So, what're you playing?

[ghost]

Take your boy with you.  He would love the adventure.

[Yegolev]

You need one of those baby packs.  You know, like in that pic of me playing Metroid Prime with my son strapped to my chest?

[Rasix]

Well, if he wakes up in the middle of the night, I know what our activity is going to be.  I'm still at the point where I value him being asleep more than hour 1 video game releases.  He would have fun, but might be a bit frustrated at the gaggle of nerds ignoring his charms.

Bought Persona 3: Portable for an excuse to turn on my PSP.

[WayAbvPar]

I'm still at the point where I value him being asleep

Heh, yep. That is key. Otherwise it is impossible to get anything done, except maybe a bit of reading if he is busy playing with his toys. Gaming is a no go for sure.

[ghost]

Mine is at the point where I value me being asleep.  And we have another due in October.  Yes, we've figured out how it works.   

[rk47]

Daggerfall is pretty nice for those boring nights with no games to play. Saw the long line of Starcraft II launch here in Singapore today, but not really my cup of tea. Maybe I'll hit it up for LAN Cafe co-op this Friday, but will not purchase it.

[Sky]

People actually buy games at the store? 

Steam, Amazon.

Last time I was in a b&m that stocked video games was just to show the fiancee what different notebook screen felt like in person (before buying one online).

On topic, FFH2 again. I totally blame Lum.

[rk47]

Well there was one bald guy signing copies for the long snaking queues. I'm sorry, I don't really follow their dev, but maybe it's someone important. And there was a live match between two guys on the big screen.

The queues were collecting pre-orders which went for a streetprice of SGD $109 here (fucking robbery), at first I didn't believe my friend when he said it's Starcraft II queues, but one dude in the queue said 'This is nothing, Burning Crusade was MUCH longer!'   

[jakonovski]

Starrrrrcrrrraft! 2!

It's like distilled 90s, brings back memories and all. I got the collectors' edition, couldn't resist the rad USB stick with the first game preloaded, and the delicious art book. I'll curse this game to the lowest pits of hell when I try multiplayer though. I just know it.

[rk47]

Yeah. I know the feeling. Knowing the limit of my macro was an ego buster, after that, I wasn't so inclined to be good at it anymore. It's literally harder to play Starcraft II than to do my day job.

[ghost]

I go to Gamestop to trade in some games that I don't like, but that's it.

[Yegolev]

Just Cause 2.  Every time I see another new thing to collect, I get a mild boner.  Also I have cleared out a military base that spawns an attack chopper, which is rad.  Last night I was showing my wife how I crack a military base: first locate a mounted gun, then stomp around like Jesse Ventura.

[Segoris]

first locate a mounted gun, then stomp around like Jesse Ventura.

 

I played a little bit of TF2 the last few nights, but tonight I'll be starting a campaign playthrough of SC1 followed by SC2.

Once I'm done with SC2 I'll be mixing up multiplayer from SC2 and get in some Alen Swarm to finish up my achievements (speed runs, insane difficulty, and 3 or 4 others are all that's left, so close to being done).

[Ard]

Dragon Quest IX pretty much preempted everything else I was playing.  Screw you Enix, and your addicting games.

Yegolev, why are you not playing this?  You aren't dead, are you?

[Yegolev]

I still have open wounds from DQVIII.

I may, in fact, be dead.  Between 10am Saturday and [SCENE MISSING] Tuesday, I had less than 15 hours of sleep.  Got a full 8 hours last night, though, which was nice.

[Ard]

Try not to kill anyone outside of video games. 

Dragon Quest 9 is a big step up from 8, and I liked 8.   I can't really do any justice to it without going on for far longer than most people would want me to talk, so just go look up reviews or what other people have said.  That and I'll lie to you.  Other people are at least a gamble on that.

[Rasix]

and I liked 8.

Danger, Will Robinson! DQ8 is one of my warning sign games.    I'd mention others, but it makes me physically ill when someone praises them.  Like FF9.. maybe since this is small they won't read it.

SC2.  Yay. Losing connection means you don't get achievements. Boo.

 

[Ard]

Hey, I already know I have questionable taste in games.  But so does Yegolev, so I think we're okay here.

If it makes you feel any better, I didn't like Final Fantasies 8, 12, and 13, and have been meh on everything else past 7.  Why I keep buying them, I don't know.  I have issues.  It's like breaking up with a girlfriend, and not wanting to admit she's just not that into you anymore, but god, was the sex in the past hot.

Edited to appease the angry skull.

[Rasix]

Hey, I put that in small print so people wouldn't discuss FF.  I have slightly off-center viewpoints on the series, anyhow. 

[Yegolev]

Ard and I are almost the same person, game-taste-wise.  I trust his judgment even if he is an admitted liar... he is only lying for my own good.  Plus I may have convinced him to buy Sakura Wars and so I owe him.   I simply have had my free time evaporate and must therefore be very selective.

I went all the way to the final boss in DQ8 and realized that I needed to gain maybe ten more levels before I had any shot at completing it.  A quick mental calculation of the number of metal slimes I would have to kill made me slightly ill and so I shelved it.  Also I despise Toriyama.

[Ard]

Plus I may have convinced him to buy Sakura Wars and so I owe him.  

You didn't, I still have testicles dammit.

Also I despise Toriyama.

So do I.  It doesn't change my opinion of DQ9 any.  You also apparently got further into DQ8 than I did.  I got distracted by something shiny.  How the hell did you manage to get to the end of an 80 hour game?  Your attention span seems even worse than mine.  On the other hand, I've sunk close to 40 hours into DQ9 without even realizing it.  That never happens to me.  I usually burn out on games around 20 hours in.  The world needs more 20 hour rpgs and fewer 80 hour ones.

[Yegolev]

How the hell did you manage to get to the end of an 80 hour game?

By not grinding enough to beat the final boss.

The world needs more 20 hour rpgs and fewer 80 hour ones.

Heretic.  Well... yes, the new me agrees.  The old me thought Disgaea needed more detail.  Luckily I don't play games to finish.  I can watch the cutscenes on youtube.

[Paelos]

Yall are both nuts. 20 hours feels like I haven't even scratched the surface of an RPG. Let's just go with 40 for the magic number, just like a good work week. 

[Goreschach]

I find that if an RPG is really good, I could go on with it for a couple hundred hours. Other games not so much, but I'll often replay a good rpg several times despite their typical length.

An addendum: I hate the whole completionist/achievement bandwagon games are jumping on. Just a guess, but are you people that want 20 hour rpg's the kind that feel the need to do every thing/pick up every item/max out characters?

[Ard]

I'm not.  I just get tired of the stories, characters, and/or combat mechanics in most rpgs these days at around the 20 hour mark, and want them to wrap it up and be done.  It's not universal, I don't mind when the occasional outstanding one goes longer, but for the most part, I just get fatigued on games, and want to move on.  

I find a lot of them get mired in segments that just needed to not be in the game.  Even Dragon Age suffered from this.  Both the elf forest dungeon and the dwarf area went on about 3x longer than they should have.  Jrpgs especially love doing this the further you get into the game most times.  It just gets stretched out, and gets so tedious and boring I stop caring.

I'm starting to respect games that more or less make the dungeons at least partially optional.  Mana Khemia was like that, Dragon Quest 9 is like that.  Last Remnant was sorta like that.  You could avoid enemies in those games, and even if you did it a fair amount, it didn't really gimp you.  They also mostly keep the dungeons short, and get back to the story and character building that make the games more fun, at least for me.

[Rasix]

I find that if an RPG is really good, I could go on with it for a couple hundred hours. Other games not so much, but I'll often replay a good rpg several times despite their typical length.

An addendum: I hate the whole completionist/achievement bandwagon games are jumping on.

Anything longer than 80 hours really needs a shit ton of plot development and side content not to devolve into a bunch of "you must be this level to X" checkpoints.   Anything under 20 for an RPG and I feel a bit cheated.  I don't see a whole lot of that, however. Certain games, even if they have more to offer, seem to cap out on fun at a point in time.  Like in a Persona game when you can't progress the social links anymore.  Game just feels like it's over but you can grind forever if you want.

I'm not a fan of achievements and in RPGs they seem really out of place at times, but I'm just going to accept it as part of the current state of gaming.  I like the PS3 trophies, mostly because I barely notice their existence.

[Goreschach]

Anything longer than 80 hours really needs a shit ton of plot development and side content not to devolve into a bunch of "you must be this level to X" checkpoints.

Granted, that's true, but I think if certain games like Fallout, PST, and BG2 had unlimited content, then I could pretty much play them forever.

[Ingmar]

Anything longer than 80 hours really needs a shit ton of plot development and side content not to devolve into a bunch of "you must be this level to X" checkpoints.

Granted, that's true, but I think if certain games like Fallout, PST, and BG2 had unlimited content, then I could pretty much play them forever.

Technically you could stay in the modron cube forever. 

[Tebonas]

How about making the padding sidequests you can engage in or ignore? Best for everyone involved. I sure as hell spent more time in Fallout 3 exploring the various Locations as I did playing the mainquest. And I would be pissed off if it ended just after finishing the mainquest And I was surely glad they warned me when the mainquest was about to end. When I became bored, I did the last main quest, voila.

[Rasix]

Yes, Fallout did a good job with the side questage.  But, that's what I'd expect with Bethsoft.

I wish end game quests/bosses would scale if you completely over power them.  I hate to finish all of the side content and then just roflstomp the end because I'm far more powerful intended.

SC2 single player is pretty nifty.  I'll probably replay it on a harder level since normal you can stomp while doing work at the same time.

[Yegolev]

I like the roflstomping.  Not interested in grating challenges during my leisure time.  I have plenty of mental and endurance challenges with work.  Like how I am just now wrapping up a 12-hour day.  So far this week, meaning from 00:01 Sunday, I have racked up 60.5 work hours.  I want to play Mexican Spiderman on Normal difficulty, not I Have To Try A Lot difficulty.

[Rasix]

There's roflstomping and then there's roflstomping. I think I'm still just upset at how easy the end of FFXII was with a level 80+ character. I mean common, I wasn't even 90. 

[Yegolev]

I admit I don't usually get to the end boss, and when I do I see him as a speedbump to the epilogue movie.  Also end bosses have a high percentage chance of sucking.  I put my faith in the journey instead of the destination.  Worked out great for FFXII.  Also it's working out great for Just Cause 2.  I'm avoiding story missions and having a great time destroying government property.  My wife does like to say things like "Where does he keep all those parachutes?" and "Do they really have grapples like that?", which just causes me to have to mutter "Hush, woman" waaaay too many times.

[ghost]

This is heretical, I know, but hard games just for the sake of difficulty don't really do it for me any more.  I am so busy that I really am okay with a decent story line that you can put on cruise control.  "Normal" difficulty for a game like Bioshock is just fine.  I've been playing Shadow Hearts off and on for about 3 months because I missed it the first time.  That's a good one for me.

[Yegolev]

Agree on all points.