[Aptorian]

I'm not sure Prey is even available online any longer after that Steam sale some years back where they ran out of authentication codes. There was some issue with the game no longer having the support that is needed to create the codes. Something like that. Basically the sale was so popular (it was selling for like 5 dollars) that they ran out of games.

If you google the game there doesn't appear to be any online download options.

[Mentalist]

lame. Human Head'd better make some more before they release Prey 2.

[Gothos]

Mentalist, on 27 April 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

really?

I mean, SR2 is the defining point of the series, story-wise, but the gameplay was pretty shitty, imo. Especially since they ditched the open-world approach in favour of a linear slog through same locations back and forth in 3 time periods.

I didn't mind the gameplay that much, to be honest - I'm not much of a hack'n'slash fan, and 3d platform jumping on top of that... But what kept me with that series was indeed the characters, story and setting. They're absolutely brilliant. Kain, Raziel, Vorador, Janos, The Elder God, just brilliant - and the voice acting! Sweet Jesus.
In any case, as far as gameplay goes in this series, nothing can get worse than Defiance's camera angles

Quote

edit: though it's a real shame they didn't start with BO1. absolutely best game EVER!

I had a problem where the game would crash at the point where you get to the guy that's cursed to inhabit a suit of armor - cinematic or something like that... If they made a reboot I'd totally pour my cash into it without thinking, though.

[Mentalist]

Gothos, on 27 April 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 27 April 2012 - 01:39 PM, said:

really?

I mean, SR2 is the defining point of the series, story-wise, but the gameplay was pretty shitty, imo. Especially since they ditched the open-world approach in favour of a linear slog through same locations back and forth in 3 time periods.

I didn't mind the gameplay that much, to be honest - I'm not much of a hack'n'slash fan, and 3d platform jumping on top of that... But what kept me with that series was indeed the characters, story and setting. They're absolutely brilliant. Kain, Raziel, Vorador, Janos, The Elder God, just brilliant - and the voice acting! Sweet Jesus.
In any case, as far as gameplay goes in this series, nothing can get worse than Defiance's camera angles

Quote

edit: though it's a real shame they didn't start with BO1. absolutely best game EVER!

I had a problem where the game would crash at the point where you get to the guy that's cursed to inhabit a suit of armor - cinematic or something like that... If they made a reboot I'd totally pour my cash into it without thinking, though.

I don't think Malek had a cinelmatic intro...
nope, checked a youtube channel that collected them all: he didn't. weird.

did it crash when you got to the Bastion, or to Malek himself?

I also wasn't a fan of the games going 3d. and atmosphere-wise, SR's one of the weaker games (and also, I actually liked BO2, go figure)
however, gameplay-wise, SR1 is up there. though every game in the series tried something very different.

SR2 had an amazing story (and, most importanly, devoutedly faithful to BO1, which I absolutely adored), but the parts between the story were a complete and utter drag. SR1's story was only ok, but the world was huge, and generally fun to explore (especially so once you got past the Sarafan tomb, and the rest of the game puzzles were almost nonexistant (except for Moebius' place))

[Mentalist]

oh, yeah, another thing I wanted to mention:

http://www.kickstart...adowrun-returns

this is in its last 12 hour funding stretch. It's a 2-D RPG with x-com-type turn-based combat. The game is based on the Shadowrun PnP RPG, which is based escribed as cyberpunk LotR.

for people like Silencer, think of it as "Arcanum in Cyberpunk".

the project just hit 1.75 Mil, and now includes 6 starting classes. 2 of these have been added since the initial announcement of 4. The game's content been expended to 2 cities as settings (2nd city TBD by backer voting). you can get a DRM-free version by contributing only 15 bucks. oh, and every copy comes with a mission editor, so that there'll be tons of custom-made missions for the game as well.

I urge everyone to check it out!

[Traveller]

I don't know what to play next. I've just finished Dark Souls for a second time, and although i have several other games waiting, I just don't have the inclination to play them.

Assassins Creed - Revelations. I started it ages ago, but it's just so dull being told where to go and what to do, plus I feel like I've played it all before. Is a the addition of a zip-line really going to make it new and different?

Batman - Arkham City. I like Batman, but I don't really see the appeal of beating up hundreds of nameless, generic goons. Or chasing around looking for Riddler question marks; I hate having crap loads of stuff to collect just to extend a game. Ok, I started it a while back, and it was quite good - is it worth progressing?

Oh, and I have just got hold of Dead Space. This looks fun, I have played a bit of it, but the weird camera angle over the shoulder is really disorientating... it even rotates round a point slightly off-centre. I'll have another go to see if I can get used to it, but really, why have the view so skewed? And is it really just a case of following a line on the floor to each objective?

My problem is, these games are so horribly predictable that you know what they're like already. The cities in AC are beautiful, but a lack of interaction with anything other than running up walls makes it seem like a 'Matrix' environment; present in every detail, but ultimately just a pretty backdrop. Which isn't helped by the animus loading sequences. If you know how a game is going to run before you play it, why bother?

I shouldn't complain really, I've been spoiled with Skyrim and Dark Souls. Because you can immerse yourself in them, without a bunch of cut-scenes and flashing arrows to follow. And with Dark Souls, an actual challenge.

Maybe I'll go and read instead.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 28 April 2012 - 10:11 PM

[Mentalist]

Play The Witcher 2.
It has cut-scenes, but it's soooo good......

EDIT: also, with the exception of a number of scripted scenes, a lot of goon-bashing in Arkham City is avoidable. Esp once you get to the point where everyone has guns, where the emphasis switches to stealth, fast.

Riddler trophies.... ugh. they're generally better than the first game. some are easier to find, others require more cleverness. I miss the nice "all secrets on the level" maps of Arkham Asylum, however.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 28 April 2012 - 11:08 PM

[Aptorian]

Traveller, on 28 April 2012 - 10:05 PM, said:

I don't know what to play next. I've just finished Dark Souls for a second time, and although i have several other games waiting, I just don't have the inclination to play them.

Assassins Creed - Revelations. I started it ages ago, but it's just so dull being told where to go and what to do, plus I feel like I've played it all before. Is a the addition of a zip-line really going to make it new and different?

Batman - Arkham City. I like Batman, but I don't really see the appeal of beating up hundreds of nameless, generic goons. Or chasing around looking for Riddler question marks; I hate having crap loads of stuff to collect just to extend a game. Ok, I started it a while back, and it was quite good - is it worth progressing?

Oh, and I have just got hold of Dead Space. This looks fun, I have played a bit of it, but the weird camera angle over the shoulder is really disorientating... it even rotates round a point slightly off-centre. I'll have another go to see if I can get used to it, but really, why have the view so skewed? And is it really just a case of following a line on the floor to each objective?

My problem is, these games are so horribly predictable that you know what they're like already. The cities in AC are beautiful, but a lack of interaction with anything other than running up walls makes it seem like a 'Matrix' environment; present in every detail, but ultimately just a pretty backdrop. Which isn't helped by the animus loading sequences. If you know how a game is going to run before you play it, why bother?

I shouldn't complain really, I've been spoiled with Skyrim and Dark Souls. Because you can immerse yourself in them, without a bunch of cut-scenes and flashing arrows to follow. And with Dark Souls, an actual challenge.

Maybe I'll go and read instead.

Haven't played Assassins Creed Revelations yet but I can certainly recommend playing the other two.

Ignore the fight system in Batman, it was never what drew me in anyway. Play it for the atmosphere, the voice work, the layers of detail and depth. But yeah, if you don't like exploration and puzzle solving this game might not be for you, because that really is the core of the game not the action.

As for Dead Space once I plugged in a gamepad it felt a lot better than using a keyboard and mouse but that has something to with the graphics card. You don't have to use the bread crumbs function it just makes it easier to get around when the levels begin to branch out through numerous passageways and elevator lifts. I liked it. I finished it on easy just last week. The story is cool, the monsters are sneaky, it's gory and violent and with the sound cranked up it is really eerie. My only complaint is the shoddy controls for PC.

Mentalist, on 28 April 2012 - 11:05 PM, said:

Riddler trophies.... ugh. they're generally better than the first game. some are easier to find, others require more cleverness. I miss the nice "all secrets on the level" maps of Arkham Asylum, however.

I don't know, it was more work having to beat up the Riddlers moles for trophy and riddle locations, but it made it more challenging than just stumbling onto it.

[Traveller]

Cheers. Put Dead Space on last night, and got quite absorbed - the view is still a bit puke inducing at times, especially when turning round (which is slow when there's something behind you) but the lighting is excellent, so atmospheric. I like the zero-g and 'outside' sections too, and the way more necros appear when you backtrack through an area you've cleared - from different places, too. I got jumped out in the vacuum; a necro appeared out of the smoke. Caught out, I blasted away madly and dashed for the door. The sounds were all muted, which was a really nice touch, and as the necro followed me it got crushed in the door after I went through. And those baby things are hugely disturbing.

Good stuff so far.

As for the Witcher 2 - I've read mixed things. Some say it's good because it has adult themes and political aspects, others say it's too linear and the adult stuff is just a load of swearing and nudity for the sake of it, and doesn't make for a good game. Also, even the reviews that like it say the controls are iffy - if there as bad as they say they are, I don't get why they rate it so highly, as iffy controls are kind of a game-breaker as far as I'm concerned. If you've played it, what do you think?

This post has been edited by Traveller: 30 April 2012 - 11:46 AM

[Aptorian]

Just bought Assassins Creed: Revelations at a ridiculously low price. I'd been avoiding buying the game because I heard it was pretty much just more of the same but I couldn't resist the bargain. Now I know what me and a buddy are going to be doing over the next 3 day weekend.

[Mentalist]

Traveller, on 30 April 2012 - 11:40 AM, said:

Cheers. Put Dead Space on last night, and got quite absorbed - the view is still a bit puke inducing at times, especially when turning round (which is slow when there's something behind you) but the lighting is excellent, so atmospheric. I like the zero-g and 'outside' sections too, and the way more necros appear when you backtrack through an area you've cleared - from different places, too. I got jumped out in the vacuum; a necro appeared out of the smoke. Caught out, I blasted away madly and dashed for the door. The sounds were all muted, which was a really nice touch, and as the necro followed me it got crushed in the door after I went through. And those baby things are hugely disturbing.

Good stuff so far.

As for the Witcher 2 - I've read mixed things. Some say it's good because it has adult themes and political aspects, others say it's too linear and the adult stuff is just a load of swearing and nudity for the sake of it, and doesn't make for a good game. Also, even the reviews that like it say the controls are iffy - if there as bad as they say they are, I don't get why they rate it so highly, as iffy controls are kind of a game-breaker as far as I'm concerned. If you've played it, what do you think?

Playing it right now. I wouldn't call it super-linear. There doesn't seem to be as much content as the first one, true, but it's far from linear. On top of that, so far i've only played through Act 1, and the first few hours of Act II. I've tried Act I several times before, so it had few surprises. Act II started out pretty epic, and considering there's a whole other side I could've been playing it for... there's a ton of stuff. Also, there's been about 4 h of content added to Act III.

RE: swearing and nudity: it's true to the source material. The Witcher Books are a dark, gritty lo-fantasy. Also, the sex thing seems to actually be toned down from the original, in terms of not every single female is asking you to give it to her (may have had somehtign to do with the jump in graphics and the costs of making a scene for every female, lol.) On top of which it's also true to the source material-the Witchers are renowned for having uber-stamina and being sterile, so it's a win-win for all teh wimminz in the books. Also, disclaimer: I'm playing the game in Russian, so I don't know how grating the "plowing" thing is these days. Russian subs use genuine, modern swears.

Re: controls: they've improved the PC controls. The dodging still sometimes annoys me, but it's highly possible it's because i'm greedily hoarding the XP instead of boosting it. From the XBox demo I saw, the combat looks even easier there. I still tend to turn the difficulty down if I'm stuck fighting 8 people in a small room with no place to maneuver, but overall, the combat's much better. and you can also block now even w/o vigour, though you still take (reduced) damage, which makes sense.

I'm guessing i'm at around 15-20h mark right now (I picked up a savegame form the holidays, after upgrading to Extended Edition), and I'm barely at the halfway mark. Considering there's a whole other way for the story to branch, I certainly feel i'm getting my money's worth.

[Aptorian]

The term plowing was absolutely fantastic in the first Witcher game. I instantly fell in love with that fence/spy guy.

[Mentalist]

yeah, Thaler was pretty cool. Wonder what he sounds like in English....

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 30 April 2012 - 08:32 PM

[Beezulbubba]

Spoiler alert?

[Beezulbubba]

Game of Thrones game play demo.

[Mentalist]

So, witcher Wannabe, with KOTOR combat.

Not bad. cautiously optimistic about this, still.

[Tapper]

It's Cyanide. Cyanide can only make decent games when the ruleset is already prescribed/ ready to be pirated (aka, BloodBowl).

[rhulad]

http://www.kickstart...adowrun-returns

MOTHER F@$&ING SHADOWRUN!

[Gothos]

OK, so I just finished Risen II.

I may have spoken very badly of it some time ago, but let me say it ain't all that bad. Definately more interesting than Arcania.

But on to the meat, shall we.

At the start, the average player may get very, very frustrated by the combat. At low skill levels and with no perks, the Nameless One is about as strong as a drunken lemur. But once you start getting the hang of it and up a few skills, it gets better. Also, as the story progresses, the game unfolds its wings considerably (though nowhere near the brilliance of Gothic II or the first Risen). I really don't want to go into much detail, but if you have the spare time (unlikely with Diablo III incoming in just a few days, though), and liked Gothic, you can give it a go - just remember to be patient with it.
Overall, I give it a solid 7/10.

[Mentalist]

rhulad, on 11 May 2012 - 05:31 PM, said:

http://www.kickstart...adowrun-returns

MOTHER F@$&ING SHADOWRUN!

RHulad, where've you been? I've plugged that Kickstarter several times, on several threads.

there's currently a vote on the second city setting to add to the game,besides Seattle. Early leaders were Hong Kong and Berlin.