Topic: The Currently Playing Thread / Recently Finished Thread

[MysterD]

Ordered both Experiment and Undying.

I thought people were very hard on Jericho, as well. Sure, it wasn't great or anything -- but I thought what was there was a solid and still good. It didn't disappoint me; yet, didn't really knock my socks off, either.

About graphics showing their age with Undying -- eh, that shouldn't be a big deal to me.
*shrug*

[beo]

just finished The Lost And The Damned. it was good, more GTA is always good. obviously it's shorter than the main game, but quality wise, i can't say that it stood out as significantly better or worse. if you've got the 360 version and hunger for more GTA, it's certainly worth the price of admission. this is not horse armour.

now i'm wondering what they're going to do for the next DLC. maybe something from the other side of the thin blue line could be interesting...

[Ghandi]

Playing Sam and Max Hit the Road. Haven't played it since I was very young. This game is such a classic. Worlds Biggest Ball of Twine ftw.

[gpw11]

Just finished/gave up on Persona 4.  I'm like clocked at 110 hours (although probably 15-20 are idle time) and at the last boss.  Totally burned out - no desire to go on.  PoP time I guess.

[beo]

playing gears 2 at the moment. a couple of my friends recently signed up for gold accounts and convinced me to get gow2 for the horde multiplayer mode. been playing that for a couple of nights now and having a real blast. have only put a couple of hours into the single player campaign so far - but what i've played seems very solid.

[MysterD]

Finally got back into NFS: Most Wanted and after lots of aggravation, finished the SP Portion not too long ago tonite.

NEXT!!!

[Xessive]

Just finished Far Cry 2. While unsatisfying I was glad I got it over with and finally uninstalled it.

Currently taking a crack at The Last Remnant on PC and stumped with FFXII on the PS2.

[Quemaqua]

Stumped?  Do tell.

[Xessive]

Stumped?  Do tell.

I'm running around the tomb of Raithwall and I've realized that my characters are too low level. Puny mortals. I very narrowly defeated one of the demon gate crushers, had to use as many Quickenings as I could muster. Vaan is my highest lvl char at 18, everyone else is between 12 and 17. I came across these strange ghosts that can kill any one of my characters with a single hit, so I'm running around trying to grind and gradually lvl up. I think I'm gonna have to backtrack out in the desert. I'm just at a point where I can't move forward (yet).

I'm focusing Vaan on swords while Ashe and Fran are my healers and spellcasters. Balthier is my ranger and Basch is my tank. Penelo is my resident useless peon. I've set "heal ally with health < 50%" gambits on most of my characters.

Any advice on the grid and using gambits?

[Cobra951]

If I remember correctly, just stay away from those ghosts the first time you go there.  You're not strong enough for what they're blocking yet.

[Quemaqua]

My best advice is to get all your characters equipped with a fair stable of gambit slots, and set nearly all of your gambit slots to white magic.  And you're going to want to get *everybody* all the white magic there is to get.  All the white/green magic in the game is useful to every character, really, but white especially.  You'll want auto-heal gambits for sure, but the percentages are sort of personal preference.  You may micromanage them at least a little during tough fights anyway.  But yeah, once you get a fair way into the game, you're going to want everyone with all white magic and you'll want at least a few people with a full set of gambits set to just removing status ailments.  I basically had the three girls on heal/status duty, with the three guys doing primarily attacking but switching their gambits around in any circumstance that required it.  If there were good opportunities for the girls to go apeshit, I'd just manually have them attack or cast aggressive magic.

Anyway, that's the goal I'd work towards.  For me, having the status stuff taken care of was a huge load off my mind.

I think what Cobra is thinking of is the Stilshrine of Miriam.  There are several really bad dudes guarding something in there that will probably kick your ass when you first get there.  I'm not sure what your issue might be with the Tomb of Raithwall, but yeah, leveling a bit never hurt.  I never found it necessary to spend *too* much time grinding for levels, but I did occasionally do runs for items to sell in areas where I could rank my chain up super high to get better stuff more quickly.  In doing that, I tended to also level a bit.

Sorry I can't be of more help.  It's been a long time since I was that far back in the game.  If you're getting killed by status stuff, that's something to watch.  There are a metric crapton of enemies in the game that can do horrible status stuff to you, etc., and it very much helps to have ways of dealing with that automated and decent stocks of items to deal with it in case you need to have status effects removed quickly (spells take longer) or run out of magic.

[Xessive]

Thanks guys. Looks like I'm gonna need to find some gambits for status effects.

I was worried that I was spreading my characters skillsets thin when I started getting White and Green magic for my fighter classes, but your advice has calmed those concerns. I guess I'll keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best.

I'm really loving the game so far. Great story, beautiful visuals, and an intriguing atmosphere. In terms of graphics I have noticed that, in comparison to other PS2 titles, FFXII really suffers on a HDTV. I connected to a classic SDTV and it's back to gorgeous and crisp visuals.

[Quemaqua]

Yeah.  It's a shame, too, because the game looks almost like a current gen title on 360 or PS3 if you up the res on an emu.  I mean, not quite, but close.  It's a truly fantastic looking game, and the art design easily covers up any small blemishes once you get it at an acceptable res.  If there was an HD retail update of the game for PS3 or something, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

But yeah, don't worry too much about characters being thin or getting pigeonholed.  If you spend a good deal of time in the game, you can unlock the licenses for almost everything for each character.  Does take some effort, but for as long as I've been playing now, I've got the top board almost entirely unlocked for everybody, and probably 50% of the bottom.

[Pugnate]

I was looking for screenshots to remind myself of exactly what FF this was, and this is the first image that popped up on Google.




I just find that so disturbing.

[Quemaqua]

That's scary as fuck.  Even scarier that somebody would willingly cosplay Vaan.

[Pugnate]

So what the hell do people do when they cosplay? They wear these clothes and just giggle or what?

And yes, very very scary.

[Quemaqua]

I honestly don't know what they do.  Probably just walk around and enjoy whatever show they're at, occasionally posing for pictures.

There's only one cosplay I ever really and truly liked, and that was the Naija (Aquaria) cosplay this one chick did.  It was actually pretty cool.

[Xessive]

Hahaha weirdies!

I never got cosplay either. Although Triumph's (the Insult Comic Dog) coverage of the Star Wars fanboys was enlightening.

I'm pretty open-minded so I would explore costume parties and the like for fun. Don't know if I'd attend a convetion in costume unless I was paid to do it, even then it would have to be a really cool costume.

I think the effeminate characteristics of most of Square's leading male characters are what appeal to (especially) Asian pop culture. East Asian. Really far East of Asia.

Hehe, remember this?

[Pugnate]

I honestly don't know what they do.  Probably just walk around and enjoy whatever show they're at, occasionally posing for pictures.

There's only one cosplay I ever really and truly liked, and that was the Naija (Aquaria) cosplay this one chick did.  It was actually pretty cool.

I always assumed they played some sort of a weird role playing game or something.

And Xessive, that is really funny.

[Ghandi]

Hehe, remember this?

Heh, that's pretty good.

Cosplay's remind me of furries. I'm sure some freaky shit goes on behind closed doors but I really, really don't want to know about it.

[Cobra951]

Hahaha!  The problem is when women start wanting men that look like that.  I'd need a nair bubble bath and estrogen shots.

[Xessive]

Hahaha!  The problem is when women start wanting men that look like that.  I'd need a nair bubble bath and estrogen shots.

Haha God! I'm a feral beast compared to those androgens!

The two most annoying FF protagonists (at least in my eyes) are Tidus and Vaan.. Tidus more so than Vaan.

EDIT:
I came across this ad for FFXII Potion Energy Drink! AWESOME!! haha

[Quemaqua]

I will never apologize for looking like a man.  Though this one time a guy at a drive through called me "ma'am" because all he saw was my hair.  It was pretty funny how bad he felt, probably because I looked like I was about to kick his ass.

[W7RE]

I have a problem that I can never seem to finish any game, but I've sort of made it a goal to finish some of the more important FPS that I've neglected. Since FPS is by far the genre I play most, I should have certain games under my belt. So I keep jumping back and forth between a few, plus a few non FPS games.

Half-Life 2
Far Cry
Bioshock
Peggle
Tomb Raider: Anniversary

[Xessive]

I reinstalled Jade Empire SE for kicks. Man, that game has not aged well. The in-game graphics are not bad (way better than KotOR) but the menus and UI are terrible. I started the game with my gamepad plugged in, completely forgetting that the control scheme had been altered and assuming it was just like on the Xbox; it's terrible. It's with kb+mouse but this is not a game that demands kb+mouse control accuracy, speaking of which the original control cheme works with kb+mouse anyway so I have no idea why they changed it. Anyway, the bad things (UI, menus, controls) were all the things Gray Matter LTI had done, not Bioware. The core game is still great just bastardized for the PC port.

Uninstalled it rather quickly. Brought back a lot of bad emotions.

I do still feel like playing it but it's the sort of game I wanna chill back on the couch with a gamepad for, as I did with the original Xbox version. I don't wanna hunch up close to the screen and witness the painfully disgusting interface and menu graphics.. It's a travesty what they did to this game.

Well, back to Mass Effect for grand Bioware glory.

[MysterD]

Since STALKER: Call of Pripyat got announced, I started trying to get back into STALKER: Clear Sky -- as much as I do like the game, goddamn -- at its lowest difficulty, since the enemy hardly misses, you really still can get crushed; and quickly.

Regardless, been playing it a fair deal, past few days.

[Xessive]

In my journey through the library of games I've got tucked away in some storage shelves I dug up Titan Quest! Which I am still impressed by visually. Wading through a field of barley or tall grass looks good as the vegetation waves around my character. The game still holds up and it's a good way to prepare for Diablo III. I'm trying to get my brother into it so we can LAN it up.

P.S. W7RE, thanks for the SteamCard idea Makes more sense for me since I barely use XFire at all these days!

[MysterD]

I started playing Sacred: Underworld again. Addictive action-RPG. It ain't the best RPG -- as the voice-acting and presentation is not anything special and also the quests don't vary too much -- but like Diablo 2, there's just too much hacking-n-slashing, character upgrading, and loot-grabbing to just not get bored.

[Quemaqua]

I decided to give Neverwinter Nights another go since I really hated it the two times I tried it before, but now I'm actually into D&D itself, so thought maybe it would make a difference.

Surprisingly, it has.  Not a lot, but a little, and there's something different about the game that doesn't feel like anything else I've played in a while.  It's more... modular than a lot of games, and more obviously based on D&D where even some stuff like Baldur's Gate didn't throw it in your face quite as much.  Or at least it seems like that.  I don't know.  Anyway, it's interesting.  Not perfect, and whenever I run up against something that's particularly difficult I get the urge to quit... but I've stuck with it enough that I think I could play a ways into it, see what happens.

The only downside is I forgot how boring it is to play a cleric in pre-4E D&D.  Lots of spells, hit like a girl.  The monk guy following me does like 3 times the damage and doesn't miss as often.  Damn!

[Pugnate]

NWN2 is much improved, so give that a go once you are done with this. Once you get into act 3 of NWN1, you will enjoy it even more, though I enjoyed all acts because I am a sucker for these games.

If you've never finished Baldur's Gate II, you should. It is one of the greatest games ever made.

[Xessive]

Hehe listen to Pug! If it weren't for his persistence I would have stopped playing in the first act assuming the game was boring and tedious. I persevered until I got to the second act when I really began to get into it. I owe it to Pug that I now love NWN.

Anyway, on to "currently playing" I checked out the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine demo on PS3 and I'm impressed. It plays just like God of War, so I understand the reviews bashing the game for lack of originality. Visually it's pretty good, very cinematic too, Unreal engine! If the demo speaks for anything it's that the game is a lot of fun. Ravensoft often make great, fun games.

It's violent! It's visceral! And I'm glad they focused the game on action beat'em-up gameplay, which is exactly what a Wolverine game should be! The last one (X2: Wolverine's Revenge) was trying too hard to be a lot of things, like Tomb Raider meets X-Men Legends. XO: Wolverine is definitely worth a shot.

[MysterD]

I decided to give Neverwinter Nights another go since I really hated it the two times I tried it before, but now I'm actually into D&D itself, so thought maybe it would make a difference.

Surprisingly, it has.  Not a lot, but a little, and there's something different about the game that doesn't feel like anything else I've played in a while.  It's more... modular than a lot of games, and more obviously based on D&D where even some stuff like Baldur's Gate didn't throw it in your face quite as much.  Or at least it seems like that.  I don't know.  Anyway, it's interesting.  Not perfect, and whenever I run up against something that's particularly difficult I get the urge to quit... but I've stuck with it enough that I think I could play a ways into it, see what happens.

The only downside is I forgot how boring it is to play a cleric in pre-4E D&D.  Lots of spells, hit like a girl.  The monk guy following me does like 3 times the damage and doesn't miss as often.  Damn!

I think Hordes is the best NWN1 Campaign, myself -- by far.

I think Mask is the best NWN2 Campaign, myself -- by far.
As much as I do like the new gameplay features and stuff in Storm of Zehir, the story and characters are just majorly lacking compared to Mask.

[W7RE]

I just finished Half-Life 2 two nights ago, Portal last night, and Episode 1 tonight. HL2 Ep 2 is next.

I'm trying to push through some old games (FPS specifically) that I'm ashamed of not finishing, or just not playing at all. After the Orange Box I'll do Bioshock.

[Pugnate]

I had one of those "finish the old classics" bug a few years ago. I finished HL1, Opposing Forces, and Blue Shift.

[Xessive]

I checked out Velvet Assassin! Hoping it would scratch my stealth itch, I dove into the role of a WW2 spy behind enemy lines. It was alright although very rudimentary for a stealth game. Visually it was decent, not impressive but acceptable. Gameplay elements were very mundane. They really didn't stretch too far to build the core mechanics of this game. The story was passable at best, there were no transitions between levels except for plainly assembled briefing videos at the beginning of each chapter.

Conceptually the game had some promise, however the final product is so generic and unsatisfying it may as well have gone straight to the bargain bin.

If you're a stealth buff, like me, then it's worth checking out but only after it has a significant price drop. Otherwise you'll probably hate it and harbour a disdain for the stealth genre altogether.

I'm kinda sad because I wanted this game to be great. Finally, someone took a different angle on the WW2 theme and it flopped.

I'd give it a 5.5/10.

Back to Fallout 3 and my new stealthy adventures in a Chinese Stealth Suit (available from Operation: Anchorage). When you crouch it simulates a Stealth Boy effect! Be warned you can still get detected if you're not careful.

[wizall]

I just started in on Mass Effect finally. It is a great looking game, but I'm having a difficult time getting into it, mostly due to the interface. I tend to play it like a shooter, which hasn't worked out well. And a few times I've tried the methodical approach, one of my cohorts dies. Also, I don't much care for the equipment interface. Well, I don't know if I don't like it or rather just not used to it. I'll stay with the game, though.

[MysterD]

I just finished Half-Life 2 two nights ago, Portal last night, and Episode 1 tonight. HL2 Ep 2 is next.

I'm trying to push through some old games (FPS specifically) that I'm ashamed of not finishing, or just not playing at all. After the Orange Box I'll do Bioshock.

Dude, all those games you mentioned, I think, are timeless.
No matter when you play then, in the end, I think you'll love them.
You can't go wrong w/ ANY of those titles.

[Quemaqua]

Mass Effect suffers from those issues even on PC.  Interface is a little wonky, and the difficulty can seem super high as soon as you get done with the first mission and go off course to some random thing.  The game does take some getting used to, but definitely stick with it.  You'll get over those things before long and get the hang of it.

But yeah, it doesn't really play like a shooter.  You have to kind of get away from that fairly quickly because you'll die very, very fast.  Make use of pausing the game to select abilities, get the lay of the land, and order your mates to perform some well-timed, tactically precise maneuvers.

[W7RE]

Just finished HL2 Episode 2. Damn, now I want more.


Haha, now my Steamcard in my sig shows HL2 for all my recently played games (HL2, Ep1, and Ep2).

[MysterD]

Just finished HL2 Episode 2. Damn, now I want more.

With the way Ep2 ended, I think we all want Ep 3...like NOW.
But, they're too busy trying to emulate 3DR and DNF... :OP

Valve are masters are leaving nasty cliffhangers to make you want their next work in a series -- they've done this so much in HL series, it ain't even funny...