What games are you playing now?

It is a trilogy, but parts 2 & 3 are more closely connected top one another - you can especially see it when you use the game's pre-defined characters/heros and them in the cut-scenes.

Hardcore TDE fans don't like the games and the novels at all, saying they are non "canon", especially Shadows Over Riva, because of several points ( I don't remember which ones, sorry. I think it might have been something with Borbarad.)
These fans also say that ONLY the pen & paper materials (adventures and rule books /compnion books / background books) stay true to the world.
I must agree that some novels are too much "spun-off", so to say, because they contain things that wouldn't be possible within Aventuria, and some are outright bad, but i don't condemn the novels as a whole. In some recent discussions, hardcore fans say that EVERYTHING within Aventuria should be according to the rules. Everything, including protagonists, antagonists, beasts, monsters, NPCs ...

This is a form of view on the game that I call the "simulationist's view". There are several implicite kind of "factions" of players/GMs, all of them called by their preference of pen & paper role playing (refer to roleplaying theory to that). Me, I belong to the "storyteller" group, as stats don't matter much to me.

TDE 4th edition had had a *huge* boost towards world simulation. In the official forums, I have often the feeling as if people are mostly posting there who hve been attracted by this playing style, but I could be wrong, too. At least their group isn't small, carefully put.

3rd Edition and before were rather oriented towards "board game like playing" as i put it. There were extensive rules, but not this "simulation" chracter of them. The rules (especially the extended ones) could be complex, too, but they weren't made to make a "world simulation" out of TDE, at least that was my very personal impression.


A different topic : On Viva Pinata : It is COLOURFUL ! Oh yes, it is ! It is even SO colourful that I think the label "childish" is easy to apply to it.

The game is apparently aimed at youngsters. I couldn't do too much because it was late, but hat I did was fun ! :)

Unfortunately the game relates its language to the one of the installed system (I read about ising the LOCALE variable, but where I read it the xbox variant of it could have been meant, too).
Which means that I must play it in English, since my "gaming PC" is in English, too.
It even fully ignores any localization settings I made within the control panel. And MUI just isn't available for Winxp, it seems to me.

It has an indirect form of DRM : The online connection. To "windows live". Because ou just can't save the game without being connected to their severs ! - Or so I understood it.
I don't like it. So I played it yesterday evening without saving.

I don't get it. People accuse disc cheks of being "virii", - and they don't care even the tiniest bit if they have to be constantly connected to some obscure online servers ... Even if microsoft is a rather well-known company, it is also well-known for "what have I do to with what I said yesterday ?" ("Was kümmert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern ?") kind of attitude. They might be cutting these severs off any time in the future.

Maybe I'll reactivvate my ancient windows live account again, which I only vagiuely remember, and I don't even remember anymore why I hasd made it in the first place ... Could have been something to do with their VB Express Edition ...
 
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Is it possible that Microsoft has once deleted all unused windows live accounts or so ?
My account name / e-mail adress isn't recognized anymore. I even can't use the "forgotten password" function from there, because I'm just not regocnized, despite using my account name / e-mail adress from the e-mail I received from "the system" in late 2007.
 
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GfWL pretty much automatically signs me in. With a new game, I just click "Connect to Live" and it does it all for me. Awesomesauce stuff.

And yes, Alrik, Viva Pinata is aimed at kids, but if you look into it it's actually quite... Wrong. You force your pinatas into incestuous relationships, you can sell their offspring for money, you force them to mate, you can beat them with garden tools, you can make them ill and you can kill them for fun. It's actually really twisted.
 
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There were only a few games I wanted for XBox 360, sequels to medium games I played on PC. Sequels that were never made for PC. One of those was Halo which I considered to be a poor and repetitive shooter that was severly outdated when it arrived on PC. But at least had very strong story. Halo 3 was only nine levels and I decided to watch them through on youtube. The guy playing it is pretty good at using different techniques so it's quite enjoyable to watch.

Besides that it's all New Vegas for me.
 
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Oh, I forgot something about Viva Pinata.

You can make your pinatas fight, and if you kill a pinata, you can feed its offal to their incestuous love child. Seriously, that game is twisted.
 
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Yesterday, I tried it anew - and I had quite some fun with it ! :)

Each time I try, the game becomes a little bit better, because I'm more experienced, then. ;)

By the way, I found a way to chance the game's language :
For the PC (tried successfully) http://www.vivapinataforum.de/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=3256

For the xbox (never tried duue to the lack of an xbox) : http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/932328-viva-pinata/47629574

The PC solution goes like this :

I had the game in English language, but wanted German

Folder "bundles" = localized texts
Folder "xwavebankloc" = localized speech, organized in sub-folders, actually used speech in "xwavebankloc" main folder (I assume)

Now, in my case, I took the german.bnl file, made a backup copy of the englishus.bnl file (my gaming PC seems to have US English, not UK English), then replaced the englishus.bnl filewith my german.bnl file. (Otherwise English would be plainly the english.bnl file.)

Now I took the file with the weird name of "065e1758" (simple as that !) from the German sub-folder, and after I made a backup copy of the file with the same name from the English sub-folder, I replaced the English one with the German one.

In my case I think this didn't quite work, so made a backup copy of the file with that strange name of from the main "xwavebankloc" folder alone, and replaced it with the "065e1758" from the German sub-folder, since I assumed then that the file in the main "xwavebankloc" folder was the speech actually used ithin the game.

With this trick you can have quite a lot of languages !
 
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Like people, I generally give every game a chance. I have liked a lot of titles that people universally scorn, and so I thought maybe Dungeon Lords would be one of those titles. Looks more like its one of those weird games that goes from "hey, this is pretty cool" to "wow this game sucks" in like 20 minutes flat. It's headed for the uninstall i think. Life's too short for bad games.

For one, the game just runs like hell. C'mon, im runnin a monster rig here - this game should not be choppy. It's giving me a headache. On the play side, maybe i'm uncoordinated as hell, but those trapped chests... argh. The combat is clunky, it just doesnt feel responsive. To load a game you have to go the main menu fer crissake, that's just bad design. Then, the worst - what's up w/ the waves of creatures? I'm battered down to a smidgen of life after clearing out room upon room, and here comes a wave of creatures. On their own, theyre no problem but en masse theyre murder.

Now the game's gorgeous, I'll give it that. I want to explore the dungeons because i feel right at home in the game, from top to bottom I think what Ive seen so far is great. Unfortunately, that's all it has going for it.

I may give it another chance tomorrow, but I'm thinking this one's headed to the scrap disk heap of history. I dont have time for bad games.
 
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Then, the worst - what's up w/ the waves of creatures? I'm battered down to a smidgen of life after clearing out room upon room, and here comes a wave of creatures. On their own, theyre no problem but en masse theyre murder.

Iirc, isn't the respawn rate actually adjustable in DL?
 
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sure, it looks like you can turn the marauders down a notch. On normal difficulty tho? Seriously, this is how this game was supposed to play out? I'm not playing on easy.

It has more issues, and slowing the tide of foes wont do much for that. I'm getting too dizzy from circle strafing, swinging wildly hoping for collision detection. Just running around indoor areas is choppy dizziness. blech

bought Drakensang on D2D a while ago, downloading that one gonna give it a try. It has to be better
 
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I don't think respawn rate was meant to be connected with difficulty in that game, try to think of them seperately.

I totally understand your overall view though. I tried to play DL because I thought the character developement looked really cool, but I ultimately gave up trying to force myself to play it. The worst was how the building interiors were so unbelievably bland, like they were never finished or something.
 
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Speccing my char was a problem too. I made 3 different ones and didnt feel that any of them were specced right. Granted, it's level 1, but what am I doing with a ranged character? It wasnt clear what abilities are needed. Ok, let's go tank. Not able to pick heavy weapons with a melee character? What's with all these penalties? I open up my char sheet and im loaded with penalties, even tho i'm specced to use a shield, using a light weapon, and.. whatever. It's not worth my time.

It's one of those games that perhaps when i'm 80 and bedridden, and have nothing better to do, I'll give a shot. Until then, Ive got both Drakensang and Assassin's Creed downloading and will give them a shot over the coming week. They must to be better.
 
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I liked it well enough to pass it because it was the only over the shoulder RPG that let me play multi-player with my family back home.

As for the game itself I liked the rush of monsters and bumped up the frequency as well as the difficulty. The fights got tuff, but my mage leveled up like mad to handle more monsters. I did not care one ounce for the plot and the whole dang thing seemed hollow as hell, but the character customization kept me going as well as the battles. It's worse than Diablo 2, but better than Dungeon Siege 1.

Just a little advice, if you plan on having the second class as a rogue you're in for a long wait. The quest to become a rogue takes you into some dangerous territory. Dumb move on their part. Actually one of many dumb moves.

The biggest complaint I have with the game is not the world itself, brain dead plot or even the endless battles. It's the fact that nether magic is STILL BROKEN!!!! Sure some of the better spells worked, but there are some spells that you mix together and cast and they do nothing at all. Plus, the truly awesome spells for nether magic are a complete waste of time because you won't get the ingredients for them until the very last stage of the game, by then the spells that you can use are almost completely useless against the enemies on that stage.

If you want a better game by D.W. play Wizards & Warriors. It even had some of the same sound effects that were used in Dungeon Lords, nostalgia :). It's a complete pain in the butt to get running, but once you do it's magic from then on out…..well except for the quest breaking bugs that you have to do some fancy magic work to finish :)

BTW, Sammy why aren't you playing Majesty 2: Kingmaker? I thought you'd be all over that since I know how big of a fan you are and it brings in co-op and multiplayer mode. I think I remember you saying that was one of the things that bugged you most about that game.
 
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I'm still playing MoTB. The reveal at the end of Act II was VERY cool. Some aspects of it I had guessed but the whole picture was a innovative concept (for me at least). Now I understand why people like MotB. I may actually finish it!
 
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@Skaven - Not playing Kingmaker yet because I wanted to at least get to the temple heroes in the original game again before I play the expansion. I hear the expansion is twice as brutal as the original game, so I want to be ready for it!

Do you have it yet?

If not, hit gamersgate, theyre both way discounted
Majesty 2 for 8 bucks

Kingmaker for like 4 bucks
 
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On the Xbox I've been playing Super Meat Boy after a streak of three cheap but disappointing games (Alan Wake, Borderlands and Bioshock 2). It's an absolute brilliant game that's certainly a good candidate for game of the year. It's fast paced, ultra-precise, it has superb level design, an unrelenting high difficulty level and amazing music. Everyone who doesn't have an Xbox here (99% I assume :biggrin:) should try it out when the PC port arrives.

I recently wrapped up 2 PC games as well. The first one is Toki Tori (which is actually a remake of an overlooked Game Boy Color game), a superb puzzle platformer. I've grown a bit tired of the genre, but the quality of the game is really high. It has a lot of levels, and most of them are brilliant. I just kept on wondering how the developers came up with such devious mind-benders time and time again. It's (only) available on Steam for 4,5€, and it took me about 40 hours to complete.

The second game I just completed is Gothic II (Gold Edition). I don't think I need to convince anyone of its greatness. I had an absolute blast with it, and it's certainly one the best adventures I've had in a long time. The Atmosphere and story weren't quite up the level of Gothic 1 if you ask me though. I didn't quite get what was going on there in the end with Xardas and the Undead Dragon either. But overall I'd still say it's one of the best RPGs I've had the pleasure of playing.

But now that I've finished those two PC games I'm not sure what to play next. I've got a PC backlog the size of Daggerfall that I still need to complete.

Games that I've already started, but haven't completed:
  • Divine Divinity: I've had this game for years, but I always stop at the ending. I've heard the ending is quite lame, but it's still a shame that I haven't even completed one of my favorite games.
  • Realms of Arkania 3: It's a game I both love and hate. I love the freedom and the depths, but those TDE rules are so damned complex. I'd really like to have a physical copy of the manual lying right next to me, but I only have the GOG version unfortunately.
  • Ultima V - Lazarus: I've played for about 5 hours or so and I really enjoyed it (despite being made in the crappy DS1 engine), but I've been so intimated by the sheer size of the game that I decided to play some other games first. It's quite a tough game too.
  • Might and Magic VII: I played around 10 hours and then stopped playing playing for no real reason. I enjoyed it quite a bit more than MM6 for some reason, despite being one of the ugliest games known to mankind.
  • King's Bounty: I loved the game to bits, but I got quite annoyed with the poor performance my crappy laptop was giving me.
  • Wizardry 8: Another game that I absolutely love, but can't finish for some reason. It's a little on the tough side for me (I'm a terrible gamer overall). I should REALLY revisit it sometime soon because the time I spent with it was some of the best I've ever had with a game.
  • The Temple of Elemental Evil: I have the original boxed version here, but my game is riddled with bugs that corrupt my savegames. In five playthrough, I've only made it to the Temple ONCE before my savegames started corrupting. It's very frustrating. I think I'll try the GOG version out and see if that gives me the same problem.

Games that I have, but haven't played yet:
  • Aquaria
  • Gish
  • Jagged Alliance - Deadly Games
  • Septerra Core
  • The Ultima 6 project
  • Operation Flashpoint (plus expansions)
  • SWAT4 (plus expansion)
  • Dungeon Keeper
  • Wizards and Warriors (the D.W. Bradley game)
  • Rayman 2
  • Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri
  • Might and Magic VIII
  • Heroes of Might and Magic V
  • In Cold Blood
  • The Velaya mod for Gothic II

And that's not even all of them. Plus, I'm not counting my Xbox games (that's about 7 more). I should really start completing my games before I buy new ones. I just can't help myself.

Also, Alrik, you should really stick with Viva Piñata. I found it to be a REALLY fun game. It may seem like it's aimed at youngsters, but adults can have a lot of fun with it. I found that the difficulty scaled quite well. If you're a kid and aren't too ambitious you can easily keep a garden with a few small Piñatas. However, if you're more of a hardcore player and want to keep a garden with large and rare Piñatas the game can give you quite a challenge. (Believe me, you'll want to get those bigger animals because some of them are just AWESOME.)
 
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Ah, Aquaria … I had almost forgot it. Very nice exploration game with a few kind of "riddles". ;)

At least according to the demo …

One of the most wonderful games I've ever encountered ... :)
 
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Ah, Aquaria … I had almost forgot it. Very nice exploration game with a few kind of "riddles". ;)

At least according to the demo …

One of the most wonderful games I've ever encountered … :)

From what I understand it's sort of a "Metroid-light". The music and graphics were really appealing to me, and I always love a game centered around exploration.

I started playing Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games (I got the game for free on GOG) yesterday evening, but I was kind of disappointed. I had no idea that the game had a more mission-based structure. That's what you get when you don't inform yourself before playing a game I suppose.
 
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