whatchu playing now

you know the drill. post what you are currently playing. add whatever else you goddamn please ;-)

bioshock inf 2nd dlc - a bit of a let down, elizabeth's story is so muddled and confusing.
orcs must die - this game is pretty fun!

I (and, ostensibly, my girlfriend, who mostly only plays the pinball stuff I bought for her) just bought a PS3 a couple of months ago, which I'm completely new to aside from crashing helicopters into gas stations in GTA IV at my brother's. So I've been excitedly hoarding games, since this seems to be the sweet spot between when previous-gen system come way down in price and when they go out of print and skyrocket. But I'm trying to be restrictive in my playing so that I don't play eight million things at once and fail to fully appreciate the varied experiences.

Althought I was completely put-off by it at first (complicated tutorials maybe shouldn't take place in the middle of combat under cover of darkness), probably 75% of my game playing time of late has been devoted to Just Cause 2. So much addictive fun, and great for brief, post-work mayhem sessions. Strangely haven't read or heard a whole lot about it outside of ILG threads, so thanks for that, y'all. Prior to that, I was mostly sucked into Skyrim, which initially impressed and then subsequently overwhelmed me with its breadth. I mean, I'm level 25-ish and realized recently that I'd completed somewhere pretty far south of 10% of the core game, so it feels like a thing that could just go on forever. I'll return to it someday when I'm ready to really dig in.

Other stuff in my current rotation:
Fez (not hugely into platformers but I'm really digging it; music and design and use of color are aces)
Minecraft (kinda don't know exactly what to do with it yet, but it's cool to mess around with)
Arkham Asylum (not crazy about the combat, but maybe I'm just not used to it yet; the beginning of the Scarecrow encounter was amazing)
Where Is My Heart? (cute, cool concept, good for short bursts)
Portal (just started this...the rest of the Orange Box is backburnered for the time being)
Deadly Premonition (not terribly far into it; definitely bizarre as hell but I'm undecided just yet as to whether it's my kind of bizarre)
Prototype (love it to bits; I think I'm near the end so I've been sitting on it for a little while to prolong the love...although I do already have the sequel)
Resident Evil 3 (revisiting after 15 years; controls are for shit but I'm building up anticipation to RE4)
Walking Dead (only played the first episode thus far but it was great and I'm looking forward to more)

I also have a ton of stuff that I've played <15 minutes of (The Saboteur, Tomb Raider reboot, Marvel Ultimate Alliance) that I'm looking forward to jumping into more fully soon.

Kinda want to make a (sadly & ridiculously long) list of the stuff I've acquired and get recommendations of what to tackle next.

MPQ and GTA5, exclusively, for ages now. Very very reluctant to start a new game atm

rotation of dark souls 2 on ps3 and might & magic X and magic online on the laptop. nearly done with mmx and think i am going to finally play monaco. nearly done with ds2 but just going to keep playing it anyway.

diablo 3 on pc! oh nooo

I thought of something else I played recently: WSOP Full House Pro poker on xbla.

I am in a bad place. ;-)

GTA5 in the evenings, still searching for those hidden items
Or Lego City Undercover on occasions.

Any other time I struggle to find time or energy to play anything else right now, I'm trying to design and develop my own games and I find that a struggle in itself.

Games that I *should* be playing anyway...

Pinball FX, really really should fire this up more often
Rayman, not even installed this yet
Red Dead Redemption (still not bothered to attempt the final mission)
Fallout3, embarrassingly never finished this either
Fuel, after having to purchase new PS3 I'll have to start all over again.
Just Cause 2, dropped off the radar a bit, dip into every now and again to get that 100% status
Minecraft/FTB, my only reason for not playing this more often is its just too daunting. In terms of time wasting goes this is the mother of all. FTB packs have basically kicked this game into mind blowing status imo.

(With the exceptions of Pinball and Rayman you might notice a distinct pattern in the games I like)

picked up gta 5 again just to round off the epsilon missions. i was convinced there would be a big heist at the end of all of it, because ripping off the scientologists seemed to make sense and how else would i ever get the cash to buy the golf course etc. so the only one getting ripped off was me :( officially done with this game.

also just finished xcom enemy unknown which i loved to bits. besides it was just long enough to keep my interest through the whole thing.

not really sure what to go with next. ps+ gave me lots of options. i'll probably get going on tomb raider, as soon as i stop struggling to like pes2014.

dayZ and nothing but dayZ. the slow small little updates that come out every couple of weeks just make it that little bit more appealing every day. i try not to think that's there's no real goal or 'end' to it.

Dude, FRACT OSC is out. It's fun, but giving me a lot of flashbacks to Myst, due to heavy puzzles with occasional symbolic language hints. You're exploring this long abandoned machine world and you restoring operation to a giant synthesizer that you wander around in.

SMT4, the soundtrack for this game is so good, running around a post-apocalyptic Tokyo to synthy krautrock <3 http://youtu.be/SG_gB4kb2oA

Oh, FRACT sounds great, might have to grab that.

The only thing I'm playing at the moment is Letter Quest on my ipod. It's quite good but nothing mindblowing.

portal 2 (3rd time), ni no kuni, assassins creed 4, dork souls

FTL and could be on this for a while now that I feel like I finally understand how to play it

im obsessed

so many ships still to unlock and haven't even touched advanced mode...

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m, recently. I kind of hate myself as it's another massive Skyrim-style time sink, but it's quite good fun.

what IS advanced mode

i havent even begun boarding as a tactic yet

sorry "advanced edition"

As a reminder, FTL: Advanced Edition is a free content expansion for FTL. All current (and future) customers will receive this update regardless of where they purchased it. Prior to release, we will post detailed instructions on how to get the update from whatever digital vendor you originally purchased FTL.

http://www.ftlgame.com/?page_id=106

New systems (clone bay??), new race, new ships, just lots more stuff, and it was released as a free sort of patch. It's a toggle option when you start a game, you can choose standard or advanced.

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Thursday, April 24, 2014 3:45 PM

ah yes the curt schilling rpg

oh yeah i'm playing dragon's dogma. i've given up on it twice before so i'm determined to finish it this time. the controls are lacking but it has some of the best gfx i've seen in an rpg. makes dark souls 2 look like shit by comparison anyway.

http://cdn.destructoid.com//ul/266639-curt-shilling.jpg

dragon's dogma was good fun, at its best early before everything becomes too easy, so i encourage you to not progress the story at all until you have been everywhere. one of the best and most unique things it has are the giant wandering monsters that really felt like epic fights, at least until my gang quickly got OP'd. helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.

infinity wars + starbound

helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, April 24, 2014 4:29 PM

what are the broken pawns. i've just been using the free low level ones and trading them in every so often. groups of bandits on the roads are still kicking my butt

i got one real early with an ordinary woman's name, Karen i am fairly sure, and her owner had limited her level but she had maxed-out, late game rare gear and was a total powerhouse

whatever the fighter class is. i got another midway thru with a more forgettable fantasyish name, also a female fighter.

Dammit, Fract really _is_ like myst. I can't find the symbolic to detangle the tune I'm supposed to play to solve the final puzzle in one of the areas.

Final Fantasy - NES
Assassin's Creed IV - PC
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - PC
Castlevania: Rond of Blood - T16
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - PSX
Metal Gear Solid - PSX
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance - PC
Metal Gear Solid 2 - PC

you livin' the life, Adam, respect

finished saints row 4
tried diablo 3 again - meh so spammy
maybe back to metro 2033

"Finished" Portal and Fez, loved both. Seems like there's still aftergame stuff for me to do, which is cool.

I'm a good way into the first God of War, and I can't be sure but I think I might kinda hate it. The brutal waves of super tough enemies are awesome, and some of the puzzles are pretty good, but creating Indiana Jones-esque deathtraps with a shitty camera and sketchy controls was the fucking worst idea ever. I've wasted so much of my playtime on failing to kill everything onscreen within a set time before falling to my death or being crushed or sliced up by shit that I can barely see in front of me that it's kinda become a chore for me to continue. I might just be hating the PS2-ness of it, though.

I've been surprisingly digging a lot of arcade-y stuff that I've gotten cheap from PSN recently. Super Stardust and Wipeout took me a little while to get used to but they're amazing once I'm in the zone. Just got Retro/Grade, which I haven't played much but which has an awesome conceit (basically a rhythm game disguised as a shooter that runs in reverse). The Space Invaders update also seems like good value.

This weekend, I hit 50% completion and the 100 hour mark near-simultaneously on Just Cause 2. Clearing a few areas in the game has become such a reliably perfect way to decompress at the end of the day.

kotor + bg2

getting myself psyched + ready for pillars of eternity i guess

xps I played GoW 1 for the first time... a year ago? Maybe two? Felt some of the same frustrations as you, but I'm still planning to truck on through to the others at some point. I can see how it all would've been far more impressive back in 2006, but some of those levels and dungeons are awfully designed.

What build you going for in KOTOR, Mordy?

i guess soldier guardian. tbh i'm kinda more interested in my bg2 half-elf cleric/ranger build (so OP apparently it's ppl's fave for soloing the game). (thought about playing a wild mage too.)

Streets of Rage 3
Bare Knuckle III

So BKIII is the Japanese version of SOR3 and it is WAY easier. This does not mean it is easy though, it only means it is possible to get through stage 1 without using a continue. American version of Streets of Rage 3 is one of the more difficult games I've ever played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VWsJPJ19DA

That level with the bulldozer is all-time unfair.

all that and he's beat by a girder

i love the energy meter for 'wall'.

i guess i only played Streets of Rage 1 & 2.

man why doesn't axel just jump over the damn walls

sor3 is weird. it seems like it admits to tactics then it doesn't really.

I think after you get past the stage where you are fighting kangaroos and evil dominatrix clowns they just figured they could get away w that.

Played 2-player Hyperstone Heist for the Genesis last night. Got to Super Shredder and then we died and we were out of continues! The music in that game is incredible. Orchestrated speed metal.

i'm still playing bg2.

eu4 always with the eu4. genovese colonial empire.

love fallout but would prob call its interface stodgier than IE-- it's a lil older after all and that inventory scrolling is absurd.

probably tries harder to implement more parts of the system than anything since temple of elemental evil

should note that in the case of TOEE (and the recent pathfinder games) "the system" is a derivation of the famously stuffed-to-bursting d&d3 with its Modifiers For Everything and that BG3 being based on d&d5 right away makes it a lil less of a spreadsheet game.

Yeah the D&D 5e license is the best thing that could have happened to Larian's style of RPG, I would find it extremely difficult to get excited about Divinity Original Sin 3 at this point

What do you mean about finding D:OS character+item systems worthless?

If you do a liiiiitttle bit of research into party management, I don't think BG3 is that difficult. I'm playing tactician and my rogue/warlock/cleric/barbarian class is cruising through most battles. I am also trying to do every bit of content which helps. If you're not a completetionist, being underleveled and not having the top equipment might hurt you plenty. Best to play on a lower difficulty.

(Not bragging, I am on record here a week ago stating Zelda TOTK was too hard for me, so...... ya know)

I’m loving BG3, it’s a superior product to Larian’s prior work in a lot of ways, but y’all mad with the Divinity dismissals. Only just thru Act I of Baldur’s but I still haven’t seen anything to convince me that it’s combat system and scenarios are as engaging as D:OS2’s.

To HP’s point, D:OS2 had some battles that would genuinely make you sweat and consider every action point, piece of environment, and placement of character. As fun as BG3’s combat is, you can just punch through most situations once you have a handle on it.

Yeah it cannot be overestimated the extra dimension environmental/elemental combat gives to D:OS. That + your movement taking actions, every combat decision has a bit of added weight to it. I am liking the simplicity of bg3 combat though, sometimes all the fire and cursed water and what not in divinity was just too much to enjoy

"all your attributes start the same and every couple levels you pump the relevant one" + "everything is interlocking cooldowns" reminded me of dragon age, the classic "we don't have the license anymore but that's okay right?" game (reverse bg3)

itemization felt v diablo: an infinite number of randomly generated magic swords of +1.344% DPS i am constantly checking against my current randomly generated magic sword of +1.342% DPS. not as grim as witcher 3 but pretty grim iirc

but yes as i said the exploding barrels were interesting

you might be right about encounter design / challenge; certainly i've gotten further in bg3 than in either d:os lol

an infinite number of randomly generated magic swords of +1.344% DPS i am constantly checking against my current randomly generated magic sword of +1.342% DPS

uuuugh, yes, this "mechanic" or part of a gameplay "loop" - it tickles the fancy of so many people and yet it heavily irritates my fancy

sorry, that came off as heavily negative. i love diablo (still haven't played 4 because i know what it will do to my life)

it's okay that diablo is like that because diablo is supposed to be a treadmill you hop on and off with your friends, but it depresses me in single-player "be caught up in our sweeping otherworld" experiences-- it is also outrageously bad in cyberpunk, a game i mostly think is underrated

There seem to be a lot of these top-down RPGs that just seem like a jumble of random number explosions to me. Are these all MMORPGs? What confuses me is that I read that Baldur's Gate 3 is designed as a single-player game, but any footage I've seen is a crew out doing battles and stuff.

they're single-party games, they have co-op but there aren't other players running around out there outside your party so not an MMO

you control the whole crew.

(tho for some fucking reason you can't group-select them.)

indie game - pikmin, but you can't group select

but yes as i said the exploding barrels were interesting

sry for this lol, agreed that the environmental/elemental combat system was the best part is all i mean (tho as sgt biscuits chronicles in the actual BG3 thread maybe running a trifle hot)

I don't think I got out of the second level (the one after Fort Joy) in my single player DOS2 game, but I almost never used the environment outside of putting my ranged dudes on high ground.

i played an awesome full 4-player co-op campaign in DOS2 as a wizard (or some sort of spelldcaster). i set everything on fire, purposefully and accidentally, approximately 1500 times

speaking as a permanent amateur since i haven't played that many ttrpgs or dnd campaigns, but DOS2 is interesting because the environmental effects, while technically possible in a ttrpg, would be waaaaaaay too annoying to do in real life, to keep track of the elemental/environmental status of every tile in a battle. it's an idea and style of play that makes much more sense in a computer game.

thanks for the input team.. i'll probably give it a chance when it gets discounted

I gave Starfield a few hours and I'm honestly not sure if I'll ever boot it up again.

I heard it gets better after the first ... 12 hours.

I did the same re: starfield. Many xxps: I don’t remember dignity’s weapon system being like that? I thought it was entirely similar to BG3’s, with the additional magic/physical armour thing (another element I loved). I’ll have to boot it up again, it’s on my extremely long list of games I stopped playing 3/4’s through for no particular reason.

Currently doing a level of alien isolation on the steam deck each night. Very pretty game. I like its confidence in itself to be exactly what it is. No bloat, no extraneous systems, just some good enemy a.I, some great audio ambience, and a by the numbers alien story told well in a videogame format. It’s a fantastic sum of its parts. And my wife (who hates anything horror) hasn’t even complained yet while playing it next to her!

It's kind of amazing how well that game nails everything and and yet how so few games have come close to doing what it does so well. Re: bloat, I never got around to finishing it (will start over at some point), but I have heard some people complain about its length.

Finished Streets of Rogue tonight on co-op. fun stupid chaos.

Are you talking about alien isolation Josh?

Alien Isolation rules. I never finished it, maybe a little longer than it needs to be, but super cool game. Love how it really goes for the original Alien aesthetic.

xpost Yeah, played a bunch of it when I bothered with the Switch. Really well balanced and paced, imo, both in terms of progress and threats. A lot of thought put into it

I'm only up to chapter 5, just saw there's 18 chapters. If it stays this high quality throughout then I am fine with that length? The chapters are a perfect bite size; it is literally replacing reading a book chapter at night for me right now and it fills that role well. I'm sure I would not enjoy it as much if I tried to plow through it in a few days though.

I do like when the alien franchise leans on the whole "can we trust A.I? no!" angle. Happy it gets an early entrance in this game

void stranger is game of the year, easily

Just read a review and that sounds intriguing & pretty insane. Hope it comes out for PS.

I bought Somerville, by one of the people who made Limbo/Inside, came out a year ago on PC and Xbox but just out now on PS.

Looks neat. Saw this with a review:

Playdead have reached out to say “There is no overlap between the creative teams and leadership making LIMBO and INSIDE and the creative team and leadership making SOMERVILLE, in fact the only human overlap there is is executive producer Dino Patti who was not a creative contributor to LIMBO or INSIDE. I understand why you draw parallels between the titles, but I can assure you that there is no overlap between the creative teams and that we have no involvement with the SOMERVILLE project.

Huh yeah, kinda crazy since it looks extremely Limbo/Inside in terms of style.

And there's another game by the person who actually made Limbo & Inside? Looks really cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xub7_FhlWws

Chants of Senaar, the Moebius tower of Babel game, is pretty chewy in a good way! After a very brief tutorial, you're thrown into the deep end as far as figuring out the game mechanics even as you try to piece together all the language puzzles.

Began "Bioshock Infinite." It's already pretty different from the first two, or at least, the start is overwhelming while the others sort of ease you into their worlds. Kinda getting nu-"Wolfenstein" vibes from it.

chants of senaar sounds great. wishlisted.

final fantasy 8. specifically triple triad in the starting area of ff8. i am the cardmaster

I tried to undo one of the annoying triple triad rules once and I couldn't do it in 5+ hours of trying.

board game night cancelled tonight
so it's time for the case of the golden idol - p stoked

not sure if it's similar but loved hob's barrow

big fan of the mystery/detective game boom of the past few years

yes any other recs like these would be appreciated

finally playing FF7R. played the demo when it came out but kinda hated the battle system, so didn't buy at the time.
with a hefty discount and the second one coming out soon, plus reading various hints about how the remake story goes off in a different direction (without getting it spoiled), figured the time was now if ever. and I made my peace with the battle system once I figured out it's just a dumb button basher in FF clothing, so bring on the daftness.

yes any other recs like these would be appreciated

Obra Dinn is the obvious touchpoint (though I was a lot more meh on it than others). But I'll just plug Chants of Sennaar again!

enjoyed obra dinn but found it a bit of a pain to navigate

Will add sennaar to my list

If you like Sennaar and Obra Dinn, I suggest The Case of the Golden Idol: https://www.thegoldenidol.com/trial

(which I see was mentioned, but they offer a free trial)