Has anyone played any good video games lately?

[Beorning]

Last year or so?  You might check out an indie producer named Scott Cawthon.  Could be what you're looking for.

Five Nights At Freddie's, right?

RPGs? Play the Witchers. You can play the first one on a potato.

I'm considering these games, but I'm not sure I like Sapkowski's setting...

Has anyone here played Civilization: Beyond Earth?

[LuckyOwl]

I'm considering these games, but I'm not sure I like Sapkowski's setting...

The first is slice-of-life fantasy with very fairy-tale-ish overtones. The second one is very political, think Game of Thrones.

[Deamonbane]

Third one is open world RPG gaming with a progressive storyline. You do need something of a rig to play it, though.

[Beorning]

Yeah, my PC definitely won't run Witcher 3... But as I said, somehow I'm not drawn to these games. Is there anything else?

[Mathim]

Yeah, my PC definitely won't run Witcher 3... But as I said, somehow I'm not drawn to these games. Is there anything else?

If you enjoyed Skyrim, probably Fallout 3, New Vegas or 4 will be pleasantly familiar and RPG-lover friendly. Especially 4, from what I hear, which has much more in-menu customization type things which are the hallmark of really intensive RPGs.

I tried playing Dead Island, don't know if anyone else here has. I thought it sounded fun because it was supposedly 'open world' like the Fallout games and others, but somehow it was just not quite what I was expecting. The animation and everything is way nicer than the Fallout franchise (prior to Fallout 4, at least) but you can tell the scope is way smaller and there's just not as much junk to pick up even though there's crap everywhere that looks like it ought to be collectible, and the premise is totally whacked (you alone have to be responsible for saving about a dozen other people, not one of whom is willing to accompany you. Even Fallout 3 let you have one companion, and New Vegas let you have TWO!) I also found combat imprecise, the zombies move erratically so that even fighting one is a chore since they can easily side-step you and attack, and that's not even considering a group attack. Atmospherically, I'd say if the Resident Evil games were anything like that back in the day, I might still be playing them now, they really nailed that part, and that it's on an isolated vacation resort island is a nice touch. But that there's no way to save the game except for checkpoints (what genius came up with that notion?) and your extremely limited carrying capacity which is almost ludicrous due to the fact that many different healing and weapon items seem to respawn after no time at all, make it too flawed to pursue. I can see how others might enjoy the hell out of it, I almost did myself, but too many deal-breaker type designs just made it impossible for me.

[ThePrince]

So, *did* anything interesting come out? I'd be especially interested in RPGs, horror-themed games and something like the old adventure games (are point-and-click adventure games still being made)?

L.A. Noire is on sale on Steam right now, it's worth picking up cheep.

RPGs wise you will want to try Pillars of Eternity. It's by the people who made Icewind Dale and Planescape.

Horror games, Amnesia the dark descent is good and you might want to try SOMA which is a similar game but with a better story in my opinion.

Point and click you have Armikrog the spiritual successor to Neverhood and Skullmonkeys.

[Beorning]

Hey! This Pillars of Eternity thing looks very familiar indeed :)

What style it is, though? I admit I have Baldur's Gate sweet and generic D&D mood. Baldur's Gate 2 was much better, because it was darker...

[Oniya]

Five Nights At Freddie's, right?

Yeah, that's the one.

[Beorning]

Hmm. I might consider it...

Guys, what about Dragon Age? Is it good? Better than Pillars of Eternity?

[Inkidu]

As someone who recommended it to me, I'mma return the favor. Tales of Numeria is a Numeria game in the vein of Pillars of Eternity (haven't played it... huge download).

[Beorning]

Tales of Numeria? Google knows nothing of it...

Didn't you mean Tides of Numenera?

[Inkidu]

Tales of Numeria? Google knows nothing of it...

Didn't you mean Tides of Numenera?

Yeah, that's the one. Sorry.

[DudelRok]

I tried playing Dead Island, don't know if anyone else here has. I thought it sounded fun because it was supposedly 'open world' like the Fallout games and others, but somehow it was just not quite what I was expecting. The animation and everything is way nicer than the Fallout franchise (prior to Fallout 4, at least) but you can tell the scope is way smaller and there's just not as much junk to pick up even though there's crap everywhere that looks like it ought to be collectible, and the premise is totally whacked (you alone have to be responsible for saving about a dozen other people, not one of whom is willing to accompany you. Even Fallout 3 let you have one companion, and New Vegas let you have TWO!) I also found combat imprecise, the zombies move erratically so that even fighting one is a chore since they can easily side-step you and attack, and that's not even considering a group attack. Atmospherically, I'd say if the Resident Evil games were anything like that back in the day, I might still be playing them now, they really nailed that part, and that it's on an isolated vacation resort island is a nice touch. But that there's no way to save the game except for checkpoints (what genius came up with that notion?) and your extremely limited carrying capacity which is almost ludicrous due to the fact that many different healing and weapon items seem to respawn after no time at all, make it too flawed to pursue. I can see how others might enjoy the hell out of it, I almost did myself, but too many deal-breaker type designs just made it impossible for me.

My girl played the heck out of the Dead Island Series, bought me the franchise pack on Steam (because well, sharing experiences is a good thing to do), but, UGH, the game is so many levels of awful.

The funny thing about this, though, is that once I introduced her to actually good games, she ... can't even play them anymore.

View bobbing being forced on you (and being so freaking dramatic), controls unresponsive, the "surprise" aspects of it more annoying than scary... the fact you can just ignore most of the zombies outright but then the game decides to put a pretty arbitrary "stamina" feature in the game removing your ability to run or participate in combat.

[ThePrince]

Hmm. I might consider it...

Guys, what about Dragon Age? Is it good? Better than Pillars of Eternity?

Dragon Age is a bit more Mass Effect, it's main character focused, you get to make choices and you can woo party members. I could never get into Dragon Age for whatever reason, it just never pulled me in. Also with Dragon Age, your going to have to deal with EA and their online services which is a pain.

They are two different RPGs so it's kind of hard to say which is a better.

[Inkidu]

Dead Island is the only game that has the distinction of me returning (rental, thank goodness) it the next day (only because the mail had already passed).

I was dumb though and bought Dying Light. That got returned as soon as I beat it though.

[Beorning]

Interestingly enough, both Dead Island and Dying Light are Polish games. *shrugs* But so is Witcher, This War Of Mine and Layers Of Fear...

Dragon Age is a bit more Mass Effect, it's main character focused, you get to make choices and you can woo party members. I could never get into Dragon Age for whatever reason, it just never pulled me in. Also with Dragon Age, your going to have to deal with EA and their online services which is a pain.

They are two different RPGs so it's kind of hard to say which is a better.

Hm. I admit that I'm loving Mass Effect so far...

Okay, another question - I've heard that the two Batman games: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City were good. Unfortunately, I've spoiled these two games for myself by reading summaries... But there's a third one, Arkham Origins. Is it good, too?

[LuckyOwl]

Interestingly enough, both Dead Island and Dying Light are Polish games. *shrugs* But so is Witcher, This War Of Mine and Layers Of Fear...

Hm. I admit that I'm loving Mass Effect so far...

Okay, another question - I've heard that the two Batman games: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City were good. Unfortunately, I've spoiled these two games for myself by reading summaries... But there's a third one, Arkham Origins. Is it good, too?

Decent. Not nearly as good as Asylum and City, though.

[Revelation]

Have you played dead space 1 or 2, beorning?

Very fun action/horror sci fi games. Think a mix of Alien(s)/zombies.

[Beorning]

I've heard about these games, but I'm not attracted them somehow...

Alright! All these game talk made me crazy and I ended up going on a shopping spree. I just bought Layers Of Fear, Civilization: Beyond Earth and Dragon Age with all expansion packs...

[Sara Nilsson]

Has anyone here played Civilization: Beyond Earth?

yeah its.. not as good as civ 5. if you are desperate for sci fi 4x games then sure, but it is a pale version of the regular civ that is cheaper as well.

[Beorning]

Well... I bought it. We'll see...

You see, I love Civilization games. But how many times can I play a game about inventing a wheel? I wanted to try something new... something like Alpha Centauri. Which was brilliant, but looks soooo archaic these days...

[Inkidu]

Did you get Rising Tide with it?

[Beorning]

Nope. Too costly. I'll play the main game first and I'll see if I like it enough to buy an expansion.

Anyway, buying games is... interesting, as the older games are really dirt cheap. Beyond Earth is being sold at $20 or so, at least back here... meanwhile, I managed to buy a used copy of Dragon Age Ultimate Edition for $7 + shipping cost...

[SinXAzgard21]

Xcom2, Dying Light: The Following, Digimon Cyber Sleuth.  Will be playing The Division this weekend on PC.

[Inkidu]

yeah its.. not as good as civ 5. if you are desperate for sci fi 4x games then sure, but it is a pale version of the regular civ that is cheaper as well.

That's not entirely fair. It's pale if you compare it to Civ V with all the DLC.

Which is something that could sadly be said about every Civ game since 3. Three with everything was better than four at the start, four complete better than five. *shrugs*