The useless what-I-am-playing thread

[stray]

Nothing wrong with the French!

[WindupAtheist]

Glad I bargain-binned this.  The aesthetic is that of something aimed at teenage gangsta wannabes, the design philosophy appears to revolve around needless complexity, and the roster of fighters is shockingly shallow in comparison to the old Knockout Kings titles.

Everytime my fighter does that dirt-shoveling motion over a guy, I want him to get hit by a car.  Is there an option somewhere to make a character who isn't a showboating douchebag?  Oh yeah, this is an EA SPORTS OMFG YO DAWG game, so no.  Could there be one musical track in the game that isn't some horrible shitty rap song?  Same answer.

I don't want to play a fucking cutman minigame.  Thankfully I can skip that, but it's just like this sort of game to give me sub-optimal results for letting the computer handle it.  I've refused to even go near any sort of training minigame, but the "pick one of only three training types and hope you don't get a random injury" system that replaces it is pure shit.  Just give me some stat points to allocate and STFU already.

Punching with the analog stick is a pointless pain in the ass.

And the roster?  The list of guys who hit their prime before 1990 consists of Ali, Frazier, Norton, Marciano, Liston, Robinson, LaMotta, Leonard, and Duran.  That's it.  I'm used to not seeing Tyson and Foreman in games, but where the hell are Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Larry Holmes, Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon, Tommy Hearns, or Archie Moore?  Where are all the fun second-string guys like Ingo Johanssen and Leon Spinks?

Featherweight and light heavyweight are complete losses, entirely devoid of historic fighters, instead padded with modern never-was slobs like Jeff Lacy and Derrick Gainer.  And where are good modern fighters like Lennox Lewis and Felix Trinidad?

The announcer won't stop saying stupid shit like "THAT HAYMAKER CARRIES A MESSAGE OF DESTRUCTION!" and having to do dumb shit like buy magic trunks that make me cut less, and hire sluts for the entourage to make my energy go up faster capped it off for me.

My brother recommended this game really highly, too.

Someone please make a boxing game for people who even know who Carlos Monzon is.

[stray]

Hagler's in 3. You must be kidding about Leon Spinks.

Guys like Lennox Lewis probably aren't showing up because THEY do not want to or are asking too much. Kind of the same deal with other sports games and retired legends like Barkley and Jordan. Boxing is even worse cuz it's made up of individuals like that.

The analog fighting is the best part of it. I know the game as a whole isn't perfect, but try to enjoy it dude, it's not that bad!

[WindupAtheist]

I'm hardcore for boxing like Schild is for obscure Japanese video games.  The lack of Joe Louis alone is a catastrophe for this game, in my eyes.

[WayAbvPar]

I can't remember who all is included in FN3, but I loved it. I need to go back and play that some more, now that I think about it.

[Driakos]

FN3 is great, mechanically, but it too suffers from the "You must knock your opponent down 3 times in a round to win no matter what (unless you knocked him down 1-2 times a round for the previous X rounds depending on stats)"  They are all Rockies and don't stay down, until "Is it safe?" torturous conditions are met.  You get clove oil between rounds.

There are some flash knockdowns, rare, but they spice things up.  Also, the replays between rounds (and after knockdowns) kind of suck.  You can see that they recorded coordinates of the joints/bones, and then replay them back using math, instead of an emulated recorded image.  So you get a lot of The Robot dancing.  Punches that lack the same force as when you threw them "live". 

Other than those flaws, it is one of the better boxing games made.

Play it with the HUD off.  It's so much cooler.

[WindupAtheist]

I can't deal with career mode in FN2.  The stat training is just too testicle-mashing.  I either have to grind one of three stupid minigames (and the additional loading screens) OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER or use "quick training" and be punished with grossy suboptimal stat gain.  Fuck that noise.

EDIT:  I don't really like flash knockdowns either.  Sure they happen in real life, but they happen for reasons you're never going to model in a video game.  In a game, they're just a matter of the random number generator shitting on someone.  All I want is a nice little damage-over-time mechanic for determining how badly hurt someone is when they go down.  That way the difference between a guy getting up three times, and a guy going splat on the first knockdown is how fast, hard, and accurate you are with your finishing punches.  FN2 doesn't seem to care if I floor a guy with a flurry of jabs so long as I grind his energy down to zero.

[Driakos]

Well, FN3 makes you play Nutcracker between rounds as well.  Same thing as FN2 for the knockdowns.  It is blatantly, "We can't make this too easy!" mechanics.  Even though if you have the difficulty cranked, it is not too easy.  Against other players, you almost always get one easy recovery, after that, depending on the beating you took, it can be impossible to stand up as soon as the 2nd knockdown.

I agree on the career mode training games. Make that shit amateur career only.  After you're into your pro career, you should just pay the trainer money, and gain accordingly.  I got tired of that shit after I'd mastered each little mini-game.

[WindupAtheist]

I did finally work a guy up in career mode.  Won the title at heavyweight in his 20th fight, defended six times, and retired undefeated.  I think I went too fast though, everyone had better stats than me at the endgame level.  I may do it again, but spend more time in the lower ranks doing a "bum of the month tour" to run up my stats.

[Azazel]

I just wish someone would make a UFC/PRIDE/MMA game that didn't suck donkey balls.
As for what I'm playing, slowly wading through HL2, though I'm up to one of the painful stretches.
Ran through Lost Coast earlier today.
Been playing through Portal a little bit since I realised it was finally open last night, inbetween naps.
Haven't touched the WoW in a week, though I should do my arenas tonigth at least, maybe quest a little with the wife.
Played some TF2 last night on the server, though it was empty of f13ers.. .

Yeah, fuck all really. Back at work does that to you. 

[Driakos]

I've done nothing the last two nights but play Orange Box 360 (mostly TF2).  Yeah, 360.

[WindupAtheist]

When my first career mode heavyweight hit 20-0, he was 28 years old and had just won the title.  My new heavyweight just hit the same record, but he's only 23 and is ranked somewhere in the 30's.  Thanks to the "bum of the month" plan and my willingness to grind through that stupid "combo dummy" minigame, it's the new fighter who has the superior stats.  I took him into an exhibition match as a test and beat the fucking shit out of Sonny Liston.

Next time I get on, it's time to rape my way up the rankings.

Given how much I've played this game, I guess I like it now.  Turning off all the music and the announcer helped a lot.

Oh, and I set up an exhibition match that almost made me feel bad.  I chose Roy Jones (a fucking GOD in his prime, for the uninformed) and took on Jeff Lacy, a guy for whom getting into this game is probably a career highlight.  Well I'm just beating the fucking shit out of Lacy, but refusing to knock him out.  When it goes into the floaty-camera KO mode, I just sit back and taunt him.  Once he recovers, I resume pummeling the snot out of him.

Well this goes on for some rounds, and the guy is half dead.  He's hopelessly behind on the scorecards, he hasn't hurt me one bit, and his face looks like hamburger.  In real life, even the most callous trainer would throw in the towel rather than watch his fighter be humilitated and physically ruined in this way.  But everytime Lacy goes back to his corner, his trainer is saying shit like "Okay, so we lost that round, BOO HOO!  You have bigger things to worry about than your right eye!  Now start landing some shots!"

I kept thrashing him until the referee finally stopped the fight.  But I hope that somewhere in some esoteric video game plane of existence, pixelated Jeff Lacy is punching all his trainer's teeth out while screaming "BOO HOO, you have bigger things to worry about than ever eating solid food again!"

[Xerapis]

Hmm...so a friend gave me a 14-day trial to KOREAN WOW.

Damn.  8ms and 75fps.

I think I might have to learn Korean just to play on their awesome servers.  I have most of the early quests memorized in several areas.

[Falconeer]

I am (trying to) play Shadowbane. Again. Performance are slightly better (sb.exe still there though)

Unbelievably enough no one took the torch and SB is still the best PvP on paper. Too bad that it will take centuries for StrayBullets to craft any kind of 'sequel'.

[Yegolev]

Eternal Sonata [360]
Portal [PC]
Valkyrie Profile [PSP]

[Cory Jacobs]

Right now:

Portal [PC]
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters [PS2]
Your Mom [Bedroom]
Still... Persona 3 [PS2]

Up next:

Everyday Shooter [PS3]
Folklore [PS3]

[Sky]

Still going strong with EQ2. A little time now and again with Orange Box stuffs. Need to finish Bioshock someday, I'm never in the mood for it.

[schild]

Everyday Shooter [XBOX 360]

o rly?

[Cory Jacobs]

I see no error...(stealth edit)

[WindupAtheist]

39-0, 39 knockouts, heavyweight champ at age 28.  Won the title with a first round knockout.  Bottom-feeding to whore your stats is definitely the way to go.

[Yegolev]

So it's a very accurate boxing sim, then.

[Moaner]

I can't stop playing Titan Quest + Expansion.  I'm on the last Act with my tank guy and am already planning builds for my Spirit/Dream caster of doom.

I've also been playing some SF3 which is odd considering today's announcement.

[WindupAtheist]

So it's a very accurate boxing sim, then.

You were probably being facetious, but yes, that is a point in favor of it's authenticity.  Fighting weak opponents in rapid succession to build up experience is the usual way of bringing along a young fighter.  Mike Tyson's first ten opponents, for example, had a combined record of 54-51, but he beat them all in a total of less than 8 months.

[Yegolev]

You were probably being facetious

You take that back!

[Rasix]

Portal and Katamari to prepare myself for a marathon run to finish Persona 3.  So much gaming goodness upon arriving home. Yay.

[Phildo]

Folklore, Katamri, and the entire damn Orange Box because I'm two years late to the party.

[Yegolev]

I like Blue Dragon more than Eternal Sonata.  Also more Mythos since the huge improvements.  Not much playing on all counts, but enough to let me post.

Ah, yes, almost forgot about Enchanted Arms.  This game is fucking hilarious.  It's hilarious because it's so bad, and it's also intentionally hilarious.  And incredibly gay.  I mean homosexual, not ghey or 1920s-happy.  Worth the $20 for me, but I would not recommend this to anyone.

[Phildo]

I felt embarrassed and dirty after playing Enchanted Arms.  For some reason, I remember writing a review of it... but if I did, it doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Also, my thoughts on Blue Dragon:  oh god, the pixel hunting!  And the little yellow bastard.  Full of hate!

[Yoru]

I completed Soul Nomad, finally. Meh. Not as good as other NIS titles I've played.

[Yegolev]

Also, my thoughts on Blue Dragon:  oh god, the pixel hunting!  And the little yellow bastard.  Full of hate!

I actually got excited by that, but I'm broken.  I literally pressed Cecil's face against every wall in Final Fantasy IV.  Blue Dragon is like someone distilled nostalgia and ran a drip-bag of it into my arm.  I fucking hate Toriyama at this point, but the rest of it is like sweet, sweet candy to me.  My wife watched me investigate every single odd-looking thing and just commented "You like that kind of shit, don't you?"  I admit it.  I'm broken.  Ten gold in a power coupling?  Tee hee!

[HaemishM]

Fifa 08 for the PS2 (thanks EA for assfucking the Wii edition) and a little WoW now and then.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

I am playing:

Halo 3
Gears of War (online)

and on constant rotation:

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
KOF XI
Guilty Gear Accent Core

Back in rotation:
Tekken 5/DR
Tekken Tag
Street Fighter EX 3

Azazel: I am waiting for a MMA game too. I got all the ones that came out and I actually really enjoyed Pride. If you like MMA you should try K1 on the ps2. It is a really good K1 representation, at least game play wise. If an MMA game had that games stand up and a decent ground game, I would cream.

[Tebonas]

Got my Xbox 360 Elite in anticipation of Mass Effect and now I kill zombies in the thousands with Dead Rising. I think there is a storyline buried somewhere in the game, but who really cares when you can take a lawnmower and go to town with it. I think I might restart later to see the storyline. Got all those survivors dying left and right and feeling a bit of guilt there.

Oh yes, and Guitar Hero 2, because now I can.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

Man i really want to get Dead Rising but I hope that there is some Story there too. Is the Main game, the rescuing survivors and objectives stuff fun? Is it all funny all the time or is there a little bit of spook moments as well?

[Yegolev]

Rescuing survivors is ass.  They are idiots who get what they deserve.  I can't be bothered to feel bad about people who don't follow the orders of FRANK WEST, MACHO JOURNALIST.  There is indeed a main story but the respawning convicts irritate me so much that I am not sure I will complete it.  Then again, I do have the MegaBuster, so it's in the realm of possibility.