My level 58 super-tanky orc lady in Skyrim punches giants, for the lulz. I need to get playing it again as I've only barely started Dawnguard and I've had it for over a week now. I have been a die-hard Elder Scrolls fan since I picked up Morrowind free with my Xbox and I own both that and Oblivion on Xbox and PC. I racked up an actual weeks worth of gameplay on Morrowind, less on Oblivion because it's not as engaging for some reason, and I'm headed that way on Skyrim too now. I also love Mass Effect, so much that I've written a fanfic, that's actually one of my best works, about it. (Yes, I write fanfiction, it's good practice.) The games are awesome, the characters engaging and believable but I'm with the legion of fans who think the overall ending (not the gameplay ending, but the epilogue) was just one of the most disappointing in game history. I have yet to go back and play through ME3 for a second time, which I did with 1 and 2 because I was so let down, but now there's the free content update for the end cinematic that I've not seen any of, I think I will try soon.
Out of the three latest Elder Scrolls games, Morrowind, in my humble opinion, was the superior game by far. Despite that however, I will admit that I enjoyed Oblivion's storyline greatly. Then again, I'm a TES fanboy and never took the mistakes in those games to heart. They're big and fun, and that's all that really matters in the end. I wasted 2 summers on Oblivion. Skyrim on the other hand, 60 hours at most. Not because I didn't enjoy it, but because I'm too busy. :\
Doing the Companion's Quests. It's...shorter than I expected. 8[ The perks are nice, though. I've already gotten a house in Whiterun, Lydia is there, and my character is planning on marriage sometimes soon. I think she'll marry Ysolda, one of the merchants in Whiterun. I also am the Grand Champion of the Arena in Oblivion, and am now starting the MQ again. Just a question about dragon attacks. Would a dragon actually swoop into Whiterun proper, or do they just stick to burning the outside of walled cities? I'd love to take Lydia around Whiterun without her being nommed on by dragons.
I'm pretty sure they'll still come into the city. At least around the walls and usually the guards will come out to attack them, which can help if your character is hurting and you're in trouble. I've used this method a few times. I've only played Skyrim through once, because of being too busy. We did wait to buy it when it first came out, well by a week, because we were moving and settling in. I knew that if we bought that, nothing would get done around the house. I haven't even downloaded the DLC for it yet actually.
Well, that sucks. 8[ Guess I won't be able to take Lydia with me on strolls through Whiterun, 'cause she'll stand a 50% chance of getting killed by said dragon.
I'm not 100% sure about Whiterun though. What you could do is save it right before you get there and see how it goes. If it turns ugly, just reload. Man getting me in the mood to play some Skyrim now.
God damn, trying to learn vortex set-ups with Ibuki in Super Street Fighter IV AE 2012 is a pain in the ass. I love how many options she has but MUs against grapplers and shotos are pissing me too, too.
Agreed on Morrowind, but i HATED Oblivions main quest so much. On another note, i've discovered that if you have a Playstation vita, be sure to back up your games on a regular basis. Got through to chapter 30 of 34 in Uncharted: Golden Aybess and the game file corrupted when the Vita Froze.
DayZ (ARMA II [video game] Mod) and its stories I am kind of surprised that there is no thread here on the subject yet. DayZ is a small (but rapidly growing) modification/game for the 3-year-old military combat simulator ARMA II. DayZ seeks to realistically simulate a zombie apocalypse in the former soviet-block nation of Chernarus. The game is brutally difficult, unforgiving, and has a very strong focus on realism. For example, players have to balance food, water, and body-temperature needs (you can die of hypothermia) while keeping their visual and auditory signature low enough to not attract the attention of zombies and/or other players. You also can break bones, bleed to death (if you are injured and do not have a bandage), go into shock, lose consciousness, catch infections--which require exceptionally rare antibiotics to cure (and are highly contagious to other people you encounter/come into contact with), and manage pain with pain-pills (to prevent uncontrollable shaking). The game requires players to find everything needed for their own survival. You start with no weapon, no food, no water, only the most basic of medical supplies. You can scavenge the ruins of society for food or go hunting (assuming you have found matches, a hunting knife, a weapon, firewood, and killed an animal). The largest threat in the game is not the infected, but rather the game's other human players (in the game's lore, the zombies are not undead but rather infected with a virus [a la 28 days later] that causes them to become zombie-like). One thing that the game's designer has done exceptionally well is to resist the urge to try and balance game play. A single bullet to the head can/will kill you. You are limited in your ability to 'speak' with other players (voices can only be heard ~80m from a player) and there is no way to tell a person's actual intentions. In many cases a person claiming to be 'friendly' is only biding their time until they feel safe putting a bullet in your back (because killing another person is the easiest way to get supplies). This creates massive amounts of mistrust and paranoia among survivors-- every human encounter is potentially fatal. It can take one or more hours to scavenge the most basic of supplies, and if you die it is permanent. You restart as a new survivor, somewhere along the coastline, with absolutely nothing (aside from a flashlight, bandage, and 1 box of pain pills). Because of this, players become very invested (emotionally) in their characters. You find yourself hiding in a barn to avoid the rain (because prolonged exposure can lead to hypothermia and/or an infection) and jumping at every sound you hear, for fear that it's a potentially hostile player who is also looking for shelter. Imagine the bar scene from the end of AMC's "The Walking Dead" season 2, but spread out across a 225 square kilometer nation. The game provides no objectives; it's a true sandbox. The idea is to stay alive, and doing so is plenty difficult, but some players have begun to self-motivate. A network of wasteland doctors has arisen (who run across the map to deliver needed medical services for total strangers, often for free). Trading posts have been founded. Some players repair vehicles and offer taxi services to lucky survivors (one guy even asks trivia questions and rewards his passengers with supplies, a la Cash Cab). Others have attempted to build 'safe zone' forts where players can congregate without getting attacked by bandits or infected (well, in theory any way). There is even a semi-famous example of a player who was shanghaied and forced by his captors to run errands and supply missions. My point in all of this is that, what has truly arisen from the mod, is a plethora of story ideas. Many players record their most memorable experiences, with varying degrees of skill, on the DayZmod forums. Everything that is recorded there has actually happened to a player, and the emotional stress that they encounter along the way is clearly evident in their tales. Below I have included, basically at random, on of the 800+ stories recorded on the forum. Be warned that it contains some adult language. My point is that, for fans of zombie stories, this is a gold mine of material. Both from interviews with players on the forum, and from playing the game yourself (youtube also has many videos of people's experiences). I just thought I'd share Spoiler
Permadeath? Zombie survival? Online multiplayer? You, sir, have gained my interest. I should've looked into this one a bit closer when I first saw mention of it... I always love a good permadeath game.
Well DAMN. I've heard snippets about Day-Z, but nothing really tangible until now. It sounds exactly my sort of game! Thank you for clarifying that for me!
I almost got Arma 2 so I could play DayZ, but I passed up on it despite it being on sale on Steam. Instead, I picked up Bioshock 1, Bioshock 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Imposters, Bastion and Splinter Cell: Conviction, all for about 43 dollars. I practically robbed them.
Nice! High five for making out like a bandit. I'm seriously considering downloading it now, nay idea how much its going for these days? I'm on a government computer so it is picky about where it lets me go.
My buddy snagged combined operations for $17 this weekend, so that's practically free. DayZ is amazing and the potential for story development is phenomenal. I started a separate thread (that got combined into this one) because I wanted to emphasize the story potential over the game play. I've never had a game where I walked away from an encounter SHAKING, but I have done just that in DayZ. Keep in mind, the game is in development (and only ~4 months old) so there are bugs and hackers galore, but it's still great.
I finally started Dawnguard. I haven't even done the first quest given yet, but I'm already a little disappointing with the DLC. I was really hoping for this like, uber secret, well established, exclusive vampire hunting league of extraordinary gentlemen, but instead I get this super open and eager group of young kids with a bad-ass leader and an empty castle who just give anyone a crossbow and tell them to kill vampires. I mean, I was really hoping for the story and cinematic value of the main quest in this DLC, considering I payed twenty bucks for it. Even the thieve's guild quest-line started out more interesting. What are everyone else's thoughts? NO spoilers please, as I have said, I only just started.
Played through the DS port of Chrono Trigger but got stuck somewhere and never went back to finish it. Had been enjoying it up until then though, will go back and play through it again at some point! How does Chrono Cross compare? Was hoping I'd be able to download it onto my PSP when I got it but the EU PSN store's useless line-up of PS1 classics doesn't have it.
Chrono Cross plays very differently from Chrono Trigger. It's a bit hard to explain, but let's just say that Chrono Trigger has simpler gameplay mechanics. Chrono Cross is technically a sequel to Chrono Trigger, but it won't become obvious until quite late in the game (and even then I'd say it's more of a spiritual successor than an outright sequel). There's no actual time travel in Chrono Cross, but you travel between dimensions instead. Oh, and Chrono Cross has one of the best soundtracks on the PS1. Overall, I liked Chrono Cross a lot, even though it's worlds away from Chrono Trigger. However, I love Chrono Trigger more. It's a classic, and rightfully so.
Chrono cross has an amazing plot though If you thought that Chrono trigger plot wasn't very confusing, then once you play CC, you'll be received wth an enormous mindfuck. Spiritual sequal isn't really the right term, Is indeed a sequel, elemets of CT appears mentioned and directly a lot of times
Incidentally, anyone else really pissed off that Square Enix's The World Ends With You countdown teaser turned out to be... an IOS port? I want nothing more in a world than a proper sequel to that game
Just played through Spec Ops: The Line last night. Holy shit. First game since Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3 I was so gripped by, I played through it in one night without stopping. As someone who's increasingly disturbed by the glorification of senseless violence and overt nationalism in many of this console gen's biggest games, Spec Ops really struck a nerve with me. It's honestly the most powerful experience I've had with a game in... I can't even remember. Thoughts on a few particular scenes follow: Spoiler So the white phosphorous scene sure is something. looking back, I love that entire sequence building up to it- first the scene with the hostages. I tried taking out the snipers to save the civilians, which just got them killed before I could even hit the ground. Because I suck at shooters, I then proceeded to get lit up by the heavy or blown up by grenades for a good half hour or so. Each attempt, I came up with a more cunning plan to save the civilians, each time I failed miserably. By the time I finally made it past that fight, I just wanted revenge. Screw the 33rd, I was ready to use any tool the game gave me to strike back at them. So I walk down the corridor with previous victims of the white phosphorous, and just add it to my mental catalogue of grievances against them. Finally we come to the actual mortar. I was gleeful to finally strike back at them- and even thought, when I saw the concentration of white at the back, 'boy this is sure gonna show them.' And then I actually had to walk through, witness my handy work first hand. At first I thought, 'okay, this is messed up, maybe I went a little too far.' Then I came to the civilian encampment. I actually felt physically ill and had to put down my controller for a good 15 minutes. I can't think off-hand of a finer example of interaction being used as the medium for a story- a message. As if technology like remote drone strikes didn't already make me uncomfortable. When Riggs was trapped under the truck, I just knew the game wanted me to mercy kill him. I walked off, and didn't even look back. Likewise with Lugo's lynching scene, I managed to get it all wrong. Frustrated and a little pissed I fired on the crowd. After working so hard to save civilians only to fail earlier... By the end, my Walker was such a broken man, I really felt the only acceptable ending was him opening fire on the men who came to save him. Besides the WP scene, the ending, and the lynching of Lugo, the meta loading screens stood out to me the most. I found "To kill for yourself is murder. To kill for your government is heroic. To kill for entertainment is harmless," particularly striking. It became clear to me around the midpoint (after The Gate, around the time you find Konrad's old command staff, and 'judge' the two hanged men) that the game was being told explicitly through Walker's eyes, and that his account was unreliable, most likely due to madness. I somehow convinced myself that Walker was actually a figment of Konrad's imagination, a soldier he remembered from a previous tour of duty on whom he projected everything he had done wrong, including the incineration of a group of men who rebelled against him, and an enclave of civilians that they were protecting- which is kind of funny because based on the evidence presented inside The Tower, that's probably the exact opposite of what's going on. Also interesting is lead writer Walt Williams's take on the plot- that Walker died in the opening cut scene, and the rest of the game is his journey through purgatory. I prefer a more materialistic/psychological interpretation, but I will admit the purgatory theory has convinced me to play through it again and look out for some clues that are easy to overlook in the early game.
