[Jusentantaka]

*orders* Late christmas present for my husband I think. Thanks.

I've always wondered though, why the English - knowing their arrows were ineffective for about a hundred years - didn't y'know... invent better ones.

[Tapper]

Jusentantaka, on 20 December 2009 - 10:27 PM, said:

*orders* Late christmas present for my husband I think. Thanks.

I've always wondered though, why the English - knowing their arrows were ineffective for about a hundred years - didn't y'know... invent better ones.

They served a purpose, I guess... if you can't shoot the man, shoot the horse he sits on is a second best idea that still has merit Added to that, innovation is hard to make in an essentially conservative environment, especially when you're winning

[Aptorian]

Having played Wolfenstein for a couple of days, I can now whole heartedly recommend it if you were a fan of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and you enjoy old school FPS games. Wolfenstein is by no means an amazing gaming experience, it's not very original, the controls are clunky, the graphics engine is old and tired, but damn it's entertaining mowing down truck loads of evil cartoon Nazis.

[Tarcanus]

I've been playing Assassin's Creed 2 when I get the chance. I've completed 5 out of 14 'sequences' in the game, and so far I am blown away at the improvement from AC1 to AC2. Anyone who was worrying about them nerfing AC2 to fix AC1's issues, don't worry. It's great.

My only complaints, so far, are that they took away the tension and cinematics of each assassination. In AC1, when you near where the assassination would take place, you got to see a nice scene and a chance to survey the scenario you would soon be plunging yourself into. Then there would be a bit a dialogue between Altair and his target before you had to escape.

In AC2, you go in to find your target and then find a way to assassinate him(this is much nicer than the first game, as AC2 assassinations can actually be done stealthily) but there is very little tension-building, and the 'death-dialogue' has been much reduced.

My second complaint is that it takes place in Italy, and there is a lot of Italian being thrown around that I don't understand - especially during those 'death-dialogues'. I'm sure if I turned on subtitles, it would all be translated for me, but I don't like marring the screen with text dialogue when I can avoid it - so that's a complaint of my own creation.

I'll let you know more as I continue on.

[Aptorian]

GTA IV
Jade Empire
STALKER: Clear Sky
Shooter Pack.

[Grief]

Got Left 4 dead 2 and Ninja Gaiden 2.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Lovely goty edition of Fallout 3 with all the dlc included.

[Silencer]

Tarcanus, on 22 December 2009 - 07:22 PM, said:

I've been playing Assassin's Creed 2 when I get the chance. I've completed 5 out of 14 'sequences' in the game, and so far I am blown away at the improvement from AC1 to AC2. Anyone who was worrying about them nerfing AC2 to fix AC1's issues, don't worry. It's great.

My only complaints, so far, are that they took away the tension and cinematics of each assassination. In AC1, when you near where the assassination would take place, you got to see a nice scene and a chance to survey the scenario you would soon be plunging yourself into. Then there would be a bit a dialogue between Altair and his target before you had to escape.

In AC2, you go in to find your target and then find a way to assassinate him(this is much nicer than the first game, as AC2 assassinations can actually be done stealthily) but there is very little tension-building, and the 'death-dialogue' has been much reduced.

My second complaint is that it takes place in Italy, and there is a lot of Italian being thrown around that I don't understand - especially during those 'death-dialogues'. I'm sure if I turned on subtitles, it would all be translated for me, but I don't like marring the screen with text dialogue when I can avoid it - so that's a complaint of my own creation.

I'll let you know more as I continue on.

1) Turn on the subtitles. They don't intrude in any way, and the cinematics of the deaths don't require you to stare at them. If you're a fast reader, ofc, you can do both. Yes, they translate the Italian.
2) Half the internet was crying for the removal of the ten-minute dialogues that followed someone getting stabbed in the throat...so you're a minority there.
I'd say the tension building is in trying to do the assassination 'properly' - that builds plenty of, far more realistic, tension. Altair tended to be rather...obvious in his approach, and observation of the target.

Still, the game isn't hard. Pretty easy all around, basically can't die. (Especially now with water that it's a GOOD thing to jump into. That used to be my #1 cause of death in AC1)



Anyway, to make my own contribution, I just purchased Mass Effect today. ^^
On Xbox, but I still haven't notice the texture load-in issues that were much touted as a negative part of the console version. Then again, I installed the game to HDD rather than playing off the disc, which has the added bonus of reducing that godawful drive noise. XD
Enjoying myself, in any case. Still a good game.

[MTS]

Got Borderlands for Christmas, and I'm enjoying it so far. Although I have gotten to the point where I completely dominate everything in my path, and it's much less of a challenge now, which is a shame.

With regards to AC2, I felt the greatest disappointment was the story. I liked it, but I dunno, it lacked...oomph. There was no real emotional reaction on Ezio's part other than the first assassination, which was nicely done. But then it basically turned into a random slaughter of every Templar, without much real drive or motive behind it. 'Oh, this guy had really no role in the murder of my father, but let's kill him anyway cos he's a Templar'. In the first story you had a tangible reason to go after every target, and the fact they were all connected was almost trivial until the end of the game. And in this one would miss a lot of the significance of the conspiracy part of the story (i.e. the pieces of Eden) had you not gotten the glyphs. So I think they could have done better there. Great game though.

[Aptorian]

What character are you playing, MTS?

I played the Soldier and I thought it remained relatively tough (especially later when 2 new factions of enemies show up). But of course, when your level begins to get 3-4-5 levels above even the toughest enemies, it becomes easy.

[Tarcanus]

Silencer, on 29 December 2009 - 06:16 AM, said:

Tarcanus, on 22 December 2009 - 07:22 PM, said:

I've been playing Assassin's Creed 2 when I get the chance. I've completed 5 out of 14 'sequences' in the game, and so far I am blown away at the improvement from AC1 to AC2. Anyone who was worrying about them nerfing AC2 to fix AC1's issues, don't worry. It's great.

My only complaints, so far, are that they took away the tension and cinematics of each assassination. In AC1, when you near where the assassination would take place, you got to see a nice scene and a chance to survey the scenario you would soon be plunging yourself into. Then there would be a bit a dialogue between Altair and his target before you had to escape.

In AC2, you go in to find your target and then find a way to assassinate him(this is much nicer than the first game, as AC2 assassinations can actually be done stealthily) but there is very little tension-building, and the 'death-dialogue' has been much reduced.

My second complaint is that it takes place in Italy, and there is a lot of Italian being thrown around that I don't understand - especially during those 'death-dialogues'. I'm sure if I turned on subtitles, it would all be translated for me, but I don't like marring the screen with text dialogue when I can avoid it - so that's a complaint of my own creation.

I'll let you know more as I continue on.

1) Turn on the subtitles. They don't intrude in any way, and the cinematics of the deaths don't require you to stare at them. If you're a fast reader, ofc, you can do both. Yes, they translate the Italian.
2) Half the internet was crying for the removal of the ten-minute dialogues that followed someone getting stabbed in the throat...so you're a minority there.
I'd say the tension building is in trying to do the assassination 'properly' - that builds plenty of, far more realistic, tension. Altair tended to be rather...obvious in his approach, and observation of the target.

Still, the game isn't hard. Pretty easy all around, basically can't die. (Especially now with water that it's a GOOD thing to jump into. That used to be my #1 cause of death in AC1)

Yeah, I haven't died from any kind of fighting, yet - though I did come close, once, before I remembered I had those insta-heal medicines. My main cause of death has been accidentally jumping from tall buildings. I've also been desynchronized a couple times for not completing missions on time or whatnot.



Other games I've been playing are Eufloria and Braid.

Eufloria is a fun little RTS. Little graphical impact and very mellow music make for an enjoyable time. I am usually horrible at RTSs, but this seems to have opened up the genre for me since it's so simplistic.

And Braid, well, I'm sure all of you know about Braid. I love the mind-fuck-ness of it.

[Impirion]

Torchlight I have bought on the back of recommendations from friends and is on sale on steam too for the next few hours

[caladanbrood]

I bought Bioshock and Oblivion in one game pack with a giftcard I got for christmas. They are both awesome

[Jusentantaka]

Completely been forgetting about the new AVP, and now that the demo is out... well, its time to pay up.

[Aptorian]

Bought Mount and Blade on Steam yesterday. It's on sale this weekend for 5 euros.

Now to find a dozen mods to upgrade the game.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

B ioshock 2. About to pick up NCAA football '10. Also got a few fun $1.00 indie games over xbox live whose names escape me. Solar was one of them.

[HoosierDaddy]

Do you enjoy playing as OSU in NCAA, Ray, or do you play with a different team? I wouldn't think it'd be much of a challenge with OSU. As opposed to say making Ball State a 6 Star in Dynasty Mode, which is both awesome and fantastical.

[Slow Ben]

Try making Eastern Illinois into a 6 star. Dear lord.

NCAA 10 really pissed me off, half of the crap in the game is upgrades they want you to buy. Mostly the recruiting stuff.

[HoosierDaddy]

Eastern and Ball State have set up home and away games with each other, btw.

Recruiting is the best damned part! BOOOOOO!

[Slow Ben]

H.D., on 14 February 2010 - 02:38 AM, said:

Eastern and Ball State have set up home and away games with each other, btw.

Recruiting is the best damned part! BOOOOOO!

Interesting.....

and

I know!