General Gaming Megathread: What are you playing?

[Ilosar]

Update on Medieval 2: the Mongols are kicking my ass. I managed to capture Jerusalem (which was defended with a full stack) with about half of my men left. Next turn, a horde of 4 full stacks of super-elite units (seriously, their basic infantry are as strong as dismounted knights and carry bows??) are dumped right outside the city. Needless to say I only have small Aleppo and no leader left in the Holy Land. Situation in Europe is fine and dandy, but I need Jerusalem to win. Damn these fucks. At least I seem to have inflicted enough casualties that they have 2 full stacks left, and Aleppo is fully staffed because I have all of France, half of Italy, and most of the Holy Roman Empire under my control bringing tons of money into my coffers. My units are just not advanced enough to beat crazy strong horse archers on the open field, so behind the walls with you guys.

Also, a bit of Metro 2033. It's not a bad shooter at all, but I find it a bit too linear and dependant on scripts (the part with Khan was boring, you just follow him and do as he says). The jury-rigged weapons are really nice however, even if the Volt Driver seems like a giant game-breaker, killing anything in one shot.

 

[Sub-Human]

I just decided to try out Mercenaries 2 (that 2008 blow-shit-up game), seems a fun (but short-term) expirience. I plan on resuming my character in Oblivion after that.

Still haven't played Arcanum, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment (had some problems installing it) or any of those legendary RPGs you guys talk about. Tried playing Wasteland, but the emulator just fucks up (yep, as strongly as that) the expirience with wierd controls, unexplainable glitches and other stuff. Was too lazy to adjust the cycle speed for TES Arena.

 

[Per]

Also wish I had something to get rid of the random encounters, the respawning enemies are starting to get on my nerves.

Activate the cheat keys in the console, then when an offending group of monsters appears, pause and Ctrl-Y each and every one of them. I have done this in extremely annoying areas like Dragon's Eye where moving one pixel to the left and one pixel back to the right can mean spawning a big group of stupid poison arrow archers.

 

[Starseeker]

I am having fun with Eternal Poison, even though there is such a lack of information about it. The inability to train does still bug me for a tactical game. It kinda reminds me of Hoshigami. One of the more bizarre top down/iso tactical games that I've played.

I am near the end for Front Mission 4. It still bugs me that the rag tag team of revolutionaries have access to better gear near the end compared to the an official special forces of something like NATO. Unless I get access to the special simulator battles, the girl's side has much crappier mechs.

 

[TorontoReign]

I have found that mods are essential for Civilization 5 because I am too anal about it being semi-realistic; If I am playing as the Celts 6000 years ago I don't expect to see the United States and George Washington......

 

[Surf Solar]

@sea: you also need to finish arcanum as it is one of the greatest RPG's ever made.




Dammit, kids these days!

Already did. I posted about it a page or two back.

Icewind Dale is fun, but I'm dreading some of these multi-level dungeons. Some of them have as many as seven or eight floors, and while I enjoy a dungeon crawl, I'm starting to remember that the monotony of some parts of this game really turned me off of it. It's still enjoyable despite the Infinity Engine's shitty combat (I can't stand the imprecise character movement and bad pathfinding, and really just wish it was truly turn-based), but the fact that I'm still able to resort to the good ol' "haste the warriors and disrupt spellcasters with magic missiles" tactic to get through most of the fights at least makes some of the more tedious and repetitive encounters a bit easier to get through.

That said, I can't stand playing Icewind Dale (or any Infinity Engine game) without a few mods for usability. If it wasn't for the option to rest anywhere/everywhere, I'd go insane constantly trekking back to town just to heal up and regain my spells, especially earlier on when you can't go more than one or two fights without needing to take a break. And of course, being able to stack hundreds of the same item in one slot makes the game a hell of a lot more convenient and enjoyable. Also wish I had something to get rid of the random encounters, the respawning enemies are starting to get on my nerves.

I take it you are in the dragons eye at the moment, right? Because that is "the" dungeon which goes on my nerves too. It is simply a bit TOO big. But trust me, it gets better, right after that you go to the severed hand - while it has a couple of levels too, it is much more diverse and less annoying. Do you plan to play Heart of Winter aswell?

As for those random spawning monsters, I never had them. oO In which area does this happen? Once I clear an area, it is free of monsters forever (unless they ambush me during sleeping). A mixture of Icewind Dale I's art direction/atmosphere with the encounter design of the second title and I would drool all over, heh. Even though I can't stand RTwP, strangely these two games made it into my alltime favorite list.

Regarding Arcanum, this is one of the "classics" I never could get into. I really want to like it, but I just get bored eventually. I don't even know why, it does hit all the nerves that I need when I want to like an RPG: Choices & Consequences, a good soundtrack, good UI design etc.. But I still can't really get into it.

 

[maximaz]

A few hours into Metro 2033. It's decent enough except for the completely retarded AI. I've already had NPC's crouch on the wrong side of cover during a firefight (their backs to me), search for me while I stood behind a dresser in front of them, and stroll right past me while another one spotted me from the other end of the dark room and blasted me with a shotgun.

Also, setting off alarms seems to put a tracking beacon on me because no matter where I run or hide, I get blasted. What a fucked up game. A shame too because the setting is very cool. I thought the same thing about STALKER. Maybe I can find a decent mod that fixes this game too.

 

[valcik]

..I mostly enjoyed first IWD while playing with a 3 multiclass characters party, especially in the HoF mode. Dwarven F/C rocks very hard, because there are many locations occupied by an undead creatures only. (With Entropy shield spell he can boost up AC to 22~25 easily. Turning undead worked pretty well too.)

Because that is "the" dungeon which goes on my nerves too.

Those damn lizards! Yes, most annoying dungeon through the game, because there is no place for a rest.

 

[Surf Solar]

I take it you are in the dragons eye at the moment, right? Because that is "the" dungeon which goes on my nerves too. It is simply a bit TOO big. But trust me, it gets better, right after that you go to the severed hand - while it has a couple of levels too, it is much more diverse and less annoying. Do you plan to play Heart of Winter aswell?

As for those random spawning monsters, I never had them. oO In which area does this happen? Once I clear an area, it is free of monsters forever (unless they ambush me during sleeping). A mixture of Icewind Dale I's art direction/atmosphere with the encounter design of the second title and I would drool all over, heh. Even though I can't stand RTwP, strangely these two games made it into my alltime favorite list.

Regarding Arcanum, this is one of the "classics" I never could get into. I really want to like it, but I just get bored eventually. I don't even know why, it does hit all the nerves that I need when I want to like an RPG: Choices & Consequences, a good soundtrack, good UI design etc.. But I still can't really get into it.

Yeah, right now I've just about finished up with Dorn's Deep, about to go confront Poquelin. I figure this is going to initiate the endgame so I think I'll go back and do the Heart of Winter stuff before finishing up, as I assume you don't keep playing once you've beaten the game (unless you export the characters or something). Might end up reusing my party for Icewind Dale II after (I'll probably take a break in the meantime), but not sure if that will imbalance the game.

Dragon's Eye was by far the worst part of the game, though the Valve of Shadows is also kind of a grind due to the fact that low-level D&D just isn't that much fun. However, from the Severed Hand onwards the game has been a huge amount of fun, although Wyrm's Tooth was quite short, I probably finished up that "chapter" in an hour or less.

Unfortunately I think I've reached the point where I've broken the game, as aside from sneak attacks from annoying thieves taking my mages down, I can basically just cast Recitation, Prayer, Haste and Protection from Evil, and power my way through just using auto combat with minimal intervention... though I have to say that the fight at the Black Temple with the 100+ undead and the Greater Mummies was pretty crazy and required me to use quite a lot of strategy (summons, wands, etc.). Having a lead fighter with an AC of -15 (wat) also helps.

Overall, save for the earlier stages I actually found the game to be much easier than Baldur's Gate, especially because Tales of the Sword Coast and some of the bonus dungeons are just so goddamn ridiculously hard without raising the level cap to compensate - in Baldur's Gate I had to worry a lot more about dealing with mages, managing my party's positioning, more specific buffs, etc. I've heard that Icewind Dale II's encounter design is better while the first game's superior as far as atmosphere, story etc. go, so hopefully the second one puts up more challenge and requires me to vary my tactics more.

Yup, putting all the badges of the evildoers in the black temple (where that "Icon" boss fight was - agreed btw that this was a very hard fight) will initiate the endgame with no chance to come back. Be sure to finish the sidequests before (like bringing some water, some squirrel and some seeds to that elven guy in the severed hand, nets you a lot of xp aswell) - or start Heart of Winter (make sure to download Trials of the Luremaster too) before.

It surprises me that you needed less than an hour for the wyrms tooth, are you sure that you didn't miss out on all the sidequests there? (dealing with the snow giants in the cave, with those wyrms, the trolls and the black knights) ? Because it took me a lot longer to beat that area.. But yeah, I experienced a similar difficulty curve as you, some cleric buffs almost make the game too easy. Or that bards song, which regenerates hp for your entire party pretty quick.. Only endgame enemy I had problems with were those sentry things in dorns deep, those who use throwing axes on you. My hp went down pretty quick encountering them, so I often had to retreat.

You are right, IWD II has really a better encounter design, you often get ambushed, the terrain is used much better, special foes need some tricky strategies to pull em out etc - so I guess you'll get more satisfied by it. If you are looking for a challenge in IWD I - I found Trials of the Luremaster and some parts of Heart of Winter very hard - but that's maybe just my party (-25 AC indeed sounds ridicolous ) I've yet to play BG I again so I can compare the difficulty to it. I actually found BGII pretty easy the moment you "understand" how the game throws those cheating mage dudes at you - let's see if they did the same in BG I.

@ valcik:

Yeah, the Heart of Fury mode is indeed quite some challenge.

 

[Gaddes]

Dark Souls (PS3)

REALLY enjoying this game. Unlike Demon's Souls (which was great as well), this game actually has some challenge. The atmosphere is excellent as is the music.

 

[Alphadrop]

Want to get Dark Souls but I always need a run up to spend 40 quid on one game. Too used to buying PC games.
Kinda weird that there is only a limited edition of the game, unless they are being metaphysical and that all games are essentially limited.

 

[PainlessDocM]

Just started playing double fine's Costume Quest (PC).
Can't really comment on the gameplay but I love the visuals and humour.

 

[Per]

I've heard that Icewind Dale II's encounter design is better while the first game's superior as far as atmosphere, story etc. go, so hopefully the second one puts up more challenge and requires me to vary my tactics more.

Icewind Dale II is OK considering it was a straight-up Black Isle slam dunk. A few areas are well written, others are so clumsily written and designed you'd think it was done by a 15-year-old intern with no QA applied whatsoever. For instance, ubiquitous doorways that are so narrow that every time you try to go to the next room, five of your characters start pathing around to the other side of the map; NPC lines and entire speeches lifted verbatim from some design document that are duplicated several times throughout the game; stupid plot gimmicks that don't fit in the Forgotten Realms setting (as opposed to the BG games, which handle the setting very well); breaking the fourth wall not as an incidental joke but as a narrative convenience; and so on. But for all that, as a whole it's still better than Neverwinter Nights in most respects.

And yeah, I hated that about Baldur's Gate II - the only reason it's as challenging as it is is because the game blatantly cheats with all those protection spells, instant teleports, unavoidable attacks and so on that it gives mages, liches etc. Fake difficulty is not something I'm a fan of - if you can't balance your game normally first then you shouldn't start resorting to giving the AI hacks instead.

The spell triggers and contingencies aren't cheating in the sense that you can do it as well, if only you take the time and effort. The NPC mages of course have the luxury of having nothing else to do except stand and wait for you to show up.

 

[Wastewander]

Want to get Dark Souls but I always need a run up to spend 40 quid on one game. Too used to buying PC games.
Kinda weird that there is only a limited edition of the game, unless they are being metaphysical and that all games are essentially limited.

Yeah, I found that kind of strange. It's not like it has any bonuses akin to the Collector's Edition. Which I got, ooh yeeaah, that OST.

Haven't been playing as much Dark Souls as I'd like but I've made some "progress". Haven't even done Sen's Fortress though. I want to level up a bit so I've been grinding and exploring other areas to get items. Went back to the Undead Asylum, which is the tutorial area, and fought the Stray Demon. He's that huge dude that you see when first start the game to your right. Looks exactly the same as the tutorial boss but is a lot tougher. Man, that did he catch by surprise when I first fought him. I managed to beat him after a couple of tries. Finally got my Elite Knight armor set, but it's heavier than I expected so I'll wait till I get more Equip Burden.

 

[Ilosar]

It's what I didn't like at all in Baldur's Gate. Too many impossibly powerful spells/protections which only have a very specific counter, and if you don't know the mechanics and encounters by heart you're toast at higher difficulties. The Ascension mod actually seemed better, the encounters were designed with really hard enemies that can still be beaten rather than cheap ones that you either stomp or die horribly to. Other RPGs may be easier and ''dumbed down'', but I will take a computer that plays reasonably fairly and has abilities similar to the player's before an insanely overpowering encounter design that relies more on DnD knowledge or trial-and-error (or sometimes luck, for save and hits) than any tactical abilities. I found Origins to be a good balance of difficulty and interesting design, myself.

Also, hell yeah, my Polish ally helped me (he has half of Eastern Europe) and the Mongols are being driven off (they seem to respawn their stacks, but both me and my ally have 2 of our own, my computer refuses to spawn all the armies at once due to the sheer lag of thousands of dudes ripping each other apart at once, it's glorious). I had no leader, but won a battle with random units, made a guy General, and he kicked two Mongol armies in the ass. And now I learn that, later, there are the Timurids, basically Mongols with cannons and goddamn elephants. What actually counters an elephant with cannons on it's back?

 

[Ausdoerrt]

I still need to go to the Sea of Moving Ice to finish things up, but it looks like I might be on to Trials of the Luremaster in the meantime, since as I understand it I need to start it from within Heart of Winter itself, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to return once I've finished it.

You miss out on a bunch of stuff if you do HoW while doing the main campaign. It's best to finish main campaign, export, then start HoW fresh.

I dunno, stuff like being able to revive one's self from the dead, completely avoid all damage whatsoever, automatically trigger a dozen protection spells at once, and have casting completely non-interruptable all seems like hax0rz to me.

As Per said, once you get your mage to higher levels (and/or get certain items), you can do most/all of that as well. Magic IS "hax0rz".

I cast Power Word: Silence on enemy mages, for which there is no saving throw, and what happens? They instantly begin casting spells the next round anyway. Wow, fucking great.

I wonder if it's just a poor description rather than poor implementation. PW:S per RAW has a fairly short duration for casters around your level, and not 100% chance of landing if they're above your level. You may have simply failed to land the spell, or rolled to apply it for only one round. That's assuming they implemented the spell as in RAW. Alternatively, they might have buffed themselves with vocalize or have the silent spell feat, making your effort to silence them useless.

I've always found it easier to disrupt enemy mages with physical attacks.

It's what I didn't like at all in Baldur's Gate. Too many impossibly powerful spells/protections which only have a very specific counter, and if you don't know the mechanics and encounters by heart you're toast at higher difficulties.

Higher difficulties are primarily for repeat players who already know the game, looking for a challenge. It's also not some obscure knowledge as some put it, all it takes is a little attention to game mechanics, and occasionally paying attention to spell descriptions and combat messages. Counters are readily available, and usually not unique for a specific type of protection or attack - with the exception of a small number of high-level spells only used in extra challenge optional encounters.

I don't have a problem with it since it's consistent with the setting (main villain is a mage on steroids, after all); it's also normal to D&D to have mages completely overpowered at higher levels.

 

[valcik]

You are right, sea. It's the most stupid final battle I ever seen. Those spectres (or whatever is it) seems to have an infinite spells, plus they are constantly respawning. That's not D&D for me anymore, but some kind of an arcade game. (You need to track the main character and take him down as soon as possible, otherwise it's an endless battle.)

 

[Bad_Karma]

Recently bought Blood Bowl the Legendary Edition and playing it now and then...
It's a really nice game i guess, but it's also a game that starts me to rage, well not really, but nearly. I guess i really dislike the dice mechanics behind the whole thing, but well...

Otherwise it could be simply because i suck a tactics games.

 

[PainlessDocM]

Hehe, I bought that game for myself and a good friend a long time ago because we both used to play the tabletop game in our youth. I'm really pretty terrible at it but I did enjoy the digital version of the game.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Being playing Costume Quest and just finished both campaigns.
Thanks for getting me it PainlessDocM.

Perhaps Double Fine should make smaller games like these for a while before trying a big AAA game again.

What was sometimes disappointing that I only managed to collect some costumes at the end of the game, giving me little opportunity to try them out in regular battles.