[Spiwak]

Got this a few days ago:

and no it's not a coincidence that I haven't been around as much on the boards for the past few days But seriously, I'm loving this game.

[Jelena]

I just bought Grim Fandango. Everyone says it's so good, even the best. I'm a bit sceptical since I've not enjoyed either F.T or M.I 3. But I understand this is a must-play in order to claim to be an adventure gamer so I'll give it a try.

[MdaG]

I just bought

I'm having high expectations here :-) I love creepy well made games :-)

[RLacey]

I seriously need to actually play my copy of Realms of the Haunting. The five minutes I did play it for were fantastic, but I'm saving it for when I go and see an old friend in Australia .

[Junkface]

Journey to the Moon (Why they didn't use the much classier "Voyage: Inspired by Jules Verne" title in Australia, I don't know.)
Evil Genius
Rome: Total War
Got them all together for $50 in a sale. The same sale had a whole lot of pristine copies of Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines for $20, which sort of saddens me, though I suppose it's good for anyone around here who hasn't bought it yet. (Bastards!)

[stinking_dylan]

Spiwak. Even though vampire bloodlines had a lot of bugs (I didn't notice too many) I thought it was fantastic and was one of the best RPG/adventure hybrids I've played. It felt so much more closer to the tabletop experience than other RPGs I've played.

[Spiwak]

I'm generally very forgiving of bugs, unless they're the kind of bugs that really cripple the game, because a) most are going to be fixed in patches, and b) how much time the developers had to perfect the coding doesn't really measure the quality of a game. For instance, Fallout 2 had a lot of bugs when it first came out, but with the patch it was fine (I don't remember anything that bad) and I love it almost as much as the original (and not below the first because of bugs).

As I play Bloodlines it pains me a little. I haven't played any Troika games before this, but I'm just absolutely loving the design, the writing and voiceacting, and just about everything else. Really sucks that Troika's gone already, as I'd like to see more of these awesome, unique RPGs and more from the Vampire universe. I'd like to see the Troika guys move in with Obsidian (not sure why those guys broke off from Black Isle in the first place though), but I doubt they'll go back into games anytime soon. Which sucks.

[kuze]

Originally Posted by stinking_dylan

Spiwak. Even though vampire bloodlines had a lot of bugs (I didn't notice too many) I thought it was fantastic and was one of the best RPG/adventure hybrids I've played. It felt so much more closer to the tabletop experience than other RPGs I've played.

Except the tabletop experience doesn't include a gaming/loading 1:1 ratio. Other than that, it is a superb game, and the fan community keeps releasing patches (that sadly do not fix the performance issues).

[Spiwak]

Oh yea, true. I do find the load times a little hard to deal with. I thought the sometimes stuttery performance was just my machine's inability to play it perfectly. Either way, I'm getting through it just fine.

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

how much time the developers had to perfect the coding doesn't really measure the quality of a game.

It does for me, the execution matters just as much as design, if not more. Even patched, Fallout 2's runaway bugs still annoy the hell out of me so I choose not to play it, despite my love for the first game. The bugs also completely ruined my enjoyment of ToEE.

Had they had better programmers, Troika would be on the top of the world now.

[Spiwak]

Well the problem isn't with the programmers but with the studio rushing the developers to finish the game. Fallout 2 was rushed to the market, and I'm going to assume Troika's games were as well.

[RLacey]

I seem to remember reading that Troika had no internal test team, so they were always reliant on the whims of the publishers when it came to the testing cycle. They then had the misfortune of using a series of publishers (Vivendi, but moreso Atari and Activision) who have a dubious history of releasing bugged games (Sin, anyone?).

[stinking_dylan]

Yes, it's such a shame Troika closed. I've got ToEE but have not got around to playing it yet. I really need to pick up Arcunum though.

I didn't notice any problems with load times. What I meant when I said it was close to tabletop was that most CRPGs concentrate on combat and loot, whereas a tabletop game has very little combat and more conversations and plot.

[insane_cobra]

Just ordered these babies:



But I'll have to wait 30-60 days for them to arrive.
Nevertheless, Elevator Action Returns, here I come!

[RLacey]

Heh. I found Taito Legends 2 on Amazon (new) for 99p + P&P (random seller). I still need to get the original at some point, though.

[Lucien21]

I bought the Capcom Classics one a few weeks ago.

Retro goodness.

[stepurhan]

I just bought Descent I and II The Ultimate Collection (as opposed to the Really Naff Collection presumably) for £2 from a charity shop (support Barnardos everyone. They look after kids and have a lot of great second-hand games every time I go in there. )

It's a nice package. Both of the original games, all the commended levels from the Levels of the World competition for the first and the Vertigo Missions plus mission builder for the second.

Having loaded them both up I can now confirm that I'm just as rubbish at these games as I remember being when they first came out. Fortunately I really got them for my brother-in-law who loved the games but no longer has a copy.

Do you think I should tell him that Descent I in Win 95 compatibility runs at impossibly difficult speeds? (Runs fine in DOSBox)

[RLacey]

Am I mad to buy Boiling Point? Who knows. It seems quite interesting so far.

[wicked]

Actually, i won it. I dunno if i'm going to play it, i don't like that monthly fee .

[MdaG]

I don't know what to expect from this one...