What Are You Playing?

[Raziel]

I actually somewhat agree with FSW. Its alright, but I think between knowing how its gonna end without seeing a spoiler, and that it seemed overhyped when I finally got to it, its not a GOTY. I actually got bored of it quick.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

I actually somewhat agree with FSW. Its alright, but I think between knowing how its gonna end without seeing a spoiler, and that it seemed overhyped when I finally got to it, its not a GOTY. I actually got bored of it quick.

COVER BEHIND CONVENIENT HEIGHT WALLS, MOVE AROUND, DON'T STEALTH KILL ANYTHING BECAUSE NOTHING IS STEALTHY, RINSE, REPEAT

[Andrew POE!]

True, the human enemy AI is bad but I like it when the game rewards me for its own stupidity and failings. As opposed to punishing me because the game designers are fuckin' assholes.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

It's just boring. I'm sure the story was awesome, it looked cool when I read it, but I'm not playing through this shite to get there.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

There's no steam deal thread anymore, so, I'll just put this here: Gone Home is $10 for what I assume is today only, as part of their Midweek Madness thing. There's no demo since it's at most three hours. It's a first person adventure game that takes the strength of Bioshock's style of storytelling* (the narration happening while you're in the game looking around) and makes it so both the game and the story benefit from that delivery. If you're looking for a break from the Ten Hour Action Movie thing, this is a pretty excellent option.

 

*it comes from a part the team responsible for the Bioshock 2 Minerva's Den DLC, which has the reputation of being better than the main game.

[Zimbra]

Gah, I really want to play Gone Home but I can't really justify spending any more money on games this month.  I'm hoping it will show up in a Humble Bundle somewhere down the road.

 

I've been playing through Diablo 3 on PS3 with my girlfriend.  It's exactly what I expected from it: killing and looting.  I'm rolling Monk and it's tons of fun zipping around the screen and kicking things in the face.  They did a nice job of porting to the console as well, the controller layout is well thought-out.  We've already had a couple of lost nights where we sit down to play and look up and it's 1AM.  Good times.

[Tabe]

After months of anticipation, Rocksmith 2014 came out yesterday.  Ubisoft straight up lied to me when I asked about a digital PSN version, so I went looking for the game last night.  Took me 3 stores to find one that sold the version with no cable included (already have the cable, don't need two).  Got home, fired up the PS3, checked PSN and...lo and behold, there's a PSN version of the game.  $#$%#$%.  At least I found it before I opened the copy I'd bought.  Waited a couple hours for my DSL to download the game, another 30 minutes to install (wtf), and, hey, I was finally playing!

 

So... my main gripe with the first Rocksmith was the speed of the interface and just trying to actually play a song.  That's been addressed.  Stuff loads a LOT faster.  Big-time difference.  I really only jumped in to play a handful of songs and that went well.  They've changed the arrangements you can play.  Gone are the "single note" or "combo" arrangements.  In their place are "lead" and "rhythm".  While this is more technically "correct" to what an actual guitarist would play, it does take away a bit of the fun of the songs from the first game.  In that one, they sometimes transposed melody from another instrument to the guitar so you got to play all the coolest parts, no matter what.  Like in "The Final Countdown", for example, you got to play the cool keyboard melody.  So that's a bummer but understandable.  Not understandable is the utter disaster they've made of the tuning.  It's buggy as hell and really inaccurate.  When you play a string, the tuning thing bounces all over the place so you can't tell if you're sharp or flat.  I had it telling me I was touching a different string (I wasn't) over and over and over.  This was extremely frustrating.  And all that just to end up with a guitar that was out-of-tune.  I ended up busting out the tuning app on my phone.  At least you don't have to re-tune after every single song. 

 

So far anyway, I'm pretty pleased.

[assfax]

These are the only things I don't like about New Super Mario U.

The whole saving thing is mostly fine but really, if you get all the star coins it should just ask you if you want to save. That would alleviate all my qualms. Once you beat King Koopa this is all moot but when I was going through I'd've liked it.

When you glide with the squirrel suit, after flying, if you let off all the buttons it doesn't drop Mario quickly. He does a wimpy little flap thing. You can cancel out of it with a ground pound but I really think that suit could've been better. It drops you correctly if you just glide.

Needed more of the interesting boss fights. Basically, if it was just a straight ass Koopa Kid, the boss fight was easy as a motherfucker. All the bosses need to be as interesting as Bowser Jr. and the big sumo guy.

If you use the pro controller, the spin is on the little shoulder button instead of the trigger. I really would've rather had it on the trigger.

[RIPPA]

[Andrew POE!]

Trying to do Impossible difficulty for Dead Space (to get another Platinum) and I'm about ready to snap the disc in half. Fuck Visceral for the boss battle at the end of Chapter 6.

[Shane]

On a road trip this weekend, so I started the DS version of Chrono Trigger. I've never actually finished this game. Played it a bunch, but never got to the end for whatever reason.

[assfax]

I ain't playing it yet but I totally bought Metroid Other M because it still gives 50 club nintendo points (and ten points on post play survey) and it was only 12 bucks. I will totally beat this game. Totally. I also got Prime 3 used and the club nintendo code was still good. Main thing is that I'm hooked on club nintendo even though there ain't shit worth getting on it.

[Neil Koch]

I had a pretty good time with Other M besides the awful cutscenes you can't skip.

[Raziel]

Other M probably has the best Ridley fight that the Metroid series ever had.  Besides that, it was a good enough Metroid game, save for the mentioned cut scenes and the "ending" sequence.  Oh, and the shitty "Samus, you're authorized to use <insert item here> now!" upgrade system.  After a certain point in the game, she should've just taken the gloves off and opened all her shit back up.  The post-credits sequence is a better.

[MarcosLoura]

THE BABY!

[Andrew POE!]

Got a 9th Platinum trophy on Dead Space. FINALLY.

[Shylock]

Playing Assassin's Creed: Revelations and constantly having the spy you're supposed to confront get stuck in a corner and then nothing fucking happens.  It just stays that way.  So I have to redo EVERYTHING.  Going to the city, climbing up to get that one viewpoint, finding the spy.  And having to do it all over again because this stupid fucking game doesn't have a "Restart from Checkpoint" option.

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

BATTLEFIELD 4 (PC)- I got a real itch to get in some heavy multiplayer shooting, and that used to mean Bad Company 2 a few years ago. Well, now only insane people play that, and I had extra dosh around so I went in on this. Really enjoying it so far! Getting most of my time in on a support, and spending most of that time getting murdered while I learn maps, but that's how that's supposed to be going right now.

 

DARK SOULS (also PC)- Trying a Sorcerer. It's an odd combination of really easy and really fucking hard- basically if I have a clear line of sight I can nuke the fuck out of whatever stands in my way, but gosh help me if there's a corner I need to round to get at someone. Also got trolled by an invader for the first time! Neat!

 

REUS- God game, not totally sold on it yet. The game layout and the art design are really neat, but there just doesn't feel like there's enough that can be done. Quite a problem seeing as you are the will behind four giant god monsters. I don't know that I'll stick with this one.

[Tabe]

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is out today and....I'm not buying it.  Yet.  I am torn between waiting for the inevitable discount on the PS3 version and picking up the PS4 one.  Thing is, I'm planning to wait a few months for the PS4.  It'll all sort itself out

 

Anyway, IGN loved the game, gave it an 8.5.  They disliked parts of the story but said it generally is great.  Their review covered the 360, PS3, AND PS4 versions.  All three LOOK fantastic.

 

So, yeah, I'll be getting this one, just not sure when.

[Andrew POE!]

I've actually pre-ordered a PS4 from Dell.com for $520 (which includes a second DualShock 4 controller & Killzone: Shadowfall), so I will definitely get ACIV: Black Flag on PS4.

 

Just not at launch. Like most/all Ubisoft games, that too will drop in price to $40 or less at some point.

[assfax]

This challenge mode in NSMB U is god damned great. Biggest revelation is that if you bounce off an enemy then fly up, then bounce off another enemy, you can float as long as there are bad guys. Best shit is the ones where you have to avoid coins. Also into the final special world on 3D Land. Kinda getting sick of just constantly having chase stages with evil Mario. Really not looking forward to re-beating all stages as Luigi. At least I don't have to get the coins again.

[Cristobal]

I pre-ordered AC4 for PS3 and picked it up yesterday. Everything I'm hearing is positive, so...so I probably won't open the damn thing for weeks cuz GTA. (I JUST BOUGHT MY SUPERCAR!)

[Death From Above]

Well, tried to fire up Skyrim on Steam for the first time in over a year with it actually online, because I have shitty bandwidth limits and I can't handle patching all the time. Discovered Steam "needs to convert the content to a more efficient format" which essentially means downloading the entire fucking game over again even though it's already on my system.

 

Or in other words I can no longer play Skyrim on my PC until I move to an urban environment. It is literally impossible on my internet plan. And by merely turning Steam on, my installed-off-of-a-purchased-disk version of the game can no longer start now until said download is finished, and never will again. Literally, the start up icon for it now does nothing since Steam just borked my perfectly fine and working install.

 

Steam really is the worst piece of malware I've ever had to deal with. It's literally the only thing I've ever used that makes me want to quit gaming.

[Bix]

Got AC4 because of the PS4 upgrade deal. Major return to form after last year being such a chore and I haven't even gotten that far yet. Plays much more like the Ezio trilogy but with some of the new stuff from AC3 added. Can't wait to dig in more.

[Andrew POE!]

Got my 10th Platinum trophy on Borderlands, which was a really easy Platinum. Basically, level up my main character to level 50, jump online with the other character classes, level them up to unlock skill attacks and use their skill attacks.