The "What are you playing?" topic.

[frogbeastegg]

I finished Diablo Sunday night. I didn't really enjoy it much at all as it is quite dated. Way too much clicking. For some odd reason, I find myself a bit anxious to start Diablo II. It seems to be a huge leap forward in the interface & features departments.

Give it a try. I played Diablo II first and I found I couldn't get on with the original when I tried it. It felt very primitive and limiting.

Alternately, try Titan Quest. It's the same idea but with an ancient Greek setting, more character options and modern graphics/interface. Get the gold edition so you also get the expansion pack; it's very cheap these days.

[Gregoshi]

Give it a try. I played Diablo II first and I found I couldn't get on with the original when I tried it. It felt very primitive and limiting.

Alternately, try Titan Quest. It's the same idea but with an ancient Greek setting, more character options and modern graphics/interface. Get the gold edition so you also get the expansion pack; it's very cheap these days.

Thanks for the recommendation froggy. I'll look into Titan Quest. The price certainly sounds right. The only reason I have and am playing Diablo/Diablo II is that I picked up the warchest for $12US on the second to last day of Circuit City's liquidation sale.

[Crandaeolon]

I'm currently wondering if Demigod is worth getting.

Me too. The couple of reviews that are out already are pretty gushy. Anybody tried this yet?

[frogbeastegg]

Thanks for the recommendation froggy. I'll look into Titan Quest. The price certainly sounds right. The only reason I have and am playing Diablo/Diablo II is that I picked up the warchest for $12US on the second to last day of Circuit City's liquidation sale.

I thought of another one for you. Sacred: Gold. Note, not Sacred 2 or Sacred in a non-gold flavour. The sequel was very buggy at release, and still sounds as if it has a way to go. The expansions and additional content in Sacred Gold boost the game up from the unremarkable experience it was at release, and turn it into something which gets a lot of love around the internet.

When the slow drip, drip, drip of positive comments wore me down I got a copy from good old games. Very cheap, fully patched and up to date in the initial download, no DRM, no additional interfaces like steam or impulse; just a game ready to go. You can probably buy the gold edition on a disc from somewhere if you don't like downloads.

[Gregoshi]

Thanks again froggy. I'll put it on my list, but no more recommendations please. My brain will lockup due to too many choices and I won't buy anything. (you should see me walk into a video rental store and try to select a movie - brain lock!!).

[CountArach]

Just finished FEAR 2 this afternoon and I found the ending a little abrupt, but I felt that it was still one of the best plot-lines of any game I have played in a long time.

[Monk]

Gears 2 horde mode:


Beat my previous best with a group last night and took it to 22 rounds before we got overwhelmed. There were some tight spots, including one section where it was me all alone hiding behind a Boomshield against twenty locust. All i can say is thank COG for the Gorgon pistol (semi-auto burst pistol)

I've also been playing a lot of Left 4 Dead versus, more than usual trying to get ready for the DLC. Can't wait to play Dead Air in Versus mode.

[frogbeastegg]

I gave Gears of War a second go. This time I got further than the first effort. Sad to say that the game wins special status with me: it's the only game I've played on my xbox and completely dislike. It's my 39th game.

Ugly colours, ugly character design, ugly sound effects and music, cumbersome controls, whimpy weapons with downright nasty sound effects, boring level design, a story and set of characters which set a new low for a genre already famous for being bad in those regards. It's packed full of idiotic AI team members who hamper you by getting killed, forcing you to battle hordes alone or get killed reviving them. On hardcore the enemies are bullet sponges and each kill takes a drearily long time. Above all and most damningly, the combat is plodding, dull, fiddly and boring.

There's nothing about it I like or find redeeming. Considering I can play games with plenty of flaws and still enjoy them, that's almost unheard of. I got it in a bundle deal with the sequel last year. The sequel will never get within 6 feet of my console's disc drive.

Next up? I don't know. I hated Gears so much it's kind of put me off games. Anything I play will be better; I want something so good it will obliterate the foul taste left by Gears.

[frogbeastegg]

:stands on a mound of slain enemies, brandishes a katana and screams in triumph: Ninja Gaiden II, completed! On acolyte level, this game's 'easy' mode but still a sight more difficult than the hard mode on most games.

I'm rather proud of this. Not greatly so, just proud enough to have a warm little glow. This isn't the sort of game I play much, and I don't have super fast reactions or button bashing skills. I'm not a fan of games which are made with the intention of the player dying many, many times before the end; it gets boring. Ninja Gaiden is notorious for its difficulty and for the demands it places on the player. Most people don't get half way through acolyte before giving up.

With the exception of a few spots the game was highly enjoyable. Skill based combat that rewards care, attention and a willingness to learn. There's still loads for me to learn. Loads. I need to learn those many things and practice them until they become unthinking reflex if I'm to tackle the higher levels. Still, there's the rare moment where it all pulls together and I get a hint of what I'd fight like if I had mastered those skills. It's an elaborate, lethal ballet of evading at the last possible frame of animation, triggering the right move at exactly the right split second, and mowing a path of destruction through a mob without getting a scratch. Then the moment passes and the ballet reverts to a melee.

There are some cheap enemies. There are some badly designed fights. These hold the game back from the highs it should have reached. During the final boss gauntlet the game glitched on me and I was forced to reset the console, losing all of my progress. Sometimes the controls don't seem as responsive as they should be.

I've started a dragon sword weapon master run now, and I'll do some more weapon master runs once I finish that. Eventually I'll move to warrior level. Once warrior and all 8 weapon master runs are done I'll try mentor level. In the vanishingly small chance I survive that, I'll try master ninja.

Returning to level 1 and fighting with nothing but the dragon sword has been incredible. It's shown me how much I have learned. Fights where I nearly died on the first run I pass with mere scratches - or untouched - the second time.

[Monk]

Was raging really hard over the weekend when I learned that microsoft points are hoplessly gouged by retail stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart by upwards of 30%. I checked their prices on Live only to find you can get 5000 points for a little over 60 USD. Good thing i didn't buy any of those shamelessly overpriced pre-paid cards.

Anyway. I got the Snowblind map pack for gears 2, the Mass Effect DLC that i never got and downloaded Jade Empire from Live.

Yeah, i'm four years late to the party, but I have to say I am really enjoying Jade Empire. The combat system is really fluid and despite the serious damage enemies do with a single swing, I am enjoying myself quite a bit. I haven't gotten deep enough to see the plot, tonight though!