the surface.  Mostly it works because it's goofy and doesn't take itself seriously.  I mean, any game that lets me impress monkeys with magic tricks can't be all bad.

 

I'm pretty interested in that, might have to get it soon.

 

I'm playing through STASIS at the moment. It didn't amaze me quite in the way I wanted to (so far at least) but then again I was pretty hyped up about it. But it's good. Sound is fantastic. The jump-scares so far takes away more from the atmosphere than anything though unfortunately.

[Tel Aviv]

Metal Gear Solid V. Witnessed a truck driver plow into a soldier, killing him instantly. The driver then got out, took a good look at the soldier's corpse and reported it to his buddies as though I was responsible. I know this is probably just a design oversight but I like to think that the driver was purposefully trying to cover his ass.

[BruceVC]

 

I'm pleasantly surprised by the amount of depth in Renowned Explorers: International Society.  At first the game seemed pretty casual, but there are a lot of different skills and effects and moods and interactions with moods and abilities that can give you advantages or disadvantages.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a super deep strategy game, but it's definitely a lot more nuanced than in looks on the surface.  Mostly it works because it's goofy and doesn't take itself seriously.  I mean, any game that lets me impress monkeys with magic tricks can't be all bad.

 

I'm pretty interested in that, might have to get it soon.

 

I'm playing through STASIS at the moment. It didn't amaze me quite in the way I wanted to (so far at least) but then again I was pretty hyped up about it. But it's good. Sound is fantastic. The jump-scares so far takes away more from the atmosphere than anything though unfortunately.

 

I have this game but I haven't played it yet

 

I am keen for your feedback and overall opinion as its the first South African game developed in South Africa by local people 

 

And we aren't known for gaming development 

[Hurlshort]

Picked up Renowned Explorers at the recommendation of Keyrock, it is a nice break from all the serious games I have on my docket.  

[Malcador]

Diablo 3 still, though the arm and wrist pain is getting to me. Pretty much done my s4 character, not much room for upgrades (or luck for that matter...).

[Keyrock]

Man, Renowned Explorers: International Society is really hard.  I think I might have to back down the difficulty.  The default difficulty for the game, which is the 3rd of 4 difficulty levels, so basically "hard" is really difficult.  The goal is to do 5 expeditions, I've never gotten past expedition #3 in 3 attempts so far.  I've never even come close to beating the final encounter in my 3rd expedition, I've gotten MASSACRED every time I've gotten that far.  I think they overdid it for default difficulty.  It's cool a difficulty level like that exists (there's one above it too  ) but to make that the default is pretty sadistic.

 

Over in X3: Albion Prelude, I almost have my Split Tiger frigate fully equipped.  I have maximum shields, all my turrets filled, and I managed to get 3 Incendiary Bomb Launchers so far.  I found a IBL forge in a pirate sector and paid a Paranid tech on a station a sector away to hack its computer so that it will no loger be hostile to me.  They had 3 IBLs for sale, so I scooped them up right away.  Now I need to supply the forge so that they produce some more IBLs for me.  The forge is actually well stocked on ore and energy cells, what they lack is space fuel, an illegal whisky.  Pirates gotta drink, I guess, you can't expect them to make bomb launchers when they're sober.  Even with just 3 IBLs I can do serious damage.  I obliterated a corvette (granted, a less than fully equipped one) in less than 5 seconds.  It felt good.  Once I have the full 8 IBLs, it's going to be on like a pot of neckbones.

Edited September 13, 2015 by Keyrock

[GhostofAnakin]

Finally, after something like 12 tries, I was able to beat that one racing level in Mad Max.  And I only beat it because I fluked out with one shot of the thunderpoon that caused a huge pile up and didn't allow the bad guy to move, allowing me two free shots at him before he finally got around the pile up.

 

I can't see myself replaying this game because of that one mission.  You don't notice how badly the car handles when you're randomly driving around the wasteland and it doesn't matter if you spin or wipe out.  But when you're in a race and every time you hit a wall you go spinning out of control, or every time you turn left and try to correct it you end up spinning out of control, it becomes obvious how bad the handling is in this game.

[Nonek]

For better handling I always stripped down armour and the more cumbersome additions to the Great Work, it improved considerably handling wise though at obvious cost.

 

There is something so very attractive in clearing a room in Max Payne, bursting through the door in a leap of faith, blasting thugs between the eyes and turning mid air to target the next opponent until coming to rest in the patchy carpetting while all your foes collapse around you. It is very satisfying, and really needs a replay option.

[Labadal]

Played Satellite Reign for almost 12 hours. It's a great game but I am not very good at it and I give up. What I did manage to complete was really fun, though.

[GhostofAnakin]

For better handling I always stripped down armour and the more cumbersome additions to the Great Work, it improved considerably handling wise though at obvious cost.

 

I tried a whole bunch of different setups.  No matter what variations of armor/tires/etc. that I used, the thing handled like a car on ice.  In any case, it's not much of an issue for 95% of the game since you don't need to be a great driver (or a precise driver) for the majority of the main missions, just that one.  It was just enough to piss me off to no end.

 

One thing I have to say playing through the main story.  Max really is a jerk.  Like, if this were a RPG (which I understand it is not), I'd be screaming at how much the devs made my character a complete jack off and how I had no way to not be such an unlikable character.

[Keyrock]

Max ain't exactly a nice guy in the movies either.

[GhostofAnakin]

Max ain't exactly a nice guy in the movies either.

 

Eh, it's just the delivery of his actions.  In the movies, I always saw him as a reluctant hero.  He'd be gruff and tell people off at first, but if he saw someone in real danger he'd usually end up jumping into the fray.  In this game, he pretty much takes a "not my concern, now bugger off" attitude even in situations where he'd reluctantly help out in the movies.

[Shadow_Arms]

Playing warhammer 40k: space marine again

 

exterminatus and capture points classic are full of people again =D

[Keyrock]

I'm nearing the end of Crookz- The Big Heist, the story mode, anyway.  I like the game a lot and I enjoy the challenge, though it is maddening at times, but there is one thing that really rubs me the wrong way in the game, the explosives mechanics.  So there is a level I just did and there was a guard near a camera console that I wanted to turn off.  I had neither the tools nor skills to knock him out nor sneak past him, so my only options were forget about the camera console or try to distract him to pull him away from his post.  I didn't have a noise maker, which would have been ideal for the situation, so I decided to try improvising.  I had explosives on me, they make a bunch of noise, so I figured they'd make a good distraction.  You can't set explosives just anywhere, like on the ground, it needs to be used on an appropriate object (e.g. door, safe, cracked wall), so I decided to set them on the door to the room where the guard was, figuring it would pull the guard away to investigate, then I'd sneak another person past him to disable the console.  It would have worked, except...

 

Let me pose a multiple choice question:  If you were setting explosives to blow up something, after planting the explosives and setting the timer/lighting the fuse, would you?

 

a) Run for cover

b) Stand right next to the explosives and wait for them to go off

 

The characters in Crookz choose option b.  You cannot move until a second or two after the explosives have gone off right next to you and destroyed whatever object.  So, in my scenario, the explosives go off, the guard immediately turns looks through the hole where the door used to be and spots my character.  *sigh*

Edited September 14, 2015 by Keyrock

[GhostofAnakin]

Finished the Mad Max story.  It's laughable how easy the final boss "fight" was compared to that stupid death race at the end of chapter 3.  It's like the person doing the first one got fired because of how over the top difficult he made that part, then was replaced by someone who didn't want to make it even the slightest bit difficult.  There was no happy medium between the two: near impossible and finishing with your eyes closed.

 

As much bitching as I've done about it lately, overall it was a solid game.  It was fun driving around the wasteland doing the various missions/tasks, hijacking various enemy vehicles, and melee combat with hordes of psychos.  The main story was kind of ... odd.  And chapter 4 ended up being a real downer.  Solid game that I enjoyed playing once, but doubt I'll touch a second time.

[Katphood]

Rayman: Origins

 

It's a lot of fun. Easy to jump in but hard to master.

[Darkpriest]

Playing warhammer 40k: space marine again

 

exterminatus and capture points classic are full of people again =D

 are they? DAMN i need to get into the game again then

[Keyrock]

I'm up to 6 IBLs on my Split Tiger frigate now, still 2 short of the max, but my ship is now ready for serious combat.  To prove the point, I took on a combat mission to defend against a Xenon invasion in Scale Plate Green.  The invasion consisted of a Q, a frigate and the largest and most powerful Xenon ship that ever leaves Xenon sectors, and 7 or 8 fighters of varying sizes.  I cut the Q to shreds in 2 passes then mopped up the fighters.  Easy peasy and lucrative to boot.  The mission itself paid almost 1 1/2 million, plus I got paid for each kill since I have a Teladi police license (I have one for every commonwealth race).  Fighters pay chump change for kills (5 thousand for heavy fighters, significantly less for light fighters and scouts), but the frigate was worth nearly half a million.  Nearly 2 million for less than 5 minutes worth of work.  Good times.

 

Meanwhile, I have a transport servicing the IBL forge in LooManckStrat's Legacy to keep it producing IBLs for me.  I need 2 more to max out my Tiger, but I'll also need more in the future, since I plan to buy/capture more frigates for my fleet.  IBLs take a long time to produce and the forge is located in pirate space, so it's a dangerous area to fly in, that's why I'm using a military transport to do the job.  The freighters original job was to service my frigate, since large ships like frigates, destroyers, carriers, etc. (basically anything larger than a heavy corvette) cannot dock at most stations, they are simply too large.  So it is necessary to have a smaller ship dock with those stations for you, buy whatever wares you need, then fly over to the frigate and dock with it to exchange goods.  I picked a military transport for the job since, while it has significantly less cargo space than a regular transport, it is faster, more well armed, and, most importantly, much better shielded.  If it's going to follow my frigate around, while I'd do my best to keep it out of harm's way, it would be bound to catch some stray fire at some point, so strong shielding would help out quite a bit.  These properties also make it the perfect transport to operate in pirate sectors without needing a fighter escort.  That transport has a jump drive, so, in a pinch, I can have it jump to me to service my frigate, then jump back to the IBL forge and resume its duties there.  Conversely, I have jump drives on my frigate, corvette, and 2 of my heavy fighters.  The military transport can handle itself against light fighters and scouts, but if it gets set upon by heavy fighters and/or corvettes looking for a juicy score on a lone transport, suddenly a wild frigate appears.

 

I'm also pondering a trip into Yaki space with my frigate and corvette in tow.  If the Yaki play nice and leave me alone and allow me to dock at their stations, then I see if they have any IBLs for sale (I'm pretty sure there's at least 1 IBL forge in the core Yaki sector) and buy them if they do.  If they decide to get aggressive, then I blow them up and see if they drop some IBL freebies for me.  There's almost certainly a Yaki Akuma destroyer in their core sector, easy pickins for my Tiger as the Akuma is a rather lightly shielded destroyer and one that is fantastic at shredding fighters and small warships, like corvettes, but lacks the anti-capital ship firepower of other destroyers.  The trick to fighting an Akuma is to keep it facing you, as it has tons of broadside turrets, but only a scant 4 forward facing guns.  It's easy enough to do with a Tiger frigate, as I can easily outrun and outmaneuver an Akuma.  Even if it is one of the fastest destroyers out there, my Tiger is still almost twice as fast and can turn way quicker.  So, all things considered, it would be in the Yaki's best interest to play nice and let me conduct my business in peace.

[GhostofAnakin]

BioWare's just getting worse as a developer.  I went ahead and got the Trespasser DLC, but I can't access it.  It doesn't show up anywhere on the war table even though in the quest journal it says to go to the war table to access it.  So now I'm stuck unable to play it.

[Amentep]

Are you in a game you've finished?  Isn't it only playable from a post-game save?

[Keyrock]

I got my 7th and 8th IBL for my Tiger, now it's at full firepower.  I've also hired the full 20 marines that the ship can carry and begun training them for future boarding operations.  I'd like to capture a destroyer at some point, any destroyer, I don't much care which one.  I'll never buy one because I think they're a waste of money; for the same price as a bare bones destroyer straight from the shipyard I can buy 2 frigates and equip them fully.  Sure, if you park a frigate and destroyer side by side and have them trade cannon fire, the destroyer will win, but I like having a mobile fleet and destroyers are so slow and cumbersome.  I just want a destroyer to park in whatever sector I choose to make my home sector (i.e. wherever I place my HQ), more as a message than anything else, a show of force, puffing out my chest, if you will.  It tells anyone entering my home sector to be nice and keep their fingers far away from the trigger, because if shots are fired in my sector, whether or not they're looking for trouble, trouble is going to find them.

 

Meanwhile, I built another solar power plant and converted it to crystal-less, that makes 3.  I'll need at least a couple more before I scoop up another Tiger and a couple Panthers (The Split Panther frigate is the sister ship of the Tiger.  The Tiger is a pocket destroyer while the Panther is a pocket carrier).  At that point I should have a decent enough economical machine to fill up the hangar bays of the Panthers at a reasonable rate (the Panther can carry 20 fighters).  I should also get back to doing the shady business plot missions so that I can get the Acinonyx Prototype heavy corvette, my ultimate flagship.  I now have a ship (my fully equipped Tiger) capable of doing the final parts of the plot where I will need to take on destroyers.

 

Also, sometime in the future, once my marines are well trained, I'm going to start doing unfocused jumps (I was given an unfocused jumpdrive as part of the HQ plot) in hopes of stumbling across a Goner Aran.  The Aran is one of the weirdest ships in the game and it can't be found in any of the regular sectors, you only might stumble across one by chance in an unknown sector you reach by doing an unfocused jump (it literally jumps you to a random part of the galaxy).  The Aran is technically a carrier, but it is really more like a station...  a station that can move, albeit very very slowly.  The Aran, like any Goner ship, mounts no weapons, but it is very well shielded, has the largest cargo capacity of any ship, by far, and can carry corvettes in its hangar bay, a feat unique among carriers.  It can also dock capital ships, though only one at a time.  With its massive cargo capacity, the Aran can serve as a mobile supply station to a fleet.  Fit it with a jumpdrive, stock it full of energy cells and various missiles, then jump it into the sector where you're waging war and have it move to some out of the way corner of the sector (it will take a good while to get there).  In a prolonged battle your ships can fly to the Aran, dock with it, and get resupplied, rather than having to take the time to jump or fly to another sector to do so.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Keyrock

[Lexx]

Finished MGS5 after playing it for 77 hours. Menu tells me I completed 53% of it- most of the rest is boring unlockable stuff, which I most likely won't bother with.

 

The story is... well... let's say it didn't impressed me at all. Besides, it felt cut-off (which I now found out might be, because they've cut the third chapter for whatever reason) and still many questions remain. Also - while I like the idea of some of the missions being available with different rulesets (total stealth, etc), I totally hated this mission recycling in chapter 2. Yet another element that makes the game feel rushed and forcefully prolonged.

 

It's a shame, because otherwise the game is pretty good. Just feels like it could be even better... I mean, damn. What about a little more variety in the enemy setup? I haven't seen a single surveillance camera except once in one of the mentioned recycled missions. Or the drone cameras, which you can develop by yourself for your FOBs. Or why is there only trucks and jeeps on the roads in freeform game mode? There is one mission / cutscene where you see a truckton of russian tanks and other assets--- never anywhere else in the game you see this many enemy vehicles. Also, why can't I deploy with my snatched walker gear? Only because I have this stupid D-Walker buddy? Bleh...

 

I could see some DLCs being done for this game, especially due to its open mission structure, but sadly this probably won't ever happen now with Kojima gone....

 

 

tl;dr - game is good, but some things make me angry the way they are, because they easily could be much better.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Lexx

[Labadal]

I'm almost done with Fallout 2. I only have the final stretch left, which should take me 1 hour tops to complete. I played with the restoration mod for the first time and there were some cool stuff that I hadn't seen before.

[GhostofAnakin]

Are you in a game you've finished?  Isn't it only playable from a post-game save?

 

Yeah.  It eventually showed up, but only after I re-downloaded the DLC, and re-loaded the save game multiple times.

 

Played a bit of it today.  It's ... okay ... so far.  Maybe the luster has just worn off on me for Dragon Age as a whole, which might be affecting my ability to sink into the experience.  Traveling through the eluvians is just kind of boring to me.  Reminds me way too much of the fade sequences in DAO in the mage tower.