What are you playing?

[Rahxephon91]

Well then I guess Halo 4 mp just is'nt for me.

[CajoleJuice]

I'm jumping into my GoG collection. I played a game of Alpha Centauri for the first time and it was amazing. A sci-fi Civilization -- I am ashamed it took me 14 years to play it.

If you've had that lying around for a while GOG recently added the Alien Crossfire expansion for free. 

Yep, I installed that, too! I just wanted to try out vanilla AC first.

[Positive Touch]

Well then I guess Halo 4 mp just is'nt for me.

its a shame because i really think the core mechanics are much better than reach, but reach had so much more mode variety and an endless selection of maps that were added to the rotation. halo 4 feels solid but really repetitive since youre going through the same 4 or 5 maps over and over and over.

[Rahxephon91]

No doubt do I think the game game plays way better then Reach. I think it's a fun game, but I'm not one who really gets depth and mechanics when it comes to FPS. If it feels good, it's fun. Halo 4 is fun. I can see the argument against load outs, but whatever. Ordinance drops take away an element of weapon control, but it's not a big deal.

But I'm really picky when it comes to maps in mp games. Maps and game modes. I like large maps and I like objective game types. I realize slayer is whats most popular, but I like fighting over a a flag and figuring out what path is best to get to it.

And I just don't like the maps given to CTF and wish I could at least try the other big maps in Halo 4. The lack of variety kills my enthusiasm and so I just don't feel like putting in the game. I'll just play BF3 where I have a list of maps and I get to chose what I want.

[chronovore]

Picked up the Nightmare in Something-Something Point DLC for SLEEPEH DAWGS because SD is great and it was on sale. IT IS AWESOME! It is making me want to re-re-re-rewatch Big Trouble in Little China while stroking my peachwood sword.

Thinking about checking out Viva Pinata, I've always been curious about it. Is it any good? I like shit like Animal Crossing

Viva Piñata is not at all like Animal Crossing, but it WILL destroy your good night's sleep for however long you are playing it. Many nights, around 10PM, I thought "let me just plant a few more flowers, and water them, well... while I'm waiting, I might as well harvest these fruits..." and then realize it's TWO IN THE DAMNED MORNING.

Great game which had no idea who it wanted as a target audience. It was released as a kids' game, but the actual act of unlocking the Achievements more or less requires a FAQ.

[bork]

Just tried the MGS Rising demo.  Seems pretty cool, but man does Raiden look like such a tool.  Glad that Cyborg Ninja skin is going to available.

[Fifstar]

Just beat Arkham Asylum, probably the best Hollywood Gaming experience I've had so far. Plus the german dub was among the best I've ever heard, really shows how they had attention on every part of this game from start to finish. How can a studio that had only one game before do such a quality game?

[The Sceneman]

Great game which had no idea who it wanted as a target audience. It was released as a kids' game, but the actual act of unlocking the Achievements more or less requires a FAQ.

Sounds similar to Nuts and Bolts in that regard.... Looks like a kids game and carries a G-rating, yet will test even veteran gamers. Poor Rare, they have AAA tier product but nothing seems to work out for them. I didn't play their Xbox 1 offerings so can't comment on those, but Nuts and Bolts was every bit as good (better, even) than their N64 output (save for Banjo Tooie). Real shame they're relegated to the Kinect now.

I just realised I fucked up a playthrough based achievement in Shadows of the Damned, 4/5 the way through the game  I didn't realise you actually had to farm the gems in Infinite spawn points, I just assumed the game was designed so you could collect all the hidden gems and have enough white gems to max out your guy. Fuck. At least the games short so I can blast through it again quick. Or I might just give the 1k the middle finger in this game. Probably the better option. Still, it was good to play through it again, its a pretty great game.

Back to Final Faggotory CXXVII!

[Himu]

Goddamn forgot how bullshit this fight is. Hardest fight in the game.

[chronovore]

Great game which had no idea who it wanted as a target audience. It was released as a kids' game, but the actual act of unlocking the Achievements more or less requires a FAQ.

Sounds similar to Nuts and Bolts in that regard.... Looks like a kids game and carries a G-rating, yet will test even veteran gamers. Poor Rare, they have AAA tier product but nothing seems to work out for them. I didn't play their Xbox 1 offerings so can't comment on those, but Nuts and Bolts was every bit as good (better, even) than their N64 output (save for Banjo Tooie). Real shame they're relegated to the Kinect now.

I just realised I fucked up a playthrough based achievement in Shadows of the Damned, 4/5 the way through the game  I didn't realise you actually had to farm the gems in Infinite spawn points, I just assumed the game was designed so you could collect all the hidden gems and have enough white gems to max out your guy. Fuck. At least the games short so I can blast through it again quick. Or I might just give the 1k the middle finger in this game. Probably the better option. Still, it was good to play through it again, its a pretty great game.

Back to Final Faggotory CXXVII!

Rare seems to have this problem consistently. I picked up Kameo during their $5 sale last month; looking at the TA.com ratings for the 'cheevos, it seems like A-rank on the time trials is not something their tracked gamers have done. TA ratio is over 5.5 for most of them. The game is weird, because it starts with a scenario where you've got all your Elemental Powers, and it requires existing gamer skillz to clear it. Then the game takes them away from you, so you can build yourself back up -- AND THEN runs you through a "look around the room!" and "move over here" and "push this single button -- GOOD, GOOD!" sequence which implies the Make The Player Feel Powerful sequence was a late addition.

As usual, the game appears technically adept, a solid engine for a launch window title, with a metric ass-ton of features and content to go through. Really surprisingly robust for how old this game is. But it doesn't know who the audience is, either. The character designs are very cartoony, the voice acting Children Television Network bad, and the story has managed to reveal its major twist in the first paragraph of spoken dialog.

Schizophrenic genius, that Rare.

[The Sceneman]

yeah, that was one of the most impressive parts of the game for sure.

[fistfulofmetal]

been playing Super Hexagon and fuck that game because i can't score longer than 30 seconds in hard.

[archnemesis]

I'm up to 75.35 seconds on hard and 31.50 s on harder.

[demi]

Keep playing, Borys

[Purple Filth]

supernatural monsters in the Ice Cave?

Oh Naughty Dog... I wonder what is the surprise in Uncha 3. Probably Mummies!

 

didn't want to say it my that reply to the post you made about uncharted 1 and supernatural stuff.

[The Sceneman]

supernatural monsters in the Ice Cave?

Oh Naughty Dog... I wonder what is the surprise in Uncha 3. Probably Mummies!

? supernatural shit is in Indiana Jones movies and Tomb Raider following that, which Uncharted is obviously influenced by.

Why are multiple parties racing for artefacts, relics etc. if they didn't have badass magic powers?

[brob]

the ark actually working in indiana jones was cool n cray, fighting blue bullet sponges in uncharted was unnecessary and butt.

[StealthFan]

Yeah the sperglord Na'vi in Among Thieves were awful.

I'm playing a lot of DUST 514 lately and enjoying it. Gonna start EVE tomorrow and check out the Chivalry free weekend.

[Eric P]

beat the lego lotr.  eh.  i think i'm done w/ lego games

[Mr. Gundam]

supernatural monsters in the Ice Cave?

Oh Naughty Dog... I wonder what is the surprise in Uncha 3. Probably Mummies!

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Djinns, but you're hallucinating.

[close]

[demi]

Did you really have to answer that? lol. You should edit that out imo.

[demi]

Mostly the story, for me. The levels werent as interesting, either. They looked great, sure...

[Bebpo]

Gameplay balance in the 2nd half.  Game was rushed, levels weren't playtested enough.  Bad spawn points, annoying as shit enemies.  Constant trial & error deaths.  Just no fun to play at all.

[demi]

The infamous boat level on Crushing / Hard is, well, way too hard I remember that

[Mr. Gundam]

Uncharted 3 is just so incredibly average and boring. There are a few neat set-pieces throughout the game, but it wasn't enough to make it good.

It's not a horrible game by any means, it's just not a good game. Especially compared to Uncharted 2.

And yeah, the difficulty got kinda crazy near the end for no real reason. And then the final boss fight is easy as hell.

[Fifstar]

Solved all the riddles in Arkham City. Probably going back to Nocturne now or play Deadspace or Bioshock.

[cool breeze]

Can you guys tell me in short why Uncha 3 is disappointing? Even sfags admit that.

the short of it is that it's Uncharted 2 again but everything is worse and the new additions are half-baked.

an example is if you compare stealth between the two games.  In Uncharted 2 you sneak around to make the inevitable shoot out in your favor by reducing the number of enemies or gaining an advantage (vantage point or weapons).  Uncharted 3 keeps stealth, but whatever you do, new enemies will keep spawning and it effectively makes stealth useless.

or how Uncharted 3 'improves' the melee by making it needlessly long.  It's worsened by enemies that constantly rush you and spam grenades.  You still take damage during the melee animations, so you end up in situations where you're punching out some bloke as the screen goes black and white.  Sometimes you must brawl with other enemies and it ends up being the same configuration of enemies over and over.

[Bebpo]

Got Zettai Hero Project 2 - Oh shit we need the uguu now because even though I can't stand the presentation, deep down I still love Nippon Ichi's glorious glorious stats and ZHP was a heck of a lot of fun, just needed more combat depth so you weren't running around hitting X and that's all you did.

Started playing it and the gameplay system upgrades seem good!  You have a 2nd party member :O  This is kind of new for me to play a rogue game with 2 characters.  You equip the other person just like your own person and you can specifically tell them to use spells and skills, but otherwise they fight with AI when you fight.  Definitely adds another layer.  Also, all equipment/weapons have skills/special attacks that use SP (which regens like HP as you walk; but your EN  goes down as you move through the dungeon).  Enemies have elemental and weapon weak points and weapons/armor gain xp and then BURST and I'm not sure what that does yet.

Still in the intro so there's TOO MUCH GODDAMN TALKING, but it could be good.  Really dislike the uguuu setting though since ZHP had a pretty damn funny worldview.

[cool breeze]

max payne 3.  it's nice to see a game where actions are mapped to individual keys.

[MrAngryFace]

Lots n lots of Skyrim- prepping for Dragonborn coming to PC

[Bebpo]

That actually looks pretty cool.  Maybe I'll play Skyrim someday.

ZHP2 (which is what I'm calling it because the Japanese name is way too long and nonsensical) is good!  I finished the first chapter and I'm liking the gameplay a lot more than ZHP.  I felt ZHP was 1 step away from being a really great deep rogue-like x srpg, and this takes it that extra step.  The story is solid too, though cutscenes go on about twice as long as they should (Disgaea 4 had this same problem). 

I haven't played a jrpg that wasn't super robot wars in a while, so it's kind of nostalgic to play an N1 game again.  Especially a non-Disgaea one.

[Beezy]

I didn't care for it much at first, but I've been hooked on Mark of the Ninja ever since I realized that it's just one big stealth puzzle game. Hadn't read up on it at all beforehand.

[iconoclast]

I've been playing Ultra Mode in Mushi Futari for the last couple weeks. I've got the strategies down for every stage, so now it's just a matter of practice & execution. I'm hoping to put together a 3+ billion run, and once I do I'll probably never play this again.


On a side note, a player named SSERESS cleared Ultra with Abnormal Reco last month. AFAIK it's the only 1cc in existence with her, and it's fucking amazing:

And I just noticed that he has also reached third final boss in Ultra 1.01, which might be even more amazing. That mode is retardedly unbalanced and no one has ever beaten it on default settings -- I'm certain he will be the first.

[chronovore]

I'm going to rename the game here and now: UNHAPPY WARS.

What is WRONG with Japan, can't grok networking to save their life. The game is plenty of fun when it works right, but even after a sizable Title Update (42MB), the wait in the Lobby has three separate countdowns, and always stalls on the last part of the last countdown, one unit short of completion, for a duration equal to all the previous counts combined. Sometimes, at this point, instead of proceeding to the game, it kicks me back to the main menu, but there is no way to know if it's going to crash out or continue to the delicious fracas without JUST WAITING FOREVER for the result, on "11/12," or "17/18," or "8/9."

Also, right after the Title Update, there was an interesting PVP match where I couldn't damage the enemy team members, but they could cast beneficial spells on me, so there's some kind of binary bit for who is enemy vs. ally, and it got flipped. We played for about 10 minutes before the game crashed. I've had three or four other matches which had gone quite long, but crashed out before completion. Of course, none of these will count toward completion of its grindy "play more than 100 games"  -- ffffuuuu...

Solved all the riddles in Arkham City. Probably going back to Nocturne now or play Deadspace or Bioshock.

I felt pretty great after doing that. Have you also done the Riddler's Hostages?

I didn't care for it much at first, but I've been hooked on Mark of the Ninja ever since I realized that it's just one big stealth puzzle game. Hadn't read up on it at all beforehand.

How could you *not* see it as anything other than a stealth puzzler? Did you just see it as an action game? That would be frustrating.

[Beezy]

I didn't care for it much at first, but I've been hooked on Mark of the Ninja ever since I realized that it's just one big stealth puzzle game. Hadn't read up on it at all beforehand.

How could you *not* see it as anything other than a stealth puzzler? Did you just see it as an action game? That would be frustrating.

That's exactly what happened.

[Don Flamenco]

I bought a copy of Nier...the beginning of this year is like "give current gen Square a second chance" time for me    Purchased XIII, XIII-2, Nier, and Last Remnant, and intend to get through all of them.  Star Ocean and Infinite Undiscovery are not being considered in this...

when I bought Nier, the clerk at gamestop said "do you know what this game is?"  and when I said yes, he said he was asking because everybody hates it.

[demi]

Nier is amazing. You have to play it 2.5 times for all the endings, though. Though it lets you start off about half way in once you beat it, so it's not so bad.

[MrAngryFace]

I can't imagine what people expect when blind buying Nier and not liking it. What are they expecting anyway?

[Don Flamenco]

Nier is amazing. You have to play it 2.5 times for all the endings, though. Though it lets you start off about half way in once you beat it, so it's not so bad.

I started once and gave up because it was fairly boring.  but then I saw the overhead parts on someone's stream and thought that looked really cool.  I'm also interested in finding out the big twist in the story.

[Beezy]

Nier

[fistfulofmetal]

i downloaded and played DUST 514 because... i dunno, it's free.

my only reaction is. why is this not on PC?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Rayman Origins > Any NSMB game

Origins isn't a perfect game by any means but it is fantastic.  I don't have much hope for Legends though

Edit: Halfway through Samurai Warriors Chronicles for the 3DS.  I really like this game.  The biggest strength here is that there is a shitload of content to work your way through.  Looks like there's a total of 37 stages, some of them I recognize from other Samurai Warriors games, including 3.  Another great strength here is that you can switch to another general using the touch screen.  Works great if you want to switch to the other side of the map to hunt down an escaping officer.  The downside is that the game recognizes this and sets up a lot of difficult missions that are hard to get at unless your character happens to be in the right area.  As a result, you're probably going to fail a couple of missions.  However, unlike some of the previous Musou games, the stages will generally take 20-30 minutes at most.  Turning the 3D off gives a nice framerate boost but I usually turn it on for the sequences between stages.  A real solid effort here from Omega Force.

Beat this game.  Clocked in at 19 hours 8 minutes.  I read some thread on GameFAQs about how it takes about 190 hours to max everything out.  Fuck that amirite?  Surprisingly full of content and very well done for a handheld game.

Debating between playing Virtue's Last Reward or Code of Princess next.

Ended up playing Code of Princess or shall I say Code of Uguu?

The game can be best described as functionally average.  I went into the options to mute the voices first off.  The lead character is Solange, who is a princess and is probably the most scantily clad princess out there.  Extra effort was spent making her big anime titties jiggle and in spite of wearing armor, covers very little.  You unlock other characters as you progress through the story.  The game is split up into numerous small scale battles that take 2-3 minutes each.  Most battles are pretty shallow, just keep poking away at the enemies, use your MP if your HP is getting uncomfortably low, and use the triggers to switch between multiple planes to fight enemies.  There are some combos available that mix things up a bit.  The 3D effect is actually pretty nice but in stages where there are a lot of enemies and the screen is zoomed out, it gets choppy.

Get this if/when amazon.com sells it for $15.

Beat Code of Uguu today.  The clock in time was 3 hours and 31 minutes.

The positives

+ The artists didn't skimp on the titty jiggling animation.  They definitely knew what audience they had in mind.
+ Bright and colorful uguu worlds that look pretty decent for a 3DS game
+ 3D effects are very nice.  Probably the best use of 3D I've seen yet.

The negatives

- The same dumbass anime tropes that we've all come to know and despise since 2002 or whenever they became old and tired to you
- Floaty responses.  Beat em ups should have tight responsive controls.  This game has none of that.  It really comes to light in busier battles.

As I said in my previous post, this game can best be described as functionally average: it has some flaws, it has some good stuff, but none of it was really compelling to where I couldn't put down the 3DS.  It was just there.

The game also technically does not last three hours.  You can replay as a few different characters (all consisting of various anime tropes that you come to expect) and there is a mode where you can take on several smaller missions that exist separately from the main game.  There is also a versus mode, including online but didn't seem to find anyone.  Since there is a leveling up system, you can get to grindan and get some better weapons, shields, and whatnot.  However it is completely unnecessary in this game.  Honestly, the game isn't quite good enough to spend time doing that.  You never know, I may get so bored with every other game out there and want to return to this.

Get it a year or two from now for $10-15.

[AdmiralViscen]

Minecraft 

[cool breeze]

max payne 3 is surprisingly great.  it's way too cutscene heavy at first and the story don't got that max payne 1/2 charm, but the gunplay is really fun.  and there are other bothersome parts like how much the game rushes you through levels; you always have some person yelling at you to run to a door or something.  sometimes it feels like the game is rushing you to the cutscenes, and that's annoying.  it's like they thought people are playing this for the story.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Got LoTR War in The North to play with my buddy. Combat is , loot is , graphics are . What happened to these guys? BG:DA and Champions of Norrath were so much better.

[MrAngryFace]

I had fun with War in the North- I think you're nostalgia goggles are making the generic ARPG ps2 games seem better than they were

[BobFromPikeCreek]

Probably. I could've sworn the loot was more plentiful and more interesting in the other games though. I'm only 3 or 4 hours deep in this one so we'll see how the rest of the game shapes up.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

I also remember CoN having way better skills but, again, could be nostalgia.

[Cormacaroni]

I had fun with War in the North- I think you're nostalgia goggles are making the generic ARPG ps2 games seem better than they were

i also got this today for $4, remembering your enthusiasm and trying to forget the Metacritic scores...still, any co-op game is good if you have a kid to entertain i guess

[Himu]

max payne 3 is surprisingly great.  it's way too cutscene heavy at first and the story don't got that max payne 1/2 charm, but the gunplay is really fun.  and there are other bothersome parts like how much the game rushes you through levels; you always have some person yelling at you to run to a door or something.  sometimes it feels like the game is rushing you to the cutscenes, and that's annoying.  it's like they thought people are playing this for the story.

MP3 is great? Goddamn reaction to this game is all over the board. People say it's shit, it's average but has good shooting, or that's balls out awesome. I'd like to try it myself but pc version is like 30 gigs and fuck that.

[Rahxephon91]

It kind of sucks.

It's sluggish. It's like Rockstar didn't understand that turning around to shoot something in a MP game should be quick and not feel weighty. The game is all about realism, to the point that animation dominates everything. Hit the floor from diving and still have a guy alive? Hope you get up quick. Wait whats this I have to have this intense realistic animation of Max getting up? Oh too bad that guy is coming at me and spraying his shit  while I take the time to get up. Now I'm dead. And that's what happens in MP3. Oh I'm going to dive into shit like past Max Paynes, except if you hit something it takes you out of bullet time and has to have it's animation of you responding to it and since this is a cover game with cover around you, you are bound to hit cover. It kind of goes against the theatrics of past MP games.

You can only carry a realistic amount of weapons which is stupid(I guess not really, but well it's unlike past games). And the story is just annoying with so much Rockstar's 'grittiness" that it almost feels like parody. I get it max Payne is a cynical fuck. Stop reminding me a sec.

On the plus side. The game looks great and the attention to detail is amazing. Great music that's also used effectively.

My friend really likes it. He likes stuff like "when I shoot someone in the head they die". He likes the tension in the fact that you can die pretty quickly. He says it makes you play better and that using bullet time feels less like a cheat now.

it's not terrible. It's worth playing.

[demi]

I couldnt last 2 levels, game is dreadful. Controls are complete shit

[cool breeze]

It kind of sucks.

It's sluggish. It's like Rockstar didn't understand that turning around to shoot something in a MP game should be quick and not feel weighty. The game is all about realism, to the point that animation dominates everything. Hit the floor from diving and still have a guy alive? Hope you get up quick. Wait whats this I have to have this intense realistic animation of Max getting up? Oh too bad that guy is coming at me and spraying his shit  while I take the time to get up. Now I'm dead. And that's what happens in MP3. Oh I'm going to dive into shit like past Max Paynes, except if you hit something it takes you out of bullet time and has to have it's animation of you responding to it and since this is a cover game with cover around you, you are bound to hit cover. It kind of goes against the theatrics of past MP games.

You can only carry a realistic amount of weapons which is stupid(I guess not really, but well it's unlike past games). And the story is just annoying with so much Rockstar's 'grittiness" that it almost feels like parody. I get it max Payne is a cynical fuck. Stop reminding me a sec.

On the plus side. The game looks great and the attention to detail is amazing. Great music that's also used effectively.

My friend really likes it. He likes stuff like "when I shoot someone in the head they die". He likes the tension in the fact that you can die pretty quickly. He says it makes you play better and that using bullet time feels less like a cheat now.

it's not terrible. It's worth playing.

The point about the sluggishness is true.  Max is an oaf in this game.  But your reaction is to stand up, and mine was to stay on the ground and keep shooting.  You don't like the new weapon system, and, well, I think it works in the context of max payne 3.  It would've sucked in the old max payne games.  Max payne 2 is one of my favorite games and if max payne 3 were to be more like that, I'd probably end up liking it more, but I'm not holding it against it that it's not.  So far most things (gameplay-wise) just feel different, and not necessarily worse.

Although, for all the cover that's in the game, the cover mechanic is pretty dated.  You can't roll or dive into cover.  You can't move from cover to cover (swat turns and stuff).  Vaulting is a long animation that leaves you vulnerable.  All in all it's unnecessary at this point in the game (1/3rd in judging by the chapters). 

MP3 is great? Goddamn reaction to this game is all over the board. People say it's shit, it's average but has good shooting, or that's balls out awesome. I'd like to try it myself but pc version is like 30 gigs and fuck that.

to clarify, I said 'surprisingly great'.  I didn't have the highest expectations and out of those three criteria I'd say it's 'average but has good shooting.'  I think the gunplay is great but that's not all the game is.  There's actually an 'arcade' option on the main menu and I'm hoping that will be more gunplay without the overwrought design getting in the way.

[The Sceneman]

I need to play MP3, average 3rd person shooters are my bread and butter

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Playing Mario Tennis Open for the 3DS.  Pretty nice game so far.  I made sure to disable the gyro controls right away.  You can also touch the commands but they're optional.  Since it's freezing rain and sleeting where I live, I guess I can't go anywhere so I'll be spending the day playing this.

[MrAngryFace]

I had fun with War in the North- I think you're nostalgia goggles are making the generic ARPG ps2 games seem better than they were

i also got this today for $4, remembering your enthusiasm and trying to forget the Metacritic scores...still, any co-op game is good if you have a kid to entertain i guess

I went through single player but yeah- anything is better with friends.

[Joe Molotov]

Been playing some Modded Skyrim, in anticipation of the master race release of Dragonborn.

[tiesto]

Finally beat Persona 4, end guy was so much easier than 3's... also bought Balloon Fight and Little Inferno for WiiU, was playing Little Inferno - it reminds me of "Alchemy" for the phones but much much more charming.

[Don Flamenco]

Just finished a back-to-back play through of Virtue's Last Reward and after, 999. 

both great games but I'm actually happy I played VLR first (spoilers if you haven't beaten both games):

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the plots were quite similar in a lot of ways, but VLR was just so much more substantial.  I noticed a lot of the thrills you get from going through 999 for the first time also occur in VLR.  Most people played 999 first-- they were probably shocked as hell when characters were getting murdered, betrayals were going down, and people were sending answers to puzzles and story questions to their past selves in an alternate timeline parallel universe thing.  But after VLR, I already knew to expect all of that.  I still liked 999 a lot, the true ending especially, in the incinerator! 

[close]

[MrAngryFace]

Finished Dragon and Dawnguard arcs of Skyrim- waiting for Dragonborn