What are you playing? [SPOILER TAGS PLEASE]

[Wolfy]

Minecraft: Pokémon Mod! (Pokemobs)

Minecraft + Pokemon = Holy **** Do want. @_@

[Wyrd]

*Yaaawwwnn* lol! Just messin with ya

[Inkidu]

I didn't think I gave anything away that you wouldn't learn if you got past the tutorial segment. Hacking is neat and a lot less complex than I thought it would be (still challenging) it's how a good mini-game should be done. Fun fun.

[Hemingway]

I didn't think I gave anything away that you wouldn't learn if you got past the tutorial segment. Hacking is neat and a lot less complex than I thought it would be (still challenging) it's how a good mini-game should be done. Fun fun.

Speaking of hacking ... E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy has a ... unique take on hacking. Unique, and extremely difficult.

Basically, hacking is like a battle. You have your attack, defense and HP. So does the thing you're trying to hack. Hacking works by uploading viruses. These either lower your opponent's attack or defense, increase your own defense, increase your own attack at the expense of defense, or attacks the enemy's HP. I'm sure you can puzzle out how it works.

But the way it works, the AI has a distinct advantage. I mean, you're only human, whereas the AI is ... a fricking machine! The AI seems to always pick the most effective virus, and ... hell, against me it wins more often than not. Just keeping your opponent in check isn't hard. Lowering his attack and defense to 0 is easy. By the time you get there, yours will be 0 too, though. Then you try to increase your attack, but in response your enemy lowers it, and you're back to 0. The only quick way of winning I've found is basically to spam attack. If you're about to lose, you close the hacking window and try again ( because losing will either result in a smiley face on screen and the word HACKED, requiring you to hack yourself to remove it ... or it kills you ).

It sounds so good in theory - at least the basics. But ... man, the execution needs work.

[Wolfy]

At least it's not like the hacking from that Dead-Space XBLA game..

Where you have to race the computer to the end..I hated that.

[Inkidu]

For Hemingway's Sake

Hacking in Deus Ex actually pits you against the computer that has to spread out like you do, but only once you trip the alarm. Then it becomes a race. So if you invest in actually learning how to hack unlike my character who just traumas the device into forking over its access codes with stop worms and nuke viruses.

[Hemingway]

I got to play DXHR. It's a little overwhelming, but I have no complaints aside from that. It's not exactly Splinter Cell, but stealth seems to work just fine. A lot of the time it seems like just shooting everyone would be an easier solution, but I prefer to play non-lethal. I guess I like artificially increasing the difficulty by arbitrarily restricting what I can and cannot do.

[Sabby]

I played a few hours today. Very impressed. Guy jumps like he has anchors tied to his boots, but that can be solved with augmentation I guess. Loving these Takedowns <3 did the one where he makes the guy front flip, and he hit a concrete devider dead square in the small of his back, just draped limply. I cringed.

[Inkidu]

I got to play DXHR. It's a little overwhelming, but I have no complaints aside from that. It's not exactly Splinter Cell, but stealth seems to work just fine. A lot of the time it seems like just shooting everyone would be an easier solution, but I prefer to play non-lethal. I guess I like artificially increasing the difficulty by arbitrarily restricting what I can and cannot do.

You say that now, but I made my first Jensen a violent mother auger. I mean anything that toughened me up and caused pain to my enemies, saw the driven out before me, and caused general female lamentation I went for. I bust through walls, I jump feet in the air, I'm immune to EMPs and Flashbangs. I have the max number of energy and recharge, as well as complete armor.

I still get my shit tossed in a straight up firefight. My literal ability at stealth is my ability to stay out of sight and not go uber violent.

My personal favorite kill is the one where he breaks the neck by spinning his arm.

[Sabby]

Haven't tried the lethal kills yet, liking non-lethal a lot, especially the two for one kills. And that PEP gun is just awesome. Shot a guy in the lower back, arched so hard he was on his toes, then just toppled over. Are there different Takedowns for enemies on the ground?

[Inkidu]

Haven't tried the lethal kills yet, liking non-lethal a lot, especially the two for one kills. And that PEP gun is just awesome. Shot a guy in the lower back, arched so hard he was on his toes, then just toppled over. Are there different Takedowns for enemies on the ground?

Nope, it just pulls out one of the canned animations, but you know at least they gave you a lot of them to look at.

I kind of like the Icarus Landing System. It can knock people down and it makes your dude look so cool when he's landing. The boss fights can be awfully frustrating though and I was a combat character.

[Hemingway]

I like being able to manipulate people in real-time.

If this persuasion system is what pushed the game back six months, I'd say it was worth it.

[Frost]

I am playing Tomb Raider Underground at the moment on the Xbox , to be fair i kinda missed her bum and boobs lol, i remember as a teenager playing the original was very impressed with the game.

[Sabby]

Doppleganger <3

[Frost]

Looking at maybe getting Deus EX HR but think might wait for it to drop in price as other games to be bought especially on the 09/09/11 wooohooo lol

But how would you rate Deus Ex so far?

[Hemingway]

But how would you rate Deus Ex so far?

It's a great game. It's too early for me to say if it'll end up in the realm of awesome, that will depend on how the story develops. But the mechanics are great. I love the conversation system. With the right augmentations, you get a lot of advantages in conversations, by letting you read body language and such. But it's not as simple as that unlocking new dialogue options or telling you which is the right ones. You first have to see which type of person you're talking to, and select according to that. Or you get a summary of their personality and have to influence them in real time.

Hacking is great, too. It's difficult, but not unreasonably so. And again the hacking minigame is more elaborate than what you see in most games ( like Fallout 3, Mass Effect 2 ). While hacking, you can also decide if you just want to hack the door and get it open, or make it slightly more difficult by capturing optional "nodes" for a bonus ( experience, cash, viruses ).

Stealth is difficult, and not as streamlined as in Splinter Cell: Conviction, but it's not bad.

Shooting I can't really comment on, as I haven't shot anyone outside the tutorial.

If I were to compare it to another game. .. I'd actually say it has a lot in common with Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines. Which is one of my favorite games ever, so go figure.

[Sabby]

I just thought of something... how is Thane dying? o.o From Mass Effect I mean... I know, I know, moisture, doing bad stuff to his lungs, but how will that have any serious long term effects? I can understand if he remains in the wrong environment and never seeks medical help, but the guy isn't poor, he could afford synthetic lungs or an inner graft or something that would stop the condition worsening. But no, they make it obvious it's space cancer and absolutely nothing will save him...

They managed to revive a corpse that was sufficated, burned by falling from space and smashed into a planet, and yet they can't keep slightly wet air from erroding the inside walls of someones lungs?

[Oniya]

Perhaps it isn't that he 'can't' take steps (I'd think a simple dehumidifier attached to a face mask would do the trick on a budget), but that he has no desire to.  After his wife was killed and he took out all the people involved in her death, perhaps he would rather die.

[Sabby]

I thought that as well, but checking the Wiki, Kepral's Syndrome is a big killer to the Drell and has no cure or treatment, which just confuses the hell out of me... and as you said, a breathing apparatus of some kind has got to be pennies compared to whatever surgical grafts you might be able to get. This is a setting where a people struggling to keep their space ships from falling apart still manage to be birthed directly into environmental suits and remain completely safe in them for their entire lives. I'm sure a non-intrusive mask the size of a mouth guard, or something inside the throat, would fix it no problem.

But no, there's not even a treatment.

[Hemingway]

I just thought of something... how is Thane dying? o.o From Mass Effect I mean... I know, I know, moisture, doing bad stuff to his lungs, but how will that have any serious long term effects? I can understand if he remains in the wrong environment and never seeks medical help, but the guy isn't poor, he could afford synthetic lungs or an inner graft or something that would stop the condition worsening. But no, they make it obvious it's space cancer and absolutely nothing will save him...

They managed to revive a corpse that was sufficated, burned by falling from space and smashed into a planet, and yet they can't keep slightly wet air from erroding the inside walls of someones lungs?

Cerberus could bring back Shepard by throwing virtually unlimited money at him. You can't expect the same for every Drell out there.

I think the problem with Kepral's Syndrome is that it spreads to other organs - according to the Mass Effect Wiki. It's probably like a metastatic cancer. You don't even realize you have it before it's spread, and by the time it does spread, there's no way you can stop it. Besides, look around you. The Mass Effect technology is more advanced than ours, but it's not like they've eliminated disease entirely. Even with advanced technology, you can't magically cure everything. It's made pretty clear Shepard is a unique case.

Now for something DXHR-related:

The disturbing thing about playing a sci-fi game set in the near future is that ... I'm older than the protagonist by three years. I mean, sure in the game he's older than I am now, but he was born three years after me!

[Sabby]

Oh, I know Shepherd was unique, I'm not that silly and forgetful xD just saying, the technology to, if not fix, treat this disease has to exist, its not a matter of the guy not being able to get the treatment.

[Tonalberry]

Oh, I know Shepherd was unique, I'm not that silly and forgetful xD just saying, the technology to, if not fix, treat this disease has to exist, its not a matter of the guy not being able to get the treatment.

I don't know if there is a treatment to cure or fight what he's got, but I'm pretty sure in game, Thane says that he wouldn't let himself be treated if there is.  He is letting himself die, as a way to make up for being, basically, a hitman.  AFAIK, anyway, it's been a while since I've played.

[Inkidu]

Oh, I know Shepherd was unique, I'm not that silly and forgetful xD just saying, the technology to, if not fix, treat this disease has to exist, its not a matter of the guy not being able to get the treatment.

Yep, Shepard is unique. Although, I here you can totally fail to save the galaxy from the Reapers in ME3. Still, I'm not letting that happen. Shepard is Jesus, or... at least an allegory for Jesus. He can't lose!

[Tonalberry]

Yep, Shepard is unique. Although, I here you can totally fail to save the galaxy from the Reapers in ME3. Still, I'm not letting that happen. Shepard is Jesus, or... at least an allegory for Jesus. He can't lose!

I have to wonder how ME3 will handle your saved data, if you managed to get Shepard killed at the end of ME2.

[Inkidu]

I have to wonder how ME3 will handle your saved data, if you managed to get Shepard killed at the end of ME2.

Oh, they've already released that. They did it when ME3 was first announced. You can't use any dead Sheps. He or she has died and obviously can't be used in ME3.

I kind of understand what you're saying though. They let dead Wardens come back for Dragon Age: Origins Awakening. However, not for ME3.