What Are You Playing?

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Shane said:
Stalker: Call of Pripyat and on occasion my fourth playthrough of Mass Effect 2
Let me know how the new Stalker game is. I'm curious, since I liked the game design and premise of the first one, but felt it was poorly executed and rough around the edges.
 
Wow, I didn't know The Society for Mass Effect Awareness was so kind. I'm glad for you, Rhombaad. You won't even remember what Final Fantasy XIII is by the time you finish Mass Effect for the fiftieth time!

Now I'm playing Mega Man Zero for the first time. I was skeptical about it, but it's actually pretty cool.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I just got the notice in my e-mail. Thanks again, Walter! I'm so excited to play it this weekend! :serpico:

Eluvei said:
Wow, I didn't know The Society for Mass Effect Awareness was so kind. I'm glad for you, Rhombaad.

Neither did I. Walter is the man.

Eluvei said:
You won't even remember what Final Fantasy XIII is by the time you finish Mass Effect for the fiftieth time!

That sounds about right based on the great things I've heard from everyone else here.
 

turkitage

ターク
while all that dmc vs ico ordeal got me a headache while reading.. one thing great came from it for me..

Konketsuji said:
Well, in that case... Since you mentioned Ico (btw, how do you pronounce that, I heard a couple of variations) and SotC, both game are just fantastic, I first played them last year and still under an impression, can't wait to play Last Guardian.

Thank you so much for mentioning Last Guardian!!! I don't keep up to date on games but I had no idea there was a 3rd installment of the series!! This is great, I can't wait.

I'm currently playing Dante's inferno and so far so good. It's a pretty fun beat'em up game. I need to finish dragon age, I got wynn on my team and she kicks so much butt! but then I hadn't played much since. I didn't like mass effect on xbox so I'm going to try it on PC. And I need to finish uncharted and then start uncharted 2 since I bought both of them. Grr.. so much to do.
 
turkitage said:
while all that dmc vs ico ordeal got me a headache while reading.. one thing great came from it for me..

Thank you so much for mentioning Last Guardian!!! I don't keep up to date on games but I had no idea there was a 3rd installment of the series!! This is great, I can't wait.
Sure, don't mention it. Have you seen the trailer?
Sure, don't mention it. Have you seen the trailer?

Aazealh said:
Right now I'm playing RE5's DLC, Lost in Nightmares. Should be done with quickly.
Is it available for PC? Didn't like the game(after RE4 the fifth installment looked like ass, and I don't mean the graphics), but I like the opportunity to relive RE1 moments.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Konketsuji said:
Is it available for PC? Didn't like the game(after RE4 the fifth installment looked like ass, and I don't mean the graphics), but I like the opportunity to relive RE1 moments.

I'm not sure it's available on PC actually. Anyway it's a fun experience for what it's worth, but I wish they had implemented the option to start back from the last checkpoint. I stopped right before the end the first time around and had to replay through the whole thing...

Playing with Barry in the mercenaries mode gave me a few laughs too. His finishing move is called "Miranda Rights" and he just busts out his magnum and shoots the enemy in the head while it's on the ground, saying "now, what's this?" :ganishka:
 
Just started playing Lost in Nightmares last night at 1 am. Looks gorgeous but there's only so much of the same mansion I can see over and over.

AvP was a big letdown, multiplayer is a tad better but we're not talking much.

Dante's Inferno I bought out of sheer curiosity, all I can see is that it's better playing that than AvP. It is a GoW clone, but hey if AvP was a CoD clone, it'd be that better of a game.
 
DirectDK said:


Yes! I'm glad you put that link up there. I stopped following SSF4 when I heard about the shitty new character list but now that they're putting 3S characters in(I heard rumors long ago about them being in it though) I'm happy and will be getting it now. When I saw Ibuki I just yelled out loud "YES!" I'm just wondering about all those trophies I got in SF4....I have to get them all over again in SSF4?


Proj2501 said:
Dante's Inferno I bought out of sheer curiosity, all I can see is that it's better playing that than AvP. It is a GoW clone, but hey if AvP was a CoD clone, it'd be that better of a game.


I wouldn't go so far as to call it a clone. I mean if you want to call it that, GOW is a clone too. It's a game with an unoriginal story(besides the inclusion of Kratos) and part of the gameplay is much like DMC, Lament of Innocence and even the Berserk DC/PS2 versions.

GOW fits within the genre of those button smashing action games. Button smashing combos dominate much of GOW and I know there's more to it than that but when I first saw those button inputs to kill an enemy in GOW I instantly thought of Berserk DC. Cause that's the 1st time I saw any sort of button input during a scene.

DI is unoriginal in story and gameplay as well since its typical gameplay of the genre it's in. I think GOW is great and I love DI. All I'm saying is that one is not cloning the other but are game creations typical of that genre. To me it's like Mario is to Sonic as Street Fighter is to Mortal Kombat.
 

turkitage

ターク
Konketsuji said:
Sure, don't mention it. Have you seen the trailer?
Is it available for PC? Didn't like the game(after RE4 the fifth installment looked like ass, and I don't mean the graphics), but I like the opportunity to relive RE1 moments.

Yeah, as soon as I read your post I looked up the trailer - it's so awesome.

Thanks for the Last Guardian link Aazealth, that has a better trailer in it then the one I youtubed.

The SSFIV link Derek posted was awesome too!!!

I guess not many people here play Blazblue? It's a really fun 2d fighter (from the guys that did guilty gear) and has amazing graphics/backgrounds.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
ori said:
I wouldn't go so far as to call it a clone. I mean if you want to call it that, GOW is a clone too. It's a game with an unoriginal story(besides the inclusion of Kratos) and part of the gameplay is much like DMC, Lament of Innocence and even the Berserk DC/PS2 versions.

Ok fine, so it's a clone of a clone of a clone .... Seriously? I agree with proj. When GoW came out it was ok that it had been done before because GoW was doing it better. Dante's Inferno is just riding on the trail of success from those games, only it's left in the dust. It's just not as good or interesting. I just don't buy it, in this day and age? It's so lacking I'm surprised people are even trying to justify it so much. I can almost imagine what the board meeting for that game was like.

"Ok guys so we need a GoW type game for the 360 because people seem to really like that. Why don't we use the same idea's and add some overdramatic scenes from Gladiator and... people will eat it up".

BtW, the final boss in Dante's Inferno was a joke.
It was lame and easy. No passion at all, unlike GoW. Now that was ....
 

Saephon

Die young and save yourself
Ah man, Braid is wonderful. I replay it just for the gorgeous art and music. Have you gotten the six secret stars yet?
 

Aphasia

ALL MYSTERIES MUST BE SOLVED
Saephon said:
Ah man, Braid is wonderful. I replay it just for the gorgeous art and music. Have you gotten the six secret stars yet?

No I haven't, but I actually heard an interesting theory about collecting the stars and what it means.
So the game ends right? and you get to read all that crazy dialogue about Tim and his mother, and the atomic bomb, Tim being the creator. There are a great many things you can take away from braid, but the most prominent lesson I think it's trying to promote is learning from a mistake. Another strong theme is obsession, and the role it plays in the mistake. Being obsessive can ruin things - like Tim was with the bomb, and in his relationship. The point of what I was going to tell you though was that you aren't *supposed* to get the stars. By getting the stars you are in fact being just like Tim, following his mistake. Anyways, not to say it's true, but an interesting take on it.

PS: Everyone needs to play NOITU LOVE 2.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I started playing Mass Effect last night and I'm loving it so far. I stayed up way too late last night completing assignments in Citadel. :guts:
 
I've been playing Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion. Alot. If any of you live in the Los Angeles area and play Tekken, PM me! I'm having gatherings every Thursday evening.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Over the weekend, I spent pretty much all my gaming time with Shattered Horizon, a zero-gravity FPS set in space. It had a free weekend on Steam, and I ended up buying the game after having a whole lot of surprising fun. I play a lot of FPS games, but haven't had this much fun and been WOWed like this in a loooooong time. So I'm going to gush all over this thread about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElJ9Ws1li-g&fmt=22

You're a space dude in zero gravity, fighting against another faction among asteroid clusters and space stations. You can maneuver in any direction, so the "horizon" constantly changes based on where you're attacking. One of the first things you'll have to adapt to is rolling to find a reasonably comfortable "ground."

The FPS market is flooded with online shooters, but this one manages to stand apart with its zero gravity mechanic. It's really, surprisingly fun and deep for an indie game. The gameplay revolves around a variation of hide and seek. Firefights do happen, and you're still trying to shoot the other team in the face of course, but every time you use thrusters to manuever yourself, it can give away your position because it makes a flash of light from your jetpack. To be stealthy you have to use thrusters sparingly, moving only when you know no one is looking, and in the meantime, attach yourself to asteroids, which are rolling around in space. This is all very refreshing, considering most FPS these days are simply twitch-fests that use little to no tactics or strategy (looking at you, CoD).

Weapons are simple ... perhaps a little too simple. Everyone has an assault rifle with unlimited ammo, but you have to reload every 60 shots. And everyone has three modes of grenades: EMP which shuts down suit power among a big radius, an explosive grenade and an ICE grenade that provides a smokescreen.

There's also plenty of attention to detail that oozes quality: shoot the fuel tank on a guy's back and he explodes, pushing debris and everything around him away. Whenever you're low on health, a display announces "simulated sound offline" , as your suit's power switches automatically to repairing minor damage. During that, your HUD disappears, and you can't hear anything except your breathing and the emptiness of SPAAAAACE, as explosions and bullets light up everything around you. That's some really atmospheric stuff, considering the other games in this genre.

In case you didn't notice from the trailer, the game is gorgeous, and is all in DX10. My rig couldn't handle it too steadily with all the bells and whistles attached though, so I lowered them to improve performance in battles.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
You had me at "zero-gravity FPS." I checked out a gameplay video and it looks just as awesome as you describe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rhOU24HKw
 
Walter said:
Let me know how the new Stalker game is. I'm curious, since I liked the game design and premise of the first one, but felt it was poorly executed and rough around the edges.
It's definitely an improvement over the last two. They've definitely added a lot of polish. The optimization also seems to be much better. Clear Sky caused an unpleasant FPS drop in certain areas but it's quite smooth this time around, even with the graphical settings mostly on high. There's some nice features that you have access to right away as well, like the ability to sleep and the option to repair and upgrade your weapons (more advanced upgrades require you to hunt down special tools, all of which are not immediately available). Finding artifacts is done the same way as in Clear Sky - you have to have your detector in one hand and a knife/pistol in the other. It definitely adds challenge as you sometimes have to go in to some pretty hazardous areas to get artifacts. I think it looks a bit silly to have a large watermelon sized glowing object pop up from the ground when successfully finding an article. There's also an NPC who can place special weapon and armour orders for you, provided you have enough cash.

Gameplay wise, it feels better than the previous two titles but it is not without its faults. A few minutes into the game, you have access to an overwhelming amount of side missions. So much that I've almost forgotten about the main plot missions. The atmosphere is this game's strongest point. In my opinion, the Stalker games have created the best and most believable post apocalyptic environment in any game that I've seen. It's especially cool at night time where the sky isn't just a dark blue like in many other games. Night time actually feels dark and dangerous. Excellent visual effects and some fabulous audio work add to the immersion. I do like that they've kept the system where every non mutant NPC has a unique name. I just wish that the various wandering stalkers actually had some varied personalities. Every stalker talks to you with the same attitude.

I'm not too far into the game but overall I'm enjoying what it has to offer so far. But then again, I loved Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky as well. The new AI system works well enough but it's not without its problems. I've seen a few erratic animations and I've noticed some clipping issues. The english voice acting can also be pretty laughable at times. I recall a few NPCs that sound like a native english speaker deliberately trying to speak with a bad russian accent. All in all though, I like this game but it's not something that everyone can get into.
 
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