What are you playing right now

[Blarghagh]

Yeah, it was developed by fans and was originally a fan Dungeon Keeper 3. It's a valiant effort but it's just not the same. The devs spent a little too much time making sure it was balanced for multiplayer making the creatures and abilities much less outrageous and fun than anything in the original Dungeon Keeper games, which doesn't help the fact that only very few of said creatures and abilities come close to being as iconic as the stuff in the originals. Having a dungeon filled with Goblins, Trolls and Skeletons just fits the fantasy the game is trying to sell much more than having a dungeon filled with "Gnarlings" and "Chunders".

[Gfted1]

My buzz is now suitably harshed.

[Blarghagh]

Don't get me wrong, it's as good a Dungeon Keeper fan-game is probably going to get. It's just got some things holding it back. Later missions where you get access to more iconic creatures, especially vampires and necromancers, somewhat alleviate the problems and the visual style and humor are spot on. It's not bad, it's just not... Dungeon Keeper.

[Fenixp]

Yeah, like all the pieces are there to make it a great game, but War for the Underwold just lacks the charm the originals had. And I'm not really speaking from nostalgia either, considering I played Dungeon Keeper games just a few years ago for the first time. I think the problems kinda lie in it being a rather meticulous remake of Dungeon Keeper 2 with not all that much actually added in. Dungeon Keeper games were brave for their time - this isn't brave. It's pandering. It works reasonably well and I've had a decent amount of fun with it, but it's still... Just pandering.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Fenixp

[Labadal]

Playing Morrowind with some Dota 2 matches here and there.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Labadal

[HoonDing]

SKyrim.

[Orogun01]

Space Hulk: Deathwing

It's **** and i'm asking for a refund.

[redneckdevil]

Forgot how good dying light is. Think it's what I'm needing right now, been awhile since I've been able to look and not realize how many hours have gone by.

[SadExchange]

I took a break after beating the main campaign and just recently started playing the expansion. Probably a couple hours in and man I also forgot how good this game was. Really excited for what comes next from Techland.

[Keyrock]

Dying Light is indeed great.  Speaking of Techland, whatever happened to Hellraid?  I was really looking forward to that, but now I fear it may never happen as it got put on hold and we haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

[Gorth]

Going to finish chapter 9 (last chapter) in the swtor expansion and in Pillars of Eternity, I'm going meet someone who wants to talk to me in the Ducal Palace. My expansions of the keep are coming along nicely too. Haven't seen too many of them, but some of those visitors you get were nice little distractions.

 

 

Edit: Speaking of PoE I made my way to the home of that lordling that decided to hang people in the neighbourhood. Made some roads inwards in his castle, but not sure if I'm supposed to be doing that at this stage in the game or just leave it be until later.

[redneckdevil]

Dying Light is indeed great. Speaking of Techland, whatever happened to Hellraid? I was really looking forward to that, but now I fear it may never happen as it got put on hold and we haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

My understanding was hellraid got cancelled. Had it on my wishlist for the longest time.

[Mamoulian War]

I have started few days ago Alisha's Story DLC for Tales of Zestiria. It is much more dependable on equipment fusion and grinding. Compared to the main game, it is more dungeon crawl than anything else. I play the game on normal and I had to run away from few encounters to stay alive.

[Majek]

U4 survival. Fun times. But damn they put in too many vanity items and by that i meant vanity colors for each skin.  SO 20 characters x  25 different color combinations x N different skins. SOBs. 

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

Edit: Speaking of PoE I made my way to the home of that lordling that decided to hang people in the neighbourhood. Made some roads inwards in his castle, but not sure if I'm supposed to be doing that at this stage in the game or just leave it be until later.

Just go ahead and do that stuff now if you want, it's perfectly fine to do so. In my opinion, a certain dungeon beneath the hangman tree is more challenging early on, well with one clear exception, but I won't spoil anything for you. 

[SadExchange]

 

Dying Light is indeed great. Speaking of Techland, whatever happened to Hellraid? I was really looking forward to that, but now I fear it may never happen as it got put on hold and we haven't heard anything about it in a long time.

My understanding was hellraid got cancelled. Had it on my wishlist for the longest time.

 

Latest I heard from Techland about Hellraid, which was looking really good, was back in March 2016, that the game was on hold, not canceled, but that they wanted to focus their crew on their two main IP's they're currently working on, with one assumingly being Dying Light 2.

 

So they could bring it back, not sure how different it will be.

[GhostofAnakin]

Playing through that dark cave bit in Skyrim during the quest to find Auriel's bow; jeez, what an absolutely terrible level.  I'm just stumbling around in the dark, with no clear end in sight.

 

How did they think this would be fun?

[marelooke]

Yeah, like all the pieces are there to make it a great game, but War for the Underwold just lacks the charm the originals had. And I'm not really speaking from nostalgia either, considering I played Dungeon Keeper games just a few years ago for the first time. I think the problems kinda lie in it being a rather meticulous remake of Dungeon Keeper 2 with not all that much actually added in. Dungeon Keeper games were brave for their time - this isn't brave. It's pandering. It works reasonably well and I've had a decent amount of fun with it, but it's still... Just pandering.

 

Hmm, I'm pretty sure they were avoiding recreating Dungeon Keeper 2 as most fans think it's well inferior to the first game and I'd never have supported them if they'd have aimed to recreate DK2 (which I personally thought sucked. I played it on release and gave up in disgust after a bunch of levels due to it being rather bright, bland and soulless compared to DK1 and just generally messing with the formula in unenjoyable ways. And no, after all these years I don't recall most details except the annoying focus on the Horned Reaper, which was one of the most annoying creatures in DK1, Vampires were way superior and less of a chore).

 

When I tried it during early access it felt pretty DK1 like, which was good, haven't really played it since release though, so yeah, I probably should fix that...

 

Anyway, still mostly playing Forza (Horizon 3 and Motorsport 6 Apex) myself currently.

Edited December 17, 2016 by marelooke

[Malcador]

Playing The Division as it's free. I am not that enthralled by it.

[ShadySands]

Playing The Division as it's free. I am not that enthralled by it.

The fact that I paid for it was the only thing that kept me playing for the week that I did

[Gromnir]

Going to finish chapter 9 (last chapter) in the swtor expansion and in Pillars of Eternity, I'm going meet someone who wants to talk to me in the Ducal Palace. My expansions of the keep are coming along nicely too. Haven't seen too many of them, but some of those visitors you get were nice little distractions.

 

 

Edit: Speaking of PoE I made my way to the home of that lordling that decided to hang people in the neighbourhood. Made some roads inwards in his castle, but not sure if I'm supposed to be doing that at this stage in the game or just leave it be until later.

the lordling in question is a problem for us.  is not a matter o' difficulty-- quite the opposite.  midway through poe we are awash in money, but such is not the case early.  not enough coin early in the game for our needs. there is a solution to our early-game poe pecuniary problems which has us largely ignoring any kinda rp sensibilities: go to lordlings keep and kill everything.  plate armour is valuable, and there is dozens o' potential corpses with plate armour at raedric's hold. one o' the first things we do in a typical poe game is to head to the lordling's domicile and transform it into an abattoir/cash register.  challenge level is relative low and the funds from our personal Project Mayhem keep us well supplied for much o' the early portion o' the game.

 

is not good rp, but is just too ez to resist.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited December 17, 2016 by Gromnir

[Keyrock]

I finished the 8th mission in Shadow Tactics.  It took me well over 2 hours to complete the mission, loved every second of it, even the countless failures.  They keep introducing new mechanics in each mission;  in this mission the new mechanic was puddles, which make noise, giving away your location to anyone nearby, when you pass through them.  I can't wait to see what the next mission has in store for me.

[Vaeliorin]

Playing The Division as it's free. I am not that enthralled by it.

I did the same.  The first couple hours were fun, but once you get to the point that you're mostly just doing side missions and encounters, it's so freaking repetitive and dull.  I quit playing it after just a few hours.

[Tale]

Finished Final Fantasy XV. I give it a PFFFFFFBT.

 

The combat was good, I liked it. The open world was... open. Virtually every single side quest in the entire thing is dull.

 

The main plot looks like someone took an acceptable but not great plot, tacked on an even more generic plot on top of it, then failed to finish either. What we're left with is a plot that only remains coherent due to the simplicity at its core. A few characters are built up to then go missing, the main plot sends you to do stuff that never matters, lots of skipping around, and more than a few things that are simply dropped in your lap.

 

I'm kind of cheating by saying it "looks like," because I'm sure that's what happened. There are leaks about development of the old version and lots of verified cut content.

 

The original plot focused more on the Royal Arms that Noct goes around collecting. In Versus XIII, these were the main plot. In XV, these are just rewards at the bottom of dungeons and completely optional. However, when facing the final boss in XV, the power of these weapons is still used to defeat him, the cutscenes just assume you got them all.

 

The female lead of Versus XIII was Stella, while in XV it is Luna. Stella had the same power to manifest weapons and see the lights of the dying passing into the afterlife that Noctis did. Noctis has this power because of a near death experience. Stella has this power because Noctis accidentally killed her when they were young, and neither has come to terms with this yet. Ravus, Stella's brother, hates Noctis and sides with their enemies to avenge the death of his sister.

 

Luna, on the other hand, is the oracle to the gods. She speaks with them and has a duty to gather their power for the Chosen one, Noctis, so he can have the power to save the world. But in XV, these gods don't do actually contribute to the plot. They don't help fight the final boss, just the royal weapons. They don't even show up after he's dead to say "good job." Ravus still hates Noctis and sides with Noctis' enemies, but his reason is basically that he's mad that Noctis' father didn't save their kingdom when it was attacked by the bad guys. So he sides with the bad guys. This motive is only revealed in the tie-in film. To the developer's credit, this idiotic villain barely ends up appearing in the final game. He dies off-screen.

 

Speaking of dies off-screen, so does every other villain who isn't Ardyn. The Emperor and Verstael are both the next big bad in line and you never see them outside of a single cutscene.

 

All three companion characters have major events happen to them off-screen. Square Enix promises to tell these stories as DLC. But as it stands, they just show up with scars or acting freaked out and never say why. And nobody asks.

 

The inciting incident of this story, the invasion of Insomnia and the death of Regis, were planned for Versus XIII. In XV, they were made into a tie-in movie.

 

 

I kind of regret giving this franchise another chance. It's not a terrible game, it's just a terribly written game that was subsequently chopped up to sell DLC and tie-ins. It makes Metal Gear Solid V look well planned and coherent.

[Bartimaeus]

Finished Final Fantasy XV. I give it a PFFFFFFBT.

 

The combat was good, I liked it. The open world was... open. Virtually every single side quest in the entire thing is dull.

 

The main plot looks like someone took an acceptable but not great plot, tacked on an even more generic plot on top of it, then failed to finish either. What we're left with is a plot that only remains coherent due to the simplicity at its core. A few characters are built up to then go missing, the main plot sends you to do stuff that never matters, lots of skipping around, and more than a few things that are simply dropped in your lap.

 

I'm kind of cheating by saying it "looks like," because I'm sure that's what happened. There are leaks about development of the old version and lots of verified cut content.

 

The original plot focused more on the Royal Arms that Noct goes around collecting. In Versus XIII, these were the main plot. In XV, these are just rewards at the bottom of dungeons and completely optional. However, when facing the final boss in XV, the power of these weapons is still used to defeat him, the cutscenes just assume you got them all.

 

The female lead of Versus XIII was Stella, while in XV it is Luna. Stella had the same power to manifest weapons and see the lights of the dying passing into the afterlife that Noctis did. Noctis has this power because of a near death experience. Stella has this power because Noctis accidentally killed her when they were young, and neither has come to terms with this yet. Ravus, Stella's brother, hates Noctis and sides with their enemies to avenge the death of his sister.

 

Luna, on the other hand, is the oracle to the gods. She speaks with them and has a duty to gather their power for the Chosen one, Noctis, so he can have the power to save the world. But in XV, these gods don't do actually contribute to the plot. They don't help fight the final boss, just the royal weapons. They don't even show up after he's dead to say "good job." Ravus still hates Noctis and sides with Noctis' enemies, but his reason is basically that he's mad that Noctis' father didn't save their kingdom when it was attacked by the bad guys. So he sides with the bad guys. This motive is only revealed in the tie-in film. To the developer's credit, this idiotic villain barely ends up appearing in the final game. He dies off-screen.

 

Speaking of dies off-screen, so does every other villain who isn't Ardyn. The Emperor and Verstael are both the next big bad in line and you never see them outside of a single cutscene.

 

All three companion characters have major events happen to them off-screen. Square Enix promises to tell these stories as DLC. But as it stands, they just show up with scars or acting freaked out and never say why. And nobody asks.

 

The inciting incident of this story, the invasion of Insomnia and the death of Regis, were planned for Versus XIII. In XV, they were made into a tie-in movie.

 

 

I kind of regret giving this franchise another chance. It's not a terrible game, it's just a terribly written game that was subsequently chopped up to sell DLC and tie-ins. It makes Metal Gear Solid V look well planned and coherent.

 

Dunkey had many of the same thoughts as you...even compares it to Metal Gear Solid 5, too. He had a slightly more positive impression of the game, though.

 

 

(...Keep in mind that it's Dunkey, so you're gonna hear a few silly things if you bother to watch this review.)

Edited December 18, 2016 by Bartimaeus