The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread

I just got done playing Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. It was good but not great. It was short, and I wasn't impressed by the difficulty. All the upteen million hitpoints everything had did was encourage you to cheese glyph unions and overpowered spells like ignis. (the low level fire spell)


I'm now starting Deus Ex. I never got into it back in the day, I think I've said before how intimidating that first island was to me. Too many things you could do, and I wanted to do them all. Well after however many years I finally got past that area. :p

Red Dead Redemption... close to finishing it, actually. Will then aim for 100% because the game is so awesome (I rarely try for 100% on games).

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Originally Posted by Wool

I'm now starting Deus Ex. I never got into it back in the day, I think I've said before how intimidating that first island was to me. Too many things you could do, and I wanted to do them all. Well after however many years I finally got past that area. :p

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If you haven't already, you might want to download an improved launcher. Fixes some graphics issues (like UI scaling) and adds proper widescreen support. Works with the Steam version as well.

Playing Vanguard, actually. Short run

doing dragon age, really fun

on the side i do a little street fighter and red dead redemption but im really in the mood for a good rpg so doing me some da hehe

I'm playing Deus Ex: Invisible War. It's not a bad game by any means, in fact it's a pretty dang good game. The problem is, it isn't as good a game as it's predecessor. I went into it expecting to like it more than the original. All the complaints that the game was too dumbed down sounded right up my alley, as my only complaint with the first game was that it was needlessly obtuse, and I tend to take hardcore fan opinion with a grain of salt (too zealous). I was wrong, the original is better.

The streamlining of the game isn't the problem though. I like passive biomods, I like the game remembering keycodes itself, etc etc. I'm iffy on the ammo thing, but I can let it slide. The problem isn't that they made everything too easy, it's that they made everything easier but didn't take that opportunity to provide more complexity elsewhere. The areas are all so small and contained, that it doesn't really feel like I am inhabiting a world. It's just a series of rooms. I've got a ton of biomod cannisters, but no reason to use them. Etcetera etcetera.

It doesn't help that the world is a little harder to swallow this time around. The first game took place in a dystopian future not far removed from what we have now. Thanks to the events of that game, and the background to the second one, the world should be in much worse shape, but technology has advanced ridiculously. The game also does a horrible job of presenting to the player just how different the world is now, it's all just casually mentioned on the side. The art style also sort of makes me think "what if Blizzard made Deus Ex". It isn't bad by any means, it just isn't as visually depressing as it probably should be.

Halfway through it now, I heard choice was supposed to be more meaningful in this one, but haven't seen much yet.

I indeed reached 100% on Red Dead Redemption, now contemplating to fill out some trophies of the multiplayer, or just let it be.

Meanwhile, I'm not really playing anything. Might soon finish off Uncharted, now that Uncharted 2 has gone Platinum... I really want that, but I also really want to finish pt1 first.

I'm currently playing Monkey Island 2 SE with a side of Blur on the 360.

I was originally going to play MI2 on the PC, but the revamped 360 control scheme is actually pretty nice. I was iffy about the advertised "direct control", but using separate sticks for moving Guybrush and the cursor actually feels more natural with a controller than a pure point & click interface. It's faster too.

Ah, I think I might pick that up. I'm an old fart, some nostalgia will do me good.

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Originally Posted by Ronaan

I indeed reached 100% on Red Dead Redemption, now contemplating to fill out some trophies of the multiplayer, or just let it be.

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I got to 100% as well and now i've just finished Splosion Man, am playing Shadow Complex, and I have Mass Effect 2, Red Steel 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 waiting for me.

Working on Mario Galaxy 2 right now, and picked up realMYST last week at a friends recommendation cause I was too young back in the day to enjoy it.

I'm finally getting around to Alan Wake which is damn good so far. Also been playing The Witcher when the wife wants the TV now that I have a PC that can run it. I'm pretty impressed with it.

I started Lego Harry Potter the other day and it turned out to be much more fun than I had expected. Spells really give the game a different feel compared to previous Lego games, and the boss fights are a nice change of pace too.

Looks like the unlocks are going to take a significant amount of replaying stages with different characters, though. I'll have to finish the game first to decide whether that's a good or a bad thing.

I've been playing LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 with my Fiancée and I have to agree with Yaxa on it being a lot of fun. Other than that I'm playing Alan Wake, which I'm loving! My Fiancée likes to watch me play games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and currently Alan Wake so I usually only play them when she's with me.

I'm finishing up my first play-through of Mass Effect 2 currently, which is the game I play in my own free time. I am SO into Mass Effect 2 that I purchased all available DLC (level wise) so that I wouldn't have finished the game last week ;)

Once I'm done with Mass Effect 2 - I might play DeathSpank as a "palette cleanser" for StarCraft 2.

Man, it's good to be a gamer right now! <3

I think PerfectLucky is like that guy in the PS3 commercial worrying that his girlfriend thinks Uncharted 2 is a movie.

Still playing DQIX, have about 70 hours on it and still not even close to bored. Definitely a must-have for RPG fans for the DS.

I finished Mass Effect 2 this past weekend, it was absolutely amazing. I've started DeathSpank on the PS3 and am about 50% or so done with it currently.

One of my best friends is playing DQIX right now and he's saying it's really good too. It's something I'll probably play at some point but right now my plate is pretty full of other games. I've purposefully put off starting anything "big" because of StarCraft 2's imminent release.

I just beat the final boss in DQ IX. Still tons and tons of stuff left to do. Gotta open up the advanced jobs and level them all on everybody to 99. 10 times if I want all the accolades. Seriously an awesome RPG. Great story, great action, great everything.

I got into the Medal of Honor multiplayer beta so I tried that out last night on 360. Very MW2 like, a little slower. Their netcode/lag is terrible though. I also dislike that you have a somewhat glowy outline from far away, even to the enemy. I think it's to reduce camping but it makes sniping suck.

Mini Ninjas is on sale (PS3), played the demo a while ago, figured €16 incl shipping couldn't hurt. Waiting for it to arrive.

I'm budget-gaming lately, heh.

Playing Secrets of Monkey Island, quite fun so far.

Still have a huge backlog of games that sit at 50%-80% completion, storywise. But I fear not, for there will be a winter sometime soon.

I'm not playing Shank yet, but after I read Joystiq's review and compared it to what IGN said about the game - I came to the determination that I will be playing it this weekend. Between a 4.5 out of 5 and a 7 out of 5 is a good place for a DLC game that really does peak my interests.

If you're interested in reading the Joystiq review, I've posted it here. The game is just oozing with style. Samurai Jack style! :D

I picked up Shank and am loving it. I'm also currently finishing up Alan Wake (Episode 6 right now) and both my Fiancee and I are loving that game. We also just got Metro 2033 and Singularity in the mail through GameFly so we started those this weekend also. Metro 2033 is missing some polish, especially when it comes to enemy physics, but overall is a nice rent-experience. Singularity is actually a LOT better then the reviews gave it credit for in my opinion. I started it this weekend and am loving the single player campaign. Where Darksiders was like Zelda in a lot of the "right" ways, Singularity is like Bioshock in the same ways. It's not a blatant ripoff but it has a similar feel that I enjoy. I'll keep this thread updated as I continue to progress through the single player campaign. Another solid rent - kind of wishing I would have picked it up when it was $40 and packaged with Prototype.

And of course, I'm still playing through StarCraft 2. Obsessing over trophies and playing many, many random custom games with friends. I should be finishing up my first campaign play-through within the next week or so, so I have the challenge maps to look forward too! Maybe I'll actually get good at that game sometime, then I can enjoy & win when I play. I already enjoy playing, it's just the winning that I need to work on :p.

And that's pretty much it - :D - finally starting to give my consoles some loving, again. I think they missed me.

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Originally Posted by PerfectLucky13

And of course, I'm still playing through StarCraft 2. Obsessing over trophies and playing many, many random custom games with friends.

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But not me :( I see how it is!

After finishing Lost Horizon (another mystery point & click adventures from the developers of the Secret Files games) I'm currently playing Metroid: Other M. In keeping with Wii tradition, it has some segments that make me want to throw the Wiimote at the nearest wall. Switching between third and first person mode does get old after a while, and occasionally frustrating (particularly during boss battles) as there's some lag involved. I actually enjoy the cutscenes even though the dialogues/monologues can be fairly cheese and the voice work is hit-and-miss. Other than that it's a very solid action platformer, and for a Wii game, a damn good looking one too. It's also one of the few Wii games that makes good use of the rear speakers in Pro Logic mode.

We will have our day! Trust me, I'm just not good enough to play with someone as awesomely talented at RTS games like you, but I will be ready soon!

The only thing I have time for nowadays is Plants vs Zombies :(

Castle Crashers - this game is pure win. Simple mechanics, lots of upgrading and leveling, and it regularly offers something new by giving you new character unlocks. I've already pitched it to some friends and they bought it, too. The multiplayer works as well as any I've seen.

Other times: Civilization: Revolutions (DS), Red Dead Redemption (PS3), and WoW

Finished Mini Ninjas a while ago, not playing a lot at all currently. But I did pop in Read Dead Redemption and try out the multiplayer for the first time ever, yesterday. It's better than I thought (to me, multiplayer = gankfest, usually).

Considering picking up Ratchet & Clank (Crack in Time) since it went platinum, waiting for GT5.

Well, after doing some math I found out that I'd actually make money by picking up Halo: REACH. So I did last night. See, I had $45 in Reward Zone Certificates from Best Buy and you get a $20 gift card if you buy the game there this week so I made $5 off of the deal.

Started playing it a little last night - pretty epic...I'm really excited to get more into it. Although I'm still currently playing StarCraft 2 on the PC and Singularity on my PS3. :rolleyes:

PC: Starcraft 2, Free to play LOTRO to try it out,

360: NCAA 11 and just got Halo: Reach

DS (when traveling for work): LoZ: Spirit Tracks

Next week when I head out on the ship, finishing up Mario Galaxy 2, bought Metroid Other M, and finally bought SC2 so I'll be playing single player campaign.

Also Civ Revolutions on my iPhone has inspired some hour long bathroom breaks!

Haven't had much time for video games lately, so I am still (!!!) playing Birth by Sleep. I'm not sure if I want to "review" it here, or in its own thread. Short version: best handheld Kingdom Hearts by far. Sort of a mix between the first two PS2 titles. Story isn't as good as KH1, but better than the ridiculous nonsense in KH2. Meanwhile, the gameplay is generally better than the clunky combat in KH1, but maybe not as fluid as KH2 (open to debate).

I also bought Mega Man 10 off of PSN on a sale they were having. So far I've only managed to beat it on easy, which is embarrassing. It doesn't just make the game easy, it makes it insultingly so. As if the mode only existed to make you feel bad for using it. I just don't seem to have the patience for old school nes difficulty that I used to. Now that I actually know the stages I think I might have an easier time, but first starting off normal was ridiculous.

Edit: Mega Man 10 is much more doable now that I've learned the levels and bosses. Huzzah.

After an old-school adventure binge (Broken Sword) I played through Machinarium, which I'd picked up during a sale but never got around to playing. Took the help of a walkthrough because I found some of the puzzles really obscure. Not a bad indie game, though. (Probably useless to say this here, but don't use ccleaner while playing Machinarium, it'll delete your savegames because the whole thing is Flash-based and uses the default flash folder for storage. Fortunately I was able to restore mine before they were gone for good.)

Currently messing around with Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS). Haven't really used the DS much lately. I never got into Dragon Quest IX, and the third Layton doesn't come out in Europe until the 22nd. Waiting for Arcania: Gothic 4 (PC) to arrive next Tuesday.

I've been thinking about getting Birth by Sleep, but I never played any of the previous Kingdom Hearts games (never had a PS2 and the DS spinoffs were supposed to be kind of bad). Can you still enjoy the game (and its story) without knowing any of the other games? I heard it's a prequel. How much does it spoil the other games (should they ever appear on PSN or something)?

As a preface to my answer, allow me to explain that the game is split off into three separate character story arcs. Each one is about 10-20 hours long depending on diligence and has it's own general theme. I've only completed two out of the three, so it's possible something may happen that changes my answer. I also obviously haven't gotten the ever present KH secret ending for this particular title, so don't know if it spoils anything.

So far the story stands almost completely on it's own, but is relatively simple. I like it, but because of it's fractured design, there isn't really much focus on the original material. Most of the intrigue (personally) has come from surmising what these events amount to in the later games. I would say it's slightly more enjoyable if you have played the previous games (mostly for character cameos in their younger selves), but stands alone just fine.

That's on the Square side of things, the fractured design actually makes the Disney stories kind of interesting, as each character experiences a different portion of each tale's story. Not dramatically so though, you will still mostly be playing for the button mashing and light vs dark melodrama.

P.S. The other spinoffs weren't bad, they just had flaws preventing them from being as good as the primary titles in the series. Typically the story in those games were poor, but the gameplay was good, or unique at the very least.

Sounds like I might give Birth by Sleep a try after all. Since Sony decided to remove backwards compatibility from the PS3 and I refuse to buy a PS2 at this time, I won't ever play the original Kingdom Hearts games unless Square ports them natively to the PS3 (which, I suppose, might actually happen, given the recent push for "HD" re-releases. But we all know how random Square is in their re-release "strategy").

Thanks for the explanations!

Bought Uncharted 2, it's Platinum and I've turned into a budget gamer.

Switched down the difficulty 1 level... damn, I suck at this game :(

It's still pretty fun though.

I am playing pirate omen at the monent and grand fantasia !.

i am new here glad to meet you all XD

I'm floundering for something to play.
I'm sustaining a minimal amount of WoW, and occasionally doing some MW2 multiplayer or Red Dead Redemption.
I'm looking for something a bit more hack-slash (PS3 or DS), but with character growth. It's out there, I just need to find it. Maybe it's time to crack open the most recent Ratchet/Clank game - it was a gift in July, and I haven't opened it yet. Hm.

DEMON'S SOULS.

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Originally Posted by Eamin

DEMON'S SOULS.

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Fuck that game is frustrating. Its like trying to solo in original EQ. Once you find a "trick" that works (i.e. class/item combination) you can dominate. In the meantime if you pick a shitty class, the game is hard as fucking hell until you get enough shit to play a class that works.

Demons Souls is for babies, he should totally play Rune Factory instead. Not only can you fight monsters, but you can plant and harvest crops too!! How epic is that!?! Also, in the newest one, your father is a sheep! lol.

Have you played Darksiders yet?

Gave RDR Zombie addon a shot... and found out it's not for me. I get swarmed too fast, ammo is scarce, meh.

Slowly progressing through Uncharted2 though. I still have problems aiming sometimes, but I'm slowly getting better.

I never had trouble with ammo, just be sure to constantly cycle the weapons you are using. Also, headshots are practically required, run away a lot, and don't fight more than you absolutely have to. It might help in the beginning to use the torch when there are only a few zombies nearby. During town sieges climb up on a roof. Tapping the fire button without aiming at close range works really well too, you either get an instead canned headshot, or you melee the closest zombie with your weapon (which usually amounts to the same thing).

I'm a sucker for adventures, so I grabbed Alternativa from Steam the other day.

I actually enjoyed the developer's previous game (Memento Mori) despite its weaknesses. Unfortunately, Alternativa has few redeeming qualities. On the technical side it's a major step backwards from Memento Mori's full 3D environments to pre-rendered 2D backgrounds with 3D characters on top. The game's premise could have made for an interesting story -- conspiracies within a dystopian, post-World War III world (but not a wasteland), divided into strict sectors (government, industrial, slums) and ruled by one united "State" and effectively controlled by two mega-corporations.

However, the designers failed to really make something of it. The writing is weak and plot turns range from eye-rollers to downright absurd. The puzzles are similarly disappointing. Often the solution will be extremely obvious, but your character won't execute it until you've gone through the requisite dialogues and item inspections. Other times you'll find yourself running back and forth repeatedly across empty scenes for items and dialogues. Yet others can only be solved by guessing. The game fails to tie up the majority of its sub-plots while also ending with yet more questions than you started out with. The website already mentions a possible sequel.

One "stand-out" feature is the fact that you can die if you don't watch your words carefully in dialogues or act too slowly in certain scenes. At the "low" difficulty setting you get an unlimited number of tries, while the "hard" setting restricts you to two attempts and also removes in-game hints.

The English translation and voice work are patchy (it's originally a Czech game). Occasionally, voices and subtitles don't match up, but those are usually minor cases ranging from oversights to (apparently) deliberate attempts to improve the translation.

Despite being a budget title I can't really recommend Alternativa. If you're a die-hard adventure fan looking for something you haven't already played a dozen times it's worth a look. Just don't expect a coherent story or good puzzle design.

Lich King attempts in WoW, otherwise not much. Work is mad, so it's fine that we're in a pre-expansion slump. I expect to play a bit more once the elemental invasion bosses are released.

I'm finally playing Resident Evil 5, after having it for I don't know how long. Well, I WAS playing it before Cataclysm. /grumbles

Something about this game annoys me, and it's not the AI. While the AI is dumb, it's not Gears of War dumb, and I don't feel like it's holding me back. It basically serves as a healbot and extra inventory (of course, personal inventory is ridiculously small).

The controls and camera bother the heck out of me. I never thought I would miss motion controls (RE4). I don't mind that RE5 isn't a full blown action game (although I could have swore people complained that it was), that lets you run and gun. I'm fine with a deliberate pacing, but they didn't really accomplish that very well. Lets ignore the fact that enemies run at you so fast that you aren't going to react fast enough unless you are already pointed at them. What I can't ignore is the ridiculous zoom when aiming.

The zoom + the slow turning ensures that I only see half of what I want to be shooting at, and the bullets don't go where you might expect either, so you might as well be shooting on faith. I cannot stand the enemies (such as dogs), that are either below or above your field of vision. There is no reliable melee move (the knife is garbage, with garbage controls and garbage range), and I can't see or aim that far down, so there isn't anything I can do once a dog closes on me.

The story and writing also suck, but I don't really care about that anyway. The one thing the game actually does well is make ammo matter. I've had a few instances in which I had to supress my natural tendancy to kill everything, and just escape. In Resident Evil 4 I never felt pressured to conserve ammo, but I have in this game. Of course, that was partially accomplished through bosses and minibosses that are apparently coded to require all your ammo -1 to kill. It's beyond ridiculous how many died on one of my last, preciously hoarded, bullets. (I'm looking at you mutalisk)

Every time I start to get into it and think "this game isn't so bad afterall", it pulls something new.

Cataclysm, of course.

The World Ends With You was a gift this holiday, so I'm trying it out. The mechanics are a bit frustrating, and it's rough to play laying down (i.e. in bed), but it's a clever method of playing a game. I'm starting to dig into it. I'm still near the beginning (ish).

COD: Black Ops has a decent story line, even if the b/w mission cut scenes are tedious. The multiplayer (console) is plagued by shitty shitty stinky farty servers run by Treyarch (or whoever). Nonetheless, I still give it a try periodically.

Bayonetta - Not normally my type of game, the demo caught my eye with the rampant destruction. The game was cheap enough to ask for xmas, but the eye-candy gets a little out of hand. Whatever.

I finished Red Dead Redemption (storyline) and skipped on the 100% complete. Also finished the more recent Ratchet and Clank recently - really good, easily as good as Tools of Destruction (but not better). I'm pondering what my next RPG on the PS3 will be - I don't seem to have a lot of options. Maybe a downloaded one?

I went on a "spending spree" this holiday season and picked up a bunch of games from Steam.

The FlatOut racing/derby series went from 4 bucks. The "ultimate carnage" game seems to be just a repackage/retexture of FO2... however, it is subsumed by the Windows Live crap, and I can't figure out for the life of me how to log in with my WL login... but no matter, because the game is a PITA to control using a keyboard. Even with that, I got a few hours of enjoyment out of it so it wasn't a total waste.

Picked up Plants vs. Zombies (4 bucks, Steam) to help my WoW quest abilities. It's funner than I remember it being when it was originally released. I got to the mid-40th level this morning.

Was given Super Mario All Stars Wii for Christmas, but that's still in the box.
I want to pick up Kirby's Epic Yarn.

Downloaded Angry Birds to my Pre... but I'm not impressed with it. There are flash-based cannon games on the web that are better IMO. I'd try it if it were an actual PC flash game, but it's too much of a battery hog for mobile playing.

Still poking at Burnout Paradise on my brother's X360 when he's not home. I'm enjoying it. I'd have picked it up off Steam for 15 bucks but there's kinda no point.

Haven't been Geocaching since late November.

getting into fallout 3
some reason i hated it for my pc but i dont mind it so much for the xbox

main gripe is there is a lot of menu and running back to town or a bed time hehe.

Baldur's Gate 1 for the first time.

I guess I'm not really understanding the appeal of it. Either I'm the worst player ever, or the game is kind of stupidly hard at the beginning because everything seems to be capable of 1-shotting me and my companions... which, well, isn't fun.

Questing (finding npcs + the whole journal interface) is annoying, too. :(

I had a hard time with Baldur's Gate myself. It took me over a year to beat it, because I kept getting bored and quitting, then coming back and trying again a few months later.

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Originally Posted by Matthias

Baldur's Gate 1 for the first time.

I guess I'm not really understanding the appeal of it. Either I'm the worst player ever, or the game is kind of stupidly hard at the beginning because everything seems to be capable of 1-shotting me and my companions... which, well, isn't fun.

Questing (finding npcs + the whole journal interface) is annoying, too. :(

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Baldur's Gate 1 was a flawed game. Most of the issues with it were fixed in Baldur's Gate 2, which is a far superior game imo. It's obviously very dated by today's standards, but it is the first game that actually did have serious character development in it beyond the main character.

Plus, Minsk is awesome. Now, what game was I playing recently that mentioned selling Space Hamsters...hmmm...Mass Effect 2 maybe?

Mass Effect 2 has space hamsters, yeah.

And Minsc keeps attacking me (?!) for taking too long to rescue his friend... while we're en route to rescuing her. I think I'm just gonna give up on BG1. ._.

Is your main character's alignment evil, or you have someone in your group who is? There are more recruitable characters than there are party slots. In those early PC rpg systems, they would not get along with each other if you mixed alignments too much.

I distinctly remember having a mix of good and evil characters in my party and then, completely out of the blue in the middle of a town, they all decided they needed to have a throw down until the opposing alignment was all dead. I remember being quite pissed that I didn't have enough charm available to stop them from massacring one another.

I got to try Arcana Heart 3 and the Umineko fighting game.

Umineko is confusing, but Beatrice's voice is so Sex.

Arcana Heart 3 is an improvement over the last one - although I really don't like fighting games where the majority of the cast are girls.

Otherwise - Blazblue and Dragon Age. I have a lot to say about dragon age come time.

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Originally Posted by Wool

Is your main character's alignment evil, or you have someone in your group who is? There are more recruitable characters than there are party slots. In those early PC rpg systems, they would not get along with each other if you mixed alignments too much.

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Oh, no; I'm a Lawful Good paladin.

Apparently Minsc goes crazy after x amount of days and attacks the party if you haven't rescued his friend by then. :(

I'm a firm believer in your party being as contentious as possible. I love it most when they hate each others' guts. (dragon Age, KOTOR2)

Still playing Civ. 5, but I've sprinkled in some DC Universe Online and Battlefield 2 of all games into the mix. Looks like we're going to have an every-two-months LAN party thing and BF2 and L4D2 are high in the rotation with the people who will be at the party. Just finished like my millionth play-through of Mass Effect 1 & 2 because I needed Ash dead, the collector base recovered, and Tali in my bed.

I'm (finally) playing Devil May Cry 4. Almost done too. It's pretty dang cool so far. Which surprised me, I don't remember what you guys thought of it back when I was asking for opinions, but the rest of the talk on the internet was about how bad it was. How lame the recycled bosses were for example. Unless you have to kill them all in order during the last boss fight, I fail to see the problem. It's fun, the boss fights are really well designed, and while the "wander around a castle and random stuff happens" plot device is still stupid, I like Nero and Kyrie's little story they have going on.

I unlocked Dante, and only have the last couple levels to go. Dante is way overpowered, but I think I liked Nero better. The arm thing was a lot of fun. Honestly it sort of feels like the whole game was about Nero, and this stuff with Dante is just the epilogue that shows how badass he is by effortlessly saving the day.


I'm also playing Valkyria 2, which is no where near as good as the first one. The maps are limited, the characters are all high school anime tropes, and the part of the plot that is legitmately interesting takes a back seat to nonsense. But it's still amazingly fun and addicting.

Got my ME2 PS3 save file up and running in preparation for ME3. Started playing Demon's Souls again for a bit, but I'm getting my ass absolutely stomped by Maneater on NG+. Just ordered Dead Space 2 (it's on sale for $40 on Amazon today, if you're interested), so I'll probably be playing that for a bit.

Mostly just waiting for DA2 to come out.

Bah it really did have one of those stupit boss gauntlets. Needless to say, I did not A or S rank that mission. Still awesome though.

RIFT beta, when avaliable. A bit of Magicka on the side, mostly trying (operative word, TRYING!!!! :angry:) to set up multiplayer games.

doing castlevania
the game puts god of war to shame hehe

also really addicted to netflicks on my x-box :)

I'm getting into ME2. Hope I'll be able to finish it off before the february 24th RIFT headstart.
Loving it so far :)

ME2 really is an amazing game. Have fun!

Beat Dead Space 2 the other day. What a great game. I didn't think I would like it nearly as much as I did.

Well, shortly after midnight, it'll be MVC3!

Still playing Radiant Historia, which I talked about in the February thread.

Much further into it, and I'm a little disappointed in the time traveling. I didn't expect it to be perfect, but I had my fingers crossed. I was hoping it would explore how much history would be different based on your actions, but instead they have a system in which choices in one timeline effect the others in ways that don't make temporal sense.

For example, let's say in one timeline you have a choice that could avert a war. In the other timeline you were never present to make that choice, so that war should occur regardless. But in this game you can go to that first timeline and avert the war, and then the war won't happen in the second timeline either. This makes NO sense and it's driving me crazy!

All the bad choices so far are also pretty obvious, and leave to a broken path game over/redo screen. This is fine, but I was hoping for a confusing web of multiple timelines based on every little action, instead there are just a few genuine branches.

The combat on the other hand is more fun than I was expecting. Fairly challenging as well, which is nice in a world where most DS games are so brain numbingly easy you could just mash the button while not even watching the screen and still win.

Friends have suckered me into League of Legends. Been enjoying it for the most part - other than the fact they're all level 30 with 100+ wins and I'm currently rocking level 10 with like 6 wins. So the match up place the scales all over the freaking place - sometimes it's so face rolly because friends are so experienced and I'm dragging the team's average rating down so much and getting put up with other genuine new comers. Then other times it matches us closer to people at or above my friend's skill level and I basically just run around dieing and giving the enemy free kills and gold.

Edit: It's good to know the league of legends community is just as vile, spiteful, and petty as the Defense of the Ancients community.

I've been playing Kingdom Hearts Re:coded on the DS. It's a fun little time killer, although at times it shows that it's a remake of an episodic cell phone game. Different stages not only have different themes (based on Disney movies, of course), but differ in gameplay mechanics as well. Aside from the typical action adventure 3D hack & slash, there are also shooter stages, sidescrolling platforming stages, and a world with turn-based RPG-like combat. Camera control borders on terrible, which can make some of the 3D platforming far more unforgiving than they should be. I'm currently nearing the end with just over 15 hours on the clock, which is far more than I expected giving the game's cell phone history. I haven't even taken advantage of the option of revisiting previous worlds.

I've been playing Dragon Age 1 for the reason of having a "good" save prepared for Dragon Age 2. I shall be sad if my Old God baby doesn't have some kind of effect. :(

I'm up to Awakening now, and hopefully i can beat it + the two DLCs in time for next Tuesday.

Right now, its the new Dawn of War 2 expansion.

Games I've played more than an hour in the last 2 weeks:

Back to the Future Episode 2
Magicka
Champion's Online
DCU Online (cancelled, the control scheme is still shitty)
Star Trek Online
WoW
Trainz 2010
X3: TC

Super Mario Galaxy
Kirby's Epic Yarn
(I've discovered there might be a problem with my TV, it's super blurry. Then again it is a 13-14 year old RCA. Which means no more Wii for a while.)

Final Fantasy IV DS (just finished the Tower of Babil first trip, heading to Eblan)
Radiant Historia. I'm only halfway through the first chapter but I completely agree with Wool's assessment of the illogical timeline interactions. Also, the fact that you MUST bounce between timelines, because if you "advance too far" in one thread, you end up getting squashed by mobs that hit you for 50% of your health in one swing.

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Originally Posted by Mileron

Radiant Historia. I'm only halfway through the first chapter but I completely agree with Wool's assessment of the illogical timeline interactions. Also, the fact that you MUST bounce between timelines, because if you "advance too far" in one thread, you end up getting squashed by mobs that hit you for 50% of your health in one swing.

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I was nodding my head sagely in agreement until this part. It's still correct in my experience, but for different reasons. I've appreciated the challenge, and have only come across a few areas that seemed ridiculous compared to my own power. You need to make good use of both turn changing and monster stacking to win some fights. Most DS rpgs you can smash your face against the buttons and still win, so I like this.

But as it turns out, your progress in any single timeline is still directly dependent on visiting the other. It's tied right up into the core of the design. And in that sense, ignoring the plot device of time travel, it's still a very linear rpg, and like most Japanese games, the choice is an illusion and there is only one right answer.

Having said that, I'm much further in (20 hours) and have gotten past my disappointment of what the game isn't, and am enjoying it a good bit now.

Edit: Out of curiosity, what is your primary timeline, Rosch or Heiss? It occurred to me that perhaps you are right, and the reason why I didn't notice it is because the levels of my chosen first path are more seamless than yours. In other words, maybe even in that first choice there is only one right answer.

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Originally Posted by Wool

I was nodding my head sagely in agreement until this part. It's still correct in my experience, but for different reasons. I've appreciated the challenge, and have only come across a few areas that seemed ridiculous compared to my own power. You need to make good use of both turn changing and monster stacking to win some fights. Most DS rpgs you can smash your face against the buttons and still win, so I like this.

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For example, at level 7, Marco has barely 120HP.
I ticked over to start Chapter 1, then backtracked in Alternate History to get the bomb merchant cleared up.
THen I popped back to Ch1 Standard and, after getting through the "wait for the agent" part, was going through the forest and the first mobs that I get attacked by not only stacked 4 turns above mine, but do some kind of double-swing that hits for 35+ each, or singles that hit for 65. So I think I advanced too far.

It's like FFIV - I knew the first time I played it, back in 1991, that upon getting the Airship and free-roaming, choosing to enter the Castle of Eblan would be full of monsters or traps that my barely-level-25 wouldn't be able to handle - but I managed to clear it with difficulty - but then the mobs in those chests were super-powerful ones that were stronger than bosses (to that point) since they were supposed to be dealt with 10+ levels later.

My complaint is more about a seeming jump in mob difficulty in what looked like a linear progression.

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But as it turns out, your progress in any single timeline is still directly dependent on visiting the other. It's tied right up into the core of the design. And in that sense, ignoring the plot device of time travel, it's still a very linear rpg, and like most Japanese games, the choice is an illusion and there is only one right answer.

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I realized this right after my latest death. So now I figure if I reach a major branch, I'll bounce to the other timeline and see if I can advance. Basically zig-zag across the board.

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Edit: Out of curiosity, what is your primary timeline, Rosch or Heiss? It occurred to me that perhaps you are right, and the reason why I didn't notice it is because the levels of my chosen first path are more seamless than yours. In other words, maybe even in that first choice there is only one right answer.

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I picked Rosch, because Heiss gave me the creeps.

Hmm, I went with Heiss first, I wanted to see what he was up to.

That might explain it. Or I might be avoiding less enemies. The game is a little bit tough though all around. There are only a few times in which I felt I didn't have to be on my guard.

I just got finished playing Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. I was very skeptical about this game going in, and even rolled my eyes quite a bit at first, but the more I played it, the more I appreciated it.

It's basically the DS equivalent of adding old text based PC adventure games and old point and click PC adventure games together. You read descriptions of rooms, dialogue, story, etc, make some choices, then end up in puzzle rooms and interact with the environment via stylus to discover the solution and escape.

The premise is that nine people get kidnapped and trapped on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, and only have nine hours to escape before the ship sinks and they drown. Each character is assigned a different number bracelet, of which they have to create the right combinations to get through each checkpoint door. If someone breaks the rules, the bracelet sets off a bomb in their stomach.

The puzzles are varied and interesting, there are multiple endings to discover, and the plot is full of crazy pseudoscience that can be quite amusing. I recommend it if any of this sounds the slightest bit interesting. I was skeptical going in, and now that I've discovered every ending and learned the whole truth behind what was going on, I have to admit it was pretty great, although a few quibbles have prevented my mind from being blown.

I finally finished Bayonetta today. Despite all the poo-poo'ing reviews, I really enjoyed the game, the style, and especially the music. The hyped sensuality is a nice touch, but it isn't some "fanboy joygasm" as some critics listed it. Of course some teenage boys are gonna tug a few to it - more power to them. As an adult, it was an interesting juxtaposition of scary "angels" against sexy, witty "demonic" witches.

The ending was fun, and I expect to play through it some more!

I finally found some time on sunday and tried to get back into Dragon Age Origins (yeah, part one... I'm slow like that).
Failed, got kicked around and beat up, frustrating experience.
Switched to Gran Turismo 5 ... racing games are my thing. Or so I thought. Got pwned, frustrated.
Switched to Ratchet & Clank. Made some progress. Ran out of time.
Now I want to buy NFS:Shift2Unleashed.
But I probably won't have time to play it. /sadface

Rift, mostly. Got my mage to 50, I'm levelling various other characters and PvP'ing my face off together with my son.
Dual assassin team, hoooooo! :grinyes: It may not be the most optimal, but we're having lots of fun.

Other than that, I started up ME2 again. Amazing game, I have to finish it in time for ME3 :)

Another play-through of goddamn Mass Effect 2, this time using President Obama's countenance as my Shepard. It's unendingly hilarious watching B-Rock utter Shepard's lines. I'm pretending Miranda is that Obama Girl from the viral video a couple years back.

When I'm not doing that I'm splitting time between Civ5 (800 hours played, JEEZ) and Unreal Tournament 2004, which is a nice change of pace. I've got Magicka and it's fun and my buddies want me to play it, but it's a bit unpolished so I'm not sure how that'll end up turning out.

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Another play-through of goddamn Mass Effect 2, this time using President Obama's countenance as my Shepard.

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That's Awesome...



Currently revisiting a 2 player play through of Borderlands with my brother - me as Roland, him as Mordecai.

When not doing that flying in Il2 1946.

anxiously awaiting Portal 2 and Il2 Cliffs of Dover - even though I'm hearing it's quite buggy.

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Originally Posted by Melcar

Currently revisiting a 2 player play through of Borderlands with my brother - me as Roland, him as Mordecai.

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I wish I could convince the wife to play this one, as it's basically an FPS WoW, but "gun FPS = No". /sigh

Currently I'm playing Rift, Magicka, and Dwarf Fortress.

Taking a break from newer games, I'm currently completing my second playthrough of an obscure little point & click adventure called Memento Mori. I wasn't particularly careful the first time I played it and ended up with the worst case of the game's multiple endings. It's nothing to write home about, but anyone who enjoys the more "serious" kind of adventure games will probably enjoy this one. It's crime/mystery-based. But I can't vouch for the English localization. The developer is Czech, so I have no idea which version is considered the "original".

Oddly enough, I've been playing Peggle again. I have it on the PS3, iPhone, and my computer (hooray!), as well as Peggle Nights! on my computer. I've finished the storyline, naturally, so I'm poking at the challenges. I'm getting pretty decent :D

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Originally Posted by Ronaan

Now I want to buy NFS:Shift2Unleashed.
But I probably won't have time to play it. /sadface

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Well, I bought it anyway, played a few times, and got my ass kicked. God damn the default controller settings are a joke.
The interwebs had some more playable settings, but it's still painfully hard.
And the guy who programmed the drift stuff should be crucified.

Super Meat Boy. Had it for awhile but have always been too cheap to buy a gamepad for my PC before now.

It's a pretty solid platformer with some very charming nostalgia. The bonus stages and cutscenes ape classic games from the 8 and 16 bit era. The difficulty is pretty great, in a ball breaking sort of way. I'm pretty sure I will beat it without too much effort, but competing all the bonus challenges is going to be impossible for me.

My only complaint is that the controls are a little loose. Not loose in a frustratingly sloppy code that results in you dieing for no reason sort of way, but loose in a "the game is very precise and every bit of pressure on the controls, and every timing of every jump, matters" sort of way. It's like the Street Fighter of platformers or something. Some of the jumps my fingers just won't do.

Not sure what's next. I just finished reading the Mistborn novels and have a slot open for a portable game, just haven't decided which random title in my backlog I feel like yet.

I did not much like Dragon Quest 4. DQ5 surprised me in being better than I expected and dashing some of my preconceptions that all DQ games are the same. DQ4 re-established those preconceptions. It was okay, but meh.

I'm now playing New Vegas and a niche Atlus game called Steal Princess, that I bought for the sole reason because it was made by the same guys that did Landstalker for the Genesis (I think). It's sort of a fantasy version of those old Lolo puzzle games. Interesting, with amusing characters, but overall it feels incredibly sloppy. I would be surprised if they could get away with this unpolished a game back during the Genesis days, let alone now. Even flash games have a higher standard.

Games like this are why I don't understand people who treat decent games with flaws as complete rubbish. It's like everyone has forgotten how bad a game can actually be. Oh well, I'll enjoy it for what it is. Hopefully briefly. :p

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Originally Posted by Wool

Games like this are why I don't understand people who treat decent games with flaws as complete rubbish. It's like everyone has forgotten how bad a game can actually be. Oh well, I'll enjoy it for what it is. Hopefully briefly. :p

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These days, it's hard to pick up a truly horrible game by accident, unless you actually try not to find out anything before purchasing. My guess is that the majority of today's active gamers weren't around at a time when it wasn't possible to instantly get tons of crowdsourced reviews and opinions. When cover art, the occasional gaming magazine review and actual word of mouth were the only things to base a purchasing decision on, it was far more likely to get a accidentally get a lemon.

Most of us probably made that experience during the 8/16-bit days. Most new players probably never did.

I've been working on DCS-A10C...

Finally got my controls setup more or less the way they need to be; I'm able to take off, land, deploy weapons on targets that don't shoot back. On targets that do shoot back, well, my tactics leave a little to be desired.

Been banging on LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean on my 3DS. The graphics on that thing are phenomenal.

Rift, mostly. Summer is fast approaching, so my gaming time goes down accordingly.

EQ 1 ! yes EVERQUEST !! @ Povar server ! since 1999 ! and don't plan on quiting .. c ya at norrath !

I was trying out Bioshock 2. I've had it since Christmas, but I never had the interest until recently. I probably won't finish it - the fights are tedious, relatively uninteresting. My wife jokes that it's the game of "wander around staring at the floor, looking for shit."

I picked Dead Nation and Super Stardust HD from the free PSN offerings. The others didn't really interest me. I suspect my next game will be a co-op something.

I also picked up Beyond Good and Evil from the Steam sale a few weeks ago. unfortunately, the graphics are really fucking buggy, so I don't have any interest in it.

Maybe I'm just waiting for something new...

I've been trying to decide on which game to pick up for a bit now. Got Infamous as one of my apology games, but I'm honestly not really enjoying it. I feel that the protagonist is underpowered at this point in the game, and a lot of the missions are pretty tedious.

I've narrowed it down to: Oblivion, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Portal 2, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and LA Noire. LA Noire is still a bit pricey, and I'm still not sold on Portal's gameplay. Batman is short, Castlevania has mediocre reviews, and I've tried to get into Oblivion several times to no avail. Might end up just getting Assassin's Creed.

I'm not sure Cole ever really gets as overpowered as characters usually do in these types of games. Although it looks like that changes in Infamous 2, unless all the trailers are using god mode or something.

I sort of feel like Batman: AA was the perfect length. Long enough to be interesting, but not so long it overstayed it's welcome. It might seem too short if you don't bother with the extras and just plow right through it, I suppose. Some of you guys do finish games ridiculously quickly though. I feel like a mother hen telling you to stop and chew your food.

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Originally Posted by Yttrium

I picked Dead Nation and Super Stardust HD from the free PSN offerings. The others didn't really interest me. I suspect my next game will be a co-op something.

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I'm going to pick these two as well. Although that's partially because I already had Infamous and LBP. :p I sure do wish PixelJunk Shooter 2 was one of the picks though.

Terraria (Steam Link)

I got it late Friday night. Over Saturday and Sunday I played 30 Hours according to Steam.

I haven't played a game this much since original Everquest. I've played mostly single player but a bunch of my friends from another game and I got together and took on a persistent server that one of them set up for part of one afternoon as well. I'm having a freaking blast. Good thing I cleared off the "Honey-Do" list earlier in the week. :P

It's a 2-D Exploration/Construction pseudo-RPG. There are no quests per se, but you can get better gear through crafting it or looting chests. There are mobs to kill, invasions, NPC vendors, you can build housing...

It's like someone crossed Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress but unlike the traditional minecraft elements such as swords, bows, and tools it also has things like space guns. grappling hooks, and lightsabers complete with sound effects.

For Single Player you choose a map size and it randomly generates that "world" for you (I recommend "small" for starters (It really isn't small) -- also don't be afraid to toss out a map and start a new one. Whatever you have in inventory stays with you. One of my friends got a map with almost no slimes spawning and you need the gel from them for torches. Another claims he's hardly seeing any iron but I think he's either mistaking it for stone or just getting unlucky in the spots he's digging in).

From there on in you can play and build/collect stuff. You can freely move to other worlds, including multi-player servers and whatever you have in your inventory and on your person stays with you. You can then shuttle things from multi-player back to your own worlds or vice versa.

The penalty for dying is that you lose half of the coin that you're carrying ON YOU so stash your coin in a chest when you're proceeding to new areas.

They've got a bunch of cool stuff planned for the next update and since they sold 200,000 copies in the first week, we'll probably be seeing updates for quite a while since it's a four-person game studio.

While I don't play many games anymore this is bar none the most fun I've had with a game in years.

For the first time in probably 2 decades, I am without game at the moment.

I quit EvE because the NC lost a war, which directly, and LITERALLY means that Russian Isk (Gold) sellers now control 70% of the fun, sandbox part of the game. And I decided I didn't want to be playing a game that is that completely screwed over.

I picked up oblivion for a few days/weeks, but I'd mostly finished the game (except for that whole "actual storyline of the game" part!), but I'm kinda "Meh'd" out on it.

I'm waiting for SW:ToR, but I'm considering not picking it up either, and just . . . stop gaming. It's been an interesting experience so far, I dunno how long it'll hold up though.

I've been playing The 3rd Birthday on and off. I'm kind of irritating that you're expected to grind in a shooter. Going through the same levels again and again to gain xp and weapon skills isn't particularly fun.