What game are you wasting time on?

[toro]

I need a game.

 

[sea]

Like Trash i thought the game looked kinda shitty both when I first played it and even when i came back to it a few years later with a monstah PC. It's not so much the plastic sheen-effect (which pales in comparison to the eye-fucking inflicted upon us by UE3 engine console ports), but rather the fact that something like 70% of the game is set in a warehouse, or an industrial district full of warehouses, or a municipal sewage plant that looks like a warehouse, or a factory that uses warehouse textures. Extraction Point has a similar problem. That said, I thought part of the problem was that Monolith were actually going for semi-realistic visuals, which are often extremely difficult to effectively translate to a video game (and will remain so for at least a decade, imo). The stark, sanitized textures of the research facility/hospital look equally bland - almost reminiscient of oBROvian's HDR-less elven ruins despite not actually being particularly low-res, as far as I can tell.

I actually like FEAR's environments - their layout and construction is done well and there's a nice contrast between the sterile labs and the grimy apartments you find yourself in. Lots of good clutter detail for the time too. I think if you put those art assets into a more modern engine with a more sophisticated lighting model, everything would look a lot better overall - the harsh stencil shadows and overly bright lights are just hard on the eyes.

Two things I did really like the look of - using the slow-motion power (better than FEAR 2 in terms of creating that feeling of coursing adrenaline) and the shockwaves from the explosions. I was rather upset those were both removed from the sequel.

 

[someone else]

I'm re-playing Icewind Dale right now, what a snore. Still, must complete.

 

[ironyuri]

Final fantasy tactics. I've been playing this shit for 14 years and I think it's my favourite game.

The key to understanding Serious_Business.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Well, Final Fantasy Tactics certainly IS a fun game, though.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Right now I'm re-playing Dragon Age 2.

First time around I played a male warrior and mainly picked the 'good' dialog choices. Now I'm playing a female rogue and I'm going for the smart-arse 'comedy' choices. I think after this I'll play a gay mage and go all hardcore, and make all my party members hate me.

 

[MetalCraze]

Being forced to build the 4th Reich

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Right now I'm re-playing Dragon Age 2.

First time around I played a male warrior and mainly picked the 'good' dialog choices. Now I'm playing a female rogue and I'm going for the smart-arse 'comedy' choices. I think after this I'll play a gay mage and go all hardcore, and make all my party members hate me.

Joke? please, tell me joke.

 

[mangsy]

Beat the Dead Money DLC this past weekend. I was really impressed with it (I've never encountered a worthwhile DLC before). Looking forward to trying Honest Hearts at some point.

I just finished Dead Money as well. While the gameplay started to drag a bit near the end (I can only take so much cautionary/stealthy play in one sitting), I found the writing to be some of Chris Avellone's best in years, if not right up there with Planescape. While the characters themselves aren't the most memorable, the way that their pasts, backstories, personality quirks etc. all coalesce into legitimate arcs which tie into the overall plot in very substantial ways really left me impressed. What seemed like just idle banter near the beginning for Dean Domino, for instance, ended up being something that in actuality spoke to the heart of his character, and little things like Elijah looking down on Super Mutants due to his Brotherhood background really made them feel like part of a larger world, and more importantly, they made sense as individual human beings. The entire thing ends with a great sense of finality and closure, and the way it both ties into the rest of the Fallout lore and sets up some of the additional new stuff like the Big Empty left me seriously impressed.

I honestly can't believe Dead Money was lambasted by the mainstream press, even if it's not the most "lolz fun" experience, it's one which I found eminently meaningful and will likely stick with me for some time. That they were able to get such excellent results from a relatively short DLC, all while not sticking to the Fallout formula is something that I greatly admire.

On Honest Hearts: it's fun, but more because of its exploration side. The Burned Man is neat, but other than that the rest of it is kind of stock-standard, and the main story is actually rather short and uneventful. It's definitely well below Dead Money, but it's still worth a play if you want more exploration-style gameplay. And, for what it's worth, the letters left behind by the Survivalist character are probably the closest thing Fallout's ever got to being genuinely poignant and emotionally moving.

I concur with regards to Dead Money's story. I can say - with all honesty - that it had the best writing I've seen in years, and the epilogue almost brought a tear to my eye. But jesus christ I absolutely despised the gameplay itself. Bullshit forced stealth/scavenging, the horribly designed latter bomb-collar sections (trial and error fuck yeah) environments completely lacking in character, the dissapointingly linear casino etc etc. No way in hell would I want to play through it again.

Honest Hearts was just...passable? There was nothing remarkably good nor bad about it. I wouldn't say it was boring, though nor was it inspiring or exciting at any point. The pacing wasn't particularly good with the opening ambush being more thrilling than the rest of the quests combined. Sans Joshua Graham I would've called it mediocre.

Just noticed these posts. I feel the same as you guys wrt the writing--it was phenomenal. I also really liked the atmosphere of the casino and surrounding areas. I'm a fan of survival horror type games, and Dead Money unexpectedly did a pretty good job in that direction (especially in the beginning). It was challenging to boot, because I went in as a character unskilled at melee and sneak (and I forced myself to use only melee weapons for the duration of the DLC).

I finished Honest Hearts last weekend. That was (mostly) a big meh. The environments were colorful and nice, but the story/characters didn't do anything for me, and the gameplay was nothing new. I concur about the Survilvalist character though. Compelling and well-executed.

ETA: The ending slides for Dead Money have me really pumped to explore the Big Empty and meet this courier at the Divide! Hoping those new DLCs deliver.

 

[zool]

Been splitting my playtime between The Witcher (first playthrough) and Crusader Kings. I'm slowly slogging through the former but the more I go on, the more I realize I'm forcing myself to play it. It's not terribad, but it's just not that good.

On the other hand, Crusader Kings is still pure awesome fun. I'm in 1165 and about to take over through inheritance the Kingdom of Brittany (I started as a Breton count) while watching what happens in the rest of Europe: the HRE is once again in civil war - though it held out pretty well so far, the Spanish christian kingdoms have been eliminated, France and Britain just signed a white peace after 10 years of conflict which left both kingdoms in shambles, Denmark just lost five consecutive kings to the bubonic plague (although it is receding now), Poland and Hungary are stable, and the Byzantine Empire has vanquished the Seldjukids and the Fatimids (which were weakened by relentless Western crusading) and taken Jerusalem.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Right now I'm re-playing Dragon Age 2.

First time around I played a male warrior and mainly picked the 'good' dialog choices. Now I'm playing a female rogue and I'm going for the smart-arse 'comedy' choices. I think after this I'll play a gay mage and go all hardcore, and make all my party members hate me.

Joke? please, tell me joke.

Hahaha, I was wondering who would bite.

Seriously, DA 2 is worth playing through a few times just to see all the dialogue. Some of it is really terrible (like the Merrill and the Isabella stuff) but most is just dull (like Anders and Fenris), but the way it is so painfully delivered usually brings a smile to my face. That and being a psychotic bastard, which is one thing Bioware do well.

 

[MetalCraze]

Only when playing with the right bros. Otherwise it's grindy like Minecraft.

Bros told me shut the fuck up Skyway let's play Terraria and so we played.


It's actually better than Minecraft in that there are randomly generated towers with treasures on flying islands, undead attacks during the rising of red moon which is very Diablo'ish (the more people are online the more monsters spawn), bosses (I was told that there are some, but haven't seen them yet) and also NPCs that come to your house and supply you with stuff for money. Basically more reasons to play it than Minecraft.

Lacks 3D though.

But as I've said gotta play it with bros but not too much otherwise it gets boring. Wouldn't pay for it though.

If Terraria actually had an "intelligent" enemy that would also dig and build akin to Dungeon Keeper (only better obviously) the game would've been p. cool as it seriously lacks the Goal if you know what I mean

 

[MetalCraze]

Another good thing about it is that it lets you use your character with all its items on any server you want.

Don't remember Minecraft having that - but maybe I'm mistaken

 

[Sceptic]

I just had the most bizarre feeling in a very long time.

So, I've been calling the Conquest games from Sierra, well, the Conquest games. Conquest of Camelot. Conquest of the Longbow.

Today I was reading some article somewhere on the net about Longbow, and for some reason they called it Conquests of the Longbow. My inner went "it's Conquest you fags"... and then I saw the bright nice screenshot next to it.

Nonono of course not. Must be a photoshop. Here, I'll just quickly check the manual and even run the games...

...

...



That little plural "s"? I failed to noticed for TWENTY-TWO FUCKING YEARS.

I feel really weird



Anyway, on topic - (re-)playing Companions of Xanth, adventure game circa 1993 and Legend's first foray into graphical adventures (they had spent the last 4 years or so making excellent text games). It's a little better than I remember it (I remember it being quite bad) but still not that good.

 

[Jaesun]

snip...

I loaded up Champions of Krynn, which indecently has a Roland LAPC1 MIDI music option

I had forgotten how bad you can get horribly horribly RAPED in this game.... Jebus I miss this in a cRPG.

Alas... the good old days...

 

[Mangoose]

Global Agenda... It's like TF2 with jumppacks, and the maps do have good design with z-axis freedom. I've never played any of the Tribes games so I can't make an elitist opinion about this game.

 

[Metro]

I've actually run out of stuff to play and I'm jonesing for the Steam sale. I only managed to get about 40ish hours out of New Vegas that I picked up for $10 a week ago... guess I shouldn't be surprised it didn't hold my attention for long.

 

[Erebus]

I loaded up Champions of Krynn, which indecently has a Roland LAPC1 MIDI music option

I had forgotten how bad you can get horribly horribly RAPED in this game....

I remember my party being repeatedly slaughtered by the welcoming committee in the very first city. And it gets even more brutal after that, since low-level PCs have horrible saving throws. A single priest casting "Hold Person" would often take out of the fight half of my party...

I didn't find the game as difficult when I re-played it last year, although I certainly wouldn't call it easy. I think the fucking death knight is probably the most difficult fight of the game.

 

[Metro]

Doesn't he have delayed blast fireball? Yeah, he's brutal.

 

[Erebus]

Doesn't he have delayed blast fireball? Yeah, he's brutal.

He has some sort of fireball, but the main problems are that he's pretty much immune to magic and has an extremely effective fear aura.

 

[pipka]

Hands are itching for DK1 goodness. With keeperfx it runs better than DK2.

 

[Sceptic]

Finished Timequest, a very, very awesome adventure game made by Legend (their second game, and the first founder Bob Bates made for the company). Time travel adventures are rare enough, but this one pulls it off so well it's impressive. The ostensible goal is to go around timespaces correcting then historical anachronisms introduced by a rogue agent then tracking down the agent himself. The game features a grand total of FIFTY space/time combination of locations, spread over 9 years and 6 cities (some combinations are unavailable), and there is at least one thing of interest in each. Unlike any other adventure I've played, ALL fifty locations are available from the get-go - the game is completely nonlinear, and while some timespaces are linked into a chain, you still have a lot of freedom to go where (and when!) you want, and most puzzles can be done in any order. The grand finale is also brilliant, involving a very clever (and very exciting) time-loop puzzle, followed by a very satisfying, almost bittersweet ending. Bizarrely, it's Legend's least known game, but if you like their early text-graphics combination games it is a must play.

 

[shihonage]

Oh, you mean playing?

None.

EDIT: (thanks to Excidium's comment below)

 

[Excidium]

Why do you use 'R's for walls?

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

X-Com1