What game are you wasting time on?

[dextermorgan]

About to storm an alien base. Greys don't stand a chance.

 

[Baron Dupek]

turret party

Till some slimy PSI munchkin convert one of you mate....
Yeah, it happen to me. Deployed, drank coffee and moment later everyone were dead except one convereted soldat.

What are these 2 guns on the left? Some grenade cannon?
PS. alien plasma canon is better because you can use alien batteries from battlefield to reload.
Now time to buy UFO:Extraterresal Gold from bundle, install some cool mod and play, with hope of Xenonauts beta

 

[RedScum]

Installed Jagged Alliance 2 with the 1.13 mod once more.

Nice, I like to edit the config files so mercs can't leave your party, and also make militia less costly so you can keep towns you've conquered with ease.

Lots of variations that can be tuned to your liking, explained on the boards:

Bear's Pit Jagged Alliance Forum

Yeah, not the first time i've played 1.13 but i usually keep the default settings except some minor changes.

 

[DeepOcean]

Mafia 2. I love the first one but never got that excited about the sequel because of the cover shooting. The first game had great, intense combat, but no sign of that here. You can't even crouch while aiming unless you're in cover, so you kind of have to hug boxes and waist-high walls all the time.

Yeah, I gave up after that mission where you have to kill that Greaser gang, it was a gang but it was more of an army and it was fucking strange. On Mafia 1, even one guy could kill you if you weren't careful, so they could add a reallistic amount of enemies but on Mafia 2 because everything is fucking easy they had to make you killing whole armies. After that fight, I started wondering after you killing 40 or more people and a whole war happening, the police didn't had anything to say about it?

Man, didn't you had the feeling that they wasted most of the time with random shit, like this shootout instead of advancing the story on a decent pace?I was fucking bored by the time something happened.

 

[dextermorgan]

Till some slimy PSI munchkin convert one of you mate....

It's not like they haven't tried. I keep overwatch on turret guys with guys on the right, who can shoot without deploying. Typically the alien will try to get the guy in front (turret), but by the time that guy deploys again (they have to redeploy when placed under alien control) the alien is blown to pieces by the guy in the back. Also, the doc in green armor has superheroic psionics and can repossess anyone instantly. Also, once deployed soldiers fire almost instantly, giving psi aliens precious little chance of ever targeting them.

What are these 2 guns on the left? Some grenade cannon?

Four guys on the left use collapsible machinegun (launchers), two on the right double-barrel machinegun (marksman, no need to deploy).

PS. alien plasma canon is better because you can use alien batteries from battlefield to reload.

Collapsible machinegun has so much ammo it's never been a factor, especially with 4 guys using it. I don't think I've reached half capacity on these babies in the field. AFAIK aliens are better protected vs plasma anyway. I should have used the alien plasma gun on transgeants, just for laughs, but I usually just outfit everyone with plasma rifles, microslug accelerators and sniper rifles and they mow them down like nothing anyway.

Now time to buy UFO:Extraterresal Gold from bundle, install some cool mod and play, with hope of Xenonauts beta

Need to try that myself...

 

[laclongquan]

After I finish Aftershock on hardest difficulyt I will try that Aftermath. Currently are in learning mode, ie normal diff.

 

[Trash]

Crusader Kings 2. Every time I get burned out, then return a few months later to it the game is much better than before. DLC done right. That the mods keep improving as well is a nice extra.

 

[Carrion]

Yeah, I gave up after that mission where you have to kill that Greaser gang, it was a gang but it was more of an army and it was fucking strange. On Mafia 1, even one guy could kill you if you weren't careful, so they could add a reallistic amount of enemies but on Mafia 2 because everything is fucking easy they had to make you killing whole armies. After that fight, I started wondering after you killing 40 or more people and a whole war happening, the police didn't had anything to say about it?

They probably felt the need to add some "actual gameplay" into the missions so that you'd have to do something else than just drive from one cutscene to another. I guess you could say that Mafia 1 had a bit too much of pointless driving around and could've benefited from tighter pacing, but I really liked that combat was fairly rare and never something that you could just shrug off. The biggest fire fights were spread over a decade-long timespan and usually marked a major point in the story whereas smaller fights often carried other consequences, like someone getting hurt badly or the whole thing coming to haunt you in some later mission. In Mafia 2 you kill 20 guys on Friday and 30 on Sunday and it's really no big deal. At least Vito seems like a really cold bastard straight from start so it isn't as bad as it could be, though.

I wonder why the driving sections are still so underused, aside from the obvious "Go pick up Joe" / "Drive there" / "Go home" routines. I must be well past the half-way mark by now and there's only been like one actual chase scene that lasted for more than ten seconds. A couple of times there's been a time limit for getting from A to B but even those were pretty trivial. Getting the cops after you is a non-issue, just don't wreck your car and you'll lose them in no time. In most cases you don't even have to, just drive to the next checkpoint and the story will progress as planned even if every single cop in the city wants your head. Driving is actually more fun than in the first game, so replacing some of the popamole sections with good old car chases or at least something related to driving would've been great.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

After finish the piece of cake movie called broken age, I got in the mood to play some adventure games.

I had bought syberia from gog in a sale and decided to play it. I had started one playthrough a long time ago but didn't go very far.

Now, the game is pretty, the story is intriguing, but shit... movement, stairs, animations... everytime you meet a stair, take your time to prepare something to eat, or go to the bathroom. When kate walker leaves the train, she moves as an old lady. It doesn't help that the game makes you backtrack endless empty screens just to get an item, bring back to the other end, than backtrack again everytime... shit, shit shit. I was about to leave the university, but now I have to get a Visa frioom someone that's probably on the farthest side of the university. I'll play this on small doses.

This game requires you to suspend your disbelief: altough the automaton technology is presented in a almost-plausible way at the beginning, when they introduce us to oscar, you have to suspend your suspension of disbelif. An mechanical automaton that has an advanced AI? too much.

But, i'm still interested in seeing where it will get me... puzzles are very easy.

I just hope the second game has an option for fast movement... or skip transitions...

I heard there's an 3rd game on the way.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Nope. The schizophrenic story was either extremely silly [which I hate] or extremely serious, and not in a good way.

Yeah, the story is pretty retarded, and it doesn't help that Bayonetta, as a character, can't carry it like DMC3-4 Dante can. In fact, she's downright insufferable for the first half of the game.

I also don't like how the highest difficulty is handled, where one of the core mechanics [which time] is removed.

I used to think like this, but now I think it was earlier difficulties that were done wrong. Witch Time is more like training wheels; a crutch that encourages poor form/technique. Unfortunately it renders Normal/Hard basically worthless as every enemy can be cheesed by fishing for dodges and then messsing them up in Witch Time with whatever.

Worse yet, this completely stunts the growth of player skills in most cases. Folks, including myself, get to NSIC difficulty without a strong handle on critical mechanics like dodge offset, parries, bullet climaxes, etc. because up until this moment the game never demanded that you learn these things...Witch Time would see you through.

No other action game has this sort of problem, as most others do a good job instructing the player on how to navigate the game before the highest difficulty. Platinum had the right idea with Jeanne's playstyle; Witch Time only activates when you do her version of Bat Within (i.e. dodge with just-frame timing) or execute a perfect parry. Make that the way Normal/Hard Witch Time works and the difficulty progression would have worked a lot better, players would have been encouraged to learn the ins-and-outs of combat, and NSIC wouldn't be such a brick wall.

Also, the grinding is one of the reasons why I dislike the game; it's just a way to artificially inflate the game's average worth.

I thought it was weird how an action game "hid" so much of it's content, whether it be weapons, alfheims, accessories, or even entire play modes (Angel Slayer or I Can't Believe It's Not Bloody Palace). I get that they want to reward diligent players, but they went a little overboard, especially seeing as some of the unlock conditions seem difficult to come across without a walkthrough.

Also, Bayonetta is designed around not getting hit, so the bosses and enemies are designed to be incredibly predictable, which I really don't like, because it makes the game that much easier.

I can't agree with this. Enemies in Bayonetta can be quite unpredictable owing to their speed. Ardors, Fairness/Fearless, Grace/Glory, and especially Joys are all incredibly fast on NSIC, even without the Gaze of Despair equipped. In fact, I really like Bayonetta's bestiary as it does an outstanding job of making enemies that are actual threats in a combo-based game.

The bighuge bosses were predictable, but that's more because Platinum was trying to pick up the God of War crowd with style over substance...bad move and probably one of my chief complaints with the game. At least the two Fathers and Jeanne were good enough.

I think what makes Bayonetta feel "easy" is the utility of the defensive suite offered to the player character. Being able to cancel practically any animation into a dodge with i-frames is powerful; even Dante of DMC fame can't do that.

Still, Bayonetta's difficulty is mostly balanced around score not survival, a la DMC. That doesn't bother me, as going for (Pure) Platinum awards is plenty fun and a good test of abilities. But it isn't something like Ninja Gaiden 2 where merely making it out of certain encounters, most notably Tests of Valor, was legitimately difficult. If you were looking for something like that and don't enjoy going for ranks, then yeah, Bayo's difficulty would be a tad disappointing.

Bayonetta would be a forgettable 8 hour experience

Even taking all the flaws into account, of which there are many, the game is far from forgettable on the strength of the combat alone. Dodge Offset is a brilliant idea and really needs to become an action gaming staple mechanic, and it's nice to have air combat that's a bit more "streamlined" without going full retard like the DmC Wuboot.

 

[Minttunator]

Decided to finally finish Mask of the Betrayer before all the supposed 2014 incline arrives - I was somewhat burned out on NWN2 after playing the OC so I had to take a break from the game for a while. I've really been enjoying MotB thus far, it really seems better than the OC in almost every way!

 

[Gurkog]

Been working on the Borderlands 2 DLC... there seems to be a huge spike in stats on gear after level 30, as well as the enemies. Pirate area was really easy, Torque area was a huge leap in damage and HP of enemies so they actually posed a threat, Hunter area is 5 levels higher than the other 2 so enemies are extremely bullet spongey. Fighting a level 37 strider quest boss took a LOT of ammo. Won't be surprised if the next DLC area is even more fucking annoying instead of fun. Borderlands 1 DLC wasn't exactly great, but it didn't have stupid HP bloat either. In general I would rate 2's DLC a so far. The DLC NPCs/villains being quite a bit better than OC's helps them from being impossibly dull.

 

[Abu Antar]

Tried out the demo for the latest installment in the FFXIII trilogy. Just like the second game, I will not be picking this up.

Also playing Skyrim. Decided to actually complete some quests this time and not just wander around aimlessly.

Tried out Saint's Row 3 and Toki Tori 2+, but got bored after 2-3 hours in both games.

 

[spekkio]

Finished Realms of the Haunting.

+ great atmosphere,
+ complex plot and competent writing,
+ Rebecca's accent gives me a massive boner,
+ The amount of lore available via items / texts / persons descriptions is mind-blowing - you can converse with Rebecca about almost anything in your inventory and every person / location you've met,
+ mostly logical puzzles,

- FMVs are a little bit too long at times (dramatic poses, long fade-ins and -outs),
- GUI and controls are a bit dated,
- The usage of images for documents makes them hard to read due to low res, txt transcriptions would be better,
- Final 1/3 of the game (Sheol and beyond) is disappointing: feels rushed and level design is sub-par when compared to previous levels.
- Suffers the same fate as most of horror games - initial area (spooky mansion with confusing layout) is the most interesting location in the entire game. See also: Undying, Resident Evil 1, Eternal Darkness - Sanity Requiem.

Still, solid



If you find the controls unbearable, try the mouselook mod.

 

[octavius]

Finished Realms of the Haunting.

I'm looking forward to playing this game later this year.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I played it some years ago, reached a similar conclusion to spekkio: Promising game at first, but degenerated into an incoherent pile of mess as time went on.

I don't even REMEMBER the plot beyond the mansion, so "memorable" isn't one of the words I'd use for it.

 

[octavius]

So on my chronological play list I have now reached Civilization 2 .
I only played it a bit back in '96 or '97, using a friend's copy of the game. I even won once; the Romans were in the lead, but I stole their tech that allows building of nukes. So I built one nuke and one paratrooper for each of their cities and eradicated them in one turn. Being the new top dog I won the space race.

After that, I at one point bought the Test of Time remake from 1999. Or at least I thought I did...
I never installed the game until now, and I had to use Virtual Box to install it. I got it running and checked the version number - 1.02 March 4, 1996. "Hmm...1996? Can that be right for a 1999 remake?". Then I checked the CD - all the files are dated 1996. I also downloaded the 1.1 patch, but when I ran in (from Virtual Box) it said that Test of Time is not installed.

So it seems what is on my Test of Time CD is just the original Civ 2, version 1.02.
And it took me 14 years to notice this blatant rif-off!!!

The version in question is the Scandinavian one -

- distributed by the Danish company KE Media.

I've done a Google search, but I can't find any other mention of this.

I found a cracked version of ToT on some abandonware site, but one drawback about the new, more realistic graphics of Test of Time (compared to Civ 1) is that on modern monitors things look so tiny on high resolutions. The default resolution for my 22' monitor is 1650x1050, but despite Windows' nagging I prefer 1440x900. But even then things look so tiny that I find it hard to enjoy the game, especially the city production map is just a blur. Things look better when I decrease my monitors resolution to 1280x720 or lower, but it's not an optimal solution since it messes up other things.

The game also bugged out on me once. When I reloaded a save game the game crashed, and when I restarted the game the graphics were messed up. Fortunately I had backed up the entire folder, so it only took a few seconds to fix it.

Any others still playing Civ 2 or Test of Time?
Any mods/graphic replaces you can recommend?

 

[ChristofferC]

I'm replaying Half Life 2 9 years after the release. It's not a very good game... Boring weapons, boring enemies, boring maps, boring cut scenes, boring driving sections. Also very easy even on hard.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS AVERNUM 2 IS SO MUCH FUN

I LIKE THE DIFFICULTHYY SCALING AND CHARACTER PROGRESSION

 

[Genma:TheDestroyer]

Crabs in the first level of Risk of Rain are coin factories as long as you're not stupid enough to stand still and let them smash you.


Then the game decides it's hilarious to HP Bloat the hell out of them, spawn them everywhere and give them bio-missiles. What, you were aiming for the imps or the clay-men? Fuck you, you hit the crab and it doesn't care for your fancy items.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Currently playing EYE: Divine Cybermancy and Blackguards. MM:X is waiting to be installed.

Three new games. At once. None that sucks.

Guys what is this i dont understand

 

[Cyberarmy]

Currently playing EYE: Divine Cybermancy and Blackguards. MM:X is waiting to be installed.

Three new games. At once. None that sucks.

Guys what is this i dont understand

End of days probably, I was replaying MotB casualy when got hit from this "tide",

-The Banner Saga
-Underrail
-Blackguards
-And now M&MXL

I don't know what to do... and working hard nowadays so had little time for games at night before I pass out :/

 

[Baron Dupek]

I got similiar problem but it's long gone. Few games, not enough time so... inspired by old thread from codex...
I started focusing on one game with ignoring others, not without problems obviously. It required few tries but work. Sounds like breaking with smoking...

Now playing ToEE with Circle of Eight, installed with New content but doubt that I've ever try to reach new city that appear after beating main boss.
I've installed NC only to save myself from tedious Hommlet quests.
Reached infamous Temple, recruited some Ogre, crafted nuke fireball rods really good fighter but shops closed, damn. Game still can kick you ass so watch out.

Tried E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy but droped after vision of long brouzof grind, not to mention lost interesting in FPS games (maybe when Lost Alpha appear).

 

[Abu Antar]

TES V: Skyrim. I'm completing quests, but everytime I stop my session, I end up with even more quests. Going to focus on the ones I got for now and not bother going for new ones (if I can avoid it).

 

[Tommers]

Just finished banner saga and started teleglitch. Banner saga was great, really liked it.