The "What are you playing?" topic.

[Azathoth]

It is 15, so all the paedophiles/lolicon lovers, can fap and say "come on, she is 15!"

15 = teenager. Pedophilia refers to prepubescent children, commonly below 13. You wouldn't happen to think of 50 year olds as "young women", would you?

[Beskar]

It is 15, so all the paedophiles/lolicon lovers, can fap and say "come on, she is 15!"

15 = teenager. Pedophilia refers to prepubescent children, commonly below 13. You wouldn't happen to think of 50 year olds as "young women", would you?

Erm, we are talking about a girl who looks and acts 6. 6 year old is a child. I was saying they would use the age of 15 as a excuse.

In otherwords, you are just stating the point I was making.

[Azathoth]

Well, alright. I haven't actually played any of these console JRPGs, and I didn't realize.

[frogbeastegg]

:balloon: This balloon is to celebrate my having reached the point where Star Ocean is said to improve dramatically. I have a full party, all of the crafting skills, the abilities I need to begin ubering up my party, and freedom to roam about doing oddles of side quests.


I know many female gamers who are into that whole femine males/yaoi stuff. (Also cat girls too?)
Yes, there's a small subset. Much like men who'd love to see a romance between the two Gears of War main characters. It's a varied world out there.

[Meneldil]

I know many female gamers who are into that whole femine males/yaoi stuff. (Also cat girls too?)

Tbh, almost all the female gamers I know (which admitedly is not a whole lot, gaming is still seen as completely nerdy and almost completly male-related in France) are into that kind of thing. Plus they're almost all goth and/or emo-wannabe.

[Prussian to the Iron]

the female gamers ive met online (nazi zombies and halo 3 ftw!!!) are almost always like 16-20 ish and are pretty normal. occassionally you'll find a really nerdy girl who act really creepy and try to say memes through their round-the-world retainer, but thats very rare.

i actually got a chance to play against a girl my age at a little friendy tournament thing on the marine corps base a few minutes away; she beat me by like 2 points...then shot a death star at me the next round. it kinda made me sadfaic.


but yeah i hate those girly-men and animal-women mixes. make me wanna puke.

[Decker]

I've only met one girl online and that was playing a sniper mod in CoD2.

And right now... I'm playing Daggerfall which I got for free at The Elder Scrolls website. Took me about a few hours to get out of the starting dungeon and right now I'm just wondering around the main city :dizzy2:

[johnhughthom]

Nice, I struggled to get Daggerfall to work, and when I eventually did I couldn't get the character to look up or down so I kept getting killed by rats nibbling my toes! How has it been so far, would you recommend giving it another shot?

[Prussian to the Iron]

i tried getting it to work on my XP; wouldnt work. kept saying something about settings being too high.

[Decker]

Nice, I struggled to get Daggerfall to work, and when I eventually did I couldn't get the character to look up or down so I kept getting killed by rats nibbling my toes! How has it been so far, would you recommend giving it another shot?I had the same problem initially in getting my character to look around but I just hit escape and fiddled with the controls till they worked alright for me. And well... after wandering around the initial dungeon it gets better haha (I had the tutorial going to get used to the gameplay, it also helps you get to the right area to start the main quest or whatever else you want to do after you get out of the dungeon.) So in short, yes I would definitely suggest you give it another shot! :2thumbsup:



i tried getting it to work on my XP; wouldnt work. kept saying something about settings being too high.Did you already have it on CD or did you download it? Also did you get the DOSbox as well? There should be instructions on the download page for it that you can follow: Daggerfall Instructions (http://static.bethsoft.com/downloads/games/daggerfall_legal_and_installation.pdf)

[Azathoth]

I once tried playing Elder Scrolls Arena with DosBox, but quit almost immediately. It's just too damn big. Even the smallest towns are 1:1 scale, and I didn't even explore the whole place because most of the buildings are identical and I kept getting lost.

Is Daggerfall like this?

[Decker]

I once tried playing Elder Scrolls Arena with DosBox, but quit almost immediately. It's just too damn big. Even the smallest towns are 1:1 scale, and I didn't even explore the whole place because most of the buildings are identical and I kept getting lost.

Is Daggerfall like this?

Yeah I heard Arena is HUGE! Though incredibly randomized meaning the game isn't hand-made like Morrowind or Oblivion hence its randomization and all. And Daggerfall... I think the quests are "randomized" to an extent, meaning you'll come across the same type of quest randomly generated where ever you are visiting and so are the dungeons so each dungeons is unique to an extent as well, but they can also be pretty good (especially the ones from the main story are supposedly quite good). I believe most of the larger towns are not as bland(ish) as Arena but I have not been able to play and explore much due to midterms/school so I cannot really say atm :shame: But it's worth a definite look if you are really interested in play The Elder Scrolls :2thumbsup:

[CountArach]

Scribblenauts may be the greatest game ever. Just throwing it out there.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Did you already have it on CD or did you download it? Also did you get the DOSbox as well? There should be instructions on the download page for it that you can follow: Daggerfall Instructions (http://static.bethsoft.com/downloads/games/daggerfall_legal_and_installation.pdf)

the DL from bethsoft. unfortunately, i did their stuff step-by-step. maybe a game from 1996 is too much for my computer capable of running M2 at highest settings and Oblivion at somewhat high settings as well. grr

ill try it again on my vista, but somehow i dont think it will work.

[Decker]

the DL from bethsoft. unfortunately, i did their stuff step-by-step. maybe a game from 1996 is too much for my computer capable of running M2 at highest settings and Oblivion at somewhat high settings as well. grr

ill try it again on my vista, but somehow i dont think it will work.

Hmmm... and you've tried running it in the DOSbox? I really do not think that should be a problem however :inquisitive:

And did you download the DOSbox 1.73 update for Windows?

[Prussian to the Iron]

oddly enough, vista got it to work.....

arena refuses to install though now

[naut]

Trying EB v1.2, I never got round to updating from v0.6 until now. Impressed by all the tweeks and professional look. :thumbsup:

[frogbeastegg]

I finished the main story of Star Ocean this morning. There's a boatload of post game content and I haven't decided whether I can be bothered with any of it or not. I guess I will do some since a lot of it ties into stuff I have already done.

Whoever wrote the story doesn't understand the concept of evolution - I can't tell you much about what the plot was droning on about other than that. They'd got the concept completely backwards which meant that the whole 2 hours of cutscenes at the end were a load of erronious gibberish.



I'm also playing Risen, the xbox version. More dabbling and toying around with than playing, really, while I wait for the patch which is promised to fix a couple of display issues. It's hard to play an RPG when the text is so tiny you can't read it unless you halve the distance between yourself and the TV :sweatdrop:

[Veho Nex]

Star ocean. Hmmm... thats the one where the main characters are like video game characters with the ability to go real right? If it is I remember playing it wayyyy back in the day.

I kinda liked the characters you could get and no matter how hard I tried I don't think I ever got all the characters.

[frogbeastegg]

Star ocean. Hmmm... thats the one where the main characters are like video game characters with the ability to go real right? If it is I remember playing it wayyyy back in the day.

I kinda liked the characters you could get and no matter how hard I tried I don't think I ever got all the characters.
There are 4 games in the series. The first was originally on the SNES IIRC and has a PSP remake. The second was originally a PS1 game IIRC (I didn't play either back in their day; not sure they even came to Europe) and also has a PSP remake. Number 3 came out on the PS2 and it's famous plot twist is the video game bit you refer to above. None of the other 3 mention anything related to it. Number 4, the one I was playing, is currently on xbox 360 with a PS3 port in the works.

And after dabbling my toe in the waters of post game content I've decided I am not going to bother with it - it's all based around the concept of "Do this boring thing 1,000 times to get rewards which would have been useful if they'd been given out earlier!" Fight your way to number 1 in the colosseum (100 battles total) for team and again for solo, clear this massive dungeon with loads of battles and bosses, clear this other random massive dungeon with loads of battles and bosses, win the lame bunny race on the highest difficulty 100 times, go back to all of the areas you completed and find the handful of chests you weren't allowed to open then while fighting loads of battles with enemies which are now over 80 levels weaker than you, make hundreds of different items for absolutely no reason at all other than completing your data logs, perform hundreds of arbitrary and stupid tasks in battle in order to get battle trophies which do nothing, slog around farming item drops in order to fill side quests ... I have better things to do with my time.

[Veho Nex]

Ohhh, I never knew there was more than one. I went to look for the game and case and found out it was just called "Star Ocean: Till the End of Time" Never knew there were any more.

[Azathoth]

You would have been better off waiting for the PS3 version, Frog. They basically made a beta for the 360 and then massively improved it for the PS3; its gonna have A LOT more content.

[frogbeastegg]

Hmm. Played some more Risen and I think I shall have to stop until the patch arrives; the microscopic text makes things like inventory management and conversations extremely difficult. At the current rate I'm going to go blind squinting and straining to make out words.

I started the Dead Space game on the Wii in co-op with my boyfriend so I suppose I shall finish that now. It's a far better game than I'd expected; I might do a review topic once I'm done.


Ohhh, I never knew there was more than one. I went to look for the game and case and found out it was just called "Star Ocean: Till the End of Time" Never knew there were any more.
For some reason they don't put numbers in the names. To make matters more confusing the two PSP versions received different names to the originals. Using the PSP names the series goes:
Star Ocean: First Departure
Star OCean: Second Evolution
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

In terms of storyline Hope is the first in the series, followed by Departure and then Evolution. Time is the final one. Evolution and Departure are considered to be the best, Time is a love or hate game, and Hope is 50% good and 50% staggeringly stupid decisions.

The 'Tales Of ...' games are very similar to the Star Ocean series, although they are made by different companies. If you like one series you'll like the other.


You would have been better off waiting for the PS3 version, Frog. They basically made a beta for the 360 and then massively improved it for the PS3; its gonna have A LOT more content.
IMO one of its problems is that it's got too much content, resulting in a lot of it being very samey or repetitive, or just taking forever to get what should be a simple thing achieved. Beta's much too harsh; it's undoubtably a finished game, just a flawed one. The major problems are things which can't be fixed with a special edition: voice acting, plot, characters, pacing, Lymle (:gring:), and so on. Other problems, like the camera and stupid party battle AI, could be fixed, though with all of the other problems remaining it wouldn't be enough to pull the game out of mediocrity.

Now the Tales of Vesperia PS3 version, that one I'm very interested in! It one looks to build on what's right with the game instead of extending what's wrong.

[Prussian to the Iron]

they have Dead Space on Wii??!?!?!? and here I am like a dork closing all my windows at 1:00PM tryin to play it on PS3.......

co-op? that sounds weid for a horror game like Dead Space. almost like playing Batman: Arkham Asylum with co-op.

[frogbeastegg]

they have Dead Space on Wii??!?!?!? and here I am like a dork closing all my windows at 1:00PM tryin to play it on PS3.......

co-op? that sounds weid for a horror game like Dead Space. almost like playing Batman: Arkham Asylum with co-op.
Yup, Dead Space: Extraction, an on-rails lightgun style shooter which works a lot better than it sounds like it should. I just posted a review (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=2351787#post2351787). It's a very good game and one of very few wii titles I'd recommend. If you like Dead Space then you'll like Extraction.



Now I've completed Extraction I'm at a bit of a loss for what to play next. I shall return to Risen as soon as that patch appears and I'm expecting my imported copy of Demons Souls to arrive sometime this week, so I don't want to start anything that involved. Maybe Batman: Arkham Asylum or Metroid Prime 2: Echoes ... or maybe I'll not bother with games for a few days.

[Prussian to the Iron]

my uncle got Arkham Asylum, and he said it scared the s*&^ out of him. he loves it, and most of the reviews i've read are good.

but im still workin on Dead Space, and with Cod MW2 out next month, I'll be busy for a few months.

[naut]

my unlce got Arkham Asylum, and he said it scared the s*&^ out of him. he loves it, and most of the reviews i've read are good.
It's really short.

[Zenicetus]

There is a new demo out for the (critically panned) Wolfenstein game from last summer. I tried it, and bought the game on a whim. If they had released a demo when the game came out, they might have sold a few more copies on release. Anyway, it's a slow gaming month.... most of what I'm looking forward to has been pushed into next year (Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2), and I wanted something brainless to fill a few hours.

Wolfenstein is a pretty good brainless shooter. You know the drill... run around, shoot Nazis over and over, and this time with a few magic powers that reveal hidden doorways and can slow down time. It's Call of Duty within an Indian Jones plot line. You're supported by local resistance fighters who fight alongside you occasionally, but you're mostly on your own. There aren't any RPG elements except for weapon upgrades through black market vendors. The graphics are serviceable; nothing special but it runs smooth as silk at 1600x1200 on my older PC (with newer video card), and that's mostly what I look for in a shooter. No major bugs, so far. I hear it's a short game -- maybe 8 hours if you rush through it -- and it's still selling at full price. So unless you're desperate for a few hours of shoot-em-up, it's probably better to wait for it to go on sale on Steam or one of the other outlets.

Note: the demo shows the start of the game, but the content has been hyped up to show things you don't actually see until later in the full game, like a few special powers and one of the mid-level special bad guy types.

[Decker]

Just started Oblivion with the GOTY but it CTD (game just stopped working) before I could even get out of the starting dungeon :shame:. If this persists I may just play Daggerfall and AGEOD's American Civil War until I get a better a graphics card (despite the game running without a hitch up the point it crashed:inquisitive:...unless it's another problem :dizzy2:)

[frogbeastegg]

I'm playing Demons' Souls and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Both very good games, though very different.

[Meneldil]

HoI2, with both expansions.

Can't say I really like it. As France, I spent 1 years supporting the Republicains in Spain through trade (how come I can't join them in the war?). Then I spent 2 years modernizing my army and building lots of Somua-35 and B1-bis. Germany invaded an annexed Poland in 3 days. I declared war, and then the game turned into an annoying micro-management hell hole. This is the second time I try to do something with HoI2, and the second time I find myself overwhelmed by all the fights going on at once. I can't figure out whether I'm winning or losing, as there's about 15 "Victory/Defeat" messages poping-up per minute.
And I'm only fighting on one front of roughly 6 provinces (actually, only in France and Germany, as neither Italy nor the Belgium/Netherlands joined the fight). I can't imagine playing with the US, USSR or Germany, and having to deal with Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and what not.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

HoI2, with both expansions.

Can't say I really like it. As France, I spent 1 years supporting the Republicains in Spain through trade (how come I can't join them in the war?). Then I spent 2 years modernizing my army and building lots of Somua-35 and B1-bis. Germany invaded an annexed Poland in 3 days. I declared war, and then the game turned into an annoying micro-management hell hole. This is the second time I try to do something with HoI2, and the second time I find myself overwhelmed by all the fights going on at once. I can't figure out whether I'm winning or losing, as there's about 15 "Victory/Defeat" messages poping-up per minute.
And I'm only fighting on one front of roughly 6 provinces (actually, only in France and Germany, as neither Italy nor the Belgium/Netherlands joined the fight). I can't imagine playing with the US, USSR or Germany, and having to deal with Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and what not.

To be fair, that's probably how the French government at the time felt, too.

(But I couldn't figure out HoI2 anyway, wars in Vicky are confusing enough)

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

HoI2, with both expansions.

Can't say I really like it. As France, I spent 1 years supporting the Republicains in Spain through trade (how come I can't join them in the war?). Then I spent 2 years modernizing my army and building lots of Somua-35 and B1-bis. Germany invaded an annexed Poland in 3 days. I declared war, and then the game turned into an annoying micro-management hell hole. This is the second time I try to do something with HoI2, and the second time I find myself overwhelmed by all the fights going on at once. I can't figure out whether I'm winning or losing, as there's about 15 "Victory/Defeat" messages poping-up per minute.
And I'm only fighting on one front of roughly 6 provinces (actually, only in France and Germany, as neither Italy nor the Belgium/Netherlands joined the fight). I can't imagine playing with the US, USSR or Germany, and having to deal with Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and what not.

Trust me, you get used to it eventually.

[Monk]

With the untimely death of my 360 I've been forced to contemplate my future in gaming, it's been a great year for my xbox and although I may eventually return to console gaming in the future (namely when i have the money to replace my poor 'box) I've returned to PC gaming. You might ask what the first thing I did upon coming back to it, well, bought Mass Effect for PC of course!

That's right. I enjoy that game so much that when it was denied to me I bought it a second time. Mainly because the sequel is coming in Jan and I'm unsure if I'll be securing another 360 before then. So to be on the safe side, i grabbed ME-PC off of steam. Need to get my canonical Shepard back! :skull:

Aside from that I checked out the Left 4 Dead new mini-DLC, Crash Course. I was unimpressed. It feels a bit like Death Toll in its pacing, although nowhere near as memorable. The biggest highlight for me was all the new dialogue they recorded for the survivors, but that can only amuse me for so long. Versus on CC is pretty engaging but other than that, it feels a bit like it's too little too late. Bring on the sequel, i guess. :shrug:

[Noddy The Beefy Egg]

Playing EU3 and Vicky.

[Prussian to the Iron]

With the untimely death of my 360 I've been forced to contemplate my future in gaming, it's been a great year for my xbox and although I may eventually return to console gaming in the future (namely when i have the money to replace my poor 'box)

what happened to the xbox? red ring of death? cuz they fix that for free.

[Monk]

what happened to the xbox? red ring of death? cuz they fix that for free.

E74 Error indicating a general hardware problem*.

More specifically the DVD-drive has failed completely. It was being finicky about reading disks all week and finally it died, once and for all. I looked into getting a replacement but all signs point to "more trouble than its worth".



*About as helpful as having a "Problem" light if you ask me.

[Prussian to the Iron]

i'd reccomend calling them. youre not gonna lose anything, and it costs nothing, even to ship it, to get it fixed if it is their fault, which it sounds like it is.

no use in not trying right?

[Monk]

i'd reccomend calling them. youre not gonna lose anything, and it costs nothing, even to ship it, to get it fixed if it is their fault, which it sounds like it is.

no use in not trying right?

Sorry, i've long since voided my warranty. You can read about my adventures (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=119450) in the Hardware-Software forum. :grin2:

I've been working inside and tinkering with this thing since July, I am thoroughly tired of it and just don't want to mess with it anymore. It's one of the early model 360s that has long since been outpaced by the newer parts released in today's xboxes. Fixing this thing again, well, i'd be buying time at best until something else broke in it.

If I ever venture back into the world of the 360, i'll just buy a new one with the fancy new chipsets.

[Prussian to the Iron]

you dont need a warranty. they will fix any errors caused by the internal workings of the xbox itself (like their parts making the disc reader break) as long as you have not tampered with it. that voids it and you would have to pay for that.

i think it just got a reduction though. wiat till day after thanksgiving if you wont try calling them id say. reduced prices.

[Beskar]

I am playing Eufloria.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Playing EU3 and Vicky.


I am playing Eufloria.

those were informative. if you only have a sentence than please dont post it, or make it longer. like tell use what you think about it so far, what games you are anxious about, etc.

[Csargo]

those were informative. if you only have a sentence than please dont post it, or make it longer. like tell use what you think about it so far, what games you are anxious about, etc.

:laugh4: Google is your friend.

[CountArach]

those were informative. if you only have a sentence than please dont post it, or make it longer. like tell use what you think about it so far, what games you are anxious about, etc.
Since when was that a rule? :inquisitive:

I'm re-playing a bit of FEAR when I get the time.

[Hooahguy]

just finished my 1,000th game of Worms2. how i find the time to do that between guitar and school i have no idea.

[Prussian to the Iron]

:laugh4: Google is your friend.

thats not my issue. the issue is 1-sentence posts that contain no information. they are spamming the thread with a few word posts. hooahguys last post was not spam, he said something else too.

[al Roumi]

Come on... the title of the thread isn't "what are you playing and why?", although it does strike me as a little odd that people would simply broadcast their activities with no comment. Then again, I'm hardly up on the the whole Tweeter thing.

I'm crunching through Fallout 3. I had a level 18 char which I'd been playing off Live!, so when I got the Broken steel add-on, I was unable to carry on with that character! For the last 2 weeks I've been playing a new Live! character and last night finally got back to the point I had been before... Only thing is I hope i'm still interested enough to stay engaged -my on-off "relationship" with CIV4 is calling me back...

[naut]

my on-off "relationship" with CIV4 is calling me back...
Hehe. I get the same, it's good, but frustrating.

[Csargo]

thats not my issue. the issue is 1-sentence posts that contain no information. they are spamming the thread with a few word posts. hooahguys last post was not spam, he said something else too.

While agree with alh_p it is a bit odd. AFAIK it's not against the rules to just post what you're playing and nothing else. So they've done nothing wrong and you shouldn't tell them not to post in this thread.:book:

[johnhughthom]

While agree with alh_p it is a bit odd. AFAIK it's not against the rules to just post what you're playing and nothing else. So they've done nothing wrong and you shouldn't tell them not to post in this thread.:book:

Especially when the games mentioned all have their own threads in the Arena.

[frogbeastegg]

This thread is for you to tell people what you're playing. How much or how little you say it up to you; a description of some sort or some thoughts is preferable but not required. Some games don't require much of a description, after all.

[johnhughthom]

Playing through Deus Ex again, I have heard people claim you can complete it only killing Navarre and Hermann, has anybody managed to do this? I usually play without killing any NSF, after that I have to kill to get past most levels. Going to give it a shot this time.

[Beskar]

those were informative. if you only have a sentence than please dont post it, or make it longer. like tell use what you think about it so far, what games you are anxious about, etc.

I created a topic, respond to that.

[johnhughthom]

Playing Risen, I haven't played a really good RPG since Mass Effect and couldn't wait for Dragon Age for an RPG fix. It's very like the Gothic games (same developer) but I'm actually finding it more immersive, I got bored of the Gothic games pretty quickly.

[naut]

Trying out some custom maps for L4D with some friends. Anyone with L4D, download a custom map called Suicide Blitz, awesome map.

[frogbeastegg]

Finished Batman. All secrets found, the big mystery solved, maxed upgrades, all goons knocked unconscious, all plants uprooted, etc etc.

While overall it was a very good game I found the last 1/5 dragged; I didn't have much fun after entering the gardens for the first time. They started making things awkward for the sake of being awkward at that point IMO, permanently blocking routes so you had to take lengthy detours or making you fight enemies in such tight spaces that the camera couldn't keep Bats in view reliably. Would it be too much to ask for the pathways which became blocked for plot reasons to become properly unblocked so you don't have to crawl through vents or take detours once you've solved those rooms? Secret hunting in sandbox mode after defeating the last boss was less enjoyable than it should have been for this very reason. And the storyline section in the sewer was awful! Very dull, very reliant on doing the same three things over and over.

I haven't done many of the predator or combat challenges. Playing a few soon proved that they weren't my cup of tea.

That all sounds very negative. The game was so good that the aspects I disliked stood out more strongly. I'd say the game's an 8/10 on the frog scale. Sequel please.

[pevergreen]

DDO.

[Gregoshi]

DDO.
D&D Online?

I just ran through the tutorial quest last night. Takes a little getting used to the controls and such.

[naut]

Civ 4: Colonisation. Haven't touched it in ages. I finally understand the concepts involved now, (it's the sleep deprevation, I'm not slow :wink2:).

[al Roumi]

Civ 4: Colonisation. Haven't touched it in ages. I finally understand the concepts involved now, (it's the sleep deprevation, I'm not slow :wink2:).

Have you patched that? I played the released version and it was a great disapointment. The patch is meant to have fixed some of the broken mechanics.

[frogbeastegg]

I spent the afternoon playing the Tropico 3 demo. Great fun, completely cheesy and a nice city builder to boot.

So much fun that I decided to buy the game, in fact. It's listed as available now on Impulse and there's that 20% off code; perfection I thought. I pop the game in my basket and head for the checkout only to be told that I can't buy it because I'm in the wrong location. Why bother to list the game for me in the first place then?! Why not do as everywhere else does, and say it's not out yet? :wall:

:eyes the Tropico reloaded pack on direct2drive for £9.95 ...:

[Prussian to the Iron]

played the haze demo. its ok; a little too one-sided though:

all the rebels are teenage-like, and all the nectar soldiers behave like football jocks on steroids at a frat party. gets a little annoying, even in just one mission.

[naut]

Have you patched that? I played the released version and it was a great disapointment. The patch is meant to have fixed some of the broken mechanics.
Yep. The very first thing I did was patch it. Having read the reviews I made sure I did. :2thumbsup:

It supposedly fixes most, but not all.

[Beskar]

I am playing "The Witcher" going well so far.

The UI feels kind of console like and I wish quests were organised better.

The combat system/movement system is ok, but I would have like a more freeform one, also where you could use a gamepad.

[Prussian to the Iron]

goin back to the classics:

Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2. I've wasted so much of my life on these 2 games; no reason to quit now :D

[Hooahguy]

speaking of classics:
im playing Empire Earth, from 2001. a very standard RTS thats plays like any other, but its huge in terms of its scope.

back then it was the pinnacle of 3D graphics.
since then there have been 2 other EE games, both of which were horrible compared to the original. the 2nd and 3rd were dumbed down in terms of units and tactics but more complicated in terms of options, like the tech tree and crowns and native tribes. EE3 just put it down to an even dumber level. the first EE was obviously the best.
heres the good things about EE compared to EE2.

1) aircraft have fuel times, which restricts flights and you actually need to plan out your attacks and aircraft carriers have a use. in EE2, there is no flight time, making the concept of aircraft carriers utterly pointless.

2) many types of units for land, sea and air. in EE2 and 3, theres a very little amount. one type of fighter and 3 types of infantry and tanks compared to in EE, wheres theres about a dozen types of infantry, 4 types of fighters and the like.

3) gameplay is actually fun. on hard, the AI buulds up its forces not too fast but fast enough that you can steamroll them. even when you have a huge force you can still loose your entire force quite quickly. in my current game, i sent a huge number of tanks and arty, with air support- including A-10s, fighters, B-2 bombers and B-52 nuke bombers. and i still got crushed. multiple times. and usually i do very well with RTS games. but here the are actually smart. if you attack with aircraft, they divert other aircraft to intercept, and if need be, they will land to refuel first before taking off again to intercept. if you send infantry, you can be sure they will counter with fighter bombers, MGs and snipers. with tanks, you can be sure there will be A-10s filling the skies above them. ah what a great, fun game.

4) battles are actually fun to watch and very interesting, whereas in EE2 battles are dull because all it is, at least in the modern ages, missiles flying at each other. and there are ICBMs which cant be shot down which, if you save up enough uranium, can quickly end the game. and mobbing works in EE2, even on hard, where in EE1 it doesnt even on medium.

5)naval battles, especially in the WW1-2 ages are very fun to watch- revolving guns are a lot of fun and the ship sinking animation is also great. pity that in EE2 the ships just explode and disappear.

the only disappointing thing in EE1 is there are no faction-specific units and the only differences between nations besides the stats are the color of the units. but its not such a bad thing, i can easily live with it.
man, i love EE.

[Prussian to the Iron]

i had to re-buy that a little while back. i considered downloading it, but i just bought it.

still a great game! i perefer it to AoE honestly.

[Meneldil]

EE was indeed a great game, though the whole Paper/Scissor/Rock gameplay was kind of dull and annoying.
The first 2 or 3 eras were kind of useless too.
The fact that the main point of the game was to rush to the last age also kind of made most of the game pointless. Most players would build dozens of walls and towers and then go straight to the last available era :-/

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Well, the later ages were the coolest. :P I only played it single player and generally messed around in the gunpowder eras. Some of the campaigns were pretty cool, too, but they got devilishly hard.

[Meneldil]

Yeah, the Mech eras were fun. But it kind of sucked that whenever you tried to attack someone in the middle of a game (during middle-age or renaissance), by the time you would gather a decent army, your opponent would have discovered two more ages, making said army pretty much useless (that is, against decent players).

The campaigns were cool too, yes. I kind of was like "wth?" when I invaded Britain as Nazi Germany, but the last one is really great, with the Russian dictator conquering Europe and China with his awesome Mech warriors.

[Tony Furze]

Hello All,

I'm normally in one of the upstairs forums, and that some time back now. Since the demise of my favourite total War game MTW VI, I've sortof lost heart.I have both Rome and M2TW but I just can't get on with them. I've yet to try out Barbarian Invasion and Alexander, but they're supposed to be more difficult (?)

So here's where I m going and have been: X Com UFO Defense , Starcraft, Civ 3.

nothing fills that "hole".

Interested to see the comments on EE since I have a copy of that + exp. somewhere.

Frankly, newer games are a disappointment.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Just bought The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind GOTY edition. just noticed a giant gold box laying around in Best Buy. I'd always heard really good reviews about it, and being a prequel to oblivion meant that i was bound to like something in it.

I would absolutely reccomend this game to anyone. Un-modded, I am having great fun with it. a couple major drawbacks:

-Lots of boring missions. An example would be just going into this mine and killing 2 ex-miners stealing from it. after killing 3 rats in a house. I'm not saying I hate the missions, I just don't really like how pointless or easy lots of them are. However, I'm still very early on, and I've heard that they get much better as time goes on. i can only hope :D.

-No non-city fast travel. its really annoying, especially when trying to get to little villages repeatedly. if there were horses, i could excuse this. lack of horses makes me sadfaic though.

-Very little voice acting. in Oblivion, everyone who said anything was voice acted. however in Morrowind, the only voice acting (besides a few important parts of the game) is greetings, nothing more than "Hello, Outlander" and then a wall of text.


Some major positives:

-Skills make tons more sense. If you are good at using a longsword, that doesnt mean you are necessarily good at using tantos or knives.

-Dwemer(dwarven) ruins are much easier to find, and have more of a draw than Ayleid ruins in Oblivion. you're just kinda walking, and than all of a sudden there is this giant tower and ruins in front of you, and you think "Hey imma check that out!", whereas in Oblivion, it was like "oh hey another one. whatever if i want to come back ill fast travel back to it.

-Tons more stuff to do. I love freeing slaves and joining this slave-freeing guild. ive heard it leads to abolition of slavery in the region, which would be really cool.

-no Adoring fan. this is enough to trade out the 2 games.



i might do a review if i get some time tomorrow.

[Hooahguy]

Yeah, the Mech eras were fun. But it kind of sucked that whenever you tried to attack someone in the middle of a game (during middle-age or renaissance), by the time you would gather a decent army, your opponent would have discovered two more ages, making said army pretty much useless (that is, against decent players).

The campaigns were cool too, yes. I kind of was like "wth?" when I invaded Britain as Nazi Germany, but the last one is really great, with the Russian dictator conquering Europe and China with his awesome Mech warriors.
thats why you turtle until the last age. :smash:
personally i stick with the modern age. helis and nukes FTW.

[frogbeastegg]

After finishing my first Dragon Age: Origins playtrhrough I have started another as a dual-wielding city elf rogue. Much more fun and flavoursome than my original human mage run.

I'm starting Tropico 3 today. After last minute release delays and some slow postal service it's finally turned up.

[Prussian to the Iron]

After finishing my first Dragon Age: Origins playtrhrough I have started another as a dual-wielding city elf rogue. Much more fun and flavoursome than my original human mage run.



how is it? i'm thinking about it, but ive never played one of their games before and the commercial offers very little.

[frogbeastegg]

how is it? i'm thinking about it, but ive never played one of their games before and the commercial offers very little.
The DA:O gameplay thread offers a lot of spoiler free impressions from people here so it would be worth a look.

The easiest comparison is to other Bioware games, so if you haven't played any of them it's a bit harder to describe; Bioware and the studios which have worked with them dominate the list of western style RPGs. The Witcher or Drakensang are the two most recent non-Bioware games that I can think of to compare it to. If you've played and liked either of them then you probably will like DA:O.

It's got decent RPG character building, some great companion characters with excellent dialogue, a passable fantasy tosh storyline, and a large world to explore. It's challenging, and not for everyone. You've got to have patience, and be willing to watch your party get splattered and then try again with a new approach. It takes ~40 hours to finish the main plot, and it's worth playing through more than once because you can't see everything with just one character. There are two ways to end each part of the main quest for a start, and different reactions for male and female player characters. You're going to spend a lot of time in dialogue screens, listening to conversations.

I like it, for all that I seem to be complaining endlessly about it. Better than Baldur's Gate II, not as good as my ruling favourites Planescape: Torment and Mass Effect.

[Monk]

how is it? i'm thinking about it, but ive never played one of their games before and the commercial offers very little.

Where have you been? There's nine pages of wonderful exposition on gameplay mechanics and overall impressions in the Dragon Age thread!:book: I think it is safe to say that the .Org got bitten by the Bioware Bug as my steam friends-list was filled with Orgahs playing Dragon Age over the last week or so. It's been insane.


I like it, for all that I seem to be complaining endlessly about it. Better than Baldur's Gate II, not as good as my ruling favourites Planescape: Torment and Mass Effect.

I would agree, this game is no Mass Effect but I had (and still have!) great fun in it. I'm nearing the end of my second playthrough and am considering a third once that's done with. :sweatdrop:

[Crandaeolon]

I'm playing DA:O too, despite the weak initial impression it has grown on me. At first I disliked the apparent simplicity of the combat and the dialogue system was a step back from Mass Effect, but after opening up the ability tree a bit the combat has become somewhat more interesting. (Not particularly difficult, though, maybe I should ramp up the difficulty from Normal.)

[Prussian to the Iron]

Where have you been? There's nine pages of wonderful exposition on gameplay mechanics and overall impressions in the Dragon Age thread!:book: I think it is safe to say that the .Org got bitten by the Bioware Bug as my steam friends-list was filled with Orgahs playing Dragon Age over the last week or so. It's been insane.


i dont usually check the arena. i was talking about that commercial, where the girl is behind a rock, she shoots one guy with a bow and its 2 others, and then at the end the guy twirls and hits the dragon with his sword.

the commercial is so un-informative, i thought that it was like vikings vs magic people :P

[Xiahou]

I like it, for all that I seem to be complaining endlessly about it. Better than Baldur's Gate II, not as good as my ruling favourites Planescape: Torment and Mass Effect.I find that it reminds me a lot of the first NWN game. :yes:

I'm also playing the New Super Mario Bros on the Wii- the coop mode is a welcome addition. The video game snob in me didn't like the new "play it for me" option, but one can appreciate it once you realize that it allowed Nintendo to make a difficult 2D platformer without turning off the casual market. The game is definitely no cakewalk.

On the DS, I've taken up SMT: Devil Survivor (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/us-debut-shin-megami/45206). The plot hasn't really grabbed me yet, but the combat keeps me coming back for more. And as always, the soundtrack is pretty unique. :2thumbsup:

[Fragony]

The DS is rocking way too much lately. But here there is a new one coming up and and nintendo is known to completely abandon their systems, hope it is a rumor.

[Prussian to the Iron]

didnt they just come out with the new DS, the DSi? we are usually pretty high-tech people (I do not currently own any system older than a year and a half old) and we still havent got any of those!

[frogbeastegg]

I've started Assassin's Creed II. It's very good, very much Assassin's Creed 1 minus the worst flaws. Lots more variety, lots more freedom, and the plot is building strongly on the ending of the first game. I'm dawdling around Florence hunting treasure, doing side quests, buying equipment, and enjoying the scenary. Now and then I return to my villa and place some new expansions so it brings in more money for me.

Surprisingly the game's quite funny too. Ezio's uncle is called Mario. Guess what he said when he met his nephew? That's right, "It's-a me, Mario!". The manual is packed full of sly digs at the things Ubisoft know they got wrong last time, little character notes from Lucy which demand fixes to 'bugs' with the animus in order to get rid of effects like dying when you fall in water and the visual glitching effect on the HUD.

[Monk]

I've started Assassin's Creed II. It's very good, very much Assassin's Creed 1 minus the worst flaws. Lots more variety, lots more freedom, and the plot is building strongly on the ending of the first game. I'm dawdling around Florence hunting treasure, doing side quests, buying equipment, and enjoying the scenary. Now and then I return to my villa and place some new expansions so it brings in more money for me.

Surprisingly the game's quite funny too. Ezio's uncle is called Mario. Guess what he said when he met his nephew? That's right, "It's-a me, Mario!". The manual is packed full of sly digs at the things Ubisoft know they got wrong last time, little character notes from Lucy which demand fixes to 'bugs' with the animus in order to get rid of effects like dying when you fall in water and the visual glitching effect on the HUD.

Argh! That sounds amazing. I loved the first, and from what I am hearing (from here and other palces) the second is even better. Why must the PC version be delayed? Why! ~:mecry:

Currently: Dragon Age is still seeing attention as is the new addition to my library Left 4 Dead 2. I'm also considering giving Mass Effect another go, I still haven't redone a canonical play-through since I lost my 360 last month.

[Xiahou]

The DS is rocking way too much lately. But here there is a new one coming up and and nintendo is known to completely abandon their systems, hope it is a rumor.They're (inexplicably) going to be releasing a DSi XL. Apparently, it has a larger screen and a wider viewing angle to make it easier for others to look on. I say "who cares?" I don't see any reason to buy it....

Regardless, it's not going to cause the abandonment of the DS/DSi.

[frogbeastegg]

Argh! That sounds amazing. I loved the first, and from what I am hearing (from here and other palces) the second is even better. Why must the PC version be delayed? Why! ~:mecry:
Wasn't the PC port of the first game meant to be dreadful? I hope for your sake the second is better. :sweatdrop:

If you liked the first you will love the second. It's enough of an improvement that people who didn't like the first might enjoy AC2. Amazingly it retrospectively makes the first game better by explaining a bit more background, and builds the crumbly story into something much more robust. I would like to replay the first game in light of what I have learned in the sequel's opening hours, I'd see it with new eyes. This is going to be a trilogy in the truest sense of the story-telling word.

I have to add a word of praise for the voice work too. The first game had quality voice acting and the second is no different. All of the major characters are voiced by the same people. The Italians in Ezio’s time all speak with what sounds like a decent accent, and frequently characters will break into fluent Italian for several sentences. There’s also an option to play with all of the dialogue in Italian with English subtitles. Unfortunately this affects the modern day sections as well.

They have fixed all of the issues I can remember having with the first game except the madman/beggar character who homed in on you, got in your way and bothered you endlessly. This time it's a minstrel who sings in your face. I hates him with the power of a thousand fiery suns, oh yes I does.

Thus far I have found only three niggles. Two of those might resolve themselves with further play as I become more accustomed to the set up. The first is eagle view; this time around it makes the entire screen dark and cloudy except for enemies, targets and objectives. It's impossible to see where you're going so toggling it on to stalk your prey is not helpful.

The second is the health system; Ezio does not regenerate health. On the one hand that's good as it makes chases tense, on the other it's a nuisance when he doesn't land a jump as you want and you take a long fall. Having to plod off to spend money on healing disrupts the flow. As doctors are everywhere and you can carry a small number of health potions it's more of a chore than a limitation. There are some potion capacity upgrades for sale so once I pick those up and stop hording my money to spend on income increasers it won't be so bothersome.

The third is the new notoriety system. So I picked some pockets and no one noticed I did it yet I instantly gain notoriety? And because I climbed a building? And because I killed a single guard where no one could see or even find his body? Then to get rid of it I have to tear down posters located at numerous locations around the city. More chores, and a limitation on doing fun stuff that doesn't always make sense. The points aren't applied evenly either; sometimes I gain points for climbing and others I don't. Usually I don't gain points if it's a busy area, backwards as that seems. I am probably doing something wrong.

I do miss Altair's illogical 'hold A while walking to look inconspicuous' ability. Sneaking up on guards and setting up fun stealth kills is so much harder without it.




They're (inexplicably) going to be releasing a DSi XL. Apparently, it has a larger screen and a wider viewing angle to make it easier for others to look on. I say "who cares?" I don't see any reason to buy it....
The XL isn't aimed at healthy young things like ourselves. There's a huge DS market for older people in Japan. The console's mainly intended for them, to make it easier for them to see the screen and make stylus use a bit more forgiving. I suppose it's also good for people with naturally bad eyesight, or who have difficulty problems with their hands or fine coordination.

I don't know if we will see the DS XL in the West. It's possible, there are a lot of older people with DSs here too thanks to titles like brain training.

[Monk]

Wasn't the PC port of the first game meant to be dreadful? I hope for your sake the second is better. :sweatdrop:

I haven't played the PC port of the firstl, but I heard both good and bad things about it just like the original product. It's rare that a game comes along that is so polarizing.

[Xiahou]

The XL isn't aimed at healthy young things like ourselves. There's a huge DS market for older people in Japan. The console's mainly intended for them, to make it easier for them to see the screen and make stylus use a bit more forgiving. I suppose it's also good for people with naturally bad eyesight, or who have difficulty problems with their hands or fine coordination. Yeah, I heard and somewhat understood that explanation. What I remain skeptical about is their group play (http://nintendo.joystiq.com/tag/dsi-xl/) claims.

In his financial results briefing, Satoru Iwata revealed another purpose for the jumbo system: playing with crowds. "Nintendo DSi LL features not only bigger monitor screens," Iwata said, "but an improved view angle on the screens to make it the first portable system that can be enjoyed with people surrounding the gamer."

He envisions the DSi XL as allowing for a "new play style where those who are surrounding the game player can also join in one way or the other to the game play."


I don't know if we will see the DS XL in the West. It's possible, there are a lot of older people with DSs here too thanks to titles like brain training.In America, it's slated for a Q1 2010 release. I have owned all 3 DS iterations, but I think I'll pass on this one. A bigger screen just means blockier graphics, since the resolution won't actually change. And a wider viewing angle seems pointless, despite their marketing.

[CountArach]

Back to playing EUIII until HistWar: Les Grognards releases its demo.

[pevergreen]

L4D2, still attempting to do the Halo series (sooo boooring, midway through Halo 2) just so I can say I've done it, DDO. Thats the main things.

[naut]

(sooo boooring, midway through Halo 2)
Why? Do something fun instead.

[pevergreen]

Its one of those things where I just need to do it and then never play it again.

[Prussian to the Iron]

still attempting to do the Halo series (sooo boooring, midway through Halo 2) just so I can say I've done it, DDO. Thats the main things.

boring? Halo 3 yeah, but Halo 2 was the best campaign!

off course I was infected when i was like 8 or 9, so that probably makes it better.

i still occasionally play halo 1 PC online. still a huge community (oddly enough, larger than Halo 2 vistas community!! :laugh4:)

[Monk]

boring? Halo 3 yeah, but Halo 2 was the best campaign!

off course I was infected when i was like 8 or 9, so that probably makes it better.

i still occasionally play halo 1 PC online. still a huge community (oddly enough, larger than Halo 2 vistas community!! :laugh4:)

Halo 2 on PC is largely regarded as a butchered port, it's no surprise that the PC version of the first has a larger following.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I played a little of Halo 2 on Windows 7 and it's terrible. Halo 1 was pretty good though.

/how is Halo 2's story better than the first one??

[Azathoth]

Play it on the consoles. Halo on the PC is like playing a DS game with an emulator.


/how is Halo 2's story better than the first one??

All blame lies with the cliffhanger.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Halo 1 didn't have a cliffhanger ending...

And I prefer a mouse and keyboard. Played some of Halo 2 on a friend's Xbox, but since it was coop it was kind of like this:

Him: dakka dakka dakka
Me: is it safe yet
Him: dakka dakka just kill that grunt dakka
Me: dakka?
Him: dakka melee dakka nevermind

[Prussian to the Iron]

how is Halo 2's story better than the first one??

aside from the fact that you actually leave the Halo Ring? the betrayals, the array of characters, the cliffhanger, the depth.


Play it on the consoles. Halo on the PC is like playing a DS game with an emulator.



All blame lies with the cliffhanger.

i bought it for the PC and xbox (both halo 2 and 1) and on the PC it's better. maybe its that the graphics are better, maybe its the easy-to-use custom server list you can join.


Halo 1 didn't have a cliffhanger ending...

And I prefer a mouse and keyboard. Played some of Halo 2 on a friend's Xbox, but since it was coop it was kind of like this:

Him: dakka dakka dakka
Me: is it safe yet
Him: dakka dakka just kill that grunt dakka
Me: dakka?
Him: dakka melee dakka nevermind

I think he meant the massive cliffhanger at the end of Halo 2, saying that Alexander the Pretty Good's thought about the second story being better is due to the cliffhanger.

i think that most shooters perform better on the consoles, but Halo 2 was much better playing juggernaut with a mouse and keyboard, being able to repeatedly click my energy sword at the others.

ah, good times...

[Thermal]

I'm playing ...

Forza Motorsport 3 for xbox 360
Fuzion Frenzy 1 for xbox (I've had it 8 years and still I play it :balloon2: )
I would also play kung fu chaos if it was xbox360 compatible, but nay, it's not :cry:

[Prussian to the Iron]

gettin back into Modern Warfare. at level 55, its fun owning everyone with my digital MP-44 after going on an MP5 rampage.

[Azathoth]

Fuzion Frenzy 1 for xbox (I've had it 8 years and still I play it )

LOL I hear you. My favorite minigame is...well, it had Rubble in the title and you had to drill across the roof of a construction project.

[Thermal]

LOL I hear you. My favorite minigame is...well, it had Rubble in the title and you had to drill across the roof of a construction project.

Rubble Alliance? :2thumbsup:

My favs are twisted system (jumping & ducking poles) Blast man standing (3 lives, avoid getting blown up) & Victim (beating people to death (:laugh4:) to make sure they end the round with the bomb)

[naut]

Spore. Much less fustrating and much more enjoyable once patched and with Better Spore installed.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Okay, I've finally hit what may be the greatest video gaming point of my life:

Playin CoD 4 on the PS3 on Monday, Wednesday, and friday

playin CoD 5 with my buddies on those days plus weekends

playin rock band 2 just about every other day

playing Morrowind (best PC gmae I've ever played)

just found the first disc to Republic Commando, and now I'm gonna go back and go on the hardest difficulty listening to metallica and foo fighters. doesnt getmuch better than this.

[Thermal]

playing Morrowind (best PC gmae I've ever played)



Morrowind & Oblivion are masterpieces, never really got into fallout 3 as much though :balloon2:

[Prussian to the Iron]

Morrowind & Oblivion are masterpieces, never really got into fallout 3 as much though :balloon2:

i played FO3 once or twice at my friends house. i really liked it. its fun being evil in that.

my buddies gettin it for christmas, so I'll play at his house. not enough play time at my house for it :(

[gaelic cowboy]

I have just escaped from Butcher Bay an I am attempting same from Dark Athena nice bonus to get the first game in the new one.

[Hooahguy]

After a few days of playing the demo of World in Conflict, I am confident that I know enough about the game to post a review.

World in Conflict was just as I expected. Not like Company of Heroes, but still has that fast-paced combat that needs to be micromanaged for you to win. The game is fast-paced and at times frantic. The single player campaign is also excellent. There is quite nothing like calling down close fire support around your position of weak-armored APCs while Russian tanks close in and pray the shells don’t accidentally hit your vehicles/men as well (the Pine Valley mission).

Something I love, in fact, it's the thing I love the most about WiC is that the entire repetitive process of base building is eliminated. Combat starts within two minutes of the game starting.
What I love so much is the game doesn’t revolve around destroying the enemy base. While CoH had the fierce combat of WiC, you still had to destroy the enemy base in the end, which was annoying because it wasn’t really realistic. But then again, neither is a heavy tank being dropped from a plane (the sheer weight would probably cause extensive damage) but I do suppose that’s hypothetically possible. And I love it how flanking is just as important in this game just as one would expect. Its jsut not apparent that it is.
Also, I love the huge size of the maps. It allows for lots of movement. In CoH, it was smaller, more infantry based maps, that were perfect for the game by the way, and besides, WiC has to be large enough for choppers and carpet-bombing. Carpet-bombing in CoH just wouldn’t work, for it would destroy almost half the map, even on a 4v4 map. Also, what I miss from CoH is the cover system. In WiC there’s no real cover system for infantry, besides buildings and trees, but I guess the map is too large for you to micromanage something as small as infantry cover.

The aspect of the game that no one class can dominate the battlefield has its ups and downs.
An up is that it forces teamwork and therefore provides a better MP experience. But only if teamwork is used. If not, it just gets annoying.
This is a negative, as well as the fact that if you are playing with bots you can’t really communicate with them, so you really are on your own. Nothing like trying to provide air support when your idiot bot ally keeps targeting the APCs instead of the AA rocket launchers that are shooting your choppers down. It’s very frustrating, but I'm sure it’s also very rewarding when you do use the built in VOIP and other means to coordinate tactics with each other and win the match.

The Tactical Aid, or TA feature is very fun to use. With TA, you get to call down arty barrages, AT strikes, and even tactical nukes if you forget about it for too long and let them accumulate. By the way, nukes are way awesome, but not necessarily a match winner.

As stated before, I love it how every class is reliant on other classes. Air needs armor to get rid of AA units; armor needs air to get rid of enemy arty and support to get rid of enemy aircraft. Support needs armor and air to keep away enemy units so they can provide fire support without being harassed. And infantry— well, infantry needs everyone to look after them. Better to just go with armor, but infantry do make great ambushing units. But they can rarely hold themselves in battle, and more often than not, they are literally run over by my more than eager tanks.

Blobbing, as in CoH, just doesn’t work most times, but it does work in some cases in CoH, if the opposing player doesn’t have the full means to demolish the blob before they get to the base. At least in WiC any blobs are sure to find themselves devastated by heavy choppers, and if the enemy has enough TA points, they will face planes, arty falling all around them, and if they are (un)lucky, a fuel air /daisy cutter bomb, depending on the side you are on, right on top of them. And if they are REALLY (un)lucky, a nuke will be launched, or at very least a carpet-bombing mission.
Basically, it really is not worth it, even if you had the reinforcement points to get a blob. Most people only have 6-8 units at a time, and that’s if they are really lucky. I usually command at most 5. More than that is too hard to micromanage and I usually end up losing many of my tanks if I do command more than 4-5 at a time.

Another thing: within each class, every unit has to rely on (a few key) others. For instance, heavy tanks are shredded by infantry AT squads, so they need medium tanks to fire White Phosphorous shells into the midst of infantry, and mediums need to be protected by heavy tanks from other tanks, though they can stand their own in battle quite well.
But the only shame is that there are no real unique units in the game, only unique skins (and a few unique TA’s, like the fuel air bomb), but underneath every faction is the same, which I guess levels the playing field for multiplayer.

I know this is a long review so I’ll wrap up. The NUMBER ONE aspect I love about this game, besides the absence of base building, so it's technically the NUMBER TWO thing I love, is that in most RTS games, when you launch an AA missile against an aircraft the target is pretty much dead. But in WiC, you can actually drop flares and evade. You aren’t resigned to the fact that once that missile launches, that chopper may as well be dead. This aspect makes WiC so realistic and very hard not to love, as well as very cool to watch.
I also learned the concept of smoke as a ruse and how to use it properly for tanks. TIP: when using smoke, don’t leave the cover of smoke right after you apply it. That’s just dumb.

As of now, I love this game.
But considering I've already spent about 10-15 hours playing the demo, which only includes one map, Seaside, and I'm nowhere near bored of it yet, plus the numerous fan-made maps and mods, I'm not too worried about getting bored of this game. But Im still a horrible n00b when it comes to this game. Oh well, I guess I will learn.

And now, for a little AAR I made about a recent match I had, to reward you for actually reading this long review:

The game was 6v6, with everyone else a bot (didn't have internet connection to play with real foes, so this is the next best thing). I chose armor, which is my favorite because I actually know how to use it really well, at least compared to the other classes. The map is Seaside, by the way, because it’s the only map available on the demo.
Sorry for the low graphics I had to play on the lowest settings for it to work on my desktop, which wasn’t made to play games like this.

I started out with two Abrams (heavy tanks) and two Patton tanks (medium). I sent them towards the supermarket, which they quickly secured. Then I sent them to take the town center, which is the central part of the map, and whoever holds it usually wins.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/initialapproach.jpg

After taking the town center, I began to move my tanks to the TV station, which was to the northeast of the town center. A few Soviet choppers came. I blew smoke and retreated, but not before they took out a Patton tank and dealt some more damage to the other tanks. On the way back, an artillery shell landed close by, which was lucky because a direct hit means another tank down the drain.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/earlyretreat.jpg

After getting another Abrams, I took my tanks back down to the city, and retook the town center which was lost when the choppers came earlier.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/advancing-2.jpg

Then some commies took the super market, which I had to retake. But in the process, I lost a Patton tank to a precision barrage, which damaged a few other tanks as well.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/artystrike.jpg

I sent back my damaged Abrams to be repaired, but in the process, a random artillery shell landed nearby, creating a gorgeous explosion, and missed my tank by inches.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/nearmiss2.jpg

I saw that the beach was undefended, so I told my three Abram tanks, one of which was newly repaired (the one that had the near miss) and the other two were brand new reinforcements, to take the beach while my remaining Patton tank was repaired.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/towardsthebeach.jpg

As luck would have it, just as my tanks got to the beach, the Soviets exploded a fuel air bomb right over their heads, destroying them instantly.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/fuelairhavok.jpg

As you can imagine, this was a huge blow. I just lost tanks worth 3,600 reinforcement points to one blast. It took me a few minutes to get together a new force of two Abrams and a Patton.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/beachassault.jpg

They took the beach, but there was an air strike as well as numerous choppers and tanks that wiped out my three tanks, another devastating blow. (The Patton indicated in the distance was soon taken out by a Russian heavy tank and a well-placed artillery round.)
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/devastated.jpg

But then I launched a huge artillery barrage on the TV station, earning me enough points for three Abrams tanks. Now, I only had about 3 minutes remaining and we were still behind so I had to work fast. This is where the glory of WiC comes in, and where the battles become frantic. I told my tanks to retake the beach.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/tryingagain.jpg

En route to the beach, they had a near miss with an air strike. Clearly, fate wanted us to take that beach.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/nearmiss.jpg

They took the beach, and moved inland. By this time, I had made another Patton tank, which was en route to assist them.
My tank squadron moved quickly to take the town square.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/finalpush.jpg

After taking the town center, I noticed we were about tied and only a minute and a half remaining. So I sent my tanks to take the TV station, thinking it was undefended. I was wrong. There were many AT defenses in the area, so I pulled back.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/toomanyrpgs.jpg

Since all my Abram tanks were heavily damaged, I had them fall back for repairs, while my two Patton tanks came forward to mop up, and then the timer ran out, much to my relief.
https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa73/hooahguy14/endgame.jpg

It really was an amazing match, won by quick maneuvering and luck.

[Martok]

Have just started playing Armada 2526.

I'm really enjoying it so far. At the very least, it's a worthy member of the space 4x sub-genre. I suspect it could end up being even more than that, but only time will tell. For now, however, I'm definitely having fun with it. :2thumbsup:

[pevergreen]

Borderlands.

Diablo with guns.

[Crandaeolon]

Have just started playing Armada 2526.

So, how is it? More information, pretty please? How would you compare it to, say, SotS or GalCiv2?

[Fragony]

Dead Space finally found the courage

[Owen Glyndwr]

Lately been playing a lot of EB and Civ4. Madden '03 and GH2 on the PS2

I recently played through HL2 and Portal. I may play through Episodes 1 and 2 when I return to University given I'm not too busy with finals.

As for the Halo discussion, I thought Halo 2 campaign was really fun up to the point where you have to play with the Arbiter. I really liked the idea of fighting for the preservation of humanity, and I think I would have preferred it if that was what it was all about (Probably why I like GoW so much). Halo 1 is still my favorite of all of them, probably because I have the fondest memories playing it.

[Veho Nex]

Il-2 Hoping to get a new joy stick for christmas that will blow my Logitech Attack three away

[Martok]

So, how is it? More information, pretty please? How would you compare it to, say, SotS or GalCiv2?
So as not to risk derailing this thread, read my response here (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=2387996#post2387996). ~:)

The short answer: I'm liking it so far, but it's still early yet.

[Azathoth]

Playing Arcanum. Might do a short review when I'm done.

Some problems thus far:

1. You level up ridiculously fast, but get so few skill points to spend! There's like 80 different spells alone, and dozens of technological skills, never mind the 8 regular statistics and 16 regular skills (and health and fatigue). The level cap hack is definitely useful here.

2. Running around the cities takes a huge amount of time. I would say Tarant (London I guess) is about equivalent in size to the Imperial City in Oblivion, but it takes so long to go from place to place! Also, travelling between cities is ridiculous. It takes 3 weeks to get from Black Root (red) to Tarant (green); there's actually a railroad between them, but I haven't tried it yet because I'm not a rich bastard.


My party so far consists of Virgil (duh), the half-ogre from Shrouded Hills, and a sexy half-elf from Dernholm. My goal in the game is to become a suave and witty gunslinger.

https://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr309/desertSypglass/Arcanum-map2.jpg

[Prussian to the Iron]

2. Running around the cities takes a huge amount of time. I would say Tarant (London I guess) is about equivalent in size to the Imperial City in Oblivion, but it takes so long to go from place to place! Also, travelling between cities is ridiculous. It takes 3 weeks to get from Black Root (red) to Tarant (green); there's actually a railroad between them, but I haven't tried it yet because I'm not a rich bastard.

https://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr309/desertSypglass/Arcanum-map2.jpg

do you mean how big the Imperial City was meant to be? it is extremely small when you compare it to Vivec or Mournhold in Morrowind, the capitals of Vvardenfell (the island you are on) and all of Morrowind, respectively. even comparing it to Anvil in Oblivion, it is still only a little larger.

anyway, you dont get a horse? that sucks.

[Azathoth]

Tarant isn't actually that big, but it FEELS big, because it takes hours to go through every house and store and all that. This is Tarant - there's an orange line on the birdge representing the player character.

https://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr309/desertSypglass/tarant.gif

[CountArach]

The HistWar: Les Grognards demo.

[G. Septimus]

I'm currently playing
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, and Call of Duty: MW2 on

https://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc88/emre-gs/01/f36c1a1e.jpg

[Meneldil]

Wow, that picture is completely unappealing.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Wow, that picture is completely unappealing.

is it just me or do the germans in that pic look like demons, with lava in the river in front of them? just a little scary if you really look at it.

[G. Septimus]

is it just me or do the germans in that pic look like demons, with lava in the river in front of them? just a little scary if you really look at it.
I think they were trying to tell, that facing Germans was hell. seeing people dead, was hell, gettin' shootin' at is hell, and if your shootin' someone, your probably gonna end up in hell to
:smg: :army: :rifle:

[Craterus]

Star Wars Battlefront II. Just completed Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. Classic games.

[al Roumi]

er, Empire: Total war! Playing my first Austrian campaign. Barely 1705, have a strong alliance with Poland -which led to the partitioning of Prussia (that's a fantasy indulged) and we've just declared war on the Ottoman empire. Catholic empires FTW, or something.

Maybe it's after the length of the break I've had since ETW came out, but I am truly struck by the lack of niggles and irritations. I can play the game without getting annoyed!

[Prussian to the Iron]

er, Empire: Total war! Playing my first Austrian campaign. Barely 1705, have a strong alliance with Poland -which led to the partitioning of Prussia (that's a fantasy indulged) and we've just declared war on the Ottoman empire. Catholic empires FTW, or something.

Maybe it's after the length of the break I've had since ETW came out, but I am truly struck by the lack of niggles and irritations. I can play the game without getting annoyed!

I might get back into it soon.

my republic commando disc is broken, so now i cant play one of my favorite games of all time...:furious3::furious3:

[Monk]

Holiday season is about to reach its apex and I've improved my library of games by an impressive amount in the last 4 months. Considering writing a "Year in Review" or maybe just a "Season in review" post soon, but if I'm gonna do that I would like to get my hands on MW2. I've heard great things and bland things and bad things about it.. but I am still considering treating myself to a copy once the shopping for all my loved ones is taken care of. Oh wait. This isnt the ramble on about gaming in general thread? :oops:

Currently: L4D2, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, and oddly enough - Bioshock! Seriously guys. You can shoot bees from your hands. What more did you want?!

Borderlands.. Just hit me that I haven't played much of that since i got L4D2. It's starting to look at me funny, with those sad, mournful eyes. Maybe i'll give it a whirl later.

[G. Septimus]

I might get back into it soon.

my republic commando disc is broken, so now i cant play one of my favorite games of all time...:furious3::furious3:

You like to play Republic Commando to?????????
well, that's great, I thought I was the only one playing Star Wars: Republic Commando.
It's kind of fun to play it...............:beam:

[Prussian to the Iron]

You like to play Republic Commando to?????????
well, that's great, I thought I was the only one playing Star Wars: Republic Commando.
It's kind of fun to play it...............:beam:

that is one of the best games ever!!! the multiplayer was masterfully executed as well, and i dont think anyone whos played can ever forget that one map where its a central plaza, 2 bases within jumping distance from eachother, and 2 neutral towers on the sides, each tower with its own retractable shield in front of it.

i got some truly epic snipes on that map, and i usually cant snipe for ****!

[Decker]

Borderlands.. Just hit me that I haven't played much of that since i got L4D2. It's starting to look at me funny, with those sad, mournful eyes. Maybe i'll give it a whirl later.
Yeah... that robot dude needs a job so get to playing it :whip: (though I don't own it myself :sweatdrop:)

Going to hopefully play Oblivion by the end of the semester. Been playing chess on my computer (and a not so good record to boot! :embarassed:)

[frogbeastegg]

I started Zelda: Phantom Hourglass as the new DS Zelda is out next week and all of the adverts had me craving some Zelda action. I'm up to my third visit to the temple of repetitiveness the ocean king, and I have decided that it's a game of two halves.

One half is an amazing, joyful Zelda adventure with well implemented touch screen controls. It's beautiful for a DS game. Everything about it feels spot on, and it's damned near impossible to put down as there's always something else to tempt you onward.

The other is a painful slog through a dungeon with a time limit which stomps all over your instinct to explore and experiment. You're forced to visit it multiple times, and everything always resets. Insufficient short cuts are offered so you end up solving the same puzzles as last time to get the same keys to unlock the same doors before you can finally get on with the new part. The game does not save your progress inside this dungeon so if you quit you end up right back at the beginning and have to do it all over again. It's no coincidence that each time I have quit the game it's been inside this dreary dungeon.

Not sure I'm going to complete this one. As much as I love the rest, the temple of deja vu the ocean king stomps all over my fun until it's dead. ~:(

Still working on assassin's creed II. I've slowed down a lot since I reached Venice; I don't find the environment to be as enjoyable to get around in.

[Xiahou]

Been playing Infamous (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-infamous/49174) on the PS3. It's like playing GTA as Thor the god of thunder. Every time I start to think things are slowing down, I unlock a new super power to play with. :2thumbsup:

I'm also still playing and enjoying SMT: Devil Survivor on the DS.


Not sure I'm going to complete this one. As much as I love the rest, the temple of deja vu the ocean king stomps all over my fun until it's dead. ~:(Maybe you'll like Spirit Tracks better. I hear they cut down on the repetitiveness- I heard you have to make return trips to a dungeon, but you don't need to retread the same territory/puzzles over and over again.

[frogbeastegg]

I can't manage to motivate myself into turning my DS back on so I can tackle another run through the temple of wasted time the ocean king, so that's me done with Phantom Hourglass. Pity; outside of that dungeon it's a great little game.


Maybe you'll like Spirit Tracks better. I hear they cut down on the repetitiveness- I heard you have to make return trips to a dungeon, but you don't need to retread the same territory/puzzles over and over again.
Almost definitely. Alas, I can't afford it so I was hoping Phantom Hourglass would fill the spot. I'm in the midst of buying a house so I'm not buying non-essentials like games.

[Hooahguy]

bought Combat Wings: Battle of Britain.
its quite fun, but also very arcadey. but still, its a fun time waster.

also, i got SoaSE: Entrenchment, as well as the Diplomacy beta.
Encrenchment is fun, but Diplomacy and its benefits is lost on me. prob because its a beta.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Almost definitely. Alas, I can't afford it so I was hoping Phantom Hourglass would fill the spot. I'm in the midst of buying a house so I'm not buying non-essentials like games.

i'll buy you one for channukah!

honestly though, i probably would. if i knew your street address, full name, family line, social security number, credit card number, bank account, pin number, and where you keep the deed to your house, than i could probably send it to you :laugh4:

[Decker]

also, i got SoaSE: Entrenchment, as well as the Diplomacy beta.
Encrenchment is fun, but Diplomacy and its benefits is lost on me. prob because its a beta.

How long have you been playing the beta of Diplomacy?

[Fragony]

Replaying The Darkness, had forgotten how good it is, such good story. The Darkness is a great villain, very sinister and cruel, Jackie can control the powers but not The Darkness, he is it's slave and it's never shy to let you know. Great levels, NY rocks, and that.... place.... such sadness. Oh and the soundtrack, fantastic. Visuals didn't age well though, but that's no biggie

[Azathoth]

Great levels, NY rocks, and that.... place.... such sadness. Oh and the soundtrack, fantastic. Visuals didn't age well though, but that's no biggie

New York feels too small, and the subway is kind of inaccurate. I'm not just talking about the lighting, that's clearly to heighten the atmosphere, but the subway tracks are way too close to the platform. I see Canal St. nearly every day, so I have firsthand experience (this is really the case for all the platforms I've ever seen, they're like 5+ feet above the tracks). Also, the real Canal St. station is at least twice as large. The trains look just like the old E, though.

[Husar]

The R.U.S.E. VIP beta (yes, I do feel special :laugh4: ).

[Fragony]

New York feels too small, and the subway is kind of inaccurate. I'm not just talking about the lighting, that's clearly to heighten the atmosphere, but the subway tracks are way too close to the platform. I see Canal St. nearly every day, so I have firsthand experience (this is really the case for all the platforms I've ever seen, they're like 5+ feet above the tracks). Also, the real Canal St. station is at least twice as large. The trains look just like the old E, though.

Could be, I take the taxi, it's highly immersive imho. Love how this game has it's own logic, The Darkness won't allow poor Jackie to die. Adore the execution kills, mafia and the supernatural, who would have thought

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The R.U.S.E. VIP beta (yes, I do feel special :laugh4: ).

How'd you get it?

[Prussian to the Iron]

just finished MW2's campaign, it was pretty cool. i hated that there weren't any really long firefights though. like the level "The Bog" (or was it "Warpig"?) in cod4. it was at night and you had a long-ass firefight between 2 sides, and it was great.

but it was a cool game. specops is really fun, though NP is kinda time consuming. nto because of the lack of players or unbalance, or anything like that. its that you spend about 15 minutes inbetween games, because the lobby is closed, you spend 3 minutes finding a new one, stay in it for a minute, than it gets closd, until you are about to rip out your eyes, than it puts you in a game.


for some reason, riot shields stopped working online. playing splitscreen, riot shields are evil tools of destruction counterable only by an AT-4 behind it (because AT-4 to the front does squat), but i got some fairly long killstreaks with it, as opposed to getting 2 kills, 1 death, 2 deaths, 1 kill, etc with any other weapon.

[Husar]

How'd you get it?

Friend of mine was a hostess for R.U.S.E. on the GamesCom and when I was there she gave me a little card with a special key that I could use to sign up. Basically everybody could sign up but I think the GamesCom card keys had some kind of guarantee that you'd be chosen.
I kinda like the game, it's fun to play, a mix of Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes and maybe some Hearts of Iron thrown in, although not in terms of complexity.

[Ja'chyra]

Friend of mine was a hostess for R.U.S.E. on the GamesCom and when I was there she gave me a little card with a special key that I could use to sign up. Basically everybody could sign up but I think the GamesCom card keys had some kind of guarantee that you'd be chosen.
I kinda like the game, it's fun to play, a mix of Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes and maybe some Hearts of Iron thrown in, although not in terms of complexity.

Hmm sounds good, always thought you were a good guy to know Hus.

[woad&fangs]

for some reason, riot shields stopped working online. playing splitscreen, riot shields are evil tools of destruction counterable only by an AT-4 behind it (because AT-4 to the front does squat), but i got some fairly long killstreaks with it, as opposed to getting 2 kills, 1 death, 2 deaths, 1 kill, etc with any other weapon.

Riot shields are actually fairly easy to beat. Use explosives, aim at their feet, flank them, shoot them while they switch to a gun, etc. I actually think MW2 did a pretty good job with balancing. I can't wait until I head home for the holidays and get to play my little brother's copy of it again :smash:

Until then, I'm playing waaayyyy too much NCAA Football '10 and that Axis&Allies game that was linked to in the Arena.

[Husar]

Hmm sounds good, always thought you were a good guy to know Hus.

Why? Because I happen to know a GamesCom hostess?

[Prussian to the Iron]

Riot shields are actually fairly easy to beat. Use explosives, aim at their feet, flank them, shoot them while they switch to a gun, etc. I actually think MW2 did a pretty good job with balancing.

oh, without a doubt. not even the damage or anything as much as the huge variety of guns. only in assault rifles there must be around 10-15!

its just that when you cant hit their feet, and they see you, you cant really flank unless your just trying to be faster than them, which is cheap. ive had a few online where i meleed someone, then they magically shot through my shield with a shottie and killed me, and the killcam shows that lag is responsible for getting me killd; while they were in front of me on my screen, he was to my right side on his.

[Xiahou]

Almost definitely. Alas, I can't afford it so I was hoping Phantom Hourglass would fill the spot. I'm in the midst of buying a house so I'm not buying non-essentials like games.Target had Spirit Tracks for $10 off this week, so I decided to grab it. I'm intent on finishing Devil Survivor before getting wrapped up in another DS game, but I gave it a half hour or so preview- it was hard to put down. Looks like a great game. :yes:

[Fragony]

Yay Fallout 3, bought this game ages ago and it has been collecting dust ever since, simply don't have enough time for something like this. But now I have two full weeks having to do absolutely nothing for a change. It does not disappoint this is great stuff. The graphics, where to begin, somebody pick up my jaw, amazing. not just somewhat amazing but amazing. wow. Simply incredible. Words fail me but i'll sing the praises when I find the proper way to put it. wow will have to do for now. wow.

bethesda, thankyouverymuchforthis

XXX

Frag

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Been playing TF2 since the War started. Death to soldiers!

[frogbeastegg]

Target had Spirit Tracks for $10 off this week, so I decided to grab it. I'm intent on finishing Devil Survivor before getting wrapped up in another DS game, but I gave it a half hour or so preview- it was hard to put down. Looks like a great game. :yes:
Shutupshutupshutup! I haven't felt like playing anything at all since I shelved Phantom Hourglass. Not even Assassin's Creed II, a game I was delighted with.

I've got £20 earmarked for games and/or books this month. If Spirit Tracks drops below that and there's nothing else I want to use the money on then there we go. Otherwise I shall keep my mind firmly on the forthcoming (expensive) delights of having a PC chair which doesn't break my back, and a sofa, and bookshelves galore, and ...

[Prussian to the Iron]

Shutupshutupshutup! I haven't felt like playing anything at all since I shelved Phantom Hourglass. Not even Assassin's Creed II, a game I was delighted with.

I've got £20 earmarked for games and/or books this month. If Spirit Tracks drops below that and there's nothing else I want to use the money on then there we go. Otherwise I shall keep my mind firmly on the forthcoming (expensive) delights of having a PC chair which doesn't break my back, and a sofa, and bookshelves galore, and ...

you stopped playing assassins creed 2??!?!! that is my new favorite game. its difficult to balance AC2 and CoD 6 though. and now i just got frickin left 4 dead 2!!! god, i love getting presents 2 weeks before everyone else!! :laugh4:

[naut]

Been playing STALKER. So intense.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Been playing STALKER. So intense.

did yo get to the part where you get the little girl in your ca.........

oh wait, thats not right....













:beam:

[frogbeastegg]

you stopped playing assassins creed 2??!?!!
According to my gamercard I last played it on 29/11/09. It's one of my favourite games from this year too.

I've just not felt like any games since I first viewed the house I'm now buying. I've dabbled with the For The Glory demo, launched a game of EU: Rome and quit inside of 3 in-game years, started and dropped Phantom Hourglass, and stared at the manual for the Magna Mundi mod for EUIII. It's partly the sheer amount of effort and stress involved in the purchase, and partly the thought of how much better my gaming experience (and everything else!) will be when I finally move in. I can play ACII now while sitting on my bed with the TV on the far side of a wide room, or in a month's time on a comfy sofa at optimum range. I can play a PC game now on an ancient computer chair in a freezing, unheated room, or in a month's time with heating and a seat with proper padding.

Or perhaps at the grand old age of 26 I'm growing up? :tongueg:

[Prussian to the Iron]

perhaps now would be a bad time to say:

"I have a 55 inch HDTV in the living room"

?


but i can sympathize. this is about the 6th or 7th time in a year we've been told by the military that we are moving to virgia and my dad is beign promoted to major, and then had them take it back. i will have my first room in.....9 years? that sounds right.

[Ja'chyra]

Ah the joys of growing older.

On the plus side, it get's easier as you get even older and you can afford the house and a new chair and games. By the way, getting a good chair was the best thing ever for gaming, I got one for my birthday, cost £40 off of ebay and it is great, I'll see if I can dig out a link.

Sorry it wasn't £40, it was:

Black leather directors chair,gullwingNEW
Sale price: £49.99
Quantity: 1
Subtotal: £49.99
Postage Parcelforce 48: £10.00
Seller's Standard Rate: £15.00
Collection in Person: £3.00

Well worth the money, its big enough to sit cross legged in and the arms are big enough to take my hard bottomed mouse mat, very comfy with a cordless keybard and mouse.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Found "Battlefield Heroes" to myself.
Quite fun game :yes:

[Kekvit Irae]

I've been sucked into Star Wars: KOTOR again. As much as I love it, I've never actually won the game.



Random thoughts:

God, I hate the game's controls (I get stuck often, and not being able to move through party members doesn't help). And AI ("You must gather your party before venturing forth" Yeah... if only my party members weren't discussing the finer points of Tarisian Ale on the other side of the map). And combat (Stop standing around with your thumb up your bum!). Why do I even bother? Oh right... the lightsabers. Sweet, sweet lightsabers.

I'm running it via Steam on Windows 7 x64, and despite what many claim, it runs perfectly. You just have to know how to edit the .ini file to change one setting and add one line.

First Counselor Troi from Star Trek: TNG in Mass Effect, then Captain Janeway from Voyager in Dragon Age, and now I just noticed Liquid Snake from Metal Gear Solid in KOTOR, albeit as a very minor role in the game (Sith Diplomat in Manaan). Bioware sure spares no expense when it comes to quality voice actors.

[naut]

As much as I love it, I've never actually won the game.
Same. I always get frustrated about 60-75% of the way through and stop. Then come back to it later and start again. :wacko:

[frogbeastegg]

I started The World Ends With You on the DS. I've been saving it for a 'need something crazy and different' rainy day since it first came out and I suppose now might be that time. Hoping it's going to jolt my interest back to life.

I have heard that the opening hours are a poor indicator of the game's overall appeal. I hope that's true because so far (~2 hours) I'm not enamoured at all. Stylish graphics ... and barely animated. Good quality music samples ... forgettable music. Clichéd characters with an extra helping of cliché on top, sprinkled with cliché and a side helping of cliché; they're practically some kind of uber cliché to end all clichés. And the gameplay, uh, yeah. Fiddly and occasionally unreliable stylus controls for the battles, and running about small, bland areas between sections of characters talking. Having character movement in battle on the d-pad would help so much, even if it did make the dual screen combat impossible. But would that be so bad? I completely ignore the top screen anyway, and do not care about trying to control the second character simultaneously.

Around 5 hours. That's how long I hear it takes to get going. I'll keep on plodding forward and hope for the best.

[Andres]

Finally finished the Witcher. Wonderful game :2thumbsup:

Can't wait for The Witcher 2, but apparently, I'll have to be very patient.

Did some cleaning at my parents' place today and guess what I found: my good old Sega Master System II and over 20 games, my old Atari 2600 with even more games and the old colour-tv I used for playing (I started with a black/white; yes kids: in my age, there existed black/white tv's, but that one got broken after years of playing)!

And all that stuff still works perfectly! I spent an entire afternoon playing Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Shinobi, Prince of Persia, Space gun, Galaxian, Star voyager, ...

:2thumbsup:

[Xiahou]

Around 5 hours. That's how long I hear it takes to get going. I'll keep on plodding forward and hope for the best.For me, the start of the game was the high point. The more I played, the less interested I was in it- until I finally gave up on it altogether. :sweatdrop:

The combat system never really grabbed me, the characters were cliched, and I thought the story was pretty shallow. Eventually, I found myself trying to think of other things to do instead of playing my DS because I was avoiding the game. In the end, I looked up spoilers to see how the story turned out, shrugged, set the game aside and never looked back.

For the "I'm trapped in an alternate Tokyo and have to fight monsters to survive" genre, I much prefer Devil Survivor. :yes:

[Kekvit Irae]

I just finished KOTOR playing as full Light Side Jedi. Now to replay it as a Dark Side Sith!

And on a related note, I laughed:

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/kekvitirae/starwarskotorlol-1.png

[Fragony]

I started The World Ends With You on the DS. I've been saving it for a 'need something crazy and different' rainy day since it first came out and I suppose now might be that time. Hoping it's going to jolt my interest back to life.

I have heard that the opening hours are a poor indicator of the game's overall appeal. I hope that's true because so far (~2 hours) I'm not enamoured at all. Stylish graphics ... and barely animated. Good quality music samples ... forgettable music. Clichéd characters with an extra helping of cliché on top, sprinkled with cliché and a side helping of cliché; they're practically some kind of uber cliché to end all clichés. And the gameplay, uh, yeah. Fiddly and occasionally unreliable stylus controls for the battles, and running about small, bland areas between sections of characters talking. Having character movement in battle on the d-pad would help so much, even if it did make the dual screen combat impossible. But would that be so bad? I completely ignore the top screen anyway, and do not care about trying to control the second character simultaneously.

Around 5 hours. That's how long I hear it takes to get going. I'll keep on plodding forward and hope for the best.

Liked it from the go, disagree about the music I love that weird japanese pop they use.

[frogbeastegg]

I really want to like TWEWY. On paper it's a game that's very much something I'd enjoy. My DS was freshly charged when I started the game so I intend to give it until the low battery light comes on, so it's got around 8 hours to start appealing.


For the "I'm trapped in an alternate Tokyo and have to fight monsters to survive" genre, I much prefer Devil Survivor. :yes:
That one's on my pile too. Looking forward to it quite a bit and all, but not sure what I'd make of it in my current mood. Probably best saved until later.


Liked it from the go, disagree about the music I love that weird japanese pop they use.
The game's used a single, very brief song for most of the three hours I've played. It's 4 lines of an English language song repeated endlessly. The entire thing is maybe 30 seconds long before it loops yet again. The battle music is the only break I get from it, and the battle music is so bland I can't remember what it's like at all.

Quite a few games feature J-pop I like so I was anticipating something more from TWEWY.

[Xiahou]

That one's on my pile too. Looking forward to it quite a bit and all, but not sure what I'd make of it in my current mood. Probably best saved until later.Devil Survivor's story took a little while to draw me in, but the gameplay hooked me early and kept me coming back for more until the plot thickened.

Of course, if that doesn't grab you in your current mood... there's always this (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-zelda-spirit/59696). :beam:

[frogbeastegg]

Of course, if that doesn't grab you in your current mood... there's always this (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-zelda-spirit/59696). :beam:
That only works if I have a copy. :winkg:

If TWEWY doesn't work out I shall try something from the school of 'pretty, silly, easy'. Should that also fail, I'll stop playing for a bit again.

[Prussian to the Iron]

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/kekvitirae/starwarskotorlol-1.png


:laugh4::laugh4::chinese:

[naut]

And on a related note, I laughed:

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/kekvitirae/starwarskotorlol-1.png
:skull:

[frogbeastegg]

I managed to overcome my gaming apathy enough to finish Assassin's Creed 2 with all achievements, in a total time of around 30 hours. One of my favourite games from 2009 without a doubt.

Don't know what to play next; I was enjoying the particular style of gameplay and can't muster much interest in something else. Perhaps I should replay the first game, it's been 2 years since I completed it. Hmm.

[CrossLOPER]

I'm going to try to play Unreal Tournament 99 and 04 for a while. I intend to get into Fallout 3 and Bioshock soon. I have to finish Arx Fatalis soon.

[Xiahou]

I finished Infamous, following the evil path- great game. I'm tempted to start over and follow the good path, but I think I'll give Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers a shot first..... and then No More Heroes 2 is coming out at the end of the month...:sweatdrop:

[Husar]

I managed to overcome my gaming apathy enough to finish Assassin's Creed 2 with all achievements, in a total time of around 30 hours.

Only 30 hours? :inquisitive:

Sounds rather short...

[seireikhaan]

Just finished Dark Messiah: Might and Magic.

The combat was quite fun, although I have the feeling that it would have been less satisfying if I'd gone the mage route. Story lacked any kind of depth, was seethrough from pretty much the get go, and the characters don't really develop. Even still, there were just so many immensely satisfying moments in combat that the game was overall fairly fun. Planting an arrow into the shoulder of an orc and pinning him to a wall, or booting a hapless goblin off a cliff, or plunging a sword for the finishing blow on a zombie... ah yes, good fun.

[frogbeastegg]

Only 30 hours? :inquisitive:

Sounds rather short...
Short? :inquisitive:

These days it's only RPGs, strategy games and a rare few others which reach 30 hours for single player. Many games are 20 or under, with some taking less than 10 hours. Assassin's Creed 1 could be completed in around 10 hours.

[Husar]

Short? :inquisitive:

These days it's only RPGs, strategy games and a rare few others which reach 30 hours for single player. Many games are 20 or under, with some taking less than 10 hours. Assassin's Creed 1 could be completed in around 10 hours.

Well, most games these days are very short. :laugh4:
One of the reasons I'm not willing to pay 50 or 70 EUR for them.

But you said you got all the achievements as well and usually that takes a lot longer. So if not all the achievements are tied to the main quest it sounds like the actual game was 5 to 10 hours and then you spent 20-25 hours searching for the little bits, killing random people, scouring the environment etc. to get all the achievements.

GTA IV for example has an achievement to finish the main storyline in 30 hours. And another one to finish all quests. Basically that means you'd have to spend over 60 hours just to get these two, then some more to find all the doves etc. Especially when not using some guide. So yeah, 30 hours for all achievements is short to me, unless those achievements are pretty lame anyway. :sweatdrop:

[frogbeastegg]

But you said you got all the achievements as well and usually that takes a lot longer. So if not all the achievements are tied to the main quest it sounds like the actual game was 5 to 10 hours and then you spent 20-25 hours searching for the little bits, killing random people, scouring the environment etc. to get all the achievements.
Ah, I understand.

A lot of the achievements are tied to plot advancement or will be picked up by normal gameplay across the story, or come from completing specific collections or random little acts. It's not necessary to do more than one of each optional side-mission type, and the collectables are much more reasonable than Creed 1's hundreds of flags. It's a good setup IMO; there's very little tedious farming, repetition, or doing boring things just for the sake of it. I did use a guide to find all 100 feathers; there was no way I was going to repeat the mistake of trying to find them all by myself like I did with the flags in Creed 1.

I didn't do all of the optional mini missions like the races as after a few of each type I'd had enough.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I'm replaying the Game of the Decade. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtB7r28xClo)

I'll never tire of it. In fact, it was the first thing I installed on my new ubersystem last month. Playing NOLF at 1920-1440 now, what a glorious spectacle of colour and detail. Yumm!




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[Fragony]

lol that is my favorite scene as well :2thumbsup:

[Cute Wolf]

Playing again CNC 3 Kane's wrath, now on brutal skirmish against 3 brutal steamrolling opponent as the minimum enemies

[Hooahguy]

got 2 games: Crysis and Rainbow 6 Vegas 2.
im still deciding about R6V2, for reasons i will say, but i will talk about Crysis.

Crysis-
Crysis is so much better than Crysis Warhead.
the reason? its a real sandbox game. Warhead was more linear, thats probably why i didnt like it as much, but i will say, running like heck from a chopper and a dozen KPA soldiers, low on ammo and no more rockets is a BLAST. im having so much fun, running through the brush, diving under water, jumping into the random truck to try to evade the enemy, and i especially love sneaking up to a KPA patrol with cloak enabled and hitting them with a shotgun. pure SWEETNESS.

strangely enough, Crysis runs better than Warhead did.
the AI is intelligent, and i can no longer run and gun, as i did with Warhead. running and gunning will kill me. for sure.

anyways, i strongly recommend Crysis to anyone who has the system to play it.


Rainbow Six Vegas 2-
this is a much more mixed review.
i got this because it was only $5 on steam, so i said "why not?"
well, when it finally finished downloading, i booted it up, and when i got to the single player laoding screen, it froze, then crashed. i tried again, and it gave me a BSOD. i lowered my sound acceleration, which made it work, but by now i was having second thoughts.
then i got into the game, and it truly is a wonderful game, intense, hard, and very enjoyable. i still get crashes, and once i got the infamous "General Protection Fault" error, but for now it went away.
multiplayer is also very fun, and the ACES system and the ranking system is also very interesting.
i especially love how you can trip up your character any way you want to.

so for me, its a love-hate relationship. when it works, its a blast, when it doesnt, i just go back to Crysis.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I currently have too many games.

I got EU3 Complete for Christmas and have been spending too many hours a day on it. Currently playing as France (if you can't beat the blob, join them) in 1600 and I've kicked England out of France, diplo-annexed Orleans and Provence, am about to gain Antwerpen and the other Flanders province as a core (stupid, stupid Brabant), and am currently beating up rebels who are angry that I sent 100,000 Frenchmen to their death in the Alps against Milan, who have mostly unified Italy (though I took Nice, Parma, and the one south of Parma from them, the clods). Also I went Protestant during the reformation, which was a lot of work. Had to shift into narrow-mindedness to get the missionaries to get rid of the religious turmoil modifier. The good news is I'm a world leader in government and production technology, and only actually behind in Naval research.

Other games I've gotten, through the steam sale:
Defense Grid: The Awakening - for $2.50 I figured I'd let RPS sell me on this as a fun TD game. Kind of enjoyed the demo, who knows if I'll ever get to playing it.
Torchlight - never played Diablo (don't hurt me) and only $5... again who knows if/when I'll play it.
Crysis + Warhead - $13, wouldn't have gotten it if it wasn't for the MechWarrior (http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/) mod for it that just went public beta. Only played a minute of actually game, sadly you need to set up a Gamespy account to play Crysis multiplayer (and in this day and age, such a shame). Looks beautiful.

[Prussian to the Iron]

trying to play fallout 3 GOTY on my PC, but this disc came all scratched to hell. so i gotta return it to best buy (how did it get scratched when it is new and ive had it for a grand total of 2 days???) tomorrow. hopefully it'll be a ood one, and ill get to finally play what should be a great game, after loving morrowind and oblivion, and playing this for an hour or so, i am gettin pretty excited.


other than that, I'm about to beat the RDA (soldier) side of J.C's Avatar: The Game. I think I know enough to write a basic review, but I should play both sides before I do that. great game, I encourage everyone to get it. i got it for 20 bucks off for some reason, so i'm happy with that. didfnt get to play the multiplayer yet.


still playing Modern Warfare 2. after repeatedly cursing at my TV because of ninja-knife people who always kill em repeatedly, I finally made my own knife class. my first game with it I got 20-someot kills and 5 deaths. needless to say, I love it. still tryin to get the ACR, and that will be a grim day indeed for MW2 multiplayer.




For, when an ACR comes standard into my hands every spawn, all hell will break loose, and the first two horsemen, Conquest and War, will be unleashed upon the world of man, and they shall cower under the one named "The Spartan III", and they shall ask him for mercy, and he shall rebuke it with a resounding execution before killing his next victim. And so it was, that the Anti-Fun, "The Spartan III", wrought a path of destruction and death before his wake, as men and machines fell before his endless barrage of metal and fire. The earth and it's societies crumbled into dust, as the ACR turns all in it's path into skeletons, and the AT-4 turns all in its path to dust. And the baby Jesus of old descended unto him, and asked why he destroys all in his sight. And so "The Spartan III" responded with a Scorpion missle to the statue 'O Cristo Redentor', and so the Lord on high shut down the Modern Warfare 2 servers for all eternity, for they had unleashed on themselves the apocalypse, which would spread to the mortal world if not for their closing.

And so ended the Modern Warfare 2 servers, until finally the Jaws of Oblivion were opened anew, and the horsemen of the apocalypse did descend upon mankind, and "The Spartan III", now known as "Prussian Iron" after a 700-point name change, stepped through the gates, and so mankind did end under a hail of ACR's and AT-4's, and the few that hath survived were enslaved as metal-workers for "Prussian Iron"s ACR's.

[Kekvit Irae]

I'm replaying the Game of the Decade. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtB7r28xClo)

As a sociology major, this made me smile and laugh.

[Meneldil]

Trying Swords of the Stars Ultimate + Argos Shipyard.

Can't say I'm really excited as of now. I'm kind of lost, can't find the AI and the early game seems to be mostly about waiting. Not as bad as HoI though, and I'm pretty sure I'll like it at some point (I'll start the tutorials today, that will probably help).

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Meneldil - what race are you playing as? Humans have the fastest start (plus easiet FTL drive in my opinion). If you're finding yourself waiting too much, just decrease the number of stars in the map and face humans. You'll have more than enough incoming. :D

[Meneldil]

What is FTL? I was playing as the Protoss-like race. I guess I just have to get used to the game. Unlike Sins of a Solar Empire it's one of these games that requires a bit of training.

[frogbeastegg]

Started Silent Hill: Homecoming. I picked it up a while ago on the theory that, although I don't like survival horror much, I enjoyed Dead Space and Resident Evil 5 and this game's meant to be quite similar. Plus it was stupidly cheap.

I'm getting close to halfway through. So far I like it. No more, no less. It's all quite average.

The current section (police station) might make my opinion dip thanks to some questionable design decisions blobbed together in one section. Not sure how many more attempts I shall bother with; the difficulty spike feels cheap and I don't like the game enough to continue repeatedly dying Just Because(TM). :sigh: One more play session. If I don't get past the station then I think I will lose what wobbly interest I have.

[Beskar]

What is FTL? I was playing as the Protoss-like race. I guess I just have to get used to the game. Unlike Sins of a Solar Empire it's one of these games that requires a bit of training.

Faster than Light.

I started the game as humans, but their downside is that they only operate on nodes, while other races seem able just to fly in from anywhere.

If I was to change something about the game, it would be that you can build a colony anywhere. Not because it is get you any resources or anything, just so all my ships don't get stuck on corners and in dead-ends, etc as humans.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

What is FTL? I was playing as the Protoss-like race. I guess I just have to get used to the game. Unlike Sins of a Solar Empire it's one of these games that requires a bit of training.

FTL, as Beskar said, is Faster Than Light. Each race has a different mode of travel, which significantly changes how they play. I'm trying to remember how I learned the game, but I'd definitely recommend you play as humans and against humans to get the basics down.

[Fragony]

Fallout 3 is kicking my butt all over the place, man this game is pretty damn hard :sweatdrop:

[Ser Clegane]

Finally got around to start playing Mass Effect during the holidays.

Great fun - like the KOTOR games.

Bioware games seem to be the only ones that I frequently find enough motivation to actually finish. I guess I should order Dragon Age :yes:

[johnhughthom]

Playing through Mass Effect myself to get a save to continue on ME2, they are still saying you can import your save right? :sweatdrop:

Ser Clegane, if you are enjoying Mass Effect and generally enjoy Bioware games you will love Dragon Age.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Fallout 3 is kicking my butt all over the place, man this game is pretty damn hard :sweatdrop:

i brought it to my main Vista computer, ad oddly it's working. there tends to be some lag in Rivet city where there is a bunch of stuff happening at once, but not too much.

I think I'm about 50% done throught the main quest, but I'm not sure. I'm trying to be as un-knowing as possible about the game other than if I get stuck.


when I'm done with the MQ, I think I'll do mothership zeta, and then either point lookout or broken steel (BoS).


Operation:Anchorage was a letdown. I thought it would be longer. still cool though, and it got me Power Armor trainign at like level 8-9. so now I'm running around with Tesla armor, courtesy of some enclave soldiers who were nice enough to donate 8 fingers, a gatling laser, some missiles, some laser rifles and pistols, and their armor. nice folks when you get to know em :laugh4:

great game. only thing I hate about it is that companion recruiting relies on Karma level. I got my karma all the way down almost doing the "Power of the Atom" (blowing up megaton) for -1000, but then I couldn't get Jericho, he being dead. than I went to recruit Fawkes, and he's only for good karma. so now I'm gonna go donate money to churches, pure water to hobos, that sort of thing.

[Hooahguy]

reinstalled ETW
:sweatdrop:

but i also installed Darth Mod Ultimate Commander which makes it a billion times more fun,

[al Roumi]

great game. only thing I hate about it is that companion recruiting relies on Karma level. I got my karma all the way down almost doing the "Power of the Atom" (blowing up megaton) for -1000, but then I couldn't get Jericho, he being dead. than I went to recruit Fawkes, and he's only for good karma. so now I'm gonna go donate money to churches, pure water to hobos, that sort of thing.

I know you just said you want to be as un-knowing as possible but...

If you want a sidekick with no karmic qualms, you do have 2 options... Jericho (Ghoul bodyguard in Underworld) and a Robot [whosenameican'trememberightnow] (roaming outside the Robot factory).

Also, I suggest getting Broken Steel before any of the other dlc, if not for the quests then at least for the xp extension. I capped out before completing the main story having done a few side quests.

Also, i hope you have been playing your char whilst logged in to WindowsLive! because I didn't until i got the dlc and then discovered that I couldn't play the dlc with a character not started through windowslive! :furious3:

[Prussian to the Iron]

i'm logged in, but it wont sign in to the actual online part. its offline live. so im assuming all my achievements are for anught :(

and i thought charon was the ghoul? ive seen the robot near robco, RL-3. for 1000 bucks though i cant afford it. i could for like 500.


and i have GOTY with all DLC, so I'm good with that thing.


BTW: at 24/1820 megabytes transfer on my MAG beta on ps3! this will take 4ever!!

[CountArach]

I've gone back to Civ 4: Warlords with the Total Realism mod. This is one of the few games that I have always gone back to.

[Dodge_272]

Football Manager 2010 =)

[Xiahou]

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccV45fsoJI) on the DS. If you liked PuzzleQuest, you pretty much have to like this. :yes:

[Meneldil]

Cool, another game set in HoMM5 universe. Is Godric the one we get to lead in HoMM5? Cause seeing the good old honorable dude as a japanime-12 year old Naruto is kind of disturbing though :p

[Craterus]

FM2010, Assassin's Creed 2, FIFA 10.

More to come too ~:)

[Fragony]

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wccV45fsoJI) on the DS. If you liked PuzzleQuest, you pretty much have to like this. :yes:

owwwwwwwwwwwww that looks great.

[frogbeastegg]

Finished Silent Hill: Homecoming. Seen all 5 endings and got all achievements. The gameplay never rose above ok level, and the plot made less sense the more I uncovered. :shrug:

Think I shall play The Saboteur next; it was a birthday present and so it would be rude not to start it next. Looks like a good game and I expect I shall like it.

[naut]

Football Manager 2010 =)
Same. Playing as Derby. Coming 2nd after 19 games.

[frogbeastegg]

Saboteur is in the running for some early game of the year awards.

Most embarrassing stereotypes. Doesn't matter what nationality the character is supposed to be it's all bad. If the Irish main character were any more stereotyped he'd be dressed in green and advertising Lucky Charms on St. Patrick's Day.

Most cringe-worthy accents. I thought the Italian guy was French, the French sound like refugees from 'Allo Allo', the Irish is 100% cheap Guinness advert, and the British one sounds like heaven knows what. Oh, and the Germans. Just ... the Germans. Ugh!

The achievement confetti award for handing out over 1/5 of its awards in under 2 hours of opening tutorial gameplay.

The face/palm award for daftest story set up. The opening shows a random French chappy walking up to the player character, whom he has never met before, and asking him if he wants to blow up Nazis. In the middle of a busy club. Which is full of gestapo and German officers.

The 'second place' award for releasing after a title which does similar things but better. Climbing, free missions, and massive living cities with historical flavour were done better by Assassin's Creed II.

The "Whoops!" award for clumsy controls. I didn't actually want to dive off that 7 storey building. Or punch that soldier. Or run over those civilians. Or lob that grenade at my feet. But I did want to throw that guard off the tower (and didn't manage to) and stealth kill that other guard (and didn't manage to)

Best use of colour. Occupied zones are black and white with rare splashes of colour for things like swastika banners. Areas where liberty is starting to return are in full colour.


Heh. Most players say that the first couple of hours are by far the worst. I can say that the game's improving now that it's opening up and the barrage of dire cutscenes is easing up.

I also played the Bayonetta demo today. That wins the 'staring in stunned incomprehension at the screen' award hands down, and takes silver and bronze too! Insanity is entirely inadequate to describe it; it reaches new heights of Japanese crazy-game and then builds a skyscraper on them, stands at the very top, and stretches onto tip-toes.

[Martok]

Note to self: Avoid Saboteur. :sweatdrop:



I also played the Bayonetta demo today. That wins the 'staring in stunned incomprehension at the screen' award hands down, and takes silver and bronze too! Insanity is entirely inadequate to describe it; it reaches new heights of Japanese crazy-game and then builds a skyscraper on them, stands at the very top, and stretches onto tip-toes.
:laugh4:

If it wasn't so (relatively) lengthy, I would incorporate that entire quote into my sig. Truly, a brilliantly hilarious metaphor. :bow:



As for myself, I'm still playing Armada 2526 when I can.

It's been a decent 4x space strategy game so far, if a bit "cold". The overall mechanics and (especially) AI are solid, but the various alien races are a little thin on flavor and personality. Gameplay-wise, the combat remains the main weak point for me -- numbers seem to be more important than tactics, and the battle timer is just way too short (and cannot be modded to be longer, to my dismay). Colony and fleet management is fairly easy & straightforward, however, and the UI is intuitive enough that one can pick up how to do things relatively quickly.

One of the biggest (and most pleasant) surprises is that engaging in diplomacy is usually a worthwhile endeavor; similarly, the strategic AI is easily among the best I've ever seen in a strategy game. It's not the "best" as in "able to conquer the world" per se, but as in "human-like". The computer-controlled races aren't overly myopic (for instance, they're generally smart enough to know that just because you have a lightly-defended colony close to their borders, it doesn't mean it's a good idea to attack it), plus they seem to have a pretty good sense of their strategic situation (e.g., if they're clearly losing a war, they won't stubbornly fight on for no good reason -- they *will* sue for peace....and they'll be quick about it, too).


So thus far, my experience continues to be generally positive. Another patch is due to be released soon, probably/hopefully in the next week or two, and is supposed to fix/improve a number of things, including the automation of moving population between colonies (the micromanaging of which, currently, can admittedly be something of a chore). I don't know that Armada would make my all-time favorites list -- at least not yet -- but I definitely don't regret spending my money on it. ~:)

[naut]

I was playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but I got to Pripyat and well, quit. It's too irritating and frustrating to be any fun.

Gripes:


Armour gets destroyed so easily and it just becomes useless. Expensive to replace or repair (with repair mod)
Can't carry much stuff, unless you mod the game.
Weapons get destroyed too quickly, annoying in regards to stuff like the Vintar or unique items, if they are damaged GAH! Repair mods fix this somewhat.
Getting stupid quests upon entering an area, no I do not want to clear out the bandit camp, I'm just travelling from Agroprom to the Bar. I don't care for your Garbage quest!
Red Forest. Getting there is tedious and by the time I'm there my armour is damaged, so I'm susceptible to radiation, of which there is ridiculous amounts and I lose health and theres no quick command for anti-rads so I have to scroll through my inventory to reduce rads, then I get attacked and I'm in my inventory screen and I can't fight back so my armour gets destroyed and the cycle continues.
Pripyat is so badly designed it's irratating. Snipers everywhere. Monolith guys everywhere. Trying to explore is no fun.


Otherwise it's an awesome and thrilling game. Mods for reducing/removing damage for armour/weapons would be good, I'll have a search for them and then if I find one I'll go back to it.

[CountArach]

Playing HistWar: Les Grognards Demo II (Only available to those who pre-ordered...)... a vast improvement on the bug-ridden first demo and this looks like it could be an awesome game.

[naut]

Mods for reducing/removing damage for armour/weapons would be good, I'll have a search for them and then if I find one I'll go back to it.
After finding mods to reduce armour damage and add back the missing weapon add-ons I have finally finished the game.

The final level is awesome. Such a well designed level, almost perfect, could have been a little longer, but regardless awesome fun. Good plot, good balance, good atmosphere. It's a real pity that the developers didn't have more time to do what they wanted - add more creatures, expand the zone (3-4 more areas that were started but not finished), add vehicles, etc. I've seen 3 of the 7 endings now, I might try see the other 4.

Top game. I hear the third of the series is also good. Any truth to that?

[miotas]

and i thought charon was the ghoul? ive seen the robot near robco, RL-3. for 1000 bucks though i cant afford it. i could for like 500.

Yes Charon is the ghoul and he will go with you regardless of your karma, and you don't even need to pay for him, just kill the ghoul woman who runs the food shop when she goes out for a cigarette. Also the robot does care about your karma, he wont go with you if you are too good or too evil, only if you are neutral.

[Prussian to the Iron]

i shoulda hired RL3 before, when my karma was nuetral....now its too good!!! gah!

but my guys are usually ghoul-haters. damned zombies. Fawkes is aight though.



anyway: was amazed by what happened in cod mw2 yesterday:

I found out that to get the .44 magnum with tactical knife, you needed 100 kills with it. i then learned that tactical knife kills count towards that, and used one of the default classes with a .44 magnum tac knife to get to that. so, i now have M-16's and .44 magnums with tactical knife. different classes of course...

in one game, i honestly got 34 kills....and 4 deaths :D

i was like....."Huh? is that right? there must be someone else with my gamertag or...something.....that cant be right!?"

that 4500 points (with the match bonus) is enormous...now with my tac knife and commando pro, I'm averaging 25 kills and 7 deaths a match, a more than 3:1 ratio. im very happy, needless to say.




however, I don't get to play that that often. if anyone has call of duty 4 on ps3, I'd be game to play. im getting more and mroe back into that. i think husar, white eyes and....someone else has my PSNID, so if anyone else wants it its:

Crusaderspartan1


no caps besides the first letter, no spaces.

[miotas]

Don't mean to be rude or anything, but doesn't the whole "modern" part of the title run counter to using nothing but a knife?

[Prussian to the Iron]

...............it works....thats all that matters >:/


hey.....if people cant learn to deal with knifing douchebags like me, thats their problem. i just wanna get the ACR, at which point i'll be unstoppable.

[drone]

...............it works....thats all that matters >:/


hey.....if people cant learn to deal with knifing douchebags like me, thats their problem. i just wanna get the ACR, at which point i'll be unstoppable.
PA provides (language warning)...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/30/

[naut]

CoD 6 best combos. Knife while running around holding the care package smoke canister. Or akimbo Models. All else pales in comparison.

[Scienter]

TinCow and I just got Mario Kart for the Wii. Brings back college memories! :laugh4:

[Prussian to the Iron]

CoD 6 best combos. Knife while running around holding the care package smoke canister. Or akimbo Models. All else pales in comparison.

the care package fast-running thing is a myth. sprint speed is determined by your primary weapon for the class you chose, as well as if you have lightweight. secondary weapons (besides launchers) dont decrease or increase sprint speed. nor does the gas canister.

[Husar]

But it does, it's called exploit-using and not a very fine thing to do, should get fixed by the devs. There was a patch earlier today, not sure if that was included.

The akimbo is quite simply a disgrace and one of the few things that annoys me about the game. I don't really use it just out of principle. :thumbsdown:

[Prussian to the Iron]

akimbo is so stupid. i mean seriously; dual-weilding glocks or UMP's would definitely not work, unless you had the arm strength to bench 500 on each arm.

[miotas]

...............it works....thats all that matters >:/


hey.....if people cant learn to deal with knifing douchebags like me, thats their problem. i just wanna get the ACR, at which point i'll be unstoppable.

It doesn't bother me, I've never even played the game, let alone multiplayer. It's just that I thought it was ironic getting a game called Modern Warfare and using an ancient weapon.

[naut]

the care package fast-running thing is a myth.
:no:

It actually works.

[Prussian to the Iron]

It doesn't bother me, I've never even played the game, let alone multiplayer. It's just that I thought it was ironic getting a game called Modern Warfare and using an ancient weapon.

i cant even use anything anymore. now im just being butt-:daisy: by campers in every corner who move about 5 feet away so that when you frag the corner they then kill you, and flashbangs magically dont work on them.

but id rather be a knifing douchebag than a camping dual-weilding shotgun jackass. at least knifing is possible; double double barrel shotguns (no typo, thats what i mean) would not work.

[CountArach]

Dusted off the old PS2 and I'm now playing Gran Turismo 4.

[Kekvit Irae]

Finally bought Deliver Boy's Assassin's Creed II. So far, it's more of the same, but at the same time it feels like a much needed upgrade from AC1.

[Meneldil]

Dusted off the old PS2 and I'm now playing Gran Turismo 4.

A classic.

[Kekvit Irae]

Finally won Conspiracy Theorist's Creed II. I hate Metal Gear Solid plotlines.
Now all that's left is to find the last remaining features and do the sidequests I couldn't be bothered with.

[Kekvit Irae]

And after only a few days of playing, I now have my platinum trophy. Time to turn this bucket of :clown: back into GameStop and find something else to play.

[naut]

FM 2010 as Derby County. Managed to get promoted to the EPL by winning the Fizzy-Drink Cup. It's going to be a long and hard struggle to stay up this season.

[frogbeastegg]

I am playing Bayonetta. It was a late birthday present, based on my lasting bewilderment from the demo. It's jolly good fun indeed; the opening areas are far better than the remixed versions which featured in the demo. It's a game which is completely, joyously dedicated to being as entertaining, playable, silly, and different as it can be.

I played for an hour and a half last night and I enjoyed it more than anything else I've played since I went off gaming in early December. Looks like it's exactly what I needed.

[Kekvit Irae]

I'm currently playing The Saboteur at the moment. And holy crap is it fun! It's like Assassin's Creed II without the retarded plotline, Mercenaries 2 minus the total destruction, and Velvet Assassin without the sucking.

[marcusbrutus]

Currently playing Minions on www.casualcollective.com *shame*.

Help me start playing M2TW here: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=2419940#post2419940

[frogbeastegg]

I have started my long-planned replay of Baldur's Gate. I'm playing the game with the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion, the last patch, and no mods or tweaks. The game's displaying black boxes around certain sprites and animated elements so I've quit in search of a fix for that; otherwise I intend to keep the game pure.

I'm playing a pure mage, and the game's a lot easier than I remember. Sure the puny level 1 characters die if someone sneezes at them, but with a bit of planing it's usually possible to rope in friendly help for the tougher fights. I let the Friendly Arms Inn guards take most of the damage from the infamous Stairs Assassin while my party stood back and plinked away with ranged weapons.

Bayonetta and Baldur's Gate ... talk about an odd pair. :dizzy2:

[naut]

Bayonetta and Baldur's Gate ... talk about an odd pair. :dizzy2:
:laugh4:

Bayonetta is strange, (although I admit I've only played it in passing at a friends). BG a traditional RPG. Indeed an odd pairing.

[Warluster]

I'm suprised people still play MW2. I thought the games multiplayer was one of the biggest disappointments/overhypes for a while. Repetitive gameplay, extremely boring unlocks and a horrible community.

There's a rumour that the next Treyarch CoD7 is going to be Vietnam. Now if they did that like the Pacific missions in CoD5, that'd outrank MW2 easily.



I'm currently playing The Saboteur at the moment. And holy crap is it fun! It's like Assassin's Creed II without the retarded plotline, Mercenaries 2 minus the total destruction, and Velvet Assassin without the sucking.

That game is great fun! Have you finished the storyline yet? .

I thought the ending was creepy but too much of anti-climax, with such a bad evil guy I expected some challenge/boss fight, but I guess its not that kinda game. I guess he was insane from Sean chasing him around Paris and continually trying to blow him up/absolutely maul him.

Its a shame that Pandemic crashed before this was released, and that it received hardly any media attention. I think this could have been Pandemic's saviour. Hugely underrated, as well.

[The Wizard]

Picked up MTW again after finally getting it to run again... on my netbook, which has an Intel graphics card. But I still love it. :2thumbsup:

And, besides that, still playing EU3 (now with the latest expansion), and also picked up CK again. I also need to still finish Twilight Princess...

[CountArach]

HistWar: Les Grognards came out for those of us with pre-orders yesterday. I'll put some thoughts up on it tomorrow.

[naut]

I've gone back to Civ 4: Warlords with the Total Realism mod. This is one of the few games that I have always gone back to.
I love it, but I can't ever progress beyond about 400 AD. I just get struck with bad memory allocation bugs and it CTDs. :confused:

Fixed it. Awesome, was a because of my 32bit Windows. Allowing the application to access more than 2GB of RAM fixed the issue.

[Kekvit Irae]

Bioshock 2. Reviews say it's worse than the original because it's just a rehash with little in the way of new things, but I'll see for myself now.

[Prussian to the Iron]

Bioshock 2. Reviews say it's worse than the original because it's just a rehash with little in the way of new things, but I'll see for myself now.

thats out? odd i didnt hear about it.

[Veho Nex]

The multi-player was a lot of fun, but i only got to play for a little while. But that was back when it was beta, about February of 09.

[Prussian to the Iron]

The multi-player was a lot of fun, but i only got to play for a little while. But that was back when it was beta, about February of 09.

really? i heard the MP was the worst part of the game. huh.


anyone played dantes inferno? any good? im waiting for God of War 3 to come out, but I've heard its of the same quality, style, and gameplay overall.

[Husar]

really? i heard the MP was the worst part of the game. huh.


anyone played dantes inferno? any good? im waiting for God of War 3 to come out, but I've heard its of the same quality, style, and gameplay overall.

Well, Gametrailers (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-dantes-inferno/61732)[nudity warning!]* doesn't like it a lot.
And that means something to me because I often find them a bit optimistic/hyped.



*don't watch if you are not allowed to watch or faint while looking at bare breasts and had a horrible childhood due to this/got fed with cow milk from really early on

[Veho Nex]

Well, like I said it was beta, I haven't played it since then but it was fun an enjoyable, atleast as fun as a RPG gone MP can be.

[Meneldil]

Third playthrough of Dragon Age, as I still miss some achievements. I intended it to be a Hardcore playthrough, but it can't be arsed to reload the game every 5 minutes, so I switched to Difficult and might even go for easy, just to make things quicker.

I'll probably work on a solo hardcore playthrough at some point, if I still find the will to play the game. To be honest, though I don't find DAO to be "teh best RPG evar", it has a great replayability. Characters that are pretty much useless with one origin story become quite important with another.

I've done Mage (not the most interesting, as Jowan is still pretty much useless in any case), Dwarf commoner (funnier) and am currently going for a human noble, just to see what happens when I meet Howe and marry Anora.
The one that seems really interesting is dwarf noble, as Orzammar and the Deep Roads are probably the longuest quest of the game.

[Kekvit Irae]

Well, Gametrailers (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-dantes-inferno/61732) doesn't like it a lot.
And that means something to me because I often find them a bit optimistic/hyped.

You might want to put a nudity warning on that link.

[Meneldil]

The multi-player was a lot of fun, but i only got to play for a little while. But that was back when it was beta, about February of 09.

It's very classical, but also very effective and quite a lot of fun. Just like the first Medal of Honor. There was nothing extraordinary about it, but it indeed was quite fun. I played it at a friend's place and am considering getting a special edition box, though it's 70€ here.

[Husar]

You might want to put a nudity warning on that link.

Done.

Although I must say the violence was far more "outstanding" to me than the nudity, different cultures, different focus, I guess.

[Kekvit Irae]

Done.

Although I must say the violence was far more "outstanding" to me than the nudity, different cultures, different focus, I guess.

I don't have a problem with nudity or violence, myself. I just don't want anyone to get infractions because of a slip.