So, what're you playing?

[Rasix]

Bravely Default is neat.  I wasn't expecting the production values or the humor.  Game reminds me of Shadow Hearts 2 in the humor department, which is promising.  I wanted to play yesterday, but I forgot to plugin/turn off the DS the night before.   

D3 with a little GW2 also thrown in.  D3 is fun, if a bit arm-rapey.  In GW2, TC is now a tier 1 server, and they're doing great as long as JQ and BG continue to not care.  At least it's better than SoR, who was actively tanking (or just THAT bad, who knows?) so they could drop out of tier 1.

[Ingmar]

I just did a bunch of GalCiv2 a week ago, and had the same feeling. I can't explain it, but "flat" is really the word for it. Just, nothing hooks me. It feels like a great 4X AI & mechanics in search of a game.

It has the most boring tech tree in the history of tech trees is part of the problem.

[Sky]

Also a lot of the starship discoveries are "1% increase to blah" which is cool cumulatively, but doesn't make for very interesting discovery for an explorer mindset.

[Merusk]

The tech tree in GalCiv has always mistaken "long" for "Deep."

It's like the early WoW talent trees.  Hundreds of +1 to <stat> vs +4 for a skill that just takes more RP and adding some additional flavor/ drawbacks to others.

[Lantyssa]

I don't think anyone's done tech trees right since MoO 1.  I don't know if it's because there was a semi-random chance or what.  Newer games always seem to devolve into a race for the most tech points with no strategy or luck involved.

[Sky]

Well, there was a certain mod for Civ IV that did a pretty good job at widening the tech tree to the point where you had to focus on one main strategy that complimented your civ and also made the various branches have a significant impact on the gameplay and flavor.

[Rendakor]

Bravely Default, just got the airship. I'm still very early but I've made a lot of progress in rebuilding the city since I've got like 40 streetpass people helping (hurray for taking my 3DS to a weeaboo filled concert!). I've finally figured out my specific complaint regarding the graphics: the character models look like a bad 3D interpretation of the Final Fantasy Tactics art. Most 3DS games suffer from bad polygonal graphics (sub PSX) in service to the gimmick 3d no one uses, when using FFVI-style sprites would look much better. Other than graphics, it's a fantastic game; plenty of comedy, a city builder minigame, good character customization, and a Japanese audio track!

Back into Minecraft too; started playing the new Tekkit solo, then hopped onto Nix's server. I'm not very far yet, but I haven't played seriously since the IC/EE2 era so it feels very new again.

I've also got the Tales of Symphonia HD CE sitting here unopened, waiting for a free evening for me to crack it open.

[Xanthippe]

Don't Starve (Steam). Hadn't played it for a long while, and the updates have made it a new game. Really fun. I get a little further every time I play. There are mods for it as well, which I haven't checked out yet.

[Flood]

Warframe still, quite a bit.  But Diablo III was on sale recently (I guess, it was down to $19.00 from $39.00) so I've been getting into that, after reading all the positive "post patch" posts.  I haven't really got that much time into it yet but my Monk is level 17 on Normal.  It's a very polished game.

[rk47]

Reinstalled Skyrim:  requiem mod, known for its brutal difficulty curve.
Tried breton mage.
Used live a life mod to skip the banal prison shit.
Spawned near dawnstar as bandit
Walked a bit off the cliff, frost troll spotted me, died in one hit.
Quickload before death, ran like hell after sneak failed to bypass it.
Made it out - quiksave.
Ran into 4 wolves. this should be easy.
Nope.
Died as 3 lunged at me. got no bow to sneak attack.
OK, distribute perk time. Conjuration 20? Sure why not?
Summon skeleton, it fell in one lunge, but that was enough for me to run to winterhold, where i should be able to join the mage guild and have some kind of 'career mage start'
'Why do you want to join college?'
'I want to master the destructive force of ice and fire,' Sheila said.
'Ok so cast an advanced light spell (alteration) to prove you are a good mage to enter this college'
'Uhhhh....'

Derp. 170 mana cost with 5 alteration.
Not enough mana.
Not enough gold to buy a magicka boosting gear either.
Ok. I recall an american girl did porn to get into college.
Time to get to work. Radiant Prostitution Mod to the rescue.
By work meaning prostituting myself to afford a 1500 gold - magicka+50 ring.
about 9-15 customers later, I got the ring and cast the Mage Light II on that stupid circle.
'WOW OK UR IN'

I put on my wizard robe and hat, ready for a magical adventure.

[Threash]

Last Dream, great old timey rpg goodness.

[koro]

Last Dream, great old timey rpg goodness.

There's a 3-hour demo on the game's site as well, by the way.

[Nightblade]

Last Dream, great old timey rpg goodness.

I can't see where the 12,000 dollars of kickstarter money went.

[Rendakor]

Started playing Banished, enjoying it so far. Tried a few times on Hard but that was a bad call for someone with no experience. Restarted on Medium and having much better luck. I think I'm on my third or fourth year with only a few deaths (Stonecutting is dangerous, apparently).

Lost interest in Bravely Default, so looking for a new handheld game to play. Deception 4 comes out for Vita on Tues so it'll probably be that; if it sucks I guess I'll open Danganronpa.

[schild]

I'm actually stoked to get the Vita Slim or I guess just the Vita this May. There are enough good games coming out for it and frankly, Borderlands 2 on that thing will be awesome. Didn't even know the new Deception was dropping for it. I think there's a good Dynasty Warriors for it as well. Weeeeeee.

[Rendakor]

I'd planned to get Deception on the PS3 but heard it was coming for Vita so went with that instead. It's a really good handheld and the library is actually shaping up nicely. I didn't know Borderlands 2 was coming to it either, that's great news.

[Fabricated]

Risk of Rain. It's really fun but man getting characters unlocked when you're as bad at it as I am is frustrating.

[Quinton]

Checked out the PS3 FF10 remaster.  Graphics are nicer but the game still shows its age and unskippable cutscenes are brutal.

Playing way too much Diablo 3 and expect that to continue with the expansion dropping tonight.

[Sky]

Minecraft on Nix's server. The best game ever made, and continues to baffle me how nobody can seem to make a higher budget version without utterly fucking it up.

[Hutch]

Minecraft on Nix's server. The best game ever made, and continues to baffle me how nobody can seem to make a higher budget version without utterly fucking it up.

An actual budget would mean milestones, bureaucracy, and endless changes of direction, because the people with the money don't understand games.

[Yegolev]

Notch doesn't understand games, either.

[Paelos]

I don't understand engineering in Minecraft.

[Sky]

Come to my place tonight and I can show you my retard level production line that turns cobble into stone brick.

[Morat20]

I really should get Minecraft.

[Ironwood]

Everyone should.

[Bunk]

Yes, you probably should.

Started playing Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea 2 last night.

You play this one from Elizabeth's perspective. It's more stealth shooter than the last game, but really I think its about trying to figure out what ridiculously overwrought ideas Levine crammed in to this story.

Being more a stealth game should at least make this DLC last longer than the last one. Plays in to my style of slow methodical exploration as well. Two hours in I think I've only been through four rooms.
Haven't killed anyone yet, either.

[Father mike]

Going to play Burial at Sea 2 tomorrow when I can devote a good chunk of time to it.

When I heard that this one was more stealthy, it really gave me a WTF moment.  Not because it's a bad fit, but because going with this would have moderated so many of cognitive dissonance moments of the main game.

[MrHat]

Reaper of Souls with all my might.

I'm a college student again.

I literally fell asleep with the unique brown laser light all over my eyelids.

[HaemishM]

Finished the main original campaign for Shadowrun Returns. Very nice - very good cyberpunk ending. The last fight got hairy but I made it through in one play. I look forward to grabbing Dragonfall when it goes on sale sometime in the future. Now I'm trying to figure out what I want to play in its place.

[ghost]

I really enjoyed Shadowrun Returns, but it seemed a bit too short and a bit too constrained for my liking.  I'd give it an A minus. 

Right now I'm playing through some adventure games.  It's not a popular genre, but I wish they'd pick it back up a bit.  Just finished Scratches, which could have used a little bit better production and now am playing Syberia, which is pretty charming so far. 

[rk47]

This game is too good.

[Rendakor]

Wtf is that and why is it translated so...oddly?

[koro]

It's not translated, it's a game developed by Western weeaboos.

It's called Go! Go! Nippon! and I'm not going to link it because I'd have to look for one and no.

[Kail]

It's on Steam, I think, if you want it.  Allegedly some kind of dating sim/sightseeing tour or something.

[Stormwaltz]

It's not translated, it's a game developed by Western weeaboos.

It was made in Japan, for North America. Think of it as an attempt to make a travel guide in visual novel format. The main point is supposed to be (I've not not played it) introduction to Japanese culture, history, and language.

Phoneticizing the character's broken English seems like a dubious call to me. Unless it has VO too, so you don't have to spend mental bandwidth translating the translation.