What games are you playing currently

Chillum · Post by **Chillum** » Fri May 05, 2006 20:33

I have just started Monkey Island 1 for the first time

I finally succeded to get it...

I just misses the graphic and the voices, but the humor is there

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:06

I'm playing Dragon Quest 8 on my PS2, which finally came out in Europe last month. I have currently docked 98 hours of play time, according to my latest save. Wow! I'm in love! Gotta go kill some more Metal Slime Kings...

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 14:52

I recently finished playing Godfather and since I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere I thought I'd do so here.

If you have seen the screenshots of this game, forget it - it doesn't look like that - well, not on my non-NASA computer

- but it does have some truly astounding facial animation - you really do feel as if you are watching a real person speaking, the way the eyes move and the face muscles move... it really is quite good.

There have been comparisons to the GTA (III, VC, SA) style of game and this is true - but only in the sense that you are given free rein with the confines of a large city... the two games are fundimentally different in scope and purpose.

The game starts with you, as a child, watching your father being gunned down. You, with the tears welling up in your eyes, struggle with your grief and fear and move to confront those responsible. You are stopped by a man (the Don himself) who says now is not the time....

Fast forward the game twenty years and now, as an anrgy young man, you find yourself in situations you'd rather not be in until the Dons man comes to get your life back on track - and so begins the game proper and your rise within 'The Family'.

Apparently the game follows the movie of the same name although I don't recall seeing it - and knowledge of the film isn't required anyway but does, I believe, provide a richer game experience. It makes cutting the horses head off make more sense anyway.....

Well, you don't actually do that yourself and neither do you see it - but the game does involve considerable violence... and this is where, for me, I started to have a problem with the game....

As you move through the game you can take over various businesses within the city. The shop keepers needless to say aren't gonna give you 'a piece of the action' unless you can make them see your point of view. This can simply involve pointing a gun in their face (works on women shop keepers), talking to them in a threatening manner, or indeed, beating seven shades of s**t outta them. (and yes, that includes the women too....)

To digress for a moment: One of the critisisms directed towards GTA III was that the lead character, which you the player controlled, never said anything or gave any indication of being human - now, I thought this was actually good because it allowed the character to be defined by his (your) actions and thus became an extension of yourself.

The point of this is to highlight the issue I refered to earlier: The character behaves in a manner in which I wouldn't and therefore i have trouble identifing with his behavour and actions. It's worsened by the fact that as the game progresses, the city folk (peds) with see you and fawn and grovel at your feeting, kissing the pinky ring and say things like "well thanks heavens you got rid of those nasty thugs" - uh yeah, now my thugs are there instead and I used even greater violence than they to aquire this block - so how am I better???

It's a joke to believe these people respect me when all it really is, is fear. One form of tyranny for another. It's pretty hard to like a game when you don't like the character you play.

Cheers,

Eric

Usul · Post by **Usul** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 13:03

I recently finished Oblivion after 140 hours of gameplay, it was definitely worth buying. Now I play Planescape Torment, what a masterpiece of a RPG.
Has anyone played it around here?

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:08

I recently finished playing Prey and thought I share (bore) you with my thoughts.

Having been spoilt by the premium FPS (ie, Half Life 2) I'm pretty picky about those games which I do play. Since I moved out of Sydney, to some land, I haven't really had the time (as much as I would like) to play with the computer. Although I did rebuild the computer and do a fresh install of XP Pro last weekend and so it's feeling much perkier.

Anyway, I should get to the point

Prey is a pretty good FPS. It places you in the shoes of Tommy, a native American Indian. He, along with his girlfriend and grandfather, are abducted, along with many people from across the country, by aliens.

As the game unfolds it explores the spirit side of the native American Indian culture which gives Tommy the ability to 'Spirit walk', ie leave his body and move as a spirit. More of the story is revealed as you progress through the alien spacecraft and it's a credible story.

It has, thanks to the game engine, the 'Portal Technology", some pretty neat tricks which have to be seen to be believed. This tech has been used to make some interesting hurdles which need to be overcome. I suppose the most obvious, other than the portals, is the changing of the laws of physics... the press of a button can invert gravity in any given room or make the walls the new floor.

Image yourself inside a 3D maze cube - and having to shoot the gravity switches on the the wall to 'roll' the cube around so you can escape... quite clever and not annoying or difficult as it might sound... which is quite a feat unto itself really.... very rarely did I ever feel lost.

The game is very violent. The weird stuff happening to people inside this alien ship - well, the screams say it all really - the point is the violence has a purpose so sets the atomosphere.

There is something about modern gaming which is odd. You hear reports of the models in Prey, Doom3, Quake4 all having millions of polygons and how detailed they are... but do we ever take the time to admire it? No, of course not - the damn thing is trying to kill us so we don't have time to admire the poly count!! Seems like a waste to me.

Gendo · Post by **Gendo** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 2:01

Currently playing Phoenix Wright 2 - Justice For All on DS. It's a Japanese import, but fully playable thanks to them including a full English localisation that's bound to be identical to the one we'll get in the proper English version anyway.

For the uninitiated, Phoenix Wright is a series of courtroom dramas told point-and-click style. The titular hero investigates crime scenes, questions witnesses and generally causes havoc in the courtroom in an amusingly silly fashion that rarely fails to leave me grinning throughout.

Loving the sequel to bits! I'm restricting my playtime to work (busrides, lunchbreaks) so as not to blast through it in a week as I did with the first game. And if you did happen to enjoy that first game, you're going to love this one too. Shame about the lack of a bonus case this time round though.

JKSM · Post by **JKSM** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 16:53

Wow you're fast Gendo. I'm just starting with Phoenix Wright (the first one). I like it more and more as I play it but don't know much time and also trying to familarised myself with it so I'm still at the first case.

I didn't know that the Japanese version of Phoenix Wright 2 had English localisation and was thinking of waiting for the English version to come out. Anyway, I can wait as I haven't finish the first one yet.

The last game I finished was Trace Memory. It's a good game but last less than a day if you play continously. It's an adventure with some science fiction and puzzles where you explore things, talk to people, use thing etc.

Phoenix Wright and Trace Memory were among those popular games. They are indeed worth playing.

I still haven't had time to figure out how to use the Wifi connector and NDS Internet Browser. Currently, I'm playing a few games at the same time.

Eric · Post by **Eric** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:45

In the middle of Scarface: The world is Yours and mucking around with NFS: Carbon.

NFSC is killing me - I have to get to the bottom of a twisty f****n strip of ********** road and do better than the ******* ****** ***** ****** other person. See if you can guess how well I'm doing............

<Head Explodes>

Scarface is interesting. More on that later when I have the time.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:52

Right now: After finishing Tunguska, I'm looking at finishing Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Oblivion, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Neverwinter Nights 2, and, uhm, some other games. Oh, and taking screenshots and playing freeware.

Post by **Chroelle** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:49

Well I am playing freeware like mad, since I downloaded over 70 games the other day. Some of them will stay on my HD for a while, others have already gone away...
I am currently aksing friends about Total Annihilation (After Parvini suggested it as having a huge tech tree) too see if anybody has it, and I am thinking of buying Sid Meiers Railroads. Not sure yet, but will look into it.

spanek · Post by **spanek** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:56

I finished Oblivion and Medieval 2:Total War a few days ago, and now I'm playing Warhammer 40K and I am ready to install NWN2...

I am officially burned with pc gaming

Post by **Chroelle** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 13:06

Well I downloaded a demo of Sid Meiers Railroads, and it wouldn't play on my computer, so I decided to buy a new computer...

I am currently playing Europe 1400: The guild like a madman. Simply love the game, but the lack of a manual shines through.

moshboy · Post by **moshboy** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 14:56

I rarely play commercial stuff anymore - the indie scene is pretty much dictates my life in terms of playing videogames - so many retro and fresh ideas are always floating around.

At the moment I am playing Knytt, which is a really classy freeware platform game and I can honestly say that I think its a freakin masterpiece - so simple yet so addictive.

The only commercial game I am even remotely looking forward to is Portal and from what I've heard it essentially rips off the ideas from Prey. Nonetheless the fact that it is a puzzle game attracts me to its concept. The trailer looks pretty damn cool.

First person shooters honestly bore the crap out of me these days.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 15:34

In the last couple of weeks I finished Oblivion (X360), Shadow Hearts: Covenant (PS2), Enchanted Arms (X360), unlocked every costume in Dead or Alive 4 (X360) and watched a ton of movies. All while working night shifts. Is it any wonder I've felt like crap lately (lack of sleep)? Talk about no social life.

Anyway, for the holidays (not that I have any - I'm working this Christmas) I'm playing Neverend (PC), Shadow Hearts: From the New World (PS2), Condemned (360), Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (360) (uhm, ogling, not playing, I guess), Xenosaga ep. 3 (PS2) if it gets here on time, and am looking at the Pirates remake again as well as some other slightly "old" titles. I installed No One Lives Forever 2 last night, and I might blast through that tonight. Also looked at Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy again with fond memories. Busy schedule? Well, since I have to skip the family gatherings due to work, I need something worthwhile to do, don't I?

Usul · Post by **Usul** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 16:46

I finished recently 'Scarface - The World is yours' and 'Kult: Heretic Kingdoms'
Currently I'm playing Doom 3.

Biggest deception was 'Gun' played it for an hour and uninstalled it straight away. After Doom 3, Hitman - Blood Money is the next title to play.

Pager · Post by **Pager** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 20:34

I jump between systems so much, but here's my list:

Just Cause (Xbox) - It's not that bad, the stunts you can do are pretty neat, but the map is too empty, and finding any type of good car is a pain in the butt. Plus being shot at everytime I pass a police officer is annoying.

Samurai Warriors (Xbox) - Never really got into this game before. But I play it when I ride my exercise bike, the hours just fly by when playing this. I can usually play for about an hour riding at 30kph with maximum tension...I recommend it for anyone.

Dragon Quest 8 (PS2) - Too many logged hours on this one. But Scythe is right, definitely amazing.

Titan Quest (PC) - I never hear about anyone that's played/playing this game. I think too much of it's thunder was stolen by WoW. I like it, like Diablo 2 but set in Greek Mythology times. The character development is kind of neat. And there's a million bad guys and usually too much stuff to carry.

Post by **Chroelle** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 23:02

Currently I am actually not playing anything, but I am planning on playing Sid Meier's railroads once I get my new PC next friday.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 23:18

Reason why I'm not doing my work (sorry, Chroelle, I'm bad, I know it):

Xenosaga ep. III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (PS2): With a title like that, how can you go wrong?

Put away Shadow Hearts: From the New World (PS2) for now. While it is awesome, it was getting repetitive.

I ran through Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (XBox). Great looking game, worst plot ever.

Oh, and I look forward to playing Dragon Quest 8 again in a few years. So awesome! For now, all my characters are LV99 with maxed out skills, and every side quest completed and a complete monster library. I don't have every single alchemy recipe, but I think that might be somewhat of an impossibility... I have a LOT though.

That game is gold... It's worth its weight in diamonds. It's power incarnate. It's... It's the best game I played last year, that's for sure.

All RPGs... Yeah, I admit it, I do have a favorite genre.

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 13:34

Muhaha. Years later:

Saint's Row 2 (X360): Just completed, but sandbox games can go on for longer than that, so I expect to play it for another couple of days.

Age of Conan (PC): MMORPG, need I say more?

Coming in the next few weeks (already ordered): Dead Space (X360), Fable II (X360), James Bond Quantum of Solace (X360), Fallout 3 (X360).

Post by **Chroelle** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 21:39

One of my coworkers sat almost sweating at the computer yesterday, trying to figure out which game he should buy for his 360. He could only afford one, and he had the list:
Call of duty 4
Dead space (highly recommended so far
Fallout 3
Fable 2
and one more I cant remember.

He was doing gameplay-time versus gameplay worth calculations - or "which game will last me the longest and hence give me the feeling of getting more for my dollar".

On another note - I am once more digging into GTAIII - San Andreas, which I suddenly realized I never completed fully, and I wiped out my savegame in a moments insanity. I am also looking at Total Club Manager 2005 again - so my small-time Danish team can once more win the Champions League tournament.
I also have a game of Capitalism II running from time to time, and also Europa Universalis III has a save game waiting for me.
Oh and I opened up Tropico (1) the other day to see if it would catch again, but I dont think it will in the same degree...
Did I mention I cant afford to buy new games until after X-mas....
Oh and did I mention that GTA IV is still coming out November 21st for PC...
Oh and did I mention that I hate my economy these days...