The Video Game Thread

[bigtplaystew]

I'll end with one non-GoT question: have the Diablo III server issues gotten any better? I have a friend who's thinking of buying it, but he's wary of doing so now.

 

I have not had an issue with the servers what so ever. Thats not to say problems dont exist. I just haven't had any. I mean it was down for a good chunk of the first 48 hours after launch, which was probably not the best thing for opinions on the game. It's understandable that people were let down after 12 years and $60 they installed their game to not be able to play it by themselves.

 

But I'm loving the game. Very good and addicting formula. I'm hooked right now. I couldn't say enough nice things about Diablo 3. And I'm not a fanboy I barely played Diablo 2 at all.

[Makhai]

Well I disagree with you. I don't feel a property I'm being entertained by should be judged on public opinion. All I care about is if I enjoyed it or not. I can't worry about what people think about everything because people are dumb.

 

 

Let people enjoy their adaptations. It just comes off snobby when people turn their nose up at changes like we're seeing in GoT. The main story is still very much intact. They're changing a few things around with the pacing of the story and shrinking the importance of some minor characters. Which every rational fan of the books understand they really have to do. They simply dont have the screen time to address every character in full detail and keep the story trucking along for a TV audience.

 

So when I hear people whining about these small changes, it reminds me of the LotR snobs who scoffed the movie because Tom Bombadil wasn't in it. So I roll my eyes and enjoy the show like I did with the LotR series.

 

I would agree with you, but then there's this real world thing. And it's real and everything...

 

I am not an SoIF guy, so, I can't speak to GoT. BUT TOM BOMBADIL MAN.... COME ON HOW CAN YOU DENY THE GENIUS! I'm more upset by the 78 endings in Return of the King... Dear lord, end the ****ing movie.

 

As for AMC's The Walking Dead... **** that thing, **** it in all imaginable places, with sharp flaming objects.

[moon_lit_tears]

One of the guys in my DnD group has said after the first day the servers have been pretty good. There is a lag when in a crowded game, but other than that it's been fantastic.

 

GoT...While I'm of the opinion I have to judge for myself (I'm odd like that) I've watched some of the game play via live stream and I'm not sure I'll enjoy it.

[D-Lyrium]

I agree with you. I'm not sure if I came off as a book snob in my post, but that wasn't my intention at all. I see the Reeds as essential because I don't see how they can tell Bran's story without them (or at least one of them), but if they can figure out a way to do so, you won't see me raging about it.

 

I notice the changes and form an opinion on them, but I'm not watching the show just to nitpick every little thing that's different. It's an adaptation, so changes are inevitable. Some I like, some I dislike, but I'm not going to throw a fit every single time a scene I like is omitted, or they change the way a certain character thinks or behaves.

 

Elsewhere on the Net, I saw much outrage over the fact that Myrcella cries on the boat, as opposed to the book, where she smiles, puts on a brave face and even comforts her little brother. One person said they were very annoyed at that change, even though they hadn't even noticed it until they came online and read other people complaining about it. That's just silly. And all over a scene that changes exactly nothing with regards to the actual plot.

 

Just to be clear, I wouldn't say I was a "book snob". I don't mind when they change STORY elements, sometimes they have to for the good of the show. Some things just don't work as well on screen as in writing.

 

What bothers me is when they change CHARACTER elements without good reason, or when they change story elements for no reason at all - including adding completely pointless scenes which aren't in the book and tell us nothing new. I get that they have to add some scenes, to tell us things that we need to know but haven't seen because for whatever reason it was in a scene that got cut, but when they add pointless scenes such as the Ros/Pycelle "the thing about Kings..." scene, it gets annoying. That's five minutes of screen time that could've been taken up by a useful scene.

 

The Myrcella thing, for instance, is actually a very good example. It might seem trivial and silly, but what's the point in changing that? To give it a TEW/wrestling perspective, if I wrote a WWE dynasty where John Cena was a massive pussy and ran away from fights left, right and centre it would be universally panned by the readers (unless it was part of a concious gimmick change, of course) because it's "not John Cena". Or if I wrote Chris Jericho as a Val Venis type playboy, same thing. Or William Regal as a hip hop star. Unless I'm conciously changing their character, which does happen in wrestling admittedly so it's a bit of a shoddy analogy, they have an established character. If I change that for no reason then it becomes "wrong", regardless of the fact that it's just made-up characters in a made up story. They have defined personalities - if you screw around with them for no reason, then what's the point in them being there? All the work that went into building their persona is thrown out of the window.

 

Omit them for brevity, sure. Have them do things they don't do in the books for the purposes of storytelling, sure, if it stays consistent with their character. But don't change their character for no reason. It's just senseless.

 

Maybe they wanted to "make her seem more vulnerable/childlike". That's not Myrcella, though. Have some random kids crying in the background if you want childlike vulnerability. Myrcella has to be strong.

 

Aaaanyway, vidya games...

[BHK1978]

Well after four years I am about to finally beat GTA IV. Yes it is a long time but I would like to add in that time I have had five different 360 systems die on me. Plus there were other games that I was more interested in.

 

When I do beat it, it will actually be the first GTA game that I beat. I never beat San Andreas because I was not able to finish that stupid toy plane mission and then my PS2 decided to die on me.

 

I am not sure why I never beat Vice City, there has to be a reason for that as well.

[Jaysin]

Well after four years I am about to finally beat GTA IV. Yes it is a long time but I would like to add in that time I have had five different 360 systems die on me. Plus there were other games that I was more interested in.

 

When I do beat it, it will actually be the first GTA game that I beat. I never beat San Andreas because I was not able to finish that stupid toy plane mission and then my PS2 decided to die on me.

 

I am not sure why I never beat Vice City, there has to be a reason for that as well.

 

IV was the first GTA I didn't beat, but that's because I didn't like it.

 

Yes, that includes the top down games and Chinatown Wars.

[The Final Countdown]

Well after four years I am about to finally beat GTA IV. Yes it is a long time but I would like to add in that time I have had five different 360 systems die on me.

Five? Damn! Most everyone I know that owns a 360 has had to replace it, but never more than once. I bought mine in 2008, and it's still going strong (knock on wood.)

[bigtplaystew]

Well after four years I am about to finally beat GTA IV. Yes it is a long time but I would like to add in that time I have had five different 360 systems die on me.

 

Do you keep your 360 in the oven or something?

 

I had my launch 360 die on me, which they fixed. But then it's Disc tray acted up so now I keep that in my basement and stream movies and TV to it while my black 360 elite sits up stairs in my living room.

[BHK1978]

I bought my original 360 about a week after they first came out. It lasted about a year, until it was unable to read the games.

 

The second one lasted about five months and then died of Red Ring of Death.

 

Microsoft sent me a rebuilt wreck which lasted for about a year before it died due to the RROD.

 

I was sent another rebuilt wreck that lasted for about a year or so before I had a problem with it (This time it was not the RROD but I do not recall what it was.).

 

Once again they sent me a rebuilt wreck which lasted until I want to say 2010 or so (I could be off on that.), that died due to the RROD.

 

Finally, I told them I wanted a new system and not a rebuilt one. They told me that they did not do that, yet they sent me a new one because it was dated 2010 (Well it could have been a rebuilt one for all I know.). That system has lasted until now, knock on wood.

 

What sucks is I spent a ton of moeny on the damn thing. It seemed every time one of my systems died the warranty had run out so I had to spend $120 a pop each time it died. Needless to say when the new one comes out I will not be buying it right away because I do not want to waste money on it like I did with the 360.

[bigtplaystew]

So I broke down and bought Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion... extremely disappointed.

 

The separate factions seem interesting at first. Titan warships are great if you can afford them. But with a $40.00 price tag it's a hell of a financial leap for what I considered to be minor additions to gameplay. I'm played mods that were deeper than this.

 

All in all I'd stay away for a few months until this price goes down to something a little more palatable. I'm REALLY surprised the reviews have been so good for this but critics dont actually have to pay for games so I guess that factors in.

 

If it were $10 I'd say this is an easy buy. But it's $40 and you can get a lot more game elsewhere if you already own SoaSE.

 

Now if you're interested in Sins of a Solar Empire in general and never played it... Rebellion may be an option. It includes all additions that previous expansions brought to SoaSE. So as a starter pack, it's actually a decent value. Problem is you won't really appreciate the new features and you can get SoaSE with it's previous expansion for about half the price of this.

 

SoaSE combines elements of 4X and RTS gameplay into a style that is truly unique to this game. It is one of the best strategy games I've ever played.

 

Rebellion as an add-on is extremely disappointing given the enormous price tag.

[Jaysin]

Great haul this weekend I think.

 

Took advantage of Gamestop's Buy Two, Get One Free campaign this weekend.

 

First trip I snagged Saints Row The Third, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Shadows of the Damned.

 

Second trip I snagged Skyrim, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, and Prototype 2.

 

The next few weeks(months for Skyrim) are going to be fun

[KeyserSoze]

I've left my TEW games for now. Nowadays playing.

 

Shogun (I've Shogun 2 too, sure it's a better game, but I don't have the seem feeling)

 

EU3 (I always return... always).

 

Pandora 4X (Learning the ropes)

http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

In a few months I should play CK2

 

Yes, I the Ultranerf

[D-Lyrium]

Great haul this weekend I think.

 

Took advantage of Gamestop's Buy Two, Get One Free campaign this weekend.

 

First trip I snagged Saints Row The Third, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Shadows of the Damned.

 

I hope Shadows of the Damned was the free one. ¬_¬ Deus Ex makes up for that though, one of my favourite games of all time (along with the original. But don't mention the bastard child).

 

EU3 (I always return... always).

 

You won't after playing CK2

[dakydaky]

Just played The Walking Dead: Episode 2, and I must say this game is AWESOME. Immersive, shocking & emotionally exhausting, The Walking Dead game is a masterpiece. It's tense from beginning to end and you can't stop playing. A near-perfect game that is probably the best episodic content I ever played.

[Jaysin]

I hope Shadows of the Damned was the free one. ¬_¬ Deus Ex makes up for that though, one of my favourite games of all time (along with the original. But don't mention the bastard child).

 

Is Invisible War the one you're calling the bastard child? I had loads of fun with that one on XBox honestly.

 

I've heard Shadows of the Damned is mindless fun. I love mindless fun.

[D-Lyrium]

Invisible War is a travesty. The PC port was lazy as all hell, to the point where the key prompts featured X-Box controller buttons instead of keyboard keys and the menu system designed to account for the lack of a mouse persisted in the PC version, where there clearly was a mouse (this from a developer who had previously been extremely PC-centric, with both Deus Ex and the Thief series).

 

The X-Box had 64mb of RAM. My computer had more than that on one stick. A map in Invisible War was thus about as big as Paul Denton's apartment in the original.

 

It looked like crap. I mean, Deus Ex was never a pretty game, but it was never a pretty world/city/story either. The grittyness of the graphics kinda fit, in a way. DE:IW looked like it was modelled from plasticine. And it did that real-time lighting thing that Doom 3 did. But badly.

 

The story sucked.

 

One ammo type fits all. Really? REALLY?

 

Invisible War was shite. It might have been decent if it didn't try to be a Deus Ex game, but... yeah.

[moon_lit_tears]

Okay guys I need help here. I've been debating on Diablo III for a while. At first I didn't get it because of the server issues, then I didn't because this stupid website told me my video card wasn't good enough which we found out was a LIE! (though I"m looking to update it soon enough ANYWAY) now I'm just not sure if it's going to be worth the $60. I HATE spending money on something I"m not going to use/play.

 

I'm a huge huge huge fan of Diablo II as in I still play it like I did this morning. So I"m trying to get the amount of changes they have made to the game, in that will I still like the Battle/exploration system of it all. I know many people here have played it, but I'd really like a lot of opinions on this.

 

I've seen it played by a friend of a friend for about 5 minutes, but like most guys he really gets into the game and after a few minutes of him yelling at the people in the game with him...I had to walk away!.

[Jaysin]

Invisible War is a travesty. The PC port was lazy as all hell, to the point where the key prompts featured X-Box controller buttons instead of keyboard keys and the menu system designed to account for the lack of a mouse persisted in the PC version, where there clearly was a mouse (this from a developer who had previously been extremely PC-centric, with both Deus Ex and the Thief series).

 

The X-Box had 64mb of RAM. My computer had more than that on one stick. A map in Invisible War was thus about as big as Paul Denton's apartment in the original.

 

It looked like crap. I mean, Deus Ex was never a pretty game, but it was never a pretty world/city/story either. The grittyness of the graphics kinda fit, in a way. DE:IW looked like it was modelled from plasticine. And it did that real-time lighting thing that Doom 3 did. But badly.

 

The story sucked.

 

One ammo type fits all. Really? REALLY?

 

Invisible War was shite. It might have been decent if it didn't try to be a Deus Ex game, but... yeah.

 

Invisible War is the only Deus Ex game I've ever played

[D-Lyrium]

Then you're definitely missing out.

[bigtplaystew]

MLT: I wasn't deeply into Diablo 2 enough to really get into the details you are looking for, but I own the game. I'll be honest I really enjoyed it for a few play throughs but once I put it down I personally haven't gotten back to it yet. But I will definately again. I just got into other things and other experiences, but I can lose myself in a dungeon crawler for several scattered weekends throughout the year. And I really do like Diablo 3 despite all the complaining.

 

 

I played some games recently that I wanted to bring up to the board readers. Football Manager Handheld 2012 is a masterpiece for what it is. A great game, and it brings me back to FM's older days where I personally had more fun with the game. There ARE flaws, which I hope will be corrected in future releases. Some formations just don't work and the CPU doesn't seem to do wing play properly, so if you set your team up to bring the ball up the middle you'll find success most likely. And your managerial options for the games are pretty limited. It's truly addicting and scary how deep it is. It's a cell phone game, but I'd be surprised at a version this deep if it came out for XBLA or something like that. Considering I'm a casual soccer fan, this level of depth is PERFECT for me so I'm really loving it. My poor phone is going to be taking a beating over the next few days.

 

Also: Bellator Onsaught. Game's just not good. There's little to no redeeming quality to the game but I'd bet there's a few people out there who enjoy MMA enough to basically play any game with the sport as the centerpiece. Only 8 fighters in the whole game (no Eddie Alvarez either) in the LW and FW divisions, the game is limited in reach. The CAF exists but again, extremely limited. It's goal is to create an MMA experience for $20 but considering you can buy an older UFC game (if for some reason you skipped those) for even less that will be much better in quality. I basically think UFC Undisputed 3 IS an arcade MMA game but whatever. I wouldn't spend a dime on this one.

 

Finally: Endless Space. Now I didn't actually play this one yet as I'm going to hold off for a sale but my buddy did buy and showed it to me yesterday for a few minutes while we were taking a break from the heat at his BBQ. It's basically the true spiritual successor to the original Sword of the Stars. It's more streamlined and the menus are much easier to navigate. Blows away SotS 2. I have a lot of gaming on my plate right now so I can hold off a bit. But once this baby goes on sale for an acceptable price I will own it. It's a true space 4X game and looks beautiful, especially for an "indie" game.

[Blackman]

I've heard some bad things about Bellator, that it's basically a revamped Supremacy (revamped is perhaps even a bit of an overstatement). Too bad. I won't even be trying the demo probably.

[bigtplaystew]

Still haven't gotten head-over-heels into Europa Universalis 3 yet. Because of the god damn steam sale I bought way too much crap, yet oddly got into Microsoft Flight.

 

It's amusing for a little while to fly around. I just hooked up my PC to a 5.1 surround sound system someone gave me so I'm getting sick sounds from my PC games. I need a new sound card though. Microsoft Flight is awesome from a technical standpoint but as far as "stuff to do" there's not much. It's free to start on Steam but it's very micro-transaction heavy. It's a lot more accessible than years past but it's also more limited in scope. So far you can fly around Hawaii and Alaska, and they are two separate mission packs that run you about $20 each. Seems like a rip-off when you figure in the Microsoft Flight Simulator basically allowed you to fly anything from a small aircraft to a commercial airline anywhere int he world.

 

I also bought Just Cause 2: Micheal Bay's Wet Dream for $4. It's a mess from a control standpoint, but the damn thing looks AMAZING on the PC. The graphics are pretty damn good. This game has a ton of explosions, which fall into other things which cause even more powerful and larger explosions. And these explosions look gorgeous. In short, it's pretty awesome. It's got a ridiculous amount of action but sometimes I get confused with all that's going on. It's supposedly "open world" but most of the missions seem pretty straightforward to me. In all, picking it up for $4 was a no brainer and I'd recommend it to anyone who's been looking for a dumb shooter to occupy some time.

 

I also bought Tropico 4, Dawn of War II, and Wings of Prey so I have plenty of gaming on the PC to occupy my time until Madden and Fifa come out.

[steesh07]

Does anyone fancy a few games on Fifa 13? As a team that is?

[Blackman]

Still haven't gotten head-over-heels into Europa Universalis 3 yet. Because of the god damn steam sale I bought way too much crap, yet oddly got into Microsoft Flight.

 

Same here. I'll probably not touch it until 4 comes out, and from that moment on I'll obviously play that version.

 

I fell in love with Mount & Blade after playing a sole hour, but never got back to it strangely enough, instead wasting my time with silly stuff, like games I already played enough.

 

Playing PES13 now, and it plays quite well. Same old PES with a slight update so no'in revolutionary. Outside from that I just got DOA5, which I'm playing often too.

[Corki]

League of Legends World Championships starts tomorrow, anybody watching?