Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Yaxa
I played Alan Wake when it originally came out for the 360. I thought it was fun, but as you said, very repetitive. What probably bugged me the most was the constant emphasis on the "light" mechanic, whether it was running from lantern to lantern to stay alive or killing stuff. A bit like Alone in the Dark's obsession with fire.
I liked the "light" mechanic. I liked that the game made you feel desperate to get to safety. What I hated was enemies that constantly flank you in the dark and then attack while you try and shine a light at their friends. Repeat ad nauseum for an hour until the next story segment.
Anyway, I played American Nightmare next. I had thought I had had enough of Alan Wake, but the game came with two free DLCs that made me really want to see what happens next. Unfortunately American Nightmare didn't really scratch that itch.*
It's pretty remarkable how different the two games are. They are basic opposites. Alan Wake was all about the story, about the atmosphere, and the gameplay suffered. American Nightmare is all about the gameplay, but the story and mood suffers instead.
The combat and enemies are much much better in American Nightmare. They even go so far as to include an additional "arcade survival" mode to give you a better chance to enjoy the combat. The story is terrible though, so so bad. This confused me because most posts on the internet seemed to indicate the story was going to be better. But it's like comparing American Graffiti to American Pie. Alan Wake had this really dark homage to classic horror, where American Nightmare took the silly Twilight Zone parody gag from the first game and centered the entire story around it. And it never really goes anywhere with it. Just cheeseball gagging right to the end.
The pacing itself seems better at first, as there is no plodding through one area after the next, but without at least a little filler the game feels rushed. You can only carry two weapons at a time, but right at the beginning I get introduced to about 6, before I even have a chance to start killing stuff. It's ridiculous. You are also given so much ammo that you are never in danger of running out. This is completely counter to the first game, where it felt like you had to use your ammo wisely. I went the whole game having 7-10 flare gun shots and not using them. Anyone who has played Alan Wake should recognize how ridiculous that is.
*The DLC was pretty decent though. Doesn't really do much with the story, but it was much more challenging than the main game, and certainly more than American Nightmare.
Anyway, Darksiders 2 next week. I have time for one more Steam Sale game before that happens. Going to try Driver San Francisco, will probably post about it later.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
I started playing Moon Breakers.
Fun little space shooter game. It's your typical Multi-player shoot-emUp. 3 modes - assault(kill the opposing teams carrier), CTF, or Search and Destroy (team deathmatch).
Free2Play; Though you can use Real money to buy earlier access to the ships {or Credit boots}- it does appear all the ships could be purchased with simply in game funds - if you played it enough.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Will keep it short this time: Driver San Francisco is pretty fun. It's sort of the hamburger of video games, don't expect anything deep and you might enjoy it. The story is this really campy homage to old cop shows. The gameplay is less hardcore racer, and more like the stuff from GTA4, except better tuned and less frustrating. My only complaints are that I can't get the hang of drifting, I slide all over the place, and the events that require you use the "dynamic camera" are terribly hard to control.
It's much better than I expected from the fact it had zero hype. Although come to think of it, was this one of the Ubisoft games people boycotted because of always online DRM?
With Darksiders 2 and Guild Wars 2 coming up, I probably won't spam this thread again for awhile. No promises though!
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
My god, I'm still playing pinball. Medieval Madness is just... so... addicting! RAWR!
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
I finished Fallout: New Vegas. I'm not sure if the game was designed this way or not but it was the first game of this type where I just could not catch a break. I normally like to play as close to a hero as the game will let me but in this game it seemed like everywhere I turned I was making the "wrong" choice and couldn't do anything about it. Accidentally boxing myself into a corner and being forced to blow up the Brotherhood of Steel bunker (after joining them) left a, particularly, sour taste in my mouth.
Maybe one day I'll go back to play it again and see if I can fix all of my mistakes.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
I'm having loads of fun with SPAZ (Space Pirates and Zombies) that I got through the steam sale. It's a lot like an older game called Starscape, but with more depth and more levelling-up-ness.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Delaregar
I'm having loads of fun with SPAZ (Space Pirates and Zombies) that I got through the steam sale. It's a lot like an older game called Starscape, but with more depth and more levelling-up-ness.
SPAZ was a good nostalgia trip. I used to play games like that all the time back before I had money. I remember I used to play one that was Star Trek themed but used ascii code as graphics. It was actually pretty dang elaborate. Several classes of ships with different characteristics from every major species. You could have a behemoth with phasers all over it, a stealth ship, or something so fast you would only be in range of your target for a single second before speeding past it again.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Wool
SPAZ was a good nostalgia trip. I used to play games like that all the time back before I had money. I remember I used to play one that was Star Trek themed but used ascii code as graphics. It was actually pretty dang elaborate. Several classes of ships with different characteristics from every major species. You could have a behemoth with phasers all over it, a stealth ship, or something so fast you would only be in range of your target for a single second before speeding past it again.
I think I remember my brother playing that game. I think some of the chatter is hilarious, stuff like "If a hostage gives you any lip, you just throw them out the window with the rest of the trash."
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Silke
Despite having a large Steam backlog, I'm still trucking through the early Might and Magic games. I finished 3 a few days ago and am now working on 4 and 5 (both take place on different sides of the same planet and when both are installed together it creates one massive game). I've now chased Sheltem across 4 different planets and have him cornered now! He's going down!
I finally completed m&m3 last year, and then 6 for the hell of it. Theres something about those games i absolutely love. However, m&m4 + 5 run very badly on my machine - where did you get your copies from? Mine are from GoG as i lost the originals years ago.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Maledict
I finally completed m&m3 last year, and then 6 for the hell of it. Theres something about those games i absolutely love. However, m&m4 + 5 run very badly on my machine - where did you get your copies from? Mine are from GoG as i lost the originals years ago.
I got the deluxe pack (1 thr 6) from GoG as well. It's a shame you can't get 4 and 5 working on your machine. Combined, they are, without a doubt, the best ones in the entire series. I played 6, 7 and 8 but never really got into them as much. I didn't care for the backstory and I wasn't a big fan of the Heroes series which was set on the same world and filled in major chunks of lore. They were fun but nowhere near as good as 4 and 5.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Nethack.
I found a *stellar* Android port of the game: Nethack
The modern Windows/Mac version is also updated to run on modern systems, using custom/illustrative tilesets, or the classic IBM ASCII stuff.
Holy crap, I forgot how GOOD this game is. Anyone know of some decent adaptations into other games? (Levels of complexity must exist, MMOs do not count)
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
I finished Assassin's Creed III today. The game was decent but I think I'm getting a bit bored with the series. It does wrap things up but the ending was "meh." I can see why a lot of people don't care for Conner as a main character. He doesn't have the same personality as Ezio (he's a very dry character).
Awhile ago I bought an iPad and splurged on Final Fantasy III so I've been playing that a bit. I've mentioned in other threads that III was the only numbered FF that I haven't played yet (not counting XI and XIV since those are MMOs). Fun so far in a JRPG grindy sort of way.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
If you think the remake is grindy, be glad you never played the 8-bit original ;)
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
As a belated Halloween celebration, I played the inFamous Festival of Blood downloadable on PSN. It was okay, but mostly only worthwhile for the silly story/dialogue.
At about the same time, I heard the final episode of Telltale's game version of The Walking Dead was about to come out, so I've been catching up on those with the intent to finish the series.
I've only found time to play Episode 3 so far, but it was really good. My only gripe is an issue with save files that took me a few hours to figure out a work around for. Whoever is writing this is wonderfully depressing though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Yaxa
If you think the remake is grindy, be glad you never played the 8-bit original ;)
Oh the good old days, back before you had to fight every enemy to be strong enough to fight the boss, when you had to instead fight every enemy 12 times to be strong enough to fight the boss.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
I just got done playing To The Moon, a game that got a lot of praise a year ago for having a good story. I was skeptical, but needed a break from Guild Wars and wasn't sure what I was in the mood for, so picked it up off Steam.
It's an adventure game with very simple puzzles with the graphical style of an old 16-bit jrpg (sprites and text boxes basically). There isn't much gameplay, the entire 3 hour experience revolves around the story. Luckily the story is very good, and takes on issues most video games are not brave enough to attempt.
Without spoiling too much, it's about going backwards through a man's memories in order to find a way to fulfill his dying wish, which is to go to the moon. Why he wants such a thing is a mystery that is gradually resolved as you piece together events.
The dialogue can be a little hokey at times, but the story is touching, and more than a little sad. The atmosphere is littered with humor that help keep it from dragging too much, although some of it might be a little too silly for some's tastes. It fits the aesthetic in my opinion though.
If you care about stories in video games and are tired of saving the world, this is worth checking out.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
My gaming time is currently divided between The Secret World, Forza Horizon and Fallout: New Vegas.
In TSW I seem to be getting to the point where solo progression becomes impractical. May have to see about getting dungeon groups or starting PvP. Probably related to the fact that I wanted to build my own character rather than sticking to pre-made decks.
Forza Horizon really surprised me with what the developers managed to squeeze out of the 360. Reminds me a bit of the 'olden days'. This long cycle really forces developers to make do with what they have. My first racing game on the 360 was PGR4, and looking at the two side by side, you wouldn't even think it's the same system. I miss that :p
Finally, New Vegas. Ended up buying a UK key so I wouldn't have to deal with a shitty translated and censored version. But as much as I enjoy the game, what an unstable mess! The base game didn't seem all that reliable to begin with, but after adding a few mods (companions in particular. I don't really enjoy the combat so I added a bunch of those to take care of that for me :p), it's bordering on unplayable. Fast travel and entering buildings is a gamble (exiting seems less of a problem).
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Naean
The rate I chew through games, $15 a month for warcraft saves me all the other cash I'd waste $60 to $120 on a new game a couple times a month.
I felt the same way back when I played EQ exclusively, but I can't do that anymore. I simply get bored with just one game. No single MMO has enough variety.
Re: The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread
Yeah, every few weeks I think about picking up WOW again just to see the new stuff but the realization that it would set me back about $100 to do that turns me off. $15 sub, $30 for Mists and then another $50ish to get my Mage off of her old, crappy, server and back to a tolerable server.
