Maybe it’s because I haven’t played Thief yet but Jesus Christ Dishonored is the shit. Probably the best stealth game I’ve played this gen (the only other legit one being the first Crysis).

Basically, Arkane found the solution for stealth games – short range teleportation. I’m just shocked at how well the blink ability fits. It fees like the first time I got the gravity gun, or a hookshot, or the portal gun. It’ simple, works somehow in most situations the game presents you with, and somehow still doesn’t break the game. It’s genius. So far Arkane has created an absolutely optimal stealth RPG.

And it’s also one of the best cases of art-over-tech I’ve seen for a full retail game these days. It’s actually ironic that I’m playing this back-to-back with Borderlands 2, which is all cel shaded on the same engine. The production screenshots of Dishonored really do not do it justice. The attention to detail in the environments, with just enough fancy lighting and shaders to complete the look. The overall look of the game, especially the character proportions and relative level of surrealism remind me of Team Fortress 2 more than anything else. My only complaint is that the texture resolution is disappointing.

The reason I’m gushing so much over this though is because this mix of stealth and exploration is pretty much the perfect style of game design for me. It’s like Arkane knew what I wanted in a game.

While the rest of you mull over the Squad Mission I am proposing, I figured I would tell you a little about what I’ve been playing.

I cryptically mentioned that I had been playing something I didn’t want to reveal until I had spent a bit more time with it, and now that I have spent a few hours with it, I think it’s time to let the cat out of the bag. (Cats are always getting in bags… What’s up with that?)

I have been playing an indie PC RPG that came out in 2001 called Geneforge. Have you heard of it before? I hadn’t heard of it before. The entire Geneforge Saga (five games in total) dropped on Steam and GOG recently, so I’m assuming that it’s received slightly more attention as of late, but it’s about as indie as it gets for a sprawling old school RPG. And, when I say old school, I mean it. The system reqs for the first game are only 32MB Ram and 25MB of HD space with a graphics card capable of displaying 16 bit color at 800×600. I also want to note that, curiously enough, the game was originally released for the Mac in 2001 and ported to Windows in 2002. That doesn’t seem to happen very often. In fact, I’m struggling to think of another time this has happened…

This game (almost effortlessly) captures the things that made me fall in love with games like Wasteland, The Bard’s Tale, Fallout, Icewind Dale, and all of the rest. It borrows a lot of ideas from those games in terms of mechanics and flow, but the narrative trappings are entirely its own.

Geneforge is about a group of people known as Shapers. Shapers have the ability to create living entities using their own Essence (think mana in most other games). Shapers are also capable of doing the type of magic we expect from isometric RPGs (firebolt, heal, etc…), but what sets them apart is the ability to shape living creatures. As the game begins, you create a character in one of three different classes. Before I continue, it’s important to understand a bit about Shaper society. The Shapers have a rather rigid set of rules and order that they follow. Their society is stratified between the upper class (which outsiders refers to only as Shapers but which is actually composed of three different groups working in concert), and a lower class known as Serviles. Serviles are creations of Shapers and, as their name suggests, are a servant class.

You play a Shaper, which as I mentioned before is actually spread out among three groups: Shapers, Guardians, and Agents. If we think of the game as employing a class system, these are the three classes available when you start the game and create your character. Shapers are the magically inclined folks who create beings and engage in combat, if needed, by creating something ferocious to fight for them. Agents are the boogiemen of the Geneforge world. They aren’t adept at magic, but they will cut your throat while you sleep if you defy the Shapers. Guardians are a mix of the two, able both to Shape as well as fight. Here is a picture of the character creation screen that I took: http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn190/LoveIsUnity/geneforge1_zps8ac932c9.jpg

Now, I’m fairly certain that the builds are fully customizable and that choosing one of the classes only offers a suggested base point spread. (For instance, after choosing Shaper I was only give 1 point in Endurance, so I bumped that up to a 2 using my 15 free points.) The system actually seems relatively classless with the exception of appearance and initial stat allocation (which can be modified as I note above). I still have no idea what skills will end up being useful and which ones won’t, so I went with my gut and put points where I thought they should go. Fireball has already served me well, and I am glad I put points into all of my Shaping Skills, as those have also come in handy.

Once you create your character (and hear the one and only piece of music in the game, the title screen), the game begins with a static background and a text introduction. (Old school. Hell yeah!) You are off to apprentice as a Shaper, and it’s a two week journey to your destination. For the purpose of your journey, Shapers have created an amphibious creature that will function as a boat and lead you safely to your destination… You are not, however, safely taken to your destination. As you are admiring a nearby barred island, you are attacked by a ship you have never seen before that fires a javelin through the neck of the animal you are riding. The animal uses its last bit of life to help you safely to shore, but you are officially shipwrecked on a barred island.

(A quick note on the barred concept.) In Shaper society, there are places that you DO NOT GO. These are barred locations. As the game explains, locations are barred either because something catastrophic has occurred there, most frequently a failed Shaping experiment, or because the area is home to a secret that the population at large should not be aware of.

You wash up on Sucia Island, an island you have been barred by your sect from visiting, but you don’t really have a choice in the matter. Here is a shot of gameplay on the first screen: http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn190/LoveIsUnity/geneforge2_zpsc2414f12.jpg
The game plays out like most turn-based RPGs from the 90’s. You click on your character (or draw a box around him) to select him and then move him around. The buttons on the bottom are, in order, Shape, Search, and Log. I now have a few other ones added, but it’s a basic toolbar setup. The numbers on the keyboard function as hotkeys to select characters. I was alone here, but I have since created a companion who I can select by pressing “2.”

As you explore the island, you realize that there was once a Shaper civilization here. There are remnants of an Inn, a barracks, and a temple. In fact, in the temple, you find a canister that seems to be unused and is swelling with a live creature. The game informs you that Shapers have the ability to create potions with living entities that will bestow the user with a variety of abilities. This is how we gain the ability to shape our first creature. These canisters can also modify your stats as well as your abilities.

The first creature you gain the ability to Shape is a Fyora: http://geneforge.wikia.com/wiki/Fyora The Fyora is what a velociraptor would be like if a velociraptor could breathe fire. You have the ability to shape the creature in a variety of ways commensurate with your Essence. You can create a couple of basic creatures using very little essence, or create only one beefed up creature. I opted to create only one particularly vicious Fyora, and it has served me well thus far. If I ever want to try again, I can absorb the Fyora and start over, but as it has already saved my life when a feral Fyora ambushed me, I am beginning to grow attached.

After clearing out an area of hostile Fyoras outside of the temple, you and your Fyora make your way to a welcome station, where a disembodied head, which has been created for the sole purpose of sitting on a podium, greets you. The head explains that it can peer into your being and determine whether or not you are fit to enter the island proper. It has been created by Shapers and is in fine physical shape, but it refuses to answer your questions about where other Shapers are, only mentioning that you are the first Shaper it has seen in hundreds of years. After chatting for a while, you are given permission to enter.

This is when you come upon a lone Servile, who is startled to greet you, and speaks to you more casually than other Serviles you have interacted with in the past. They have not seen a Shaper in many years, and they have created their own society. You do not know where all the Shapers have gone, and you do not know anything about the culture of the Serviles that remain on the island…

And that is where the tutorial ends.

I haven’t progressed much farther than this tutorial, but I have explored enough to discover that the Serviles have created a society with three different factions and three different ways of viewing Shapers. Some wish to be ruled by Shapers and others reject Shapers entirely. I cannot wait to see where this takes me.

Just got back from a trip but I guess there’s enough time in the weekend:

Prospective Weekend Playlist
I’ve still only finished one campaign in Resident Evil 2 so far – Leon A. Pretty good stuff so far, so I’ll be trying to do as much as possible before RE6 comes out. To be honest I actually liked the latest demo that showed up, and it sounds like the full game will actually have the content to warrant $60, but we’ll see.

I’ll also be installing the Hawken alpha tonight. The thing has an NDA though. First time I’ve encountered one of those…

Apologies for my absence, but I was out and about in San Francisco to celebrate the birthday of my (much) better half. Speaking of which, San Francisco has a really fun Japantown wherein I found lots of nerdy stuff that I almost bought. I walked into this one store that had every Final Fantasy figure/toy/collectible you could ever want. It was almost like happiness overload. I wanted so much of it that I ended up not getting anything. (For real, though, the Lightning action figure looks amazing in person.)

Prospective Weekend Playlist

Torchlight 2 will probably be the first thing I sink my teeth into. I’ve been excited for this game since I found out they were making it, and I’ve managed to avoid news of the game entirely. Basically all I know right now is that it exists, it’s in my Steam library, and it has multiplayer. If it’s more of the same, then that’s totally fine with me. I can’t wait to load it up, see what the classes are for the first time, and start acquiring loot and abilities.

Final Fantasy XIII My girlfriend is gone for a week starting tonight, which means there will be plenty of time to play the types of games that bore her to tears. I think it’s time to put some real time into this and see where the game goes once it opens up.

Also, this isn’t “what I’m going to play” so much as “what I have been playing,” but Dead Rising 2 is a pretty great game. I spent a ton of time with the first one (which I should note is the title that got me to buy into the next generation in the first place), and the second one is more of the same. It isn’t sophisticated or cerebral, but it’s an open world game that works for me. I’m not sure if it’s because the game is iterative or because the scope of the open world is much, much smaller than something like GTA or RDR, but Dead Rising 2 just feels like an open world game that was made for me. Allow me to explain.

In the Dead Rising games, You can essentially go anywhere and do anything, just as you can in the GTA series or Fallout 3 or what have you. But, the big difference is the time based objectives, which work for me as a motivator. I don’t stress out about missing one of them, because it’s difficult bordering on impossible (and definitely not fun) to go everywhere and accomplish everything. Since I look at it as an impossibility to do everything, I do what I feel like, and I don’t sweat it if I miss out on saving some tourists or killing a psychopath. There’s always next time. And, I know that the next time I play through it, I will have more health, better stats, and a better working knowledge of the map.

This stands in contrast to something like Fallout 3 or <RDR which will allow me all the time in the world to go wherever I want and, basically, get bored. I have so much choice that I am paralyzed by it and find myself turning on the game, trying to figure out where to go, and freaking the fuck out so much over my choices that I turn it off. This isn’t a joke or anything by the way. I’ve explained this sensation to other people before and they all look at me like I’m about to eat some paste.

Haven’t done one of these for a while, and they’re terribly redundant given the nature of the squawk, but…

Prospective Weekend Playlist

Yes, what’s on the gaming cards this weekend?

I’m hoping to play a touch more Borderlands 2, a touch more FTL and more of the Tactical Tuesday title I’m rustling up, but…the big surprise of late on PC is: Shoot Many Robots

The catharsis of this quiet achiever is second to none. Like a Western-made Metal Slug with Borderlands-like weapons and customisation, I’ve been sinking a few bedtime play-sessions into this one. It hits the same notes that Hunter: The Reckoning did on the old Xbox. I’m usually not terribly fond of platformers, but when you couple the itemisation and their effects into the mechanics of running and gunning, Shoot Many Robots becomes more interesting with every unlock.

Yourselves, folks?

It looks like I’m going to have an extra copy of NS2 come October. Who wants to be my friend?

@redswir1 Interesting that you consider Peace Walker one of the better Metal Gear games, because I’d probably rate it as my least favorite. That has nothing to do with the plot (which was actually pretty good) and everything to do with the bite-sized structure of the game itself. It’s that way for obvious reasons, but playing it on a PS3 just makes it off-putting and repetitive instead of refreshing. Also not big on motion comics, although Ashley Wood’s awesome art + Kojima made it pretty painless.

A couple quick Whatchabeenplaying notes:

Walking Dead Episode 3: Fantastic and sooo god damned depressing. Aside from some mostly forgivable Telltale gameplay quirks, that game’s writing and portrayal of strained relationships and stressful decisions is something you probably shouldn’t miss, even if you’re sick of zombies. The Lee & Clem relationship, especially, is quickly becoming my favorite.

Saints Row: The Third: Finished this a few days ago. I can easily say that was the most fun I’ve ever had in a GTA style game. They designed it to be fun first and then embraced the stupid of video games in a giant, ridiculous bear hug. Ran around with a stereotypical Scottish looking dude in a tweed hat and mutton chops that sounded like Jason Statham. Worked out pretty well.

Symphony: Bought this after Garnett hyped it on Weekend Confirmed. Fun game. It’s a shmup + audiosurf. A demon takes over your music library and you fight to take it back. Looks kind of like Geometry Wars with that glowing vector style going on. Upgrading your ship with different weapons is a nice touch, but the music side of it isn’t as integrated into the action as much as I’d like. Symphony comes off more as playing a flashy shmup game TO music instead of being directed by it. Gets quite hard too. Worth a try if you have a spare sawbuck hanging around.

Dwarf Fortress…….. ummm… I watched the video Giant Bomb posted last week and I’m sorry but I can’t do it. I literally sat there faced with the insanity that was on the screen and tuned out. It’s interesting and I respect those who enjoy it but I don’t have the time to sink into a game like that.

With the vacation/ work/ holidays craziness, I haven’t had the chance to comment on my recent gaming time, so here we go *cue brain dump*:

Gears of War 3: Finally got to this a few months ago. I respect Epic for getting out of the brown grays and working in some color to the Gears world. The gameplay is still classic Gears which still drives me insane at times (I seem to have a tendency to get stuck on cover for some reason) but it was quite enjoyable. Happy I finally got to it but I harbor no real desire to return to that world again.

Child of Eden: Arrived from Game Access after Gears and “finished” it in about a week. I don’t own a Kinect but wanted to play it anyway. I don’t think lacking the hand waving capability really impacted my experience anyway. I loved the variety of visual styles and the accompanying music for each level although for the life of me I couldn’t really tell what the heck is going on in the overall “narrative” but I don’t think that is really the point anyway. Gameplay is “meh” but worth getting through for the audio-visual ride. Biggest negative however is the game’s artificial way to lengthen playtime by essentially requiring you to replay levels to advance to the final levels. NOT COOL GUYS. I understand that 5 levels makes for a short game but in that case, make more levels instead of forcing multiple replays. All in all, a worthwhile rental. Nothing more.

Diablo 3: I enjoyed my time with it so far but I didn’t get past Act 1 and haven’t had the desire to go back in a few weeks. Now part of that may just be my natural aversion to gaming on my Mac/PC but maybe not….

Assassin’s Creed Revelations: Enzo’s story should have ended at Brotherhood. While I still enjoy the core elements of the game, it feels so tired and stale after the previous two ACs. Ubisoft’s response to complaints about the mechanics from AC2 and Brotherhood seems to have been “let’s just add more mechanics and gameplay elements so that people ignore the fact that we didn’t change anything”. The tower defense stuff is pointless and not very fun. The Desmond’s journey is interesting from a background info perspective but just feels bolted on at the last minute. The “notoriety” meter is a cheap trick to slow down your progress. The fact that I still need to go to the Bank to collect my money and that I still need to go back and forth from the map screen to the game screen to navigate after this many iterations is a joke. At least there was some global storyline closure/ progression in the end but really….Assassin’s Creed 3 can’t come soon enough to breath some new life into this series.

Saints Row 3: Only played about 15 minutes of this but quite possibly the most ridiculous, over the top, insane first 15 minutes I’ve ever played in a game. You know you’re in for a ride when the game starts with a parody Star Wars-like scrolling text. This should be the kind of crazy fun that I hoping it is…. will get back to it once I complete the next game which just came from Game Access…

Rayman Origins: First the positives. I LOVE the art design and the music. I could sit there and stare at the screen for hours. Love the originality of the first 3 worlds so far and just how much detail Ubisoft put into each level. However, I have been quite frustrated at times with the controls. Maybe it’s just the Mario jumping “feel” that is built into me but I have blown many jumps just because I haven’t fully picked up on the momentum on the characters as they move. Very much enjoy the game and will get through it but no chance in hell that I try to fully medal each level. Would probably drive me to insanity.

*brain dump completed*

I will try to avoid waiting so long between updates next time :p

And I’m 30 minutes early but whatever….Happy 4th to the American contingent of the Squad. May it be as awesome as the 1st was for us Canadians 🙂

@angryjedi It’s been a very interesting month with that game taking the SoS by storm. Especially on the back of, say, Dark Souls bringing 2011 to a close. From blind demon titans to…well…blind anime schoolgirls. I can’t say I needed more than a run down Emi’s path (let us leave that unintentional pun there to wither) to get my fill, but felt like it was aptly marked off in seeing what the fuss was about.

Oh dear…I just realised that I’ve failed the Bechdel test in that scribble. @rampantbicycle, please forgive. It was a scrappy little ten minute scrawl this morning. Whenever the next comic pops up, I’ll aim for gender balance.

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With that, let’s have a good ol’ fashioned WHATCHA BEEN PLAYIN’? session:

Tried playing some Men of War: Assault Squad with @bowlisimo today, but connection issues due to that hideous old dinosaur Gamespy prevented us from turning a pristine village into burning rubble and shattered lines. Boo. Next time, Gadget.

Spent a few hours with Jagged Alliance: Back in Action. Just what the doctor ordered; a sleeker, faster combat and movement system within that wonderful ol’ failed state of Arulco. It’s true, there’s less micromanagement on the mercenary development side of things, with no way to custom-build an operative…but the visuals are gorgeous (in a detail-rich kind of way) and the Frozen Synapse-esque mechanics within a real-time game works wonders.

On the Vita, it’s WipEout 2048, Modnation Racers Road Trip and Super Stardust Delta. Still working through WipEout – which is undeniably incredible, as I’m usually a fellow who doesn’t get too wowed by visuals – but Super Stardust Delta has now become the go-to “arcade” game. Smooth, beautiful and befitting the handheld terrifically. Good fun.

I been playing: have appendicitus and have your appendix removed.

@redswir1 Man, great post. Goddamn I love all the fingers on varying pulses. In regards to Player Ready One, I am in your camp. Not much resonated with my childhood, perhaps due to kicking down the door in 1984, but even then, the cultural flow-on is still there for all to enjoy. I did it via audiobook on my drives to and from work, and it was a pleasant enough experience. Even if I had been born earlier, my interests probably wouldn’t have coalesced greatly with the book’s cultural fan-service as it has the Squad Leaders, but hey, I was never around for Tangerine Dream or Pink Floyd, but I can still associate with the era simply by listening and dabbling in the history.

I don’t think you should worry at all. Things like Ready Player have the propensity to accumulate an utterly unnecessary “You really had to be there” odour, when it’s just really a fun post-modern period piece. If you were there for the real deal before it became a narrative simulacrum, then cool. If not, I’d say the book serves a slightly different purpose or experience.

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Plans for the weekend: go and find WipEout 2048, play Misery and 2048 and scribble. Chance of that happening as planned? Close to zip for any extended period of time, but damn I shall give it a damn good shot!

Plans for the weekend, folks?

P.S. Thanks for the subs and mp3 emails, too!

First off, Great Squadcast gentlemen! It had been far too long….

And yes, while we are not really the “typical” audience for military shooters and @feenwager, the “Why are they talking so much about this?” did cross my mind, I believe I speak for most of the listeners when I say we don’t mind such conversation because y’all do it right.

Regarding asynchronous board games on iPhone/iPad, while I agree that there is something missing without the in-person social interactions, given the distance there is between us, I’ll take it to enjoy some Carcassone and other games that I couldn’t otherwise – someday I will get the best of @RocGaude and @angryjedi ;).

I would also like to hear more from you all about the brief “lack of quality gaming podcasts” point that was mentioned on the show. Looking at my podcast subs, I am down to (Squadcast excluded): Giant Bombcast, Weekend Confirmed and Totally Rad Show tangentially. Part of that is due to needing to pair down my weekly commitments as well as a number of my favorite shows going dark or personalities no longer being on shows (basically the old 1UP crew). How have the rest of you seen your podcast listens change recently?

In “Whatchabeenplayin’ news,

• I received Bayonetta through Game Access two days and decided to jump in. Oh my god…. This game had me with the “Fly to the Moon” rendition during the initial scene of the game. Not too impressed with the gameplay and the camera is certainly not helping but I’ll get through this game if only to hear the rest of the cheezy one-liners and shear absurdity that I expect to come.

• Working my way through Puzzle Agent from my Squad Santa package. Enjoying most of the puzzles although some of them could have used more detailed explanations. Failed some initially because certain rules weren’t clear. Very odd and quirky story but that seems appropriate for the game. Should be done with it soon.

• Put some time into Crank and Jamestown from the Humble Bundle. Crank is worth it for the art style but really isn’t that special as a beat ’em up. Kinda happy I didn’t spend 10$ for it on XBLA. Also, way too short for a game – about 2-3 hrs. Jamestown, on the other hand, is a very well-done top-down shooter and well worth your money if you enjoy such games. I’m realizing that I probably won’t get through the whole game but that says more about me and top-down shooters than the quality of the game.

• I’m also planning to spend some time with Civ 5 shortly to prep for Squad world domination 😉

More thoughts to come as I work through my Steam library – yay for finally having Windows 7 boot camped on my MBP – and the other games I have sitting here post-holidays: Saints Row 3, Assassin Creed Revelations, Uncharted 3, Ico and SotC HD, Bioshock 2 (One last try before it goes) and Heavy Rain (Started it and then stopped it – need to be in a certain mood to play this it seems…). Nice pile of shame I have lined up 😀

On another note, 2011 ended with a Bastion marathon and 2012 continues my Metal Gear Solid-ucation (after the amazing MGS3) with more Big Boss and some Mother Base building in Peace Walker, and at the same time *finally* getting back to Italy to hang with Ezio and the Ass Bros.

Edit: Anyone want to try Peace Walker coop? It seems like craziness. I mean, cardboard box tank, you guys.

@feenwager Curious to hear more about SWTOR on the podcast, specifically whether or not you think you’ll be playing it in a month. All reports seem to be that it’s well made, but very much an mmo-ass mmo.

Thanks to the folks who’ve quick as a flash submitted themes! Some very nice ones indeed.

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What’re folks playing this weekend? I assume @beige and @rampantbicycle will have their feet firmly up, given the recent load lifted.

EDIT: I’ll throw in a few things from the playlist..outside of the usual suspects (SupCom2 etc.), it’s been a little bit of an iOS bonanza. Nabbed Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror Remastered Edition (despite wanting just the plain old original version of the game) for a cool 99c, and just enjoying the sentimental awesomeness of it all. Gets a lot of flak for its slight sophomoric slump after the impeccable original BS, but I love it to bits.

Judge Dredd vs Zombies is a curious find, nabbed it when it was free. It’s a great take on the dual-stick top-down shooter because it has an auto-aim system, but it’s far from an easy game. Great little game akin to a cocktail of Loaded/Reloaded, Hunter: The Reckoning, Killzone: Liberation and a few of those indie games like Shadowgrounds. Really enjoyable, especially for a Dredd fanboy.

Reiner Knizia’s Samurai is just a sterling little boardgame gone digital. A simple yet tactical take on tile-based territory capture. Has Asynch multiplayer if anyone is interested.

Square Enix’s forgotten fantasy take on Galcon, of all things, in Hills & Rivers Remain. Same concept – send units to neutral position, bolster position with reinforcements, repeat process until overwhelm enemy – but they mix it up with a little selection of temporary buffs and having only the capital city produce units. The trick is to move the capital around your network of captured fortresses to tactically garrison units. Quite cool, nothing deep, but unnervingly addictive. Some sleep has been sacrificed to this when I should have been dozing.

And finally, Necronomicon Redux…a card game similar to Orions in that you place units or effects along a five-block frontline, including enemy horrors to oppose them. It’s not at all intuitive, but it’s quite a different type of card game to most out there. Elder Sign: Omens is the more attractive and ‘fun’ Lovecraftian game, given its boardgame heritage, but Necronomicon Redux is an intriguing little thing.

On the PC, will try to dedicate an eve to GalCiv2, domestic responsibilities notwithstanding.

May everyone have a fine weekend.

@bowlisimo The storylines of the Crysis games area really just Predator/The Rock crap. The one thing that always got to me was how the main character is literally no more than a cypher or conduit. Nomad in Crysis at least had a few lines of dialogue, but they go out of their way to make Alcatraz a non-person. What really got to me though? How Alcatraz can never just open a door. He has to kick it down. I think there’s one part here he simply opens a door with his hands in order to sneak in, but I think he broke the handle or something at that part. Gears 3 had the same problem.

Anyway, visually and thematically I kind of appreciate how Crysis 2 managed to look like a successful merger of Robocop, Terminator, and Predator. I hope you were able to play it in DirectX 11.

What I Been Playin’ Happy Funtimes!

Bastion, done (until the DLC drops next week). Excellent combat, art, and what I hope becomes a textbook method of video game narrative. It actually seems to follow in the footsteps of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in that regard – how the narrator feels like he’s with you every step of the way, adding just the right context to each situation and even having limited reactions to what you do. More games need to do this. Y’know what? As I played Skyward Sword, for some reason I imagined Link narrating the entire adventure in a sort of laid-back, Nathan Drake tone of voice, simultaneously joking and lamenting at his position.

This is another game that I would gladly restart for plus content if I weren’t dealing with other games. This has happened with Zelda and probably RAGE too when I finish that.

RAGE continues to be great as I get through the final “area” of the game – Subway Town. This place is the deep, narrow, neon-lit “city” that reminds me of the first 15 minutes of Akira. If it weren’t post-apocalyptic (which Akira is I guess) I would even call it Bladerunner-esque with things like the narrow subway-converted-to-bar and the electronic beep that alerts the store owner when I arrive. I haven’t even driven out into this part of the wasteland yet.

Afterwards, Deus Ex “Missing Link” DLC, THEN Skyrim.

@AngryJedi I can confirm that Mask of the Betrayer is quite good. I really enjoyed it.

What I been playing? Still back and forth between Skyrim and Ultima VII. Skyrim for when I am at home on my beast machine, Ultima VII when I out with my Netbook. Starbucks Ultima is good Ultima, I will admit.

Also for some literary goodness I have been reading: Here comes everybody by Clay Shirky.
A fine chin scratchy book for the Sociologically curious.

@angryjedi I did very much like your Shmup video, Pete. More of those, please.

For me, it’s been not particularly remarkable. On a very short hiatus from Real Warfare II, on account of upcoming patches and wanting to try it out in multiplayer with a fellow back home. Got an early Chrissie present of Galactic Civilizations 2: Ultimate Edition after it was re-released on Steam and loving it. Played Dread Lords back in the day and, now, with all the expansions, suspect it is the pinnacle of the 4X space empire builder genre. I’d go so far as to say GalCiv2 Ultimate is equal to Civilization in terms of detail and player-driven choice and variables. Certainly helps to have such a comfort blanket when Sword of the Stars 2 was delivered in such a horrid state.

Was thinking of jumping back into the Precursors, long since abandoned after March. There’s a diamond in the rough if ever there was one. Fantastic piece of Ukrainian overreach, but an honest and hilarious piece of entertainment.

Pete’s Happy Whatchabeenplayin Funtimes!

I’ve been playing L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition. I’m enjoying it a lot, though I also see where a lot of the criticisms come from. Particularly in the later cases, the “Truth/Doubt/Lie” mechanic doesn’t really work when it’s not clear exactly how Cole is going to respond to a particular statement. When all you want to do is press the witness for more information, it’s not really any of those things.

Fuck the open world stuff, too. I will not be tracking down all those vehicles, badges and film reels because so far as I can see, there’s really no need to. I haven’t even been pursuing the Street Crimes because they just end up breaking the flow of the main case’s stories. I may go back and do them afterwards, but they’re not a priority.

The story is interesting, however, filled with tragically flawed characters — Cole himself being a good example. I think I’m coming towards the end, now, so more in-depth thoughts will follow once I have beaten it.

Worth noting: L.A. Noire has been enjoyed a great deal by my girlfriend, who has watched me play it from start to finish and won’t let me play when she’s not here. 🙂

As well as L.A. Noire, I’ve been indulging in the ol’ bullet hells, as you know. I, uhh, acquired most of the Touhou Project games and had a brief foray into those, but two games in particular have captured my attention: Gundemonium Recollection (the subject of my video a short while back) and Jamestown (which will be the subject of my next video).

Both have a lot in common — they’re both bullet hell shooters, after all — but there’s an interesting contrast between Eastern (Gundemonium) and Western (Jamestown) approaches to the genre. Gundemonium is fast-paced, incredibly difficult even on the easiest difficulty setting and has an incredibly complex scoring system. Jamestown, meanwhile, is much more forgiving on its easiest levels (though still a bastard on the higher levels) and has a much more easily understandable scoring mechanic.

Where they converge is in their ridiculous stories. Both have a 17th/18th century steampunk thing going on, with Gundemonium just disappearing up its own arse as soon as the first story screen comes up, and Jamestown working on the bizarre premise of Mars being an English colony contested by the Spanish and the Martians.

I’ll talk more about this when I do the video for the game, but one of the most interesting things about Jamestown is that it actually manages to convey a great sense of narrative throughout the course of its levels, despite not featuring any speech or indeed any explicit story development while you’re playing. It achieves this through a combination of background scenery, music and even enemy waves — if you’re the slightest bit interested in unconventional methods of telling a story through gameplay, check it out.

Finally, I’ve been playing Neverwinter Nights 2. I’m relatively early on in it so far, but I will say that it’s far more a successor to Baldur’s Gate than the original Neverwinter Nights was. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the original NWN and its expansion (though I’m still yet to beat Hordes of the Underdark) but NWN2 goes back to the party-based dynamic which made the BG series so good. In fact, it’s very clear that Dragon Age is modelled closely on NWN2 in many ways.

I’m playing the original campaign currently, which, like the original, is regarded as somewhat weak by critics. However, I’m enjoying it so far, and the entertainingly bizarre cast of party members is a lot of fun, particularly when they start getting into arguments. What I’m really holding out for, however, is the first expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, which more than one person has told me is second only to Planescape Torment in terms of how awesome its story is. I’m looking forward to that.

Oh, and @impynickers? DIRECT HIT

@feenwager @beige I was going to suggest a five track guess streak, but hey, there’s a Clint Eastwood line in there somewhere!

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@feenwager I’m loving your Rayman tales. If only the damn thing was on PC. I’d pick it up on PS3, but fighting for the TV is a battle I’ve long since raised the white flag on.

Oh, here’s something we’ve not done for a while! Whatchya Been Playing? or, alternatively Whatcha Gonna Play? this weekend?

Last Weekend:

1) Dead Space 2 Done. Too much Dead, not enough Space, too. Good game, necromorphs are still dumb.
2) Many Dungeons Defended. You can’t escape Beige’s electric aura.
3) Battlefield 3. Multiplayer mayhem preserved, now with more shit flying at you. Campaign was a cliched nuclear terrorism plot. They tried too hard to be crazy-go-nuts, but came away with some awesome moments (and music), regardless.

@UMD I tried Shattered Horizon during a free weekend and didn’t like it. Unfortunately, I forgot why. All I know is that I played Moonbase Alpha longer than I played that game. *shrug*

Hello! Thought I’d pop my head in and briefly share what I’ve been playing if anyone was curious:

Rusty Hearts — awesome free to play multiplayer brawler that should totally have been called Castlevania Online. It’s in closed beta right now but I have two spare codes if anyone wants to try it out. Bear in mind it is early beta so it’s buggy at the moment, but it’s changed my expectations of free to play games. In short, there’s no need for developers to compromise on production values and polish. Official site

Grand Theft Auto IV — picked up in Steam sale, and I recently replayed Bully on PC to 100% completion so I was in the mood for more open world stuff. Much to do, but I’m not rushing through it — am enjoying one of the most well-realised game worlds I’ve seen.

Chantelise — the follow-up to Recettear, which was actually released before Recettear in its native Japan. Translation is top notch and the gameplay is a lot more unconventional than I was expecting. It’s also not afraid to kick your ass. A peculiar game, but one I’m digging.

@unmanneddrone Final Fantasy XII. Broken the 60 hour mark. It is going Well. What a marvellous game that is. What a shame no-one except us will likely ever play it again.

@bowlisimo I was just bemused and intrigued that on one of the BF3 covers/posters, one of the soldier’s kneepads had slipped down and sideways. The idiot in me just kept focusing on that. Now you mention it, there’s something a little Terminator-y with the BF jingle.

I might dip into the Killzone beta, but…if that doesn’t happen, it’ll be more Precursors and a little Cities In Motion to cool the heels.

@unmanneddrone Dragon Age DLC and Killzone 3 Beta (if anyone else is down) I guess.

@RedSwirl I personally think horror is a more malleable concept than pure action, or any of the other sub-genres listed. Especially when it comes to playing that balancing act of game nerd-wanking fan service and broader appeal. The concept of situational horror is a lot more flexible because it’s not so heavily tied down by this prior duality. Horror has a universal appeal, regardless of who is in the protagonist’s seat – and let’s get down to brass tacks here, there’s a lot less at stake when horror’s laws come into play. Survive. Escape. Elude or best a frightful antagonist or antagonists. A far more flexible framework than “So, you’re saying this guy is kinda like Indy? Who is he? What’s this treasure? Oh, like that Nic Cage movie?”

Resident Evil is as much a popcorn horror series as that glut of teen-slasher films from the mid 90s. It has gore for the vicarious thrill-seeking teens, a bit of stalwart fan-service with some old friends for those in the know, plus a darker adventure-style bit of pop-corn Zeitgeist jabbing with the undead. And Milla Jovovich. I think you’re reading too much into what Joe Shmoe is getting out of it when you’re including “it’s the fresh edge the military industrial complex brings to walking corpses”. Simply more armaments to play whilst pressing similar buttons.

I can’t agree that the Silent Hill movie doesn’t strip its conventions from the full-circle movie-to-game-to-movie rigmarole. It’s a little bit more surreal than your average shlocker, but that’s more a product of the director enjoying a little French flair and the potent source material.

In summary, horror has an immediacy and can be worked and prodded on any budget in any direction – something I feel can’t be said for an action-crossover, which is built upon spectacle and set-piece and thus a very costly endeavour. I’d definitely put money towards the crossover set in misty corridors. Better chance of making money back, given its more universal appeal than the adventure-wannabe turkey that coasts into theatres with a cardiograph flatline in terms of audience interest.

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Anyway, enough of that. Here’s an airy little standby – What’re you troops playing/indulging in this weekend?

@beige That’s a good idea Feen had. Thanks for mentioning it before I forgot what the hell I played this month. I always end up wishing I had written this kind of thing down. Disclaimer: I *know* nobody really really gives a shit what you’re playing at any given time, but it is interesting to see the disparity (and similarities) in what we decide to spend time on. That said, this is obviously more for me than it is for you.

2011
Completed:

• Assassin’s Creed 2
• Darksiders
• Just Cause 2
• Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway

Active:

• Okami

On Deck:

• VVVVVV

Hmm, apparently I’m yesterday’s news, but you know what? Yesterday’s news is wicked cheap! That completed list is ~90 hours of varied entertainment for about half the price of a new game. Things the video game industry isn’t banking on: patience. Edit: Or in my case, stubbornness. Take your pick.

Gaming highlights from the weekend that was, if you please!

Never thought I’d say this, but a few iPhone games have managed to impress – one in particular! The flavour of the month is, for many pundits, Game Dev Story. Just such a cute and smart little management strategy title. Too cool for the room references to the industry and a breezy UI. I’ve only got the free Lite version at the moment, but seriously considering throwing down the few pesos for the full thing. I’m just serving myself up a nice slice of humble pie from the @feenwager diner. Here’s to you, Feen.

Outside of that, locked away at the inlaws for the two days, inspired by Game Dev Story, I busted out the ol’ SimGolf. As awesome as always, the eccentric post-Sims Maxis interface and character emphasis mixed with Firaxis’ eye for putting spin on what would otherwise be pedestrian strategy is addictive and brimming with personality. It’d be a perfect fit for…*gulp* some sort of portable iDevice.

Minecraft is super addicting.

85 hours in and Persona 3’s story is finally *finally* coming together. Need to bed Yukari before the end of the world.

@feenwager Fourth set down.

It’s amazing how quickly Dragon Age gets its hooks in me. Been playing Awakenings lately and while I have some fundamental disagreements with how they framed the whole deal, the core gameplay still really holds up.

Finished Outcast the other day, really had fun with it. I’d say you should put Outcast on your pile if you enjoyed Stargate at all, if you think you’d like a sci-fi open world game from the System Shock 2 era, an orchestral soundtrack by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, well written fully voiced dialogue, voxels, and a Bruce Willis style protagonist. I really can’t believe I had never heard of this game.

First scene in the game if you need some convincing:

Just wanted to tip my hat to the SoS and wish you guys a good weekend. Heading away for the next few days and will undoubtedly return to a trove of discussion. Do remember to sate your retail impulses at GamersGate over the next four weeks with their summer sales, it’s RPG week for the first set – http://www.gamersgate.com/summersale

I’m looking forward to coming back to some Fat Princess, which was just snagged at a delightful cost. Kinda hoping the Squad gets back into it after the disastrous opening it had with botched voicechat and certain issues. Everything, by all accounts, seems like it’s fixed and plays wonderfully. As it stands, it’ll be a few quiet hours in the evening playing an oldie but a goodie, Knights of Honor.

Have good and relaxing weekend, folks.

I’m working this weekend, so I probably won’t get a chance to play too much of anything, but I’m really enjoying Red Dead. I don’t see myself finishing it any time soon, however.

@zegolf In response to your question about the Summer Doldrums, the easy answer is “fall behind”. I never got caught up from the post-Holiday glut, and now I’m happily making my way through a pretty significant pile of stuff. My guess is I won’t clear it in time for the fall onslaught, which is fine with me at this point.

I was thinking about getting into Risk: Factions this weekend, but I’m not sure I want to spend the M$ points on it. It looks like a lot of fun, if you have people to play it against, and I’m still not 100% sold on the whole “playing with random people” thing. I just don’t get my rocks off on being berated by 13 year old kids telling me that my wiener is small and I suck at life and won’t ever get a girlfriend.

I’ll probably try and finish up Red Dead this weekend. I can’t imagine I’ve got that much left to play. I just went through the “Mexican Stand-off in Mexico” mission (oh, Rockstar, you ironic folk you!) and don’t see much more left to do. I would also like to finish that game, because as i ride my horse through the terrain more and more, I seriously consider getting GTAIV back out and playing that again and I REALLY don’t want to do that.

I’m sure I’ll take another stab at tackling Cpt’s Barkley Hazard score, but I don’t really think anyone stands a chance at besting that score. Seriously, man, I don’t know how you did it.

Piggy-backing a bit off of what @beige had talked about a while back, am I the only one that seems to think that the normal post-Christmas lull period has moved to the summer? I know in past years, things always got off to a slow start in the Jan/Feb months, then picked up a bit in the summer and really blew things out of the water towards the holiday season at the end of the year. To me, it seems like developers really shot their wad early this year and now we’re just waiting out the summer until the end of the year. Case in point: this is the first time this year that I don’t have something pre-ordered from anywhere. Crackdown just doesn’t do it for me and after a brief run through the major gaming sites, it really seems that the only thing people are talking (read: bitching) about right now is APB. I know that there is a lot in the pipe slated for end-year release, but maybe now is the time that I need to catch up on things. Maybe it’s just me?

Deathspank might be fun, and I think that comes out next week, but apart from Monday Night Combat (which I’m still no the fence about) nothing really Triple-A comes out until the September time frame.

And one final talking point: What is everyone’s take on the Dragon Age 2 reveal? Any thoughts on the limitations set forth by the “Commander Sheparding” of the playable character?

“Paris in the fall, the last months of the year, at the end of the millenium. The city holds many memories for me; of music, of cafes, of love, and of death.”

Decided to kick off another run-through of my favourite adventure game over the next two nights, as it’s been a while since I’ve waddled about with reluctant hero extraordinaire George Stobbart. Hope you guys have a good weekend!

@unmanneddrone Frozen Synapse, huh, didn’t see that coming. Game looks tough, but I like the idea of it, and the music is good too.

Maybe not as tough as Commandos though, which is what I’ll be playing. Much respect Lynette, you’re a gangster. Maybe some Oblivion or Persona 4 if I can get up the nerve to jump back into it.

Folks the weekend is upon us. Throw down those titles, possibilities or sad realities you are tackling over the next few days.

Myself, it’s Frozen Synapse – as always – on PC, with Blur and SEGA Rally Revo (the game that was apparently killed by women) on the ol’ PS3.

Twilight Princess felt soulless to me. I finally got fed up with Link’s silence too. It really stands out when they start making everyone else a lot more talkative.

As for me, I blew through Conviction and Heavy Rain, and now I’m two recruits into Mass Effect 2’s second disc. I’m really enjoying it. Vanguard’s Charge power makes for a really fun, in-your-face fighting style.

I fired up Red Dead Redemption today, and I’ve actually got some time off this weekend, so I plan to get into some o’ that.

Within this squawk, a man hath wrote,
What game hath got him by the throat.
What game shalt last him length of day,
A journey taken, lived and learned.
Of folly, we shall endeavour.

From Friday eve and subsequent,
Cast off thine shackles and torment.
A time to work thus turned to play,
Penchant to toil, a soul thus burned.
Tis playlist time, however.

Beleaguered folk, preclude the game,
By listing here the title’s name.
A reason why and such, might say.
The days ahead; a time oft yearned,
To unearth the game of forever.

In short, any gaming plans for the weekend, fellows? Please excuse the above, it was a particularly strong coffee this morning that met the lingering throb a headache…so of course the outcome is poetry so horribly strained it collapses bowels.

Weekend ahead includes more Lost Planet 2, Joe Danger and no Blur. No Blur. *sigh*

@feenwager: Not at all. I’ve been enjoying Blur despite its lack of story, but you’re right, I do find myself thinking “I should be playing something that ‘matters'”.

The good thing about Blur is that it has a good sense of progression. Were it just races without that whole levelling-up mechanic and all the challenges, it certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near as appealing as it is. Bizarre did a great job.

Had a thought: I haven’t been particularly inspired to play any of the three games I’m playing lately (SMG2, Blur, Tiger Woods), and I have a feeling it’s because none of these games has anything resembling a story. Would anyone think any less of me if I ditched ’em all and started something more narrative based?

Closing in on the ending of RDR on the 360 (I’m hoping)

I love RockStar games but I always end up suffering from sandbox-fatigue when I play their games. The fact that you can’t speed up time in any way other than 6 hour intervals after a save in a safehouse or campfire (which is currently glitched in my save) is a goddamn crime against humanity.

@bowlisimo: Why did you let me watch that? Now I feel soiled.

You kids with your newfangled game systems. (Yes, I know half of you are older than me.) I feel so out of the loop, having only recently obtained a DS Lite (with no games except Mario Bros) — all the talk of RDR and Blur is flying right over my head.

I have, however, branched out a tiny bit from my old standby games and gotten involved a little bit in League of Legends, the free-to-play DotA-style top-down fantasy-world team-combat overly-hyphenated game. Send an in-game friend request to Cyranix if you want to play together. I think that Euro players are segregated, which ain’t cool, but it does run on Adobe Air which I think means that Mac gamers can join the fray.

Oh, two more things:

1. Transformers: War for Cybertron is good clean robot fun. It’s basically Transformers + Call of Duty. Check out the multiplayer demo.

2. I’m not much for racing games anymore, but I loved the Split/Second demo. If more people were playing it over Blur, I would’ve pounced already. For now, I guess I should check out the Blur demo. 😛

I’d like to finish Heavy Rain this weekend. I got completely sucked in Friday night and ended up playing until 5am. It does a lot of things terribly wrong, but it’s just so goddamn novel to be consuming a real story with a game controller in my hand.

I know I’m super late to the party, but I sort of like it that way. There’s no noise. It’s just me and the game. I suppose I might regret missing out on the conversation when I finish the game though, since I’ll definitely have words to write.

I’m taking a break from RDR until Amazon delivers my HDMI cable on Monday or Tuesday. The screen flickers to black every few minutes on my 360, and sometimes the interval drops to every few seconds. It’s really frustrating, but it only happens on component cables. Composite was fine. Hopefully, HDMI clears up the issue.

This weekend, I’ll probably pick up that there Joe Danger that everyone seems to be hot on.

I’m also toying around with inFamous since it seems that the final build’s frame rate is different then the demo so I can actually play it and not get motion sick. Go Sucker Punch.

Finally, I’m having a problem deciding if I should:

A) Buy Fallout 3 GotY Edition from Steam for $25. The problem is that I’d have to start my game all over again and the new iMac I’ll be buying may not even be able to run it well in Boot Camp.

…or

B) Just grab a copy of the standard release on PS3 for $20 and skip the DLC stuff since that’s where my save data is and, honestly, I’ll probably never play the DLC. Of course, if I do, surely it’ll go on sale right around the time New Vegas launches. There you go, I answered my own dilemma. Sometimes you just gotta write it out..

Talking of Blur, we still need to have a full-on Squad session with it. Who actually has it now? I do, and I know @feenwager and @zegolf do also. I think @A.J. might have it as well. Who’s around one night this weekend for some violent racing action?

Also, with all these great new games around at the moment, what am I playing right now? Persona 3 FES. Check it.

This weekend?

I’ll be playing the opposite of what @feenwager is playing: “Golf Tournament 3D”. It received excellent reviews from the critics for its catered meals, open bar and driving levels, but the difficulty ramps up later in the game and really has the potential to be a “controller breaker”.

After that? I’d just like to get to Mexico in RDR. I feel like I’m really behind in that game right now. I’ll also be (hopefully) putting some more time into the Transformers: War for Cybertron demo and maybe complete an episode or two of Alan Wake if it’s very bright outside and all of the lights are on in my house.

I actually traded in Split/Second because of Gamestop’s 50% more trade-in deal and picked up Alan Wake. Having Blur and SS was too much, and one of them had to go. Seeing more people on my XBL friends list playing Blur, I figured that was the obvious one to keep.

This weekend I’ll be playing ‘Work’, it’s a very realistic simulation of…going to work. Then I’ll probably get back into my current mélange of Mario, Blur, & Tiger Woods. Oh, and my word press email is my usual one.

@unmanneddrone: ModNation Racers has commentary? I’m actually quite interested in that game, though I really should not, could not want to buy any more games right now. 🙂 A couple of friends are playing it and enjoying it though. Maybe once I’ve got a new job and have some more regular money coming in. 🙂