The Whatever The Heck You're Playing At The Moment Thread

[dhex]

at the risk of sounding on the fence, I never saw a reason why there couldn't have been room for both types of games.

this is perfectly reasonable, but...war...war never changes.

collectathons and achievements are in.

you may be interested, btw, in the upcoming age of decadence. it looks like crazy isometric tastiness.

[isfet]

that looks like it could be pretty fun!  the graphics also don't look "mindblowing" so maybe i could even run the thing on my PC?  we shall see.  but yea, i'll keep an eye on that; when's it due out?


oh, Fallout, how it mocks me.  those fucking Deathclaws in the Boneyard aren't fucking around, are they?  i feel like that's a quest i'm going to need to put away until i get a rocket launcher or something.  either that, or maybe i'll try again, but with a fuckload of grenades.

also, stealing is fun, especially when i never get caught.

also, while i was tempted to have Katya as my NPC (to get this whole post-apocalyptic lesbian death duo thing going), Dogmeat seems like he's pretty much amazing thus far.


still not too sure where the hell i'm "supposed" to actually be in the game right now, but thus far i'm just sort of going around changing shit.  good times!

[isfet]

ok, played some more today, and the updates are as follows:

1) managed to find the water chip and return it to the vault.  kind of an interesting ordeal and it was even more fun when i realized the "alternative" paths to getting around that one mutant guard.

2) killed all the Raiders in that camp.  they started it!  now they're all dead.

3) if the leader of the Mutants is that one guy who kidnapped me in failed play, then i'm assuming i have a lot more work to do as far as preparing myself for that battle.

4) not having a deadline is a little bit comforting and i think i'm just going to go around enjoying myself and taking care of stuff i neglected to do earlier in the game.

5) ammo isn't exactly difficult to find, but for my main weapon (the SMG), it seems somewhat sparse.  and not every vendor sells every kind of ammo and it becomes difficult remembering who sells what in which areas.  i picked up a Desert Eagle from the Raiders' leader, but i kind of prefer having the "Burst" option with the SMG.  it's fun when people fall apart into little bits of people.

6) i'm starting to invest points in using larger guns (miniguns, rocket launchers, etc) as it seems like the enemies are only going to be getting beefier as this stuff goes on.

7) some items i really have no clue how i'm going to afford.  that one armor is like 12,000 or something; the game hasn't encouraged grinding thus far, so i'm assuming things will fall into place in a little while.


hopefully i'll beat this soon.  the only problem with a game like this is that i'm afraid of backing myself into an unbeatable corner.  i'm not beating stuff by the seat of my pants, so to speak, but i don't feel overpowered either.  i guess looting dead bodies is probably the way to keep going?

anyway, when i beat it, Mike, i'll be needing Fallout 2, k?


edit:  oh, something i forgot to mention.  i think it's really cool, actually, that the game has its own internal clock and things happen in the world in spite of what you're doing.  for example, on one save file where i dawdled a little bit and fucked around, when i went to Necropolis, i found that everyone was fucking dead.  and, in place of the ghouls, super mutants had taken over.  after trying to deal with this for about 20-30 minutes, i decided it would probably be easier to load an earlier save and just go there when the ghouls were still alive.  and, turned out i was right.

still, pretty cool that things like that will happen when you're not looking.

[dongle]

fo2 was made mostly by a different team. i strongly prefer fo1.

on a separate note: is shadow complex worthwhile?

[isfet]

i've heard the Fallout games have basically a downward slant in terms of quality.  i know why FO3 isn't quite up to par, but what is it about 2 that makes it significantly worse?


re: Shadow Complex.  in my opinion, it's not worth the asking price.  i would wait a few months for it to (inevitably) go on sale (as many popular XBLA games do).  it's not bad, it's just...i dunno, not completely my cup of tea.  it feels kind of cheap and not fully realized in a lot of ways and it's emphasis is more on action than it is on exploration.  you CAN explore, but for the most part you're on a track and deviating from it isn't very easy to do.

also, unlike, say Super Metroid, the environment is just so bland that i've never even really felt inclined to want to explore it.  nothing about it is mysterious or interesting or beautiful; it's just an underground fortress with the typical greys and electronics everywhere.


with Dave tonight, we were able to try out the demo for WET.  while i expected it probably would be more bs than it would be Devil May Cry, i didn't realize it would be that bad.  it's a game about trying to make you look like a badass with minimal effort and crappy controls.  also, within five minutes of playing i probably heard "fuck" about 100 times and already discovered a "TOY MONKEY" item that you will apparently have to collect throughout the game.  yay, collecting!  who doesn't love collecting things in a game, right?

[FortNinety]

Regarding Shadow Complex, I believe I mentioned it before, but will say it again... which more or less mirrors Joe's two cents: the game's severe lack of personality is its biggest detriment. It actually reminds me of Metroid 2 for the black and green Game Boy because I found myself having a hard time figuring what element of the environment to interact with due to everything looking so bland and gray. Though I never got lost, due to the severe degree of hand holding as Joe also noted.

I fondly remember everyone being up in arms with Super Metroid's map system, making thing far more linear than the original. Truth be told, I was in that camp. Well that game ain't got nothing on SC.

I also hate the awkward shooting into the background. Nice idea, poor execution.

Moving on, I recently downloaded Super Empire Strikes Back for the VC, mostly cuz it was one of those SNES games that I never got the chance to experience back in the day. And... what a piece of shit. Seriously. I can't believe everyone was so ga-ga for the Super Star Wars titles. What gives?

[dhex]

collecting is a bad deal.

i'm slowly grinding through prototype. i do mostly like it, though more weapons variation would have been nice. throwing cars at tanks from the top of a skyscraper doesn't really get old.

regarding fallout 2: it's more "gamey" if that makes sense. they fixed some UI issues, and your companions are no longer totally stupid and a danger to you and everyone around you, but it's definitely more har har. on the plus side there's a bunch of music from the selected ambient works 2 era of aphex twin.

it's certainly worth playing, but its not as streamlined an experience as the first.

[isfet]

well, i'll definitely check it out, then.  thus far the only companion i've used regularly is Dogmeat, but i have a feeling he isn't going to survive much longer.

which brings me to an update with the game.  so basically i'm fairly sure i'm right at the end and it's just a matter of going there and finishing things up. 

when i stated before that i didn't feel overpowered, well...things change.  actually, i take it back; i'm only overpowered against certain stuff, now.  i've still died a few times.  what changed this?  well, #1, i got some Power Armor and that shit is friggin great.  #2, while wandering through the desert i happened to come across something really....strange.  foreign, of the most severe degree, if you will.  and on one of the bodies i found a really awesome weapon and apparently this is some kind of super-rare occurrence in the game that only happens if you have a decent Luck stat.

so, yay for me on that front.


not quite sure if i want to go finish the fight now or fuck around a little more and see what else there is to do.  i'm not totally sure if i'm ready to take everything on yet, but from the 10 minutes i spent there just checking it out, it didn't seem like i'm totally underleveled.

and then there's The Glow, which i really haven't checked out beyond the minimum that one is required to check out.  i assume there's probably some cool stuff in it.

[ryan]

I'm going through Red Faction: Guerrilla - Badlands DLC at the moment. It's nice starting out with upgraded armor, and the Marauder weapons are fun to use so far. My main complaint is that they haven't really taken advantage of the creepiness of them yet, so far it's the standard transport, demolition, and house arrest rescue side missions, but the story might be picking up with this latest quest.

I also beat Wolfenstein on the 360. What a chore. Whatever good ideas Raven had, they just stomped them into the ground over, and over, and over again. You use the veil weapons and powers so rarely that I was mostly wishing I was playing Call of Duty 2.

[dmauro]

I just pulled off a really sweet sequence break in Shadow Complex, it's my second one, but the first one was some sort of a glitch (I think I caused it by wall jumping around some sort of trigger) where I was able to get the foam gun early, but then I died and I couldn't get it again. But I got up on top of everything outside when I'm supposed to be getting the omega suit. So I'm just cruising around the early areas looking for secrets.

[isfet]

i haven't played anything, but i realized something today that made a lot of sense to me (although it may end up giving Mike some kind of stroke) in regard to Fallout.

Fallout is the American version of Shin Megami Tensei.

not literally, of course, but basically, the main SMT series (the post-apocalyptic one) has quite a lot in common with Fallout in terms of atmosphere.  of course, the main variations between the games come down to cultural ones.  i.e. one has mutants and one has demons.  and of course the general differences between J and American RPG gameplay systems that exist across the board.

but neither game is overdramatic, nor are the choices you make in the game painfully obvious and trivial.  the way you choose is different (once again, a cultural RPG thing), but both games rely more on your sensibilities than black and white objectivism.

[dmauro]

Shit, I wasn't careful enough and now I've made my Shadow Complex save worthless. I didn't even have the omega suit yet and I had 700 health, 6 or 7 of the 10 armor upgrades, 40+ foams, who knows how many grenades.

I triggered the cutscene where they take your girl away (huge mech dudes this time, one of which I had run into earlier, too early, and he wouldn't attack me and I couldn't hurt him) twice, and the second time it caused the doors to lock down so that I couldn't go back, only forward. The problem is I need the gun that opens red doors to advance, and I don't have it. I can't find a way out and I think I'm totally stuck. It was fun while it lasted. I am at level 28 too, I believe the cap is 30.

[FortNinety]

So you can actually become stuck in the game? As in, there's no way to pass, but also no way to backtrack and do whatever you need to do to advance? Well that's royally stupid.

Speaking over overrated, can anyone explain to me why everyone is going ape-shit over the new Batman title? I just tried the demo and couldn't deal with more than five minutes of the thing. Aside from the atrocious character designs, which was the first real big turn off, the controls are really floaty, plus I hate how the action constantly slows down for the sake being dramatic, but it just drags everything down period. The camera also sucks, and even though I'm hardly the biggest God of War fan in the world, that guy David Jaffe was totally correct when saying that, when you have such a game, in which swarms of enemies are all coming after you... but aren't necessarily all attacking at once... you gotta have them do something while they wait their turn to get pummeled. Have them run back and forth or in circles, just anything other than just stand there looking dumb. Like all the enemies in this Batman title.

On a side-note, I love how everyone tries their best, but no one is going to top the Batmobile design of the first Tim Burton flick. Not gonna happen.

[dongle]

thus far the only companion i've used regularly is Dogmeat, but i have a feeling he isn't going to survive much longer.

Get power armor, stock up on medkits and stimpacks, boost your med skills, and tank. Your character will endure much pain but it's entirely possible to beat the game with Dogmeat alive.

I haven't played FO in a decade … time for another spin, I think.

[dmauro]

It turns out I wasn't stuck. It was just extremely difficult to see the way I had to go. So I just had to get missiles and I was good to go. Here's a list of the stuff I collected and didn't collect:

Collected:
Flashlight
Climbing Gear
WSP40 Pistol,
WSMP50 Compact
WSM400A1 Carbine
CLD Thrust Pack & Fusion Body Armor
SCHCA Mask
Grenades
Foam Gun
Missile Launcher

Skipped:
Omega Armor
Friction Dampener
WSAR60 Coil Rifle
Hook
Thrust Boots
Inertial Element
Fusion Helmet

I'll have to play through the game normal now. I must have missed half of it playing like this.