Whatcha Been Playing?

[Scrustle]

The TES games don't need to be directionless if you don't want them to be. The factions quest lines can stand on their own pretty well as a worthwhile experience. I think it's a pretty good way to see a lot of the world and its different sides. You will be missing out on quite a bit if you don't explore off the beaten track too though. But that structure is there if you want it, and still makes for a good time even if you do nothing else. But I think both styles compliment each other well too. I would encourage people to try both.

I won't miss a chance to recommend Dragon's Dogma though. It is kind of small for an open world RPG, but it's nice and focused. Fantastic combat too. Maybe even the best of any RPG out there. It's really responsive and smooth, with lots of interesting skills and different classes, and the SotC-esque way you can tackle larger monsters is pretty cool. Post-game content is also really nice. Pretty good soundtrack as well. It has a certain charm to it too, especially with the way the characters talk.

KoA is good as well, and also had really nice combat, but that game can be a bit of a grind. It drags on pretty long, and most quests outside of faction stuff does tend to be tedious busywork. But if you stick to the factions, it's pretty good. It's a nice world with fun gameplay, so I'd recommend it. I wouldn't say the world size compares to Dragon's Dogma though. It may not be as big as Skyrim, but it's still pretty big. Way bigger than DD.

[Flabyo]

Amalur is much the easier game. It also has a more directed progression than DD. Amalur feels like World of Warcraft in structure, it's areas are connected together via narrow connecting paths, and quest lines outside the main storyline rarely require you to travel out of area. Dragon's Dogma is open like the Elder Scrolls games, but covering a much smaller area, and it feels far more 'constructed'. Amalur and Elder Scrolls clearly build their dungeon areas out of a fairly limited set of building blocks, you start to recognise areas that are being reused with different set dressing after a while. Dragon's Dogma seems to have every dungeon made in a completely bespoke fashion.

All games I like, but they scratch different itches.

[Scrustle]

I don't think DD is really open like TES. You can technically go anywhere you want from the start of the game, but if you do you're probably going to get murdered pretty quickly if you go where you're not supposed to. And it's not like you have many options to go the "wrong" way either. The way the world is structured doesn't really allow you to just pick a compass direction and explore in that direction, like you can in TES. The world is structured as areas scattered along a coastline, with a few paths going inland that are equally... linear. I don't really want to use that word, because that's underselling the game, but that is basically how the world is set out. The world is mostly laid out from southwest to northeast, with you starting at the former and adventuring towards the latter through the game on pretty much the only path there is between those two points. Then once you reach there you start exploring the inland paths as well, which are much the same story. While there are other important locations on the way, there aren't really that many, and most of them are the focus of one of the main quests.

That's not to discredit it though. I do agree that it does feel much more tailored than the other games, and it does scratch a certain itch the others don't.

[Feirsteax]

I really didn't like dd for the story and the travelling, but the dungeons were all quite cool. They do feel quite unique. The combats also fantastic.

Reinstalled the sims 3 the other day. Probably a bad idea, it'll suck up a lot of time I'm sure.
It crashed twice though, randomly. Haven't been able to replicate the crash.

[suzzopher]

So I started RDR, then got a hankering for some Ratchet & Clank action. I decided to go back to Ratchet 3 on the HD collection. I last played this game in 2004 and had forgotten just how damn good it is. After A Crack in Time I thought that was the best game in the series but going back to 3 has changed my mind, 3 is hands down the best.

I am pretty sure that Yoshiaki Koizumi played this game, or at least someone on the SMG development team

[arry_g]

Currently playing Dark Souls and Persona 4: Golden.

After completing Amnesia: Dark Descent I turned to my wife and said "sweetheart, I don't know what to play next" and she turned to me and said "but you have so many games" I let out a little sigh but before I could reply she continued "oh, but that's the problem isn't it - I'll pick, what sort of game do you fancy?". Now, my wife doesn't really play games with multiplayer 2D Mario titles and the opening few levels of each Rayman being the exceptions to the rule but she marched straight into my 'office' and so I called into her "something relaxing, something easy". Moments later she emerged with the above mentioned games. I promptly thanked her and asked why she picked these games and she turned around and said "the people look so happy and colourful on Persona that it must be the videogame equivalent of a feel good book or movie" and then pointing to Dark Souls she said "it looks like that game with the mountains and the horned men you played ages ago (Skyrim) and you spent ages just relaxing exploring the scenery, you can do that in this game too!".

Of course she somewhat misjudged what these games are but the thought she put into each and the bizarreness of the overall situation has somewhat compelled me to see these both through to the end!

[Scrustle]

I like that description of Skyrim. A game about "horned young men".

[Flabyo]

"the people look so happy and colourful on Persona that it must be the videogame equivalent of a feel good book or movie"

In a parallel universe this is indeed the case.

(although saying that, it seems that since that game was announced it's picked up a dark and twisted plot as well. Heh)

[arry_g]

"the people look so happy and colourful on Persona that it must be the videogame equivalent of a feel good book or movie"

In a parallel universe this is indeed the case.

(although saying that, it seems that since that game was announced it's picked up a dark and twisted plot as well. Heh)

Is it bad that when this was first released I thought to myself that this is the sort of gaiden I can live without (and instead focus my enthusiasm on the other titles announced at the same time as this) but now am incredibly excited? That is bad, right?

[Katieee120]

All this talk of Dragons Dogma makes me want to play it again. Might go back to it this evening

[Scrustle]

Went back to Project Sylpheed, and managed to get past the bit I was stuck on. Just had to use a different weapon. Using different weapons in that game is a bit of a gamble though. Descriptions are vague, and you don't really know how well something will work unless you try it. Well, either way, once I had the right thing the level was just as easy as all the other before it, and after too.

I decided to carry on playing and ended up finishing the game! Turns out it's pretty short, and I was already more than halfway through at that point. It was pretty good overall though. Not really sure how well it stands up against other games of the genre, but I found it to be a pretty fun experience, apart from that one mission before I worked out what to do. The weapon variety is a strength of the game though. You do have a lot of options, and they can dramatically change how combat plays out.

The story is laughably bad though. Awful voice acting and writing. Pretty cliche too. Noticed some more similarities between it and the other similar games I've been playing lately too. Is this whole genre/setting just nothing but derivative tosh when it comes to story? Anyway, turns out that the enemy gets a planet destroying super-weapon towards the end of the game. And guess how you take it out. Yup, you fly inside it and shoot at the reactor core. Some of the shots in the cutscenes of that part of the game look directly ripped from Star Wars too. Both Episode IV and VI. I will give it credit in one area though. It wasn't afraid at all to kill off major characters. Not that you get invested in them though, considering how bad everything else is.

But regardless, as a space combat game, it's actually not bad. I'd recommend it, especially considering how you can get the game for less than a fiver nowadays. With how few games there are in that genre on consoles, it's worth a look I'd say.

Oh, and this RPG talk lead me to go back to KoA again as well. Finished off the Teeth of Naros DLC. The main quest on that at least. Did a few sidequests, but mostly ignored them. It's an alright piece of content. Well, good actually. It just doesn't really raise the bar from the rest of the game. I feel like I had a better time with the previous DLC. Then again, maybe that's just because I haven't played the game in so long, and the reason I spent so long away from it was because I felt like I'd already had my fill. I'd finished the main story and felt like I didn't really want to play any longer. But hey, if you liked the main game, you should like Naros too. It has a floating city in it, so that's kind of cool.

[arry_g]

Two days from beginning the two games my wife chose for me to play and here is my status:

Dark Souls - I'm seven hours in and delighted that much of what I liked about Demon's Souls is still intact. I have beaten the Asylum Demon, Taurus Demon, Havel the Rock and the Gargoyles as well as having won three of three invasion encounters and explored the environment a bit with my Master Key. I have died three times, once to the Belfry Gargoyles, once to an undead rat pushing me off the underside of a bridge and the final time to an archer who got the best of me when my stamina and health was low. I lost ten humanity at that moment and learned the hard way that much like souls, humanity should not be hoarded where possible (though you don't always have a choice). So, very much enjoying the game - the seamless world is overwhelming but goes a long way to drawing a boundary around the Demon's and Dark Souls experience. Now, I just need to find the first sorcery merchant (as my spell-casting Thief is little use with no spells) and also find a way to beat that red drake thing and maybe I will feel compelled to push forward with the story.

Persona 4: Golden - Five and a half hours in. When I'm not playing Dark Souls, I'm playing this! It feels insulting to such a great series and more importantly such a great title that it plays second fiddle to any other videogame but that is more a reflection of when I choose to play portable consoles than it is a reflection of my feelings towards the game itself. Anyway, also an excellent game. Mechanics seem to be built on from 3, the visuals are pretty, the story thus far is compelling - my only complaint is that it felt like it took three hours for the usual Persona gameplay template to become available to play but during that time the story beats had me hooked so it isn't a problem on my first playthrough.

[The_Rooster]

Bought Titanfall finished the 'campaign' mode. No idea what the story was if there even was one.

Still waiting for that match that grips me but I'm sure it's coming. Don't think I can ever get bored of diving into my titan!

[suzzopher]

Downloaded the God of War collection on Vita last night (cross buy with my PS3 version) and the port is pretty damn awful, I tried both games and they really are bad.

[Flabyo]

Bought Titanfall finished the 'campaign' mode. No idea what the story was if there even was one.

Still waiting for that match that grips me but I'm sure it's coming. Don't think I can ever get bored of diving into my titan!

There was definitely an 'aha' moment for me that moved it from being 'oh, this is kinda like Call of Duty with mechs' to 'this is it's amazing own thing'.

It was around the time I worked out that wall running moves you MUCH faster than running on the ground. Out of your Titan the game is all about level traversal, the player that can move the fastest and reach the high ground quickest has a massive advantage over those trundling around on the ground.

The default XBO pad layout for the game makes this tricky to figure out, because it has jump on the A button which means you can't really reorient using the right stick in mid air whilst jumping, which you need to do to be able to leap from wall to wall and keep moving. Switching to the controls that moves jump to LB seems to help a lot of players.

I'm even liking what they've done with the prestige level stuff. Once you hit level 50 you can reset like in Call of Duty and get a little 'generation 2' marker. But if you want to do that again once you reach level 50 you can't unless you've completed some specific weapon challenges (in this case you need to have level 5'ed all the Shotgun and 35mm cannon ones, for level 3 to 4 it's the Plasma Rifle and one of the sub machine guns). That means that to keep going up through the generations you're going to have to learn to get good with weapons you might not be so hot with (I'm dreading having to max out the sniper rifle, I'm awful with sniper rifles in shooters)

[NokkonWud]

Wasn't aware of the Prestige limitations there, those are definitely interesting and better than simply hitting a button and getting a marker!

[The_Rooster]

Bought Titanfall finished the 'campaign' mode. No idea what the story was if there even was one.

Still waiting for that match that grips me but I'm sure it's coming. Don't think I can ever get bored of diving into my titan!

There was definitely an 'aha' moment for me that moved it from being 'oh, this is kinda like Call of Duty with mechs' to 'this is it's amazing own thing'.

It was around the time I worked out that wall running moves you MUCH faster than running on the ground. Out of your Titan the game is all about level traversal, the player that can move the fastest and reach the high ground quickest has a massive advantage over those trundling around on the ground.

The default XBO pad layout for the game makes this tricky to figure out, because it has jump on the A button which means you can't really reorient using the right stick in mid air whilst jumping, which you need to do to be able to leap from wall to wall and keep moving. Switching to the controls that moves jump to LB seems to help a lot of players.

I'm even liking what they've done with the prestige level stuff. Once you hit level 50 you can reset like in Call of Duty and get a little 'generation 2' marker. But if you want to do that again once you reach level 50 you can't unless you've completed some specific weapon challenges (in this case you need to have level 5'ed all the Shotgun and 35mm cannon ones, for level 3 to 4 it's the Plasma Rifle and one of the sub machine guns). That means that to keep going up through the generations you're going to have to learn to get good with weapons you might not be so hot with (I'm dreading having to max out the sniper rifle, I'm awful with sniper rifles in shooters)

Great idea on the change of controls. Gonna try that before I get to comfortable with the default controls! I'm shocking with sniper rifles too (don't think I have ever played a full match on batters).

I am struggling going at it solo Rambo style it would be nice to team up on a full squad to proper beat teams. On what I have seen 2 on 1 titans only really goes 1 way.

[DomsBeard]

If you've got two titans on me I tend to leg it to be honest. One mission away from finishing the campaign, if I had to do a quiz about it after I wouldn't get a question right.

Resident Evil 6 is still awful, half way through Ada's campaign now.

[Flabyo]

Was at a charity event organised by Supermassive Games last night, and they had some fun multiplayer indie games set up.

Nidhogg is silly, but there's a lot of definite tactical depth in there. I can see why the fighting games community has got interested in it, it shares a lot of the same tactics as games like Streetfighter 4.

Towerfall and Samurai Gunn are quite similar four player arena platform combat games. I think I slightly preferred the former as the art style of the latter made it tricky to see what was going on at times. They both have a limited ammo mechanic, and the rounds are pretty rapid so you never feel like you're out of the game for long if you do die.

[Baron Phil]

I've gone back to Dark Souls after consulting a walkthrough to find out where I was supposed to go.
I had defeated the gargoyles and rang the bell but then had no idea where to go and was getting lost and repeatedly killed in Darkroot Garden so had given up. Now I know where to go, I've defeated the Capra Demon and really feel like I'm making progress again.