The "What are you playing now?" Thread

[Jack Brickman]

Yeah, despite the ending mishap I thought the series was largely a success. It was one of the only game series to make me really feel like I'm in a movie, a space opera in particular. Fantastic games, all three of them.

Ok so anyone check out Pillars of Eternity yet? Old school RPG kickstarter from Obsidian, it's getting great buzz...and I'm tempted. But I have to wait until the semester is out.

I was a backer of Pillars but I haven't gotten around to downloading it yet. I'll post thoughts whenever that happens. I'm starting to compile a backlog of games in addition to the ones I bought around Christmas and barely touched.

 

[NtG]

I've played through ME1 and ME2 and am a decent way into ME3. I honestly got bored of it because I'm the type of person that has to do everything possible when I play RPGs, and thus all of the dialog with such little combat was killing me. Also, I screwed up some parts of the dialog at the beginning of ME3 so now my Shepherd is some sappy loser who asks if Ashley is okay every second he gets.

 

[Triplethreat]

I've played through ME1 and ME2 and am a decent way into ME3. I honestly got bored of it because I'm the type of person that has to do everything possible when I play RPGs, and thus all of the dialog with such little combat was killing me. Also, I screwed up some parts of the dialog at the beginning of ME3 so now my Shepherd is some sappy loser who asks if Ashley is okay every second he gets.

You my friend are missing out..

It's the greatest game series of all time. Sappy Shep sucks, but really you have time to change that. Also just do some of the side shit. Doing all of it is nice but too time consuming. The story is where the series shines the most.

 

[Jack Brickman]

It's the greatest game series of all time.

I'd pump the breaks there. There are quite a fer better game series out there that I would easily take over Mass Effect. Maybe that would have been different if BioWare hadn't taken a giant dump in place of a proper ending, but they didn't, and you don't win a marathon by shitting your pants and dropping out with a mile to go.

 

[Chris]

I'd pump the breaks there. There are quite a fer better game series out there that I would easily take over Mass Effect. Maybe that would have been different if BioWare hadn't taken a giant dump in place of a proper ending, but they didn't, and you don't win a marathon by shitting your pants and dropping out with a mile to go.

I agree it isn't the best series (all subjective- it's definitely in my top 5 as far as series go) but I'm curious what ones you had in mind, specifically?

 

[Jack Brickman]

I agree it isn't the best series (all subjective- it's definitely in my top 5 as far as series go) but I'm curious what ones you had in mind, specifically?

Well, let's see...

Half-Life - Valve will probably never finish the series, but the two and a half games (plus the HL1 expansions) that are out there are some of the best games of all-time.

Portal - The original was an instant classic and the sequel was the closest we'll probably ever come to a Pixar movie in game form. Easily the funniest game I've ever played.

Monkey Island - You can discount the Telltale series (which happened before they found their niche), but the first three games are absolute classics. The third is my favorite adventure game ever, and is second only to Portal 2 in video game comedy writing (imo).

Mario Bros. - I'd include at least two of these games on my top ten all time list. I don't really play them any more, but Mario 3, World, and 64 have some incredible replay value. I can still load them up to this day and have a great time.

Legend of Zelda - Pretty much the same as the Mario series. Ocarina of Time is my personal choice for best game ever made, and Link to the Past is brilliant as well. Even the weaker entries in the series are fantastic. Note that Wind Waker was the last one I played to completion.

I could probably think of more if I kicked back and really thought about it. There are also some borderline ones, like Elder Scrolls. I probably sank more hours into Morrowind back when I was younger than the entire Mass Effect trilogy combined.

And if multi-player games count, the Team Fortress games are an easy one for me. I've sank over 3000 hours into TF2 since it came out, and that's just on the PC version. I played the 360 version for at least a year or so before I got a newer PC and was able to properly run the Steam version. I also played TFC (the Half-Life mod) back in high school and early college.

 

[Triplethreat]

Well, let's see...

Half-Life - Valve will probably never finish the series, but the two and a half games (plus the HL1 expansions) that are out there are some of the best games of all-time.

Portal - The original was an instant classic and the sequel was the closest we'll probably ever come to a Pixar movie in game form. Easily the funniest game I've ever played.

Monkey Island - You can discount the Telltale series (which happened before they found their niche), but the first three games are absolute classics. The third is my favorite adventure game ever, and is second only to Portal 2 in video game comedy writing (imo).

Mario Bros. - I'd include at least two of these games on my top ten all time list. I don't really play them any more, but Mario 3, World, and 64 have some incredible replay value. I can still load them up to this day and have a great time.

Legend of Zelda - Pretty much the same as the Mario series. Ocarina of Time is my personal choice for best game ever made, and Link to the Past is brilliant as well. Even the weaker entries in the series are fantastic. Note that Wind Waker was the last one I played to completion.

I could probably think of more if I kicked back and really thought about it. There are also some borderline ones, like Elder Scrolls. I probably sank more hours into Morrowind back when I was younger than the entire Mass Effect trilogy combined.

And if multi-player games count, the Team Fortress games are an easy one for me. I've sank over 3000 hours into TF2 since it came out, and that's just on the PC version. I played the 360 version for at least a year or so before I got a newer PC and was able to properly run the Steam version. I also played TFC (the Half-Life mod) back in high school and early college.

Mass Effect shits all over every single one of those.






















...... In my opinion.






Only series that really comes close is Halo 1-4. (Excluding garbage ass Reach)

 

[Jack Brickman]

Only series that really comes close is Halo 1-4. (Excluding garbage ass Reach)

Well see, I've always found the Halo games wildly overrated. The first one was all right, but the campaigns were never terribly compelling and the multi-player was always too slow for my liking. I grew up playing shooters like Unreal, Quake, and Team Fortress, so I prefer a little speed to my shooters. Halo feels like you're running in quicksand.

Generally speaking, I'd assume that anyone who lists Halo in their top five to ten games of all time probably grew up playing primarily console games and never really delved into the PC library, especially during the glory days of the mid to late nineties and early 2000s. I grew up as a PC and console gamer, and I tend to think that PC games were just vastly superior for a long, long time. The gap narrowed as consoles became more popular and less developers created PC games, mostly due to budgetary reasons, but the PC is still the king when it comes to shooters. It's also making a nice comeback thanks to Steam and constantly decreasing hardware prices.

In my opinion, Halo did a lot of damage to the shooter market. Concepts like only carrying two weapons and regenerating health really took a lot of the skill out of single-player shooters. I miss the good old days where you couldn't just hide behind a wall for thirty seconds and suddenly be back to full health, or when enemies and levels could be varied enough to give purpose to all your weapons, not just the two automatics you carry because there's not enough ammo lying around to justify bringing the magnum or the sniper rifle for more than a few minutes at a time. There's also the hilarity of a sniper rifle always just lying around when you're about to need it in games like CoD and Halo. It really cheapens the experience for me.

Did anyone here play Wolfenstein: The New Order? That was a fantastic old-school style shooter with an awesome campaign that didn't even bother with a tacked on multi-player mode (I'm looking at you, Spec Ops). Give me more games like that and less games like CoD and Halo.

 

[BimboColesHair]

Mass Effect shits all over every single one of those.

...... In my opinion.

Only series that really comes close is Halo 1-4. (Excluding garbage ass Reach)

Final Fantasy VII to X is still the best consecutive series of video games I have ever played on any gaming system. That's my childhood right there. Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Metal Gear Solid, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Final Fantasy VII to X is still the best consecutive series of video games I have ever played on any gaming system. That's my childhood right there. Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Metal Gear Solid, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

Oh yeah...forgot Metal Gear Solid. The first is a classic and the third is one of my all time favorites. Four was pretty stupid overall but the gameplay was rock solid and the ending was enjoyable. Two could be described similarly.

 

[kosis]

I know that a few of you don't like the series, but I thought Uncharted 1-3 was a great run.

 

[pr26]

Zelda series and Souls Series (Demons, Dark, Bloodborne) also gotta be thrown in that list, at least for me.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I know that a few of you don't like the series, but I thought Uncharted 1-3 was a great run.

I enjoy the Uncharted games, but I've always thought they have entirely too much shooting. I'd much prefer a game more focused on the adventure portions of the series. Killing thousands of dark-skinned people kind of takes away from the lightheartedness the game tries so hard to convey. It would be great to see more melee combat and a larger focus on puzzles.

I also wasn't all that sold on the third game because I thought it was basically just a point for point remake of the second, which was superior in basically every way. It had basically the same plot and the set pieces were all entirely too similar. Seeing as the second game was an improvement in almost every way from the first, I was hoping for a similar jump for the third. Instead, I thought it was a bit of a regression.

 

[kosis]

I enjoy the Uncharted games, but I've always thought they have entirely too much shooting. I'd much prefer a game more focused on the adventure portions of the series. Killing thousands of dark-skinned people kind of takes away from the lightheartedness the game tries so hard to convey. It would be great to see more melee combat and a larger focus on puzzles.

I also wasn't all that sold on the third game because I thought it was basically just a point for point remake of the second, which was superior in basically every way. It had basically the same plot and the set pieces were all entirely too similar. Seeing as the second game was an improvement in almost every way from the first, I was hoping for a similar jump for the third. Instead, I thought it was a bit of a regression.

I'll agree with you on the second part... UC3 wasn't nearly as good as it should have been. I enjoyed it, but you're right in the sense that it was a much smaller leap than from 1 to 2. Though UC2 is one of my favorite games of the recent consoles.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I'll agree with you on the second part... UC3 wasn't nearly as good as it should have been. I enjoyed it, but you're right in the sense that it was a much smaller leap than from 1 to 2. Though UC2 is one of my favorite games of the recent consoles.

I mean, I don't think the third game was bad or anything. I enjoyed it. I just think it was basically the exact same game as the second game, only not as good. The second also had a much cooler, more fun setting.

Personally, I'd much prefer to replay Tomb Raider than the third Uncharted, and I think TR was on par with the second game too.