The "What are you playing?" topic.

[naut]

Pever never fails to deliver!

yeah i hate WoW as well. dont see why you would pay 20 bucks a month for a game when you can buy one far superior for at the most 60 bucks, and dont see why you would pay that same amount for social interaction when you can do that at this place called.....real life.


no offense if you play WoW, i just dont see the point or the logic in it.

I played WoW for about 3 months, and you and anyone who hasn't played it are seriously underestimating the amount of content and the quality of the gameplay. It's actually quite good at what it does.

[Prussian to the Iron]

i did play it for a little at my friends house one time. hated it. it requires such a massive volume of time, and I dont see how anyone has it, as well as time to work to pay for the damned thing.

then again, I'm one of the few CoD fanboys here....and yes Hooah, I wil most certainly post about it.

[Splitpersonality]

So Starcraft 2 drops in America this Tuesday.

I can't wait to check it out :o

[Meneldil]

I played WoW for about 3 months, and you and anyone who hasn't played it are seriously underestimating the amount of content and the quality of the gameplay. It's actually quite good at what it does.

Sad to say, but WoW is indeed one of the best games out here gameplay wise. After having played to most MMO's and RPG's available, I've come to the conclusion that none of them can even try to compete with WoW nervous yet extremely deep gameplay.

As for the players, I've met several dudes who play WoW, have very good jobs and a family. Not everyone there is unemployed, student and living on welfare.

[Prussian to the Iron]

So Starcraft 2 drops in America this Tuesday.

I can't wait to check it out :o

never played the first one, but my buddy seems all excited about it. if theres a demo ill try it.

Sad to say, but WoW is indeed one of the best games out here gameplay wise. After having played to most MMO's and RPG's available, I've come to the conclusion that none of them can even try to compete with WoW nervous yet extremely deep gameplay.

As for the players, I've met several dudes who play WoW, have very good jobs and a family. Not everyone there is unemployed, student and living on welfare.

the question is: are those with very good jobs and family vey high level? doubtful, because almost everyone I've ever known who's parent(s) work dont get home until at least 5-6PM, and many get home later. where does the WoW time come in? factor in dinner, shower, and family time, and you probably have a max of 2 hours to play each worknight, and thats assuming that you got home at 6:00.

[Monk]

the question is: are those with very good jobs and family vey high level? doubtful, because almost everyone I've ever known who's parent(s) work dont get home until at least 5-6PM, and many get home later. where does the WoW time come in? factor in dinner, shower, and family time, and you probably have a max of 2 hours to play each worknight, and thats assuming that you got home at 6:00.

Your expectations are misplaced, you'll find not all jobs are one in the same in hours, shifts and work responsibility. There was a guy I worked with early last year who boasted he only worked twelve days a month, and that was a busy time for him.

I played WoW on and off for four years. In that time i met people from all walks of life, and yes, including those with "very good jobs" and families. Meneldil is right, not everyone playing has no life, although those players are there as well.

[caravel]

Shogun: Total War.

[Decker]

Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2.

[Prussian to the Iron]

thats why I said almost, not just plain everyone. one of my best friends, again, plays WoW, and he's not what I'd call a loser. but he does spend too much time on it.

12 days a month? what was that guy doin? sign me the hell up!

[Splitpersonality]

Very soon I'm going to start a let's play (or rather a how to successfully fail) of FF7 - FF9 on the PS1 :o

Will update this thread with my youtube once the videos are up! :D

[Monk]

thats why I said almost, not just plain everyone. one of my best friends, again, plays WoW, and he's not what I'd call a loser. but he does spend too much time on it.

12 days a month? what was that guy doin? sign me the hell up!

Freelance work for a translation software and conference organization company. Was a really sweet gig.

[Prussian to the Iron]

hmm.......was he doin the software work or the linguistic work?

[Double A]

Dwarf Fortress!

Although I am spending more time on the org, TWC, and CFC than playing DF.

[Husar]

World of Tanks, so much that I almost wish I hadn't gotten a beta key yet...

[Splitpersonality]

Applied for the beta, looks pretty good....


Stayed up all night playing Final Fantasy X on the advice of ATPG, I'm loving it but dreading having to start over and redo the 6 hours in I am :/

[Fragony]

Borderlands, something original for a change

[CountArach]

I just finished Mass Effect 2 with my save game from ME1... this was quite possibly the best ending to any game ever. I can't wait until ME3 is released.

[Monk]

I just finished Mass Effect 2 with my save game from ME1... this was quite possibly the best ending to any game ever. I can't wait until ME3 is released.

The music for the final mission is incredible, not that it isn't for the entire game but on that last run it is immensely well done.

[Hooahguy]

The music for the final mission is incredible, not that it isn't for the entire game but on that last run it is immensely well done.

Agreed! I'm actually considering buying the OST, its that good. I especially love the Illusive Man's theme.

[CountArach]

The music for the final mission is incredible, not that it isn't for the entire game but on that last run it is immensely well done.

Oh yeah no doubt. Clearly a huge amount of time has gone into making the entire last hour of gameplay a memorable experience.

I booted up ME1 again to replay it through as a paragon this time.

[Fragony]

Never played either because of Bioware fatigue. But the best soundtrack remains this anyway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQTsj8c-RHM

[naut]

I just finished Mass Effect 2 with my save game from ME1... this was quite possibly the best ending to any game ever. I can't wait until ME3 is released.

Really?!?

I found it to be a somewhat of a crapsicle. Well, maybe not that bad, but I prefered their original concept art for what the ending would have looked like, I mean wow.

[CountArach]

Really?!?

I found it to be a somewhat of a crapsicle. Well, maybe not that bad, but I prefered their original concept art for what the ending would have looked like, I mean wow.

Seriously? I was on the edge of my seat and was amazed at how utterly ruthless the game was. There were a couple of very over the top bits, but for the most part it was a fantastic ending sequence.

[Jolt]

I'm back into playing Populous: The Beginning, this time trying to end the expansion "Undiscovered Worlds". It is awesome enough.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Seriously? I was on the edge of my seat and was amazed at how utterly ruthless the game was. There were a couple of very over the top bits, but for the most part it was a fantastic ending sequence.

Well, you have a few different things going on that people object to, even if I didn't really mind and still got caught up in the intended drama. MASSIVE SPOILERS:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The first is that the human reaper is really, really cheesy. There's no discernible reason for the reapers to make their ships look like their enemies - how was that thing going to look if it was flying through space? And why haven't we seen other reapers that look different from the standard one? Inexplicable and cheesy. But I was lost in the moment and let it slide.

The other thing, and there was an RPS piece about it, is that the game hypes up the mission as a suicide mission, but you are probably not going to die and most of your crew probably won't, either. I think most people spent the time to max out their crew loyalty (or just about) and got most of the ship upgrades (or just about). Then you'll have all or most of your team ready for the final confrontation. If you pay attention to what is being asked in each situation, it's relatively easy to figure out which crew members should do which part so they don't die. And so your suicide mission ends with you losing one or two or none of the crew. It was still a blow to the gut to lose Moridin for me, but that was because I was dumb (Moridin earlier even says he shouldn't "hold the line" but I left him holding the line).

Those two large, legitimate complaints aside, I thought the pacing and varied nature of the final mission was still fantastic and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Perhaps the game is relying too much on smoke and mirrors, but I still enjoyed it very much.

[Monk]

Well, you have a few different things going on that people object to, even if I didn't really mind and still got caught up in the intended drama. MASSIVE SPOILERS:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The first is that the human reaper is really, really cheesy. There's no discernible reason for the reapers to make their ships look like their enemies - how was that thing going to look if it was flying through space? And why haven't we seen other reapers that look different from the standard one? Inexplicable and cheesy. But I was lost in the moment and let it slide.

The other thing, and there was an RPS piece about it, is that the game hypes up the mission as a suicide mission, but you are probably not going to die and most of your crew probably won't, either. I think most people spent the time to max out their crew loyalty (or just about) and got most of the ship upgrades (or just about). Then you'll have all or most of your team ready for the final confrontation. If you pay attention to what is being asked in each situation, it's relatively easy to figure out which crew members should do which part so they don't die. And so your suicide mission ends with you losing one or two or none of the crew. It was still a blow to the gut to lose Moridin for me, but that was because I was dumb (Moridin earlier even says he shouldn't "hold the line" but I left him holding the line).

Those two large, legitimate complaints aside, I thought the pacing and varied nature of the final mission was still fantastic and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Perhaps the game is relying too much on smoke and mirrors, but I still enjoyed it very much.

Tackling the spoiler'd comments on Mass Effect 1 and 2, containing information about their ending, structure and theme.

If you have not played through Mass Effect 2, you've been warned:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This will sound like quite the cop-out but I fully expect a some amount of cheesiness in my sci-fi storytelling. Mass Effect as a series was built on moments of pure over-the-top greatness mixed with cinematic drama, that's what makes it great. It combined both styles unapologetically, fighting off human reapers and people being cloned inside plant monsters that mind-control colonists is just as awesome as riding in at the head of a human fleet to save (or damn) the entire social and political structure of a galaxy.

The RPS piece was very well written on the second point, and in a sense I agree. Everyone keeps telling you it's a suicide mission but that really isn't delivered very well in the game's narrative. You're encouraged to take as much time as you want in building your team and gaining their trust, and there's never much sense of urgency (until the IFF mission but by then we're already 2/3 in). It's more due to the fact that as a game, Mass Effect 2 has an incredibly bloated middle act during which you have unlimited time to do whatever you wanted. If the count down began after you boarded the collector ship instead of after you obtained the IFF, it would put the player in a position where he had to pick and choose who was gonna be loyal, since there's no way he could do all the missions without consequence. This is something i hope is fixed for ME3

As for what I'm playing: A mix of Mass Effect (like many other orgahs it seems) and Team Fortress 2. I'm also pondering starting an EUIII game at the start of August, played to completion before I start classes again. It's gonna be a rough Fall quarter.

[CountArach]

Well, you have a few different things going on that people object to, even if I didn't really mind and still got caught up in the intended drama. MASSIVE SPOILERS:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The first is that the human reaper is really, really cheesy. There's no discernible reason for the reapers to make their ships look like their enemies - how was that thing going to look if it was flying through space? And why haven't we seen other reapers that look different from the standard one? Inexplicable and cheesy. But I was lost in the moment and let it slide.

The other thing, and there was an RPS piece about it, is that the game hypes up the mission as a suicide mission, but you are probably not going to die and most of your crew probably won't, either. I think most people spent the time to max out their crew loyalty (or just about) and got most of the ship upgrades (or just about). Then you'll have all or most of your team ready for the final confrontation. If you pay attention to what is being asked in each situation, it's relatively easy to figure out which crew members should do which part so they don't die. And so your suicide mission ends with you losing one or two or none of the crew. It was still a blow to the gut to lose Moridin for me, but that was because I was dumb (Moridin earlier even says he shouldn't "hold the line" but I left him holding the line).

Those two large, legitimate complaints aside, I thought the pacing and varied nature of the final mission was still fantastic and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Perhaps the game is relying too much on smoke and mirrors, but I still enjoyed it very much.

Oh yeah I agree with the first point, though it didn't surprise me to find it in the game, and on the second point:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I guess that to anyone without Shephard's unique abilities it was a suicide mission and right down to the very last cinematic of him jumping into the ship, it is clear that a lesser person would have died by this point. I agree that I never truly felt like I would end up dying, and I understand that it is highly unlikely that many people do go that way, but at the same time I can see why the Devs would make it rather difficult to die. The whole point of Shephard is that he is too good for death. Personally only 4 of my crew members made it out alive (Jack, Mordin, Miranda and Samara, with Jack being the only one I actively used of those), but that was because I was curious to see what would happen if I intentionally didn't do all the loyalty missions and made a couple of bad choices.

My biggest criticism of the game was the whole meet-up-with-Liara-again-only-to-run-chores-for-her-and-find-she-doesn't-really-care thing. That quite annoyed me and it felt like a part of the game that was something of an afterthought.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Oh yeah I agree with the first point, though it didn't surprise me to find it in the game, and on the second point:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I guess that to anyone without Shephard's unique abilities it was a suicide mission and right down to the very last cinematic of him jumping into the ship, it is clear that a lesser person would have died by this point. I agree that I never truly felt like I would end up dying, and I understand that it is highly unlikely that many people do go that way, but at the same time I can see why the Devs would make it rather difficult to die. The whole point of Shephard is that he is too good for death. Personally only 4 of my crew members made it out alive (Jack, Mordin, Miranda and Samara, with Jack being the only one I actively used of those), but that was because I was curious to see what would happen if I intentionally didn't do all the loyalty missions and made a couple of bad choices.

My biggest criticism of the game was the whole meet-up-with-Liara-again-only-to-run-chores-for-her-and-find-she-doesn't-really-care thing. That quite annoyed me and it felt like a part of the game that was something of an afterthought.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Personally I don't have a huge problem with the mission not being as difficult as advertised, it's just I understand where the complaints are coming from about it. It would be cool to make some choices more meaningful (sacrifice Shepard to save the crew, or the crew to save Shepard?) but I think the ending was fine anyway.

As for Liara, I wonder if it was underdone to set up the DLC they're releasing. The whole thing felt pretty off, partly because I could only ever find 4 of the 5 parts of the logic puzzle and always got it wrong, and partly because Liara had a different voice actor. Really, them skimping on that section of the game makes me less interested in Liara-centric DLC.

[Hooahguy]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Personally, I think that the suicide mission was too short. I mean, you are attacking the Collector HOMEWORLD. You should have to fight through much, much, more. Plus I really like APG's idea of the "sacrifice one to save the others" idea. I also wish I could go more places in the Citadel.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Just finished the Dead Carnival campaign with VehoNex and some others. ON EXPERT.

Arghhhhhhhhh...the second to last level is so very difficult. The common do 20 hp damage each. Jockeys do 12 damage. Witches insta-kill.

And there's four more campaigns for the achievement...



Per the ongoing ME2 conversation;

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I too feel that letting you get away completely from the end without anyone dying robbed the supposed 'suicide mission' of a deeper emotion. Plus once again the whole sense of urgency in the midgame was undercut by the leisurely ability to do missions.

CR