What are you playing?

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

I hate Sigma. I would not have thought the second phase would be something I'd eventually find pedestrian, but in time it became an easy part of this, because that fucking third phase is nasty. After enough deaths, I stopped freaking out, by the I-don't-know'th or so try I began moving more slowly, watching all the different functions, and then I at least beat him.

That ending monologue sure is angsty :p.

Now I'm wondering if I should bother with Zero series. But at least I beat Sigma without abusing restore points.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

fade said:
I beat the original half-life and moved on to half-life 2. I never played them before, but I bought valve complete in the summer sale. The second game is about half as hard as the first, but that seems par for the course with video games. In 5 years, I think they'll play themselves.

In any case, do they ever, you know, tell you what's going on in 2? I woke up, met up with some familiar faces, did some cool stuff on an airboat, and I still know nothing. I can assume of course that Breen used the extradimensional beings to take over the world or vice versa. But now Vortigaunts seem to be good and capable of speech? I hope there's an in-game exposition at some point.
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There isn't that much exposition, most of the plot has to be gleaned from clues in the environment. You say you've gotten the airboat, have you reached the end of the airboat level? If so, look around the lab (particularly the bulletin board) for some more clues. Talking to Vortigaunts will also give clues. Finally, there's a bit more exposition near the end, although it also throws up way more questions.

If you want the whole backstory spoiled though:

HL2 takes place approximately 20 years after HL1. The resonance cascade in HL1 created what were known as Portal Storms throughout the world. These Portal Storms allowed alien fauna from Xen (headcrabs, bullsquids, antlions etc) to invade Earth, devastating Earth's ecology. The humans, in order to survive the invasion of alien creatures, moved from rural areas into the cities, and fortified the cities' borders, thus establishing a degree of relative safety. Humanity was actually aided by the Vortigaunts here, because the Vortigaunts from HL1 were slaves of the Nihilanth (the giant petal-headed baby at the end). If you recall in HL1, the Vortigaunts you see wear collars and manacles, indicating their enslaved status. They don't have them in HL2, apart from the rare still-enslaved Vortigaunt you see every now and then. (One example is the Vortigaunt way back in the beginning of the game, sweeping the floor in the train station) Out of gratitude for their freedom, the Vortigaunts threw their lot in with the humans.

However, the Portal Storms also drew the attention of an interdimensional empire known as the Universal Union, aka the Combine. The Combine used their own portal technology to invade Earth, teleporting entire citadels into the middle of the fortified human cities. The cities were garrisoned to repel threats from outside, and were virtually defenseless when they were attacked from within. Combine synths such as Striders and Gunships, as well as massive amounts of infantry, poured out of the citadels and were able to destroy all of Earth's militaries in just seven hours. This event is known as the Seven Hour War. After seven hours, the administrator of Black Mesa, Wallace Breen, was able to contact the Combine and negotiate Earth's surrender. Earth would become a Combine world, overseen by Breen, and the Combine would be allowed to drain Earth's resources however they saw fit. (You may have noticed the river's water levels have fallen dramatically, during your airboat ride)

There is one mysterious player, however, who may yet throw a wrench into the Combine's operations. For reasons unknown (although more is revealed in later games), the G-man decided to rescue Freeman from Black Mesa, and unleash him upon the Combine. What does he hope to accomplish? Let's find out.

EDIT: Also, if you think HL2 isn't that hard yet, just wait til you get to Nova Prospekt.
 
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Null

Null

Finally got past the 25% completion level for GT4, which means I can start doing the endurance races and getting some of the mega-cars. Already did the Nurbergring 4 hour and got the Chapparal 2D race car '67, which I plan to use for the American GT series. Also, found an even better money grind - the Schwarzwald Liga B. 5 races, 10k each, and win a Mercedes AMG touring car that you can sell for 371k. That's $420,000 for maybe 30 minutes of playing. My car of choice is the astonishingly excellent BMW M5 '05. It's 499 stock horsepower are quickly tuned to a searing 725 hp, that with racing suspension, all the custom fittings, and stage 3 weight reduction, handles like a dream. Set the transmission to setting 7 and watch it lap the field on the Nurbergring - faster through the corners and able to hit 170 on the long straightaway.

Likewise, in Gran Turismo 6 we have the MacLaren F1 Stealth, which John and I bought to use in the IB championship series. 2 wins and 3 second place finishes to the Ferrari FXX resulted in a 2nd place finish, but on each track I was able to beat a pair of Bugatti Veyrons by 15-25 seconds. The final race I only lost by 1.5 seconds due to a spin-out on the 2nd lap that I never quite made up. The MacLaren was a virtual steal at $1,125,000 for the level of performance you get. The way it brakes, corners, and accelerates are almost cartoonish. During the race, it made the Veyrons look like wallowing pigs. Each time I went to pass them it was like, "Get out of my fucking way you fat-assed Volkswagen!" Most of the time if I could reach the FXX I could pass it, but since it usually started in the top 3 (behind the Veyrons) and I started in 11th, it often had a tremendous lead that I could not overcome.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Frank said:
Yeah, gonna wait till it's done. I don't beta sheeeeit.
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I'm not comfortable admitting how much money I kickstarted into this thing.

I'm now pot committed to playing the beta, since it was one of the reward tiers.

So far... it's pretty good. It feels like it's straight out of the baldur's gate era.
 
Terrik

Terrik

Ok, I just finished Fire Emblem Awakening with 45:31:01 on the clock. Not bad--would recommend. I DO...kinda...wanna play through it again. Hrm.

But then again, I wouldnt mind trying something new for a while either. What other great 3Ds games are out there?
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Terrik said:
Ok, I just finished Fire Emblem Awakening with 45:31:01 on the clock. Not bad--would recommend. I DO...kinda...wanna play through it again. Hrm.

But then again, I wouldnt mind trying something new for a while either. What other great 3Ds games are out there?
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If you like old school JRPGs, pick up Bravely Default.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Terrik said:
Ok, I just finished Fire Emblem Awakening with 45:31:01 on the clock. Not bad--would recommend. I DO...kinda...wanna play through it again. Hrm.
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It's entirely normal to immediately want to play through Fire Emblem: Awakening again after finishing it. I don't know why. Probably to see more character conversations, try different job and team set-ups, or maybe just because that climax and ending were so beautiful that people just want to feel the journey happen again and culminate in that moment.

But then again, I wouldnt mind trying something new for a while either. What other great 3Ds games are out there?
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Depends on what kind of game you're looking for. Shovel Knight is good, but you may have played that on PC already, and even then it's really not a long game. I think Kid Icarus: Uprising is a great 3DS game--two fun styles of combat each mission, hilarious dialogue, and probably the best multi-player on the 3DS outside Mario Kart 7. It was made by the same guy who makes the Smash Bros games. However, the controls take some getting used to. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor is a neat blend of tactical RPG + traditional JRPG + monster gather game. It's a bit challenging at times, though there is an easy mode. Story's pretty good, though the game is long. Shin Megami Tensei IV, good traditional JRPG + monster stuff, can get pretty difficult at the beginning, but it's got a good story and fun gameplay. It's even longer than Devil Survivor though, a first playthrough is likely to be 80+ hours.

Those are some of my big ones. Azure Striker Gunvolt is coming out in two weeks and it looks great if you're into 2D sidescroller shooter-ish stuff developed by Keiji Inafune.

Of course, the one I'd recommend above the rest is Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, but I'm certain if you have a 3DS you've already bought and 100%'d that :p.

AshburnerX said:
Project X Zone
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You didn't find this one kind of boring? After great tactical RPGs on the 3DS like Fire Emblem and Devil Survivor, this one kind of seemed to play itself. The battles are long, but repetitive; everyone's doing pretty much the same thing.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Zero Esc said:
You didn't find this one kind of boring? After great tactical RPGs on the 3DS like Fire Emblem and Devil Survivor, this one kind of seemed to play itself. The battles are long, but repetitive; everyone's doing pretty much the same thing.
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Project X Zone is for nerding out over. It's not the best strategy game but it's definitely fun.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

Captain's Diary - Day 1

This was a most unexpected change in course for me. In recent times, I have not had journeyed into the vastness of triple A gaming. I was content with my brief travels in small, quiet, independent towns like Plague Inc, Papers Please, and Don't Starve. Ah, but the siren's call for modern graphics, large worlds to explore, and playing times that dwarf indie games was far too tempting. In my deliberations, I decided upon a game released last year that very well received. Even the dread pirate Yahtzee enjoyed this tale of stabbing and skulduggery. Additionally, I recalled pleasant times in my youth playing Sid Meier's Pirates, adventures of which I'm not ashamed to say stole much of my time back in the day.

After a long and arduous trek through update downloading, installations, and accursed uPlay registration, I was met with an incredibly long loading screen that lasted far too long. I will admit to nearly being dissuaded from even bothering to play the game at all. I was, after all, used to quick and easy downloads, installs, and quick but small games to jump right into. Would this several hour waiting be worth it, I wondered to myself with growing frustration and anguish.

All anguish was extinguished the moment I finally took hold of my burning ship's wheel. At first, the controls were sluggish and confusing, but I did manage to sink one or two vessels as a reward for my patience. It was a brief battle, as I was whisked away to a small island in which my character stumbled upon a man wearing the game's titular assassin's garb. Strange that the makers of this game felt the need to force the assassin aspect into a pirate game when it could have easily stood on its own as a new, exciting property. Still, I was excited to finally set sail for the seas...only to be forced into an unnecessary modern setting in which upon the Assassin's Creed series feels it must partake in.

"Just give me my pirate adventure!" I pleaded to the video game gods. My pleas fell on deaf ears, but fortunately, that brief journey into the modern setting was brief. I found myself in Havana, whereupon I admit with some shame to enjoying its sights for too long as I ran about from street to rooftop, collecting various items and discovering every vantage point. The missions were thankfully brief, but enjoyable, but throughout it, I continued to wonder where this would turn into the seafaring adventure I had been promised.

Finally - finally - after pulling myself through some more missions, I was on the high seas! My men sang a sea shanty or two that I had collected in Havana. I explored some small croppings of land and an island in order to hunt some animals. That was when I looked at the time and realized it was half past four in the morn. With deep regret and weary eyes, I turned off the game and laid down to rest.
 
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ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Assassin's Creed IV: The Black Flag

Captain's Diary - Day 2

Bedridden from a cold and the pink eye, I chose nearly a full day of looting, plundering, and pillaging. There's something incredibly engrossing about sailing on the high seas while my sang sea shanty after sea shanty. Not to mention my Quartermaster shouting orders to the men as you rose or lowered sails. It was exhilarating to pull an enemy ship close to mine and swing from a rope onto their deck for some swashbuckling. Many ship battles were rip-roaring excitement as I attacked my target from all sides.

I spend much time exploring small islands and small towns - certainly towns that were only a tenth or twentieth of Havana. Much enjoyable time was spent finding all vantage points and nabbing what collectables I could find or had the patience to find.

Most of the missions were enjoyable, although one was infuriating, as I was asked to not attack but shadow and follow a giant ship in a storm. I went to sea in order to avoid insipid shadowing missions!

I'm still confused why Ubisoft chose to tie this in with the assassin's mythos, as that aspect is almost unnecessarily forced. They could have made a pirate version of the great western game, Red Dead Redemption, where it's completely steeped within the pirate mythos and only the pirate mythos.

Still, this journey through plundering, swashbuckling, and skulduggery has been greatly enjoyable.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
That's what every review of AC4 has told me. "We love the pirate parts! We kept trying to rush through the assassin parts because we wanted to get back to piracy."
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

GasBandit said:
That's what every review of AC4 has told me. "We love the pirate parts! We kept trying to rush through the assassin parts because we wanted to get back to piracy."
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Same here, and that's why I haven't bought it yet. I'm tired of Assassin's Creed, would love a game that was just the AC3 ship stuff. This sounds like much of that, but I don't know how much of my time I want to waste trying to get to the good stuff.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

GasBandit said:
That's what every review of AC4 has told me. "We love the pirate parts! We kept trying to rush through the assassin parts because we wanted to get back to piracy."
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To be fair, the assassin stuff is so minimal in comparison, it doesn't really ruin the overall experience. It just feels really forced in there when it would've been easier to take it out and make it a standalone pirate game.
 
Terrik

Terrik

Zero Esc said:
It's entirely normal to immediately want to play through Fire Emblem: Awakening again after finishing it. I don't know why. Probably to see more character conversations, try different job and team set-ups, or maybe just because that climax and ending were so beautiful that people just want to feel the journey happen again and culminate in that moment.



Depends on what kind of game you're looking for. Shovel Knight is good, but you may have played that on PC already, and even then it's really not a long game. I think Kid Icarus: Uprising is a great 3DS game--two fun styles of combat each mission, hilarious dialogue, and probably the best multi-player on the 3DS outside Mario Kart 7. It was made by the same guy who makes the Smash Bros games. However, the controls take some getting used to. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor is a neat blend of tactical RPG + traditional JRPG + monster gather game. It's a bit challenging at times, though there is an easy mode. Story's pretty good, though the game is long. Shin Megami Tensei IV, good traditional JRPG + monster stuff, can get pretty difficult at the beginning, but it's got a good story and fun gameplay. It's even longer than Devil Survivor though, a first playthrough is likely to be 80+ hours.

Those are some of my big ones. Azure Striker Gunvolt is coming out in two weeks and it looks great if you're into 2D sidescroller shooter-ish stuff developed by Keiji Inafune.

Of course, the one I'd recommend above the rest is Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, but I'm certain if you have a 3DS you've already bought and 100%'d that :p.



You didn't find this one kind of boring? After great tactical RPGs on the 3DS like Fire Emblem and Devil Survivor, this one kind of seemed to play itself. The battles are long, but repetitive; everyone's doing pretty much the same thing.
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Hmm, FE is keeping me in the RPG mood so I might check out one of the Shin Megami Tensei games.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Terrik said:
BTW Etrian Oddessy is on sale in the Nintendo store as well. Any good?
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Um ... sort of? I haven't actually managed to finish the one I bought a year and a half ago. There's a free demo for either game that's on the eshop, but they're about dungeon crawling, using party strategies to beat tough monsters, drawing your own map as you go along. EO IV has almost no story; EO: Millennium Girl can have a story if you let the game choose your party, or you can play it like EO IV.

I'd more recommend SMT games myself though. They're on sale also. Shin Megami Tensei IV is at $20, that's 60% off. Devil Survivor is $15.
 
Espy

Espy

ThatNickGuy said:

I'm still confused why Ubisoft chose to tie this in with the assassin's mythos, as that aspect is almost unnecessarily forced. They could have made a pirate version of the great western game, Red Dead Redemption, where it's completely steeped within the pirate mythos and only the pirate mythos.
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Probably because they wanted people to buy it.

Really though, you have to look at it like this: Look at this like a total win. People showed a TON of interest in the pirate stuff so the next non-current gen AC game is MOREMOREMORE Pirates and the rumor is they are working on a stand alone pirate game. This game served to prove there was an audience. This is good.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Espy said:
Probably because they wanted people to buy it.

Really though, you have to look at it like this: Look at this like a total win. People showed a TON of interest in the pirate stuff so the next non-current gen AC game is MOREMOREMORE Pirates and the rumor is they are working on a stand alone pirate game. This game served to prove there was an audience. This is good.
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They've been supposedly working on that pirate game for two years now. I'd think we'd have official word by now, unless they're waiting until interest has waned. But even with ACIV, they could have just called it Assassin's Creed IV and not bothered with assassin stuff past the beginning. Doing it this way, Ubisoft was displeasing people who just want Assassin's Creed stuff, but also displeasing the people who want the pirate stuff, in an effort to please everyone. Trying to please everyone rarely ever works.[DOUBLEPOST=1408544408,1408544294][/DOUBLEPOST]
GasBandit said:
With all the recent Mega Man discussion in this thread, I thought this was an appropriate place for this -

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I think there will be something new coming; just don't know if it'll be any good. Aside from the Mega Man comics. Those are good and they're still doing them.

(I don't know who that bat is.)
 
CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Aero the Acro-bat!

[DOUBLEPOST=1408555732,1408555234][/DOUBLEPOST]Also holy shit, Dynamite Heddy. My dad bought a Game Gear for long trips so he'd have something to do (he didn't want to take the Game Boy since my brother and I played it all the time), and that was one of the two games he got for it. It was hard as hell.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Saint's Row 4.

Ok, the manner in which they killed off Johnny Gat in the opening scenes of SR3 was pretty contrived... but the way they've explained it away and brought him back in 4 is even moreso.

Also I'm still irritated that 4 has the same sound bug that lets you hear people talking in OTHER cars louder than the people sitting with you in your own car.
 
Null

Null

GasBandit said:
Saint's Row 4.

Ok, the manner in which they killed off Johnny Gat in the opening scenes of SR3 was pretty contrived... but the way they've explained it away and brought him back in 4 is even moreso.

Also I'm still irritated that 4 has the same sound bug that lets you hear people talking in OTHER cars louder than the people sitting with you in your own car.
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That's kind of the point, though. The whole game basically admits to its own absurdity. But yeah, that sound bug IS annoying. Then again, after a certain point, I rarely used cars when I didn't have to in SRIV.[DOUBLEPOST=1408563157,1408562744][/DOUBLEPOST]
GasBandit said:
With all the recent Mega Man discussion in this thread, I thought this was an appropriate place for this -

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The thing is, though, none of those characters had successful franchises. Most of them were one-offs, and Cool Spot was little more than a weird merchandising effort (much like the Noid based platformer released around the same time). Bubsy had one good game and one awful sequel, as did a couple of the others. These were not major brands even in their heyday. A better analogy might be MegaMan and Sonic the Hedgehog, except that Sonic games have been shit for a good long while now.

MegaMan was a major franchise until very recently. It's like comparing the careers of John Cusack and Scott Baio and saying they're basically the same.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Null said:
The thing is, though, none of those characters had successful franchises. Most of them were one-offs, and Cool Spot was little more than a weird merchandising effort (much like the Noid based platformer released around the same time). Bubsy had one good game and one awful sequel, as did a couple of the others. These were not major brands even in their heyday. A better analogy might be MegaMan and Sonic the Hedgehog, except that Sonic games have been shit for a good long while now.

MegaMan was a major franchise until very recently. It's like comparing the careers of John Cusack and Scott Baio and saying they're basically the same.
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That's a good point. Though there have been multiple cancellations in the last few years, the original series still had sequels as recently as four years ago. The main character is getting into one of the year's most anticipated games--none of those others can claim that. Considering they're posting the Virtual Console titles, and games like Shovel Knight and Mighty No. 9 exist because there's a demand for Mega Man, I don't think it'll be the true end for him yet. Whether he continues with Capcom or not, I don't know, but I don't think we've seen his last game.

I did enjoy a joke on one site that Sakurai was delaying SSB4 so he could sneak a full Mega Man game into it as an easter egg.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

In other Mega Manliness, I started the final stages of Mega Man 5 and daaaaamn those tigers. I finally had to suck it up and just start using the charge shot. Yeah, yeah, it ruined the original series, blah, blah, don't care; those tigers need a ball of energy down their throats. The spike stuff isn't fooling around either. I'm lucky enemies started dropping lives like crazy in my last run of the first stage. That said, tough as the stages got, the bosses have been much easier than in the final sections of the other Mega Man games I've played.
 
Null

Null

And now we're at the "Fuck You" stage of Gran Turismo 4. "Oh, you want to unlock some of the fucking best cars in the game? The ones you basically need for certain events? Then you need to win some Endurance Races. Yup, literally 3 different 24 hour events, as well as 4 hour, 8 hour, 9 hour, and 100+ lap events!" Sidenote: The Super Speedway 150 mile is kicking my ass because my B-Spec Bob (No, I don't want to go around in the same circle for the next 5 hours, thanks) keeps slipping up the track into the wall. Can't figure out how to set my car to stop that.
 
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