So, what're you playing?

[Sky]

Darkstar One. Awesome in 3D vision except the background starfield and fog is 2D. It's possible to focus on the 3D stuff, but it's too bad it has that distraction...dogfighting through a debris field against pirates raiding a space hulk is AMAZING in 3D. Game itself is decent, space shooter with light trading. I think you only get the one upgradeable ship, since it's the title of the game. Arcade controls, no wing commander advanced physics tactics (boo). Still, you don't need 15 add-on programs to make it work, I'm just using the 360 controller and kbam in combination.

And it was the price of a large soda and came with two free games.

[Morat20]

So, started Jade Empire on Xbox (got it off their classic games list). Without the instruction manual I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

I'm okay with the fighting, but the "magic" stuff confuses me. On the other hand, the 1942-style air battles amuse me.

[Strazos]

I never really fooled with the magic much, to be honest.

[Amaron]

So, started Jade Empire on Xbox (got it off their classic games list). Without the instruction manual I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

I really love that game but the magic in it is basically ass.   Plus I hate to say it now that you have the xbox version but for some reason I remember the PC version making some changes that made it far better.    Something about the combat was different and far less annoying.  Maybe someone else has a better memory.

[Strazos]

All you need for the final boss is Thousand Cuts + Paralyzing Palm, cycle to win. Everything else is just for variety.

[Minvaren]

2 more days until Witcher 2.

And then a day of downloading.

And no PSN for Rock Band 3 tunes expansion.



Hmm, Master of Magic CD....

[Morat20]

So, started Jade Empire on Xbox (got it off their classic games list). Without the instruction manual I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

I really love that game but the magic in it is basically ass.   Plus I hate to say it now that you have the xbox version but for some reason I remember the PC version making some changes that made it far better.    Something about the combat was different and far less annoying.  Maybe someone else has a better memory.

I've come to that conclusion. My character is Scholar Ling, so I started with Leaping Tiger and Heavenly Wave. Um, I got the sword over the staff. I think I'm going to ditch Ice. Right now I have Tiger, Thief, Sword (Fortune's Favorite), and Ice hotkeyed. I think I'll replace Ice with either Wave or one of the Transforms -- the Horse Demon, perhaps.

I mostly use Sword, unless it's ghosts, and only switch to Thief if my Chi gets low.

The "Attack/support" options for my followers is interesting. It seems like attack does jack, though, other than maybe tie up a guy or two while I'm fighting. Might switch to the Drunken Master guy or Dawn Star on pure support.

Interesting concept, but it reeks of Bioware plot. :)

[Strazos]

Has anyone played Jade Empire on the PC? Does it practically require a controller to be playable?

[Sky]

I used a controller.

[Tebonas]

I played without a controller, but its been long enough that I don't know if it was a hassle or not. I was able to finish it without quitting out of frustration, that much I remember 

[Merusk]

I didn't use a controller and stopped playing, like Tebonas.  The combat was so assy that I couldn't get past the first big fight with the pirate dudes without cheating, so I said fuck it.

[Morat20]

I didn't use a controller and stopped playing, like Tebonas.  The combat was so assy that I couldn't get past the first big fight with the pirate dudes without cheating, so I said fuck it.

I had to turn that down to "easy" because it was multiple fights with no real chance to heal between them, and I was still sorting out the damn controls. (Like I didn't figure out how to do AoE until later, didn't realize my 'follower' was on support and thus wasn't distracting a few thugs, didn't know how to use Chi or Focus properly....)

It was a ridiculously tough little fight so early in the game, when you'd had maybe two or three real fights prior. (The sparring just helped you learn the controls, nothing more).

[Strazos]

I don't know why, but so many earlier BioWare games have absolutely lol-tastic final bosses:

 - Sarevok and friends could just be more-or-less AE'ed into oblivion
 - I don't remember the fight with Irenicus, but Mellisen (or whatever her name was) is practically 1-shottable (technically two, but my Jaheira somehow landed a Harm spell, bringing her down to 1 HP)
 - Final guy in Jade can be permanately stun-locked

I'm sure I'm missing other points of hilarity.

[Tebonas]

I always saw Bioware endfights not as a final challenge, but as a final "Fuck you" to whoever dragged me through the whole game kicking and screaming, giving me enough experience and equipment to effortlessly pummel him silly at the end.

In short, payback for hours and hours of pissing me off. And I don't even give them the satisfaction of making it difficult for me. Loving it! 

[Yegolev]

Pokemon Soul Silver, which is actually fascinating.  The boy has Heart Gold, and he's really, really getting into it.  Already worrying about replacing moves!  This morning on the way to school he says he will replace Tackle since everyone has that.
Just Cause 2.
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, which is no longer getting DLC for some reason.
Borderlands on 360, finding the Underdome to be tedious.
Lego Star Wars III.
Watching the wife and boy play Lego Pirates.

[Ingmar]

Finally got around to trying EU: Rome, and it is probably already in my top 3 Paradox games. Kinda sorta hybrids in some elements from Crusader Kings which is probably my favorite.

[cironian]

Dug out the old PS2 (wow, it has just as much online gaming as the PS3 now!) and reloaded my old God Hand save where I quit a long time ago in frustration over one boss (Shannon). Once I finally got past her, the game reminded me of how awesome it really is. Like in Demon's Souls, every completed stage feels like an accomplishment. Twice so for bosses.

[Azazel]

GoG games don't include any DRM right? Will that be so for The Witcher 2 as well?

I mean, I don't mind buying and paying for it, I just want to make sure I'm able to access the full version of the game and not a regionally-modified one... 

[Paelos]

I think I've put in 40 hours now on M&B: With Fire and Sword

[Strazos]

GoG games don't include any DRM right? Will that be so for The Witcher 2 as well?

I mean, I don't mind buying and paying for it, I just want to make sure I'm able to access the full version of the game and not a regionally-modified one... 

GOG games have never had DRM, as far as I am aware. If the game's page doesn't say anything about DRM, I would assume it has none.

[jakonovski]

GOG is rather open about how EU customers get screwed: the US version is advertised on the front page for $50, and when you click on it, it shows the EU price as "now 10% off, only €45 (we'll bill you the equivalent in dollars, $60)".

[Tebonas]

And they give you a 15 dollar Bonus to offset that price difference.

[Jeff Kelly]

To be fair to GoG, you'd have to compare prices including VAT. In most (if not all of Europe) prices are given including VAT. So assuming a UK residence for GoG Europe (19% VAT) those $50 are actually $59,50 so it's actually the same price.

[Gruntle]

L.A. Noire!

Finally a reason to wear a fedora around the house (I was already going to wear the trench-coat)

[Ingmar]

I have LA Noire in the car waiting for me, but I may leave off starting it til this weekend when Sjofn is out of town as we finally have LOTRO characters the same level and there is SKIRMISHING to be done.

[Malakili]

Lots of Brink.  Thinking of starting a second character to focus on operative since it seems pretty under played.

[Nightblade]

Lots of Brink.  Thinking of starting a second character to focus on operative since it seems pretty under played.

You're making me want to return sell my recently acquired tablet pc to buy this game, then I remember the last time I listened to you I bought starcraft 2 and played it for all of 2 hours.

[Malakili]

Lots of Brink.  Thinking of starting a second character to focus on operative since it seems pretty under played.

You're making me want to return sell my recently acquired tablet pc to buy this game, then I remember the last time I listened to you I bought starcraft 2 and played it for all of 2 hours.

I like to play competitive online games, this should be fairly well known by now.  That being said, it is worth playing through the entire single player starcraft 2 campaign if you haven't completed it, even if you go through on easy difficulty or whatever, its pretty fun.

[Yegolev]

Terraria.  See associated thread.
Borderlands, 360.  Beat the Space Vagina in a team of three last night, so on to Playthrough 2.
Pokemon Soul Silver.

[Mrbloodworth]

Brink, Section 8, and Minecraft.

[Morat20]

Brink, Section 8, and Minecraft.

Is Minecraft worth the, what, 20 bucks? I futzed around with the browser version of it and wasn't terribly enthused.

[Ingmar]

Brink, Section 8, and Minecraft.

Is Minecraft worth the, what, 20 bucks? I futzed around with the browser version of it and wasn't terribly enthused.

Not to play solo, IMO. Multiplayer survival is pretty fun, especially in the beginning when you don't know how the fuck anything works and oh god what is that green thing *kaboom*. I mean the same thing happens in single player, but it was way more compelling as a shared experience in this case.

For me the fun eventually wore off a bit once I understood how everything worked, built a few giant structures, etc.

[proudft]

Yeah, Minecraft suffers a bit once you figure out enough of the game to survive anything given half a day of game time and a tree to punch.  But on the bright side, if you're playing solo, that might take you longer than with a group.  

I thought I paid only $13 for it, though.  Maybe the price went up.

But if you can figure out a 'project' in game you can make your own fun pretty easily even after you get the trick of surviving.  I mined specifically for diamonds for a while, and when I got bored with that, I started making a football stadium that is going to easily take at least a week or three to finish (and incidentally stole everyone else's wool for the lines, muhuhaha).

For me right now it is Minecraft, Titan Quest the Expansion, and LOTRO.  With the occasional Blood Bowl game when required.

[Fordel]

Minecraft pretty quickly becomes less about "Oh Gawd dig faster Ingmar they are right behind us  " and more about "How can I bend this world to my will bwhahaha  "


Once you learn how stuff works, the survival/spelunking aspect just fades away. We can turn a brand new world map into civilization in a short afternoon now, complete with rail/boat transport, vast farm lands, precise mining operations and turning monsters from menace into production lines. 



Really the biggest challenge on a new map is finding the skeleton spawner 

[Mrbloodworth]

Brink, Section 8, and Minecraft.

Is Minecraft worth the, what, 20 bucks? I futzed around with the browser version of it and wasn't terribly enthused.

I play on a private server with friends, and now, some F13 people. We do survival mode. Its worth every penny. We normally have a number of group projects going on, we tend to the "Build a living world" goals rather than the "Build giant cocks".