What are you playing?

[Trent Dole]

I Kind of answered my own question there huh.

[Fifstar]

Won my first game in Civ 5. Played only chieftain so I crushed the other nations in 1750. Still kinda lost when it comes to culture, religion and the specialists. Gonna play prince next and will go for a non violent victory

Gotta master that 3-4 city Tradition start. In BNW its better than liberty almost evrty time. Build on food, keep gold production high with routes, and go terrain based faith errtime.

So social politics become more expensive the more cities you have, huh? Now I understand why you should go small if you want that victory condition.

I actually did almost what you suggested except I went full on liberty. Dunno, I'm always worried that I don't have enough productivity, but so far it never really was a problem. On the other hand, happyness is much harder to keep up, I'm constantly on the search for new buildings or ways to gather luxury resources. Anyway, after I found out about the special ability of the austrians I changed my strategy and am now trying to capture the city states peacefully. Still costs a lot of money but it's fun to actually to have to do the mini quests. Much more useful to keep them happy than I thought at first.

It's only my second game but I already like that this second game feels so different from the first.

[Fifstar]

I'm playing on prince. And I already had to rush buy units after Catherine the Great was getting cocky. Thankfully, I had a nice sum of money and quickly bought some composite bow archers that easily dealt with her normal archers and warriors. Lost  a lot of happyness because I had a deal on luxury goods with her though. I'm debating wheter I should try to conquer her now  . I'm also trying to spread my religion, already got three great prophets.

What are ways the main ways to happyness? Some buildings, own luxury goods, trading luxury goods, social policies and religious bonuses?

And religion benefits both the founder of the religion and the owner of the city correct? Was so unsure which bonuses to pick there, everything seemed good.

I'll check out Frags vid, although I kinda want to develop my own strategies before I take a look at the pros.

[Cerveza mas fina]

little over 10

but i pretty much know exactly what to do. what weapons to get. how to upgrade them, where to get resources.

Ive put in 10 already daaamn. Soul level 30 I think.

[Fifstar]

Well, she sits on my border and she broke our trading agreement that benefited both of us. I'm also kinda afraid that she'll attack me again, although I have to admit I kinda provocated here as as I had almost no war units until she attacked me and I didn't join her in her war against some other state. But yeah, I have enough problems keeping happyness above zero right know, so I will probably leave her alone and hope she learnt a lesson...

[fistfulofmetal]

The final boss in DeS is a pain in the ass but seems totally manageable. But the stupid awful run up to the boss makes it ten times worse.

[Cerveza mas fina]

The final boss in DeS is a pain in the ass but seems totally manageable. But the stupid awful run up to the boss makes it ten times worse.

I beat the False Idol and freed Freke. Got some nice spells but not sure which to equip.

I got soul ray, ignite and spray.

[StealthFan]

Starting Predator: Concrete Jungle today.

[fistfulofmetal]

The final boss in DeS is a pain in the ass but seems totally manageable. But the stupid awful run up to the boss makes it ten times worse.

I beat the False Idol and freed Freke. Got some nice spells but not sure which to equip.

I got soul ray, ignite and spray.

Have you been to Shrine of Storms yet? What are you putting your points into?

[tiesto]

Beat the Bravely Default demo and started the full game. Game is, as expected, fucking awesome. Pretty much ticks all the right buttons - turn-based with some element of strategy, fast gameplay, job system with lots of customization options, attractive almost hand-drawn backgrounds.

Also nearing the end of Mario 3D World. I made it to World Crown, beat its Mystery House... and got I'd say 3/4 through with Champion Road. I'm sure given enough time I'll beat it and then have the game 100% complete... but yeah I'd rather just play BD for now instead and come back later.

[Cerveza mas fina]

The final boss in DeS is a pain in the ass but seems totally manageable. But the stupid awful run up to the boss makes it ten times worse.

I beat the False Idol and freed Freke. Got some nice spells but not sure which to equip.

I got soul ray, ignite and spray.

Have you been to Shrine of Storms yet? What are you putting your points into?

Intel and magic

Im getting some equipment together

Got a wooden cataclyst and kris blade ln off hand, ring of magical sharpness

Think i need to kill the flamelurker next to be able to upgrade the kris blade

[Fifstar]

So I tried to make a friendship offer with Catherine. She denies.
One round later, she offers it herself, I accept. After that, I propose a 1:1 trade for luxury goods, she agrees.
Another turn later, she attacks me again?! This time with a bigger more up to date army.
But after a good first round where she kills and damages some of my units, she can't decide which city she wants to attack and I kill almost her whole army in the following rounds without further casualties on my side. AI played that war really, really bad.
After almost all her units are dead, she offers me a deal where she offers me basically anything and the kitchen sink in return for a 10 turn peace. I accept, but I sure as hell am going after her capital next.

[fistfulofmetal]

Intel and magic

Im getting some equipment together

Got a wooden cataclyst and kris blade ln off hand, ring of magical sharpness

Think i need to kill the flamelurker next to be able to upgrade the kris blade

I have the crescent falchion from Shrine of Storms 1, upgrades to +4 with a bunch of points pumped into Magic boosts the damage up to around 300. I can pretty much kill most enemies in 1 or 2 shots.

[Bebpo]

Kid Icarus Uprising

This game.  Man....so mixed feelings on this.  The writing is batshit fucking crazy.  The gameplay just controls too shitty and goes on forever in a Knack kind of way.  Feels like a Suda51 game honestly.  It's got his humor, 4th wall breaking, nostalgia throwbacks, just overall entertaining wtf with crappy gameplay.  And it's too bad because there's a lot of content and gameplay options, but it just controls too...unfun.  Plays like 3rd Birthday and Kingdom Hearts 3DS but worse; like these shitty controlling action games on handhelds that don't have the controls to do them.

I got the fake ending at stage 9 and that should have been the REAL ENDING.  That fake-final stage went on foreeeever and had boss rushes and everything.  I was so burnt out on the game by the time the fake credits rolled and then when it's like BUT THERE'S 16 MORE STAGES TO GO AT 15-30 MINS EACH I just gave up and shelved it and moved to the new Zelda. 

However since I do really like the writing (the localization is amaaaaazing; I took a screenshot at some point when Pit and the goddess started discussing Pit's swagger), I'm just gonna treat this like an anime series and watch the rest of the game an episode at a time on youtube for the lolz and too see the rest of the crazy stuff Sakurai pulls.  There's a great game in there by a genius dude, but it's just not fun to play because of the system limitations. 

[Cerveza mas fina]

Intel and magic

Im getting some equipment together

Got a wooden cataclyst and kris blade ln off hand, ring of magical sharpness

Think i need to kill the flamelurker next to be able to upgrade the kris blade

I have the crescent falchion from Shrine of Storms 1, upgrades to +4 with a bunch of points pumped into Magic boosts the damage up to around 300. I can pretty much kill most enemies in 1 or 2 shots.

Hmm I think I have this one stashed away. I havent meleed at all yet, so dunno if its for me.

[Bebpo]

haha, you know though, thinking about other handheld action games like 3rd Birthday, the difference is 3rd Birthday and many others have LOCK-ON because they know their handheld limitations with free aim and movement.  There should've just been the ability to use a lock-on system if you wanted.

[G The Resurrected]

Was playing BF4 SP and finished it and was so bummed out I immediately went back to Crysis 3 and finished that. I'm still insanely dissatisfied by BF4's sp. Crysis 3 was actually pretty good, but the vehicle sections were mehtastic. I don't remember ever using a vehicle in the second one and that was for the best. I also played through the Room and immediately purchased the Room 2. That was a fantastic 3d puzzler and I hope the second one delivers.

Got my knickers in a twist with Titanfall beta where I can't get the game to run at a stable framerate so I gave up on that shit.

[fistfulofmetal]

Hmm I think I have this one stashed away. I havent meleed at all yet, so dunno if its for me.

I'm both melee and magic. For a magic user the crescent falchion is perfect because it's damage scales with your magic level. So you put everything into Magic and you benefit from very strong spells and a weapon that gets stronger a long with it. a little farming in Shrine of Storms 2 to get the upgrade material and you'll be pretty much unstoppable for the majority of the game.

[Cerveza mas fina]

I equipped it as my secondary weapon for when baddies get close.

I killed flamelurker and the dragon god, thougt I could be upgrading kris blade but apparently I need colourless souls which arent easy to get!

Think ill do 1-3 next then move to 3 or 4.

[Joe Molotov]

Final Fantasy II is kinda weird, it's not what I was expecting. I'd never played it before, but I had it in my mind that it was probably just FF1 but bigger. Instead they threw out leveling, jobs, and the distinction between black & white spells. Not that any of that is really a bad thing, although I do like traditional leveling. It's easier to get a feel for how much your characters are advancing when you have a level number to look at. What I hate the most so far though is the backtracking. In FF1, you just pretty much just went from point A to point B to point C until you get to point Z and the game was over. In FF2, you gotta hike back and forth between the same few locations over and over, with the same Lv. 1 monsters that give you no experience after the first 15 minutes.

My favorite thing about FF2 so far is how hilariously overpowered the Teleport spell is. I've got my main mage up to Lv. 5 Teleport, and I can teleport away 3-4 enemies at a time. It even works on bosses.

[Positive Touch]

i could deal with that game if the levels werent aiming for the top spot on the "worst designed rpg levels in history" list

[Bebpo]

I liked FFII GBA a lot more than FFI GBA &  FFIII DS; it felt like a proto-FFXII in its setting.

[Cindi Mayweather]

FFII psx and gba are very good. New version though..

[Joe Molotov]

Haha, now I'm further breaking the game by fighting the guards in Flynn that are basically there for show and you're not even supposed to fight. Physical attacks are do almost nil to them, but most of my chars have Lv. 5-6 attack spells and are just beasting on them (plus Teleport, of course). My stats are all increasing like crazy after every battle, and I'm spamming all my best spells to get those leveled too. Now I'm just leveling up my Toad spell for the lulz.

Also, another thing I was going to mention earlier but I forgot: Monster Closets. WTF, Square. Who thought it was a good idea to fill your dungeons full of doors, and have 9 out of 10 of these doors take you to an empty room where you get attacked. And God help you if you don't open every single one of them, because that 1 time out of 10, it might have some treasure or the staircase to the next floor.

[Positive Touch]

i warned you bro

i told you about doors

[hampster]

I picked up Magicite (from steam on early access). Its basically Terraria crossed with a Rougelike. Hard as shit too, I can barely make it past the first few enemies. The game needs a bunch of tweaks and the crafting system should be better but I'm enjoying it so far

I also grabbed Card City Nights. A fun (but maybe too simple) card game. I wish the adventure game elements of it were more fleshed out

[Cerveza mas fina]

4-2 is the first place in DS i keep dying, there is some fucking ghosts that backstab me to death before I see they are there. Maybe its cause I played this bit with no sounds.

Must have lost like 100k souls there so far in a few deaths.

Gonna try again tomorrow.

All that is left now is 1-4, 4-2 and the whole of 5.

[Bebpo]

Finished Banshee's Last Cry, it was ok.  Worth the $4 and a few hours of reading, but nothing overly special.  The new game+ story is wtf

[magus]

Finished Banshee's Last Cry, it was ok.  Worth the $4 and a few hours of reading, but nothing overly special.  The new game+ story is wtf

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyfzii_game-center-cx-s15-127-pac-man-2_videogames

skip to 28 minute

[Yulwei]

Decided to pop .hack//Outbreak in my ps2 last night. Between yesterday and today I played three and a half hours before I couldn't go on anymore. I loved Infection and Mutation when they came out over a decade ago, but holy hell these games have not aged well. They weren't even very good back then but I was still able to look past the many flaws and enjoy the silly premise but, yea... this shit is almost unplayable now. I'll stick with G.U. whenever I want to play some .hack.

[The Sceneman]

Late to the party here, but finally grabbed a copy of Saints Row IV on sale and started it last night.

Good god the game is funny. The opening mission was such an incisive parody of AAA gaming, and the game is perfectly self aware in the best way. I literally lol'ed when I saw the Nolan North option for character voice in the character creator. Brilliant stuff

[Cindi Mayweather]

Enjoy it for now, the honeymoon ends pretty soon.

[Joe Molotov]

Enjoy it for now, the honeymoon ends pretty soon.

Yeah, the game's only ~20 hours long.

[Cindi Mayweather]

I can understand why people like SRIV, but so far beyond the intro, it hasn't really grabbed me. Oh well, it was only 30 dollars.

[Bebpo]

It's fun to play and the story missions are enjoyable.


It's also OCD collect-a-thon up the ass and the music is worse than SR3 and you're totally overpowered and there's no challenge.

[The Sceneman]

The classical station is better, theres a Paula Abdul song, music is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than SR3. That Kanye song is one of my least favourite songs. TBH I would generally listen to the Beatles over that song. Man I hate Power.

[Cindi Mayweather]

To be fair, SR games are never about the challenge. We're talking about a series where you can unlock unlimited ammo for guns less than halfway through the story. However, the lack of variety, the collectathon side missions, and the bulk of the story missions weigh SRIV down. Honestly, after IV I think it's time to give Saints Row a rest. Volition beat a dead horse and the only people I really see liking the game aren't Saints Row fans, but Saints Row The Third and IV fans.

As for music, I disagree. The Mix is way better. SRTT's music was disappointing compared to 2's.

[bork]

I give SR3 the nod for better soundtrack just for Return Of The Mack alone.  That was all that I had set to play.   

I'd be fine if SRIV was the last game.  Either start all over again with the next one or make a brand new game that's similar.  I don't see what's left to do with the Saints after IV though...they outdid themselves in terms of insanity.

[Positive Touch]

true fans know the series died with 2

it also started there

[Cindi Mayweather]

I didn't really mean it that way.

[benjipwns]

2 is my favorite and I love The Third and IV.

I'm really optimistic about V. Remember that Volition was not only also working on another crappy Red Faction, but The Third was rushed with a new engine and tons of cut content* and then IV started as a midquel DLC that got expanded for non-game reasons and was pushed out pretty quickly as well, all while THQ was imploding.

I'm being positive and assuming that the IV they were talking about in the past that was supposed to go in another direction, is now V for next gen.

*EDIT: I think it was on Tom Chick's podcast where the one guy from Volition said they essentially cut two acts which is why the plot jumps all around in the middle and fills the gameplay gap with activities.

[bork]

My favorite is...all of the Saints games that I played.  I had a fuckin' blast with SR2, SR3, and SRIV.  And that's all that really matters in the end.

Couldn't get into Red Faction.

[Cindi Mayweather]

2 is my favorite and I love the Third as well.

I only meant that people who tend to like IV, tend to not be big on 1 or 2. They like 3 and 4 for wholly different reasons. Reasons that I didn't mind in 3, but alienate me in 4. Saints Row went from a gangster game to playing as the president of the united states and killing an alien menace. Those are...wildly different, and in a way, appeal to different demographics.

[bork]

2 is my favorite and I love the Third as well.

I only meant that people who tend to like IV, tend to not be big on 1 or 2. They like 3 and 4 for wholly different reasons. Reasons that I didn't mind in 3, but alienate me in 4. Saints Row went from a gangster game to playing as the president of the united states and killing an alien menace. Those are...wildly different, and in a way, appeal to different demographics.

The story got bigger and crazier each time...I love that about these games. 

[Cindi Mayweather]

I think it puts them against a wall. How can V ever hope to top IV now? We're killing aliens and it's in the Matrix, and shit.

[bork]

I think it puts them against a wall. How can V ever hope to top IV now? We're killing aliens and it's in the Matrix, and shit.

Like I said earlier, just start over.  Focus on a new engine with new things to do and improved game play.  If they were to actually keep it going, there's one thing that they haven't done yet (has anyone done this in an open-world game?)- time travel.  Why have one big city when you can have crazy ass shit going on in various eras?

[benjipwns]

I think of it more as a satire series that went from poking fun at just GTA to include the rest of gaming and more, more!, MORE!!! mentality. IV, I kinda see as really the capstone for the generation, where else can you go, and the joke is always "IN SPACE!" It was probably worth it for Zinyak alone.

The Police Squad! of open world games.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Ugh. Make a new series.

[Cindi Mayweather]

I also contend that the series is not satire; it is a parody.

[benjipwns]

That's fine.

2 was certainly more grounded and directly going after topping GTA in absurdity but already by The Third you had crazy things like clones, the Decker world, VTOLs, hover bikes, zombies, a giant flying battleship and Mayor Burt Reynolds.

One place they could go, though it might be pretty costly or difficult, and that I'd enjoy is to pick up on the time travel thread. Where the missions would send you back in time to older versions of Steelport (or whatever the new city is) and then you come back and the shit you had done changes the open world of the "modern" city. Like after one mission when you come back the mall is named Lone Pine Mall instead or there's a skyscraper where a park used to be or what have you.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Time travel sounds cool, but could be a bit hard to pull off in a sandbox game with the sheer amount of assets required.

SRTT definitely upped the parody amount. I liked that it had genre parody to outright goofy shit in it, like zombies, wrestling, flying battleships, Tron, vtols, and hover bikes. I thought it had the best medium of being grounded and outright silly. SRIV kinda pushes things a bit. Not that it's bad because of any of that. I think when it's working within the frame of a parody, SRIV is really on all gears and it's absolutely hilarious. But then you get to the game part. I guess this is what happens when you're trying to recycle a dlc expansion and make it in to a full fledged 60 dollar game.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Finished Demon Souls.

Game is good but flawed in some ways. Without any form of guide it would take 50/60 hours of tedious trial and error or wearing enemies down to get anything done. With some guidance it feels like you are too powerfull really, especially since herbs are so easy to get.

Imho the game could have been better without any leveling system and just relying on balancing every encounter around that. This way they would have been able to keep the randomness it takes to obtain some items.

[demi]

Game's fine as is. You sound like someone who would complain about Zork.

"Without a guide its just trial and error. 3/10 would not play."

Casual scum

[brob]

Beat Demon's Souls without a guide in 30ish hours. Never figured out how to get magic tho cus I played a wanderer and the magic vendor was like 'fukk off dummy' because my magic or int stat was too low ~*lel*~

[Cerveza mas fina]

Well I did used a guide to get started, after that it was all pretty easy.

Its not even trial and error really demi, its crazy shit like, have black world tendency, talk to this guy, drop a stone here then do this and voila, you get this piece of gear.

[brob]

getting gear/loot in rpgs is always distinguished mentally-challenged fellow stupid because RNG. It would be so nice if there was some (skill dependent) way to guarantee drops like they did with the tail drops from certain bosses in Dark Souls.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Whats that?

How is Dark Souls compared to Demon in all this randomness? Is it doable without any guides?

I imagine cause its open worldish its only more intimidating

[brob]

Bosses that have tails can have their tails cut off if you attack it enough. It gets you a weapon or a piece of armor 100% of the time. If you don't cut off the tail before the boss dies you don't.

Dark Souls is doable without a guide - there was only one point where I didn't really know where to go (got a key I didn't know where to use), but in general the open world aspect doesn't obfuscate forward progression. Every area leads somewhere worthwhile. Dark Souls has more bits that require/are much easier with ranged attacks tho, which I found a bit annoying since I prefer all melee.

[magus]

Well I did used a guide to get started, after that it was all pretty easy.

Its not even trial and error really demi, its crazy shit like, have black world tendency, talk to this guy, drop a stone here then do this and voila, you get this piece of gear.

there is no world tendency in dark souls,the undead/human thing is still there but being human only let you call reinforcement and has no effect on your HP bar (though there is a negative status effect that cuts the player HP bar in half until he goes into this particular stage to uncurse himself just to annoy the player)

[Cerveza mas fina]

Doesnt sound half bad, might give it Dark Souls another go then.