What games are you playing now?

You know I play a major load of games JDR13. Since the beginning of 2006 I have finished 94 games. Frankly the games I played this year... I do not know if I can get back to "normal" gaming after this. I mean, how simple and uninspired isnt a game like F.E.A.R, Splinter Cell Double Agent and Temple of Elemental Evil compared to grand scale productions with deep philosophical questions about what it means to be human such as Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2?

Few games have pushed my emotions so much that they actually made me cry. Gothic III, Baldurs Gate II... maybe Beyond Good and Evil and Syberia I & II touched me the that way. Every Final Fantasy game I played this summer managed to do just that. Im supposed to be a middleaged male and yet the end of Final Fantasy VIII and IX made me sob like a 14 year old girl and the ending of Metal Gear Solid actually made me rethink my life and I managed to drop some really strong issues I had up to that point. I feel silly over saying that over a bloody video game. :p
 
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i heard solid snake is going to be the next dali lama...
 
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Depends on how much you think over it.
 
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I mean, how simple and uninspired isnt a game like F.E.A.R, Splinter Cell Double Agent and Temple of Elemental Evil compared to grand scale productions with deep philosophical questions about what it means to be human such as Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid 1 & 2?

OK, so now you justify your love of FF by putting down other games?

OK, let's stop this back and forth. It started as good natured ribbing about 'scoring bandwidth' and is about to turn nasty.

Back on topic, here is my list:
On the PC I just finished Gods: LOI, am still working on NWN on Mac and The Chosen – Well of Souls (formerly Frater), and also started the shooter Infernal.

DS is now seeing Sim City DS after playing Transformers: Autobots, which wasn't too bad and my kids are loving that now.

Just finished Transformers on the PSP and that is absolute crap ... now I have a quandry ... I'm just starting both Jeanne d'Arc and D&D Tactics, both tactical RPG's and both just begging to get played ;)
 
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I read that D&D Tactics had been released--it's almost enough to tempt me to try a handheld. I just worry my arthritic digits would mess the whole thing up. ;)
 
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OK, so now you justify your love of FF by putting down other games?

Yes, I must show that I am capable of trashing games for no other reason than to promote the games I like. O_O
 
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Yes, I must show that I am capable of trashing games for no other reason than to promote the games I like. O_O

Well, what I was saying was that you basically called things like FEAR trivial and inferior. While the story and characters in the FF games are wonderfully done, the intensity of action in FEAR is something that no FF game has, for example. What I'm saying is that the Final Fantasy games are as a whole objectively excellent and classic additions to all of gaming, just as many other games. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, as do other games.
 
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Well, what I was saying was that you basically called things like FEAR trivial and inferior. While the story and characters in the FF games are wonderfully done, the intensity of action in FEAR is something that no FF game has, for example. What I'm saying is that the Final Fantasy games are as a whole objectively excellent and classic additions to all of gaming, just as many other games. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, as do other games.

What I meant was that F.E.A.R cannot have taken much manpower to produce with a basic FPS engine and somewhere between 10-20 maps and a cliché plot. It gives a few hours of fun, you beat the game in a day or so with nothing more to see in it and you probably wont remember the name of the main character a week later. Few games are larger than that really. Most games produced are like that actually. We take an old concept that have been done so many times before, give some schmuck the job of putting together a simple plot which is an excuse to kill some stuff, then we throw in some new ideas (not too many though) and finally we sell it as full price.

The FF games are absolutely shock full with extras that must have taken a huge team of developers to produce. Even when using a walkthrough it takes weeks to see everything the game has to offer with several minigames, multiple plotthreads, dozens of uniquely designed non-player characters/villians with their own story/personality like they were a part of the game just like the main characters.
 
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I think we could argue until we died without getting anywhere - I agree that the FF games are excellent, but recognize that there are other games that have superior elements in some areas, while having weaknesses compared to FF in others.
 
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I think we could argue until we died without getting anywhere - I agree that the FF games are excellent, but recognize that there are other games that have superior elements in some areas, while having weaknesses compared to FF in others.

Ofcourse, but having superior elements do not suggest a 10/10 in my book. I try to score games based on what they offer when you put it all together.
 
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Now boys, don't make me send you to your room without dinner.

After all, we all know without question that the only game in the history of the world to deserve a 10/10 review score is Black & White. ;)
 
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Now boys, don't make me send you to your room without dinner.
After all, we all know without question that the only game in the history of the world to deserve a 10/10 review score is Black & White. ;)

I only reached the fourth level in B&W, after that I dropped the game. :[
 
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I didn't even make it that far in that game. I just remember the incredible hype and all the glowing reviews that were quietly revised a few weeks later. If I were trying to be serious, I probably would have offered up Wiz8 or MM7, but even those games had some legitimate issues.
 
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it doesnt appear that the Jeanne d'Arc your referring to txa is a portable Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc, an utterly excruciating title to play that gave me easily the most brutal migraine of my entire life! I'm just now getting into Settlers: Heritage of Kings. Havent seen enough of it yet to make a real good call, but it's looking like this is the start of something good.

I liked Black and White for a little while, then it just turned into a babysitting simulator. The game seemed geared for kiddies. And you couldnt skip some really annoying stuff, that one ayy didlee deee song will prolly be playing in the 7th circle of Hades for hellbound bands such as Motley Crue and the like.

I cant imagine someone could openly weep because of a video game, and I cant help but snicker and roll my eyes every time we're informed of it. A teary eye? Ok. you cried? You truly wept? Tears running, snot flowing, sobbing, bawling? I'm sorry, that's just funny.

For crissake, It'll be ok man, really. Trust me.

I'm sure glad Professor Roqua isnt around to see this embarrassing streak of effeminance run rampant in some modern males. We'd never hear the end of it
 
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it doesnt appear that the Jeanne d'Arc your referring to txa is a portable Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc,
No, this is a historically inaccurate, straight s-RPG 'tactics' game. With mixed jRPG elements like chibi heads and such.

jeanne-d-arc-grid.jpg
 
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I'm just now getting into Settlers: Heritage of Kings.

This Settlers game is *very* different from its presessors ! So much that the successor - a remake of the original Settlers 2 - looks like the older Settlers games again !

To German gamers (The Settlers is one of the far best known games here in Germany), the Settlers V ("Heritage of Kings") was like a revolution !

I think it was in March or April when I bought the Collector's Edition ("Gold Edition") which was reduced to 20 Euros. It contains a figurine, the game plus Making Of on DVD and a Soundtrack CD.
Amazon Germany has it for 15,50 Euros now.
German Settlers 5 Collector's Edition
I think it's in German; I don't know of any English-language Collector's Edition like that.
 
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Right now I'm playing Temple of Elemental Evil (I've never seen it before, but this game invents its own bugs as you go), and when I get frustrated with it to the point of taking a sledge hammer to my computer, I play Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell to unwind.
 
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Last evening I re-installed CivCity: Rome and promptly lost 5 hours to the game. City builders, particularly ones based on ancient civilizations, completely and utterly suck me in every time. They're dangerous!

I'm also trying to get into Morrowind once more. I've modded the heck out of it, but it is still failing to grab me. I think right now it's the horrible combat. The game goes from being a very attractive, open-world exploration style RPG to being a mad clickfest when combat happens. It's awful, and utterly destroys any immersion.
 
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