Trip Hazard

I have a bit of a soft spot for this game, even though there are way more block pushing puzzles than there should be and the plot is, as you say, formulaic as heck. The combat feels really good, I appreciate that it doesn't have random battles, and I thought there were some lovely, fun bits of character development. Did they call them skits? Some of those were great. Not all. Did you get that sword which increases in power as you kill more enemies? It's nifty.

That's true. The combat always seemed pretty clunky, even before we got our hands on the sequels. I replayed it recently, though, and I enjoyed it a lot. I definitely rate ME2 over it, but it laid a heck of a foundation.

Depends if you're picking locks a lot. If there are lots of locked chests, I won't be able to resist cracking them open, and I sure as hell don't want to play a lengthy minigame to do that every time. I, too, have been playing Arx Fatalis recently, and am really enjoying it so far (stilted, bored voice acting aside). I love games where you can learn things just by experimenting, so the rudimentary crafting/alchemy system appeals to me greatly. Just as it did in UU. The idea of discovering spells by logically combining certain runes - or indeed by watching NPCs - is brill; I'll try this tomorrow. Nice one! Somebody told me to use Arx Libertatis, which I did and which runs it like a charm. Piece of piss to set up. Edit: Forgot to say anything about Underworld Ascendant! Um...I am excite?

Grow Home looks really lovely. Like, mother-flippin' gorgeous. Can't wait to murder that Dodo from the launch trailer and turn it into a bandolier

I haven't got time for KotOR. Perhaps somebody else will have time for KotOR? Let me know(tor) with a PM

You've been so knowledgeable about the entire DA series elsewhere, I assumed that the Hinterlands was simply an area in Ferelden and I hadn't been paying attention

Do the circle tower first. You get a really useful party member there.

It's not like it becomes a different game towards the end, so I'd ditch it now if you really don't like it.

The opposite of this, but when I was a kid I would always play Doom with cheats on, being too scared of dying (that pained screech!) to play without. My dad eventually convinced me to wean myself off them. Can still remember how scared I was facing the Cyberdemon for the first time, without invincibility active. I once tried to do a stealthy playthrough of Deus Ex, but I got bored of that when I got to the statue. Just like shootin' too much, damn it.

On the 360 pad, it's the right trigger for a few seconds, but perhaps left bumper works also. I've found cause to use that quite a bit when I'm carrying around dodgy pills and tarot cards, cos of my tendency to use them accidentally during a frantic moment. Just found an item which lowered my range but dramatically upped my tears. It might have been called Number 1? If I'd known it did that I might not have taken it, but I'm glad I did 'cos I found technology shortly afterwards, eliminating my range problem but keeping the firing rate. Very handy. I took a punt on Anti-Grav tears too, when I was in the Chest (not an item I'd normally go for but I was curious how it would synergise), and my firing rate went through the roof. Managed to beat ??? very handily indeed

I took a week off school to play Turtles in Time, which I completed probably twice a day, every day. Would do it again.

Pretty much done with Dragon Age: Origins, now. Edit: And already I'm on the Dragon Age Wiki to see what would have happened if I'd convinced him to go through with it. Does it factor into the later games in the series, anyone?

I only played the first couple of hours of GTA5, but all the "story" missions were rubbish (oh GOD the pop-ups!) and the dialogue wasn't very good, exacerbated by everyone constantly talking non-stop. More is not the same as Better, R*

Aye, but you won't have any fun *cough* head trauma *cough* (I hate it so much)

I've been thinking about why I don't like it as much as I like Spelunky. I think in BoI, and putting the previous discussion aside for a moment, luck factors into so many different aspects of a run that you can have a bad time if you're unlucky. Even if you know how to play the game, even if you know how to dodge all the bullets and kill the bosses properly, even if you know which items are best and how to exploit the gambling you can do, you can still have a shit, unfun time if you're unlucky. Which is why many players, myself included [citation needed], just abandon a run completely if they aren't getting anything decent by the end of the second floor. It's not fun to struggle along with your weak-ass, slow-as-shit tears, bypassing item rooms because the game just won't throw you a bone and drop a key. Whereas Spelunky gives you all the tools you need to beat the game, right from the get-go, and even if the layouts of the levels happens to be super tricky and you end up spending your bombs and ropes and you don't get nice items that you'd like, you can still win if you're skilled enough, and you might even have a better time with the added challenge. And yes, technically you could still win at that unlucky Isaac run, but it would take forever and be boring. But yeah, I agree with Bjorn and Griddle on that other point.

The Haunt is a tough boss. I don't think it's very fair that he can spawn on the first floor

Virt did the soundtrack, right? SOLD Edit: Haha, I mentioned this on the first page of this thread, and I still don't have this game. Need to get a job, or go beggin', or something

Most disappointing? Suppose that depends on your expectations going in, but from what little I can remember of the marketing, they tried to pitch it as being more open-world and having more RPG elements than it did. I didn't pay very much for Rage and I bought it way, way after release so I had read plenty about how it was mostly a shooting gallery. Your comments ring true, though. Whilst I liked the heft of the weapons and the nimble, well animated enemies, there are only a couple of moments where I really felt engaged. Jackal canyon springs to mind as one, bringing a few more interesting elements like grenade tossing enemies on high platforms and floating TNT which you had to keep track of, all while keeping an eye on the relentless melee enemies. That bit was more difficult, had less cover, and was generally more intense, but it was very short! Like, 20 minutes and it's over. The ending was so disappointing. Here,press these three buttons, you win! Oh, do I win? How did I win? What do I win? Why do I care? I gave up on the driving when it got to the later "rocket rally" arenas, because the enemies were psychic and always seemed to know where and when the next checkpoint would open. Drove me insane, pardon the pun.

Oh, I *actually* completed Rage tonight, just now, five minutes ago. Damn, that last mission was a piece of piss! I bought tons of ammo and gadgets thinking the game was going to open the taps and throw everything at me, but it just didn't do that, at all. It was alright. 7/10, as they say in games churnalism.

I'd say it's about 50/50, so far. I think Alistair really fucks you over initially by suggesting you go to see the Arl of Redcliffe first, instead of getting the best healer which any sane person would. I think the combat is pretty good, but it was too hard for me at the start so I knocked it down to easy. It was still reasonably tough, but now I've got Shale (literally made of rocks) and Wynne (has a wispy moustache, and casts heal a lot) and it's smooth sailing. I think if I put it up to normal now I could cope but...naaaahhhhh, this game is taking long enough as it is. Zeus, you could try getting a respec mod. I think it's criminal that this game doesn't come with a respec option built in.

After like 50 hours, I've made it to the Deep Roads in Dragon Age: Origins. Will this game never end?! (It is a good game tho)

The Dark Forces 2 run is amazing, and the commentators really know their stuff. A good watch. One thing that bugs me is this huge window showing the person playing the game and whoever else is commentating. Okay, I'm glad that's there, but it could be cropped a bit to cut out the people in the background, who just sit there starting blankly. Then we can get a better view of the game. Also, all this talk of glitching and exploiting tricks in the code and stuff has made me wonder if there's a bloopers reel, where unintentional glitches pop-up and interfere in a run. Is that a thing?

Cool, good to know. I'd noticed that I've never had one on the first floor. Is there a way to check your faith/evil, or are they always hidden?

Aye, just immune to the magnet effect. Are you guaranteed a deal with the devil if you don't take damage? Cos I cleared a floor with ??? just now and didn't get one, even though I was very mindful of not taking any damage at all.

I was quite disappointed with it as well, for all of the reasons you gave. I did actually finish it though, but I attribute my success more to grinding away at it (and luck) than any skill. One of the things that bummed me out most was unlocking this badass dragon class, only to find that it was both slow and weak. Booooo