What are you currently playing?

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I haven't started it yet, so this may not be the best advice, but are you on the mode were you don't have perma-death? If you've got get rid of the risk of losing team members you may be more inclined to plough through.

 

Having said that - you shouldn't waste time on a game you aren't enjoying. I'm sure like most of us you've got a dozen or more games you could move on to. Just because it's a good game doesn't mean it's for you.

[danielpholt]

I haven't started it yet, so this may not be the best advice, but are you on the mode were you don't have perma-death? If you've got get rid of the risk of losing team members you may be more inclined to plough through.

 

Having said that - you shouldn't waste time on a game you aren't enjoying. I'm sure like most of us you've got a dozen or more games you could move on to. Just because it's a good game doesn't mean it's for you.

 

First time I tried to play it, I had it without perma-death, and I was still struggling to get into it. 

 

I gave it another go last night, and it just didn't take. I gave it a few hours, I'm happy to leave it behind now.

[Strangelove]

Mercenary Kings has this weird delay when you jump. Its not good. Have the innernet crybabies bitched about this on Twitter to the developers yet to have it removed? This is one time where Id be on their side. I just cant play it like that. 

[deanb]

Been playing Sleeping Dogs. Got the HD texture pack and the game looks great. Really quite liking it, I feel some of the side mission stuff is a bit iffy but as best I can tell it's not really required. I find the drug bust stuff a bit of a pain with taking on about 9 or so gang members at a time, but everything else is quite good. Neat story and somewhat compelling characters that I'd like to see where it's all leading to. Kind of bummed I'd not given the game a shot earlier really.

 

I don't like that Uncle Po though. I shall bring him to "Just us".

[TheMightyEthan]

I really need to play that game too.  Been sitting on my backlog for like a year.

[deanb]

You'll like Uncle Po

[Mal]

I bought that day one after I saw it in action. Totally worth it. Bonus points if you like those 80's, early 90's HK action movies and/or understand Cantonese. Last game that i recall had Cantonese was Driver.

 

Dean, after a while you'll find out why cars are deemed as weapons.

[deanb]

Oh I do enjoy the ram.

 

I have recognised some words from DXHR, which I imagine are either swears or pleas for life (they both kind of come in that kind of context).

[Strangelove]

Goddammit, they nerfed the Cat Nip accessory in FFX-2.

For those not in the know, equipping cat nip makes every hit 9999 damage, if youre near death. People used to equip the cat nip and the gunner dressphere and then use trigger happy(10-15 hits a turn) and just demolish everything. But now the cat nip also inflicts berserk and slow on the user. So you cant do that anymore. Lame. 

[Mister Jack]

I've been in the mood to play a dungeon crawler recently so I downloaded Path of Exile.  After a few hours, though, I'm not really feeling it.  The game isn't really broken or sloppy in any significant way, but it just does a bunch of things I am not a fan of.  The camera is zoomed in too close, the skills are all tied to equippable gemstones that you only get from quests, the inventory fills up way too fast, combat in general just feels kind of dumbed down thanks to hordes of dozens of enemies that charge you mindlessly and die in one hit, and the economy works on a barter system.  This game obviously has a lot of fans so it must be doing something right that I'm not seeing, but at the moment I am not understanding the hype at all.

[toxicitizen]

Has there been any actual hype around it since its official release? I mean, it's a successful free-to-play game and it has a decent community but it's certainly no TF2 or Dota.

 

But I think a big part of it is the business model. Grinding Gear Games went out of their way to avoid the pay-to-win bullshit many F2P games end up being. I guess people responded very positively to that. Makes them more willing to throw money at the devs, I suppose. And if the game is decent on top of that, then you've got a pretty good combination for lasting appeal.

[Little Pirate]

Path of Exile took a bit of getting into, it's a little slow getting going.  Once I got into Act II some actual stragety was starting to be needed, it started to get fun.

[Mister Jack]

I'm starting to realize that my biggest problem with PoE is the camera.  That other stuff I mentioned in my post above might get better as the game goes on, but the claustrophobic camera actually gives me a headache if I play for too long.  I'm just not used to being zoomed in so close in these kinds of games.  Even without that issue, I just don't like having such a limited FOV.  Unless the developers patch in the ability to zoom out more in a future update, I don't see myself getting much further.

[Mal]

Zone of the Enders.

 

I played the first one before and I recalled liking it despite its length. I gave it a quick whirl and the controls are surprisingly holding up. Smooth, to be short. Sure the camera is a bitch to work with at times but you move so fast and at what I think is 60 fps that it kind of negates the bad camera. Might be due to the emulation though.

 

I think I'm going to knock it out this weekend then get onto The 2nd Runner.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

Black Flag finally got down to £20, which is the price I was waiting for.

 

Even after just a couple of hours I love it. Yes it's more of the same but I never get tired of it. The only weird thing I've encountered so far was my walking pace was slower than the guy I was supposed to be walking along with, so I kept having to break out into a run - I hope it was just that one guy.

 

The two minutes of ship battles you get in the opening sequence were a lot better than the previous game so I hope that's what it's like throughout as it was the only thing I wasn't looking forward to in this game.

[Strangelove]

The map in Batman Blackgate is all kinds of fucked up. I dare say the map is more confusing than the actual game. Youre better off just remembering every single room and area in the game than to ever rely on that map. I just cant make any sense of it. Its a 2D game, those arent hard to map.

 

The game itself is pretty good, way more Arkham than Metroid. I wish it was more Metroid though. The game is ridiculously slow(im not sure why it has a run button, it doesnt need one, it should be run by default) and confusing at times. I just feel this type of game needs to move faster and be smoother. I was ok with removing vents in the console batman games, but here it really annoys me. Everything has a slow spot where Batman just stops so he can start his next animation. You cant run and roll without stopping, you cant run and use your grapple, you cant grapple from one place to the other without landing somewhere first. Using your batarang or explosive gel takes forever too. And I know a lot of this stuff isnt essential, its not like theres a penalty in the game for taking so long to do these mundane things, but having these things flow from one to the other makes for a way better experience. Im the type of person who really notices stuff like that. 

 

So far the puzles are weird too. I suppose thats not the game's fault since with Metroid and Castlevania you can spot the puzzles and stuff from a mile away since these games have been around forever. You know what youre supposed to do when you see a different colored door in Metroid. Youre just not going to get through without finding an item to open it with. The equivalent in this game to that varies. You dont know if youre stuck or not. You could be there for a while trying to figure it out only to realize you should have gone back to a previous level to find something to help you progress, or you go look for something only to realize you didnt need anything and it was just a stupid puzzle you couldnt figure out. But thats just goes without saying for this genre.

And while the fighting in the Arkham games is fun, Im kind of bored by it here. Its essentially the same, but the enemies and the placement dumbs it all down. You just cant do all the cool stuff you could in the real games.

 

Im 2 hours in though, so Im crossing my fingers and hope it picks up.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Strangelove

[Little Pirate]

My roommates both bought Dark Souls II and haven't left their rooms in three days.  I sat and watched them play from time to time.  They let me borrow their PS3 so I could play Dark Souls and see what it was all about.  So far, I find it aggravating, but addictive.  It's been a long time since I've played a game that didn't just tell me to press a button to do this particular attack to kill this enemy.  You have to figure it out on your own--dying of course is aggravating, especially when I first started out.  But after getting the hang of controls and just watching enemies to see what they do, I started to get the gyst of it. 

 

I've been playing for five hours straight...

[toxicitizen]

Hahaha, yeah this series does that to you. Just ended a five hours Dark Souls II session myself. I actually forgot to eat dinner.

[Mr. GOH!]

I am playing Dark Souls 2. Well, I started Dark Souls 2, but girlfriend's mom is staying with us the weekend, so I've had no time to do anything more than get to Majula.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

 

 

aggravating, but addictive

 

That is exactly why I don't even want to try these games. I'm sure I'll feel compelled to stick at it but not actually enjoy a minute of it.

[Mal]

I never actually beat any of the games since it'll require me to lose an entire weekend like what it has done to Wally. My time commitment isn't there anymore but I still buy the games since they're good games. Overall they are very solidly made and are fair (enough). You'll know why you died. It is also very enjoyable to finally take down that bitch boss or two.

 

On a different note, I do love to watch people play these games. I can't say I love watching the netcode in action though... god damn did that account for a lot of deaths during invasions in DSII.

[toxicitizen]

That is exactly why I don't even want to try these games. I'm sure I'll feel compelled to stick at it but not actually enjoy a minute of it.

That's pretty far off the mark considering they're some of the most rewarding games I've ever played. It's incredibly satisfying to hone your skills and wipe the floor with a boss. Or simply upgrading your weapon to get the edge you need. If you're getting pissed at the game, you just need to step away from it for an hour or so. It's not the game, it's you.

 

To be perfectly honest, they're not actually that difficult. They're challenging for sure. But mostly they just punish carelessness.

[Strangelove]

For some reason I decided to restart Borderlands 2. Last time I played I was at level 20 with Maya, that was a year ago. This time Im a mechromancer at level 30. The funny thing is that I bought the GOTY version and then sold it since I had the PS+ basic game for free. I just accepted that I wasnt going to play the dlc. Lucky for me I forgot to delete all the dlc I installed when I had the GOTY. All that stuff still works on the normal version.

 

Im really not sure why I like the game. Its pretty everything I dislike about games, at least the game part. Im not a huge fan of FPS, I hate games based on loot and leveling up extremely slowly and most of all i truly hate games catered towards multiplayer.

I love Borderlands 2 for some reason though. 

[Baconrath]

I started a new file on one of my flawed-but-lovable PS2 rpgs*, MS Saga: A New Dawn. I still haven't beaten it because:

 

1. Most of your time is spent grinding funds to buy all the new stuff so you won't die. There's at least one point where an Invisible Plot Wall closes behind you and if you're behind the curve you will get killed by. say. the Apsalus. (Damn you Apsalus).

2. The devs neglected to add any journal/diary/log feature so if you put the game down for awhile you better have remembered where you were supposed to do if you start playing again, especially once you gain access to the entire world map.

 

 

 

 

*also includes Steambot Chronicles. And once I find a copy of this my flawed-but-lovable trifecta will be complete!
 

Edited April 28, 2014 by Baconrath

[TheMightyEthan]

If you're getting pissed at the game, you just need to step away from it for an hour or so. It's not the game, it's you.

I won't deny it's me, but that still doesn't change the fact that I don't get enjoyment out of trying and failing the same part of a game more than a couple of times, especially when doing so means I have to redo significant sections that I'd already passed. (Disclaimer: I have not played Dark Souls or Demon Souls, just going off what I've heard, and what I've heard turns me off actually playing the game.)

 

The reason I came in here: Just platinumed Lego Marvel Super Heroes. The irony of this in connection with the discussion of Dark Souls is not lost on me. If Dark Souls has an opposite game, this is probably it.