What games are you playing now?

Right now I'm deep into Gothic 3. Lovin' it, even with some buggy stuff now and then, I just shamelessly exploit some of it The game itself runs quite smoothly on my system on max detail, only some stutter in crowded areas. I like searching for NPC's and locations for a change, no handholding here. Been also doing some retro stuff with System Shock 2 but ran into one of my quirks: I sometimes play just to the end of the game without really finishing it. Atmosphere was great though, even with the dated graphics. Had a blast with Lego Star Wars II, I got hooked seriously on that for some time (finished it on 100%). I also started a character in NWN2, but then my girlfriend pointed out that it actually was her birthday present (from me!) and that she could claim first play…..she was right offcourse so I put my character on the shelf for the time being. I was impressed though with what I saw, even with the first chapter not being up to Black Isle/Obsidian par. After Gothic 3 it's NWN2 or the Oblivion bug has to bite me again.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
still playing with Mavis Beacon. I dont have to look at the keyboard most times now. Of course, I type probably 10 wpm, but hey it's a start ='.'=

What, no mouse support ? What's this, 1984 ?

It's a typing instruction program, Cormac. It's all about the keyboard.

Haven't done much gaming recently, to be honest. Mostly FastCrawl for such time as it is.

Originally Posted by dteowner
It's a typing instruction program, Cormac. It's all about the keyboard.

I know, twas a joke. I guess those nma klansmen were right then, I'm not funny

Sorry, just like me to ruin a perfectly good joke.

Originally Posted by dteowner
perfectly good joke.

Thanks !

Mavis Beacon is a personal nightmare**shudder**
I'm glad some people can see it as joke.

Cormac--you are funny. Don't let the bastards get you down

easy on my homegirl there, Mag!
Mavis is caring, but firm ='.'=

I'm getting better, but I aint 40 WPM yet, which is what she's pushing me to get before I advance to the next level.

Besides that, I havent been playing any video games lately, playing PnP instead. Studying D&D books (just got Player's Handbook II and Complete Divine) and making up chars, and doing "dry runs" vs creatures and each other and such, making up dungeons, geeking out on cool pc utilities, etc. Spent most of yesterday night messing with Hero Workshop. By no means a necessary thing, but I just love this kinda stuff. Helps me check new chars I make of advanced level. Been playing mostly on the weekends, have a game with a new group this weekend. I'm totally into the "divine" classes, Paladin, Cleric, etc.

Totally tearing into my pc gaming time, but it's worth it, I'm having lots of fun, totally rediscovered the joys of this game. The books can actually be gotten unbelievably cheap on Amazon. Got Complete Divine for like 15 bucks, and a couple weeks ago got Unearthed Arcana for 9.99! Perfect condition. No joke!

The demo for Supreme Commander.

Finished the single-plkayer campaign of Dungeon Siege.

I started the Multiplayer-Campaign for myself (as a host), and I believe they mixed things :

- The Single-Player Campaign should be the Multi-Player-Campaign
- The Multi-Player Campaign should be the Single-Player Camopaign

The Multiplayer part looks and feels sooo much more detailed than the Singleplayer part. One more reason to regard this game as crap.

This is the age of Single-Player Games dying out. Yuck.
All Goodies towards Multi-Player !

(Sorry, but I'm in bad mood after seeing this difference - and yes, this IS a huge difference to me !)

@JDR13-did you try the alien shooter: vengence demo? i can't be certain but i think you would enjoy it.

Just wanted to add that I meant the "Yesterhaven" addition with the multiplayer part.

Edit : I'm a bit more happy now : I found out that someone actually modded MP-only "Yesterhaven" into an SP-map.

Originally Posted by curious
@JDR13-did you try the alien shooter: vengence demo? i can't be certain but i think you would enjoy it.

It looks interesting. Although I'm not a big fan of isometric action games, I might give it a shot if I get some free time.

I've been too lazy recently to really get into NWN 2 and was waiting for patch 1.04 anyway. Now that that one has been released, the preview for patch 1.05 sounds pretty good as well so I'll continue to be lazy and will wait for that one .

In the meantime, I've been in the mood for some FPS'ing.

Finished Prey recently which was much better than I expected. The first half of the game is really boring and repetitive (same stuff that's happening in the demo over and over and over) but then it gets a lot better as soon as you start to use shuttles to fly around inside that alien ship. The environments and the atmosphere in general become a lot better towards the end, too. It was pretty cool overall… though I'm glad I didn't pay full price for the game (picked it up for EUR 29.90).

Currently playing F.E.A.R and loving it. I somehow regarded this as just another boring, dark Doom 3-like corridor shooter when it came out but I'm glad that I finally gave it a chance now. It's awesome. It's really creepy and gory and to not freak out too much, you definitely need to remind yourself often that you are the mean, armed & dangerous mofo and not them . It's the kind of game where you will occasionally come close to a heart attack when spotting your own character's shadow on a wall. It's that intense.

It's also great that they have kept the number of enemy encounters rather limited. The action is not that spooky, of course, since you need to concentrate on winning the fights but the (long) silent parts are. The sneaking around in the dark for long, tense minutes. Not knowing what will happen next. Good stuff.

And the action is great as well. This game does it right. No wimpy, pseudo-realistic bullshit. If you fire your shotgun then it feels like you fired a shotgun. It's like force feedback where the force feedback is generated by the "feel" and the awesome sounds of the weapon. Shooting at an enemy soldier from 3ft away with said shotgun hasn't been that much fun since… can't remember when. Possibly ever.

It's also cool that you can only carry three weapons at a time. Adds a bit of a strategic element to the game since you need to make compromises and choose carefully.

Well, and the AI is awesome, too. It's very reactive and there's a good variety of enemy behavior. Sometimes the soldiers try to rush you. Sometimes they will try to sneak up on you (from behind if there is a way). Then other times they will hold their position and wait for you to come out of hiding. It's great.

And they communicate with each other a lot. You can hear their radio chatter and it almost always makes sense. Every fight has been fun so far.
For example… when they spot you (or your flashlight)… "Threat spotted!", "Flashlight!" … two seconds later… "I'll go check it out." … three seconds later… enemy comes around corner and you turn him into a cloud of blood with your shotgun… other enemy soldier yells "Shit! Did you see that?" (with real terror in his voice like someone should have who just saw his buddy explode… great voice acting)… five seconds later… "Flush him out!" … a grenade comes flying your way … again five seconds later … "I'm moving in!" … next enemy soldier comes around corner guns blazing and screaming "Die motherfucker!" … and meets his fate… squad leader goes "I got two men down. Need reinforcements!".
As you can see, the chatter is very reactive to what actually happens to the poor sobs. It adds a lot to the already excellent atmosphere of the game.

Highly recommended to anyone who hasn't played the game yet. Just make you sure you have a rather powerful GPU like a 7800GS or 7800GT and faster. This is a game where you absolutely don't want to turn shadows off or make too many visual compromises since the atmosphere is greatly enhanced by all the visual detail.


Next up… more "old school" FPSs. I finally got around to getting an imported copy of the Medal of Honor Allied Assault War Chest (original game plus all expansions) and Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault. Looking foward to both. Was a little burned out on WW2 until recently but now I'm in the mood for it again.

After getting a sort of video card upgrade, I finally tackled Heroes V. with the expansion. Just finished the first of the (old) campaigns. Not very impressed. The new skill tree is good, sometimes the graphics look good all by themselves. However, gameplay-wise, the engine is horrible. Half the time most of the map is hidden by such things as large tree crowns. Given the small size of most objects on the map and the way the camera shifts …

Moriendor,

F.E.A.R. is a great game, I played it back when it first came out and I'm getting ready to replay it real soon with the expansion pack. One of the best endings I've ever experienced for an FPS.

I played MOH plus expansions just last year. They're great games, but be warned, the graphics have not aged well.

Played very little of Pacific Assault, just didn't capture me the way AA did.

Bought NWN2, installed, created character (~3 hours spent) and now I'm several hours into the game and I'm enjoying its somewhat slower pace.

Originally Posted by Arma
After getting a sort of video card upgrade, I finally tackled Heroes V. with the expansion. Just finished the first of the (old) campaigns. Not very impressed. The new skill tree is good, sometimes the graphics look good all by themselves. However, gameplay-wise, the engine is horrible. Half the time most of the map is hidden by such things as large tree crowns. Given the small size of most objects on the map and the way the camera shifts …

I agree--I've been revising my initial high opinion after the expansion--it really is a lot of non-improvement, nerfing and rebalancing and making the game so easy as to be pointless. The engine itself is irritating, but the more you play, the more you get used to its awkwardness. Still, I really dislike the 3D eye-candy in your face all the time, too.
The original campaigns get better, tho--the middle ones are best. The stand alone scenarios in HOMMV are pretty good as well--the necromancer one (Island of My Own or somesuch is definitely worth a play.

I was playing DarkStar One, which led me to reactivate EVE Online.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I played MOH plus expansions just last year. They're great games, but be warned, the graphics have not aged well.

Played very little of Pacific Assault, just didn't capture me the way AA did.

I recently did my second stint through the PSP Medal of Honor: Heroes game, which nicely brings the MoH feel to the portable. I'll have to check back with the original at some point.

Pacific Assault I thought was pretty lousy …