What games are you playing now?

Meh; I truly don't understand the rapturous love for BG2. Take out David Warner and the incessant NPC chattering, and you're left with a mediocre game. Icewind Dale was far more atmosphere for me (the first one, not the sequel that got hamfisted amongst Josh Sawyer, deadlines, and 3E min-max curves).

I've been saying that for years, except that I find Irenicus and the NPCs just as annoying, but BG2 fans are almost Whedonesque in their devotion, so it's just not worth arguing with them. :p
 
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Oh, the horror of accepting that tastes differ and people aren't necessarily wrong when they like what you don't :)
 
Meh; I truly don't understand the rapturous love for BG2. Take out David Warner and the incessant NPC chattering, and you're left with a mediocre game. Icewind Dale was far more atmosphere for me (the first one, not the sequel that got hamfisted amongst Josh Sawyer, deadlines, and 3E min-max curves).

Well, those are two of the great parts about it! For me, one of the main things I loved about BG2 was just how huge it was. It was hard to find a large game back then. All the different subquests and such were a real treat. IWD does have avery interesting atmosphere and I enjoyed it, but I really found the story, and particularly the ending lackluster.
 
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Oh, the horror of accepting that tastes differ and people aren't necessarily wrong when they like what you don't :)

Heck, don't know about you but I bet if I mapped what I liked and didn't like about any variety of games / books / movies / music through the years I would have an interesting map of contradictory elements (not that I would fundamentally flip flop like/dislike, but just change what elements I love and which I tolerate).

Speaking of BG2 ... still playing it on iPad ... still loving it.
 
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Oh, the horror of accepting that tastes differ and people aren't necessarily wrong when they like what you don't :)

Now you're talking crazy! ;)

Back on topic, I've started a new game of Might and Magic 7. It's fun, but the initial running around getting all the skills I want is a bit tedious. I'm hoping it picks up a bit now that I've got a few levels under my belt.
 
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Heck, don't know about you but I bet if I mapped what I liked and didn't like about any variety of games / books / movies / music through the years I would have an interesting map of contradictory elements (not that I would fundamentally flip flop like/dislike, but just change what elements I love and which I tolerate).

Speaking of BG2 … still playing it on iPad … still loving it.

Yup - we're always in some kind of flux, and though we have things as part of our core that are unlikely to change, lots of stuff does.
 
But it's Irenicus & NPCs that makes BG2 so awesome. If you take out combat from IWD you are left with nothing as well, you know :p

BG2 has combat, Icewind Dale has combat, D&D always has combat. Kinda of an irrelevant comparison. My point was that BG2 (less-so BG1) relies more on gimmicks to enamor you and, while fun, it all becomes tired and predictable. The game is still enjoyable for what it is, but it has the tale-tell traces of Bioware's beginnings written all over it - where the essence of the game takes a backseat to its presentation.
 
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Yes, and Icewind Dale has almost nothing but constant combat and looting, except an average story and a pleasant atmosphere.

That's supposed to objectively mean it's better than BG2? I don't find that very convincing.
 
I enjoyed the IWD games more than the BG series as I'm a combat over story guy.

However, if I had to judge which were better overall games I think I'd have to pick the BG series.
 
You can create your own party in both games and I did. In baldurs gate just select multi-player and roll up all your guys.

My favorite way to play BG is 3 of my own guys and 3 companions so I get some party banter.
 
BG2 has combat, Icewind Dale has combat, D&D always has combat. Kinda of an irrelevant comparison. My point was that BG2 (less-so BG1) relies more on gimmicks to enamor you and, while fun, it all becomes tired and predictable. The game is still enjoyable for what it is, but it has the tale-tell traces of Bioware's beginnings written all over it - where the essence of the game takes a backseat to its presentation.

What I am saying is, if you take away the elements of game that developers/fans consider to make it special, obviously you are left of mediocre game. You rate IWD higher than BG2 because you didn't like those elements that I and others love and makes BG2 an excellent game. For IWD it's combat and atmosphere that makes it great game, I just don't like combat.

And just want to point out, Torment is D&D which hardly had any combat :p
 
Actually playing last years Tomb Raider - enjoying it far more than I expected. Some mashing in QTEs but avoiding frustration is what walkthroughs of those are for!
 
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You're missing creating your own party, but I'm not surprised….

That was one thing that really excited me about IWD. As much as I loved BG1, the NPC's are basically meat puppets (without the great party banter mod of course!). Being the sentimental guy I am, I actually recreated my same BG1 party for IWD, but made some tweaks (like making Imoen a half-elf so I could dual class her).

After playing BG2, where I felt the party members really do come alive (I know some people don't care for their banter, but it was one of the best parts of the game for me), going back to a party that had no banter seemed rather boring.

When I played IWD2 (which I realize isn't the best game), the story was so convoluted that I lost interest half way through as I had no idea why I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I then went back later and played with the NPC mod and that really helped me to stay engaged to the game.
 
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I just got into The Secret World last night, and man, people weren't kidding when they said it's a very different beast of an mmo. Atmosphere and story are great. Combat is ok. I just find it difficult to be aware of what I'm doing while in combat. It's very frenetic, and I find myself mashing the 1-n keys sometimes. But it's cool.
 
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I recently purchased (pre-ordered technically) Starbound, which is a side-scrolling platformer, with exploration and building elements. The shortened version of the story is that you are last of a crew sent out to explore strange new worlds, to boldly go where no plant-thing or fish-thing has ever gone before!

It has that strangely addictive quality found in Minecraft, though combat is a bit clunky, as you aim using the mouse, but move using keyboard controls (standard WASD).

I've mostly confined my building to my ship, where I've set up a small farm and crafting stations. Some of the randomly generated mobs are rough, and some of the environments are as well. Since each world is random, it does offer a good deal of exploration to do, but so far I've only found one inhabitant of a world, whom I promptly slaughtered.

There are mods available, and probably more of a story arc to follow once it gets further in development. It is in beta, so not everything is complete.

All in all, well worth the $15 IMO. I enjoy both building sandbox games, as well as platformers (Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog).
 
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Pudding Monsters, Reaper, Magic Rampage, Wind Up Knight, on my tablet. Pudding Monsters is horrificully addictive.

Might and Magic Legacy on my Desktop. This is a very good game but it's pretty sloppy from a technical perspective.
 
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It has that strangely addictive quality found in Minecraft, though combat is a bit clunky, as you aim using the mouse, but move using keyboard controls (standard WASD).

The controls, and most of the general gameplay, are from Terraria. I've just started playing it, too. It looks like it's going to be Terraria turned up to 11.
 
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Well, in spite of having a massive backlog ... I dumped a few hours each into Two Worlds and Divine Divinity this weekend.
 
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