What games are you playing now?

judging by the achievement and items tracking i'm over half way through the First Templar, and my opinions of the game keep improving which is always a good thing. to bad i don't play co-op as that would even add some extra flavour but don't let that detract from the great solo experience it is and the ai-companion actually does really well and being able to switch between the 2 characters on the fly practically makes it a party based game. although highly linear the main character is very well voiced and the story is actually fairly well written.

I'm playing Mana Khemia. That J-RPG. I like it, because of its anime elements.

I shelved The First Templar about 3/4 the way through because Alice: Madness Returns was released. I've finished Alice so now I will go back and finish The First Templar.

I have moved onto "a level a day" with Metro 2033. It really stresses my computer to the max, making all the fans speed up.

Argg. Brood War is harder. Imagine that. I don't like missions that basically make you rush and hope for the best. There seems to more of that in Brood War.

I'm almost done with the Protos missions. One more to go

I must say there is a TON of gaming with this series. Original Starcraft has 30 missions. Brood War has almost that, too, for a total of around 57 missions. You have to really like it to play all missions to completion. I guess I fall in that category.

I thought the level of difficulty in Brood War was almost perfect. The missions are hard enough to be a challenge, but I never found myself getting frustrated. Even though there is only that one level of difficulty, I thought it worked better than the multiple difficulty levels offered in SC2.

No gaming for me right now, I leave for vacation tomorrow morning. My next game will be Deus Ex: HR.

I'm not talking about difficulty, I'm talking about mission design. Some are just plain tedious or based on rushing or large numbers rather than winnable by careful systematic build / explore / conquer.

There wasn't a single level in Brood War that required me to use rush tactics, although I'm sure you can benefit from it on some maps.

However, there is a level later in the game that holds a significant secret if you can finish it within a certain time frame.

Well, if you wait too long, by building and upgrading before expanding and/or taking over other bases, you're screwed in all of the BW missions I've played so far. That's what I meant by "rush". The whole limited resource thing and losing to a war of attrition against greater numbers. Just annoys me that the game has to give itself such an unfair advantage, especially with all of its fully upgraded units at the start of each mission.

If you really think BW is unfair then I hope you don't attempt multi-player anytime soon. The aggressiveness of the AI in single-player is actually quite lax in BW. The AI factions don't even attempt to expand their bases or gain additional resources.

I have no desire to play multiplayer against people who have been playing this game for almost 15 years. That would be ridiculous and purely masochistic. Anyway, I don't like multiplayer in general. Too many brats out there.

I understand where you're coming from. I'm just making the point that the single-player game is far from unfair. You can play a skirmish map at a higher difficulty level, (unlike the campaign, skirmish difficulty is adjustable), and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Anyways, it sounds like you're enjoying it for the most part. Be sure to post your impressions when you're finished.

I see what you're saying. To me, enemy AIs expanding and grabbing resources seems more fair, than them starting at fully developed tech levels and bases, with more resources, bases, and units. Even if it makes the game harder.

I am enjoying it to the point of obsession. And that's a good thing, right? Thanks again for recommending it!

I just started Venetica last week, haven't got far since I've been a bit busy. Only maybe 3 or 4 hours in, if that.

I finished the Protos missions in Brood War. I WAY overbuilt for the last mission. Must have had 100 photon cannons defending the temple.

I started the Terran missions last night. I hope the change in factions renews my interest. After 38 missions (with 16 to go), it's beginning to get tiresome…

Playing DA2 and actually liking it so far.
Teehee.

Playing the end of Avernum 1.
It's the only Avernum I totally finished, and with the announcement of the remake I thought I'd load up a latish save game for nostalgic reasons. Bugger me, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm getting my arse handed to me over and over in some of the final sections (esp. the final fight with Grah-Hoth).

Resident evil 5 is a fun game, but it would be a lie to call it survival horror. RE4 was already quite combat heavy, but it had some survival horror elements present unlike RE5 which is a pure third person shooter.

The good thing is that the controls are a lot smoother and it is fairly easy to love the run&gun gameplay. The whole partner angle is a nice addition to the classic formula, but somehow the old magic is gone. For example the whole re-lore is becoming quite confusing. The entire game feels like a spin off rather than a real sequel. I prefered the slow moving zombies, mutanted, but somewhat realistic monsters, puzzles and spooky horror film cliches. Resident evil 5 instead reminds me of a bad anime film. And by the way tentacles must a japanese thing because I don't understand the fixation for them…

The problem is like you say … It stopped being Resident Evil and became yet another generic third person action game. Solid one, but just yet another one…

Originally Posted by Dez
Resident evil 5 is a fun game, but it would be a lie to call it survival horror. RE4 was already quite combat heavy, but it had some survival horror elements present unlike RE5 which is a pure third person shooter

Which version are you playing? I thought the controls felt somewhat sluggish in the PC version. Because of that, and the fact that there are two DLC which will apparently never be released on the PC, I quit playing after a few levels.

I plan on eventually getting the RE 5 Gold version for the PS3. It's the only RE game I haven't fully played through.

I loved RE 4 btw. I consider it one of the best games I've ever played on a console. RE 4 and RE: Code Veronica are getting high-def releases on the PSN network this Fall.