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  • Pete Davison 3:14 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink |
    Tags: ,   

    Strike the Ground, Squaddies! A Minecraft Mission 

    All right, Squaddies, we’re lost and alone (well, not quite alone, we have each other) in a strange and blocky land. How are we going to survive? By building, of course! That and ensuring we don’t get blown up by those weird green things that keep chasi—HOLY SHIT RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN

    [Transmission lost.]

    Help the Squad’s survival efforts on our new Minecraft server. Hit up Pete, Mark, Bowley, Zach, Jeff M or anyone else who is playing for the IP — we’re not posting it publicly!

    Post your comments, thoughts and discussions on our little SquadCraft world on this thread.

     

    • zegolf 3:18 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      I’ve noticed a strong lack of baddies in SquadTown. I’m not sure if enemy saturation is directly related to levels, or if they just dumbed it down a bit in MP Minecraft.

      Either way, I’m pretty sure one of those blow-uppy bastards took out my original farm land, along with the cows I was breeding. I made up for it last night. I’m going to breed an army of cows!

    • beige 3:20 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      Server’s currently set at “normal” difficulty. I have been harassed by creepers, spiders and skeletons relatively frequently. We can bump it up to hard if people are feeling HARDCORE.

      I know there are endermen around because we ran into a bunch in the NPC village of mysterious monks too.

    • Pete Davison 3:28 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      Yeah, I was concerned at first, but there are certainly monsters wandering around. I caught a creeper in the basement the other day, but ran away and it vanished. I think it’s set so that monsters don’t spawn too close to the “origin” point, as it were, so as we expand further we will probably encounter more and more beasties.

    • rampantbicycle 3:29 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      I think the monster-spawning-around-the-base thing also has to do with how much light there is around the area – and we’ve been doing a pretty good job (deliberately) of bumping up the light levels in our home zone. Darker areas mean more monsters.

      That said, I have noticed that there seem to be “bad” days and “good” days for monster generation. Some nights I can’t get anywhere for the monsters, some nights I can wander pretty much anywhere with relative impunity. I’m not sure if that’s a real thing or just my luck/imagination. Do you suppose the moon phase has anything to do with it?

    • beige 3:45 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      Looking at the Bowlisimo tower, it occurs to me that this game could really use ziplines.

      And yeah, creepers are around but I think in general the lights keep the darkness at bay. A creeper blew the door off Wolf Base last night after hanging around for about an hour despondently, and manged to destroy half of the welcome sign.

      Also a zombie started banging the hell out of the door at one point, and seriously startled me.

      Wolf base’s ceiling drips near the entrance, which irritates me, but I guess the damn thing is built 1 tile underneath the seabed so whatcha gonna do. I tried fixing it and flooded the whole room. 😐

    • bowlisimo 3:49 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      Are guys kidding? There are monsters coming out of the friggen woodwork! I get blown up constantly, three skeletons chased me all the way up the tower, zombies hang around the house, and spiders chill out and scare me in the middle of the day.

      My favorite was the creeper staring longingly through the Sniper Wolf entrance door. He soooo wanted to blow up Mark.

    • Pete Davison 4:22 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      Logged on for five minutes, chased by a creeper, shot at by a skeleton and found three zombies attempting to batter down a door in the NPC village. Yep, monsters are present and correct.

    • cptcarnage 7:09 pm on July 20, 2012 Permalink

      I ran into a few of them last night as well. Also head to the nether when you get a chance, mobs aren’t a problem there :-/

    • rampantbicycle 6:17 am on July 21, 2012 Permalink

      Whew. Well, Mark and I have been very busy this evening breaking ground on the Overlook CItadel, picturesquely located in the jungles of this land. Please feel free to follow the path we’ve constructed if you’d like to pay a visit! (It’s in the same general direction as Gruetooth Caverns.) It’s a rather lovely nature spot. 🙂

      And now, we crash. G’night, everyone!

    • bowlisimo 3:16 pm on July 24, 2012 Permalink

      Nothing stops the Squadway, not even the ocean! Took a quick video at the opening of the underwater tunnel, by the complete burning of its wood interior, which displaced upwards of ~2000 blocks of water.

      Work continues daily.

  • Pete Davison 9:29 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink |
    Tags: Mission, ,   

    Quest for Glory 

    Mission Start!!

    All right, people. It’s been a while since we did a group mission, and recent talk of Quest for Glory suggests that this might be a good one for future podcasting. While the upcoming podcast’s topic is already set, let’s get some discussion rolling on this now so people have some thoughts to share in time for the next one.

    Grab the Quest for Glory series from GOG.com here for $9.99.

    The VGA remake of Quest for Glory II can be found here.

     

    • impynickers 12:50 am on May 12, 2012 Permalink

      Looking forward to starting my so called “adventures” in the town of Spielburg. The question is whether I go EGA or VGA. I know the VGA version slightly better, so I may go EGA for both 1 and 2. Kick it old school. Of the series 2 and 4 are my standout favorites. They have a slightly connected story arch, though both can be enjoyed independently.

      QFG is an anomaly. The adventure elements allows it to tell a story in the manner of an adventure game with some traditional puzzles, but at the end of the day you leave the adventure game trappings to actually explore and …. well… adventure. Its an RPG at its heart. Its got the stats. You can improve skills by using/practicing them. Different classes have different approaches to puzzles and combat. It is the only adventure/RPG hybrid I can think of, and it has a flavor all its own that has never been emulated since.

      Did you know that when I was 10 I drafted a Quest for Glory Pen and Paper roleplaying game? Isn’t that adorably nerdy? I think it would be hilarious to find that and share with you the loveable antics.

    • Shingro 3:09 am on May 12, 2012 Permalink

      The first time I saw Quest for Glory, it was the old command line version. We bought a new computer from the family’s resident Tech-Guru and he installed it as a bonus item. It was the first time I ever saw the computer as being able to handle serious gaming, and the reason I started messing with the machine in the first place. In a way, Quest for Glory is responsible (along with Betrayal at Krondor) for convincing me to put points into ‘Computer Tinkerer.’ directly influencing my career choice.

      It’s also probably the reason I find gated ‘is your skill high enough to achieve this and unlock another path’ mechanics cool. The series of different ways you could complete even the bird’s nest outside the town is really the first time I ever saw or imagined the possibility of branching gameplay mechanics.

      Along that line it’s worth noting that QfG is probably one of the best if not the best ‘how do you want to approach this challenge’ game series ever made. With the entire game capable of handing solutions from every class combination, and having some better then others.

    • asatiir 5:22 am on May 12, 2012 Permalink

      Will check out the game once I’m done with Xenoblade, listened to the JRPG episode just a few weeks back and that drove me to start.

    • beige 2:31 pm on May 12, 2012 Permalink

      OK, the life of Ricky the thief begins! SO YOU WANT TO BE A HERO?

      Rememberances:
      Character creation: Oh man, yeah this takes me back. Took the 20 point hit per attribute to take both parry and magic as initial talents to my already thiefy skill set rather than a big fat 0. Now I have at least 5 points in everything and can at least start learning spells and parrying things. I won’t get some of the wizard specific quests and items but at least FETCH is as useful as I remember it. Still a long way to go towards a perfect set of 100 in every skill.

      Goons. Forgot about these guys.

      That tree outside town. Still a fantastic place to level up strength and climbing. Poor Ricky, scrabbling and clawing all day until his stamina hits zero. It’s a hard knock life. Cleaning out the stables is mildly profitable and good for statbuilding as well, and at least you can sleep there safely for free, unlike most other places in the world.

      Forgot about your “character sheet” being stuck in that weird little menu alongside RUN and SNEAK in the VGA version. Took me a while to find where to check my skills and stats.

      Can’t remember if Thieves can use chainmail or not. 500 silvers is a hell of a lot of money. Perhaps I can get a five finger discount after the sun goes down. Also, robbing the old lady is hilarious as ever.

    • Pete Davison 3:08 pm on May 12, 2012 Permalink

      Pierre the Wizard’s adventures have begun. I am a badass spellcaster and quite handy with a dagger, but ask me to climb up something and I’ll just fall over or, hilariously, occasionally die of exhaustion.

      If a stat starts at 0 does it just not level up? I’ve tried scrabbling up that tree lots of times but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to my Climb stat.

      I have spent the morning mapping the whole game on graph paper. Can’t remember the last time I did that.

    • Pete Davison 9:51 pm on May 12, 2012 Permalink

      QfG1 is down for the count. I will personally reserve my thoughts for the SquadCast on the subject, but once the rest of you beat it, feel free to share what you think here.

      Tip: when the game asks you to save your character file at the end, change the “a:glory1.sav” to “c:glory1.sav”. This will save the export file into the folder in which you installed the game — by default C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Quest for Glory Pack\Quest for Glory 1\VGA (or EGA if you played the EGA version). Make sure you copy this glory1.sav file to the QfG2 folder manually to make sure you’ll be able to import it correctly.

    • cptcarnage 1:26 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Wicked!! I LOVE the Quest for Glory games, I posted a tweeted a picture of the old school map bundled along with quest for glory 2 a while back.

      Gooood games 🙂 humor was decent too.

    • cptcarnage 2:03 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Found it!

    • jar155 4:15 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Man, I’ve played these games multiple times, but it’s been far too long since I’ve played either of them. I grabbed the GOG.com collection and am starting them up right now. You’re already a game ahead of me, so I probably have no chance at catching up, but dang it, I’m going to try.

    • theshums 8:56 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Just started QFG1 VGA tonight. Been live-tweeting my playthrough @theshums. Using the hashtag #QFGLive if that’s easier.

      Man, I love so much about this game. I love the sense of humor, I love the multiple ways to achieve an objective, I love the dialogue trees, the inventory puzzles…even the clunky combat. Yes, it’s super-easy to game the skill systems — I’ve been sneaking everywhere and my Stealth score is already in the 80s after an hour of play — but that’s part of the fun. And I’m surprised at how well the writing holds up.

      Looking forward to playing more.

      (Oh, and lest I forget: Earl Sinclair cameo. CHECK AND MATE.)

    • Pete Davison 10:17 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Welcome, chaps, good to see you.

      Yes, I’ve often been pleasantly surprised how well the humour holds up in old Sierra titles. The puns when you try and talk to something you shouldn’t come thick and fast, for example, and are frequently LOLworthy (or cringeworthy, depending on your outlook). This is, I can’t help but feeling, something that has been lost in a number of recent titles. How often do games have a narrator these days?

    • beige 2:13 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      Pete, did you eventually figure out that you have to manually “give yourself at least 5 points” at character creation for one of those “starting at 0 level” stats to level up? You should do it. Never hurts to have a little athletics even if you’re basically a wizard. My thief has all the stats on the board, so he can theoretically level anything up.

      Protip: All you need is 5 points in pick lock to do a lot of the “thief specific” quests. You don’t have to be a thief, but if you start breaking into old womens’ houses you can kiss your chance at Paladinhood goodbye.

    • bowlisimo 7:55 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      I want to jump into this, but Diablo (and like a million other games here and there). How long do they take? Or are they as long as you are stupid? or as long as it takes you to read gamefaqs?

    • Shingro 7:56 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      Wasn’t Paladinhood a Fighter-Only style thing? I can’t remember for the life of me, once I knock my current game project out I think I’ll go in as a mage to carry between all games, but I’ll start a thief on each one to enjoy the crazy puzzle rooms that exist in everyone’s homes. With gold and loot and silver candlesticks as reward for my indiscretions.

      Bowli: Well, it depends on how much you’re into min/maxing yourself and whatnot, I’d note Pete went through QfG1 in a maximum time of 6 some hours (assuming he did stand up from his computer at some point or another =))

    • Pete Davison 8:06 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      QfG1 is super-short. 2-3 hours tops if you know what you’re doing, more if you’re minmaxing. Certainly no more than 6 hours though, and probably less, even if you spend hours climbing that tree outside the healer’s hut and setting fire to goblins.

      The way I look at it, Diablo is going to be one to dip in and out of and treat like an MMO. Story has never been the series’ strong point. You can play QfG alongside it no problem.

    • bowlisimo 8:07 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      That’s not too bad for time investment. As for the game itself, right now my perception without reading too much is that this an old style adventure game mashed up with a dungeon crawler like Might & Magic (which sounds like a pretty good idea).

    • Pete Davison 8:12 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      That’s reasonably accurate. You remember how in old King’s Quest games there were loads of useless screens in which you occasionally got attacked by monsters that killed you instantly? QfG1 is like that, only you can fight and kill them. You can also grind stats by using them (such as through the aforementioned tree-climbing) and earn money in various ways. There’s no overall time limit, but you do have to eat, sleep and recover HP, MP and stamina. (You die if you run out of HP or stamina.)

      Protip: sleep in the location called Erana’s Peace. It’s free, safe and unlike most sleeping places restores all three of your HP, MP and Stamina bars to full.

    • beige 8:25 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      @bowlisimo Think of it more as King’s Quest with real-time fighting. No “dungeons” as such, but plenty of hostile territory filled with monsters that you can kill to your heart’s content.

      You’re wandering along in idyllic countryside, moving your little mans map block to map block, trying to figure out your way to get to the spring that some guy told you was at the heart of the forest and solve the puzzle there. Then, randomly (because it is night time) some douche brigand or wandering monster ambles in from the left side of the screen. If his little sprite connects with your sprite it initiates a punch-out style battle where you have to push L/R on your arrow keys to dodge his attacks while pushing UP/DOWN to block and stab. You can cast spells and stuff in fights (or pre-emptively) and get better equipment, like magic swords and stuff. Thieves can do acrobatics and throw (poisoned) daggers.

      Finish battle, win gold and items. Your stats level up Skyrim style, depending on what you did during the fight. More mana, more endurance etc. results from more fighting Your spells level up too, so cast zap a lot.

      Note: Any class can become a Paladin (there is one opportunity at the end of QFG2 and one in the middle of QFG3 to become one) but taking the investiture means that you have to have sufficient “honor” which is a hidden stat that as a player you never get to see, but which is governed by doing honorable deeds. The more sneaky-ass dishonorable stuff you do (*cough THIEVES*) the less your chances of being tapped for Paladinhood.

      The Fighter is the most natural fit for promotion into Paladinhood as all those hard-won sword-and-shield skill points and buff athletic modifiers translate directly into proficiency with the flaming sword and the honor shield, but any class can theoretically become one if their honor is high enough at the right time. Wizard paladins are potent swordmage-style magic warriors, and in theory thieves can become paladins if they never behave like thieves for the course of the game, and basically solve all problems the Fighter way. Yeah.

    • Shingro 3:10 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      ALERT!! Having now had the time to really jump into QfG I noticed the sound was really far off from what I remember. Poking around a bit revealed that this game is setup for Roland sound, and not in a good way. I’d CANNOT recommend people turn the sound to soundbaster enough, you get the good whistling, the inconic tunes, the notes don’t get botched post combat: etc.

      All you gotta do is run the Install.exe and switch it from Roland to Soundblaster. Depending on Os you might need to do that in Dosbox, but you don’t have to do all the Mount c c:\progra~2 or anything, just open the DOSBOX folder in the installation directory, open another window with the install file, drag the install file onto Dosbox.exe and you’re good to go =)

      Additionally: The adventures of Shingro the aspiring wizard have begun! (Though Thiefgro is going to be created afterwards in each game just to enjoy the wonderful puzzle houses =) )

    • beige 6:45 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

    • Shingro 1:28 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      Finished QfG 1: I gotta say, if there was ever an indicator that I spent FAR too many of my formitive years on this game… getting 487 of 500 without ever taking so much as a peek at the internet would be it. I didn’t take the time to minmax myself out the wazoo, but I’ve got quite a purse headed into shapier, looking forwards to the endless amounts of mana/stamina that is “3 pills a pop” at the apothecary. Good fun!

    • impynickers 8:01 pm on May 25, 2012 Permalink

      @shingro I noticed the oddity in the sound as well. Of course when I first played the QFG2 in I was using an internal speaker with bloops and bleeps. Nostalgia….. *sigh*
      I may just switch over to sound blaster though. There are some odd sound effects in its current state.

      Ive gotten mostly through QFG1 EGA edition. Its quite funny to see the minor differences in the art style between EGA and VGA. The main character wears what I could only describe as a super hero costume in the EGA edition, but is much more classic fantasy in the VGA edition with his iconic jerkin. The puzzles as far as I can tell are pretty much the same, just more long winded with the text interface.

    • beige 5:37 pm on June 2, 2012 Permalink

      Back on the QFG VGA train, now that Xenoblade is done. Thanks for the protip soundblaster advice. I’m much happier now that all my iconic old MIDI tunes are back where they’re supposed to be. Easist way I accomplished this was just opening two windows on my desktop – one with DOXBOX in it, and one with the QFG install file, which was up one directory. Dragging the quest for glory setup file from window 1 to the DOSBOX.exe file started configuration for me just fine. No text prompt required.

      Protip for those of you playing along at home: I’d forgotten until vestigial memory reminded me, that you can use the numeric keypad to do all your awesome moves and spellszorz. For the thief, this means pressing 3 a lot.

    • Lou Page 3:17 am on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      My first PC game was QFG2 and I loved it. Since GOG Release I played though the first and tried the Fan remake of QFG2. I can’t recommend the remake enough. Almost completely identical except for a new combat system and some small puzzle changes. I was so glad to have no text typing box.

    • cgrajko 6:28 am on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      I finally started QFG, and it’s a lot of fun. I rarely ever say this, but I feel as if I should have read the manual for it first, because I had a bit of a time getting back in to the groove of old adventure games. I haven’t played something like this in quite a long time, but I can definitely see why it’s so appreciated ’round these parts. I got up to 80ish out of 500 in my first hour or so of walking around and talking to folks, so I would say I got off to a good start. Playing as a fighter is not a bad time at all, since it’s made the few times I’ve gotten into a battle fairly survivable.

    • Pete Davison 7:46 pm on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      Started QfG2. Oh my. A 3D maze within about ten seconds of starting. What is this I don’t even… blargh. Time to get the graph paper out again?

    • Pete Davison 7:51 pm on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      For anyone currently suffering like I am, hopefully this will help a bit:

    • Pete Davison 7:58 pm on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      Also, you really don’t get puns like this in games any more. That makes me kind of sad. A side effect of our current “fully-voiced” age, I guess.

    • beige 8:18 pm on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      Pete, you can always run the fancy new QFG remake that is currently linked to off the homepage (it’s what I’ll be playing!) You can still import and export your character, but no text parser and you don’t have to navigate that crazy map. They only did that as a copy protection measure anyway. Failing that, enjoy playing Eye of the Beholder!

      Don’t forget, Questers: NUMPAD is for fighting! 9 and 7 swing sword, 1 and 3 dodges and shields. 5 casts awesome magickzorz.

    • Lou Page 8:43 pm on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      Also if you don’t feel like playing the remake remember that the map has an quick travel function once you have been buy one from that guy outside the inn. another tip too is that there is only 4 locations in the desert you need to go to for quests. Everything else out there is to battle for money and stuff to sell. The saurus is a huge joke so once you buy him don’t use him. He runs from battle and it can take hours to find him again.

    • Lou Page 8:55 pm on June 8, 2012 Permalink

      My brain goes faster than I type. What I meant is, “once you have been to the money changer, you can buy a map from the guy outside the inn.” Also if your a thief show the money changer the thief sign.

    • Pete Davison 3:09 pm on June 9, 2012 Permalink

      Restarted on the VGA version. Much easier to get going on. I like my retro as much as (or possibly considerably more than) the next person, but QfG2 EGA’s obtuseness was a little offputting.

    • Shingro 8:45 pm on June 9, 2012 Permalink

      Earth elemental is in the bag! (ha… HAHA! HAH… I…. I’m sorry :/ ) I will say that the combat in QfG2 suuuure is hard as a dagger user >_> by vast and unfortunate amounts it seems… but some solid training with Urhara is bringing me up to speed.

      Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly better combat, but man, some of those critters sure can work you over if you’re not prepared. (instant kill with a brief tell from the scorpion? really? D: )

    • beige 3:40 pm on June 10, 2012 Permalink

      Yo: In case anybody is having difficulty importing / exporting your character, GOG.com’s FAQ has a few paragraphs on how to do it. I was having real trouble finding c:/glory1.sav until I headed over here.

      http://www.gog.com/en/forum/quest_for_glory_series/export_and_import_faq/page1

    • Pete Davison 4:16 pm on June 10, 2012 Permalink

      Good call, sir. I ran into this issue but forgot to mention it earlier, I think.

    • impynickers 5:08 am on June 12, 2012 Permalink

      I don’t suspect people need another QFG game to play, but for long time fans looking for something new and fan made look no further than Quest for Glory 4 1/2: So you thought you were a hero. http://www.curlysworldoffreeware.com/games/view/238
      The hole thing is light hearted and full of pop culture references. Fairly impressive overall actually.

      I have finished QFG1 EGA finally. I was playing from a rusty memory, but it worked.
      Thus the hero from the east freed the man from form of beast, saved beauty from brigands band and forced the ogress to leave the land.

      I love that in the credits someone is credited as being responsible for the ‘Next Generation Graphics’
      I have no doubt the game was impressive in its time, but its funny how we are still talking about graphics in the same way as they did then.

    • Pete Davison 11:39 pm on June 12, 2012 Permalink

      QfG2 has been a slow burn for me, but once I sat down and started to spend some protracted time with it I’m really enjoying it. Even more so than the original, it’s clear that a lot of more recent games have their roots in this game. I’m currently playing through the Yakuza series, for example, and that certainly shares the idea of an entire epic adventure being set in the confines of a relatively small area, as does The Last Story.

      Just beat the Fire elemental. Three to go?

    • Lou Page 12:11 am on June 13, 2012 Permalink

      Glad to hear someone besides me has played some Yakuza games. I have only played the PS3 ones and both are great.

      On the QFG2 front, yeah you got 3, more to go. After that your only about 2/3’s of the way through the game. Personally, I think QFG 2 and 4 have the best plots of the series. I think you will find 3 more interesting since it does stray from the epic adventure in a small area.

    • beige 8:30 pm on June 17, 2012 Permalink

      Oh man, just finished QFG 2 (remake version), importing to Wages of War now. God damn that ending of 2 is great stuff, still holds up so well after all this time. 16 days of screwing around in Shapier culminating in 3 days of awesomeness of testing your skills in Raseir. As a thief, I was very happy that I’d done a ton of rope walking while I was biding my time – phew. Super glad about the little additions they put at the very end there to give more closure to Khaveen’s portion of the story. I’ll talk about this on the podcast for sure.

      Found, but did not bother killing the Pizza Elemental. Screw that secret boss man. He just dropped pizzas on my head and then I died. SO DIFFICULT. Also, not worth it though I understand you can give pizza from his corpse to people for extra honor. Any hope I had of becoming a paladin was gone as soon as I put those x-ray specs on to watch harem girls and 386-era boobies.

      HINT: I had difficulty importing my hero until from the QFG2 remake to QFG3 NON remake I did the following:

      A) Went to the directory specified in the forums here:
      “Any time a non-elevated account tries to save to a UAC controlled folder (like Program Files), the file is instead stored in the VirtualStore folder of that user. The location of that folder is at “C:\Users\\Appdata\local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Quest for Glory Pack\”, with the AppData folder being a hidden folder, “Users” and “Program Files (x86)” may be localized in your language, and being your Windows User’s name. You can also use the %localappdata% alias in the location bar of Windows Explorer that will take you to the AppData\Local folder directly.
      So, after you find the VirtualStore directory that contains your file, copy it to the directory the game you want to import is installed at, meaning the “C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG.com\Quest for Glory Pack\Quest for Glory 2″ directory, not the one located in VirtualStore. ”

      b) Grabbed my save game, went back to the (NON virtual) C:/program files… /GOG/Quest for Glory Directory

      c) Now for some weird reason I could NOT import directly when the save was placed directly in that directory, but when I created a NEW DIRECTORY INSIDE THE GOG QFG3 DIRECTORY (I called it “/save”) and moved my saved game in there, I was able to “change directory” within the QFG 3 import screen to “C:/save/” My save game was there, and it imported fine.

      TLDR: QFG3 (and 4?) consider “C:/” to be “The Root Of Your Game Directory”. Make a new directory inside it, put your (QF2 remake) save file in there and import away!

    • beige 11:19 pm on June 17, 2012 Permalink

      Protip, since I was running into crashes in Wages of War due to clock cycle foolishness:

      ALT-ENTER switches between windowed mode and fullscreen mode in DOSBOX. In the title there in windowed mode you can see the number of cycles running.

      CTRL-F11 slows the clock cycles down, CTRL-F12 speeds them back up. I was able to prevent certain infamous crashes that were causing my game to die due to timing glitches by slowing down the clock cycles to 1% and then continuing the game as normal. After you’re past the glitchy spots, speed the cycles back up to 100%.

      Unless they’ve patched Quest for Glory 4, I anticipate having to do this to solve the dreaded Error 52 in the mordavian swamps.

      QFG3, still great though. More games need to be set in Africa with or without Sandford and Son jokes. Fighting still kind of sucks in this one, but who cares — it’s so not a focus of the third installment.

    • Pete Davison 11:46 pm on June 19, 2012 Permalink

      I beat QfG2 tonight. We’ll talk more about this on the podcast no doubt, but man, that game sure is back-end loaded. I woudln’t call it “dull” (though my girlfriend would as she watched me try and fail to struggle through the early stages without assistance) but it certainly is slowly paced until those last few days. The whole finale sequence is pretty great, though — and I had no problems importing my save from the VGA version into QfG3. Yay. I will start on that tomorrow.

    • Pete Davison 12:21 am on June 22, 2012 Permalink

      Played quite a bit of QfG3 today. NOW we’re talking. With this game, we’ve quite obviously entered a different era of Sierra adventures. While the first two games were quite “directionless” if you didn’t know what you were doing (you can completely fuck up QfG2 in particular if you’re not in the right place at the right time), QfG3 feels a lot more palatable from a modern perspective. We’ve got much stronger characterisation (though seemingly not quite as much sarcastic narration, which is sad) and a greater sense of direction and structure. But alongside that, we still have a pleasing feeling of RPG-style freedom that you don’t get in other, more traditional Sierra adventures that take a much more linear approach.

      Looking forward to seeing how it unfolds — and very much looking forward to some hot John Rhys-Davies action in QfG4.

  • Pete Davison 10:26 am on May 11, 2012 Permalink |
    Tags:   

    Diablo III

    The official Squad crew of elite skeleton clickers

    So it seems a few of us are picking up Skeleton Click III shortly. Post your Battle.net details/character names etc in the comments below, along with any thoughts on the experience.

    BattleTags
    zegolf#1213
    AngryJedi#2260
    CptCarnage#1483
    MrN1CKERS#1922
    Bowlisimo#1728
    Beige#1834
    mjpilon#1415
    KonradBeezo#1109

     

    • Pete Davison 10:38 am on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      If you’re on the front page, click the “Reply” link at the top right of the post to comment.

    • zegolf 1:47 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      Very much looking forward to this! I nearly failed out of my freshman year of college due, in part, to LoD. I’ll be on, pretty sure I’m zegolf on battle.net, too.

    • Pete Davison 2:48 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      My BattleTag (which is how Diablo III is handling friends lists) is AngryJedi, or AngryJedi#2260 if you need the full thing, which I think you might as they’re non-unique.

    • RedSwirl 3:02 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      I’ll download the trail whenever I have time. That’s all I can promise at this point.

    • Pete Davison 3:15 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      I don’t think there is a trial, Red — it’s not an MMO. You buy it or you don’t.

      If you played and enjoyed any of the following, you will dig the game. If you didn’t, you probably won’t.

      • Torchlight (PC)
      • Titan Quest (PC)
      • Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance (Gen6 consoles)
      • Dungeons and Dragons Heroes (Xbox)
      • Dungeon Hunter I and II (not III) (iOS)
      • Drakensang Online
      • Everquest: Champions of Norrath

    • zegolf 3:16 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      Also, if you’ve played Diablo or Diablo II, you may enjoy Diablo III.

    • Pete Davison 3:17 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      I figured that probably went without saying. 😉

    • cptcarnage 7:00 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      Preorder hasnt been placed yet and I’m on the fence.

      I loved Torchlight but never gave Diablo the benefit of the doubt, whats the similarities/differences?

    • beige 8:42 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      I’m 100% in for Skeleton Click. Waterkanji on Steam, send a friend request.
      Haven’t played Torchlight, but as I understand they’re basically the same game. Diablo invented the skeleton clicking genre, and the DIII marketplace looks to take lewt whoring into the stratosphere with its insane real-money market for items and equipment.

    • zegolf 8:49 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      Updating with my Battle.net account name. zegolf#1213

      See you all in Sanctuary.

    • Pete Davison 9:23 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      Torchlight was, in fact, developed by a bunch of ex-Blizzard bods who worked on Diablo, hence the similarities (particularly in the distinctive ambient music, which was the work of Matt Uelmen). If you loved Torchlight, you’ll love Diablo. The only major difference in Diablo III is the revamp they’ve done to the ability system — I read an interesting post on the subject here.

      I saw a TV advert for it tonight. I know it’s going to be huge, but I never figured Diablo for a game that would fit in with the TV advertising demographic.

    • Pete Davison 9:52 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      This is Wal-Mart’s actual description for the game from their website, reproduced here verbatim. Their copywriter wants firing.

      The Diablo III PC/Mac Game revolves around an interesting plot which will keep you spell bound. while you are playing. This Strategy Video Game also has some similar setting as the Diablo II like Tristram. The Witch Doctor is a new character in this game, is reminiscent of the Diablo II Necromancer, The Barbarians in this strategy video game have a variety of revamped skills at their disposal on the basis of the use of their incredible physical prowess. Bring home the PC video game to solve the mysteries of the mighty Barbarians.

      Diablo III PC/Mac Game:

      • The Witch Doctor is a new character reminiscent of the Diablo II Necromancer
      • The Barbarians will have a variety of revamped skills at their disposal based on the use of their incredible physical prowess.
      • 1-on-1′ dueling system coming into play.

    • impynickers 9:57 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      @Pete lol! I do want to solve the mysteries of mighty barbarians in a strategy video game.

      Really looking forward to this game. BattleNET name I believe is ImpyNickers, at least it was for Starcraft 2 months ago.

    • Pete Davison 9:59 pm on May 11, 2012 Permalink

      @impynickers You’ll need to make sure it’s a “BattleTag” (you can reserve it now on the Account page on Battle.net) and I think you need the “#number” bit after it too. I think it’s to distinguish you from all the other ImpyNickerses out there.

    • cptcarnage 12:48 am on May 12, 2012 Permalink

      Done and preordered. In the meantime i’ll dust off my copy of Diablo 2 that i never played LOL.

      Battletag: CptCarnage#1483

    • bowlisimo 1:29 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Wow, Walmart. They should have just written, “I think diablo is a pretty cool guy. eh brethes fire and doesnt afraid of anything.”

      Bought this on Newegg, paid $10 less, but have to wait to ship. Can’t remember the last PC box I bought.

      Bowlisimo#1728

    • RedSwirl 1:51 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      @angryjedi I kinda assumed there would be, I think I heard confirmation somewhere, I dunno. StarCraft 2 has a demo (which I still haven’t booted up because I insisted on finally buying the original StarCraft on the day SC2 came out, and have barely done anything in THAT game). This is all kinda hard for someone who hasn’t touched a Blizzard game since 2000.

      The only things slightly resembling Diablo that I’ve played are Torchlight and Phantasy Star Online. Torchlight’s nice but for some reason I can’t do a whole dungeon in one sitting. It’s almost like an iOS game to me – for short bursts only. It doesn’t even feel right playing the game on a desktop. Looks at Torchlight II and Path of Exile have me interested though if I deem them more important than my backlog. I don’t think I’ve seen any DIII footage at all.

      I really just want Sega to release an English version of Phantasy Star Online 2.

      And lastly, in this area I need to get in as much Demon’s Souls as I can before the servers shut down. I’ve already made peace with the fact that I won’t be beating the game before then (Stuck at the Penetrator and Old Hero). Once that does happen I’m thinking of re-rolling in Dark Souls, or just shelving that until Prepare to Die Edition comes out. I’ve made it through a lot of hardship in that game so far, but I keep hearing talk of areas that I’m still nowhere near (I’m stuck at the Gaping Dragon).

      Oh, and I’m finally about to finish Final Fantasy IV, I think.

      Basically, I am behind-as-fuck in dungeon crawlers.

    • feenwager 2:47 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      I’m so torn as to whether to purchase DIII. On one hand, I know I’ll love it. On another, there’s the whole ‘sitting in front of the computer’ thing all over again. I really want to play it though, so…

    • Pete Davison 10:23 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Do it. DO IT. Surely some hack and slash clicky combat will be ideal for those times when the little ‘un wakes up in the middle of the night and you’re waiting for peace once again. Or whatever it is you child-bearing people do in the middle of the night. 🙂

      Also, Squad multiplayer.

    • Pete Davison 10:44 am on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Anyone going to be having a go on Hardcore? My love of roguelikes makes me want to at least try. I’m going to have a character reserved exclusively for playing regularly with my buds in this time zone, but outside of that I’m going to experiment a bit and see how long I can survive. That sounds like fun. Or possibly infuriating. I won’t quite know until I try it.

    • cptcarnage 3:11 pm on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Probably not until I get the feel for it.

      Any class preferences? Huntress sounds cool I like ranged combat but I may roll a wizard or a barbarian.

    • bowlisimo 3:32 pm on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      You’re going to do hardcore mode? In Diablo?

    • RedSwirl 5:28 pm on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      I don’t even think I’d survive in Diablo multiplayer since Torchlight had none for me to practice with. Closest thing I know is PSO co-op.

    • mjpilon 9:54 pm on May 13, 2012 Permalink

      Admission time: I never played Diablo II. I actually bought a copy years ago but my old family PC couldn’t handle it and I forgot about it.

      I’m still not sure I’ll buy Diablo III but I am very intrigued. In case I do take the plunge (which won’t occur until June anyway since I’ll be on vacation), I signed up: mjpilon#1415

    • zegolf 10:29 am on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      I’m pretty excited that my physical copy (due to ship this afternoon, here by tomorrow) is actually Mac-compatible. When Blizz basically abandoned Mac users with Diablo II, I was worried I would have to boot camp this game. As much as it’s nice to have the ability to bootcamp, it’s still a pain in the ass to have to reboot every time I want to play.

      Looking forward to tomorrow!

    • zegolf 1:11 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      @RedSwirl Rumor has it (the early copies that have already shipped) that the game is shipping with a “Guest Pass” that will allow you to get on Diablo III “Starter”. I’ve got a physical copy coming tomorrow that has a guest pass with your name on it, if you want it.

      If Red doesn’t take it, anyone else is welcome to it.

    • RedSwirl 1:36 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      @zegolf Sure, but I’m not sure when I’d use it.

    • impynickers 7:33 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink

      Turns out I did have a battletag already
      MrN1CKERS#1922

    • cptcarnage 4:32 am on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      To bed, is it me or am I the only one who always gets tricked into thinking a midnight launch is midnight EST only to find out that its actually 3am EST.

      Too much bias for PST imho.

    • impynickers 4:56 am on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      @cptcarnage Yeah…….. … Yeah. I swear I was able to play Starcraft II around midnight EST at launch. I don’t know why this is a thing. Oh well.

    • RedSwirl 4:36 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      Heard about the server problems which reminds me of the always-online DRM. The system that I’d be running DIII on happens to be going through some internet trouble so I’m not even sure I’d be able to play the game.

    • cptcarnage 6:23 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      That Sums it up quite nicely.

    • bowlisimo 6:44 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      More reasons not to buy games on release, although that problem used to be solely an MMO problem.

      Hopefully this stuff is ironed out by the time I get home and install.

    • beige 6:45 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      Yo skeleton clickers, don’t forget to add Beige#1834
      I won’t be online for a day or two but I’m in there!

    • zegolf 7:21 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      So it looks like the game actually shipped with THREE guest passes. At least mine did. And one for WoW…because Lord knows I need to start playing that game again.

      If anyone is interested, feel free to email me. It’s just my screen name [at] gmail!

    • Pete Davison 9:08 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      Pro-Tip to anyone getting a physical copy of the game: If you have the bandwidth, activate your key on Battle.net and download the client rather than installing from disc, otherwise you will quite literally be there all day.

      I have two Guest Passes, too. If anyone wants one, Squad gets first dibs.

    • bowlisimo 9:14 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      Too late, already installing off the disk.

      Yeah, I have D3 guest passes coming out the wazoo over here (3 total) if anyone wants one.

    • bowlisimo 9:44 pm on May 15, 2012 Permalink

      That wasn’t that bad, install off the disk, make a sandwich, read the lore. It’s fine.

    • Shingro 1:24 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      I’d love to get a guest pass =) my nick at Yahoo.com would much enjoy the chance to give D3 a whirl, there’s so many amazing games coming out that I’ve no shortage of distractions, but I’d love to take a spin in the zeitgeist of it for a bit =)

    • cptcarnage 3:34 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      Got a few hours in this evening before battlenet decided to kick me off for no particular reason.

      Running a Demon Hunter. Clicking skele’s like mad, got together with a party of 4 (all different classes) and its interesting to see the different dynamics that start appearing.

    • bowlisimo 3:43 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      Wow… All I needed to do was hit the boss literally 2 more times and I would have beat him “You have been disconnected”. !!! WHY? WHY IS SINGLEPLAYER TIED TO SERVERS….ughhhh. Welcome to the future.

    • feenwager 3:46 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      Clearly there is money to be made in server stress testing. It seems that no matter how open a beta anything runs, whether it’s a game or service, it immediately breaks the minute it goes live to the general public.

      Someone get on that so we can all be rich, mmmkay?

    • Pete Davison 11:17 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      @bowlisimo I blogged about this yesterday. Blizzard would have had a much easier time of it if they had actually set expectations for Diablo III correctly and said up-front that it was an online-only game, which it is.

      By “online-only” I don’t mean “has DRM”, I mean “MMO-style”, like Guild Wars or even World of Warcraft. No-one complains about games like that requiring you to always be online — even if you’re soloing — and Diablo III is structured in exactly the same way, albeit without the massively-multiplayer areas in which to congregate. The trouble is, past Diablo titles had a discrete “single player” option, so those who wanted to solo stuck with that and perhaps never ventured onto Battle.net, which is where a healthy degree of fun lies. In the previous games, you had separate characters for online and offline, too, which was a pain. People were expecting the old game’s clearly demarcated “single player” and “multiplayer” options, and those simply aren’t present here. When you’re playing solo in D3, you’re not really playing “single player”, you’re soloing online.

      Perhaps I’m putting too much of a positive spin on it, but that’s how I see it. I understand why people are angry, though — Blizzard haven’t done a great job of communicating about this. BLUE PLZ

      Personally, I can live with a few day-one server issues — I’ve come to expect them, in fact. I know it shouldn’t be like that, and they should stress-test their servers, but it’s the way it is with online titles at the moment.

    • zegolf 11:26 am on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      @angryjedi @bowlisimo I think it’s also important to remember the history of the series, as well as look toward the future for Blizzard. WoW was a cash cow for Blizzard, and now they’re staring down both diminishing numbers and the release of a game which has no real source of income for them. History dictates that this game could require support for upwards of 10 years, which is an eternity in the “gaming world”.

      Enter: The Auction House

      I mention the history of Diablo because, as someone who spent an inordinate amount of time on the old series, it was plagued with duping, hacking and other issues. If Blizzard hopes to make any money off of the Auction House, they’re going to have to ensure people continue to use it. In order to maintain that usage, they’re going to have to guarantee that it’s safe and that the economy won’t be disrupted by hackers and dupers. The easiest way to do that? Control every aspect of the game that is relevant to the Auction House on the server side. Want to hack your character on the client side? Go for it! But it’s not going to affect the server side aspect, which means that people can feel safe knowing their rare drops are going to continue to be rare, and Blizzard continues to make money.

      Pete’s right, Diablo has NEVER been a try single player game and I don’t think Blizz had any plans to change that. If anything, they’ve made the game easier to drop-in/drop-out for multiplayer. But it’s my belief that the real reason you’re seeing “Single Player DRM” is to protect the economy of the game, and to give Blizzard a viable business plan for running Diablo III servers well into the next decade.

    • Pete Davison 4:17 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      Chaps,

      In Blizzard’s infinite wisdom they decided that while they were absolutely fine with people being able to switch regions to play with international friends, they decided that The Right Thing To Do would be to keep friends lists, achievements and characters separate on each region’s servers.

      As such, if you see me playing Diablo III on Steam but I’m not showing up on the in-game friends list, it means I’m playing on the European servers. Feel free to shoot me a Steam chat, iMessage or whatever if you want to play and I’ll switch over.

    • impynickers 6:15 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      Been enjoying what I played so far, though there are many changes to the game that really seem to go further than I would have liked. The inability to actually use weapons is one thing that shouldnt bother me as much as it does. I mean… you have them right there. Why cant I see what this ultra awesome new weapon I picked up actually does? I dont care if it boosts my stats. I have no tangible feedback. Also, the game as far as I have played is really easy. Health is in great quantity, and damage is something that doesnt seem to come in great quantities. Other than that, things feel pretty good. But those are some major issues. That and the whole online requirement.

    • bowlisimo 6:36 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      I disagree with you guys. Diablo has always been a single player experience for me. Single player first, maybe some multi second, I doubt I’m alone on that. I think it’s fundamentally stupid, but I don’t have any fight in me on this one, and I’m sure we’ll never hear about D3 server problems ever again, so…whatever. I just don’t like it. *crosses arms*

      My $50 dollars is already spent, I would have spent it anyway, so my opinion doesn’t much matter.

      The game was fun otherwise, right up until it disconnected me one second before beating the first boss.

      The monk is cool. I don’t get why he holds weapons if his animation is a punch though. Kind of weird. Do my weapons even matter statswise? Howabout a monk with a shield? Questions to be answered.

    • zegolf 8:27 pm on May 16, 2012 Permalink

      @impynickers So you CAN fight with just your weapons, it’s just a bit kludgy and takes away your primary attack slot. If you go into Options -> Gameplay and enable “Elective Mode”, you can then drag and drop your attacks to the various slots. You can also drag your primary attack OFF of the bar (but not to a slot) which will then enable weapon attacks.

    • mjpilon 2:45 am on May 17, 2012 Permalink

      Game has been officially purchased! Decided to start with a monk but I’m leaving for France for 10 days on Friday so hopefully you all haven’t burnt out on the game by the time I get back 😛

      Battletag : mjpilon#1415

    • impynickers 3:53 am on May 17, 2012 Permalink

      @zegold Oh hey! Look at that! I mean the game seems to have been designed around the skills, but I appreciate that it is possible to go back to traditional hack and slash. Even if it is a little out of the way.
      Maybe in patches they will make it easier, for now I am enjoying the game my way and that makes me happy enough.

    • Pete Davison 10:10 am on May 17, 2012 Permalink

      I consider it my divine mission to bring at least one of you through the secret level, which is a magnificently epic troll on those who were complaining about D3 being “too colourful”.

      In order to get there, you have to craft a Staff of Herding, which requires the following items:

      • Black Mushroom (Cathedral, floor 1 — Act I)
      • Leoric’s Shinbone (Leoric’s manor — Act I)
      • Liquid Rainbow (Mysterious Chest, Mysterious Cave, Dahlgur Oasis — Act II)
      • Wirt’s Bell (Squirt the Peddler , Caldeum — costs 100,000 gold)
      • Gibbering Gemstone (random drop from mobs in the caves in the battlefield in front of the bridge — Act III
      • Plans (random drop from Izual — Act IV)

      Nowhere near accomplishing that yet, but it’s something to aim for. 🙂

    • feenwager 1:11 pm on May 17, 2012 Permalink

      I added it up top, but in case you missed it: KonradBeezo#1109

      Go nuts.

    • RedSwirl 1:43 am on May 18, 2012 Permalink

      Got the trial client. Might be on tomorrow night. Managed to grab RedSwirl#1337 as a BattleTag.

    • RedSwirl 1:44 am on May 18, 2012 Permalink

      My internet still sucks though so I don’t know if I’m really gonna be able to play it.

    • impynickers 4:12 am on May 20, 2012 Permalink

      So I beat the game. It was epic.

    • Pete Davison 12:53 pm on May 20, 2012 Permalink

      Don’t spoil anything, but is the final battle better than in previous instalments? Fighting Diablo was always a big letdown in past experience, but Blizzard seem to have got wise to how to make a more “dramatic” encounter now — not least by actually adding some music for once.

      I have to say, I’m loving the game so far (about halfway through Act II with my furthest character), and the drop-in co-op, cloud saving and online profile gubbins is great.

    • impynickers 3:40 pm on May 21, 2012 Permalink

      @Pete Final battle was a lot of fun. Came slightly before I was expecting it. I mean the game is long and satisfying, but the final act has a lot of stuff going on. You knew it was coming, but I wasnt expecting it to happen quite when it did. It was a great battle though.

    • beige 7:42 pm on May 22, 2012 Permalink

      Started playing the skeleton clicks after podcasting on Saturday. Only played for maybe 2 hours total over the weekend, if that, but have many thoughts.

      a) The witch doctor seems unususally polite and generally nice for a guy who communes with loa and dark spirits all the time. Not that I was expecting anything in particular, mind — he just seems like a decent sort. Sort of empathic, generally calm and understanding when dealing with NPCs. To me, there’s a pleasing dissonance there especially since dude throws jars of spiders all over the place at everything. I want to imagine this dinner party where the witch doctor is politely discussing TED talks with his brother-in-law or something and then, just after asking if someone could pass the cranberries, he stands up and blasts everything in the room with flaming bats before sitting down to spoon a mouthfull of mashed potatoes.

      b) I missed that little fwufffwuff sound that the books make when they fall to the ground.

      c) Blizzard has come a long way when it comes to presenting their stories in a coherent way. That said, the multiplayer “narrative-based experience” is like trying to read a novel in the middle of that group of guinea pigs up there. I was trying — really TRYING — to stay with the nice girl who was telling me a sad story of her crazy uncle Cain — but at the same time there were three other people running cheerfully around the map waving their hands in the air like kids at a birthday party or selling loot while waiting on me to finish up already. Over here: gravelly voiced Scott telling me how he had to put old King Leoric down. Over here: Pishu, making up hilariously crazy names for randomly summoned Blizzard monsters. It’s like being fed a novel in the form of tweets. My brain was tired from trying to stitch it together.

      d) It’s hella fun to click skeletons together though, innit!. I felt bad for Zegolf who stepped into our kiddie pool around level 30 or so. “Hey guys! How’s it… eerr….. yeah.” To a level 30 character, our level 5 asses just look like high school kids slow dancing 2 feet apart.

      e) Disjointed or not, I still appreciate how they’re portraying the game as sort of a “Tale of Five Dudes” thing. It’s less about the quest to defeat Diablo big caps and more about the Witch Doctor and his SPECIFIC perspective on the whole affair. It makes the “pick up and play” part make sense in a sort of Team Fortress way. You can adventure around with your character of choice, hop over to a friend’s game and go down 10 levels and still feel like you’re having a good, novel experience. Do the male and female voice actors have the same dialogue? Is it the same monk’s story regardless of gender?

    • feenwager 3:11 pm on May 23, 2012 Permalink

      It’s a small thing, but something Diablo 3 does better than many recent game is keep my attention on the main action. I find myself looking at the mini map much less often that usual. Kudos.

    • bowlisimo 6:28 pm on May 24, 2012 Permalink

      Completed normal a few days ago. Had a lot of fun, but I kind feel bad for the narrative in that game. They really try to make it serious and dire, but the on the ground action feels even more divorced from the whole good vs evil plot than I remember. I sat and talked to everyone, listened to all the lore,and paid attention. It’s jut not engaging on an intellectual level. Then there’s semi-beloved characters dying in isometric in-game cutscenes? Surely they deserved better?

      No, it’s totally fine, especially when everything else is so good. I said briefly to Beige last night (as he was summoning walking exploding zombie torsos) that I’m glad the game is pretty ridiculous and not serious in how it plays. This barbarian I started can swipe dudes clean off the map. The monk can punch monsters in half. Bad guys might as well be saying “Muahahaha” after all their dialogue when you get there too late to stop them for the 80th time. Practically everything on the map is attackable and blows up into splinters (that also go flying off the map) when you do, leaving money and presents behind. It’s satisfying.

      No idea how long I’ll stay on the treadmill, but as of now I’m still enjoying discovering new skills, finding new items, and in stark contrast to what I said earlier, running around with you guys in multi, so who knows?

    • zegolf 3:16 pm on May 25, 2012 Permalink

      Some potentially spoilery stuff here, so just a warning.

      Still spoilers….

      Ok, ready?

      Diablo 3 potentially has an ARG (alternate reality game) contained in it! Starting at Whimsyshire!
      byu/OminousLatinWord inDiablo

      Looks like there might be more to the D3 Secret level than people first thought. I love conspiracy theories in games.

    • scribl 2:04 am on May 27, 2012 Permalink

      Kroan#1518

    • zegolf 3:28 pm on May 29, 2012 Permalink

      Been trying to think of a way we can store information about items we might have that could help anyone else. I know I’ve picked up a few drops that have helped out @angryjedi, but it would be great if we all could share the love. Anyone have any thoughts?

    • cptcarnage 2:23 am on May 30, 2012 Permalink

      Well my account got hacked, all my gold, items and stash is gone.

      Talking with 2 other people that I play with they got nailed too. Anyone here?

    • zegolf 2:36 am on May 30, 2012 Permalink

      My account is unscathed. Change your password, get the authenticator and contact Blizzard. They’re able to roll back your account to semi-recent times and get your stuff back. For the most part.

      Did you notice anyone added to your friends list that you don’t recognize? Make note if you do.

    • cptcarnage 2:38 am on May 30, 2012 Permalink

      Already done, authenticator’s on my phone and one new user on my recents with a bunch of level 1 characters with dwadwadwa names.

      Don’t know how long ago it was, haven’t played for at least 5 days.

    • Pete Davison 10:15 am on May 30, 2012 Permalink

      @cptcarnage Crap, that sucks. Sorry, dude! Like Zach says, do all the usual security measures, ensure you have the Authenticator and contact Blizzard, they should be able to help. Unfortunately, they’re used to this sort of thing. People are scum.

      The account-hacking thing was supposedly due to some sort of exploit with public games. I believe it’s been fixed now, but be careful, all.

    • bowlisimo 2:48 pm on May 30, 2012 Permalink

      Damn, well that got me to order an authenticator. Crossing my fingers until I get this thing in the mail (no I don’t have a smart phone).

      Diablo 3 has become a chillout with itunes on shuffle timesink for me. Haven’t really played anything else since it came out. Feel like I can ride this wave to hell difficulty, maybe the beginning of Inferno, hit the level cap and then probably stop. Grinding for late game gear without any level progression is what will finally end this game for me, I think. Although there’s always the Barbarian I’ve been leveling up with Beige…

    • zegolf 1:57 am on May 31, 2012 Permalink

      I’ve taken the first steps in acquiring the items to enter Whimsyshire. I’ve found the Black Mushroom and I’m currently seeking out the remaining items. I’ll keep everyone updated!

    • Pete Davison 10:15 pm on June 1, 2012 Permalink

      Good work, sir. I successfully made it there the other night, and I believe Bowley has too. Be prepared for LOTS of farming.

  • Pete Davison 9:59 am on March 17, 2012 Permalink |
    Tags:   

    Journey: “The Weary Wanderer”

    A Spoiler-filled Squad discussion

    Post a comment on this thread with your thoughts about Thatgamecompany’s Journey, available now from the PSN store.

    Looking for past mission threads, including Mass Effect 3? Find them here.

     

    • Pete Davison 10:11 am on March 17, 2012 Permalink

      I played through Journey last night in one sitting. It was pretty magical, though I have no idea what went on. I like that, though — like Flower, the game encourages you to interpret it for yourself.

      I’ll leave it at that for the moment just to get discussion rolling — more in-depth thoughts later.

    • RedSwirl 4:28 pm on March 17, 2012 Permalink

      “Wow” is pretty much all I have to say after playing Journey.

      Well, that and for me it’s kind of this year’s Limbo. I mean this in that it shows an efficiency in game design and communication to the player that modern developers have forgotten.

    • mjpilon 3:20 am on March 18, 2012 Permalink

      My playthrough of Journey was an amazing experience the whole way through. I will definitely play it again just to see how it goes with a different companion. A couple of points:

      • This game is jaw-droppingly beautiful. The two scenes that stand out the most for me are the “sunset slide down” and the “final climb above the clouds”. I could have sat there for hours staring at my screen – Simply magical.
      • During the final climb up the snowy mountain, I was genuinely anxious and tense as my pace started to slow down. I started going “Come on, Come on” and pushing the analog stick up as hard as I could – I wanted SO badly to make it up to the peak that when I didn’t (before your spirit is revived or whatever actually happens…), I was truly affected by it. It is the 1st time in a while where I felt that way and this is even after I had started to suspect that the game would end with your death on the way up.
      • In general, the emotional reactions the game elicited surprised me. When you 1st encounter the dragon creatures in the underground, I literally jumped when it caught my co-op companion and tore his scarf in half, I completely didn’t expect that to happen. At the end of that scene, when you are sliding towards the goal with the two dragons literally chasing you, I was completely hooked in and actually yelled in excitement when I just got there just in time. The developers were able to create the perfect scene that had just the right amount of tension to actually make you feel like you might not make it. Just brillant.
      • I am amazed at how well the co-op mechanic works. I simply ran into another player during the 2nd “stage” and ended up played through the game together. The mechanics are simple enough that there isn’t a need for much communication between players other than the occasional pings. You just enjoy the ride together. I had a moment during the climb up the snowy mountain where my companion was spotted by the dragon and in his panic, ran over to where I was hiding. In doing so, I got knocked by the dragon and lost half my scarf which, up to that point, I had kept perfect and was quite long. I have not been that angry at co-op partner in a long time! I literally spend about 10 minutes pushing forward in the game with a sort-of “screw you man” sentiment towards my companion who was left almost running after me. Eventually, I settled down and we got through the rest together but man…. my emotional reaction was crazy!

      All in all, Journey was a beautiful 2 hours that truly wasn’t expecting to react to as strongly. I would love to hear about some of the other unique moments you all had because I’m sure there were as interesting as mine.

    • beige 1:43 pm on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      Yeah, my take:

      • I bumbled around on level 1 for a while, just getting my feet… then in level 2 ran into another traveler totally accidentally when he appeared as a little red dot off in the distance running towards me. Crazy feeling “Hey, wait WHAT? I’m not alone in this?…”
      • Thought for about a level and a half that I was playing with an AI character, and was going on about how great the simulation of a real person on the other end was. Then I realized that the peeps I was making with my circle button were being reciprocated in kind as a kind of morse code. Me: Peep peep: Him: Peep peep. Let’s DO this.
      • Many times over the course of the adventure did I go back for my buddy. Once I realized that “stick together and your scarf recharges” mechanic it became a buddy cop movie. Every now and then I’d go off on my own to look for secrets or whatever and my older (wiser?) companion would catch up and start peeping randomly at me, which I took to mean “no, THIS way!” I found a bunch of hidden murals this way, just following around experienced people.
      • Kept my scarf right up until the point where the big dragon ambushes you in the snowfield. Surprised! Also angry, since I (correctly) guessed that there was an achievement tied to not losing it, but whatever.
      • Had some great “going back for your buddy” moments in the final climb. Sometimes I’d get ahead of him, sometimes the wind would blow me back and I’d see him come running at a good clip to make sure I was OK. “Peep?” “Peep peep.” It’s good bro, I’m ok. I’m ok. In the end we reached the summit together, covered in snow.
      • How about that feeling when you enter the final area?
      • Lynette’s theory on the ending: [SPOILARS]

      In the course of our travels I encountered 8 different people on PSN, all of whom I differentiated by the different character appearing over your head. Judging by the gestalt I was taking away from the murals, the wanderer represents a member of a long-dead society which had once been harmonious but which had been leveled into dust by war, pride, cataclysm… the ususal suspects. The ghosts of the ancients (angels?) and the bodies of the dead are the only thing that remained from that glorious time.

      The characters that appear on your chest and when you speak represent principles from that society or age. What those principles are, we’re not given to know as players. Make up your own mind for what your own sigil represented, but I say for my first playthrough my own principle was something like “resolve”, while my erstwhile companion represented “curiosity” or something. Make up your own mind.

      In the aftermath of the apocolypse, the souls of those who destroyed their home must make their way to the summit of the holy mountain as some kind of atonement so that they can move on to the next life. Your character is animated by one of these principles — we see it leave the mountaintop and fly down to the ground as a shining distant star at several points in the game. When you “wake up” this principle compels you to journey to the summit where your body will eventually be purified and released from its burden. Once this happens, the principle leaves to go animate another citizen, and you pass on.

      In short, the symbols are cyclical and eternal but the journey of the individual is temporal. Along the way the player tries as best as he can to understand the history of his people, but at the end it’s not really important whether you grok the facts behind the cataclysm. What is important is that your journey exemplifies what principle you bond with and take with you from the world up to the mountain. It’s this principle that ultimately bouys you up when your body fails transforming you into a state of grace.

      In some sense, I imagined that thousands of years of discrete individuals all bringing their knowledge and experiences with them from out of the desert with great humility back to “god” in the mountain ultimately redeems the civilization and brings it peace and enlightenment.

      That’s what I got from the game, anyway.

    • bowlisimo 6:18 pm on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      My takeaway was mostly an emotional one, which surprised me. I found myself caring only slightly about understanding the narrative past a surface level, and getting completely lost in all of the moments with my companion instead.

      And that’s what I feel like really sets this game apart from something like Flower or Dear Esther, it’s the introduction of another traveler and all of the shared experience and emotion that comes with that. It’s handled in such an organic way, in the beginning it’s possible to not even know someone else is there until you crest a dune and see another scarfed face curiously staring at you. It’s jarring at first, like @beige described.

      But, it starts to feel very natural to travel with someone else. After experiencing the joy (real joy) of skimming along the desert with those flying carpets leading us, we just kind of stuck together and we didn’t *have* to which is one of the coolest things — that someone else chose to experience it with me. Limited communication, no prejudices, just taking things as they come, whether that was stopping to take in a beautiful vista, having them come back to get your or vise versa, or huddling together against the harsh wind and snow, weakly chirping, as if to say “I’m still here, come on, we can do this!”

      You actually do go on proper a journey too, it was not the lonesome exploration game I was expecting, though it does start out that way. There’s real danger and struggle along the way, and you push yourselves to the point of collapse. It’s also very clear right from the start where you need to go, just not necessarily why, but I feel that the why isn’t really important.

      To me, it was a mystical journey that I chose to undertake and share with another soul, and after all that, the elation of persevering and slowly walking off into the light with that very same soul had me come out of that game feeling like a million bucks.

      Beautiful, beautiful, amazing game.

    • bowlisimo 6:18 pm on April 2, 2012 Permalink

      Played through this again, it was a different experience two weeks later. Had a white robed guy just sort of instinctively guide me around to grab all of the achievements and hidden spots. Thought I lost him on the last level but when I got to the top he was waiting for me. ❤

      I've got my own omniscient white robe now, maybe I'll help someone else out one of these days.

      Didn't have nearly the same happiness high that I did the first time, but it's still a wonderful experience.

  • RocGaude 3:11 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink |
    Tags:   

    Mass Effect 3: “The Eloquent Shepard”

    A Spoiler-filled Squad Discussion

    Let’s just play it and talk about it, Squad-style. We’re going to anyway. Let’s keep it tidy.

    WARNING: Read this if you plan on using your 360 cloud save!!

     

    • bowlisimo 3:39 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Come back to me, Ash. I didn’t bone any of the weirdo broads in ME2.

    • RedSwirl 4:40 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Honestly, even though I just finished a double marathon of ME2, I’m thinking of starting a third, mostly-Renegade Ashely run through all three games.

    • A.J. 6:58 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      For those of you doing the PC version, we may as well all be Origin friends if we aren’t already. As you may guess, I’m Ajguy on there.

    • bowlisimo 2:06 pm on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Origin = Bowlisimo

    • CMWhittington 7:11 pm on March 4, 2012 Permalink

      Here’s the breakdown of the Shepard I’ll be going into ME3 with:

      Roc Shepard

      Male Paragon Sentinel
      (default appearance)

      Relationships:
      Ashley (ME1)
      Fling w/ Kelly (ME2)
      Miranda (ME2 – Broken off)
      Tali (ME2 – Current)

      Deceased team members:
      Kaiden

      DLC Completed:
      ME1 – None
      ME2 – All except for “Arrival”

      Major Events:
      ME1 – Saved Council, Wrex, and Rachni. Sacrificed Kaiden.
      ME2 – Earned loyalty of all members. Finished Suicide Mission with 0 casualties. Spared Collector’s Base.

    • RedSwirl 7:28 pm on March 4, 2012 Permalink

      Arrival’s annoying but it’s also kind of important because it explains Shepard’s situation at the beginning of ME3. Don’t know why they charged money for it.

    • Pete Davison 12:56 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Because EA, that’s why. But let’s not start all that again. 🙂

    • JeffGrubb 1:01 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      That cloud save issue just gave me a mild panic attack because I don’t specifically know where my save is…I need to check.

    • beige 2:59 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      All I can say is that replaying the DLC (in the order it was released: Stolen Memories -> Overlord -> Shadow Broker -> Arrival) has 100% done the job of re-stoking my slavering enthusiasm for this series. Took a few missions to warm back up into the groove but I had to force myself to stop playing at a quarter to one in the morning last night I was enjoying myself so much. Took maybe an evening to shoot through 75% of the DLC and I aim to finish up the rest tonight.

      Also I have good odds on Gamerama selling me a collector’s edition under the table tonight before release date so we’ll see how that goes after a little recon.

    • beige 3:01 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      As soon as we can sort out this obesity epidemic in NA I’m onside with skintight body armor and envirosuits making a sci-fi comeback as a fashion statement. It’s like nobody on the Normandy’s even seen a cheeseburger before.

    • beige 3:21 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Also, those of you contemplating switching platforms or NOT importing an old save (say, because of the above glitch…) may want to read the following list of “Shit EA/Bioware done make a decision for you about if you don’t have previous game data in Mass Effect 3”

      Basically, if it’s possible for them to screw you over and kill people/ make you fail missions / make you have NOT done missions / give you the most poop result they possibly can, they’ve done it. Seems like kind of a dick move, even for EA.

      ++++ Mass Effect 1 choices ++++

      • Garrus was recruited
      • Wrex was recruited
      • The feros colony was not saved
      • Shiala, the asari, was killed by the Thorian
      • The Rachni Queen died
      • Shepard killed Wrex on Virmire
      • Shepard had no romance (oh noes!)
      • The destiny ascension, along with the council, was destroyed.
      • Udina was named counsellor
      • All side missions and DLC content are considered as if you did not do them

      ++++ Mass Effect 2 choices ++++

      • It is assumed Shepard did not do any loyalty missions
      • Shepard did not help Mordin, as such no chance was made to save or destroy the genophage cure data.
      • Tali was exiled by her people
      • Shepard had no romance
      • Zaeed and Kasumi were never recruited
      • Mordin is alive
      • Garrus is alive
      • Miranda is alive
      • Jacob is alive
      • Grunt was never woken up from the tank and as such is never mentioned
      • Jack died during the suicide mission
      • Thane died during the suicide mission
      • Tali was recruited and is alive
      • Tali never romanced
      • Samara was never recruited, but she fought her way off of ilium and was then murdered by Morinth.
      • Legion was never reactivated and never gained a name
      • Shepard destroyed the collector base
      • The only normandy crew members that survived the suicide mission were Joker and Chakwas. Yeoman chambers and all other mass effect 2 non-squad members died.
      • Shepard did not complete optional N7 missions and assignments (such as citadel missions)
      • Shepard did not complete Arrival, Overlord or the shadow broker DLC. But the events of Arrival and Overlord happened off screen, the batarian system still exploded, and Liara is still the shadow broker.

      http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/995452-mass-effect-3/62132637

    • CMWhittington 3:28 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Wow, that’s some lubeless violating par excellance. Good thing I’ve still got my savior of the universe queued up. While it would really, REALLY suck if my actions don’t affect the events of ME3, I’m prepared for that to be the case. Still got lots of love for the ride.

    • bowlisimo 3:31 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Oof. That’s god awful. If that’s the default, it makes me wonder how well the alternatives are fleshed out. I swear to god if I get a Rachni email…

    • bowlisimo 3:35 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Who the hell kills Wrex, anyway?

    • Shingro 3:38 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Ick, well, how better to ensure that new fans of Mass Effect will go back and buy the old games? I wonder if they’re going to have a “Fallout-style” ending recap that rubs your face in the fact that all these people are dead and gone too?

      On the flip side maybe the doctors just wanted to write a tragedy… only you intrepid explorers can find out.

    • RedSwirl 4:17 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Isn’t the game gonna have a sort of “Mass Effect 3 Genesis” thing though? On ME2 if you want you can go through a visual novel version of the first game and make the major decisions. It’s even been released as DLC for the 360 and PC. You’d think they’d let you do the same thing with ME2 once you started 3.

    • CMWhittington 4:24 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      I guess we’ll know tomorrow.

    • beige 4:27 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Yeah, and appropos of nothing there is *HUGE RAGE* on gameFAQs right now about the ending of Mass Effect 3.

      Now, I don’t know who has
      a) Already got the game
      b) Managed to finish it by now
      c) An opinion I should care about

      I’m not sweating it yet. I can imagine (total speculation here) Bioware making you choose another “more expendible than you” character sequence *cough GARRAS or LIARA cough* who would pull player heartstrings by dying heroically as a loyal ‘the universe needs you alive’ second in place of Shepard with nothing the player could do to prevent it. As a writer, I’d be fine with this. As a raging NeoGAFer and entitled gameplayer I could imagine someone getting angry at not being able to bring ’em all back alive (especially since they DID give you the opportinuty for a happy ending in ME2) . Basically, just saying that there is a huge amount of rage out there at the moment but that I don’t consider Joey NeoGAF to be the best judge of what makes a good narrative PER SE. They could blow up the earth but do it in style and I’d be OK with that.

      Still, an ending that pisses MOST people off would be pretty surprising from the folks at BW and not bode well. I mean, we were all cool with Red Dead even though it had a downer ending, right? No rage there? We’re not THAT dumb, collectively.

      Also, let’s not forget “Galactic Readyness”. If you finish the game before it even officially launches, can you really claim to be as ready as humanly possible?

    • CMWhittington 4:35 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      I completly agree. The end of the Shepard arc damn near requires a major sacrifice(s) for it to retain levity. Hell, Alastair’s “good death” in DA:O left me quite satisfied despite him being one of my “go to” road dogs fir the entire game.

    • bowlisimo 12:57 am on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      Rejoice! There is now a “Helmets off during conversations” option. You can actually wear something other than the visor now.

    • RedSwirl 8:38 am on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      Okay, 45-Minute Report: Because it is ass-o-clock Eastern Standard Time and I need to go lay down.

      Con: Imported characters will look very different, especially if they originated in ME1. BioWare tweaked the art assets so much that almost every customized character will look significantly different, and not for the better in my case. If you did bring a character all the way from ME1, you also gotta go through this long-ass process just to get their face in the damn game.

      Pro: Graphics are way better than ME2. So far probably not ranking in the top Unreal Engine 3 games (like Gears 3, Mirror’s Edge, etc.), but definitely a visible upgrade from ME2. Love the motion blur, and my PC still cranks this shit out 60+ frames per second.

      Pro: Music is a clear upgrade. I didn’t even have to get out of the character customization screen to realize that. It even reminded me of ME1 more than 2. It sort of sounds like a big, epic version of ME1’s soundtrack.

      General: I already know I’m gonna want to keep playing this shit firs thing tomorrow. I only tend to get that feeling from GOTY contenders.

    • RedSwirl 8:45 am on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      Lastly, in case you guys don’t know yet, your level, skill points, and all Shepard’s powers will carry over from ME2. So if you finished with a level 30 character, you will have a level 30 Shepard right from the get-go, and some 20-odd points to spend on each squad member.

    • Jeff Grubb 3:09 pm on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      Here’s my article regarding the face-code error. Did any of you face this?

      Gamers who customized Shepard in Mass Effect 1 may have trouble importing into ME3 (update)

    • bowlisimo 4:09 pm on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      Nope. Thankfully Mark Vanderloo still looks like Mark Vanderloo.

    • feenwager 10:11 pm on March 7, 2012 Permalink

      Mass Effect 3 (non-spoiler) thoughts, 9 hours in:

      • It’s great. You can ignore all the other stuff below if that’s all you were wondering.
      • I can honestly say this is the first BioWare game that looks as good as it plays and feels. Great use of the Unreal Engine.
      • The shooting is tuned really well, and if you just wanted to play this as a 3rd person shooter you could certainly do much worse. The enemies use some tactics, and it has felt fair, not frustrating most of the time.
      • Tough to tell what I feel about the story so far, but it feels great to be back in this universe. Perhaps because i played through ME2 twice, everything feels very familiar, and it’s great to see old friends.
      • Not sure if I love the whole “War Effort” stuff. It feels kind of disconnected from the main game, and while the planet scanning is certainly less tedious than before, it still isn’t very exciting.
      • I’m also not sure if I totally love the way you pick up side quests. For the most part, you get them by overhearing conversations and than vague quests kind of just show up in your quest log. There is no way to have an “active” quest, and the whole thing is making me feel like I’m always missing something.
      • That said, there is a very cool, old-school feel to the game in certain ways. You can get a message on your terminal that says, “Shepard, meet me at the Purgatory Bar” and that’s it. No quest shows up, no bread crumbs. You have to remember to stop in at the Purgatory Bar next time you’re there to see what it’s all about.
      • Shepard has become a much better dancer in the last 5 years.

      Two serious issues I have with the game:

      • The constant disc swapping on the Xbox, even with both discs installed, is lame. Lame. Lame. Lame.
      • Can nobody at BioWare design a UI? I know they promised a return to a more detailed inventory system compared to ME2, but did that mean they couldn’t come up with a good way to manage load outs, check your inventory (which you really barely have), and manage your squad? The load-out screens are especially obtuse, and on what planet does the B button confirm anything? Bleh. Double bleh.

    • CMWhittington 12:30 am on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      Had @angryjedi decided to play the game, I imagine that he’d quit the moment the boy bites it from a Reaper blast.

    • feenwager 12:36 am on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      #spoiler

    • CMWhittington 3:07 am on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      Hence, the subtitle of the main post.

    • CMWhittington 3:08 am on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      So, the relationship between Joker and EDI was a surprise. Looking forward to exploring that one with the squad once I see where it ends.

    • impynickers 6:03 am on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      I am really feeling the subtle improvements to the movement and combat. Very nice stuff.
      Also the loadout options, and the new skill upgrade options seem to be designed much much better.
      The interface has come a long way from the original game, which had a terrible interface for just about everything.

      Like with every other game in the series, the beginning is quite linear and drawn out. It will be the part I wish I could skip with all my various future playthrough’s. It does however set the tone for what I believe will be a quite emotional journey. Stuff has already happened in my playthrough that is starting to test my Shephard’s traditional confident attitude. Also, my council are jerks. Fuck those guys.

    • CMWhittington 1:59 pm on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      At first, I was bummed that I wasn’t able to add all of my past squadmates back into my roster. Then I realized that it wasn’t the combat that I wanted them for but the conversations, which BioWare still provided me with.

      Does anyone else find themselves thinking, “who is this Hackett guy and why is he all up in my business?”

      The scene where Cortez greaves for his fallen husband was more honest and classy then I expected it to be. Well done, BioWare.

    • Pete Davison 2:09 pm on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      Hardly a spoiler, given that that particular event was plastered all over the trailers and demo footage.

    • impynickers 7:48 am on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      I am generally impressed with the quality of the missions I have played so far. The pacing is much better.
      I just beat a mission where I was saving some students from an academy, and I was impressed how interesting it actually ended up being. This is the kind of mission I would half pay attention to in the other games, but here it gets a nice extra layer of polish and some interesting characters/drama.

      @Roc Didn’t we hear Hackett’s voice a number of times in the first game or something? I don’t think we ever saw him. I think he would hail your comms and draw your attention to some side missions involving alliance business. Obscure character to give screen time, but whatever. I was more jarred by the implied relationship that developed between Shephard and James inbetween 2 and 3 games. I just looked at him like ‘Who is this guy, and how does he know me?’. The time jump between each game is kinda crazy.

      Similarly crazy I find is how the citadel is never the same in each game. I mean yes, they represent different areas of the citadel, but why does the Embassy office have to be presumably on the other side of the citadel from where it used to be? I justify it in my head that Sovereign’s attack may have destroyed where the old place used to be… but sometimes I wish they took the time to render the old and the new just for a sense of consistency. Maybe thats just me. Its all pretty awesome though.

    • beige 2:14 pm on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      ALLRIGHT I’m on the N7 train. Got back from work after a hellish day yesterday, pulling long hours, slipping off my boots wearily and what do I see on the table in front of me? BOOYA. Also, this “rapid delivery to house” thing has some merit. I forsee Amazon Super Shipper in my future, bigtime

      All you others with the N7 Edition will bear this out, but holy god did the install take some time, especially with the 2-disc long massive 3-code downloadathon that takes place upon box cracking. Wow. So, uh, prop, Online Pass, From Ashes, DLC… uh… that everything? Jesus H Christ EA. I felt like I was updating my PS3 firmware here, waiting on my progress bar. “Let me slip into something more comfortable Shepard”…. [waits on bed for 45 minutes]

      I was joking to Lynette “Hey, maybe I’ll actually be playing this thing by 10 oclock”. Don’t make jokes like that. 10:09, booted it up to find that Shep’s face didn’t or won’t import correctly. Fffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. Fortunately I’m not terribly far off the mark naturally. Was able to recreate in about 20 mins. These things are important.

      Thoughts:

      • Who the hell is James? No, seriously, are we supposed to know this guy?
      • Bowley, I instantly thought of you seeing red during that first “slow mo” sequence at the end of the Mars mission. “Noooooooooooo you muthafugggaah wwwwwrrrrraaaaahhhhhhhhg!!!!”
      • Anderson is great, as usual.
      • JUMPING! This is one of those things I was thinking about specifically when (re)playing ME2. “You know what would improve this experience? Bruce Willis action stunts!” Sliding down collapsing superstructure, firing at zugs: “You got your Uncharted in my Mass Effect!” Love it.
      • Pacing seems super snappy so far. Lynette was mentioning this in a negative context as compared with the more free roaming Mass Effect 1, but I’m generally onside with it. If the directors need to take a firmer hand and narrow the funnel in order to keep things ticking briskly, I’ll trust their directorial judgement. Still don’t have the ship so I don’t know whether things will open up or not.
      • Council: Keeping it useless since 2167
      • Engineer class still rules. Thought seriously about switching it up for ME3, but glad I didn’t. New ability to hurl little hockey pucks that transform into stationary turrets is easily my new favorite power. “Have some of these! And these! And these! (cue up attack drone) Flush ’em out!”
      • I wish they wouldn’t make me start making romance choices before I’ve met everybody again. My Shepard is conflicted. Ashley -> Miranda -> unknown…. I hardly know these people anymore “I’m the same man as I always was, Ashley”… except I’m not. Will Sparks fly for Shepard and Tali in this third installment, or will our hero be lucky in action but unlucky in love? Time will tell.

    • beige 3:14 pm on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      Hey romantics: I just discovered that my plans for romancing ladies come Mass Effect 3 have come to a screeching halt. Bioware won’t let you pick up the pieces of romances that you aborted as a result of a decision to choose (other) people in Mass Effect 2. This is a shame. I’d been kind of angling in my case for a Shepard who eventually came around to a “..the time wasn’t right back then….” 11th hour romance with Tali the Quarrian but Bioware says that if you let someone down easy, they stay let down.

      To sum up: Looks like your choices are:

      • Anybody you successfully paired with in ME1 or ME2
      • New people in ME3.
      • If you “cheated” in ME2 you can get back together with ME1 people, but it will take extra work.
      • No playing the field amongst your crew.
      • Note: Characters from ME2 are NOT romance options for Shep unless you “carried the romance through” from an imported ME2 saved game.

      Sorry Tali. I was hoping to make your Quarrian day, but I hope you find some nice guy instead.

      Back on the Getting To Know You train with Ashley…. Poor Shepard. This is what you get, for not choosing the nice girl when you had the chance playa. They don’t stay single. -____-;

    • beige 3:20 pm on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      I wonder if BioWare programmed any sort of contingency for a situation like that. I mean, having a “Broken hearted Shepard watching Tali walk away into the distance” scene would be fucking awesome in a “what goes around comes around” kinda way. Guess we’ll find out.

    • RedSwirl 3:22 pm on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      I was kinda hoping Traynor turned out to be the new Kelly.

    • RedSwirl 3:27 pm on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      Crap. Read some Tali spoilers on the Wiki.

    • RedSwirl 6:36 pm on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      This is just some stupid thinking on my part, but here’s what I gather so far about the Reaper war in 20th century terms:

      The Humans = The Soviet Union
      The Turians = England
      The Batarians = Poland
      The Volus = France
      The Asari = The United States
      The Reapers = Nazi Germany
      Cerberus = The Empire of Japan

      Roughly speaking.

    • impynickers 10:15 pm on March 10, 2012 Permalink

      Romancible Jessica Chobot? Good lord, I had no idea.

    • feenwager 12:35 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      You know that moment in a good RPG where you feel like you’ve accomplished a lot and then the world opens up and you suddenly have a full quest log again?

      That just happened. Sweet.

    • CMWhittington 12:38 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      At what point is that? This is a spoiler thread so let it rip.

    • CMWhittington 12:39 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Yeah, and she looks…odd. I found it funny that she’s only worth 5 “war readiness” bucks.

    • feenwager 12:39 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      I’ll try to stay somewhat spoiler free, so I’ll say it’s right after an assault on the Citadel.

    • sinfony 1:48 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Spent the afternoon trying out the multiplayer. It’s pretty good! The microtransaction element of it is a bit annoying, but I’m having a ball ignoring all that and playing matches with pubbies. Still haven’t managed to win a round–died on 10th wave several times, though. And it’s done wonders to allay my fears about tying into the maingame, as just the afternoon’s play was enough to kick my war readiness up 20%. Definitely worth a go.

    • Jeff Grubb 1:55 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      I’m a little bit past that. Have you had to switch between the first and second disc much? I switched to disc two a while ago and haven’t switched back a single time. I just hope I didn’t miss anything.

    • Jeff Grubb 1:59 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      SPOILER:

      Anyone choose to kill the Rachni queen in the first game?

    • Jeff Grubb 2:03 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Well, that isn’t the spoiler, but what I want to talk about is…oh, fuck off. I’ve been playing this game non-stop.

    • feenwager 2:51 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      I did. Why?

    • CMWhittington 3:04 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Good to know. My son’s been playing the MP non-stop and his war readiness is at 98%. However, he didn’t play for a day and it went down to 97%…the horror!!

      I am at the spot where I “need” to play MP to make sure my end game is what I want it to be. I just don’t want to have to play it for too long.

    • CMWhittington 3:06 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      I’m gearing up for an attack on Mr. Illusive Man’s home turf. Damn has this game gotten under my skin in a good way.

      The disc swapping has been more then ME2 which is disheartening. I’d say I’ve swapped it about 4 times.

    • Jeff Grubb 3:13 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      There are several really big missions involving them. The big one involves Grunt. I was just wondering if they really cut that out for people who killed the Rachni Queen, or if they cheated and replaced it with some generic placeholder.

    • feenwager 3:16 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      they didn’t cut it. Instead I got a crazy hybrid rachni/reaper abomination that I had to either destroy or recruit. It was cool, but in retrospect it kind of dulls the impact of that decision in the first game.

    • Jeff Grubb 3:19 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Oof. That’s some BS. I got the same thing, however, I could recruit the Rachni queen to fight in the war.

    • CMWhittington 12:52 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      I’ve reached the “point of no return” and all that’s left is for me to boost my “war readiness” score. As far as I know, I only have 2 options to do this: 1) play the multi-player for awhile and/or 2) play the iOS game. While there’s no way I’m doing the later, I’ve seriously considered letting my son play the MP on my behalf. After 3 games of seeing this story through (which is the only reason I’m invested in this series), you’d think I’d be able to hop right in there and get an ending I’d be happy with. Instead, I feel like I’m forced to play a gameplay feature that’s probably only there because a tool at EA deemed it a necessary add-on.

      I’m trying not to get too frustrated with BioWare. On one hand, they’ve really done a great job with Mass Effect. It’s the futuristic, GI Joe-stylized “Choose Your Own Adventure” video game I would have killed for when I was 13. It’s just that a lot of seams are showing now and the business side of the industry is taking too much control of the interactive reins. Mass Effect will go down in history as being a textbook example of what happens when ambition is met halfway by the forces that will allow it to grow leaving only a shell of the original, beautiful ideal.

    • Pete Davison 1:57 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Yeah, don’t play the iOS game.

      Also, I was afraid of what you describe. What a shame. Ah well.

    • beige 2:15 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      You guys are all cockteases. We just finished the part where Mordin shows up for his first cameo last night. Damn, I love this party.

      Had a difficult decision last night were my Shepard had to tell Miranda it was over. Rather than lead all the female characters on until I’m forced to make a decision between one of them THIS TIME my Shepard took his lumps like a man. Miranda, tears in eyes, telling me that she was going to be OK, but obviously really not really. We’ll keep in touch. Except we won’t. Fuck. That was my first “stare at this dialogue choice for like, ten minutes while I get a ginger ale and contemplate” moment of ME3. There’s something very final in making choices like that. After years of play, as a player you’re finally committing to one course of action and sticking with it — this or that – defining for the last time what Shepard’s ultimate story is going to be. That sound you hear is doors closing all over the place. Poor Shepard. See, the thing is Miranda — we thought that we both might die tomorrow, and both of us were supposed to be grownups with no regrets — the only two adults on the Normandy without significant issues in that department. Then we go our separate ways and that’s that. You were supposed to be the one whose skin was thick enough to take it. Now, sadly I don’t think it’s going to work out that well or happily for this character now, and it’s kinda my fault, maybe, a little. Uh oh. At least they gave you an “it’s… complicated” dialogue option. Ash, you better appreciate your fucking Tennyson novel. At least I can console myself with not being a FemShep who was into Thane in ME2. Poor fucking guy. Talk about a doomed romance.

      As I said before, I’m now moving into a sort of state of regrets about a few of my choices from earlier in the series, but that’s OK. I’ve accepted that it’s not going to be a happy time for everybody involved. I like Wrex on a personal level but the Krogan are kind of freaking me out right now. Shepard is already doing things I’m not proud or particularly comfortable with here just to make sure there are boots on the ground and that the alliance survives.

      Little cameos and dialogue tweaks from past games keep cropping up here and there and making me smile. Kasumi Goto, the Arrival guy… just little shout-outs to people who actually played the DLC with various references pasted in there.

      If I have one gripe so far it’s that my special “From Ashes” character who seems like he should be kind of, y’know, A BIG FUCKING DEAL has not had any significant dialogue contributions nor has particularly piped up on missions to say this or that. I keep bringing him along in the hopes that maybe this time things will be different, but I’ve found that the most juicy interactions are just to keep kicking everything back to a Mass Effect 1 love-fest with all the original cast getting the most screen time.

      I’m pretty sure you can get the best ending without having to do all this multiplayer nonsense. Galactic readiness is nice and all but you don’t need it. 50% is enough as long as you do lots of side questin’.

    • bowlisimo 5:11 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Grunt is dead in mine, had some random Krogan leading that squad. Dag or something.

      Saved the Rachni, saved the Queen AGAIN, now her and her kids are working on the crucible. Interesting. I was hoping friendly Rachni armies would come flooding out of the relays at the last moment, but I guess this will work too.

    • bowlisimo 5:19 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Multiplayer is great but it gets old fast, like really, really fast. I also hate these random packs you buy with in game currency. I can never unlock a damn thing. Ugh.

      It’s cool that it loosely ties into the singleplayer, but you know what? Just armchair developing here, but I would have spent those resources on THE GALAXY MAP.

      IT’S SO STUPID. Fly into system, carpet bomb with scans, find everything, die to Reapers, no penalty, restart in same system, go right to all the spots you found before and grab random war assets that should be a big deal to get, but are just a pop-up. WHAT’S THE POINT? This is the most frustrating part of the game for me.

      I hate to say it, but I’d rather scan for minerals.

    • bowlisimo 5:26 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      Heh, interesting. For me, talking to Miranda went something like this, “Hey, how’s it going? How’d that Cerberus thing work out? Your sister is gone? You need help? Well, I’ll take a break from saving the galaxy when you do. Bye.”

    • Jeff Grubb 10:40 pm on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      I made the same choice with Miranda. The thing is, I heard she has a quest involving her sister that was supposed to trigger there if you don’t make her tear up.

      That whole thing totally broke my heart by the way. Mass Effect’s face technology has never been great, but the disappointed conveyed when I told her that we were done was obvious in her sunken expression. Then the tears. It was affecting.

    • bowlisimo 2:57 pm on March 13, 2012 Permalink

      Didn’t make any progress last night, found a pub multiplayer team that was magical. Killed two silver random matches without much trouble. The galaxy is at 99% and I’m only 1/2-2/3 through the game, it feels like.

      I need to get going on this game, though. The hoopla surrounding the ending is slightly worrying. Petitions? Really?

      It’s weird, because the main line of the game has been AMAZING to me so far. Slowly watching that memorial wall on the Normandy fill up with names (including Kaiden, Legion, and Grunt from the first two games), rekindling love with Ash, touching moments, dramatic sacrifices and goodbyes, cinematic moments, I love it. Too bad the side stuff is all pointless and shallow, sort of like Assassin’s Creed, but as long as they keep it up and make good on all this military buildup, with a modicum of closure, I’ll be happy.

      Almost feel like I shouldn’t have finished MGS4 before this.

    • beige 3:12 pm on March 13, 2012 Permalink

      There’s certainly been a lot of handwringing about the ending online, that’s for sure. I’ve said time and again to Lynette that “the only opinions I care about are those in the Squadron of Shame”. Everyone else is a philistine and/or a Visigoth as far as I’m concerned. I don’t trust Joe NeoGAF to have a cultured objective opinion when it comes to things like this. Also, if I hear the term “Franchise Killer” I don’t necessarily think “bad thing”. You know what’s great about well written books and movies? They END. It’s like people have forgotten what a real story’s supposed to feel like in the age of undying lich-like IPs.

      Like Bowley, my experiences with ME3 so far have been fantastic – watching the Party come out of retirement for cameos here and there… some people’s storylines wrapping up for the worse, some better. I trust BioWare that in TEN YEARS of development time they’d probably have given some thought to the tone of how they wanted stuff to end.

      Lynette’s feelings (she’s read more rage-filled messageboards than I have) is that Bioware could screw everything up by removing “the feeling that player choices actually mattered” at the time it comes time to end the game. This is a fair point: I know that Bioware probably didn’t create, you know, assets for 70 different final encounters and 70 different final areas and final bosses that key off of whether or not you blew up X in game #1. This is AAA land, and it’s nice to want things. That said, they’ve already sunk a hell of a lot of money into creating things I’ll never see during MY playthrough – who knows what they’ll do?

      I’m probably going to be routed down a single path a la the Suicide Mission in ME2 when it comes time for this to build to a head. I might be fine with this, I might not. It will depend heavily on whether they can keep up the smoke and mirrors illusion that My Choices actually mattered in a significant way when it comes time to roll credits. On an intellectual level I know that the whole show is an illusion… my choices DON’T really affect things that much… but the way they’re presenting it to me right now obfuscates this in a pleasing way that lets me suspend my disbelief. When I see Mordin show up I’m kind of glad he didn’t die way back there in the day. Etc. It SEEMS like my story, even if it’s also your story. Does that make sense?

      I think I saw Lik post on facebook today that the game was finished and the ending was great and Epic. This is the first message of any kind I’ve had from someone within the squad, so it bodes well.

      This is from someone who wanted Master Chief to blow himself up to high hell though rather than continue on in franchise land. Say what you want about MGS4, that fucker ENDS.

    • CMWhittington 3:37 pm on March 13, 2012 Permalink

      While I haven’t finished it yet, all of this “internet rage” can only mean one thing: Shepard dies. Guess what? That’s how epics end. So be it.

      Like @liklik, Greg Knight (aka @Vegan) has finished the game and says great things about it. His take on games is definitely in line with ours so I’m not concerned.

    • beige 4:26 pm on March 13, 2012 Permalink

      Note the large and SPOILER FILLED article up right now at penny arcade’s “PA Report” called “Why the ending of Mass Effect 3 was satisfying, and worthy of the series (Massive spoilers)” By Ben Kuchera / Tue, Mar 13, 2012

      Note. MASSIVE SPOILERS. In case you didn’t read that before. I’m not going to link to it here so that nobody can accidentally click it, but if you’ve finished ME3 then go ahead and go over to Penny Arcade and examine to your hearts content. If you can condense your thoughts into something resembling spoiler-free prose I’d be interested to hear your take here on the box.

    • bowlisimo 5:06 pm on March 13, 2012 Permalink

      It’s cliche, but I’m fine with noble sacrifices, if that’s how it ends (I’m still a ways off). They’re satisfying. I voluntarily let my Dwarf die at the end of Dragon Age. Classic heroes usually die for the greater good.

      Although, I did have a thought last night about what a sequel set in the future, post Reapers, Shepard’s still alive, would be like. I kind of like the cliche where old Shepard (bearded and gray, like Sheriden in later B5) has to pull some of his crew back together on the Normandy (which is now completely obsolete at this point) for whatever reason and sort of have a No Country for Old Men realization on the way. I’m a relic, this galaxy ‘aint for me anymore.

      Another thought: Shepard doesn’t actually save the universe, the crucible isn’t a weapon, per se, and the reapers win, but the message is safely passed on to the next cycle or into the past or something weird in a Bastion-like ending.

      Just thinking out loud.

    • CMWhittington 5:34 pm on March 13, 2012 Permalink

      Oooo, that later option would probably piss me off.

    • beige 6:56 pm on March 13, 2012 Permalink

      FRANCHISE KILLA

    • tolkoto 6:43 am on March 14, 2012 Permalink

      I just finished the game, and I personally had a lot of problems with the ending. I don’t want to get to into it because I know a lot of you are still playing. I’ll hold off for a week or so.

      I will say that basically the problem was Bioware trying way, way too hard. Also, some of you are predicting that the hate is just nerd rage over Shepard dying/not dying (I’m not saying he does or doesn’t). It’s not that.

    • CMWhittington 12:42 pm on March 14, 2012 Permalink

      Interesting… *chin-stroking*

    • RedSwirl 11:36 pm on March 14, 2012 Permalink

      Yeah I finished it too, and I can definitely understand the nerd rage. It “ends” the universe of the games in a definitive way. Some have compared it to the end of The Return of the King, where the price for killing Sauron was that the Elves had to leave Middle Earth.

      The biggest problem though is that the endings are more similar to each other asset-wise than those of either of the previous games. It feels lazily-produced.

    • tolkoto 11:52 pm on March 14, 2012 Permalink

      Yeah, but in Lord of the Rings the elves were leaving anyway. It wasn’t really the “price” for killing Sauron. The real price, at least for Frodo, was the life he left behind and that he could never return to.

    • bowlisimo 9:08 pm on March 15, 2012 Permalink

      Still haven’t beaten this game, but this should be the credits music, it’s fucking great.

    • CMWhittington 9:16 pm on March 15, 2012 Permalink

      I’ll probably finish it this weekend because I’ve found a way to raise my war readiness w/o playing the MP: Mass Effect Datapad on iOS. It’s free and has a AC: Brohood-style mini-game where you send fleets into regions for missions and collect the booty at the end.

    • tolkoto 2:10 am on March 17, 2012 Permalink

      This is my favorite reasoning for why the ending sucked yet. Written by a screenwriter: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10022779/1

    • bowlisimo 5:21 am on March 17, 2012 Permalink

      I’m almost there, Mike, but it just keeps getting better. I can’t possibly imagine how they fuck this up. I don’t see any signs. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop constantly, like Shepard takes a dump and uses it as the catalyst or something.

      Next stop, Asari space.

    • impynickers 4:46 pm on March 17, 2012 Permalink

      @bowlisimo That song is so gooood….

      Also, I beat the game. I see what the fuss is about, but the game overall was spectacular. So I can deal with it.

    • feenwager 1:34 am on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      The ending was fine. Some of the stuff in the final moments wasn’t as well presented as it could have been, but the actual ENDING was everything it needed to be.

    • bowlisimo 2:02 am on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      Apparently I got the “Best” ending. Can’t help but feel disappointed with how that was handled. I loved every moment of that game up to the point where you talk to the catalyst and make the decision.

      Even so, I can live with it, but I feel no sense of closure or accomplishment at all. Which really sucks.

      Shepard should have died, that scene where he takes a breath is a cop out, and I thought the scene after the credits was kind of hokey. Also, COMMANDER SHEPARD’S LEGEND LIVES ON THROUGH DLC.

      *eye roll*

    • beige 3:52 pm on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      Just got to the migrant fleet. I’m some behind yall as I’ve been up to my ass in aligators at work, but I’m running the slow and steady race. Disappointed to hear Bowls’ assessment as I’m currently sitting at the “I have no idea how they could fuck this up” phase.

    • impynickers 6:18 pm on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      One thing I felt throughout the final hours leading up to the climax was an incredible sense of weight and despair. I think they were able to really drive home that this is basically the end of the galaxy as they know it. Its a fools hope, and shephard is that Frodo with the ring wildcard. The game would not let up. I remember the epic struggle on earth, and it was exhausting and depressing.

      Shephard has never been tragic, but I felt bad for the character. All the crap he/she has put up with in this entire series, and here he/she is still the beacon of hope for the galaxy to the very end. There was a huge burden on this character, but my Shephard was a strong character. Not Marcus Fenix style strong, but a rock solid individual in which people could depend on.

    • sinfony 7:01 am on April 1, 2012 Permalink

      Okay, finished. Have spent a little bit of time poking around the internet seeing what people have to say. Most of the criticism I’ve come across is drivel. Indoctrination theory is pretty interesting. Will definitely be interesting to see what DLC they have in store.

      On the whole, thought the game was fantastic. My only real problem with it was that the direction and camerawork of most of the cutscenes was godawful. I don’t remember it being this bad in the first two games, but perhaps that’s just nostalgia talking.

    • CMWhittington 10:19 pm on April 1, 2012 Permalink

      I felt as if everything wrapped up a bit too tidy. Basically, if someone died, it was always for the greater good. With the final goodbyes being doled out systematically right before the final battle, well…it just felt too produced.

    • bowlisimo 6:08 pm on April 2, 2012 Permalink

      The only exception to that being Cortez, who exploded randomly in his shuttle. It was at this point that Ashley (my love interest from ME1, I brought Garrus/Ash to Earth) decided to scream this horrible misdirected scream.

    • bowlisimo 6:09 pm on April 2, 2012 Permalink

      Oh, also Kelly Chambers WHO CERBERUS SHOT IN THE HEAD.

  • RocGaude 1:05 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink |
    Tags: ,   

    The Feenwager Challenge

    (starting March 6th)

    (More …)

     

    • feenwager 1:20 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      The list:

      Xbox 360:

      Arkham City
      Dead Island
      Castlevania: lords of shadow
      Majin and the forsaken kingdom
      Deadly Premonition
      Singularity
      Skyrim
      Sonic generations
      Crysis 2
      Shadows of the damned
      Homefront
      Rage
      Gears 3: raam’s shadow
      Beyond good and evil hd
      Outland
      Sam and max save the world
      The beaconing
      Splinter cell conviction
      Mafia 2
      The saboteur

      PS3:

      Jak 2
      Jak 3
      Ico
      Shadow of the colossus
      Sly 3
      Ghost of sparta
      Shank
      Rochard
      Pixel junk sidescroller
      Back to the future episodes 2-5
      Dead nation
      Trine
      3d dot game heroes

      PC:

      Alice: Madness Returns
      Amnesia: Dark Descent
      Starcraft 2
      To The Moon
      Binding Of Isaac
      Divinty 2: Dragon Knight Saga
      Duke Nukem Fovever
      Gemini Rue
      Neverwinter Nights 2: Platinum
      Tales of Monkey Island 2-5
      Witcher 2

    • CMWhittington 1:30 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      The List:

      *Amnesia
      *Baldur’s Gate
      *Baldur’s Gate 2
      Bulletstorm
      Castlevania: Lord of Shadows
      *Company of Heroes
      Darksiders
      *Dawn of War II
      Deus Ex: Human Revolution
      Hitman: Blood Money
      *Neverwinter Nights 2
      *Planescape: Torment
      Space Marine
      Splinter Cell: Conviction
      *S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
      *The Witcher
      *Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
      Vanquish

      *I currently have no way of playing these games until I get either Win 7 or a gaming PC. It might be awhile.

    • unmanneddrone 1:42 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      PC:

      • Shogun 2: Total War (two runs to a definitive end game)
      • Jagged Alliance: Back in Action
      • Wargame: European Escalation (single player campaign)
      • Real Warfare 2 (one run to a definite end game)
      • Capsized
      • East India Company Complete
      • Darkspore

      Vita:

      • WipEout 2048
      • Unit 13 (All solo missions / High Value Target missions)
      • Motorstorm RC

    • A.J. 2:54 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      You bastards would start this the day that Mass Effect 3 comes out. Let’s see…

      XBOX:
      Alan Wake
      Bullet Storm
      Child of Eden
      Crysis 2
      Dragon Age 2
      Fallout: New Vegas
      Gears of War 3
      Halo: Anniversary
      Lost Odyssey
      Red Dead Redemption

      PS3
      L.A. Noire
      Mortal Kombat
      Shadow of the Collosus
      Ico

      Wii:
      Super Mario Galaxy 2

      PC:
      StarCraft 2
      To the Moon

      Phew, this may take a while.

    • CMWhittington 2:56 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Don’t worry, this is some long tail shit.

    • unmanneddrone 3:42 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Am I doing it wrong or is there no way to edit posts in comment threads?

    • CMWhittington 4:00 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      You should be able to.

    • unmanneddrone 4:01 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Cool. No stranger to doing it utterly wrong. Cheers, Roc.

    • mjpilon 4:11 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      My list

      360:
      Saints Row the Third
      Assassin’s Creed Revelations
      Bioshock 2
      Bayonetta

      PS3:
      Heavy Rain
      Ico
      Shadow of the Colossus
      Uncharted 3 (currently going)
      Pixeljunk Monsters
      Pixeljunk Eden

      Wii:
      Okami
      Donkey Kong Country returns
      Super Mario Galaxy 2

      PC/ Mac:
      Amnesia – this will kept for October as per @Bowlisimo suggestion)
      Cave Story +
      Original Deus: Ex
      Rock of Ages
      Terreria
      VVVVVVV
      And yet it moves
      Blocks that matter
      Civ V

      I do have a issue I guess with my GameAccess subscription in that when I complete the game I have (right now Bayonetta) they will send me another one from my list…. but my pledge is to focus on the games I have right now and work on those once I clear these ones. Good with everyone?

    • RedSwirl 4:38 am on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Just wanna say, this is basically the reason for which the Squad was created… or at least why I joined it. Also, I can tell you right now that everything on my list ain’t gonna happen within the span of a year.

      My Current Gen List:

      Xbox 360:
      Need For Speed Hot Pursuit
      Dark Souls
      Shadow Complex
      Stacking
      Gears 3: RAAM’s Shadow
      Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts n’ Bolts
      Halo Anniversary

      PS3:
      3D Dot Game Heroes
      Demon’s Souls
      Top Spin 4
      Sly Collection
      Rayman Origins (nearly done)
      GTA IV

      PC (current gen):
      Skrim
      Fallout New Vegas
      Bioshock 2
      ArmA II
      Metro 2033
      STALKER Chermobyl
      STALKER Pripyat
      Gemini Rue
      Magicka
      Penumbra Black Plague
      Penumbra Requiem
      Amnesia
      Civilization V
      Sonic Generations
      Super Meat Boy
      Bionic Commando Rearmed
      Command & Conquer 3
      Cryostasis
      Deathspank
      Mount & Blade
      Trine

    • feenwager 12:55 pm on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Don’t worry, Red. I don’t think anyone has any illusions about clearing these lists within 2012.

    • impynickers 8:53 pm on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      My full pile of shame is pretty epic. The pile constitutes game I just never got around to beating, but I want to. I don’t intend on getting to most of it this year, but I would like to have it written down as a chronicle of shame. Just to remind me when I am bored what is waiting for me on my shelf, in a drawer, or digitally.

      will designate games I actually intend on playing for the duration of this challenge.

      Steam:
      Aquaria
      *Rage
      *Magicka
      *Freedom Force
      *Trine
      *Dead Space 2
      *Scratches:Director’s Cut
      Singularity
      Breath of Death VII
      Cave Story
      The Binding of Isaac
      Dino D-Day
      Duke Nukem Forever
      *Machinarium
      Metro 2033
      Torchlight
      The Void

      GOG:
      *Gabriel Knight 3
      Sanitarium
      Beneath a Steel Sky
      Messiah
      Syberia
      Broken Sword

      Origin:
      *Mass Effect 3
      *Battlefield 3

      CD’s:
      Anachronox
      Stalker: Misery
      The Neverhood
      Heretic II
      Sin
      Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller
      Revenent
      Under a Killing Moon
      *The Legend of Kyrandia 2: Hand of Fate

      Sneak King
      *Saints Row the Third
      *Rayman Origins
      *Dead Island
      *SSX

      Dreamfall
      Fatal Frame II
      Jade Empire
      Conker: Live and Reloaded

      *Pixeljunk Shooter 2
      *Resistance 3 co-op
      Invincible Tiger
      Everyday Shooter

      Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
      Rogue Galaxy
      Maximo
      Tenchu Wrath of Heaven
      Odin Sphere

      Sabrina the teenage witch: A twitch in time
      Vagrant Story
      Crusader: No Remorse
      Blood Omen: The Legacy of Kain

      (you heard me):
      *Last Story
      Xenoblade Chronicles

      F-Zero GX (Story Mode)

      >NES>
      Bill and Ted’s Excellent Videogame Adventure
      River City Ransom
      Dig Dug II
      Battletoads

      That is a relief. Its all out in the open. I hope I am not forgetting anything. Time to get to work.

    • impynickers 8:58 pm on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      elements of this post have disappeared…. Interesting. You get the gist.

    • impynickers 9:02 pm on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      To Simplify:
      *Rage
      *Magicka
      *Freedom Force
      *Trine
      *Dead Space 2
      *Scratches:Director’s Cut
      *Gabriel Knight 3
      *Mass Effect 3
      *Battlefield 3
      *The Legend of Kyrandia 2: Hand of Fate
      *Saints Row the Third
      *Rayman Origins
      *Dead Island
      *SSX
      *Pixeljunk Shooter 2
      *Resistance 3
      *The Last Story

    • impynickers 9:06 pm on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      And yes, one day I intend on beating both Sneak King and Sabrina the Teenage Witch: A Twitch in time … thank you very much.

    • feenwager 10:32 pm on March 3, 2012 Permalink

      Wow, man. You went deep. Godspeed.

    • unmanneddrone 2:39 am on March 4, 2012 Permalink

      What a cracking list! Some great titles there, Impy. Great to see Revenant in the mix.

    • Pete Davison 6:03 pm on March 4, 2012 Permalink

      ALL RIGHT FOOLS. Here we go. I am doing my own slight twist on the challenge which is to go without buying any new triple-A games for a whole year and see if it’s possible to exist on indie, retro and slightly lesser-known titles alone. I think it’ll be possible.

      Then at a games night last night someone pointed out that if Diablo III came out this year, we should play multiplayer. So I have amended my challenge to be “go without buying any new triple-A games (except Diablo III) for a whole year and see if it’s possible to exist on indie, retro and slightly lesser-known titles alone.”

      My pile includes a few games that I haven’t bought yet. While this may seem like a bastardisation of the very Pile of Shame concept, I have long been intending to play these games and just haven’t got around to it. In short, I would have bought them anyway, and adding them to my list means I might actually get to them. Non-owned games have been marked with a dollar sign.

      So here goes. I will probably have to make several edits to this list.

      PS2
      Killer7
      ICO
      Shadow of the Colossus
      Metal Gear Solid 3
      Odin Sphere
      Persona 3 FES
      Shadow Hearts
      Shadow Hearts: Covenant
      $ Yakuza 2
      Project Zero (aka Fatal Frame)
      $ SMT: Digital Devil Saga
      $ SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2

      PS3
      3D Dot Game Heroes
      Demon’s Souls
      Dark Souls
      Yakuza 3
      $ Yakuza 4
      Midnight Club LA

      PSP
      Corpse Party (currently playing)
      $ Persona
      $ Persona 2: Innocent Sin
      $ Persona 3 Portable (this may replace Persona 3 FES in the above list)
      $ Trails in the Sky

      Xbox 360
      Rayman Origins

      PC
      Amnesia
      Aquaria
      Assassin’s Creed II
      Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood (OnLive)
      Breath of Death VII
      Chantelise
      Cthulhu Saves the World
      Far Cry 2
      $ Fortune Summoners
      GTA: San Andreas
      GTA IV
      GTA IV: Episodes from Liberty City
      Hacker Evolution
      Hacker Evolution: Untold
      HeXen II
      Hard Reset
      Jade Empire
      King’s Bounty
      King’s Bounty: Armored Princess
      King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame
      Magicka (Squad multiplayer sometime, hmm?)
      Mata Hari
      Neverwinter Nights 2
      Portal 2 Co-Op
      Puzzle Agent
      Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper
      Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis
      Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened
      Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Mummy
      Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet
      Sherlock Holmes: The Secret of the Silver Earring
      Take On Helicopters
      Thief: Deadly Shadows
      Time Gentlemen, Please!
      TRAUMA
      Trine
      Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
      VVVVVV
      X-COM Apocalypse (and possibly the previous two)
      Baldur’s Gate II (inc. Throne of Bhaal)
      Gabriel Knight 3
      Ghost Master
      Master of Magic
      Ultima Underworld
      Ultima Underworld II
      $ Ultima VII

      Wii
      Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
      Zack & Wiki
      Xenoblade Chronicles New Game + run alongside anyone else playing it… maybe

    • RedSwirl 1:05 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Honestly, I’m too scared to break out my handheld backlog. Even limiting it to the DS and PSP just looks scary. The bad part is that almost all of my unfinished handheld games are long-ass RPGs.

    • RedSwirl 1:18 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      The worst thing about having a backlog though is that it ensures you’ll always be moving from game-to-game. You never have the time to just stick with one or a handful of really great games like you used to. I hate that.

      There are a bunch of games I bought last year that I would still be playing the shit out of if I still had the time. I think it’s devaluing the games themselves.

    • RedSwirl 1:26 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      And shit I didn’t even mention my Wii backlog. Yeah I got a Wii backlog. It’s the reason why I still own the system.

      Wii:
      Rhythm Heaven Fever
      Sin and Punishment: Successor to the Stars
      Endless Ocean
      Endless Ocean 2
      Punch-Out
      Metroid Prime Trilogy

    • unmanneddrone 2:19 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Don’t stress too much. And if you do, why not go swimming with the cetaceans in Endless Ocean!

    • sinfony 4:27 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Here is my very sad list:

      (all on PC)
      Total War: Shogun 2 (1 complete, non-tutorial game)
      The Witcher 2
      Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl
      Shift 2: Unleashed (reasonable progression)
      Alpha Protocol
      Left 4 Dead 2 (one attempt at each campaign)

      Sadly, this list is probably too ambitious. But let us see!

    • unmanneddrone 4:32 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      We’ll have to be Shogun 2 buddies, Sin. Let me know a tentative window when you plan to kick it off and we’ll compare notes. I’ll probably be ready for a little Shogun in a month’s time if Jagged Alliance can be dusted in that time.

    • sinfony 4:56 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      I’m afraid my schedule will be too erratic to figure out when I’ll give it a crack. I plan to read over frogbeastegg’s extremely elaborate walkthrough before I give it a go as well.

    • Shingro 6:05 am on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      I’d love to get some good squaddie info about Shogun 2 from you guys, I got the game but I’m having trouble keeping myself motivated to really dive into it.

    • unmanneddrone 12:52 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      @sinfony Whenever you’re up for it, let us know. I’ll busy myself with Real Warfare 2 until we hit Shogun.

      @shingro I totally (and somewhat shamefully!) just checked out your Steam list for comparisons…and you’ve got quite the swathe of hours on Civ V! I dunno, with the strategic map, it’s kind of the same thing…what’re your concerns at this point? (should this be a discussion outside the Challenge thread? I dunno. Make the call, sir!)

    • CMWhittington 4:18 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      I’ve culled my list over the weekend and dropped Darksiders. I figure that if I’m going to commit to playing through my pile, the games need to serve my entertainment needs at an acceptable level. Darksiders is just pissing me off. Too much of what’s turned me off to Zelda is angering me.

    • Shingro 6:57 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      I just feel like there’s more I should be doing, In civ I’m always trying to work additional tiles, managing building queues, get more technology and manage my social tree. Comparitively I feel like I somehow got through Shogun 2 without identifying the things that I’m supposed to be managing and working with per turn.

    • impynickers 7:08 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      I am in the same boat, I just included the games I got onto my list. When I am done, obviously I want my moneys worth. Games I rent through the service aren’t piling up like my pile of shame, they will stay at a consistent number. So I don’t see a big issue.

    • impynickers 7:14 pm on March 5, 2012 Permalink

      Count me in for some Magicka or Portal 2 co-op. These are both things I have yet to finish.
      Also, Baldur’s Gate II has co-op i think. I don’t know how that would manage on modern computers, maybe through Hamachi. You may want to solo it first though. The prospect gives me a joyous shiver. I am sure there will be some time synchronization we could manage.

    • unmanneddrone 8:05 am on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      There’s a lot of stuff below the surface, unlike Civ where all options are laid out on the table, so to speak. Granted, the Total War titles aren’t as fully-featured as a Civ game, but it’s primarily a wargame franchise. That said, I love the Shogun 2 diplomatic model and the tactical combat is fine as well.

      If you’ve already completed a run, though, I don’t know what to add, but if you’re feeling like you’re missing something, I second Sinfony’s statement of checking out FrogBeastEgg’s guide, as it’ll give you a great overview of things like province management and land development…

      SUPER DUPER GUIDE

      …once you’ve got an idea of what you felt was in deficit prior, have a crack at at a few different early game runs with different clans. And, of course, if you choose Shimazu, three cheers for you! I’m a few pixels west of Kagoshima on the Satsuma peninsula and will spur on the troops and the peasants for you.

    • scribl 8:21 am on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      @sinfony I just started on The Witcher 2 recently. It’s fantastic. It’s got everything I could ask for in a choice-centered WRPG.

      Would definitely be interested in playing along whenever you hit Alpha Protocol, STALKER, or Shogun 2. Also, I love me some L4D/2.

    • Pete Davison 11:54 am on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      Excellent, I would love to play some Magicka and Portal 2. Who’s around this weekend? I may make this a separate post to ensure people see it.

    • Shingro 6:03 pm on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      I’m game for this! I never did finish the game entire, missed the early boat on it =P got maybe halfway through the Portal 2 co-op but it’s a bit of a tarred experience ’cause my friend has already solved everything before

    • cgrajko 6:27 pm on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      PS3
      Nier
      Final Fantasy XIII
      LA Noire
      Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
      Resonance of Fate

      PSN
      Wipeout HD
      Costume Quest
      Little Big Planet

      Xbox 360
      Alan Wake
      Child of Eden
      Deadly Premonition
      Lost Odyssey
      Portal 2
      Child of Eden

      XBLA
      Perfect Dark (I have beaten it, but not on the hardest difficulty)
      Rez (cannot beat Area 5 for the life of me)
      Puzzle Quest 2
      Scott Pilgrim

      PC (There’s way too much here as it is, so I’m not listing all of the Indie Bundle stuff)
      Amnesia
      Aquaria
      Baldur’s Gate
      Baldur’s Gate II (I want to do both with the Tutu mod)
      The Blackwell Games
      Beneath a Steel Sky
      Cryostasis
      The Dig
      All 3 Deus Ex games.
      Fallout: New Vegas
      Limbo
      The Longest Journey
      Loom
      Machinarium
      The Penumbra series
      Recettear
      Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
      The Witcher

      Where the hell do I even start with this?

    • cgrajko 7:42 pm on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      Oh, yeah, I just remembered that I also have the Ico collection (both of which I beat on PS2, so they may not count.

      I also have STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, and Uncharted.

    • unmanneddrone 11:43 pm on March 6, 2012 Permalink

      What do you reckon you’ll tackle first, man?

    • cgrajko 12:37 am on March 7, 2012 Permalink

      I don’t even know. I was thinking that I may try to knock out some of the easier/shorter things first, but maybe I should play through an RPG concurrent with some of the shorter stuff on the list, so that I always have a longer game to fall back on if I’m in the mood for that and a shorter game to play in bursts if I want something bite sized.

      I guess I will finish up Nier and try to beat some of the PSN and XBLA stuff.

      How long are LA Noire and Alan Wake?

    • RedSwirl 2:15 am on March 7, 2012 Permalink

      I think we all need to start with the shorter stuff: downloadable games and stuff we’re almost done with.

    • unmanneddrone 1:00 pm on March 7, 2012 Permalink

      Hmm, I think Pete and Mark would be able to answer those two enquiries.

      Can I request a nice big @cgrajko spiel on Nier once you’ve dusted it?

    • cgrajko 7:37 pm on March 7, 2012 Permalink

      Oh, don’t worry, there will definitely be a nice, big spiel on Nier once I’ve finished it. Though, from what I understand, there are four endings. So, maybe there will be one spiel per ending or something.

    • unmanneddrone 3:17 pm on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      Looking forward to it. Only knowing it by reputation, both Nier and the Souls games seem to evoke some sort of Eastern Euro vibe.

      But yes, very keen to hear your thoughts on Kainé especially.

    • beige 4:25 pm on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      Re: Neir. Yeeeeeah…. I think I said everything I currently need to say on the subject here here and here. I’d repost in its entirity but this is the kind of thing that throws the board into discord. I’ll just add that if you are at all curious, give it a read. It’s shonuff a pretty thorough analysis of my thoughts on the game.

    • cgrajko 7:56 pm on March 8, 2012 Permalink

      Whoa, AJ, we have a lot of games in common. Just let me know when you want to start up Alan Wake, Child of Eden, Lost Odyssey, LA Noire, or one of the games from the Ico collection 🙂

    • cgrajko 12:36 am on March 9, 2012 Permalink

      Let me know when you start up Deus Ex, because I have never made it all the way through. I think I may need some external motivation or something.

    • RedSwirl 6:35 pm on March 10, 2012 Permalink

      After I finish ME3 I’m probably gonna catch up on my Film/TV Pile of Shame before I start on games.

    • feenwager 11:14 am on March 11, 2012 Permalink

      At my current pace, the Feenwager Challenge shall last approximately…forever.

    • unmanneddrone 3:35 pm on March 11, 2012 Permalink

      I smell a good ol’ TV show/film discussion on the Squawk!

    • unmanneddrone 3:35 pm on March 11, 2012 Permalink

      Bodes well for the pocket book! Enjoying it so far.

    • mjpilon 12:22 am on March 12, 2012 Permalink

      I’m actually making decent headway…. two down already. But now I enter the “open-world” games with AC Revelations and Saints Row, so my pace will slow down

    • cgrajko 8:07 pm on March 16, 2012 Permalink

      My girlfriend bought the most recent Mortal Kombat the other day. I’m not sure that counts as a title I would put up on the list, but it certainly counts as a title that will steal my free time, because, I’ve got to say, it’s pretty damn fun.

    • feenwager 2:24 am on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      Alright, kids…Mass Effect be done. The list is up there. What next?

    • CMWhittington 2:38 am on March 19, 2012 Permalink

      @feenwager Conviction’s on my list, too. Want to tackle some co-op?

      Side note, I went and tried Amalur. I don’t own it but has been in my GameFly queue. I’ve been playing too many RPGs with great stories but unsatisfying gameplay so this game’s a welcome relief. Man, do I feel good about playing one where I don’t give 3 shits about the story and just enjoy fucking shit up. May have to take this one the distance.

    • feenwager 12:46 am on March 20, 2012 Permalink

      I actually decided to go with Singularity, mostly because it was already downstairs.

    • impynickers 1:12 am on March 20, 2012 Permalink

      @feenwager interesting choice. Its on my list too, I played about 3 hours of it. It takes a lot of interesting ideas from other games and mashes them together to some suprising success.

      @cgrajko I played Mortal Kombat a couple of months ago and was a fan. I am not a fighting game guru of any sort, but I felt like they finally brought MK back to its roots. Brutal and fun to play with people.
      Also, I am interested to hear your take on Deus Ex. Its a game I don’t get sick of talking about.

      I am done ME3. I wonder what to get into next. I was thinking of going old school. I dunno.
      Impending exams and papers are choking my free time, but slick time management might ensure I down another game in the next week.

    • unmanneddrone 12:08 pm on March 20, 2012 Permalink

      Oh damn. So, the new patch for Jagged Alliance has some sort of really heinous way of dealing with my GPU, so I can’t get more than fifteen or so minutes into a level without my laptop overheating and shutting down. Crazy. Thought it was a hardware problem, but can run everything else fine without a hitch or a hint of this overheating problem.

      So, back on the digital shelf this goes until that one is sorted. A shame, because it’s great fun.

      Next up, back into Wargame!

    • unmanneddrone 1:07 pm on March 21, 2012 Permalink

      Turns out the heinous patch was simply a heinously corrupted or corrupting something or another in Windows that seemed to push my GPU into some sort of overdrive. Either way, formatted and now have a rather clean system once again. But yes, Wargame for now…will get back to JA down the line.

    • RedSwirl 7:12 pm on March 24, 2012 Permalink

      Looks like the Mickey Mouse Illusion games just got bumped up on my backlog. Nintendo Power just revealed the fourth one: Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion for the 3DS coming out this fall.

    • impynickers 5:02 pm on March 29, 2012 Permalink

      Keeping on top of this challenge is tough. Knee deep in The Legend of Kyrandia 2, a game I previously had not touched since sometime in the mid 1990’s. I beat the 2 other games in the series, but some people have been telling me 2 is the actual better game. It is certainly a unique adventure game. Your character being somewhat of an alchemist ensures a few non-traditional puzzles, and the dialogue so far is still charming. I think I may be resorting to FAQ’s just to fast track things though… at the pace I am going I wont be making it through my list until I am a senile old man.

    • RedSwirl 4:28 pm on March 30, 2012 Permalink

      Symphony of the Night is down. Impressions over at my new blog: http://noplatform.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/late-to-the-party-castlevania-symphony-of-the-night/

    • RedSwirl 3:41 pm on April 2, 2012 Permalink

      My report on Sonic CD: http://noplatform.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/late-to-the-party-sonic-cd/
      In short, it’s the real sequel to Sonic 2.

      I think I’m moving on to BioShock 2 next, if for no other reason than “Minerva’s Den”. Somehow I’ve figured out that I can’t subsist entirely on “small” or “indie” games for too long. I can play them in-between the big shit, but they alone won’t quite satisfy my appetite.

    • Pete Davison 12:14 pm on April 3, 2012 Permalink

      My progress is going slowly, not helped by my looting of Game and Gamestation stores over here adding Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey, Resonance of Fate, FFVII Crisis Core, Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley, Dissidia Final Fantasy and doubtless some other ones I’ve forgotten to the mix.

      In the meantime, I’m still finishing up Shadow Hearts: Covenant. The final dungeon has been “open” for a while now. I thought I’d just go and do a few quick sidequests. 15 hours later…

      Full thoughts when I’ve finished it.

    • impynickers 6:32 am on April 5, 2012 Permalink

      Finished Legend of Kyrandia 2. Set up a tumblr specifically for this kind of thing…. impressions at:
      http://arpeegee13.tumblr.com/
      Ill say that this game does something unique and horrifying, it takes the worst part of adventure games (the impenetrable puzzle logic) and uses it to basically troll you everytime you think you have figured the game out. This is the Dark Soul’s of adventure games, though I use that term not so much to suggest you should actually play this game. The results are rather entertaining to read about I am sure.

    • cgrajko 8:11 pm on April 6, 2012 Permalink

      Since Nier is going to be put to bed (and will have deleted my saves once it is), I’m going to need something else to play. Does anyone want to recommend a game on my list? I have the house to myself for a week and a half, which should be more than enough time to beat anything you all can dream up.

    • RedSwirl 2:21 pm on April 7, 2012 Permalink

      BioShock 2 is down for the count. Just need to roll on “Minerva’s Den” which I got for $5.

    • RedSwirl 4:04 pm on May 18, 2012 Permalink

      Demon’s Souls is down motherfucker. Final impressions.

    • cptcarnage 4:19 am on June 1, 2012 Permalink

      Figure’d I’d weigh in on this… although listing my complete pile would reach massive wall of text territory. Current tally on Raptr is 422 games… yeesh

      here’s the main ones

      PS3
      ——
      Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
      GoW Collection
      Shadow/Ico Collection
      Sly Collection
      L.A. Noire
      Uncharted 3
      Journey
      Dark Souls (I highly doubt i’ll finish this…)
      DarkSiders
      FFXIII

      XBOX360
      ————-
      FEZ
      Batman Arkham City
      Fable III
      Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
      Bastion
      Rayman Origens

      Assassins Creed Brotherhood
      Assassins Creed Revelations

      PC
      —–
      Bulletstorm
      Mass Effect 3
      Diablo 3
      Torchlight
      Sword and Sworcery
      Skyrim

      Thats probably not even 1/8th of my titles. Still got to start somewhere.

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