The "What are you playing?" topic.

[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.

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!!

[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....

[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?

[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

[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.

[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

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, ...

[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.

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.

[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:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[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.

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.

[frogbeastegg]

Of course, if that doesn't grab you in your current mood... there's always this.

That only works if I have a copy.

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]

[naut]

And on a related note, I laughed:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[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...

[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?

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?

Sounds rather short...

Short?

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?

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.
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.

[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.

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