What game are you wasting time on?

[circ]

It's not the worst game ever, unless you count the QTE's. 99% of my deaths have been to QTE's. There's something wrong with the developer when that's the case. Sometimes it's the piece of shit camera that forgets to move, but mostly it's just an unresponsive system that doesn't even tell you what to press sometimes. But anyway, beyond that, it's shit. Once you've done the fun part - which is upgrading your weapons, there's nothing left. You've explored every area, there should be a few tombs left, except the tombs are one room puzzles that are as easy as balls. Also, some people say it looks amazing. Maybe someone would be kind to explain to me how the texture on my radio looks worse than something from Doom. Juiced up Skyrim looks better than this and is actually easier on the resources. Que? And there's some kind of TessFX hair effect that makes your hair flow 'naturally'. TOO BAD THE HAIR TEXTURE IS A JOKE.

Anyway, finished, holy shit what a shitty story too. LARA YOUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED. One rescue later. LARA YOUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN KIDNAPPED. Rescue. Well there's a SHITLOAD of rescuing going on. And why doesn't Mathias kill you when he meets you the first time?? I know he's not all there, but really? Stupid villain syndrome? This was apparently written by uh Terry whatshisname Pratchett's? daughter? Get a new job, daughter of some writer guy. Because this is laughably bad. NO I TOTALLY COULDN'T GUESS ABOUT AN HOUR INTO THE GAME THAT HIMIKO WAS GOING TO DO A SOUL TRANSFER. OOHOOHOO. Or that the island was 'cursed'. Some of the worst VO I've ever heard in my life too. Which usually comes with the Tomb Raider territory, but with so many VO's, it's REALLY noticeable.

Oh yeah. WHY OH WHY OH WHY CAN'T I SHOOT REYES? THAT'S ALL I WANT.

This guy does a better Lara voice than Lara's VO:



THERE'S YOUR NEXT HIRE CRYSTAL CAN'T DESIGN FOR SHIT.

 

[RedScum]

Deponia.

 

[Keshik]

Deponia as well - Rufus sure does grate on me.

 

[J_C]

to circ for playing Tomb Raider and writing an insightful mini review about it.

 

[mck]

I'm playing through Torment for the first time. I would be spamming the screenshot thread with tons of shit everybody has already seen/done before and harvesting brofists, but unfortunately the steam overlay refuses to work with PS:T

 

[Boyarpunk]

Still playing Unity of Command. Getting the hang of it after attempting the campaign and getting my Soviet ass handed to me, then switching to individual scenarios and learning the nuisances of the game.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

I'm playing through Torment for the first time. I would be spamming the screenshot thread with tons of shit everybody has already seen/done before and harvesting brofists, but unfortunately the steam overlay refuses to work with PS:T

Fraps?

 

[HanoverF]

I've finally started going through my long list of shit I bought during steam sales and never played starting with Alice: Madness Returns, so I guess I'm going through it alphabetically. It's an ok combat platformer(? I'm not really sure what it would be classified as). I can see why it wasn't very well received, neither the combat or the platforming are very good, but the interesting visual style and good enough story elevate it somewhat. Of course they kinda sabotage themselves in the visual style regard by making the main reoccurring enemies 'ruin' that are basically variations on a ball of black goo.

if they had left out some of the really bad mini-games that come out of nowhere

 

[sea]

Hitman Absolution gets better about halfway through.

Hmmm. I got to the wrestling match and moved on. Should I go back?

Fuck. I forgot about that. I haven't even got that far.

I was talking about Dexter Industries. That was actually a pretty good level. Does it get worse from here on out?

 

[circ]

Not really. Dexter industries is about 70-80% of the game done if I recall correctly. It doesn't by any means get worse, if you're already given up on the sometimes wonky controls and shitty shooting mechanics.

Don't remember if Sharky was before or after that. I think after. Decent bunch of levels. The courthouse has some interesting bits. After that was the nuns? That one's quite interesting, and then the final hodown. I think.

 

[DalekFlay]

Fuck. I forgot about that. I haven't even got that far.

I was talking about Dexter Industries. That was actually a pretty good level. Does it get worse from here on out?

That's right where I quit I think, the wrestling match is the next level. Let me know how it goes, I more quit because of distraction than hating the game (though I do find it mediocre).

 

[J_C]

Fucking peace of buggy shit!4!!!4 I lost Dogmeat in Fallout 1 in a buggy area transition. In one screen I had him, and on the other I didn't.

 

[Brayko]

Fucking peace of buggy shit!4!!!4 I lost Dogmeat in Fallout 1 in a buggy area transition. In one screen I had him, and on the other I didn't.

Oh noes! Better report to Obsidian and tell them that one of their employees is ineffective.

 

[J_C]

Hahah, you are so funny.

 

[DeepOcean]

I'm playing through Torment for the first time. I would be spamming the screenshot thread with tons of shit everybody has already seen/done before and harvesting brofists, but unfortunately the steam overlay refuses to work with PS:T

Man, I played it a long time ago, already forgot half of it. I will wait until Torment 2 is released so I will replay the first one then play Tides of Numenera. Boy, a few years back the idea of having a half decent RPG was ridiculous and playing the sequel of Torment impossible. I can't wait play the game (If InExile don't shit on it) and watch the LPs here afterwards.

 

[Brayko]

I'd say that the average opinion on the Codex is "cautiously optimistic" as to whether these games will actually deliver. I mean we got the naysayers who accuse BF of being too much of a casual who likes the idea of "social" features and shouldn't be overseeing a title and the ones who think Obsidian's track record is far too rocky for them to make a good game, even on Kickstarter. Then we got the people like me who splurge over everything they say about the game, every newsbit, and if we do have fears we do a good job at hiding them. Then there's the people who simply say "sounds pretty cool, can't wait" and go on with their busy lives (those people of course are rarely heard of, because they don't shout so loud). It would be nice if the Codex settled on the latter opinion in general but the two loud poles of (yay/nay) opinions clash into each other and create a volcanic mix of both.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Fucking peace of buggy shit!4!!!4 I lost Dogmeat in Fallout 1 in a buggy area transition. In one screen I had him, and on the other I didn't.

I had a problem during the talk with the Master. After clicking on the last sentence the dialogue started all over again. After 2 times I've given up .

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Somebody anonymously bought me an activation code to Planet Stronghold. So yeah. I haven't touched it yet and considering RK47's LP of it I don't really want to either. Seriously what the fuck? Who would do something like this? I don't even know what to say. I'm going back to Tetris now.

 

[Ulminati]

Back to Kerbal Space Program. Manley Mode missions are hard as fuck.

Anyone who hasn't played KSP yet should at the very least give the demo a go. Your first orbit, Mün landing, rendezvous, docking etc all feel ten times as emotionally engaging as anything shat out by AAAAAA+ developers in the last decade.

 

[Elthosian]

Jagged Alliance 2 1.13, trying to retake Drassen after the oh-god-so-many-enemies counterattack which made me go to Chitzena in order to get some funding for my team, it was a cakewalk up until the mines area, which freaking Deirdrana surrounded with 70 elite soldiers without counting the twelve that were inside the zone, I killed these without much trouble but then the 70+ elites got into the area and massacred my team.

I also tried to lure them into one of the captured sectors which had 20 militias but that didn't go very well, they got to kill like 30 of them with my help, then they got overwhelmed and everyone died or got incapacitated pretty quickly, gotta try again later with some stun and mustard gas grenades.

 

[bertram_tung]

Bought Absolution when it was $9.99 on steam a couple of weeks ago. Seemed okay for a little bit, then after the third or fourth "hide behind cover and avoid the cops as you jump from buildings to dodge helicopter" levels I uninstalled it and reinstalled bloodlines to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Is Dreamweb worth playing? I think I'm going to give that a try soon.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I'm continuing my Gold Box and Ultima Underworld playthroughs.

Pool of Radiance -> Curse of the Azure Bonds -> Secret of the Silver Blades -> Pools of Darkness (like the first game, but now with more pools!) -> Gateway to the Savage Frontier -> Treasure of the Savage Frontier -> Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday -> Matrix Cubed -> Champions of Krynn -> Death Knights of Krynn -> Dark Queen of Krynn

Ultima Underworld -> Ultima Underworld 2 -> Arx Fatalis -> System Shock -> System Shock 2

So far I'm halfway through Pools of Darkness on the Gold Box games and just started Ultima Underworld 2 on the 1st person RPG chain.

 

[Zed]

I finished Planescape Torment today.

Yes, for the first time - even though I've had the game on my shelf for over 10 years.
I was too young to appreciate them game when I got it, so I'm actually glad I didn't just click my way through it. The furthest I got when I played it way back then was to the pregnant alley.

Random thoughts:

I liked how the game was basically a non-linear adventure game once you opened up the Hive.
I did not like the linear demon hack n slash that followed outlands and all that jazz.

I fucking hated how you can't activate 100lore buff drops from within your inventory screen. Like what the fuck.

'Deionarra's theme' is probably one of the finer pieces of music in gaming. Other than that I was left musically unimpressed, although it was definitely good.

I missed out on Vhailor and the robot NPC. To me it seems they require a bit of meta gaming to get. At least the robot. I just never found Vhailor. On the other hand, I was close to miss out on Dak'kon as well. Which would have been a shame, because he had a nice story.

I know about the whole Torment thing and how NPCs are drawn to you, but still it felt like they were a little too attached. Annah so tsundere. I totally romanced her btw.

I think the game could have used a few Str, Dex, and Con based skill-checks, considering how many actions you actually do perform though dialog options.

I didn't like the "dynamic" alignment system. Especially when there are so few "very good" weapons and they have alignment restrictions. I was stuck on neutral good throughout the game.

The puzzle in Fortress of Regret felt extremely "meh". Especially considering the thousands upon thousands of shadow fags that could surround you when you teleported. This shit took me a long time.

Healing shit (bandages, blood charms etc) were too cheap, and too spammy to use. Might as well have had insta out-of-combat regen and save some time.

Morte > Annah/Dak'kon > Fall-from-grace > Ignus
Morte is funny and could have been lifted from Grim Fandango or something. Annah has a strong character, but felt a little too tsundere. Dak'kon took too long to reveal his backstory and shit - he became interesting near the end when you knew why he followed you around. Fall-from-grace had a great (I guess 'ironic') character, but didn't really grab me. Also not as hot as the games makes her out to be. Ignus had a funny story, but was shit as a character (*buuurrrn* yes haha so funny).

I joined the anvil faction. They had a murder mystery quest and that's my favorite type of quest. Too bad it wasn't very complex or deep. I also did the dustmen quests but I decided not to join them because as I understand it I'd lose my resurrection spell. I wish my choice of faction would reflect a bit more on how followers and NPCs treated me.

I didn't understand the purpose of the Wisdom-based solution to retrieving Trias' sword. It's like, "here are the riddles!" and then the correct answers are marked out in your dialog... "I know the answer: it's a cat!" etc... Booooooo! I like riddles. Let me guess without auto-solve.

So yeah. Good game.
Maybe I'll try to properly beat ToEE next. I only beat that game once and that was by giving myself up to the evil dudes like 20 minutes into the game or whatever (I didn't enjoy it much).

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Zed , congrats on finishing an awesome game.

There are a few Strength/Dex/Con checks throughout the game. Just two off the top of my head involve twisting the arm of a rogue so he lets you passed a door or gate, and when you have to save Morte from the pillar in hell.

I don't join factions in games like this or Morrowind, so I miss out and some good stuff in these games. I'm just not a joiner. However, I heard the Godsmen faction quest is pretty sweet.

Did you get through all the dialogue with Dak'kon? Like solving the portions of the puzzle he carries around that he didn't even know about?

The Fortress of Regrets is a bit of a let down, I do admit. However, the ending makes up for it. Vhailor isn't too hard to find, but I wish you find him earlier. He's pure awesome. The modron is a lot harder. I was ready to pound Ignus, but his voiced dying breath made me sad. I found Annah interesting, but she doesn't compare to Fall-From-Grace, who breaks every convention of what you would expect from a succubus. My favorite NPC was Dak'kon, however. There wasn't a Planescape: Torment party NPC I didn't like, and I quest with them again... just as long as it was with a different character and the Nameless One's story stays finished.

 

[Zed]

Did you get through all the dialogue with Dak'kon? Like solving the portions of the puzzle he carries around that he didn't even know about?

I found out about the puzzle from the douchebaggy reincarnation at the end, so I got a good understanding of what it actually was... but not through Dak'kon. After every major event in the game (like Ravel) I talked to Dak'kon and tried to use the puzzle, but it never really got anywhere.