What are you playing at the moment?

[kataras]

Been playing XCOM all weekend (I played the old one 20 minutes and gave up). I launch it, play and when I m done it's like 4 hours later...

I love it but by god, I hate Chryssalids. The first time I encountered them, I managed to kill them before they close in on my troops, so I didn't think much of them. The second time, on a terror mission, I found out that not only they are lethal if they come close, but they zombify people. Who then have a huge amount of health and destroy your troops. Who then become zombies, who then become Chryssalids... You can imagine how that went. I hate those things. I lost 2 teams to them but I keep going.

Apart from that things were going ok, I gave priority to researching armour but at some point I reached a wall and I realised that I had to research laser weapons if I didn't want all my troops to get decimated.

Also Dishonoured managed to shock me. I was playing the mission to assassinate Lady Boyle and talking to people at the party to get clues. Then [spoiler] I met this guy who said he loved her and would take her away never to be seen again, if I just agree not to kill her. So I thought ok, why not, no need for anyone to die. I find her, lure her to the basement and tranq her. I put her on his boat and as he's leaving he gives me this speech, thanking me and basically admitting that it's a one-sided thing and that 'she will learn to love me'. [end spoiler]I was shocked. I guess it's better than the alternative. Or not?

[TailSwallower]

Question for fellow XCOM commanders - Does capturing aliens after the first one actually do anything for you? I haven't noticed any benefit, so I wonder if I should stop putting my troops in dangerous situations.

[airtekh]

I've started playing Dishonored, and I can tell after just a handful of hours that this is going to be my favourite game of the year.

This is exactly the type of game I love to play, and I hope it sells by the bucketload so I can see more made.

[Strazz]

Mourning the loss of my squad of Valkyries in XCOM: Enemy Unknown (survived the first five missions, before I lost all 4 of them)

[Tikey]

Question for fellow XCOM commanders - Does capturing aliens after the first one actually do anything for you? I haven't noticed any benefit, so I wonder if I should stop putting my troops in dangerous situations.

Different aliens means different research that can unlock certain stuff or boost another research.
Another advantage of capturing is that you get to capture their weapons, which can then later be used by your troops, something that doesn't happen when you kill them.

[qizarate]

Long time no post (due to starting a masters degree), this seems like as good a place as any to start. I guiltily started up my Mass Effect 3 play through from several months ago. Guiltily, because after playing through the first two religiously and repeatedly, i told myself that i would set aside a big chunk of me-time so that i could go through the final installment in one long play through, pausing to eat and drink, and perhaps sleep. Perhaps not so surprisingly though, it turns out my experience of the game doesn't really suffer as a result of taking an extended break. I feel like my favourite season is back on air after several months of waiting. I suppose it's the difference between binging on a series box-set, or spinning it out.

While ME3 requires me to sit down and decide to do something leisurely, i find myself repeatedly booting up Geneforge 1 when i want to distract myself from something i should be doing. I enjoyed Avadon quite a bit, but i prefer Geneforge aesthetically, even if it quite a bit older - The pixels lend it a kind of solidity which i appreciate. The setting is extremely enjoyable too. I'm quite near the start, so i'm looking forward to engaging with all of the different factions and hopefully some meaty decisions. The combat is admittedly fairly frustrating. This is the first game in quite some time in which i've felt it necessary to grind XP in order to progress. Oh well. It's nonetheless quite a lot of fun having a rabble of Fyora doing my fighting for me.

[Kodeen]

I'm about 17 hours into Amalur already, and I really shouldn't be enjoying this game as much as I am. Yes, it's a hyper-generic fantasy world. Yes, the progression through the map is fairly linear. Yes, the large majority of the NPC's are forgettable, as are their side quests. Yes, the game is a bit on the easy side. Despite all of that, I'm having loads of fun with the game and I might actually get the 100+ hours of gameplay, something which is extremely rare for me.

[Spider Jerusalem]

i had a similar reaction to koa. it's nice to be surprised sometimes.

[Nalano]

I'm about 17 hours into Amalur already, and I really shouldn't be enjoying this game as much as I am. Yes, it's a hyper-generic fantasy world. Yes, the progression through the map is fairly linear. Yes, the large majority of the NPC's are forgettable, as are their side quests. Yes, the game is a bit on the easy side. Despite all of that, I'm having loads of fun with the game and I might actually get the 100+ hours of gameplay, something which is extremely rare for me.

Sorta like listening to somebody explain why they have to go out and smoke when it's 20 below.

[vinraith]

Sorta like listening to somebody explain why they have to go out and smoke when it's 20 below.

Says the guy playing Guild Wars 2 like a rat in a Skinner box. :)

[Kodeen]

Sorta like listening to somebody explain why they have to go out and smoke when it's 20 below.

Smoking and hypothermia are both good for you. Eat your Wheaties.

[Mohorovicic]

Playing Dishonored, started second (real) mission.

Not very impressed so far. The game is pathologically easy(I mean seriously, a power like Blink in a stealth game? It's almost like cheating, and it gets even worse from there with other powers) and the storyline so far is quite ham-handed(bad guy explaining his scheme the moment he meets you, busting yourself out of prison, also hi, I am a chaos god, here have some super powers for no reason). Also by gods, the game features some of the ugliest people I've ever seen. When the Empress died I was honestly glad for her, at least someone put her out of the misery of her own face.

[LTK]

If that's a criticism, then I'd like to say that I'd take a world of caricatures over a world of clones any day.

Still have to go out and buy Dishonored though.

[DaftPunk]

I fought mutons for the first time,and killed them all! buahahaha

[NathanH]

After 38 hours my Skyrim character is permanently dead. Such is the fate of someone who misunderstands a level scaling mechanic and also hits the wrong key at a crucial moment.

[Nalano]

Says the guy playing Guild Wars 2 like a rat in a Skinner box. :)

Dude, you should have seen the forum drama in the last month and a half. I'm in my element!

[Scumbag]

Back into games and back into Dark Souls.
Its almost comical how quick you can cut through parts of this game once you have experience under the belt. Not trying to insult it by saying that either.

[Avish]

I fought mutons for the first time,and killed them all! buahahaha

Well. I just captures one on my second encounter.
Turns out, normal level might be easy after all...

[Casimir Effect]

Can someone explain the main changes that DarthMod 8.1 does to Rome: TW? Any file that goes with the mod just gives a massive load of changes that it makes, yet loading a new Barbarian Invasion campaign and it's hard to tell what has changed (mainly as it's been quite a while since I played it last).

[Voon]

Back into games and back into Dark Souls.
Its almost comical how quick you can cut through parts of this game once you have experience under the belt. Not trying to insult it by saying that either.

I know what you mean. I've spent hours getting stuck in Blighttown and Sen's in my first run but when I start with another character now, I just pretty much plowed through them in 30 minutes or less