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

[FortNinety]

Okay, re: Valkyria Chronicles, I think I finally hit upon why the game just doesn't appeal to me... It simply makes ZERO sense.

I get the strategy elements, that all makes sense to me. But the parts where you actually control troops directly is where the actual problems lie, at least for me. When you're looking top-down, all the arbitrary rules are not an issue, since its so abstract to begin with. But when you create an action-oriented environment with those same rules... why the hell can't I shoot more than once? Stuff like that.

[isfet]

when you're on defense, you attack things within range of you.

if you want a soldier to attack more than once, select them again after their turn is over.

[dhex]

i bought a ton of stuff on steam when it dipped to five buck or below prices, but i've been playing half life: source.

dang the combat is wonky as all hell. still, a pleasant classic.

[FortNinety]

when you're on defense, you attack things within range of you.

if you want a soldier to attack more than once, select them again after their turn is over.

I understand how it works, but to have board game rules applied to a kinda more real setting is jarring at best.

[isfet]

i guess maybe if you don't really play a lot of SRPGs, it isn't going to really going to have the same effect on you.  the whole thing that makes Valkyria different is the fact that it's a mix of real time and turn based. 

i'm not saying everyone needs to love the game, but i think that's really supposed to be what makes it appealing.

[drozdal]

I've been playing Bayonetta for the past few days (VGNY had it in stock since 31st). In short - action sequences are awesome, combo system stellar, excellent character design (especially enemies), responsive controls and a bit hectic camera, but you can get used it it (especially when you figure out how to operate it with the right stick. Thing that bugs me the most are cut scenes - too frequent and too long, character models in them look ok, but I got the feeling like backgrounds and buildings were taken out of PS2 game). But you can easily skip them if you do not care about the silly story and only want action. And there is a lot of insane and over the top action to be had.

Game has some silly puzzles that are slowing down otherwise well paced time between fights (what's the point of looking for huge angelic key in the basement to open the door anyway? In the action game that comes out in 2010? This is not Tomb Raider after all). Maybe designers are teaching me something that will be utilized latter in the game, but I doubt it. Also game rewards you for running around and shooting / destroying everything you see on screen (sometimes you get items hidden in a bench or a flower pot).

Not frequent QTE are messing up the otherwise excellent pacing during fight sequences (but that might just be me - I disliked God of War for the very same reason).

There are a lot of extra combos / moves / weapons / abilities to be unlocked / bought for golden rings you collect for killing / comboing enemies during play (those rings are called halos, but I think they are a nod to old Sonic games) and each level ends with rather awkward shooting mini game.

I'm playing on normal (hardest mode available on start) and the game isn't really that challenging (yet), achievement list suggest there is a hard mode - surely unlocked when you complete game on normal.

[dhex]

unrelated to playing, but i just discovered that there's a fairly old mod for hl2 that does a texture pack and animation replacement, which is apparently half good. of course, they had to change the alyx character into a halter-topped dd boobicon. the only female character in all of gaming* who didn't look like a stripper.

people make me sad sometimes.

*adult female. sorry japan.

[dmauro]

Oh come on, you can't drop that on us without a screencap or a link. Let's see sexy Alyx! I hope she's wearing enough shiny leather!

[dhex]

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=fakefactory+alyx&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=aa5ES-zrJZqutgfB9qz8CA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBAQsAQwAA

weep.

[dmauro]

Oh god, I'm tearing up a little here. That's pretty good stuff, the bra just barely peeking from underneath her shirt.

BUT this mod actually does sound pretty nice:

Description:
What is this:
- The Cinematic Modification adds Hires-Textures to all human characters, some non-human characters, nearly all items, walls and vehicles (and the vending mashine of course). (Hint: If you prefer the original Low-Res Textures, delete or rename the "materials" folder inside the Mod.)

- It replaces the original HL2 music with a more classic score in the style of large Hollywood productions, that fits to the specific game-situations. More orchestral, more ambient, with unique themes for combines and Alyx. (Hint: If you prefer the original HL2-music score, delete or rename the "sound" folder and the "scripts" folder inside the Mod.)

- It adds a new weapons-balancing and strengthens all the weapons to a more realistic level. No more firing numerous rounds at the combines; kill them with 3 to 5 direct hits, just like in real-life combat, but beware: Your opponents weapons are comparable. After 3 to 5 direct hits (or 1 direct headshot) you *will* be killed. (Hint: If you prefer the original Weapons balancing, delete the file "skill.cfg" inside the Mod's cfg-folder)

- The additional Insane Hires Props are previous unreleased Hirestextures for nearly all props in the game, even little items like binders, computerparts, doorlocks and so on. The huge amount of details will give your HL2 virtually the look of a render-intro, but be warned: The amount of new textures will tax your hardware to the limit. Better don't use this pack with outdated DirectX8 cards. Don't even think about it, unless you are using a 256+ MB card.

And as silly as it is, I certainly don't object to having boob-job-Alyx showing some skin.

[dhex]

she looks a lot worse than the original, though. the thing about hl2 is how expressive the characters you aren't shooting at are, especially ep2.

it's such a "this is why we can't have nice things" thing.

[dmauro]

It looks like you can actually keep the original Alyx with it too. The newest version of that mod, v10 I think, requires a system more powerful than mine because the engine doesn't scale up to high end very gracefully.

[dhex]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/01/05/hevy-metal-half-life-2-gets-upgraded/

this mod is also ridiculously high-ended, but looks a little less super shiny/forced.

[dmauro]

That looks like the right way to do it. I guess I'll have to finally buy EP2 on the PC (only played it on the 360). Then maybe I can use the weapon balance mod from that other one and I'll be all set.

edit: Someone please let me know the next time the PC Orange Box goes on sale and then I'll just gift everything I don't need to my dad because he might like the game.

[dhex]

good lord the end of the first half life is terrible.