ariskany_evan

It's time for me to quit Diablo 3. The single-player first-time-through-the-campaign is terribly boring. I feel like I'm bull-dozing everyone, the story..., and the aesthetics don't appeal to me. Doing my best to be more self-aware and realize when certain games don't appeal to me. D3 was a tough one because of the way everyone who loves it talks about it. Over the years I've gotten very good at divorcing aesthetics and themes that don't appeal to me from gameplay because there is an absurd dearth of content that speaks to me. The mechanics of D3 sound fun at the more challenging difficulties, but it all appears like garbage to me. Crossed off my list! Destiny is crossed off, too, for similar reasons!

Downloading now! Who knows, maybe I'll spend money on it...?

The description of that one is completely mystifying... "An encounter that will tear away the veil shrouding the world's secrets and set the gears of fate in motion... *Maneuver your characters freely to outflank your enemies. Move units freely around a grid-based map to flank the enemy, striking from both sides in a pincer attack. *Eradicate multiple foes in one fell swoop with chain attacks. Characters can be positioned to execute chain attacks with allies. Take advantage of bonus items on the map as well to obliterate your foes! *Customize characters strategically via jobs and skills. Characters can undergo three types of job changes. Acquire new skills and combine them to create characters that best fit your play style. *Experience an expansive game world with hundreds of battle maps and hundreds of friends and foes. A myriad of richly distinctive and diverse foes will confront you on a variety of battle maps. Prevail against them to gradually unravel the mysteries of this strange new world." My FIRST thought when I want to find out what kind of game something is is "CAN I MOVE FREELY?" I've started Banner Saga on my Nexus 9 and it's running beautifully so far. Seems like a perfect before bed game. Lots of reading, and I'm playing it on easy because I'm terrible at strategy games and I don't want to get all worked up before sleepin'.

Thanks for the Aphex recs! Combing through that list must be pretty intense. Any thoughts on his newest "official" release? Love the electro-acoustic aspect of it, but the forms of the tracks come off a bit perfunctory. Syro warmed up after a few listens. It's really understated. I regularly go back to the first three tracks having finished with my regular listens of the album, which is a pretty good percentage of success.

Fantastic!! Will be picking up Valient, Banner, and the new Kingdom Rush. Hopefully this will pry me away from my Hearthstone addiction... edit: interesting re: Valient Hearts. It's the first chapter for $.99, with the remaining chapters for $3.99/per

When I did my I'm-finally-gonna-beat-ES4:O run-through, I turned the difficulty down to nothing in the Oblivion Gates. That game is so much more pleasant when you get to demolish everything in the garish, repetitive areas.

I booted up the game on Sunday to reroll a new character and saw the banner about the MP event. What did it entail that was different than the usual?

I love Kingdom Rush as well! Though I wouldn't call it a pick-up and play game, as each mission can take well over five minutes. I've been digging Lyne. Minimal, fluid line connecting puzzles, with a clean aesthetic I can get behind. Been trying to get into the Ascension app, as I love Dominion and Star Realms, but it's not grabbing me. The artwork is not to my taste, and the UI is super busy. It's weird to say, but I'd probably like the game better if I could just change the background to a plain color. The game is passive and convoluted at the same time. Half the time I win because I've collected a good number of high-value cards, but I am incapable of keeping track, so the win feels unearned. Weird game. Sold my iPad 2 and picked up a Nexus 9 and thought I'd finally play through X-Com, but right now I can't stop myself from only using it for Hearthstone...

Hopped back in last night after the chatter started up again here. The rank system is confounding, though I'm sure makes sense to people who aren't still in their first generation (almost to 48!). Surprised that they show the global playing count. Just under 700 playing attrition world-wide around 9pm PST, which is pretty good considering Europe and the east coast should be in bed. Felt like the same old Titanfall. Though, Destiny's Hunter double-jump is bigger than Titanfall's which took time re-acclimating. Killing grunts is still very satisfying. Even though I never fell in love with the game, I'm not mad about the pricing scheme. Just hope they learn their lesson from Evolve and make the maps free for the sequel and charge $20 per extra Titan.

Completed Infamous: First Light over the weekend. I made sure to upgrade the traversal power first, which made getting around the city feel expressive. It's spectacular! I cleared all of the zones as much as possible before doing the story. I did not enjoy the storytelling, and the missions themselves were rote. It still feels like Sucker Punch doesn't know how to work the traversal mechanics into the story. Instead I'm left shooting/beating up a bunch of nameless thugs, just like in Infamous 1, where, again, all I really liked about the game was the traversal. Generally not recommended to finish, though it's free on PS+ at the moment.

That is great to know!! As I'm making my way through the story for the first time, I'm just taking whatever upgrade comes with each unlock. Once I get to the adventure mode, though, I'll definitely be using that tactic. Currently suffering the story mode being way too easy on the initial hardest difficulty, so I'm doing my best to mainline the maps and just head for the beacon. I haven't used a health potion in a few hours of gameplay and I'm only at the end of Act 2.

Exactly. Replace my monthly round of Minecraft with my wife on our laptops and replace it with Don't Starve. I really feel like being able to each focus on separate tasks will make it feel like less of a grind. We could even have a game last long enough to try out the challenge areas!

After patch, my character lost 30 pounds*! *and grew another head& &it doesn't have a second brain or anything and I can't control it at all, it just flops down, fyi

Is it short? Just got the drill. Might be worth pushing ahead if it's a late-clicker.

Quitting SteamWorld Dig. Seemed like a harmless, mindless grindy platformer with a nice level of visual polish. Maybe a 1/4 of the game is going up and down tunnels that I've dug, so traversal mechanics need to be pretty good! The feel of the jumping is off - a bit too short so he feels incapable. And the wall climb jump looks and feels off, too. It's just not satisfying. There's a good amount of visual polish, but it's not my cup of aesthetic tea, so it already had that going against it. Seems like a competent game, though. Mileage may vary!

I've got tickets to see 70mm on Fridayyyyyy. Excited! Just got done doing an LA-based movie marathon two weeks ago (with a showing of Los Angeles Plays Itself at the end (so good!!!!) since it showed up on Netflix recently). 70s LA, PTA, Pyncheon. Should be fun!

Plugged at least 5 hours into MP and I'm finding it to be pretty boring. There are 3 area types, but they're all shaped similarly, with randomly generated winding hallways leading you to the endpoint. It may just be lag, but it lacks a sense of connection. I swing my axe at the pot of loot, and the smallest delay occurs before it smashes. I hit "X" to collect the loot, but my character jumps. I hit "X" again, another slight delay, then she bends over to get the loot. All of the characters take up physical space, so when two players run into each other this weird stuttering occurs and one is pushed back slightly. Regular attacks lack any sort of response animation, which makes it feel spammy and the enemies sponges. Minor details, but the lack of polish adds up. I'm intrigued by the loot system, but thus far it's been stingy. I've put in a decent amount of hours and have only earned enough gear to unlock one new class (I salvage everything my current character can't use - also, it's not explained well at all, but you unlock new classes by crafting armor for that class, and the only way to get crafting materials is by salvaging armor that you've acquired). Feels like a bunch of stuff that can be fixed down the line, so I'm going to put down the MP until/if they release a patch. Wife's been so busy I may start up my own SP game....

Wife and I drove 3 hours to pick this one up. WORTH IT!!!! http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14064/56082/ Otherwise I am happily bathing in the nostalgia of Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale. My dad used to drink it exclusively at the holidays when I was a teenager, so it brings back lots of memories. Also it's just so perfectly bitter and crisp for a session beer.

Got through the tutorial and saw the title screen, thought it was a weak start. I got 5 hours into DA:O before getting bored, and skipped DA2, so my knowledge of past events is not great. So far not really sure what's going on. There's a book that's telling us how to start an Inquisition. Where did that book come from, who are these people, etc. I should block off some of my thanksgiving holiday time to get into the lore. Playing SP with my wife, which means that it's going to be months IF we ever get through the storyline. I'm enjoying the leisurely pace. Plus it means that I can give the MP a fair shake. Almost up to the max level for the easy runs. Enjoying it so far. My Keeper is learning some interesting skills (sticking with buffs), and I love the dash ability. I'm so used to leveling up in Destiny, where a new power feels so slight, where all the players do the same thing. Here there's a real nice definition between characters. Plus there's at least 9 or 10 to unlock. And the chests! The randomness is delightful. Little bit of Dota2 chest magic.

The expansion is coming to Android tomorrow, so maybe it's partially in hopes that the free download will net purchases of the expansion (which is a 4-day timed exclusive on Amazon's marketplace). Since we're talkin' bout Android games for a bit, I've been playing recently: Bardbarian: Mashup of tower-defense and snake (with an upgrade system). Other than the cloying aesthetic it's quite fun, and the upgrade system has me captivated for now... Desert Golf: NO MENUS. Endlessly fun. Thanks for the rec, Thumbs!! Star Realms: Annoying to play on my phone, but I'm hooked enough on the physical card game that I fight through the miniaturized artwork. Works as it should!! So fun!

I'll join the voices in stating that the curve is much gentler in Rebirth. In the original I played a solid 8 hours and only got to Mom once and died almost immediately. Last night after playing the game for an hour and half in total I beat Mom for the first time! I finally understand the hook of the game. Very excited to dig further.

I'm late to the party, but I saw Gone Girl last night. Had read the book about a year ago, so it wasn't entirely fresh in my mind.

Psyched to get in on the seeding runs! I've only gotten to Mother once in the original and did not beat her, so I've got a lot of work to do! Wish I could co-op, but the aesthetic will be an impossible sell with my wife. (Too many co-op games suffer this fate... )

Dear Quitters Club, I've been thinking of quitting Luftrausers. (Million-page thread in one of the podcast episodes re: the aesthetics of the game aside) I kinda like this game, but feel like it's a bit too score-chasey. A lot of the early upgrades feel more like side-grades. Is it the case that there's a consistent feeling with all of the upgrades regarding the POWER of your plane? Is there an upgrade progression ala Ridiculous Fishing, or is this trying to recreate more of an arcade experience where you're expected to pick your favorite build and just get actually skilled?

I found the story missions to be pretty bad on-level single-player regarding the bosses. My rule now is to be 2-3 levels over for each mission I play solo so that I don't spend 10 minutes just trying to kill one boss. Up to level 10 on my hunter! For some reason I feel like I want to get all of the classes close to 20 before trying the post-20 stuff. (especially with them patching the engrams, makes me happy I haven't gotten/wasted any legendary engram drops!)