What game are you wasting time on?

[Naraya]

For the last few days I've been playing Aliens Versus Predator (2010) by Rebellion. I finished it yesterday.
In the past I've played both AvP games quite a lot but for some reason I never got around to playing this one.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this game, though I did not expect much to start with.

Sure, there are signs of early consolitis like 5 smallish maps that are recycled in all 3 campaigns or simplistic controls but they do not detract from the game and it defends itself as a whole. There also are objective markers but they are more like hints - I never felt like someone holds my hand or railroads me to an objective.

I started with Predator. Nice but not overpowered toolbelt and different vision modes make playing this campaign as good as ever.
Then came the Marine campaign. The sense of dread, fragility and constant danger (even though yes, you can kind of melee aliens which is questionable) was palpable. All iconic stuff including the motion tracker and smartgun are in. In general, this campaign was the most tense.
I was pretty sure I wouldn't like playing as the Xenomorph since as a rule I don't like playing as overpowered monsters in games, here however it was surprisingly *fun* and refreshing. I felt definitely safer than playing a Marine and it was really cool to be able to swiftly leap and jump around the walls (however it can be a bit disorienting at start) and bite off the head of an adversary or harvest them.

I don't particularly care for ultra-realistic graphics (partly because I haven't upgraded my PC since 2015 and I'm still sporting a mere GTX 1060) but I really can't say a bad word about the graphical side of the game. It's dark, it's bleak, it's grimy but also can be vibrant (jungle). Lighting adds to the atmosphere and overall it is perfectly fine for my tastes.
Sound effects are quite impressive. You will be able to recognize every sound from the movies - alien hissing, predator roars and marine machine gun add to the mood and make adrenaline flow faster.
As for the AI - it's not FEAR level AI but I wouldn't say it's stupid. It can prove challenging, especially on higher difficulty modes. I also never felt it was cheating which to me is one of the most important aspects of a well-rounded AI (it is also one of the main reasons I don't care about Alien:Isolation).

I liked playing AvP a lot. One of my gripes is that it could've been longer (you can finish it in ~10-15 hours) and have more maps. I also didn't play any PvP so I have no idea if it's still active (probably not). In my book, it went up there to maybe top 5 post-2000 FPS games that I played.

.5/5

 

[JamesDixon]

I'm currently playing SSI Pool of Radiance. My current party consists of 1 paladin, 2 rangers, thief, cleric, and magic user. The paladin and rangers are hacked in via Gold Box Companion. I'm working on clearing out the slums.

 

[Gostak]

recently:
ThieveryUT EU hours sees some online play.
Objects in Space
Streets of Rogue
A pirate quartermaster
tempted to have a play of Super Blood Hockey after a looong while again
might also do the same with Delta V/Rings of Saturn mayhaps
And the STALKER thread tempts me to continue playing that as well

 

[Gostak]

meh edit time has expired it seems.
Thievery UT:
https://thievery.apphb.com
http://thieveryut.com

 

[Abu Antar]

I beat Tales of Xillia 2. Got all the endings. It has okay combat, with some fun boss battles, but overall, I feel like it's a fairly bog standard jrpg. Too many kids in the game.

I'm playing Avernum 6 on PC. I prefer A4, and A5 over this, but at the same time, it's interesting to see what has happened to areas that you visited in older games.

In Tower of Time, I am 100% done with the first two floors. Making good progress on the third floor. The dwarf packs a real punch, but has died more times than I care to admit. Currently, he feels like the melee equivalent to a glass cannon.

On console, I am mixing up Resonance of Fate sessions with Elden Ring sessions. It took me 15 minutes to understand one of the tutorials on RoF. Felt like a moron. Looked it up online, and it turns out that the tutorial could be better at explaining things. Still feel a bit stupid, though.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I beat Tales of Xillia 2. Got all the endings. It has okay combat, with some fun boss battles, but overall, I feel like it's a fairly bog standard jrpg. Too many kids in the game.

I'm playing Avernum 6 on PC. I prefer A4, and A5 over this, but at the same time, it's interesting to see what has happened to areas that you visited in older games.

In Tower of Time, I am 100% done with the first two floors. Making good progress on the third floor. The dwarf packs a real punch, but has died more times than I care to admit. Currently, he feels like the melee equivalent to a glass cannon.

On console, I am mixing up Resonance of Fate sessions with Elden Ring sessions. It took me 15 minutes to understand one of the tutorials on RoF. Felt like a moron. Looked it up online, and it turns out that the tutorial could be better at explaining things. Still feel a bit stupid, though.

You got me interested in Xilia, never played a Tales of game. How does it compare to others?

 

[Abu Antar]

I beat Tales of Xillia 2. Got all the endings. It has okay combat, with some fun boss battles, but overall, I feel like it's a fairly bog standard jrpg. Too many kids in the game.

I'm playing Avernum 6 on PC. I prefer A4, and A5 over this, but at the same time, it's interesting to see what has happened to areas that you visited in older games.

In Tower of Time, I am 100% done with the first two floors. Making good progress on the third floor. The dwarf packs a real punch, but has died more times than I care to admit. Currently, he feels like the melee equivalent to a glass cannon.

On console, I am mixing up Resonance of Fate sessions with Elden Ring sessions. It took me 15 minutes to understand one of the tutorials on RoF. Felt like a moron. Looked it up online, and it turns out that the tutorial could be better at explaining things. Still feel a bit stupid, though.

You got me interested in Xilia, never played a Tales of game. How does it compare to others?

If you're going to play a 3D Tales game, either play Vesperia, Graces f, or Berseria.

Vesperia offers the best overall package. Graces f offers the best combat, but shitty story and characters. The combat was miles better than any 3D game in the series. Berseria is a decent game, too.

Xillia 1 is better than Xillia 2. Xillia 1 has more of an adventure feel to it. Xillia 2 has you clear up a debt you get early on in the game. You have a quest board where you do repetitive quests over and over. They share the same world(s), so it feels a bit like a cash grab. Dungeons are uninspired. There are big fields to explore, but in general, I just liked a couple of areas in both games. Combat is solid. I have no major complaints, but at the same time, it feels vety safe. It's fairly straightforward. ToX2 doesn't change much from the first game, other than giving the new character a super power available only to him, and a couple of bosses.
Most new characters added to the second game, I did not like.

If I were to recommend you a game in the series, Xillia would not be it. It's not worst in anything, it's not best in anything. I'd say try Berseria for a more modern Tales game. Graces f, I really enjoyed, but the anime tropes, and power of friendship are huge. Not something most codexers could stomach.
Vesperia has probably the best main character in the series, and is a safe bet (imo).

Be aware that I consider this series to be fast food of jrpgs. I like fast food every now and then.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I beat Tales of Xillia 2. Got all the endings. It has okay combat, with some fun boss battles, but overall, I feel like it's a fairly bog standard jrpg. Too many kids in the game.

I'm playing Avernum 6 on PC. I prefer A4, and A5 over this, but at the same time, it's interesting to see what has happened to areas that you visited in older games.

In Tower of Time, I am 100% done with the first two floors. Making good progress on the third floor. The dwarf packs a real punch, but has died more times than I care to admit. Currently, he feels like the melee equivalent to a glass cannon.

On console, I am mixing up Resonance of Fate sessions with Elden Ring sessions. It took me 15 minutes to understand one of the tutorials on RoF. Felt like a moron. Looked it up online, and it turns out that the tutorial could be better at explaining things. Still feel a bit stupid, though.

You got me interested in Xilia, never played a Tales of game. How does it compare to others?

If you're going to play a 3D Tales game, either play Vesperia, Graces f, or Berseria.

Vesperia offers the best overall package. Graces f offers the best combat, but shitty story and characters. The combat was miles better than any 3D game in the series. Berseria is a decent game, too.

Xillia 1 is better than Xillia 2. Xillia 1 has more of an adventure feel to it. Xillia 2 has you clear up a debt you get early on in the game. You have a quest board where you do repetitive quests over and over. They share the same world(s), so it feels a bit like a cash grab. Dungeons are uninspired. There are big fields to explore, but in general, I just liked a couple of areas in both games. Combat is solid. I have no major complaints, but at the same time, it feels vety safe. It's fairly straightforward. ToX2 doesn't change much from the first game, other than giving the new character a super power available only to him, and a couple of bosses.
Most new characters added to the second game, I did not like.

If I were to recommend you a game in the series, Xillia would not be it. It's not worst in anything, it's not best in anything. I'd say try Berseria for a more modern Tales game. Graces f, I really enjoyed, but the anime tropes, and power of friendship are huge. Not something most codexers could stomach.
Vesperia has probably the best main character in the series, and is a safe bet (imo).

Be aware that I consider this series to be fast food of jrpgs. I like fast food every now and then.

I kinda understand where you are coming from with the fast food stuff, that's usually what happens when you get into a series during your childhood/teenage years and even if it's not that great you stick with it through the years, i have a couple like that too. I will take a look at tales of graces f.

 

[deuxhero]

Played Deus Ex and just finished Ocean Lab. Turns out the elevator down to the minisub has no way to bring it up down again. Luckily I remembered as I typed this out I can just swim out of the sub bay so this isn't a softlock.

 

[4249]

On console, I am mixing up Resonance of Fate sessions with Elden Ring sessions. It took me 15 minutes to understand one of the tutorials on RoF. Felt like a moron. Looked it up online, and it turns out that the tutorial could be better at explaining things. Still feel a bit stupid, though.

Should really dig my PS3 from the closet to finally finish Resonance of Fate. Confusion and feeling like an idiot is kind of the feeling I had when playing it at first as well. I think I've started it 2 or 3 times, but never finished the game.

 

[flyingjohn]

Broken lines, a bad frozen synapse ww2 ripoff.

Generic not German soldier 1:"HANS,the enemy is attacking and killing our own,why are we watching from the high ground?"
Generic not German soldier 2:"Well Friedrick,the enemy obviously hasn't stepped through the invisible start encounter line and you know the rules."
Generic not German soldier 1:"Oh ja,you are right Hans,rules are rules."

Every single area feels like small micro arenas of enemies that you can trigger instead of a actual cohesive playground of destruction.
The pod system nullifies ambushes and is very stupid when you are literally blowing up stuff a couple of meters from a enemy on high ground but he doesn't trigger.

 

[Starwars]

I'm replaying Toonstruck, which I haven't played since around the time it came out.

I loved the game back in the day and was sort of afraid that it'd be a disappointment to play again. But I actually love it. Now, in terms of gameplay and puzzles, it's not exactly great. In fact, parts of it are pretty bad (the quiz you have to answer on the phone for example). But I have to say that I'm really impressed with the writing, it's actually very funny and holds up extremely well. It's a bit overly talky at times but most of the dialogue is actually witty and very well acted as well. The setting works really well, especially when it goes into slightly adult, absurd territory like the sheep and cow practicing S&M.

The characters are an absolute delight and most of them are really fun to interact with.

In terms of games focusing on humor, I have to say that this one of the best still. And the cartoon cutscenes are still a delight to watch.

 

[Krivol]

After finishing Archolos, I decided to go and finish all Gothic games (1,2,3 - I'm thinking about ArcaniA, but it is not a Gothic game and is shit... I just want to see how creators handled old guys from the colony).

Finished G1 and it was good. Still, after wasting hundreds of hours on G2 (never finished TBH) and Archolos, G1 seems a bit... unfinished - low number of quests and feel of the unfinished game. Mind you, it's a great game, worth playing, with a good atmosphere and story. Everyone should play this .

G2 is now in progress and... it's a superb game, but sometimes it feels like Hack'n'Slash game, with a lot of fights, and VoM is just filled with enemies. I hope it won't burn me out completely.

 

[Testicules]

Archolos. Starting fights with villagers, getting one-shotted by shadowbeasts, luring skeletons to town so guards can kill them and I can grab their high-level cave loot.

God damn it feels good to be playing Gothic again.

 

[thesecret1]

Finished G1 and it was good. Still, after wasting hundreds of hours on G2 (never finished TBH) and Archolos, G1 seems a bit... unfinished

The old camp storyline always felt that way to me too, like it was rushed and not really throught through. It was still an amazing game though. I think the most incredible feel is when you're far into the game and start realizing just how incredibly small the map actually is, despite having felt pretty damn large up until then.

 

[flyingjohn]

Trying out Digimon world 2 hardtype.
I can't beat the tutorial,it is that broken.Stats have been quadrupled and enemies have access to broken skills with unlimited mp.
That is very impressive. Even bad Pokemon romhacks have managed to somehow not break the tutorial.
Extra fuck you to the author for choosing specific types that directly counter you.In the tutorial,where you can't change your team.

 

[Zenithsan]

I'm playing Shadow Tower the Abyss for the second time, trying to 100% this time.
So I'm taking my time to appreciate every texture, enemy, weapon description, and piece of dialogue.

Just the first hour reminded me why this is my third favorite From Software game, such a great game design.

 

[YldrE]

I'm enjoying Fallen Order quite a bit.

People who liked the Tomb Raider reboot or Uncharted are probably the most direct audience: impressive visuals, elaborate but streamlined platforming, constant dialogues and cutscenes, railroaded main story where the areas you traverse are full of (obvious) secrets that might require a revisit when you get new tools and moves, etc.

It does have some Souls-ish DNA but beyond marketing fluff it's really a stretch to make a big deal out of it.

People interested in Star Wars 3D platformers might also be interested in Lethal Alliance, either on DS or on PSP.

 

[GhostCow]

I'm enjoying Fallen Order quite a bit.

People who liked the Tomb Raider reboot or Uncharted are probably the most direct audience: impressive visuals, elaborate but streamlined platforming, constant dialogues and cutscenes, railroaded main story where the areas you traverse are full of (obvious) secrets that might require a revisit when you get new tools and moves, etc.

It does have some Souls-ish DNA but beyond marketing fluff it's really a stretch to make a big deal out of it.

People interested in Star Wars 3D platformers might also be interested in Lethal Alliance, either on DS or on PSP.

Funny, I could never force myself to play the first game of the new Tomb Raider for more than an hour or two but I liked Fallen Order a lot. Not a great game by normal standards, but compared to most of the shit released in the last decade it's pretty good.

 

[OSK]

The new Monkey Island talk made me re-play The Secret of Monkey Island. I'm debating whether I want to play the sequel right away next.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Still playing Warlords Battlecry III and wow, has this game got its hooks into me despite being so buggy that if you use one of it's offered features - a Patrol function - it actually crashes within a few seconds, 5 minutes at the most (this is a reproducible bug that I discovered on two different computers when I was chasing my tail trying to troubleshoot all the crashing thinking it was my config) but I'm really digging it. It has enormous depth and some of the early battles feature a boss so powerful she can decimate your entire army with just one or two spells.; at least in the Protectors mod she does. In fact, i had to go back to vanilla because I had bitten off more than I could chew for someone who's not only a noob to the series but has only played about 3 or 4 RTS games in all my years of gaming and never to completion. I have this feeling though that if you master this game, you master any RTS. The base building is fun and involving and once I figured out how to group different army types together then easily select them with a shortcut key, it gave the game a huge QoL boost for me.

Tip: be sure to RTFM because the in-game tutorials don't tell you nearly enough, like optimizing your hero by using aligned allied characters. I'm playing as a druid; a physically weak, squishy character but with decent killing spells. Share your tips if you wish.

 

[KafkaBot]

Styx: Master of Shadows. It was being sold for peanuts on GOG, so I decided to give it a try. It's surprisingly fun and the level design is great, despite the clear lack of budget. Pity about that repetition everyone talks about, but I'm looking forward to playing the sequel once I'm done with this one.

The Council. The beginning of the game was a bit underwhelming, what with those godawful animations and corny voice acting, but the dialogue system shows quite a bit of promise (I'm still on the very first chapter).

I've also gotten back to Pool of Radiance. Maybe I'll finally finish it this time.

 

[Atlet]

Salt and Sanctuary: pretty much a dark souls in a 2d platformer. Awesome combat and like souls its hard. I know ppl hate souls like games, but this one is actually good. Highly recommend.

 

[JDR13]

I'm enjoying Fallen Order quite a bit.

People who liked the Tomb Raider reboot or Uncharted are probably the most direct audience: impressive visuals, elaborate but streamlined platforming, constant dialogues and cutscenes, railroaded main story where the areas you traverse are full of (obvious) secrets that might require a revisit when you get new tools and moves, etc.

It does have some Souls-ish DNA but beyond marketing fluff it's really a stretch to make a big deal out of it.

People interested in Star Wars 3D platformers might also be interested in Lethal Alliance, either on DS or on PSP.

Funny, I could never force myself to play the first game of the new Tomb Raider for more than an hour or two but I liked Fallen Order a lot. Not a great game by normal standards, but compared to most of the shit released in the last decade it's pretty good.

I can't say I ever thought about Tomb Raider while playing Fallen Order. Good game though. The sequel will be a definite purchase for me.

 

[JDR13]

Finished G1 and it was good. Still, after wasting hundreds of hours on G2 (never finished TBH) and Archolos, G1 seems a bit... unfinished

The old camp storyline always felt that way to me too, like it was rushed and not really throught through. It was still an amazing game though. I think the most incredible feel is when you're far into the game and start realizing just how incredibly small the map actually is, despite having felt pretty damn large up until then.

True, but the map wasn't really that small for a 3D game in 2001.

I still love Gothic, but it's borderline unplayable to me now without some texture mods and the DX11 patch.