Official video game thread - what are you playing?!

[TENTH DREAMER DECEIVER]

Finished Red Dead years ago. Loved playing it but have no desire to replay.

On Act IV on WD. Really liking it but will also be a 1 & done. Mass Effect & Civ have the highest replay value for me.

 

[jaimek]

Pre-loading Civilization Beyond Earth, which should be unlocked and available for play soon. It's supposed to be the spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri (which I loved), although they can't call it that due to Reasons - it's built on Civ V mechanics, but with a lot of familiar aspects from the older game.

 

[labarum]

Just started Elder Scrolls Skyrim...
I'll be playing this for the forseeable next year. Such an expansive game.
Any tips would be helpful.

 

[Mardoch]

I picked back up on Hearthstone lately. I enjoy it a lot more now, and I have about at 50/50 record at taking people out in online play, even without many non-basic cards. And I just fixed my PSU situation so my gaming life's a lot better with full power again. Rift just updated to 3.0, and I'm back in there.

Now I just need work to take the boot off of my neck so that I can enjoy some game time.

 

[jaimek]

Just started Elder Scrolls Skyrim...
I'll be playing this for the forseeable next year. Such an expansive game.
Any tips would be helpful.

Get mods that will make most items weightless. I'm a tank with my stamina jacked way up and I *still* use weightless items mods. (hey, Daedric armor is heeeeavy.)

 

[labarum]

Its on Xbox360...so no mods
Steed stone is all i got.

 

[AeonicSlumber]

Just played through The Evil Within. Great return to late 90's style survival horror with mid 2000's mechanics most famous in games like Resident Evil 4.

 

[jaimek]

Its on Xbox360...so no mods
Steed stone is all i got.

Have you learned any crafting skills? I make my own armor, supplemented with some magical stuff that I don't have the enchant skill to reproduce. I also make a lot of my own potions, although I've been slacking on picking the important plants...

 

[MeTuLHeD]

Playing AC 4 (of course...who isn't) and Diablo 3 (stuck...unable to progress any further...insert any and all expressions of insane hair pulling frustration here). But of late I've been enjoying Gauntlet (a cheapo Steam download/Diablo knockoff...fun but not genre defining) and Day Z Alpha (played this game since the Arma mod came out, still buggy as crap but addictive and fun to play...I swear these open world games can eat up 3 hours and it seems like five minutes). Waiting for H1Z1 to be the Day Z killer I am expecting it to be.

 

[Mardoch]

D3 is best enjoyed in groups. I'm considering picking up Gauntlet as well, but...well I have a shitload of games untouched still, lol.

 

[jaimek]

AC4 = Black Flag, isn't it, and I think you mean Unity? I played all the way through I and II + expansions, and I loved those (although I confess I hated the clunky mechanics of I and it took me a while to get the hang of it, and II still has some really awkward controls in places), but I only made it halfway through III before I was so bored I couldn't deal anymore. I might skip it for Black Flag next time there's a good deal on Steam, at Thanksgiving probably.

Or maaaybe I'll just wait since I just resubbed to Warcraft (I kinda feel obligated to be there for the 10th anniversary), and DA Inquisition comes out a week or two later too.

SO MANY GAMES COMING OUT AT ONCE.

 

[labarum]

Have you learned any crafting skills? I make my own armor, supplemented with some magical stuff that I don't have the enchant skill to reproduce. I also make a lot of my own potions, although I've been slacking on picking the important plants...

I am trying to just train fighting as much as possible... Trying to be a master of just killing monsters with one handed weapons. I just buy all health pots with the quest loot I sell.

 

[booB]

AC4 = Black Flag, isn't it, and I think you mean Unity? I played all the way through I and II + expansions, and I loved those (although I confess I hated the clunky mechanics of I and it took me a while to get the hang of it, and II still has some really awkward controls in places), but I only made it halfway through III before I was so bored I couldn't deal anymore. I might skip it for Black Flag next time there's a good deal on Steam, at Thanksgiving probably.

Unity doesn't come out until the 11th. Bugs excepted, I loved the hell out of AC3, because I'm a US history nerd... I was hoping for them to do a War of 1812 game (or something) and expand Connor into another game, like they did with old Ezio in AC Revelations. I'm in the minority here, but Black Flag was, for me, the first time I enjoyed an AC game less than the previous one -- the gameplay was great, but the story was not as interesting or compelling, especially no longer having Desmond as the reason why all this is happening.

SO MANY GAMES COMING OUT AT ONCE.

This. Between two full-length AC games, Dreamfall: Chapters (which I'm waiting for some more material to come out before I start it), Broken Age and Sunless Sea hopefully getting finished, and then The Witcher 3 early next year -- and me with my lack of time available for video games -- I don't know when or if I'll get to play everything. At least I can scratch Civ BE off the list for now.

 

[TheLongshot]

Unity doesn't come out until the 11th. Bugs excepted, I loved the hell out of AC3, because I'm a US history nerd... I was hoping for them to do a War of 1812 game (or something) and expand Connor into another game, like they did with old Ezio in AC Revelations. I'm in the minority here, but Black Flag was, for me, the first time I enjoyed an AC game less than the previous one -- the gameplay was great, but the story was not as interesting or compelling, especially no longer having Desmond as the reason why all this is happening.

From everything I've heard about AC4, it sounds like it would have been a better game if it wasn't attached to the AC franchise and wasn't carrying the baggage of the franchise.

This. Between two full-length AC games, Dreamfall: Chapters (which I'm waiting for some more material to come out before I start it), Broken Age and Sunless Sea hopefully getting finished, and then The Witcher 3 early next year -- and me with my lack of time available for video games -- I don't know when or if I'll get to play everything. At least I can scratch Civ BE off the list for now.

Did actually finish what they released of Dreamfall Chapters the other night. It is probably good to wait because what is there doesn't have much payoff. It is more about setting up things and it is hard to know what is signifigant.

A backlog is a reality of life. I still need to finish Shadowrun. I haven't even gotten to Wasteland 2, and I'm still in the middle of Tales Of Graces F on the PS3. This doesn't count all the games I haven't gotten yet released this year, like Transistor, Valiant Hearts and Child Of Light.

 

[Mardoch]

I picked up the Shadowrun expansion but haven't touched it yet. I'm afraid it won't be as amazingly written as the main campaign was. And I need to get Wasteland 2, but again...back catalog from hell.

 

[MeTuLHeD]

From everything I've heard about AC4, it sounds like it would have been a better game if it wasn't attached to the AC franchise and wasn't carrying the baggage of the franchise.

Those expecting an AC 3 clone were sorely disappointed and much crying ensued on various forums. Me? I found the game to be much more in the spirit of the original (first) game with a great deal more open ended playing style as opposed to the more linear style of AC 3. The only thing I really didn't care for was the modern day side of the story line. It was ok, but it just didn't hold my interest like the previous games had.

 

[hoodaman]

I've been playing The Pinball Arcade and waiting for Geometry Wars 3 to come out on 25th.

 

[DustyV]

Been Playing 100% Free to Play ..... Path of Exile lately.....Same type of game as Diablo 3, but in my opinion much better as it's much more complex and difficult...

 

[Mardoch]

Path of Exile is cool, but it got old for me kind of fast.

I just finished Shadowrun Dragonfall, which was as amazing as its predecessor was. Excellent writing. Better than lots of novels I've read.

Currently I'm playing FFIV, which I got on Steam through a Humble Store sale, and Fight the Dragon, which is a mix of Diablo style hack'n'loot and player generated content. Very fun and fresh take on that style.

 

[booB]

Those expecting an AC 3 clone were sorely disappointed and much crying ensued on various forums. Me? I found the game to be much more in the spirit of the original (first) game with a great deal more open ended playing style as opposed to the more linear style of AC 3. The only thing I really didn't care for was the modern day side of the story line. It was ok, but it just didn't hold my interest like the previous games had.

Interesting... I've always thought AC4 was the far more popular and less-bitched-about game of the two. I disagree about AC4 being more open-ended; you could go pretty much anywhere you wanted in AC3 and only the main story is linear, just like in AC4. AC3 had the better story by far, in both the historical and modern-day settings. The only place where AC4 surpasses AC3 is in the nautical combat, which itself becomes repetitive and easy once your ship is properly decked out. Basically, AC4 was, IMO, only the first time in the franchise where the new game failed to meet the mark of the previous game -- though I haven't played Unity yet; I'm a little hesitant to fire it up until they have it patched properly.

I just finished Shadowrun Dragonfall, which was as amazing as its predecessor was. Excellent writing. Better than lots of novels I've read.

I started Shadowrun Returns, and I have to say I don't know how I feel about it yet. I loved the Genesis game, hated the SNES game, have never played the tabletop game, and I love cyberpunk. I'm a few hours in, and so far SRR just seems like a series of skirmishes with a bunch of characters who are virtually identical. I rolled a street samurai, and so far have had a tiny bit of time with a mage in my party, but otherwise I've just been given fighting classes for my party. I'm thinking maybe I should start over with a decker or a rigger, but I've noticed that there haven't been many opportunities for decking, either. (Decking was my favorite part of the Genesis game, and I know it's a large part of the Shadowrun tabletop game as well.) The gameplay is cool, almost like a cross between classic X-Com (the combat) and Shining Force (the fact that the gameplay is basically a series of skirmishes with story in between), but I prefer my RPGs to have some exploration, which this has none so far. The investigation sequences just tell you exactly what to click on and what they mean, and I've seen some class-related alternative options where I didn't have the proper attributes to do something, but I've never seen any where I *did*. I feel like, three hours into what I understand is a rather short campaign, it should be a bit more interesting than it is. I'm just very unimpressed overall thus far. I hope this gets better. The Genesis game had plenty of exploration and open-worldness, and SRR seems rather unimpressive in comparison.