Whats games have you been playing of late? Exclusive Beta Edition.

[Mackaxx]

Round we go again.

Oh, and sonic is heaps better than mario.

[Stubby]

Round we go again.

Oh, and sonic is heaps better than mario.

Didn't see much in the other thread and don't know if it was discussed - can we include Crash in the same category?

I still dust off the first couple of Crash games and play through them once in a while.

[Slurktan]

Slurktan-

Thanks for the recommendation. I see that it has good reviews and I was thinking about getting it. I still don't understand how a game made in 1987(!!!) can still hold up so well. I don't care about graphics THAT much, I am more concerned with accurate stats and a good career mode but it seems impossible to get right.

Not sure what 1987 game you are talking about there but the Show has a damn good career mode.

[Mackaxx]

Didn't see much in the other thread and don't know if it was discussed - can we include Crash in the same category?

I still dust off the first couple of Crash games and play through them once in a while.

Psycho fox pwns them all anyway so the point is moot.

[Jon AS]

Ok, at the behest of those on this board I am trying Baldur's Gate again. The first one. And I just finished chapter 2, and am beginning to lose interest--about the same place I lost interest before. I'm a fighter around level 3 or 4. I read somewhere I should dual class as a mage but the rules in this game are so weird, strict, sometimes obscure, and complicated I don't have the urge to learn them. Ultimately does it matter if I double class or not?

And if I let some of the annoying characters die, like Khalid get murdered, will Jaheira stay with me or will she leave? I'd like a better fighter in his place.

1. Letting one half of a couple of "paired" BG1 NPCs die is a time honored tradition of building the party you want. In other words, yep, that'll work.

2. Playing a mage in AD&D is not something I'd recommend to a beginner (particularly since they only come into their own at later levels), and there is certainly no reason to dual class to one in BG1. In fact, dual classing isn't all that hot and only available to human characters. Everybody else gets the option to create a multiclass character at character creation. Does this make sense? No, this is AD&D after all.

The theoratical advantage of starting as a fighter and dual classing to mage is that it lets you use all weapons and armour available to fighters (of course, wearing armour disables your spellcasting...) and gives you the ability to put more than one point into the weapons, making you a more effective fighter. But if you really want to play a fighter/mage you'll want to play a multiclassed elf or half-elf. They later on get the perks of both high level fighter and mage abilities, a dual classed fighter/mage would only get the ones for mages.

Long story short: stick with the fighter, it's very hard to screw up with him and other party members will take care of the spellcasting requirements.

Oh and I forgot, are you playing with one of the mods that lets you play BG1 with BG2 mechanics? If so, don't expect to find any decent katanas anywhere. ;)

Why do I run into random dudes in the woods who say stuff and walk away? What's the point to that?

Depends. Have you tried reading what they are saying? :P

Possible options:

a. they give you a quest, or a hint for a quest

b. they are crazy (not necessarily mutually exlusive with a)

c. they are Elminster (aka one of the most powerful mages of Faerûn) dropping off cryptic hints as to what the hell is going on

ETA: forgot one:

d. they are called "Lord Foreshadow". He was placed in the game as very early advertising for Neverwinter Nights IIRC.

[Galactus]

The reason for dual-classing is that in BG2 you'll get Tenser's Transformation, which means that you can actually HIT stuff with all those shiny weapons you have.

But generally speaking, for a newb it's better to stick with the base classes.

BG1 is fairly interesting and has some decent fights, but really, it's BG2 that actually gets good.

[Jon AS]

The reason for dual-classing is that in BG2 you'll get Tenser's Transformation, which means that you can actually HIT stuff with all those shiny weapons you have.

You make it sound as if you need TT to be an effective fighter, which is not the case. It just compensates for the gimped THAC0 of a dual classed fighter/mage. A multiclassed one has much better fighting abilities to begin with and, as I said above, later on gets to choose from more shiny, powerful abilities than the dual class.

[Galactus]

Actually, multiclassing is, if I recall correctly, mechanically sub-par, due to the way D&D experience system works. Also, as a dual-classed fighter/mage you get to pick a fighter kit as well. (which can be very useful, especially the Kensai kit, as you won't be using armour anyway)

Now, if you've got BG2 as well as BG1 I'd suggest you try installing Tutu, which basically overwrites BG1 with BG2. So you get to play BG1 with the BG2 engine. Very useful (most importantly it speeds up your characters slightly :P)

[Jon AS]

Actually, multiclassing is, if I recall correctly, mechanically sub-par, due to the way D&D experience system works. Also, as a dual-classed fighter/mage you get to pick a fighter kit as well. (which can be very useful, especially the Kensai kit, as you won't be using armour anyway)

Nah. The only thing that dual classing does is allow you to reach higher levels slightly faster, as all XP you earn goes to just one class. But once you hit 3 million XP in BG2, you get to choose both fighter and mage Higher Level Abilities if you are multiclassed. If you are dual classed you only get mage HLAs.

And the Kensai kit is not that great: you get +1 to hit/dmg every 3 levels as well as a small bonus to initiative and 2 points to AC. So if you dual class at level 9 you get a whooping +3 to hit/dmg, at 12 it's +4 and there really isn't much point of dual classing after 12 (or maybe 13. IIRC that still allowed you to reach level 14 as mage under BG2's original XP cap).

A fighter/mage on the other hand not only gets his hands on those HLAs slightly sooner (as the XP you earned with the first class of a dual classed character does not count towards the 3 million) but also gets to wear armour, particularly elven chainmails, the Bladesinger Chainmail and the upgraded Bladesinger Chainmail (Aslyferund?). That's 4-5 points of AC more than a Kensai/Mage wearing Robes of the Magi and still 2-3 more than one wearing the robe the Planar Sphere apprentices can make gets.

All in all I think multiclassing easily wins out over dual classing, at least in BG2.

[Poobah]

Been playing some more X3:Terran Conflict, and I'm still wishing that they'd spent the development time re-writing their engine or running far more extensive Beta-Tests then working on the pretty graphics. Egosoft's games all have huge amounts of potential, and if you go into them with the right frame of mind they're really good stuff and very enjoyable, playable games, but aside from existing in a niche genre, will never make a huge splash unless they do something about some of the endemic flaws that consistently blight their later games and keep them as just 'quite good' rather than 'really excellent'. Unfortunately to do that they need to find some more money, which I suspect is why they rushed Terran Conflict out with the X3 engine and as more of an X3.5 than a true upgrade from X3:Reunion.

[Inigima]

Oh, and sonic is heaps better than mario.

I'll bite!

This is debatable in the early games. Personally, I thought the Mario games beat the pants of the Sonic games. I hate that you have two options in Sonic games: run too fast, can't see anything, die; or run too slow, none of the stuff that depends on speed works; die. Super Mario World is a gem.

Post-3D transition, absolutely no contest. The first Sonic Adventure was kind of okay; none of the Sonic games after that were worth a damn. Mario still continues to feature in pretty good, if not amazing, games.

EDIT: Just saw this in the now-closed previous thread, cannot let it go without comment. From Poobah:

Guitar Hero it alright, but it doesn't possess any 'gameplay' as such, just jumping around in front of the TV with some friends once you've had some drinks and mashing buttons.

This is flatly false. You don't understand what you're talking about. There is absolutely a game there and it is not about mashing buttons. Where the fuck did this even come from?

I would add Rock Band to both the "great" and "innovative" lists. That's the same company that originally pioneered Guitar Hero before it was given to Neversoft to take out back and shoot, by the way. They're now shaking up the mix with the Rock Band Network, which will revolutionize the genre all over again.

I'll give you three-quarters of a point of HL2, but you can't have the other quarter till valve finish it.

This is a clever one-liner, but it doesn't work. The base game without episodes is quite long.

Braid's pretty decent, but it has problems.

And they are? I await them with bated breath. This isn't an argument, it's a joke.

World of Warcraft? Are you on crack!? It's an online addiction / grindfest.

MMO gameplay isn't for everyone, but for those who enjoy it, Blizzard perfected the model and continues to improve it.

You can have a point for Left For Dead when valve finally get around to finishing it - eg. releasing L4D2

This one I agree with. :P

Mass Effect, I hear good things about but I'm not going to buy it until I get a rant from Yahtzee listing the bad points that every single fucking reviewer on the planet manages to fail to notice, to balance the other reviews out.

Everyone already told you what the games' problems are. Mostly it's cookie-cutter side missions. The main game is awesome.

Fallout 3 I might reply, but only if my Morrowind disk suffers from spontaneous combustion. Though I admit that my love of Morrowind is at least 50% inspired by nostalgia, it remains a top-tier game. Don't even think about mentioning Oblivion's atrocious voice-acting (Patrick Stewart aside).

I agree that Oblivion is trash, but Fallout 3 is aces.

Some of those games are great (Fallout 3, Mass Effect). Some of them are innovative (Braid). Some are both (Rock Band). It's fine to like old games -- I do too. But to say that there aren't great new games being made is straight-up wrong and a slap in the face to developers.

EDIT: Paddy play Portal what is wrong with you

What are the issues in L4D that need to be adressed, in your opinion?

It's half a game

[Daeric]

I've being messing around on the closed beta of Heroes of Newerth, while its all shiny and stuff, it just doesn't offer anything that I can't get without just doing dota using Wc3.

[Paddy]

Stuff that's in other thread.

Boy you did get confused :P

It's the old v. new games thread and it's open for business :)

But seeing as this edit is here and not anywhere else:

EDIT: Paddy play Portal what is wrong with you

I know!

Basically, I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to bother with FPS on consoles anymore. Not that they're no good, but that they're better on PC.

Unfortunately, I'm currently stuck with a rather old PC who's graphics card is a bit kerput. It often freezes in games. So I've been waiting till I get a new rig (shouldn't be long now) till I experience Portal in a way that will make me enjoy it most :)

[Werthead]

Unfortunately, I'm currently stuck with a rather old PC who's graphics card is a bit kerput. It often freezes in games. So I've been waiting till I get a new rig (shouldn't be long now) till I experience Portal in a way that will make me enjoy it most :)

There is a very important reason to play Portal: you can finally get what all the references are in the song 'Still Alive' ;)

[The Pita]

Planescape Torment. I think in my next D&D campaign I'll play a Modron. Nordom is funnier than Morte and Annah combined.

Also, is it just me, or is Annah useless? She was the only party member who died more times than The Nameless One. She's useless in combat, and I don't need a thief.

My party is Nameless One, Morte, Dak'kon, Vhailor, Grace, and Nordom, and it's a killing machine. Especially the Vhailor part of it, but the Nordom part is pretty close. I'm playing Lawful Good But Still Intelligent for the first time in my life, and enjoying it.

This game is the greatest game ever made in plot. It's the Watchmen of computer games, where it utilizes everything that's good about computer games and includes things not normally found there as well. No book or movie could contain its plot well, since the plot changes according to how you play your character. The closest thing I can imagine that's close to this is choosing, in Baldur's Gate 2, whether to join the Shadow Thieves or the vampires.

[cjfshaw]

I've being messing around on the closed beta of Heroes of Newerth, while its all shiny and stuff, it just doesn't offer anything that I can't get without just doing dota using Wc3.

Dota is like it's own game now. They actually have dota references in WoW.

[Jon AS]

Planescape Torment. I think in my next D&D campaign I'll play a Modron. Nordom is funnier than Morte and Annah combined.

Nordom is awesome. I do think his one liners and conversations with the rest of the party are the funniest of all characters.

Nordom: I think therefore I am. I think.

Nordom: I estimate Fall-from-Grace to be found attractive by the male sex of 321,423 separate species. Give or take five.

Fall-from-Grace: You know, Nordrom, you are perhaps the cutest little rogue modron I have ever encountered.

Nordom: 'Cutest' is a subjective term. I prefer the designation "fearsome cubed warrior".

Fall-from-Grace: Of course! That's why you're so cute.

Nordom: Attention; Morte. I have a question. Do you have a destiny? A purpose?

Morte: Is Annah still wearing clothes?

Nordom: Affirmatory.

Morte: Then the answer is yes.

Nordom: A query, Annah: is your tail's purpose to indicate your current level of hostility?

Annah: [angrily] What kind of stupid question is that you pikin' sod box?

Nordom: My analysis is correct. Danger! Danger!

Also, is it just me, or is Annah useless? She was the only party member who died more times than The Nameless One.

There are some cool punching daggers in the game, plus she and Grace are the only characters who can be given better armour IIRC. I never had the impression that Annah wasn't pulling her weight in combat.

Now I want to play Torment again...

[Daeric]

I've also being experiences the trials and tribulations of posion traps in Evil genius, half the time my valets and technicians seem to get caught in the area with the agents as well :P

[TheBigTEA]

Not sure what 1987 game you are talking about there but the Show has a damn good career mode.

The original Earl Weaver Baseball is the game in question. While quite primitive graphically I still have yet to see a game generate a realistic season of stats for played and simulated games. I guess I just love realistic stats over a long career for Baseball games. That being said, as much as I love Ryan Braun I don't see him hitting 600 home runs by age 38 (which is what my current career on MLB 2k8 has him doing) and I really don't see Miguel Cabrera hitting 77 in a season like he did in 2011.

I am picking up the Show tonight, thanks for the recommendation.

[The Pita]

There are some cool punching daggers in the game, plus she and Grace are the only characters who can be given better armour IIRC. I never had the impression that Annah wasn't pulling her weight in combat.

Now I want to play Torment again...

I got Annah the best armor I could get for her and it still sucks. At least I can get tattoos for Dak'kon, and Morte and Vhailor already have ridiculously low AC. Nordom has a lot of HP and he's a range hero, so his armor doesn't matter, but I found an item that increases his AC by 4. And I like healing too much to let go of Falls. I have three damage machines (Nordom, Vhailor, and Dak'kon), two meatbags (Morte and Vhailor), and a healer. Annah doesn't deal nearly as much damage as anyone else with the exception of Falls. The only mildly questionable decision I've made was to get rid of Magic Missile Machine Ignus, because my big brother told me he betrays me at the end.