The "Currently Playing..." Topic

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2010-03-27 09:36:55 am

Prime Hunter: 2010-03-27 09:30:10 am

Prime Hunter: 2010-03-27 09:30:00 am

2010-03-27 09:29:39 am

I think it's a combination of the moments in Kleiner's lab and then if you look at the newspaper clippings and such on that one wall in Black Mesa East when Eli says to look around a bit. (If you find one that has a story element attached, he'll come over and talk about it if I remember right.) It's brought up a bit in Episode 1 and 2, so I could be meshing events together. But I seem to remember a lot of this information can be missed if you don't look around much when you meet him, which could be what happened. (So basically, that one scene between arriving there and going out back to meet Dog with Alyx is when this happens.)

Toozin

2010-03-27 09:32:45 am

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

Oh, that's kind of bullshit. I don't mind obscure plot elements, mind, but SOME kind of context that I don't need a pipe and magnifying glass to find would be helpful in making me care about this nonsense.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2010-03-27 09:38:06 am

2010-03-27 09:36:50 am

Although I went looking for a more detailed summary of the plotline just to be sure, and it suggests the specific parts I mentioned were discussed at Kleiner's Lab before you try to teleport for the first time, which means they're thrown at you directly. It's been a while since I've played, so the information I'm talking about at BME may not be as important, but they do help flesh out the world and some of the other details, so depending on how much you're interested in the game world they would still be useful to know I'd suspect.

Quietus

2010-03-27 10:00:27 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from nn12000:

In Secret of Mana, I got Flammie

If you've got Flammie, you can get two helpful items. Head back to Gaia's Navel, and the guy who did the show with the Sprite will give you the Midge Mallet, which can restore you if you're shrunk. Also, fly to the tiny island that looks like a turtle (might take a while to find), and the 'store' there has nothing but Seahorse Tails. Get one, and head to Kakkara. Speak to the people there, and one (probably the chief) will give you a Moogle belt, which restores you if you're moogled.

Quote from nn12000:

, so I have a feeling I might have to go back to Cloud Tops and see if he didn't find his way there on his own. I'm sure someone'll drop a hint sooner or later though. :\

Annoying part of the game. Basically, you'll need to to and fro between the Empire and the Golden Isle. Mara (mad lady) is involved, and I recall that to start it all off, you have to run all the way around the outer wall on the Golden Isle to speak to somebody...

[quote="nn12000"]In Secret of Mana, I got Flammie[/quote]
If you've got Flammie, you can get two helpful items.  Head back to Gaia's Navel, and the guy who did the show with the Sprite will give you the Midge Mallet, which can restore you if you're shrunk.  Also, fly to the tiny island that looks like a turtle (might take a while to find), and the 'store' there has nothing but Seahorse Tails.  Get one, and head to Kakkara.  Speak to the people there, and one (probably the chief) will give you a Moogle belt, which restores you if you're moogled.

[quote="nn12000"], so I have a feeling I might have to go back to Cloud Tops and see if he didn't find his way there on his own.  I'm sure someone'll drop a hint sooner or later though.  :\[/quote]
Annoying part of the game.  Basically, you'll need to to and fro between the Empire and the Golden Isle.  Mara (mad lady) is involved, and I recall that to start it all off, you have to run all the way around the outer wall on the Golden Isle to speak to somebody...

Da Dood

2010-03-27 11:20:00 am

Dood Trigger™

Started Kisuke's story in Muramasa.

What's different:

- Story (duh);
- The blades you get, although they have similar properties;
- You visit levels in a different order;
- Bosses are different;
- Dude is a damn ninja.

I'm in Act 3, Level 12, in about two hours of gameplay (16 total). 55 swords acquired, counting Momohime's.

I did fight the first boss of Kisuke's side as Momohime, but it was an optional Enemy Lair. The second boss, the giant centipede, was a lot of fun, cutting each segment while dodging their angry charge.

First Enemy Lair done, too.

Maybe I'll try reaching Act 4 this afternoon, played a lot already for the day...

TheGreenManalishi

2010-03-27 01:01:48 pm

Finished Aria. Got the worst ending and, when I find the motivation, I'll go and 100% it with the better endings.

Decided to try CvS2 again. Still inconsistent. I can get completely destroyed by certain characters and then, without anything changing, it is I who does the destroying. Fought Shin Akuma for the first time. His moves are cheap but he should go down easily. I would have got a round on him if it wasn't for his super combos being much quicker than Ken's.

Mista_Smegheneghan

2010-03-27 03:46:50 pm

Ready to internet!

Been playing Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. It's okay.

arkarian

2010-03-27 04:04:41 pm

red chamber dream

toozin: i get where you're coming from when you say hl2 feels dull. i felt very similarly for about the first half of the game (water hazard is boring as shit), but it really does get more interesting once you're getting closer to the end. it's also worth playing just because episode 2 is fucking great. i also really enjoyed ep 1 although not nearly as much as 2.

started prey last night - great fun so far.

tomatobob

Edit history:

tomatobob: 2010-03-27 04:23:36 pm

2010-03-27 04:23:01 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Quote from arkarian:

(water hazard is boring as shit)

Stop being wrong.

Quote from Toozin:

Oh, that's kind of bullshit. I don't mind obscure plot elements, mind, but SOME kind of context that I don't need a pipe and magnifying glass to find would be helpful in making me care about this nonsense.

The game mostly gives you information as you go, you don't really get big plot dumps until right at the end, I think. They don't go into any big specifics iirc, but I kinda like that they leave a lot of the things to figure themselves out in your head based on little visual things or some npc's comments when you pass by. I missed the stuff in Eli's lab when I first went through there too though, there's a lot of stuff in there that he'll comment on so it's easy to miss the more plot related one.
Also Highway 17 is an awesome chapter how can you find that dull.

TheGreenManalishi

2010-03-27 04:26:44 pm

Water Hazard is great. Ravenholm isn't.

Idkbutlike2

2010-03-27 05:27:15 pm

Quote from TheGreenManalishi:

Water Hazard is great. Ravenholm isn't.

I liked all the weird little car squishing traps you could pull off in that area, as well as chopping zombie heads off with saw blades. It got you used to the gravity gun in a cool fashion. Hell, I liked the whole game, so I'm a little more positively biased than the rest of you here.

Quote from arkarian:

i felt very similarly for about the first half of the game (water hazard is boring as shit), but it really does get more interesting once you're getting closer to the end

This is by far the most widely used piece of bullshit logic I've seen people use to get others to like a game. "Oh, the beginning sucks, so how about you suffer through like half the game until it gets better!" A good game is supposed to draw you in and make want to reach the better parts of it on your own free will, not make you wait for them.

tomatobob

2010-03-27 05:53:19 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Quote from TheGreenManalishi:

Water Hazard is great. Ravenholm isn't.

I like Ravenholm, the atmosphere is awesome and I like the whole, "Better get used to that Gravity Gun cause you ain't gettin shit for ammo here!" attitude. It also gives you the shotgun and I can't hate a level that gives you a shotgun. Also Grigori owns.

Quote from Idkbutlike2:

This is by far the most widely used piece of bullshit logic I've seen people use to get others to like a game. "Oh, the beginning sucks, so how about you suffer through like half the game until it gets better!"

I don't know, it does kind of apply for Half-Life 2. The only part of the game I don't particularly like is the beginning, until you get towards the end of Route Kanal it's pretty meh. As much as I love Highway 17, the game doesn't really hit its stride until Nova Prospekt at which point it becomes escalating awesome.

arkarian

2010-03-27 05:55:55 pm

red chamber dream

Quote from Idkbutlike2:

This is by far the most widely used piece of bullshit logic I've seen people use to get others to like a game. "Oh, the beginning sucks, so how about you suffer through like half the game until it gets better!"

the beginning doesn't suck though. it's just not that great. that said, i wasn't using it as something to get toozin to like the game; i was simply stating a fact: i felt the same was he does when i started the game, but by the end i was really loving it. hl2 is a great game.

Idkbutlike2

Edit history:

Idkbutlike2: 2010-03-27 06:49:25 pm

Idkbutlike2: 2010-03-27 06:48:33 pm

2010-03-27 06:47:23 pm

Quote from arkarian:

Quote from Idkbutlike2:

This is by far the most widely used piece of bullshit logic I've seen people use to get others to like a game. "Oh, the beginning sucks, so how about you suffer through like half the game until it gets better!"

the beginning doesn't suck though. it's just not that great. that said, i wasn't using it as something to get toozin to like the game; i was simply stating a fact: i felt the same was he does when i started the game, but by the end i was really loving it. hl2 is a great game.

I never said this was the case with HL2. In fact, it's quite the opposite in my opinion. I was saying that you really shouldn't give that kind of reason for people to enjoy a certain game.

Toozin

2010-03-27 06:54:33 pm

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

Highway 17 was pretty nice, although some indication of where you should be going woulda helped a lot.

What I've liked so far:
-The very beginning where those dudes are chasing you is a great sequence.
-Gravity Gun.
-Any part where characters are talking to you.
-Aforementioned Highway 17 and killer dune buggy.
-Ant lion slaves.

What I don't like:
-Severely lacking HUD that gives no indication of where you are, where you should go (I know it's super-linear but there are times when this would prevent some stumbling around), and what direction you're being shot from.
-None of the guns really seem like they pack enough punch.
-Lack of music and any kind of dialogue, even enemy dialogue, makes the long sections between meeting people seem boring and tedious, even while you're shooting shit.
-Weird platforming (I can walk that inch-wide plank no problem? Really?).
-Too much health followed by not even close to enough health and back again.

I do eventually want to check out ep2 so I'm not abandoning ship just yet. I remember years ago my friend showing me a clip of this game in which Gordon droped a water tower on a giant alien's face. That's the image of this game I've always had in my head and I'm curious to see if that part will be close to as awesome as I immagined it would be way back when.

Highway 17 was pretty nice, although some indication of where you should be going woulda helped a lot.

What I've liked so far:
-The very beginning where those dudes are chasing you is a great sequence.
-Gravity Gun.
-Any part where characters are talking to you.
-Aforementioned Highway 17 and killer dune buggy.
-Ant lion slaves.

What I don't like:
-Severely lacking HUD that gives no indication of where you are, where you should go (I know it's super-linear but there are times when this would prevent some stumbling around), and what direction you're being shot from.
-None of the guns really seem like they pack enough punch.
-Lack of music and any kind of dialogue, even enemy dialogue, makes the long sections between meeting people seem boring and tedious, even while you're shooting shit.
-Weird platforming (I can walk that inch-wide plank no problem? Really?).
-Too much health followed by not even close to enough health and back again.

I do eventually want to check out ep2 so I'm not abandoning ship just yet. I remember years ago my friend showing me a clip of this game in which Gordon droped a water tower on a giant alien's face. That's the image of this game I've always had in my head and I'm curious to see if that part will be close to as awesome as I immagined it would be way back when.

ryu

2010-03-27 07:18:10 pm

Just beat Shattered Memories and apparently got the best ending.

Great stuff. Gotta replay this soon.

tomatobob

2010-03-27 09:15:20 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Quote from Toozin:

What I don't like:
-Severely lacking HUD that gives no indication of [...] what direction you're being shot from.

Pretty sure it does. Red markers pop up when you've taken damage on the side where the damage came from I think.

If your weapons seem to be lacking power it means you aren't using enough shotgun. Secondary fire that motherfucker all the time. Kills most things on the spot so long as you got a good shot at them. The pulse rifle's pretty good if you can keep your shots in bursts, it's stupidly inaccurate if you just hold the trigger down. Also don't forget about the magnum, it should only take a couple shots to drop most anything. The crossbow is an instant kill against everything that doesn't require rocket to kill iirc. I felt the same way about the guns for most of the game, for me it was mostly a matter of knowing when to break out weapons that aren't the shotgun, using the shotgun's secondary more often, using the gravity gun efficiently, and not being afraid to use rockets. There is never any reason to save your rockets so if you find an opportunity to use them, do it.

Not sure what you're expecting dialogue wise though, most guys are busy either shooting you or being shot by you. But if they're around you can usually hear some radio squawks. Music only comes in at certain times can be weird, though. I think the idea is to save it for to make certain situations seem more significant, like the under the bridge section in Highway 17 or fight sequences. Though it's easy to miss the music during battle since everything is busy exploding.

But yeah, definitely stick around through ep2, ep1 was pretty annoying for a while, but 2 has a lot of good stuff and you're around other characters a lot more so you'll definitely hear plenty of talking as you make your way through.

[quote="Toozin"]What I don't like:
-Severely lacking HUD that gives no indication of [...] what direction you're being shot from.
[/quote]
Pretty sure it does. Red markers pop up when you've taken damage on the side where the damage came from I think.

If your weapons seem to be lacking power it means you aren't using enough shotgun. Secondary fire that motherfucker all the time. Kills most things on the spot so long as you got a good shot at them. The pulse rifle's pretty good if you can keep your shots in bursts, it's stupidly inaccurate if you just hold the trigger down. Also don't forget about the magnum, it should only take a couple shots to drop most anything. The crossbow is an instant kill against everything that doesn't require rocket to kill iirc. I felt the same way about the guns for most of the game, for me it was mostly a matter of knowing when to break out weapons that aren't the shotgun, using the shotgun's secondary more often, using the gravity gun efficiently, and not being afraid to use rockets. There is never any reason to save your rockets so if you find an opportunity to use them, do it.

Not sure what you're expecting dialogue wise though, most guys are busy either shooting you or being shot by you. But if they're around you can usually hear some radio squawks. Music only comes in at certain times can be weird, though. I think the idea is to save it for to make certain situations seem more significant, like the under the bridge section in Highway 17 or fight sequences. Though it's easy to miss the music during battle since everything is busy exploding.

But yeah, definitely stick around through ep2, ep1 was pretty annoying for a while, but 2 has a lot of good stuff and you're around other characters a lot more so you'll definitely hear plenty of talking as you make your way through.

Toozin

2010-03-28 12:20:26 am

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

Enemy dialogue maybe wasn't the best phrasing. I dunno, it just feels like there's a void in the audio that doesn't get filled. One of those intangible things I guess.

I have no complaints about the shotgun. It's the fact that it's the only weapon worth a shit that bothers me. Even the magnum feels underpowered.

And in a 3D environment, a flash on the left side of the screen tells me dick all about enemy position. Most FPS with the damage flash display at LEAST 4 directions.

Anyway, back to playing it. Hope I'm nearing the end.

arkarian

2010-03-28 12:39:06 am

red chamber dream

not sure what you mean really, the pulse rifle is plenty powerful. whenever ammo started to become a problem i just switched to the machine gun - i actually like using machine guns in shooters for some reason.
seems like variety is the key as far as hl2's weapons go. i'm a big fan of sniping so i tend to use the crossbow whenever possible, even when it's not necessary. one-hit kills ftw.

tomatobob

2010-03-28 01:00:24 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Pulse rifle can be hilariously inaccurate though, that could make the weapon seem pretty weak at times. That can be worked around, obviously, but ammo is always a problem with that thing. The smg is actually pretty weak, you just get so much ammo that you can waste half of it on three guys if you want to. And yeah,the crossbow rules real hard.

Quote from Toozin:

Anyway, back to playing it. Hope I'm nearing the end.

Since you mentioned antlion slaves earlier it's safe to say that you are pretty close to the end.

arkarian

2010-03-28 01:03:24 am

red chamber dream

back to sly 2 for me ... i'm actually liking it less than the first. the whole open world thing gets pretty boring when it's used in every fucking game.

TheGreenManalishi

2010-03-28 07:55:38 am

Got to playing Zone of the Enders for the first time in ages. I don't know why I've left it gathering dust for so long, it's pretty good. Graphics are awesome, provided you don't look to closely at the environments, and gameplay is simple, if a bit repetitive (go to place > blow up some mechs > retrieve something > repeat), and it is definitly a style-over-substance game in every area. Still, it's not every day you get to pilot a mech designed by Yoji Shinkawa.

Da Dood

2010-03-28 02:29:58 pm

Dood Trigger™

Kisuke, halfway through Act 4.

Level 18, with 59 swords acquired in almost 3 hours (17 total).

Did an Enemy Lair that was quite easy (poison ghost monster again), and the Act 3 boss was pretty cool, a woman on a weird dead horse, reminded me of Geryon in DMC3.

Will finish Act 4 tonight.

Quietus

2010-03-28 02:49:50 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Darksiders. Just beat Tiamat. Loving it so far.

tomatobob

2010-03-28 05:59:46 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Kinda surprising how often Tiamat seems to appear in games now. Videogames need more Pazuzus and Qingus. Far better names.