Topic: What game are you playing?

[greg]

I think I'll pass on that picture...

Oh I think it's very true, JdP is right about that.  More and more games are designed to have mainstream appeal and complexity and difficulty are reduced, I've seen it in sequel games of every series that I've played.  As I've said, it works for me, but serious gamers that want a challenge are left with nothing to play.

hm that sucks to hear. I thought only Nintendo was doing that with their Wii games. I guess not, though.

[Lethevich]

I abandoned computer games excluding intermittent bouts of WoW around 2003, and already couldn't play the newest games at that time due to a crummy PC, so I am catching up at the moment. I played Deus Ex 2 a while ago and was pleasantly surprised that it had a lot of the fun qualities of the original. From the bad press it had got I had assume it was an all-out action shooter, but it retained some of DE's atmosphere and exploratory fun, albeit with a worse plot and generally every aspect other than graphics also being slightly worse. I was most surprised by the leap in graphical quality that took place in the years between DE (which at the time was a bit ugly) and DE2 - surely one of the biggest shifts in the history of the medium. If DE2's textures were higher res it would still look servicable today, and the ragdoll physics on the bodies were a lot of fun. I suppose I represent the archetypical gaming delinquent in shooting around some of the alien bodies just to see them somersault through the air impressively.

The gameplay was markedly inferior to the original, though. The areas were less freeform and expansive, the plot of the original was daft but also enjoyable, the one of DE2 felt like an ill-thought-out hash. There were some balance improvements (no longer being able to take out security cameras with one shot from an upgraded scoped rifle), but generally it was more geared towards action. This meant that I died a lot more in DE2 from things like being stuck in a tight area with a tank-sized robot until I realised the only way to deal with this was to use the machine invisibility aug, which I hadn't been putting points in to. This lack of option in a game known for its multiple choices is kind of a pain, but overall it more or less fulfilled my requirement for more of the same.

Oh I bet you like those old games like Baldur's Gate 2

No way, Baldur's Gate and all computer games are an arm of the Liberal Media which water down western culture until we all die

[Josquin des Prez]

I don't know if you guys know already, but there's a good website that sells old games with a price range of five to ten dollars, all in electronic format:

http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/

Of course you can probably get the same games for free from a torrent site, but when you grow up playing some of those titles its a good feel to have them in a neat little package.

[Josquin des Prez]

No way, Baldur's Gate and all computer games are an arm of the Liberal Media which water down western culture until we all die

You got that right, this is what real conservatives play:



 

Baldur's Gate 2 is a good game due to the size and scope, but the writing leaves a bit to be desired. The first Fallout and Planescape: Torment are much better in that respect, even though both games are pitifully short in comparison. You should give it a try David, they are not really that hardcore, you just have to get used to reading a lot of text. It isn't that hard, and once you get sucked in the atmosphere you'll realize just how limiting the "cinematic" style of Mass Effect really is, with that fake dialog wheel and all the spoken speech, which of course had to be kept to a minimum to avoid jacking up the price to astronomical levels.

[Lethevich]

JDP: you might like Dwarf Fortress (freeware, alpha, no UI yet, but still works) - it is the most overtly complicated and painful game I have ever played - I have lost as often from my retinue killing each other from me not micromanaging each guy's needs (they each have a gradually progressing life story, emnities, quirks, pets and food requirements - not bad for a single ANSI character) than from enemy attacks.



I think the greatness of it can be summed up by these:





It does keep track of  every possible variable throughout meaning the larger maps require a good PC even though it has no graphics. Any other "in-depth" strategy games are just pretenders I like how the guy developing it admits that at its current rate of progress, it will not get far into beta before his lifespan ends, but I admire him for sticking to his ideals.

[WI Dan]

I like a game that doesn't interfere with my drinking.   

[Josquin des Prez]

JDP: you might like Dwarf Fortress (freeware, alpha, no UI yet, but still works) - it is the most overtly complicated and painful game I have ever played - I have lost as often from my retinue killing each other from me not micromanaging each guy's needs (they each have a gradually progressing life story, emnities, quirks, pets and food requirements - not bad for a single ANSI character) than from enemy attacks.

I tried dwarf fortress before, but the ASCII simply murdered my optic nerve. I tried a few graphical interfaces, like the following:

http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php

But for some reason i couldn't get it to work, and after a while i gave up. I'm not hardcore enough for this game. 

[The Six]

Dragon Quest V - Nintendo DS

[greg]

I tried dwarf fortress before, but the ASCII simply murdered my optic nerve. I tried a few graphical interfaces, like the following:

http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/df.php

But for some reason i couldn't get it to work, and after a while i gave up. I'm not hardcore enough for this game. 

I tried just now and it wouldn't work for me, either.

Strange stuff, though... I don't think I've even played a game like this before. I'm not even sure I understand what Dwarf Fortress is.

[Bogey]

[Josquin des Prez]

Well, what do you know, i just fixed it right now. All i had to do is change the resolution in the ini file. How silly of me. New title set doesn't look as eye gauging as basic ASCII

Strange stuff, though... I don't think I've even played a game like this before. I'm not even sure I understand what Dwarf Fortress is.

You can get some information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaves_to_Armok_II:_Dwarf_Fortress

Back in the early 80s, there was a game called Rogue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29

It was a simple dungeon crawler, very basic D&D stuff. Visually, it was essentially an ASCII based title composite. Eventually, this game spawned many clones and different versions usually referred to as "rogue-likes" (the most popular rogue-like of modern times is Diablo). Dwarf Fortress is an insanely detailed building/fortress simulation game which uses a graphical interface similar to that of Rogue. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to play the most insanely complicated video game ever convieced, this is it. Essentially, this is the Brian Ferneyhough of video games. 

BTW, here's a link to the original Rogue if you want to start with something less daunting:

http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/rogue/

Infinitely less daunting in fact.

[The new erato]

Since baiting Rob Newman on this site; none.

[greg]

Since baiting Rob Newman on this site; none.

That game was a tricky one. No matter how well you did or how right you were, the game would never acknowledge anyone as a winner. 

[greg]

Well, what do you know, i just fixed it right now. All i had to do is change the resolution in the ini file. How silly of me. New title set doesn't look as eye gauging as basic ASCII

You can get some information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaves_to_Armok_II:_Dwarf_Fortress

Back in the early 80s, there was a game called Rogue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_%28computer_game%29

It was a simple dungeon crawler, very basic D&D stuff. Visually, it was essentially an ASCII based title composite. Eventually, this game spawned many clones and different versions usually referred to as "rogue-likes" (the most popular rogue-like of modern times is Diablo). Dwarf Fortress is an insanely detailed building/fortress simulation game which uses a graphical interface similar to that of Rogue. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to play the most insanely complicated video game ever convieced, this is it. Essentially, this is the Brian Ferneyhough of video games. 

BTW, here's a link to the original Rogue if you want to start with something less daunting:

http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/rogue/

Infinitely less daunting in fact.

Lol, the "Ferneyhough of games," eh? Well, I'm not much for difficulty in games, but I'll try it (the original ASCII)  .
I actually remember reading about "Rogue" and "rogue-likes..." good refresher.

[DavidW]

That game was a tricky one. No matter how well you did or how right you were, the game would never acknowledge anyone as a winner. 

The Newman game is like the games from the 80s, if you beat it you just start over at a harder level.

[jowcol]

Lol, the "Ferneyhough of games," eh? Well, I'm not much for difficulty in games, but I'll try it (the original ASCII)  .
I actually remember reading about "Rogue" and "rogue-likes..." good refresher.

I was a big fan of Nethack, which was the "open source" or community developed extension to Hack, which succeeded Rogue.  For the primitive interface, the interplay of the items, characters and situations managed to surprise even the most jaded of veterans with novel situations.   there are some different GUI versions (tile, isometric and 3D available.) 

Anyway, the overview is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nethack


And an article (admittedly a decade old) that describes some of the bizarre permutations that were possible.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080113042211/http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/01/27/nethack/


 One of the most interesting characters you could play in the game was a Tourist with a handful of darts, a wallet full of cash, an annoying flash camera, and your only armor was a loud Hawaiian shirt.  If you survived long enough to get to the first shop, you could do pretty well.  Nethack had more than a dozen character types. 

I'm not that big into "shooter" games, but when my kids got an Xbox, I got Fallout 3 and really enjoyed it.  Not only was the nuclear survival vault where the game starts located pretty close to where I grew up, but it was a wonderfully open ended game.   (You could finish the main story line in 10 hours, but you'd miss all the fun, like the perky, cheerful cult of incestuous cannibal Republicans in the remains of Annandale VA, some of the radioactive flesh eating zombies on the Metro, and the Republic of Dave, and the having an insane psychologist trap you in a black and white, 1950s Suburbia acid flashback Virtual Reality nightmare.). Some complained that there wasn't enough guidance from place to place, but you can wander all over and explore endlessly and still stumble into unexpected situations.   It's not really a "shooter"-- some situations require negotiation, is sneakyness.   I'd have to confess that the ending of the scripted part was underwhelming, but as a whole I really dug it.  Not that I can make many comparisons to other "shooter"/RPG games.

The game I'm wasting most of my time on now is Sega Total War Medieval 2.  It's like a Civilization game with a far more detailed overlay for battles, where you can zoom in and command battles in real time from  any angle you want, and zoom down  see combat at the individual level.  Although released in 2006, it's a graphics pig, but on a decent machine the battles are too much fun, and the financial/character/diplomatic framework and be pretty engrossing.  I'm still having trouble with Tamurlane shows up with his war elephants.   For 20$, it's a steal.  Some of the history and scale elements don't work, but on the whole it's hugely addictive if you a strategy game or history buff.

[greg]

Tried playing Dwarf Fortress... got the ASCII running, but (maybe it's my computer's fault) it was pretty laggy and slow. Not only that, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I set it on Adventure mode and just moved my charater ("@" sign, i think it was) across my world, and nothing happened. When I got the game to shut down, it froze up my Windows Explorer bar and I had to restart my computer just to use it. 


Fallout 3 looks and sounds cool, btw.

[Scarpia]

Tetris.

[DavidW]

Jowcol, I'm tickled to see from your post that they tried to seriously do some geography matching in Fallout 3, I didn't know.  It's a fun game and I need to go back to it and play it through, only played part of it.

[The Six]

Top Ten RPGs

Xenogears - The greatest.
Star Ocean 2 - Lots of innovations, and the voices are so bad they're good. HEEERE'S MR. ENEMYYY!
Dragon Warrior 7 - I'm a sucker for job systems. Characters were pretty funny, too.
Grandia 2 - Might be the single best game as far as awesome quotes go.
Skies of Arcadia - One of the few RPGs that really had a world, as opposed to just a "world map."
Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter - Criminally underrated.
Final Fantasy X - Something about this FF above the others that I like. It just came together so well.
Lunar: SSSC - What a magical experience. Pretty much perfect.
Arc the Lad 2 - The two heroes' stories coming together is pretty unique amongst RPGs.
Valkyrie Profile - I just can't get tired of that battle system.
Disgaea - Had a special camaraderie that its developer has struggled to reproduce.
Etrian Odyssey - This game is a clinic on how to update the old dungeon crawler system.
Final Fantasy Tactics - Great soundtrack, and a nice take on the strategy genre.

If I had played more of DQ6 and Mother 3, they might have made it. If I were to include a Tales game, it'd probably be Eternia.