What game are you wasting time on?

[Unkillable Cat]

Well, I finally got around to playing the new Director's Cut of Jazzpunk and the DLC for it.

Honestly, Jazzpunk is not that far removed from a walking simulator. You walk around, *interact* with the world and get a response, most often in the form of pop culture-reference esque humor. Occasionally you're made to play a minigame of sorts, like scraping food off a man's face, hitting moving targets or some simple "Use-item-from-inventory-on-stuff"-esque puzzles, but there's no such thing as a fail-state or even dying for that matter. So there's really not a lot of gameplay here, but the game makes up for that with an awesome mix of style, humor and frankly bizarre circumstances. Basically if you're born between 1975 and 1985 this game is targeting you with its content, so give it a go if you're in that age bracket and haven't played Jazzpunk before... though I'd pick the game (and DLC) up at a sale, because even after exploring every nook and cranny we're only talking about a 4-hour game here. And unfortunately it doesn't hold well up to replays either.

As for the new content, it's mostly in the second mission, the oriental one where you're supposed to grab a guy's augmented kidney. There's an extra section of Chinatown, complete with a cyberspace sequence. Other levels either only changed superficially or not at all. Meanwhile the Flavor Nexus DLC has the flattest premise I've ever seen: Go out to the local supermarket and grab some smelling salts. That's it. The only interruption from this is a potential monster truck race in the parking lot, but otherwise it's all just browsing for things to interact with and seeing what happens, though there's enough here to occupy people for about an hour at the most, if you enjoy standing around watching feeding instructions for your phone, or attending the watermelon graduation ceremony (no those aren't euphamisms for anything, these things are really in the game).

tl;dr If you haven't played Jazzpunk and have a few dorra to spend, give it a go.

 

[octavius]

Installed HoMM 3 Complete, took it for a test ride, and I got annoying graphics corruption when moving the mouse. Tried various compatibility settings and reducing to 16 bit colours, but no dice.
Checked graphics drivers; they were up to date.
Then I remembered I played Heroes Chronicles a couple of years ago, without problem, so I fired up one of the episodes and it was the same problem. So obviously something had changed. Turned out that updating graphics drivers a while back caused the mess, and reverting to old drivers fixed the problem. Bloody Intel...

 

[Comte]

Installed HoMM 3 Complete, took it for a test ride, and I got annoying graphics corruption when moving the mouse. Tried various compatibility settings and reducing to 16 bit colours, but no dice.
Checked graphics drivers; they were up to date.
Then I remembered I played Heroes Chronicles a couple of years ago, without problem, so I fired up one of the episodes and it was the same problem. So obviously something had changed. Turned out that updating graphics drivers a while back caused the mess, and reverting to old drivers fixed the problem. Bloody Intel...

I am running Heroes 3 on my laptop with Intel graphics. I am using the HD Mod and having no problems.

 

[Krivol]

Installed HoMM 3 Complete, took it for a test ride, and I got annoying graphics corruption when moving the mouse. Tried various compatibility settings and reducing to 16 bit colours, but no dice.
Checked graphics drivers; they were up to date.
Then I remembered I played Heroes Chronicles a couple of years ago, without problem, so I fired up one of the episodes and it was the same problem. So obviously something had changed. Turned out that updating graphics drivers a while back caused the mess, and reverting to old drivers fixed the problem. Bloody Intel...

I am running Heroes 3 on my laptop with Intel graphics. I am using the HD Mod and having no problems.

This. HD mod is great, but I don't advise to use HD resolution anyway - if you don't have 50'' screen you will have trouble to see a lot of things. Something like 1280x720 is just perfect.

Game works great, looks nice, mod also has other mods support (so if you like to use WoG with this - you can) and has some nice features (like little arrows under units when you are transfering soliders between two heroes).

 

[octavius]

This. HD mod is great, but I don't advise to use HD resolution anyway - if you don't have 50'' screen you will have trouble to see a lot of things. Something like 1280x720 is just perfect.

Yes, too high resolution and I will have to just a magnifying glass to see my units.

Incidentally I had to LOL at the intro video to HoMM 3. That outfit of Queen Catherine's is just about the most ridicilous I've ever seen.
Why is she walking around in her panties?

Maybe she overslept that day, and her squire only had time to put on parts of her armour?

 

[Harry Easter]

- Divinity 2 (still fun, still one of my favorites)

- Risen 1 (the first two chapters and the island are still excellent)

- Prince of Persia from 2003 (hard but still good)

- Silverfall ( Diablo, but without the budget for cutscenes and Steampunk)

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Playing Brutal Doom for the first time. It's so gooood.
Played Brutal Doom 64, it is also incredible, but too dark. It's like doom 3 of brutal dooms.

 

[Ezekiel]

Playing Max Payne 3's multiplayer a lot lately. I wish it was more active.

 

[Old One]

Master of Magic again.

 

[octavius]

I used MMArchive to edit the HoMM 3 campaigns so that I could choose difficulty, and the first map which was a major chore to get through on Easy without falling asleep, is definitely more enjoyable on Impossible.

I was getting really tired of HoMM 2 and its braindead AI (I think I played a couple of user made maps too many), so it's really refreshing with the AI actually being competent in combat in HoMM 3.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

It's actually a very small and primitive game, despite the fact that it started a genre. It's just one town with one dungeon. You get to choose between 3 classes (warrior/mage/rogue), but apart from their sprite they all behave mostly the same, just with different attribute caps. Your sprite also never changes, no matter what armor you equip. There are no skills, but you get spell books to learn spells (so basically anyone can be a mage, as long as they put enough points in Magic to use the books and have enough mana to cast spells).

It's kinda charming in that old 90's game way, so I guess I'll play some more, haven't got to the Butcher yet, maybe it picks up later.

It's not really one dungeon but you'll understand that as you venture further into the game. Tristram is the only town/village in the game yes but that never bothered me since it's very well realized (that memorable soundtrack, voice acting/dialogue/characters, that feeling of dread and fear among remaining villagers) and made it easier for the game to have thematic consistency which is one of the its biggest strengths. First Diablo is more low key and mysterious where the protagonist and most villagers don't grasp fully the horrors that took over their cathedral, story and lore is served to you in bits and pieces for most of the game (it actually reminds me a bit of Thief in that regard).

Difference between classes are very significant, don't let the "everybody can learn spells" feature fool you. Aside from attribute caps and different HP/mana gain per level/attribute every class has a hidden speed bonus for a specific action (melee weapons for Warrior, bow for Rogue and spell casting for Sorcerer). On advanced levels Warrior and Rogue will use magic yes but still sparingly and defensively (especially the Warrior who has lowest Mana and casting speed) and the playing style will still remain quite distinct between the 3 classes.

Overall I'd say Diablo's mechanics are somewhat simple but they work and still remain addictive to this day, it also has a solid replay value because of randomized levels (and quests in singleplayer) and good monster variety, there's also multiplayer loot hunting but it's not really that developed in the first Diablo (unlike the sequel which has gone to ridiculous lengths in that regard). What really sets the game apart though is that amazing atmosphere, everything from the music, eerie sound effects while exploring dungeons to the gothic art direction fit so well together as a whole in a manner that is rarely seen in video games, I wish more RPGs tried to go down that road instead of high fantasy overload. Of course if you're just a mechanics/gameplay kind of guy, that may not mean all that much.

 

[Sceptic]

I used MMArchive to edit the HoMM 3 campaigns so that I could choose difficulty, and the first map which was a major chore to get through on Easy without falling asleep, is definitely more enjoyable on Impossible.

Is there a way to put the edited campaigns back into the archive file? I remember editing the campaign files for the very same reason, but then the voices wouldn't play in the pre-mission cutscenes and I'm a bit OCD about this kind of thing.

 

[octavius]

I used MMArchive to edit the HoMM 3 campaigns so that I could choose difficulty, and the first map which was a major chore to get through on Easy without falling asleep, is definitely more enjoyable on Impossible.

Is there a way to put the edited campaigns back into the archive file? I remember editing the campaign files for the very same reason, but then the voices wouldn't play in the pre-mission cutscenes and I'm a bit OCD about this kind of thing.

You need to use the Add option to add the edited files back to the archive.
There is a tutorial on YouTube.

 

[sullynathan]

Prince of Persia from 2003 (hard but still good)

controller or keyboard?

 

[Abu Antar]

I finished the Game of Thrones RPG. ptretty cool game that I think more codexers should try.

 

[Achiman]

So I'm playing PoE again. Mainly because of the 'retrospective' article that was on here awhile ago.
I beat it when it first came out on hard, but I have NO desire to replay the content I didn't see before on hard (last 1/3 of the dungeon under your stronghold and White march stuff).
It's just inexplicable how it can be so good looking, have interesting items, some good lore, decent characters and yet... The combat and loading screens just really turn my off on some visceral level.
Anyway, I've beaten the first part of the White march stuff, best part is the Monk companion who's always off his face on drugs. Maybe because I don't give a shit about dwarfs in any game I missed some of the nuance in the tragedy of the forge dungeon. Going to uninstall after I finish the second part of the Expansion I think.

I realise it's been done and done again talking about this game.. but what could have been.

Other than that I'm playing Dead Space 2. Only early days, but Isaac handles like a high peformance sportscar compared to the tank like controls of the first Dead Space.

 

[janior]

Finished Dungeon Rats, really enjoyed it, it was p challenging, most encounters were good. I guess it's time to play AoD finally.

 

[the_shadow]

Finished Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001). My thoughts can be summarized as 'Meh', although I'm sure it was a good shooter at the time.

 

[Harry Easter]

sullynathan

Keyboard, but it works good so far.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Played Skyshine's Bedlam Redux.
Somehow that game is lackluster; 2000AD-ish cursed earth like world and presentation was promising, but combat mechanics which are mostly deterministic with just enough RNG sprinkled in to be annoying, leave lot to be desired. This is problem because about 80% of the game is combat.
Might be because winning seems to be too often dependent on spamming rover abilities. Also FTL style CYOA parts lack variety.
Linear arcade mode where you must pick up resources from battlefield seems to be funnier game mode than campaign.

edit. Save states seem to be borked, I've lost equipment and recruits when I've loaded game.
--->Uninstall.

After that I just started to play Might & Magic VII for the first time.
Wanted to play something with (hopefully) good exploration.

 

[Old One]

Still playing MoM. Since I've already played it many times in the past, I've been trying out new ways to alter the parameters of the experience (in other words, cheating).

I've managed to find the address that controls spell power during combat, so I'm no longer limited by it and can cast as many spells as I like during battles. I'm learning a huge amount about the game mechanics this way.

My current wizard is a somewhat strange combination of 4 blue and 4 black books, but there are interesting ways to synergize the combat spells. Typically I cast the sorcery Counter Magic if I'm fighting another wizard or spellcasting enemies, then the necromantic Black Prayer, which is a much better spell than I ever realized before. It even works on magic immune monsters like sky drakes. Next I zap my target with a blue Mind Storm, which lowers its resistance by 5. Finally I hit it over and over with black Life Drain spells, because if you kill something that way it rises as undead after combat and joins your army.

My favorite raised minion so far: an undead Arch Angel.

 

[Blonsky]

Agarest generations of war zero

I tried playing other agarest games before but never could stand playing them for long. This time i got some 10h in but couldnt deal with the stupid story anymore.
The game has mediocre turn based combat and level up system, somewhat interesting crafting system and a boring story and dating sim parts. Also the game gets a little better once you get rid of novice equipment, start making more useful equipment for each character and are able to farm weaker enemies for currencies and items.

 

[Abu Antar]

I tied one of those games but gave up after 5 hours. It was grindy and slow paced. Add to that the story and characters. I learned my lesson and I nowkeep away from anything Agarest.

 

[MicoSelva]

Breath of the Wild is much better than I expected - it actually kept me playing beyond 1 a.m. one evening, which has not happened since my son was born and I got into a permanent state of sleep deficiency. I see how the game could become tedious over time with the huge open world and admittedly limited variety of stuff to do, but first 25+ hours have been really good.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Got Homm 4 off the Gog pinatas, so hey, the music is GOOD. And they ripped off fields of ard skellige from one of those tracks wtf.