What games are you playing now?

undecided-after finally getting to playthrough mass effect crash free and completely it way earlierly than expected i started a 2nd playthrough. glad i chose the female avatar due to my preference to a) female actors doing better voice overs(which turned out to be especially true for the avatars in this game) b) the previews of the game had the hero looking way to "cromag" for my taste. now my female avatar was scarily perfect, and jennifer hale did her best work yet in my opinon. first playthrough was great though even with the massive amount of worlds which despite being fairly empty and similar were as fun as hell for since exploring the surface of other worlds is still high on my "to do list".

I personally liked the new dialog system, but wish there were more developed starports to explore in trade of less systems. Even though the levels were quite repetive often, i thought the quest writing and dialogue was most excellent. If I can't stomach this playthrough, maybe i'll wrap up the I suppose 2nd half of Hard to be a God, or possibly start Underworld, though I may be 1st/3rd person game fatigued at the moment...damn you empire total war (this is the longest lapse in creative assembly fine works ever).

mass effect avatars
Jane
jane.jpg

Raul
raul.jpg
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
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California
I've been jumping around a lot the last few weeks, just playing a bit of everything. Messed around with M&M VI a bit, as well as DarkStar One, and the demo for Evochron.

Been buying way too many games lately. My copies of No One Lives Forever 1&2 arrived this week, as well as Turok. I also have Stalker:Clear Sky and Freelancer on their way from GoGamer.com.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
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Florida, US
I grabbed Sacrifice and Giants from the latest GoG deal ... don't even have time to install ;)

Playing Sacred 2 and Left 4 Dead now on the main PC ... still tooling through Arcanum otherwise.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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Have you installed the patch ?

Because then you can adjust the camera's sensitivity in the options menu.

Yes, thanks, decreasing the sensitivity by half helped a lot, but more importantly, I figured out how to navigate "properly" - I just keep holding the right mouse button. :)

I've been playing it only one day so far, but I can already say this, I think:
I love this game.

However, I came across a nasty bug - suddenly I can't use bandages, healing herbs, etc. The option to use them just disappeared. Some potions are still drinkable, though. Reloaded some older saves, even started a new game, and the situation is the same.
 
Joined
Dec 24, 2006
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Milky Way
Played about 4 hrs of King's Bounty, and I think I'm going to restart. Not happy w/ the way I did my skills, and I think I went thru far too many units just figuring everything out.

Got my tail handed to me quite a few times (need to work on my patience a little), gonna go back now that Ive got the swing of it and play my "real" game. As usual i'm playing a Paladin, I always like the healing and holy abilities and from an rpg perspective I like being the holy crusader and vanquisher of undead. Have me leading a crusade against zombies/skeletons/vampires etx and Im a happy camper. Going to have fun w/ the "furious Paladin's" request!

Speaking of which, going to try and get some L4D in tonight too, Mikey chiming in about it has me hankering for a playthrough of "No Mercy" scenario.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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I grabbed Sacrifice and Giants from the latest GoG deal ... don't even have time to install ;)

Playing Sacred 2 and Left 4 Dead now on the main PC ... still tooling through Arcanum otherwise.

Giants was a mildly fun game, a little bit of action, platforming, and RTS all rolled into one. Also has some pretty good humor as I recall. I still have the original big box lying around here somewhere.

Been wanting to give L4D a try, but I'm not willing to bite the $50 asking price. I heard the single-player was a little slim.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
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Giants was a mildly fun game, a little bit of action, platforming, and RTS all rolled into one. Also has some pretty good humor as I recall. I still have the original big box lying around here somewhere.

Giants Citizen Kabuto is easily one of all-time favorite games. I replayed it a number of times, and learned a lot of the spoken dialog by heart. They were that funny. :p Grandpa Smartie was hilarious. So was Timmy. :p

The spiritual successor from Planet Moon Studios, Armed and Dangerous, wasn't as good as Giants but it was certainly nice and hilarious at times. :p
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
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Been wanting to give L4D a try, but I'm not willing to bite the $50 asking price. I heard the single-player was a little slim.

I got it on the Amazon super sale a bit ago, with free shipping ... so for ~$30 it is a great experience even if I never go online. It is a Valve FPS with in-built co-op and zombies. Mindless fun abounds!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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I'm trying to fire about Riven again but I keep losing the mouse pointer.

I managed to get it working by using some of the methods for the original version ( I'm using the 10 anniversary edition) such as using older quicktime drivers in the Riven folder but its not 100% with things like that. I wonder if anything is on the Vista thread...
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
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The Uncanny Valley
Been saving the last two little L4D mini-campaigns (dead air, blood harvest), warmed up w/ "no mercy" then played them both thru tonight and they were pretty good. More of the exact same, but it's just so over the top it's fun. Thought I'd never tire of it, but I can say now that I'm starting to get a little bored w/ it. Yes, a sign of the apocalypse, Sammy is getting a little bored shooting zombies. But I think Ive gotten my 50$ out of it tho, played it to death.

I guess I should go and try multiplayer or something, supposedly that's fun.

Trying to get Sacred 2 v2.34 going right now, seems a bad patch has hit the US edition and I'm stuck on 2.31, the 2.34 installer cuts me off at 6%.
 
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Oct 18, 2006
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There haven't been as much gaming these last days that I had hoped for due to all computer problems, but at least I took up System Shock. I am not entirely sure this game have aged well though. I can see that it is amazingly innovative and the story is very well made, but the graphics are awful (despite 1280x1024 mode) and the controls are so annoying by todays standard that I feel like I am working to get my next log/e-mail as that's the only stuff worth working for. I'ts a shame really. This is really a game that could need a slight facelift with improved controls. It seems like a few attempts have been made that failed, such as the DOOM3 version that was turned down by EA and System Shock Hack that seems dead. I can normally eat 2d games of that age since I can appreciate artwork of pixel artists, but pre y2k 3d graphics is usually a problem for me. I say y2k, because that's when polygon humans start to look human, and you begin to see what 3d objects in the game is supposed to be.

Speaking of ports. When I originally begun playing Dark Forces, I was stopped by finding the Jedi Academy mod. I tried the demo and it was really good and fun to play, however, that project seems to also ended up in an unmoving stage, even if there's some hope. However, when I went back out examining that mod I ran over an upcoming sourcemod called DarkXL that unlike the Academy mod is making amazing day by day progress. Due to this, I decided to halt Dark Forces again until summer this time. The game is a lot more fun to play with the DarkXL beta than in Dosbox.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
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Trying to get Sacred 2 v2.34 going right now, seems a bad patch has hit the US edition and I'm stuck on 2.31, the 2.34 installer cuts me off at 6%.

Hmmm ... when I installed, I just applied both patches in succession before I even started the game and it all went great. However, I heard that it is really finicky about files and that there is a 'MD5' security change between patches or something. Dunno, but have heard nothing good about applying to a running game.

Speaking of ports. When I originally begun playing Dark Forces, I was stopped by finding the Jedi Academy mod. I tried the demo and it was really good and fun to play, however, that project seems to also ended up in an unmoving stage, even if there's some hope. However, when I went back out examining that mod I ran over an upcoming sourcemod called DarkXL that unlike the Academy mod is making amazing day by day progress. Due to this, I decided to halt Dark Forces again until summer this time. The game is a lot more fun to play with the DarkXL beta than in Dosbox.
Thanks for that info - I was really keeping up with the Dark Forces mod back when they were doing it for JKII ... but lost it by '04 when it switched to JA.

Downloaded Suikoden for the PSP from the PSN store. So far it is a fairly standard jRPG ... but since it is a direct port of a PSOne jRPG from '96 that isn't surprising, I suppose.
 
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Oct 18, 2006
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However, I came across a nasty bug - suddenly I can't use bandages, healing herbs, etc. The option to use them just disappeared. Some potions are still drinkable, though. Reloaded some older saves, even started a new game, and the situation is the same.

Just to clear up: d'oh! What I mistook for a bug is actually part of the game mechanics. I'm sorry, Drakensang - will you ever forgive me? It's just that I didn't take any (serious) damage for such a long period, that I didn't get the occasion to see how healing works. Heh.

By the way, I *really* like how leveling/raising skills works in this game. I'll write more later... *goes back to playing*
 
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Dec 24, 2006
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Milky Way
1. Nwn2

Its been a while since I enjoyed some squad based hack n' slash action. NWN 2 is nowhere as great as baldur's gate or even kotors, but its fun enough. My main pet peave is that you can't control your party members enough (Aside few basic ground rules such as "be stealthy") which leads to stupid tactics like not bothering with spell casters as they seem to be unable casting their spells in a meaningfull way. Sure I could disable the whole party a.i, but micromanaging brainless wizzards is just too much work. Why they couldn't go with bg2 route. the a.i in this game is like two steps behind bg2!

Moreover I hate how this stupid game doesn't allow me to level all my party members manually. Those whom I left sunken flagon while ago leveled automaticly while rest of us travelled. For instance many of the spells Qara chose are plain useless (or plain dangerous to other party members) not to mention the horrible perk choises... Is there way to reset her and relevel her in a more sensible way?

What can be said about storyline..well its like all the known fantasy cliches and stereotypes mixed together: A farmer boy with a foster father, village attacked, forsaking childhood friends in one night and realizing that you are something special. Heh its no biggie because atleast party members are a fun bunch, in particular Khelgar whom has been giving the best laughs. I'm usually talkative sort but I can't say no to a good fight when he is present! I'd hate to dissapoint his joyfull nature by solving things peacefully! :)

Despite the flaws i'm having quite much fun with this game. I haven't tried any mp yet, but judging by the posts here @ rpgwatch it seems quite fun too.

2. Mass effect

I don't get the complaints. Sure inventory sucks, but otherwise its a really impressive game. first and foremost the setting feels so fresh. Aside kotors and deus ex i don't remember playing any scifi themed rpgs lately. Naturally ME ain't a pure rpg, but still storyline and dialogs are a lot better than in many recent rpg releases. Heh even the grand finale can be partly solved with good charm skills which was actually a nice surprise. I don't mind the fps combat..beats fallout 3's pseudo realtime combat anyday. And controlling your squad mates works quite well so no complaint there aside few A.I oddities :)
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
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I'll have to reprhase my statement slightly about nwn2's storyline. The begining part was plain medicore but it has gotten a lot more intresting by now. And I have learned to use casters better too. Than gnome bard is a really powerfull ally and he doesn't require that much babysitting than the regular cannonfodder wizzards. ;)
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
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I'm currently trying out custom maps for Star Wars Battlefront I.

Today, I've encountered one called "Snowball fight", which is exactly like it sounds. ;)
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
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Old Europe
Still slugging it out at least once a day in L4d.

Got my ass totally trounced in Kings Bounty fighting my first item guardians (the zombie ring), first death of the game. Wasnt even close, lighting and crap crushed my stacks like Pringles. Need to put that off for a while i guess.

Starting to go thru my shelf of games still in the plastic, grabbing ones that I know very well may be easy to install/run/dismiss. "Lords of Everquest" is the latest, an rts featuring Everquest races that came out around the time of Warcraft III. So far it's not too bad, but ive only played about an hour of it. We'll see ='.'=
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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San Diego, Ca
Playing Storm of Zehir.

I'm still having more fun with this than NWN2 and MotB combined. It's interesting, because it's quirky and the story is pretty bland. But getting to build a full party in 3.5 and having the freedom to go where I choose, and having all my skills matter is more than enough to compensate. I'm even enjoying the totally superfluous economy aspects, and I'm constantly reminded of Sid Meier's Pirates and Civilization. A lot of neat little activities that actually impact your progress, even if they're text-based and mostly void of meaty content.

Another thing that REALLY helps, is that now the AI actually works, and your party members act pretty much like I expect them to act. This is a major thing, and it was totally lacking in the previous two releases. It's like the best aspects of ToEE and Baldur's Gate combined, except for the lack of a solid narrative.

It just works.

If they manage to do a third expansion with all the right elements of the previously released stuff, it could be a potential classic.
 
I feel that I am going into the next study session here, which doesn't leave me much time over for games. Me and my cohabit ran a few levels in Little Big Planet yesterday and then I played some System Shock, but that's about it.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2006
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I feel that I am going into the next study session here, which doesn't leave me much time over for games. Me and my cohabit ran a few levels in Little Big Planet yesterday and then I played some System Shock, but that's about it.

Savor System Shock ;)
 
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