Topic: What are you playing? [SPOILER TAGS PLEASE]

[Hemingway]

Oh, I know, plenty of people like that out there. It's part of the reason, I think, why it's nearly impossible to actually talk about the issue.

But, anyway. I'm all done with Metal Gear ( Snake Eater, Peace Walker, Sons of Liberty and Guns of the Patriots, one after the other, over a course of two weeks or so! ), and ...

Here's my problem. I'm not excited about Mass Effect 3. In fact, I'm slightly worried. Not because I think it'll be a bad game, or that I won't enjoy it. I'm sure I will. I'm also sure I'll be getting it at release, and playing it the moment it's available ( even if that moment is 3AM here .. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time! ), but ... somehow, I'm just a little bit anxious. I guess I don't want it to end could be one part of that. Also, it's fucking everywhere. More than ever, I'm trying to avoid spoilers and anything that might lessen the experience of the game. I haven't even played the demo, and I'm a pretty serious fan of Mass Effect. But it's everywhere! Forums, trailers, demos, previews, countdowns, everything! I can't stand it! I hate it when this happens! I just want to isolate myself from all of it, play the game without having to hear what anyone else has to say, then maybe talking about it. I'm getting tired of it before it's even been released.

And ... the point I was really trying to make, though don't ask how the two are connected, is that I'm looking for an  actually good game to keep me going until the actual release. I'm consindering Vanquish right now, because it's kinda cheap and I've heard a lot of good things about it, but ... I'm not sure.

And that's my problem.

Edit: I broke the 200 page mark! Also, the two games I'm considering right now are Vanquish and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Well, the former is apparently a standard-length modern shooter ( though I hear people say very good things about it ), the latter supposedly over 20 hours long. I guess I know which I'll be getting. Assuming I can get my hands on it.

[Nyarly]

At the moment, I'm mostly playing Blake Stone and Blood. Also some Minecraft in between and I'm still going through the classroom in Chessmaster 9000. But I really should continue with Thief Gold.

If you wonder why it's mostly old games, well there is this one online distribution service by the publisher of The Witcher...

[Hemingway]

I didn't even get past Blood before thinking, "you've been to GoG". 

[Nyarly]

And I already bought more games than I could ever play. The 50% sale they did in December was really way too tempting.

[Capone]

So at the suggestion of my friend, I played the Amalur demo before dropping in the actual game disc. It reminds me of a combination of Fable and Dragon Age: Origins, both of which were games I loved.

The problem is that the demo's audio kept dropping, and it reached the point where it just sped through cut-scenes because it wasn't playing the audio for dialogue. Then I got outside, snuck attacked a bear and the game froze.

Hopefully the disc works a lot better.

[Hemingway]

I wouldn't waste my money on that bland, uninspired piece of trash. It's only superficially similar to Fable, and lacks all the things that actually make Fable a good series. It's tedious, it doesn't have any story to speak of, the game world is vast but repetetive and makes the world of WoW look immersive and full of life. Combat comes down to button mashing, and fails to challenge even at the highest difficulty. Must I go on?

[Sabby]

It's tedious, it doesn't have any story to speak of, the game world is vast but repetetive and makes the world of WoW look immersive and full of life. Combat comes down to button mashing, and fails to challenge even at the highest difficulty. Must I go on?

See, to my ears, your describing Fable.

[Capone]

Eh, I already bought it. Honestly, while I didn't fall in love with the game, I did enjoy it. As simple as it was, I liked sneaking up on enemies and stabbing their guts out with dual daggers. The only real downside was the troll boss taking as long as it had.

Well, that and the demo being so glitchy.

I'll unwrap the plastic and give the game a whirl.

[Hemingway]

See, to my ears, your describing Fable.

Imagine Fable without any of the humor, the good characters ( Reaver? Hammer? Lucien? ), with less stuff going on in the world, and a far less interesting world and story. It's basically like playing an MMO alone.

[Capone]

It's basically like playing an MMO alone.

Which technically makes sense as that's how the project started. In fact, I bet that would explain a lot of your complaints. If you went back and replayed it with the mentality that you'd be walking into a world with tons of people, you'd probably think "Oooooh...."

Or maybe not. I dunno. I just played the opening of the game before the demo froze on me.

[Hemingway]

Which technically makes sense as that's how the project started. In fact, I bet that would explain a lot of your complaints. If you went back and replayed it with the mentality that you'd be walking into a world with tons of people, you'd probably think "Oooooh...."

Or maybe not. I dunno. I just played the opening of the game before the demo froze on me.

Well, I guess I ought to clarify. It's like being in an MMO world alone. It's a world that's empty, and nothing happens except what you do. There's nothing to make you feel immersed in a living world. There's also no emphasis on good storytelling. You run around doing meaningless tasks, and occasionally ( every few hours, or something like that - the pacing is really bad ) you get a quest that advances the storyline, but it's so dull that who even give a crap?

But it's not even a game that would work as an MMO, and that's a key point here. It feels like an MMO because it's dull, lifeless and doesn't care to tell a proper story. But even if you had tons of players, it still wouldn't be a good game, because the gameplay is unbelievably dull as well. My character is a Finesse / Magic hybrid. I find myself alternating between two attacks, one being just mashing the basic dagger attack ( more advanced attacks that involve holding down the mouse button make no sense - they take too long to charge up, meaning you usually get hit while doing it, thus interrupting it, and even when you manage they do puny amounts of damage, so you're way better off just spamming regular attacks ), and the other is a fire spell that basically kills everything in one hit. Where's the fun in that? Where's the depth? That's all there is to this game.

There's a crafting system that doesn't really reward you in any way. Alchemy would be fun, considering the way you discover new potions is sort of like Skyrim .. except very few combinations actually work. It's like, you combine a herb with the RESTORATION property with a HEALTH herb, and you get a healing potion, fine. But what do you get from, say, a LEECH and a MANA herb? Nothing! And it's like that with a lot of combinations!

Blacksmithing I haven't even bothered trying. That gem thing is a waste of time, basically just taking up inventory space.

Lockpicking and dispelling are wastes of points, because there's no skill requirement to even open the hardest containers, it just makes it easier. But it's easy enough to begin with that you can open even the hardest containers without investing any points in it. Tracking is the only thing that's worth anything, because it reveals hidden containers that you can't open without the skill.

But the bottom line is .. what's the point? Where's the demand for a sub par MMO that you play by yourself?

[Chipotle]

Is Skyrim the holy grail of "single player MMO" style games at this point?  The stick by which we measure all others?  I've only heard people rave and rave about it...I've yet to drop the $60 and time commitment myself, though.

Did anyone else fall in love with Morrowind growing up?  I know two games Skyrim's prequel, the game mechanics are awful now.  But during its time it was absolutely fantastic.  The environment and music were amazing, the landscape surreal and different...this fit very well with the plot line, in which I was a foreign prisoner being set free to explore this strange new land.  Other characters were believable, too.  They treated me like a foreigner, and were suspicious of me!  I had to earn their trust with favors, bribes, and my personality.  The stories were intriguing and compelling.  And for whatever reason, the memory of travelling through the night and finally arriving in a peaceful city as the sun rises and the silt strider calls...the nostalgia of this experience is incredible.

The combination of the harsh storms and deadly battles with the stark beauty and peaceful places; everywhere I traveled filled with stories and lore...yes, I was immersed.

[Capone]

But the bottom line is .. what's the point? Where's the demand for a sub par MMO that you play by yourself?

It seems to work well enough for Bethesda.

[Sabby]

Is Skyrim the holy grail of "single player MMO" style games at this point?  The stick by which we measure all others?  I've only heard people rave and rave about it...I've yet to drop the $60 and time commitment myself, though.

Did anyone else fall in love with Morrowind growing up?  I know two games Skyrim's prequel, the game mechanics are awful now.  But during its time it was absolutely fantastic.  The environment and music were amazing, the landscape surreal and different...this fit very well with the plot line, in which I was a foreign prisoner being set free to explore this strange new land.  Other characters were believable, too.  They treated me like a foreigner, and were suspicious of me!  I had to earn their trust with favors, bribes, and my personality.  The stories were intriguing and compelling.  And for whatever reason, the memory of travelling through the night and finally arriving in a peaceful city as the sun rises and the silt strider calls...the nostalgia of this experience is incredible.

The combination of the harsh storms and deadly battles with the stark beauty and peaceful places; everywhere I traveled filled with stories and lore...yes, I was immersed.

Chip, Skyrim is one of the few games I consider to be as good as the hype. Personally, I can't play it vanilla now that I've tried mods, but even if you picked up an Xbox version or you didn't care about mods, it's still a great game. Definitely worth your time and money.

[Geeklet]

Is Skyrim the holy grail of "single player MMO" style games at this point?  The stick by which we measure all others?  I've only heard people rave and rave about it...I've yet to drop the $60 and time commitment myself, though.

Did anyone else fall in love with Morrowind growing up?  I know two games Skyrim's prequel, the game mechanics are awful now.  But during its time it was absolutely fantastic.  The environment and music were amazing, the landscape surreal and different...this fit very well with the plot line, in which I was a foreign prisoner being set free to explore this strange new land.  Other characters were believable, too.  They treated me like a foreigner, and were suspicious of me!  I had to earn their trust with favors, bribes, and my personality.  The stories were intriguing and compelling.  And for whatever reason, the memory of travelling through the night and finally arriving in a peaceful city as the sun rises and the silt strider calls...the nostalgia of this experience is incredible.

The combination of the harsh storms and deadly battles with the stark beauty and peaceful places; everywhere I traveled filled with stories and lore...yes, I was immersed.

If all you've heard is ranting and raving, you are about to hear something different. Is it a good game? yes. Is it worth the money? More than likely. But is it the holy grail? Hardly. It just felt like it was missing something when compared to previous Elder Scrolls games. They simplified the mechanics and character creation so much that it just didnt feel like there was enough customization as before.

[Hemingway]

Skyrim was, for me, one of the most disappointing titles of 2011. It's pretty, it's polished, it's got almost as much testosterone as 300. But, while it's not all style and no substance, it certainly has a lot more of the former, than of the latter.

The story is probably the most disappointing part of it. I mean, Morrowind has a story where you're playing a person sent to Morrowind by the empire to impersonate the reincarnation of a famous Dunmer warlord of yore, and as it progresses it turns out to be a lot deeper than that, with unpredictable twists and turns. Oblivion is a game about how you're the chosen one and have to save the world. Skyrim is just that over again, but in a different setting and with more shouting.

When I think about it, the storylines in Oblivion and Skyrim are more or less the same, at least in key ways.

Even the factions in the game disappointed me, mostly because of how ridiculously short the questlines were. The Companions had so much potential, but spoiled it all by giving away everything in your first mission. Timing is a lost art, it seems. And it depresses the crap out of me.

So, if you want the opinion of a bitter, hardened cynic and elitist, the Witcher 2 is a far better investment. It's not an open-ended experience where you can wander around as you please, but it's far from totally linear. It has an actual story, with great characters and real twists and turns. It's also one of the only SP RPGs I know of with real replay value. This is because the magnificent bastards at CD Projekt decided that they basically wanted to make two games. You know how in Fable 2, certain choices affect how things turn out later? Well, take that, and turn it up to 11. Based on your choices in The Witcher 2, you'll see a totally different side of the story, to the point where you really only get something like 60% of the story in a single playthrough.

So fuck the mainstream. When the clowns at Obsidian get their hands on the Skyrim engine ( hah, I wish! ), maybe they'll make a decent TES game.

[Chipotle]

Chip, Skyrim is one of the few games I consider to be as good as the hype. Personally, I can't play it vanilla now that I've tried mods, but even if you picked up an Xbox version or you didn't care about mods, it's still a great game. Definitely worth your time and money.

Oh yeah - Morrowind and Oblivion, I'm definitely with you on modding.  I'm not one of those people opposed to Xbox entirely...but I've never owned one myself.  I saw your cat-humanoid avatar earlier and was wondering whether you played...   I know when Oblivion let me down, feeling very rushed and incomplete in certain areas, modding saved it for me!

If all you've heard is ranting and raving, you are about to hear something different. Is it a good game? yes. Is it worth the money? More than likely. But is it the holy grail? Hardly. It just felt like it was missing something when compared to previous Elder Scrolls games. They simplified the mechanics and character creation so much that it just didnt feel like there was enough customization as before.

I feel like that's the pattern...from Morrowind to Oblivion, and now to Skyrim.  Simplify and streamline, speed up pacing...do you think this is a result of targeting the Xbox audience more and more, and roleplayers less and less?  I think we need to admit it - as far as profit margin, I think we book reading role-players are more scarce than we used to be.

So fuck the mainstream. When the clowns at Obsidian get their hands on the Skyrim engine ( hah, I wish! ), maybe they'll make a decent TES game.

Thanks for the critical review, it's good to hear both sides of things!  Oblivion impressed me with its upgrade in mechanics, but the story line just was not immersive like Morrowind...and then as felt more and more thrown together and incomplete as it progressed, I was very let down.  I was hoping Skyrim would return to the feel and depth of Morrowind, and take the stunning mechanics and developing technology to the next level.  But I can't say I wouldn't be surprised if they just went more Oblivion style, with better execution.
I'm more curious about the Witcher II, now.  I never played that series, and always passed it off as something that would be too linear, all action and little depth, way more than Oblivion and Skyrim.  But when you think about it, it's not the ridiculous huge amount of quests that make a game deep...it's the characters, the stories, and the overall feel.  So even with fewer paths and a mostly linear styled story, I can see it being much more immersive if the characters are interesting and well developed.  Plus, I'm just gonna be honest here.  Some of those cut scene options look...fun.     Thanks again for your time and perspective.


Do you fellows play Xbox or PC versions of games?  And can we agree that if the world of Morrowind was recreated using the Skyrim engine, we'd disappear from our friends and family the first couple weeks after its release?

[Hemingway]

Thanks for the critical review, it's good to hear both sides of things!

It's what I'm here for. 

I'm more curious about the Witcher II, now.  I never played that series, and always passed it off as something that would be too linear, all action and little depth, way more than Oblivion and Skyrim.  But when you think about it, it's not the ridiculous huge amount of quests that make a game deep...it's the characters, the stories, and the overall feel.  So even with fewer paths and a mostly linear styled story, I can see it being much more immersive if the characters are interesting and well developed.  Plus, I'm just gonna be honest here.  Some of those cut scene options look...fun.     Thanks again for your time and perspective.

Well, there's two things I should mention. The first is that playing the first Witcher game isn't really necessary for enjoyment of the Witcher 2 ( or reading the novels it's based on, for that matter ). It might be worth reading a synopsis of the plot of the first game, but the story isn't a continuation of the one from the first. The second is something I forgot to mention in my previous post, which is that my first playthrough of the Witcher 2 took me a little over 20 hours, and I didn't even cover all the side quests and neat stuff I wanted to. In other words, it's a fairly linear game, but it's still huge.

[Inkidu]

I don't think Skyrim is any worse than Morrowind, and I think It's better than Oblivion. :\ I've played worse games, I've played few better.

Anyway, that's not why I'm here. I'm here to offer Hemingway an explanation for MGS2. Apparently, it's video gaming's Springtime for Hitler.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CreatorBacklash Video games section, first entry.

[Chipotle]

But all in all:

The Witcher 2 = $40 on Steam, down to $20 or even less used at various online stores...
Skyrim = $60 on Steam, down to $40 at various online stores if I'm lucky.

By the time I finish the Witcher 2, Bethesda will think up, design, and release something else amazing, and Skyrim will be $20. Right?

You guys familiar at all with the Elder Scrolls modding community?  There are is some amazing talent there, some of which gets hired right into Bethesda!  They've worked on projects to add Elsweyr and other regions of Tamriel to TES games.

[Hemingway]

After pressure from Konami and death threats from fans, Hideo Kojima tried to make Metal Gear Solid 4 as depressing as possible.

He succeeded, too! But it works really well. It suits the themes of the games.

The Witcher 2 = $40 on Steam, down to $20 or even less used at various online stores...

Not to beat a dead horse here, but The Witcher 2 is getting a massive overhaul / expansion in April ( assuming you register, so this might preclude buying used ).

For free.

Also, it's the same price on GoG.com as on Steam, and that's a damn good service, if you're concerned about DRM and such. I'm not sure it's a better option, I'm just throwing it out there.

[Sabby]

Playing Dead Space 2, New Game+. Trying a gun I never touched the first time, because it sounded pretty useless... a sniper rifle? Really? A pinpoint accurate long ranged weapon in a game where enemies usually appear three inches from my face and need to be decapitated? Pass.

Tried it, and in typical Dead Space fashion, the conventional weapons are actually more useful then the mining tools the entire 'strategic decapitation' gimmick is based around. Still, looks fucking awesome to tear an arm off at the shoulder so hard the fucker goes cartwheeling fountaining blood.

[Inkidu]

Playing Dead Space 2, New Game+. Trying a gun I never touched the first time, because it sounded pretty useless... a sniper rifle? Really? A pinpoint accurate long ranged weapon in a game where enemies usually appear three inches from my face and need to be decapitated? Pass.

Tried it, and in typical Dead Space fashion, the conventional weapons are actually more useful then the mining tools the entire 'strategic decapitation' gimmick is based around. Still, looks fucking awesome to tear an arm off at the shoulder so hard the fucker goes cartwheeling fountaining blood.

Actually, in Dead Space the assault rifle was the only non-mining tool and it blew so hard. It's better in 2, especially with the grenade alt-function. However, it still doesn't save you from the final boss on freaking Zealot difficulty. Fuck Zealot difficulty. The final boss is literally, hit, hit, hit, dead. That's not counting the actual one-hit-kill of the final boss...

The seeker rifle is mainly used to hunt seekers, but I figured out a long time ago that it's way too specialized. So I blow the leg off a seeker and use kenisis to throw a seeker claw into another seeker. If you're good you'll never run out. >:]

[Hemingway]

Actually, in Dead Space the assault rifle was the only non-mining tool and it blew so hard. It's better in 2, especially with the grenade alt-function. However, it still doesn't save you from the final boss on freaking Zealot difficulty. Fuck Zealot difficulty. The final boss is literally, hit, hit, hit, dead. That's not counting the actual one-hit-kill of the final boss...

The seeker rifle is mainly used to hunt seekers, but I figured out a long time ago that it's way too specialized. So I blow the leg off a seeker and use kenisis to throw a seeker claw into another seeker. If you're good you'll never run out. >:]

You should try playing The Witcher 2 on Dark difficulty. I was playing it last night, and some fucking Nekker warrior - which isn't even like a rare elite monster or anything, just a somewhat stronger version of the easiest monsters you'll meet - comes up to me and kills me IN ONE HIT.

I imagine I'll probably get to the boss of chapter 1, then give up.

In other news, I managed to get my hands on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. It was surprisingly cheap, and I didn't even buy it used, so I'm happy.

[Sabby]

You should try playing The Witcher 2 on Dark difficulty. I was playing it last night, and some fucking Nekker warrior

WHOA