Games of the Moment

[Wraith5]

Something I've been hoping to do lately is go back and play a bunch of old computer games, notably Star Wars X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Episode 1: Racer, and whichever game it is from the Descent series we have. Of course, I need to learn how to use DOSbox for X-Wing and Descent, and I have to figure out how to get my computer to (appear to) use 16-bit graphics calls to get Racer to display anything other than the HUD and my pod's shadow...
On the other hand, I've actually been enjoying MW3 a lot lately. In regular team deathmatch (team score limit is 75 kills), I usually average between 10 and 15 kills and about 8 or so deaths. Lately, though, I've been playing a lot of matches where I get 25+ kills and 10- deaths. (IIRC, my personal record is something like 37 kills and 5 deaths in regular TDM...) I have copies of the .demo files saved so I can go and record them at some point in time, but I need to get my external hard drive back from my friend first. XD

[Phht]

Doesn't XvT have multiplayer-capable campaigns? If so...

I wonder if we have enough people that have the game to set up playthroughs. :)

[gamebrain89]

So currently switching off between Warframe and Infamous:Second Son.

Infamous is pretty awesome. The two power sets they officially announced are both really fun to mess around with. Smoke has some fun movement abilities that lets you dash through vents to rooftops and cover decent amounts of ground, and upgraded attacks that instantly subdue weaker enemies when they get tagged in the face, while Neon lets you run up and over pretty much anything effortlessly and shoot things in the foot to take them out of the fight. And boy is this game gorgeous. So very very pretty. the particle effects for the Smoke and Neon abilities are beautiful. You can almost see entirely across the map from the top of the Space Needle. The draw distance on it is pretty crazy when you compare to the last game. They also have a bit of an AR game set of missions called Paper Trail that connects to a website to advance the missions through stuff like looking for clues in pictures, the contents of a guy's wallet, ect that was very well done. Only part one is available at the moment, and I'm looking forward to part 2 going live.

I'm not going to say much about the story, as Rigger doesn't want to hear it, but its so far pretty good, and I'm enjoying all the characters.

Warframe...I'm of two minds of. I'm kinda enjoying the look of it, and its agreat looking game as well. The setting's a little wtfy, what with the "Amnesiac Spaceninjas created by being tossed into Space Hell" as the player faction, but overall the games pretty fun. I'm not very far into the main missions, but its keeping me interested. PS+ users get a little free Plat to play around with, and it was enough for me to get one of the non starter Warframes to mess around with, and I'm liking it. The mod system and crafting system's a little confusing but I think I got it figured out now.

I keep failing my Rank Up test though, and you can only attempt those once every 24 hours so its a little aggravating. But its not constantly pushing "Buy crap, buy crap, buy crap" at you through in game messages or anything, so I'm pretty okay with their F2P system's setup.

But the mission maps on Mercury are kinda sparse feeling. Hopefully that'll get better as I progress.

[jgkitarel]

Aside from being sucked back into the event horizon of the black hole known as World of Warcraft, been playing the Ar Tonelico series again and the PSP remake of Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time.

WoW can eat up a lot of time, mostly because I am back into raiding on that game with all the fun, satisfaction, frustration and player drama that entails. Mostly casual play, with more dedicated time on weekends.

The Growlanser series is always good for play, with some excellent storytelling easy gameplay and a nice change from my normal RPG fare with it being more strategy based. Being as it's an Atlus title, has a vicious learning curve about a quarter of the way through, right when the plot picks up.

Ar Tonelico is one of those series you constantly come back to. With the first two only on PS2 and the third one on PS3, keeping it all straight can be interesting. Awesome music, interesting fight mechanics, strong and intertwined plots that go through all three games, yeah, I like that series. My personal favorite is Ar Tonelico II.

Edit: Despite all three games taking place in different sections of the same world, it is interesting to see just how closely tied your efforts through all three games are in solving the main problem, and the reasons behind it in the first place. All three games have some interesting story bits, plenty of well intentioned (and not so well intentioned) extremists and some recurring themes, such as Humans are Bastards, revenge, betrayal and so on.

[doc.exe]

So I played Dragon Age: Origins for the first time over the weekend.

I’m playing a female human mage. I considered playing an elf but I figured my character had enough prejudice thrown in her way already.

The game doesn’t seem to have a morality or karmic rating, but right now I’m trying to play as something akin to neutral good, willing to cooperate with the authority but also to break the rules if it means helping a friend or upholding the greater good, and with an altruistic belief in the inner goodness of people…

…and yes, considering how grimdark and cynical this universe is at the onset, and what happens during my origin story (not to mention the parting words from the Pride Demon when he chastised me for my naiveté before leaving the Harrowing), I’m counting on this path leading me to heart break, broken ideals, and lots of pain and suffering. That is good, because trying to be a hero in a dark fantasy world would not be interesting otherwise.

I’m currently in Ostagar, just about to enter the Wilds. Any advice on which skills or specializations to invest?

[gamebrain89]

Specializations you're free to go however you like. I'm rather partial to Arcane Warrior, though. I always do like the Spellblade type stuff.

As for spells though, get Mana Clash, man. That is freaking killer for nuking enemy mages.

[jgkitarel]

Actually, DA:O is less grimdark that you think. The cynicism involved has more to do with the internal politics and events of the setting, which Bioware didn't stint on developing. The series is very grey in the morality scale, which is why they don't have a morality or karma meter, but avoids the black and grey morality by small margin. DA II, on the other hand, is full on black and grey morality.

In DA:O, you're actually a hero. DA II then takes its' time to deconstruct heroism, rather brutally at that.

As for paths, haven't done the mage route, yet and instead did Warrior and Rogue before getting distracted. I would avoid the whole blood mage option that become available later in the game due to the sheer "What the Hell, Hero?" aspect of it.

[doc.exe]

Eh, it’s not exactly the most grimdark setting I have seen admittedly, but from what I have gotten from the codex, many conversations and the overall implications of some dialogues, it’s still a really nasty place to live. And so far my attempts at being altruistic have been a double edged sword of sorts.

Still, that’s what I had read about the series: The first game is dark but can end with hopeful and triumphant overtones depending of your choices, the second game is darker and things don’t look up no matter what you do.

And yeah, I was planning on avoiding blood magic given how it’s practically described as the equivalent of the Dark Side.

[jgkitarel]

The setting of Thedas is deliberately Low Fantasy, with all the issues that entails. A lot of the problems stem from the political machinations and by the end of DA II, a lot of things that were under the surface have burst out into the open. A lot of the decisions you make are neither good nor evil, but have some serious implications. I would be nice to Morrigan, though, despite her characterization as the Token Evil Teammate. By Inquisition, that can soften her character nicely.

DA II is interesting, as there is no specific Big Bad, but there are a lot of unfortunate implications involved in the entire setting which lets events spiral out of control.

[doc.exe]

I think I understand what you mean with the political turmoil, I saw some of that in the Magi Tower and I think I might have offended someone at the camp that might be important to the cause… Or a potential antagonist maybe. In any case, given how I tend to consider politics a minefield, it will be interesting to see where this takes me.

And well, the idea is to gain the friendship and loyalty of my team mates while trying to avoid crossing too many moral lines. As I understand it, pretty much all of them have traumatic backstories.

[jgkitarel]

Oh, you have NO idea...

It gets worse in DA II, though most of them seem better adjusted, it just means that their breaking is going to be that much worse, if they're not already broken like Fenris is.

Anyway, DA:O is the nice heroic one, DA II is the brutal deconstruction of what many consider to be Bioware staples, its' "heroes" and fantasy in general. You get hints of just how bad things are getting in DA:O, but the Blight kind of overshadows it. DA II is where you learn just how bad things have gotten. DA:O's politics is very medieval, DA II's politics is more like Renaissance Venice's.

[doc.exe]

Continuing my adventures in DA:O, I’m currently in the Tower of Mages, battling the Sloth Demon. Previously I went to Redcliff, I decided to opt for taking (or more accurately, trying to take) the third option, hence my current situation.

I like the storyline, the characters and the world building, although I don’t care much for the gameplay. In part it might be that the game was obviously designed for mouse and keyboard controls, playing it with a PS controller has been clunkier than what I initially expected, although I’m persevering despite that.

I’m starting to see what jg meant with how most decisions are morally grey. I have been experimenting reloading my save in order to see the multiple dialogue choices and, barring a few exceptions, turns out most characters have understandable reasons for doing whatever thing they are doing, even some that at first look truly callous. You can even see that the main human antagonist of the game might have a reason for his actions besides mere lust for power (the person he betrayed was truthfully not the best option for the rank he had). Still, given the callousness of his decision and all the turmoil and trouble he has caused in the face of impending crisis, I think I will still side against him if given the choice.

And well, the setting has been as grimdark as I expected, the thing is that your decisions can actually affect it, both for good and for ill. It’s just that most of the time you don’t know at first glance if you are improving things or just making everything worse.

[jgkitarel]

The third option choice for Logain is an interesting one, but will cost you Allistair, for completely understandable reasons. Logain's motives are very understandable once you realize them, considering that he spent his youth fighting Orlesian occupation and hates them with a passion. He also misunderstands that the Darkspawn invasion is actually a blight. It was still a dick move of his, but his motives are understandable.

[gamebrain89]

Been playing the Destiny beta on PS4 for the past few days, and I'm really enjoying it. The setting is very interesting, and over all everything is just gorgeous to look at. I'm running a Warlock, which is supposed to be like the Space Magic user, and I'm liking alot of what he's got going on.

Sadly the beta's capped at level 8, so I can't get into any of the higer end abilities and weapons and the like to play with. But so far, I'm really liking it. My one complaint is about the same I have with any of Bungie's games. I get my butt handed to me in PvP more often than not. How are people so good at this so QUICKLY?!

[jgkitarel]

PvP requires a different mindset and playstyle. It's why I usually don't do it in MMOs, even though it is fun. It's also less about getting so good about it so quickly and more about what classes are normally handing your ass to you. Some classes are always better built for PvP.

[JamestheFox]

Been playing an indie title called Freedom Planet.

It's... well, the first thing to think about is that it was pretty much a Genesis Sonic Clone, at least at first glance. A lot of alterations, such as the general lack of contact damage and the lack of a spindash/ball mode for most everyone (most of your damaging options are more akin to a beat-em-up), really change up the flow of gameplay. You'll also note that Rings aren't a thing here. Instead you're working with standard HP. This is a very good thing, because you will get hit. A lot.

Also... Sonic 4 physics. Just... Sonic 4 physics. Though it doesn't really detract from the game.

Stages are fun as all get out. I really, REALLY like the gameplay here. I've heard that the fact that the stages are built to cater to every character causes it to be a bit cluttered, but I didn't notice this while playing.

Soundtrack's just beautiful. I love these songs. So much. And most stages have TWO versions of their song.

In both above categories... I'm pretty sure Fortune Night is best stage. Everything about it is fun. Easter eggs everywhere, and a really, REALLY cool boss battle.

Voice acting in the game's many, many cutscenes is touchy, at times. Some lines are delivered well, some aren't. Kid-character lines are about as good as they ever are. The voice clips are fine in-game, though.

Really, most issues I've heard of or experienced myself are in the story, which you can choose to skip by playing Classic Mode (as opposed to Adventure Mode).

Aside from the iffy voices, the story likes to jump between fun, hammy, and lighthearted (most of the early stages) to... well... terrifyingly dark (in particular, Lilac's Adventure Mode, Thermal Base, has a rather... unsettling interrogation scene from the already creepy main villain) and it doesn't do the best job of making the transitions. I was okay with it (I personally felt that the VA-work for the mentioned scene was on the right side of the sliding scale of good vs bad), but I've heard that mileage may vary.

If you're willing to risk the above, this game has an interesting world it wants to show its players, and the villain jumps between deliciously genre-savvy and... well... horrifying, in a way that was interesting, at least to my tastes (he's also a SUPERHARD Final Boss. Like... It's not even funny). If not, well, Classic Mode is more than fun enough on its own.

There is also the issue of glitches, though I never experienced them personally.

The only other issue that you might have going in that isn't story-mode exclusive is... well... the bosses are HARD. Painfully hard. BRUTALLY hard. Unless you are playing on Easy Mode, in which they're significantly easier (almost too easy), the bosses after the first few are HAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRDDD.

But other than that, most of the game was FUN to play. Just... loads of fun. Costs about 15 bucks for access to the game (and any updates/DLC-type things that come next). I found it to be a WONDERFUL expenditure.

[runsamok]

Current games:
Clash of Clans (on iPhone)
Two Dots (on iPhone)
Path of Exile (on PC)
Shadowrun 5 edition (with friends over Skype)

[Phht]

I won't say at the moment, but come Oct 24th.... Civilization Beyond Earth (ie, the love child of civ5 and SMAC) comes out that day, and I just saw it was finally preorder-able on steam.

Other than that, kinda getting back into civ games leading up to that with civ5, some WH40k DoW Dark Crusade, some Banished, a tiny bit of offline Payday 2. Or that's what my quick list of games in steam tells me I've most recently played.

[jgkitarel]

WoW (still), Robot Unicorn Attack: Heavy Metal Edition, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine and digging out some of my PS2 and PS1 games, so Legend of Dragoon, Breath of Fire III, Breath of Fire IV, //.hack GU trilogy and Persona 4 to add to it.

[RavynousHunter]

Mostly just Minecraft. Modded Minecraft, to be specific. I'm trying to get a semi-custom FTB Monster pack to run so I can play on a server I got whitelisted on without the damned thing have massive startup issues (randomly crashing either because of potion helper methods or the JVM throwing memory access violations) and have access to NEI, which is pretty much mission-critical, by now. When I'm not trying to understand the myriad intricacies of that pack and its strange memory problems, which may be because I just can't allocate enough memory because my system simply doesn't have enough RAM (its a 4-5 year-old laptop), I'm working and playing on a pack I put together myself for 1.7.10. So far, it consists of: NEI, Ender Storage, Railcraft, Ender IO, Thermal Expansion 3, BuildCraft, Extra Utilities, Random Things, JABBA, Opis, WAILA, and Tinkers' Construct. Its becoming not so much "Lightly Crisped," which is my own little title for it, as it is just "Crisped." Hm.

[MEKristian]

Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Have to hand it to Level 5, they know how to craft a good mystery, despite the Spotlight-Stealing that's being unfortunately done...

[Phht]

Well, I discovered that Relic just pushed out its GFWL removal patch for DoW2/Chaos Rising, which means it's time to get steam cheevos on the game. D:

Maybe I'll actually get co-op cheevos this time?

[doc.exe]

I continue with Dragon Age. Finished the Broken Circle quest line in the favor of the Mages, managed to take the third option at Redcliffe, recruited Zevran and Wyne, completed a few subquests, currently in Denerim trying to finish Leliana’s personal quest. After a couple of cutscenes, I have to agree with jg in that Loghain isn’t really “evil”, but we’ll see…

At the same time I have been cycling through a few other games: Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Jet Set Radio, Xenoblade Chronicles, DKC Returns, Batman Arkham Assylum, Okami, Saints Row the Third, Terraria.

I have spent a lot of time recently with that last one, it’s truly addictive.

[jgkitarel]

Logain is evil, but some of his allies? Well, one is a textbook definition of stupid evil and if you're playing the human noble origin, well, killing that guy is rather cathartic.

[Phht]

Skyrim was on sale, and someone convinced me that its leveling system wasn't as godawful horrible as Oblivion had, so I gave it a try for $5. 81 hours of play time later... still barely in act 2. Maybe I shouldn't have bought the Hearthfire dlc the day after I bought the game?