What are you playing at the moment?

[Username]

Of all the games I've been playing over the past month, I keep returning to Avadon: The Black Fortress and Shadowgrounds. They're more compelling than I would have ever guessed.

[sabrage]

I'm not surprised to see that so many people bounced off Aquaria (I did too!) but I urge everyone to go back to it at least until you unlock the "energy form." It completely changes the dynamic of the game, to the extent that I would argue it doesn't even start until you get it. Once you can actually fight back, it become pretty clear that the designers literally set out to make Metroid underwater, and in that respect I'd say they've succeeded.. The art style is only rivaled by Capsized, which lacks the exploration and unlock aspect that really makes Aquaria shine. It's a shame that the menu controls on a gamepad are pretty terrible, because besides that the game is absolutely brilliant. I'm realizing, a year later, that this is the best part of any of the bundles I've gotten.

[FunnyB]

I'm currently playing through Darwinia for the first time (got it in the Introversion bundle). It's really a lovely game. It's quite surprising that it is so enjoyable and satisfying even though it's so simplistic!

[Vague-rant]

I just did a Trilogy playthrough and found it exactly the same. BG1 really drags on a bit and by the time the city of Baldur's Gate opened up I was getting restless. In the end I got an FAQ just so I knew where all the quests were to minimize pointless wandering, blasted through them all in a night and then went back to the main plot. Luckily the plot will keep rolling forward from the Iron Throne investigation onwards so things pick up momentum again. I did end up saying a big 'fuck you' to Tales of the Sword Coast though as I just wanted to get to BG2.
Baldur's Gate 2 is where the magic happens. Playing it again made me remember just how much I love it, and it has aged like a single malt.

So I really do have to level up with the side quests? What kind of level should I aim for to start BG2?

[Anthile]

So I really do have to level up with the side quests? What kind of level should I aim for to start BG2?

I'm pretty sure your character is automatically levelled up if you import and you don't have the minimum XP.

[Casimir Effect]

So I really do have to level up with the side quests? What kind of level should I aim for to start BG2?
Depends on how you are getting your character from BG1 to BG2 I think. If you are playing Trilogy mod then the games are linked getting from the 1st to the 2nd is done for you, so you start BG2 exactly as you were when you finished with BG1 (when you take a quest created by the mod to go to Amn).
The original way was to finish BG1 or BG1+TotSC and then import your character into BG2. Here your character would be levelled to 89,000XP (if coming from BG1) or 161,000XP (if coming from TotSC) if necessary, but I'm not sure what happens if your character happens to have more than these amounts already, ie. would they get XP taken away (my guess: probably not).
Anyway, so as long as you finish BG1 with at least 89,000 then you shouldn't be underlevelled at all (I have a feeling I entered BG2 with around 200,000XP from doing all those sidequests, and that was without doing anything from TotSC). However, being a higher level will make the final fight of BG1 easier and that fight is a motherfucker and a half. There's also something to be said for being a higher level at the start of BG2, as the first dungeon can be tricky in places.

So it's up to you how far you want to go. Remember too that the rewards from sidequests can often be useful - I think the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength are entirely missable because they're in a side quest. I'm not sure how much XP it is theoretically possible to get

[Similar]

Minecraft Minecraft Minecraft... Haven't even looked at anything else the past couple of months (but I've bought quite a few games in that time, just to keep my back log alive and well).

Although right now I'm playing the 'start Minecraft every twenty seconds to see if they've finished doing maintenance' game. Which is rather less fun than playing Minecraft itself, surprisingly.

[Wizardry]

Depends on how you are getting your character from BG1 to BG2 I think. If you are playing Trilogy mod then the games are linked getting from the 1st to the 2nd is done for you, so you start BG2 exactly as you were when you finished with BG1 (when you take a quest created by the mod to go to Amn).
The original way was to finish BG1 or BG1+TotSC and then import your character into BG2. Here your character would be levelled to 89,000XP (if coming from BG1) or 161,000XP (if coming from TotSC) if necessary, but I'm not sure what happens if your character happens to have more than these amounts already, ie. would they get XP taken away (my guess: probably not).
Anyway, so as long as you finish BG1 with at least 89,000 then you shouldn't be underlevelled at all (I have a feeling I entered BG2 with around 200,000XP from doing all those sidequests, and that was without doing anything from TotSC). However, being a higher level will make the final fight of BG1 easier and that fight is a motherfucker and a half. There's also something to be said for being a higher level at the start of BG2, as the first dungeon can be tricky in places.

So it's up to you how far you want to go. Remember too that the rewards from sidequests can often be useful - I think the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength are entirely missable because they're in a side quest. I'm not sure how much XP it is theoretically possible to get
200,000? There's XP caps in all the Baldur's Gate games. You can't get 200,000 XP even with TotSC installed.

[SMiD]

200,000? There's XP caps in all the Baldur's Gate games. You can't get 200,000 XP even with TotSC installed.

I believe you can with BGT. Maybe with Tutu as well, but I can't say for sure.

[Casimir Effect]

200,000? There's XP caps in all the Baldur's Gate games. You can't get 200,000 XP even with TotSC installed.
I guess you can with Trilogy. I could be entirely wrong though as I'm not totally sure what my starting XP in BG2 was, and the specific savegames have been overwritten long ago. Something like 205,000 sounded familiar though.

[Drake Sigar]

I'm almost impressed with Arkham City's outright refusal to let the player make Batman look bad. I tried striking him in the face with his own batarang, but he cooly snatched it out of the air and delivered what may have been a self-imagined taunting smile as if to say "bugger you, Drake."

Well bugger you too, Batman. You smug git.

[Scumbag]

Cave Story+: Was anticipating this a lot, then my 360 pad did not work... and the scrolling was jerky as nothing else. Seems really charming bar the technicalities.
Orcs must die: This is a lot more fun then I anticipated.
Minecraft: Finishing an old map, patching up a castle I started long ago. Connect it to my main underground town via rail road, complete with underground forest and... what am I doing with my life?

[Lambchops]

I'm almost impressed with Arkham City's outright refusal to let the player make Batman look bad. I tried striking him in the face with his own batarang, but he cooly snatched it out of the air and delivered what may have been a self-imagined taunting smile as if to say "bugger you, Drake."

Well bugger you too, Batman. You smug git.

I bet getting a Riddler Challenge ticked off for doing so was just rubbing it in for you!

[sabrage]

I'm at the second-to-last boss in God of War.... I'm not sure why, but every game kind of turns into an endurance test near the end for me, and it becomes more a matter of will and determination to beat them than it is actual fun. God of War takes this feeling to an extreme. There's 5-10 (kind of hard to keep track) big fights in a row right, gauntlet-style, right before this boss. No checkpoints in between, and that wouldn't be a big deal if they didn't throw in an enemy who can literally one hit kill you (fucking gorgons) halfway through. One slip up and bam, right back to the start.

I finally figured out why this game is so much less enjoyable than the first: it's the camera. Look, I don't have a problem with fixed cameras, but they have to be done perfectly. I think that the original God of War is a great example of this! I was never frustrated with the camera at all. But for whatever reason, the developers decided that throwing Kratos at some screen-filling enemies in a tiny-ass room was a good idea. It's annoying as hell to be constantly trying to figure out where I am, dodge/parry moves and counter accordingly when I can't see a fucking thing. There were a couple parts where I couldn't help but think "Did they even playtest this? How did this slip through?" because I just kept dying to the camera.

Speaking of parrying, though, the golden fleece is a great mechanic. I love parrying in this game, it just feels great each and every time I do it. It's funny comparing my first playthrough on release to now; I used to really suck at the parry system in both of these games but hours of training in Bayonetta has made it almost unconscious for me. Parrying a gorgon's stare and petrifying every enemy around you just never gets old.

Can't wait to be done with it, though. I gotta stop playing these games on Hard mode :/

[Roufuss]

Not sure if you knew this Sabrage, but the director changed from God of War 1 to 2 as well, which could be another reason you're enjoying it less; it seems like you don't like some of the things that changed in the game which could be the result of someone else helming the ship.

The director changes again in God of War 3 as well.

[sabrage]

Not sure if you knew this Sabrage, but the director changed from God of War 1 to 2 as well, which could be another reason you're enjoying it less; it seems like you don't like some of the things that changed in the game which could be the result of someone else helming the ship.

The director changes again in God of War 3 as well.

Yeah, the game definitely suffers from Jaffe's decreased role, though I never actually looked up the director of GOW2 before. Why the hell did they put this clown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Barlog) at the helm? "He previously worked on Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This at Home and X-Men: Next Dimension." What the fuck? There was one boss today that really pissed me off; he climbs on screen and there's a good 5 second pan to the obvious weak spot on his head. Fight him a bit, disable him and it highlights the next weak spot I'm supposed to target. It pauses the fight for a 10 second cutscene, just to show me what I should obviously be doing next. I hate it when games hold my hand like this, especially there are other parts in the game where what I'm supposed to do next isn't clearly highlighted and it should be. "Oh we'll make every breakable object in the game glimmer so the plebians don't miss it, but we won't show you what that crank you're pulling does." *sigh* I'm glad the game has so much commentary and behind-the-scenes in its extras, though I can't say I can be arsed to watch it all right now. I do intend to eventually though. What God of War does best is visceral, back-and-forth combat, and I have a feeling that GOW3 is going to shift even further from that so I'm gonna hold off on playing it for a while.

Wishlist for the inevitable God of War 4:
-Balance everything so it can keep up with the Blades of Chaos/Athena and *insert current overpowered AOE spell here*
-Get rid of the fucking quick-time events. That shit where you have to spin the analog sticks? Truly awful.
-Full camera control? I kind of don't see this one happening.

I just found out the other day that Ninja Gaiden 3 is adding quick-time events to the series. They break the flow of combat, they're unintuitive and ugly (PRESS B TO ARRGGGHHH) and they could easily be replaced by more and better combat options. I do have to say that if anyone can get QTEs right, it's Platinum, but I'd rather just not have them at all. You know what games QTEs work great in? Turn-based RPGs. I'm thinking specifically of the Mario RPGs and two old PS1 games, Legend of Legaia and Legend of Dragoon (not related.) If you've played the Mario games you know exactly what I mean, but I think Legend of Legaia still has my favorite combat system of all time. Before attacking, you could input a series of buttons and your character would perform a combo based on what you pressed. Fucking brilliant, I'm getting all nostalgic thinking about it.

Oh, one last thing, this is a game that many outlets rated higher than its predecessor for either copying or breaking the original's formula. Both Gamespot and IGN regard it as the swan song of the PS2. It holds one of the highest metacritic ratings on the system, and is generally fondly remember. I mean, it's ok enough and it certainly has its moments, but the amount of praise heaped on the game just makes me feel like it's an overrated piece of shit.

[Roufuss]

If you want visceral combat, God of War 3 is actually the best in the series imo. That game pulls no punches and the boss fights are pretty damn awesome. If I remember correctly, they cut the number of puzzles down as well and focused largely on Kratos just kicking ass. I definitely enjoyed 3 more than 2.

And you want to talk about bad decisions in the God of War games, one of the PSP games has an unskippable cutscene you have to watch every single time you fight the boss. Rather than fix this in the PS3 compilation (how hard can it be to change the damn checkpoint), they added a trophy to make fun of the fact you have to sit there every time. Its still worth getting that series -- PSP or no the games themselves are really fun but extremely short at like 5 hours per game.

Without Itagaki, Ninja Gaiden is worthless to me -- the Sigma games, imo, were never as good as the real ones Itagaki helmed and I think 3 will be a disaster.

And yea, I was a fan of both Legaia and Super Mario RPG. Its a shame that for every JRPG that does something different, the next five do things exactly the same.

And cmon, you expect any mainstream review outlet to shit on any big name game at release? The MO is now rate it highly, then wait two weeks and write an "editorial" about how crappy it is. IGN rated Modern Warfare 3 highly, then penned a few articles talking about how stale it was and how it needs to change a few weeks later. A lot of modern journalists are cowards (and a lot of major publishers are bullies behind the scenes I bet -- "oh, you rated MW 3 low? No Diablo 3 or SC 2 review copies for you") and while I agree with some things RPS says, at least I know I'm getting 100% honesty from them when they talk about what they enjoy and don't enjoy.

[sabrage]

Too lazy to quote so this'll be a little scattered... I definitely don't take big review outlets seriously (I can tell by now whether a game interests me or not, and a hot-water test of consumer feedback is enough to tell if it's good or not) but when IGN lists it as the #2 PS2 game of all time I have to raise an eyebrow. I do wish that there was a more balanced reviewer RPS-style for consoles, but Eurogamer and Joystiq are probably the closest we'll ever get. (and the latter's only saving grace is "Well, it's better than Kotaku!") I'll try the Origins collection if it ever hits the $10 or less mark, or possibly if I get a Vita in the future, but right now that's not really an avenue I want to go down because I'm kind of burnt out on the series. I almost bought it when I first got my PS3 (it was half off for Black Friday) but I'm glad I didn't in hindsight. I have enough games that I can put it aside for a while and play something else until I'm in the mood for it; I do have 3 sitting on my desk in front of me right now so I'll get to it eventually.

Never saw the appeal in either Sigma... Black is the definitive edition of the original and 2 wasn't a good enough game to warrant a remake/port anyways.

I skipped out on most of the best PS2 JRPGs, so I've got a huge library of games to choose from if I ever have a hankering for the genre (which is rare.) I don't think it's a coincidence that those ones I listed with an active combat system are my favorites, though. I'm actually really excited about Final Fantasy XIII-2; I'm sure the plot will be nonsense but the battle system looks excellent. I hear that was the best part of XIII, so I'll probably pick that up if I see a good sale.

Aaand just beat God of War 2. The game won back some of my good will by having one of the best final bosses of all time. Shame I can't say the same about the ending, but I am a bit more predisposed to playing 3 now. What's odd is that the bosses up to this point seemed to be in backwards order - that is, I had the most trouble with the early bosses and they got easier as it went on. The last one broke this order though, and where the earlier bosses were hard because of cheap unblockable moves Zeus was on par with the best Ninja Gaiden bosses in that, given baseline precision and familiarity with the game, any damage and deaths are entirely a result of your own bad play.

[Hensler]

Jumped into Anno 1404 (Dawn of Discovery in some regions) while I wait for Anno 2070, and the "city" building bug has bit me bad. I don't think I've been this addicted to perfecting building layouts and supply chains since I lost years of my life to the old Impressions City Building games. I really love the Occident/Orient dynamics at work in the game play, and the RTS parts don't actually suck this time around.

Hopefully Anno 2070 is this good, and turns out to be a continuation of the Total Recall 2070 storyline.

[The JG Man]

I got another achievement in Sonic Generations today; simple, to complete a time in every level for the leaderboards. Of course, it's never that simple, because one mistake and boom, pause, restart. Instant restart, however, makes the game support my perfectionist tendencies. I'll also accept that whilst I screwed up but couldn't be bothered to continue for perfection on some levels, I'm 44th (if not higher considering some people are clearly using glitches or something to scrape minutes off) on the leaderboards for the very last level, which for me is a win.

Such a bloody good game, very under-rated. I imagine it won't have done as well as it deserves as a quality product due to the name. In some respects, 'Sonic' tarnishes whatever it's attached to, even if that quality wise is turning around. If you like platforming games or old school Sonic, I really encourage you to get it when it inevitably goes on sale during the Steam Winter legitimised-money-stealing event.

[Miker]

Too lazy to quote so this'll be a little scattered... I definitely don't take big review outlets seriously (I can tell by now whether a game interests me or not, and a hot-water test of consumer feedback is enough to tell if it's good or not) but when IGN lists it as the #2 PS2 game of all time I have to raise an eyebrow. I do wish that there was a more balanced reviewer RPS-style for consoles, but Eurogamer and Joystiq are probably the closest we'll ever get. (and the latter's only saving grace is "Well, it's better than Kotaku!") I'll try the Origins collection if it ever hits the $10 or less mark, or possibly if I get a Vita in the future, but right now that's not really an avenue I want to go down because I'm kind of burnt out on the series. I almost bought it when I first got my PS3 (it was half off for Black Friday) but I'm glad I didn't in hindsight. I have enough games that I can put it aside for a while and play something else until I'm in the mood for it; I do have 3 sitting on my desk in front of me right now so I'll get to it eventually.

Never saw the appeal in either Sigma... Black is the definitive edition of the original and 2 wasn't a good enough game to warrant a remake/port anyways.

I skipped out on most of the best PS2 JRPGs, so I've got a huge library of games to choose from if I ever have a hankering for the genre (which is rare.) I don't think it's a coincidence that those ones I listed with an active combat system are my favorites, though. I'm actually really excited about Final Fantasy XIII-2; I'm sure the plot will be nonsense but the battle system looks excellent. I hear that was the best part of XIII, so I'll probably pick that up if I see a good sale.

Aaand just beat God of War 2. The game won back some of my good will by having one of the best final bosses of all time. Shame I can't say the same about the ending, but I am a bit more predisposed to playing 3 now. What's odd is that the bosses up to this point seemed to be in backwards order - that is, I had the most trouble with the early bosses and they got easier as it went on. The last one broke this order though, and where the earlier bosses were hard because of cheap unblockable moves Zeus was on par with the best Ninja Gaiden bosses in that, given baseline precision and familiarity with the game, any damage and deaths are entirely a result of your own bad play.

I played all three God of War games back-to-back when I had my PS3 this summer, and I have to say that God of War 3 is by far my favorite. It's just so lean, so well-paced, so slick. God of War I and II are dull and slow by comparison.

And just gonna say that God of War's combat is pretty lame compared to say, Ninja Gaiden's. I still can't beat Hurricane Pack 1 on my original Xbox :(

[sabrage]

And just gonna say that God of War's combat is pretty lame compared to say, Ninja Gaiden's. I still can't beat Hurricane Pack 1 on my original Xbox :(

In terms of combat: Bayonetta>Ninja Gaiden>Devil May Cry (3)>God of War. But God of War does story better than any of those games, has better graphics than Devil May Cry, and better music than most any game I've played. And the puzzles are at least fun in a sadistic way.

[Miker]

In terms of combat: Bayonetta>Ninja Gaiden>Devil May Cry (3)>God of War. But God of War does story better than any of those games, has better graphics than Devil May Cry, and better music than most any game I've played. And the puzzles are at least fun in a sadistic way.

Yeah, Bayonetta was one of the few reasons I bought a 360, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. As a longtime Ninja Gaiden dude, it's going to be weird pressing B and Y to attack instead of X and Y.

[SirKicksalot]

Y U no love Dante's Inferno?

[sabrage]

I played the DI demo, and I thought it sucked ass. It's a blatant God of War clone without any of what made God of War good. Especially with Darksiders looming over its shoulder.

Bayonetta is bar-none the best and most fun action game I've ever played. It also has a plethora of unlocks and extras, so expect to re- or re-re-play it if you want to get everything.

[Hensler]

Overall, I liked Bayonetta better, but I think Ninja Gaiden still beats it in the combat department.

[sabrage]

Maybe in Black, but Ninja Gaiden 2 suffered the same problem as God of War in that the Dragon Sword just felt infinitely more useful than most of the other items you got. Bayonetta's combat system encourages and rewards experimentation, and the boss fights are the best around.

Anyways, I'm moving on to GOW3 now.

[Hensler]

Enjoy - GOW3 is by far the most enjoyable game in the series.

[Smashbox]

God help me, I'm thinking of reinstalling Simcity 4 and adding about seven years' worth of mods to it.
I did this recently. I spent so much time researching and finding the mods I wanted, versions, etc. It's one of my favorite games ever, but it's run like a dog on every platform I've played it on, from my 2004 Mac to my Terminator 2011 gaming PC. The newest problem: It crashes when I press 'Save.' You can probably imagine the annoyance that caused. Proceed with caution.

[acidtestportfolio]

played nuclear dawn for less than an hour

one of the players on the server suggested that it was 'like tf2, but without hats'. what do you think is on your head, genius?

anyway, i thought it blew and i quit playing it.

[sabrage]

Oh, wow. Nothing on Xbox can compare graphically to what they've done with God of War 3. It's disgustingly, annoyingly, distractingly pretty. I would love to see a full-blown RPG in this setting (with an entirely different cast, otherwise the story would be awful.) Wish I hadn't chosen the "normal" difficulty though; "easy" must just mean you're invincible.

[Ravelle]

Suddenly was in the mood for some point and click adventures so installed The Longest Journey, I'm no graphics junkie but it would be nice if there was a way to sharpen the graphics a bit.

[Althea]

Suddenly was in the mood for some point and click adventures so installed The Longest Journey, I'm no graphics junkie but it would be nice if there was a way to sharpen the graphics a bit.
Some have tried with varying degrees of success, but generally it just causes the game to bug/freak out so it's not worth the hassle.

[Vexing Vision]

Still not done with Skyrim - this is mostly due to work before Christmas. I've been hanging in Alduin's Temple for the past week, often only finding time for half an hour of playing. Really hoping to finish the mainquest on Sunday so I can jump into the Christmas holidays with fresh games!

[Ravelle]

Some have tried with varying degrees of success, but generally it just causes the game to bug/freak out so it's not worth the hassle.

Ah well, the graphics aren't that bad anyways.

[Heliocentric]

Suddenly was in the mood for some point and click adventures so installed The Longest Journey, I'm no graphics junkie but it would be nice if there was a way to sharpen the graphics a bit.

It was the fonts that killed it for me, I was at this bit where you need to go in a library and puzzle out where you need to go next but I could read a bloody word of it, it was in English but i got a headache trying to filter out all of the loops and serifs.

[Ravelle]

Yeah they could have spent an hour or so more making a nice font.

[Althea]

I just finished the Dawn of War II: Retribution campaign, on Easy using the Imperial Guard. Certainly not a bad experience, and I relished playing the Guard, but I can't really see it having much replay value.

Might actually uninstall it, I'm not going to play MP or TLS.

[Vexing Vision]

I just finished the Dawn of War II: Retribution campaign, on Easy using the Imperial Guard. Certainly not a bad experience, and I relished playing the Guard, but I can't really see it having much replay value.

Might actually uninstall it, I'm not going to play MP or TLS.

Yeah - it's exactly the same campaign with each races, with slightly different dialogue. Ugh. Needs a lot of time between the replays to wipe the maps even remotely from memory.

[Giaddon]

Finished Bastion last night. Good game! The narrator is cool!

Playing L.A. Noire, with the aim to finish it soon. At the Ad. Vice desk, which is the second to last, so I assume I am over halfway. Enjoying the game, but there are a number of obvious flaws that really should have been fixed before release. The story is also a bit of a mess, with the Traffic desk just being episodic cases, the Homicide desk being a poorly-delivered single story with an unsatisfying conclusion, and now it looks like the Ad. Vice desk is going to have a single story as well, though it's off to a better start than the homicide one. Hopefully Noire 2 (if extant) has a single overarching story and cases that take more than a few hours (game time) to crack.

Also replaying The Saboteur -- so good!

[Heliocentric]

Yeah they could have spent an hour or so more making a nice font.

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_longest_journey/fonts

Gog, fixes what developers cant?

[vinraith]

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/the_longest_journey/fonts

Gog, fixes what developers cant?

Wow, that's helpful. I'd like to use the content of this post, how much will it cost me? I don't actually see any adjectives, and I think that missing apostrophe should give me a "damaged text" discount.

[Heliocentric]

Wow, that's helpful. I'd like to use the content of this post, how much will it cost me? I don't actually see any adjectives, and I think that missing apostrophe should give me a "damaged text" discount.

I assume you don't have the punctuation pack installed? If you do you'll need to update it to the latest version, using the post is free as long as you share or like it on social media websites, but quoting it receives a £0.15 surcharge, but paraphrasing without permission will generate a visit from my "death squad", I use speech marks not because its an ironic name, but because I am legally required to do so by "death squad" PLC who protect my intellectual property "violently"(this is literal, but again speech marks are simply required by contract).

Actually putting the advice into real use is free as long as your subscription up to date of course.

[vinraith]

I assume you don't have the punctuation pack installed? If you do you'll need to update it to the latest version, using the post is free as long as you share or like it on social media websites, but quoting it receives a £0.15 surcharge, but paraphrasing without permission will generate a visit from my "death squad", I use speech marks not because its an ironic name, but because I am legally required to do so by "death squad" PLC who protect my intellectual property "violently"(this is literal, but again speech marks are simply required by contract).

Actually putting the advice into real use is free as long as your subscription up to date of course.

Funny how "free2read" so easily becomes "pay2write."

[Heliocentric]

Funny how "free2read" so easily becomes "pay2write."

Remember you are always able to "die4free" at the hands of "death squad" .

[Spinoza]

Freedom2read can be achieved by proxy.

[Heliocentric]

Freedom2read can be achieved by proxy.

If you are really lucky you might see the red dot, but you'll be dead before you hear the shot.

[The JG Man]

So, got to level 10 and moved off the starting area as a Jedi Consular in The Old Republic.

The following surprises me as much as it will you, possibly...

It's good. Really good. The combat has a decent flow to it and is very satisfying; the whole 'heroic combat' thing actually does feel true because you're either taking on groups or singular large things. Attacks feel like they have a punch. On top of that, the story is pretty interesting and whilst it does, at times, feel like a single player story, it doesn't really matter, it's still fun. Teamed up with a couple of other people for about an hour before I stopped, as we got through the last content of the starting area. Whilst we did agree there were a few minor balance issues (eg. the consular contains the Jedi spec for healing, yet lacks any sort of basic healing spell outside of this, so far) it worked well. The companions add an interesting dynamic, along with the fact you can equip them and...well, it's just fun.

Whilst I haven't played Cataclysm to know the changes to low-level characters in WoW, what I experienced in about 3.5 hours in TOR was far more enjoyable than any of the early content I'd done in WoW up to and including Lich King (and even the Death Knight starting area). I mean the framework clearly apes WoW, but it's done so well. It also looks good. There's a few graphic options that really need to be there (good god does this game need AA!) but at 1080 max settings, it looks good. The music too is pretty satisfying, peaking at just the right moments and providing the right ambience the rest of the time.

So yeah, it's been fun and dare I say it, but I look forward to playing more!

[Nalano]

Funny how "free2read" so easily becomes "pay2write."

You just described Adobe Acrobat.

[vinraith]

You just described Adobe Acrobat.

As a LaTeX user, I can only chuckle.

[sabrage]

OK, yeah, God of War 3 is by far the best in the series.

[vinraith]

In addition to unhealthy amounts of Sanctum (best $5 I spent this year, that, I really need to buy it again or preorder Coffee Stain's next game) I've been tinkering with getting Sacrifice running. The GOG version sets up quite well, with only a little registry work necessary to get it running at full widescreen resolution. Let me tell you, it looks amazingly good for its age, and runs smooth as glass. I'm really excited to get back in to an old favorite like this.

I'm also still tinkering with New Vegas setup (and batting around the idea of replaying FO3 with FWE first instead, but we'll see) and still trying to make headway with the Pride of Nations manual. So many fun toys, so little time!

[icemann]

Taking a break from Eye of the Beholder 3 (cause its crap) to play .hack - Infection (ps2). Played this one a few times, since its part of a series of 4 games (with you transferring your saved game from game to game as you go) but I've always lost interest by the time I reached halfway through the 2nd game. Hoping to do better this time.

And finished off Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles (psp) good gaming, despite the sore hand from the final boss battle (from it needing such fast reflexes).

[Flint]

Lost enthusiasm on Morrowind once again but on the bright side, I managed to get the furthest I've ever been: well on my way to Nerevarine, top rank on Imperial Legion and nearly on Fighter's Guild, began building my Great House stronghold, etc. And then somehow I just lost interest. I'll probably pick it up again at some point, though.

Instead, I've been bitten by the Dungeons of Dredmor bug again. So far doing terribly as usual with plenty of really stupid deaths, but getting quite nicely along with my latest character. Thanks to all the changing variables, numerous skilltrees and general fun factor, dying never gets me down though. In addition, I really love the UI changes that they seem to have patched in after I last played the game.

[Heliocentric]

I've been tinkering with getting Sacrifice running. The GOG version sets up quite well, with only a little registry work necessary to get it running at full widescreen resolution. Let me tell you, it looks amazingly good for its age, and runs smooth as glass. I'm really excited to get back in to an old favorite like this.
Tell me if you fancy multiplayer, except 1 spell and 1 unit its pretty balanced.

[Vexing Vision]

Finally got around to install and play Arkham Asylum.

Damn Batmans, this is good. After I jumped through hoops of despair and technomagy to install the fucking GFWL shite.

[Heliocentric]

Shank, Trine and Orcs Must Die.

Shank is dumb as bricks, but it's fast pretty and doesn't punish you for failure. It might be smarter than it seems.

Trine feels flawless in comparison, lush backgrounds go un
-noticed because you are just too busy. Skelton, traps and puzzles are less challenging than some of the platforming but it's never too hard and being able to tag the checkpoints for health and energy is lovely. Excited to see how later skill improve the complexity, excited also for cooperative play, Trine 2, coop and Trine 2's cooperative play once I get Trine done.

Orcs Must Die 2 better have cooperative and competitive multiplayer, maybe like some warcraft 3 tower defence levels where other players could decide on what the creeps were while you defend yourself you'd also be considering how to overrun the other players to be the last man standing.

[cosmicolor]

I've been playing Dungeons of Dredmor since the expansion came out, experimenting with the new skill trees. Particularly liking emomancy, mainly for that level 3 acid spell, and piracy's first skill is awesome in a pinch. As well as that, still playing King of Fighters XIII, and messing around with Lands of Lore and the M&M 6-pack which I got from GoG.

[Lambchops]

i'm glad people have mentioned that improvements have been made to Dredmor. I decided to give it another chance and was delighted to see thay've added a "No time to grind?" mode, with smaller levels. Given that the eventual tedium of grinding through the first couple of dungeons was what made me put the game down this mode might just keep me playing it a bit more, which is good as I rather enjoyed it when it was throwing up new stuff at me.

[vinraith]

Tell me if you fancy multiplayer, except 1 spell and 1 unit its pretty balanced.

I'll keep that in mind. First I've got to remind myself how to play. Everything feels simultaneously alien and familiar, it's quite strange.

[cosmicolor]

Does Sacrifice work on windows 7? I know it's supposed to have some problems, but are there any workarounds? Kind of interested in buying it, mostly since I liked Brutal Legend and Brutal Legend often got likened to Sacrifice.

[vinraith]

Does Sacrifice work on windows 7? I know it's supposed to have some problems, but are there any workarounds? Kind of interested in buying it, mostly since I liked Brutal Legend and Brutal Legend often got likened to Sacrifice.

I've had no issues on Win 7 64 as long as I leave T&L off in the startup options. Never played Brutal Legend so can't comment there.

[ado]

Started a new character in Dark Souls (I know it's not on PC, but it's awesome and I got nothing else to play atm), a dex build that I want to coop and pvp with. Already had people join me for some jolly cooperation for the Taurus, and I helped other people beat it twice.

Had my world invaded as well, which i completely blundered by falling off the bridge before the black phantom even got to me... What can I say, I was trying to shoot the tail off the dragon and wasn't expecting the guy at all :/

Kinda missed the whole coop/pvp segment of the game on my 1st run, for shame really because it's implemented very nicely and is quite good fun.

[cosmicolor]

I've had no issues on Win 7 64 as long as I leave T&L off in the stratup options. Never played Brutal Legend so can't comment there.

So it does work? Excellent, thanks, might pick it up at some point then.

[thegooseking]

I've gone back to Anarchy Online. It's not the best MMO I've ever played in any objective sense (it is one of the most complex, but it's questionable whether that complexity is very meaningful given the prevalence of cookie-cutter setups). In fact, it's pretty rough around the edges. And in the middle. But it has a certain 'something' that I've never seen in any other MMO. Call it 'charm'. Call it 'soul'. And that's why it is my favourite.

Though these days it also lacks a certain 'something' I've seen in other MMOs. Call it "a playerbase".

[Ravelle]

Star Wars The Old Republic and more Skyrim.

[vinraith]

So it does work? Excellent, thanks, might pick it up at some point then.

Works for me. In Win 7 I never install games under "Program Files" though, which may have something to do with it. That way I bypass all the UAC nonsense.

Edit: Damn, I'm going to have to throw a caveat in here, in that I'm still getting some graphical glitches. I'd thought turning off T&L had solved all of them, but it turns out it only solved most of them. Next step is to try this:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/sacrifice/windows_7_graphics_fix_here

[Scumbag]

Tried the Nuclear Dawn free weekend thingy. Nice Natural Selection type thing with (what appears to be) simlar sides. Unfortunate knock on with the concept is that unless you work as a team its very messy. Also, not sure if its my computer / line, but seems rough around the edges in parts with weird chugging latancy and slow updates on the graphics (Prime a granade and it takes a second for the game to react to it).

[Vague-rant]

Finally got around to install and play Arkham Asylum.

Damn Batmans, this is good. After I jumped through hoops of despair and technomagy to install the fucking GFWL shite.

Yeah, I made the mistake of choosing to make an offline set of saves (I'm not always on-line) and never got to use any of the score-board features. Not a big deal, sure, but it seems like a cruel and unusual punishment.

Also, just started Blackwell Legacy. I've only got on to the first 30-45 mins or so, but I am liking it so far. A very steady introduction into the whole ghost thing, and I appreciate what they've done with the responses being options like "Glib response" rather than writing it all out. Voice acting is one of its major strengths too- I'm interested in how big an improvement the Remastered edition (which I'm playing) is.

[aoanla]

Finally bought Super Meat Boy (as part of the Humble Indie Bundle 4), but have basically given up on it after discovering that it lags so badly that the World 2 boss is nigh-unbeatable (yes, even with -ultralowdetail set) on my MacBookPro.
Luckily, the other games in HiB4 are actually competently coded for OSX, so I'm enjoying Cave Story + instead...

[Max.I.Candy]

SWTOR.
I know it gets a lot of stick here but I have to say that i'm really enjoying it.its much better then WOW.
The class stories are great fun.
Started a bounty hunty, inquisitor, jedi knight and sith marauder (which is my main @ lvl 20), and the marauder is so much like you are playing a darth vader character (you get to be deliciously evil).
even if i play for a month its going to be well worth the price.

[The JG Man]

I don't think you'll get stick for it. It's not, say, FarmVille.

But yeah, I've been playing it and I desperately want to not like and enjoy it so that I don't carry on playing it, but honestly, BioWare have done an outstanding job; they've seamlessly blended together elements from different games and got something rather good. There are a few things a little rough around the edges that other games are better at, simply through existing for several years, but the combat is good, the narrative is good, the pacing is good...everything about it is just good.

Yet, it's an MMORPG. I swore off them after I finished with WoW, to say 'No more!' So, whilst TOR is, in my eyes, a far more enjoyable experience than WoW, I don't want to play it. I don't want to pay monthly to play a single game when there are numerous other (arguably better) games out there that will need playing, but time not spent in an MMO feels like time wasted. Then it'll eventually get to the raiding point where you need more thorough dedication and I just don't want it.

Such is my dilemma. TOR is incredibly enjoyable, a lot more so than I was ever expecting, but I don't want it to be. I think I might take my level 18 character, a Jedi (Consular) Shadow, to max (50) within the free time period and call it quits. I'll have got to have seen one of the promised KOTORs 3-8 or whatever silliness that was, and then return to my normal play-time.

I honestly believe TOR will have phenomenal draw and poses the first legitimate threat to WoW's dominance over the genre.

[Voon]

Reinstalled STALKER: SoC and tried out LURK 1.1 mod as I heard some good things about it. But, it ended up putting me off and making the game unplayable. Oh God, who thought putting in Bloom STALKER was a good idea? And where's my Artifact belt? So, I just downloaded the Complete 2009 mod just for a prettier Zone without messing the vanilla gameplay too much. Much better.

Also, SimCity2000 and Tropico 4. Mostly, 4. Those lazyass Dockworkers won't service the Freighter three times now and plunged my economy into recession. Seriously considering firing them and hiring 'experts' from abroad. Or shoot them.

Planning to reinstall SimCity4 and Tropico 3.

[agentorange]

Gotten back into King's Bounty: The Legend, after taking a break from it; feel as though the game has finally caught up to itself now that I can manage troops that number into the mid 100s and don't have to scamper back to a hub to regroup after every battle-partly in thanks to my Necro magic, which can raise dead troopers after a battle. The plot on the other hand I don't see elevating itself above very standard fantasy fare, it doesn't bother me to any extreme but I have taken to skipping through a lot of quest dialogue, especially with the English translation sounding very robotic at times, I assume they just ran the original language (German?) through a translation program.

[Jockie]

Bought SW: TOR and by god it eats away your time but I'm enjoying it a lot so far, which is a relief considering it was a drunk impulse buy.

My favourite thing is probably how it concludes story threads started back in the original Kotor. For instance, remember the Rakghoul plagued underclasses of Taris who you helped to find their promised land? Want to know how they fared? Tor has the answer and the motivation to quest isn't entirely determined by experience and/or loot, which is a first in an MMO.

[Lukasz]

Bought SW: TOR and by god it eats away your time but I'm enjoying it a lot so far, which is a relief considering it was a drunk impulse buy.

My favourite thing is probably how it concludes story threads started back in the original Kotor. For instance, remember the Rakghoul plagued underclasses of Taris who you helped to find their promised land? Want to know how they fared? Tor has the answer and the motivation to quest isn't entirely determined by experience and/or loot, which is a first in an MMO.

does it matter what class/sex/side you choose to get the story or you have to complete the whole storyline half a dozen times?

[Jockie]

does it matter what class/sex/side you choose to get the story or you have to complete the whole storyline half a dozen times?

Different factions get access to completely different sets of missions, so there will be stories on each side that the other doesnt get access to. On top of that, each Class (not sex or advanced class) has their own personal story, which tend to be the best and most involved (and most Kotor-like ) of the quests.

*Spoilers* For instance as a Jedi Consular, my quest revolves around finding several Jedi Masters who have seemingly gone rogue, due to some kind of force Plague and trying to find out the cause. The Sith inquisitor Quest-line sees you being manipulated by your powerful mentor and used to further her own ambitions (before presuambly turning on her and taking her place in true sith fashion.) *End Spoilers*

So if you wanted to see absolutely everything in the game, you'd have to play it 8 times, but... for the sake of your sanity and social life I wouldn't recommend that.

[Rauten]

For instance, remember the Rakghoul plagued underclasses of Taris who you helped to find their promised land? Want to know how they fared? Tor has the answer and the motivation to quest isn't entirely determined by experience and/or loot, which is a first in an MMO.

Yes; Yes I remember them. F*** you Bioware, f*** you. I simply do NOT have the time to play an MMO right now, god damnit!

[sabrage]

Just beat God of War 3. I wasn't ready for some of the mindfuck tactics Santa Monica snuck in - especially that first-person execution scene. The game had the best combat, scenery, music and arguably puzzles of the series. If you get a PS3 and you can handle some deeply disturbed violence and misogyny, I definitely recommend it.

[TimA]

Picked up Unity of Command over the weekend. I've always wanted to try operational level war games but I'm terrified of the likes of Gary Grigby's War in the East. I just don't have the time to devote to something that massive and, frankly, I suck at these things. Unity of Command seems to be the absolute perfect scale for me to play and enjoy. Has a great learning curve, the supply system seems elegant and intuitive. It's really great.

[Zephro]

Victoria 2. Again, I just can't resist a fleet of steam powered Ironclads duking it out in the atlantic. I really need a new grand strategy game which actually matches my tastes though. I gave Sins of A Solar Empire a go for a couple hours and got totally bored.

[Hensler]

I finished all the scenarios in Anno 1404 and have about had my fill of it. I don't think I'm going to pick up the expansion pack, unless I find some multiplayer friends.

Now I'm thinking of diving straight into Anno 2070, starting Arkham City, or the Human Revolution. I'll probably install all three today and see what catches me.

[Lukasz]

Different factions get access to completely different sets of missions, so there will be stories on each side that the other doesnt get access to. On top of that, each Class (not sex or advanced class) has their own personal story, which tend to be the best and most involved (and most Kotor-like ) of the quests.

*Spoilers* For instance as a Jedi Consular, my quest revolves around finding several Jedi Masters who have seemingly gone rogue, due to some kind of force Plague and trying to find out the cause. The Sith inquisitor Quest-line sees you being manipulated by your powerful mentor and used to further her own ambitions (before presuambly turning on her and taking her place in true sith fashion.) *End Spoilers*

So if you wanted to see absolutely everything in the game, you'd have to play it 8 times, but... for the sake of your sanity and social life I wouldn't recommend that.
Thanx for answering and just one more question.

Just to see a storyline do you have to play the game as a multiplayer. I loved both kotors and while I am not big fan of star wars I am very interested in storyline of that period (reason i read KOTOR comics) but I don't actually want to multiplay or socialize with anyone in the game. Is the multiplayer component completely avoidable or you have to do raids, pvp, group pve and stuff like that?

[squirrelfanatic]

I just finished the campaign (or all four mini-campaign that are part of it) of Greed Corp. . I'm not sure why, since the game often felt more like a puzzle game than the strategy game it pretends to be, but... yeah maybe I like puzzle games.

A spine-chilling thought.

[moth bones]

Been playing the Panzer Corps demo; did the simple early bits of the tutorial campaign before accidentally switching my computer off.

I like it, seems like an excellent gateway into the strange world of the grog, and the reasonably-priced campaign DLC will certainly give it longevity. Think I'll probably buy. One odd thing - when I went to desktop it had piled up shitloads of codec icons at the bottom of my screen, which I've never seen before.

[Hensler]

Just beat God of War 3. I wasn't ready for some of the mindfuck tactics Santa Monica snuck in - especially that first-person execution scene. The game had the best combat, scenery, music and arguably puzzles of the series. If you get a PS3 and you can handle some deeply disturbed violence and misogyny, I definitely recommend it.

Have you played the GOW Origins games - the PSP ones that were HDified for PS3? They're on my list but I haven't got around to playing them yet. I'm just curious how they compare to the main entries in the series.

[Heliocentric]

Just finished Trine for the first time, never really played it, it was one of those "todo" games.

Completed it in essentially 1 sitting, and to everyone who complain about the last level? Get your skeels on, I completed it in 1 go... Dread doing it in coop though.

[Flint]

to everyone who complain about the last level? Get your skeels on, I completed it in 1 go... Dread doing it in coop though.
If I'm not entirely wrong, the final level was later patched to be more tolerable. So the major stigma might be because of how it was originally.

Although even regardless of its difficulty, I still don't really like it - it somewhat fights against the feel and general gameplay of the rest of the game, opting for monotonous quick rushing rather than puzzletastic platforming. It's rather anticlimactic and dull.

[Heliocentric]

If I'm not entirely wrong, the final level was later patched to be more tolerable. So the major stigma might be because of how it was originally.

Although even regardless of its difficulty, I still don't really like it - it somewhat fights against the feel and general gameplay of the rest of the game, opting for monotonous quick rushing rather than puzzletastic platforming. It's rather anticlimactic and dull.
Yeah, Its no meat circus though, its hard because its fast, not because of broken logic. I quite liked the idea of an enemy mage screwing with you
It made me imagine A pvp where 1 side is trying to progress and the other hold them up.

Essentially my "mad warrior skills" and "ninja rope" thief skills ruined the effect of junk getting dropped on me, but its a nice idea, i hope the sequel works on it more, just downloading the demo.

I agree its hardly the best possible ending, the previous level was much better, its might well have been the games low point upon reflection but it was over so quickly it felt more like a "last hurrah" where the gme praises you than anything else, but i can imagine it being hateful if you struggled.

[AlonePlusEasyTarget]

Reinstalled STALKER: SoC and tried out LURK 1.1 mod as I heard some good things about it. But, it ended up putting me off and making the game unplayable. Oh God, who thought putting in Bloom STALKER was a good idea? And where's my Artifact belt? So, I just downloaded the Complete 2009 mod just for a prettier Zone without messing the vanilla gameplay too much. Much better.


I heard good things about Doom's freeplay mod (http://www.multiupload.com/DOW3GNZROU) so you might want to try that. Good hunting fellow Stalker.

[cosmicolor]

I'm now messing around with Melty Blood: Actress Again: Current Code's recently release PC demo, since it's one of the few fighting games to get a PC release that is even slightly big. Sadly the full version is prohibitively expensive, and not released yet, but the demo will do for now. It also allows online play which is pretty cool although I have no one to play with :(

As well as getting lost in Might and Magic IV, managed to reach around level 10 on my party.

[sabrage]

Have you played the GOW Origins games - the PSP ones that were HDified for PS3? They're on my list but I haven't got around to playing them yet. I'm just curious how they compare to the main entries in the series.

I bought the 1+2 collection and 3 right when I got my PS3, so I decided getting 5 GOW games at once would be a little bit overkill. I'm pretty sure that they're referenced a few times in the story, though, so I might pick them up when they're cheap.... There were a couple times (or every single time...) when NPCs acted like they knew Kratos even though I'd never seen them before, and sometimes it just wasn't explained.

[cosmicolor]

I have the PSP version of Chains of Olympus (the first PSP GoW game), when I played through it I thought it was prettty good but also quite short.

[SirKicksalot]

The first levels of Orcs Must Die. The gameplay was OK, but the presentation is so, so terrible.
Serves me right for not trying the demo before buying it a couple of weeks ago. The gift I receive for that achievement better be good! At the moment it's MIA.

[vinraith]

Tried Dungeon Defenders, tried Orcs Must Die, ended up going back to Sanctum. I'm closing on 50 hours and this thing is not getting old, either in single player or co-op. It's ridiculous, I've played this more than I've played Fallout New Vegas!

Oddly, despite elaborate plans to start a big RPG or strategy game the other thing I find myself playing is Silent Hunter 4, not that I'm complaining. I never gave this one a proper due, despite thinking it was absolutely fascinating, so I'm pleased that I seem to have finally worked up the nerve to give it a proper tackling.

[sabrage]

Has anyone else played Bloodrayne: Betrayal on the consoleboxes? It's half off on XBLA and I'm a huge Wayforward fan so I used some old points to pick it up. First of all, whoever decided to give this a "T" rating was out of his mind. Beheadings and blood geysers seem to be a common theme (not that I'm complaining, but I can see some upset mothers over that one.) The game plays a lot better than its contemporaries - Shank being the most notable one - the combat feels a lot more fleshed out and skill based than just funneling every enemy through my shotgun/dual machete grinder. Just don't go in expecting Castlevania; while the atmosphere is largely the same the actual gameplay is a lot closer to Bayonetta. To that end, the game is also great at reminding me how much I suck: F ratings on every level I've completed :/

Again, sunk some more time into Orcs Must Die. The game is at its best when it just pours enemies into my meticulously created deathtraps, and at its worst when it blows them up with those goddamn kobold sappers. My general strategy is "Oh I can use swinging mace traps? This level is awesome!"

And finally, started Cave Story+. I can see why this game gets the praise that it does, but I HATE that the enemies respawn everytime you leave/enter a room. This works in Metroid games because the enemy placement is actually well thought out, whereas Cave Story goes more the clusterfuck route. Especially with the amount of backtracking the game expects of you.

(I also cranked out a couple of Steam achievements today... Why am I so bad at Revenge of the Titans?)

[Giaddon]

Finished the Ad. Vice desk in L.A. Noire, so now in the home stretch. I'm interested in what the grand finale will be. It's a good game, but there's a ton of wasted potential here.

While browsing for games on Amazon, I came across one I'd never heard of, Venetica, which as far as I can is only sold digitally by Diret2Drive (http://www.direct2drive.com/10803/product/Buy-Venetica-Download) for too much money. The elevator pitch is that it's an action RPG set in fantasy Venice, in which you play the daughter of Death, which sold me. The box arrived yesterday, so I fired it up and played a couple hours, and actually I'm really enjoying it. Don't interpret that as a recommendation. It's dopey, but it has a charming naivete which I find endearing. In the first scene, my village is burned and my boyfriend takes arrow in the knee--I mean, through the chest. And dies in my arms. It's much better than Dragon Age 2. I haven't even reached Venice yet!

[Vexing Vision]

The first two to three hours of gameplay are actually quite nice, but everything really grinds to one of the most horrible, unsatisfying halts once you reach Venice.

If I hadn't gotten the game for free from the publisher, I'd be complaining a lot more.

[Althea]

I got to Venice, and to be honest I just stopped caring about it. I should really go back to it at some point...

[Vexing Vision]

I got to Venice, and to be honest I just stopped caring about it. I should really go back to it at some point...

I stopped caring at the point where I was supposed to find a few pigeons somewhere on the different houses. Completely stopped my interest there.

[Giaddon]

Ha ha, well, I'll let you know at what point my interest evaporates. I like Venice (and cities in general, I wish more RPGS were set in cities rather than countryside/castles/dungeons/caves/etc.), so I'm hopeful, but pigeon scouting may be too much for me. Then again, if they can keep tempting me with the promise of new outfits... (when I equipped the leather armor, seeing it form the front, I was surprised at how kind of sensible it was, as armor for a woman. Then I moved the camera to behind and... oh dear, backless.)

Same reason I finished Alice: Madness Returns, really.

[Vague-rant]

Cleared up the rest of the Blackwell games. I really enjoyed all of them, the stories all tie very well together and the whole murder-mystery thing is intriguing. Theres even a little moral choice at the end. Puzzle wise... pretty solid overall. I looked up a walkthrough twice due to unclear puzzles, but other than that everything made logical sense. However, each game is only 2-3 hours long, and I wonder how I'd feel if I'd paid full price rather than getting them in the Indie Royale.

Straight after I looked up Deception at their site- but at 12 quid its not something I feel I can justify right now.

[Max.I.Candy]

Thanx for answering and just one more question.

Just to see a storyline do you have to play the game as a multiplayer. I loved both kotors and while I am not big fan of star wars I am very interested in storyline of that period (reason i read KOTOR comics) but I don't actually want to multiplay or socialize with anyone in the game. Is the multiplayer component completely avoidable or you have to do raids, pvp, group pve and stuff like that?


no.
you can play thru all the story lines and quests solo.
the only time you group up is to to the heroic or flashpoint missions (not interesting at all).
you get some extremely effective companions that are with you.
my companion for my sith marauder is a rock solid ranged dps....i cant keep aggro sometimes, she kicks republic ass.
so if you want to play for story content on your own its totally do-able.

[Doodier]

Because I like achieving things I tried to do all those achievements in Steam winter sale. And I finally managed to play And Yet It Moves for the first time (it has been sitting in my library for quite some time) and I like it! The concept is great, the puzzles are cool and sometimes even witty! I think I'm gonna try to actually finish that game now :)

[The JG Man]

Pried upon Super Meat Boy for the two Christmas achievements. They're unbelievably hard.

I then realised Renegade Ops had given me free DLC. Almost shot through it all in one go, but died on the final boss, which was a tad annoying. I'll be sure to come back and finish the job later. One of the new characters deploys a shield which is pretty awesome, perhaps a little overpowered too. Nevertheless, they've abandoned all sense of normality and gone more towards crazy. The final boss is definitely an epitome of this in a glorious, but hard, way.

[Drake Sigar]

Playing Trine 2 after Alice: Madness returns, my eyes feel like they've had a twenty-one course meal. Both games are visually stunning, a fantastic contrast to the limited dirt brown spectrum dominating today's AAA titles.

[DeathPig]

Currently trying to survive in Skyrim. And a dash of Revelations on the side. Plus some other stuff.

[Caleb367]

I've been putting way too much time in Saints Row 3. I can't get enough of it. Damn, just mentioned it and already got the urge to go blast rival gang activities with my VTOL fighter.

[NecroKnight]

I'm currently playing Trine 2. The game reallly is beautiful.

[Roufuss]

Has anyone else played Bloodrayne: Betrayal on the consoleboxes?

I really enjoyed the demo, but lately I've just not even bothered with the 360.

I know this sounds a bit ridiculous, but that horrible dashboard update really just killed the love I had for the 360. Advertisements everywhere, it loads slower for me, Netflix and Hulu are worse in this incarnation then they were previously and the whole thing just feels like such a chore to slog through. Why are games so far to the right? Why is it constantly pushing stuff in my face I don't care about like UFC, Verizon TV and World of Warcraft? (this is the weirdest one.)

I really think Microsoft messed up with this one.

Not to mention those sales on XBLA are pathetic compared to Steam. New Vegas DLC at $5 a piece? It was just $2.50 on PC. Bastion was a good $2.50 cheaper, so was Renegade Ops.. the cash adds up after awhile. The upside is that I didn't have to deal with that asinine points system.

Sorry for ranting, just ugh, had to get it off my chest.

[sabrage]

RE: Xbox Dashboard
Here's (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/n5831/how_to_block_xbox_dashboard_ads/) a guide on how to block those annoying-ass ads; you can also use it to completely block ad servers from accessing your PC. I haven't tried the latter option myself because I don't want to cause any incompatibilities.

As far as sales go: I only buy games when they're on sale from XBLA, because frankly they're overpriced, and even then I try my hardest to stick to exclusives or games that are simply better on consoles (Marvel vs Capcom 2, Shadow Complex, and now ITSP and Bloodrayne.) I've had my eye on Outcast for a while but I don't think it's gone on sale...

[Lambchops]

Bastion.

I'm rather enjoying it, which is a relief.

[Smashbox]

Stuff about Xbox

Thanks for the link - I didn't even realize this was possible.

[Voon]

I have the PSP version of Chains of Olympus (the first PSP GoW game), when I played through it I thought it was prettty good but also quite short.

God, I loved that game! It's, well... embarrassingly, it's my first GoW game. The action, the bossfights and all. Well-crafted indeed. Didn't have the chance to play it and Monster Hunter again 'coz my PSP broke.


Speaking of Monster Hunter, played Tri on my Wii online today and trying to mine every single ore I need for that hammer upgrade tires me out. There aren't many people left online, though.

Just reinstalled Unreal Tournament GOTY for the Rocket Arena Deathmatch in DM-Morpheus with Turbo on. Will never play Quake III again.

[Voon]

I heard good things about Doom's freeplay mod (http://www.multiupload.com/DOW3GNZROU) so you might want to try that. Good hunting fellow Stalker.

thanks man

[MrTambourineMan]

Super Meat Boy I got with HIB#4, been thinking about buying it a long time ago even on Xbox, but as things go if you have xbox and you're from country that has less than 50 gazzillion citizens you pretty much can't buy anything on Xbox live. I had to buy microsoft wireless adapter for Xbox gamepad and game is a blast - sooooo much content you can't believe that only 2 guys made it.

[Anthile]

Super Meat Boy I got with HIB#4, been thinking about buying it a long time ago even on Xbox, but as things go if you have xbox and you're from country that has less than 50 gazzillion citizens you pretty much can't buy anything on Xbox live. I had to buy microsoft wireless adapter for Xbox gamepad and game is a blast - sooooo much content you can't believe that only 2 guys made it.

That's just the five stages of Super Meat Boy in action:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

[The JG Man]

You missed out 6-25, which is "Swearing a lot."

[Heliocentric]

That's just the five stages of Super Meat Boy in action:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
I skipped to 5.
"I accept this is not the game for me".

[SirKicksalot]

E.Y.E
I had a moment early on when the dumbass sorta-French invented words, totally random lore and nightmarish audio-visual design almost made me abandon it.
I pushed through, finally reached the first "real" level and an hour later I'm in love with this game.

I have no idea what's going on - something about Mars, aliens, alternate dimensions, monks, some Federation, doors that hacked me back and killed me, it's just, what?
However the combat and atmosphere are great. The basic pistol was instantly satisfying and when I finally tried the SMG, it felt better than most other games' miniguns. The combat reminds me a lot of Stalker's.
Also I didn't find it hard to pick up and play. I watched three or four of the 23 tutorial videos and it was enough.
I'm very curious to see where the game goes. So far I'm very happy with my purchase.

[Heliocentric]

@Sirkicks Does it have anything out of combat? Stealth, other units to command, traps, dialogue trees(that are not terribad) or puzzles?

[sabrage]

Spoiled by the Steam sale...

I've been spending most of my time with Cave Story. FUCK, this game is hard. And it's not even just the fact that it's hard; it's honestly not a very well designed game. There's a lot of backtracking and fetch quests, and the fact that there's a 3-minute unskippable cutscene before almost every one of the bosses (and the bosses ain't exactly a walk in the park) annoys me to no end. I hate that the weapons downgrade if you take too much damage, ESPECIALLY because there's a fully-upgraded weapon that is necessary for exploration/progress. In other words, if you take too much damage, you have to go and grind out a bunch of kills (which you'll be doing a LOT, because the enemy spawns are abundant) to get where you need to go.

I also hate it that you use teleporters to get between zones. I can't believe people compare this game to the likes of Super Metroid! The elegantly designed levels are what makes these games. It's not even on the same level, from the wonky jump to the spammy enemies to the dumb story. That said, it's still better than most games out there anyways. That said, I wish Aquaria got the kind of love lavished on this game thrown its way, as it's (in my opinion) far superior.

I've been grinding out achievements for the gift sale; haven't won any games yet but I did manage to trade my coal for Payday: The Heist. Quick thoughts on what I've been playing (some of which I just had sitting around and never played them until now)

Fate of the World - I kind of see where this game is going, but the interface confused the hell out of me. I ended up cheating to get the achievement and I don't really see myself playing this unless I literally have no alternative (so, maybe in 2015.)
Rise of Immortals - This game sucks. A lot. There are far better alternatives and I can't believe people honestly play it.
Renegade Ops -Only played a bit of singleplayer, but I liked it enough to buy a copy for a friend. I imagine that it's a ludicrous amount of fun with other people; I can see the problems that were addressed in the WIT (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11/11/wot-i-think-renegade-ops/) though.
Bit.Trip Runner - I've always really liked this game, though it definitely gets too hard for me in the later sections. It's instantly charming, it looks great, and I love the soundtrack.
Space Pirates and Zombies - I'm upset that I ignored this game for so long. It's a brilliant SHMUP/RTS/RPG mash-up and it's HUGE. I'm really enjoying it so far; I wouldn't say it's necessarily "well-written" but it's definitely funny. I'm amazed that this was made by a two-man team.
Defcon - I have no idea what's going on in this game, but it definitely warrants further investigation.

And I've been splitting the rest of my attention between Dota 2, Killing Floor and Swords of Soldiers HD, which has a surprisingly great multiplayer mode.

[Roufuss]

Fate of the World - I kind of see where this game is going, but the interface confused the hell out of me. I ended up cheating to get the achievement and I don't really see myself playing this unless I literally have no alternative (so, maybe in 2015.)

To be fair though, this isn't the type of game that you can just fire up and expect to get the achievement right away (though there is a super great post in the Steam forums that walks people through it.) I'll grant that the interface is a bit rough, but its an extremely slow paced game -- you gotta carefully read all of the news posts, react in what you think is the best option and take your time with it. Trust me, once it clicks, its amazing, but you really have to spend time with the tutorial and take your time. The game is purposely designed to be hard as hell as well. Its definitely worth spending time with to fully grasp the nuances. I'm sure if you made a thread in the forums you'd get a ton of advice about it.

Defcon

Is it worth $2.50?



Swords of Soldiers HD, which has a surprisingly great multiplayer mode.

For me, it was fun for a bit but got old pretty fast. Not enough units / strategies and it feels a bit spammy.

[sabrage]

To be fair though, this isn't the type of game that you can just fire up and expect to get the achievement right away (though there is a super great post in the Steam forums that walks people through it.) I'll grant that the interface is a bit rough, but its an extremely slow paced game -- you gotta carefully read all of the news posts, react in what you think is the best option and take your time with it. Trust me, once it clicks, its amazing, but you really have to spend time with the tutorial and take your time. The game is purposely designed to be hard as hell as well. Its definitely worth spending time with to fully grasp the nuances. I'm sure if you made a thread in the forums you'd get a ton of advice about it.
To be fair though, I decided not to play Rollercoaster Tycoon the other day because the interface looked too intimidating. A game that I fully understood at the age of 10.


Is it worth $2.50?

Probably. You can nuke Santa. Might want to get someone else's opinion on it though. I would imagine that the multiplayer is where the real attraction is.



For me, it was fun for a bit but got old pretty fast. Not enough units / strategies and it feels a bit spammy.
I just like it because there's a lot of noobs on right now trying to get the achievement, which makes it easy as hell to win by rushing dartblowers and necromancers (shamans? Whatever.) I was actually surprised by how dynamic the strategies could get, though I've only played 10 or 15 games. Building towers in the opponent's base (Age of Empires-style!) is a personal joy that will probably never get old.

[SirKicksalot]

@Sirkicks Does it have anything out of combat? Stealth, other units to command, traps, dialogue trees(that are not terribad) or puzzles?

You can hack robots, enemies and other players. I was very satisfied when I hid behind a wall, hacked a dude and then murdered his friends. I haven't figured out stealth as in "crouch and hope nobody sees me" - everybody detects me from a distance, but I guess that's only fair as I can do the same. It doesn't feel retarded like in Far Cry for example. There are silenced weapons, a cloaking ability, some psychis powers, so I'm sure I'll eventually become a Predator.

The levels are huge, full of alternate routes, and the quests can be approached in multiple ways, so you can definitely mix things up. No traps or puzzles so far.
The dialogue trees are Stalker "quality", with the added bonus that usually you have the option to reply in a hilariously slavish manner to your superiors.

Other thoughts:
- It nails the feeling of being a dude in a power-armor that weighs a ton. I'm super fast, but when I jump and land the ground shakes. Also I have about ten times more health than my regular enemies, which die in one or two hits.
- The health system is brilliant. I have the ability to transform weapons and ammo lying on the ground into health. This encourages me to keep moving forward and makes every dropped enemy worth something even if I don't need his equipment
- Being part of a huge organization, I have access to a lot of badass equipment from the start. I love that.
- I can block bullets with my sword

[Similar]

Still Minecraft, but with a bit of other stuff:

Did the Defcon and Fate of the World achievements. I hadn't looked at the games before, but they're interesting and now I have two to play when I'm feeling especially misanthropic.

Bought and looked at Polynomial for a bit and it seems like it might good when I need something slower than Audiosurf.

Spent a while trying to get the gold that keeps eluding me on one of the story missions of Defense Grid (after I'd done the achievement), but failed miserably this time too. And got utterly mangled on the first mission of the new DLC.

[Roufuss]

Polynomial is the only game that's ever given me motion sickness. When I played it for the summer sale ticket, it was almost unbearable.

The winter achievement for it was far easier to get because for some reason, my PC decided to run it at 10 FPS which stopped any motion sickness as the game kept stuttering.

Its probably one of the few games I regret buying simply because its unplayable to me without getting sick.

For me, Beat Hazard fills the music game genre gap nicely, especially since they added all the Internet radio stations. Combining shmups with music works way better than I thought it would.

[Lukasz]

did the achievement for Dungeons of dredmore which i bought on this sale. fun game but i don't see myself playing it again after just 3 days... well. maybe in few weeks.
also did the achievement for that MP game where you have to throw a snowball but i forgot the name
and played a bit of audiosurf again. damn. that game is shway.
Question tough about fate of the world. almost bought the indie bundle just for it but decided otherwise. now with achievement i might do it...
how long does it take to get it? for complete noob but i think i would use guidelines if there are any.


and i am still going through septerra core. 26 hours in.

[Roufuss]

Lukasz you can get the Fate of the World achievement in like 5 minutes tops.

In the Steam forums, in the winter achievement thread, someone on page 3 or 4 posted a walkthrough on how to get it and tailored it to new players as well.

I think the only problem is you have to complete the tutorial first (unless they changed this), but that's not that difficult, so maybe 20 to 25 minutes for the whole thing?

[The JG Man]

Defcon - Is it worth $2.50?

You ever played RISK and wondered, "What would happen if everyone moved at the same time, but still in a turn, without knowing what the other person was doing?" It's that, but with nukes. The game is balanced intrinsically along two ideals: 1. Do as much damage to your enemy as possible, in the way of millions of casualties. 2. Try to minimise your human cost. As soon as you think "I don't want anyone to die", you're playing it wrong. It's a case of keeping them to a minimum, because you will lose millions.

Try the demo. You have limited MP access, from what I remember. You'll know from that whether you like it or not.

[NecroKnight]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

[Icarus]

Just completed Mirror's Edge finally. My last playthrough got aborted due to getting stuck on a tricky part and giving up, but I'm glad I finally pushed on and finished it. A proper gem of a game.

[DzX]

I finished Warhammer : Space Marine the other day and have started Deus Ex.

I rather enjoyed Space Marine, took me about 6 hours to complete the single player on the lowest difficulty [because I have to many games and not enough time to worry about dying constantly - I'm very much a 'story-orientated' player]. The game was slightly repetitive, but the huge scale of the architecture, the interesting plot and the extremely enjoyable combat system kept me playing.

Deus Ex a few hours in does not impress. I'm not really sure why, it might be to do with the graphics [there's something really ugly about the game to me]. Gameplay seems fairly solid, but I'm not sure I approve of the way the story is being told. Long, drawn out conversations, constant switches from in-game to CGI scenes [that are a lower resolution than the in-game scenes] all mar the experience for me. Am hoping it'll get better.

[Heliocentric]

Just completed Mirror's Edge finally. My last playthrough got aborted due to getting stuck on a tricky part and giving up, but I'm glad I finally pushed on and finished it. A proper gem of a game.

Here here, such a shame they didn't put more of Mirror's Edge's grace into BF3, even if only the single player. Still, mw3 needed "beating" and that is what matters(?).

[Tikey]

A little bit of everything. A real season of sales.

[Casimir Effect]

Started playing Crysis 2 yesterday and it was ok. Only ok though, less fun than Medal of Hono(u)r which was the last FPS I played. And I'm not sure why: I loved Crysis and thought it was one of the best linear (relatively speaking) shooters I've ever played. But this just doesn't work right somehow: the shooting feels clumsy and the levels over-designed/cluttered somehow.

Also started Halo: Reach which is everything I wanted it to be. I wish the later Halo games had come to PC as they really are great. I know they get a lot of stick but when it comes to FPS games these days if it's between a Halo games and a Modern Military Manshoot I'm picking Halo every time.

These are just side-games though as I'm otherwise still pressing on with The Witcher 2 (Roche path). It's fantastic, that's all I can really say.

Merry Christmas everyone! Especially you Wizardry!

[SirKicksalot]

Hard Reset sucks!
http://oi40.tinypic.com/5pjvhz.jpg
The weapons are lame, it doesn't get the movement right for this type of game, the areas are too narrow and the enemies are horrible, plus everything explodes so I often die out of nowhere! Also checkpoints.

[agentorange]

Was gifted Avadon: The Black Fortress today so have been playing through that; just got to the point where I am let out of the fortress, which probably signifies the end of the "tutorial". Very happy with I've seen so far, the plot and setting are quite original, backed up by some competent writing, and I don't mind the combat-it reminds me of Arcanum's combat, just not horribly clunky and broken.

The Smissmass event has also gotten me back into TF2, and I am now deeply engrossed in the seedy, kill or be killed world of hat trading.

[Nalano]

Still, mw3 needed "beating" and that is what matters(?).

At least they succeeded.

On the PC, MW3 is getting its ass kicked (http://www.gamestat.co.uk).

[The JG Man]

it doesn't get the movement right for this type of game

That was the exact problem I had with the demo. Anything else negative I could look past, but the movement was unforgivable and of real detriment, I thought.

[Anthile]

I don't know if I'm the most advanced lifeform in the universe and for the sake of humanity I hope I'm not, but playing TF2 does little to disprove it. Still good fun if you manage to find a decent server.
I seem to be the only person who ever extinguishes people.

[agentorange]

I don't know if I'm the most advanced lifeform in the universe and for the sake of humanity I hope I'm not, but playing TF2 does little to disprove it. Still good fun if you manage to find a decent server.
I seem to be the only person who ever extinguishes people.

I am having fun with the new Spy weapon, the spy-cicle; the 2 second to immunity to fire makes infiltration almost too easy (I am one of the those few, the PROUD, who don't use the dead ringer), and boy howdy is it satisfying to turn a person into an ice sculpture.

[Berzee]

I just received Jade Empire for the Christ-o-mas! I am installing it now!

[TailSwallower]

Stuck on a little netbook while travelling, which greatly limits what I can play, but I got Avadon on sale and that seems good so far. Though I'm wondering if the story is going to be as obvious as it seems already (you're told you're one of the good guys, but the people you're working for are super-facists and you're really doing bad stuff for them).

I've also got the Geneforges to get through which I'm looking forward to.

Played some Cave Story+ and really been enjoying it so far. Bought the Defense Grid DLCs because I was under the impression that it ran on this netbook, but it's a bit too slow to be enjoyable. Still, bought it for a pittance.

[Althea]

At least they succeeded.

On the PC, MW3 is getting its ass kicked (http://www.gamestat.co.uk).
Well, I would suggest that CoD has never really been a heavy hitter on PC. It's always in the top 20 or so of Steam in multiple variations, but really, I don't think CoD has ever been as important for us as it has the console people.

[Serenegoose]

Well, I would suggest that CoD has never really been a heavy hitter on PC. It's always in the top 20 or so of Steam in multiple variations, but really, I don't think CoD has ever been as important for us as it has the console people.

Well, the MW series, certainly. Call of duty 1 was one of The Big PC FPS releases of the early 2000's, coming off the hype train of Allied Assault.

[Scumbag]

Hard Reset sucks!

Wouldent quite say that, but it sure as hell could have had a bit more work on the gameplay regarding player movement and slightly more intresting enemies (shooting machines over and over felt dull). If I were to tear it a new one for anything it would be the Checkpoint system which really pissed me off.
Cant fault it on presentation though. A good rig tester and something to kill time with, but there just aint much more to it then that.

[MD!]

Picked up a cheap copy of Saints Row 3, and I'm impressed so far! Lots of ridiculous fun, which is what I bought it for.

Seems like a good port, too. The graphics scale down nicely -- a lot of other recent games look like absolute rubbish with the graphical settings turned down, while still running far worse than older, better-looking games. SR3 looks pretty nice with everything on low, and runs tolerably well on my oldish computer.

[sabrage]

I finally got past that horrible "Hidden Cave" part in Cave Story. It's always annoying when a game deprives you of all your high-level weapons, but in Cave Story it's like having your whole party sent back to level one and having to work your way to the top again.

Another niggling thing about this game: there's a part where, if you explore a room and gain an item, you are denied access to a later, better version of that item. The game doesn't tell you this is the case; it just punishes you for exploring and interacting with the world. If I hadn't had a friend warn me right as I was at that part, I would've missed out on the better item without even realizing it. I've also apparently missed a couple of weapons; it feels like the game requires a walkthrough to see everything simply out of poor design.

I think I'm almost on the last boss; I also think this game is really overrated.

[Casimir Effect]

Well, the MW series, certainly. Call of duty 1 was one of The Big PC FPS releases of the early 2000's, coming off the hype train of Allied Assault.

Well, I would suggest that CoD has never really been a heavy hitter on PC. It's always in the top 20 or so of Steam in multiple variations, but really, I don't think CoD has ever been as important for us as it has the console people.
And Call of Duty 2 was one of the best damn FPS games that has ever been made. To see what the series became when it went Modern is a source of much disappointment for me. CoD2 is easily in my top 5 FPS list and I'm always surprised that it doesn't get mentioned more.

[Nalano]

And Call of Duty 2 was one of the best damn FPS games that has ever been made. To see what the series became when it went Modern is a source of much disappointment for me. CoD2 is easily in my top 5 FPS list and I'm always surprised that it doesn't get mentioned more.

I loved CoD and CoD2. But they didn't blow up the whole series/genre like MW. The genre zeitgeist that was MW is the standard we're now basing new manshoots off of.

Either way, on the PC, BF3 is beating the pants off of MW3 at the sport of manshooting... and I just made this homoerotic. I didn't intend to, honest!

[Serenegoose]

Picked up a cheap copy of Saints Row 3, and I'm impressed so far! Lots of ridiculous fun, which is what I bought it for.

Seems like a good port, too. The graphics scale down nicely -- a lot of other recent games look like absolute rubbish with the graphical settings turned down, while still running far worse than older, better-looking games. SR3 looks pretty nice with everything on low, and runs tolerably well on my oldish computer.

I wish I could say the same. It ran fine for me until the overworld unlocked, and then even with everything turned low/off it still barely hits the heady heights of 30fps.

On the other hand, Skyrim quite handily runs on high. HMM.

[Kadayi]

Just completed Mirror's Edge finally. My last playthrough got aborted due to getting stuck on a tricky part and giving up, but I'm glad I finally pushed on and finished it. A proper gem of a game.

There's some nasty difficulty spikes in the game for sure that do detract from the experience (plus the godawful combat). I'm hoping that DICE do get the opportunity to make a sequel though, as the mechanics were great.

[Althea]

There's some nasty difficulty spikes in the game for sure that do detract from the experience (plus the godawful combat). I'm hoping that DICE do get the opportunity to make a sequel though, as the mechanics were great.
Definitely. If nothing else, DICE created the foundation for what could be a great series. If they fixed (or even removed) combat, and evened out the difficulty a little, Mirror's Edge 2 could be great. Oh, and they need to work on the story a bit more - I don't think it ever really seemed all that great/interesting, although it was functional. Rhianna Pratchett needs to be brought back to write the sequel however, and if DICE don't hire Solar Fields to do the soundtrack again, I will throw a bit of a hissy fit.

[Kadayi]

Definitely. If nothing else, DICE created the foundation for what could be a great series. If they fixed (or even removed) combat, and evened out the difficulty a little, Mirror's Edge 2 could be great. Oh, and they need to work on the story a bit more - I don't think it ever really seemed all that great/interesting, although it was functional. Rhianna Pratchett needs to be brought back to write the sequel however, and if DICE don't hire Solar Fields to do the soundtrack again, I will throw a bit of a hissy fit.

I'd go with fixing the combat rather than removing it. I wasn't adverse to it, it just didn't work that well when it was required in terms of responsiveness. Also albeit it was likely a case of technological limitations, I'd really like a sequel to feature some sequences where you are down in the streets navigating through crowds and traffic (bonnet slide ftw) rather than up in the rooftops all the time. I recall late in the game you do actually get down to ground level at one point and I was pretty disappointed that there wasn't any opportunity for engagement with the populace.

[Althea]

I'd go with fixing the combat rather than removing it. I wasn't adverse to it, it just didn't work that well when it was required in terms of responsiveness. Also albeit it was likely a case of technological limitations, I'd really like a sequel to feature some sequences where you are down in the streets navigating through crowds and traffic (bonnet slide ftw) rather than up in the rooftops all the time. I recall late in the game you do actually get down to ground level at one point and I was pretty disappointed that there wasn't any opportunity for engagement with the populace.
I'd go with fixing, too. I think if it was replaced with dreaded QTEs, I think the combat could work well. If it was scripted, I think it'd keep in line with the way the game works.

[sabrage]

dreaded QTEs
No. Mirror's Edge is a game about flow. That's as silly as adding QTEs to a Ninja Gaiden game... And they did that.

[Althea]

No. Mirror's Edge is a game about flow. That's as silly as adding QTEs to a Ninja Gaiden game... And they did that.
If implemented right, they could flow.

[Rauten]

Personally, I'd pretty much remove it completely, or limit it to very specific points. Also, no QTEs please, just... no. I'm with Sabrage on this one, it'd kill the "flow".

On-Topic: Just finished AssRev, while the game was indeed more of the same like everyone else was saying, it felt nice to finally give closure to Altaïr and Ezio's stories. All in all, I don't regret the purchase. And what little I've played of online seems quite fun.

[Roufuss]

Working my way through some Steam winter achievement games:

E.Y.E -- This game is bizarre as hell. The guns feel off, the interface is horrid but something about it clicked with me. Not sure what it was but I'll spend more time with it soon.

Hard Reset -- I really liked the atmosphere, the between mission comic panels, the enemies, the weapons. Once I get a bit more free time (and some better hardware components) I'll put some more time into it.

Costume Quest / Psychonauts -- I never played either before, and my first Double Fine game was Brutal Legend, which I really didn't like at all. However, these two games are charming, funny, and a real delight to play; I originally wasn't going to bother with any of Double Fine's stuff (yea, I disliked Brutal Legend that much) but I'm glad I changed my mind. Hopefully Trenched hits PC as well like its rumored too.

Jamestown -- This game is always amazing.

Fate of the World -- Ditto.

Killing Floor -- I don't play it much anymore (the format got old to me after awhile) but I have fun with it every couple of months. The Christmas event is always great.

[The JG Man]

I get the impression DICE want to work on Mirror's Edge 2, but because of its questionable sales, it might not be possible. I'd have thought DICE alone would've maintained something of a buffer with a string of successful titles; 1943, BC2 and BF3 all easily surpassed development costs (1943 in particular). It's not like their previous titles completely failed either.

There's been a lot of suggestions on what to do with an ME2 as well, from themselves and the internet and it's one of those few times where apart from the odd person suggesting 'More combat', they pretty much all lend themselves well to that idea of the game. It's astonishing how a few tweaks would take it from a good-but-flawed to an amazing game, especially when things like audio and visual design is already perfect.

[SirKicksalot]

The combat of Mirror's Edge was fine, just remove the bullet sponge enemies from the final levels.
I mean, no shit that the weapons feel awkward as hell and you can't reload. That's great IMO. The melee was good.
I also did a no weapons run and apart from the final section it was OK.

[Rauten]

This is EA we're talking about; They probably used the "buffer" they had just making the game. Mirror's Edge was a huge risk, and EA ain't exactly keen on those.
They're likely the ones the most interested in making another Mirror's Edge, but they just won't be able to until they've brought in enough big bucks with manshooters and the like until the inverstors are feeling all happy and snug in their beds made of money.

Btw, JG, I finally bent over and got Sonic Generations through Amazon. Made it to Sky Sanctuary for now (had to finish AssRev), and so far, so delightfully good.

[Althea]

This is EA we're talking about; They probably used the "buffer" they had just making the game. Mirror's Edge was a huge risk, and EA ain't exactly keen on those.
They're likely the ones the most interested in making another Mirror's Edge, but they just won't be able to until they've brought in enough big bucks with manshooters and the like until the inverstors are feeling all happy and snug in their beds made of money.
Disagree. EA have, over the past years, teased and confirmed/unconfirmed the development of a sequel, as well as coming out and saying that they felt it was a disappointment in terms of commercial success but one they are willing to keep investing in.

[Rauten]

They have, true, but in my humble opinion, it's simply because it's DICE, one of their "big" guys, they can't downright say "no" to the people in charge of all things BF; which is pretty much the only thing they've been doing since Mirror's Edge.

[Althea]

They have, true, but in my humble opinion, it's simply because it's DICE, one of their "big" guys, they can't downright say "no" to the people in charge of all things BF; which is pretty much the only thing they've been doing since Mirror's Edge.
It's pretty much the only thing they've been doing since they were bought out by EA, but to be honest that's true with a lot of these "cult" studios. Blue Byte in Germany have - with Related Designs for the Anno series - done nothing really but economics-based strategy games, EA Maxis have done almost nothing but The Sims franchise, EA Critereon & Black Box I believe do nothing but racing games, BioWare - Edmonton, not the division - largely do nothing but RPGs. Studios seem to tend to find a niche or a series and they work on that more than anything else.

The Battlefield series is a big name - especially on the PC - and DICE are going to stick with it as long as possible because that is their thing.

Something something something, think I just lost my train of thought...

[Rauten]

They stick way too much; I bet most of those studios would like to try different genres, but they simply can't, they're indeed stuck in their niche, and neither EA nor the mass of the customer base will allow them; which is a shame, because sure, we'd see a lot of flops, but probably also a lot of gems. Though it seems BioWare has managed to find some sort of "sweet spot" with Mass Effect and managed to get some manshooting done.

P.S. What happened to Redwood, btw? am I to imagine this new BioWare RTS studio as their current iteration, after they were munched and gulped down by the EA label? or did they vanish from the face of the earth?

And I blame zombies for the disappearance of your train.

[Kadayi]

If implemented right, they could flow.

Agreed. I think the way to go with the combat would be something akin to a first person version of Batman in that there would be a contextual element to the fighting rather than it being a 'Press/hammer A' situation ala BF3. Albeit it's a little while back since I played I recall that things like the gun grab were very blink and miss it in ME.


They have, true, but in my humble opinion, it's simply because it's DICE, one of their "big" guys, they can't downright say "no" to the people in charge of all things BF; which is pretty much the only thing they've been doing since Mirror's Edge.

Well it puts them in a good position to pull a Chris Nolan and get ME2 made.

[Roufuss]

Maxis is pretty much dead though since 2006, and the new studio is "The Sims Studio" so that one kind of makes sense.

Criterion did Black, so they've stepped outside the realm of racing games.

[Althea]

P.S. What happened to Redwood, btw? am I to imagine this new BioWare RTS studio as their current iteration, after they were munched and gulped down by the EA label? or did they vanish from the face of the earth?
Redwood? Oh, Westwood :p They got broken up years ago, and you ended up with some sticking with EA (I think they got reformed into EA Los Angeles) whilst the others largely went and formed Petroglyph, a company that does both video and board games (Guardians of Graxia being the prime example), but they are better known for Star Wars: Empire at War and Universe at War: Earth Assault. I believe Victory Games, now known as BioWare Victory, have been formed from some of the ex-Westwood employees from EA Los Angeles.


Maxis is pretty much dead though since 2006, and the new studio is "The Sims Studio" so that one kind of makes sense.
That would explain why Maxis was absent from the box of The Sims Medieval.

[The JG Man]

BF; which is pretty much the only thing they've been doing since Mirror's Edge.

They've also been making FPS/BF for longer before Mirror's Edge than they have done since. Although, this becomes somewhat muddied when you take into account ideas for Mirror's Edge were adapted from at the very least Battlefield 2's engine, if not having parts of it implemented in the game itself, so they've been running with it for a few years. The interesting thing is, the tech is clearly there, so that's not an excuse. I think we just need the fad of FPS to die back down again for a little bit so the more unusual types can come back out again. Hell, DICE also worked on a couple of rally games that were of good acclaim, I believe.

Also, glad to hear you're enjoying Sonic Generations, Rauten!

EDIT: You're correct, UnravThreads, Westwood mostly became EA LA who worked on CnC3-4.

[Rauten]

You mean the remnants of Westwood (sorry about the Redwood confusion, I'll proceed to smack myself silly) are the ones responsible for the torture I was subjected to while trying to get the Rise of Immortals winter achievement?!
I don't know whether to pity them, or scorn them.

[Althea]

You mean the remnants of Westwood (sorry about the Redwood confusion, I'll proceed to smack myself silly) are the ones responsible for the torture I was subjected to while trying to get the Rise of Immortals winter achievement?!
I don't know whether to pity them, or scorn them.
Yeah. That great, great pedigree resulted in Rise of Immortals. To be honest, I think we have to give Petroglyph a little bit of room as they largely self-publish. Guardians of Graxia and RoI aren't done through any publisher, so it might explain why they sometimes feel a little... poor.

That RoI achievement is just a dick, though. It's not Petroglyph's fault as such, but it was a terrible choice for the Winter Sale thing.

[Similar]

Jamestown -- This game is always amazing.
So far it's full of graphical errors for me, menu texts not appearing, ghost graphics, etc.
Rather unimpressive seeing as it's 2D.

[sabrage]

It always worries me when people suggest that they actually like QTEs. I'm afraid a developer might stumble upon it and feel vindicated in their addition.

Look at Vanquish: (I know, it's console-exclusive) it probably has the best-implemented QTEs I've ever seen; they're unique, intuitive, sparingly used and usually completely ridiculous, but they don't make the game better. I'd still rather be doing hundred-yard knee-slides than playing a rhythm game.



P.S. What happened to Redwood, btw?
There was an EA Redwood Shores; it now goes by the name Visceral Games.

[Oak]

I like my coffee black and my games visceral.

[Lukasz]

Alan Wake. just began 3rd episode. alright game i guess. scary surprising at best but story is very very good at least so far. shame there is no PC release and I have to play it on my nieces' xbox

[The JG Man]

The PC version will be coming out within the next few months, as it goes.

[Casimir Effect]

Look at Vanquish: (I know, it's console-exclusive) it probably has the best-implemented QTEs I've ever seen; they're unique, intuitive, sparingly used and usually completely ridiculous, but they don't make the game better. I'd still rather be doing hundred-yard knee-slides than playing a rhythm game.
Is Vanquish worth the £10-or-so an older 360 game can be bought for? It's been on my 'maybe' list for a while now because I've heard good things about it but am just never sure when it comes to console FPS games (unless they have 'Halo' in the title).

OT: Finished second playthrough of The Witcher 2 going the other (Roche) path. As before it was a case of getting to Chapter 3 and then playing that all the way through without stopping - they nail the pace so well at the end. Loved every second of the game and it's worth reiterating once again how the game is essentially very different based on who you choose to follow at the end of Chapter 2. So if you've finished it once choosing Roche, you still have another, mostly-unique playthrough following Iorveth to follow.

[Miker]

Vanquish is EXCELLENT. Good lord, it is amazingly good. It's everything a game should be, pretty much, minus the naff story. I wish it were on PC so I could play it at 1080p 60 fps with mouse and keyboard. It's just so fast, so slick, so eye-meltingly GOOD.

[sabrage]

Is Vanquish worth the £10-or-so an older 360 game can be bought for? It's been on my 'maybe' list for a while now because I've heard good things about it but am just never sure when it comes to console FPS games (unless they have 'Halo' in the title).

It's not an FPS, and as Miker says it's a fucking incredible game. It's a cover shooter that punishes you for using cover.... People talk about balls-out fun with Renegade Ops or Saints Row, but for my money you can't beat Vanquish in that department.

[Roufuss]

Helping out my girlfriend out with a Star Wars: The Old Republic writing gig.

This means I get to play PvP since she a) hates it b) isn't good at it and c) needs someone to do it and document it so she can write about it for what she's doing.

SW:TOR has some of the worst PvP I've ever seen. It has only three "Warzones," and at least one of them, Huttball, is an abomination. It is just absolutely horrific. I'll go into greater detail if anyone is really dying to know.

The Alderaan PvP is ok, but everyone who plays this game in PvP is a moron I think. The concept of defense is lost to everyone, so no one defends the turrets they capture.

Haven't yet had the third Warzone pop up... its always stupid Huttball.

Not to mention there are a billion stuns in this game.

And the level scaling sucks. Basically, everyone scales (I believe) to near the highest level player, or maybe the lowest player scales down. Either way, everyone is on an equal battlefield. Which seems good, right? If I'm level 20, and there is a level 45 guy available, I'll scale up to him in stats and health. What I won't scale up to him is with abilities, so that level 45 has about twice as many abilities and can still make short work of you, so ultimately its pointless. I had a guy stun me six times in a row... there was nothing I could but just sit there and die.

[The JG Man]

See, even in moments where I've lost PvP in TOR, I've always found it to be due to play movement and skill. You get a lot of points for defending an objective, even if you see 2 or 3 kills, but no-one sticks around to notice that. The scaling isn't perfect, but I'd say it works well enough that when you have a fuller team, it all evens out. You only need to attack someone once to stop them doing an objective and you can be any level for that. I'm not saying I'm perfect at it, but I'm usually always 'up there'. The set-up of the maps is fine, it's just the players, as it always will be until you get people who are happy to communicate or who understand what defences are.

[Voon]

Since my PC's gfx card died, I got an GBC emulator working on a DS and just a mere 12 hours or less into Dragon Quest III for nostalgia's sake and some unfinished business.

[Roufuss]

The scaling isn't perfect, but I'd say it works well enough that when you have a fuller team, it all evens out. You only need to attack someone once to stop them doing an objective and you can be any level for that.

I'm not entirely sure I'd agree; often, there would be one person on the other side just absolutely dominating with something like 28 kills and 3 deaths, and he was usually a long range class with just an obscene number of stuns. It was clear that, by the ungodly amount of abilities he possessed, he was higher level than most people there.

I'd stop him from completing an objective, he would turn to me and unload an entire Death Star sized arsenal on me, then go back to capping the objective (successfully, because the rest of the team didn't understand defense.)

I mean, it is possible my girlfriend's character isn't suited for PvP, but the Sith Marauder really has trouble with any long range class. It seems like almost all of my abilities at level 24 require me to be right up in someone's face, so this dude just kited me around. If I got close with a Charge, he'd stun me, move away and unload on me some more.

The rest of your points I agree with but if this ends up like any other MMO, the player base will never learn to play or communicate -- every attempt I took at organizing some sort of plan in a silent warzone was met with "shut up!"

What I'd really like to see is them add a way you can queue for specific warzones -- I really hate the fact that it's random or nothing. I get that it helps make PvP queues smaller, but I hate Huttball and it seems like it pop every 4 out of 5 times.

[NecroKnight]

A little indie game called Deity.

[Tikey]

Batman Arkham City.
Batman batman batman.

[Roufuss]

In sad news, I even made a note to myself to not forget that today was the last day for 50% off Activision games at GOG... which I of course forgot.

So I won't be playing any of those games anytime soon :(

[The JG Man]

What I'd really like to see is them add a way you can queue for specific warzones

Yeah, that struck me as a little weird. I think it's because of same-server PvP that this was introduced. I hope they change that to allow more servers because that could get rather droll. I do want to say though, I agree that being higher level is an advantage, but I think a smart player can at least help. I, personally, like that balance isn't to do with 1 vs. 1 necessarily, but more group vs. group composition, so I don't have a problem losing in a straight up fight (although I seem to have been rather lucky with that so far...) yet what strikes out for me is "The rest of the team didn't understand defense." And yeah, there are idiots who will tell you to shut up, but chances are if you start giving orders, calling where attacks are going on the larger warzones, people will likely listen, albeit acknowledge silently. Some may even start responding and join in, it usually just takes one person to start it all up.

I'm not saying that the PvP is perfect by any stretch, but for a dip-in exercise, it's decently orchestrated. It just needs expanding and a little love.

[thegooseking]

Batman Arkham City.
Batman batman batman.

My brother is an even bigger Batman fan than I am, and I was shocked when he told me yesterday that he hadn't played it.

But then, he's also an Elder Scrolls fan (and he introduced me to TES by giving me a copy of Morrowind), so that might go some way to explaining why he hasn't.

[Roufuss]

Trust me, when you open your map, and you see the purple dots moving around at all different locations and some of them capping a turret and running off, the rest of the team definitely didn't understand defense ;)

You can tell the Jedi definitely knew how to win -- they capped the middle first, built up a sizable defense, then capped the generator that our team wasn't currently capping and delegated a few men there. They would send out their star player to cap the generator no one was defending while our team tried in vain to grab one of the other two generators.

Once the guy capped our generator, the entire team rushed back to cap it, leaving the other two turrets to just wildly fire at our ship. Not once did anyone other than myself stay and try to defend the one turret after capping it, and often the team would split up and go their separate ways rather than mount a strong offensive.

A lot of the Jedi side were long range fighters who set up a good defense in the middle; I'd constantly see the same team members see that the middle is empty, run in to cap it only to get shot down almost instantly. This occurred numerous times, like my team never quite figured out why they were dying.

In every PvP match I've played, the Jedi side has always had strong tactics and good teamwork; I can't say the same for the Sith, which, in my experience, looks to be largely populated by younger players.

After a few matches, I was just doing it for the close to 10,000 exp I got just for participating.

[sabrage]

I beat Cave Story. I don't know if it's just a case of PC gamers never experiencing Metroid and Castlevania, or just the fact that it's free, but I personally thought it was kind of a shitty game.

On to Wipeout HD, which I really adore. Also, who was complaining about rubberband AI in this game? I've won races where the competition was literally nowhere near me, and I generally don't get screwed over by cheesy weapon because the game actually warns you when they're coming. And when they do hit me, it never feels unbalanced. They aren't nearly as devastating as Mario Kart's weapons.

[The JG Man]

In every PvP match I've played, the Jedi side has always had strong tactics and good teamwork; I can't say the same for the Sith, which, in my experience, looks to be largely populated by younger players.

And now I can say that in every much I've played, the Sith have always had strong tactics and good teamwork :P But yeah, good players will be good wherever, bad players will bring down everyone else.



On to Wipeout HD, which I really adore. Also, who was complaining about rubberband AI in this game? I've won races where the competition was literally nowhere near me, and I generally don't get screwed over by cheesy weapon because the game actually warns you when they're coming. And when they do hit me, it never feels unbalanced. They aren't nearly as devastating as Mario Kart's weapons.

Wipeout HD is really the only reason I want a PS3 because I love the series. The tracks, colours, music; all fantastic. I agree with the weapons, too. Far, far more balanced than MK.

[sabrage]

Wipeout HD is really the only reason I want a PS3 because I love the series. The tracks, colours, music; all fantastic. I agree with the weapons, too. Far, far more balanced than MK.
Well I certainly wouldn't call it a system-seller, but there really is nothing quite like it. I think that the upcoming Vita release is going to include all the same tracks and modes (as well as new ones obviously) if that's more your pace.

[Voon]

Oh God, Wipeout HD. I quite like how the game reminds me of F-Zero without the crazy car models it had. Tough races at over 400km/h in beautiful race tracks is ecstasy. Although, sometimes, I felt like it just need more speed to be truly a game that truly rivals F-Zero. Okay, now I really need a PS3 for Wipeout and fix my PC so it can run F-Zero GX on Dolphin.

[Miker]

Since we're also talking about console games here and there, I'm playing through Shadow Complex, which is...okay.. It's pretty good, actually, I just hate the setting and the utter blandness of it. The combat blows, too, with its wonky background aiming. The powerups, for the most part, aren't very imaginative at all. I'm probably 2/3 of the way through the game, and it's more or less Metroidvania-by-numbers. But since I love Metroid and Castlevania, I guess I'm okay with it.

On the PC side, I admit to whoring myself out for Steam's holiday achievements. EVEN THE FREE TO PLAY ONES. Rise of Immortals and Crimecraft have scarred me forever.

[The JG Man]

the upcoming Vita release is going to include all the same tracks and modes

Interesting to note, but I doubt it. I don't think I'd be able to play Wipeout that isn't the HD version on the PS3. It just looks magnificent. And no, it isn't a system seller, but that pushes me far more than something like Uncharted 2.


Since we're also talking about console games here and there, I'm playing through Shadow Complex, which is...okay.. It's pretty good, actually, I just hate the setting and the utter blandness of it. The combat blows, too, with its wonky background aiming.

I attempted to go back to it several times, with the last time putting the most effort in, but I found it pretty boring. I never completed it and didn't see why it had received as much of the praise as it had done. It had great production values, but aside from that I didn't really think it had much going for it. Still, testament to the strength of XBLA. If Windows 8 is promised to bridge XBL/A with the PC, it should mean we get quicker access to XBLA titles, which is where I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years. (Hell, I remember trying to farm for rare elites in WoW and playing Bomberman at the same time!)

[Miker]

@JG Man

I suspect it has something to do with it being the /only/ Metroidvania style game on current-gen consoles. Metroid: Other M was the only other game that could have been a 2D successor, and from what I hear, it, er, wasn't. Castlevania has seen that one multiplayer XBLA game and Lord of Shadows, neither of which are exactly tied to the classic formula. Shadow Complex is kind of good by default.

[Pseudo310]

I'm playing with AI War: Fleet Command and trying to:

1) Beat it in single player.
2) Actually play it multiplayer and see how that goes.

[sabrage]

@JG Man

I suspect it has something to do with it being the /only/ Metroidvania style game on current-gen consoles. Metroid: Other M was the only other game that could have been a 2D successor, and from what I hear, it, er, wasn't. Castlevania has seen that one multiplayer XBLA game and Lord of Shadows, neither of which are exactly tied to the classic formula. Shadow Complex is kind of good by default.
I hate to give recommendations for games I haven't played, but Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, LaserCat, this "Opac's Journey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h6M9uvlRtQ)" thing, and Outland might be worth your time. I actually bought ITSP the other day and meant to start it up but my 20 gig hard drive is all full up :/ I happened to love Shadow Planet; the actual map and powers were a lot of fun, at least to me, and it has some excellent boss fights. My only complaint about the game is, on the whole, it's a bit easy.

Myself, I plan on going back to good ol' Tomba! when I get the chance. Probably the most overlooked Metroidvania game ever.

Really, I'm still waiting for this style of game to evolve to 3D adventure games. I actually think that Demon's Souls might be the closest we've come.

[Althea]

Insecticide: Part One
A sadly unfinished game (at least on PC), with the second part supposed to be released three and a half years ago. Whilst it now looks a little dated, it's still quite a good looking game. Crisp and fairly clear. The controls are simplistic as hell, too, and they work... but it's not perfect. The combat feels a little sloppy and unbalanced, and the adventure sections are really not hard, more putting stuff in the right place (sounds obvious, but it's not as simple as it sounds). There's a good sense of humour though, with the bug related puns and stuff, and the weaponry is nicely diverse.

Could be a bit better, though, but for what it is? Awesome.

[Nalano]

Battlefield 3 to pump me up, SimCity 4 to unpump me.

Five things:



I love canister shot.
I really (http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/battlereport/show/13054604/1/278236495/) love canister shot.
I love attack chopper pilots who buzz me at low altitude, stop, turn around and attempt to buzz me a second time. Why, thank you for the free shot! BOOMkchunkBOOM
I love suicide jeeps that come at me head on. Oh, joy! BOOMkchunkBOOM
Playing SimCity is like tending a garden, constant pruning (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/tryinghard.jpg) and working, but without the zen reflections.

[Voon]

Playing SimCity is like tending a garden, constant pruning (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/tryinghard.jpg) and working, but without the zen reflections.

It's like taking care a bunch of hyperactive preschoolers to me. Man, I always end up making a dirty, overcrowded, jumbled up mess of a city with laughable income every time I start making a new one in SimCity 4! Just couldn't get enough of it, though.

You found any good Rush/Conquest servers in Battlefield 3? Tried to get used to the Conquest mode in BC2 but that place was infested with hacks and base-rapes, it's practically unplayable.

[Nalano]

You found any good Rush/Conquest servers in Battlefield 3? Tried to get used to the Conquest mode in BC2 but that place was infested with hacks and base-rapes, it's practically unplayable.

I play almost exclusively Conquest Large, and the only server on my favorites list is the one run by [BBB]: 66.150.155.213.25200

[Voon]

Thanks, man

[Drake Sigar]

Just finished The Book of Unwritten Tales which didn't end so much as stop. It's like if the good guys threw Sauron's ring into the ocean and said "whelp, that ought ta do it." Not only is is extremely anticlimactic, but it also fails to solve the overall problem - there's a badass evil which is tearing the land apart with or without the artefact. The characters inhabit a post-apocolyptic fantasy land where entire cities have only one or two residents each (they actually address this and offer "everyone else is dead" as an explanation). Talk about a hollow victory!

[Caleb367]

I love attack chopper pilots who buzz me at low altitude, stop, turn around and attempt to buzz me a second time. Why, thank you for the free shot! BOOMkchunkBOOM



Not really related, but reminds me of Saints Row 3. You know, when you make enough of a fuss (i.e. you run over about thirty guys, then back up on them and then shooting them in the groin with a huge shotgun) gangs and police start sending helicopters at you. With snipers on the sides. Hovering in place while said snipers line up a shot. Well, they're about to learn the joys of being headshotted by a dual .45 with explosive bullets.

[airtekh]

Like most people, I've been playing some of my Christmas purchases.

I bought a bunch of adventure games in the Gog sale, one of them being Broken Sword 2. I played the first game years ago and quite enjoyed it; hopefully it can satisfy my current adventure game craving.

I was intrigued enough to invest in Payday: The Heist when it was a daily Steam deal. As most have commented, it does owe a huge debt to Left 4 Dead; but it also feels different. The police come at you in waves, but combat occurs at a distance, meaning you have to take cover quite frequently, unlike when you're fighting zombies.

I'm still obsessed with Batman: Arkham City. I bought the discounted DLC and now I'm working my way through both Robin and Nightwing's Riddler challenges. The combat and stealth in this game are both absolutely superb.

[Doodier]

I have beaten Binding of Isaac for the first time. After 16 hours. Well, the game is AWESOME! I am really glad I bought it because it is crazy fun and sometimes even frustrating. Probably game of the year for me :)

[Rauten]

Been playing a bit of Nuclear Dawn with some friends, we picked it up for offer at Amazon one of these past days; it's an interesting blend of RTS and FPS, and while it's kinda rough around the edges, I have to say, the game makes me feel like I'm a soldier in the NOD or GDI, depending on which team I'm playing for. The game kinda feels like what a multiplayer C&C FPS should be.

P.S. I'm in (manly) love with your current avatar, Unrav.

[Althea]

P.S. I'm in (manly) love with your current avatar, Unrav.
Argh, if only it was womanly love! :p But thanks.

I'm playing Space Marine. For the Emperor and all that shit.

[Serenegoose]

argh, if only it was womanly love! :p but thanks.

I'm playing space marine. For the emperor and all that shit.

For Holy Terra!!!! I suppose.

(allcaps filter ruins jokes)

[Heliocentric]

My face is my shield.
The Emprah protects my brahs.

[eRa]

Serious Sam 3, great fun. Was a bit worried first about the more realistic look, but it plays like a true Sam game.
Also, I bought it one day before it went on sale on Steam.

[TheDreamlord]

Skyrim, Serious Sam 3, Amnesia (I decided to finally play it through and finish it, should not take more than 7-8 hours hopefully, though I will only play it in one hour stints, 'cos it gets heavy!), EYE Divine Cybermancy, Cave Story + aaaaand some Jamestown here and there.

[LordHuggington]

Just finished Hard Reset and have moved on to SkyDrift and Bulletstorm. Hard Reset was a pretty fun throwback to FPSes of old. Quite like SkyDrift from the time I've spent with it. Not enough plane racing, or dogfight games out there, so this game covers both of those. Bulletstorm is pretty enjoyable trying to get all of the different skillshots. Story is popcorn fair, but palatable.

[Shryke]

Just started playing Drakensang (the first one). Don't really want to say too much about it at the present time as I've only just scratched the surface, but it appears to have a lot of complexity in character development (although you can only choose from preset character types and cannot build your own from scratch). The dialogue and quest so far have been pretty meh, but I am holding out hope because I love party-based RPGs so much.

Also recently started playing DoW II: Chaos Rising which is pretty awesome so far. I love cover systems in RTSs. Much better than just massing troops and sending them in to be slaughtered (cough Starcraft 2 cough).

Recently finished the Penumbra series as well. Really excellent atmosphere and what I thought was a great story rather well told. The physics are fun, too.

[sabrage]

Man, the first two levels of Serious Sam 3 really are bad. There's a few moments of the brilliance to come shining through, but that museum level was awful (and fuck those ceiling spiders.) It is genuinely funny though, and the music is surprisingly great. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I expected to.

Though apparently the game did something nasty to my video drivers... Any flash videos I load are visually corrupted.

[Voon]

I was planning to pick up and play Yume Nikki until a few videos in YouTube about it leaves me sitting by the corner of my room, sucking my thumb and trying to forget whatever I just saw in that game. Creepy shit. Not too scary, but downright disturbing. It's hard to find a game that screws with my mind as hard as Yume Nikki or Amnesia or Silent Hill

[sabrage]

I was planning to pick up and play Yume Nikki until a few videos in YouTube about it leaves me sitting by the corner of my room, sucking my thumb and trying to forget whatever I just saw in that game. Creepy shit. Not too scary, but downright disturbing. It's hard to find a game that screws with my mind as hard as Yume Nikki or Amnesia or Silent Hill
You should try out a brilliant little game called Eversion. It's free.

[Voon]

You should try out a brilliant little game called Eversion. It's free.

Depends. Is it a similar bad acid trip/mindscrew nightmare simulator? If so, count me in!

K, seriously, I'm interested. Probably going to get sown first impressions in YouTube now. Thanks, man

[sabrage]

K, seriously, I'm interested. Probably going to get sown first impressions in YouTube now. Thanks, man
No! Don't look up anything about it. Just play it. (http://zarat.us/tra/offline-games/eversion.html) You'll thank me.

[Roufuss]

Man, the first two levels of Serious Sam 3 really are bad. There's a few moments of the brilliance to come shining through, but that museum level was awful (and fuck those ceiling spiders.) It is genuinely funny though, and the music is surprisingly great. I'm enjoying it a lot more than I expected to.

Though apparently the game did something nasty to my video drivers... Any flash videos I load are visually corrupted.

It doesn't get good until after level 4.

Level 4 is equally shitty, having to maneuver around automated miniguns. After that, it gets really good. I actually gave up on the game during those first four levels and had to force myself through them.

I personally thought all the humor was shit though and really outdated. Duke Nukem Forever had an excuse for its outdated humor, but some of the humor in Serious Sam 3 would have been outdated and poor even in 2001.

Oh, and the multiplayer is completely and 100% dead, if you wanted to know or anyone else was interested in it. A week after the game the servers were already empty for MP, which was disappointing. Releasing with only three maps (some modes like CTF get only *one* map) doesn't help either. I hope they didn't hold them back for DLC because it already has 0 players.

[sabrage]

Duke Nukem Forever had an excuse for its outdated humor, but some of the humor in Serious Sam 3 would have been outdated and poor even in 2001.
That's kind of the point though, isn't it?

Fuck space monkeys. Fuck keycard fetchquests. Never been so happy to see a minigun in my life. Still the best 2011 game I've played.

[Roufuss]

That's kind of the point though, isn't it?


Honestly, I don't know, but all I do know is I constantly rolled my eyes and never laughed at what was being said. If it was some kind of joke on the likes of characters like Duke Nukem, the joke went a bit too far into stale territory, but Croteam seems to do that. The "lol look at this take on Modern Warfare" should have ended after level 1... no reason to ever have a level like the museum in a game like this.

Personally, I wish they'd just strip the entire nonsensical stupid story out of Serious Sam 3 and just go level to level; nobody is playing it for the story, nobody, and then we could have dropped all those early levels.

But back to the jokes, I don't know, Sam ends up being less of a character and more of a caricature to the point where I just wish he'd have kept his mouth quiet. Its a small point to pick but like I said, if they did it as a joke, it didn't come off well at all and it creates a really unlikable main character. Maybe for SS 4 he can be silent like the Doom guy.

To keep this on topic, I've been playing (mostly for achievements):

Aaaaaaaa for the Awesome -- Its every bit as great as the original one (because it technically is the original one with added levels); the game provides quite a rush.

Solar 2 -- This game is some kind of weird Katamari clone... I'm not sure I really got the point.

Bastion -- Already knew what to expect from the 360 demo; great narrator, comfortable gameplay, I'll come back to it.

About to dive into Sequence and Rock of Ages.

Looking at the rest of the achievements, I either have done them already or they are going to be easy to accomplish, so more opportunities to get more coal I guess.

I'll probably grab a few $2.50 indie games that look interesting for a few more achievements, but I think the winter sale has nothing left for me.

ETA: Rock of Ages was cool and extremely bizarre, but its ACE Team so its to be expected.

[oceanclub]

You should try out a brilliant little game called Eversion. It's free.

The updated version is 75% off on Steam, and suppposedly not as frustrating as the original freeware version, so based on the description alone I think I'll get it. RPS article here:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06/08/eversion/

P.

[boats]

SW:TOR kinda ripped me away from all my Steam holiday purchases. I got back into Portal 2 as well, trying to finally finish it. I'm at the blue gel part.

Edit: I'm playing X3: Albion Prelude quite a bit too! It makes me feel like a true spaceman.

[SirKicksalot]

Dungeon Siege 3 - I love the atmosphere. It's sort of a fairy tale take on the 18th century. I grew up reading Russian fairy tales and DS3 causes massive flashbacks to those gorgeous illustrations (http://i47.tinypic.com/dms505.jpg)... Haven't felt like this since King's Bounty (DS3 is more serious though). It's a very relaxing and beautiful game with a clever combat system and the story so far is pleasant enough.

[Similar]

Been playing E.Y.E today. It's ... strange and I suspect it'll take ages before I figure out what everything does and before I get even a vague idea what the plot is about, but it's interesting.
Also played SPAZ a good bit and that seems decent too.

[vinraith]

I'll probably grab a few $2.50 indie games that look interesting for a few more achievements, but I think the winter sale has nothing left for me.


No judgement or anything, but you do realize that if you're buying games for the achievements you're paying $2.50 apiece for worthless coupons and lottery tickets, right?

[sabrage]

No judgement or anything, but you do realize that if you're buying games for the achievements you're paying $2.50 apiece for worthless coupons and lottery tickets, right?
And the games....

Still on Serious Sam 3. Really wish it didn't do this to all my videos when I'm done with it:
http://i.imgur.com/xC1O9.png

[Nalano]

No judgement or anything, but you do realize that if you're buying games for the achievements you're paying $2.50 apiece for worthless coupons and lottery tickets, right?

At least lottery tickets have a chance of paying off.

[Voon]

Taking a break Monster Hunter Tri now, back from a hunt a Rathlos. I was the last to enter in the area and rather than swinging my axe away till he dies, I forgot to carve off it's tail before that. Then, I realized I was out in the open and an easy target for him to shoot a fireball at me. He missed by an inch; while I was carving. And when he was flying low to shoot more fireballs at the others, well, by instinct I just slashed his feet. And he came down. Mission accomplished!

[Roufuss]

No judgement or anything, but you do realize that if you're buying games for the achievements you're paying $2.50 apiece for worthless coupons and lottery tickets, right?

I'm not buying the games *solely* for the achievements. If a game is on sale and it looks mildly interesting, for $2.50 I can support the developer and snatch a copy. The fact it has an achievement means I'll play it immediately for a few hours, so that's a bonus. Unlike a lot of PC gamers, I actually don't mind achievements as well for the most part so trying to grab some of these, especially the "hard" ones, is a lot of fun.

What I mostly meant was that I'll look through the achievement list and check out the $2.50 games like Defcon, Greed Corp., etc and see which ones interest me mostly due to the 75%, not because I'm getting a lump of coal. The fact I can get a christmas achievement out of it is a bonus, but not the end all be all reason I'd grab a game. I absolutely *hate* when people buy a game just for the achievement (with no intention to ever play the game and learn how it works) and slam the game on the Steam forums when they can't get it. Seeing some of the developer replies is quite funny, though.

I actually find a lot of good games due to these sorts of promotions where a lot of indie titles get thrust into the spotlight. For example, here's what I've been playing lately:

Sequence: An amazing combination of RPG mechanics and rhythm gaming. For $1.24, this is easily my highlight of the sale and I wish I heard about it sooner.

Revenge of the Titans: An interesting take on tower defense with a degree of radiant A.I. Its also hard as hell.

Space Pirates and Zombies: I only got to play about 20 minutes but I'm getting ready to fire it up again in a few minutes. ETA: I played about three hours now and this game is awesome.

[vinraith]

I'm not buying the games *solely* for the achievements. If a game is on sale and it looks mildly interesting, for $2.50 I can support the developer and snatch a copy. The fact it has an achievement means I'll play it immediately for a few hours, so that's a bonus. Unlike a lot of PC gamers, I actually don't mind achievements as well for the most part so trying to grab some of these, especially the "hard" ones, is a lot of fun.


Absolutely fair enough, I'd gotten a different impression from your earlier post. Personally I've been all but ignoring the achievements this year because the odds of getting anything decent are spectacularly bad, and the grand prize is something I wouldn't even want.

[Roufuss]

Absolutely fair enough, I'd gotten a different impression from your earlier post. Personally I've been all but ignoring the achievements this year because the odds of getting anything decent are spectacularly bad, and the grand prize is something I wouldn't even want.

Yea, it came out phrased a bit awkwardly.

A lot of the achievements this year are tied into special content created solely for the event so I've been enjoying them that way too. It gives me a reason to revisit old games as well, like Super Meat Boy, which sometimes works in my favor: I really didn't like Beat Hazard when I tried it during the summer sale, but since then its been updated with a ton of Internet radio stations and I very much enjoy it now. I probably never would have fired it back up if it wasn't for the achievement.

In terms of the prizes, yea this contest blows. I'm at 42 achievements and only one game amidst a sea of worthless coupons. Hey Steam, I didn't want Xotic at 75% off, I surely don't want a 50% coupon for it.

Or giving me a 50% off Defense Grid coupon for obtaining the Defense Grid achievement... can't quite figure that one out.

[Rauten]

Absolutely fair enough, I'd gotten a different impression from your earlier post. Personally I've been all but ignoring the achievements this year because the odds of getting anything decent are spectacularly bad, and the grand prize is something I wouldn't even want.

I'm not so sure about that, it's true that some people have been awkwardly unlucky, but personally, I've managed to snatch DMC3 Special Edition and, trading gifts I've got, Virtua Tennis 4 and Nuclear Dawn. And I've discovered SPAZ! All in all, I'm pretty happy with this sale and the event.

[vinraith]

I'm not so sure about that, it's true that some people have been awkwardly unlucky, but personally, I've managed to snatch DMC3 Special Edition and, trading gifts I've got, Virtua Tennis 4 and Nuclear Dawn. And I've discovered SPAZ! All in all, I'm pretty happy with this sale and the event.

Based on a general reading of this forum, and the trading post thread, I'd say you've been getting unusually lucky. Personally I (and many others) have seen nothing but coal, worthless coupons, and one game I already owned.

Ironically it would be trivial for Valve to improve the odds of getting something useful by screening the gift algorithm to keep you from getting crap you already have and coupons for crap you already have.

[sabrage]

Ironically it would be trivial for Valve to improve the odds of getting something useful by screening the gift algorithm to keep you from getting crap you already have and coupons for crap you already have.
Presumably, they did not do this in an effort to promote gift-giving and sharing of prizes. I didn't win anything, and decided last night that after 22 objectives I've had enough of grinding out achievements. Managed to trade some worthless junk for Payday: The Heist though.

[Flint]

Speaking of the Steam sales, I've started to dig into my pile of games I've acquired this season. Decided to start with Bastion and it's turned out to be a rather good purchase, and an incredibly addictive one. Definitely an interesting and highly enjoyable twist on the Diabloesque hack-n-slash action. My only complaint so far is my slight disappointment about the soundtrack after all the ooh and aah everyone raised about it - it's nice, but not so excellent as the hype let me expect.

[squirrelfanatic]

Finished Fallout 2 yesterday, at least the main story arc. I had to cheat once by increasing my speech skill to SPOILER get Sgt. Granite to help me with Frank (the tank...) SPOILER END. God damn that guy. Great game, maybe a bit quirky in places (which I do not mind at all).

The first two Fallout games have an odd difficulty curve. It pretty much boils down to: Got Powerarmor? 1. No: Lol, get that Powerarmor son, or else you'll ge your ass handed to you on a regular basis; 2. Yes: You're fine, but pray to the Gods that nobody scores a critical.

Also: Save every few miles when travelling the countryside. You might meet someone.

[Drake Sigar]

Am I playing Saints Row the Third wrong? I've got a million dollar penthouse suite yet I'm forced to take odd jobs which barely cover ammunition, and I can't so much as spit on the sidewalk without ending up on American's Most Wanted. Where's that fun I heard so much about?

[Nalano]

Am I playing Saints Row the Third wrong? I've got a million dollar penthouse suite yet I'm forced to take odd jobs which barely cover ammunition, and I can't so much as spit on the sidewalk without ending up on American's Most Wanted. Where's that fun I heard so much about?

So buy properties which fund your dastardly deeds, and buy the upgrades that reduce your wanted level faster.

Or, in short, ur doin it wrong™.

[MD!]

Also, being extremely wanted is part of the fun! You can cope quite easily with a ridiculous level of force directed against you.

[moth bones]

Just lost the first scenario of the Panzer Corps '39 DLC. I hope to improve at this grognard lark, though in all honesty there is a certain joy to be had in watching the Nazi war machine blunder around like drunks, even when it is my fault.

[vinraith]

Just lost the first scenario of the Panzer Corps '39 DLC. I hope to improve at this grognard lark, though in all honesty there is a certain joy to be had in watching the Nazi war machine blunder around like drunks, even when it is my fault.

This is exactly why I always play the British in Wars in America. Sorry Brits!

[Heliocentric]

This is exactly why I always play the British in Wars in America. Sorry Brits!Its fine.TERRORIST

[Noema]

Long first post incoming: (You've been warned :D)

I bought both STALKER: SoC and CoP a few days back during the Steam Holiday Sale, though I wanted to finish the Witcher 2 first (which I absolutely adored, and I just regret that my computer isn't powerful enough to play it at higher settings. My god, what a beautiful game).





So, I just started playing SoC today and so far I'm absolutely hating it. The game is unfriendly, frustrating, depressing and unforgiving. After the opening first mission I just spent about an hour wandering about and getting killed by everything, everywhere, accomplishing nothing.

And I find the interface nigh unusable. Sometimes I'm completely unable to mark objectives on the map. Sometimes objectives get fixed in the map no matter what I do.


Now,I know...this is sort of the point of the game: being thrown into a hostile environment and having to make do with whatever you have at hand. But the game feels so open and hostile it's paralyzing. I feel the game gives me very little feedback and I have no clue on whether I'm doing things wrong or not.


For instance, there's a mission in which I'm supposed to get a package. I get to the place marked in the map and...I can't get through the tunnel because the way is blocked. Am I supposed to find some crates, stack them up and then climb over, Deus Ex style? Or is this a way for the game to tell me that I shouldn't be doing this mission yet. I have no clue. I suppose I could try going around to see if I can get to the tunnel from the other side, but that would imply walking through the wasteland and getting raped by dogs, rats, bandits, radiation, etc, ad nauseum, at every step. In another, I'm supposed to meet with a journeyman at a randevouz point. But there's no one there after I get there. Maybe I'm supposed to wait for him. Nope. All the while, I'm getting swampped by dogs bitting my entrails off. Should I look for him in the tunnel? But there's radiation. I go anyway and I die. Should I try to brave the radiation somehow? Should I just sit there and wait longer? Who knows. The game sure as hell ain't telling me squat.


It is this vastness that frustrates me. I don't mind a challenging game...I just finished The Witcher 2 on hard and while it's not the hardest game ever by any means, some parts where challenging. But this blatantly open hostility to the player...I just can't stomach it. Specially when I can play for 2 hours and not get anything done, other than dying and getting lost.


However, I'm aware that a lot of people love the STALKER games and many probably love them for the very reasons I'm loathing it. So it's more of an attitude problem on my side, than objective faults. Probably I've been pampered too much by console games, the influence of which in terms of design and user friendliness has spread to even PC exclusives (The Witcher 2 is an example of this). STALKER's design philosophy is just so old school PC in many ways. And though I've been an on-and-off PC gamer for decades (X-Com 1 is probably my favorite game of all time, and Master of Magic scratched an itch no other game has), I've also played a lot of console games. Games that give the player a lot of feedback and which provide a very controlled, very linear experience to the player. Even in open world games, like say, L.A. Noir, where you can go pretty much everywhere, the game is always constantly reminding you of the big "X" in the map that marks the next objective. NPCs talk about it. The screen flashes reminders. In STALKER, I never know if I'm doing something wrong or right. Should I be here? Did the designers intend me to be here at this point of the game? This freedom is crippling. I've never enjoyed games like The Elder Scrolls series, or FO3 / FONV. And I feel this game will be the same.


Now, to the people who do like the STALKER games...what am I doing wrong? How can I best approach the game? Any tips for a beginner? I feel I could more easily get in the game if I start accomplishing something...anything that can set me on the right track.


Sorry for the long post, but I needed to vent :P

[DeathPig]

I got all three DeathSpank games. Started on the second one right now. And this game pretty much rocks. Although it's not as funny as they draw it out to be, it's got pretty good mechanics of a decent hack'n'slash, and a good UI, much unlike Skyrim.

Plus, just finished Saint's Row 3, and getting started on Skyrim, where I left off.

[gganate]

Long first post incoming: (You've been warned :D)

I bought both STALKER: SoC and CoP a few days back during the Steam Holiday Sale, though I wanted to finish the Witcher 2 first (which I absolutely adored, and I just regret that my computer isn't powerful enough to play it at higher settings. My god, what a beautiful game).





So, I just started playing SoC today and so far I'm absolutely hating it. The game is unfriendly, frustrating, depressing and unforgiving. After the opening first mission I just spent about an hour wandering about and getting killed by everything, everywhere, accomplishing nothing.

And I find the interface nigh unusable. Sometimes I'm completely unable to mark objectives on the map. Sometimes objectives get fixed in the map no matter what I do.


Now,I know...this is sort of the point of the game: being thrown into a hostile environment and having to make do with whatever you have at hand. But the game feels so open and hostile it's paralyzing. I feel the game gives me very little feedback and I have no clue on whether I'm doing things wrong or not.


For instance, there's a mission in which I'm supposed to get a package. I get to the place marked in the map and...I can't get through the tunnel because the way is blocked. Am I supposed to find some crates, stack them up and then climb over, Deus Ex style? Or is this a way for the game to tell me that I shouldn't be doing this mission yet. I have no clue. I suppose I could try going around to see if I can get to the tunnel from the other side, but that would imply walking through the wasteland and getting raped by dogs, rats, bandits, radiation, etc, ad nauseum, at every step. In another, I'm supposed to meet with a journeyman at a randevouz point. But there's no one there after I get there. Maybe I'm supposed to wait for him. Nope. All the while, I'm getting swampped by dogs bitting my entrails off. Should I look for him in the tunnel? But there's radiation. I go anyway and I die. Should I try to brave the radiation somehow? Should I just sit there and wait longer? Who knows. The game sure as hell ain't telling me squat.


It is this vastness that frustrates me. I don't mind a challenging game...I just finished The Witcher 2 on hard and while it's not the hardest game ever by any means, some parts where challenging. But this blatantly open hostility to the player...I just can't stomach it. Specially when I can play for 2 hours and not get anything done, other than dying and getting lost.


However, I'm aware that a lot of people love the STALKER games and many probably love them for the very reasons I'm loathing it. So it's more of an attitude problem on my side, than objective faults. Probably I've been pampered too much by console games, the influence of which in terms of design and user friendliness has spread to even PC exclusives (The Witcher 2 is an example of this). STALKER's design philosophy is just so old school PC in many ways. And though I've been an on-and-off PC gamer for decades (X-Com 1 is probably my favorite game of all time, and Master of Magic scratched an itch no other game has), I've also played a lot of console games. Games that give the player a lot of feedback and which provide a very controlled, very linear experience to the player. Even in open world games, like say, L.A. Noir, where you can go pretty much everywhere, the game is always constantly reminding you of the big "X" in the map that marks the next objective. NPCs talk about it. The screen flashes reminders. In STALKER, I never know if I'm doing something wrong or right. Should I be here? Did the designers intend me to be here at this point of the game? This freedom is crippling. I've never enjoyed games like The Elder Scrolls series, or FO3 / FONV. And I feel this game will be the same.


Now, to the people who do like the STALKER games...what am I doing wrong? How can I best approach the game? Any tips for a beginner? I feel I could more easily get in the game if I start accomplishing something...anything that can set me on the right track.


Sorry for the long post, but I needed to vent :P

Play CoP first, it's much friendlier. There aren't as many bandits and monsters running around, and artifact hunting in anomalies is fun. Then play SoC. It's hard and oppressing, but not as much so after you've played a STALKER game. I'd recommend the Complete mods as well to iron out any bugs and improve the graphics.