What games are you playing now?

I liked TR so much I almost replayed it.
Almost…
The combat was great, exploration wonderful, suspense was very suspenseful, and the girly-bit jiggle physics are top notch. That said, I'm a TR fanboy of the highest magnitude and pretty much loved every Tomb Raider game ever made. Even if they went a littttle teeny wee bit too long at times. (im looking at you, Underworld!)

I'm playing Dungeon Keeper 2, because I still can. I cant help it, some games just stick with you forever, and for me it's the DK games.

I have very high hopes for War for the Overworld

wolfing said:

Oh no! Started playing Cities Skyline, I see a black hole of playing time in my near future.

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I've been fighting the urge to buy it. Fighting soooo hard, and where's my parade? Hopefully Tropico 4 will hold me until I've got the spare cash.

On QTE events, seriously, why does anyone anywhere still think those are a good idea? They're consistently ranked as one of the most hated mechanics in modern gaming.

Cronis said:

Playing Banished at the moment. Pretty entertaining and addicting, its a relatively difficult city sim/building game. You build a town from a group of settlers banished (hence the title) from someplace else, fighting off starvation and the elements to keep your people alive. Very fun and nice change of pace from the rpgs I normally play.

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I had fun in the beginning too, but it got boring fast... It's kind of bland, and does not even come close to the Anno series IMHO. Nonetheless, the game *is* quite impressive for being a one-man project.

Menigal said:

I've been fighting the urge to buy it. Fighting soooo hard, and where's my parade? Hopefully Tropico 4 will hold me until I've got the spare cash.

On QTE events, seriously, why does anyone anywhere still think those are a good idea? They're consistently ranked as one of the most hated mechanics in modern gaming.

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I had a blast with TR, very nice graphics, good immersion and very tense gameplay mixed with exploration. The QTE events are annoying but in my memory there weren't that many of them. I would have liked to have more tombs to raid apart from the constant drive for the story, but it was by no means a drag to complete this game.

Menigal said:

On QTE events, seriously, why does anyone anywhere still think those are a good idea? They're consistently ranked as one of the most hated mechanics in modern gaming.

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Because it's an easy shortcut to implement and a simple design vs something requiring more elaborate player interactions. Still don't like them.

While browsing through my Steam library today, I decided to install the Game of Thrones RPG and give it a try.

I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. It's ugly, clunky, and downright boring imo. Worst of all, the combat has no "oomph" to it whatsoever.

I would expect a game based on GoT to at least have visceral combat, but the fighting is beyond dull. Click on an enemy and then just watch them stand there and trade blows. I guess I was expecting something a little more action-oriented.

I got Ori and the Blind Forest, which came out yesterday. Looks amazing and has a great artistic style. And seems to want to tell a good story. I'll check back after I put more time into it.

Yup, just as I suspected, Ori and the blind forest is great. It's got the classic platforming/puzzle elements of metroidvania. All sent in one of the most beautiful setting. It's gorgeous, just look at some gameplay videos if you're curious.

danutz_plusplus said:

Yup, just as I suspected, Ori and the blind forest is great. It's got the classic platforming/puzzle elements of metroidvania. All sent in one of the most beautiful setting. It's gorgeous, just look at some gameplay videos if you're curious.

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That game is gorgeous, almost makes me want to be into platformers (never was able to get into them).

JDR13 said:

While browsing through my Steam library today, I decided to install the Game of Thrones RPG and give it a try.

I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. It's ugly, clunky, and downright boring imo. Worst of all, the combat has no "oomph" to it whatsoever.

I would expect a game based on GoT to at least have visceral combat, but the fighting is beyond dull. Click on an enemy and then just watch them stand there and trade blows. I guess I was expecting something a little more action-oriented.

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Stick with it, the story gets s lot better. It's exceptional. I suggest you switch to the French voice actors, they are incredibly talented.

Humanity has risen! said:

Stick with it, the story gets s lot better. It's exceptional. I suggest you switch to the French voice actors, they are incredibly talented.

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Unfortunately, my issue isn't with the story or the voice acting, it's with the gameplay, and I doubt that changes at any point in the game.

I might give it another try at some point in the future, but it just isn't what I'm looking for at the moment.

JDR13 said:

Unfortunately, my issue isn't with the story or the voice acting, it's with the gameplay, and I doubt that changes at any point in the game.

I might give it another try at some point in the future, but it just isn't what I'm looking for at the moment.

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If I remember correctly it's just your standard RTWP combat right? It's been a while since I've played but I don't remember the combat being bad.

Overall I quite liked it. Never finished it though. As usually happens I got busy at work and by the time I got back to it I wasn't sure what was going on and just started playing something else instead of starting over.

I should get back to it someday along with about 20 other games I've done that with.

I felt the same as you in first few hours of GoT, JDR. However, I think the combat really did get quite interesting after those initial few hours - upgrades are meaningful, and new active skills make the combat feel much more tactical and "visceral." That said, combat never rises above "interesting."

It's a shame that GoT gives such a bad first impression - the first few hours are dreadful from every aspect - story, combat, etc. - but I'm glad I stuck with it. Ultimately, it was worthy of the GoT name, in my book, and I'd say that I enjoyed it once it hit its stride. I'm still holding out hope for a much better single-player GoT RPG in the future, though.

JDR13 said:

While browsing through my Steam library today, I decided to install the Game of Thrones RPG and give it a try.

I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. It's ugly, clunky, and downright boring imo. Worst of all, the combat has no "oomph" to it whatsoever.

I would expect a game based on GoT to at least have visceral combat, but the fighting is beyond dull. Click on an enemy and then just watch them stand there and trade blows. I guess I was expecting something a little more action-oriented.

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That is actually why I liked the game, combat is more tactical and less twitchy.

I'm playing FF X-III and enjoying it so far, the character development system is really complex and there are so many abilities and combinations to play out in the combat.

Further in to the game it also opens up and becomes less like a corridor runner. Graphics and CG are fantastic and some really good music.

The gameplay in itself still more or less sucks like in almost all the FF's though.

( Joxer will faint if he reads this )

danutz_plusplus said:

Yup, just as I suspected, Ori and the blind forest is great. It's got the classic platforming/puzzle elements of metroidvania. All sent in one of the most beautiful setting. It's gorgeous, just look at some gameplay videos if you're curious.

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Wow, that game IS gorgeous. Kind of reminds me of Dust: An Elysian Tail.

Added to my evergrowing wishlist.

danutz_plusplus said:

Yup, just as I suspected, Ori and the blind forest is great. It's got the classic platforming/puzzle elements of metroidvania. All sent in one of the most beautiful setting. It's gorgeous, just look at some gameplay videos if you're curious.

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That looks superb. Another fine title to tide me over until the patching of DA:I, PoE, and Witcher 3 is complete.

GothicGothicness said:

I'm playing FF X-III and enjoying it so far, the character development system is really complex and there are so many abilities and combinations to play out in the combat.

Further in to the game it also opens up and becomes less like a corridor runner. Graphics and CG are fantastic and some really good music.

The gameplay in itself still more or less sucks like in almost all the FF's though.

( Joxer will faint if he reads this )

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I won't faint.

The character development system is IMO the weakest link in this game, even weaker than the horrible crafting.
You have less freedom there than IMO should be, and it turns out to be a simple linear system. They could easily put automatic skilltree instead of you filling "branches", nothing significantly would change.
And you can't go creative really until a moment all characters unlock all 6 trees. But then... There is absolutely no need to upgrade additional 3 trees at that moment on characters since you've already got used to their default roles and paradigms. Sure you can grind, grind and grind for it but there is no benefit from that.

CGI and graphics are fantastic. The problem is - it's the only thing that is fantastic. And this is supposed to be a game, not animated movie Final Fantasy The Spirits Within (which, btw, I liked!).
Music however, I dunno where I mentioned it, is LoH: Trails in the Sky rip off! They just changed a few notes in scores. Yes, that's good music, but sorry, don't sell me a rip off from competition who's game was initially a game for PC, not a port. I hate it.

And the gameplay is basically blindman's click click click, oh I won?! Meh.
Not everywhere ofc, bosses need some tactics, but it just can't fix the amount of boredom on grinding random neverdying mobs.

Well, it might be because you haven't played previous FF games, this one is much less grinding, there is no random encounters, you can avoid encounters if you want, and monsters will be gone after you killed them for awhile / or permanently.

I disagree with you about the character development system as well, just as some other FF's it is simple and could autofill in beginning when you get a lot of points and can fill the entire branches in anyway you want. But later on your points get less, and if you don't want to grind like crazy ( which I never do, I hate that and I think option is only there for people who can't finish the game otherwise ) you have to think carefully where to put the points and what abilities to aim for. Also as encounters get harder even normal encounters needs tactic and planning ( Although the first 30 hours is just clicking ) but it is like that with many FF games it start with a 30 hour introduction which is too long of course.

You also need to specialize your character, for example one might have ATB gauage fill very quickly, another is focused on very strong buffs and so on, there is a lot of options to make an optimal setup to be sure.

I bought the Goat Simulator to cheer sonny up. Now I find myself playing it .