So, what were you playing in March?

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> What have you been playing?

My time had been divided between the BattleFields (old favorites), XCOM2
(still haven't beat it after all these years, the maps are too damn huge)
and Shadow Hearts 3 (for the PS2, not nearly as good as the previous ones)
until yesterday, when FF XII finally arrived and changed all that.

It should keep me busy for a loooong time given the fact that I don't know
any japanese whatsoever. Not sure about the new battle system though, it
feels like I'm playing a MMORPG all by myself but it's too early to tell.
Everything else is pure pwnage.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

On 21 Mar 2006 10:28:31 -0800, "Mr. Stabby" <control_z RemoveThis @hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Day of Defeat (1.3 not source)
>Serious Sam 2 co-op
>UT2004
>Pirates!

I have got to one day try Pirates; I keep hearing good things about
it. I turned away from it it initially because, at heart, it seems to
be a buy-low/sell-high game and that's just not my cup of tea (plus,
it has a dancing mini-game! . But people keep ranting on about how
good it is, so maybe I'll pick it up.

It's nowhere in the stores anymore, though. I *hate* ordering online.
Oh well, I'll probably be able to get it on sale, at least



I might pick up on Day of Defeat (original, not Source) again, too. I
had a lot of fun playing that, even if it was only against the bots.
On the other hand, having to reinstall Half Life, then patch it up,
then install the DoD mod (is the old un-Steamed version still
available? I hope I have it on CD somewhere), then patching THAT, and
finally figuring out all the silly console commands to spawn bots and
whatnot just may be enough to keep me away.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:25:41 GMT, "Schrodinger" <no.DeleteThis@way.com> wrote:


>- Sniper Elite
>despite my original post giving this about 65%, it got better as time went
>on. Certainly would give this 80% now. I haven't finished it yet as my HD
>died and I lost my save games, I can't face going through all the levels
>again yet - but will return for sure.

I've been debating on this one; on the one hand, sniping is always
fun, but quite frankly, everything about it seems to scream "budget
title". A number of reviews also seem to indicate that it relies a bit
too heavily on close-quarter combat, when what I'd really want from a
game like that is to pick off badguys from half a mile away. If I
wanted run-n-gun shotgun to the face gameplay, I'd replay Doom.

>
>- Total Overdose.
>Had a real blast with this - this is a "must buy" for any FPS fan.
>
>- BF2 (and Euro Forces since release)
>
>- CS:Source
>
>- X3: Reunion
>pants, over rated game with starforce malware included too.


I inevitably buy the X games, and just as inevitably am disappointed
by them. I'd really like to LOVE these games, but they always seem
saddled down with overly steep learning curves. I play games for
immediate fun; I don't have TIME to spend 20 hours just learning how
to master the basics.

X3, like the rest, is sitting in my collection, gathering dust. It's a
shame. Worse is that I'll end up getting X4, too.



>I have just begun playing Civ4. Not sure I can get motivated to play
>another Civ game, but here goes...

I rather liked Civ4. The original is still by far my favorite of the
series, but I think Civ4 might be my second favorite. The others
seemed to add features simply for the sake of adding new features,
none of which were really innovative. But the new civic types and the
new cultural boundaries (admittedly a Civ3 innovation, but done WELL
this time) are alone worth the price of the game.

My main complaints are that it's a resource hog -the endgames slow
down terribly as the CPU and RAM take a beating by the AI- and that
it's far too easy for me to spend hours upon hours playing the game.
Civ4, like the original, gets played for a week or two before it is
banished from my hard-drive for six months or a year... for my own
self preservation. Sleep and work aren't much fun, but they are sort
of necessary.

>> I started with a little bit of *Freedom Fighters*, a perennial

>I enjoyed this, but the graphics irritated me and I found it repetitive in
>play style.

I don't know about the graphics; they aren't high-end (they weren't
that even when the game came out) but I felt they were very
atmospheric. Your gameplay comment, on the other hand, is straight on;
it's not very developed and can be pretty repetitive (blow up bridge,
blow up chopper, raise flag, repeat). But the environment and, oh god,
that fabulous musical score, make it well worth my frequent replays.

>> Still looking for a GOOD first-person shooter, I decided to replay
>> *Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood*. (What I really want to replay is

>I started playing this - I really enjoyed the first but can't seem to be
>bothered going through what seemed like an extension of the first.

Yeah, Earned in Blood has all the hallmarks of a mission pack; it's
only considered a full game because it's standalone and because it's
full price. Heck, the story doesn't even make much sense unless you
played the original, and god pity the poor fool who plays Earned in
Blood first; he'll get mauled on the first level.

But as I said, it lets me shoot Nazis, and every now and again I need
some of that in my life


>> - Bioforge (DosBOX rules. So too does this game. But the awkward
>> controls turn me off, and I play it for about ten minutes a month
>> before I give up on it again)

>This game was(is?) great.

The environment, atmosphere and story of Bioforge is awesome; sadly,
the gameplay is lackluster. Between the poorly responding controls,
the annoying camera angles and even all the reading I have to do to
get the plot (not a bad thing necessarily, except it's at 320x240;
ouch) and I just can't stick with the game too long. And the shimmery
textures give me a headache, too.

Still, I do wish the sequel/add-on pack had been released.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

Knight37 wrote:
> NuQ <nuq.RemoveThis@annonn.com> once tried to test me with:
>
>> But I see you are playing all of these other exciting games like BF2,
>> HL2, etc., yet, you can still find enjoyment playing WOW. What is the
>> appeal of WOW? It can't be the fighting. Is it just the character
>> building that's fun? That just doesn't seem like it would be fun. To
>> be fair, I've never played it myself and maybe I just don't know what
>> I'm missing.
>>
>
> Character building and finding loot
> Teaming up with other players, the social aspect
> It's relaxing and not terribly difficult. for some that's a plus
> Some get into the market/economy aspect a lot
> Some play for the story/quests

My friend always plays with a buddy. One is an offensive player and the
other is defensive.

I see it being relaxing and easy and that's probably why it's not my
kind of game. No skill needed really.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

>But I see you are playing all of these other exciting games like BF2,
>HL2, etc., yet, you can still find enjoyment playing WOW. What is the
>appeal of WOW?

Well, it's definitely a different style of gameplay. Sure, there are
times - in open landscape, where mobs (mobile NPCs) are spaced apart
and lower level than you - where you can fight almost on auto-pilot.

But most of the time, that definitely isn't possible; taking your eye
off the screen definitely isn't advised, say, in instances, in
dungeons, or in areas where stealthed Defias rogues will suddenly
materialise right behind you!

It's mostly RPG-style fighting, where it's not down to reaction time,
but down to management of your resources (say, mana, or magical
energy), selection of the best abilities for a particular situation,
and environmental awareness (i.e, making sure you only anger one mob at
a time, or at least angering only enough that you can handle). After a
while, some of this becomes so intutitive, that to someone else
watching, they could be forgiven for thinking that the player isn't
really involved.

And besides which, fighting is only a part of what makes up the WoW
experience; there's travelling between areas, trading, crafting,
selling at the auction house, teaming up and doing instances, finding
rare recipes, and just doing silly things (like, trying to find a Silk
Black Shirt to go with my black Scorpid Scale Armor - the choice of the
well-dressed mid-40s hunter).

To figure out the appeal for yourself, there's really nothing like
playing it (I didn't think I'd be interested until I tried the demo
that came with last September's PC Gamer UK). If you know anyone with
the game, they should be able to pass you a demo key, I think.

P.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:37:57 GMT, Rob <Rob.RemoveThis@outbreak.fsworld.co.uk>
wrote:

>On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:41:14 GMT, Spalls Hurgenson <yoinks.RemoveThis@ebalu.com>
>wrote:
>
>>Yeah, I know, March isn't over yet but I like these threads. It lets
>>me know what games others people enjoy, and what they hate. And it
>>lets me share my own playlist. It's sort of nice to hear people talk
>>about actual GAMES rather than gaming-related topics (e.g.,
>>Steam/Starforce/nvidia/etc.), which seems to be 90% of the traffic in
>>this newsgroup these days.
>
>
>Arx Fatalis. Just started it again.This will be my fourth or fifth
>time playing through it.
>
A great game.

Arx Fatalis rebuilt as a mod for the Oblivion engine... now that would
be something.... Or better still, Arx Fatalis 2 by Arkane Studios
using the Oblivion engine. The perfect engine for this type of game.

John Lewis
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> What have you been playing?

I finsihed Command & Conquer: Renegade. I decided I hated it but had
to finish it just in case there was a "moment" worthy to have
experienced. There was not. While the humor picked up in the last
mission I found the experience to have peaked with the first mission
and declined slightly with each mission there after. I would not
recommend Renegade for the single player campaign at all. If you're
bored, you'd be better off playing through almost any other shooter
from a major developer.

Besides that I've also played Counter-Strike (1.6), Master of Magic,
Sam & Max: Hit the Road, Maniac Mansion Deluxe, and a little bit of
Shadow Warrior in the month of March.

I'll probably start on either Post Mortem or The Longest Journey
sometime soon.

--
Best Regards, mattchu
np:
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 02:49:55 GMT, Spalls Hurgenson <yoinks.DeleteThis@ebalu.com>
wrote:

>I've been debating on this one; on the one hand, sniping is always
>fun, but quite frankly, everything about it seems to scream "budget
>title". A number of reviews also seem to indicate that it relies a bit
>too heavily on close-quarter combat, when what I'd really want from a
>game like that is to pick off badguys from half a mile away. If I
>wanted run-n-gun shotgun to the face gameplay, I'd replay Doom.

Try the demo. It certainly isn't anything like Doom, but in equal
measure it isn't much closer to being a sniper.
--
Andrew, contact via interpleb.blogspot.com
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 07:11:25 GMT, john.dsl.RemoveThis@verizon.net (John Lewis)
wrote:

>
>Arx Fatalis rebuilt as a mod for the Oblivion engine... now that would
>be something.... Or better still, Arx Fatalis 2 by Arkane Studios
>using the Oblivion engine. The perfect engine for this type of game.

When I first played Arx Fatalis when it was released, I frequented the
Arx forums at JoWood for quite some time. Back then the developers
said they were already working on a sequel. I don't know whether they
dropped that idea or whether it's still in the works.


--
Rob
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

"Spalls Hurgenson" <yoinks RemoveThis @ebalu.com> wrote in message
news:jrd122db5027kepqnm9ie7rntndas4kq7q@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 19:25:41 GMT, "Schrodinger" <no RemoveThis @way.com> wrote:
>
>
>>- Sniper Elite
>>despite my original post giving this about 65%, it got better as time went
>>on. Certainly would give this 80% now. I haven't finished it yet as my HD
>>died and I lost my save games, I can't face going through all the levels
>>again yet - but will return for sure.
>
> I've been debating on this one; on the one hand, sniping is always
> fun, but quite frankly, everything about it seems to scream "budget
> title". A number of reviews also seem to indicate that it relies a bit
> too heavily on close-quarter combat, when what I'd really want from a
> game like that is to pick off badguys from half a mile away. If I
> wanted run-n-gun shotgun to the face gameplay, I'd replay Doom.
>
>>

The later levels rely more and more on sniping, stealth and tactics. It is
as though the first levels were designed for another game. I would
recommend buying this - there's a few on Ebay.com and Ebay.co.uk.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

John Lewis wrote:
> >Arx Fatalis. Just started it again.This will be my fourth or fifth
> >time playing through it.
> >
> A great game.
>
> Arx Fatalis rebuilt as a mod for the Oblivion engine... now that would
> be something.... Or better still, Arx Fatalis 2 by Arkane Studios
> using the Oblivion engine. The perfect engine for this type of game.

Look for Dark Messiah of Might & Magic coming out later this year. It's
Arkane Studios, essentially it's Arx2 but using the M&M franchise name.
It's based on the Source engine. Previews for it look pretty great,
sort of an action/RPG set in M&M, more action than RPG from what I
gather. I just hope it's not as buggy as Arx was initially.

Knight37
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

Rob wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 07:11:25 GMT, john.dsl.RemoveThis@verizon.net (John Lewis)
> wrote:
>
> >
> >Arx Fatalis rebuilt as a mod for the Oblivion engine... now that would
> >be something.... Or better still, Arx Fatalis 2 by Arkane Studios
> >using the Oblivion engine. The perfect engine for this type of game.
>
> When I first played Arx Fatalis when it was released, I frequented the
> Arx forums at JoWood for quite some time. Back then the developers
> said they were already working on a sequel. I don't know whether they
> dropped that idea or whether it's still in the works.

It's going to be called Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, and it's set in
the world of Might & Magic, not Arx, but essentially this is Arx2 as
far as gameplay. Arkane is doing it.

Knight37
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March? 

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 10:27:36 GMT, Rob <Rob.DeleteThis@outbreak.fsworld.co.uk>
wrote:

>On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 07:11:25 GMT, john.dsl.DeleteThis@verizon.net (John Lewis)
>wrote:

>When I first played Arx Fatalis when it was released, I frequented the
>Arx forums at JoWood for quite some time. Back then the developers
>said they were already working on a sequel. I don't know whether they
>dropped that idea or whether it's still in the works.

They're working on the Might and Magic sequel these days, aren't they?
If there is an follow-up to Arx Fatalis, it'll probably have to wait
until that's done.
 >> Stay informed about: So, what were you playing in March?