whatchu playing now

you know the drill. post what you are currently playing. add whatever else you goddamn please ;-)

bioshock inf 2nd dlc - a bit of a let down, elizabeth's story is so muddled and confusing.
orcs must die - this game is pretty fun!

I (and, ostensibly, my girlfriend, who mostly only plays the pinball stuff I bought for her) just bought a PS3 a couple of months ago, which I'm completely new to aside from crashing helicopters into gas stations in GTA IV at my brother's. So I've been excitedly hoarding games, since this seems to be the sweet spot between when previous-gen system come way down in price and when they go out of print and skyrocket. But I'm trying to be restrictive in my playing so that I don't play eight million things at once and fail to fully appreciate the varied experiences.

Althought I was completely put-off by it at first (complicated tutorials maybe shouldn't take place in the middle of combat under cover of darkness), probably 75% of my game playing time of late has been devoted to Just Cause 2. So much addictive fun, and great for brief, post-work mayhem sessions. Strangely haven't read or heard a whole lot about it outside of ILG threads, so thanks for that, y'all. Prior to that, I was mostly sucked into Skyrim, which initially impressed and then subsequently overwhelmed me with its breadth. I mean, I'm level 25-ish and realized recently that I'd completed somewhere pretty far south of 10% of the core game, so it feels like a thing that could just go on forever. I'll return to it someday when I'm ready to really dig in.

Other stuff in my current rotation:
Fez (not hugely into platformers but I'm really digging it; music and design and use of color are aces)
Minecraft (kinda don't know exactly what to do with it yet, but it's cool to mess around with)
Arkham Asylum (not crazy about the combat, but maybe I'm just not used to it yet; the beginning of the Scarecrow encounter was amazing)
Where Is My Heart? (cute, cool concept, good for short bursts)
Portal (just started this...the rest of the Orange Box is backburnered for the time being)
Deadly Premonition (not terribly far into it; definitely bizarre as hell but I'm undecided just yet as to whether it's my kind of bizarre)
Prototype (love it to bits; I think I'm near the end so I've been sitting on it for a little while to prolong the love...although I do already have the sequel)
Resident Evil 3 (revisiting after 15 years; controls are for shit but I'm building up anticipation to RE4)
Walking Dead (only played the first episode thus far but it was great and I'm looking forward to more)

I also have a ton of stuff that I've played <15 minutes of (The Saboteur, Tomb Raider reboot, Marvel Ultimate Alliance) that I'm looking forward to jumping into more fully soon.

Kinda want to make a (sadly & ridiculously long) list of the stuff I've acquired and get recommendations of what to tackle next.

MPQ and GTA5, exclusively, for ages now. Very very reluctant to start a new game atm

rotation of dark souls 2 on ps3 and might & magic X and magic online on the laptop. nearly done with mmx and think i am going to finally play monaco. nearly done with ds2 but just going to keep playing it anyway.

diablo 3 on pc! oh nooo

I thought of something else I played recently: WSOP Full House Pro poker on xbla.

I am in a bad place. ;-)

GTA5 in the evenings, still searching for those hidden items
Or Lego City Undercover on occasions.

Any other time I struggle to find time or energy to play anything else right now, I'm trying to design and develop my own games and I find that a struggle in itself.

Games that I *should* be playing anyway...

Pinball FX, really really should fire this up more often
Rayman, not even installed this yet
Red Dead Redemption (still not bothered to attempt the final mission)
Fallout3, embarrassingly never finished this either
Fuel, after having to purchase new PS3 I'll have to start all over again.
Just Cause 2, dropped off the radar a bit, dip into every now and again to get that 100% status
Minecraft/FTB, my only reason for not playing this more often is its just too daunting. In terms of time wasting goes this is the mother of all. FTB packs have basically kicked this game into mind blowing status imo.

(With the exceptions of Pinball and Rayman you might notice a distinct pattern in the games I like)

picked up gta 5 again just to round off the epsilon missions. i was convinced there would be a big heist at the end of all of it, because ripping off the scientologists seemed to make sense and how else would i ever get the cash to buy the golf course etc. so the only one getting ripped off was me :( officially done with this game.

also just finished xcom enemy unknown which i loved to bits. besides it was just long enough to keep my interest through the whole thing.

not really sure what to go with next. ps+ gave me lots of options. i'll probably get going on tomb raider, as soon as i stop struggling to like pes2014.

dayZ and nothing but dayZ. the slow small little updates that come out every couple of weeks just make it that little bit more appealing every day. i try not to think that's there's no real goal or 'end' to it.

Dude, FRACT OSC is out. It's fun, but giving me a lot of flashbacks to Myst, due to heavy puzzles with occasional symbolic language hints. You're exploring this long abandoned machine world and you restoring operation to a giant synthesizer that you wander around in.

SMT4, the soundtrack for this game is so good, running around a post-apocalyptic Tokyo to synthy krautrock <3 http://youtu.be/SG_gB4kb2oA

Oh, FRACT sounds great, might have to grab that.

The only thing I'm playing at the moment is Letter Quest on my ipod. It's quite good but nothing mindblowing.

portal 2 (3rd time), ni no kuni, assassins creed 4, dork souls

FTL and could be on this for a while now that I feel like I finally understand how to play it

im obsessed

so many ships still to unlock and haven't even touched advanced mode...

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m, recently. I kind of hate myself as it's another massive Skyrim-style time sink, but it's quite good fun.

what IS advanced mode

i havent even begun boarding as a tactic yet

sorry "advanced edition"

As a reminder, FTL: Advanced Edition is a free content expansion for FTL. All current (and future) customers will receive this update regardless of where they purchased it. Prior to release, we will post detailed instructions on how to get the update from whatever digital vendor you originally purchased FTL.

http://www.ftlgame.com/?page_id=106

New systems (clone bay??), new race, new ships, just lots more stuff, and it was released as a free sort of patch. It's a toggle option when you start a game, you can choose standard or advanced.

I've been playing Kingdom Of Amalur, a game that apparently lost the taxpayers of Rhode Island $75m
― Yuri Bashment (ShariVari), Thursday, April 24, 2014 3:45 PM

ah yes the curt schilling rpg

oh yeah i'm playing dragon's dogma. i've given up on it twice before so i'm determined to finish it this time. the controls are lacking but it has some of the best gfx i've seen in an rpg. makes dark souls 2 look like shit by comparison anyway.

http://cdn.destructoid.com//ul/266639-curt-shilling.jpg

dragon's dogma was good fun, at its best early before everything becomes too easy, so i encourage you to not progress the story at all until you have been everywhere. one of the best and most unique things it has are the giant wandering monsters that really felt like epic fights, at least until my gang quickly got OP'd. helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.

infinity wars + starbound

helps if you resist the temptation of the broken pawns that are available early.
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, April 24, 2014 4:29 PM

what are the broken pawns. i've just been using the free low level ones and trading them in every so often. groups of bandits on the roads are still kicking my butt

i got one real early with an ordinary woman's name, Karen i am fairly sure, and her owner had limited her level but she had maxed-out, late game rare gear and was a total powerhouse

whatever the fighter class is. i got another midway thru with a more forgettable fantasyish name, also a female fighter.

Dammit, Fract really _is_ like myst. I can't find the symbolic to detangle the tune I'm supposed to play to solve the final puzzle in one of the areas.

Final Fantasy - NES
Assassin's Creed IV - PC
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - PC
Castlevania: Rond of Blood - T16
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - PSX
Metal Gear Solid - PSX
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance - PC
Metal Gear Solid 2 - PC

you livin' the life, Adam, respect

finished saints row 4
tried diablo 3 again - meh so spammy
maybe back to metro 2033

"Finished" Portal and Fez, loved both. Seems like there's still aftergame stuff for me to do, which is cool.

I'm a good way into the first God of War, and I can't be sure but I think I might kinda hate it. The brutal waves of super tough enemies are awesome, and some of the puzzles are pretty good, but creating Indiana Jones-esque deathtraps with a shitty camera and sketchy controls was the fucking worst idea ever. I've wasted so much of my playtime on failing to kill everything onscreen within a set time before falling to my death or being crushed or sliced up by shit that I can barely see in front of me that it's kinda become a chore for me to continue. I might just be hating the PS2-ness of it, though.

I've been surprisingly digging a lot of arcade-y stuff that I've gotten cheap from PSN recently. Super Stardust and Wipeout took me a little while to get used to but they're amazing once I'm in the zone. Just got Retro/Grade, which I haven't played much but which has an awesome conceit (basically a rhythm game disguised as a shooter that runs in reverse). The Space Invaders update also seems like good value.

This weekend, I hit 50% completion and the 100 hour mark near-simultaneously on Just Cause 2. Clearing a few areas in the game has become such a reliably perfect way to decompress at the end of the day.

kotor + bg2

getting myself psyched + ready for pillars of eternity i guess

xps I played GoW 1 for the first time... a year ago? Maybe two? Felt some of the same frustrations as you, but I'm still planning to truck on through to the others at some point. I can see how it all would've been far more impressive back in 2006, but some of those levels and dungeons are awfully designed.

What build you going for in KOTOR, Mordy?

i guess soldier guardian. tbh i'm kinda more interested in my bg2 half-elf cleric/ranger build (so OP apparently it's ppl's fave for soloing the game). (thought about playing a wild mage too.)

Streets of Rage 3
Bare Knuckle III

So BKIII is the Japanese version of SOR3 and it is WAY easier. This does not mean it is easy though, it only means it is possible to get through stage 1 without using a continue. American version of Streets of Rage 3 is one of the more difficult games I've ever played.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VWsJPJ19DA

That level with the bulldozer is all-time unfair.

all that and he's beat by a girder

i love the energy meter for 'wall'.

i guess i only played Streets of Rage 1 & 2.

man why doesn't axel just jump over the damn walls

sor3 is weird. it seems like it admits to tactics then it doesn't really.

I think after you get past the stage where you are fighting kangaroos and evil dominatrix clowns they just figured they could get away w that.

Played 2-player Hyperstone Heist for the Genesis last night. Got to Super Shredder and then we died and we were out of continues! The music in that game is incredible. Orchestrated speed metal.

i'm still playing bg2.

eu4 always with the eu4. genovese colonial empire.

the distance between save points is absolutely fucking criminal.

you hate lego games or harry potter?

either way, yeah.

you hate lego games or harry potter?

yes. (it's not an xor.)

the only other one i've played is lego star wars back when it first came out, i remember definitely not enjoying it that much and i thought the mechanic of smashing everything up to get coins was weird.

Ha.

A friend of mine recommended Shadow Gambit, pirate-the Ed stealth tactics (w/crazy powers?). Sounds fun, but I've got many more hours of Elden Ring ahead of me.

I am super addicted to Unicorn Overlord. Great game.

The mechanics for a fairly complex strategic combat system are there in all the ways you can program your units, but I appreciate (at least in the first several hours of the game) that you can coast on the default settings of your recruits while you’re wrapping your head around the rest of the mechanics. Can see this getting extra interesting later game or on higher difficulties when you gotta start delving into that stuff.

I normally bounce off of tactical RPG’s, can get too punishing too quickly for my strategy-deficient brain. And I get stressed over perma-death mechanics (absent here, thank god). But this one got its hooks in me immediately.

Looks and plays beautifully on the Switch too.

Gonna grab that eventually for the backlog at the right price, sounds good.

Needed some co-op fun for a friend's stay this past weekend, both successes - Death Squared, a cute indie 2D puzzle game with 80 levels, really solid. The other was It Takes Two, which I loved, though it's large enough that we only got through maybe 1/3rd of the game. Epic scope for a weird fantasy adventure about two adults turned into animatedolls and working through their divorce, loved that someone got a chance to even make this swing.

i played Strange Horticulture. it wasn't very impressive as a puzzle game, mostly just a lot of cross referencing information in a slightly clunky UI, but it didn't outstay its welcome and i enjoyed identifying all the plants.

Finished the DLC and game proper of Bioshock Infinite and am in this weird “I didn’t/did get what I wanted from the experience” mood. Honestly appreciate Levine’s world and the empathy involved in working through the racism and classism, but the DLC result is more a “small victory” win than a “we have triumphed and changed the world” completion, which, granted, was addressed in the DLC. Weird feeling, in that I want more of the world, but with a more substantial imprint on it. Curious how Bioshock 4 will further the experience.

Probably not helped by shifting into Dead Space 3 and immediately hating the combat.

1000xResist. Not fun play for me (walking sim, visual novel, wonky camera + not knowing how to get to a certain place = motion sickness), but when the story (high concept SF) gets going, it's superb.

Currently playing Wo Long, the combat isn’t particularly deep, the AI allies are hopeless and I have 500 pieces of equipment I have no particular use for, but it’s fun. It’s basically just more Nioh, albeit a bit easier.

Approaching 200 hours with Unicorn Overlord, circling in on the end. This is a polished jewel of a game, masterpiece imo. Won’t be for everyone, but for the people it is for, shit will take over your life.

shapez 2

I have no idea how it came up, but my bf installed 7 Ways to Die on the weekend and I found myself intrigued enough by it that we went to the trouble of installing PSRemote on my laptop, so I could contol the PS5 in the other room from my PC (that took a LOT of swearing and frustration... whole nother rant there). And then we found ourselves immersed in it for an entire Sunday and got NOTHING else done. Its like some weird amalgam of Valheim, Minecraft, and... I dunno, Rust or something? The combo of "survive zombies tower defense" with Fallout style "make stuff and trade stuff and explore" really ticked boxes for me. Admittedly we went in and turned all the levels up to "make this easy as possible without going completely into creative mode" because the game really doesnt make it easy to learn how to do stuff, the tutorials are minimal.

I assume you made it to the first 7th day, did you get to 14th etc? They get a lot harder so level up quickly.

Yeah I play it a lot with my friend. Admittedly I've kinda reached a point where I can see the cracks in the repetitive gameplay style but my mate likes to make us play on tough mode so it's a bit more frantic. Some of the larger buildings are nuts.

I have a solo game where i've turned off the 7th day blood moon cycle an just enjoy the survival crafting and building parts a bit more.

(and i assume you are talking about 7 Days to Die )

fun thing to do is destroy walls of the big buildings and watch them tumble to rubble.

Oh crap yes I meant 7 Days haha. And no, we dialled up (down?) the difficulty so that it'll be 30 dyas before the blood moon, so I'm yet to experience that bit. Learning curve and all that. We will prob have to restart a few times til we get better. I havent even tried building my own base yet, we're holed up in the A frame lakehouse on the default map.

Yes you'll generally just fortify existing places at first, until your tools become at a level where mining is much faster and more pleasant to be honest.

We always go for the trench/moat defense.

I'm having trouble trying to find useful wiki/walkthru pages because apparently this new Alpha release for PS5 changed a bunch of things. I'm of the understanding Zeds are only slowed by barbed wire/spike traps (fuck, they were mass scaling the high fence topped with wire into the trader compound to swarm me yesterday after I made too much noise wrecking a test house I made).

They can SWIM, so moats are no good.. I was thking slow em down and potshot them from a barricaded roof with a rifle but I havent tried yet.

Oh and this game is the worst for giving one survival/someone's breaking into my house nightmares btw :(

well not a moat like a water hazard, more of a deep trench where they can't climb to you. You can make drawbridges.

then a ladder into a high tower yes, has to be roofed because eventually annoying birds become a part of the blood moon party.

we had spinning blade turret thingies, got to be powered though. spike traps are good for slowing them down.

I'm still at the "how the fck do I make anything" stage tbh. We chose to fortify an existing house rather than make a base, but the game gives no tips on how to get into its sub menus, apparently I can make shapes instead of cubes (like slopes and things for stairs) but I cant work out how lol. Cant even work out how to make bullets.

On pc i have to hold down a button, but just quick google for console:

The shape of blocks can be changed by pressing and holding the Reload button (R/X/Square) while holding the block you want to place. Then, select the Shape option from the radial menu that pops up. Almost every building block in the game can be modified this way.

and bullets require forge skills, they took me a while to understand.

It took me long enough just to understand cooking with grills and pots. Once you learn it though there's quite a heap of stuff to craft.

One thing I don't like, and not sure if it's changed with the big update, is the only way to learn stuff is by reading magazines. It takes forever.

It does! esp because if you're sharing a map with a mate, if they get to a place before you and clean out the mailboxes and bookshelves, theres nowt left to find haha. I also assumed the books worked like they do in something like... I dunno, the Sims, where the books were for certain levels or recipes. Turns out no, you just gotta read everything you find until it shows the icon that says "you already read this".

XP doesnt seem to have any impact on RP skills? I gather that was a major change in the recent update.

Tactical Breach Wizards is as great as everyone's saying it is: sharp zings and nice puzzly tactical mechanics.

The “people who aren’t bored of Ubisoft open world games”/“people who aren’t bored of Star Wars” Venn diagram must be two tiny circles with a minuscule intersection at this point. But I’m in it, so I’m planning to play Outlaws this week.

I forgot that was out soon! I never got deeply into Ubisoft games and as long as it’s not super Jedi heavy I could be game. I overplayed those Jedi Survivor/Fallen Order games a bit

it does look appealing to me since i don't really play a lot of Ubisoft or Star Wars games, tbh! let us know how it is

7dtd is sucking me and my bf into a complete TIME SINK HOOLLLLLEEE

now that the DS games have a proper rerelease, it is time. i am going to play through all 7 of the "metroidvania" Castlevania games. and also Bloodstained.

i've played the first hour or two of aria of sorrow before, but otherwise i am going into this blind with no preconceptions.

Astrobot is very good

I've seen two separate posts saying holy shit has Sony realised that the path to the future is making Nintendo games?

congrats to the PS5 on finally having a game

I was pretty bored with Play Room (the demo that comes with the PS5), it's the new game still worth getting?

its basically just a full game version of that so probably not

I have heard people rave about Play Room, but I don't think I'm that into 3d platformers (or maybe From games have just traumatized me, lol). It seems very close to what 3d Mario games are like these days, though?

the levels are more linear than 3d mario from what i've seen. i guess 3d world is the mario comparison point

I've seen two separate posts saying holy shit has Sony realised that the path to the future is making Nintendo games?

this has been the Sony theme for the last few years, where they realized they've hardly capitalized on any of their properties existing as standing intellectual property despite owning a film studio and other ventures. so we've had a Gran Turismo-related movie, Twisted Metal tv show, The Last of Us tv show, and a handful of others coming down the pike

their synergy is still not so hot in that there hasn't been a Twisted Metal video game for over a decade, but they're trying! the thing that I kept seeing cited was that Luigi's Mansion 3 was a b-tier spinoff in the Mario franchise and it still sold more units than nearly any Playstation game because Mario as a franchise is just massive. so we get Horizon Lego sets and a tie-in spinoff game, etc.

they half-assed so many "Playstation Universe" attempts and I think the executives just didn't believe in it. The Infamous games were well-received at the time, and they just let that die on the vine and haven't released one in a decade. Seemed like an easy pick for a spin-off, but:

In 2009, Sony had chosen screenwriter Sheldon Turner to adapt Infamous into a feature film in a seven figure deal. Brothers Ari and Avi Arad were hired to produce, and Sony executives Matt Tolmach and Jonathan Kadin as handlers for the studio. Turner told The Hollywood Reporter he was excited that the game had a "big idea and a character arc", which he believed was "the future of gaming".[18] He believed the game was essentially "a love ballad to the underachiever". As of 2024, no updates on the film adaptation have been made.

someone at the top just didn't believe video game spinoffs or platform synergy meant cash in the bank

they were making a twisted metal game for PS5 and cancelled it

figures. they also recently un-launched some team shooter game that they simultaneously released on PS5 and PC after a long development cycle and will probably retool it as a freemium thing. Helldivers 2 was crazy popular with some of my coworkers for a bit and despite some hiccups in judgment, that seems to have been a cross-platform success

I’d say that’d be a property to monetize, but it’s basically an extra parodic Starship Troopers

Ah no I don't think they specifically meant Nintendo characters or games, more Sony (or affiliated studios) making PlayStation games which are well reviewed, use controls well, no microtransaction or live-service service - they've made the shit out of the game and you play the game the end. I've seen a few "Fuck, do I need to get a PS5 now?" comments

they spent the whole ps4 gen making single player action-adventure games, the switch to live service focus is recent (and horribly ill advised as they just learned after launching (and then unlaunching) one of the biggest flops of all time)

they’ve had studios doing that a long time? Sony’s published games have never had any of that shit front and center

their thing is that few of their franchises, proportionately, are all-ages and they’ve been heavier into action/adventure than anything else

remember killzone and warhawk? me neither.

I played the Rugrats game that's free on epic right now. This must have been someone's passion project. It's a tribute to Super Mario Bros. 2, licensed from a 90s children's TV show, with both an HD mode and a Gameboy Color mode. I am baffled and I also enjoyed it.

I've been deep into Caves of Qud all year, what a fantastic game

utopia must fall