[booB]

Originally Posted by Intense Degree

I'm currently re-playing The Witcher, just about to enter the tower in the swamp.

I really don't know why I like this game, but I'm enjoying it! So many things are bad, such as the sexist collection of conquests of women as "playing cards" and the generally bad dialogue, together with the fact the main character is about as likeable as toothache.

The characters vary, some being quite good and others being terrible. All of the women will jump into bed with Geralt at the drop of a hat even though he is an idiot! The gameplay is like an MMORPG without being online or any more than single player.

However, I still really enjoy the game! I think it might be the world in which it is set. Vizima and the surrounding lands are interesting and generally good looking places to explore and the game tackles issues like racism, poverty and prostitution fairly sensitively (shame about the mysogeny!).

Many choices to be made are not simply morally black and white and the option of standing alone as neither one thing or another (which fits in well with the Character of Witchers in this game at least) is interesting too.

Didn't finish it last time I played so I'm determined to keep going this time and see how it ends!

I LOVE this game!!!!!

You're right about the fact that the PC is a self-centered, hedonistic, misogynistic, and all-around pretty unlikeable character, but I think that's part of what is so refreshing about the game. Time after time, you are expected to pick between two different evils, and I think this, plus the gritty and bleak story setting, is what has driven Geralt to become such a dick. It's interesting to see Geralt's moral compass change throughout the game, and the effect this has on his longtime cohorts.

Plus, it's a nice change of pace from the fake moral "conundrums" posed by most BioWare games, where the "good guy" and "bad guy" decisions are pretty clear-cut, and the "good guy" decisions tend to be rewarded much better (from my experience, at least). Not trying to bash those games at all, because they have their good points, but the decision-making is not nearly as interesting as it is in games like The Witcher.

[jbunniii]

[Possible minor spoilers]

Over the last few days, I've been playing:

* Mean Streets (first Tex Murphy game). This is available for free on GOG, I believe through Christmas. This is definitely old-school. It's a bit weak really, for a detective game. And that's not because it's old: I've played (and failed to win) much harder text-only games from the 1980s such as Infocom's Deadline. But Mean Streets is fairly straightforward. As long as you take notes and follow up on every new name or location you encounter, it's hard to get stuck.

The "shooting" mini-game is, let's face it, pretty infantile, and the flight simulator part is completely pointless [I leave it on auto-pilot and wish it had a fast-forward option]. The only minor challenge so far is that some of the explorable rooms have burglar alarms that have to be turned off within 5 or 10 minutes, but the exploration options are so limited that it's never a problem to find the correct switch within the allotted time.

Anyway, I have all eight "quest items" that I need for the presumptive final showdown, so I imagine I'll wrap this up today.

All in all a fairly mediocre game, but hey, it's free [as is the follow-up, Martian Memorandum] and a somewhat novel gaming experience from today's perspective; it's sort of entertaining to have to take physical notes with pen and paper, though it would rapidly become unwieldy if the game were more complex. Also, I intend to play the rest of the Tex Murphy games [I believe GOG has all of them], so there's something to be said for starting at the beginning.

* Torchlight. I picked this up on sale for $10 on Steam over the weekend. I played through a good 20 levels of the dungeon, because by the time I recognized that the "normal" difficulty level setting is far too easy, I stubbornly didn't want to have to restart the game and figured that it would get tougher. Unfortunately, it didn't.

So I bit the bullet and restarted it on "very hard" [skipped right over "hard"] . Now I would say it's maybe a bit tougher than Diablo 2 on the "normal" setting, which is fine with me because I've played through Diablo 2 multiple times and this game is VERY similar.

Overall it's pretty fun on "very hard" and I guess it's novel to get to play "Diablo" with sharper graphics and better special effects. But it also lacks Diablo's dark/sinister feel and it's also dumbed down a bit in terms of character options. Also I liked Diablo 2's sprawling world better than playing through what is essentially one big dungeon [though I recognize that the same was true in Diablo 1]. So, long story short, I expect this will be off my hard drive within a year or two, whereas there will always be space for Diablo 2. [Heck, I haven't even done a full playthrough with all seven classes on NORMAL difficulty yet!]

[Crunchy in milk]

RE: Witcher: To be fair on Geralt, you don't have to play him as a misogynist at all, he's not nearly as bad in the books, only in his lecherous bard friend Dandelion's tales. Which is Geralt's primary source of female admirers, he's alien and famous. Like Marilyn Manson.

The Witcher does a great job at being replayable. You can pick either side and run with it, and the game will portray the major characters of each faction differently to suit your choice. Side with the Elves, Siegfried and The Order are xenophobic zealots. While the elves are courageous freedom fighters. Side with the Order and the elves degenerate into desperate terrorists and Siegfried becomes more 'middleground' and reasonable. Its not just those characters either, lots of them shift slightly to reflect your decisions.

----------

Topic contribution: After playing too much Dragon Age Origins, I've uninstalled it to avoid over playing and only seeing its flaws from now on. I still have the urge to try different things but time will only make any future play, better.

I have Batman Arkham Asylum installed and waiting. I need to get through it before Mass Effect 2 shows up. I have other stuff to play too but it'll just have to wait till after feb.

[booB]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

Torchlight... Overall it's pretty fun on "very hard" and I guess it's novel to get to play "Diablo" with sharper graphics and better special effects. But it also lacks Diablo's dark/sinister feel and it's also dumbed down a bit in terms of character options. Also I liked Diablo 2's sprawling world better than playing through what is essentially one big dungeon [though I recognize that the same was true in Diablo 1]. So, long story short, I expect this will be off my hard drive within a year or two, whereas there will always be space for Diablo 2. [Heck, I haven't even done a full playthrough with all seven classes on NORMAL difficulty yet!]

If you haven't tried it yet, go get Titan Quest and its expansion. They're on sale at Steam for $10 US. This is the only Diablo-esque game that, IMO, is actually better than Diablo II. It's not as dark, and it doesn't feature any random dungeons, but the gameplay is almost identical to Diablo II -- but more user-friendly, and with more up-to-date technology. The visuals are amazing; the skill system is pretty vast (each character gets to choose two classes from the nine available); the story and dialogue are... well, we don't exactly play these sorts of games for the story and dialogue (do we? ), but they're not any worse than in the Diablos. Plus, the campaign is EXTREMELY long!!!! You will get many, many hours of gameplay (and a sore mouse hand) just from a single difficulty level. It's another "sprawling world", as you put it, but instead of one "town" per chapter, you are going to visit a series of different towns, merchants, characters, etc., in each chapter. It's very linear (except in one spot where there are two paths you can take to the same place), but it makes for a very large world.

Be warned, it takes some pretty heavy duty system specs to run this game smoothly, even though it's five years old. It's worth it, though, even if you have to turn down the video options.

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

The Witcher does a great job at being replayable. You can pick either side and run with it, and the game will portray the major characters of each faction differently to suit your choice. Side with the Elves, Siegfried and The Order are xenophobic zealots. While the elves are courageous freedom fighters. Side with the Order and the elves degenerate into desperate terrorists and Siegfried becomes more 'middleground' and reasonable. Its not just those characters either, lots of them shift slightly to reflect your decisions.

I didn't realize this. I haven't replayed the game yet, but now I REALLY want to. I originally stayed neutral, but I was planning on siding with the Scoia'Tel next time.

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by booB

I originally stayed neutral [playing the Witcher], but I was planning on siding with the Scoia'Tel next time.

By siding with neither the Order or the Scoiatel, you help the Society of Sorceresses (Triss). You can't really not take a side, any choice you make, even trying to avoid the obvious choice effects some positively, and others negatively. Its interesting to see how a choice of either the elves or the Order effects Triss's reactions to you as a lover, and as a member of the society of sorceresses.

If you've read the books, her whole reaction to developing a personal relationship with you in the game takes on an entirely different twist too. She's quite deliciously devious.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by booB

If you haven't tried it yet, go get Titan Quest and its expansion. They're on sale at Steam for $10 US. This is the only Diablo-esque game that, IMO, is actually better than Diablo II. It's not as dark, and it doesn't feature any random dungeons, but the gameplay is almost identical to Diablo II -- but more user-friendly, and with more up-to-date technology. The visuals are amazing; the skill system is pretty vast (each character gets to choose two classes from the nine available); the story and dialogue are... well, we don't exactly play these sorts of games for the story and dialogue (do we? ), but they're not any worse than in the Diablos. Plus, the campaign is EXTREMELY long!!!! You will get many, many hours of gameplay (and a sore mouse hand) just from a single difficulty level. It's another "sprawling world", as you put it, but instead of one "town" per chapter, you are going to visit a series of different towns, merchants, characters, etc., in each chapter. It's very linear (except in one spot where there are two paths you can take to the same place), but it makes for a very large world.

Be warned, it takes some pretty heavy duty system specs to run this game smoothly, even though it's five years old. It's worth it, though, even if you have to turn down the video options.

Thanks for the tip. I remembered reading about another Diablo clone but couldn't remember what it was called. Steam has the original game for $7.50 or the "Gold" version with the Immortal Throne expansion for $10. For that price I may as well go with the Gold version.

I'm glad to see that it includes multiplayer - I didn't mention in my earlier post that Torchlight lacks this feature, which kind of sucks. Most of my Diablo play has been with at least one other player, which makes it more fun in my opinion.

[booB]

Originally Posted by jbunniii

Thanks for the tip. I remembered reading about another Diablo clone but couldn't remember what it was called. Steam has the original game for $7.50 or the "Gold" version with the Immortal Throne expansion for $10. For that price I may as well go with the Gold version.

It's MUCH MUCH better with the expansion, as was Diablo II. The expansion chapter is vast and very interesting, and the arcane formulae/artifacts are fun -- try to collect them all!

I'm glad to see that it includes multiplayer - I didn't mention in my earlier post that Torchlight lacks this feature, which kind of sucks. Most of my Diablo play has been with at least one other player, which makes it more fun in my opinion.

Apparently the Torchlight devs are in the process of adding multiplayer and some other stuff as downloadable content.

[Crunchy in milk]

I love the look of Titan Quest, the world and characters are very pretty. Loved walking through a wheat field the first time. It falls down a little in the powers graphics though. I had to try a few different classes to find ones with enough visually varied abilities.

Too many of the class skills amount to just additional damage math, with a very basic colour show/effect representing you using that ability. Like a glowing halo of light around your wrists, or at your feet. You can still make some interesting to watch builds. I enjoyed making a greek styled assassin which pretty much mirrors the Diablo 2 class, dropping traps, stabbing and kicking things.

[booB]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

I love the look of Titan Quest, the world and characters are very pretty. Loved walking through a wheat field the first time. It falls down a little in the powers graphics though. I had to try a few different classes to find ones with enough visually varied abilities.

Too many of the class skills amount to just additional damage math, with a very basic colour show/effect representing you using that ability. Like a glowing halo of light around your wrists, or at your feet. You can still make some interesting to watch builds. I enjoyed making a greek styled assassin which pretty much mirrors the Diablo 2 class, dropping traps, stabbing and kicking things.

Nice. I think the best-looking mastery is the Storm mastery. There's nothing like dropping a massive chain lightning bolt on a group of monsters, or starting a squall on a group of ranged opponents. Honestly, though, the really interesting battle effects come from the monsters -- especially the Telkines, and several of the boss monsters in the expansion.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by booB

It's MUCH MUCH better with the expansion, as was Diablo II. The expansion chapter is vast and very interesting, and the arcane formulae/artifacts are fun -- try to collect them all!

Thanks, I picked up the game + expansion yesterday and my wife and I have been playing it today on multiplayer. It's a lot of fun so far! I'm playing as a "nature" guy (allows you to summon a wolf, cast plague and party health enhancements, etc.) I'm level 6 so far, and apparently will have a chance to multi-class when I hit some higher level. I like the Greek mythology angle - it's a nice change of pace from the Diablo dungeon/demon motif. Graphics are very nice too. This is a great bargain at $10 for anyone who enjoys Diablo-style games.

[pointandcliklover]

secret files 2 and i am in indonesia trying to save sam

[J.H]

I'm now playing Syberia for the first time and I'm in the attic with Momo who is asking me to draw him a mammoth lol.

How far in am I? Not very far at all I'm guessing?

I read so many good reviews about this game but it's starting to annoy me. The story really isn't picking up at all yet and the main character, Kate is it? She's very boring and has no charisma. I want to finish this game though as I haven't finished an AG fully for about 3 months.

[Fantasysci5]

JJ-I agree. I had to stop with Syberia out of boredom.

Well, I'm playing three games at the moment;

Diner Dash:Hometwon Hero although I've been stuck on the same damn level for days now, Level 10 at the Zoo, and Level 6 at the ballpark. No matter what I do, I just can't seem to advance, even after looking at a walkthrough.

Morpheus is an interesting game I'm very excited to play. The controls and how you look around is pretty difficult, but the story looks good, and ghosts already!

Moment of Silence is the one game I'm actually playing lots of right now. I have mixed feelings about this game. The opening and the ideas of a big brother government and conspiracies got me very interested, but it is very slow at the beginning, which I don't mind, but it sort of looses my interest for a little bit, then picks up, then looses it again. There are moments with the graphics, being able to comment, and the extensive talking that it reminds me of my beloved "The Longest Journey", but then it looses my admiration for a little bit, cause the voice actors are bad in my opinion, and the story will lag a little. I'm not sure what I think of this game yet, since my opinion keeps fluctuating, but I like it so far.

[markerr]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

AAAAAH! I loved Ralph, and felt so sorry for him! And Bates was my favorite character; I'm so glad they're back! I wish it would come out over here already.

Me too, it was so wonderful to go back to the Black Mirror Castle! Lady Victoria, the library, kitchen etc. it's like visiting an old friend. I just finished the game...and 3 words... to be continued! Oh I really hope so, the ending was AMAZING and the whole game keeps you in suspense, with twists and turns in the story. Would make a great movie actually. It's that good! So sad to finish the game but there's 6 chapters so it's a good long one.

[SharonB]

I finally uncursed the cursed Abbey in Divine Divinity. It took me 2 hours. It took me a while, but I finally got back into the game. I'm just at a point now where I'm unsure what to do next. I'll have to study my quest log.

And I want to finish The Marionette before New Year's day so I can start a new adventure game on New Year's.

[Denaron]

I've just installed Amerzone: the explore's Legacy, still in the beginning. I'm impressed because, except for the cutscenes, the game runs great on windows 7 (x64).

I'm trying to solve this laggy cutscene problem, maybe someone could help me? I've tried to use every kind of windows compatibility options with no succes. Those cutscenes (the game presentation and the guy riding a bycicle) just keep freezing!

EDIT: I had choosen the wrong video setting. Problem solved. Sorry...

[AndreaDraco83]

Doing my second playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins, with a Dalish Elf (Rogue) whom I plan to be very wary of his human companions and extremely intolerant of authority.

I'm also finally properly playing Mass Effect. As much as I like the atmosphere, the storytelling and the dialogues, I can't seem to like the action-oriented combat system. The game is fun but, at least for now (I just freed Liara T'soni), it didn't click for me like DA:O (or JE, or KotOR) did.

[hild]

Sims 3 World Adventures and 2nd playthrough of Dragon Age Origins. First play through was an elf mage, this one playthrough trying a dwarf warrior, city elf rogue and a human mage. On a sidenote I realized when playing a city elf playing a female city elf adds a whole new dimension to that origin.

[Roper Klacks]

I'm replaying Mass Effect in preparation for ME2. I already have a save game of my female Shepard, now i'm having a go with a male Shep (i lost my original male Shep saves) and i'm doing all side missions. 14 hours in and just finished Feros.

Well it's my 4th playthrough and its still great. I'm playing on easy difficulty, its better cause i dont really like the combat.

@Andrea: The beggining of Mass Effect its a bit... meh... however it improves as you progress, and after Virmire (halfway through) i bet you'll be in love with the game. That second half of the game is absolutely fantastic.

[booB]

KOTOR: I'm on Manaan, having finished Taris, Dantooine, and Tatooine thus far.

Torchlight: I'm on level 17, but I keep going through purchased treasure maps and quests for the guy just south of town, so I've actually played a lot more than it seems like I have.

Wallace and Gromit: I've finished ep. 1 and starting on ep. 2 soon.

Aquaria: I have the first three songs and one pet, and am halfway through Mithalas City. (Incidentally, I should mention that anyone who loved games like the original Metroid and the original Legend of Zelda should really check out Aquaria! There is a demo out there.)