What game are you wasting time on?

[RK47]

I'm as surprised as you are.
But here's a mini-review

Spoiler

It's Batman Arkham Asylum in Mordor. If you cared about story I'll just sum it up: you died, an amnesiac elven spirit possess you - granting power for vengeance. Any more than that is spoiler. It has the hallmark of Batman game right down to the simple stealth mechanics, combat combos and take-downs. The major difference between this and Batman AA is the difficulty. It's toned down emphasize more on fun rather than difficulty.

Which button to tap dat ass?​

There are no instant assault rifle kills if you get spotted, for example. Healing is a simple matter of finding that herb icon in the wilds. Escaping is not even hard. In fact, the only times I died is when I got over-confident and thought I could keep hacking at the endless hordes of orcs. Yes, I did say hordes. They come in smaller groups out there, but when you engage them in their stronghold, prepare for endless swarms if you let them raise the alert.

The whole Arkham Asylum Stealth/Combat is blended with Assassin Creed's open-world collectible/mini-mission stuff. And once again, the emphasis is on fun, not challenge. Though difficult spikes do exist in terms of high-swarm mobs (ghuls) or high damage big monster (caragors/graug). But once you pick up the basics (or upgrade the appropriate skill), you won't have much of a trouble dealing with it.

There is also the 'Orc Army Leaders' aspect that plays a part in the main campaign. From simple assassinations (you will fuck up the stealth somehow and trigger horde spawns), you will eventually be given a chance to dominate a ranking officer. This involves taking them down to low health and use a special ability to dominate. Once done, you can command them to assist in taking out other Orc Leaders. A randomly generated 'power struggle' mission will then appear to offer you an opportunity to kill the target and in the case of higher ranking chiefs, usurp them with your minion. The mission could be a Duel, Betrayal, or even your jackass minion getting captured and put out for public Execution, it's up to you to save his ass and kill his executioner.

Pictured: How demotions work in game.​

There is also the much-praised Nemesis system in game where the orcs will remember you if they have defeated you or retreated from you. It's not a big deal, but it's nice to see a badly wounded orc you let escape earlier return with an eye-patch yammering about how he'll get you this time, Gadget - till you do an eight hit combo and chain two execution moves to shut him up. Also, if you let them beat you, they gain Power Rating which translates into additional combat bonuses etc.

Speaking of combat bonuses, the Orc leaders do have special properties that are hidden at first. You can uncover their Strengths/Weaknesses by interrogating Orc informants. This is helpful, because uncovering that this Super Strong Asshole Capable of Tearing Your Asshole 20 cm Bigger has a phobia for Caragors (Mordor rideable wolves) make them a piece of cake. Or the pesky Archer Chiefs that gets one-hit killed when taken down from stealth. It also helps knowing if one is Stealth-takedown immune before trying it. Heheh.

Overall, I highly recommend it - It's fun. But it does get old past the tenth hour or so. I got tired once I'm done with the first map and just powered through the second map. There's a high frequency of QTE too, so never let go of your keyboard and mouse and you should be okay.

A small tidbit: if you have Steam friend list and your friends die to those named orcs, you get Vendetta missions to avenge them.

Rest easy, root. You've been avenged.​

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Thank whoever in the Shoutbox was praising Geneforge. I really like Spiderweb games on the whole, but I never really gave it a fair shake. It really bugged me that unlike the Exile games, you had completely mouse-driven movement in combat but without an indicator of how many APs about to be spent. It's really spergy thing to get hung up on, but I used to really micromanage my APs in Exile and make the most out of every turn.

I'm finally giving it an earnest try and I'm completely sucked into the world and story. Really amazing worldbuilding if you let yourself get immersed it in. I press on despite the tragic loss of my beloved pet Artila the Hun. I hope Artila the Fun can carry on his legacy

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I've finished a bunch of games over the holiday season!

• Batman: Arkham City. Started this a year ago, dropped it due to losing my save, decided to finish it. Very fun game, though a bit less cohesive than Arkahm Asylum. Lots of fun, and great characters with a decent twist ending. The side missions felt a little "random" to me in that they could have been tied into the story itself a bit more strongly, but were still fun on their own.
• Hotline Miami. Another one I started and put down, during one especially frustrating level. Finally went back and cleaned up everything plus the bonus stages. Although I am typically not a huge fan of trial and error gameplay, the super-fast nature of each level meant that much of the frustration of failing was immediately replaced by that "one more time" compulsion. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, kickass soundtrack.
• The Darkness II. I did not have super high expectations going into this one but came away rather pleasantly surprised. The shooting was very arcadey and responsive, with pretty good enemy variety that required some variety in tactics. The leveling/unlock system was well paced without making me feel like I was relying on upgrades to win, and the story was surprisingly compelling considering the fairly cheesy source material, thanks to some pretty good dialog and voice acting. It's pretty short at around 6-7 hours, but I think that was the perfect length as it didn't wear out its welcome.

Also playing:

• Divinity: Original Sin. Great RPG that's a slow burn for me. I've been going on and off the last several months but I think I am in the home stretch. One of the best RPGs I have played in years. I could probably nitpick it to death but it's just consistently fun throughout, despite how damn huge it is, and any such concerns are pretty much immediately washed away by the dopey grin I get on my face at some cheeky line of dialog, or that compulsion to see what's beyond the fog of war.
• Dreamfall: Chapters. I tried out the first couple hours. In theory, I love this game. In practice, it hasn't quite hooked me yet. I really enjoyed the intro in Storytime (dreamland), but the "modern day" stuff probably needs some more time to grow on me. I'm sure I'll finish it, given it's not too long, and I have heard good things about it as it goes on.
• Rayman: Origins. Another game that I've been told I should love, given my fondness of platformers. Great art and music, and it's just a joy to play... but something about the controls doesn't quite gel with me (more than likely, I just need to give up my preconceptions). Still, it is undeniably extremely well-made in pretty much every respect.
• Rayman: Jungle Run. This is actually a smartphone game that I grabbed 'cause it was 10 cents (10 cents!) based on Rayman: Origins. Despite the fact that it's a simpler game, the shorter and faster-paced levels and less focus on technicality and more on timing actually have made this one more enjoyable than Origins for me, so far. I've been finding myself pulling out my phone over the last few days every couple of hours to play a level or two, or trying to up my completion rate on earlier ones. This is a good one to check out as it really hits that sweet spot between accessible simplicity and depth - this is just a straight-up good game, not a "good phone game".

Arkham City is a lot of fun. I agree with your positives and negatives. Not quite as focused as Asylum, but the ending is pretty good - and there are some great moments elsewhere in the main storyline too.

I'm playing little bits of Divinity: Original Sin at a time. I can't put up with much of it because it bores me so much. If only Larian had brought in a few good writers.

I like Dreamfall Chapters but only because I'm a hopeless storyfag.

 

[Lilura]

I'm currently playing Aielund Saga for Neverwinter Nights, check this siege out.

 

[Abu Antar]

I was playing Lumines: Electronic Symphony until 5 am yesterday(today). I managed to to get three times my previous high score on my last try. Probably my second favorite puzzle game after Tetris.

Before that, I had spent several hours playing Wasteland 2. I'm now in the AG Center cleaning up a mess because I didn't go there first. I got a revolver in Highpool that I am supposed to give to Jess-Belle but I want to keep it for myself. I wish there was some way to tell her that you found it but that you'll keep it for yourself, but there is no such option for me. The quest will forever be left incomplete in my log.

 

[RK47]

installed shadowrun, made a troll
enter combat.
can't move one tile up.

uninstalled.

 

[pippin]

picked up xcom enemy unknown again. it's not as scary as the original, and the enemy progression is very linear (the horror of finding a cyberdisc right at the first mission in the original game was something out of this world, no pun intended), but the combat feels very good and comfortable, even if the game suffers from occasional bugs. let's see if i get to complete the game+ enemy within this time.

also, i've been tinkering with many character builds in wl2. i'm a bit ocd about making perfect teams, so i've tried with 6 teams so far (that is, 24 chars) to see how they work in the world. the thing i like the most about this game is how you use skills. there's this small detail of failing a lockpicking again + using mechanical repair to try lockpicking again which is very realistic and logic to me. i wish more rpgs had this kind of skill exploitation.

 

[Perkel]

picked up xcom enemy unknown again. it's not as scary as the original, and the enemy progression is very linear (the horror of finding a cyberdisc right at the first mission in the original game was something out of this world, no pun intended), but the combat feels very good and comfortable, even if the game suffers from occasional bugs. let's see if i get to complete the game+ enemy within this time.

also, i've been tinkering with many character builds in wl2. i'm a bit ocd about making perfect teams, so i've tried with 6 teams so far (that is, 24 chars) to see how they work in the world. the thing i like the most about this game is how you use skills. there's this small detail of failing a lockpicking again + using mechanical repair to try lockpicking again which is very realistic and logic to me. i wish more rpgs had this kind of skill exploitation.

If you got XCOM then get LONG WAR. With this mod it is really amazing tactical game. It fixes most of the problems i had with game.

 

[RK47]

Finished Dragonfall Director's Cut
Mini Review of sorts

Spoiler

Shadowrun: Dragonfall is my first foray into Shadowrun. And I don't expect much out of a $6 Steam Sale game after having a Xmas gaming drought.
No, I didn' play the Sega version, nor does the setting appeal to me. Street Samurais? Elf Deckers? Trolls toting Heavy Machineguns? Cyberpunk? Sounds like too much ideas.

I kinda like the art. It's clear and the convo gave a clear picture of the person you're interacting with - without going overkill on the bland convo lines (Wasteland 2, fuck you.)
The music was good at setting the mood, sound was average, but I found the cyber-decking chirps and buzz kill my eardrums, I find it mandatory to lower the volume during the decking segments.

Anyways, the combat wasn't as bad as I first thought, aside from minor pixel hunts and movements UI quirks(point your cursor carefully). Once I learned that I can only customize and control myself outside combat, I adapted and started to like the game more. I didn't even think very hard on it, I picked Troll Street Samurai template - cause I'm at a loss when they describe the magic and other combat disciplines.

Challenge dropped around mid-point after I realized I shouldn't spread the points at all on the Troll Samurai. Not even the synergy of STR > Thrown Weapon as a secondary was worth considering. There's no point if you're making a pure fighter - stick to a single weapon and kill freely. Street Samurai template even diluted several points into Ranged and such, which is pointless. And the funniest part of the game was tossing Sniper & Assault Rifle into the same skill. Eiger just destroys everything at all range when drugged and buffed.

As for my troll Samurai:
Kept body at 6. Karma on Strength/Close Combat/Melee Weapon - Katana is all you need to dominate. Slap all the +Hit% Eye & ST+ Arm Cybers to enhance hit rate more. Crippling your Essence is okay. With the amount of consumables you get, you got heal and buffs covered... Jazz & Cram if you want to go all out in a round. Highest point was entering a room full of baddies and just straight up Pommel Striking all of them to sleep.

Go to Sleep, Kids. Mama Eiger will then kiss you good night with her shotgun.

I kinda want to replay but I don't really like repeating the decking segments.

My fucking eyes.

Although some scenario setups are really, really good and showed how creative the dev studio is at putting interesting encounters with simple character system. It puts me in several uncomfortable moments where I am on a time-based objective and the pressure was just enough so that I don't get bored. Its exploration however, is kinda bland - but I guess it's either 'talk to everyone, open every door, hack every terminal' - or you find 49 nuyen in a plasteel container.

Much better game than Wasteland 2 to be sure with minor flaws like no battle formations, or direct control of party outside combat (c'mon Baldur's Gate can do it!)
I was also baffled when the game needs me to talk / interact with mission critical items personally. At least they let the party skill interact with the object during convos. Overall, decent C&C and sub-20 hours of entertainment was well worth the $6 price. I just need to be more patient and not be so overly negative.

 

[Ninjerk]

Holy shit everyone, Steve liked something

 

[Humppaleka]

Divine Divinity is fucking awesome. And still I want to punch my screen at times.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS JUST GOT A !MAME EXE THAT SUPPORTS LATER CAVE GAMES

DEATHSMILES IS REALLY FUCJING EASY DID TWO LEVELS WITH NO DEATHS TILL I HAD TO DO SOME SHIT WOITH MY KIDS

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I just finished a playthrough of "Richard & Alice".

It's a game made in RPG/Adventure Game Maker and plays like an adventure game. Richard is an inmate in a prison in a world where global warming seems to have gotten the better of us and everything's covered in snow. Suddenly Alice is thrown into the cell opposite of his. The game then flips between either the player controlling Richard in his jailcell, or Alice outside with her son when she's telling her backstory.

Pros:

# Story and setting are interesting and very gripping, at least at the beginning.
# Writing is pretty good throughout most of the game.
# There's only one really tough puzzle in the entire game.
# The game can be pretty suspenseful and horrifying at times.

Cons:
# Gameplay feels nonexistent at points as most of the puzzles are too obvious.
# The writing and story completely fall apart in the last act.
# This is better suited as a film, book or comic rather than a game.
# Minor inconsistencies in writing end up confusing players.

The game has 5 endings, depending on your choices in the game. I got the "Nothing's changed" ending, and it is complete garbage. Sadly I doubt the other 4 are any different. Here's an example: Towards the end there's a keypad that requires a passcode. For some reason Alice knows the code, but how she knows it is never explained. There's also no real explanation as to WHY Richard and Alice are in prison. The game makes it clear that society is on the verge of collapse, who has time to lock up the two of them in a hi-tech underground prison, especially Alice?

Spoiler

I'm certain that if you have a house full of dead people AND their meals sitting on a table, that the bodies are in the same rotten condition as the food. And yet while the food is rotten to the point of stinking up the place, the bodies look to be only a few days old.

Also, for some bizarre reason I always had the feeling that the game took place in England. It's something in the writing, the vocabulary used. Yet at the same time the game uses terms which are clearly American.

This game is also a textbook example in how limited RPG/Adventure Game Maker really is, as the devs choose to portray some scenes quite strangely to try to cover up the limitations, like when Alice is crossing the ice.

Overall, this feels like a lost opportunity - a little more time spent on fine-tuning things and this could have been a small surprise hit. But the crap ending(s), gigantic plot holes, gaping inconsistencies - I give this game a "Fail" rating. It's not crap, it just doesn't succeed at doing what it intends to do.

 

[Press X for Feels]

I've been playing System Shock 2. It still has some of the best sound design in gaming which has completely stood the test of time and still makes the game pretty scary. Unfortunately about when you get onto the Rickebacker the whole game sort of falls apart. Obviously the devs were rushed but I wonder if the whole RPG aspect is inherently flawed for a survival horror game. I'll try playing on a harder difficulty next time.

 

[Grim Monk]

All this talk of "Women in Gaming" sent me on a kick of tracking down and playing games with female protagonists.
In the past 2-3 months I've played the following...

American Mcgee's Alice (2000):

Played either on the "Hardest" or maybe "Second Hardest" Difficulty.

Very enjoyable third person action-platformer with cool twisted art style.
(I've been on the look out for good "third person action" since finishing "Dark Souls" and "Severance: BoD".)
The weapons (while very creative) where not as satisfying as they could be, and where a bit clumsy to use.
People complain about the platforming being hard but I found it very responsive.
Also it felt like they ran a bit low on of creative steam for the last levels.


Still absolutely recommend.

No One Lives Forever 1:

Played on hardest "Super Spy" difficulty.

This game was a bit overhyped to me as "Monoliths Masterpiece" (Blood is a hard act to follow).
While it does not quite measure up, it is a very enjoyable lighthearted FPS that ends much more then the sum of its parts.
It has only "okay" stealth, and rather weak (far from "Blood" or F.E.A.R. level) shooting.
But on the other hand it has a creative retro 1960s setting, interesting and varied locations, funny characters, plus Cate is just a cool and likeable protagonist.

In spite of the weaker gunplay I'll take it over "F.E.A.R. office/industrial building snooze fest any day.
Takes second place after "Blood" on the Monolith's FPS output quality ladder.

Cate Archer: The point (of women's liberation) is to allow young ladies to become whatever they please.

Definitely recommended.

[Wishlist: N.O.L.F. 3 with F.E.A.R. 1 AI combat, upgraded stealth, all features retained and improved on...]


No One Lives Forever 2:

[Pet peeve] No Cate Archer dance in intro video!?!
Lame &

Played on hardest "Super Spy" difficulty.

[Finished an hour ago.]

Lets get the good out of the way first:
Vastly improved graphics and animations.
(Especially the character/facial animations, they are up to VMBT: Bloodlines/Half Life 2 mark.)
Improved stealth:
Improved A.I. that is better at tracking.
Leaning as opposed to the "shuffle in-an-out of cover approach" in NOLF 1.
Much more stealth "tools", including additional non-lethal ones.
Many of the levels are on par in the "open" design department
Additional optimal objectives per mission, some discoverable along the way.


But on the over hand the :
Removed the ability choose weapon/gadget loadout, and to replay levels to try out new approaches.

Blatant "invisible walls".
On the very first level I couldn't jump into the river because of an invisible "safety wall".
(Just kill me if I'm not supposed to be there, "don't invisible" wall patronize me.)

Game time stops while you're reading Intel, this was not so in the first game.
Thus you can't be ambushed by patrolling enemies while unawares.

No more choice in dialogues.

Shorter overall game, less locations, some gadgets were removed.

Overall it would have made a decent expansion pack, but as a full fledged sequel it's rather lacking.


"Somewhat" recommend, after you've played the original and find yourself craving some more Cate Archer action...

P.S. NOLF2 is still a better sequel (and a better FPS) then HL2...

 

[Humppaleka]

DivDiv reached the point where it is now mostly a chore to slog through the endless masses of enemies in endless huge maps and endless huge dungeons. The quests are fun, the dialogue is fun, loot is great and the game itself is mostly fun but goddamn if I get a frost weapon now I will definitely use it. And spam scorpions. And poison weapon. And freeze.

EDIT: and oh yeah, there are three types of enemies:
- the ones you can easily dispose of and which do low to tolerable amounts of damage to you
- ones that take forever to kill because you hit them once in 20 swings and they do little damage to you
- ones that one-shot your sorry ass even if you have almost 500 hitpoints and "awesome" armour and take a billion hits to kill

Skeletons are the worst because lol you can't freeze or poison them.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Working through my Steam backlog. Got to the second or third level of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. I liked it, although the exposition was rather boring (I can't watch the codecs, it is like Resident Evil 4 dialogue that goes on for 10 minutes) and my hands were getting tired from all the controller button mashing. I will get back to it eventually.

Currently playing The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (the remastered version from Assault on Dark Athena). So far it is like an sub-Half-Life 2 shooter with some poorly implemented stealth, but I like the atmosphere.

 

[Abu Antar]

Took a break from Wasteland 2 and Dragonfall (First time playing the DC) to try and complete Psychonauts. It's one of few games that I have left to beat on my Xbox 360.

I like the game but camera and control aren't the best.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

...Psychonauts.

I like the game but camera and control aren't the best.

The camera never bothered me on Psychonauts (you want bad cameras? Play N64 games) but I understand the controls bit as I was playing it on keyboard and it took quite a while to get to grips with them.

Fortunately the game is very forgiving, with plenty of savestates, lives and such. You'll only really rage if you're going for the 100% completion thing.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i raged at the circus. never managed to finish the game.

 

[Abu Antar]

i raged at the circus. never managed to finish the game.

That's where I rage quit a few years ago. I'm past that place now. I think I have less than 20% left of the game.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Oh fuck, how could I forget the cirucs? Yeah, that place WILL have you raging hard, sorry about my last post. The two hardest sections there are protecting the kid and shortly afterwards completing the obstacle course before the water gets you. Once you're past that, there is a rollercoaster ride, a boss fight and... that's it, really.

Keep in mind that they've patched the game a couple of times to make the circus section easier, so hopefully you'll have an easier time than I did back in the day.

 

[Outlander]

Just finished Witcher 2 and overall feeling is 'eh'. I remember liking W1 more, despite the combat.

 

[Humppaleka]

Divine Divinity done and boy am I glad it's over. Even left a few quests unfinished because I just wanted to get the game over with. Overall it was a very good game, but after maybe 30-40 hours it just got so repetitive and boring. Also the final dungeons, jesus christ, it took ages to even run through them. Great maze-like design there.

/

 

[Abu Antar]

Got everything in Psychonauts. It was a pain in the ass to complete the Asylum and Cirkus, but I did it. That's game #3 completed in 2014.

I'm now wasting time on Yakuza 4. Playing as the cop Tanimura. His fighting style is really cool with some aikido mixed in with the punching. Controlling different characters has been great as it gives you the opportunity to play with different fighting styles. Akiyama was still the most fun to use. I enjoyed Yakuza 3 but I think I prefer Yakuza 4 more simply because it didn't have a poor beginning. It has been great from the moment I started playing. Can't wait for Yakuza 5. I still can't believe we are getting it over here. I don't give a crap if it is digital only. I'd be elated if we get any of the PS4 games.

Wild ARMs XF. I just started this on the PSP. My hope is to complete my PSP library this year. I haven't played enough to judge it yet. I have only played the prologue just to test the game. The game having classes and being a turn-based strategy rpg made me buy it. (I also like WA 1-3.)

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth. I'm replaying this AGAIN. This will probably be the last time I play it, then it is time to let go. I'm already up to chapter 5, playing on hard because it actually makes things easier. Going for 100% completion. One of my favorite games of the PS1 era and while the PSP version is inferior, I no longer own the PS1 version.

Shadowrun Dragonfall DC. I'm playing this in preparation for the Shadowrun Hong Kong Kickstarter tomorrow. Nah, the real reason is that I wanted to compare it to its first release. I'm enjoying it and hope HBS keep improving.

Wasteland 2. I put it on hold after 45-50 hours, but I will go back to it in the upcoming days. I only have Darwin village left before I visit leave Arizona. I like the game despite some flaws.