toxicitizen

Then you really weren't being very clear. It seemed like you were saying "this hat is blue and this other hat is clearly red, so you can't compare the two!", which came across as kind of stupid. But just because some idiots make assumptions about what the game was going for doesn't mean there isn't a comparison to be made, even if we're only talking about the tone and dialog. I thought QC's dialog was pretty boring whereas it was one of Portal's biggest strength. And considering the two games are extremely similar in every other respect, it's not that far-fetched to say "I'm disappointed because the writing wasn't as good as in Portal", especially since it was created by the same person.

Why? Because the narrator character isn't antagonistic? Because the humor is a bit more childish? I don't know, I really don't see anything there that drastically differentiates the two.

So you meant dialog. That's more the tone than the writing, which encompasses more than just the spoken words But yeah, I don't feel like that invalidates the comparison at all. The game is basically a spiritual successor to Portal ( not sure if you know this, but Kim Swift is making QC and she was lead on the original Portal team that got hired by Valve).

Well, what do you mean by writing specifically? The tone and type of humor is different for sure but the narrative structure (if you can even call it that) is identical: i.e. all the information and exposition is delivered by a single off-screen character constantly talking to you.

It's not trying to be like Portal, it's exactly like Portal. The only major difference is the device you use to solve the puzzles, everything else is aesthetics and tone. But from a genre, structure and design perspective? Yeah, it's the same game. Haven't finished it yet but I'm more than halfway through so I'll probably be doing that later today. edit: Well, just finished it and it really does end quite abruptly. There's DLC on the way, though, so hopefully it picks up where the game ends.

I'd definitely recommend V over IV if he's never played any Civ game before. The UI in V is much more friendly to newcomers and V is just more accessible overall. I bought IV last year and honestly couldn't get into it because I'm so used to V's cleaner UI. I keep meaning to give it another shot but every single time I just end up playing Civ V instead. And now that Gods & Kings is out, I don't see myself going back to IV anytime soon.

Deus Ex series is currently 75% off on Steam. Definitely worth a look. Other than that, there's very likely going to be a massive summer sale on Steam in the coming weeks, so you might want to hold off on buying anything until then.

I was about to say that I don't see why HotS would have an always-on requirement because it has nothing like the RMAH that calls for it, but then I remembered they're actually working on that marketplace thing for mods or maps or something. So, uh, I guess it could go either way. Not that it would make much of a difference to me, tbh. When Diablo III launched and the shitstorm happened, I started wondering why there hadn't been a similar outcry for SC2 since it also required me to log onto battle.net to play. That's when I found out about guest mode. I have no idea if Wings of Liberty boots you out of the campaign if you lose your connection while playing, though. Also, (and this is kind of off topic but whatever) I've finally started playing the WoL campaign and holy shit is it awesome! Gameplay and graphical improvements aside, the missions are so much more varied and fun than in the original!

It always said June 19 for me. Perhaps you misread it? I mean, games usually come out on tuesdays, not mondays. This is actually the second game I've seen unlock at midnight on Steam recently, rather than some arbitrary time (used to me around 10AM for me), so I'm liking this new trend. Anyway, I wanted to give it a shot when it unlocked last night but was a bit too tired so I ended up only playing this afternoon. I'm loving the new systems but they're not very complex or game-changing. Religion especially seems like just a few bonuses you can pick depending on what kind of play-style you're going for. So far there doesn't seem to be huge benefits to actively spreading your religion all over the place, but I'm sure there's more to it than what I've seen so far. Espionage is a lot of fun, though.

I know and I purposely didn't read it when I installed the game back then. If I'd wanted to read a plot summary instead of experiencing the story for myself I'd have just read it up on wiki long ago. Besides, the game is actually pretty good up until you get to those last few crushingly difficult missions

Been working on StarCraft: Brood War on and off the past few weeks and I finally beat the last campaign (Zerg) tonight. Man, this one had some tough missions. I mean, the original had some hard ones, but nothing like this. The last few Zerg missions felt so damn impossible that I just went "fuck it" and used a cheat that basically gave me infinite minerals and gas. And even then the final mission took me over an hour to clear. I normally hate using cheats to beat a game but I was only playing this for the story before moving on to Wings of Liberty (which I bought like 6 months ago), so I really didn't want to get stuck for weeks unable to finish it.

I doubt it since religion is mostly important in the early-game and takes kind of a backseat in the late-game when espionage comes into play.

Pretty much, yeah. It really wasn't a "woah" kind of improvement, everything just worked better. Although I did once again find myself cursing at the climbing mechanics a lot until the improved static thrusters unlocked. That really should've been the first big move you unlocked. Also, it's been a really long time since I've played the first one, so I might be remembering it wrong but... doesn't 2 feels like it has much less content? I remember Empire City having three areas whereas New Marais only had two, and half of the second one (the flooded section) barely had anything in it.

inFamous 2 A bit disappointed that it barely improves on the original but the first one was pretty awesome so that's not much of a complaint. Although the final mission was kind of a joke. I remember the fight against Kessler actually being challenging in the first one but I just breezed through the ending of this one. I'd been really itching to finally play it for the past month or so, so getting it for free through PS+ came at a perfect time. So glad I subscribed to that . I was also starting to get a bit of gaming fatigue lately and this was just the palate cleanser I needed. I don't think I'll get started on an evil run right away, though.

You'd be surprised. Besides, the packages they currently offer are pretty shit and overpriced. The ones that are on par with my bandwidth usage costs much more than what we currently pay. And it seems pointless to me to pay for a faster speed if it comes with a cap that's a fraction of what I currently use. There's actually a pretty good local independant provider called TekSavvy that offers unlimited at a decent price and speed. If I'm ever forced to change (or when I move out), they're the ones I'm likely to go with.

So, after hesitating ever since it popped up on Steam, I finally broke down and pre-ordered Got the season pass that includes the soundtrack and future DLC. Now I'm out of money again. I really need to start looking for a job...

Bell but it's an old Sympatico account with unlimited bandwidth (which they no longer offer). They tried to get us to "upgrade" quite a few times but they can't force us to change so I just keep turning them down.

Yeah, I really want to do that but it's a huge headache. The router (and phone line) is in another room and there's a long broadband cable going through a hole in the wall from it and to my desktop PC. I could buy a second long cable but it wouldn't fit in the same hole so yeah... Unless there's such a thing as a y-splitter for broadband cables? See, that would actually be an improvement for me. 750 kb/s is my average top speed. Steam downloads sometimes go a little faster but not by a lot.

Definitely. There were some great ideas in there and I'd love to see them explore them more deeply in a bigger release. I would pay 20-30$ for that.

My download said 14. And since the wifi on my PS3 is slow as all fucking hell, I started downloading it as soon as the store updated yesterday and it only completed tonight. I am so glad I upgraded my hdd last year because man I would be going nuts right now. I was shocked earlier today when I checked and realized I'm already down to 80GB free out of my 300. All that PS+ crap adds up pretty fast. Some of it I'll probably never play so I should probably do some cleaning in there.

Q.U.B.E. Very short (took me a little over 3 hours) but I liked it. There isn't much of a narrative to it and the puzzles aren't all that complex so there's very little replay value here. I liked it but I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. It's definitely not worth the 15$ price tag. 10$ would be more reasonable but honestly I wouldn't recommend paying more than 5 bucks for it.

Managed to trade my extra copy of Torchlight for it. And with that I am officially out of the Steam trading business. At least until I get some more pre-order bonuses, I guess.

Holy shit, the free games this week! Simply insane I've been so far really happy with the value I got out of Plus considering all the free games I've accumulated so far. But fuck, inFAMOUS 2 alone makes the entire subscription worth it. It comes at a perfect time, too. I've yet to play it and have been really wanting to the past few weeks. Probably would've bought it last month if I wasn't completely broke. Took a while to download but it's installing now. Can't wait to play it

Seems Naughty Dog are claiming it wasn't scripted at all. If true, then I'm impressed. http://www.gamepodunk.com/page/index.html/_/industry-news/sony/e3-2012-naughty-dog-claims-the-last-of-us-demo-was-not-scripted-r806

I really need to start playing this game. I've actually owned it for some time now...