The Gaming Thread

[RayvenQ]

The comments on Descent reminded me of the space sim they made, Descent : Freespace. They just used the name to try and sell it, but I loved Freespace and it's ilk. X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Freespace, Wing Commander Prophecy, Tachyon : The Fringe. I'd get out the Wingman with force feedback, and just fly for hours in those games, blasting ships out of space! I wish they'd bring those type of games back, I miss them.

I never got into the 'real' flight sims, too complicated and too much thinkin'. I just wanted loose physics and shooting guns/lasers/missles. The fun of strafing down a capital ship, stripping it's defenses and engines so it just floats there and complains before you blast it, pure malicious joy.

Anyone else miss those games?

I think Descent 3 was the last one that 'felt' like that to me, and that one is ancient in gaming timelines.

X3 is a good Space shooter/sim while not being at a sim level as say, the MS flight simulator games.

It's also very freeform letting you, eventually, own anything from capital ships, carriers, cruisers right down to light fighters and transport ships. You can pirate, trade or just fight your way through the galaxy.

There's nothing quite like owning a carrier and giving the order to unleash a torrent of fighters on an enemy craft.

What also helps is the 3rd party scripts and ships which add to the gameplay and there are loads of 3rd party ships from the Andromeda to Star Destroyers, Basestars, Battlestars, Vipers, Cylon Raiders etc etc way too many to list.

[lordlundar]

I won't touch X3 due to the starforce protection. I value my little (okay, Big) system.

It's not loose physics, but if you want to try a space flight sim with newtonian physics, google "Babylon 5 I've Found Her". It's a really good game in the B5 universe and best of all, it's open source which means it's FREE!

And though Freespace depended on the decent name, I still find it superior to the X-Wing series and am thankful they did rely on it, or there wouldn't have been a sequel.

[RayvenQ]

I won't touch X3 due to the starforce protection. I value my little (okay, Big) system.

It's not loose physics, but if you want to try a space flight sim with newtonian physics, google "Babylon 5 I've Found Her". It's a really good game in the B5 universe and best of all, it's open source which means it's FREE!

And though Freespace depended on the decent name, I still find it superior to the X-Wing series and am thankful they did rely on it, or there wouldn't have been a sequel.

Starforce is removed in later versions and not present at all if you buy from Steam, which I reccomend.

[Spiffy McMoron]

Blatantly ripped from the WoW forums, and it's doubly funny because my main is a tankadin:

And now for today's Paladin report, here's Ollie Williams:

How was that duel for you, Ollie?

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That's a shame Ollie, what happened?
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…………..|::::::::::::::::::::::::::/’;;;;;;;;;/::::::::::::::::::|… Couldn't do any damage!
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What can we do to help you, Ollie?
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…………..|::::::::::::::::::::::::::/’;;;;;;;;;/::::::::::::::::::|… Level a druid for me!
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Thanks Ollie.

[gunsage]

I've been playing away on Persona 3 FES. Yeah, I've noticed more extras including but not limited to more missions, more personas, more cutscenes, etc. Good stuff. If you don't have the original, get this one. If you have the original, still get this one because you can import your data and get all sorts of bonuses up front. Furthermore, I recently downloaded a CRAPLOAD of MUGEN stuffs.

For those that don't know, MUGEN is a fighting game creator of sorts. You can make fighters, fight, and even set up bonus games. I have 190 fighters and a crapload of backgrounds. I'm going to be looking into making fighters and such so I can create various dream matches like various James Bond characters vs. James Bond villains, Rick James vs. Charlie Murphy, etc.

Fun stuff overall.

[Broomjockey]

I just ordered this today. I would like people to pay special attention to the name of it. Particularly the "ftw" part. And yes, apparently it DOES stand for that. I shall now use this board to play even MORE and BETTER pc games! And also put in a second graphics card.

[Spiffy McMoron]

I just ordered this today. I would like people to pay special attention to the name of it. Particularly the "ftw" part. And yes, apparently it DOES stand for that. I shall now use this board to play even MORE and BETTER pc games! And also put in a second graphics card.

I should have bought a new motherboard when I had the chance. Oh well, you tried to warn me.

[Broomjockey]

I should have bought a new motherboard when I had the chance. Oh well, you tried to warn me.

Live and learn, dude. You'd probably have needed a new processor too then, and that'd put you up another $300 minimum.

[gunsage]

Been playing "The World Ends With You" for the DS. Combat is tricky, but very fun as you use both the stylus and control pad at the same time to control both of your people. Further, there's a lot of "time" stuff. For example, right now as I type this, my DS isn't on. Actually, I'm at Tech Skills killing time until it's time to take an exam.

The point is sitting here simply typing, doing nothing essentially, with my DS off, I'm gaining points. See, as time passes in and outside the game, certain things increase, enhance, and digest. Yes, digest. It takes 24 hours for 24 "bytes" of food to digest completely. To "consume" food, it takes 1 battle per byte. In other words, first you consume it, then you digest it.

Makes sense. Upon initial consumption, you'll gain a temporary bonus. Upon complete consumption, that bonus fades, but a permanent stat boost occurs. Further, as you gain level, you have the ability to adjust a slider to lower your level, but increase item drops. You also decide when you want to fight and can drag as many enemies as you want into a multipart battle, which yields even higher item drops.

Further, as you buy things in shops, you "grow on" the shopkeep and they start to become friendlier in that they start to inform you of hidden abilities in clothes, food, etc. as well as open up to rare items that can be purchased with other rare items. Wearing clothes in certain fashions upgrades various stats and if it's in style while you wear it, there are additional effects in battle.

Nevermind that, you also need a certain amount of bravery to wear things. It's weird, yes, but it kinda makes sense. There are certain things that are WAY out there that you can wear and they add all kinds of effects. Overall very fun and addicting so far. Glee!

[Broomjockey]

My motherboard arrived today, unfortunately I'm not going to get to put it in until Monday. But :drool: this thing just ooozes coolness and power. It's all greys and blacks. It's also got a handy LCD display to show error codes so I know just wtf happened when it doesn't wanna boot up. As well as some other really nice ease-of-use features.

On a more game-y gaming note, I finished Assassin's Creed yesterday, and it was pretty good. Last mission was kinda really easy, but I like to think that it's because I'd gotten just that damned good Also, the ending's a huge set-up for the sequel, and leaves things in limbo, but it's probably necessary for the arc they're setting up. So I'm okay with that.

Since I'm done with that, I decided to finally go back to the Orange Box, as I've never beaten Half-Life 2 even. I think I'm fairly near the end of that, then I'll move on to the episodes 1&2. Try and play some TF2 in there finally, as it's been ages since I've been able to find the time

[PCGameGuy]

My fingers hurt. I finally broke down and tried some Rock Band this weekend. Just a little guitar and bass on easy with the wife. Used my sons account since he has all the songs unlocked, and now my fingertips are all tender.

I can see how that game could get very addicting very quickly. Heck ,we palyed for probably an hour longer than intended simply because she wanted to 'beat' me by getting a higher percentage in at least one song before we stopped.

(BTW, she finally did, getting 97% to my 93% on Vasoline by Stone Temple Pilots on Easy. I was bass, she was guitar)

[Geek King]

Okay, I've been playing Oblivion again, this time with the intent to actually finish it. I may have run into the single funniest moment in gaming last night. You see, I was doing one of the shrine quests, the one for the god of madness.

I've seen a plague of locusts.
I've seen a plague of frogs.
I've seen the black plague.
But I've never seen a plague of dogs on fire rain down on a paniced populace.


Or maybe I've just stayed up too late again...

[LostMyMind]

yeah, that was a fun quest. Just avoid the temptation to go 100% invisible. Kinda dulls the game after that. All through, I think it's funny how I can walk up to a non-killable character and keep ko-ing him/her and the guards run around trying to find me.

[Rapscallion]

Heh - started a new GW character called 'Delerious Tremens' the other day. One quest is to go to a crevasse freshly opened in the earth. You have to go and get a quest from a certain dude, who promptly told me...

"Did you feel the ground tremble under your feet, Delerious Tremens?"

Rapscallion

[pssorens]

I've gamed since High school. and have mostly played star wars ( west end and Wotc) every incarnation of dungeons and dragons, shadowrun, battletech, gurps, deadlands and numerous one shots at cons and game days. right now Warhammer, 40k , Necromunda, and mordheim take up most of my limited gaming time that and avoiding painting mini's