General Gaming Megathread: What are you playing?

My gaming life took a massive hit as a result of the tragic news of Monty Oum's passing. To be honest, I'm still not over that. It still hits me every once in a while that he's dead... But, on those times I'm able to forget and resume a semblance of my "normal" everyday gaming, I'm largely playing the same old same old. I gave Sonic 2 a whirl earlier today, and much to my dismay I found my saves completely overwritten with Death Egg saves and no Chaos Emeralds, which is a bit of a bummer, but all the more excuse to play the full game over again and beat it to true completion! =D But it's weird to me how a game so OLD can somehow get screwed up when you move it to a newer platform. How can you screw up midi sound effects? How can you mess up d-pad controls? It boggles my mind, really.

Beyond that, I'm shaking off the rust from an unnecessarily long hiatus from Ninja Gaiden Sigma, and resuming my final run through the game's toughest difficulty. At this point, I'm behind 2nd place, so IF I stay as far behind the 2 leads as I am, I'd make 3rd in the world, but I'm willing to wager that I'll continue to lose more ground, so I'm anticipating no higher than 5th place. But top 10 should be doable! =D

Still playing Dota2 whenever I can, and it recently came out with an important patch that both introduced another new hero, a new event, and fixing some balance issue with the game. I'm really not caring much for the event, and the balance changes are far from sweeping, but I'm loving the latest addition to the hero roster: Winter Wyvern. She's a badass! =D 110 heroes down, 2 to go! You can do it, Valve!!! =D
 
Kilgore Trout said:
Currently playing X-Comm: Enemy Within. I'm completely addicted to it.
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Some might disagree, but I think Enemy Unknown is a great example of streamlining a game without dumbing it down (too much). I played Xenonauts some time ago, an X-com like game that is much closer to the original's gameplay, and it was just way too clunky to be fun. It felt like too many things were getting between me and either managing my ressources or commanding my troops. Enemy Unknown might be too simplistic for some but for me it's exactly the right mix.

If you're interested in a great mod, try the Long War one on the Nexus. Kinda tricky to install, but it's very well done and gives the game a good amount of extra options and depth without going overboard.
 
Ilosar said:
Kilgore Trout said:
Currently playing X-Comm: Enemy Within. I'm completely addicted to it.
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If you're interested in a great mod, try the Long War one on the Nexus. Kinda tricky to install, but it's very well done and gives the game a good amount of extra options and depth without going overboard.
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Long War is awesome, really breathes new life into the game. The only problem I had with it was that it indeed was long. Even with "Not So Long War" enabled, the game just went on forever and I eventually ended up playing what felt like the exact same mission on the exact same map over and over again.
 
Finished L.A. Noire.

I loved that game, even though it was somewhat simple at times. However, I'm not sure what to think about the ending. The final scene itself, the bitter and cynical representation of Phelps' funeral was a brilliant one, but the final case was somewhat a lackluster. Damsel in distress, long-winded corridor shooting, car chasing, drama and war memories of a horrible doing that haven't been even hinted before...it all just seems too crammed up at one spot, as if developers wanted for a player to relive all the action again before the ending. That's understandable, but the generally annoying way gunfights are played out, especially long, long fights as this one, is underwhelming for me, among other things.
Besides, I'm not even sure if Phelps had to die at all. His death makes a lot more sense than the obligatory death of dozens of protagonists in various media, and as I've said before, his funeral really wraps the story in style and tone, but given that every second game out there ends with a protagonist sacrificing himself, it simply doesn't have that strong a punch as it should have had.

All in all, however, it's a great game. Great design, music, graphics, well-written dialogues and characters. The motion capture tech used for facial expression was an awesome thing to see in all the cutscenes and character interaction, but when it comes to interrogations themselves, I felt it wasn't as important as it was advertised. The gameplay was disappointing at times due to its simplicity, but it's nonetheless an unique title on the market.
If you guys get the chance to grab this on sale or something, go for it. Don't let all those "GTA but you're a good guy" comparisons get in the way. There's some similarity, that's true, but the titles differ at the core.
 
Yes, Darkest Dungeon is pretty great, kinda like a medieval X-com in fact, eh. The one thing I dislike is how RNG dominates everything; options in battle can be limited, thus your success can depend on roll of the dice, especially when it comes to critical hits since if your enemy lands one your stress level goes through the roof. The stress mechanic is pretty awesome however, I had my crusader become a masochist while my highwayman had a burst of willpower instead of panicking and buffed himself.

A pet peeve of mine is that it seems extra supplies are discarded at the end of a quest, which works for a game balance sense I suppose but is counter-intuitive. Wasted lots of gold in my first game stocking up just in case. Same with being unable to heal out of battle. But those are the extent of my complaints, otherwise it is a very well designed game that has more than enough content to justify early access. Writing is pretty good, too.
 
Atomkilla said:
Finished L.A. Noire.

I loved that game, even though it was somewhat simple at times. However, I'm not sure what to think about the ending. The final scene itself, the bitter and cynical representation of Phelps' funeral was a brilliant one, but the final case was somewhat a lackluster. Damsel in distress, long-winded corridor shooting, car chasing, drama and war memories of a horrible doing that haven't been even hinted before...it all just seems too crammed up at one spot, as if developers wanted for a player to relive all the action again before the ending. That's understandable, but the generally annoying way gunfights are played out, especially long, long fights as this one, is underwhelming for me, among other things.
Besides, I'm not even sure if Phelps had to die at all. His death makes a lot more sense than the obligatory death of dozens of protagonists in various media, and as I've said before, his funeral really wraps the story in style and tone, but given that every second game out there ends with a protagonist sacrificing himself, it simply doesn't have that strong a punch as it should have had.

All in all, however, it's a great game. Great design, music, graphics, well-written dialogues and characters. The motion capture tech used for facial expression was an awesome thing to see in all the cutscenes and character interaction, but when it comes to interrogations themselves, I felt it wasn't as important as it was advertised. The gameplay was disappointing at times due to its simplicity, but it's nonetheless an unique title on the market.
If you guys get the chance to grab this on sale or something, go for it. Don't let all those "GTA but you're a good guy" comparisons get in the way. There's some similarity, that's true, but the titles differ at the core.
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I'm surprised you liked it.

I wanted to pick it up back when it first came out but I was in the midst of my money troubles so it just got tossed onto my ever-growing backlog, until a friend Gifted it to me over Steam last year. Or maybe it was even earlier. I can't remember, cause I was having more fun playing other games. I'd seen it played before, and I thought it looked cool, but nothing about screamed out to me, "YOU MUST PLAY ME!!!" The facial motion capture technology was pretty good, but nothing more remarkable than the average game animation provided by Ninja Theory (the facial captures in Heavenly Sword combined with the acting make a lackluster game into a pretty good one... at least in the cinematic end) plus hinging an entire game mechanic on it just didn't seem to work in the long run. Worse still was that any static puzzle, at the end of the day, is undone by guides and walkthroughs. Everything was just too rail-roaded for me. People complained about GTAIV protagonists providing terrible instances of ludonarrative disonance when they tried to act relateable and down-to-earth only to go on killing frenzies at the player's behest, but Phelps was far, far worse than any of those instances. A cop who could whimsically decide to mow through pedestrians and suffer little more than a scolding from his partner? That just killed any and all immersion. Funny as fuck, but it doesn't help the game immerse me into its world.

I liked aspects of the story, like the corruption and the injustice of the system being subjected to certain characters, and how the game gradually found its way to the bottom of a massive conspiracy. But in the end, story is character interaction, and that much of it was dull, dull, dull. I know Phelps was supposed to be exceedingly straight-laced to the point of being hard to like, but a player-controlled protagonist MUST be likeable to at least the PLAYER, and there the character completely failed. The end, I'll agree, felt sudden and rushed, and it offered little to no closure to the game's story at all. Corrupt cops sell out to rising star lawyer for different kind of corruption. Game Over. Really? At least Niko killed his nemesis when his life came crashing down. At least Nariko vanquished the Raven King before she died. At least Ryu avenged the slaughter of his clan. At least Drake gets the girl at the end of the story. NOTHING likeable about the ending to L.A. Noire unfortunately. It was just sudden and jarring and disappointing.

A good game can offer me the most obnoxious of collectibles, and I'll suffer through them for the sake of the game. Prototype was a damn good game, but its collectibles was balls ass fuck annoying. Well I suffered them for the sake of the game. It was a good game. GTAIV's pigeons and GTAV's menagerie various different kinds of unlocked and locked collectibles were psychotically irritating, but I put up with them because those games were great. Audio Logs were a nice touch to providing backstory combined with collectibles that made traversing the Dead Space games even MORE enjoyable than they already were. Crystal Skulls weren't that tricky to deal with at all, which is convenient because NG2 is a bitch of a game... but at least it's okay. But the collectible cars randomly spawning across L.A.? No, no way I'm putting up with that bullshit, and nothing about L.A. Noire called out to me to convince me that it was worth putting up with for the sake of the game, because at the end of the day the game wasn't worth it. It certainly wasn't dog shit. It certainly wasn't bad. It just wasn't really all that good, either.
 
I guess I could agree with most of the things you said, but I'll address some points nonetheless. Eh, for the sake of it.

The motion capture technique was a gimmick, nothing more, but an enjoyable one. Enjoyable in a sense that it never got in the way and prevented me from enjoying the game - however, as it was said before, from a gameplay perspective, it didn't feel all that important. Interrogations were often well-written - a fact which was in sore contrast with "A, B, C" type of choice which was used for resolving them. Half the time I didn't even look at character faces to know if they were lying or not. Not to mention that having a same face that's screaming I AM NERVOUS BECAUSE I AM A LIAR looking at you for 10 minutes is massively immersion breaking, but I was willing to look past it.
Same way I was willing to look past every time Phelps hit the pedal to the metal and became a rolling death machine on streets of LA.
Same way I was willing to look past the fact that nobody in LA seems to not lock their cars and you can just walk up to them and take a ride.
Same way I was willing to look past the fact that Phelps (and Kelso) could take on average 30 shots to various parts of their bodies during gunfights, and still live, and yet when Kelso takes a bullet in his arm during that one cutscene, his arm is bleeding the rest of the game and every other character seems to notice that and comment on it.
...
The list goes on and on.

Point is, yes, that game was often immersion-breaking, but I had a remedy against that. On one hand, I was somewhat of a roleplayer there and tried to drive my vehicle as carefully as possible following all rules, to watch out for the civilians and keep the law and order...which didn't work most of the time, but at least I put some sort of leash on myself, therefore lessening chances of immersion being broken.
Other thing, I was of forgiving nature because...to put it simple, I loved the setting. The music. The atmosphere. It all grabbed me and I was hooked. I enjoyed the game for its look and feel, and not just the story (because I didn't enjoy the gameplay all that much), which was mostly enough for me.
Third thing that helped me live through it with a happy expression on my face - I played that game like it was a TV show. Due to my IRL obligations and stuff, I don't have that much time for games. In fact, my PC is back in my hometown and I'm studying in a different city, so when I get home once in every two weeks or so, I play a bit. I've been playing this game since August. Imagine that. Playing it for half a year, case by case. It felt like episode by episode.
I have a rather good memory so I didn't forget characters and events from previous cases, making this episodic approach and pattern in playing this game very relaxing, very relieving. To be honest, if someone told me to play through that game in 3 days, I couldn't do it. But this was the way to go.

But I'm derailing a bit here.

Point is, L.A. Noire has many flaws, but I enjoyed it for what it was. A big omage to various noir films of the previous century, packed with a solid story which might not have been enthralling, but was complex and big enough to be a believable and an enjoyable one.

I'm not sure why you felt character interaction was dull, though. Simple interrogation mechanics aside, it still had a charm with most of the characters being well-written, even minor ones (I especially liked that the game's writing was unforgiving in a sense that it totally fit the time period and characters - Racist? Misogynistic? (Anti-)communist? Yes please, all of those and some more, no holding back.). Each cop has a story, a good and a bad side, and to use a popular colloquialism, each and every one of them has their own shade of grey. As Roy Earle had put it "Everybody has a vice.". The cynical representation of the world, the corruption and bigotry, lies and murders...it was all very noir. You could feel it oozing out of every case and character.

Phelps was indeed an unlikable character, but once the dust has cleared, I actually didn't mind that. It's an usual thing in most noir works, to have a douchebag protagonist or someone you wouldn't easily relate too. Phelps was easy to connect with at first, but as time went by you could see that he was suffering the price of his own mistakes. He was a fake war hero, a man who tried to do everything by the numbers, a practice which got his whole unit annihilated (and him getting awarded in the process) and made him a child-killer, burning dozens of civilians (this part felt a bit forced though - that scene was shown in the last 5 minutes of the game with no insinuation before).
When he got home his straight-laced approach was again prevalent, which made him a great detective, but killed him in the process, with a massive conspiracy unsolved, its perpetrators free. That ending might have felt a bitter, even an unrewarding one, but it was cynical, tragic, brutal and again, very noir. A fake and broken hero dying in vain, having his name cleared as by the same people whom he tried to fight against, and having his funeral attended by all of his enemies. I loved that.
 
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The only thing I will say about L.A Noire (I will talk about it all night if I get started) is it completely blew me and my wife away while playing it. I did every possible thing i could in the game which I rarely do. I just wanted more story. The ending was a bit...abrupt though. I didn't play the DLC unfortunately either. I really hope they make something like that in the future, but it didn't sell very well, so the votes is out on that one.

I loved the detective aspects of it. I actually roleplayed to a certain extent, driving crazy only when the situation permitted it, stopping at red lights, generally trying to avoid hitting pedestrians, etc. I really can't emphasize enough how much I loved the setting, the music, the cars, the murder investigations, the motion capture, the interrogations...fucking everything except for last thirty minutes of the game.

I want a sequel. Badly. New York would be a trip.
 
I can't emphasize enough that I don't hate the game. I just didn't come away liking it all that much. Especially considering its pedigree, so to speak. Some friends in lengthy discussions would share with me their take on the game that, like RDR and other titles following GTAIV, LAN was a "test game", used to try out new methods and new technology, all in the hopes of finishing those tests and using the results in GTAV. I think that's a pretty ingenious outlook on the games. RDR was notorious for its game-breaking glitches, but those aren't what it's remembered for. Likewise with LAN. It's remembered for its setting and tone, and period-accurate themes. But clearly, Rockstar didn't see their experiments with facial capturing as being all that crucial to a game's success, so they didn't implement it to nearly such a degree in GTAV.

But I, too, would largely agree with most of what you said, with a few exceptions of my own.

Atomkilla said:
I'm not sure why you felt character interaction was dull, though. Simple interrogation mechanics aside, it still had a charm with most of the characters being well-written, even minor ones (I especially liked that the game's writing was unforgiving in a sense that it totally fit the time period and characters - Racist? Misogynistic? (Anti-)communist? Yes please, all of those and some more, no holding back.). Each cop has a story, a good and a bad side, and to use a popular colloquialism, each and every one of them has their own shade of grey. As Roy Earle had put it "Everybody has a vice.". The cynical representation of the world, the corruption and bigotry, lies and murders...it was all very noir. You could feel it oozing out of every case and character.
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When I say "character interaction" and "story", I mean both in a very Scorsese way. I freaking love his quote, when asked, "Which do you prefer, story or plot?" Scorsese answered, "Story. Plot will keep you engaged once, but after that first time you know what happens. Story will always keep you engaged. Because it's the acting between the characters. It's the subtle facial expressions, it's the unspoken chemistry, it's everything that makes you want to watch to see what happens next. I love it." Or something along those lines... I'm paraphrasing. L.A. Noire was bursting with character, as you say, but it didn't engage. It wasn't captivating. The setting and the detail put into the world was the thing you'd get lost in, but not the comments between the characters.

By contrast, let's take the story in GTAV. It focuses entirely on the relationship between the 3 protagonists. When the player goes on missions with multiple protagonists or if they choose to perform in-game social activities with them, there are few cutscenes, it's almost entirely gameplay and dialog. But depending on the part of the game, the conversations between the characters will vary. Their words may be tensions mixed with silence, or remeniscent stories about their good old days or lighthearted banter about their latest exploits. But it was always character-building and story-fleshing. That's not to be confused with plot-advancing, because they weren't about "Here's the latest scoop on what happens next", they were something as simple as "I'm bitter towards you, and I want to make this situation a little bit awkward because I want you to FEEL my bitterness, bitch!" I could always do any random activity in GTAV and get lost in all the story the characters provided, because the game was rich with it. In LAN, it was all about "Let me tell you about me." Just heavy character building, a bit lax on the story-fleshing. Phelps talking with his partners never built anything enjoyable. Part of that was his off-putting character being his off-putting character. But part of that was also a lack of story to get lost in.

But, then again, one thing I LOVED when I played the game was the realization- after recognizing the infrequent appearance the game's narrator (because he's a recognizable voice) -who this one character was when Phelps was partnered with him. I realized that this relationship was going to have some kind of future significance which I was presently unaware of. It turned out to be much less inspiring and complex, but it was something, and seeing that moment coming and realizing these two characters were one in the same and seeing the tale coming to its conclusion was a nice touch.

I loved the fully-realized period Los Angeles, but that's just one component that needs other things going for it to make full use of it. If an open world character's physics works terribly, no masterfully designed setting will save it. That being said, LAN's mechanics aren't broken, and they do lend themselves to enjoying this beautifully crafted space whenever the itch to explore presents itself. It's just a bummer that the space felt so dead, despite all that "life" breathed into its design itself.
 
I have been itching to play L.A. Noire, being a sucker for well Noir and graphic adventures, but for some reason I have never gotten around to do it. Even tho it is on PC. Might get it on the next big sale.

I did hear that the director of the game was a complete prima donna and part of that caused the closing of the studio (coff Levine coff).
 
Tried playing LA Noire once, love the idea of the game. But it was completely unplayable on PC at that time. Has it been patched up since?
 
Started playing Doom 3 BFG Edition, Sunless Sea, and Binding of Issac: Rebirth. It sucks that Doom 3 hardly has any mod support. They really dropped the ball on that one. I never had a chance to play the Lost Levels so I figured I would give it a shot, but I find myself wishing it played more like Brutal Doom, as in, kicking a zombie or Imp in the face when they get up close...

Binding of Issac is pretty damn addicting. I am finding all the item combinations to be both a pain in the ass and crazy awesome at the same time. The story and creatures are twisted...the gameplay is sorta like a demented version of the Legend of Zelda dungeons. Nuclear Throne is another one I started playing a little. I recommend it to fans of shoot-em-ups.

I think I have grown fond of Roguelike/lite type games. Some of the recent ones like Sunless Sea and Darkest Dungeon are a lot less punishing than a "true" roguelike would be, but I find them to be harsh enough to warrant the title. Don't Starve is probably one of my favorites. Spelunky held my interest for awhile, but watching professionals play the game depressed me enough to where I don't even want to play.

Between all of that I have several other console games waiting to be beaten. I probably have 10 different games started at varying degrees of completion. Wonderful 101 sits barely touched. I kinda wish I got Hyrule Warriors...
 
Resumed Bravely Default, went to shit at a certain point, everyone whose played it knows when I'm talking about, but the last 10% or so of the game is supposedly great again.
 
Here's a question: What games are you guys NOT playing?

No, I don't mean that in a "what do you not want on your sandwich" type of way. I mean, are there any games you've got lying around that seem to be doing nothing but gathering dust?

For me, I'm NOT playing Borderlands II, because my friend decided to get me the game for my birthday 2 years ago, and I just never bothered to pick it up. For starters, I never played BL1, but on top of that, I just don't care about endless exploration pack-rat walking-sim "RPG" games. I like my RPGs to be actual RPGs. Make me DEVELOP my character, either in terms of combat proficiency and raw badassery, like a Demon's Souls or Diablo II, or in terms of an excellent story in which living it out has taken my character through some series development and growth/improvment, like a Fallout or Fallout 2 would offer me. Nothing made me wanna play BL, and my friend never seemed to pick up on that. So, it sits in some long-forgotten corner of my room, only to be discovered by me as I'm picking things up when I finally get around to giving my space some much-needed cleaning. Only when I discover THIS, it's not met with any "Oh, I forgot about you!" It just gets a "Oh, it's you..." out of me.

There's other games I'm trying to get around to but have not been able to due to time constraints, but unlike BL2, I at least WANT to play those... XD
 
I'm not playing Evil Within. I played it once or twice and put it away. There wasn't anything particularly bad about it, but there wasn't anything that really compelled me to keep playing. I'm going to give it another go sometime soon though. Ni No Kuni is in the same boat. I put over 30 hours in before i ran out of steam. The grind is really important in that game, so it got annoying. I got to the point where you can fly pretty much anywhere though.
 
I have a bunch of games I don't play. Stuff I bought on Steam sales because I thought I might want to play them sometime, and games I've received as gifts. I'm pretty damn picky in what I want to play at any given moment, so I never really sit down and just try something out. I look up games beforehand and if they don't scream out to me "PLAY MEE!!!" I likely won't bother.

SnapSlav said:
For me, I'm NOT playing Borderlands II, because my friend decided to get me the game for my birthday 2 years ago, and I just never bothered to pick it up. For starters, I never played BL1, but on top of that, I just don't care about endless exploration pack-rat walking-sim "RPG" games. I like my RPGs to be actual RPGs.
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Borderlands isn't supposed to be an rpg. It's a first person shooter with Diablo-esque mechanics. I found them entertaining to play through once, due to the art-style, decent humor and well written main characters. The gunplay is fun in how it's pretty diverse and so over the top. But if you go into it pretending it's supposed to be some sort of rpg, of course you won't like it.
 
I'm not playing Nosgoth and The Bard's Tale, the action game.

Nosgoth appeared in my Steam library when I bought the Soul Reaver pack but what is strange is that the pack didn't mentioned it. Turns out that, while in alpha/beta, Nosgoth was not available for all regions, so if I searched it in the store he would not show up but since he was in the pack I received him and I don't plan to play it.

Bard's Tale is a mystery to me. I bought a lot of games ( but no packs) in a Steam sale and he just showed up. Not even my account acquisition history shows him, he just appeared, in a creationism way.

Now to games that I played or I'm playing. Continuing my saga through adventures games I recently finished Full Throttle, I liked it but a shame is too short. Now I'm playing Beneath a Steel Sky and I'm liking it, I also hosted sails and got This War of Mine to see how it is, I pretend to buy it in the next sale.
 
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