Whats games have you been playing of late? I'm Still Playing Morrowind.

[saint777]

you shouldn't get any of them, none of them are as good as what you've been playing

edit: dragon age sucks no matter what they tell you

I wouldn't go so far as suck but Dragon Age on PC has problems that need to be overlooked to be enjoyed.

Problems:

Lack of variety of enemies: Only 33 enemy types in a fifty hour plus RPG is really slim. Most of the enemies are traditional with very little imagination in enemy design. Only Dragons, Ogres, and Demons(Pride) look really cool.

Most fights are ambushes: usually you start off a fight completely surrounded and the fight quickly turns into a clusterfuck with the circles representing the characters space getting cluttered up with enemy circles. This makes it very hard to select your character and makes using tactics frustrating. I laughed when I got ambushed by wolves with leg traps all around my party. My party couldn't move and the wolves went right through the leg traps like they weren't there.

Lack of variety in environments and world: Feels very generic and this includes the story which is dull and makes having to sit through all the dialogue a chore.

[Inigima]

I wouldn't go so far as suck but Dragon Age on PC has problems that need to be overlooked to be enjoyed.

Problems:

Lack of variety of enemies: Only 33 enemy types in a fifty hour plus RPG is really slim. Most of the enemies are traditional with very little imagination in enemy design. Only Dragons, Ogres, and Demons(Pride) look really cool.

Most fights are ambushes: usually you start off a fight completely surrounded and the fight quickly turns into a clusterfuck with the circles representing the characters space getting cluttered up with enemy circles. This makes it very hard to select your character and makes using tactics frustrating. I laughed when I got ambushed by wolves with leg traps all around my party. My party couldn't move and the wolves went right through the leg traps like they weren't there.

Lack of variety in environments and world: Feels very generic and this includes the story which is dull and makes having to sit through all the dialogue a chore.

yeah the "welcome to generic fantasyland" thing is a huge problem and i'm surprised that this board of all places is willing to accept that. the combat is also clunky, the art assets are horrendous, and the dialogue choices are retarded and extremely limited. the origin stories, supposedly so important they named the game for it, are few and far in between, pretty generic, and in at least some cases the "choices" they give you don't matter at all. it's just nowhere near what it could've been and coming off mass effect 1 and 2 it really shows.

[Jon AS]

yeah the "welcome to generic fantasyland" thing is a huge problem and i'm surprised that this board of all places is willing to accept that. the combat is also clunky, the art assets are horrendous, and the dialogue choices are retarded and extremely limited. the origin stories, supposedly so important they named the game for it, are few and far in between, pretty generic, and in at least some cases the "choices" they give you don't matter at all. it's just nowhere near what it could've been and coming off mass effect 1 and 2 it really shows.

It's about as generic as Westeros, unless mages who can throw fireballs add to the genericity of a setting. It works, but overall I agree that the world of Mass Effect is a much more interesting Bioware offering. Combat works great on the PC and, contrary to what saint claims, only a minority of fights are ambushes. Those just tend to be more memorable, some for good and some for bad reasons.

The writing is more than decent by videogame standards, and there is plenty of Bioware's trademark humour, particularly in the conversations between party members that trigger while moving through various locations.

I agree that some origin stories aren't particularly great, and their impact on the game as a whole is not as big as advertised (you get the most out of the game as a human noble), but it's certainly better than your character having no background to speak of.

Overall, Dragon Age is one of the best games released in the last few years, anyone who enjoys RPGs should give it a try. I certainly would recommend it over GTA or Gears of War.

[Durckad]

Overall, Dragon Age is one of the best games released in the last few years, anyone who enjoys RPGs should give it a try. I certainly would recommend it over GTA or Gears of War.

Indeed. It's certainly not perfect (and neither are ME1 or ME2), but it's a great game and saying that it sucks when ME2 has some of the same problems, only magnified (lack of enemy and encounter types to name one) is silly.

[Poobah]

Indeed. It's certainly not perfect (and neither are ME1 or ME2), but it's a great game and saying that it sucks when ME2 has some of the same problems, only magnified (lack of enemy and encounter types to name one) is silly.

Well the thing is ME2 is a third person shooter. Shooters only really have a very limited number of enemy types : enemy with gun, enemy with big gun (rocket launcher, bfg, etc), annoying melee range bastard and vehical with gun on it. RPGs are kinda expected to have five hundred million types of generic fantasyland creatures and some of their own invention for originality.

I'm nearing the end of my ME2 very sporadic on and off insanity playthrough. I've completed the loyalty missions for everyone now and am just cleaning out the optional side quests and stuff like that, making sure I have all the upgrades etc. before I go and snag the Reaper IFF. I've still not found anything anywhere near the level of difficulty of the initial fight on the collector ship though.

[Durckad]

Well the thing is ME2 is a third person shooter. Shooters only really have a very limited number of enemy types : enemy with gun, enemy with big gun (rocket launcher, bfg, etc), annoying melee range bastard and vehical with gun on it. RPGs are kinda expected to have five hundred million types of generic fantasyland creatures and some of their own invention for originality.

That's true, though I still think that ME2 needed a little more variety at times.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

FYI, if you use the promo code PAXEAST842 in EA's online store today only, you get $20 off and, if it's physical goods, free shipping. This is combinable with other offers, so if you're interested in downloading Bad Company 2, it's $20--although the caveat there is that EA's online service is a pile of shit and you will only be able to download the game for a year.

Also, it's reusable. So, y'know.

Anyway, I've got the Dragon Age expansion heading my way for $21.96. Yay.

[Durckad]

FYI, if you use the promo code PAXEAST842 in EA's online store today only, you get $20 off and, if it's physical goods, free shipping. This is combinable with other offers, so if you're interested in downloading Bad Company 2, it's $20--although the caveat there is that EA's online service is a pile of shit and you will only be able to download the game for a year.

Also, it's reusable. So, y'know.

Anyway, I've got the Dragon Age expansion heading my way for $21.96. Yay.

Awesome thanks.

Just picked up Awakening as well. :thumbsup:

[Muttering Bill]

you shouldn't get any of them, none of them are as good as what you've been playing

edit: dragon age sucks no matter what they tell you

I agree completely.

Gears 2 is the best of those 3, but even then it's just a rental at best.

Fez, I would have recommended either Bayonetta or Fallout 3 GotYE instead.

---

So I gave into temptation and picked up FFXIII. It's not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Sure, the story is a little scattered, and there are too many cut-scenes. But the battle system is quite good - and that's more important to me than the story. Even though the action is too broken up. Oh, how I miss those random battles. The new Sphere Grid is about as bad as I knew it would be(hated it in FFX too). I don't know why everyone is complaining about Vanille; she's awesome. Snow and Hope, however, deserve all the hate that they have gotten.

Overall I'd say it's decent so far. But I'm only on Chapter 4 so who knows what will happen as I get farther into it.

[Zoë Sumra]

I spent about six hours yesterday playing an umpteenth round of Sid Maier's Alpha Centauri (with expansion)...

[Fez]

I dunno, I haven't tried Gears of War 2 yet, but I'm having a blast with GTAIV.

The thing about Fallout 3 is, it may be great, but I've just got no interest in it. Also after Oblivion I just have no trust in Bethesda. Whenever I need to get a game again I'll probably get the first Bioshock, its down to $20 at the local Best Buy; but that probably won't be until June at the earliest.

[Luzifer's right hand]

I'm currently playing Mass Effect 2 with a female Shaphard I imported from the first game. (The voice acting is the main reason I decided on a female Shepard).

At first I was unsure about the gameplay changes but they grew on me.

I like the new cover system and I don't mind that they introduced ammo, the sniper rifle seems like a much more powerful weapon now and even on hardcore I can kill most enemies with one or two shots(I have not tried the highest difficulty so far).

I also find the squad much easier to control than in ME 1.

[Weak With The Dawn]

So I gave into temptation and picked up FFXIII. It's not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Sure, the story is a little scattered, and there are too many cut-scenes. But the battle system is quite good - and that's more important to me than the story. Even though the action is too broken up. Oh, how I miss those random battles. The new Sphere Grid is about as bad as I knew it would be(hated it in FFX too). I don't know why everyone is complaining about Vanille; she's awesome. Snow and Hope, however, deserve all the hate that they have gotten.

Overall I'd say it's decent so far. But I'm only on Chapter 4 so who knows what will happen as I get farther into it.

I'm having trouble finishing this. It's just more and more of the same thing. Step into a new area, tape you joystick so it's pointing "up" and press the "confirm" button until you need to switch for heals.

It's a gorgeous game, with a couple interesting characters, but for the most part it's one of the worst FF's I've ever played.

[Inigima]

I haven't played it yet, but Giant Bombcast said it's basically 25 hours of amazing gameplay, to get to which you have to sit through 25 hours of shit.

[Space Bandito]

The thing about Fallout 3 is, it may be great, but I've just got no interest in it. Also after Oblivion I just have no trust in Bethesda. Whenever I need to get a game again I'll probably get the first Bioshock, its down to $20 at the local Best Buy; but that probably won't be until June at the earliest.

I got Bioshock when it was $5 at Christmas, but it doesn't seem to like Windows 7. That or DirectX11. :dunno: I should have bought DeadSpace. I know how you feel about Fallout. i'll probably buy it someday, but it will probably just sit on the pile.

[Stone-Made-Soft]

I'm having trouble finishing this. It's just more and more of the same thing. Step into a new area, tape you joystick so it's pointing "up" and press the "confirm" button until you need to switch for heals.

It's a gorgeous game, with a couple interesting characters, but for the most part it's one of the worst FF's I've ever played.

Playing FFXIII feels like a chore. I really want to like the game but it's so damn hard.

I mostly play Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

[Muttering Bill]

I dunno, I haven't tried Gears of War 2 yet, but I'm having a blast with GTAIV.

Nevermind me then. I never liked the GTA series much anyway. I only picked up GTA4 because I had a buy-2-get-1-free deal, while my 360 was away for RROD repair. There wasn't a whole lot of options on the PS3 at the time and I couldn't come up with anything else. I liked it better than GTA3, but still got bored with it in a few hours.

The thing about Fallout 3 is, it may be great, but I've just got no interest in it. Also after Oblivion I just have no trust in Bethesda. Whenever I need to get a game again I'll probably get the first Bioshock, its down to $20 at the local Best Buy; but that probably won't be until June at the earliest.

I understand your hesitation. I hated Oblivion (and Morrowind) too. But after so many good reviews curiosity won out and I had to try it. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. But it's certainly nnot for everyone.

I'm having trouble finishing this. It's just more and more of the same thing. Step into a new area, tape you joystick so it's pointing "up" and press the "confirm" button until you need to switch for heals.

It's a gorgeous game, with a couple interesting characters, but for the most part it's one of the worst FF's I've ever played.

I certainly doesn't compare to my cherished FFVIII. But I don't find it that bad yet. Probably because I was expecting it to be so much worse. The story, I find, isn't terrible. Though I am getting irritated that they keep teasing the most interesting part (the developements with Snow).

I'd rather have control over all of my party members in battle. I don't see why all of the JRPG makers lately feel that they have to compete with ation games. The battles don't have to be fast.

Anyway, it's been fun, but I'm not sure if I'll finish it. I normally lose interest in RPG's about halfway through, and Demon's Souls is already calling me back.

[Thor85]

Playing through the amazing train level (locomotion chapter) in Uncharted 2 for the first time. Holy shit :stunned:. My hands are sweaty from gripping the controller, and that's a first.

[Sad King Billy]

I'm replaying Half-Life 2 on a new GPU. I'm not so fond of the game anymore. When you get over the gimmicks, the game has the same problem as Doom 3 had: predictability. Oh look, a house and something is blocking the road. Oh look, massive amounts of supplies, finally I'm at 100 shield. I'm sure there won't be a slugfest battle ahead of me. A respawning munition crate, that just begs to be exploited. And if you think there is a single badly illuminated area where there aren't zombies and/or headcrabs, you're sadly mistaken.

I'm at the end of Nova Prospekt, about to face the 4-entries-3-turrets battle, but it's becoming more of a grind than fun. I don't feel like I'm playing a game, but more that I'm looking for exploits to ease my continued existance. I guess my main gripes are that the set-pieces become recognisable ahead of time when you've grown accostomed to them, and the fact that the game is completely railroaded. After open-terrain games like far cry, this feels too cramped to be fun anymore. A side reason may be because i'm growing more than tired of horror games. (I have to say, though, buzzsawing my way through ravenholm was incredibly fun. Until they started respawning zombies. Was that really necessary?)

by the way, I'm looking for a good game to play, particularly rpgs or games with good stories. I haven't played any rpgs that came out after Oblivion (2006, has it been that long???), or maybe one that I can't recall right now. I'm interested in good story and interesting characters. I'm considering the witcher, mass effect, gothic III(even though I never played II). I may play bioshock, but I've already played through system shock 2 3 times in my life, so I'm not very interested, particularly if the story and characters are so similar. Are any of these very good, or do you know other, better rpgs -story/character wise. Gameplay doesn't have to be special, just "fun".

Oh, and no fallout 3. I'm not going to return to Bethesda for a loooong time.

P.S.: wert, if you read this, thanks for the Antaeus Rising recommendation on your blog. You made me dig in the dust pile and finally finish a game from so long ago. It was worth it. (and everyone else in here: go buy it (on gog for $6). it's very fun with a unique system

these are hostile waters

[Poobah]

Get Mass Effect 2. Can't speak for the first one but the second is good, despite the new addition of bullshit dlc.