What game are you playing right now? #3

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Just started Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Director's Cut). I'm enjoying it so far. I'll probably focus on a stealth build, although since I haven't done any upgrades yet, that could change.

 

Deus Ex HR is most fun for me while stealthing. In fact it's better at stealthing than many other games that are supposed to be all about stealthing.

Just remember that while punching through a wall isn't exactly stealthy, it allows you to bypass certain sections that might otherwise be hard to stealth. Also get the high jump early, it opens a lot of new routes to a goal.

Also stealthy - non-lethal take-downs are quieter than lethal take-downs.

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Been playing Shadow Warrior myself. It's actually a better game than I would've thought at first. It's a remake of the first person shooter by the same name from 1997 and I generally don't have a very high opinion of remakes.

Shadow Warrior is about a chinese guy that fights demons. He's named Lo Wang and with Duke Nukem-esque low brow humour, you might see how that get's used for all manner of puns. My impression is that the remake is not quite as funny as the original and tends to be a bit more serious.

There's actually quite some story and characterisation in the game, unlike what the gameplay and easy puns might make you expect. Pacing is not nearly as quick as that of for instance Painkiller - there are some quite prolonged sections where no fighting at all occurs.

Though when the fighting occurs, it can be quite hard from time to time. I played on the third difficulty settings, so that might have been part of it.

But this game is pretty fun. Melee is a big part of the game and it works reasonably well. You can unlock / buy new moves for added fun, though there's really only the quick light attack (button mashing) and a few high powered charge attacks that you need to buy, but can also upgrade.

The upgrade mechanic is fairly expansive, covering the ubiquitous weapon upgrades to buy with money, the skills like stronger melee attacks, faster sprint, longer sprint, more healing that you can buy with karma points and finally the powers that allow you to heal yourself, force-push your opponents to the ground, trap them hanging in the air that you can buy with ki-points.

Though the upgrades are not all that necessary, they can be certainly very helpful. On the other hand, it feels awkward that all of the weapons require you to buy an upgrade in order to be able to use the secondary fire. Especially the shotgun seems a bit underpowered, at least on hard mode, and basically requires all the upgrades in order to be more or less useful.

Shadow Warrior doesn't follow the trend of current popular shooters. No regeneration, though you can heal yourself (I tend to forget to do it). More old-school fun is to be had in finding all of the secrets. I love finding secrets. It's also a long game - it took me around 25 hours to finish the game. If you're short on time, this game will take a while to finish.

Like I said, I like the game. There's only one blemish that rather ruined the fun for me by the end of the game. As I said, I played on hard. Some of the fights can be quite the challenge / reload-fest. One enemy in particular is rather obnoxious to fight. He charges after you all the time, does a ton of damage and, most importantly, you can only damage him from the back. Fighting one is annoying, fighting two is painful. Fighting two in an enclosed area with little cover is just plain obnoxious. Fighting two with lots of enemies that are effectively suicide bombers and little cover is really frustrating.

I looked up some strategies, then came upon a dev saying that if a fight was too difficult, you could always lower the difficulty at any time. I was annoyed enough to do it, even though the game warns you about achievements. I don't particularly care about achievements, and I probably would've quit playing the game altogether otherwise - it's not worth the frustration.

The biggest disappointment came, though, when I finished the game. I had thought several times during the game that it would've been fun to play through the game with all the upgrades already unlocked. When I finished the game, I discovered that this was actually a possibility... but only at the lowest difficulty that I ever played during the previous playthrough.

Which means that, although I wrestled through the entire game on hard mode and only ever lowered the difficulty for two fights, I can only play with all unlocks on baby mode, making baby mode even easier. I like a bit of a challenge - not a lot, but a bit - so this just feels like the game kicking me in the balls and calling me a limpdicked loser for lowering the difficulty just twice.

It seems like a small thing, but it soured the whole experience for me.

 

Still slowly working through Deus Ex:HR (I don't have a lot of time to play these days). It's actually more RPG'ish than I expected - it's been a long time since I played the original Deus Ex, but I don't recall it having this many role-playing elements. Level-ups, side quests, different ways to play the game - it's quite enjoyable.

 

I'm still very much enjoying Age of Wonders 3. It's a superb game and extremely addictive.

It has opened my eyes to a rather impressive list of Fantasy Turn Based Strategy Games that are out there, which I was previously unaware of. Warlock 2, which was also released earlier this month also looks fantastic. And then there's Endless Legend (currently on Steam early access), that really provides a ton of control. I could really go into and OCD overload with that game, with every single unit being able to be customized with their own individual gear and level up path. Heroes of Might and Magic 6 looks pretty good also (actually graphics wise it looks great), but I still have my reservations about its combat system. It seems a bit wonky, but otherwise that game seems quite promising. And that's just to name a few.

I seriously need more free time!

 

DC Universe Online for the PS4. If anyone is playing this game on the PS3 server befriend me and I will join you on whatever DUO, Alert, or Raid that is available ....

Tiger Warbird - hero
LORDxOFxCHAOS - villain
Tick Clock - hero
BigHal Jordan - Hero
LittleGuy Gardner - Hero
Sanitationman - hero
Mystical BlueLight - Hero

Two characters are not at level 30 (Mystical BlueLight and LittleGuy Gardner) the rest are level 30. Of the level 30 characters the highest geared character I have is Tiger Warbird with all T2 armor and weapon. The rest are a mix of T1 and T2 gear....

Trying to get my villain gear into T3.....

Annoyed at the moment due to the USP3 server being down 2 days this week....

 

Currently I've been playing CS: GO and I'm waiting on Wolfenstein to release.

 

The original didn't have discrete level-ups, you'd either an arbitrary amount of skill points for going to certain places, much like HR, but you can only use those for your skills, whereas in HR the skills got blended with the augmentations and so those points are for everything. In the original you could only get augmentations and upgrade them through items you found in the game world.

Side quests, different ways to play the game, different ways to reach a goal, it's all there in both games. But where HR is more polished and shiny and frankly has a better stealth mechanic, the original had much more game, more interesting characters and more options to fight (or ignore) the bosses. And infinitely more characterisation for the bosses.

 

Played through most of Brütal Legend lately.

I loved the style of the game, I was grinning all the way through the intro (at least the part after you hit "New Game"). The whole prologue is an introduction into the Viking-esque world of metal that the main character - played by and as Jack Black - gets transported to. All the music is heavy metal, though more in the 80s style of heavy metal. I identify bands like Sepultura and Hatebreed as heavy metal and the old-school stuff is more like hardrock to me.

The whole aesthetic is pretty fun, though the everything-is-metal thing kind of wears off after a while. Playing a mission or driving around to Iced Earth, Rob Zombie or Hau Ruck is pretty cool, though.

It's a sandbox game where you can explore in between missions, either running around looking over the shoulder of Jack Black or driving around in a car. You interact with the world by either hitting things with your axe or guitar, hitting things with your car (later you can shoot at things with your car too) or playing guitar hero.

I have to wonder, though, why all sandbox games seem to have really poor car controls/handling? It seems almost like it's a prerequisite for sandbox games.

The world seems rather empty, though, and there's little else of amusement value to do other than the side missions and finding collectibles, both of which are neither varied nor that fun. The main story missions are, after the initial tutorial missions, either escort missions or a sort of RTS missions.

The escort missions are ok, but the RTS type missions can be fairly annoying. You have little to no overview as you remain in the over-the-shoulder cam of Jack Black, you can mostly only select units enmass and then sending them over to whatever you want dead or kept. If your units are close enough to you to actually hear the command. Then there's an array of guitar hero solos to choose from to support your units or attack with.

The overall effect is one of confusion and while this is ok in the beginning of the game, it gets rather annoying by the end of the game. It's simply not fun.

Aside from the rather lacklustre gameplay, which doesn't vary much over the entire game, the game is quite short. If you just do the story missions, you'll probably blaze through it in less than 6-8 hours.

The game was originally released in 2009, apparently, though the PC port only became available last year. It's a fairly good port, I suppose, though the controls are definitely heavily favoring the use of a controller. The radial selection menu for solos or selecting units to build during missions is just awful with mouse and keyboard. The funny thing is that you can switch the selection of the radial menu from mouse to keyboard, but then you can only select up, down, left and right out of the total of 12 options.

Overall, then, it's a good idea, wonderful style, good setting, good characterisation, but let down by bland, uninteresting gameplay, short story and an empty world. As sandboxes go, I prefer Saint's Row or Prototype. In fact, the last mission I tried a few times, then gave up and watched it on Youtube instead. Story resolved, game uninstalled.

 

Before this Baldur's Gate binge i wrapped up the FF13 trilogy with "Lightning Returns"

My super brief review:

Pros:
Beautiful environments
Half-naked Lightning

Cons:
Everything else

 

Is the second pro really a pro? I mean in the original game she kind of struck me as someone that wouldn't know emotion if it walked up to her and hit her in the face. Kind of bland action girl.

How do the later two iterations hold up to the original FF13?

 

A more specific con is they strip you of your party.

ff13-2 has 2 new controllable pc's who're cool. Also a pet system that's pretty engrossing. Together you use the same 3 member party battle system that i loved* in 13. However you basically 'lose' all 6 characters from 13. They're either mia or have brief cameos.

'Lightning Returns' you play as just* Lightning. The battle system changes entirely. Again it's real time so you must pay attention in battles. Furthermore your defense is completely active. You must* learn to block the nastiest attacks with at least good timing. The system also rewards you for perfect timing.

Oh, she's not just half naked hehe. You change outfits seamlessly in battle to make use of their benefits. I used a pantsuit more than any other. Customized appearance is certainly a pro in my book. Looks range from FF2-style dragoon armor to a miniskirt with bunny ears.

I wouldn't spend 60 bucks a game though unless:
A) you're a fanboy like me.
B) money's not a thing to you.

But if you get em cheap or a friend can lend them to you, they're enjoyable for sure.

 

Nursing a cold this weekend since the weather here gets uglier with each day.
Don't feel like leaving my warm sofa or home- and so spending my time playing Kings of the Dragon Pass.

Picked it up at GoG after a friend spoke highly of this little gem. And now I can easily admit it being one of the best games I played this year.

 

Got King of Dragon Pass a while ago, too, but never got around to playing it. It seems a bit like a city building game of a sort, like Ceasar or something like that. Though it says RPG in the description. What's your impression?

 

KotDP is like you said henkie, City Buliding (or rather Clan building) TBS (seasonal turns) with elements of an interactive novel and a great many RPG mechanics.
Exploring, trading, resource management, diplomacy and warring. All packed in an quite interesting world full of Lore, myths and magic that is you thriving settlement.

One of the really catchy aspect of the game are the procedurally arranged events that weave existing or already experienced elements into a new narrative with each new game. I was quite surprised, how well it worked. Not to mention the consequences of your actions or decisions, that sometimes come to haunt you years or decades after they happened.

Playing the leader of a Clan, you have to lead it to prosperity in an hostile and unknown land full of beasts and mythical beings, while keeping in mind the Lore and the Gods that affect your people and lands. Knowing the lore (provided in game as holy texts, enables you to know how to invoke blessings upon you from various gods that govern different aspects of creation.)

Not to mention neighboring Tribes or invaders intent to steal, raid cattle or kill. Feuds, insults, marriage for the sake of alliances and so on.

Also you have to keep the Ring in line (the clans Nobel/Advisers who have their own agenda and own major deity they adhere to) and the people satisfied.

This little game is from 1999 and I still wonder how I managed to miss it at a time where I was heavily into gaming.

My review doesn't do it justice, and all I can say is: try it.
I see no reason why any resident of SP would dislike it.

 

Thanks for your impressions, will have to install and get on it at some time.

 

I've been playing Dragon Age: Origins, but had a brief foray into Baldur's Gate, and am sort of going back and forth between them. A large part of me wants to return to Skyrim, but I want to finish this Origins run first. I'd also like to play DAII before Inquisition comes out, but we'll see. I've just never been able to get into that game, and Skyrim is so very attractive (in the sense of my wanting to play it -- I'm not talking graphics, since my computer doesn't do graphics very well yet).

 

Dragon Age 2 was awesome! The narrator is a well acted npc ally and has some brilliant lines. He had me in stitches a few times.

 

I admit, I'm slipping in to old school and playing Backyard Soccer. Sometimes, you just need a ten minute game fix.

 

Finally got around playing BG:EE, and I'm having a blast . Good while since I last played through the series.
I hit the city of Baldur's gate earlier today, and I'm about done with side-questing, and ready to advance towards the end.

Now let's see if I can actually manage to play the sequel all the way through to the end. I usually give up on ToB .