The Gaming Thread

[Sarlon]

personally my group is avoiding 4.0, we had finally just gotten comfortable with 3.5...most of us having from from true first edition then not playing for a while...and jumping into 3.5.

Best of luck to those who want to play 4.0...but my group is waiting till 6.5. (no thats not a version, but the way wotc keeps putting out...it'll be out in before I'm 35)

[Broomjockey]

I picked up Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness: episode 1 on steam. Fun game. $20, and it took 6 hours. It's a good game. I liked it quite a bit.

[Chanlin]

I will second Rainslick being a great game. Even if you aren't a fan of the Penny Arcade series its an absolutely hilarious game. Very much not safe for children however.

Also in classic gaming news Impossible Mission was apparently ported to the DS. Great old comodore 64 game. My only gripe is that its not a full port and only one set of the puzzle pieces seems to have made it into the game which kills its replay value.

[Gravekeeper]

I'm slowing working up floors in Etrian Odyssey 2. Just as ebil as the original. ><

[RayvenQ]

Well, I got Battle March for Mark of Chaos yesterday and I'm having a hella lot of fun takin da boyz an' stompin' da 'umiez

[LostMyMind]

I picked up Digimon World Dusk (it was dirt cheap) because I wanted something new to play on my DS. I'm surprised how addictive this game is. Has anyone else play this game?

[gunsage]

Well, I haven't posted here in a while, so now I get to REALLY release. First off...



I can't remember whether or not I have this in my siggie, but I'll put it on if it isn't. I got my 360 back in early May and I've already beaten about 6 games or so. I've also written a few FAQs for achievement hunting and the like. In any case, lately I've been playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the 360 (even though I don't know half the characters on it as I'm not much of a comicbook guy) and I just started back up Radiata Stories for the PS2.

That's about it for now. It would take too long to really catch up on what I've been playing, but that's a good wrap up for right now.

[Geek King]

Well, I just picked up Soul Calibur IV last night. It definately has good and bad points.

1) They've gutted story mode. It is literally only five stages now. And the last three are all the same for all the characters I've played so far.

2) Yoda Doesn't unbalance the game. In fact, the little guy is pretty fun to play, and the lighting effects from the lightsabre are pretty cool too. Watch the high shots when fighting him though--he's so short that alot of high attacks will miss him altogether.

3) Great Graphics. I mean, really beutiful, and I'm playing on a CRT television. There's a lot of detail there.

4) Lots of new characters. Some are slight rehashes of older characters (Amy plays almost as Raphael's clone, but for good reason it turns out), but it's nice to see new faces.

5) Speaking of faces, I'm not sure who did the facial art, but everyone just looks wrong in a way that is hard to put your finger on. Maybe just my personal taste there, though.

6) Build your own character. The only catch is that you have to base it on an existing character. You start with their body and weapon style, then customize. All the main character's clothing/accessories are available, plus you can unlock more as you go along. Different duds give you different amounts of power points in five skills, which you then use to buy special abilities. The better abilities are only available as you "level up" with that character in the main game types. Interesting twist to the system.

7) Dark gaming. The story in this one is pretty dark for all the characters. People going insane, Soul Edge possessing its wielder, and the like. Amy may have the best ending ever, though. Raphael deserves it like no one since Macross 7's Basara.

NOTE: I haven't tried online yet, but I'm hearing it is pretty smooth. I'll try to remember to say something if I see any real issues there. If anyone wants to play, my Xbox Live handle is Ogredjinn. Say hi.

[RichS]

A couple of days ago, me and my wife went to the jungle known as Wal-Mart, just to seek out some things, when I spotted the rare Wii console. It was a pack of three of them - a pretty rare sight, I've never seen so much as multiples of Wii together!

I went to tell my wife, and she, armed with her credit card and 0% financing coupon, and with help of a local native (salesperson), we nabbed one of them and a Wii Play.

Seriously now, it'll be sitting in the box until Christmas, for the kids' present. Of course, it needed testing...

I can see where the appeal is now. Not graphically, of course, but as the long-dead Electronic Games magazine stated, the play's the thing. The motion control is really unique - it gives a new feeling of immersiveness. Now I can't wait to get new games (both Wii and GameCube) to be ready for Christmas.

Doesn't mean I've ignored my PC - but that's another post.

[Eddie The 'Ead]

Has anyone played Call of Duty: World at War yet?

[Chanlin]

Been awhile since I chimed in here. To answer Eddie, no I have not played call of duty yet.

My recent gaming diversions have been Fallout 3 (finished), Blue Dragon (finished), FFXI (never finished), World of Goo (demo only, might buy), Rainslick Episode 2 (finished), Spectromancer (demo only, don't waste your time on this one), and last but not least and most recently Mirror's Edge.

Opinions of the above:

Fallout 3 - Great game all around. I only have a few gripes with the story and since I played the PC version constant crashing due to securom issues but otherwise very enjoyable.

Blue Dragon - Not much to say here. Its an RPG. A somewhat unique RPG in its own right and a fairly good story to go along with it.

World of Goo - This game is actually pretty fun and the physics are a little mind bending with what you can do. Definitely worth checking out if you like puzzle games. Its easy to pick up an play and yet some of the puzzles are fairly difficult and some have very unique solutions. Play is somewhat similar to lemmings in that you guide creatures from point A to point B using the creatures themselves to do so and so many have to get to point B in order to complete the objective in a level.

Spectromancer - The concept is fairly neat. You're a mage and you play out strategic battles with various elemental spells(cards). All around there is quite a bit of strategy to the game, but its not very engaging and gets very repetitive very quickly.

Rainslick Episode 2 - The Penny Arcade game. Not much more to say than that. Funny, short, worth playing if you like Penny Aracde or just morbid humor in general.

Mirror's Edge - I've been anticipating this one for awhile. I don't have any issues with disorientation or motion sickness that some players of this game have reported. It is definitely a unique game and so far quite fun, though I've only been able to play it for about an hour. My initial reaction is that I'm going to love playing the heck out of this game. The best part I like about it so far is that getting from point A to point B can usually be done in multiple ways and the game forces you to think on the fly with little time to plan your route. It can get a little frustrating if you keep missing a jump or what not as you keep repeating certain parts, but all in all the controls are very smooth and easy to pick up IMO. (at least on the X-box they are)

[Gravekeeper]

Recent victims:


Dead Space:
Control scheme takes a bit of getting use to. Other than that fantastic horror survival game. The graphics and presentation are utterly perfect.

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl:
A lot more fun than I expected. Friend recommended STALKER: Clear Sky, but I wanted to play the original first. Fairly unique game and surprisingly creepy at a lot of points. There was an extra sense of unease when I actually got near Pripyat and Chernobyl and realized they didn't have to make these two parts up since the game developers are Ukrainian.

Make sure to pack a shitload of rad hypos though. Chernobyl's just a tad...active ( Especially if you're an idiot like me and are sneaking into the reactor ). =p Even with my rad suit on I must have gone through 20 of em creeping around there.

[Broomjockey]

My recent games:
Fallout 3, awesome.
PA: OtRSPoD Ep. 2: pretty good.
guitar Hero: World Tour: Good selection of songs, interesting new guitar set-up, good game.
Left 4 Dead Demo: I'm going to be getting the full game when it comes out.

[Gravekeeper]

Left 4 Dead Demo: I'm going to be getting the full game when it comes out.

Nov 18th I think it was. However, good as it looks, I'm not sure its worth $50 for what it is ( Multi-only fps ).

[Broomjockey]

Nov 18th I think it was. However, good as it looks, I'm not sure its worth $50 for what it is ( Multi-only fps ).

I know when it comes out. The demo expires on the day it does come out. However, it does have single-player. Your "squad" is just controlled by the AI if you're playing alone. And that's actually what sold me. I have a friend who's also going to pick it up, but it'll be nice to have a game I can just leap in to, kill a lot of crap, and then leave without worries. It's not a long game, so I don't have to worry about progress, and it's not an involved game, so I don't have to worry about reaching specific points before I save so that I don't have issues the next time I come back to it.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, I also picked up mirror's edge, and it's sweet. I call it "What the sequel to Assassin's Creed should be."