So, what're you playing?

[trias_e]

Just finished Last Window for DS.  A continuation of Hotel Dusk's characters/plot, if you've played that one.  It's kind of an interactive novel I suppose.  Reasonable enough, while the writing or at least the localization isn't fantastic,  it still kept me interested till the end.  A nice game to play right before you go to sleep, chill as hell with good music.

Now I'm playing through Phoenix Wright series again, and streaming SC2.  Hells yeah.

[Azazel]

My UFC 2010 arrived yesterday. I spent an hour or so mucking around with it, doing Cro Cop's challenges and beating people up as Anderson Silva. No idea how to play the ground game yet. Shame the campaign seems to be broken by design from all reports with serious stat decay etc. I guess I'll just throw it on occasionally to punch Tito's face in with Chuck. At least it was cheap.

[jakonovski]

My UFC 2010 arrived yesterday. I spent an hour or so mucking around with it, doing Cro Cop's challenges and beating people up as Anderson Silva. No idea how to play the ground game yet. Shame the campaign seems to be broken by design from all reports with serious stat decay etc. I guess I'll just throw it on occasionally to punch Tito's face in with Chuck. At least it was cheap.

Ground game is about waggling the right thumbstick in half and three quarter circles. Kinda like a slow motion Street Fighter without button presses.
It's a real shame about the campaign, because in UFC 2009 it's great. I made a buff version of myself and for the first ten games he got curbstomped.





 

[Tebonas]

Done with Borderlands, for whatever reason the game always teleports me back to the start of the DLC expansion after I reload a game. I suspect it has something to do with starting a second playthrough and not going through with it. Whatever the reason, it is extremely annoying to run through the same area again and again and again just because I made a break.

Some Torchlight instead then. I'll just pretend the Vanquisher does Headshots!  

[Trippy]

Done with Borderlands, for whatever reason the game always teleports me back to the start of the DLC expansion after I reload a game. I suspect it has something to do with starting a second playthrough and not going through with it. Whatever the reason, it is extremely annoying to run through the same area again and again and again just because I made a break.

Working as intended:

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=19896.msg850738#msg850738

[Tebonas]

Oh, I see. It intentionally sucks then. So its not a "fun for half an hour" game anymore but something I'd have to power through on a weekend. Thanks for the info.

[Azazel]

That's pretty much why my wife and I haven't touched it in months.

[Sky]

I cracked into the boxes on the shelf, getting to be winter and I'm ready to delve into some games. (Actually I did with RE4, but as I mentioned, the 3d is making me woozy).

So I loaded up Sacred 2, looks pretty nice, some rpg lewtz gameplay. Wait, it doesn't work properly in Windows 7, there's some odd stutter bug. Spent an hour googling fixes, tried multiple, nothing works, revoke license and uninstall. So glad I wasted my money on that pile of shit. Had a whole evening to sit around gaming last night and ended up playing guitar and having a glass of scotch.

So...probably a win, after all.

[Tebonas]

Well, I couldn't resist the opportunity of the sale and now play Deathspank and Alpha Protocol. Damn you Steam!

[trias_e]

VVVVVV, which I only picked up because of the steam sale, is awesome! 

Although it does bring back horrible memories of breaking the NES controller trying to beat quick man's stage in mega man 2 when I was 9.

[Yegolev]

Atelier Rorona.  Time limit.  Ugh.
Dragon Age, PS3, having mild fun since my previous saves are non-transferable... THANKS AGAIN BIOWARE.

I'm eyeing GT5 in the wrapper, wondering if I'll regret it or not.

[Ard]

Atelier Rorona.  Time limit.  Ugh.

How did you not know this was going to involve time limits?  Will I feel like a pretty pretty princess if I buy this?

Been playing the hell out of Risen all weekend.  I should have just bought this full price when it came out.  My bad.  Now that I have armor that's greater than rags, and I've learned how to not suck, I'm doing well.  This game has also taken me down a darker path relating to thievery and pickpocketing than I've ever bothered to go into in other rpgs.   Everyone else is such an ass that I just don't feel bad stealing from them.  Plus I got to leave the head of a cow in someone's bed.

[Yegolev]

How did you not know this was going to involve time limits?

I knew subconsciously, wasn't surprised at all after Atelier Annie.  This one seems harder than Annie but otherwise is practically the same game.  I spent the duration of the second story task basically only doing the second story task.  Which is a shame because I am enjoying the alchemy system despite the restriction of needing the recipe before I can make anything.  Also, in case I didn't mention it, it's harder than the others I have played.  I started off relatively weak, having a rough time with punis, and combat leveling takes up precious story-task time, which will generate a Game Over if not attended properly.  It does a pretty good job of balancing these many, many elements, at the cost of forcing you to not spend too much time on any one of them without risking having your shop closed down by the gubment.

Will I feel like a pretty pretty princess if I buy this?

Hmmm... no, I don't think so.  I mean, it's no Ar Tonelico.  It's basically a PS3 edition of Atelier Annie so I'm picking "tomboy".  So far no cute sidekick or cat girl, either, but I'm just starting out.

[jth]

Arcana on xbox SNES emulator. Not the most complex of games but entertaining and strangely addictive.

Lord of Ultima, can't get away from it. Hopefully when EA breaks their promise of endgame happening before end of the year, I can finally let it go.

[ghost]

I cracked into the boxes on the shelf, getting to be winter and I'm ready to delve into some games. (Actually I did with RE4, but as I mentioned, the 3d is making me woozy).

So I loaded up Sacred 2, looks pretty nice, some rpg lewtz gameplay. Wait, it doesn't work properly in Windows 7, there's some odd stutter bug. Spent an hour googling fixes, tried multiple, nothing works, revoke license and uninstall. So glad I wasted my money on that pile of shit. Had a whole evening to sit around gaming last night and ended up playing guitar and having a glass of scotch.

So...probably a win, after all.

I was having the same issues.  After poking around on the Steam website I found the following fix.  The fix recommended going into the following folder:  Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\sacred 2\system

and messing with the following files:

1)  S2GS-  check run as XP service pack 3
2)  Sacred2-  check run as XP service pack 3, Disable visual themes, Disable desktop composition and of course run as Administrator

I am running Windows 7 64 bit and this cleared up most of my issues. 

[CaptainNapkin]

Plugged my way through Arcania in short bits and pieces over the course of a month and half, in the middle of a move. Finally finished tonight for the big prize of one of the worst endings ever. Short little cut scene that didn't even include the main character, credits roll and even they end abruptly right in the middle of a music track, not even volume fade, just a cut. Entire game was lackluster and mostly "filler" material, so I'm not surprised. The last 2 areas of the game were fairly obvious they were rushed as there was tons of bugged scenery and such like staring at the world without the ground textures, etc.

I don't know why these are the types games that I always end up forcing myself to finish, but I seem to do just that. The characters were there, the lore/story tie-ins were there, but this game merely stamped "Gothic 4" on the packaging. Still, count me in for the next in the series... I was born a sucker.

[Paelos]

Plugged my way through Arcania in short bits and pieces over the course of a month and half, in the middle of a move. Finally finished tonight for the big prize of one of the worst endings ever. Short little cut scene that didn't even include the main character, credits roll and even they end abruptly right in the middle of a music track, not even volume fade, just a cut. Entire game was lackluster and mostly "filler" material, so I'm not surprised. The last 2 areas of the game were fairly obvious they were rushed as there was tons of bugged scenery and such like staring at the world without the ground textures, etc.

I don't know why these are the types games that I always end up forcing myself to finish, but I seem to do just that. The characters were there, the lore/story tie-ins were there, but this game merely stamped "Gothic 4" on the packaging. Still, count me in for the next in the series... I was born a sucker.

The real question is, how did you get past Gothic 3? I put 3 hours into it before finally deleting it from my hard drive lest the shitty combat knockdowns infect me other games.

[Brogarn]

After a 5 year hiatus (minus a 10 day Free Trial a year or so ago), I'm playing WoW again. Wanted to see the changes they made to the newbie zones and such. Trolls so far are pretty cool now. About time they manned up, so to speak. Looking forward to checking out the others. Mostly, though, it's all passing time until I can play a Goblin Fire Mage. Short, green and burninating the country side sounds like something I could enjoy.

[CaptainNapkin]

The real question is, how did you get past Gothic 3? I put 3 hours into it before finally deleting it from my hard drive lest the shitty combat knockdowns infect me other games.

Thinking back to Gothic 3 I guess my comments would be near the same. Plugged through and finished that one too, though it had a better story. No, I don't understand it either.

[Malakili]

Starcraft 2
Black Ops

[Cyrrex]

On my current backlog of games: Fable 3, Dead Rising 2 and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.  REALLY looking forward to NFS, now that I know that it is essentially a Burnout game, because those games are hella fun.

Currently playing...Fallout NV and Rockband 3.  It's actually because of RB3 that I'm making this post - 3 days ago, I received the Pro Guitar in the mail, and have been fiddling with it.  First observation:  they weren't kidding, this really is attempting to play the game with a device that simulates an actual guitar.  I bought this in hopes that it would help me in learning to play the guitar For Realz, and I actually think it is going to work, even if it is going to take a lot of time.  It's absolutely kicking my ass already, but the game itself is so well done (with the tutorials and such), that I don't see myself losing interest any time soon.  All in all, quite a fabulous achievement they've seemed to pull off here.  I guess I understand why this won't be a mainstream success, but what they've pulled off with this is quite a marvel.

On the guitar itself, the thing is generally constructed of the same plastic as the original Fender plastic guitars.  It has 17 frets, with six buttons on each representing each string.  Despite the questionable foundation of the plastic guitar itself, I find that these buttons work quite well.  They seem to be perfectly accurate and appropriately sensitive.  The real strings where you strum are a little strange...they appear to be made of some robust plastic, and they are a little on the loose side.  They feel a little strange compared to real strings when strumming, but I imagine that is something you get used to.  The more I think about it, the more I think that they have designed them like this quite intentionally - these strings cannot be replaced, after all, so they had to be looking for a good combination of sensitivity and strength.  Ultimately, the system works just fine - whether using my thumb or the pick, the strings pick up even the slightest touch.  Overall, despite initially appearing to be a flimsy thing, this is quite a remarkable controller they have made.  I only hope the durability is up to snuff.

[Sky]

I am running Windows 7 64 bit and this cleared up most of my issues. 

I can try, I was only running the game exe as admin and in compat mode. But I'm wondering what wasn't included in clearing up "most" of your issues.

I don't know why these are the types games that I always end up forcing myself to finish, but I seem to do just that. The characters were there, the lore/story tie-ins were there, but this game merely stamped "Gothic 4" on the packaging. Still, count me in for the next in the series... I was born a sucker.

Did you play Risen? Sucks they had to lose the characters, imo. I've slated that for this winter's rpg, soon™. I actually enjoyed Gothic 3 until I didn't. I cheat like a motherfucker in Gothic games, though (for skill points - marvin mode ftw).

[ghost]

But I'm wondering what wasn't included in clearing up "most" of your issues.

Crashing and stuttering were the issues.  I haven't had any problems since I switched things around.  I include the fixed items as "most" because it's an Ascaron game. 

Anyway, it takes 30 seconds to try it.  It can't hurt.  

[CaptainNapkin]

Did you play Risen? Sucks they had to lose the characters, imo. I've slated that for this winter's rpg, soon™. I actually enjoyed Gothic 3 until I didn't. I cheat like a motherfucker in Gothic games, though (for skill points - marvin mode ftw).

Yes I thoroughly enjoyed Risen, never felt like I had to push ahead to keep it moving. Risen was way more "Gothic 4" than Arcania was, if that makes any sense. To also be fair, I played G4 on my Xbox because after the demo I didn't think I wanted to pay 60 bucks for it and opted for gamefly rental. The demo certainly looked much better on the PC, gameplay was the same though.

Next up is either to go back and finish Red Dead Redemption so I can justify the undead expansion, or start Fable III before the wife gets bored with it and co-op is still an option.

[Yegolev]

I advise getting the Fable III co-op while you can.

[Sky]

Risen was way more "Gothic 4" than Arcania was, if that makes any sense.

Well, of course it does. Risen was made by the Gothic 1-3 devs and "Gothic 4" was not.

Also, still believing in an RDR pc port while it's still relevant.

[Paelos]

The Gothic games were not for me apparently. I seriously don't understand how anyone can stomach them if they play a melee character.

[Minvaren]

It's actually because of RB3 that I'm making this post - 3 days ago, I received the Pro Guitar in the mail, and have been fiddling with it.  First observation:  they weren't kidding, this really is attempting to play the game with a device that simulates an actual guitar.

I had to go look at the pro mode stuff after you posted this.  Then I read:

Rock Band 3 Pro Guitar Design Goals

    * Every song in Rock Band 3 is playable on Pro Guitar and Pro Bass.
    * The Pro Guitar and Pro Bass work like every other instrument in every mode in the game.
    * Every note is the correct note played at the correct place on the neck.
    * On Expert, we put in all the chords and notes, so the song is charted note-for-note.
    * We have all four difficulties (Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert) represented in a way that makes sense (more on this later).

Ye gods.      Might have to check into that...  Presuming I can afford the Squier.

[MisterNoisy]

I wanted to be playing GT5, but having played through 15 levels of it at my brother's place over the holiday, I just don't think I have it in me to do those levels all over again just to get where I was and then do 25 more levels worth just to unlock performance-affecting damage, so GT5 is sitting unopened atm.

That said, a little New Vegas and that's about it.

[Le0]

I've really got to stop buying games and play the one I have already...

PC:
Finish SC2 campaign (going to pass the multi, this is a game for Korean and I'm not up to the task)
Finish Metro 2033 (I believe I'm not really far in, this game is dark)
Finish Deathspank (awesome game)
TF2 hatconomy

PS3:
Finally play Uncharted 2, Infamous

Wii:
Plenty of games I'd like to play, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Galaxy 2 but I'm not sure I'll have time...

[Tebonas]

Finished Deathspank, played a bunch of Linux games on the Laptop I prepare for my Berlin trip on Friday. Not wanting to sink my teeth into anything with substance before my holiday, I fool around with Magic and some of the Indy games from the sale instead.

[ghost]

Starting on Mass Effect because I'm getting bored with New Vegas.  I can't decide if I like it or not yet. 

[Hawkbit]

Finished Assassin's Creed tonight.  Yeah, the first one.  Only took what, three years for me?  Hoping to finish AC2 by next christmas.   

[Sky]

I've been told I need to play Assassin's Creed by my fiancee. She saw a commercial for the new one and asked me about it. I told her I had the original from a Steam sale and she told me to play it for her. It's really all part of my plan to get her to buy any game set in a cool medieval setting or with a library in it. Though oddly her two favorite games to watch have been Battlefield 2 and GTA:SA.

Finally dipped into King's Bounty. My tolerance for learning new game systems is kinda low right now, though.

[Hawkbit]

I really, really wanted to like King's Bounty.  I spent entirely too much time with it crashing, though.  Never did get it to work quite right.  If it was more stable, I would have played the hell out of it. 

I played AC1 on PC and it was a decent experience.  I have AC2 and ACBrotherhood on PS3, though.  The controls are more intuitive on a controller, imo.  I know people bash on the AC series for being history/technically incorrect, but if you go into it to have fun, I thought it was a really good experience.  It actually got me a little more interested in the real-life historical accounts of Robert de Sable and Hassan Sabah, so that was a plus.  Some of the later AC1 memory challenges were a bit BS, though - like killing five guards in five minutes.  The one time I managed to get all five killed without being spotted, I didn't make it back to the informer in time.