What are you playing at the moment?

[Ravelle]

Decided to give Kingdom of Amalur I chance, started once but got sidetracked by other games.

Also Realm of the Mad God, why did I start playing this again, now I can't stop.

[Althea]

Breath of Death VII. I decided to start from this one instead of Cthulhu Saves the World, 3h in I'm regretting the choice, namely because 99% of the time you're just running around some map stumbling into random encounters, which feel more like an annoyance than anything else. There is not much of a backstory, the NPC encounters are few and far between thus the humor, supposedly the game's saving grace, doesn't have many chances to show. In other words, BoDVII looks like an advanced prototype for CSW to me.
Just noticed this.

It's... pretty much how I felt. I got maybe an hour or two out of it before dying and I've not cared to go back.

[TailSwallower]

My exploration of the Dungeons of Dredmor continue. I've made it to the 4th level now, and I think I'm starting to figure out some of the game's finer points.

My character is a dodgy, dual-axe-wielding, blacksmithing, promethean archeologist, and it seems to be going alright for me. If it gets to the point where I've actually finished the game a couple of times and I'm still enjoying it then I can see myself getting the DLC.

The one thing that I'd like to see added (I know it won't be, but spit-balling nonetheless) is for the player character's appearance to change depending on the items worn. They've added plenty of funny, quirky, visually interesting items, but nothing actually happens when you equip them... it's a bit of a shame.

[Flint]

If it gets to the point where I've actually finished the game a couple of times
Now that's incredibly optimistic!

[NathanH]

Currently trying to finish the campaign of Magic 2012 but I keep dying at the penultimate guy in the main campaign.Hrmmm...

The Illusion deck is good against Gideon, he has no way of removing your Lords of the Unreal, and so you can spam him with ridiculous hordes of hexproof illusions.

Edit: I suppose he can use Gideon's Lawkeeper followed by Sunblast Angel, but he only gets one chance at that and it takes a while to set up.

[cosmicolor]

My exploration of the Dungeons of Dredmor continue. I've made it to the 4th level now, and I think I'm starting to figure out some of the game's finer points.

My character is a dodgy, dual-axe-wielding, blacksmithing, promethean archeologist, and it seems to be going alright for me. If it gets to the point where I've actually finished the game a couple of times and I'm still enjoying it then I can see myself getting the DLC.

The one thing that I'd like to see added (I know it won't be, but spit-balling nonetheless) is for the player character's appearance to change depending on the items worn. They've added plenty of funny, quirky, visually interesting items, but nothing actually happens when you equip them... it's a bit of a shame.

You might as well just get the DLC now, if even just for the new classes it adds, most of which are cool. Unless you're doing a non-permadeath game you're probably not gonna finish anytime soon.

[Althea]

The one thing that I'd like to see added (I know it won't be, but spit-balling nonetheless) is for the player character's appearance to change depending on the items worn. They've added plenty of funny, quirky, visually interesting items, but nothing actually happens when you equip them... it's a bit of a shame.
It's been said it'll never happen due to the sheer number and detail of sprites needed to account for everything, and it'd take up way too much of their time - from Dredmor, Project Odin and anything else they're doing.

Heck, skill icons for both genders likely won't happen (currently, with RotDG installed, it's a mix) because of the amount of work needed (and yes, I've asked).

[cosmicolor]

Yeah, that's the downside of using all hand-drawn sprites, there isn't much room for stuff like showing equipment. For every piece of equipment, they would pretty much have to create a whole new character for it.

[NathanH]

I'm in favour of your character appearance not changing with armour. Having armour appear on the character leads to Bad Things like removing the ability to equip party members' armours so that they have a Coherent Appearance, like in DA2. If we were happy to accept that the suit of armour you put on somebody in the inventory screen need not appear in the game world, then such Bad Things would not occur.

[laneford]

The Illusion deck is good against Gideon, he has no way of removing your Lords of the Unreal, and so you can spam him with ridiculous hordes of hexproof illusions.

Edit: I suppose he can use Gideon's Lawkeeper followed by Sunblast Angel, but he only gets one chance at that and it takes a while to set up.

I just about squeaked past him using the Illusion deck, so thanks for that one! Think I had two life left at the end though.

Managed to take down the boss on my 2nd try, using the ancient depths deck, massively kicked him in the nads after he had a slow start and I managed to get a ridiculous amount of land into play early on.

On to the 'Revenge' mode, it seems!

[NathanH]

The final boss is ridiculous. Sometimes he wastes time on pointless stuff allowing you to get him, and sometimes he drops a Darksteel Colossus on turn 2. It's almost completely luck against him.

[RakeShark]

Currently trying out Top Gun: Hard Lock. TB's "WTF is" gave me the same impression that the first admittedly-horrid-yet-guilty-pleasure Top Gun game had on me.

[alms]

It's... pretty much how I felt. I got maybe an hour or two out of it before dying and I've not cared to go back.

I can understand that, what is left, i.e. the combat system, is not very interesting. For the tough battles you're heavily reliant on mana and in large areas you're bound to run out of it, while the easy ones are just mindless clicking. In this state the game is mostly grind and more grind.


It's been said it'll never happen due to the sheer number and detail of sprites needed to account for everything, and it'd take up way too much of their time - from Dredmor, Project Odin and anything else they're doing.

In a way, it's a pity it was featured in a HIB so early. If that happened at a later stage of its lifecycle, perhaps they could have release the source. I have this feeling the codebase isn't exactly in a perfect state, and with the considerable following the game has, it would probably benefit a lot from more eyeballs and some love.

[Theblazeuk]

Neverwinter Nights 2 - when this came out my PC couldn't handle the incredibly badly optimised engine. Only occured to me last week that the rig has gone through substantial improvements since then!

Playing as a bard (first time ever in a D&D game), not a huge fan of the 3.0 rules where I can level into any class at any point as I'm finding it hard to plan my levelling to get the prestige classes. Also not a fan of the fairly spasmodic party AI or the terrible interface but I'm overcoming both with some micromanagement of camera and the 'turn off ai' button. Still, glad to have four characters rather than just one and a henchman (as much as I loved SoE and Underdark).

Now I'm in NW itself I'm a little more invested in the plot and the characters, the opening sections were incredibly dull. Finding the battles quite fun though a bit of a mix of easily-overcome and impossibly-hard...currently fighting nothing but thieves and when there's 20 people backstabbing you, even the tank goes down quickly.

[Casimir Effect]

There's two things I'd say with NWN2:
1. Act I drags on far too long and will drive you crazy a bit but I'd urge you to press on and get to Act II which is where the game becomes great. It really changes after Act I, which introduces far too many plot threads and characters.

2. If you completely bounce off NWN2 - even the laster acts - still try Mask of the Betrayer. It has one of the best, most coherent stories in an RPG with some memorable characters and moments. It also has a great moral choice system which goes far deeper than rescuing the kitten in the tree or throwing stones at it - you can do horrific things. The higher-level gameplay is also arguably more fun right from the get-go.

[laneford]

I managed to 'finish' (to my own satisfaction, at any rate) Pacman CE-DX. Which is a fabulous game.

On the otherhand, Microsoft have ruined my willpower by releasing Trials: Evolution today, which means i shall break my 2012 'no games but mass effect 3' rule for the first time, by spending 2000 magic microsoft points on that, and Fez. At least by having finished Magic as well I can vaguely justify it to myself and my backlog.

I'm weak. But excited.

[Vague-rant]

~airwave~ I Fought the Law and the Law One.

After seeing this up for multiple AGS awards, I figured I'd try it out. As someone who's not particularly into music, its pretty good. Not particularly long, but some solid writing from Chandler and an interesting premise. My main complaint is the voice acting of the radio broadcaster. He seems too nervous. Possibly done on purpose to emphasise its indepentant radio, but still... too much. Musics pretty decent in general though.

[Ravelle]

Did the Teeth of Naros DLC quest in Amalur, went in thinking it was a short mission but turned out to be a quest of some 3-4 hours, it had some beautiful environment and gained some epic loot from it as well.

[Althea]

Just tried Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP

All I can say is fucking hell that game is art.

[Winged Nazgul]

Just tried Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP

All I can say is fucking hell that game is art.

Don't let Roger Ebert hear you say that.

[Anthile]

Played some more Avadon, being busy slaughtering rats, spiders and bats of every shape and colour of the rainbow. I really wonder if the people who keep putting bats into video games know what a bat actually looks like.

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqdm6xklwK1qmlfqpo1_500.jpg

Who could murder that?

[Sketch]

1163

Ewww.

[NathanH]

It doesn't matter how cute an animal is, if it's a Giant version it needs to die. Doubly so if it is Dire.

[Althea]

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/6982/brushiefuckyeahdementia.jpg

[Ravelle]

Vampire bats are disgusting,normal bats are adorable.

[sabrage]

Vampire bats are disgusting,normal bats are adorable.
http://www.pitt.edu/~slavic/courses/vampires/images/bats/vambat6.jpg
I enjoy this line of conversation. Bats are the best flying mammals.

[Vexing Vision]

http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/6982/brushiefuckyeahdementia.jpg

That's an ineffectual weapon.

How much Exp is that creature, anyway?

[vinraith]

2. If you completely bounce off NWN2 - even the laster acts - still try Mask of the Betrayer. It has one of the best, most coherent stories in an RPG with some memorable characters and moments. It also has a great moral choice system which goes far deeper than rescuing the kitten in the tree or throwing stones at it - you can do horrific things. The higher-level gameplay is also arguably more fun right from the get-go.

I stalled out fairly late in the game, myself. I'm curious, does Mask directly connect to the plot of the base game? How hard would it be to follow if you hadn't finished the original campaign?

[DaftPunk]

Anyone tried Sniper Elite 2 Demo,its on steam. Go play it and report back :D

[corbain]

Trying to finish Dragon Age Origins but am getting pretty stuck defending Denerim. I get the feeling i'll need to go back to an earlier save where it was still possible for me to stock up on potions because once this section starts there are no more vendors.

[Juan Carlo]

Best to just make potions in Dragon Age: Origin. I think the elves stock unlimited herbs need for them, and the city stocks the other materials, so if you run back and forth you can make a bunch. I made like 60 health potions and it kind of broke the game for me.

I much prefer "Drakensang's" method where there are only enough materials available in the world to craft like 20 health potions total (and that's after like 2 hours straight of searching for herbs on the the different maps), so you have to ration them for only the big boss fights.

In fact, now that I think about, I actually think I prefer Drakensang: River of Time as a whole to Dragon Age. While Drakensang's story isn't as good, it's a much better balanced game all around. In Origins Mages were too powerful.

[lukka5]

waiting to play Botanicula

[Vexing Vision]

While currently not having a machine to run the Mount&Blade Warband Napoleonic DLC (and crying big, bitter tears), I'm also playing Avernum. I like the conversion to the new skillsystem a LOT better than I thought I would, after only feeling lukewarm towards Avadon.

[Anthile]

What exactly is the new skill system in Avernum?

[Blackcompany]

I like Skyrim and the Witcher 2 for bats. Their more background...you hear them. In one cave, you even see them. And they behave realistically. Screeching and looking for cover, moving away from the noise and light of your approach. Nice change of pace, that.

[Casimir Effect]

I stalled out fairly late in the game, myself. I'm curious, does Mask directly connect to the plot of the base game? How hard would it be to follow if you hadn't finished the original campaign?
Not hard at all. NWN2 finishes in a very disappointing way. The gameplay at the end is excellent - some of the best in the game - but the story just goes quietly into the night, almost certainly due to the usual Obsidian problem of running out of time.
MotB has 2 NPCs make a brief reappearance and references NWN2 very little, eg. the silver shard plot point is dealt with/removed immediately. The 5 rectruitable party members (of which you can only ever have 4 in a game) have no relation to the base game, and the location is entirely different barring a few dream scenes.

Mask also plays quite different because it has a Mechanic; actually of the sort that might appeal to you seeing as you seem to enjoy survival-mode-type things. Also, with people tending to be above level 20 combined with all the prestige classes the game offers allowing for weird character builds, things get a good bit more fun.

[cosmicolor]

I've been playing Phantasy Star Online 2, having got into the beta for it somehow. Only got to play 15 mins so far, but I liked what I did play. Divine Divinity isn't quite behaving well with my PC, with at least one hard crash so far. Bah.

[Vexing Vision]

What exactly is the new skill system in Avernum?

It's like a cross of Avadon and Diablo 2, if that makes any sense. Each skill has one or two follow-up skills, and you get two points per level to distribute among skills. Higher skills need a skill below them of at least the same level you're trying to raise it.

It's not bad, but it rewards min-maxing. Every three levels or so you get to pick a trait like More Experience, Higher Intelligence, Bonus Damage, etc.

For the first time in any Avernum game, I'm actually using predefined classes as opposed to self-created ones.

[Anthile]

I don't really like the skill system in Avadon. Well, mostly because the order of the skills is often a bit strange (you have to raise your melee skill in order to raise your ranged skill) and it often forces you to invest in skills you don't want to use.

[alms]

That didn't turn out to be much of a problem for me, I was only forced to invest in one skill that I didn't use, for the shaman. But, of course YMMV.

[SirKicksalot]

Sniper Elite v2 demo. What a satisfying game! It's going to be fun replaying it and memorising everything to get the perfect kills.

I'll replay the demo until I:
- shoot a sniper through the scope
- blow some fingers off
- shoot the grenades someone is carrying
- get an X-Ray cam when I shoot some dude's balls off. I'm pretty sure I exploded someone's testicles already but I didn't get an X-Ray so I'll keep trying
- kill 3 guys with 1 bullet. I only managed two so far
- shoot the three fuel tanks of the moving trucks

It may be a linear game but as long as you make up such goals it's going to be FUN.
Now Rebellion should make a sequel to Rogue Trooper and everything will be good in the world.

[Vexing Vision]

I don't really like the skill system in Avadon. Well, mostly because the order of the skills is often a bit strange (you have to raise your melee skill in order to raise your ranged skill) and it often forces you to invest in skills you don't want to use.

This is handled much, much better in Avernum. You only need ONE base skill to level up the next higher skill, you don't need all of them anymore - so you can mix and match pathes quite nicely.

I know what you mean, but Avernum works much smoother. Also, you can just download the demo and check for yourself - I'd recommend giving it a try and see if it settles your doubts. :)

[Flint]

Completed Grimrock. As much as I loved the game, the final floors really felt far less exciting and interesting. A lot of combat focus, not enough nice puzzling. Plus the final boss managed to tick one of my largest boss fight pet peeves, ie endless amounts of respawning enemies distracting you from the main combat.

Still, regardless of the ending fatigue, a great game. And probably one of the year's bigger surprises for me as I had little interest for it until a week or so before release.

Now onto more fantasy RPG romping! Snagged Kingdoms of Amalamalamalamalur from the Steam sale a day or so back. Loved the demo and been wanting to play the game for quite a while so excited. Just hope they've managed to fix the keymapping wonk from the demo so I can actually map arrow keys to movement like a normal person.

[airtekh]

My recent addiction to MTG Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 is easing off now that I've unlocked all the cards for the decks I was interested in. It's a solid game that's highly suited to Magic newbies like myself and I'm very much looking forward to the 2013 version.

Finished Mass Effect 3 singleplayer so I'm resuming my Fallout: New Vegas playthrough. I haven't even reached Vegas yet, I keep getting sidetracked wandering all over the wasteland. I'm trying to remain neutral with all the factions, but I've a feeling I'm going to have to pick a side sooner or later.

Mass Effect 3 multiplayer was getting a bit grindy so I've been on the lookout for a new multiplayer game. I was intrigued by Tribes: Ascend, so I downloaded it to check it out. First thought: Wheeee! Sliding is fun. Never played a Tribes game before, but this reminds me very much of Section 8: Prejudice, which I played last year; except Tribes has the whole body-as-sled mechanic.

[Giaddon]

Tribes: Ascend is soooooo good. I'm playing that too. A lot. If you dig it I recommend buying the 10 bucks worth of gold: it'll let you kit out one class (do not spend the gold on classes, just on equipment) and give you VIP status, which means more XP forever. You can also get more gold from facebook, the Tribes launcher has details about that.

So yeah, playing that.

Also playing DC Universe Online, which is quite good.

[eRa]

Tribes: Ascend, as everybody seems to be doing. Also, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic.

[alms]

Finished Breath of Death VII: The beginning. Took about 9h on normal, trying to do and see everything. I've been inches from quitting a few times because of the grind and some difficulty spikes, but somehow pulled through. And now I've begun Cthulhu Saves the World too.

[Anthile]

This is handled much, much better in Avernum. You only need ONE base skill to level up the next higher skill, you don't need all of them anymore - so you can mix and match pathes quite nicely.

I know what you mean, but Avernum works much smoother. Also, you can just download the demo and check for yourself - I'd recommend giving it a try and see if it settles your doubts. :)

Oh, I actually bought it at release. I was merely curious what awaits me.


Meanwhile I still spend a lot of time in Avadon getting ambushed by vicious bats.
http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/terminal01/2011/1/7/14/enhanced-buzz-20721-1294428136-12.jpg

Do the blankets boost their AC? I hope not.

[cosmicolor]

More PSO2, got my character up to level 5 now. Will be a shame to see it wiped when the closed beta ends.

[agentorange]

Finished Lonesome Road, last of the New Vegas DLC. I chose Apocalypse. I picked up The Missing Link for DX:HR on Gamersgate, so I suppose I'll be moving onto that next.

[Rauten]

More PSO2, got my character up to level 5 now. Will be a shame to see it wiped when the closed beta ends.

Oh, a fellow RPSer in the beta? I made it to level 10, and I'm constantly considering holding back and not playing anymore.
Mind you, I -ADORE- the game, we finally get a proper sequel to PSO, but I kinda feel like I'd be better off holding off and keeping the experience as fresh as possible for release.

...

Then I damn it all to hell, log in and head off to kill some more rappies.

[Juan Carlo]

Avernum has completely sucked all of my freetime away. Another 10 hours and it will be my most played single player game ever on steam (beating out the current title holder, "Fallout New Vegas").

[Heliocentric]

I read the WIT on Avernum and I don't get what the hook is, is the combat particularly good?

[Althea]

I've finally decided to give up with Burnout Paradise.

I'm closing in on the end of the A Licence, but it's... too much work, the cars handle a bit crapply, it's throwing up visual issues for me (random shadowing on the roads) and I've only just realised that the game is artificially fast.

Yawn.

[Heliocentric]

Can you explain how its artificially fast to me? Do you mean how you have reduced control over your vehicle at high speed?

[Althea]

Can you explain how its artificially fast to me? Do you mean how you have reduced control over your vehicle at high speed?
No, I mean it feels as if the game has had its speed increased somehow. You know when games run faster than they should? It's like that.

[cosmicolor]

Oh, a fellow RPSer in the beta? I made it to level 10, and I'm constantly considering holding back and not playing anymore.
Mind you, I -ADORE- the game, we finally get a proper sequel to PSO, but I kinda feel like I'd be better off holding off and keeping the experience as fresh as possible for release.

...

Then I damn it all to hell, log in and head off to kill some more rappies.

Yeah, I am trying to do that balancing act myself, mostly because I know my guy will get wiped when it ends, but I want to play before it ends. My char is called Kelsier on Ship 2 block 20 so if you see me around we could run things perhaps. I wonder how Sega will deal with the server lag issue though, it's really bad during Japanese prime time. But I suppose that's what a beta is for.

[Heliocentric]

No, I mean it feels as if the game has had its speed increased somehow. You know when games run faster than they should? It's like that.

Only when I've been able to form comparisons. I remember N64's Zelda played faster when you were inside buildings. But I'm baffled what you'd be making comparisons with.

[Hordriss]

This weekend I'm playing Crusader Kings 2, the absolutely lovely Botanicula, and Theme Hospital.

[Althea]

Only when I've been able to form comparisons. I remember N64's Zelda played faster when you were inside buildings. But I'm baffled what you'd be making comparisons with.
Nothing? The game feels as if it runs faster than it should. The speed feels unnatural. How else can I phrase it?

[apricotsoup]

Diablo 3 beta, somewhat more-ish but the stress testing has stopped too much exploration. Should be quite fun with a group of friends.

Mortal Kombat: the new one, I'm quite taken aback by the goodness of the single player content. I'd heard a lot of good things and it manages to live up to them. Shame it's not on pc as with my latest slight fighting game fascination it's the best one I've played yet.

Got Dungeon siege 3 for super cheaps off amazon so will be looking at playing that as well soon.

[Wizardry]

I read the WIT on Avernum and I don't get what the hook is, is the combat particularly good?
It's a computer role-playing game.

[Blackcompany]

I have far more time in FONV than in Skyrim, even. Worse still: I don't suspect that will ever change.

[Blackcompany]

Played DSIII (got it free with a new rig) and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. There is some RPG in there, some decisions to be made and they do affect the story. Enjoy!

Edit: Also, there is a chance that the engine (Onyx) will be the one used for Wasteland 2.

[Serenegoose]

Playing some Wolfenstein 09. Because it's fun (and because eviltim is LPing it and it reminded me of its existence.) Never finished it, but a freshly formatted computer and most of my games no longer being installed is giving me good motivation, because I always found it a blast and have no idea why I've not finished it at least once. After that, going to replay Bioshock 2.

[Doodier]

Has anyone played Sniper Elite V2 demo and the first one? I've downloaded the demo and enjoyed it very much and now I am curious if the prequel plays similar..? I actually like that it is kinda linear and not so big as Hitman but still with the satisfying feel of me being badass assassin .

[Bobtree]

Nothing? The game feels as if it runs faster than it should. The speed feels unnatural. How else can I phrase it?

Best guess: vehicle mass is not enough for their size. They accelerate too quickly (braking and turning included), and apparent momentum is too little, especially at high velocity. So they seem to be miniatures instead of life sized, or to be moving in fast forward instead of at actual speed. The more an arcade game cheats at realistic physics, especially if it's very close to real but not quite, the more it may bug you over time. It's somewhat like the "uncanny valley" effect, but for vehicles.

Burnout games also have egregious rubber-banding. When boost is more useful for forcing other racers to crash (because they speed up when you do) than for making fast laps, the "racing" starts to suck. I don't recall if this is present in Paradise.

[coldvvvave]

Diablo 3 beta

lags

unplayable

[Althea]

Best guess: vehicle mass is not enough for their size. They accelerate too quickly (braking and turning included), and apparent momentum is too little, especially at high velocity. So they seem to be miniatures instead of life sized, or to be moving in fast forward instead of at actual speed. The more an arcade game cheats at realistic physics, especially if it's very close to real but not quite, the more it may bug you over time. It's somewhat like the "uncanny valley" effect, but for vehicles.

Burnout games also have egregious rubber-banding. When boost is more useful for forcing other racers to crash (because they speed up when you do) than for making fast laps, the "racing" starts to suck. I don't recall if this is present in Paradise.
Hmm... I think it is more useful for that. I can hit cars and they won't move much, but if you boost into the back of them they fly into walls, almost literally. Kinda fake how quickly it happens.

You could be right about the mass thing, it'd explain why some of the more powerful cars (particularly one of the unlockable Carbon models) spins around in circles if you press accelerate and why it flies into a wall if you even look at the brake pedal (or touch the steering, or do anything for that matter).

Oddly enough, I tried GTA IV: TLaD again this evening for a bit of fun, and the cars turned about as well as a breeze block-sized lump of lead would if a gnat farted against it.

[DaftPunk]

Negative impression with Sniper Elite 2 demo.

[Nalano]

KoA. I dunno why. The combat's beyond easy at this point and the story is telegraphed.

I s'pose I'm just waiting for the first open beta of GW2 next week.

[Bobtree]

Oddly enough, I tried GTA IV: TLaD again this evening for a bit of fun, and the cars turned about as well as a breeze block-sized lump of lead would if a gnat farted against it.

I strongly disliked the GTA4 vehicle handling (mushy and top heavy), whereas San Andreas felt almost perfect (both played on consoles). It seems to be a very common complaint.

[Nalano]

I strongly disliked the GTA4 vehicle handling (mushy and top heavy), whereas San Andreas felt almost perfect (both played on consoles). It seems to be a very common complaint.

It's weird. The games I like driving the best are games where driving is ancillary, like BF3 or FC2. The games I hate driving the most are games where driving is pretty much all I do, like Flatout's "gliding on ice" physics or Dirt's understeering or GTA's oversteering or TDU's perennial inability to accelerate without burning rubber and fishtailing.

[vinraith]

Just tying up loose ends in co-op Borderlands and lamenting that there's no (2 player) co-op shooter of equivalent quality out there. September is too far away.

[cosmicolor]

Played a bit of PSO2 with Rauten, ran a couple of quests and struggled with the somewhat messy quest system. Also got through the first dungeon of Divine Divinity.

[Althea]

It's weird. The games I like driving the best are games where driving is ancillary, like BF3 or FC2. The games I hate driving the most are games where driving is pretty much all I do, like Flatout's "gliding on ice" physics or Dirt's understeering or GTA's oversteering or TDU's perennial inability to accelerate without burning rubber and fishtailing.
Best driving I've really come across is GRID, but it's not perfect. Suppose it's impossible to get right, though. TDU2 is both great and bad for driving, though. One minute it's perfect, next minute it's shite.

GTA I can't be bothered with most of the time, because I switch between controller and KB+M (controller for everything but shooting, really).

Oh! I almost forgot. I finished the initial campaign of DotP 2012.

[Nalano]

TDU2 is both great and bad for driving, though. One minute it's perfect, next minute it's shite.

TDU2 wants you to buy a steering wheel, except it's not good enough to deserve the investment, nor does it have a good track record with compatibility. (and let's not even start with the "YOU GET NEW FREE DLC TODAY and by free we mean you have to pay us money for every new car unlock, assuming our servers aren't down)

Also, your avatar with the brick eyebrows looks like she's getting shot in the back.

[Casimir Effect]

Just tying up loose ends in co-op Borderlands and lamenting that there's no (2 player) co-op shooter of equivalent quality out there. September is too far away.
Things like the Rainbow 6 Vegas games not what you're looking for? I always found it pretty fun for coop.

OT:
Slowly making my way through DE:HR - The Missing Link. I prefer DLC which slots into the main campaign as you play rather than requiring a seperate game type thing. Still a fun game to play I just have little compulsion to do so right now.
Otherwise I'm having more fun with The Last Remnant until I think of something new to play. Great game to just pick up and play with no real goal in mind.

[Althea]

TDU2 wants you to buy a steering wheel, except it's not good enough to deserve the investment, nor does it have a good track record with compatibility. (and let's not even start with the "YOU GET NEW FREE DLC TODAY and by free we mean you have to pay us money for every new car unlock, assuming our servers aren't down)
I've not bought DLC for it and I won't ever (probably). It's all in moon money, and less useful moon money than BioWare moon money (because at least that shit applies to more than one game), plus I think you have to use PayPal to get it, so Atari can get fuxx0red. £3.75(ish) was how much I spent on TDU2. It's easily worth more than that, but by the Nine is it a half-assed effort. The devs are more interested in making Tetris furniture than they are in fixing anything.


Also, your avatar with the brick eyebrows looks like she's getting shot in the back.
She's supposed to look like she's meditating. I think.

[Sketch]

On the subject of driving, GTA 4 pretty much nailed it IMO. At least, for a GTA game, obviously playing something like DIRT with that sort of handling would not be fun at all. But for the city, it feels just about right.

[Pertusaria]

Finished Botanicula, highly enjoyably. I'm looking forward to getting my teeth back into Grimlock (still only on Level 1) in the near future, when there's nobody else at home to hear me scream. In the meantime, back to the Driftmoon alpha to check out the upgrades it's had when I wasn't looking (and, by the feel of it, to re-learn combat).

Still dabbling in Fallen London, but I find it difficult to keep paying attention when the plot of the game is so difficult to make out. It's interestingly different from other turn-based browser games, but maybe this format doesn't lend itself to such an open structure?

[FunnyB]

On the subject of driving, GTA 4 pretty much nailed it IMO. At least, for a GTA game, obviously playing something like DIRT with that sort of handling would not be fun at all. But for the city, it feels just about right.

I couldn't disagree more. I dreaded every car chase in that game. Especially if you were supposed to drive a motorbike and chase someone down......

[vinraith]

Things like the Rainbow 6 Vegas games not what you're looking for? I always found it pretty fun for coop.

I can't say that I've tried them. I was sufficiently disappointed with where the various Tom Clancy franchises went after the excellent Raven Shield and its expansions that I've not had a lot to do with any of them since.

Next time there's a nice deep discount on them I'll give it a look.

Thanks for your NWN2/Mask explanation btw, I'll definitely give Mask a run here at some point. What did you think of Storm of Zehir, out of curiosity?

[Nalano]

Thanks for your NWN2/Mask explanation btw, I'll definitely give Mask a run here at some point. What did you think of Storm of Zehir, out of curiosity?

SoZ has a party on the big map thing going on, which kinda harkens back to earlier RPGs and makes tracking and other skills actually useful, and of course you build a whole party instead of just one character. The story, however, isn't terribly memorable.

[Casimir Effect]

I can't say that I've tried them. I was sufficiently disappointed with where the various Tom Clancy franchises went after the excellent Raven Shield and its expansions that I've not had a lot to do with any of them since.

Next time there's a nice deep discount on them I'll give it a look.

Thanks for your NWN2/Mask explanation btw, I'll definitely give Mask a run here at some point. What did you think of Storm of Zehir, out of curiosity?
The Vegas games are kind of guilty pleasures and far better in co-op than single player - like Halo or Gears of War games are. There's a good bit of difficulty there though, and teamwork is definitely recommended. And if all else fails you go with piss-take loadouts of Mac11's and SPAS12's only.

Storm of Zehir I've never played more than an hour of, which I do feel a bit guilty about. From what I could tell, if you think of NWN2 like Baldur's Gate then Zehir is like Icewind Dale - the focus is on the combat. And, while there is tonnes of choice when it comes to party make-up seeing as you create most of it and can choose between many classes and races, the engine just held it back for me. Fog of war is broken in the those games so at some point, unless you micromanage every party member all the time, one of them will charge off and engage an enemy on the other side of the map (map design in NWN2/MotB made this a rare thing, that is gone here). This makes battles messy and far harder than they should be, because SoZ is hard; often incredibly yet artificially so. I'd say it's worth a go but only once you've tried MotB, which really is the best part of the NWN2 package. I keep meaning to go back and give SoZ a fair shot but free time is at such a premium these days.

One other thing about Mask: I said there are only 4 party NPCs possible in a playthrough, yet you can only have 3 in your party (+ your character) at any time, which is kind of annoying as they're all great. I therefore recommend using the console commands to allow for having all 4 in your party - it doesn't break the game and just feels better.

[Kodeen]

Played about a third of the way through Assassin's Creed. It's a bit repetitive, but I'm still enjoying it.

[Flint]

Completely addicted and in love with Kingdoms of Amalur. It does nothing new or innovate in any way but it does all sorts of things I enjoy in my fantasy romps in a way that really appeals to me, resulting in an excellent experience that I'm adoring. It's got some minor niggles here and there but overall, I'm incredibly happy with it.

[Heliocentric]

Things like the Rainbow 6 Vegas games not what you're looking for? I always found it pretty fun for coop.While the changes in format sneaked up on most fans of splinter cell and snapped their necks Splinter Cell: Conviction is actually a great coop shooter/sneaker.
Whether patiently chaining together mark and executes, finding that pair of spots you can sweeping the whole area from or kicking down the door throwing a flashbang and grabbing a human shield in the middle of a firefight or more traditionally trying to ghost the whole thing its a truly good experience, even though single player is horribly focused on rushing you through hoops.

Splinter cell Chaos Theory coop is world's apart however. It's a true stealth game which enriched by being cooperative. Look user a door, or through a deployed camera and either share the view with your partner or talk them through what you see.

So much more opens up with third person action games, Trine, Renegade Ops, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Kane and Lynch, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

Edit, auto correct is psychic.

[Rii]

Still playing Valkyria Chronicles. I've had two deaths (besides the story-mandated ones) in my squad so far: Juno and Rosina. I was tempted to roll back to a previous save, but that seemed like ... not honouring their sacrifice or something. Oh God.

Both had good death lines, in keeping with their characters. Juno's was something like "Welkin, I always thought that one day you and I might..." and Rosina's was something like "See kids, this is what happens when you don't .... have enough muscle." I'm curious as to what death lines other characters might have.

My squad as it stands at the moment:

Tank Commanders
Welkin (mandatory)
Zaka (mandatory)

Scouts
Alicia
Wavy
Freesia
Aika (brought in to replace Juno)

Shocktroopers
Rosie (mandatory)
Hannes
Vyse

Lancers
Largo (mandatory)
Hector (brought in to replace Rosina)

Engineers
Claudia
Nadine

Snipers
Catherine
Oscar

That I can actually remember that off the top of my head and even recount their bios and personal characteristics and such (save Hector, cos I only just got him) is testament to how good a job the game has done managing the human side of things.

Storywise I'm up to the showdown with Selvaria at Ghirlandaio. I hope I don't have to kill her. She's both awesome and pitiable.

I'm yet to tire of the mechanics, or to feel that the game is running out of ideas. It is rather tiresome having to repeat a mission (such as the 'defend the refugee camp' mission which I had to try about six times before I finally got it) but that's more a failing of the UI than anything else. But that's not to dismiss the problem: the game would be near flawless if it weren't for the frustration involved in navigating the menus. It feels like it's stuck back in late 90s JRPG-land in that respect.

[Voon]

Dark Souls and I now officially hate, hate, haaaaaaaate gargoyles with halberds. Using halberds against them are actually easier than chopping them up with an axe, ironically enough. Fuck the input lag. I never had this problem with Monster Hunter and the input lag in there is already fucking terrible.

[Scumbag]

Trying the SCP things that were on the front page. First one was atmospheric for 20 floors, then it just dragged till I found the... thing. Second one was simple and quite good, though it was basing everything on jump scares. The containment breach seems to have potential, just very rough right now.

[Nalano]

Company of Heroes: Eastern Front (http://www.moddb.com/mods/coheastern-front). Not! One! Step! Backwards!

Very well-done mod, run by a team that have been updating it for well over a year. It's fairly well balanced, with tuned AI, and is updated for CoH's latest patch that was run out a couple of weeks ago. New models, new skins, new animations, new sounds. And the way they've made the faction, you often win as the Soviets despite losing more soldiers.

[laneford]

Totally adore Trials Evolution (360) the easy tracks feel like a brilliant super-fast twitch 2d racer, whilst the harder tracks are more like a physics puzzle game / platformer. It's all kinds of ace. I've finished all the main tracks, now consistently bashing my ahead up against the last three or four 'extreme' bonus tracks.

Also having a lovely time with Fez (360) which is ridiculously charming in every way. But hard. I'm 8 cubes in, out of 32 needed (apparently). And lost.

[laneford]

Dark Souls and I now officially hate, hate, haaaaaaaate gargoyles with halberds. Using halberds against them are actually easier than chopping them up with an axe, ironically enough. Fuck the input lag. I never had this problem with Monster Hunter and the input lag in there is already fucking terrible.

Where are these guys? Anor Londo?

[NathanH]

I'm playing Football Manager in Dutch, and am currently unable to work out what the "defend deeper!" command is. I'm also not completely sure what my team-talks are saying, but it seems to be working so far.

[FunnyB]

Currently playing through two games: Mass Effect 3 and The Godfather II.
Haven't gone very far in ME3 yet, but so far it looks great. We'll see what I think once I have completed it. Godfather II is a bit of a guilty pleasure. It's gameplay is at most..... adequate. But it has some interesting mechanics and can be quite fun from time to time.

[Lambchops]

Botanicula. It's rather gorgeous isn't it?

Fantastic audio, visuals and inventiveness from Amanita as ever.

[Anthile]

Finally managed to beat Avadon. In its best moments it reminded me of Baldur's Gate with its politics and plots within plots. However, there's some things I really didn't like: first, there is just too much combat. For every interesting and challenging fight, there are about ten filler fights against yet another group of unlikely colored bats or spiders. Second, your companions come over as fairly one-dimensional and self-centered. Sure, you find out later that there is an actual reason for this but it doesn't make up for the fact that you have to take them with you for the entirety of the game. Not to mention that all of their personal quests involve every last one of them running off on their own and nearly getting themselves killed. Sadly, "I'm only here because there really is nobody else available" was never a dialogue option.

[Heliocentric]

Company of Heroes: Eastern Front (http://www.moddb.com/mods/coheastern-front). Not! One! Step! Backwards!

Very well-done mod, run by a team that have been updating it for well over a year. It's fairly well balanced, with tuned AI, and is updated for CoH's latest patch that was run out a couple of weeks ago. New models, new skins, new animations, new sounds. And the way they've made the faction, you often win as the Soviets despite losing more soldiers.

Am I okay to grab this from Desura? It doesn't auto-patch does it?

I tried it a while ago and it felt really badly balanced, maybe its best i try the newest, is the multiplayer community strong?

[Edawan]

I wanted to play Superbrothers, but after two crashes to desktop and an apparently very bugged room in five minutes. I'm contemplating asking for a refund.

[Althea]

I wanted to play Superbrothers, but after two crashes to desktop and an apparently very bugged room in five minutes. I'm contemplating asking for a refund.
From Steam?

Really? I mean... really?

[Edawan]

From Steam?

Really? I mean... really?

Really ? Really ? Really ?.... What ?

Anyway, after checking the forums, it seems to be a problem with some ATI cards. Waiting for a fix...

[Althea]

Really ? Really ? Really ?.... What ?
A refund from Steam is about as likely as a dinosaur appearing on your bed in the next five minutes and then farting the US national anthem.

[Tritagonist]

Had an hour to check out the unfinished Project C.A.R.S. (http://www.wmdportal.com/projects/cars/) earlier today, and it's good fun. There's some nice cars and tracks already in this early version of the game, and the handling of those was actually quite nice. I had to turn down the graphics a bit due to some hardware issues, but it still looked very good. A screenshot, not my own:

http://i.imgur.com/pzl06.jpg

[Althea]

Oooh, nice. Some better world-shadowing and stuff and it'd look even more photo-realistic.

[Tritagonist]

It's definitely impressive. In case anybody is interested, there's tons of other screen-shots in the various Project C.A.R.S. related news on VirtualR (http://www.virtualr.net/category/c-a-r-s).

[Nalano]

Am I okay to grab this from Desura? It doesn't auto-patch does it?

I tried it a while ago and it felt really badly balanced, maybe its best i try the newest, is the multiplayer community strong?

It has a custom-built auto-patcher. The online community is small but resilient. They suggest you use the IG chat function. I remember playing it a year ago and thinking the Russians had a hard time. Now it's a huge meatgrinder... which is exactly what I want out of an Eastern Front game. Just won a large match with 400 kills and 250 deaths. Katyushas did most of the heavy lifting.

[Pertusaria]

@Lambchops: Yes, I loved Botanicula. I guess I haven't seen all the NPCs, so technically I haven't finished, but it's not the sort of thing I'd dive right back into.

@Anthile: I gave up on Avadon shortly after I met a shaman NPC and she and my character, who was a shaman, proceeded to have a standard quest-giver-to-hero talk about how crap things were in the neighbourhood. Not one word about "So hey, you're a shaman? Cool, me too." The one-dimensional NPCs had been bothering me for a bit, but that took the cake. I plan to try Geneforge or Avernum at some stage, as I've heard tell Avadon is Spiderweb's attempt at mainstream and the other games are more nuanced.

[alms]

For every interesting and challenging fight, there are about ten filler fights against yet another group of unlikely colored bats or spiders. Second, your companions come over as fairly one-dimensional and self-centered.

Yep there were moments when I genuinely hated the guts of them. He should've made some cute NPC bat instead ^^

Nonetheless I found the story interesting and am curious as to how it will continue.

[Vexing Vision]

A refund from Steam is about as likely as a dinosaur appearing on your bed in the next five minutes and then farting the US national anthem.

The refunded me the purchase money for Fallout 3 without much quibble when I was unable to get it running in a language I can play the game in without puking (as in "not German").

*shrugs*

[Lambchops]

@Lambchops: Yes, I loved Botanicula. I guess I haven't seen all the NPCs, so technically I haven't finished, but it's not the sort of thing I'd dive right back into.


Yeah, I feel the same (I was at 113 of 124 at the end so I guess I clicked and prodded nearly everything!), it's the sort of game that only gets replayed ages after, I think you have to forget most of it to rediscover the magic with this style of game.

[Spacewalk]

I'm playing Arx Fatalis for the first time using Arx Libertatis (http://arx-libertatis.org/). I'm not far, just made it to the city but so far I'm really liking it. Not those spiders though, they aren't spidery enough.

[NecroKnight]

I'm playing Botanicula at the moment. The game isn't really challenging but that doesn't matter. It's beautiful, bizzare and the music is awesome.

[Qwallath]

Botanicula: lovely indeed. Great intuitive combination of the visual and musical style with the story and puzzles.

Amnesia: the Dark Descent: ​When the room gets dark enough.

[agentorange]

Yep there were moments when I genuinely hated the guts of them. He should've made some cute NPC bat instead ^^

Nonetheless I found the story interesting and am curious as to how it will continue.

That was one part I really liked about the game; your companions actually felt like they had their own motivations, and weren't just lobotomised monkeys willing to die for the main character and lusting after their cock/vagina.

[Anthile]

That was one part I really liked about the game; your companions actually felt like they had their own motivations, and weren't just lobotomised monkeys willing to die for the main character and lusting after their cock/vagina.

That's certainly one way to look at it, I suppose. There were definitely some odd bits of writing in Avadon. Basically everyone you ever talk to seems to loathe Avadon and the pact, and especially their methods. Basically Avadon acts like a combination of Jedi Knights and Gestapo but you can only ever rebel at the very end of the game and even then it's strongly implied to be the non-canon ending.

[alms]

That was one part I really liked about the game; your companions actually felt like they had their own motivations,

That's true but sometimes they just whine like there's no tomorrow. The worst of the lot is Nathalie. I had mixed feelings about Jenell, and didn't mind Shima until the very end of his quest.

My favorite was definitely Sevilin, I had no trouble sympathizing with him and his mix of fear and willingness to prove himself - it's so very human.


Basically everyone you ever talk to seems to loathe Avadon and the pact, and especially their methods. Basically Avadon acts like a combination of Jedi Knights and Gestapo but you can only ever rebel at the very end of the game and even then it's strongly implied to be the non-canon ending.

As you said, there's a reason for you getting the impression that the Pact is just going to collapse under the push of its own centrifugal forces. But even then, I wouldn't say they all loathe Avadon. For many it's clearly a necessary evil. It has its purpose but they want to keep the dealings with it to a strict minimum.

BTW I wasn't strong enough to tackle Redbeard, wish I could see that ending. Unfortunately it seems nobody bothered to record and upload any one of them on youtube.

[cosmicolor]

I spoiled myself on what would happen if you tacked Redbeard and... it sounds like a massive pain in the arse, to be honest.

[Herzog]

Still away from my gaming machine, so I have to stick to my android tablet or my old linux laptop.

World of Goo - Finished this one yesterday. By far the best game I played on my android tablet. Actually it is the only game I played for more then ten minutes... Liked the graphic style and the music. The story seemed a bit strange, but it is a puzzle game, so who cares! Would buy a sequel !

Battle for Wesnoth - Played the two tutorial missions and desperately want to play this, but somehow I cant buy the full version?! The game seems very promising and the UI seemed to work perfectly for tablet gaming.

Also tried to get Wasteland working in dosbox. Succeeded but the game crashed after ten minutes twice. Cant bring myself to get it working properly and playing such an old game that crashes every few minutes is a no-go. Will miss some jokes maybe then in Wasteland 2. Maybe GoG will help out...

[Track]

Getting back into Team Fortress 2 lately. I just realized that in spite of playing it on and off for at least 3 years now, i've only clocked 12 hours in the thing. That's absolutely nuts.

Also, i've been looking at giving the Max Payne series a try since the new one is coming out soon, and i've never played the others. You can get both games for under $20 on Steam. So, is it worth giving a try? Or have the games not aged very well?

[Miker]

Getting back into Team Fortress 2 lately. I just realized that in spite of playing it on and off for at least 3 years now, i've only clocked 12 hours in the thing. That's absolutely nuts.Also, i've been looking at giving the Max Payne series a try since the new one is coming out soon, and i've never played the others. You can get both games for under $20 on Steam. So, is it worth giving a try? Or have the games not aged very well?RE: Max Payne games -- the first one has probably aged decently, but it's a bit too long for its own good, and besides the story/cutscenes, there's nothing about the minute-to-minute gameplay that the second one doesn't do better. The second one has aged extremely well, and its lack of widescreen support is the only thing from keeping it back. It's about 6 hours long to play through, but has great presentation and doesn't outstay its welcome at all. I'd say play the second and read up on the first.

[Voon]

Bell Gargoyles, I hate yous

[Vexing Vision]

Battle for Wesnoth - Played the two tutorial missions and desperately want to play this, but somehow I cant buy the full version?! The game seems very promising and the UI seemed to work perfectly for tablet gaming.


I have absolutely no idea where you found a version only containing two tutorial missions, but you can download the entire game at www.wesnoth.org (also Linux) for the costs of your internet connection. :)

Is there a pad-version that costs money? Curious!




So I've given in to my desires to play more Warband after watching TotalBiscuit's recent pre-alpha footage of War of the Roses. Good gods. I want this so bad it hurts.

I'm still stuck on a laptop, and the field of vision is just weird.

I'm restarting a Prophesy (*sic*) of Pendor campaign, because I have none of my old save-games. Which is fine, I was stuck after 60 hours anyway, and I *love* restarting Warband. I love the misoginy of the original world - playing a female fighter and having everyone go "Yeah, I'd like to take you on as a retainer but the people would talk" is really awesome. A shame that Pendor is too gender-neutral with that. :(

[DaftPunk]

I'm playing PES06 with 2012 patch,on high difficulty and my defense is very bad haha,i can't win for fuck sake,always get nervous when i am around their goal so the ball goes waaay over top :(

[Kodeen]

Finished Assassin's Creed last night, and the way they wrapped it up was not amusing. The game has a decent block/riposte type combat system, but during the main game you never need to learn it since you're using one button stealth kills most of the time, so I either did that or just spammed the weapon button. The last 'combat corridor' and final set of bosses threw so many mandatory enemies at you that you need to be proficient at the combat system, which I wasn't, and it was too late to care to learn it.

So I developed a plan B. When the game threw 20 guys at me, I took out a handful, and then ran around in circles for a minute or two so my health could regenerate enough, then jump back into the fray. Wash, rinse, repeat. Eventually I died and did the honorable thing, I quit and watched an LP of the rest on Youtube. The actual ending was very strange too, I had to look up a plot summary to know what the markings were.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the gameplay during the main portion of the game, and look forward to playing more of the series.

[Heliocentric]

Finished Assassin's Creed last night, and the way they wrapped it up was not amusing. The game has a decent block/riposte type combat system, but during the main game you never need to learn it since you're using one button stealth kills most of the time, so I either did that or just spammed the weapon button. The last 'combat corridor' and final set of bosses threw so many mandatory enemies at you that you need to be proficient at the combat system, which I wasn't, and it was too late to care to learn it.

I did them all in with hesitation kills. It was ace.
Guard shouts at you? Stab him
Guard flinches? Stab him
Guard directs others? Stab him
Guard begs for life? Stab him
Guard tries to stab you? Counter stab him

It wasn't combat it was murder.

I need to go back and record a video, non of the later games captured that feeling.

[Casimir Effect]

I think you're the first person I've known who played that game and didn't do the combat using mainly counters. For many it was the biggest complaint - combat was best done by holding the block button and countering as the enemy attacked you one-by-one (no matter how many surrounded you). I mean, I'd use the hidden blade as much as possible but in that game you were bound to get into bigger fights sooner or later. And just mashing attack gets you a beating from the later enemies who counter it with a punch to Altairs stomach.

The only real crap part of the ending for me is how the final boss, when doing his teleporting dickthing, one-shots you.

[Heliocentric]

The only real crap part of the ending for me is how the final boss, when doing his teleporting dickthing, one-shots you.

The pay off in brotherhood about the Apple makes up for that boss battle.

Most of my kills were probably stealth belly stabs, or dropping off roofs.

[Heliocentric]

I was really disappointed they adder block to later versions of the hidden blade and then the "super combo death kills"in brotherhood. Only unarmed combat had any finesse by AssBro.

[Kodeen]

Well, it sounds like when I play AssCreed 2 I'll need to give a crap about the combat then. Running on roofs and just stealth stabbing people is so much more fun, though.

[Birdman Tribe Leader]

Re: Max Payne: I agree wholeheartedly with Miker. Max Payne 2 is still great, 1 is a little too long and isn't fun enough moment to moment to make up for it.

Been going through a bunch of DOS games on my netbook while I wait for my new computer. Some thoughts:

Started playing and quit:
Warcraft 1 - Never played this without cheats when it first came out, tried to do that now. Dreadfully dull. I made it through the first 5 orc missions before deciding there was no way I would get through 7 more. Never mind that the humans are unfairly overpowered (they can heal and their archers have better range), or that the AI on your units is incredibly frustrating and needs constant babysitting. It seems like the only viable strategy is to hold choke points with tons of archers and slowly pull enemies to be slaughtered by your archers. I saw that this strategy was going to work every time but was also going to be very slow every time and promptly quit. I consider this game a solved problem now; no need to go and implement that solution.
Albion (anyone ever played this?) - Didn't really do it for me. I liked the sci-fi theme and the first little sidequest crawling through utility tunnels was fun, but ultimately the world didn't seem that interesting, the combat was tedious, and the writing was heavy on exposition and very light on style. Quit pretty early on.
One Must Fall 2097 - Really fond memories of this, and I still like the music and the art style, but mediocre fighting games against the AI don't hold much appeal for me anymore.

Played/playing and enjoyed:
Commander Keen 4 and 5 - Loved these as a kid. Still quite charming, and I breezed through both in a couple hours.
Battle Bugs - Also very charming. Looks like a strategy game, but so far it's really a puzzler--you usually have exactly the number of bugs you need and you need to give a very specific set of orders to win. I'm glad they allow you to issue orders while paused; would probably just be a pain otherwise. I'll probably come back to this periodically.
Cannon Fodder - I've started Cannon Fodder so many times but I've found it frustratingly difficult at some point. That one mission where you have a snowmobile and you have to jump it over a river is just a nightmare to control--I always mess up the jump and kill all my guys. I've gotten past that mission once or twice; trying to take my time with the game and go the distance this time.
War Wind (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnxYwNhfsdY) - I'm a huge fan of this game. Varied missions, stealth units, a great world and unique alien races. I prefer it to Warcraft 2 and Starcraft 1.

[Heliocentric]

Cannon fodder is best played on an emulator with state restore. It's a massively frustrating experience.

[Casimir Effect]

Cannon Fodder - I've started Cannon Fodder so many times but I've found it frustratingly difficult at some point. That one mission where you have a snowmobile and you have to jump it over a river is just a nightmare to control--I always mess up the jump and kill all my guys. I've gotten past that mission once or twice; trying to take my time with the game and go the distance this time.
Even if you make the jump just watch that thing careen into a wall and get hit by a rocket. Number of times I pathetically tried to swim my men across to avoid that jump isn't worth thinking about.

[Wizardry]

Also tried to get Wasteland working in dosbox. Succeeded but the game crashed after ten minutes twice. Cant bring myself to get it working properly and playing such an old game that crashes every few minutes is a no-go. Will miss some jokes maybe then in Wasteland 2. Maybe GoG will help out...
Works fine in DOSBox. Why does it being "such an old game" make it not worth trying to get working?


Albion (anyone ever played this?) - Didn't really do it for me. I liked the sci-fi theme and the first little sidequest crawling through utility tunnels was fun, but ultimately the world didn't seem that interesting, the combat was tedious, and the writing was heavy on exposition and very light on style. Quit pretty early on.
I have to say, I never particularly liked this game. It's a turn-based RPG, but it doesn't really do anything well other than perhaps world building. The combat is simple and repetitive and the game is too linear (it's very JRPG inspired). If they had fixed one of those two things then it would have been far more enjoyable.

[Lambchops]

Works fine in DOSBox. Why does it being "such an old game" make it not worth trying to get working?


Issues getting older games, pre windows 95 games particularly, can be extremely finnicky to sort if you are unlucky. It's much harder and more time consuming to tie down what's going wrong and I know when it happens I tend to think i'll spend a certain amount of time trying and after that it's not worth the effort. I'd imagine that's what he's getting at.

[NathanH]

I could never get into War Wind. I can't really remember why. I seem to recall some things with jetpacks that would attack me all over the place, and I don't like being attacked from all over the place in an RTS. But I don't really remember what turned me off it.

[Wizardry]

Issues getting older games, pre windows 95 games particularly, can be extremely finnicky to sort if you are unlucky. It's much harder and more time consuming to tie down what's going wrong and I know when it happens I tend to think i'll spend a certain amount of time trying and after that it's not worth the effort. I'd imagine that's what he's getting at.
Pre-Windows 95 games are some of the easiest to get working. It's the Windows 95 and 98 games that are the hardest.

[alms]

What's wrong with Hack, Slash & Loot? I was looking for a small game to pass some time, and tried it - but I ended up dying over and over without making any progress, constantly running out of HP because there's no regeneration at all and you can only regain health through consumables, which turned out to be pretty rare and ineffective. I'm not fond of the mouse control scheme either, it's so easy to move involuntarily or hit an ally, plus the presentation is insanely cluttered, plain old ASCII is more readable than that.

Before I gave up, one quest came up where I was literally swamped with allies. Waiting for them to move around was just as interesting as watching paint dry.

[sendmark]

It has a bizarre difficulty curve, where after a set amount of deaths you start unlocking stronger characters. At 9 deaths you get the knight, who is strong. You also get to keep some special boss items if you loot them, so they are available every time you start a new character. There's one dungeon in particular which seemed easiest for looting them, thnk it may have been the one with the allied npcs in a castle.

Also worth bearing in mind some dungeons definitely suit melee better (the tomb one) and some suit ranged more (the Kimon one).

[Battle Programmer Spike]

The only real crap part of the ending for me is how the final boss, when doing his teleporting dickthing, one-shots you.

Throw him 3 daggers, run after the daggers and while he's blocking them you can kill him in one hit. And that's pretty much it, lol.

[alms]

It has a bizarre difficulty curve, where after a set amount of deaths you start unlocking stronger characters. At 9 deaths you get the knight, who is strong.

bizarre indeed Oo I did check the forums, and tried to limit myself to the mask(?) quest which is seemingly one of the easiest(?) I shouldn't be far from 9 deaths, after playing for about 45m. Will try to stick with it some more.

[Malawi Frontier Guard]

I warned you about that game bro. I told you dog.

Edit: Wait, you're the bundle guy. Did you get it in one of those bundles? That's at least better than buying it by itself and getting burned with nothing else to try.

[Freud]

Finished Botanicula. Had a silly smile through the whole game.

[Casimir Effect]

Throw him 3 daggers, run after the daggers and while he's blocking them you can kill him in one hit. And that's pretty much it, lol.
Exactly what I did when I discovered trying to fight him like a man lead to instant death. I think the daggers normally took him out, actually - no swording required.

[Birdman Tribe Leader]

Pre-Windows 95 games are some of the easiest to get working. It's the Windows 95 and 98 games that are the hardest.

Gotta agree with Wizardry here. Pretty much everything I ever try these days works right away in DOSBox. Wizardry, I took a crack at The Magic Candle recently, at your suggestion. Read the manual and started it up to get a feel for it. Pretty intrigued, but it seems like a game that requires keeping a notebook and maybe graphing paper next to the computer, and while I do enjoy that kind of thing, I don't feel I have the time right now. I'm saving it for when work lightens up a little bit and I can really sink my teeth into it.

[Fumarole]

Also tried to get Wasteland working in dosbox. Succeeded but the game crashed after ten minutes twice. Cant bring myself to get it working properly and playing such an old game that crashes every few minutes is a no-go. Will miss some jokes maybe then in Wasteland 2. Maybe GoG will help out...I haven't tried it but apparently you can play Wasteland in a browser here (http://dosdose.com/game/436/wasteland/).

[DaftPunk]

Fucking ace mate,finally won on high difficulty in pes06,with 3-0 ^^ Good feeling.

[Wizardry]

Gotta agree with Wizardry here. Pretty much everything I ever try these days works right away in DOSBox. Wizardry, I took a crack at The Magic Candle recently, at your suggestion. Read the manual and started it up to get a feel for it. Pretty intrigued, but it seems like a game that requires keeping a notebook and maybe graphing paper next to the computer, and while I do enjoy that kind of thing, I don't feel I have the time right now. I'm saving it for when work lightens up a little bit and I can really sink my teeth into it.
A good series. One of the best in fact. In many ways they resemble the middle era Ultima games, but are a lot deeper and have far better RPG mechanics. They do require a lot of note taking though (especially the first one), even more than the Ultima games do. I usually stick my notes into a text document, breaking up clues by locations. It is time consuming but it's well worth the effort.

You're probably already aware of them but there were a few spin off titles. Along with the three main games there was a game called Bloodstone: An Epic Dwarven Tale, which used the engine from The Magic Candle III. There was also The Keys to Maramon, which was simplified, more combat heavy and more actiony. I believe there was a turn-based strategy spin off too but I haven't played it and know nothing about it.

[ShotgunJustice]

Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, Terraria, Counter-Strike, Pro Evolution Soccer 5, Heroes of Might & Magic 3, Diablo 1, Diablo 2, Everquest, Treasure Adventure Game, Age of Empires 2, Desktop Dungeons, C&C Red Alert 1, C&C Red Alert 2, Revenge of the Titans, Zombie Atom Smasher, Dungeons of Dredmore, 500 card game online.

[Wheelz]

I'm currently playing through the Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, which I picked up on steam the other day for cheap.

I haven't got much previous experience with point and click adventure games (I think the only other one I've played is Return to Zork, and I felt that was abit average), however I'm quite enjoying the Secret of Monkey Island. It's got some genuinely funny moments, and doesn't seem to be too long. Sometimes the things it wants you to do don't seem at all intuitive, luckly however their is the help button which is very useful. Their also seems to be alot of needless back and forth for the sake of increasing the length of the game, which is a bit annoying but I guess it comes with the territory?

as a side note: It's striking how much of the game was used in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

[amusingthebrood]

I finally completed Serious Sam HD: TFE. I had finished it in co-op with a friend, but never single player. I still love the game to bits, especially in shiny HD. I find it only rarely comes close to being repetitive and the final boss is still magnificent.

Slightly out of character for me, I have been collecting Steam achievements in a couple of games. I now have all of the Plants vs Zombies achievements and have two left in Audiosurf. I fear I may be becoming obsessive in my old age.

Talking of in character, I took advantage of GoG giving away Fallout (although I do own it anyway) and tried to play it again. Unfortunately I think I have a mental disconnect with RPGs, I can't seem to get into the right mindset to enjoy them. I end up treating them as a mix of puzzle and mechanical click through all the possibilities and end up getting frustrated with not getting anywhere. This puzzles me a lot as I feel they should be perfect games for me.

I have tidied up a few unfinished games of Civ IV and pottered around some more in Dungeons of Dredmor.

I have also restarted Batman:AA. Fortunately I had only played an hour or two previously before GFWL lost my saves. I am finding it very disjointed. Sneak about a little, then use the detective mode a bit, then kapow some goons, then leap around. Each individual segment is lovely, but I am not finding that the game hangs together very well. Does it become more integrated and smooth as the game progresses?

[Jockie]

Avernum - the first Spiderweb game I've put any serious time into since Exile III. It keeps things pretty simple and focuses on entertaining combat and the freedom to explore a world stuffed with interesting nooks and crannies. I chose this over Grimrock in my choice of old-school RPG for the month and so far I have no regrets.

Also still playing League of Legends with the RPS folk. I seem to be on a depressing losing streak when I play with them though.

[Lambchops]

I am finding it very disjointed. Sneak about a little, then use the detective mode a bit, then kapow some goons, then leap around. Each individual segment is lovely, but I am not finding that the game hangs together very well. Does it become more integrated and smooth as the game progresses?

I assumed you where talking about Arkham City there and comparing it to Asylum. I actually found Asylum fitted together pretty nicely (getting sidetracked finding Riddler trophies aside) whereas Arkham City suffered a bit in comparison (depsite it's many improvements) by opening up too much and hanging more loosely together. Asylum pretty much continues cyclically between sneaky bits, punchy bits and detective bits but as you go a bit further on you'll also get boss bits, which are a mix of quite cleverly done and horribly tedious and repetitive.

[Tikey]

After bouncing from game to game I've decided to start playing Mount and Blade: Warband.
Mind you I've only played the tutorial but great things are afoot or ahoof if you like

[amusingthebrood]

I assumed you where talking about Arkham City there and comparing it to Asylum. I actually found Asylum fitted together pretty nicely (getting sidetracked finding Riddler trophies aside) whereas Arkham City suffered a bit in comparison (depsite it's many improvements) by opening up too much and hanging more loosely together. Asylum pretty much continues cyclically between sneaky bits, punchy bits and detective bits but as you go a bit further on you'll also get boss bits, which are a mix of quite cleverly done and horribly tedious and repetitive.

Nope purely about Asylum, I don't have City (and am a long way behind the leading edge of shiny new games). From what you say I'm not overly optimistic, but I'll keep on going as it is all nicely done. And I get to be Batman. And punch goons in the face.

[alms]

I warned you about that game bro. I told you dog.

Edit: Wait, you're the bundle guy. Did you get it in one of those bundles? That's at least better than buying it by itself and getting burned with nothing else to try.

I had bought the game before you guys posted about it. I also heard about others having a rough start who eventually came to like it, so I'm willing to giving it another try, if not for anything else, because it tries to do things differently.

Desktop Dungeons can be a bit hard to get used to in the beginning, but that is offset by a tutorial that introduces the player to basic gameplay.

[Trelow]

Just finished DNF last night. Need to decide on what to tackle next.

[Juan Carlo]

So I finished my playthrough of Avernum on torment. I even got all the achievements (except for the find 40 caches one, as even I'm not OCD enough to subject myself to scouring the world for hidden treasure). It was pretty awesome. I can't remember the last time a game this large held my interest for so long (I usually get tired of open world RPGs by the end and take a break, but I've pretty much played nothing but this since release).

My only two complaints were that some of the boss battles weren't as well thought out as the ones in later spiderweb games (you can kind of tell that this was Vogel's first game in a lot of areas) and there were a few too many trash mobs as the game wore on (I don't mind this early and mid game when leveling is important, but constant combat can become a nuisance late game). Other than this, though, I really loved the game overall.

Word of advice: maxing out first aid is well worth it. While some might say it's a junk trait because it doesn't help you in combat, mana potions are incredibly rare in this game and the ones you do find have to be saved for difficult and long battles. So having health/energy restored after each fight (which is what the first aid skill does) will literally shave hours off of your play through that would otherwise be wasted having to return to towns after every single fight to restore health/energy. The min/max power gamer in me initially ignored first aid, but by mid game I was so sick of returning to towns that I eventually broke down and started investing in it (which made the game much more enjoyable in the long run).

[sabrage]

I kicked League of Legends out again. For good this time. The fact that all 14 million players think they're God's gift to the game wouldn't be so aggravating if even one knew what the mini-map was for. Wanna give your team pointers? Better not; any criticism might penetrate the thick veil of stupidity each player purposely dons (you can identify it by their speech patterns: "hurp" "dat" and "stfu" are tell-tale signs) long enough for them to realize hey, you actually have a point... At which point they will likely do the best they can to destroy any fun anyone else might have had, since that's way easier than actually playing well.

I'm sure Diablo will usurp my multiplayer interests in a month, but in the meantime I'll probably be installing and uninstalling Steam games until I find one that holds my interest. I should really get back to Grimrock, but I dropped some of the spell scrolls and I don't think I remember what rune combinations to use now.

[Tikey]

Still Warbanding. I'm terrible at it.

[Ravelle]

I kicked League of Legends out again. For good this time. The fact that all 14 million players think they're God's gift to the game wouldn't be so aggravating if even one knew what the mini-map was for. Wanna give your team pointers? Better not; any criticism might penetrate the thick veil of stupidity each player purposely dons (you can identify it by their speech patterns: "hurp" "dat" and "stfu" are tell-tale signs) long enough for them to realize hey, you actually have a point... At which point they will likely do the best they can to destroy any fun anyone else might have had, since that's way easier than actually playing well.

I'm sure Diablo will usurp my multiplayer interests in a month, but in the meantime I'll probably be installing and uninstalling Steam games until I find one that holds my interest. I should really get back to Grimrock, but I dropped some of the spell scrolls and I don't think I remember what rune combinations to use now.

League of Legends is a game for people born with the ability to play it, if you're not you will be reminded constantly and called names only LoL Born will understand.

[Drayk]

Kingdom of Amalur
Warhammer 40.000: Spacemarine
DOTA 2
Skyrim

[NathanH]

Gone through the Revenge campaign of Planeswalkers again using Kiora. Played best-of-five against everyone, lost to Kiora, Nissa (surprisingly good against Ancient Depths) and Gideon (only because of rubbish hands). Amusingly Karn is not too OP against Ancient Depths, I won that one 3-0. He is fast, but not fast enough to stop a kicked Rite of Replication hitting.

[sabrage]

League of Legends is a game for people born with the ability to play it, if you're not you will be reminded constantly and called names only LoL Born will understand.
No, they'll hate you once you learn how to play, too. They'll hate you for dying one time at the beginning of the game, yet playing spectacularly for the remainder. They'll hate you for talking too much, or talking too little. In fact, saying they will hate you is a bit of a misnomer; the League of Legends community already hates you. I will admit that switching over from Warcraft 3 prepared me somewhat for the gameplay and the community, not that I'm particularly proud of that snippet.

[Rauten]

DotA2 with some friends, now that they've also been invited, makes the game a whole lot more enjoyable, as well as the PSO2 Beta; dear lord the PSO2 Beta is destroying me, I used to have a great deal of interest for both The Secret World and Torchlight 2, but now, after tasting the heavenly delicacy that PSO2 is, I can imagine no other online RPG being able to sate my hunger. It is SO DAMN GOOD that making it F2P should be a sin punishable by death.

[Malawi Frontier Guard]

I'd be perfectly fine only playing co-op games of DotA 2 for the rest of my "career" in this game. The game has a huge amount of stuff to check out and e-sports are kind of silly anyway so there's no need to listen to the raging wannabees, right?

[Winged Nazgul]

It is SO DAMN GOOD that making it F2P should be a sin punishable by death.


http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/26/no-regrets-sega-defends-phantasy-star-online-2s-f2p-model/

[The JG Man]

I finally completed Serious Sam HD: TFE. I had finished it in co-op with a friend, but never single player. I still love the game to bits, especially in shiny HD. I find it only rarely comes close to being repetitive and the final boss is still magnificent.

Ahem, I think you mean to say that the ending is [obscenities very removed] magnificent. I took one look at the boss as soon as he appeared, confidently looked at my screen and said: "...fuck." Everything about that final run as well as the very ending of the fight is excellence.

[Jockie]

No, they'll hate you once you learn how to play, too. They'll hate you for dying one time at the beginning of the game, yet playing spectacularly for the remainder. They'll hate you for talking too much, or talking too little. In fact, saying they will hate you is a bit of a misnomer; the League of Legends community already hates you. I will admit that switching over from Warcraft 3 prepared me somewhat for the gameplay and the community, not that I'm particularly proud of that snippet.

I play almost exclusively now with the RPS EU LoL community (join the chat channel 'The RPS Tea Room') and it makes the game 100% more bearable. Sure you'll still get horrible people as opposition from time to time, but you can just chuckle at their childish sniping as a group and get on with playing and enjoying the game. Unless you beat a particularly mouthy opposition, at which point you can co-ordinate a series of team responses aimed at maximum humiliation.

I'm a believer in good sportsmanship, but when the opposition spends a game goading you and you manage to beat them I think it's probably justified to give a little back.

Playing solo queue, you're going to get abuse no matter what. Hell even if you're carrying an utterly useless team, they'll blame you for every mistake, claiming you should have killed the enemy quicker, or in a different order or backed up their foolish face-check/tower dive/unwarded unsighted baron attempt etc.

[Rauten]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/26/no-regrets-sega-defends-phantasy-star-online-2s-f2p-model/

Mind you I fully intend to pay, they truly deserve it, but it should've been a P2P title. Beign F2P is just going to attract a ridiculous amount of idiots, spammers, RMTers and god only knows what else.

[Winged Nazgul]

You will still get the same percentage of idiots and assholes as in P2P. All F2P does is increase the potential population so, of course, it just seems like more when really it's just the same percentage as before.

[Smashbox]

I doubt hard data on this exists, but I tend to find that free2play games have crueler and ruder populations, at least in my experience.

[Winged Nazgul]

I don't have hard data to support my claim either but I just refuse to believe playing a F2P game makes you more crueler or ruder than if you were playing a P2P game.

[Smashbox]

I think the argument would be that the 'nothing to lose' proposition coupled with the increased availability for immature (read: child) gamers creates a more hostile atmosphere.

[Rauten]

I don't have hard data to support my claim either but I just refuse to believe playing a F2P game makes you more crueler or ruder than if you were playing a P2P game.

Oh no, it doesn't. But stupid kids and teens usually can't enter P2P games. Usually. And since they don't have to pay for it, RMTers are more likely to invade, as well as all sorts of cheaters and hackers.

[Winged Nazgul]

Oh no, it doesn't. But stupid kids and teens usually can't enter P2P games. Usually. And since they don't have to pay for it, RMTers are more likely to invade, as well as all sorts of cheaters and hackers.

/shrug

I think you're doing kids and teens a disservice lumping them into one broad category. As for the others, a good game will hopefully weed them out no matter their payment model.

[Nalano]

Oh no, it doesn't. But stupid kids and teens usually can't enter P2P games.

Clearly you have never played WoW. Mommy's credit card goes a long way.

[Voon]

Still in Dark Souls right now and it's time to grind like a mother(expletive). I read somewhere that I could gain Humanity by killing a bajillion hollows around the area where the boss is still alive and I noticed a few times that my Humanity counter rises all so suddenly, so I'll just keep on killing and leveling up and upgrading my shit.

My PC could boot up again, somehow. Maybe this time I get to finish DX...

[Heliocentric]

CoH:O had a well mannered community (which loved to complain about balance). Battlefield Heroes and Free Planetside players seemed fine too.

[Rauten]

Clearly you have never played WoW. Mommy's credit card goes a long way.

Made it to max level several times, and even raided every now and then. WoW is the main reason for the second "Usually" in that post.

[cosmicolor]

Mind you I fully intend to pay, they truly deserve it, but it should've been a P2P title. Beign F2P is just going to attract a ridiculous amount of idiots, spammers, RMTers and god only knows what else.

This actually doesn't sound like a 'bad' F2P model in itself, but to make it work they have to resist heavily restricting other features and making the xp gain rate super low without boosters. They say nice words, but who's to say they'll always be nice with it?

[Ravelle]

Mind you I fully intend to pay, they truly deserve it, but it should've been a P2P title. Beign F2P is just going to attract a ridiculous amount of idiots, spammers, RMTers and god only knows what else.

I rather pay the 12 euros a month and gain full access to everything than play a FP2 game with some cash shop where people can buy their gear and stats, to be honest.

[DaftPunk]

CoH:O had a well mannered community (which loved to complain about balance). Battlefield Heroes and Free Planetside players seemed fine too.


Not really,i mean its fifty/fifty,every game have bad and good players. I remember my first match in COH,it was 2 on 2 and this fellow was really helpful to me and everything,basically he won the whole match when i struggled to build some shit back in base x) Then next few matches people were pricks -.-

[Blurr11]

I just picked up Witcher on a whim I don't play RPG and have never got into one but all of a sudden I'm 6h in and loving in the combat is fun and hard the game is pretty and the story is great (even though I don't like high fantasy) this is the first RPG I'v ever enjoyed !

[sabrage]

I play almost exclusively now with the RPS EU LoL community (join the chat channel 'The RPS Tea Room') and it makes the game 100% more bearable. Sure you'll still get horrible people as opposition from time to time, but you can just chuckle at their childish sniping as a group and get on with playing and enjoying the game. Unless you beat a particularly mouthy opposition, at which point you can co-ordinate a series of team responses aimed at maximum humiliation.

I have no doubt that the European servers have less shit on the floor, but that's not really an option for me.

[Voon]

Today, I kicked ass. Upgrading my halberd to +5 and getting my humanity so Solaire could join me in the fight against the Bell Gargoyles was glorious. Solaire surived and gave me a medal too. Awesome. And sure, I lost my chance to get a Gargoyle Axe and lost my humanity again, shortly after but it's all worth it.

[Rauten]

I have no doubt that the European servers have less shit on the floor, but that's not really an option for me.

Be assured, what the EU servers may lack in shit, they make up for in filth.

[Nalano]

Be assured, what the EU servers may lack in shit, they make up for in filth.

"People speaking foreign languages in MY server? We cannot have that! TO ARMS!"

[Sketch]

Heh, everyone go to Google and type in zerg rush.

[Kodeen]

Heh, everyone go to Google and type in zerg rush.

They attack from the bottom and sides as well, so if you've set your options to return 100 results to the page you're going to miss a few.

[Heliocentric]

@Daftpunk Was that regular company of heroes of the free to play online variant? I found the free to play community much more 'happy go lucky' maybe because it was a beta?

[Tritagonist]

Heh, everyone go to Google and type in zerg rush.

Thanks for that. Nonsensical, but fun.

[The JG Man]

TrackMania United Forever is such a bizarre game. In the best sense, of course. I don't ever sit down and think "You know what, I'm going to pour an hour into this", it just sort of happens. But when it does and I find a server with some ace tracks, magic just happens. It's a wonderful game and I recommend anyone who likes the purest feeling of racing games to go download United Forever on Steam. There's a pay-for version and a free version with limited access, but the limited access is where the majority play, so all the pay-for people create content usually for this, so you're barred from very, very little.

I don't know how many others feel about it. It's obviously played a lot, but I seldom see mention of it. I guess I'm not the only one who unintendedly plays it.

[Blackcompany]

I play Trackmania now and then. Haven't for a while, but was delighted when I realized I had an arcade racing game available for free on Steam. Now and then I make ridiculous tracks, too, including some that are far too long for that game. Its fun to toy around with and just...drive. Can get lost in that game, now and then.

But for this weekend? Going to begin my first every Mass Effect playthrough, with the first game.

[Juan Carlo]

So I'm 3/4 way through Deus Ex: HR. I originally started it when it came out, but got bored and quit sometime in the middle of detroit. Anyhow, my impressions of it having almost completed it are more or less the same as when it initially came out: a perfectly adequate game, but SOOOOOO overrated.

The worlds have nice art direction, but feel really dead to me because there aren't many NPCs to talk to. The stealth gameplay is well made for a stealth game, but nothing revolutionary (it would have been nice, for example, if they had done something like have the enemies wake up after a period of time as everyone sleeping for hours after you choke them for a few seconds get's a bit silly). There aren't nearly enough upgrades to unlock and most do fairly mundane things so other than the main choice between "stealth" or "kill everyone" there really is not a whole lot of variety in possible character builds. The boss fights are terrible (but enough have been said about that). The graphics downright suck--especially character models. At times it looks like a 5 or 6 year old game rather than something that came out last year.

But worst of all the writing is really nothing special at all. It's adequate for a video game, nothing more, and at times (especially in some of the ways that they hamfistedly insert side quests in an awkward way) it's down right not very good.

ANyhow, despite my ciriticisms I do think it's an adequate enough game and a much better successor to the original than its sequel was (plus, I do like the hacking mini-game--which says alot as usually hacking mini-games are the worst parts of any game). However, when it comes to ranking the best games of 2011 this has nothing on Witcher 2 (it probably wouldn't even make my top 5).

[Hou5ter]

Trying to play GW2 beta qq

[Museli]

I've currently got four games on the blend. I've returned to Trine after a lengthy hiatus, to prepare for a co-op run of the sequel with my chums. I'm quite enjoying Legend of Grimrock, although I'm not rushing through it, and I've been utterly charmed by the lovely Stacking. I've also started playing a hot new game called Left 4 Dead with three good buddies. None of us have played it before, but we've discovered it's bloody brilliant. Better late than never, eh?

[Sketch]

Left 4 Dead is so fun. 2 is the technically better game but 1's atmosphere is unsurpassed. Daytime doesn't fit as well IMHO.

[Nalano]

Guild Wars 2 beta weekend. Took about an hour and a half to get my ranger to stop looking like a lolita sex pixie.

[Heliocentric]

"stealth" or "kill everyone"

I've also played as a less than lethal brawler. Tranq darts, stun gun and punch up the face. But no sneaking! It's actually hard to resist tucking your head in, and I desperately needed more cereal bars. Where is a Holland and Barrett when you need one?

Slight boss battle spoilers.
Boss 1,stun gun until win.
Boss 2,land mines and then stun gun until win.
Boss 3 OHKO(look it up on youtube) or heavy machingun and grenade blindfire.
Boss 4,quick hack/keycode and a burst of laser.

The real last boss was obviously the conversation with [redacted] in the control room.

[Casimir Effect]

I've also played as a less than lethal brawler. Tranq darts, stun gun and punch up the face. But no sneaking! It's actually hard to resist tucking your head in, and I desperately needed more cereal bars. Where is a Holland and Barrett when you need one?

Slight boss battle spoilers.
Boss 1,stun gun until win.
Boss 2,land mines and then stun gun until win.
Boss 3 OHKO(look it up on youtube) or heavy machingun and grenade blindfire.
Boss 4,quick hack/keycode and a burst of laser.

The real last boss was obviously the conversation with [redacted] in the control room.
Think I played similar - sneaking around but taking out anyone I found via punching, tranquilizing or stunning (or silenced pistol to the face, if they had been a dickbag).
My boss fighting was less well-refined though:
B1 - shot in the face and grenaded
B2 - tested my Typhoon
B3 - ran around other side of central divide, dumped a load of the remote detonated devices on the ground, exploded them when he hopped the divide.
B4 - running and gunning.

[Heliocentric]

I need to try out the assault rifle with homing bullets.

[Bankrotas]

Guild Wars 2 beta weekend. Took about an hour and a half to get my ranger to stop looking like a lolita sex pixie.
It took me 6 hours to log in.

[FuriKuri!]

Thanks to whoever mentioned it in that "interesting game articles" thread a couple of weeks back, Galactic Civilizations II has destroyed all my free time lately.

When I've been needing a break from galactic conquest I've been dipping into the Firefall beta. I'm very optimistic about it, it's going to be a blast.

[DaftPunk]

@Daftpunk Was that regular company of heroes of the free to play online variant? I found the free to play community much more 'happy go lucky' maybe because it was a beta?



Regular one,and it was first time i went online in RTS game. After that i just played coop with friend xD

[fiddlesticks]

Left 4 Dead is so fun. 2 is the technically better game but 1's atmosphere is unsurpassed. Daytime doesn't fit as well IMHO.
There's a night time version of The Parish, called quite appropriately Dark Parish (http://www.l4dmaps.com/details.php?file=12863). I haven't played it myself, but it's supposedly quite good. It does make a few adjustments to the gameplay of the original map though.

[Althea]

Put a little bit of time into Sword & Sworcery again this afternoon.

It's beautiful in terms of audio, unique(ish) in terms of visuals, a pain in the arse in terms of gameplay.

An adventure game, then.

[Pertusaria]

I haven't tried it but apparently you can play Wasteland in a browser.

Didn't work for me - some problem with Java, I think - but the usual clause about your mileage varying.

[Track]

Left 4 Dead is so fun. 2 is the technically better game but 1's atmosphere is unsurpassed. Daytime doesn't fit as well IMHO.

I love L4D2. When you get a good group of people, its one of the greatest multiplayer experiences that i've ever played. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone else who plays it. Really wish that RPS had some group around that game.

[airtekh]

I'm soaring around the maps in Tribes:Ascend, but I'm also having doubts about the unlock system that Hi-Rez have adopted.

The problem is that there are a number of guns which appear to be straight upgrades from the default ones, which you can purchase using real money. These guns can also be unlocked by playing the game and accumulating XP points - if you don't want to spend any money - but the difference is that the XP prices of most of the weapons are astronomical.

I hate to label the game as 'pay 2 win' because it feels like a cheap shot and I do really like it, the movement is spot-on and high speed flag chasing is exhilarating. I just wish the devs would have looked at a different unlock model, or at the very least slash the prices on some of the weapons.

I've also been playing the absolutely wonderful Vessel. It's a superb puzzle platformer whose liquid-themed problems require a bit of thought to solve. It reminds me a bit of Braid, in that the puzzle solutions make you feel like a genius when you finally work them out.

It's quite lengthy too, I've played it for about five hours and I think I'm just at the halfway point. The physics, art, music just all all contribute to a wonderful experience. One of my games of the year so far for sure.


Left 4 Dead is so fun. 2 is the technically better game but 1's atmosphere is unsurpassed. Daytime doesn't fit as well IMHO.

I agree with you, but since they've ported over the original maps into L4D2 you can have the benefits of both in one game. I like the way they improved some of the crescendo events from L4D1 when they were ported over too. (Think the ending of the Barns from 'Dark Carvinal').

[Fumarole]

I love L4D2. When you get a good group of people, its one of the greatest multiplayer experiences that i've ever played. I agree. The first month or so after the original game came out represents some of my fondest multiplayer experiences that did not occur at a LAN. We always played on the hardest difficulty and simply tried to see who could get furthest with random teams, as it was rare for anyone to actually reach any of the safe rooms. So much fun in failing, that game.

[Tikey]

Thanks to whoever mentioned it in that "interesting game articles" thread a couple of weeks back, Galactic Civilizations II has destroyed all my free time lately.

You're welcome.
My favourite thing in that game is to play with a custom race with a high "luck" attribute. If you actually rely on that you'll have tons of fun. Like never build a single warship and when you're beign attacked you suddenly find a precursor warship that can annihilate everything. A shame it doesn't have multiplayer.

[alms]

Didn't have much time to play this week, but friday I played some levels of Noitu Love 2: Devolution, gorgeous, GORGEOUS pixel art, and some great level ideas. Also spent way more time than I expected with This Precious Land (http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=8804), a LD23 entry, I'm wondering if this concept could be turned into a bigger game.

[Anthile]

Didn't work for me - some problem with Java, I think - but the usual clause about your mileage varying.

It's true! (http://dosdose.com/game/436/wasteland/) What wizardry is this?!

[Wizardry]

It's true! (http://dosdose.com/game/436/wasteland/) What wizardry is this?!
The mouse fucking sucks. It doesn't work properly. Good job Wasteland is easier and faster to play using keyboard only, but I fear this will put off potential players (especially those not willing to read the manual).

[Blackcompany]

Mass Effect 1. Because somehow, despite being both an RPG fanatic and a huge fan of sci-fi, I missed these. For, like, years on end. Played the first mission and en route to the Citadel now, as a FemShep (better voice acting) Engineer. Having a blast so far. And really enjoying the solid writing and intriguing setting.

[Casimir Effect]

Giving Alpha Protocol another playthrough, this time as an assualt rifle wielding asshole who is going to kill and/or be a dick to every single person possible.

There was an AMA on Reddit recently with Brian Fargo and Chris Avellone, the latter of which said he's love to make a game based on Archer. An game in the style of AP based on that could be a thing of wonder.

[Tikey]

Playing warband, I've got a hang on the combat, so I can take on a dozen of looters all by myself.
Now, commanding troops is a weak point of mine. No wonder I ended up fighting a dozen looters all by myself :P

[Voon]

Haven't had the time at the mo. Building some mech model I just bought from a store and just finished the top after 3 hours. I suck.

[DaftPunk]

Playing warband, I've got a hang on the combat, so I can take on a dozen of looters all by myself.
Now, commanding troops is a weak point of mine. No wonder I ended up fighting a dozen looters all by myself :P

On what difficulty are you playing ? :D Otherwise big battles are fucking clusterfuck,its like all 150 men gather in one spot and battle with each other.. They need to fix this :D

[Fumarole]

There was an AMA on Reddit recently with Brian Fargo and Chris Avellone, the latter of which said he's love to make a game based on Archer.Now there's a hell of a thing.

[cosmicolor]

Hit the level cap in the PSO2 beta, not too sure what to do now aside from messing around with the character creator.

[Nalano]

Tropico 4 scenario:

Australian media mogul, in an effort to take over the world, sets your island up as part of his new media empire. Unfortunately, the plethora of TV and radio stations turn all your citizens into zombies.

How do you fight zombies? With plants, of course!

[agentorange]

I'm soaring around the maps in Tribes:Ascend, but I'm also having doubts about the unlock system that Hi-Rez have adopted.

The problem is that there are a number of guns which appear to be straight upgrades from the default ones, which you can purchase using real money. These guns can also be unlocked by playing the game and accumulating XP points - if you don't want to spend any money - but the difference is that the XP prices of most of the weapons are astronomical.

I hate to label the game as 'pay 2 win' because it feels like a cheap shot and I do really like it, the movement is spot-on and high speed flag chasing is exhilarating. I just wish the devs would have looked at a different unlock model, or at the very least slash the prices on some of the weapons.

I've also been playing the absolutely wonderful Vessel. It's a superb puzzle platformer whose liquid-themed problems require a bit of thought to solve. It reminds me a bit of Braid, in that the puzzle solutions make you feel like a genius when you finally work them out.

It's quite lengthy too, I've played it for about five hours and I think I'm just at the halfway point. The physics, art, music just all all contribute to a wonderful experience. One of my games of the year so far for sure.



I agree with you, but since they've ported over the original maps into L4D2 you can have the benefits of both in one game. I like the way they improved some of the crescendo events from L4D1 when they were ported over too. (Think the ending of the Barns from 'Dark Carvinal').

I own quite a few unlockable weapons and have been playing the game for months, and literally none of the guns are straight upgrades. Some are simply of the more fire-power, less fire-speed variety, others offer completely different avenues of play, like the SMG or Spinfusor for the Infiltrator. At the moment the plasma rifle is somewhat overpowered, but it is a new weapon and will get balanced soon, like the grenade launcher for the Infiltrator.

[Miker]

I own quite a few unlockable weapons and have been playing the game for months, and literally none of the guns are straight upgrades. Some are simply of the more fire-power, less fire-speed variety, others offer completely different avenues of play, like the SMG or Spinfusor for the Infiltrator. At the moment the plasma rifle is somewhat overpowered, but it is a new weapon and will get balanced soon, like the grenade launcher for the Infiltrator.I wouldn't say none of them, honestly. The LAR > shotty for PTH, falcon > nova blaster for SEN, LMG/disc > spinfusor MKD for JUG, and mines > nades for DMB. I do wish Hi-Rez would bring down some of the prices or increase the XP gain rate, but we'll see what happens in the future. The lifetime of a F2P game isn't judged in weeks or months, and things can change.

[agentorange]

I wouldn't say none of them, honestly. The LAR > shotty for PTH, falcon > nova blaster for SEN, LMG/disc > spinfusor MKD for JUG, and mines > nades for DMB. I do wish Hi-Rez would bring down some of the prices or increase the XP gain rate, but we'll see what happens in the future. The lifetime of a F2P game isn't judged in weeks or months, and things can change.

I can't talk about the Sentry stuff, but I completely disagree on PTH and JUG. I find the shotgun to be much better for chasing an enemy flag carrier, since if I can get up close it's a very easy kill, and for the JUG I much prefer the high base damage and large splash of the MKD, especially when assaulting the enemy base. I do agree that the prices of unlockable weapons are extremely high, but hey, it's a free game and they have to make money somehow.

[Voon]

I got some old copies of X-Wing vs Tie Fighter and the expansion for two bucks at a sale. Worth playing?

[Tikey]

On what difficulty are you playing ? :D Otherwise big battles are fucking clusterfuck,its like all 150 men gather in one spot and battle with each other.. They need to fix this :D

Normal I think. I'm just starting though. Never got into a big enough battle.

[NathanH]

It's time to play through Baldur's Gate again! I'll try recruiting some crap NPCs this time, I think.

[vinraith]

It's time to play through Baldur's Gate again! I'll try recruiting some crap NPCs this time, I think.

I'd be doing that if I could get it to run. :(

I installed the mod set (with BGT) as listed here: http://www.gog.com/en/forum/baldurs_gate_series/baldurs_gate_2_essential_mods/page1

but it crashes the first time I enter combat, every time.

[Rii]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I hear it's out on PC even.

[Fumarole]

I got some old copies of X-Wing vs Tie Fighter and the expansion for two bucks at a sale. Worth playing?Yes it is.

[fiddlesticks]

but it crashes the first time I enter combat, every time.
Could you elaborate on that? Is it a specific battle that crashes the game or does it happen in any given fight? Also what's your OS and what version of Baldur's Gate are you running?

[qizarate]

I'd be doing that if I could get it to run. :(

I installed the mod set (with BGT) as listed here: http://www.gog.com/en/forum/baldurs_gate_series/baldurs_gate_2_essential_mods/page1

but it crashes the first time I enter combat, every time.

You may want to try EasyTutu instead. You can still import your character once you complete BG1, and i generally find it to be more stable than BGT, in that i haven't really had any problems with it other than the infamous Beregost bug.

[vinraith]

Could you elaborate on that? Is it a specific battle that crashes the game or does it happen in any given fight? Also what's your OS and what version of Baldur's Gate are you running?

Win 7 64 bit, I'm running GOG's version of both BG1 and BG2 (and ToB) with BGT installed to unify them. I got frustrated after a few tries but the specific fight that caused every crash I had was the assassination attempt in the house on the northeast side of the Candlekeep map.

[fiddlesticks]

If this is the only fight which gives you problems, you could always just skip it. Nothing in Candlekeep is mandatory apart from talking to Gorion. It's not the most elegant solution of course, but the rewards you get for killing him are pitiful anyway so you're not missing out on anything.

Since you're on Windows 7, another thing you could do is install the game in a different folder than "program files" (C:/Games for instance) as that's the source of many crashes. I don't know if it's related to your problem in particular, but better safe than sorry.

[vinraith]

If this is the only fight which gives you problems, you could always just skip it. Nothing in Candlekeep is mandatory apart from talking to Gorion. It's not the most elegant solution of course, but the rewards you get for killing him are pitiful anyway so you're not missing out on anything.

Since you're on Windows 7, another thing you could do is install the game in a different folder than "program files" (C:/Games for instance) as that's the source of many crashes. I don't know if it's related to your problem in particular, but better safe than sorry.

My concern is that if that fight is unstable, who knows what else is, so skipping it is not satisfactory to my thinking. I may try a reinstall with EasyTutu and see if I get better results there.

And yeah, I never install any games in "program files" under Windows 7 as I'm aware of the UAC issues there.

Thanks for your help, anyway!

[laneford]

I finally completed the extreme tracks on Trials: Evolution.

The final couple are an absolute nightmare, but the sense of satisfaction upon beating them is almost unsurpassed.

The final track, Inferno III, took me about 300-315 restarts (i.e. crashes) in a culmulative time for about 18minutes.

Here's a video of a guy doing it in 46 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9pRHeAhuM0

where do these people come from?

[Casimir Effect]

Win 7 64 bit, I'm running GOG's version of both BG1 and BG2 (and ToB) with BGT installed to unify them. I got frustrated after a few tries but the specific fight that caused every crash I had was the assassination attempt in the house on the northeast side of the Candlekeep map.
When I played the trilogy on Win7 64 with GOG versions I used this mod setup (& install order) with no problems:

1: Install both BG1 TotSC and BG2 with ToB in separate directories and patch them fully with the official patches. The GoG versions come fully patched. They claim that problems arise if you install anything under C:\Programs but I've never had a problem with it.

2: Install BG2 Fixpack. Nothing here is too game changing, it just fixes bugs and inconsistencies like monster alignment etc. Be aware that this patches your base BG2 install which will serve as the platform for the trilogy mod. It's pretty much essential regardless of what you're doing though.

3: Install BGT. The trilogy mod. You point it to your BG1+BG2 directories and it does all the rest. There's an option to overwrite your BG2 install or just make a brand new directory.

4: Install BGT Tweaks.

5: Install BG1 unfinished business.

6: Install BG2 unfinished business.

7: Sword Coast Stratagems 1 then SCSII. Entirely up to you, these mods aren't as game breakingly difficult as tactics was but they can be quite difficult. They don't give any new abilities or increase base damage or anything but they do improve the AI dramatically. Enemies use magic shielding potions etc, archers pick on undefended mages and so on. It also stops stupid enemy behaviour like the lich script that has it gate in a pit fiend which promptly attacks it. If you do install this I highly recommend the component that allows you to target improved invisible opponents with anti-magic spells like secret word. Otherwise, high level mages are fond of spell immunity: divinations which makes it a nightmare to take down their defences. Be very careful of improved end of chapter/boss fights, they are the hardest components by far.

8: BG2: Tweaks

9: Widescreen Mod

I ended up getting rid of the Stratagems mod later as things were kicking my ass, but otherwise everything worked fine. I did skip the Candlekeep tutorial though.

[Scumbag]

If its not Tribes Ascend, its been:

Syndicate: Things are almost exactly as I remember them, which is kind of creepy since I've possibly not touched this since 97. I still find it fun, but for all the smarts people seem to hype it up with the whole thing still feels like Cannon Fodder in trenchcoats.
Legacy of Kain - Soulreaver: Looks oddly nice good despite its age, and the CGI into still looks quite good. But MY GOD the controls on a modern pad is horrid! Raziel seems to like running which ever direction he feels like, even after configuring the pad a few times.

[Rauten]

Well, I do believe I've done everything I could on the PSO2 Beta: Tried Hunter and Ranger to at least level 10 to get a hang of the classes, leveled Force to 20 (max level in the beta), completed the Matter (Story) Board, seen every area, killed every boss, got and fed a mag, toyed around with the My Room options...

And now I can't wait for the actual game to release. My dear god, I'm so hooked it should be labelled as a drug.

[Kodeen]

I'm about 9 hours into Risen 2 now. I was very skeptical when I first started playing it, but I'm having a lot of fun with it now. If you liked the Gothics or Risen at all, then you'll like this one as well.

[SirKicksalot]

The Witcher 2.

Near the end of Act II, Roche path because it makes sense. I can't see why anyone would choose Iorveth.
The difficulty fell off a cliff many hours ago. However sometimes it throws a super-unfair boss fight at me, impossible to win the first time because I have no idea what's going on and it starts with Geralt being hit. I cheesed my way through a lot of these fights, aarding and cornering foes and hacking at them like an idiot. The checkpoints are shit and I often can't save or meditate because I "can't here".

The potion system is FUBAR - doesn't work like in the books, doesn't even work as shown in the tutorial (on the knight) and I'm pretty sure the potions have no negative effects, unlike advertised. Geralt is still very slow sometimes, especially at the start of a fight.
Even worse, I fucking hate maze levels, especially in the dark, when I can't drink Detective Mode potion because I chugged three others before, when I'm forced to go through them a second time, when I can't open doors because Geralt targets enemies behind them and when I can't save because "can't here". And then a boss fight happens and I'm sent 10 minutes back in time.

I'm forcing myself to play it because I like the story and universe. And it's pretty as long as I ignore the 50 centimeters draw distance.

Also: whenever the game is full screen on my PC my two laptops lose connection to my wireless router. Will investigate later if my laziness allows me to. I suspect it phones back to the mothership checking for patches and blocks a port.

[Sketch]

Playing FarCry 2. Using a mod that decreases weapon degradation, speeds up jam clears and car repairs too. This really is a fun game, despite a few annoyances. Luckily the gunplay is so fun that the respawning checkpoints aren't as horrible as they could be and if you play it in an experimental way it's incredible rewarding. I love the action film physics when you blow up a car and it flips etc. I hope FC3 offers this kind of freedom.

[Voon]

I am an idiot for using those Twin Humanities I had as I thought I had a secret rite for the Kindle thing...

[Casimir Effect]

The Witcher 2.

Strange, I never had any sort of problem saving and I spam quicksave like there's no tomorrow. The only places I wasn't allowed to save or meditate were ones where it made sense: in the middle of a fight.
Potions I admit to never playing around with much seeing as negative effects always put me off, but I do remember ones like Cat did seem to reduce my damage or whatever they're meant to do.

I'm really hoping changes like this haven't actually happened with the Enhanced Edition, as I need my save spam. Need to replay this game soon.
(And while I think I prefer Roche, Iorveth kicks all kinds of ass)

[DaftPunk]

I read on some other forum that Risen is 24 hours long lol,and it gets good after 23.. xD

[Robert]

I like pirates. I like RPGs. I want to play it. But not sure if I want to play it at launch, for full price, bugs included. IM TORN!

[Vexing Vision]

Well, I do believe I've done everything I could on the PSO2 Beta: Tried Hunter and Ranger to at least level 10 to get a hang of the classes, leveled Force to 20 (max level in the beta), completed the Matter (Story) Board, seen every area, killed every boss, got and fed a mag, toyed around with the My Room options...

And now I can't wait for the actual game to release. My dear god, I'm so hooked it should be labelled as a drug.

I have sincerely loved Blue Burst when that came out.

Is the PSO2 Beta in English, or do I have to brush up my non-existant Japanese? The character editor demo killed me, I am so proud of myself to having found the Download and Start buttons.

Any indiciation when it's out in a language I can actually understand? And how was the latency?

[Kodeen]

I read on some other forum that Risen is 24 hours long lol,and it gets good after 23.. xD

I'd say it got good at around the 5 hour mark. Can't speak to the length, but I usually play games longer than the average so I'm not worried about it.