[Morgoth]

It's for that reason that I genuinely liked the first AC the most.

[Aptorian]

I finished The Last of Us earlier.

Amazing game only let down by the games story becoming a bit too videogame towards the end.

I can't say that I liked the ending. In fact I think it was so unsurprising that it almost soured the whole experience.

But I truly enjoyed the character interaction and how the environment changes through out the story.

[Defiance]

I enjoyed The Last of Us, but I also think it's ridiculously overrated.

As you said, the character interactions and the environments were great. I thought the gameplay was pretty good, but the experience was hampered by the friendly AI and overall inconsistency. Clickers don't seem all that threatening when your AI companion is stomping around two feet away and they don't here, or when you're wrenching open a door and somehow the entire room you just went through doesn't seem to hear.

Also, the story...meh. Being predictable isn't exactly a bad thing, but I felt everything was extremely forecasted. I was already predicting the end of the game just an hour or so in, and I anticipated all of the twists. Kind of disappointing in that regard. Still a good game, but hardly one of the best the PS3 has to offer.

[Traveller]

I didn't finish it. I quite liked it, but it was very linear and clearing each new 'area' was getting a touch repetitive. I've been doing this a lot lately with games that have areas or outposts to clear, and then basically stitch them all together to make a game. Ok the layouts are all a bit different, but it's essentially repeating the same thing over and over.


Which is why I've nearly finished Demons Souls again. Only put it on for a quick play, and ended up working through the whole thing with a different build.

Great level design, radically different areas, and bags of atmosphere.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 21 February 2014 - 10:38 AM

[Aptorian]

Been cleaning up a bit in my old PS3 pile of games.

I finished Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and Bionic Commando.

Enslaved is really good. Perhaps not as great as some of the 5/5 reviews I'd seen from for example Giant Bomb, but it is a really good game. It's basically a sort of robot apocalypse version of the Chinese story about the Monkey King and his shenanigans.

It has some fantastic characters and some great environmental puzzles. Also for some reason it has Andy Sirkis in it, like no make-up or anything, just pure video footage. Threw me for a loop.

Bionic Commando was awful. You can tell it is an early last/current generation title. There's a mile between the checkpoints and you often have to repeat cutscenes again and again or have to backtrack for collectibles and ammo that the game does not remember you picking up 10 minutes earlier. What's worse is that it is never quite clear what you can and cannot grapple onto or the arm seem to be just a smidge too short to grab at what ever hand hold you needed, so you fall to your death and have to repeat 10 minutes of fighting and navigating the landscape.

Also you die so incredibly fast, even despite the game being set on normal the easiest difficulty. I don't even want to know how hard the game is on Commando difficulty. Being unforgiving is okay I guess but then it becomes combined with the frustration of bad controls and it gets bad. What is really awful is that to keep the player on the right path through the game, the buildings or ground or just the air in the areas around the player area is radioactive and kills you. If you step off the invisible path you have between 2 and 5 seconds to get you ass back or you get to do the last 10 minutes over again. When you are swinging through the air and you're at the mercy of physics and unable to correct your path that becomes really fucking stupid. Super awful level design.

The story is also absolutely awful, with some of the worst game dialogue I have ever experienced. Both the writing and the execution of the voice acting is beyond bad. And yet, somehow, as the game went into its second half it started to get sort of good in that 80s action movie kind of way. The final boss fight, while boring in its execution, is absolutely phenomenal in its imagery.

The game also has a really bizarre twist that is introduced for no apparent reason.

Bionic Commando Super spoilers! Feel free to look because you probably shouldn't bother playing this game.

Spoiler

Half way through the game it is introduced that your wife apparently "left you" 12 years ago, all though you didn't believe it and reported her missing. Turns out the government knew all along what REALLY happened to her.

Kind of strange side story there I thought, then they revealed it in the last boss fight. Apparently, to make the soldier bond to their bionics they need a "personal" attachment. So they fucking put the heros wife inside his bionic arm. What the freaking fuck? What does that even mean? Is her mind inside his arm? Or did they cut her up and put her body inside the arm? His wife has been inside his arm for 12 years!

Even as I was weirded out by that, the hero never even reacts to this information and just keeps on doing his thing. So why even mention this stuff?

Man this game had some weird writing.

This post has been edited by Maybe Apt: 25 February 2014 - 08:45 PM

[Morgoth]

I've picked up HeroAcademy for the iPhone again. It's perhaps the best of the phone games in my opinion, and perfectly suited for short waits. It's also free in a good way, meaning that the team available without pay is just as strong as the pay-to-play teams.

[Garak]

I finished The Banner Saga. I found it an enjoyable game - I liked the decision making. Having the caravan escort clansmen to safety while the enemy was breathing down my neck reminded me of the Chain of Dogs. This was not as tragic as that, however.

[Aptorian]

I'm somewhere around halfway through Thief/Thi4f/Thief 4.

Not having much experience with the original games, I am just playing this like I usually play your typical stealth action adventure AAA game. Meaning I am only really using stealth as a means to get behind the guards so I can fuck them up. Otherwise I am ransacking everything room I get through and making away like a bandit.

I think all the reviewers let themselves get carried away by the hate train. Thief is a perfectly fine game. So far I'd give it a solid 4/5 coin purses found in bird nests.

Only real issue I have experienced (playing on a PC with everything cranked up to max), besides some slow down at times, is the sound issues. Considering this is a stealth game it really is unacceptable how insane the sound/noise range works. It's hard to get a feeling of tension or vice versa relax when you are unable to determine where a potential witness or guard is and what they are doing.

[Gothos]

I've had a bug at one point in Thief that a guy sounded like a muffled voice from the room over a wall, but was in the same room with me. Other than that, yeah, the game has optimization issues.

I didn't read any reviews. I was a maniac of the first two games, and I'm actually really liking this one. My choice is ghosting, so I don't take out guards at all. I started playing on Master, with no food, no poppies, no focus, deadly opponents, no civilian takedowns and no aerial takedowns, as well as no combat takedowns and no special arrows. Only just about started chapter 3, doing a lot of the side stuff and just exploring. Cool stuff that each district is now the size of the whole City from Deadly Shadows. If I had to classify this, it's a mixture of the first two Thief games, Assassin's Creed and Arkham Asylum. Only with a cooler protagonist.

[Aptorian]

Finished Thief/Thi4f/Thief 4. Really liked it. The game actually became better over time I think. The areas or environments branches out later and become more complex. Especially the Barons mansion was super fun. SO MUCH STUFF TO LOOT. Also, having never played the first games but still having heard of the scary levels of the other games, I found the asylum level creepy as fuck. Not really scary, just really fucking eerie.

Playing South Park: The Stick of Truth now. Probably half way through. This game is an early contender for Game of the Year for me. Hell, it may be one of the best games I have ever played straight up. It's not really the quality of the gameplay it self, that stuff is kind of all borrowed from here and there and done better by others, but the quality of the writing and dialogue and where they take us with that story, it's unprecedented in how flawlessly it merges I feel.

Also after having seen some of the stuff that was banned in Germany now, I almost wish it had been censored in Denmark as well. God damn is some of this stuff hilariously disturbing.

[Obdigore]

Played South Park, and although I've not watched the show in a long time, it was absolutely hilarious. Would recommend to anyone who isn't an uptight no-sense-of-humor ass that likes RPGs and/or funny games.

Also picked up Drox Operative, and have been pouring hours into that as I wait for Titanfall. Having a blast with it although I wish there was a way to speed up your leveling.

[Jakovasaurus]

If you guys are looking for a casual game to play AND are fans of classic pinball then give The Pinball Arcade a try. It's a lot of fun. The game itself is $10.00 USD, but you'll want to get one of the available seasons which will allow you do download many more tables. I went with the Season 1 Pro Bundle ($40 USD). Anyway, if you are a pinball enthusiast, this is a must have.

[Gothos]

So, after a long time of abandonment, I've given Diablo III a new spin the last few days. I must say it's become a much better experience than on release.

First off, difficulty changes are for the better. No longer the consecutive normal -> nightmare -> hell -> inferno progression, now you can choose normal/hard/expert from lvl 1 for increased xp and drop rate, then master and torment (I-VI) at 60. I made a new barbarian and, playing on Hard form lvl 1, I reached 57 when I killed Diablo the first time. A much better experience, I must say, I like it. The Torment I-VI system is also a lot more transparent and intuitive than the old Monster Power thingy.

Loot 2.0 - with auction house now gone, it's just so much better gameplay. Basically, you're a LOT more likely to get drops useful for yourself nowdays, and you even get some legendaries along the way as you level. You no longer feel like you're banging your head against a wall.

Paragon 2.0 - now paragon levels give you points that you can put into various stat improvements - crit chance/damage, max resource, run speed, aoe damage, armor, resistances etc. I like this model a lot more than the old "extra magic find" model.

Now with RoS coming out today, we get split of campaign and adventure mode, bounties, enchanting, gambling, nephalem rifts... really looks like they took a long look at the game and making improvements to gameplay instead of trying to make it a cash cow. Very good, me likey. I'm very eager to see what Reaper of Souls holds in stock for me.

[Primateus]

I've been playing both Batman: Arkham Origins and Tombraider. While Tombraider is a thoroughly enjoyable game for me I'm finding that it has to give way for me playing the goddamn Batman!

Arkham Origins is fucking awesome on so many levels. It revitalizes the feeling from the previous two games of sneaking around taking the baddies down one by one without anyone noticing their friends even going missing. Holy shit the feeling of this game is just incredible.

Obviously there are some things that annoys me, but certainly not enough to ruin a totally satisfying gaming experience.

More please!

As for Tombraider, I'll return for that once I've finished Arkham.

Speaking of Thief, I'll wait until after I upgrade my graphics card (which should, barring any unforseen catastrophic expenses, happen next week) to buy it. Hopefully I'll like it as much as I liked the first one.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

always clash of clans. it consumes me

[tiam]

I got tired of Borderlands 2 TVHM and played the first two batman games. Playing them back to back Asylum is better with City having a better plot. Still not sure whether to buy origins given the change in studio and mediocre reviews.

Might play saints row 4 next.

[Aptorian]

If you've got the other games fresh in your mind, I would recommend playing Origins now. As a trilogy I think playing first Asylum, then Origins, then City, tells the story of Batman and the Joker very well.

[Gothos]

Been doing some roundups of achievements for EU4, which had me playing as Portugal->Caraibas->Haiti, Brandenburg->Prussia->Germany and Austria->Holy Roman Empire. Think I'll tick off French and Italian achievements next, then it's time to Otto. And maybe Timmy.

[Traveller]

I'm a bit down on games at the moment. Not sure of it's the games themselves or just the fact that I'm getting bored of them more quickly.

Far Cry 3, The Last of Us, AC Black Flag, GTA V.. even Dark Souls 2 to an extent, are all games I've enjoyed initially but, in the case of the first four at least, tired of very quickly and not finished. It puts me off even trying games like Tomb Raider (which looks good) as I think I'll just find the same predictable gameplay.

I've been replaying older games (Demons Souls, Shadow of the Colossus) and loving them, but most of the new stuff out or coming up just isn't grabbing me. I'm currently playing Child of Light, which looks very pretty but has no real depth to it.. nice music too actually.

Maybe I'll try South Park just for the laughs, but already I'm not certain I'll be bothered to see it through.

Which leaves me looking forward to Elite - Dangerous.. and possibly Witcher 3 whenever that comes out.

[Gothos]

Traveller, on 08 May 2014 - 08:20 AM, said:

and possibly Witcher 3 whenever that comes out.

me too. hoping to grab a new card my the time it comes out. CDP RED does not disappoint.

any reason I don't see anything resembling or even needing strategy in your list?