The Games Thread

[Swix]

Hopefully this thread will be used for discussing games new and old, no matter where you've found them or what sort they are.

I'm gonna start off with-Mass Effect 3 (wasn't that predictable? ^_^). Yes, that one being swept with equal parts loathing and liking. Personally I don't think it's that bad, I mean, they finally sorted out scanning the planets plus there seems to be more of a point to being able to control the ship in-system.

The three things out of the whole lot that do irk me though are the 'exploring for dummies' that seems to have been added to the Citadel lifts and the random sidequests you get by listening in to NPCs talking to each other, rather than actually interacting with them.
Also, Udina is a Councilor no matter who you chose in 1? Um, what?

Other than though, it's still Mass Effect, it's still good in my book anyway... Although I haven't finished it yet.

Not buying the DLC on principle though, damn EA rationing games out to make more dough. Yes, I blame EA for that after it bought BioWare.

So, anyone else played ME3 or want to talk about another game? Or both?

[Borg12345]

I'm boycotting the damn thing. It's complete bull what they did with the whole DLC affair and not buying the DLC is not enough. They only thing that'll catch any attention is telling them that the game is not important enough to shell out money after pulling stunts like this. Simply giving then slightly less will tell them they didn't cut enough content!

Also, this is worth a read (warning, naughty words): Why Gamer Entilement Is A Bull**** Buzzword. It's ridiculous that the behaviour shown in this industry is seen as fine and even encouraged, yet would be universally condemned in any other.

*sigh*

In brighter news I've played and finished Arkham City. Man, I thought Arkham Asylum as good, this game is amazing! They fixed the combat (which was very good to begin with), they fixed the boss fights, and the story was amazing (Though god damn you Kotaku for ruining it for me and many many others all those months ago...)! The only issue I have with it is that the controls seem more control pad orientated this time around, which sucks. Some of the movement keys do far too many things, which can lead to making the wrong and often fatal move, and a good number of the boss fights rely on you to quick fire some gadgets, which require spider-like fingers to pull off on the keyboard. Still, those issues aside it was a fantastic game.

I've now started playing Skyrim! I've not gotten very far in it although because I've been watching Jesse Cox's play though of it I have a good idea of what to expect (although not too far into the main story as he's hell bent on doing every last thing in the game XD).

[Swix]

<blockquote class='quote_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd>&nbsp;</dd></dl><div>I'm boycotting the damn thing. It's complete bull what they did with the whole DLC affair and not buying the DLC is not enough. They only thing that'll catch any attention is telling them that the game is not important enough to shell out money after pulling stunts like this. Simply giving then slightly less will tell them they didn't cut enough content&#33;[/quote]

Okay then. That's fair enough, I boycotted Spore purely because of intrusive DRM, but, would you mind telling me how not buying the DLC is going to encourage them to make more DLC and more torn apart 'full' versions in the future because people bought the physical disc? I am confused :S.

Oh, just in case people don't know, the Collectors Edition that was available on preorder was not available at least in my city, due to EA refusing to licence the two (technically one) specialist game shops here. So that edition was not avalable to me because of EA. I would have had that happily if it were. But no, the only place where CE was available to me was on Amazon for 175 pounds&#33; I kid you not, that's around oh, roughly 250 American dollars (this is from my head, please don't rip me apart if it's not accurate, I'm on my phone XD) not sure what it translates into Canadian or Australian dollars, but still, that's at the very least, what, 200 percent profit? Nothing's worth that much. And there was that ridiculous N7 version...

Hmm, I gotta say after reading that article you linked to and all the comments after it, I'm now more on the fence than ever. The content locked on the disc is the char and chars voice, but the mission is contained in the DLC... Hmmm...

There's one thing I gotta disagree on with that guy though, when he's referring to multiplayer being 'tacked on' as an afterthought for purely single player games. The ones (that I've played) that have had that are Fable 2 and 3, and ME3. Now, Fable 2s did strike me as a bit silly what with the whole 'you have to be a henchman/henchwoman because you're in someone elses universe' thing, but you could gather experience and treasures for your in-game character whilst doing so, as well as seeing how their world was different. In 3 they clearly put a lot more thought into it, you could be your own char with your own abilities and looks in someone elses world, whilst getting more experience, perhaps they even knew some treasure locations you didn't on yours, and you could revisit places you'd already been in your storyline if they weren't as far along as you. There were also unlockable doors that you couldn't open without someone elses help. And you didn't even have to help people who's worlds you joined, you could run off to the other side of their world map if you really wanted to. I think these enhanced the game experience rather than detracted from it. Although you didn't have to if you didn't want to.
i also persuaded my brother to get Fable 3 using the multiplayer aspect . But he did liken my char to a Death Knight XD.

Same with the ME3 multiplayer, although it's more apart than Fables, in that it's effectively a Horde mode. But hey, you're in a galaxy at war, that sort of thing happening makes sense. And apparently it also affects your in-game experience too.

Aaaanyway, Skyrim&#33; Yaaay, more people playing Skyrim ^_^. What species did you go for Borg?

Plus, we have Arkham City on OnLive but I haven't played it yet, too many other things taking up time ^_^.

[Borg12345]

My feelings about M3 are pretty much mirrored here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri0vrJ-y2zM&feature=plcp&context=C41c3fe8VDvjVQa1PpcFPmU4rYsxQ0vf8DUkcHfU6KFF6KPJd2Lz8%3D
20 minutes long but worth a watch. However, that's all I'll say on the matter, because I'll just be parroting what's already said there, just not as well.

Back to Skyrim, I went for a Nord. Imaginative, I know&#33; I was gonna go for a straight up warrior but I've actually taken a keen interest in Necromancy, helped by a mod*. So now I'm a sort of "War Necromancer", using the fallen of battle to fight by my side.

I'll probably join the Stormcloaks too, The Empire seem like b******s and puppets for the Thalmor, who are even bigger b******s&#33; XD Who knows, I may change my mind.

*The mod does this:
Changes:
Raise Zombie- Reanimate bodies of up to level 9, duration 120s (vanilla: level 6, 60s)

Reanimate Corpse- Reanimate bodies of up to level 20, duration 120s (vanilla: level 13, 60s)

Revenant- Reanimate bodies of up to level 32, duration 120s (vanilla: level 21, 60s)

Dread Zombie- Reanimate bodies of up to level 45, duration 120s (vanilla: level 30, 60s)

Dead Thrall- Reanimate dead people of up to level 60 (vanilla: level 40)

Much more useful I feel, I probably wouldn't have bothered with it before tbh. And no, you cannot res dragons with it&#33; I think.

[Alakin]

I was gonna go for the Stormcloaks at first, despite being a Khajiit, then as I played I realised I couldn't stand them; a combination of 'Skyrim for the Nords', 'what do you want, cat?' and just the fact Ulfric came off as pretty arrogant whereas Tullius came off as someone just trying to do his job and keep the Empire together as a front against the Thalmor. A lot of the stuff that random NPCs said too made Ulfric's motives pretty dubious, like the blacksmith in Riverhold who mentions that Thalmor justiciars roaming the land arresting Talos worshippers only started because the Stormcloaks suddenly made a big public deal of Talos-worshipping, before that people just worshipped in private.

[3kul]

(I'll try to keep my post spoiler free as best as I can, but if you're really worried you can skip it altogether )

I got ME3 recently and the DLC as well. I understand that this is something that a lot of people feel very strongly about, but I'm not too keen on weighing in on that debate - I bought the DLC just because I thought that it would be interesting to try. The mission itself is decent, but nothing too special, and the new character adds an interesting dimension to the game. If I could undo any ME DLC purchase, it would be the final DLC for ME2 (the one after that brilliant Shadow Broker one)... honestly, that felt more like a rip-off than this one did, and as far as I'm concerned there was very little to like about it.

I'm enjoying the game for the most part, but one thing that is really irritating me about ME3 is how forced the messages seem to be, especially the whole 'it's impossible to save everybody' deal (also the heavily pro-military stuff, but I'll get into that another time). Once or twice is something that I can tolerate, but I'm now going into missions trying to figure out which of the new characters I meet will be killed. Choices that I make are often rendered useless, and worse still, characters are mostly killed in unconvincing cut-scenes that don't seem all that different from the fight that I just emerged victorious from. Rather than present me with a situation where I actually have to choose to sacrifice a character (ME1's final decision was something that I really enjoyed, and even though I lost a lot of crewmates in the end of my first playthough of ME2 I was still really impressed when I figured out why that happened) I'm just constantly forced into these situations where, in spite of all that I've done to keep them safe, some idiot still manages to find a way to get themselves killed. It feels disconnected and I resent the characters and the game for copping out like that.

Perfect example of what I'm talking about: I recently completed a mission for Wreav (or Wrex, whichever you've got in your game) in which I had to rescue his platoon from some obscure planet. You get to the end part of the mission and you meet a potential ally, after which you are presented with a choice. You can stay for a little while to talk some more and agree to the alliance that is proposed, but in doing so the platoon that you are supposed to rescue will die holding off enemy forces to give you the opportunity to do so (apparently, in spite of being such an allegedly awesome platoon, they can't hold on for the thirty more seconds that it would take to say 'yes', but whatever). Alternatively, you can ignore the new ally's proposal and focus on your original task, which is making sure that the platoon gets out safely.

I'm playing for paragon this time around so I chose the 'good' option, which is abandoning the potential ally in order to save the platoon. As we are running through the caves to escape, some more enemies appear behind us. Rather than allow me to cut back to actual combat the game continues with the cutscene ('here we go', I tell myself, rolling my eyes). The leader of the platoon tells us to go on ahead, that he'll stay back to hold the enemies off. I wish I could tell him how completely idiotic and unnecessary that is, because: (a) all enemies shown are quite slow, fire in a straight line and stop to shoot - we are running through a series of winding caves, with plenty of cover, (b) these enemies specialize in accurate long-range cannon-like attacks, he is wielding a shotgun, (c) there is no considerable difference in either size or numbers between these enemies and the dozens that I have killed before them throughout this mission. But no, as the cut scene rolls on he runs into the enemies, the sad music plays and he inevitably gets swarmed and killed. A quick reminder, this is after I elected to leave the caves early to prevent the deaths of the platoon. I felt robbed of my choice, and was left wishing that I'd picked the other option if people in the platoon were going to die no matter what.

I don't understand why they couldn't pull convincing losses off in this game - ME1 and ME2 both did very well with giving you choices and killing off characters in a convincing manner in which you didn't feel cheated. But in ME3 these deaths seems more like suicide than murder, and I just feel more and more frustrated with the victims for doing so many stupid things :/

[Borg12345]

Last night I charged into a massive Imperial Vs Stormcloack battlefield, fought back the Imperial scum (:P) and in the middle of it all slayed a dragon, and basked in the awe as every single solider stopped and stared at the skeleton. Whilst summoning undead to do my bidding.

I freaking love Skyrim.

[Swix]

@ 3kul: That's interesting, as I think I know the mission you're referring to and it turned out completely differently for me. But then I did pick the alternate option to this and not only did the potential ally survive but so did the leader of the group, after also unnecessarily staying behind and falling down a canyon. Then he emerges at the very end drenched in his own blood and some of the squad of his even still lived. Very strange indeed.

@everyone regarding Skyrim:
Very interesting, I guess I carry over my sympathies for the Stormcloaks from Morrowind where the Empire was trying to take over their homeland too. I just can't bring myself to trust those damn Imperials now XD.

Plus, I'm playIng a Dark Elf myself and I haven't really had any particularly horrible remarks from the Nords other than calling me :Elf' occasionally. Whereas people affiliated with the Empire have done it so many more times-you can only hear the words 'what are you doing out here mik drinker' so many times before it really starts getting annoying. So far the only person I've heard yelling 'Skyrim is for the Nords&#33;' during a fight is Lydia.

The Thalmor appear to be slippery cowards. At least the few I've talked to anyway... when they're not hurling insults at me for being a Dunmer.

Also, I heard the best remarks the other day, what with being a werewolf.

"How come you look so...fluffy? Under your clothing"

And

"I think the thing that disturbs me most about you is your wolfish grin"

That's the first time I've heard that last one, which has me slightly worried tbh-is the game trying to tell me I've been overdoing the werewolf transformatinns I wonder? Are more and more characters going to notice my wolfishnesss as time goes by, erpecially since I refuse to cure
myself even though I know how . Heheh.

Then again, maybe it was just because of the time I decided to go running through a city as a werewolf one night, that was fun&#33;

[Borg12345]

On Skyrim: I'm hoping I might be able to influence the whole Nords only thing. I fight for Skyrim, not just the Nords.

In general news: I hear Ubisoft don't want to bother giving Assassins Creed 3 proper keyboard and mouse controls. Huh, I suddenly don't want to pay full price for their game. Funny how alienating a whole platform so blatantly might do that.

[Borg12345]

Sorry for the double post. It's a little unavoidable with a small number of people.

Purveyors of shooting people in the face&#33; Thinking of playing Tribes Ascend? Don't have an account yet? If you sign up with this link I'll give you cookies forever&#33; https://t.co/sBhcb1ek
They're doing a referral thing, I get some nice boosts if people sign up with that link.

If you don't know what Tribes Ascend is, it's a very fast paced, skill based, free to play multiplayer FPS. The general idea is that you "ski" around the map building as much speed as possible and fighting your opponents. Don't expect to hit your enemies, because it's very hard to do so. Each kill feels like an achievement, and most of all it's the most fun in a multiplayer FPS I've had in a long time.

It is in beta however, so it's not completely polished, but I've not seen anything wrong so far. Give it a go&#33; It's free&#33;

[Swix]

In regards to the game Dark Souls, I get It now. I didn't at first, to be honest, not all through the introductory level nor the level I wandered into afterwards, but I get it now.

I was starting to get annoyed with the whole grinding thing since it barely made any difference to my performance unless I went up, say, three, four or five levels in one area and that took a while, especially if I got killed, as then I'd have to go and retrieve the experience I'd dropped and take it back to the bonfire (savepoint) to level up. However the whole time I was doing that I was completely unaware there was a merchant nearby whom I'd have been able to buy better weapons and armour from XD. Had I known that my initial experience would've been much better. As it is I accidentally slashed the guy when I did eventually find that area, so he started attacking and wouldn't stop, so I had to kill him. Unfortunately I missed out on trading with the merchant but I did get a pretty awesome one handed sword that causes bleeding damage out of it, which helped.
The blacksmith I met later also helped a lot, as that now means I don't mind grinding so much since I can use the experience to pay for him to upgrade and repair my equipment, so making roaming around the world one hell of a lot more manageable than with standard equipment. He also sells items and can modify equipment, but I usually just use the repair and upgrade services.

It would have been a lot easier if I'd turned on the online features as well, which I didn't discover until recently.
People online leave messages everywhere in the game world in the form of glowing orange writing and they're often extremely helpful. They've saved me from ambushes, walking into miniboss fights unprepared and even getting lost, as well as pointing out hidden passages, treasures and tips for dealing with the tougher enemies. I really wish I'd turned it on before, it's saved a lot of frustration and confusion.

I say confusion because fairly early on the game gave my char a 'white soapstone' and I'd been scratching my head going 'wth am I supposed to do with this thing?'. Turns out it was another item for online use, I can write on the floor with it and allow other players to summon me into their world, or I can summon them into mine as phantoms using their symbol. ThIs is also extremely useful, especially during boss fights, and you and your phantom partner can swap weapons with each other by dropping them-the first time I did this the guy gave me a silver knight shield, so I gave him a claymore ^_^.

I've yet to figure out what the reason for invading someone elses world is though, other than being a pain to other players. Being invaded is one of the risks of activating online features.

Just one more point to note, if it looks too tough to handle in Dark Souls, it probably is. Sometimes running away from things, especially large and violent things is the best thing to do... and there's usually a way around those things anyway

EDIT: One more useful feature that I'd forgotten to mention-the ability to see what someone was doing in their game just before they died by touching bloodstains. Very helpful.

You can also see people running about and fighting in real time as a ghostly figure, which is pretty awesome. Sometimes when you use the bonfire somebody elses character will flash up fully as they used it at the same time-made me jump the first time that happened ^_^.

[Swix]

Regarding Mass Effect 3: I finished it minus the DLC. I have very mixed feelings about the ending I chose to be honest.

Headbutting a Brute to death with a Krogan Soldier online afterwards was awesome but still didn't quite make up for it.

Regarding Dark Souls: I'm loooving this game. One of the best things about it is that none of the deaths I've suffered have felt 'cheap', they've all been due to something I did wrong and the game legitimately (and mercilessly) taking advantage of it. On the other hand, I beat two bosses by myself. One I'd helped another player defeat before, so I knew what was going on, and one I just ran into quite unprepared in the streets. Lucky the way I'm playing seemed to be completely counter to that boss-beat it first time too, which was a first.

I also know why people were invading me-it's to do with the covenants (groups) they're a part of (some are dedicated to invading and some are dedicated to coop) and also just to be a pain and steal your hard earned Humanity.
Apparently there are some people who act honourably during an invasion-can't say I've met any of them yet though.

I'm in 'The Way of White' so I appear in other peoples worlds as a white phantom during co-op play-also being it makes it easier for me to join peoples games in coop and, apparently, make it harder for people to invade me. Apparently, lol. Got some healing miracles that I can use when i'm co-oping though, so that was worth joining. Even if they won't tell me what they're doing. Apparently everything everyone does in it is super secret from everyone else XD. Suits me just fine.

[Borg12345]

I've recently got an xbox 360 emulator so I can use my XFX Executioner pad with modern games without having to fiddle around with stuff too much (other than initial set up of the files), because £30 on a wireless 360 pad for my PC is ridiculous. I could get more games for that&#33; XD
If the test program is anything to go by it should work nicely, so I'll report back when I know well it works&#33;

The emulator (latest version as of 10/04/12): http://www.filestube.com/kzy9kzzEmvob7GdB5sa2i/xbox360-controller-emulator-vibmod-3-1-4-0.html

[Coolpikaaa]

<small>"Don't worry. This is all part of my plan."</small>

Eeeeeeee&#33;&#33;

[Borg12345]

Oooo, I hope whatever's coming to Arkham City comes to PC too. Because the DLC for Asylum didn't.

Speaking of the whipping boy that is PC these days, it's been announced that Dark Souls will have "minimal" keyboard and mouse controls, and that you should play it with a pad. OH BOY. I won't rant about it here (but I'll be sure to post the blog post I'm gonna make about it), but what I will say is that if games companies will not even bother with anything bar the bare minimum for PC controls, I'm not buying your game full price, or at all.
It's also rumoured that it'll not be improving graphics for PC, and will be stuck at 30fps. At this point I'm forced to ask... what's the point of porting it to PC? Seriously? What possible reason other than to make a quick cash grab for as little cost as possible would there be to make this version?

Oh wait, I just answered my own question.

Sorry, I get really worked up about these issues. I wouldn't want a PC port to ruin a console gamers experience, why should a console port ruin my experience? This is why I have a LOT of respect for CD Projekt right now, their version of The Witcher 2 is not just a port, but a full on console version. They've optimised the graphics for the Xbox and they've completely re-done the menus and controls to give the best experience for console players. Why do PC users rarely get the same courtesy?

EDIT: A more in depth opinion, if you want it. Warning, naughty words be here&#33;