What games are you playing now?

Originally Posted by JDR13
Indeed, I think FO3 is vastly underrated. It got a bad rap from all the old-school elitists crying about how it wasn't a real FO game, but I had more fun with it than I ever did with the earlier titles. The vanilla game definitely has some flaws, but it's an incredible experience if you tweak it the right way. I highly recommend installing the iron sights mod. (I assume you're playing the PC version.)

I think that the criticism was that it was (on PC) rather buggy on release yet got 90+% scores everywhere … and also that it bore the Fallout name but was fairly characterized as 'Oblivion with guns'. Oh, and the criticisms were pretty well limited to PC RPG hardcore …

Originally Posted by txa1265
I think that the criticism was that it was (on PC) rather buggy on release yet got 90+% scores everywhere … and also that it bore the Fallout name but was fairly characterized as 'Oblivion with guns'. Oh, and the criticisms were pretty well limited to PC RPG hardcore …

You mean it was unfairly characterized as "Oblivion with guns"… a childish insult used mostly by those aformentioned old-school elitists. It bore the Fallout name because it was a Fallout game. I get a kick out of the people who try to claim otherwise… mostly with crap like "But it's not turn-based or isometric!"

Originally Posted by joxer
Hell there wasn't a single memorable NPC like in previous games.

Your opinion bro, not mine. I remember a lot more from FO3 than I do from the previous games, and I had just replayed FO1 immediately before playing FO3. The only thing I agree was inferior in FO3 was the writing, but I'm more of an exploration guy, and I enjoyed that aspect a lot more in FO3.

Originally Posted by JDR13
You mean it was unfairly characterized as "Oblivion with guns"… a childish insult used mostly by those aformentioned old-school elitists. It bore the Fallout name because it was a Fallout game. I get a kick out of the people who try to claim otherwise… mostly with crap like "But it's not turn-based or isometric

I do know what you are saying … but don't think that either side of the debate has a universality of truth. From my review:

I definitely agree that calling this game ‘Oblivion with guns’ does a disservice – perhaps calling it Oblivion meets a real RPG meets the Fallout universe reimagined as a FPS meets … well, perhaps that is why ‘Oblivion with guns’ gets used. But my point is that while the use of the Oblivion engine is pretty obvious, and the fact that some of the design aesthetic comes from Oblivion (caves and sewers in particular), those are cosmetic things that bear little significance on the overall game.

also, from a different 'first impressions' article I wrote:

First and foremost: anyone who denies that Fallout 3 *IS* ‘Oblivion with guns’ is either lying to you or themselves. At the same time, anyone who claims that ‘Oblivion with guns’ is ALL that Fallout 3 has to offer is being similarly dishonest.

It's a nickname, not a debate.

People can call it whatever they like. That doesn't change the fact that it's still Fallout 3.

FO3 vanilla wasn't quite worthy of the title, in my opinion. Way too easy and mechanics were severely watered down. But with the right mods, I agree that it's superior to the old Fallouts and I happen to think it's much better than New Vegas - though I realise I'm in the minority.

Fallout 3 Which i agree, fuckin rocked. I liked the exploration of 3, i was always coming upon somethng nteresting.
Wharf I think you're hard-core mode sounds cool. I always hate how it takes multiple shots to down someone, it's just not realistic. that's one reason I like the Tom Clancy games.
I'm sorry, you get shot in the head with anything you're going down.

As for me, playing sacred 2, and finally able to stomp the computer opponent in Warcraft three with night elves. I've always wanted to get good with the night elves faction, Some very interesting units. Lots of huntresses

Aw fudge (only he didn't say 'fudge') … now I have to go back and replay FO3.

I found Fallout 3 to be enjoyable. Much more entertainment than I had with Oblivion. I spent a long time in it to explore everything. Two of the DLC's for Fallout 3 were great as well. I cannot see how it can be better than New Vegas as NV was larger in every direction, and also a lot more balanced overall.

Yeah Fallout 3 just takes the muffin, wow, so many good experiences from that game.

Contrary to popular belief, im not playing on the PC. Im quickly learning that PC gaming is one expansive, crazy animal however. Id die for iron sights in that game, seriously.
Some of the stuff I hear about the first two Fallouts sounds really cool actually, like story and writing-wise, but ive never played them. I can totally understand people wanting the grittier atmosphere from the first two, or whatever seems so cool about them, because Bethesda's games never seem to be that serious.
Thats just my opinion and everything, and Fallout 3 had more serious elements than any Bethesda game id seen before, but it was still that almost family-friendly vibe going on, some of the stuff from Fallout 1 and 2 seemed grittier and more real.
I know my post-apocalyptic game wont turn out so family-friendly. About as family-friendly as a damn nuclear apocalypse

Yeah Samhain, I totally agree. You take the weakest civilian gun and shoot someone in the head with it, theyre down and out for at least a bit, cause its a gun
Now see the Warcraft strategy games are somethin' id want to play. For strategy game exp. im limited to Civilization Rev. for the 360, which I have to say gets quite tactical and has a good amount of options, but Warcrafts for PC if im not mistaken, which must mean infinitely more units and options, and of course in the Warcraft world, thatd be fun as hell.

"I found Fallout 3 to be enjoyable. Much more entertainment than I had with Oblivion. I spent a long time in it to explore everything. Two of the DLC's for Fallout 3 were great as well. I cannot see how it can be better than New Vegas as NV was larger in every direction, and also a lot more balanced overall."

Well it was a newer, more featured game, sure, but its only when you look at the little intricacies that differentiate the two games, that you see which ones more solid.
I mean its a matter of opinion I suppose, and I only say that because im trying to be less one-sided, because I see clear as day who the better game is, but to level the playing field ill take a few picks and see if I cant sway you:

First is the more hand-crafted approach of Fallout 3, where NV felt like it was manufactured. I found such a cheapness and repetition in the world quests. Mainly the factions all over, I remember having to do the same thing for each one, just in a different place. And each was so limited in its playability.
Excuse me please for not playing the game for a good couple of years, and not remembering so clearly, but I remember the one faction who were out in the mountains, they were like viking/drug addicts or something, I dont know, but I liked them and ended up doing all of their quests, but apparently the ending was so uneventful, I had no idea when I was out of work, I just remembering seeking everyone out trying to talk to them for advancement, it just ended out of nowhere. And honestly, that game was four times as buggy as Fallout 3, at least on the 360.

Secondly, the setting of Fallout 3 just takes the cake for me. I love revolvers and dusters I really do, but something about the capital wasteland in FO 3 just cant be matched.
Honestly though, you know what it really is? Its the radio. I hated the southern-styled songs on the radio in NV, and I love just about every song on Galaxy News radio, and even a couple on the Enclave station. I literally feel like im enjoying music I like and playing videogames I like simultaneously, not unlike listening to Mastodon and playing Dark souls or Skyrim

But you know, they had the iron sights, they had a cooler core story, or at least a more engaging one, and they had that f*cking sarsparilla cap contest. Anyone know what im talking about? I have the worst story about those caps, almost as bad as the ending to that quest. I had no choice but to actually learn a lesson by the end, some of you know…

But I have to give it to FO 3 forever, and if FO 4 is by Bethesda, than I guess its balls out till then.
Whatever that means

I just bought fallout tactics from GoG. I wil say more after i download and installed the 1.5 gig game lol.

Unexpectantly, my group ended up loving E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy. The game often feels completely incoherent and unpolished, and we do not really know what we are doing but the atmosphere is just great and the rpg mechanics do matter, at least it feels rewarding to get the money for just another research and just another few points in the vital skills.

Still playing SWtOR with friends. It's still really fun when doing flashpoints - though I actually prefer to solo when questing, as the story is easily missed when talking to people through Skype. It's not the MMO I would have chosen for us - but they're all fun when played together.

If I had my way, I'd probably have us play Secret World or Rift.

Still playing a little RIFT and Secret World myself although not to often. I need another SRPG soon. Love Skyrim but been playing for over a year now (well off and on of course) and probably be done with it for a long time after Dragonborn comes out for the PC and I finish that.

The only game on my horizon is Project Eternity and that is a ways out there sadly.

I am giving very serious consideration to starting up Fallout New Vegas again though. Now that I have gotten into using some mods for games I suspect I could add some new life to FNV.

If I had the time I would probably try to find a good guild and folks to play with in an MMO but my schedule is to crazy to be consistent so I tend to play them as a single player style and they don't hold up as well. Wish I enjoyed SW more as the story angle was fun.

Still playing ME3 multiplayer. I've built/leveled/promoted about 12 different class/race/sex(males/female) characters. There are 60 different possibilities and I've only unlocked about half of them. The wide variety of skills is what has kept it interesting but by now I've burned through most of all the possible skils. Most of the other possibile builds are just different combinations of the same skills. I've unlocked all but a few of the remaining ultra-rare and rare weapons and gear bonus items. Probably about done with this. The maps and enemies are getting repetitive.

Currently installed and playing (or not playing ) the following

- Dragon Age Origins Ultimate: Played through all of the origin stories. Got a level 4 elf mage as my main and currently in Lothering so pretty early into the game still. This is my main game at the moment.

- Deus Ex Human Revolution: Still need to finish this game some time. I quite like it (the gameplay) generally but I can't really identify with the main character which took away my motivation to keep pushing through to the end. Well… one day… maybe…

- Diablo 3: Still not finished. I think I and my Witch Doc got stuck somewhere in Act 2. Every time I start playing and try to get back into it, I usually lose interest after 30 minutes so progress has been slow.

- Galaxy on Fire 2 Full HD: This is a space shooter that was ported from mobile platforms to the PC. It's quite fun as an in-between snack and I felt like space gaming after the Star Citizen campaign hype.

- SWTOR: Currently just in an installed state and not playing anymore. Played quite a lot of this during the summer/fall. Finally got my character (Jedi Knight) to level 50 and went through the daily/FP gear grind.
Basically quit when I realized that I wasn't going anywhere w/o an ops group, i.e. ideally joining a guild and teaming up for regular raids.
I'm really not into that kind of hardcore commitment so I may be going back to SWTOR once they release the expansion in spring to play some more class story but other than that I think I'm "done" with this game.

- Guild Wars 2/Planetside 2: Installed but currently not playing. Got a low level character in both games and really want to get back into it some time but Dragon Age has priority now.

- The Hobbit Kingdoms of Middle Earth: This is an iPhone/iPad online game that I'm playing on my phone on the side and at work. It's free (with the usual in-app shop, of course) and quite reminiscent of the Anno/Stronghold games. Definitely a city/castle builder and it's a fun diversion (especially at work). I'm currently at level 13 and busy researching, building, upgrading my little realm. A few workmates are playing this as well and we got our little alliance going so should be fun to see where this takes us…

Originally Posted by Moriendor
Currently installed and playing (or not playing )…
- Deus Ex Human Revolution: Still need to finish this game some time. I quite like it (the gameplay) generally but I can't really identify with the main character which took away my motivation to keep pushing through to the end. Well… one day… maybe…

I can't believe I'm reading that.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
- The Hobbit Kingdoms of Middle Earth: This is an iPhone/iPad online game that I'm playing on my phone on the side and at work. It's free (with the usual in-app shop, of course) and quite reminiscent of the Anno/Stronghold games. Definitely a city/castle builder and it's a fun diversion (especially at work). I'm currently at level 13 and busy researching, building, upgrading my little realm. A few workmates are playing this as well and we got our little alliance going so should be fun to see where this takes us…

Thanks, so far there is no iPhone game I could play for more than 10 minutes before becoming frustrated with lack of fun. I'm installing that one, hopefully I'll finally stick to something on a smartphone…

Still playing Sacred 2, couch co-op with my dad. We're about 100 hours deep and each level 46. Currently exploring the Human realm, which is vast to say the least, but we have orders to go into the Orc realm and do some things there. I like to explore 100% of the area I'm currently questing in before moving on though, so it will be awhile before we get to the Orc realm.

Still, it's actually quite amazing to me how much content is hidden or secret in Sacred 2. It's like, you can follow the main quest and miss about 75% of the content in the game. I'm not kidding. It seems like around every corner there's either a cave, a small village or a house or 2, a random quest, some barrels to loot, etc. It's crazy. And the main quest didn't send you there. The game expects you to explore and find it all yourself.

Just today me and my dad found a random dragon lair in the middle of nowhere. We weren't even questing for it at the time, we just happened to come across this cave in the mountains. We went in and what do you know, a boss level Dragon is sitting in the middle of it. After nearly dying to it we killed it and got over 10,000 exp for it. And there were 2 huge chests with some high level loot tucked away in the corner of the roost.

It's just staggering how much of this optional side content is hidden in Sacred 2. It really rewards exploration. All you have to do is see the grey area on your map, go there, and there's no telling what you'll find. One small grey area on the map could turn into hours of adventure. It's nuts.

Fluent, how exactly did you get your old man to play? I've been trying to explain to my parents that they're missing out on something great, a new art form. The answer of such people is usually that they don't have time, but then they continue to play Farmville or some crap for the whole evening.

I'm playing the new XCOM and I'm quite impressed. I really enjoy the pacing of building your base and going to missions. The UFO lore, from what I've seen, is mostly made up, but there are occasions where you can see that someone did his or her research, as in the instance where the scientist says that the ETs had a hard time altering the eyes of the Thin Men to look human.

I was under the impression that XCOM Enemy Unknown would be somewhat bland, but now I understand that the game is full of little touches that makes it come to life. I researched a new type of armor and I get an awesome cutscene of a soldier trying it on with appropriate comments. If there's one thing I hate more that dungeon crawling, it's probably otherwise good strategy games with no real campaigns.

played Specs Ops: The line over the last few days, took about 7 hours and have to say that the hype around its subject matter in more than hype. as a person who has never played a played a COD, Battlefield or Tom Clancy game and few other "military shooters" i highly recommend this as a competent shooter with a great near post apocolyptic setting, engaging for on rails and actually has some powerful choices in the game and while some choice are unfortunately out of your hands the game is really deserving of a playthrough for anyone who plays shooters period. also its on sale at GMG for a few more hours for around $5

I don't have much time to play at the moment but I eventually concentrate on Fallen enchantress which is not a true RPG but still has many things attractive in the genre. To focus more on the genre though, I just began another run through Ultima Underworld (my previous one was in the 90's), thanks to GoG. I must confess I appear to be much less competent with the game than I was then but still having a blast at it. This one seems to me that it aged very well all over, be it graphically or story wise. The controls are still a bit harsh and need some time to get used to but nothing game breaking here. Still a true masterpiece by my book.