Author Topic: What are you playing?  (Read 692302 times)

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Offline azeke

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #325 on: February 16, 2014, 12:35:12 PM »
On a side note, the game really isn't that fun.
Granted i didn't actually played it myself and don't see myself ever paying EA for it but i really liked what i saw from Giant Bomb's footage.

It's fast like UT but doesn't seem like a endless slog of die-shoot-die-shoot-die like CoD seems to be.

Traversal options remind me of Unreal Tournament, of course UT had way more tricks -- like you could do double sidejump, then wall jump, then do another double jump off that. All the while shooting.
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Offline magicpixie

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #326 on: February 16, 2014, 01:58:11 PM »
Yeah, that's about my impressions, too.  I finally got my PC key and I played 4 matches.  The game is fine, but I doubt it would hold my attention for very long.  The game is best as a pilot, as the traversal system is actually pretty fun.  I really enjoyed playing cat and mouse with the mechs, and the system of wall-running makes it much more difficult for them to anticipate where you will attack from.  There were a few times when my mech would be ready, and I would ignore it because I was having way more fun playing on the ground.

Also, I refuse to call them anything but mechs.

Offline Oblivion

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #327 on: February 16, 2014, 02:22:29 PM »
Are they not called mechs in game?

Offline oohhboy

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #328 on: February 16, 2014, 02:28:26 PM »
Are they not called mechs in game?
Thats the joke.
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Offline BranDonk Kong

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #329 on: February 16, 2014, 02:33:17 PM »
I wonder what they call those things in the game TITAN fall. Jebus H Cripes. I guess having it "fast" like UT is necessary for a multiplayer-only game, but you just look stupid running and jumping with two hands on a pistol in front of you that shoots JFK-style magic bullets.
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Offline Oblivion

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #330 on: February 16, 2014, 04:08:27 PM »
No need to be an ass, Brandogg. It was an honest question, you could act like a decent person and either answer it or ignore it.

Offline Adrock

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #331 on: February 24, 2014, 12:36:14 AM »
The Last of Us
This is a really great movie I'm supposed to be playing...

The gameplay so far is pretty shallow: walk, hide, press the square button a bunch of times. The Last of Us does a lot in terms of advancing the cinematic element in games, but I also think that's exactly what's wrong with the industry these days. Games are far more focused on telling a story than being fun, instead of telling a story AND being fun or even just being fun. Maybe I'm just an old man at 29 and I just don't get modern video games. I cherish the gameplay parts more than anything else. I'm have some difficulty staying engaged when I feel like I'm barely doing anything interactive. I'm going to stick it out for now; I just hope it gets better (from what I hear, it does). If it doesn't, I'll probably just watch the cutscenes on youtube.

Also, a lot of "fucks" in the dialog. I use the word so it's not about being offended by it or anything like that, but I find it distracting when used excessively.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
I was hoping I'd like the art style more in person. I don't. It's an odd choice. Nintendo wanted to make a sequel to A Link to the Past, but the game doesn't capture the spirit of its predecessor. If they weren't going to match the look, I don't know why they didn't just go with the toon style. A Link Between Worlds looks so generic.

More importantly, the stages are a bit more confusing than A Link to the Past. I had some trouble knowing where I could even go as some paths in dungeons aren't especially clear. I found myself running in circles not knowing what to do. Maybe it's easier with 3D on (I always leave it off). Hyrule feels smaller, but that might just be because the view is zoomed in and Link runs faster. The sliding screen is clearly a throwback to A Link to the Past, but it makes less sense here because the map isn't split into a grid.

The game is a bit directionless. Fans have wanted less handholding, but this is perhaps overdoing it as there's barely any hint of where to go next. I'm supposed to collect two more pendants. I've just been running around, cutting grass/bushes, and collecting rupees since I have no idea where to go or what to do next. I think I need flippers, but I need the Pegasus Boots first. I happened upon the power glove and suddenly Ravio is selling **** out of my house. Sure, okay. There's no real indication that I was supposed to do that. Most Zelda games pick up after the whole collect-three-artifacts-then-watch-a-major-plot-point happens so I just need to soldier through until then.

The Master Sword was mentioned already (and Link is holding it in promo art) so I presume it shows up later and no longer sleeps forever. Nice, Nintendo. Really doing a bang up job adhering to that official timeline.

Offline azeke

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #332 on: February 24, 2014, 02:52:19 AM »
This is a really great movie I'm supposed to be playing...

The gameplay so far is pretty shallow: walk, hide, press the square button a bunch of times. The Last of Us does a lot in terms of advancing the cinematic element in games, but I also think that's exactly what's wrong with the industry these days. Games are far more focused on telling a story than being fun, instead of telling a story AND being fun or even just being fun. Maybe I'm just an old man at 29 and I just don't get modern video games. I cherish the gameplay parts more than anything else. I'm have some difficulty staying engaged when I feel like I'm barely doing anything interactive...
My main problem with this trend is that the people who do this kind of games and and people who consume and like it seemingly lost ability get emotion and satisfaction out of the gameplay itself as a process.

Gameplay for them is something you have to suffer through, a token lip service you OUGHT to have, means to the end to tell their pretentious story. It would be justifiable somewhat if at least their stories were any good, but nope, these stories would have got them F at most at middle school literary classes.

Developers don't know anymore how to make player feel empowered, except that to show him a pretty CGI movie when your avatara does something awesome and player is fed awesomeness through this surrogate.

Videogame is a dance, a waltz between player and a game/developer where one partner completely dominating the other just makes for a sour experience.

A few notes on what i've been playing.

La Mulana (Steam):
Beat Baphomet and Palenque. Baphomet was pretty hard, Palenque was very easy. It was funny that i remembered that both of them have one last trick they try as they're dying and i knew what i have to do to survive.

Now, i have one boss -- Tiamat, then short boss rush and then final boss. As i remember from first playthrough, Tiamat is the hardest boss in entire game, even harder than final boss. And considering final boss has almost ten final forms, you can imagine what a hell it was to beat Tiamat the first time...

Also, as i was looking up puzzle solutions that i forgot from last year, i found that there is some sizable speed running community around the game. The current record holder completed the game in less than two hours which very, very cool and totally doable by anyone actually, if one spends enough time with planning.

I don't think you even need to do any sequence breaking or resort to glitches because the game is already extremely non-linear.

Mega Man I:
Beat all robots which as i understand is not super hard. I do the same stupid routine with I and II -- i beat all nine robots then unlock Wily's levels and then stop for some reason and then a few months later i start over.

In 1, i am now stuck in the very first Wily level with the green flying platforms. It's kinda annoying that they're uncontrollable and when they don't align for you to jump on and progress though this hall level full of spikes. And then you just wait and wait for them to stand in a position and they never do...

Wonderful 101
Unlocked last 101st achievement, unlocked Kamiya and Bayonetta. It was cool.

Pikmin 2 (Wii version):
I just can't get over how great this game looks. Those rose petals, smoke, water and lens flare when rockets take off...

And the game itself is no slouch. You can argue if Pikmin is RTS or not but it definitely can get just as addicting. I stayed up to 4 am playing it. At Sunday night. Fully realizing i will have to be at work merely a few hours later. And even at work you can't help but to think about strategy and how you should tackle the next day.

I don't like how the only way to get white and purple pikmins is to go underground, get through a few floors, find flowers, and feed regular pikmin to flowers there. But it's not a huge deal and some floors have direct exits to surface so you don't have to go ALL the way down and kill the boss again to get out.

Dungeons themselves are kinda weird, timer stops there and you are saved after each floor (thank god, because some of them are so deep, nine floors or even more, seriously?) but you don't get reinforcements. So you need to enter with a lot of pikmins. And you need specific pikmins in your party too. More than once i found that i need white pikmin to progress or dig up treasure after i entered the dungeon.

Olimar's journal is weird and touching at the same time. One time you read how Olimar thinks about his family or how adults lose childish innocence of looking at starry sky and then he writes something goofy. And now as i unlocked "Sales pitch" where robot adds his commentary on top of Olimar's comments and they're just as amusing.

Interesting how treasures are actually grouped thematically and if you finish collecting it all in one theme, you upgrade some ability like stronger punch or better traction on ice.

I really liked how different enemies are. Not just "here is red monster, kill it with red pikmins, here blue monster kill it with blue pikmin". There is an enemy that is best to kill without any pikmin, just by yourself. There are enemies that don't harm your pikmin but actually upgrade them.

DoDonPachi DaiOuJou (MAME):
I've actually been playing this and other shmups on and off few a few months now.

They're actually amazing. I highly recommend anyone to try them out if you can (plan to get one of the Cave's 360 games soon). The feeling when you finish a level without dying and without using bombs is really something else. It's just so exhilarating when entire screen gets covered with bullets and yet you find openings, survive and destroy everything.

I also really like mechanic where mashing shoot button does one type of fire and and holding is something else like laser.

At first this seemed absolutely impossible and completely overwhelming visually but now i can totally do it and i am not even THAT good at videogames to be honest. Cave's shooters have a "heart" for a hitbox meaning that only the center pixel of your ship matters and you actually can be a little sloppy dodging things. It's very doable.

I also play a bit of Toaplan shooters, namely Truxton and they're much harder mainly because your entire ship is the hitbox and if anything touches like your wing you're dead. So you can't be sloppy at all. And while there are only like ten or so bullets on screen at a time dodging them is harder because they're faster and again larger hitbox.

Toaplan shooters also have that quirk that they don't have auto-fire button on purpose and you're supposed to mash button the entire time.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2014, 02:58:38 AM by azeke »
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Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #333 on: February 24, 2014, 04:46:47 AM »
This is a really great movie I'm supposed to be playing...

The gameplay so far is pretty shallow: walk, hide, press the square button a bunch of times. The Last of Us does a lot in terms of advancing the cinematic element in games, but I also think that's exactly what's wrong with the industry these days. Games are far more focused on telling a story than being fun, instead of telling a story AND being fun or even just being fun. Maybe I'm just an old man at 29 and I just don't get modern video games. I cherish the gameplay parts more than anything else. I'm have some difficulty staying engaged when I feel like I'm barely doing anything interactive...
My main problem with this trend is that the people who do this kind of games and and people who consume and like it seemingly lost ability get emotion and satisfaction out of the gameplay itself as a process.

Gameplay for them is something you have to suffer through, a token lip service you OUGHT to have, means to the end to tell their pretentious story. It would be justifiable somewhat if at least their stories were any good, but nope, these stories would have got them F at most at middle school literary classes.

Developers don't know anymore how to make player feel empowered, except that to show him a pretty CGI movie when your avatara does something awesome and player is fed awesomeness through this surrogate.

Videogame is a dance, a waltz between player and a game/developer where one partner completely dominating the other just makes for a sour experience.



Totally agree. Even some reviews that lauded TLOU had offhand comments like "sure, the game is completely mediocre, but it's got an Oscar-worthy story!" Even if that were true it would be a completely misguided way to design a video game. And as you said, the stories are terrible. TLOU's script it abysmal. I really think game journalism is the lowest form of entertainment journalism, which itself is famously a joke. Read a book, people, learn what actual good writing is. I think this whole topic was best summed up by a game developer giving an interview once who said something along the lines of "Games and narrative don't go together like peanut butter and chocolate. They go together like peanut butter and tuna fish."

Game!

Puzzle Agent:

Weird little Layton clone with an intentionally lo-fi look to it. I enjoyed the one Layton game I played, but the formula wore thin for me halfway through. Puzzle Agent avoids this problem by being 2-3 longs, and it felt like a refreshing trifle as a result. Some of the puzzles do a poor job of explaining what you're supposed to be doing, but the hint system is always there to belay frustration.

Offline Adrock

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #334 on: February 24, 2014, 07:44:23 AM »
Read a book, people, learn what actual good writing is. I think this whole topic was best summed up by a game developer giving an interview once who said something along the lines of "Games and narrative don't go together like peanut butter and chocolate. They go together like peanut butter and tuna fish."
I don't agree with this at all. Just because a book is printed and published doesn't mean it's good. The Da Vinci Code is well researched, but I wouldn't call it good writing. In fact, at that point, Dan Brown wrote two books with the same structure, including The Da Vinci Code's prequel, Angels and Demons (the other was Deception Point or something). I didn't even bother reading Brown's two follow-ups.

More apt to this discussion, I think you can have narrative in video games, but developers have to be smart about it. Super Metroid's story is pretty minimal and the development team made a lot of smart choices. The trick is to use gameplay as an impulse. Samus gets the strongest weapon in the game after the baby Metroid sacrifices itself. Who doesn't want to murder the **** out of Mother Brain at that point? Instead of watching the encounter, the developers hand the reigns over to the player. That's the difference between that scene in Super Metroid and that same scene all stylized in Other M. And brevity isn't necessarily the key to a successful game narrative. Rather, involving the player and making them feel that their actions matter is.

And no, quick time events do not count because they're very shallow attempts at player input. There's a scene at the beginning of The Last of Us where Joel kicks through a windshield except you have to press a button a few times. That's insulting to me as a player because Naughty Dog took that much longer for me to get to actual gameplay. Developers get so wrapped up in making movies that they seem to forget why they even have a job.

Offline MagicCow64

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #335 on: February 24, 2014, 03:39:58 PM »
Read a book, people, learn what actual good writing is. I think this whole topic was best summed up by a game developer giving an interview once who said something along the lines of "Games and narrative don't go together like peanut butter and chocolate. They go together like peanut butter and tuna fish."
I don't agree with this at all. Just because a book is printed and published doesn't mean it's good. The Da Vinci Code is well researched, but I wouldn't call it good writing. In fact, at that point, Dan Brown wrote two books with the same structure, including The Da Vinci Code's prequel, Angels and Demons (the other was Deception Point or something). I didn't even bother reading Brown's two follow-ups.

More apt to this discussion, I think you can have narrative in video games, but developers have to be smart about it. Super Metroid's story is pretty minimal and the development team made a lot of smart choices. The trick is to use gameplay as an impulse. Samus gets the strongest weapon in the game after the baby Metroid sacrifices itself. Who doesn't want to murder the **** out of Mother Brain at that point? Instead of watching the encounter, the developers hand the reigns over to the player. That's the difference between that scene in Super Metroid and that same scene all stylized in Other M. And brevity isn't necessarily the key to a successful game narrative. Rather, involving the player and making them feel that their actions matter is.

And no, quick time events do not count because they're very shallow attempts at player input. There's a scene at the beginning of The Last of Us where Joel kicks through a windshield except you have to press a button a few times. That's insulting to me as a player because Naughty Dog took that much longer for me to get to actual gameplay. Developers get so wrapped up in making movies that they seem to forget why they even have a job.

By "read a book" I meant "read a good book." I truly think that a lot of people praising modern day video game storytelling and saying things like AMC tv shows are the new Dickens probably haven't touched a literary novel outside of maybe having to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or The Scarlet Letter in high school.

I agree with you about Super Metroid, though; that's the type and weighting of narrative I care to see. Another good example I would site is Half Life 2. The story is fairly minimal and you rarely ever loose control. There's still that "walk along with your gun down as sometimes jabbers at you" thing that has gotten out of hand in recent years, but it's implemented well in HL2.

Offline Phil

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #336 on: February 24, 2014, 05:48:50 PM »
Horton Hears A Who has more depth and charm that the entirety of The Last of Us' story.  :cool;


Onto something more serious,


Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus - going to do my challenge mode run now


Kung Fu Rabbit - Liking this game. I thought it'd be over quickly, but there's more than meets the eye.


Yoshi's Island DS - Playing this in anticipation for Yoshi's New Island. I remember disliking the music when I originally played this game when it released, but I'm sort of finding myself humming along to many of the themes. That said, these new themes don't hold a candle to the SNES original. Also, this game is DARN HARD.


Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - My brother and I have made it halfway through World 3. Loving this game more than the original.
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Offline azeke

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #337 on: February 26, 2014, 01:26:34 AM »
A few updates from my last night:

Pacman Chamionship DX+ (Xbox 360):
I really like frantic and hyper nature of this game. Neon-styled visuals and effects also add to effect when you chomp down a line of hundreds of ghosts and suddenly speed up to twice the original speed.

It's kinda shame how little actual content game has. It's basically 7-8 maps and then bunch of time trials and other goal based challenges put on each map. But -- that's understandable -- not much you can do with Pacman without starting to change the main gameplay way too much.

Getting into top 5% of world leaderboard isn't super hard (i suspect it's because majority of players simply never bothered to go that far) but it still feels good. I got "S" on challenge where i have to collect 34 apples as fast as i can. After making sure i woke up as much ghosts as i can at the start to gain speed i got to 2:48 (original default time was 3:40 something).

It's stupid that apples are lined up in two rows on the left and right sides of the screen with separate counters so you can't just look there and immediately tell how much apples are left.

And i am still on the first map. I unlocked second map and but haven't started going at it. So completing everything will take me a while.

Mega Man I:
Beat Yellow Devil. I used emulator with save state right before his room to train for his attack pattern and memorize jumps sequence and now i can do it on first-second try starting from the beginning of the level.

Now i am facing some bubble machine -- it appears to be impervious to anything except blocks you throw with guts. Don't know exactly what i have to do here but will figure it out.
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Offline Pixelated Pixies

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #338 on: February 27, 2014, 02:13:07 AM »
Mario and Luigi: Dream Team

The opening 5 hours of this game have been very slow. I'm enjoying the aesthetic and there have been a few chuckles, but I really wish the complexity of the mechanics had been doled out quicker. The game clearly acknowledges that people might already have experience with the series, as evidenced by the fact that it allows you to skip certain tutorials, it's just a shame that Alphadream did not take this idea a step further by allowing experienced players to jump in at the deep end.

Seems like an enjoyable game though.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2014, 05:19:07 PM by Pixelated Pixies »
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Offline broodwars

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #339 on: February 27, 2014, 02:25:41 AM »
I am playing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, and apart from a handful of signposting issues and a couple bad stealth sections, I've just been loving this game. The move to a Metroid-style series of connected areas (dare I call it... :cool; ...a Metroidvania?  :P: ) really did wonders for improving the game's pacing while really ratcheting up the exploration aspect. As for the combat, I'm not sure there's a development team in the industry better at stressing the sheer physicality of combat than Mercury Steam. There's just something about how the game is animated and framed (along with the controller rumble) that makes attacks just feel like they have a real weight and power behind them, and it feels really good.  I'm also digging some of the stuff the game's doing with the story, particularly with how Dracula's Castle is more framed as a barely-held-together representation of Dracula's mind than a physical location. Previous Castlevania games have made reference to something like this before, but it's actually a major aspect of the game here.

So yeah, **** the reviews. Lords of Shadow 2 is a blast, IMO.
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Offline ymeegod

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #340 on: February 27, 2014, 07:30:07 AM »
"Mario and Luigi: Dream Team"

LoL, at the 40 hour mark myself and just entering the last stage--so far it's a lot better than M&L: Sticker Star but not as funny as M&L: Bowser's Castle.

The badge system works a bit to well, namely I upgraded it so I couldn't take damage for 18 total rounds :0 which only left the Gaint battles which were a pain because they focused on the tilt and touch functions of the 3DS.

Overall I'm enjoying the hell out of it and should be finished with it by lunch today.

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Offline Dan Laser

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #341 on: February 27, 2014, 05:05:22 PM »
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

I was stuck around the same place as you as well. I ended up just going to the hint guy just north of the village for help. I’m now past all that stuff and enjoying the game again!

You’re probably past it now, but if not: you don’t need the Pegasus boots, but you do need the flippers. To get the flippers you need to get to the Zora’s domain to the north east of the Witch’s house. Find the frog zora guy east of the witch’s house and merge with the wall to get to the other platform to the north. Keep moving north until you find the waterfall and run into the thief. Go inside to talk to the Zoras.

If you’re just trying to find the item for the Zoras, you buy the smooth stone back in the village from the guy sitting out on a carpet (usually just has a heart for sale). He’ll call you over telling you he has a new item when you get near. You don’t need to catch the thief guy.

Please ignore if not interested in the help...

I started Oracle of Seasons a while ago and I'm having the same problem of not know where to go. It's hard getting back into the game after putting it down for a while. I miss Navi!

Offline lolmonade

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #342 on: March 02, 2014, 10:01:08 PM »
Started-up The Last of Us on Friday.  Without trying to spoil anything, that damn prologue hit me much harder than it would have if I weren't a parent.  I don't find the gameplay particularly amazing, but I'm pulled into seeing what happens to these characters.

Offline ThomasO

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #343 on: March 04, 2014, 12:45:25 AM »
Finished Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, nearly 2 years after buying it. The story completely blew my mind. Will be getting the sequel once I drain some of my gaming backlog.

Offline Oblivion

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #344 on: March 04, 2014, 12:57:12 AM »
Started-up The Last of Us on Friday.  Without trying to spoil anything, that damn prologue hit me much harder than it would have if I weren't a parent.  I don't find the gameplay particularly amazing, but I'm pulled into seeing what happens to these characters.

Gotta disagree about what you think of the gameplay, but I look forward to see what you think about the story. Some advice: slow down. Walk through all non-combat moments in the game. It allows you to relax and explore the area better, and you might even set off new interactions between Joel, Ellie, and the various characters you meet on your journey. Even after a fight, I tend to look over the battlefield for secrets, supplies, and character moments that I might miss.

Oh, and turn off Listen Mode. It makes it a far better and more balanced game.

Finished Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, nearly 2 years after buying it. The story completely blew my mind. Will be getting the sequel once I drain some of my gaming backlog.

God, what I wouldn't give to experience that amazing game again. I think I played it... two years ago on vacation in Florida and loved every damn second of it. Have fun with the sequel!

Offline ejamer

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #345 on: March 04, 2014, 01:19:50 AM »
Finished Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, nearly 2 years after buying it. The story completely blew my mind. Will be getting the sequel once I drain some of my gaming backlog.


The second game is also well worth playing!


I think they improved gameplay in a lot of good ways, making the game a better overall experience. But the story isn't as twisted, which was a disappointment. (It's still pretty twisted mind you - just not as twisted.)
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Offline Oblivion

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #346 on: March 04, 2014, 01:25:18 AM »
Yeah, I felt like the lack of "gruesome-ness" and overall crazy awesome twists in the second game didn't make it as intense for me.


Don't get me wrong, I still loved the second one and I hope they get the third one off the ground, but the first one had this... magic that can't be replicated.
« Last Edit: March 04, 2014, 01:27:27 AM by Oblivion »

Offline lolmonade

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #347 on: March 04, 2014, 12:52:34 PM »
Started-up The Last of Us on Friday.  Without trying to spoil anything, that damn prologue hit me much harder than it would have if I weren't a parent.  I don't find the gameplay particularly amazing, but I'm pulled into seeing what happens to these characters.

Gotta disagree about what you think of the gameplay, but I look forward to see what you think about the story. Some advice: slow down. Walk through all non-combat moments in the game. It allows you to relax and explore the area better, and you might even set off new interactions between Joel, Ellie, and the various characters you meet on your journey. Even after a fight, I tend to look over the battlefield for secrets, supplies, and character moments that I might miss.

Oh, and turn off Listen Mode. It makes it a far better and more balanced game.

I just got to the point where you're teamed with Ellie, so I don't think I'm rushing.  Given that I'm this early in the game, I'm sure I haven't played long enough to get the nuances of the gameplay, so I'll reserve judgement on that.  Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely try to pace myself.
 
I'll post back with more thoughts once I've gotten a chance to play more this upcoming weekend.
 

Offline azeke

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #348 on: March 05, 2014, 02:09:13 AM »
Batman: Arkham City (Wii U):
I was stuck trying to enter police department because i thought i was supposed to do something with remote batarang. What i needed is to slide under the gate and because i played tutorial a long time ago i simply forgot about sliding.

Framerate is still bad and sometimes gets almost headache inducing.

Combat system is still meh and while it looks kinda fluid, it's very, very underdeveloped for something that makes for a bulk of the game. While counter move and cape move are instantaneous, dodge jump move is almost Monster Hunter slow (i.e. you have to commit to jumping two seconds before you will actually do the jump).

The whole system just doesn't gel with it's own parts and instead of clockwork mechanism of DMC/Bayo/W101 style games where each part of the combat fits right into it's own place, clicking with all others, in Arkham games we have a hulking shakey-wobbly Frankenstein monster of conflicting ideas.

It's still perfectly workable and gets enjoyable at spots.

Touch controls for switching weapons are stupid. They kinda sorta tried to design them so you could access them with your thumbs without changing the grip on gamepad, but it clearly doesn't work.

Open world looks like became the "go to" solution for publishers to inflate the longevity by throwing hundreds of their developer designing side-missions and putting random collectibles all the big map. At least Assassin's Creed has some variety to their missions. With Batman it's either beating dudes up or dealing with Riddler's BS, solving his puzzles. That's it.

It's more or less the same game as Asylum only a bit bigger. It's dumb, shallow but enjoyable enough, i might even go for 100%.

Oh and i loved what little i played with Catwoman, she plays especially like Spider-man with her whip. For some reason jumping with her across roofs makes my fear of videogame heights crop up every time despite mechanic being more or less identical to Batman's. Maybe it's because Batman looks more like a huge umoving jumbo jet while flying, while Catwoman swirls and rotates all the time.

Pikmin 2 (Wii version):
Stuck in the long, long underground cave. Lost most of my 100 crew to exploding monsters, purple and whites among them. And seemingly i still have more floors to clear. Not sure what i should do: try to soldier on or just give up and restart and collect all treasures all over again.

Also, Gatling Groink is the weirdest monster in the gamed filled with weird monsters. Just look at this:

Fish with legs. With fire spewing cannon for a mouth. And glass armour on it's face. Yeah.

Fire Emblem: Shadow dragon (DS):
Finally made some progress. Was stuck on one map where i was constantly losing someone.
Now i am at mission where Gharnef is chasing me. He's completely invincible so if he reaches anyone it will be instant death for this character. He chases me for a few turns and then just goes away.

At first i tried splitting my army on two groups: slow and fast and tried to lure Gharnef away from my vulnerable slow units. This didn't work.

Then i figured out that i don't HAVE to go into mission with ALL of my guys, so i just picked skeleton crew with my fastest guys (four pegas riders, Marth himself, very fast archer and merc). They're still slower than Gharnef, but at least they can run for a while until he gets bored chasing me and teleports away.
Winners don't hate and W101 rocks

Offline kbaker2002de

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Re: What are you playing?
« Reply #349 on: March 06, 2014, 12:31:54 AM »
Hey guys, I don't really come around here often...ok basically never.  I have had a login for several years and have like 5 posts to my name.  Anyway, just excited to have a board to come in and interact with other gamers.


So I have been playing Thief, the new rebooted game from Eidos.  I have played it for about 12-13 hours, I am 4 chapters into the game's story, and I have cleared about 6 different side missions and have 10 more on tap I can do before moving on to the next story.  I also have the Bank Heist mission that was part of my purchase.  This game has been getting a lot of crap in the press, but I am really liking it so far.  I don't have a lot of complaints about the story, and there is so much content, that if you should be able to find something you like.  I remember the original Thief: The Dark Project, and it is one of my favorite games of all time.  I think some of the hate on the game is that it is too linear compared to that game.  This game is going for a similar vibe to what they did in Deus Ex:HR and in a way with Tomb Raider.  Which is a kind of Open-Linear style of gameplay.  You are basically going to go from point A to point B to point C, but you do have a lot of hidden passages, alternate routes and options of how to deal with guards and such.  So far I think if you know that going in, you will be very happy with Thief.  I am very happy with it so far, and if you liked the original Thief and you liked Human Revoluion, I think you will be pleased with Thief, especially if you get a good deal on it.


Caveat, I am playing this on PC through Steam.  I have read the console versions have a lot of issues.
"I'm a powerful demonic force! I'm the harbinger of your doom! And the forces of darkness will applaud me as I STRIDE through the Gates of Hell carrying your head on a pike!!"

"Stride?"

"All right then ROLL! ROLL thought the gates of hell!
Must you take the fun out of everything?"