What are you playing at the moment?

[Bleekill]

Well, the point of this is that you finally ARE The Cyborg Ninja. ANd people have been wanting that since MGS1.

And from the limited demo, it definitely FEELS like kojima's world. People are randomly spouting detailed facts about how PMCs have evolved (especially in the wake of MGS4), you have over the top characters who all exist to consider philisophical crap ("What does an AI know about freedom?". Sidenote, I bet this isn't Raiden and is actually an AI modeled on Raiden).

Basically, it is Kojima's story and characters with Platinum's style. And I actually really like the approach from what little I have played. Snake rarely ever felt like "a badass" as it were. He instead felt like a nice stale beer spec op as it were. He had his moments of awesome, but it was very much about being outnumbered and knowing you don't stand a chance in a straight fight.
Rising Raiden is more about having to hold yourself back from trying to engage EVERYONE because you can't win (but you'll take a bunch of them down with you :p). Which actually seems to fit the character right now as Raiden seems hellbent on revenge and bloodthirsty as crap.

It's good it feels like Kojima's world still. I heard he wanted to make the game about Gray Fox but decided to just go with MGS5 and let this studio use Raiden for the game. I think snake was Badass because he was vulnerable and it was a challenge to survive. MGS1 and 3 will always be my favorites. I still need to finish 4, I don't have a ps3 so I play it at a friends house sometimes and have been slowly progressing. Like I said, I'm sure I'd enjoy playing the game but the gameplay alone isn't something that really grips me. I'd rather tactical stealth over a action/slash em up any day. And Raiden is one of my least favorite characters in the series so that doesn't really help.

[gundato]

It's good it feels like Kojima's world still. I heard he wanted to make the game about Gray Fox but decided to just go with MGS5 and let this studio use Raiden for the game. I think snake was Badass because he was vulnerable and it was a challenge to survive. MGS1 and 3 will always be my favorites. I still need to finish 4, I don't have a ps3 so I play it at a friends house sometimes and have been slowly progressing. Like I said, I'm sure I'd enjoy playing the game but the gameplay alone isn't something that really grips me. I'd rather tactical stealth over a action/slash em up any day. And Raiden is one of my least favorite characters in the series so that doesn't really help.

MGS4 went a long way toward making Raiden likeable, if only because he stopped being Snake.

2 was all about "What if the everyman became Solid Snake". 4 was Raiden finding his own path, that he continues along in Rising.

And I actually wish they had stuck with the middle concept, where this is a prequel to 4 and it is all about Raiden rescuing Sunny and various plot-essential corpses from 4.

[Bleekill]

I haven't gotten to the part with Raiden yet. Seems like it'll be interesting.

[Drake Sigar]

Vampire Bloodlines.

*Groan*

Shudup. I'm trying the Plus Patch but thus far the changes seem to have been very minor. There's a police officer added in the tutorial that allows you to practise manipulation dialogue, a few more spooky musical cues in the famous Ocean House Hotel, and I saw the Kuei Kin watching me from an alley for a moment (although that might have been in the base game). Will keep my eyes peeled. Despite searching the Internet, it's been quite a chore finding out what the Plus Patch actually does.

[Sketch]

It's good it feels like Kojima's world still.

There are elements of Kojima's world, but it does feel different I'd say, but I think it mostly comes from the new cast of characters. They feel more like a traditional Japanese game rather than Kojima's style of writing, plus the area you have in the demo is incredibly bland. Overall the game is a lot of fun though, but I'm certainly glad it's an offshoot of the MGS series, rather than it's new direction.

[internetonsetadd]

The main thing I take away from both your and internetonsetadd's advice, however, is that there's something deeply wrong with my strategic management and tech path. This is not exactly a surprise, since this being my first play through I don't know what's important to get, and don't have a clear sense of how I should be pacing plot progression vs. "grinding" for resources/tech/etc.

That's not necessarily the takeaway. I'm playing on normal, and while I let critical injuries stand, I'm not above reloading after losses I'm not happy with and testing things out knowing I can. I didn't intend to play that way, but I made a pretty stupid satellite mistake (didn't realize they took 20 days to build) that set me back early on, which lasted a couple months, so I figured I'd make this playthrough about learning the game.

I wound up delaying the base objective simply because other missions kept getting in the way, and I was focused on getting satellites in the sky. The delay probably let me amass funds, research, and treat missions as harvesting opportunities rather than problems. I'm not sure how the game decides to advance the enemies you face, but they get more difficult whether you're completing objectives or not, as far as I can tell. Still, it's possible they get even harder if you rush the plot.

For whatever reason, I seemed to go from encountering chrysalids to robotic enemies on terror missions pretty fast, so my advice probably isn't so good. I still prefer to move up quickly at the start of terror missions, then switch to leapfrogging, but with chrysalids on the map I wouldn't move anywhere without a network of coverage and plenty of run-and-guns in reserve--I use a mix of (advanced) rifles and shotguns for assaults. Two snipers ain't a bad idea either.

I suspect I'm approaching the end of the game, and I don't have a clear sense of that balance either. When I started seeing end-game objectives, I was surprised they happened so fast. Had I treated plot objectives as a priority, the way the game presents them, I imagine I'd be woefully overmatched by the end.

[fiddlesticks]

Despite searching the Internet, it's been quite a chore finding out what the Plus Patch actually does.

Why search the Internet when the patch already comes with a comprehensive readme? Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines and look for a textfile called "vtmbup-readme". It lists every single aspect of the game that's changed by the unofficial patch. Beware of spoilers, obviously.

And wow, I hadn't realized Wesp was already up to 8.4. That guy works fast. The last version I used was 7.8. Might be time to play through the game again and see for myself how much has changed since then.

[Drake Sigar]

It's a boxed version actually, but thanks. I forgot about the guard dog and being able to give Lilly her stuff back. Little small stuff here and there.

[The JG Man]

Put in a real concerted effort to complete Serious Sam 3 these last few days and I've been successful. I cannot stress just how much better the game is once you leave the city, apart from the last level there which picks up the pace a little bit and does have a very cool boss fight. Overall, it's a good game. There are a few issues I have with it, that I believe I've mentioned previously, but I'll restate the main one, along with a new one I encountered.

The first is weapon switching and firing priority. I'm fairly certain that weapon changes in SS FE and SE were basically instantaneous, so long as you weren't actually firing while pressing the key number/scrolling the mouse wheel. In 3, it seems to be that you can hit a key to change, but if you fire after pressing that key (very quickly after) you'll keep on firing the weapon you still are. I won't say this stopped me or held me up for long at any point, but there were a few moments where I found myself internally cursing at the game because I god damn switched the weapon and it wouldn't switch!! Argh. This goes from merely frustrating to actively working against you when you're trying to swap from an explosive weapon, such as the rocket launcher, to a shorter ranged weapon. I'm sure you can see where this is going.

The second issue is weapon usage or availability. I didn't mind that about 2/3 of the way through the campaign I lost all my weapons before having to collect them again. I'm used to this by now by SS, but at the same time I was a bit frustrated that certain weapons didn't seem to appear for some time, or were basically made redundant after your first use of them. Case in point, the sniper rifle. It's a secret weapon (it appears both before and after the inventory wipe, although I never found it after) and when you first get it, it has about 5 shots, with no available ammo that I could find for it, and once you move from where you find it, you're onto the boss fight that precedes the inventory wipe. A bit silly. Similarly goes for the laser gun, which is a secret weapon with very sparse ammo.

Funnily enough, they clearly noticed there was an issue with these two weapons in particular because I played through the DLC (very consistently excellent, with massive levels and a great mix of combat scenarios) and you get handed sniper ammo constantly, with laser ammo going from being "Is there any actually on this level?" to simply uncommon.

Anyhow, I think the game as a whole falls just behind Second Encounter overall, with its final boss fight falling just behind FE's. There is a certain amount of similarity and hell, in 3 you do get a jet pack which is obviously fantastic, but there's something about the scale and unexpectedness of FE's that slightly trumps it out. So, all round, I rate Serious Sam 3 a Brilliant, with its DLC being Excellent. Done.

So, that's 1 of my 12 game backlog down. Next up, The Witcher.

[Fanbuoy]

Just finished my second playthrough of Saints Row 2 and 3. Ended up 100 %-ing SR3 (according to the game, but I have some vehicle thefts left).

It's amazing how much impact my character and his/her voice has on my appreciation of the games. I think SR2 has a bit generic voices for the girls. For SR3 I initially used the zombie voice, but changed to the Eastern European woman, which worked for me. My first playthrough featured a rugged male transvestite with a cockney (I think?) accent.

I can't really decide which game I prefer. I like the humour of SR2, but the story and missions of SR3. I liked the mission layout from SR2 more, with three distinct and separate branches, rather than the more linear structure of SR3. Visually, SR3 wins, hands down. SR2 looks so gray and monotonous. I really miss SR2's Shaundi, but otherwise I think I prefer the characters of SR3.

Both games beat GTA IV.

I really hope the new publisher allows Volition to do their thing with SR4, and that it turns out as awesome as it should. I can't decide which SR3 ending I want to be canon, though.

[vinraith]

Thanks for all the XCOM advice folks. While I'm not interested in going to quite the extremes sonson mentions, I do need to be more careful about pulling too many xenos at once. In a very real way, that's what killed me in that last terror mission. Then again, I usually play more cautiously, but in a terror mission I feel compelled to press forward with unusual urgency to try to save more people.

Anyway, I think my lack of satellite coverage is doing me grievous harm, both financially and strategically. I'd started out intending to focus on that, but hadn't realized just how distracted I'd gotten until just now.

[SirKicksalot]

DmC is incredibly fun. The combo system is nuts and I haven't been so impressed by a game's audio-visual presentation since Mirror's Edge. Gotta buy Noisia's soundtrack!

I suspect the Ninja Theory guys watched Tron, They Live and Gaspar Noe movies over and over again.

[Ravelle]

Just finished my second playthrough of Saints Row 2 and 3. Ended up 100 %-ing SR3 (according to the game, but I have some vehicle thefts left).

It's amazing how much impact my character and his/her voice has on my appreciation of the games. I think SR2 has a bit generic voices for the girls. For SR3 I initially used the zombie voice, but changed to the Eastern European woman, which worked for me. My first playthrough featured a rugged male transvestite with a cockney (I think?) accent.

I can't really decide which game I prefer. I like the humour of SR2, but the story and missions of SR3. I liked the mission layout from SR2 more, with three distinct and separate branches, rather than the more linear structure of SR3. Visually, SR3 wins, hands down. SR2 looks so gray and monotonous. I really miss SR2's Shaundi, but otherwise I think I prefer the characters of SR3.

Both games beat GTA IV.

I really hope the new publisher allows Volition to do their thing with SR4, and that it turns out as awesome as it should. I can't decide which SR3 ending I want to be canon, though.

I really liked that male Australian accent.

[Drayk]

Played and finished XCOM in normal Ironman. Still managed to lose 10+ soldiers. I finished the game in 200 days and around 20hours of gameplay, which felt a bit short. It's a great game, but i don't know if I am gonna play it again any time soon.

I am currently playing Game of Thrones. I am about at the half of it, I think. The comba is kinda boring, and it lacks some realism : attacks don't connect, lack of blood, gore and thrill...
The story is interesting, especially is you like GOT, and the writing is good enough... but sometimes the characters are a bit thick about the plot.
I really like the fact that neither of the two character is a saint or even a hero in the classical sense.
The game reminds me a bit of Alpha protocol. Great ideas, poor execution.

[Heliocentric]

I found my "sweet spot" Iron Brigade the Honeywell engineer trench with the "baby [something I forget]" automatic sniper rifle with quick load legs and a sniper turret in the heavy emplacement slot.

Your sniper rifle turrets let you look at the ebbs and curves of the map differently. The fliers stop being a pest 90% of your emplacements can't even touch. It really turns the game into some proper "PC GAMING IS TERRAIN".

[NathanH]

Path of Exile seems pretty good.

Having a lot of fun with the free complete EU3 I got from paradox. I do miss learning all the history like I did in EU2 though.

[PeteC]

Finally finished Darksiders and now I'm a few hours into Rage. It's actually not too bad. I know it got a mixed reception and maybe my opinion will change once I'm further in but I like what I've seen so far, plus the few guns I've tried so far have all felt pretty beefy.

It feels good to actually be completing games and chalking them off my backlog. It's about time I did so. That might slow down a bit after Rage as I plan to play the new Kings Bounty game and the previous two took just over 100 hours each.

[Drayk]

It feels good to actually be completing games and chalking them off my backlog. It's about time I did so

.

I just took the decision not to buy anything new till the steam summer sales. My backlog is way to big right now...

[Tikey]

Finished Grimrock.
The last boss' design is brilliant. Really enjoyed it, combat was a bit meh (played on easy because of this) but the puzzles were a delight.

[PeteC]

.

I just took the decision not to buy anything new till the steam summer sales. My backlog is way to big right now...

I wish I had your restraint.