The "What are you playing?" topic.

[Kekvit Irae]

Thnaks for the advice on the games. It defintly helped me make my choice and I went out and bought Far Cry 2 instead, and am getting NWN2 soon.

Seeing all the good comments on Fable II I am going to borrow it from somewhere (Anywhere! Argh!) today and try it out. Can anyone compare it too a game? What sort of gameplay is it like? I only just got a 360 after years of PC so I don't know these console games.

Reading online non-professional reviews is always a good idea before buying a game blindly. Case in point: Far Cry 2.

Think of Fable II as a third-person Oblivion where the dog is the only developed character in the game, your first companion is an American woman who loves drinking and hitting people (who doesn't?), the only black guy in the entire game is imprisoned, and the best thing about the game is wenching and murdering while slowly becoming more and more like Scrooge McDuck in your quest to build a real-estate empire.

[Fisherking]

Well while awating the next Total War, I went way back to a couple of wargames I had in the early 1990s

Some fans have kept them mostly up to date and they play in Vista now when they were DOS or maybe early windows games.

Steel Panthers and Panzer General 2

that’s old!

[frogbeastegg]

the only black guy in the entire game is imprisoned

There are loads of black people in my game. Which leads me neatly on to my latest batch of Fable II tales.

My baby has grown up into a boy of 9. He's a healthy, serious little boy who worships the ground my heroic self walks upon. Teeny tiny hiccough in the picture of happiness: he's black. My character is white. So's the father. I'm confused.

I have reached Bloodstone. It's a rough sea-side town with whores, gambling and murderers. My wallet was bursting with cash, so I headed straight for the local pub. Pubs are one of the best places to buy when assembling your empire; few other buildings give such a high return. As I neared the pub's deed board I noticed a familiar icon. An icon which should have no place here. I sprinted over and lo and behold the unthinkable was true - my husband was in the pub. With two whores. And a pint. His cheerful "I missed you, honey!" got cut short by a slap to the face delivered with all of my heroic strength. Guess that explains why my character acquired a disease from him. Being understandably displeased, my hero commanded the husband to follow her, searched the town for a decent-looking man, posed a bit to get him to love me, then dragged him to the nearest bed so dear hubby could see what a real man is like.

The cheating husband would be (un)pleasantly dead if only it didn't mean social services taking my son into custody, removing him from the game for good. Huh. From now on that man's happiness score is going to be kept above the divorce point by sock puppet plays and nothing else.

Intentional or a glitch? The game insists that Alex isn't in Bloodstone. When I open up the family screen and set the tracker he is still in our house in the marketplace. If I travel there he's ambling around the house, same as usual. Yet each time I go to Bloodstone there he is, parked in the pub.

I found a quest called T.O.B.Y. That stands for Temple Of Benevolent Yokels. Quite the amusing little quest.

I am finding one aspect of the game increasingly disappointing. For all the fuss about shaping your own character and destiny, your hands are pretty much tied when it comes to how your character will look. Invest in any strength scores and you turn into the incredible hulk. Invest in will and you grow like a spring bean. Invest in will and you end up covered in ugly blue lines. My character is now 2 foot taller than everyone else, and looks like a burly man covered in neon face paint. Ugly, ugly, ugly! Dress her in female clothing and she looks like a particularly manly pantomine dame. Argh! The only way to look half-decent is to keep all of your skills near rock bottom. That's no fun.

[Kekvit Irae]

There are loads of black people in my game.

Allow me to correct myself...
The only sane black guy in the game who won't hover around you everywhere you go with a heart over their head...

The cheating husband would be (un)pleasantly dead if only it didn't mean social services taking my son into custody, removing him from the game for good. Huh. From now on that man's happiness score is going to be kept above the divorce point by sock puppet plays and nothing else.

Hey, it was nine years. You didn't think any sane man would wait around for a single woman? They have needs too!
But watch out. If you upgrade your physique and strength to maximum, you can kill with just a slap.

[Mailman653]

But watch out. If you upgrade your physique and strength to maximum, you can kill with just a slap.

Not entirely true, my ex wife was "aggression loving" I needed a divorce so I figured doing the slap would put me on the fast route to divorce, instead she liked it. My charater is maxed out in his skills.

[frogbeastegg]

Hey, it was nine years. You didn't think any sane man would wait around for a single woman? They have needs too!

I'd been back for long enough to do most of the quests which open up after that story point, and I'd been giving the idiot attention. He's got no excuse.

But watch out. If you upgrade your physique and strength to maximum, you can kill with just a slap.

I've been trying it out on the pervert town crier since I saw the loading tip about it. He's still alive. Must be a very small chance, even with maxed stats.



I shall say one thing for this game: it makes being pure good painful. I remember an interview with Molyneux where he said something like, "You want to be good? Ok, are you good now? How about if we take this away? And this? Will you still be good if you know you could lose that? Will you give up this? Are you still good? Well done, now you lose some more - are you still good?" He wanted good to be something players had to work at and which has a cost, something different to the usual path of sweetness and glowing halos. At the time I dismissed it as his usual hype talk.

So far being good has cost me (minor spoilers)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Thousands and thousands of points of XP, my youth and good looks (as if I wasn't ugly enough before!), a marriage I didn't want to a character I don't particularly like, massive sums of gold, and sundry other aches and pains. I'm blocked from getting certain quests, expressions and rewards. I have to put up with the most annoying townsfolk, knowing I could kill them in a single blow if only ...

The end of the game has a particularly high cost. (large spoilers!)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

You lose your dog is gone forever.

I wish starting a new character didn't wipe the save for your old one. I'd like to play through again as an evildoer.

[Kekvit Irae]

I wish starting a new character didn't wipe the save for your old one. I'd like to play through again as an evildoer.

I don't know what crazy version you're running, but my roommate has two characters. Hero 1 in Oakfield and Hero 2 in the Spire. Both of the saved games run just fine, and can switch between the two at the main menu.

[frogbeastegg]

I don't know what crazy version you're running, but my roommate has two characters. Hero 1 in Oakfield and Hero 2 in the Spire. Both of the saved games run just fine, and can switch between the two at the main menu.

:gasp!: Everywhere keeps talking about only being allowed a single save, and the game itself doesn't make it look possible.

Bwahahaha! The time for slaughter has arrived! Evil shall reign over all! Death, doom and blight! Beware, beware, for the town crier shall be the first to die at the hands of a mysterious, newly arrived male hero who has no links whatsoever to the virtuous ugly old man-like hag lady! His death shall be the first of many! Woe, woe upon Albion! Etc, etc.

[Mailman653]

Yeah, there are about five or six save slots. My first game got broken during a save when the game was saving and the cd froze so I had to start a new game, every time I go load it up, I got a menu that has five or six cards and my broken game is called Hero 1 and my current game is Hero 2.

DLC set for Jan 13th

[frogbeastegg]

Shortest evil career ever? I lasted a little over an hour. Running around naked doing pelvic thrusts at old ladies, marrying two wives in the same area, and slaughtering the town crier made me feel wretchedly guilt-ridden. :sigh: Always the same; I'm hopeless at playing as an evil type.

In my first game I'm now officially Queen. Done nearly everything except hunting down the last few silver keys and gargoyles. Can't be bothered with that right now; that's it until the DLC.

[Mailman653]

Yeah I'm not touching the game till Tuesday, it could use a break anyway since I've played it to death since I got it.

I thought this game was kind of fun, Warfare 1917
It has a bit of that Close Combat look to it. The game is quite simple but it gets tough as you get halfway through it.

[Crandaeolon]

Me and my buddies have been craving some action RPG goodness for a while, but the options seem kind of limited. It might be time to give Titan Quest another chance; it's got all the trappings, I already have it, and my pals can purchase it for cheap since it's in bargain bins already. Problem is, I found TQ quite boring last time I tried it - too many passive abilities and too much reliance on basic attack or just a few abilities.

What would be a good class combination for dynamic gameplay? Something that uses a lot of abilities, needs to move a lot and deals good damage, preferably not horribly boring at low levels either.

[Fragony]

Silent Hill 5. No it does not suck, doesn't look too hot though, on a ps2 it would have been a goodlooking game but the ps3 can do much better, but it nails the atmosphere it bloody terrifying. Controls are better then the previous games, nice to have an invert aim option and it would have been even better if the game didn't just ignore it, wtf. But all in all it's a fun creepy game.

Frag happy.

[frogbeastegg]

Mass Effect. Originally I completed the game with soldier/paragon/Kaiden/Garrus. Now I'm taking the same character through renegade/Wrex/Liara, and I'm nearly at the end. If I hit level 60 on this game I will start a new one as an adept with Ashley/Tali. If I don't reach level 60 I will start my third game on the soldier character, this time on hardcore. I want the game-wide 5% XP bonus you gain for reaching level 60 before I begin a brand new character.

[Mailman653]

Speaking of Mass Effect, some small new info came out about ME2 and its level design. Might be another year and a half or two before we see it, but it will be worth the wait.

I've been playing Jedi Academy on my 360 after I gave Fable 2 a much needed break (not much to do after you finish the main quest).