What are you playing?

[cool breeze]

saw the Dolphin emulator thread on gaf and thought to see how it would run with proper settings.  Despite crashing after each level save in Sin and Punishment 2, the game runs exactly the same as it did on the Wii, just at a much higher resolution.  Even playing with a mouse kinda feels better than the Wii remote.

It's not like I have a super powerful computer either.  Granted this emulator is based on the Gamecube one so they've had a long time to work on it, but impressive nonetheless.

[Bebpo]

sometimes puzzles in games are too hardcore for me.  I was playing Penumbra Overture and I got to a puzzle that required me to actually DECIPHER MORSE CODE using a guidebook and I was like :| and grabbed a faq for the password that was in morse.

[magus]

I started playing Monster Hunter 3 and put a few hours into it. I've only cleared the first 3 or 4 quests but it's kinda boring so far. I suppose I'm still in the tutorial phase, so I hope this gets interesting pretty soon. And please no more fishing quests god damn.

yea the start is pretty boring,plus you really should try going online,that's where the game truly shine

[archie4208]

Is the Stone Prisoner DLC for Dragon Age worth $15?  I can get the game for essentially free off Goozex, but it won't come with that DLC redemption code.

[cool breeze]

Depends on how you define worth it.  The quest involved is short and while there is a bit more later in the game, the real appeal of the DLC is the character you gain.  Shale is the best character in Dragon Age imo.  Shale's a funny character (think HK47 from KOTOR) and a tank in combat.

[demi]

I finished Skate 3 (aside from the community based achievement) - so I'm playing Infinite Undiscovery again on Hard.

Maybe I'll like it better now that more crappy TriAce games are out (SO4 & ROF)

One day I will 1000 this and even my score out

[iconoclast]

I started playing Monster Hunter 3 and put a few hours into it. I've only cleared the first 3 or 4 quests but it's kinda boring so far. I suppose I'm still in the tutorial phase, so I hope this gets interesting pretty soon. And please no more fishing quests god damn.

yea the start is pretty boring,plus you really should try going online,that's where the game truly shine

I made it up to the 3 star quests and the game is getting more fun now that I'm fighting harder monsters. I'm going to stick to single player for a little longer though, at least until I progress a little further and get something better than my starting gear. I might even order a classic controller since I can myself getting into this game.

[OptimoPeach]

I made a Starcraft 2 friend/practice partner today on /v/ of all places. He's actually pretty good, too. He's up on me 2-1, but in the first game I was trying a new build, and my excuse for the second loss is that I've been up for over 24 hours. I got the last win anyway (a really epic come from behind one, even), so it's all good.

Still haven't got to play with anyone from the Bore yet :'( Seems like you guys always log on right as I'm getting off.

Addicted to this game like crack right now, and I still have a bunch of 360 shit (FF13 included) lying around unfinished

[cool breeze]

Kane and Lynch is an alright game.  It's kinda like how MW2 was a big GI Joe / Michael Bay fantasy romp, except you're some jackass guy shooting his way through Michael Mann's movies.  The shooting and stuff is fine too; I like that pistols have power and enemies go down fairly quick.

[Bebpo]

Are you playing the PC version?  I hear it looks and controls better than the console versions.  I tried the console demo back when it came out and wasn't feeling it, but if I see it for a <$5 steam sale one of these days I meant give the PC version a shot.  I like the idea of an action mann game.

[cool breeze]

yeah, PC version.  I don't remember the console controls since I only played the PS3 demo back when it came out, so I'm not sure what they meant.  But yeah, I got it cheap.  It's $5 on newegg with free shipping. 

Plus it has Xbox Live and achievements.  It seems like half of them are multiplayer.  Good thing people still play that!    Multiplayer actually sounds really neat.  Sounds like a co-op Uncharted 2 type thing where you try to steal money from bots, but at any time a player can get greedy and kill his comrades, giving himself a bigger share.  I guess the idea is to know whether it is worth betraying your team and at what point.  The person you kill becomes a SWAT or cop guy who then hunts the traitor and remaining criminals.

[Groogrux]

Okay, so in a couple of weeks I'll finally be the proud owner of a 360.  Now I need some of you to answer the most important question:

What are the best games for it, in your opinion?

I'm already a fan of L4D:2 (it will be my first game), and I like playing around in MP stuff like Halo and CoD. 

Help please?

[demi]

d e m o s

There's no point asking this far into the console's life. And most games are dirt cheap used at GS, even the good ones - meaning 7 day rental (can return used games within a week)

i'm just saying, man.

[Beezy]

What are the best games for it, in your opinion?

XBLA

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Because I can't take Splinter Cell Conviction or FF13 no more, I threw Dead Space in my PS3.  God I love this game.

Dead Space 2 can't come soon enough.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'm at 90% completion of the world tour in DiRT 2 right now and still love the game.  If there were any people playing it, I'd play it online all the time.  I hope to get 100% this week and sent it back to Gamefly.  I still love the game and gives me a lot of Rallisport Challenge 2-esque feelings about the game.  Which was probably my most favorite racing game up until this one.  I don't know if Codemasters is doing a DiRT 3 but if they are, I'll spring $60 on it.

Also got Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 in the mail.  I liked a lot of the changes Koei made to the game.  I feel this is what the first one should have been, instead of the generic DW3-lite title that we ended up getting.  The biggest downside is that there are QTEs on occasion, which I hate but are pretty rare.  I do like the larger sized opponents.  I think the franchise is slowly crawling into its deathbed.  I hope they at least make a great Dynasty Warriors 7 and Samurai Warrior 4 before moving on from the series or letting it languish in waggle or handheld hell, which I think will end up being the fate of the series.

[Groogrux]

d e m o s

There's no point asking this far into the console's life. And most games are dirt cheap used at GS, even the good ones - meaning 7 day rental (can return used games within a week)

i'm just saying, man.

The console may be old (as far as consoles go), but Microsoft doesn't plan on putting anything new out for another few years.  The next thing they've got going in the Natala (sp?) and that's still a few months off.

As for me, the nearest GS is an hour away in any direction... 

[demi]

Time to invest in Gamefly

[brawndolicious]

I'm at 90% completion of the world tour in DiRT 2 right now and still love the game.  If there were any people playing it, I'd play it online all the time.  I hope to get 100% this week and sent it back to Gamefly.  I still love the game and gives me a lot of Rallisport Challenge 2-esque feelings about the game.  Which was probably my most favorite racing game up until this one.  I don't know if Codemasters is doing a DiRT 3 but if they are, I'll spring $60 on it.

Yeah, they're making a sequel.  Did you finish the Colin Mcrae Challenge event?  It was probably the most detailed and polished racing game this gen so I can't wait for them to outdo themselves again.

[tiesto]

Resonance of Fate - it's extremely combat-heavy, but I love it. The combat is a total blast, and it's got the right amount of challenge. These game reviewers who were blasting the game for its challenge, wow they just suck at games I think. I just played through the prologue up through Ch 3... If it keeps up, this may end up being my fave RPG this gen (not that that's much consolation)

[Bebpo]

Yeah, reviewers had no idea how to play.  Though you can't blame them much since the game does an incredibly poor job at explaining things.  But if you do the arena tutorial and ask any questions you have in the gaf thread, you'll figure it out and then the game is easy.

[Bebpo]

Man, the post-game in Peace Walker is a total MMO/PSO grind.  There's hundreds of missions and every 5-6 of them you get a little piece of post-game story until you do enough to get the true ending.

The gameplay itself is fantastic, but once you've sneaked through 50 missions in the same areas, it gets a little boring to keep doing sneaking missions.  And once you've done the TANK or CHOPPER optional 10-20 min boss ten times each, it gets boring doing that as well!

I mean I can't complain too much because the main game gives you a satisfying 20-30 hour adventure without feeling repetitive much at all.  But then the next 10-50 hours turn into PSO/MH/MMO-time and that is not my genre of gaming at all.  Will continue to grind out the missions until I hit get the true ending and then I'm shelving this for good.  I'd give it about a 9/10 overall as a single player game.

[Bebpo]

oh and in happy news I finished up Penumbra Overture and I really liked it.

If you:
A.  Like Resident Evil / Silent Hill games
&
B.  Like old-school inventory puzzle adventure games

then you should love Penumbra Overture.  The puzzles are great and the graphics are surprisingly really good for an indie game.  It basically looks almost on par with a Silent Hill game.  The combat sucks but you almost never need to use it.  I only fought stuff once in the game and it was a horrible horrible section but I read you could've avoided it by doing something else.

Gonna try out the sequel Black Plague soon.  I hear they ditched the combat completely so I don't have to worry about the only thing that went wrong in the first game.

[Raban]

I've been playing GTAIV on PC recently and really dig it aside from my previous gripes about its long, scripted missions with no checkpoints. It's kind of annoying how vague the objective is when you're doing a chase mission and you just unload all your bullets into a car that won't incur any damage because they'll eventually crash in a scripted sequence. Bullshit.

Waiting to beat GTAIV before I get the Episodes, and before I get those I'm going to re-buy SiN: Episodes (for my non VAC-banned account) and replay that, since I fucking love that game, and I don't care what anyone says.

[The Sceneman]

been playing the Magic XBLA game hard out. Deleted the DLC so I can get the Planeswalker achievement easier, as well as the dragon for the avatar. Its an awesome dragon. I actually cheesed out and paid a couple of bucks to unlock all of a couple of decks. I really couldnt be stuffed maxing out the POS Red Deck legit, and a I had a couple hundered MS points sitting there 

very close to getting 300/300 regardless 

[Bebpo]

Trine is really really pretty

[demi]

Trine is poop

[Bebpo]

pretty poop

[Raban]

Trine is poop

[archie4208]

I'm trying to configure PCSX2 so I can play Persona 3.  Weeaboo cap go!

[tiesto]

Yeah, reviewers had no idea how to play.  Though you can't blame them much since the game does an incredibly poor job at explaining things.  But if you do the arena tutorial and ask any questions you have in the gaf thread, you'll figure it out and then the game is easy.

Yeah, with most of the game's tutorials, I didn't have much trouble... but:

-they really should've mentioned that by jumping, you spread your shots around and attack multiple body parts. I figured this out on my own, and it's REAL useful advice (some enemies it works better to jump during a Hero Action, and others just charge at them and attack w/o jumping)
-bonus hits and smackdowns were explained EXTREMELY poorly in the arena tutorial

I haven't really had much in the way of trouble with the game, apart from a few battles I was unprepared for. It's easy to fuck up (i.e. waste a Hero Action by running up against a wall ), but when you die it's usually fairly obvious what you did wrong. Perhaps it really picks up in difficulty after the 3rd chapter? I dunno... but right now it's at a perfect difficulty for me.

[demi]

If you do every mission and the red bezels, you generally wont have a problem. But yes it can get extremely difficult later on. The final enemies at the end of the game are Level 100+

But levels generally dont matter. Generally. If you want to do the bonus dungeon, expect to be at least Level 200+

That's if you dont kill yourself from the arbitrary grinding involved

[demi]

After replaying IU, I think its the best TriAce game. Star Ocean 4 and ROF really upped the quality on it.

[Bebpo]

Wait, why is Trine poop again?  I keep playing and it keeps being one of the most gorgeous looking games I've ever played with a great soundtrack & voice acting and umm the gameplay is fun.

[demi]

Cause it's stupid and not fun. You like crap

[Third]

Trine is awesome. Demi having shit taste re-confirmed.

[Kestastrophe]

I got my free copy of Halo ODST today for signing up for the U.S. Imagine Cup via Microsoft Website back in March

Free Stuff

[The Sceneman]

Twiddling my thumbs waiting for RDR and Alan Wake to come out down under, so rocked out a fair amount of 360 games last night cos I couldnt figure out what to play,
-300/300'ed Magic the Gathering. Yeah boyee
-Stuck in Bioshock because I'm still missing a couple of cheevs and thought "Hey maybe I can finally 1100/1100 this game". Big mistake. Time has not been kind to this stinker, still looks OK but plays like weiner poop. FPS fail total.
-Had a few rounds of Outrun Online Arcade, NEARLY got the finish Time Trial mode in 4:30 achievement, got in at like 4:32  :'( I'll get it!
-Got the Glork achievement in Castle Crashers cos I rock ass at All You Can Quaff. I win every match I play  Just need the Arena cheev for my 200/200.
-Played some more Last Remnant. Its an amazing game but I really need to dedicate more time to it. I'll 1000 it eventually for sure.
- finally played a bit more Fable 2. Its a cool game, super easy, chilled out and lots of pretty colours. Kind of like Flower or something. I could imagine stupid girls/noob dudes would play it and think they are partaking in some kind of AAA top tier "hardcore" rpg adventure, with deep character customisation and skill trees.

[demi]

I got my free copy of Halo ODST today for signing up for the U.S. Imagine Cup via Microsoft Website back in March

Free Stuff

I got one too. ODST is only like $30 now I think so its not really a money grabber. I guess I could trade it for something like Risen or Divinity 2

[chronovore]

Watching so much Fringe lately that I'm mainly playing quick puzzle crap while waiting for my wife so I can start the show. Figured out what I was doing wrong in Chime, and am probably going to be able to 200/200 it. Maybe. Believe it or not, I went back to Hexic. Still haven't wrapped my head around how to manipulate multiple Stars without fumbling them into a group, losing my ability to make a Black Pearl. Also can't wrap my head around using Black Pearl's movement style.

Other than that, I'm biding my time until Red Dead Redemption arrives.

[Bocsius]

I got my free copy of Halo ODST today for signing up for the U.S. Imagine Cup via Microsoft Website back in March

Free Stuff

Yeah, but ODST.

[Joe Molotov]

Gamestop has ODST used for $17.99. You know it's bad if even GS isn't willing to rip people off on it.

[Don Flamenco]

i just traded it in for $16 at GS the other day.  weird. 

[Bebpo]

I'm playing a bunch of stuff in small bites because demi's prediction of SMG2 being ripped already has not come true

Penumbra: Black Plague - Seriously, if you guys like SURVIVAL HORROR then PLAY THIS SERIES.  This series is a very good replacement now that Silent Hill and RE are :sadface
Valkyria Chronicles - Finally started playing this and it's awesome animu.  Loooove the Sakimoto music.  He needs to score more games! 
Trine - Pretty colors and fun
Strongbad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 - I never finished this series, so now that I have some time might as well finish ep4 & ep5.  Game is sort of good, sort of boring.  The cell-shading looks GREAT at 1080p
Peace Walker - lolz post-game lolz

[iconoclast]

Valkyria is soooo good. Vesperia and VC are a cut above every other RPG this gen. I wish they'd give it a trophy patch so I'd have an excuse to replay it.

[Smooth Groove]

Penumbra: Black Plague - Seriously, if you guys like SURVIVAL HORROR then PLAY THIS SERIES.  This series is a very good replacement now that Silent Hill and RE are :sadface

Really?  I thought it was just a low budget indie/home-made title with low hardware requirements.  How is the presentation?

[Kestastrophe]

I got my free copy of Halo ODST today for signing up for the U.S. Imagine Cup via Microsoft Website back in March

Free Stuff

I got one too. ODST is only like $30 now I think so its not really a money grabber. I guess I could trade it for something like Risen or Divinity 2

You wanna play some horde mode or whatever that's called?

[Bebpo]

Penumbra: Black Plague - Seriously, if you guys like SURVIVAL HORROR then PLAY THIS SERIES.  This series is a very good replacement now that Silent Hill and RE are :sadface

Really?  I thought it was just a low budget indie/home-made title with low hardware requirements.  How is the presentation?

The graphics aren't bad at all for an indie game and the presentation isn't bad either.  The 2nd game Black Plague has a lot higher production values/presentation and feels like it can compete with retail series like RE/SH.  The first game Overture definitely feels more budget but the atmosphere is real good.  Great puzzles, solid storytelling, good gameplay.  The first person, physics-based gameplay (think half-life 2 puzzles) gives a fresh take on horror.

some pics from the gaf thread:

[Third]

I'm currently playing the first Penumbra. I guess it's ok. Looks very low budget. But I'll finish it someday...

[Joe Molotov]

The Penumbra dudes have a new game coming out later this year called Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The deal is over now, but a few weeks ago you could pre-order it for $10.

[Bebpo]

I'm currently playing the first Penumbra. I guess it's ok. Looks very low budget. But I'll finish it someday...

Stick with it.  As the story ramps up it gets a lot better and you learn how to get good at sneaking past enemies and running from area to area unharmed.  The WORST part is gonna be the water cave tunnels, so once you're past that it's all good.

Black Plague starts with the story ramped up from the start, in a more interesting environment and with better graphics/bigger emphasis on plot.

The Penumbra dudes have a new game coming out later this year called Amnesia: The Dark Descent. The deal is over now, but a few weeks ago you could pre-order it for $10.

Yeah that's actually what got me to finally play the series.  Wanted to know if I should drop $10 or not and after playing a few hours of Overture and liking it, I did.  Looking forward to a summer of PC horror gaming from Frictional Games!

[Smooth Groove]

Do I need to know the first game's story in order to play the second one?  I wanna just skip right over to the better looking game. 

[demi]

The story is trash, I wouldnt play it for that

[Smooth Groove]

I don't care that much about the story but I don't want to feel totally lost either. 

[demi]

Trust me its impossible to get lost. The story is really simple

[Bebpo]

I haven't gotten to the part where the story sucks like demi is talking about.  Seems satisfactory horror game story/writing somewhere between RE and SH.  You pick up notes all around like RE games that flesh out the mythos through the stories of various people.  I like it a lot, but it's not for everyone.

The 2nd game starts with a recap of the first game so you could skip it.  They both run on the same engine and the main difference in visuals is just more interesting looking locations in Black Plague.  Eh, I'd recommend playing Overture, setting it on easy, and using a guide if you're unsure of what to do to blow through it in a few days.  Some of the puzzles in Overture are really good.  Plus some people say the first game is better, but they seem to be in the minority.

[demi]

1000'd the new Prince of Persia... big ol meh. I guess I would prefer it over the 2008 version but this one is still pretty blah. It's even canon with the Sands of Time trilogy. But since it takes place "between" the first two games they can basically make up whatever they want

[bork]

Lost Planet 2: Still hadn't finished campaign yet, so a buddy online went through the entire game with me.  The story was laughable (expected), and the Chinese and Mexican stereotype voice actors they used for two of the factions are just  . 

Most of the time it was just the two of us and the AI, although we did wait for a few others to join during certain missions.  Pretty fun overall; the game is certainly flawed, and frustration would come from levels where you could be knocked off a platform and die (the train in 3-3 comes to mind), be it from an unseen enemy attack or simply due to the recoil from the weapon you are using.  Now that I've finished the game once, I can use my own custom character in campaign and level up.  You can get a lot of experience in campaign, plus there are certain areas for point farming. 

My problem with the game's unlocking system actually isn't that it's a slot machine-style interface, but instead that you can only get the points to use in the slot machine through the campaign mode.  It doesn't make any sense that there are no ways to get points from playing multiplayer versus.    

Anyway, certain stages were fun enough to the point that I wouldn't mind replaying them a bunch for grinding purposes.  Campaign is pretty short as it is (six chapters, further divided into sub-missions; there's usually around 3-5 per chapter) and definitely replayable.

[tiesto]

Downloaded the trial of Mamotte Knight. I don't really like tower defense games (well, the passive ones where you place objects down on a field and wait for stuff to happen), so when I heard this game was a tower defense game I was worried... but it's not really like that. You have an avatar that you move around, killing shit, trying to protect the princess. It's pretty frantic, has a cool retro Famicom style aesthetic, and some rockin' chiptunes from The Man Koshiro himself. I also love the heavily Engrish tutorial and the faux-Famicom boxart/startup screen where you press "A" to blow on the cartridge to begin. I bought it once my trial was up (only 240 points) but haven't put time into the full game yet.

[magus]

so it's like the knight mode of half-minute hero?
(in knight mode,you were a knight trying to protect a wizard,you could move the wizard around or place trap to slow down the monsters)