The "What are you playing?" topic.

[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?

: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.

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.
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! 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.

[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! 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.

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. 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.

[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!

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!

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

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.

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 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.