What Game Are You Playing At The Moment?

[rhesusattack]

Originally Posted by Junkenstein

I agree, but i have the feeling that they tried to make the game more lean and action driven than focused on the more RPG aspects...

I impèorted my first Shepard, so i already got used to his look, and i love how Bioware paid attention to the emotional details this time. The first one was an introduction to this immense galaxy. This one is more of an hyper-emotional thrill ride. Less peaceful, more heart pumping. Also, Sheperd is generic but that helped me immerse myself in the character (and i still like him/her more than how the player's handled in Dragon Age), and enjoy the great script. The other characters are just incredible, fully developed, three dimensional, much much more than the first squad (Just confront Ashley Williams with the set of female characters you have here).

And the cinematic stylings of every single scenes, the amount of details (how every single characters has his own body language and particular attitude). The beauty of the settings. The absorbing power of the game (i dont remember what was the last game that litterally drawed me in so deeply. When i started playing i always ended up playing for at least an hour and more and i always was on the edge).

There are flaws, especially if you wanted some more mellow, exploring oriented game (But the resource collection was a cool idea) but the goods out- do the tiny bads. There's such a scope, a general bad-assery, a cinematic power and a great atmosphere (this is an intelligent sci-fi fan's wet dream), such great characters, scenes and ideas... This series has really made me like the genre again.

I wasn't really big on Mass Effect and probably won't play ME2, but I loved the character creator in that game. I made some Chris Cooper-lookalike that was a hardass to everyone he encountered which, in my understanding, is pretty different than the template Shepard they put on the boxart to the game.

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by rhesusattack

I wasn't really big on Mass Effect and probably won't play ME2, but I loved the character creator in that game. I made some Chris Cooper-lookalike that was a hardass to everyone he encountered which, in my understanding, is pretty different than the template Shepard they put on the boxart to the game.

The standard looking shepard is nothing special, but his animations are incredible in this episode. Like all other charcters, during dialogs or cutscenes (which are usually interactive) he and the other characters exchange looks, move, crack their hands, cough out of tension, touch their weapons menacingly. And all these little details are different according to youyr personality. There's this amazing options of choosing to do a renegade/paragon action during a scene where you completely change the development of what happens. And you dont know what that action will be or cause. It's usually incredibly badass and cold blooded (if renegade) or fascinatingly charismatic.

Spoilerous examples: You have to find out where a character is. You know that he's hunted by mercenary troops. You recruit yourself as a mercenary and you know you will have to kill them all eventually to protect the person you find. A 18 yo kid enters the room. You relize that in the future you'll have to kill him. The paragon icon flashes. If you click the right button you will stop him from recruiting, saving his life. There will be consequnces. If you ignore this you'll end up killing him. There will be consequences there too. Same with renegade actions. You might kill a suspect instead of interrogationg him, beat up people, hurt them. And every single action will change the rest of the game. In a BIG way.

But besides this, the game has a pace ten thousands times faster than ME1. And it's so good, so involving, that i feel like i have to reccomend it. Give it a try. It's as close to atmospheric, intelligent art as a game can get, whbile still being madly entertaining. Trust me. It's that good.

[brighteye]

Just finished ME2 and it was really awesome, and today i started with Dantes inferno.

It would be REALLY interesting if Keith had that game and showed it to his dad. Its really heavy on the biblical themes and its all about the seven deadly sins.

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by brighteye

Just finished ME2 and it was really awesome,

(SPOILERWHITE!)

What ending did you get! I managed to save the whole squad and myself, but Mordin died in the end... Apparently different combinations of charcters upgrades and missions change the way things develop... Apparently there was a guy convinced that whoever you sent as specialist was gonna die but Tali made it out alive and well on my playthrough.

Anyway, having me so jacked up and eager to talk about a game is a big achievement. I cant wait for number 3...

[standardman]

I've had a busy week working so I haven't been playing any games but I have been listening to Team Teamwork's Final Fantasy VII remix album, Vinyl Fantasy 7.

Never thought I'd hear Tom Waits collidle with Final Fantasy VII but I'm glad I have.

Oh and steam's midweek sale is Titan Quest Gold 75% off - £2.49 in real English monocle money. If you like Diablo or Torchlight, this one is for you; if you don't like Diablo or Torchlight, you are mistaken.

[brighteye]

Originally Posted by Junkenstein

(SPOILERWHITE!)

What ending did you get! I managed to save the whole squad and myself, but Mordin died in the end... Apparently different combinations of charcters upgrades and missions change the way things develop... Apparently there was a guy convinced that whoever you sent as specialist was gonna die but Tali made it out alive and well on my playthrough.

Anyway, having me so jacked up and eager to talk about a game is a big achievement. I cant wait for number 3...

Here is how it went for me:

Again i played as a asian looking female sniper, i lost the save from the first game, but i managed to make her look the same anyway.
In the first game i had a little Asari romance and i really tried to get Miranda this time, but i yelled at her for fighting with Jack (zero) and she never forgave me for that, so despite being able to get Jack, i instead went with Garrus. In the final battle Garrus got wounded but survived, but Thane got his head blown off while trying to close a door.I saw two coffins at the funeral and i never saw Miranda again, so i guess she got killed off camera ?


After all this i managed to go through ME1 again and this time as a tough as nails military guy that drink petrol and piss napalm.
I will get at it again and see what i missed later this month...

[Junkenstein]

Again SPOILERWHITE!

Again i played as a asian looking female sniper, i lost the save from the first game, but i managed to make her look the same anyway.
In the first game i had a little Asari romance and i really tried to get Miranda this time, but i yelled at her for fighting with Jack (zero) and she never forgave me for that, so despite being able to get Jack, i instead went with Garrus. In the final battle Garrus got wounded but survived, but Thane got his head blown off while trying to close a door.I saw two coffins at the funeral and i never saw Miranda again, so i guess she got killed off camera ?


Apparently, if you play a female charcter you can get lady/lady romance only with Kelly Chambers... The side you pick during the Jack/Miranda fight is very important. Both do not forgive you if you take the other one side, but if you got enough paragon points you can keep their loyalty (which is fundamental to the ending). Everyone who dies is clearly shown on camera, so if there were two coffins, someone else died and you maybe missed it. Basically the survival of each member is completely dependent from getting upgrades and gaining their loyalty. it think that the Jack/Miranda fight can be done without taking sides even with high renegade, probably instead of the smooth talking diplomat you'll just tell them to shut the fuck up before you snap their necks, or similar... Having Miranda on my side made her resign from Cerberus and tell The Illusive man to stick it, and THAT was great. People i've spoken with have testified that with each playthrough things changed. I think that's just amazing.

It's also interesting how the "Romance" side is handled this time. They criticized the first one for having sex scenes, and they were missing the point. In this one the scenes are incredibly part of the emotional side of the story. and they are pertinent to the character you choose to have it with. Jack can litterally rape you or heal her emotional wounds. Miranda fucks like a pornstar but has no love in it. And Tali... I still have to try this one, but during the romance dialog options, she has the sweetest, most innocent and pure reactions of the bunch (she's still my favourite character)

[listener]

Dante's inferno has a very interesting plot, and I guess recreates the book, but the controls and gameplay are too similar to GOW for me to take it seriously. I played the demo and thought I downloaded the GOW3 demo by mistake.

[standardman]

A PR person for the game came around to the shop to tell us how they've 'recreated the poem' I asked her about the double jumps and combo system, must have missed those in English class.

[Kydizzle]

Originally Posted by listener

Dante's inferno has a very interesting plot, and I guess recreates the book, but the controls and gameplay are too similar to GOW for me to take it seriously. I played the demo and thought I downloaded the GOW3 demo by mistake.

i don't mind a great god of war clone. ties one over until one plays god of war 3. similar to torchlight in lieu of diablo III