Has anyone played any good video games lately?

Started by Music is life, July 20, 2013, 06:54:11 PM

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Sel Nar

Thief 2: The Metal Age.

Pretty much the Pinnacle of PC gaming's Stealth games.

Inkidu

Quote from: Sel Nar on February 19, 2014, 05:08:12 PM
Thief 2: The Metal Age.

Pretty much the Pinnacle of PC gaming's Stealth games.
While I've not played it. Whenever someone makes that claim I get this feeling that playing it now I would find it terribly antiquated. :P

Getting back in shape for the reboot?
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Shjade

Quote from: Sel Nar on February 19, 2014, 05:08:12 PM
Thief 2: The Metal Age.

Pretty much the Pinnacle of PC gaming's Stealth games.

I usually see people saying Thief 2 was the best, but I always felt like it became more action-oriented than the first Thief, or rather "action-enabling." All the robots and metal bits everywhere that basically just say, "Y'know, it'll be easier if you fight your way through here than spend 20 minutes sneaking through one room. Or fuck it, just run through; not like their slow asses can chase you." It's like half the game is the tomb level of Thief where you don't need to sneak around anything because all that's going to chase you are zombies, and why would you care about zombies staggering around after you?

The early levels of Thief 2, though - running around on rooftops and robbing random homes on your way to your destination? The docks? That kind of stuff? Yes please. It just kinda loses me about halfway through when it all turns into the Steampunk Deluxe Shooting Gallery.
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Sel Nar

Quote from: Inkidu on February 19, 2014, 05:20:23 PM
While I've not played it. Whenever someone makes that claim I get this feeling that playing it now I would find it terribly antiquated. :P

Getting back in shape for the reboot?

Damn right I am. Going to be off the face of the planet from the 25th until I beat the game on an ironman ghost no-spotted run. (well, maybe not that masochistic)

And, playing Thief 2 now is an excercise in patience; the game did not age poorly, but it is showing its age; its main draw is that the AI is remarkably savvy, all things considered (like the fact that it's 13 years old and its AI can run goddamn rings around more recent games).

And Thief 2 is the best for three reasons. Reason one; Shipping... And Recieving. You're given a block of warehouses, a handful of guards, and the tools of your trade, and told to shove off and start looting the place dry.

Reason 2; First City Bank and Trust. The only time in the original trilogy that you heist from a bank, the difference between sneaking about in a middle-class neighbourhood, or making rent by pilfering the dock warehouses and being driven paranoid because the upper-class bank is basically lined with marble, making it nearly impossible to not make noise, adds a great many tension-filled moments. But, it's so rewarding as the bank vault swings open for your efforts.

Reason 3; Life of the Party; Rooftop running, Tower-exploring, thief-thieving, and more, and that's Before you get to Angelwatch, Central base of the mechanists. But, Karras knew you'd be coming, and left a surprise...

In all seriousness, Life of the party is one of the largest maps in the thief series, one of the most-involved, and complex areas to explore and loot, and goddamn memorable because, after easily an hour snooping about, finding the evidence you need (and padding your pockets with lucre), you find your objective, and get a nasty surprise. As Shalebridge Cradle is what causes veterans of the trilogy to feel genuinely unnerved, Life of the Party will almost always have fond memories of the shenanigans you could pull.

The biggest draw of the Thief series in general, which was actually carried over into its nearest cousin, Dishonored, was that there's a Massive amount of worldbuilding done, and shown, be it guards bitching about how Bears now are too piddly and weak, and need blades strapped to their paws and muzzles to be a challenge at the bear pits, or two commoners complaining that since the mechanists began to rise to power, growing fresh fruits or vegetables in the city was becoming nearly impossible, and that they missed seeing trees along the streets instead of mechanist lights. It all adds to the feeling that The City is a real place, giving it the depth to make it have a lasting impression.

That is why I love the Original Trilogy, and what I hope the new game will carry forth.

Shjade

#379
I like that your explanation is a much longer version of what I said: most of the good stuff in Thief 2 is in the first half and the sprawling rooftop segment. ;p

Never been to Shalebridge. Loved the crap out of Thief 1, played through Thief 2 a few times, but TDS, meh. Played it a few hours and put it away, never to be seen again. It just felt clunky and wrong.

Edit: one more note on the Thief games, I think the thing that always bothered me more than anything else was the arbitrary loot minimum required on higher difficulty levels. I like to play at the max difficulty for the added objectives, removing the temptation to just murder everyone I come across rather than stealthing around them, making combat less of a breeze, etc., but it also requires finding something like 80+% of the available loot to steal on any given map. Sure, I get it, you're a thief, but the whole scavenger hunt thing searching for dropped coins and gold cups in every little nook and cranny is the opposite of fun. I tend to end up running back and forth through a map five or six times just trying to scrounge up enough cash for the level to let me move on. :|
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Grave

I probably have about four thousands hours of mount and blade warband.

Vonandi

Just finished saints row 4, not as good as 3 I think.

Inkidu

Quote from: Shjade on February 20, 2014, 02:50:57 AM
I like that your explanation is a much longer version of what I said: most of the good stuff in Thief 2 is in the first half and the sprawling rooftop segment. ;p

Never been to Shalebridge. Loved the crap out of Thief 1, played through Thief 2 a few times, but TDS, meh. Played it a few hours and put it away, never to be seen again. It just felt clunky and wrong.

Edit: one more note on the Thief games, I think the thing that always bothered me more than anything else was the arbitrary loot minimum required on higher difficulty levels. I like to play at the max difficulty for the added objectives, removing the temptation to just murder everyone I come across rather than stealthing around them, making combat less of a breeze, etc., but it also requires finding something like 80+% of the available loot to steal on any given map. Sure, I get it, you're a thief, but the whole scavenger hunt thing searching for dropped coins and gold cups in every little nook and cranny is the opposite of fun. I tend to end up running back and forth through a map five or six times just trying to scrounge up enough cash for the level to let me move on. :|
The game apparently doesn't realize that there's a difference between thievery and kleptomania. :P

I bet you had to steal candy from a baby just to make quota. :)
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Shjade

Nah, they're not quite that mean.

Really though, it just seems so petty sometimes. "Break into this mansion and steal a legendary sword, the manor's prized gold-framed painting and a matching pair of fist-sized diamonds. And since you're there, look around for ~2500 coins' worth of whatever's lying around. I dunno, silverware or something. You figure it out." -.-
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Inkidu

Quote from: Shjade on February 21, 2014, 04:55:19 AM
Nah, they're not quite that mean.

Really though, it just seems so petty sometimes. "Break into this mansion and steal a legendary sword, the manor's prized gold-framed painting and a matching pair of fist-sized diamonds. And since you're there, look around for ~2500 coins' worth of whatever's lying around. I dunno, silverware or something. You figure it out." -.-
Not to mention that hobgoblin of video game convention, i.e. where is he keeping it all?

Or why doesn't he sound like an earthquake at the silverware factory when he moves.

If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Shjade

There's that too, yeah. I do like that as far as gear goes you have to travel pretty light; you can only equip yourself with as much as you can afford from what you stole on your last heist, so the more you steal on one level the more you can buy for the next one. At most that usually means between 20 and 50 arrows and a few gadgets - flash grenades (no bang, just light), land mines (explosive or KO gas variety), things like that. Personally I tend to just stock up on a few different kinds of arrows and leave it at that, both because the gadgets tend to make some areas a little too easy and because I don't want to spend all my time scavenging for coins to buy all the toys since they're really not necessary. Gimme some broadheads (cheaper than noisemakers and often just as effective), water, a couple rope, a few moss on metal-heavy levels, and I'm pretty much good to go.

Still, the customizability of your loadout is a nifty feature. You can go at it all offensive, or all sneaky, or plan specifically for the map - a flash grenade for this group here, one moss arrow for that hallway, gas mine for the patrol that never leaves the area in front of the safe...
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NinjaNinja2013

I got the original thief today from the amazon promotion. Haven't put too much time in it yet though. Now I am on my 4th(or 5th) play through of deus ex human revolution. Old school gamers don't really like that game, but I find it to be pretty engaging if that makes sense.

Inkidu

Quote from: NinjaNinja2013 on February 21, 2014, 12:54:05 PM
I got the original thief today from the amazon promotion. Haven't put too much time in it yet though. Now I am on my 4th(or 5th) play through of deus ex human revolution. Old school gamers don't really like that game, but I find it to be pretty engaging if that makes sense.
Actually, what I found funny was none of the hardcore guys like Jensen's item-finder vision. (the little gold halo that surrounds interactive objects on Medium and below). The kicker? When the game came out the environments were so detailed that the halo was helpful in determining what doors are real and what doors are dummies. :\

I think the Director's Cut address's many of the issues. With the game.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Shjade

Quote from: Inkidu on February 21, 2014, 03:16:59 PM
I think the Director's Cut address's many of the issues. With the game.

Does it change the bosses?

'Cause that's what put me off even considering it.
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Inkidu

Quote from: Shjade on February 21, 2014, 03:32:26 PM
Does it change the bosses?

'Cause that's what put me off even considering it.
Yes, except the last, which actually had several options for dealing with it anyway.

You still have to kill the tyrants, but now you're not totally screwed if you went hacky-sneaky. They have things you can hack and the arenas are bigger.

If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Shjade

Nifty. I'll give it a second look next time it's on sale, maybe.
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NinjaNinja2013

Quote from: Inkidu on February 21, 2014, 03:16:59 PM
Actually, what I found funny was none of the hardcore guys like Jensen's item-finder vision. (the little gold halo that surrounds interactive objects on Medium and below). The kicker? When the game came out the environments were so detailed that the halo was helpful in determining what doors are real and what doors are dummies. :\

I think the Director's Cut address's many of the issues. With the game.
The object finder can be disable. Not sure for consoles but It can be disable on pc.

LostInTheMist

I just recently replayed "Mass Effect". It reminded me why I loved BioWare so much before EA acquired them. Dragon Age: Origins was the last really GOOD BioWare game I played. Mass Effect 2 and 3 were FUN, but not particularly GOOD, IMO.

I'm hoping that EA really means its "hands off" comments about Dragon Age 3, because Dragon Age 2 was crap.
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SinXAzgard21

Debating on getting into Planetside 2.  Though I've heard that going solo is a bad idea.
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Inkidu

Quote from: LostInTheMist on February 23, 2014, 02:17:40 PM
I just recently replayed "Mass Effect". It reminded me why I loved BioWare so much before EA acquired them. Dragon Age: Origins was the last really GOOD BioWare game I played. Mass Effect 2 and 3 were FUN, but not particularly GOOD, IMO.

I'm hoping that EA really means its "hands off" comments about Dragon Age 3, because Dragon Age 2 was crap.
I like what DA2 tried to do, and in some ways it was a lot more fun than Origins, and I'm not talking about that it was more hack-n-slashy or anything.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

The Dark Raven

Plague Inc. Evolved.  Best game I have played in a long time.

Check my A/A | O/O | Patience is begged. Momma to Rainbow Babies and teetering toward the goal of published author. Tentatively taking new stories.

Chris Brady

Quote from: SinXAzgard21 on February 23, 2014, 03:12:54 PM
Debating on getting into Planetside 2.  Though I've heard that going solo is a bad idea.
It is.  Luckily, they had a button that puts you into a squad immediately, which will increase your survivability 10 fold.
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Zekromnomnom

I've been meaning to go back and play some of my older 360 games, like I never actually finished most of the factions in Skyrim and I have a bunch of other unfinished games.

One thing is that I still have never managed to get together a team to help me kill the raid bosses in Borderlands 2. That reminds me, can I ask you guys a question about how DLC is supposed to work?

Revelation

I just beat Risk of Rain for the first time tonight. I got into a very lucky streak of getting items on the miner and by the time I was on the second to last level I was taking down multiple bosses and warms of monsters with ease. The rocket jump attack, backdash, and dash attack made the game incredibly easy.

Risk of Rain is a 2d action game on the PC - kind of like a roguelike. It has an amazing soundtrack, and the gameplay is fun. The games difficulty goes up with time as you play it, and enemies constantly spawn until you summon the boss of the level and survive for about a minute and a half while a timer counts down.

As for DLC, how do you mean Zekro?

Dom

Beta testing TESO recently.

I'll probably jump into that when it goes live.

But I have a dog named Fus Ro Dah so I might be kinda biased.

I don't mind PMs, or KIK (NoBetterThanBeasts) requests