So, what're you playing?

[Ironwood]

ToEE was the only way to do it properly.

Alas, the bugs and bad implentation really hurt the game and, as such, we didn't get anything above level 7.

 

[WindupAtheist]

I hope the combat isn't diarrhea'd down for people afraid to crack a rulebook

LOL.

[Yegolev]

inFamous.  The missions are not entirely repetitive, I like climbing on things, and there's a nice balance (on medium) of "I'm a badass/Oh fuck shit hell RUN".  Me rikey.

Managed to get the Very Bad ending in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.  Who knew that was "the" boss fight?  Well, maybe it was not technically an ending since I got the Game Over screen, but I'm going to take a peek at gamefaqs anyway because I'll be damned if I'm going on another goose chase through all of those damn maps.

[HaemishM]

Picked up Rugby 06 for the PS2 because it was dirt fucking cheap and 08 was supposed to be crap (and hard as fuck to find in the US). I know dickall about Rugby, but video games are what got me into football and I get Rugby on Setanta Sports, so what the fuck right? Holy shit, do I suck monkey nuts. Over 10 games so far, and my best return has been a 83-12 point drubbing. I feel accomplishment when I score 1 try, and I'm on the easiest difficulty. Not knowing the rules hasn't helped, but I haven't gotten to controller throwing ragequit level yet, so I'm enjoying it. I'm also doing Guitar Hero III (PS2) and I picked up Battlefield 2 Special Forces finally. The only drawback to Special Forces is the idiotic decision to segregate the users of the expansion from the regular game - what fucking moron does that? What's even more stupid is giving unlock weapons which require you to buy the expansion, but not allowing you to use those unlocks with many of the forces in the the expansion?

And yet, I'm still enjoying it. That combination of games is keeping me from playing and but I guess that tells you something about those products.

[Ingmar]

BG2+ToB is back on my laptop, I hope you people are happy. 

[Jain Zar]

inFamous.  The missions are not entirely repetitive, I like climbing on things, and there's a nice balance (on medium) of "I'm a badass/Oh fuck shit hell RUN".  Me rikey.

Managed to get the Very Bad ending in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia.  Who knew that was "the" boss fight?  Well, maybe it was not technically an ending since I got the Game Over screen, but I'm going to take a peek at gamefaqs anyway because I'll be damned if I'm going on another goose chase through all of those damn maps.

Thats every Metroidvania Castlevania game.  The obvious ending is about halfway through the game or so and is what normal people would find.
During that ending you know all those pictures it shows?  You must find all those peeps and rescue them.

[Azazel]

Playing like an hour of Bioshock per week on Steam.
A bit of Madworld on Wii. Need to return it in a day or two (rental)
Doing some Saints Row 2 DLC and online co-op.
Tiny bit of Guitar Hero & Rock Band.
Some Incredible Hulk. I want to finish it before I lose interest. Who will triumph?
Playing weekly sessions of Titan Quest in 4-player LAN. We're like 2/3 of the way through the second difficulty level. I'd be happy to play through the final difficulty then finish up, but one of the guys we're playing with wants to grind through to max level.  :uhrr:You can tell he played a lot of EQ1... 

[Yegolev]

Thats every Metroidvania Castlevania game.  The obvious ending is about halfway through the game or so and is what normal people would find.
During that ending you know all those pictures it shows?  You must find all those peeps and rescue them.

Thank you sir, my head is sore from the drop off of that turnip truck.  I should probably go back to Symphony of the Night and see what happens if I kill Shaft without the glasses on.

Metroidvania Castlevania game

I think I have some redundancy in my eye.

[cironian]

Also started BG1 back up over the weekend, hoping to do a full BG1+BG2+ToB playthrough for the first time. (I only ever did them separately until now)

I'm up to Durlag's Tower now; let's see if that's as much a reload orgy as I remember.

[Jain Zar]

Metroidvania Castlevania game

I think I have some redundancy in my eye.

You forget there are many Castlevanias where you don't act like Samus Aran with a whip.
More of that kind then there are of the Symphony style.

(And there are also 3d games but I can safely say we all pretend those titles don't exist.  Like Matrix sequels.)

[WindupAtheist]

Installed BG1 and am having a fine time. Not sure what the difference is, except that in 2 the NPCs are more needy and the combat is bogged down with a billion high level spells I need to google to have a shot at identifying.

[Rasix]

Installed BG1 and am having a fine time. Not sure what the difference is, except that in 2 the NPCs are more needy and the combat is bogged down with a billion high level spells I need to google to have a shot at identifying.

   BG2 has one of the better manuals you could hope for. Pretty sure everything had in game descriptions but that's a big assumption for a user interface of that time.

BG1 also starts you off early with two party members that are more your particular flavor.  

Of course, I'm assuming here you're not just attempting to further  

Still playing mostly UFC 2009.  Guess you only have 8 years before Dana retires you.  Doubt I'll get in the hall of fame with this character.

[Margalis]

The only villager in Ecclesia that is a little hard to find is the one near the waterfall. Anyway yeah, go on gamefaqs, you aren't even close to the end.

[NowhereMan]

Just finished with Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich. The game was ok, not sure what but something about it never really clicked for me really, I think maybe I just never really felt epic superhero enough in it. That and fighting Nazis was fun but the bits after that somehow seemed a letdown, not 100% sure what it was but I was left feeling the game could have been so much more than it was.

[Yegolev]

You forget there are many Castlevanias where you don't act like Samus Aran with a whip.
More of that kind then there are of the Symphony style.

It's mainly that I don't play those and don't know how many there are, plus the fact that it's got 'vania' in it twice and therefore silly no matter how many exist in which you don't collect items.

(And there are also 3d games but I can safely say we all pretend those titles don't exist.  Like Matrix sequels.)

I'll go ahead and admit that I liked Curse of Darkness.  I'm hoping Kojima doesn't fuck up Lords of Shadow because I'll probably like that one if it's SotN-ish.

The only villager in Ecclesia that is a little hard to find is the one near the waterfall. Anyway yeah, go on gamefaqs, you aren't even close to the end.

I am only missing one villager, but it's the mom and so I can't get the kids to give me any quests until I rescue her.  And apparently I have been collecting cats, too.

I'm still playing Star Ocean and have really made an effort to cut down the grind so I can finish it ASAP.  To that end, I put four +20% XP gain on one guy's weapon and two +15% XP gain on necklaces of the four fighters.  The percentages don't stack as I would like but I'm still happy with the improvement.

[WindupAtheist]

stuff

I think I just prefer the low-level game where fighters are important, and the mage stands in back throwing darts or some bullshit until it's time to cast one or two spells and change the momentum of the fight. Once the levels start going up a little it seems to turn into just mage duels + meatshields.

[Tebonas]

Sounds about right for D&D, yes.

[WindupAtheist]

For anyone who cares, I should point out that there exists a mod which will port all of BG1 into the BG2 engine and then add a little cover story in the middle so as to weld the two of them together into one massive billion hour long supergame.

[The Drizzle]

For anyone who cares, I should point out that there exists a mod which will port all of BG1 into the BG2 engine and then add a little cover story in the middle so as to weld the two of them together into one massive billion hour long supergame.

Interested - what's it called?

[Ingmar]

For anyone who cares, I should point out that there exists a mod which will port all of BG1 into the BG2 engine and then add a little cover story in the middle so as to weld the two of them together into one massive billion hour long supergame.

Interested - what's it called?

http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/bgt

I can't find my discs 4&5 of BG1, nor the disc for the BG1 expansion.   

[WindupAtheist]

Just "pirate" them from somewhere. It's an ancient game and you did in fact pay your money, at some point in the past.

[Zane0]

Right around the time Nalia stopped in the middle of yet another endless dungeon to yell "How does this help the needy?!" I quit and uninstalled. Almost every single party member is a complete unlikeable asswipe that I just want to murder, and the AD&D combat system is an inscrutable shitpile. I don't know how I was able to play through BG1 just a couple years ago, but BG2 feels utterly laborious to me now.

A pity!

Nalia is absurd, Aerie is far too spineless, some others are forgettable, true -- but in every other case, Bioware has yet to surpass the writing and characterization of their own BG2 NPCs. It's more tragic than anything, really, as this has done little more than set me up for disappointment in many a subsequent title. If you ever start again, the party you want is Edwin, Viconia, Korgan, Jan, and Yoshimo; this is a stolid enough, evil-neutral party that will get you through with a minimum of petulant whining.

Your critique of the antiquated combat system is valid enough, in its own way, by the standards of today. We've all come to expect a certain amount of fair play from spells and abilities these days -- perhaps the work of MMOs. But BG2 draws from a different, older sensibility. When that power word: death or 15D6 fireball is bearing down on your party there's only one saving throw to make. Not in the cards, you're probably toast. For many people this can be tedious, frustrating, but I find it adds an element of tension rarely seen in RPG combat and an extra kick of triumph when one finally defeats the odds.

The unwitting genius of the BG2 combat system are battles that feel like the pitched, uncontrolled, deadly affairs that they probably are.  

Anyway, probably nostalgia talking, but I hope you reconsider.

[Jain Zar]

For anyone who cares, I should point out that there exists a mod which will port all of BG1 into the BG2 engine and then add a little cover story in the middle so as to weld the two of them together into one massive billion hour long supergame.

Interested - what's it called?

http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/bgt

I can't find my discs 4&5 of BG1, nor the disc for the BG1 expansion.   

If this works with the Mac version of BG2 and I can use my BG1 Win disks I am fucking installing this AS HARD AS I POSSIBLY CAN.  :mooninite:
I never did get to complete BG1 and being able to use the BG2 engine and play one of the specialist classes from point A and on a machine that won't cry with the Kobold hordes of framerate sodomy would be uber rad.

Not as rad as someone making a TRUE turnbased combat mod for the game mind you, but pretty  nonetheless.

[Margalis]

The villager quests in Ecclesia are fairly optional, I think the only one I did that made a signicant difference was the one that gives you access to some element-specific damage-reduction.

Castlevania 3 and 4 are the best Castlevanias. (IMO of course) Both are available on virtual console.

The new 3D one - looks like a generic 3D action game with a dude with a whip in it. Not feeling it and Kojima being involved makes me frightened. Dracula is evil, go kill him. That's all the plot Castlevania needs. And really the Belmont family is the main character, not any particular flesh incarnation of it.

[Yegolev]

Tried some CoD:WaW and... meh.  More WWII bullshit and it plays so much like Medal of Honor that I'm fairly disgusted with myself.  Also, I'd like to ask that developers stop putting infinitely-respawning enemies into shit like this.  Are there really five hundred Japanese soldiers on this island?

[Brogarn]

Trying out LotRO. So far meh.

[Cyrrex]

Tiger Woods 2010 for the Wii, with the new Motion Plus thingy.  It'll probably be Biif worthy.

[Nebu]

Trying out LotRO. So far meh.

Game benefits SIGNIFICANTLY from grouping.  If you're playing it solo, you'll get bored in a week.  Especially if (like me) you've played every other fantasy MMO to this point.

[MrHat]

Tiger Woods 2010 for the Wii, with the new Motion Plus thingy.  It'll probably be Biif worthy.

How is it? Seems like a decent time.

[Cyrrex]

I might change my mind, but right now, it's the best golf game I've ever played.

I actually wrote up a BiiF, and then stupidly clicked the wrong thing somewhere and lost it. 

[SnakeCharmer]

Late to the Drake's Fortune party, but am having a blast.  Awesome game.
Still logging into Age of Conan every so often.
Messing about with infamous.

[Brogarn]

Game benefits SIGNIFICANTLY from grouping.  If you're playing it solo, you'll get bored in a week.  Especially if (like me) you've played every other fantasy MMO to this point.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll start looking to group once I've got a class in mind. Right now it's start, stop, reroll, dick around, logout, reroll, dick around... you get the picture. Crappy thing is, I have to keep coming up with new names because the trial, apparently, doesn't let you delete characters. The button's grayed out. Or I'm just retarded, which is also very possible.

[jakonovski]

Fable 2 and Demigod are my current loves, after a tragic falling out with DoW2. Tomorrow I may degrade myself with Prototype.

[Yegolev]

How degrading can Prototype be if you love Fable 2, the game in which you can erect statues of yourself shitting your pants?

[AcidCat]

Still haven't finished Infamous due to Red Faction 3 being such a blast to play, but I'm still hitting it up every other night or so. And now I added Sims 3 to the mix, so gaming-wise right now I have an embarrassment of riches.