Gaming What Are You Playing?

[Felix the Cat]

I'm currently playing Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones and enjoying it quite a bit. The only problem I have with it is that there's not very many chapters, BUT I'm moving along nicely!

[Magus]

More [b]Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition[/b] madness. Even though I said that I officially hate fighting games I can't seem to get away from this because I really want to learn it (The hate is actually one of those discouraging phases where you lose so many times and think you're not getting it). I stopped using the arcade stick because it was even more of a hassle for me and bought the Hori fightpad that Asher suggested, and for the most part it's a lot better than I thought it'd be and I'm getting better at FADCing, a little. I never picked up Fei Long, but I tried Cody. I lost a lot. I think I won maybe 3 matches outta 20 or something. The more important thing though is that this pad is comfortable in my hands and the only gripe I have about this pad is that the R shoulder buttons are the same as the R face buttons. No matter what you change them to all 4 will be the same, and while it takes a little while to get used to, I was actually hoping that Hori or whoever would make another to fix this. Anyway, I dropped Cody (or rather, he'll be my 3rd character) and picked up Yun and Yang. I never liked 3rd Strike (although I may be convinced to get it for these 2), but these twins are fun to play as. I probably won't go online anytime soon because, I'm not good at all. I know their target combos, but their links and chains are some that will take a while for me, and then I need to learn spacing, pokes and whatnot.

It's a shame that the only 2 fighting games I have are Super Street Fighter 4 and Marvel vs Capcom 3 but I've only been playing SSF4. I really should be putting in the time to learn MvC3 as well.

Still playing [b]Assassin's Creed 2[/b]. Getting ready to escort Ezio's family out of the city. I was further than that once before but started over because I did something stupid with my ps3.... Anyway, this series is shaping up to become one of my favorite series.

I probably don't need anything to buy right now because I still have a ton of games that I haven't started or beaten, but now that we are heading into the months where good games are actually coming out I feel the need to buy some games. There's Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Batman: Arkham City and then to go old school, Ninja Gaiden 2 (xbox 360), I've beaten it quite a few times and I even had NGS2 but I couldn't get into it. I'm even thinking about buying some DS games for a change, of course I've already been recommended some but I never got around to buying them. I wasted everyone's time with that thread :). Edited October 8, 2011 by Magus

[CaNz]

I started playing Alice: Madness Returns. yesterday. I like the story so far, and the game is actually pretty cool looking so far (except for people. Alice and her shrink are the only two good looking people in the game,) It has a bare bones leveling system, and almost no originality gameplay wise. however they have taken elements from a bunch of really fun games and put them together. As far as platformers go, this one handles pretty well control and camera wise (although if you try to look at Alice's face, you are just gonna get a close up on her bobs,) and the jumping in this game is really simple since it gives you a quadruple jump and allows you to glide after three of them.

As far as difficulty goes, it isn't tough... I haven't tried nightmare yet, but I am playing on Hard right off the bat and I rarely die, and almost never get stuck. The puzzles are simple for a seasoned Zelda vet, and the enemies are few in variety, though great in number. Also... I am almost positive I will never play this game again... not because it is bad... but because there is not enough to it. This is a rent or borrow kind of game, since you get maybe 10-12 hours of playtime tops.

[Shinmaru]

Finally beat [b]Mass Effect[/b] last night! Definitely a fun game, though quite flawed -- lots of random slowdown, repetitive environments, awful romance (though I hear this is the norm in BioWare games), etc. But, hey, I was pumping my fist during the finale, so the game did [i]something[/i] right, clearly.

Started up [b]Mass Effect 2[/b] last night, too, although I just got as far as beating the tutorial mission. Definitely an intense start to the game, and I have to get used to it being more shooter-like -- gotta be more precise with my shots and use my squad more! Probably the toughest decision was my choice to stay as an Adept. It didn't seem like there was too much variety among classes in the first game, but in [b]ME2[/b], all the classes look fun and distinctive.

[Boo]

[quote name='Shinmaru' timestamp='1318430738' post='709885']
Finally beat [b]Mass Effect[/b] last night! Definitely a fun game, though quite flawed -- lots of random slowdown, repetitive environments, awful romance (though I hear this is the norm in BioWare games), etc. But, hey, I was pumping my fist during the finale, so the game did [i]something[/i] right, clearly.

Started up [b]Mass Effect 2[/b] last night, too, although I just got as far as beating the tutorial mission. Definitely an intense start to the game, and I have to get used to it being more shooter-like -- gotta be more precise with my shots and use my squad more! Probably the toughest decision was my choice to stay as an Adept. It didn't seem like there was too much variety among classes in the first game, but in [b]ME2[/b], all the classes look fun and distinctive.
[/quote]
ME2 certainly had a better feel to it than ME1 to me. ME1 was just so... 'hey I'm in an elevator.' I just started these again as well, with my third character. Figured I'd finally need a female/infiltrator Shepard for ME3. Having a hard time cruising through ME1 [i]again[/i] though.

Also, after buying SFIV:Arcade Edition so many months ago, I finally started playing it more now on my PC. :<

[Shinmaru]

Bit further into [b]Mass Effect 2[/b] now -- I've recruited Mordin, [spoiler]Garrus[/spoiler] and Jack. If I weren't a biotic, I'd be tempted to put Jack on my team, but oh well. Jack will be on the team eventually, anyway, once I start going on the loyalty missions. But [spoiler]Garrus[/spoiler] will likely see a permanent spot on my squad, since he is just that awesome.

Definitely liking the combat [i]much[/i] more than the first [b]Mass Effect[/b], even if that means I've died a bit more than I'd like, haha. The only one that really gave me trouble is the part where you have to close the gates during [spoiler]Garrus'[/spoiler] recruitment mission ... that giant ass room full of enemies out the ass murdered me a couple of times. >_>;

Going to recruit The Warlord tomorrow, and then who knows from there! Edited October 16, 2011 by Shinmaru

[CaNz]

With my xbox 360 out of commission, I have started downloading ROMs again.

I just beat [b]Pokemon Trading Card Game [/b]for Gameboy Color last night. Essentially, it is just the Pokemon trading card game using only the cards of the first three sets (original 151 Pokemon.) The story is lame, basically you go fight 8 "clubs" and if you beat the leader you get a "metal" and with all 8 you can battle 4 legendary duelists. the incentive behind this is to get four legendary cards, which are for the most part broken, overpowered monsters that can make every deck troublesome, except for one of them that is a third evolution pushover. I remade the deck (with a few editions) that I used when I was a kid, and beat the crud out of every deck they threw at me (I lost twice,) though I used pretty much every broken card available. The only time I ever lost was when I drew too many cards before I beat the person. The way the game is set up, it isn't easy to see how many cards are left and I was using a ton of draw cards. I could go into details of why the card game is really flawed, but everyone could probably figure it out by the fact that its friggen Pokemon, and is meant to be played by stupid kids that can't think of unbeatable strategies.

I am now playing the original [b]Star Ocean[/b] for SNES. The dialogue is pretty boring, but the setting is okay. I have gotten passed the first mission and still have no clue about the character I am playing as. Everyone else however seems like a bunch of complete idiots. My opinion of them might change over time, but I am not that optimistic. The combat system is really lame right now. it seems like the characters have a lot of detail and you can learn a lot about their likes, dislikes, and hobbies... but I have no idea how this information effects the game. The leveling up and damage system are pretty generic, however you only get to control the main character, and the others use a gambit system. everyone has for tactics that are pretty much from most aggressive to least, but as many as I try, the computer AI has the guys just sit around in the back doing nothing if I don't pick the most aggressive tactic. There are also tons of formations, which is nice, but ineffective since all the characters move so fast. I usually just slam the A button till everything is dead, turning this RPG into a hack and slasher with items. I really just wanna blow through this one.

EDIT: Pretty much everything I said before was wrong about [b]Star Ocean[/b]. This game is actually pretty amazing. The English translation is a big problem with this game, but for the most part the story is pretty darn good. The main character still hasn't shown much personality, but I like to think he is just a really relaxed dude. As far as the other characters go, there personalities are pretty generic, but they aren't annoying. All the skills that I thought were pointless seem to have an in-game effect that can really improve your characters (except oracle... Enix is not a gentile god)
The combat system does feel a lot like a masher, but the skills give it a more fluent and visually appealing. You can't control the A.I. at all, but there are a ton of cool moments when they just decide to use teamwork to take down enemies. The special skills also look cool when you add them together, so really even though its simple, you can make it as deep as you want, and look good doing it. Edited October 28, 2011 by CaNz

[James]

[font=palatino linotype]I [i]finally[/i] got [b]Fallout: New Vegas[/b] for PC (via Steam). I was really not sure if I should buy it for a long time, due to all the reporting about bugs and such. And I also didn't really know how much I'd like the setting, as compared to [b]Fallout 3[/b]. But so far, so good. I've come across a bug or two, but nothing really game-breaking (well, one kind of was... but it didn't mess up my save game or anything).

At the moment I'm not really sure whether I like it more than [b]Fallout 3[/b] or not. The actual world seems a bit more interesting in some ways, but the plot progression - at least so far - isn't as interesting. We'll see, I guess. The whole factions thing seems to have a lot of potential, anyway. I'll see how I go.[/font]

[Sangome]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]@Canz - I loved that TCG game. It was so addicting. I never put much strategy into it, either, but then again I don't put much strategy into Pokemon games, period. I pretty much just muscle my way through.

Anyway, I bought [b]Professor Layton and the Last Specter[/b] this past Thursday, and like the past games, it's proven to be an addicting time sucker. I'm a little ways into chapter five, and the story's starting to get a bit more interesting [well, it kept me interested from the start, but still]. Everything else is standard Layton fare, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - the music continues to be lovely, the voice acting is pretty solid [Lani Minella's come a long way from her first job as Luke, I have to say], the characters are generally likeable/interesting, and the puzzles continue to make me feel stupid.

As for Emmy, the "lol first apprentice!1", I do like her, but I have to say I kinda wanna smack her sometimes. Though I think that might be part of the point? I dunno.

And then we have [b]London Life[/b], the life sim RPG bundled with the card, and oh my gosh this thing is absurdly fun and addicting. The really amusing part is that it's developed by Brownie Brown, the same people who developed Mother 3, and it's [i]really[/i] obvious in terms of graphical style and the dialogue. It's a little awkward for those who really wanted Mother 3 over here, but I digress. Still a fun game and I keep trying not to get distracted by it, since I want to finish the main game first...[/font][/color]

[CaNz]

[quote name='Sangome' timestamp='1319400197' post='710014']
[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]@Canz - I loved that TCG game. It was so addicting. I never put much strategy into it, either, but then again I don't put much strategy into Pokemon games, period. I pretty much just muscle my way through.[/font][/color]
[/quote]
Heh, stupid was a little harsh of me, Playing games that don't need strategy without a strategy is fine. n_n;;
I just play tons of card games so I get caught up.

[Anakoni Stark]

[FONT="Times New Roman"]Been busy with school and my new job at Gamestop, although the last couple of months were full of interesting games and one game that was well executed but it couldn't keep me engaged.

I played through [b][i]Deus Ex: Human Revolution[/b][/i] not once but [i]twice[/i] might start up a third goaround since the newest dlc episode, [b][i]The Missing Link[/b][/i] has gone live.

I also went through [b][i]Saint's Row II[/b][/i] again to help prepare myself for [b][i]The Third[/b][/i] sadly I didn't get to finish it, might reaudit it just for that; on a related note I'm slightly displeased that I jotted down my character's physical attributes for the Initiation Station and he turned out to be completely different. Been planning to fire up [b][i]Assassin's Creed II[/b][/i] in order to prepare myself for the midnight launch of [b][i]Revelations[/b][/i] which I cant seem to elucidate my anticipation for the game, although I totally missed out on [b][i]Brotherhood[/b][/i], here's to hoping they'll have one of those [i]Previously on Assassin's Creed[/i] types of gigs.

Played [b][i]Crysis II[/b][/i] and I loved the way the game handled, the way the firefights were totally under my control, the atmosphere yet it felt like there was something [b][i]missing[/b][/i]... I just cant seem to put my finger on it.[/font]

[Magus]

I played some more rounds of [b]Super Street Fighter 4: AE[/b]. I don't know why I put myself through this torture, but I did manage to win a few games on PSN. Had a few matches that came down to the wire. So far it seems that Juri is my best character even though I have lots to learn. I might just go ahead and main her and have Ibuki as my secondary. As fun as Yun is I just can't get the hang of playing as him and Juri just seems more like my kind of character, of course one would think I'd play better as Ryu even though I'm terrible with him. Ibuki just seem like a lot of fun. Had a match against an Ibuki player with Juri and he did some sick mixups and crossups that made me want to learn Ibuki.

Also fired up [b]Batman: Arkham City[/b], and while I think it's miles high above Arkham Asylum (We already know I didn't care much for that game), it does leave you hanging a bit. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind not being held by the hand but it can seem a bit overwhelming because it don't really give you much on what to do. There are quite a few side missions I have on the map and I'm like where do I go first? Other than that I like what I'm seeing with Arkham City so far.

I still have so many games in my backlog that I need to play, and yet, I'm still looking for stuff to buy. I think I'm going to go on a game diet after Assassin's Creed: Revelations come out (I think I won't buy anything else until I beat at least half of these games)

[CaNz]

[quote name='Magus' timestamp='1320017107' post='710067']
Also fired up [b]Batman: Arkham City[/b], and while I think it's miles high above Arkham Asylum (We already know I didn't care much for that game), it does leave you hanging a bit. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind not being held by the hand but it can seem a bit overwhelming because it don't really give you much on what to do. There are quite a few side missions I have on the map and I'm like where do I go first? Other than that I like what I'm seeing with Arkham City so far.
[/quote]
For sure, if you actually want to put time into that game there are more collectables than you can ever imagine, like the 400+ Riddler trophy things.

speaking of Batman... I have been playing [b]DC Universe Online[/b]. I mostly got it because my friends were all playing it, and it is FREE! I don't have any experiance with MMORPGs prior to this one, however it does seem like the leveling up and powers are a bit limited. I am sure having all these people play together is taxing, but even the stats don't seem to matter. What is the point of leveling up your strength if a character with half the stats can just hit you two more times? There is also a really annoying armor destruction element that forces you to stop what you are doing and head all the way back to your base and find a shop. You don't need to do this often, but when you do its a pain.

Its not all bad though. The character customizer is pretty good, though you only get to choose three colors (that does make sense though) and the body types are a bit limited (you will never see a fat super girl and that kinda makes me sad.) Another thing you can customize is how they travel. you can choose flight, super speed, and acrobatics. All of these are really fun, and with the giant cities, this is important. Another good aspect is the universe in general... they pretty much did everything right, including having all the characters, and the difference between cities. The missions in this game typically involve you killing minor bad or good guys, but they leave the actual hero's for boss battles. They do spruce it up with a few random objectives that include picking up junk lying on the ground, which isn't interesting, but it can be challenging when you are in the middle of a fire fight.

Anyways, there is a lot to this game, and I am just starting... but if you have the hard drive space I would suggest sticking through the three hour download (unlike Boo) because you might actually like it, and its FREE!

[Sangome]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Microsoft Sans Serif"]I'm surprised I've not posted sooner about my recent gaming escapades, as the past couple weeks have been pretty active in that regard...

After years of it being sought after by me, I finally got my hands on[b]Persona 4[/b] a couple of weeks ago. I've already gotten about 40 hours on it [although a decent chunk of that was spent paused or idling]. I'm liking it a lot more than its predecessor so far in most aspects, namely the theme/atmosphere, music, and characters. My first real hangup was at the bathhouse and against Shadow Kanji [never again...] and I'm currently gathering medicine and stuff to better take on Rise's dungeon.

As for other things, I also got a 3DS! I don't have any physical games yet, but I've downloaded [b]Link's Awakening DX[/b] and [b]Shantae: Risky's Revenge[/b]. Both are alright so far.

And since I now have a memory card that's cooperative, I'm re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-restarting [b]Okami[/b].[/font][/color]

[Magus]

So I ended up buying the original [b]Street Fighter 4[/b] along with [b]Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception[/b]. Don't ask me how Uncharted is, because I haven't fired it up yet. Heck I've yet to beat the first one, nor have I even started the 2nd. It'll probably be a while before I get to them as well, considering I have so many other games on the back burner as well.

Don't ask me why I ended up buying the original SF4 either. The only reason I can give you as that I figured I'd started from the original and work my way up just to see if I can get any better, and so far, I think I'm getting a little better as far as combo's go. I'm currently stuck on Ryu's Hard Trial where you do jumping HP/HK, crouching HP, Shoryuken, Shinku Hadoken (seem like somethings missing there)

[James]

[font=palatino linotype]This weekend I've been playing [i][b]Skyrim[/b][/i] on PS3. So far I am absolutely loving it - much moreso than [i]Oblivion[/i]. The only downside is that I'm playing it with a PS3 controller. The interface works really effectively on console, but I simply dislike the PS3 controller itself. Mouse control for aiming/looking would be a lot better. But aside from that, I really have no complaints.

The graphics are gorgeous, save for a few little glitches here and there, and the gameplay is fantastic so far. [i]Skyrim[/i] just seems to hit the right beat. I think even the characters and plot are far more interesting than [i]Oblivion[/i], which felt more than a little bland and formulaic to me.

I'm also really loving the setting and art style. The Scandinavian feel is incredibly strong and it's really strongly evident throughout the landscape, architecture, costumes and even object design. Really beautiful stuff.

And, right off the bat, the variety of quests is fantastic. The game really gets off to a very strong start and draws you in immediately, I think. Plus, all of the peripheral stuff (like enchanting weapons, crafting weapons and armor, and alchemy) are both fun and incredibly intuitive at the same time. This game is starting to rule my life already...[/font]

[Shinmaru]

I beat [b]Mass Effect 2[/b] last week, although there are still some sidequests and stuff available for me (I'm in the middle of [b]Lair of the Shadow Broker[/b] at the moment). Very much enjoyed the game, and the final mission is just so damn satisfying -- it really does feel like you've built and unstoppable team of ass kickers, and if you approach it the right way, you can just march in and rip **** up. I remember the first time I stumbled across the Collectors, Harbinger, etc. on Horizon and was like, "oh craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap" half the time. During the suicide mission? Totally tore them a new asshole. It really is the best feeling. (For the record, I went with Thane and Legion the whole time. Three snipers, two of us with Warp, and Legion with the Widow to kill [i]everything[/i].)

I really cannot wait for [b]Mass Effect 3[/b], both to see how my choices shape the story, and to hopefully see the action take another step up in awesome.

[Boo]

So instead of playing Skyrim like I would like to, I'm trying to get Rage to work properly for more than 1 minute. THIS. IS. RIDICULOUS.

[Lyndy]

[quote name='The Prize' timestamp='1321288977' post='710248']
I'm trying to get Rage to work properly for more than 1 minute. THIS. IS. RIDICULOUS.
[/quote]
[color="#4169E1"][size="3"][font="Garamond"]lololololololol irony

Anyways, I recently got Doom 3. Was gonna do co-op on it, but D3 decided to ask me for a CD key [i]again[/i]. Couldn't find one freaking key, so I had to throw that game away. BUT my brother says he can get me a copy from his in-law. :3 [spoiler]I wasted three hours trying to get that game to work. e_e[/spoiler]

But I just downloaded demos of Half Life 2 and Painkiller: Resurrection. Might end up buying one of them. [/font][/size][/color]

[CaNz]

I Have been playing way too much [b]Battlefield 3[/b] and even though I constantly die, playing with a squad of friends is too much fun for me.
If I was by myself playing, I would probably just get mad and drop it though.

I stared playing [b]Star Ocean: Second Story[/b]. as well. So far the characters are much more likable right off the bat I really haven't gotten very far though, so I will probably have to post about this again.

[Boo]

[quote name='The Prize' timestamp='1321288977' post='710248']
So instead of playing Skyrim like I would like to, I'm trying to get Rage to work properly for more than 1 minute. THIS. IS. RIDICULOUS.
[/quote]
**** that [/rage][skyrim] I AM DRAGONBORN! Edited November 15, 2011 by The Prize

[Magus]

As I've stated in my status thingy, there's been quite a lot of talk about Mass Effect as of late, so I decided to fire it up again (Actually I just decided to finish up a game). I've clocked in about 25 hrs, and have just arrived at Noveria. Hopefully, I'll have this finished up before Thanksgiving so I can finally start playing ME2 along with trying to finish Assassin's Creed 2 (so I can finally start up AC: Brotherhood) and perhaps Metal Gear Solid 4, but in order for me to do that I'd have to step away from Street Fighter 4 for a while =(.

[Lyndy]

[color="#9932CC"][font="Garamond"][size="3"]Finally played [b]Doom 3[/b] past the point where the lights turned off because I found someone to listen to my crying while going up against the monsters.

Started playing [s]Busty[/s] [b]Rusty Hearts[/b] lately. It's a free online RPG. Pretty cool so far. Also started playing [b]DC Universe[/b], but my computer can hardly handle it. :(

Also been playing [b]Alien Swarm[/b] a bit, and getting back into [b]Audiosurf[/b]. That game makes me rage more than any other games. Also trying to get back into [b]CoD:MW2[/b], but since we got new internet, playing online games is very difficult. I mean, when I was the host of a game for Alien Swarm, I had the worst lag attack on Earth. It was like 2 fps. :V And everyone else had to go through the torture with me. BD[/size][/font][/color] Edited November 22, 2011 by TotallyBoo

[Morbo]

Been playing Skyward Sword all weekend. After i got over the initial shock of remembering the wii isn't no PS3 for graphics I set about getting used to swing my arm for sword play. My arm is pretty worn right not but wow its a great game! It flows well just like one would expect, Its Zelda of course!

The story is great, Zelda is much more central to the story unlike twilight princess. Anyway back to playing!

[Anakoni Stark]

[FONT="Times New Roman"]I just recently finished [B][I]Saint's Row: The Third[/B][/I] and I'm working on [B][I]Assassin's Creed: Revelations[/B][/I]. Should throw in the fact that I'm playing [B][I]Need For Speed: The Run[/B][/I] as well [s]mostly for the easy achievements[/s] because I really want to see how EA implemented their Frostbite 2 Engine into their racing series.

Yet I almost always find myself running around in Steelport causing all sorts of mayhem.
(The Brotherhood might be looking down upon me for doing so.)

[SPOILER]I mean who [B][I]doesn't[/B][/I] want to beat the daylights out of a mascot with a [I]two foot long purple baseball bat[/I]?[/SPOILER][/FONT] Edited November 21, 2011 by Anakoni Stark