So, what're you playing?

[Ingmar]

I think they added almost all that stuff back in with the Second Wave patch.

[jakonovski]

You can buy more interceptors from the hangar interface or transfer ones from other areas.

Just to make sure I'm communicating clearly, as this game's interface confuses the shit out of me: I have three interceptors total, one in Africa, two in Europe. When the UFO popped up, I sent the African plane. I had to break off because of too much damage, so now the UFO flies all over the place on my map. I click on the UFO icon, it only gives me the option to resend the African plane, which of course is impossible because it's being repaired.

Can I somehow scramble the European planes?

[Yegolev]

Shut down everything.

[jakonovski]

I might, as I just heard Simcity has some sweet new product placement content added to it!

[Fabricated]

Odd, you should be able to send any other plane you have in the same hangar.

[jakonovski]

Odd, you should be able to send any other plane you have in the same hangar.

Ah, so that's it! The remaining planes are in Europe, the African hangar only has the one.

Makes no sense to me, the bloody UFO is hovering practically on top of the EU base, why can't they do anything?

[Yegolev]

Yea I don't think you can scramble fighter planes over that distance.

To keep on track a bit:

I've been playing GT5 some more.  Considering getting a racing wheel.  iknowrite

Have mostly avoided Terraria, although I did learn some things I should have learned when it first came out.

Some Shadowhearts Covenant.  I have had a couple freezes since the Nvidia driver update, but I'm not sure that it is related since emulation is a gamble anyway.  However some graphical glitches during Judgement Ring make me think it's possibly related enough that I might roll back.

Played Quantum Conundrum until I didn't want to play it anymore.  That took about two hours.

[Nayr]

Right now I'm replaying Catherine on PS3. Good game.

[Rendakor]

I'm playing lots of TERA; probably the best truly F2P MMO I've played. Going to see how things work in a static group of PKers later tonight.

I took a break from EOIV right before the boss of the 3rd Maze, and now I can't be arsed to pick it back up because dealing with those stupid flaming scales is such a pain in the ass. I might just Retire my whole party and level them back up as an excuse to do something other than fuck with that stupid room again.

Also picked up Lumines for the Vita; unfortunately it's almost exactly the same game as the PSP one and the only notable change (a new block that randomizes all blocks that touch it) sort of sucks. I got through all of the different 'stages' of arcade mode my first time playing it and now I'm not sure if I'll go back.

[Fabricated]

Odd, you should be able to send any other plane you have in the same hangar.

Ah, so that's it! The remaining planes are in Europe, the African hangar only has the one.

Makes no sense to me, the bloody UFO is hovering practically on top of the EU base, why can't they do anything?

The interception thing is really, really simplified- interceptors can only chase UFOs that are actually considered to be attacking/flying over the country bloc their hangar covers. Asia, North America, etc

Oh yeah, if you get the impression the aliens are trying to lose in a fun way and you're playing on easy/normal, they are. The AI literally has a 10-15% chance of intentionally doing something dumb on those difficulty levels.

Personally my biggest pet peeve is how obnoxious like 90% of the terror mission maps are with their multi-level indoor shit. You think the camera hates you now? Try reliably moving around/throwing grenades/etc inside a multistory building. Also the terror missions will literally plop citizens on roofs you can't get to without skeleton/ghost/archangel armors.This sounds cool until you realize chrysalids can get just about anywhere.

Edit: Here's the link to the toolbox: http://xcom.nexusmods.com/mods/79

It doesn't do anything super fancy- all of the options are stuff that are already in the game, but dummied out for no particularly good reason.  This includes a bunch of kinda interesting game modifiers.

* Display Soldiers' XP During Tactical Missions
* Configurable Ability Hot-Keys
* Configurable Camera - Free rotation, Max/Min zoom etc
* Selective Recruitment - Select the nationality and gender probability of new recruits
* Select the Class that Rookies will be promoted as
* Psi Probability
* Skip Startup Movies
* Fast Motion
* Enable Developer Shell
* Skip Revealed Aliens Cutscenes
* Revealed Aliens Only Move After XCOM Turn
* Disable Panicked Friendly Fire
* Alien Abductions in Nations with Satellite Coverage
* Disable Disappearing Corpses
* Disable Narrative
* Remove Overwatch and Hunker-Down delay after activating
* Adjust the amount of Will a soldier loses when they are critically wounded
* Action Cam for Missed Shots
* Action Cam for Every Dash
* Custom Mods

[Cyrrex]

I signed up for this Playstation Plus thing, because it seems to be a pretty good value overall.  As a result, I have been playing the newish Mortal Kombat (from 2011) with my kids.  I know that by 1990 standards this game would be considered unacceptably violent for kids their age, but the goalposts really have moved.  The game is still tactictally very good and fun to play (the formula has not changed much at all, and the kids actually really like it).  And really, some of the moves are just hilarious to watch.  Test Your Luck mode is also occasionally hysterical.

[Xilren's Twin]

Okay, Seraphim officially did a bad thing for me and showed me Eador.  It's a russian fantasy strategy game along the lines of Heroes of Might and Magic, but with way, way more depth and things to do.  It came out in like 2009 in russian, and looks like it just recently got an english version released.  I couldn't make myself stop playing it yesterday.  It's for sale on GoG right now, and it's pure evil.  

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/eador_genesis

That said, it does have one very nasty technical issue.  It runs like crap on any sort of recent computer, and needs to have the CPU throttled down to play it. If you do the stupid thing and buy this on my recommendation, and have mouse lag and sound issues on the main menu, go to the settings, shut off the sounds, and start up a second copy of the game and play that one instead.  It should work fine.  There are some other ways of making it work right, but that's probably the easiest.

So, Steam's feature games tells me the sequel to this game Eador: Masters of the Broken World, will be released this month and if you pre-order it they throw in the original Eador Genesis for free.  I think the above post is the only one i can find reference to the original, but I'm a sucker for TBS games.  Anyone else have experience with the original or know more about the sequel?  This game when through the Greenlight process but for all i know that means it was voted up by the Russian mob...

http://store.steampowered.com/app/232050/

[Yegolev]

I'll download it based entirely on Ard's recommendation.  Also $20 for two games.

[Seraphim]

Okay, Seraphim officially did a bad thing for me and showed me Eador.  It's a russian fantasy strategy game along the lines of Heroes of Might and Magic, but with way, way more depth and things to do.  It came out in like 2009 in russian, and looks like it just recently got an english version released.  I couldn't make myself stop playing it yesterday.  It's for sale on GoG right now, and it's pure evil.  

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/eador_genesis

That said, it does have one very nasty technical issue.  It runs like crap on any sort of recent computer, and needs to have the CPU throttled down to play it. If you do the stupid thing and buy this on my recommendation, and have mouse lag and sound issues on the main menu, go to the settings, shut off the sounds, and start up a second copy of the game and play that one instead.  It should work fine.  There are some other ways of making it work right, but that's probably the easiest.

So, Steam's feature games tells me the sequel to this game Eador: Masters of the Broken World, will be released this month and if you pre-order it they throw in the original Eador Genesis for free.  I think the above post is the only one i can find reference to the original, but I'm a sucker for TBS games.  Anyone else have experience with the original or know more about the sequel?  This game when through the Greenlight process but for all i know that means it was voted up by the Russian mob...

http://store.steampowered.com/app/232050/

Genesis is one of the more interesting TBS games I've played in the last few years. The new one is supposedly more a "remastered edition" then a sequel, giving the game a well needed facelift, is is still worth €20? Most likely and I've already pre-ordered it.
If you still need to convince yourself you can always take a look at Das youtube channel to see how it plays out. He also has some videos up of a beta build of the upcoming game.

Back on topic mostly Path of Exile and Age of Wonders:SM at the moment, starting to get that Borderlands itch though what with yesterdays level cap increase and pearl weapons added.

[HaemishM]

The Diablo 3 talk in the forums made me want to try a Diablo-like game (not Diablo because Fuck Diablo) so I installed Titan Quest, knowing that was supposed to be a decent iteration of the formula.

When does it become anything more than CLICKETY-CLICKETY-CLICK LOOT BAGS? Maybe choosing Warfare as my skill tree was destined to bore me, but if ever there was a game where I feel I'm missing the game, story and hook other than obsessive vendor trash gathering and progressquest mechanics, this is it. I feel like Pavlov's Dog playing it because despite seeing the naked cynicism of it, I still have to stop myself from doing the "one more screen" thing.

[Fabricated]

Full on warfare amounts to like 2000 passives and a banner spell as you slog through mobs pretty much. I enjoyed it because melee-focused characters can cause hilarious rag dolls with crits since the ragdolls fly depending on how bad you overkill them.

An act or two later, try porting back to the first zone and just watch as you send clusters of goatmen into the stratosphere. It's strangely gratifying.

[dusematic]

Started playing Xenoblade Chronicles.  Had to drive to Gambills Maryland to get it, the Gamestop Dude said it was one of only 4 copies he could see on their system in toto.  They sold it to me for $60 and it was just a bare disc with no manual in a paper sleeve.  The game was $50 brand new.  On Ebay it's selling for $150.

Anyway, I'm 2 hours in and I can say that this is the best RPG I've played since FF6.  It may end up being the best RPG I've ever played.

[Paelos]

Full on warfare amounts to like 2000 passives and a banner spell as you slog through mobs pretty much. I enjoyed it because melee-focused characters can cause hilarious rag dolls with crits since the ragdolls fly depending on how bad you overkill them.

An act or two later, try porting back to the first zone and just watch as you send clusters of goatmen into the stratosphere. It's strangely gratifying.

That's true. I designed a mini-game in my head called goatman baseball that had me giggling at the computer.

[jakonovski]

Oh god, I so have to get that Eador game. In revenge, I shall tell you people about Warlock -- Master of the Arcane: Armageddon. Haven't played it yet myself, but I have it on good authority that the Armageddon dlc pack transforms the game into something beautiful.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/206590/

In other news, I've finally reached the point in XCom where RNG rules. It's such a relief, even though I'm still calling the whole thing blasphemy against the original.

edit: also I really have to say this again because it irritates me so much. The UI design in XCom is horrid, it conveys information really badly and makes you do a huge amount of needless clicking. Almost as if it was an afterthought in a game seriously dumbed down for consoles.

[Ratman_tf]

A few more missions in, and I'm hating XCom more and more. It's so restricted compared to the original, I can't stand it. Horrible camera that confuses you constantly, tiny and/or corridor like maps, rigid move-shoot only, one piece of gear, no picking anything off the ground, no priming grenades, and most irritiating of all, you can't get a jump on the aliens.

There is something intensely satisfying in precisely positioning your troops in the original, in managing all the little things so that the odds slowly stack in your favor. I get none of that feeling here, just an action game trapped in a turn based shell full of fuzziness and bad controls.

Even the challenge feels rigged somehow (even if it largely isn't), like the game is putting forward an AAA blockbuster show where the events have to go just so. I miss getting a blaster bomb right through the cargo doors of the Skyranger on turn one.

Heh. I'm playing a classic difficulty game in new X-Com and the original side by side right now.

I had two missions in original where it took 20ish minutes to hunt down the last sectoid/floater hiding in the back of a barn.
*Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch*
Any aliens yet? Nope.
*Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch* *Move, overwatch*
Fuck that shit.

[jakonovski]

I didn't mind hunting the last alien, even if it wasn't ideal. I'm starting to realize that I'm perhaps the biggest fanboi of the original X-Com. That and Steel Panthers defined my teenage years.

[Ironwood]

The Diablo 3 talk in the forums made me want to try a Diablo-like game (not Diablo because Fuck Diablo) so I installed Titan Quest, knowing that was supposed to be a decent iteration of the formula.

When does it become anything more than CLICKETY-CLICKETY-CLICK LOOT BAGS? Maybe choosing Warfare as my skill tree was destined to bore me, but if ever there was a game where I feel I'm missing the game, story and hook other than obsessive vendor trash gathering and progressquest mechanics, this is it. I feel like Pavlov's Dog playing it because despite seeing the naked cynicism of it, I still have to stop myself from doing the "one more screen" thing.

It doesn't.

[Yegolev]

When does it become anything more than CLICKETY-CLICKETY-CLICK LOOT BAGS?

That's the main part of the genre.  The story in Diablo is a McGuffin on the level of Princess Peach.  Hell, there isn't even a princess, you just need to kill Bowser.  There was a story in D2 but, really, who gives a shit when you just need to get some runewords?

TQ has some good points, like some physics and I like the art style.  The items are slightly fucked, though.  Maybe the story is OK, I don't know, I didn't listen to the non-vendor NPCs much.  I guess it's "THIS IS GREECE, NOT TRISTRAM, GO KILL THIS GREEKY BOSS", then "THIS IS EGYPT..."  If you don't like killing things for loot then this isn't the genre for you.

Personally I'm a big fan of Path of Exile, but I'm all about the slot machine shit, and the leveling.  A D2 clone where I can level items?  Yes, please.  Plus it's F2P in a Good Way; I gave them $20 for a generous stash upgrade.  There seems to be a story but it's not finished and I also I don't care.

[koro]

I could never get past the abysmally slow opening hours of Titan Quest. Nothing but autoattack and kind of aura-style buffs is boring as shit. Maybe I should try a spellcaster or something some time and see if it gets to the fun quicker.

[Zetor]

I didn't mind hunting the last alien, even if it wasn't ideal. I'm starting to realize that I'm perhaps the biggest fanboi of the original X-Com. That and Steel Panthers defined my teenage years.

IMO hunt-the-last-alien wasn't that bad in the original X-com. Lobstermen hiding in one of the 4564356 1-tile rooms In TFTD's 3-level (and 3-phase!) cargo ship maps, though? Fuck that noise.

[Yegolev]

I could never get past the abysmally slow opening hours of Titan Quest. Nothing but autoattack and kind of aura-style buffs is boring as shit. Maybe I should try a spellcaster or something some time and see if it gets to the fun quicker.

My issue is that when you get to that point, the itemization has gone to hell.

[Sky]

Divine Divinity was the best Diablo.

[murdoc]

My gaming ADD is trouble right now.

Games I am currently in the middle of or playing:

Guild Wars 2
Torch Light 2
Sleeping Dogs
Far Cry 3
Bioshock Infinite
Dishonored
I was tempted to get Battleblock Theater because I love the Behemoth guys and spent a lot of time playing Castle Crashers with friends.

[HaemishM]

Yep, Titan Quest is not for me. Played about 30 more minutes, crashed, had no desire to play again, uninstalled. I'm going to try Path of Exile today but I don't think it's Titan Quest so much as I really really hate the Diablo genre of ARPG's. I feel like I'm playing a slot machine, only without free drinks and black lung.

[Sky]

Haemsalad: http://www.gog.com/gamecard/divine_divinity

Includes free drinks and black lung. It's an older game, but I figure if you were playing TQ, may as well give it a shot. It's sorta Diablo mechanics meets Ultima world.

[jakonovski]

Gonna bore you with XCom ranting again: what is wrong with this game's morale system? The team that aced the alien base is now panicking because a sectoid shot off a single health point? At one point three of them chain shot each other because a rookie took a critical hit.

[Rasix]

Gonna bore you with XCom ranting again

[jakonovski]

I think I figured out why the game is so annoying (on Classic): there's  not that much you can do to influence odds. In the original you could get incredibly creative to beat the odds, but here every option limited so you always have to do the same basic thing, namely ensconce everyone in cover and then aggro the aliens with a fast support dude who lures them to the killzone.

TLDR, gonna play some original X-Com to cleanse my palate and then try fiddling with the new one's .ini.

[Ingmar]

Gonna bore you with XCom ranting again: what is wrong with this game's morale system? The team that aced the alien base is now panicking because a sectoid shot off a single health point? At one point three of them chain shot each other because a rookie took a critical hit.

Random numbers are random.

[jakonovski]

Gonna bore you with XCom ranting again: what is wrong with this game's morale system? The team that aced the alien base is now panicking because a sectoid shot off a single health point? At one point three of them chain shot each other because a rookie took a critical hit.

Random numbers are random.

Naw, too simple saying that. The test difficulty should be weighed according to context, and there ought to be some kind of a threshold. Maybe there's modifiers according to mission type as well? Who knows, but I'd like to.