What are you playing at the moment?

[Juan Carlo]

All this talk of Abrams directing a new Star Wars got me nostalgic for the original Knights Of The Old Republic. Unfortunately it looked bloody awful on my new monitor, so I sought out a widescreen fix, and after minimal effort in patching plus the addition of some texture mods and general improvements, it looks really nice running at 1920x1080.

I'm actually playing KOTOR for the first time in a decade (although I got sidetracked).

I'd recommend the "Impossible" difficulty setting from the "restored content mod" some people are working on. Apparently it was originally in the game but got cut.

It does make the first couple of worlds way harder, but after that the game is still too easy I think.

[fiddlesticks]

Okay, this is a bit annoying about building rollercoasters. I'm not much of a Physics guy despite having an interest in it but what the hell does 'lateral Gs' mean? How does it even work in this?Because when I finished making one, sometimes the lateral Gs appear as red and I got something like Ultra-Extreme on the intensity rating.

Let's see what the Coaster Enthusiasts of Canada have to say on this topic:

Newton's laws contain the principle of inertia; that a moving body, if unaffected by any forces, will travel in a straight line. A coaster train is affected by forces along its run (the force of gravity, as well as the supporting force of the track), but if it is travelling along a straight-away, none of the forces will be directed towards either side. The riders, too, will not experience any forces to either side. On the other hand, if the train hits a curve, it will tend to want to go forward. The track has to exert a sideways force on the train to divert it from its path. The train, in turn, exerts a force on the riders. As they continue to try to go straight, they get pinned to the side of the car. Though they feel themselves being forced toward the outside of the curve (an effect commonly referred to as centrifugal force), the force that is exerted on them is actually towards the inside (centripetal force), because that is the direction in which they are turning. As with forces directed vertically, lateral forces can be measured in terms of Gs. A 1-G lateral force would be equivalent to your lying on your side.

Several factors affect the strength of lateral G forces: the speed of the train, the tightness of the curve, and the amount of banking. The faster the train goes through the curve, the greater the force required to keep it on the track. Similarly, the tighter the curve, the more force is exerted on the train. For example, the train going through the helix section of the Kennywood Thunderbolt is moving quite fast, because it has just come off a substantial drop. This explains its legendary lateral Gs. On some coasters, the curve may also contain a drop. In this case, the train speeds up through the curve, and the G forces get stronger. The Riverview Bobs contained two dropping turns of this sort with little banking. Pictures show the riders pinned to the outside of the car, as one would expect.

Long story short, lateral Gs are the forces that affect you when you're in motion and doing a turn. The faster you are and the tighter the turn, the stronger the G force. To keep them from becoming red in the game there are three general things you can do.

1. Avoid curves after a long drop or at any point where the train has built up a lot of speed. Instead, use them whenever the train has lost most of its momentum, for example after it's gone up a hill again.
2. Use the larger curves whenever possible. RCT has three possible sizes of curves and with some exceptions you should never use the smallest one.
3. Always bank your curves. ALWAYS!

Some coaster types can be tricky in that regard. The Wild Mouse Coaster and its relatives in particular are difficult to build as you can't bank their turns and small curves are actually part of their appeal. If you are having trouble with lateral Gs I'd just avoid this type of coaster altogether.

Additionally, there are various sites on the Internet where you can download coaster tracks from other players and subsequently analyze what makes them work. If you're willing to expand this kind of effort, RCTgo is a good resource.

[Voon]

So all I have to do is avoid curves while the train is at high speeds? Well, I never thought of it that way. Thanks, man.

On topic, YES, FUCK, YES! I raided an alien base and shot the sectoid commander DEAD. I know, it's not over yet but goddamn, revenge is just so sweet.

[Lambchops]

Just wandered through Proteus

It's kind of a hard one to write about really, but of all the "non-games" I've played recently it has been the one that has worked the best. There's just something about the sense of discovery and the eventual letting go of your world etc that just feels . . . right I guess. Maybe wouldn't buy it for the price it's out for on Steam now (it's worth playing but I can't say I'll be going back to it - though your mileage may vary). The audio and visual styles are just right for it.

[alms]

Finished the normal mode of Mark of the Ninja. Game's positively brillo, in case you haven't heard. The artstyle of the cutscenes isn't properly my cup (some characters, Azai in particular, look almost 90's Disney to me = meh) and the audio was so compressed it hurt my ears, but the game itself looks fantastically amazing. Sound design is professional level, but not as impressive as some other, more indie, indie games IMO - after all this one has a credit roll so long it gives Trine 2 a run for its money.

What's more important: it's really fun. So many of the stealth puzzles are terribly satisfying and new toys and upgrades would often put a smile upon my face. When actions fall into place and chain into an actual flow, it gets better by an entire order of magnitude. I gave NG+ a whirl, but I'm not sure I'll stick to it - some stages might simply prove to be too tricky for me, we'll see.

Played my first (and likely only) round of Home in one sitting, as recommended. I picked it up with no idea what it was gonna be like or about, and well it's a good idea and it kept me on my toes for most of the time, but at the end of the day the actual execution and writing are not as strong as they would have to really hit the jackpot. There are still much worse ways to spend a fat hour (it took me about 20 minutes less than advertised without rushing), and for the price you can't complain.

Finally, spent about half an hour with Unmechanical, and yes the environments look gorgeous and the main character is sort of cute, if unoriginal, but I fail to see what John fell in love with here: so far the puzzles are not overly interesting and they feel a bit thrown together, with no logical development or the next puzzle building on the ones that came before. Controls are mostly fine but objects are a bit unwieldy for my taste.

[Fumarole]

I've started another AAR, this time with Fall of the Samurai. While it is still in its very early stages, head on over and check it out if you fancy.

[DaftPunk]

I have love/hate relationship with RvS on highest difficulty,challenge is really great and when it works it really feels like you acomplished allot,but when enemy AI cheats and kill you when it see's you in fucking 0.2 seconds it RAAAAGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.

[hamster]

Chivalry, duel mode. Steadily getting better but i think MAAs are total bullshit. As a knight you're basically fucked. You basically can't attack. You can't get up close either because MAAs can teleport into your face and stab you, and once they do, you are FUCKED because you basically get stun locked. So my "tactic" is to purposely whiff a horizontal slash but actually combo into the next one. As a knight with a longsword, usually MAAs dash at you after the first slash so they run right into the second one. But...it's not a sustainable tactic.

So what the hell are you supposed to do? Attacking is not an option. You can't "time" your swings into them because they backpedal too quickly and they can always dash into your face and stab (and the dash is literally instantaneous - it's not even movement). So...yah.

I suspect the solution has something to do with switching to your secondary. But it seems odd that a weapon is literally useless against a certain class.

Also for the more experienced Chivalry players out there, is there a special trick to comboing? The combos don't register unless you hit the input pretty much at the beginning of the first swing, which to my mind is absurd because you can't tell - at all - whether the first one will hit, so the second one might miss. So you're basically committing before you even have a reasonable chance of estimating the outcome (unless it's really really obvious). Am I missing something?

[Ravelle]

The big swords and hammers and such require momentum, which is hard if your in midst of all the battle but if you start a little before hand you're basically a tornado of severed limps, use horizontal attacks in a group and vertical if it's one on one and start your attack a bit before engaging the enemy.

[Giaddon]

Chivalry, duel mode. Steadily getting better but i think MAAs are total bullshit. As a knight you're basically fucked. You basically can't attack. You can't get up close either because MAAs can teleport into your face and stab you, and once they do, you are FUCKED because you basically get stun locked. So my "tactic" is to purposely whiff a horizontal slash but actually combo into the next one. As a knight with a longsword, usually MAAs dash at you after the first slash so they run right into the second one. But...it's not a sustainable tactic.

So what the hell are you supposed to do? Attacking is not an option. You can't "time" your swings into them because they backpedal too quickly and they can always dash into your face and stab (and the dash is literally instantaneous - it's not even movement). So...yah.

I suspect the solution has something to do with switching to your secondary. But it seems odd that a weapon is literally useless against a certain class.

Also for the more experienced Chivalry players out there, is there a special trick to comboing? The combos don't register unless you hit the input pretty much at the beginning of the first swing, which to my mind is absurd because you can't tell - at all - whether the first one will hit, so the second one might miss. So you're basically committing before you even have a reasonable chance of estimating the outcome (unless it's really really obvious). Am I missing something?

Fuck yeah, Chivalry!

Comboing: you have to click before the halfway-point of your initial swing. It's supposed to be a commitment.

Feinting: Do you even feint, bro? Press "Q" to cancel an attack. You can trick opponents into blocking or attacking. Like v. an MAA, start your attack, cancel, if the maa has committed to an attack, parry and follow-up (thrusting is the fastest follow up to a parry).

Sledges are great against maas because it's a one-hit kill.

Secondaries are good against maas -- I prefer the Holy Water Dispenser myself (fastest weapon the knight can use)

Shields are also good. Block an attack -> shield bash -> attack can be effective.

Try ducking under the attack, as well.

Good video of some advanced tactics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llnRx...7&feature=plcp

[hamster]

The big swords and hammers and such require momentum, which is hard if your in midst of all the battle but if you start a little before hand you're basically a tornado of severed limps, use horizontal attacks in a group and vertical if it's one on one and start your attack a bit before engaging the enemy.

Problem is the attacks are too slow. If you attack too soon, you whiff. That's still ok so long as you're far away, such that you can still barely recover quick enough for the counter-attack but if you're far away, you never really had a chance to hit your target in the first place. On the other hand, if you're close, that means two things: the MAA let you get too close, which most won't OR he's waiting for you to commit and so he dodges back. Then you're fucked because you're close enough for him to run up to your face and smack you down before you're able to parry again. Which is why i sometimes do a combo and hope to tag 'em when they move in after the first attack but that's really meta...problem is, the MAA doesn't need to be meta. He can dynamically choose to attack or defend or evade.

Just trying to understand things here. I suspect another solution is to use feints or something.

Also i really, really want to know: is it just me or is the MAA dodge literally a short teleport? It's absurd for it to be so i'm starting to suspect that it's due to latency or something.

[Serenegoose]

Problem is the attacks are too slow. If you attack too soon, you whiff. That's still ok so long as you're far away, such that you can still barely recover quick enough for the counter-attack but if you're far away, you never really had a chance to hit your target in the first place. On the other hand, if you're close, that means two things: the MAA let you get too close, which most won't OR he's waiting for you to commit and so he dodges back. Then you're fucked because you're close enough for him to run up to your face and smack you down before you're able to parry again. Which is why i sometimes do a combo and hope to tag 'em when they move in after the first attack but that's really meta...problem is, the MAA doesn't need to be meta. He can dynamically choose to attack or defend or evade.

Just trying to understand things here. I suspect another solution is to use feints or something.

Also i really, really want to know: is it just me or is the MAA dodge literally a short teleport? It's absurd for it to be so i'm starting to suspect that it's due to latency or something.

No, they do actually jump, and you can see them close towards you very quickly. It is -fast- but it's no blink :D Against man at arms getting in your face, parry and kick. Use feints to make them parry then beat them up. And importantly, as long as you can get your attack going (all attacks have a wind-up > actually attacking) then you can hit trade. They can only interrupt you on the wind up. Also, they'll backpedal away to keep distance. Back them into walls. Simple, very, very effective.

[Giaddon]

Also, try playing MAA yourself, see what the knights do that kills you!

[SirKicksalot]

I'm playing a lot of Crysis 3 beta. Hunter Mode is AWESOME. Crash site is an easy and mediocre King of the Hill mode, good as a break from Hunter. The new suit and weapons are great.

[Caddybear]

Bleh, got bored of NWN2 campaign right around the Lizardfolk Caves, so went ahead and downloaded the Baldur's Gate anthology from gamestop.

It took a bit of reading and work, but I got it to work with the Trilogy mod and fixpacks and widescreen and some other things. Just send me a pm if you'd like some instructions.

I am Elf fighter-mage. Going to be neutral evil and elf supremacist.

Also playing a bit of SotsII on the side to start a TAR soon, it's working surprisingly well with the latest patches and they reworked the mission system so that you can give new orders to fleets after they finish their initial assignment and in this way you can keep using the same fleet for several missions if they have enough supplies. The UI still needs work, but the mission system makes sense after a year and some.

I can safely say the game is "done". There are some bugs left over and AI won't challenge you that much but it can and is being patched. They released 3 patches over the course of 4 days this week for AI improvements and optimization.

[Track]

Wow the controls in Assassins Creed are finicky. I can't even count the amount of times that I've tried to climb up a building and the game's interpreted that as me wanting to jump off of it, usually right into a conveniently placed group of guards.

[Giaddon]

While playing Assassin's Creed, you shouldn't be pressing jump except when you want to jump. Keep those buttons held down to climb.

[Heliocentric]

Also playing a bit of SotsII on the side to start a TAR soon, it's working surprisingly well with the latest patches and they reworked the mission system so that you can give new orders to fleets after they finish their initial assignment and in this way you can keep using the same fleet for several missions if they have enough supplies. The UI still needs work, but the mission system makes sense after a year and some.

I can safely say the game is "done".

Music too my ears, I'll give it a spin this weekend.

[internetonsetadd]

I started playing Dead Island, at my brother's suggestion. I can probably make do with exploration if the combat doesn't get any better.

[Casimir Effect]

I am Elf fighter-mage. Going to be neutral evil and elf supremacist.

Have you played BG before? If not then I should tell you that trying to play evil will lead you into a world of hurt. And your race doesn't matter in that game beyond stats and alignment/class restrictions.

Wow the controls in Assassins Creed are finicky. I can't even count the amount of times that I've tried to climb up a building and the game's interpreted that as me wanting to jump off of it, usually right into a conveniently placed group of guards.

If you're climbing then you shouldn't be jumping, unless it's from a ledge to a spar or the like. Sometimes pressing 'B' (or keyboard equivalent) can make your character leap off buildings and land on people, but maybe not in AC1. Otherwise, if you accidently jump off something make sure you hammer the 'B' or grab button in case there is a handhold somewhere for Altair to grab on to.