What are you playing?

[cool breeze]

I hate spirit tracks so much.  Drive your train to the next dungeon!  (5-10 mins later) Oh wait the bridge is out!  Drive ALL THE WAY BACK ACROSS THE OVERWORLD to the bridge worker.  Seriously not only is this the worst zelda game ever made but this is just a terrible DS game.  Looking at the guide I'm over halfway through it now and at this point I'd give it a 5/10.  If it didn't have the prestige "zelda" name I would have shelved this ages ago and played something good while waiting for Kingdom Hearts PSP.  Worst game of 2009 imo, at least that I played.

As a distinguished mentally-challenged Zelda fan, I agree.  I'd actually put it on par with Phantom Hourglass as the worst Zelda game because at least the dungeons and good in Spirit Tracks.  The train stuff is by-far the worst thing ever put into a Zelda game and it's baffling to think anyone would like those segments.  I say segments as if it doesn't take up the majority of the game, which it does.  The reason I kept playing was to get to the next dungeon and the majority of time I played the game was at my computer occasionally glancing down at my DS.

But yeah, tied for the worst Zelda game.  I might actually put it slightly below Phantom Hourglass if only for swapping out the pirate (potc, mainly) style for  and othercliche anime garbage.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Left 4 Dead 2 is owning my ass.

I'm at the Dark Carnival stage.  This is a team game through and through because any time I try to walk a few steps ahead of the pack, I'm struggling.  The Coaster though is annoying.  Starting the ride seems to cause wave after wave of zombies, effectively owning my ass.

It's good fun but I will agree with Demi, this needs human co-op to really be successful.  The CPU AI is very good but sometimes in the middle of a huge fight, they're off looking at nothing.

[chronovore]

Isn't the AI in L4D based on difficulty level? I recall that the easiest difficulties have the AI partners running around like Chuck Norris but they gradually approach Dom's level of foolishness at higher difficulties.

[Flannel Boy]

Uncharted 2 and the McCartney and Simon and Garfunkel Rockband DLC's. 

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Holy shit, Darksiders really IS another Soul Reaver.  It feels a lot like the first SR, and so far it's been pretty fun.  I wasn't aware that the setting was in a dilapidated city so that threw me off, of course I wasn't aware of anything going into this, but I think I've gotten used to it.

Honestly, the only thing missing from this game and Soul Reaver is the long winded speeches from Raziel.  Now you just get short distinguished mentally-challenged neo-biblical nonsense coming from gears of wars characters.  I don't know if that's a good trade off or not but fuck it.  More Soul Reaver.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I give up on L4D2.  The game keeps handing me my ass.  I beat the roller coaster portion of the Dark Carnival but the next stage you open the gate where wave after wave of zombies wore every down, that is it.  :'(

I did get three achievements so it wasn't a total loss, I guess.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Try playing coop, its what the game is about really.

That it is.

However, it is just a game I wanted to screw around on for a weekend.  On my Gamefly queue, I have the games I want to spend the week playing and games I want to just spend a weekend on.  The weekend shit is stuff that I only intend to blow through in a short amount of time and then just send it in.

Weekend Stuff: Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, Modern Warfare 2
Week Stuff: Bayonetta, Batman Arkham Asylum, The Saboteur

I guess whether I get the games in that fashion is up to Gamefly but whatever.  I'm trying to play more games and in the meantime, I'll play some XBLA shit.  I'll see how this arrangement works.

[Don Flamenco]

played through all of Separate Ways in RE4 yesterday.  it was kinda ok.  Gave me an RE5 vibe, i.e. it's RE4 gameplay without the RE4 heart and soul. 

[Stoney Mason]

I'm going down the homestretch of AC 2. I'll probably beat this one in the middle of next week but honestly its become a bit of a chore. While there are parts I quite enjoy there are also parts I find incredibly tedious or janky. I haven't liked it as much as the reviews did.

[Bebpo]

The running controls suck, the AI is dumber than any other game ever, the fighting is shallow, the game is glitchy and graphically the cities are really blocky low-poly, but otherwise it's a hell of a game.  So much to do and everything is fun.  Great presentation and the best over the top story since MGS2.  One of the few sandbox games that made me want to 100% it because it was just so fun.

[Ichirou]

I just started Assassin's Creed 2 today.  I actually finished the first AC just this week.  The differences between the two games are really staggering thus far.  I figured it'd be like the first game plus a few other things.

I don't like how they redesigned the Kristen Bell character from the first game to the second, though.  In the first game, it actually looked like the actress, in the second it...doesn't.

[Stoney Mason]

The running controls suck, the AI is dumber than any other game ever, the fighting is shallow, the game is glitchy and graphically the cities are really blocky low-poly, but otherwise it's a hell of a game.  So much to do and everything is fun.  Great presentation and the best over the top story since MGS2.  One of the few sandbox games that made me want to 100% it because it was just so fun.

I'll probably post my "review" in the AC 2 thread when I finish but basically it was like this. The game starts off slow but then gives a great impression as the world expands and it seems like there is a lot more depth.

I think its a bit of an illusion however. The extra stuff they added for me doesn't necessarily make it a great game. It just means there is more sort of pointless stuff to do. If you are a collecton-athon, completionist, type gamer then there is a lot to like here. But since I'm not and that isn't the reason I play open world games there are a lot of issues I'm running into.

Its definitely an improvement over the first game by a good margin but just improving over a mediocre game doesn't make it a great game imo and it still has a ton of flaws. (All open world games do. Its partially just part of using that design format).Good game. I think I just got my expectations a little of out wack based on reviews and what some gamers were saying.

[Ichirou]

I liked the first game.  I wouldn't call it mediocre.  The first AC is a solid, cohesive experience.  It is flawed in that the mission types aren't varied enough, but what it does, it does well, and the sense of freedom you get from running through the rooftops is really great.

[Bebpo]

I think AC1 is the definition of mediocre.  They made great cities but there is absolutely jack shit to do in them.  The story pacing sucks and the combat is ultra terrible.  Plus the last hour or so when you fight 100 soldiers just makes it even worse.

I hated AC1 but I loved AC2.  The changes to the story presentation, the slightly improved combat and less emphasis on it and the focus on making the side missions and main missions FUN instead of boring or annoying went a long way with me.  Making stealth actually work and adding in helpers to hire and stores and a castle to improve were great too.  It also helps that while Altier was hardly a character, Ezio is a very likable and fleshed out lead.

[Ichirou]

Meh.

[archie4208]

Almost done with Infinite Climax.  Bayonetta is easy compared to Ninja Gaiden or DMC3.

[duckman2000]

I'm notoriously shit at action games and I've managed to get a few chapters in on normal, so at least the default is easier than Ninja Gaiden. No idea what Ninja Gaiden 2 is like, though.

[Don Flamenco]

I'm notoriously shit at action games and I've managed to get a few chapters in on normal, so at least the default is easier than Ninja Gaiden. No idea what Ninja Gaiden 2 is like, though.

NG2 normal is easier than NGBlack/Sigma on normal once you get the hang of it and realize that the enemies eat just about any hit you throw at them.  The mutilation stuff makes it even easier--every weapon has moves that almost guarantee limb removal and after that you hit just hit Y to kill them.  So you can kill many enemies in 2 hits.  Some of the bosses can be a bitch though.

but the harder difficulties in NG2 are notoriously distinguished mentally-challenged with off-screen projectile spam (while the actual enemy AI remains as dumb as it is on normal.)

[MCD]

did you beat it on master ninja, kranz?

[Bebpo]

I'd definitely say the original NG wins the "most difficult" award of the NG/DMC games.  Haven't played enough Bayonetta to judge though.  DMC4 is the easiest of the bunch.  Hell I beat it on every difficulty level and I'm not amazing at action games or anything.

[Van Cruncheon]

yeah, dmc4 is definitely the easiest. i suck at these games but i think i died all of once? twice? en route through normal, and got well into hard without much trouble before getting bored

[cool breeze]

I suck at most of these games and didn't even have an easy time with DMC4.  It wasn't too hard and the only hard part was how they changed up your move twice in the game (character switch).  Bayonetta seems fairly easy on Normal so far.  I also had no trouble with God Hand or Shinobi PS2.  Something about being able to dodge instantly helps.

[MCD]

i still think the hardest 3d action game is onimusha xbox version.

dat crazy doll still pisses me off.

[Nintendosbooger]

Excite Bots is awesome. Been playing it in spurts in between my NSMBWii rounds, and it's proven to be a great filler game. I'm happy to have it as a part of my resurrecting library.

[Van Cruncheon]

dante was much less fun to play than nero, fo 'sho -- devil bringer x sword rev = awesome

[demi]

Nero is amazing, a breath of fresh air in the DMC series.

[iconoclast]

Off-screen projectiles in NG2 are a non-issue, aside from the Chapter 11 Rasetsu fight on Master Ninja. In regards to difficulty, NG2 is by far the hardest (on Master Ninja; assuming you do every fight, so 4300~ kills by the end), especially when you consider the Mission Mode DLC on Master Ninja is a lot harder than the story. So far I'd say Bayonetta and DMC4 are pretty equal in difficulty, but I haven't played the secret boss and survival mission in Bayonetta yet. And Nero is indeed awesome, although he is a little limited in the long run. Can't wait to see how Capcom expands on him in DMC5.

As for what I've been playing, I started up Sin and Punishment 2 yesterday. Haven't even fully played through it yet, but I can already tell it's one of the best games on the Wii. Still gotta get back to Dragon Age and continue working on 1CC'ing 1.5 Original in Mushihime Futari, but Bayonetta has been sucking up all my time since I got it.

[archie4208]

Nero is amazing, a breath of fresh air in the DMC series.

Backtracking killed DMC4 for me.  I got lost in the forest with Dante and sent the game back to Gamefly.

[MCD]

just give dante nero's arm and call it dmc5.

[Mr. Gundam]

Nero was great, I cringed whenever I had to go back to controlling Dante.

[Don Flamenco]

did you beat it on master ninja, kranz?

NG2?  fuck no. 

Off-screen projectiles in NG2 are a non-issue

uh, no.   maybe you have no trouble dealing with them?  There's a difference.  They can be dealt with, but I'll be damned if I have to play the game in some retardedly circumscribed way.   I like to be able to use more than just the two safe moves on a weapon and I get bored of constantly dashing to stay in invincible frames. 

NG1 differentiated itself from other, dumber action games by presenting enemies with better AI in harder difficulties.  They were better all around--offense and defense.  The enemies in NG2 are still dumb as shit on harder difficulties, but they spam projectiles more. 

[Don Flamenco]

oh back on topic-- currently playing Assignment Ada.  Wayyyyy better than Separate Ways.  I guess that makes sense since Mikami worked on AA and not SW.  can't believe I never touched these mini-games.  Mercs is next...I played a lot of that on RE5, so I know it's awesome. 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Nero was great, I cringed whenever I had to go back to controlling Dante.

One thing that annoyed me about the DMC 4 main game was as soon as I was starting to love playing Dante, it switched back to Nero.

But it doesn't really matter when Bloody Palace exists.

[Third]

Still playing STALKER. Spent almost six hours playing the game today lol.
The game is really good, and quite scary too. And fucking hard. I think I'm going to set the difficulty to novice.

[Don Flamenco]

oh hey, you can buy 360 games on demand with points now.  DMC4 get. 

[OptimoPeach]

Too bad I have an old 360 and my HDD barely has enough space for the dashboard. I should get a new one so I can stop worrying about wearing down the laser

[Bebpo]

Nero is amazing, a breath of fresh air in the DMC series.

Yes.  I hope they make DMC5 and just drop Dante or making him an optional playable character after you beat the game.  If they can pull off an original character like Nero again with an amazing new combat style they should just do that than trying to give Nero/Dante more moves and call it a day.

[OptimoPeach]

How long before Nero gets his Devil Trigger? I've only done 7 or 8 missions

[demi]

How long before Nero gets his Devil Trigger? I've only done 7 or 8 missions

The level is called Ressurection

"And the voice said... POWER... give me more..."

[Third]

Still playing STALKER. Spent almost six hours playing the game today lol.
The game is really good, and quite scary too. And fucking hard. I think I'm going to set the difficulty to novice.

The setting is just perfect eh? Did you patch the game to improve the graphics? 

Yes, installed the complete 2009 mod before playing the game. I always look for updates before I start playing older PC games. The game looks really good btw.

And yeah, I love the setting. There's some eerie shit going on. I'm a sucker for post apocalyptic scenario's. Maybe that's why I love Fallout 3 so much. And I can't wait for Metro2033. 

I'm currently doing some side stuff. The first underground level was horrifying. There was a mutant there who tried to kill me with his mind. His attacks scared the shit out of me. I had to press the ESC key for a short pauze because I didn't know what to do. But I was glad that I didn't have to kill him. I just ran away. There was also another ghost creature/mutant there. I'm going back there when I have some better weapons/armor.

The only thing I don't like are the small hazardous sections on the map. So annoying. Especially when you're being chased by someone or something. And I've died so many times now. Some parts are really hard. Most of the time I kill ONE enemny, run faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar away and heal, then come back to kill the others, one by one.

I'm definitely getting Clear Sky and the sequel. I might upgrade my PC for the sequel and Metro 2033.

[fistfulofmetal]

I'm definitely getting Clear Sky

dont bother. it's really bad compared to the first. it exchanges the awesome horror elements of the first game with shitty faction war crap.

[Third]

I'm definitely getting Clear Sky

dont bother. it's really bad compared to the first. it exchanges the awesome horror elements of the first game with shitty faction war crap.

ow, disappointing 

It's pretty cheap on steam, though. So I might just check it out sometime. 

[cool breeze]

yeah, Clear Sky is not so good

the second expansion, something piyr-something is supposed to be good

[tiesto]

Yay, finally on disk 2 of DQ7... after 70 freaking hours.

[The Sceneman]

playing so much Mass Effect... some of these sidequests have good little stories but WTF at the repeating buildings and mines, kinda ruins it. The planets are pretty cool, they are meant to be barren uncharted worlds so its pretty sweet trucking around them and salvaging minerals and stuff. nearly at the end of my Hardcore playthrough, then its onto Insane. Will hopefully have the game cleaned out before ME2 drops. the ME2 achievements look much easier.

Also just finished Flower, Sun and Rain on DS. WTF did I just play

[Don Flamenco]

playing DMC4, easy mode.  not my fault capcom didn't stack the achievements!   The fights are barely long enough to get an S-rank, let alone SS and SSS  :'(    on the plus side, I'll have all the techniques to start with on normal, so I can get to SoS all the faster.

[archie4208]

Played some TF2 earlier today.  Pyro is da best.

[Ichirou]

Yay, finally on disk 2 of DQ7... after 70 freaking hours.

The whole game took me over 140 hours, and I didn't even really mess with the whole monster zoo you could make.

[The Sceneman]

playing DMC4, easy mode.  not my fault capcom didn't stack the achievements!   The fights are barely long enough to get an S-rank, let alone SS and SSS  :'(    on the plus side, I'll have all the techniques to start with on normal, so I can get to SoS all the faster.

Its actually harder to S rank on Human than Devil Hunter, basically because every baddie dies so easy and you cant get combos going

[The Sceneman]

Also started playing Rondo of Blood remake on PSP. Its good but I'd rather have the original game than this low poly shit. Better unlock it asap

[chronovore]

I just started Assassin's Creed 2 today.  I actually finished the first AC just this week.  The differences between the two games are really staggering thus far.  I figured it'd be like the first game plus a few other things.

I don't like how they redesigned the Kristen Bell character from the first game to the second, though.  In the first game, it actually looked like the actress, in the second it...doesn't.

Yeah, that bugged me as well. She looked a lot more low-rez in this version. I think it may be due to

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the escape sequence, where they used the same model in a scene where she and Subject 17 both fight a dozen guards.

[close]

Without a spot to due a new load for a different model, they'd have to make one which worked in both contexts, but in contrast the AC1 model only had to be used in the lab, and was only shown with Subject 17 and Dr. Effete Jackass; minimal world geometry and 3 total characters is a bit different than what they do in the first hour of AC2.

Too bad: the previous model was sexay, and the new one is weak. Still has got a nice backside though.

[Ichirou]

Her nose is way off from the model in the first one.  It doesn't help that they show you clips of from the first game in the intro, and then you meet the character again and it looks NOTHING LIKE SHE DID in the first one.

Also, the environments in AC2 are so much bigger than the ones in the first, but the characters all look like they're made of plastic.  They really changed the aesthetic this time around.  I preferred the griminess in AC1 to the almost overly-sterile look in AC2 thus far.

[tiesto]

Yay, finally on disk 2 of DQ7... after 70 freaking hours.

The whole game took me over 140 hours, and I didn't even really mess with the whole monster zoo you could make.

Did you do the postgame stuff?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

i.e. fighting God?

[close]

if so, how did that go? Do you need to grind a lot to do it?

[Ichirou]

It's been years since I played the game, but I don't remember doing any postgame stuff, so I guess I missed out on that extra dungeon.

[Eric P]

i've been playing a lot more Lord of the Rings Online when the GF is using the xbox

i'm thinking of picking up Saint's Row 2 since it's now $20 because i miss the open world fun of Crackdown

[chronovore]

Or you could play more crackdown. The game holds up really well.

But if you get saints row 2, you may have some takers for completing the missions in co-op. There's extra 'cheevs for that, and I'm amenable to any excuse to revisit Stilwater. I played a couple more co-op missions with Sho Nuff over the weekend. Bitch showed up with no shirt on, and I thought "What is this? COPS? At least wear a wife-beater."

[Eric P]

well i JUST beat Crackdown like a week or two ago, so it's a bit early to revisit there.

but yeah, i'll probably pick up Saints Row this week or the weekend.  I have a busy weekend so I probably won't get to play it then

[The Sceneman]

Or you could play more crackdown. The game holds up really well.

But if you get saints row 2, you may have some takers for completing the missions in co-op. There's extra 'cheevs for that, and I'm amenable to any excuse to revisit Stilwater. I played a couple more co-op missions with Sho Nuff over the weekend. Bitch showed up with no shirt on, and I thought "What is this? COPS? At least wear a wife-beater."

Yo Im keen for some co-op soon, Ive just been soooooooooo hooked on Mass Effect I cant put it down, and when you messaged me on Saturday I had a bro over for some split screen action in Borderlands and L4D2. You free tonight?

[duckman2000]

Tried playing the Dante's Inferno demo, but the demo actually bugged out and wouldn't finish. Got stuck in the grasp of death as he kept looping around in the sky and into the ground. Not that it would matter, I doubt I'll even be renting this thing. A shameful and failed clone. I'd almost say that it makes the Dark Void demo look good, but that might be pushing it.

[duckman2000]

Meh. Dante's Inferno is like a failed attempt at cloning a magic mushroom; barely mutated, yet fundamentally changed, and useless for any other purpose than inspiring a bit of vomit. Dark Void demo was certainly shit, but at least there were some hints of shreds of originality in there.