What are you playing? [SPOILER TAGS PLEASE]

[Wyrd]

Yes, how dare a SRPG (That's Shooter RPG) have good gameplay elements.

HOW DARE IT.

THEY BLEW IT UP!! lol!

[Wyrd]

Got Section 8: Prejudice the other day by the way. It's got an okay campaign with everything you'd expect from a sci-fi shooter. Multi-player's pretty fun, simple game modes with tones of action. Very underpopulated, though. Someone play with me!   

[Inkidu]

I don't Gears of war or am a rpg purist. It just looks like the some old Cover based shooter with a new label tacked on to it. "Oh no! Cerberus! Thank god their is waist high cover conveniently placed EVERYWHERE!"  Yup, clearly improved. And customizing weapons is cool I guess. :P We also get A FUCKING SWORD! COOL!!! Look, maybe it's to early and wrong of me to call ME3 shit so soon. I just have a churning feeling that it's all wrong.

As far as I can tell they're just amping the action. Instead of just running to chest-high walls you roll, climb (ladders) pick up guns on the fly (only the soldier can still hold all the different kinds) and ram an omni-blade through faces. I can live with that. Even if they didn't change the RPG mechanics a bit I'd be cool with that. Though, I'm certainl they changed up the RPG a bit too.

It's just a cyclical thing. It happens to every other medium but gaming has finally been around long enough to go through its first cycle. People are already clamoring for more traditional FPSs, but in ten or so more years it'll be back to cover-based shooting. I consider it merely an element and it has never influenced my like or dislike of a game (how they implement those mechanics might).

It's just like regenerating health, QTEs, and two weapons at a time. They're just elements and they're in vogue. Nothing is inherently wrong with the fact they exist. It's kind of like picking up a book. The author's use of words might not put you off so much as the overall theme.

[Wyrd]

Fair enough.

[Inkidu]

You know, it's bad enough that I had to solve that freaking wall puzzle while the stage was literally collapsing beneath me, but now I have to do it in a boss fight. The same mind-torturing puzzle basically and now a boss monster with special attacks and more speed than the normally collapsing stage. Fuck this game so hard... I'm almost had it up to here with it. If I wasn't in such a gaming drought right now I would have given up a long time ago.

[Sabby]

Well, Dead Island is everything I feared and more. I knew it would have shitty gimmicky weapons, tacked on multiplayer and a really downgraded physics engine, but they really went above and beyond.

Diablo random loot, with generated names? Yeah, because I can't be seen with a POWERLESS BAT OF BASHING, I need to have a SHOCK MACHETE OF PADDING.

Colour coded damaging numbers? Really? I know the zombie is on fire, I don't need a fiery 32! 32! popping up. Why would the numbers matter? I thought the whole point was survi...val...

Levels? Health bars? Fucking HEALTH BARS?! Fuck you Techland. Fuck you, you sellout whores.

Oops, I forgot I had the week off work. I expect overtime.

[Inkidu]

Well, Dead Island is everything I feared and more. I knew it would have shitty gimmicky weapons, tacked on multiplayer and a really downgraded physics engine, but they really went above and beyond.

Diablo random loot, with generated names? Yeah, because I can't be seen with a POWERLESS BAT OF BASHING, I need to have a SHOCK MACHETE OF PADDING.

Colour coded damaging numbers? Really? I know the zombie is on fire, I don't need a fiery 32! 32! popping up. Why would the numbers matter? I thought the whole point was survi...val...

Levels? Health bars? Fucking HEALTH BARS?! Fuck you Techland. Fuck you, you sellout whores.

Oops, I forgot I had the week off work. I expect overtime.

Step aside, grasshopper. It gets better:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112801-Dead-Island-Dev-Could-Have-Released-Wrong-Version-to-Steam

This is just a rumor, but the fact that it even got that far is a testament to how bad Techland has handled Dead Island. This would explain why it's so damned unpolished to begin with. Seriously, how does this fucking happen in this day and age! "Oh, I can't be bothered to read a fucking label or file name I'm a Techland employee." Never should have happened. That's like a firefighter hooking his hose up to a gasoline pump!

I'm glad these people make games because I wouldn't want them near anything physically important. Techland Bridge Company makes me soil myself. Eh, screw it.  They'll buy it anyway, we can fix it later. Oh, wait the traffic deck is gone? No one will notice.

Obsidian is having a meeting right now with all its execs. "How the hell can we top that!?" One says.
"We can't says the other. We'd have to ship our alpha copy and there's no way in hell we can get that to fly!"

Selling out to be Borderlands with Zombies is one thing (I think Borderlands already had zombies), but whatever happened to simple workplace competency and ethic. I mean something like this shouldn't even be rumored.

[Sabby]

...I'm actually still guna play it, and probably love it xD Dead Island, if I can forget that it's a bastardization of a much better game from 2007, actually looks pretty fun. I'm just pissed that such a promising survival zombie game, seemingly the only zombie game in existance without its tongue jammed in its cheek, has been turned into a compilation pack for everything I'm sick of in zombie games. It was supposed to deliver us from this stagnation! Not fall to it.

Even so, ya can't argue with smashing half a head off with an inch too short baseball bat impact. That physics engine may be a mere shadow of its promised glory, but its still sexy as fuck.

[Hemingway]

Anyone know if Hitman: Blood Money is any good? Or Silent Assassin? I've been aching for some more stealth games, and they're now on Steam for cheap. The main negative thing for me would be if they're notoriously difficult ( especially if it's due to some poor gameplay mechanic ).

[Sabby]

Blood Money is everything about Hitman that worked, with less of the flaws. You actually have melee skills now. That makes more of a difference then you'd think.

[Inkidu]

I never could get into the Hitman Games. It was like they were trying to be open, but usually there's one clever way through the whole level. I normally just shoot everybody. :\

[Sabby]

Yeah, by playing the tutorial level perfectly, you'll feel like an amazingly professional killer, but almost none of your first, second, or third attempts are going to be anywhere near that pro looking :P the times when you do have to wing it and get a situation sneakily under wraps is when the game shines.

Like one time I killed a chef in a secluded room, just as the waitress came in. I'd disarmed the chef and killed him with his own knife. Waitress saw this, turned to run, and I threw the knife right between her shoulder blades. She fell just outside the door, where someone could see... no one did though. Dragged her back in, hid them both in the closet, picked up her tray and found a service uniform.

Theres plenty of moments like this, and they're the only time you feel like your actually skilled.

[Inkidu]

Yeah, by playing the tutorial level perfectly, you'll feel like an amazingly professional killer, but almost none of your first, second, or third attempts are going to be anywhere near that pro looking :P the times when you do have to wing it and get a situation sneakily under wraps is when the game shines.

Like one time I killed a chef in a secluded room, just as the waitress came in. I'd disarmed the chef and killed him with his own knife. Waitress saw this, turned to run, and I threw the knife right between her shoulder blades. She fell just outside the door, where someone could see... no one did though. Dragged her back in, hid them both in the closet, picked up her tray and found a service uniform.

Theres plenty of moments like this, and they're the only time you feel like your actually skilled.

So you killed two innocent people... for one outfit of clothing? I don't know, Absolution is supposed to come out sometime in the near future, maybe I'll give it a look. I'm not really a Tomb Raider fan either, but the reboot looks like it could turn me onto the series.

(People always find that odd that a straight twenty-something who grew up in the heyday of Lara's sex appeal never liked the Tomb Raider games. :P)

[Hemingway]

Okay, right off the bat I have a problem with Blood Money. I want to play it on normal. I don't know what notoriety does, but not having to think about it sounds like an excuse to shoot everyone. Also, on easy, the AI is "accomodating", which I assume means enemies are dumb. I don't want either of those. But on normal, you're restricted to seven saves, and on easy there's no such restriction. I'd prefer normal, but with unlimited saves. God. Why?

[Angzyn]

Just playing some simple WoW and trying to find out why my Mana is so damn low!

[Inkidu]

Okay, right off the bat I have a problem with Blood Money. I want to play it on normal. I don't know what notoriety does, but not having to think about it sounds like an excuse to shoot everyone. Also, on easy, the AI is "accomodating", which I assume means enemies are dumb. I don't want either of those. But on normal, you're restricted to seven saves, and on easy there's no such restriction. I'd prefer normal, but with unlimited saves. God. Why?

Seven saves for the whole game or per level?

[Sabby]

Per level, and it's more then enough. The enemy A.I is just less aggressive. This is a 'social stealth' game, enemy A.I. levels aren't so much about how much hurt they'll put on you when they figure out your an assassin, it's how quick they are to get to that point.

[Inkidu]

Per level, and it's more then enough. The enemy A.I is just less aggressive. This is a 'social stealth' game, enemy A.I. levels aren't so much about how much hurt they'll put on you when they figure out your an assassin, it's how quick they are to get to that point.

Yeah, there were never really any options for physical stealth. I mean the times where I knocked and/or killed somebody and took their clothes (creepy) was always outranking the time I went around the corner when no one was looking.

[Sabby]

Thats the whole point of Hitman, and it's why I prefer it to most other stealth games. Social Stealth was genuinely innovative at the time, and lets face it, hiding in a shadow is easy. You can just sit there as long as you like watching enemy routes and lining up a discreet headshot. It's got as much tension as fishing. Hiding in plain sight is a whole different ballgame.

[Inkidu]

Thats the whole point of Hitman, and it's why I prefer it to most other stealth games. Social Stealth was genuinely innovative at the time, and lets face it, hiding in a shadow is easy. You can just sit there as long as you like watching enemy routes and lining up a discreet headshot. It's got as much tension as fishing. Hiding in plain sight is a whole different ballgame.

Except Hitman never really did that well. You're a nondescript bald guy in a black suit and in the open areas where normal people are allowed to be I've often gotten made. Inherently the game knows a lot of the time. Absolution is supposed to fix this now he can do stuff like take cell calls and read papers on benches to hide in the crowd. It costs points but at least it's an alternative to kill poor schmuck A for his clothes and hide him in a dumpster.

Ezio's a lot better and blending into a crowd and look at his outfit (which would have turned heads even in Italy at the time).

[Ophelia Jaxon]

Playing Silent Hill:Homecoming and feeling very...meh about it. I've played all the others (except 3) and thought they were good. Some better than others of course so I don't know why I'm picking on this one. I've been going between it, Assassins Creed and Viva Pinata...sadly...Viva Pinata wins lol.

[Sabby]

Homecoming is the American's getting their hands on a Japanese franchise and fucking it up. Like Godzilla.

[Hemingway]

Urgh. Hitman is pretty good, but ... I'm a perfectionist of sorts, so I can't stand it if my cover is blown or if I leave a mess. But the game sure makes it hard. I brought a sniper rifle so that I'd be able to lure the target to where I want him and shoot him from up high, but ... the guards won't let me have my privacy. I love having to carry a rifle case and all that, but it sucks when you're assembling a rifle and suddenly a cop walks in.

[Inkidu]

Urgh. Hitman is pretty good, but ... I'm a perfectionist of sorts, so I can't stand it if my cover is blown or if I leave a mess. But the game sure makes it hard. I brought a sniper rifle so that I'd be able to lure the target to where I want him and shoot him from up high, but ... the guards won't let me have my privacy. I love having to carry a rifle case and all that, but it sucks when you're assembling a rifle and suddenly a cop walks in.

Uh... this isn't what it looks like?

Seriously, if they were really concerned with providing the social stealth/hitman experience couldn't you slip him some cash to go take a walk?

[Sabby]

Nah, 47 (I think that's his number) is supposed to be cold and morally dead, paying off a guard or cop and leaving a witness is not a good idea to him. The cop that see's it gets silenced.