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Beat: The Walking Dead. Spoilers for the whole game. Oh god that was such a depressing ending. Oh my god. I had Clem shoot Lee. I wonder when the next arc will come out. Clem saw either Omid and Christa or two random people. Man...Kenny and Ben dying where they did as well. gently caress. The latter half of the game was just drat. The game was great.
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Dec 2, 2012 03:11
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just beat Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet and I'm not sure what to think. On one hand I love the premise and some of the exploration and I think it looks great. On the other it was kind of easy and boring in parts and there really needed to be a fast travel of some kind that opens up. Having to trek across the world to unlock a door you had to pass up until you had the right tool only to find it contained concept art is a real kick in the nuts. Or worse, there was one set of doors that contained...nothing. Even stranger was that it was an empty room with an secret tunnel that lead to another empty dead end. I really don't understand what that was. I'm kind of curious as to what the game was originally supposed to be as to hear the Giantbomb guys put it there was a lot shown early in development that didn't end up in the final game whatsoever.
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Dec 2, 2012 05:59
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COMPLETED: To The Moon - This was sad and a little creepy, was left a little confused over it all. Still a good story though, just remember to save often, as a bug can stop you from moving and lost me 40 minutes of gameplay that I had to redo...
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Dec 2, 2012 19:51
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Started Prince of Persia, the Forgotten Sands. I installed it a while ago and never got around to playing it. It would not start. Every time it would reinstall some Ubisoft launcher (not Uplay) at about 10 kb/s and then poo poo itself. Manually installing Uplay and creating an account fixed it. There's no way to redeem the Steam Key in Uplay directly I could find, but if you launch from Steam it brings up the Uplay login and then a box to enter the key. I was worried I'd have to reinstall it through Uplay but I didn't. Maybe half way through Forgotten Sands. I like it, it's nothing exceptional though. Coming from Darksiders II and Bayonetta really makes thee combat feel much less varied and slow, which I don't mind too much. The camera is giving me the shits though, this is something that the most recent Tomb Raider games still have. As you approach certain things like walls or levers, the camera changes and it makes it ambiguous what a direction on screen is on the controller. This is particularly bad for obstacles where you wall run vertically, jump off to another wall and vertically wall run up that. Maybe my brain doesn't work right, but for me it's more or less trial and error to figure out which direction to hold for the second wall run.
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Dec 3, 2012 00:03
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Geneforge 1 is what I've been playing lately. I've put maybe 20 hours into it and I'm at the Icy Tunnels. It's an enjoyable game, but I feel like for the past 5 or 6 hours of gametime I've done the same thing over and over. I might null this beast if I'm not close to beating it, and from looking at a walkthrough, I'm maybe halfway through it. This game is well written but is starting to drag and blend together. I don't know if I have it in me to keep playing old school RPGs like I did when I was younger. I don't have nearly as much time to game these days.
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Dec 4, 2012 05:03
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Beat: Binary Domain It took me a while to warm to this game, but by the end I was really enjoying it. Beat: Trine I skipped all the story parts, but the gameplay owns. The game looks incredible too. Beat: Homefront This game is a low-rent counterfeit Call of Duty. How do you feel about Hooters in your video games? Jansport backpacks? TigerDirect? Full Throttle and NOS energy drinks? Homefront isn't unplayable, but it sure is mediocre. Press E to jump in a mass grave
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Dec 4, 2012 05:38
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My B-Sides keep getting all the love. BEAT: Ether Vapor Remaster. Very solid shmup from a make everything explode standpoint, though the gameplay isn't terribly deep. I expect the comparison with Sine Mora to be interesting. NULLED: Super Hexagon. I cleared Hexagon and Hexagoner, but Hexagonest mode is stonewalling me and I've got better things to do. IN PROGRESS: Dragon Age: Origins. Blowing things up has been more appealing than stabbing dudes, so I haven't gotten as far here. I'm in the first major town, it looks like. NEW GAMES:  THQ's collapse combined with 80% of my wishlist going on megasale has kicked my Steam Unbeaten percentage back over 20%. At least, of the wishlist stuff, I've managed to put a respectable sum of time into everything I've gotten.
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Dec 4, 2012 07:38
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I've got about 200 games on steam, most of them through indie bundles. I've finished 4. Dear God. I'm forcing myself to work through them. Started off with Shank and finished that tonight. I've almost beaten Jamestown, though I think I'll come back to this one and try to increase completion percentage. I'm glad I'm doing this. Shank was fun, if simple, and Jamestown is something I would normally never play, but I'm having a (very frustrated) blast.
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Dec 5, 2012 07:03
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Beat ep. 1 and 2 from Telltales Wallace & Gromit series. Surprisingly fun games. They're pretty trivial to complete in one sitting, but I liken them to watching TV. The beach resort was great. Interested in seeing what they came up with in the last two games.
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Dec 6, 2012 22:48
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Beat: Red Faction Armageddon & Path to War DLC Not much to say about the main game that hasn't been said yet, but the DLC felt like I was playing scraps and leftovers that didn't quite make the final cut. None of the missions are really connected to each other, there's no real ending, and maybe an hour of gameplay. Not worth paying for even if you like the original.
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Dec 7, 2012 14:57
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Beat Stealth Bastard Deluxe: Really liked the original, so I ended up flying through this. Very clever game.
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Dec 7, 2012 15:01
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I just finished The Walking Dead Episodes 3-5 and To The Moon back to back this last weekend, which was a really depressing way to spend my time off,but with those beaten I've finally dropped below 70% unfinished! Barring any purchases or gifts during the Holiday Sale this year I'm hoping that I'll be able to use my winter break to knock another 2-4% off my Unfinished games category, and my 2013 goal is to take it all the way down to 50%. Of the two: I know that The Walking Dead had the better story (or perhaps just the better writing depending how you want to look at it) and it was more immersive by orders of magnitude, but for some reason it was still To The Moon that ended up making me want to cry. I'm moving on to Far Cry 3 and They Bleed Pixels now in hopes that some light-hearted violence can cheer me up.
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Dec 8, 2012 07:06
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Took a lot self control not to buy Farcry 3 or X-Com, but I'm now playing through Saints Row 3. Which I got on the last sale. I'm loving it. Vehicle controls feel good with the Xbox controller and aiming the guns using the controller feels great with completely default settings. The game is adolescent and all that but the gameplay can't be faulted.
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Dec 8, 2012 08:45
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Mmann posted:I'm moving on to Far Cry 3 and They Bleed Pixels now in hopes that some light-hearted violence can cheer me up. This might not be a good idea, since for some reason They Bleed Pixel remains as one of the few games I bought, played for two chapters and rage quit forever.
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Dec 8, 2012 17:32
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Beat: Psychonauts. I'm about seven years late to the party, but I found the game very enjoyable. One super frustrating bit in the last level and some graphics glitches here and there - overall great, though. Only a few achievements to 100% it, so might as well, right? Next? I suppose I'll try to get back into Skyrim, or maybe just pickup a smaller game to whittle away at my ever-growing collection. 
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Dec 9, 2012 08:03
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Finished: Hotline Miami. The soundtrack alone was more than worth the price of admission. Frustrating at times but still quite an intense experience, especially when played all in one go. Completed: Mark of the Ninja. Holy poo poo, was that an amazing game. One of my favorites in a long time. As soon as I completed it I immediately went back and did the NG+ as a nonlethal run, and that made it even more fun, which I didn't know was possible. Got all the achievements, too. I loved everything about it (well, except the story, but that was forgettable at worst) and wish there were more games like it. Currently playing: Dark Souls. Oh lord, what have I gotten myself into. I was determined to stop and completely give up at the (boss name and location spoilers) Gargoyles, had to ragequit twice at the Capra Demon, wanted to curl up and die during Blighttown, and yet I keep soldiering on (in Anor Londo now). It's so bizarrely compelling, I don't know why I should like it but I do. I can play for hours and hours and not even notice the passage of time. So many good games lately, goddamn.
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Dec 9, 2012 19:01
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Beat Far Cry 3. Probably put 30 hours into it and enjoyed every bit save for the weak ending. Can't wait to see what mods we get out of it because I'll definitely play it again in a harder, more survival style mode if possible.
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Dec 9, 2012 19:48
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I beat Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway. I enjoyed this the most out of the 3 BiA games. It took me around 8 hours to beat which isn't too bad. The graphics are the most noticeable improvement in this game, but the voice acting really improved from the first and second as well. I actually cared about the characters in this game, which doesn't happen a lot. Really, my only complaint is the ending set it up for a sequel instead of wrapping up the series, but that's ok.
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Dec 9, 2012 23:01
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Knocked out two more Wallace & Gromit games, finishing the series. The final game had some real adventure logic in it. Fortunately it's no big deal to cheat on the two illogical puzzles. I quite enjoyed the experience. Next, some Wensleydale.
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Dec 10, 2012 01:03
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What an excellent initiative this will be for me to get hooked into, days before the Steam Christmas Sale. I just replaced my PC too, so any game that I've "unfinished" is likely a game that I'll have to start again. First up, L.A. Noire, where I will show my true face-reading abilities for what they are. 
gredgie fucked around with this message at 02:39 on Dec 10, 2012 |
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Dec 10, 2012 02:34
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Well, some progress. Completed: Analogue: A Hate Story. Rather good. If you'd tell me I'd just read a bunch of logs and call it a game, I wouldn't know what to tell you, but it worked, it worked really well. Got all endings and achievements. Beat: The Walking Dead. I had some issues with this one, from the annoying QTEs that made me restart some scenes due to them not triggering correctly sometimes, the weird checkpoints that also forced to replay some scenes when resuming the game, the goddamned broken save system that affected me when I started episode 4 (got it fixed, eventually), and the fact that while decisions really seem powerful they really didn't shape up a different path in the end. Yet, it was really an impressive experience, one that got me emotionally invested with every character that the group traveled with, one that made me think just how far I would go to survive if poo poo hit the fan. 
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Dec 10, 2012 03:19
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BEAT: Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition: There's not too much I can say about this game that hasn't already been said, but it is extremely well-constructed in most every facet, and quite deserving of the praise it gets. I only wish the port interacted better with my ATI card, I get some choppy performance when my computer ought to be able to handle the game perfectly. Still, going to be coming back to this one for a long time. BEAT: Sonic Generations: I was never a huge fan of the Sonic series in general, but Generations impressed me with how fun it was. Most surprising was that I found myself preferring the classic 2D levels to the 3D levels in a lot of cases, which is strange because I always felt the original 2D games were too 'stop and go' for me. There's a ton of good bonus stages, but also a lot of lame filler ones, but I suppose I appreciate the devs taking the time to program the stupid one-off gimmick stages competently. Lots of polish and plenty of content for completionists. BEAT: Hotline Miami: Just finished this, and boy was that a really interesting and visceral journey. I'm glad the story gets weirder and goes where it goes, but it has a few missteps with the boss fights and the forced stealth section, and the story kind of goes off the rails a bit at the very end, depending on your taste. Pretty tight gameplay, though sometimes the AI is dumb and unpredictable. Goes without saying that if you like surreal, 1980's aesthetics and music, then get this game immediately! NULLED: Dustforce: This is an excellent platformer, but just outside of my patience and possibly my skill level required to beat it fully. There are a few levels I just can't double-S rank and the battle stages piss me off. Up next I'm thinking something a bit easier and more laid back, I've been killing myself with tough games lately. Think I'll finish up Rochard next, and maybe move on to Trine. Also need to figure out just what the hell I'm doing in Crusader Kings II. 
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Dec 10, 2012 04:19
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BEAT: Gateways. Started and finished this one yesterday (about 5-6 hours). It's by the same develoeprs as Adventures of Shuggy, and it shows. It's like if Shuggy was thrown into an open-ended world and was given the ability to aim. The puzzles near the end get ridiculously hard (which is a good thing). I'm seriously considering a second playthrough just to get the final "beat without any help" achievement. Unfortunately the steam sale and indiefort bundles added 10 games in a row to my backlog  That combined with my time spent playing some really good longer games (like Sleeping Dogs), I'm back over 700 unfinished. I'm going back to quick games now though. I've only got a few levels left on Miami Hotline (which was a lot more difficult and fun than I had imagined it would be).
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Dec 10, 2012 17:34
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It took me a whole lot of tries to beat the last stage, but I finally beat Jamestown I am not good at shmups. Then I finished Trine. That game is really good, but the last level was pretty disappointing. I've got King's Bounty and Stalker: SOC on the go, as well as They Bleed Pixels, but I may try to knock off a smaller platformer as well.
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Dec 10, 2012 17:41
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Hi, I'm a steam addict. Playing: The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb, Space Pirate and Zombies, Sine Mora and Endless Space Isaac I just beat got access to The Chest and beat it with Isaac (thanks to the Emperor card). SPAZ I'm on the grind to Chapter 3 phase, where I'll have to run around the galaxy leveling for the last push to the end of the game. Sine Mora and Endless I play a little bit, when I don't have much free time.
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Dec 10, 2012 23:28
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Beat: FEAR 2 Very solid shooter, but takes 2 1/2 "Intervals" (locations) to get really going. The first few levels are incredibly boring with weak enemies, overly linear level design and poor weapon variety. And on top of that, they give you so much armor and health that the game seems trivial. Thankfully, this didn't last. The introduction to the Replica soldiers is the watershed moment where the game goes from boring to HOLY CRAP. The elementary school and everything afterwards are just plain incredible. FEAR 2's scale opens up at the end and there were times that I felt completely exposed and outnumbered, even with bullet time. The power weapons in this game feel great. The slo-mo sniper headshots are badass, the sweet laser gun cuts people in half, and the rapid fire Painkiller Stakegun pins people's heads to the wall. The grenades are useful (unlike in most FPS games) and complement the guns well. I do wish they kept the dual wield pistol and SMG. Overall, a great experience and a good reason to get the FEAR Complete Pack. For an extra challenge, try the Heavy Mech sections on foot 
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Dec 11, 2012 15:46
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Finally knocking off some items on my list. November games had two things in common: they were shooters of some kind and I felt so-so about them in the end. Rage: I really wanted to like this. You get 9 weapons with multiple ammo types, that's something you don't see in shooters everyday. The enemies are actually kind of intelligent and use cover effectively so all your tools like sentry bots are really helpful. The game is just a solid shooter all around. But the game also doesn't know what it wants to be. Exploring the "world" is completely trivial because there's nothing of importance to discover. Vehicle controls are fine but there's no point in racing except to get quest required vehicles and enemies go down in a single rocket/plasma shot anyway making the entire racing segments a waste of time. The pacing is also truly awful. Halfway through you think the game is going to kick it up by fighting cybernetic super soldiers as a member of the underground resistance but SURPRISE! It sends you on more fetch errands fighting loving mutants and bandits. Bullshit. Even worse, I decided I wanted to 100% the game because I'm a masochist and idiot. The mini-games are absolute horseshit, especially the knife game where the hardest level is randomized. Even worse is a game of dice that you have to win on the first try. Just making an assumption based on how long it took, I'm pretty sure there's only one skull icon on each die and you have to roll 4 of them. The odds are 1/1296 or .08%!!! The same odds as rolling loving Yahtzee. If this game was a linear level based shooter with a hub town inbetween to purchase stuff a la Metro 2033, this would have been an A+ in my book. As it is, it's a C+ at most. Saints Row 2 and The Third: Saint's Row 2 is janky but the design philosophy here was "kitchen sink it to death" and as someone who just likes to gently caress around I really appreciated. This is what Grand Theft Auto should be: more San Andreas style over-the-top fuckery and less pseudo-realistic crime drama. SR3 felt neutered in comparison. The gameplay elements were rock solid and I actually enjoyed shooting and using vehicles in this one. Buuut it feels like they stripped all the content out so they could sell it back in one of their 6 dozen DLC packs. What would have been side missions in SR2 were used as main missions in SR3 (which created odd moments where I would call for a mission and then nothing happens because I already completed the side-mission it triggered). Every crib is literally the same, there's no visual identity to them. There are fewer clothing options although I will admit there's more interesting clothing choices overall when it comes to costumes. I completed this game with 90+ percent completion in 12 hours and I feel like I legitimately missed something. Oh, and for some reason they took out the ability to replay missions. Why? The missions are far more interesting and varied than SR2 or any Grand Theft Auto game. I used this feature in SR2 all the loving time just so I could kill people without racking up notoriety and having a million cars run me over. Who thought this was a good idea to remove such a basic loving feature?! Alan Wake: I played this game off and on, basically giving it a week's break inbetween chapters. I'm glad I did because in hindsight this game is super repetitive. You've got maybe 8 weapons (basically 5 guns of varying power and 3 explosive items), there are three different enemy types repeated ad naseum (skinny guy, big guy, and super fast guy), and each area is the same "wall of darkness surrounds you as you look for a key or way out." The campy nature of the story was entertaining and the sound design kept me sticking around for as long as it did. It's not a game you take seriously, it's more like someone read Dean Koontz while Twin Peaks was playing in the background. Spec-Ops: The Line: I bought this for $5 off Amazon. I knew to expect some kind of "deep, dark, and emotional story" but didn't know how they would execute it. I can say that the game is fairly boring as you trudge through ruined buildings and sand dunes shooting generic army soldiers. But it's short and there's no lack of gory scenarios that kept me hooked for the 4 or so hours. It's still pretty ham handed but it's nice seeing a military shooter take an opposite look at war compared to Call of Duty's OORAH GOOD EFFECT ON TARGET!!! al-azad fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Dec 11, 2012 |
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Dec 11, 2012 18:32
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This thread and backloggery.com may be godsends for me. That Fry macro in the OP is me to a T. I replay the same games over and over while constantly acquiring more that I never play. edit: jesus christ http://www.steamcalculator.com/id/zdross I've beaten Portal, that's it. Dross fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Dec 11, 2012 |
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Dec 11, 2012 18:49
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Beat: Legend of Grimrock. This was kind of funny, I had it but took months to get around to it. Not because I wouldn't enjoy it, either. On the contrary, I took it as a given that I would like Grimrock, and put it to the back because of such. I wasn't wrong.
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Dec 12, 2012 03:49
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Beat: Assassin's Creed 3 I'll just paste what I wrote on Steam: I will probably never play an Assassin's Creed game again after having finished AC3. This game a bad on so many levels: - It took over 5 hours for the tutorial to end. - Even then, whenever something intersting starts, you get a cut scene - In fact most of the game feels like a cut scene - There is a constant barrage of fact box pop-ups about all kinds places and persons involved in the Revolutionary War. My guess is twice as much info as all the other games together. - There is an endless amount of fetch quests/side missions, and in one area, there is only a few fast travel stations, so it's up on your horsie and ride towards sunset for a couple of hours. - The minigames are dreadful. Two or was it three boardgames and bocce. Why? - Unless you upgrade your ship right away, the naval missions are a pain to play as the ship is almost impossible to control. Also you are forced to play a naval mission three times. In AC:Rev you could at least skip the tower defense after the tutorial. - The story is long winded and filled to the brim with people who just keep yakking about this and that. And just when you think they are done, they keep going on and on. My guess is there is a failed screenwriter or two on the team - and there is a reason why they never got a career going in movies. - The protagonist has the personality of a wet paperbag and the intelligence of a turnip. - In fact I can't remember a single character from the game that I thought was funny or awesome. The "heroes" are non-descript and the bad guys are.. well, they are there but that's it. - I just ignored the present day scenes, which sadly took up a great deal of time at the end. - Oh and I had time to take a dump during the end credits (unskippable - the credits and the dump!) and was still able to get back and get bored by them. I would guess 15 minutes of text crawl. So the conclusion to my 70 hours in Assassins' Creed 3 country: There are a few hours of enjoyment when you jump around on rooftops, but other than that, it's just a very boring and very bad, although extremely pretty game. Stay away until it's on sale. Nulled: Critter Crunch It was actually pretty OK for the first hour or two that I played, but when I came back after a week, I couldn't remember the game mechanic and thought gently caress It. If a casual game can't hold your interest and if you have to start all over because of some weird mechanic, my backlog is gigantic enough that I just find something else to play. Nulled: Super Hexagon My head hurts. I'm to old for that type of game.
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Dec 13, 2012 02:01
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Steam Christmas sales are incoming and my bank balance knows it. I played through some more L.A. Noire earlier. I've also started new games of Mass Effect twice, because I don't know if I feel like being Shep or Femshep. I've also started to finish off the campaign mode in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, but this isn't a Steam game so wont count when I complete it.
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Dec 13, 2012 04:29
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BEAT: Far Cry 1. Not as hard as it looks. Just stick to foliage, use the binoculars to track enemies and listen for enemies walking around, lean a lot, and you can take down entire camps with ease. The last five or so levels were a noticeable dip in quality, but it was still decent. I found the last two levels were a fun challenge instead of being nearly impossible, even though I died a lot on the final level. It's a very good game overall.
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Dec 13, 2012 06:02
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closeted republican posted:BEAT: Far Cry 1. Not as hard as it looks. Just stick to foliage, use the binoculars to track enemies and listen for enemies walking around, lean a lot, and you can take down entire camps with ease. The last five or so levels were a noticeable dip in quality, but it was still decent. I found the last two levels were a fun challenge instead of being nearly impossible, even though I died a lot on the final level. It's a very good game overall. I could not beat the part where the door opens up to the volcano. It was impossible for me.
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Dec 13, 2012 06:52
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Pocket Billiards posted:I could not beat the part where the door opens up to the volcano. It was impossible for me. You basically have to rush through, crouch down, and pray one of the 50 trigens can't pinpoint you with a rocket launcher. Then it's a matter of following the rocket trails back to the trigens who are standing a thousand feet away and pick them off one by one.
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Dec 13, 2012 14:38
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al-azad posted:You basically have to rush through, crouch down, and pray one of the 50 trigens can't pinpoint you with a rocket launcher. Then it's a matter of following the rocket trails back to the trigens who are standing a thousand feet away and pick them off one by one. I tried every single way of cheesing it and I couldn't get through. I was done with it by that stage. Once it went from fighting people in the jungle to more indoor environments and Quake 1 style monsters I found myself enjoying it less and less.
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Dec 13, 2012 15:15
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Started RAGE. At first I thought it was just a prettier version of Borderlands, then I realized the shooting was way more intense. It's really an id Software take on a more open world game. I like having to blast low-level goons point-blank in the face with a shotgun not once but twice to put them down on Normal. Added and already beat Dishonored, twice. I'll call it complete. It is Bioshock meets Thief. In fact that review I linked pretty much sums it up for me, too. I saw both endings, it was easy enough I could go back for a no-kill run to see if there's anything extra but I just don't want to. Not interested in the DLC either. But it was on sale and it was entertaining enough to do twice so I guess I got my $30 worth. After hearing all the "masterpiece" hype though it was kind of a dud. Added and started Hotline Miami. Holy gently caress. Added and started Limbo. I got to a point that made no apparent sense weeks ago and haven't revisited since. I'm sure there's some cute trick I'm missing, I don't care. Also added Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and Cities XL 2012. lol and now I added Metro 2033 vvvvv ACPaco fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Dec 13, 2012 |
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Dec 13, 2012 23:14
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party everyday
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3522402 Like the page. Click "reaveal code" Enter code into Steam! crosspost from coupons! EDIT: poo poo I'm so sorry. Though I was in the Steam thread. Unfortunately I had multiple windows open and clicked the wrong tab. I'll leave it here anyways and post it in the correct thread too.
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Dec 13, 2012 23:35
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You just gave a free Steam game to the Steam Anonymous thread. Gonna bring a 12 pack to an AA meeting next?
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Dec 13, 2012 23:47
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I finished The Witcher 2. In short:  It's just so good. I loved the first one despite the flaws and this one does almost everything better. Like the first, it's very well-written, particularly the characterization. I'm sure the developers benefit a lot from the fact that the universe and characters have been fleshed out by a proper writer in countless books earlier, but full credit to them for not spoon-feeding us exposition anyway. There are references to events that took place outside the games all the time, and it's fine that the player might not be aware of them. The characters are, and they act and speak accordingly. I like that Geralt actually has friends (rather than mere acquaintances). I honestly don't remember any other RPG where the main character has proper friends. I like that you, on occasion, sit at an inn and have a drink with your friends, and the conversation is believable and relevant to the plot. The party at Shani's in the original is one of my favorite quests in that game. The premise for running into Dandelion and Zoltan at Flotsam is a bit silly, to be fair, but I can forgive it. Speaking of, whoever wrote the journal entries in Dandelion's voice clearly had a ton of fun, as that was some of the best writing in the game. I actually made sure to read every update cause they were so entertaining. The scope of how your decisions shape the game is only fully revealed if you reload a save at the end of Chapter 1 and play through the second path as well. There are plot points that you never learn in one path (if you go with Roche, for instance, you never learn that Saskia is a dragon and how she came to be controlled by Philippa at Loc Muinne). Chapter 3 is a totally different experience as well depending on that choice, despite taking place in the same location. I like the ambiguity in the game. Almost everyone is a villain in some way, but they all have an actual goal, and they can all support their goal with proper arguments. I like that you never know if you can trust someone. Even Triss I have my doubts on, but then again I can't trust the people who caused me to doubt her, so who knows? There are quests where you have to make a decision without ever being able to learn the 'truth' of what happened. You can leave it be, of course, and fail the quest, but that's not very satisfying as a player. Point is, the writers of these games understand that not everything has to be explained in full. Sometimes Geralt and the player will not learn what actually happened. This is in such sharp contrast to most other games, where there is a single truth in conflicts. The player might not discover it and end up picking the 'wrong' side, but it is there to be discovered. The combat is a big upgrade from the first game, and quite satisfying I thought. The Alchemy skill tree is massively powerful, though, seemed moreso than the Swordmaster one. I didn't really develop the magic one enough to judge it. I died a lot of times but never felt like it was unfair. All the little conveniences that I want are there: quicksave, frequest autosaves on top of that, skippable cutscenes, skippable dialogue, etc. There is enough gold to buy what you want but not too much that it trivializes the decision - you have to think a little about which armor, sword or rune you want to buy. Lots of little things like that that they just got right. There are some issues, obviously. The QTEs during boss fights and cutscenes added nothing, and at times I failed them just because I was sitting back and watching the scene playing out, not expecting to be prompted for a QTE (I quickly learned to pay attention, though). The sex scenes were very funny, and unfortunately it does seem like the devs still don't know how to justify the 'mature' label they flaunt about when it comes to portraying sex. I do appreciate that it's straight up, unapologetic casual sex rather than a dreadful 'romance', but the way it's presented (the cutscene direction) is in fact the opposite of mature. At least they got rid of the cards, though. One small step in the right direction. Overall, the game is amazing and anyone who likes RPGs should play it (and the first).
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Dec 14, 2012 00:47
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| # ? May 9, 2024 07:22 |
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Tyrian posted:http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3522402  I've always wanted to try this one out, I would have missed it if you hadn't linked it here you dirty pusher
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Dec 14, 2012 01:04
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