What are you playing?

[jokergirl]

Yes, but GW2 is going to have different mechanics than GW1, at least how I understood it.

I had a glimpse of SW and it seemed intriguing. Puzzles!

[Paul Beardsley]

Just finished Uncharted 3. Very enjoyable.

[Spoons]

I had a glimpse of SW and it seemed intriguing. Puzzles!

Yeah, the puzzles sound like they could add a bit of extra fun to it. Of course, I reckon you want to get in early to be part of solving them yourself, as like any time you join a guild or group of friends who have been playing for a while, they've already solved the dungeon strats and puzzles and you just get walked through without realising what fun was involved in figuring it out.

[Jasel]

I tried kingdoms of amular and it wasn't bad. I like the fact that you can change your "class" pretty much at will. It was fun and I might finish it but I tend to get all ADD when I play it.

On the talk of Secret World I have the beta invite but haven't gotten around to it. There is supposed to be a PVP event on Sunday so I might try and get into it to check it out.

--Spoons - I was super heavy into AoC and most of my toons were on Wiccana, what server are you on?

[BigDon]

The Steam system finally aquired Sins of a Solar Empire.

with the lastest offering in that set: The beta 2 of Rebellion

Though they haven't allowed the Vasari in yet.

And I know it's not open for review but Jesus! Lose almost all the new unit callouts. (Replies when you select them.)

You have: Bad voice acting, looking right at you Advent Corvette. Most of the other Advent units use women or girls who at least sound mature enough to be strike craft "amina". I'd play the Advent occasionally because the voices are actually soothing in a lot of cases. Then the corvette came along and they took some chain smoking, whiskey drinking barfly and told her to try and imitate a petulant junior high schooler.

Whining from the commander of a capital ship? Really? The new TEC commander suffers a distinct lack of stones.

About the third time he whined at me about either suicide missions or his doubts as to whether his ship would hold together, (neither of which are issues for my units.) I would have fired his butt. Those are the only two things you get from him.

Where do you complain about this? does anybody know? The new unit callouts are killing the game because everybody is turning them off and that's not why they were made.

I went to their website and got immediately lost. (Their forum is completely out of hand with daughter fora)

[captain swoop]

Working my way through Skyrim. It just keeps expanding! I must have about 20 quests going on at the moment. Good job they all stopwhen you aren't actualy working on them but you can do bits as you pass the locations on your travels.

[Spoons]

--Spoons - I was super heavy into AoC and most of my toons were on Wiccana, what server are you on?

AoC is like that - it's digital crack.

Almost all my characters are on Set. I moved a few over to Wiccana, Candybandito (DT) and Andysocial (Sin) went adventuring there for a while, though I moved all but Chosainjuan (guard) back to Set a while back.

I haven't seen a chance to install TSW yet - is there a site to grab the client from? It doesn't show up on my official website login page.

__________________________
I haven't been able to get into Skyrim... not sure what it is. It is fairly pretty, but I suppose I'm finding it a little dull to just have basic combat comprised of swing weapon fast or swing weapon hard. I suppose you can switch between them and your magic too, maybe i need to invest more time and it will start to be more fun, but it doesn't seem to flow as smoothly as I'd like.

[AGN Fuel]

Working my way through Skyrim. It just keeps expanding! I must have about 20 quests going on at the moment. Good job they all stopwhen you aren't actualy working on them but you can do bits as you pass the locations on your travels.

I just reached Level 78, but levelling up has slowed to an absolute crawl... I am desperately searching for new quests, but have been roaming fairly aimlessly for the past two levels talking to every NPC I meet, but little joy apart from pathetic little miscellaneous jobs. I loathe using cheats to find solve problems or things in games, but I may have to look up some new quests online to finish this game off.

[jokergirl]

Yeah, the puzzles sound like they could add a bit of extra fun to it. Of course, I reckon you want to get in early to be part of solving them yourself, as like any time you join a guild or group of friends who have been playing for a while, they've already solved the dungeon strats and puzzles and you just get walked through without realising what fun was involved in figuring it out.

The question is also how nerfed they will be before the game goes out; in my experience a lot of nerfing happens in the later stages of the beta when the kiddies who want quick gratification come in. Was that way in LOTRO, anyway.
And then of course there's the idiots spoiling the riddles in global chat...

[Spoons]

Oh, yeah, if I can settle into a good guild early on I will ne turning global off quick smart... I can't stand the trolls. I am hoping I can get in early on before it is too heavily nerfed... Sadly AoC was already a fair way into the nerfing, though I'm told it held difficulty a fair while. I believe they didn't pander to the kiddy crowd too easily. Although this has EA involved, so they may put the pressure on for easy teen bucks.

Time will tell.

[HenrikOlsen]

One of the reasons I keep getting back to the X games, (X³ Albion Prelude) currently, is that they aren't for the fast gratification crowd, reward after hard work feels a lot better than reward after no work.

This tends to result in lukewarm reviews when the reviewer tries it for a couple of hours, then writes a review that is basically unrecognizable to regular players because he hasn't actually gotten to the real game yet. So the review is of a game where he had one trading vessel, no factories and basically everyone could kill his light fighter if they accidentally farted in his general direction and nobody liked him enough to want to sell him any of the good stuff.

And there's no skill levels to adjust performance of ships and weapons, they have fixed stats (there's a certain amount of buyable tuning for ships flying characteristics, but that has a hard cap) and how they work in combat depends entirely on how good you are at flying the craft.

I'm starting to loathe the modern philosophy of gaming where you're level 15 in half an hour of playing in the newbie training area because you've been guided through a series of quick boost quests to make you feel good about the game, then when people enter the rest of the game they start whining and post suggestions on how to make things easier for them. And it's never suggestions for reducing the tediousness of repetitive micromanagement, it's always about bigger weapons or weaker foes.

[Jasel]

AoC is like that - it's digital crack.

Almost all my characters are on Set. I moved a few over to Wiccana, Candybandito (DT) and Andysocial (Sin) went adventuring there for a while, though I moved all but Chosainjuan (guard) back to Set a while back.

I haven't seen a chance to install TSW yet - is there a site to grab the client from? It doesn't show up on my official website login page.

__________________________
I haven't been able to get into Skyrim... not sure what it is. It is fairly pretty, but I suppose I'm finding it a little dull to just have basic combat comprised of swing weapon fast or swing weapon hard. I suppose you can switch between them and your magic too, maybe i need to invest more time and it will start to be more fun, but it doesn't seem to flow as smoothly as I'd like.

heh...yes, yes it is digital crack. The combat mechanics is what does it.
I played since launch, and one of the year sub deals included TSW beta. Did you sign up for that one? That could be why.

Clamidia (sin) is/was my main toon (yes I know its spelled wrong thanks to a sensitive GM), followed by various toons with Jasel (**, Guard, Conq) in them, then Morgrom a demo (props to anyone who recognizes the origin of that name), and Daddybaddy (necro) on both Wicc and the blood and glory server, a ToS name Electrich, Jimi the HoX and that might be it. I've rolled barbs and sins on every server and ended up deleting them for various reasons.

[Fazor]

@HenrikOlsen - I don't know how I'd ever go about reviewing a game in that series. It takes so long to experience the bulk of the game, even if you just do the main story line. As a reviewer, you don't tend to have the kind of time to put into something like that. You really would have to approach the review differently.

I don't have a problem with someone reviewing a game without "completing" it, however. I occasionally do. So long as you make it clear that you didn't "finish" the game, and why, I think that it's okay. Had someone get mad at my "I Am Alive" review because the game was bad enough that I just had to turn it off, but I stated that. I don't see how "This game was so bad that by X point, I couldn't play anymore," isn't a valid statement.

Or, for X, "This game is so huge, I'm basing this opinion on this, this, and that."

[Spoons]

heh...yes, yes it is digital crack. The combat mechanics is what does it.
I played since launch, and one of the year sub deals included TSW beta. Did you sign up for that one? That could be why.

Not sure what you mean by that - I didn't sign up immediately for early beta stages, but since I pre-ordered it said I'd have access to early beta weekends, though since those are in May and/or June I thought maybe that's why they won't let me download it yet.

And re Henrik's comments about people getting an easy ride early on, then whining abouyt difficulty later... yeah, that is far too common. What frustrates me is when other players help walk people through parts and then complain that someone doesn't know what they are doing at later stages of the game. I had to leave a guild because they were doing that, and while it spread the love in the easy raids it severely hampered their chances of getting anywhere in the serious fights. They refused to change their style, and even got aggro when I pointed out where they were going wrong. Ah well, some people doom themselves to failure.

[Jasel]

Not sure what you mean by that - I didn't sign up immediately for early beta stages, but since I pre-ordered it said I'd have access to early beta weekends, though since those are in May and/or June I thought maybe that's why they won't let me download it yet.

Very odd. Maybe you should contact support and see what they say...wouldn't hurt to try at least. I got an email on April 4 so check your junk mail around that date.

I played TSW for a few hours, and can offer that it is nothing like AoC. It is more along the lines of SWTOR at least so far for me. I really, really, really enjoy AoC's combat because it was dynamic. Every fight was different (except for raids of course). TSW combat is back to hit button, wait for timer, hit button, wait for timer. Not at all my cup of tea.
The music is cool, and the atmosphere really relates to the environment; if you like these types of MMO's I bet you can really get submersed into it.

Please keep in mind I only played for a few hours so I can totally be wrong and it is just my opinion so far.

[Spoons]

Oh jeez, I really hope it isn't going to stay like that. There is no business sense in pumping out the same tired old crud over and over again. Every other game in the MMO world aside from AoC has that pathetic combo system of point and click fighting. It gets very tedious very fast. You would think that they might learn something from AoC, in that the one thing that is pretty much universally stated about that game is that people like the combat mechanics.

Well, fingers crossed. They did mess with the AoC combat mechanics a bit too, so hopefully they tweak it to improve it.

That said, if you were playing caster style combat it would be that way, depends if you tested out melee. And I've just started a Necro which is basically click and kill, and that is still good fun, so far anyway.

[Fazor]

Just got done with the first episode of The Walking Dead game. It's mostly a point-and-click but with some more active sequences thrown in. The decision / consequence system is remarkable, and I found it deeply emotionally moving to find yourself making split second life or death decisions like we've seen in the show (and I assume the graphic novel.) It's about 2 hours, but there's five total episodes planned to be released over time (like they did with Sam and Max, or the Back to the Future games.) I very highly recommend it if you like those games, The Walking Dead, or both.

[Fazor]

Finished The Witcher 2 over the weekend. Great game. Very great. Also been playing the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier beta. It's a lot of fun.

[Spoons]

I have The Witcher 2 on the pc... Haven't played it much, but was told it is darn hard. Was that your experience?

Very prtty graphics on the pc!

[Fazor]

PC graphics are amazing (saw it running on highest settings at PAX, I can't run it myself. Played the new 360 version.)

Yes, I found it difficult. I had to switch it to 'Easy' and still died a few times.

[captain swoop]

OK playing Skyrim. I have a load of Mods loaded to play it 'hard core' Weather effects the player, cold saps stamina etc. Hunger effects the player, you have to eat and drink regularly each day or you lose health and stamina. Lack of sleep effects the player. Time is slowed down from the default 20 mins game time is 1 min real to a slower 5 mins game to 1 real. I have disabled 'Fast travel' so I have to walk or ride everywhere. I have a mod that lets mwe have up to 3 followers and they can ride horses. Along with a bunch of added in towns and more houses, shops and NPCs in towns plus extra 'wandering NPCs and patrols of Imperial and Stormcloak troops it adds a lot to the realism.

[Fazor]

Lol, for a second I got all excited about this 'Akyrim' game I hadn't heard of that sounded really good . . . until I figured out it was a typo for Skyrim. :-P

[TJMac]

I got a few hours of beta play in, last weekend, for Guild Wars 2.

It is NOT Guild Wars. It feels different, flows different, and gives you so much to do even if you aren't working on your characters personal story line. It takes place in the future of Guild Wars, with similar races and geography.

Most of my Guild Wars guild was playing, and we quickly made up the same guild again. Mainly to see what differences were. I cant get serious about any of it, because they will wipe the servers before official launch. Then I have the feeling I will be spending no little time in that universe.

I'm hoping that the other two races will be playable by the next Beta event.

TJ

[Van Rijn]

OK playing Skyrim. I have a load of Mods loaded to play it 'hard core' Weather effects the player, cold saps stamina etc. Hunger effects the player, you have to eat and drink regularly each day or you lose health and stamina. Lack of sleep effects the player. Time is slowed down from the default 20 mins game time is 1 min real to a slower 5 mins game to 1 real. I have disabled 'Fast travel' so I have to walk or ride everywhere.

That wouldn't be for me. I've played the game some, and there's enough work in the game as it is. I would never want to disable "Fast Travel." A mountain may look really great initially, but it gets deadly dull virtually running around for an hour to find the one way up the mountain to your goal. Having to repeat it - no thanks.

It is a very nice looking game, I will give it that. And there are some interesting aspects, but for me it gets quite repetitive as it is.

I have a mod that lets mwe have up to 3 followers and they can ride horses. Along with a bunch of added in towns and more houses, shops and NPCs in towns plus extra 'wandering NPCs and patrols of Imperial and Stormcloak troops it adds a lot to the realism.

Now that sounds a bit more interesting. I might have to look at those. Have you noticed if your game stability has changed any?

[jokergirl]

I played in the beta weekend too. However my experience was a quite different one. Full servers, lots of disconnects and hidden overflow layers breaking my party. I have the feeling that Arenanet are currently scrambling to fix these issues before the next beta.

[captain swoop]

That wouldn't be for me. I've played the game some, and there's enough work in the game as it is. I would never want to disable "Fast Travel." A mountain may look really great initially, but it gets deadly dull virtually running around for an hour to find the one way up the mountain to your goal. Having to repeat it - no thanks.

It is a very nice looking game, I will give it that. And there are some interesting aspects, but for me it gets quite repetitive as it is.



Now that sounds a bit more interesting. I might have to look at those. Have you noticed if your game stability has changed any?

I am using the Amazing Followers Mod and Better Horses.

There was a bit of a wobble until I arranged the load order of the mods.
Amazing Followers allows 3 followers and you can tell them to use magic and preffered weapons and tell them which armour to wear. They can be set to not initaiate combat, not trigger traps (nothing more frustrating than easing your way past a trap only to have your follower set it off)
It also allows followers to ride any horses you own. THat's why I turned off fast travel, I can get around fairly quickly. Better Horses also lets your horse carry an inventory and wear horse armour.
It makes them Essentail if you want so they can't be killed and stops them trying to join in fights. It gives the different colour horses different stats so one is a faster, one can carry more load etc. You also get a Lesser Ability to Call your horse so it comes tou you if it wanders off in a fight. It also speeds up a horses gallop.
I put in a Mod that changes travel speed so you run a bit slower but walk a bit faster.
I have a Darkness Mod that makes using torches and lanterns (a mod) useful and the night time seem like the night not just a very overcast day. It darkens Dungeons as well.
I am using several mods in the CIties and towns. Whiterun looks and feels more like a trade centre with a market in the empty lower part of the city and more houses, shops and market vendors in the main part.
Solitude has a lot more people in the streets and a complete texture and colour replacement that makes it look worthy of being a Capital City. This extends to all the interiors of the Castle, the PAlace and other buildings.

I am also using a Mod that re arranges the interior of Proudspire a bit to allow my own Blacksmiths, more storage and a proper bedroom for the Housecarl. I have something similar on Breezehome that puts in better furniture in the Bedrooms and takes out the Firepit and puts in a proper fireplace. Smaller towns and villages have been given a few extra houses and NPCs to make them feel more like communities and not just overgrown Farms.

Minor mods include Cloaks that keep you warm in the cold areas, reworked economics to make things a bit more expensive and give vendors more cash to buy things.
Different weights for Smithing materials
A pet dog in Breezehome
more birds
more variety in grass and plants.
Easier pickup and manipulation of objects to help me re-arrange items and furniture in the home.

I am thinking of putting in a mod to make Dragons more epic, they are too easy to kill imho. They should be so tough that only the Dragonborne should be able to kill them after an epic struggle.

I have a bunch of extra dungeons, towns and quests to go in as well.

[Doodler]

I have a few clothing mods added, and a follower mod that allows for up to 100 followers (I draw the line at 2, usually, friendly fire and randomly disappearing followers are a pain), and I also added on that makes followers immune to permakill (again, friendly fire irritations). I also picked up one that adds a whole slew of more diverse wildlife to the game, adds age based categories to wildlife, and inserts a whole gamut of new animal based crafting materials to the system.

That said, I may do a restart, since a few followers have fallen to poorly timed dragon raids...

[captain swoop]

Make the followers Essential, there is a console command for it and 'Amazing Followers' has a a toggle. Amazing also allows you to toggle 'friendly fire'

I have a little mod that removes followers helmets when not in combat and puts them into 'normal' clothing when they enter one of your houses.

I have a face mod that reskins the followers heads.

[Fazor]

Well, between the Elder Scrolls fans on this board, and the MMO fans, it's probably interesting enough to note that Bethesda confirmed they're working on The Elder Scrolls Online. The full reveal is supposed to come in the June 'Game Informer' publication, but details have been leaking ever since the confirmation yesterday. PC/Mac MMO. Sounds like a standard (or generic, if you're a pessimist like me,) MMO. Hotbar abilities. Third-person perspective. Etc.

[Moose]

I am thinking of putting in a mod to make Dragons more epic, they are too easy to kill imho. They should be so tough that only the Dragonborne should be able to kill them after an epic struggle.

They're about right for me. Thing is, during the last war, the dragons and humans stalemated (more or less). The lesson of the dragonborn is that humans now believe (rightly) that ordinary dragons _are_ killable by ordinary people if they're prepared to stand up to them with useful tactics.

The elder dragons, however, can stand a little buffing.

Ironically, that dragons can fall to a single human is more a problem with their tactics than with their actual toughness. Contrast with how dangerous cave bears are, mainly because they'll charge you on sight and never back off until you're dead. Get jumped by two of them? Splat. Bears need nerfing, if only their aggressiveness range.