What are you playing?

Just finished Darksiders 2 last night. Was a really fun game, but I felt story-wise it didn't live up to the first one. It ended up feeling way to formulaic and the stakes didn't feel as epic.
 
Why? I want to know before I look forward to it too much.
It is HAAAAAARD. I'll give a for instance. In one of the dungeons, the switch you need to hit to proceed is hidden behind one of those face tiles and you can just BARELY see it through the eye of the tile. Navi doesn't react to it at all. The only way I was able to find it was to look it up online.
 
Sleeping Dogs.

First off, the PC port on this thing is amazing. Runs super smooth, looks great, comes with a high resolution texture pack for those that want to put their hardware to good use. The setting and atmosphere is brilliant, the music is amazing, and even though there's really nothing new in the game (it plays like a combination of GTA, Arkham Asylum, and Need for Speed) it does everything so well that I'm just fully entranced.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Sleeping Dogs.

First off, the PC port on this thing is amazing. Runs super smooth, looks great, comes with a high resolution texture pack for those that want to put their hardware to good use. The setting and atmosphere is brilliant, the music is amazing, and even though there's really nothing new in the game (it plays like a combination of GTA, Arkham Asylum, and Need for Speed) it does everything so well that I'm just fully entranced.
If only it was multiplayer co-op!
 
Pokemon Conquest: What the fuck? The human warriors/warlords evolve as they get stronger too?

This game is goddamn hilarious.

Devil Survivor Overclocked: I really should have watched a couple gameplay videos before I got this. I thought it was a tactical RPG where you summon demons, not one where you select them on the map, and then go into a first person regular RPG fight... That's not at all what I wanted to play, and like an idiot, I just chucked the receipt yesterday. There's a chance I can return it, but dammit.

Atlus has been really disappointing me with their tactical RPGs. I should just stick to Final Fantasy Tactics, it seems.
 
Brutal Legend

It's been awesome right up until the final battle with the Tear Drinkers at the Sea of Black Tears. If you don't get that first rush off perfectly the moment you put their towers down, you don't have time to rebuild your units to stop them. They'll just rush down the bridge and overrun your Merch Booths. Kind of a disappointing road block in an otherwise awesome game.
 
Still trying to finish the 3rd STALKER game on PC then going to really get my butt in gear with the suggestions I got in my PS3 thread.

Playing: NBA JAM On Fire Edition (downloaded from PSN) and boy is it worth it. So much fun. I used to love the original in the arcade and this version is a perfect update of it. It's a great little casual game I can spend 10mins on and feel like I got a little done. Has a nice little secret characters unlocking system and campaign style mode.

Managed to figure out how to play FFXII: International Zodiac Job System on my PS3 and let me just say "WOW". I mean, I never got through FFXII because of the horrible license/lack of job system and this version is amazing. I'm actually invested in it this time around and hope to finally put this game on my -finished- pile soon.

Lego Batman - having never really played much of the LEGO games this is another nice little casual game I play for 10-20 mins at a time and really have fun. Love the characters and the way all the -dialogue- is done through emoticon.

******
To play soon:
Heavy Rain - got so many recommendations for this and after doing some research it seems to share alot in common with Indigo Prophecy and that's a definite plus.
Assassin's Creed - finish the first one a while back but want to go through it again before trying to take on the whole series. Probably going to try and play them straight through. AC 1 - AC2 - Brotherhood - Revelations and hopefully AC3 by that time.
 
I have to say that for those of us with kids, the Lego games are so good. Funny, well designed, cooperative, violence Legofied so I can play with the six year old. They're damned repetitive to be sure, but still.
 
Finished Brutal Legend. Currently working on The Last Remnant. I am AT LEAST 4 hours into this game and I still have NO fucking idea of what is going on or even how most of the basic systems work. This is bad design, plain and simple.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Orcs Must Die 2 co-op with the little woman. We've 5 starred all the story mode levels, and are working on 5-starring every Endless mission (we got them all to at least 4 up to now).
 
Finished Brutal Legend. Currently working on The Last Remnant. I am AT LEAST 4 hours into this game and I still have NO fucking idea of what is going on or even how most of the basic systems work. This is bad design, plain and simple.
I bought that game for $5 and never got past the 8th hour. It just couldn't draw me in.
 
Transformers Fall of Cybertron. Looks wonderful and has lots of neat little old school nods (The Throwback Pistol for example looks like Megatron and uses just about every sound effect from the original show) but what bugs me is I'm apparently the only character in the game that doesn't know he's playing a cover based shooter. Every bad guy dives behind every bit of cover they can find, while I can kind of stand behind something and shoot, but it isn't at all effective.
 
Quotemander Prime
How is the game itself? Worth playing at all? I was thinking of picking it up.
It handles you with kid gloves for a long while, slowly introducing new gameplay elements as you take over kingdoms, so it can feel like the game takes a while to get going. It's also not terribly challenging. It is a lot of fun though and there's a surprising amount of depth to it outside of battle, such as managing Pokemon for individual warriors/warlords, and then managing those people among your different kingdoms for defense, mining, experience growth. Pokemon have the same defenses and weaknesses as in the main games, which makes this a much more complicated strength vs weakness formula than probably any other tactical RPG. The battles do get a little more challenging as it goes on, especially the kingdom battles (both offense and defense) since they have special rules. You can also "capture" wild Pokemon by linking up with them, evolve your current Pokemon, and warriors/warlords can give their Pokes boosts and items. But as I said, each of those elements is introduced step by step, so you gotta keep taking over kingdoms to get more out of the game.
 
Kid Icarus: Uprising: I'm having way too much fun with this silly game. It's hard to figure out how best to hold the 3DS while playing thanks to the weird control, but my left hand is managing its way out of the claw this game puts it in... Anyway, shooting, slashing, etc. A total blast. I like mixing and mashing the weapons too, and the multiplayer is feeding my need to conquer other humans in games. I still suck, but my angel has a big fucking fist that shoots orbs of darkness, so that makes up for my lack of skill.
 
I'm only on Cliffjumper's chapter, but already Fall of Cybertron is a huge improvement gameplaywise over War for Cybertron.

When Teletran-1 apologized to me for not having any glass-gas, I chuckled. High Moon are definitely Transformer fans.
 
I'm only on Cliffjumper's chapter, but already Fall of Cybertron is a huge improvement gameplaywise over War for Cybertron.

When Teletran-1 apologized to me for not having any glass-gas, I chuckled. High Moon are definitely Transformer fans.
You re WAY too fragile in this game. I have no idea why they didn't institute cover mechanics. It makes it even more frustrating when every other robot from your allies to your enemies are taking cover, but you can't so much as crouch.

What I'm really looking forward to is people finishing the main campaign so that the multiplayer isn't a ghost town. For me, that's where it was at with War for Cybertron. They changed the default loadout for scouts and I have to level up before I can get the sniper rifle. I want my long ranged stealth headshots, damn it!
 
Still playing The Last Remnant. I've zeroed in on a few problems...

1.) Too many fucking battles. 90% of the fights I get into are meaningless. Oh sure, they are difficult, but it's just pointless grinding. They should have made each battle more difficult and just given everyone shitload more stat boosts.

2.) Why can't I use half of my characters? There is a limit on "leaders", so I can't use more than 4 of they guys I've gotten from the story. Problem is, I have 6 of them, plus guys I can recruit from the Union. That's on top of the 10 "soldiers" I have, of which I can only use 5 of right now. Why do I have so many guys if I'm not allowed to use most of them?

3.) I can't directly control the actions of my units. This is NEVER fun, especially when I need them to do a certain thing so I don't die.

4.) Why can I only buy/modify my own equipment? I have 8 other dudes. Yes, they'll upgrade their own stuff, but only with stuff that drops from battle. When I have Lady Emma bitching at me for Gaspian Copper (which I have 10 chunks of from digging around the maps), WHY CAN'T I GIVE HER SOME?!

5.) Boss fights are stupid easy. Random encounters will rock my world, but bosses? Nope. Not even close to being hard.

There are just so many things wrong with this game, and yet I KNOW I will finish it.
 
You re WAY too fragile in this game. I have no idea why they didn't institute cover mechanics. It makes it even more frustrating when every other robot from your allies to your enemies are taking cover, but you can't so much as crouch.

What I'm really looking forward to is people finishing the main campaign so that the multiplayer isn't a ghost town. For me, that's where it was at with War for Cybertron. They changed the default loadout for scouts and I have to level up before I can get the sniper rifle. I want my long ranged stealth headshots, damn it!
I just finished it. What a fucking amazing last mission. Just wowzers. Of course the ending is super abrupt and the credits are stills. Really bummed we didn't get to see any of what happens next.
 
Yeah, the last mission of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron may be the best final level for an action game, like of all time. I can't think of anything so well done. Mostly non-story spoiler for you, gameplay only.

It has you switching between Autobots and Decepticons fighting aboard the Ark as they rocket towards the portal to Earth. It's, honestly, the most epic last battle stage I've ever played.
 
I got up this morning to clean the cages and feed all my real pets, then sat here playing Pokemon Black. Still not showered. Still haven't eaten anything that wasn't to calm my stomach. Feel like a total loser.
 
Still working my way through every nook and cranny of the Diablo 3 Starter Edition. Probably going to raise all 10 chars to the lvl 13 limit to thoroughly test my system and the game. Also I can't afford the $60 right now.

--Patrick
 
Yeah, the last mission of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron may be the best final level for an action game, like of all time. I can't think of anything so well done. Mostly non-story spoiler for you, gameplay only.

It has you switching between Autobots and Decepticons fighting aboard the Ark as they rocket towards the portal to Earth. It's, honestly, the most epic last battle stage I've ever played.
I had actually already heard that in most of the reviews I've seen for the game. I'm on the Megatron chapter right now. This is how Optimus should have felt. Optimus Prime's missions were the weakest point of the game so far to me. Seriously, 2 shots from one of the shotgun wielding Decepticons and you were toast. I was ready to write the game off until I moved on to the Cliffjumper/Jazz sections.Also, the escort the bomb mission for cliffjumper was unfairly hard, IMO.
 
The Megatron stage is incredible, for sure. You feel like Megatron. Armies of inferiors fall before your might.

They did an excellent job differentiating the power levels of the Transformers unlike the first game where it didn't really matter who you played as.

I'm pretty sure that escort the bomb part was the single hardest part of the game. I didn't dislike the Optimus levels though. Though I did think that it was kind of silly that Metroplex needed so much guidance. Hey big guy, punch that gigantic laser cannon.
 
Dragon Age: Origins is hitting me with a really nasty, unavoidable freeze right in the middle of the Redcliffe questline. It's the last of the four questlines for this playthrough too, grr.

Oh well, time to start a new character. Human noble this time, I think. Male. I wanna bang the queen.
 
Left 4 Dead 2

Due to some breakage on my computer, it seemed more economical to get a new computer for cheap than to buy the parts I needed. We looked at the back to school sales, each got a lappy for $300, and thought we were getting similar functional hunks of crap to what we already had. And maybe they are for games of 2012, but for games of 2009? Played perfectly--the computer's not even hot after an hour or more of playing, unlike the last one that burned after 20 minutes of Youtube.

AND OH GOD I MISSED IT SO MUCH! :sohappy:

I didn't even play with my old crew or Halforumites; I just played and it was a good team, and it was beautiful. Ribcages torn open, heads splattering, the four of us ducking into a room together like a well-organized unit. Passing needles and pills. My hands were shaking with glee.

I appreciate it all the more after trying to grasp at it on Xbox. As Jay put well... it was the lite beer of the game. And charging $6 for DLC you get for free on Steam? Not to mention community maps. My favorite FPS is mine, mine again. I can feel the stress slipping away. I have to go to bed now, should've gone a half-hour ago, but who could quit on a finale? And with my framerate back to normal and not having to use a control stick, I found I'm still decent. Played Advanced with no problem (aside from a poorly-aimed molotov).

I'll sleep well tonight knowing the zombies are dead.
 
To be perfectly fair, if Valve could, they would make the DLC free on Xbox as well. But they have to pay for the certification testing that Microsoft insists on (which is AT LEAST 10 grand per a patch/DLC after the first).
 
Some good old classic arcade shmupage...

Batsugun Special.



Yeah, with real coins, on real arcade hardware in my real... Basement...

:awesome:
 
Only 3 of them are used.

You know, a cab can be used with a multitude of jamma and other games... It's not TOO difficult to remember the 3 buttons you actually have to use for this specific game. :cool:
 
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