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 -Loki- wrote:
I've been playing the gak out of GTA 5. This is the first GTA since Vice City where I've loved everything about it - the gameplay works properly, the world feels more alive than ever due to random criminal activity around you, the missions are fun - especially the heists, the checkpoint system helps along any hard missions, the characters are great and it's got some silly fun violence.

I'm with you, I really enjoyed Vice City, but thought they haven't done a good one since. GTA V though really is brilliant. I felt the series had stagnated into a "Kill him, steal this, go there, drive that" affair. I think GTA V managed to incorporate something new into nearly every mission you play.


I'm on my second run of Skyrim, and I am really loving it. I suppose it helps that it's been almost two years since my first. I'm a more stealth/magic type user this time around, which makes for a very different gaming experience.

I've just started getting into Skyrim again actually! Still a beautiful game..

Been playing 'The Last of Us' over the past few days. And I have to say, it's good but I don't think the game changer that some people had made it out to be.

Story is nicely written and scripted.. but it's been done before.
the 'stealth' system is nice, but again I don't think as well implemented as in some other games (MGS or Splinter Cell), and absolutely ruthless in the way it punishes you for your unwitting mistakes.

In fact, a thought struck me while I was playing of how the game operates, and reminded me of something.. of a sequence in Doom (going back a few years now! ), or maybe Doom 2, I forget which. Towards the end of the game there was a sequence where you walked into a room: a long corridor, filled with explosive barrels; a cyberdaemon appears, blows up some barrels which kills you. So, you reload, this time you try running straight, the barrels explode and kill you. You try running left, then right into a gap.. this time you survive a few more seconds, but still die. Eventually, after 6-7 deaths, you learn the sequence, thread the needle' and manage to survive. That is very much how some of the sequences seem in this game - I almost got to the point where I would just run through on a 'recce', scoping the enemies and their positions, then do a 'restart' (handily it's very easy to restart, and fast - glad, otherwise would have given up on the game). Eventually you find the correct route of actions.

So.. 20 years on from Doom or whatever, and this game for all of it's production values and talk of it being a radically new experience, are still pretty much the same in terms of how they interact with the player. As Charlie Brooker put it, the narrative is all the more frustrating because it's basically like reading a novel where the book stops you from turning over to the next page. I found it really grinds with what the game is trying to do, which is to provide a powerful emotive and story-driven experience. Unlike Dark Souls, where I found my deaths invigorating and even amusing (and driven to get back and try again), in Last of Us I've just found the endless stealth/kill/die sequences something to be endured rather than enjoyed.

Anyway! Not a bad game by any means, but I have to be honest a little disappointing in terms of what I was expecting.

I havent played a gears of war since the first game when it first came out. just picked up Gears of war 1-3 for less than a tenner at GAME. Playing it through with the misses.

Beat Dragon Age 2. The constant reuse of environments really made the game drag towards the end.

Bought a PS3 today with Uncharted 1 and 2... I'll be returning those games tomorrow for something enjoyable...

Combat sucks, crappy camera angle and some points, and a dumb as feth storyline...

Pretty much just MWO. Getting Master on most of the Phoenix mechs and Jester.

Still skyrim, wish it would lose it's entertainment value again 'cause I've got hobby stuff to do! Put my antisocial wood elf archer and my does whatever cat-mage on hold for a sword and board kitty fighter. Taking a fairly loose approach this time and not bothering to sneak or be inquisitive at all. Straight line to the meat of the quest or dungeon, gut the boss monster efficiently, and move on. Use magic weapons until they run out of soul-juice and then disenchant or discard them. I haven't quite gone the full route of conjuration swords/axe/bow item-phobia that I've been threatening myself with, but shield bashing is kind of fun so I'll do it for awhile.

Just got seriously into Faster Than Light, it is the best game that I've played all year by a long way. And I'm dabbling in Diablo 3 on the PS3, just completed it with a Witch Doctor and have just started it with a Monk. I have to say I'm enjoying it a lot, although it had sat idle for a few weeks, just because I have had no time for gaming until a few days ago

FTL is pretty awesome. I get fed up with it eventually, but while I'm playing and actively enjoying it... pure awesome. Diablo 3 was ok, didn't play it as much as d2, but I'm at a different place in my life than I was then so there you go :p

Yah, I'm totally in love with it at the moment. It's tough but fair. Every time I die I don't think "Stupid game, cheating SOB, Feth you!", nope.

I think "Hmmm, OK, lets try a different tactic. Better luck next time.."

It also helps after you get some experience and learn which encounters have chances of doing what. Like some are lose/gain crew, others can lose resources or gain them, or weapons etc. Helps you weigh the risks.

If you weren't running from the rebels and didn't fight the boss at the end, this would come very close to being Oregon Trail in Space

I'm currently replaying the awesome Stronghold Legends.

Good news then, FTL is getting a completely free expansion pack.

WUT. ZOMG ITS CHRISTMAS!

Currently just picked up State of Decay on Steam... And for a zombie apocalypse game (not usually my cup of tea) it is really good. And also not quite your typical zombie/town survival game

You know how most go: go out in the day, collect crap up, run back before nightfall and hope you can survive another night.

Also picked up Path of Exile on Steam for free, and it is a pretty fun game in similar vein to d3 (the reviews say its what d3 should have been, but i leave that judgement up to you)

Got myself Xcom Enemy within, and oh dear this game is like xmas on stereoids for me. I played the original, and well found it to be quite hard and mercyless. But this game has addrsed so many of the flaws with the old one, and added so much new awesomness that I will be playing it for weeks to come.

Iron Brigade. Its good fun

 Pacific wrote:
I've just started getting into Skyrim again actually! Still a beautiful game..

Been playing 'The Last of Us' over the past few days. And I have to say, it's good but I don't think the game changer that some people had made it out to be.

Story is nicely written and scripted.. but it's been done before.

It's not so much about the story, it's the characters and acting that gave it a step up from other video games doing the same thing.

I can't think of a single other game that made me cry, but the end of prologue for this game? They fething nailed it. The whole father/daughter development and how well it was executed through the game is what makes TLOU stand apart, not the standard 'someone is immune and the cure' story which, as said, has been done, a lot. This Penny Arcade comic pretty much sums it up.

Still Dark Souls......Seriously Im stuck at Ornstein and Smaugh....

Played Dragon's Dogma all my different roles, the vocation are maxed out. Further more i started playing bioshock infinite and i am liking it sofar.

I bought X Rebirth ....frowny face

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Still Dark Souls......Seriously Im stuck at Ornstein and Smaugh....

Urgh, that battle made me give in. I hate submitting to a video game, but that one had me beat.

Xbox took a crap on me over the weekend so I got a PS3, been playing Resistance Fall of Man (I know I'm far behind ), God of War 3 (just to finish the storyline), and Ni No Kuni. Got Tomb Raider (the most recent one), Killzone 3, and Infamous 2 to tide me over for a while.

 Alfndrate wrote:
Xbox took a crap on me over the weekend so I got a PS3, been playing Resistance Fall of Man (I know I'm far behind ), God of War 3 (just to finish the storyline), and Ni No Kuni. Got Tomb Raider (the most recent one), Killzone 3, and Infamous 2 to tide me over for a while.

Those are all pretty good selections in my opinion. I loved the Resistance series and Tomb Raider. Killzone 3 was pretty good, but I thought the campaign was kind of disappointing (compared to the second). And I played GoW III for the same reason - just to finish the story

After playing on the Xbox 360 controller for 5 years, it's weird being back on a PS controller, especially the six-axis controller. But it's been worth it so far. I need to find my HDMI cable so I can put this suckers graphics to the test. Atm I'm just on the standard RCA cables :-\

 -Loki- wrote:

 Pacific wrote:
I've just started getting into Skyrim again actually! Still a beautiful game..

Been playing 'The Last of Us' over the past few days. And I have to say, it's good but I don't think the game changer that some people had made it out to be.

Story is nicely written and scripted.. but it's been done before.

It's not so much about the story, it's the characters and acting that gave it a step up from other video games doing the same thing.
]

It's one thing saying 'ok this is a step up from other games', but in terms of story telling I've seen a lot of films that have had more of an impact on me.

And in terms of a game, which really is the important bit, I have found it flawed.

Don't get me wrong, it's good and I haven't gone outside and shaken my fist at the sky due to wasted hours of my life, but far from having the penny arcade-reaction I just sat there happily munching on a sandwich and to be honest not really connecting with the characters at all.

Oh well!

I don't know what I am playing now, but I know what I will be playing Friday at 6:00 PM EST.


The Elder Scrolls Online, kid!

 Alfndrate wrote:
After playing on the Xbox 360 controller for 5 years, it's weird being back on a PS controller, especially the six-axis controller. But it's been worth it so far. I need to find my HDMI cable so I can put this suckers graphics to the test. Atm I'm just on the standard RCA cables :-\

I did the opposite of that a few years ago. Switched from PS3 to Xbox, and man was that a weird conversion. Though I think the Xbox controller is superior.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Currently just picked up State of Decay on Steam... And for a zombie apocalypse game (not usually my cup of tea) it is really good. And also not quite your typical zombie/town survival game

Its getting a sandbox expansion next friday. I really enjoyed it for a while but there isn't really much point in continuing playing and the storyline essentially boils down to go to X and kill zombies than go to Y and kill zombies....

Its fine for what it costs but overall its quite lacking. Hopefully Deadstate will be a better example of this kind of game.

Currently I am playing World of Tanks, Rome 2 and I have just started to play TF2 again.

 KingCracker wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
After playing on the Xbox 360 controller for 5 years, it's weird being back on a PS controller, especially the six-axis controller. But it's been worth it so far. I need to find my HDMI cable so I can put this suckers graphics to the test. Atm I'm just on the standard RCA cables :-\

I did the opposite of that a few years ago. Switched from PS3 to Xbox, and man was that a weird conversion. Though I think the Xbox controller is superior.

I think the stick placement on the 360 controller is better and the triggers, but the ps3 controller beats it in weight (not as heavy for long gaming sessions), and I think the sticks themselves are better on the ps3.