miffy495

I can't speak to the length, as I haven't finished it myself. Maybe someone who has can help you out on that one. As for scariness, I'd say I'm more tense while playing than scared, if you dig. It's a game that's very very good at putting me on edge. With your max health constantly being determined by the ambient heat of the room that you're in (a really cool feature, by the way) throughout a lot of the game so far I've been both maxed out and clinging to a sliver of health at the same time. I have a gun, but I've only ever used it to solve puzzles so far, as ammo feels scarce enough that I think I'm better off with a fire axe except in extreme emergencies or until I come up against enemies who have firearms themselves. It's actually a really intense and adrenaline driven game. As for actual scares, I think in the first 2 hours or so I fought less than 10 enemies. They pace them really deliberately and well. You won't be rushed with all sorts of people jumping out at you. It all kind of depends on what you mean by scary. It's not "BOO!" scary, but it's very suspenseful. I prefer that kind of fear myself, so make of that what you will. The time travel thing is indeed really cool. I'm quite impressed by the way they have you doing things as other people that your own character is not really equipped to do. Doing ship maintenance and such. Good stuff. Since your computer meets the requirements, and as it's still 75% off for 24 more hours, I'd say go for it. Even at 3-4 hours of playtime, I feel like it's been totally worth what I paid. You don't need to finish a game if you're not feeling it remember, and for less than the price of renting a console game, this is really worth checking out.

Gonna dig up a thread! Gonna put my thoughts in it! Gonna get yelled at for bringing up old stuff! So, I just bought this game for about $3.50 in the Steam sale and played for around 3 hours today. I really like it! It took a while to find graphics settings that work (this thing is a fucking hog), but once I did I found that even with the settings lowered it still managed to look really good. I've really been digging the atmosphere as well. It's sucking me in more than most games have. I was really glad that it's 25 degrees out today too, as even with the crazy hot weather I was feeling chills from the atmosphere. It was a huge rush of relief to find any source of heat I could, and I got jumpy quite a few times. The earlier comparison to Condemned was pretty apt. Anyone who has even a passing interest, it'll be crazy cheap for one more day, so do it. I actually feel kinda bad that I paid so little for it, especially as regular price is something like $13 now, but oh well. I'll just say here that I feel like it's worth much more than it's currently going for, so you may as well grab it while it's hot. Anyone else have fresh impressions from the game? I know I'm not the only one who bought it this week.

I'm pretty sure I can safely ignore Playstation Plus. I've already bought pretty much everything on the PSN store that I'm interested in. Those games don't come out all that frequently either, and I'd say that I spend less that $15 every 90 days (on average) getting PS1 and PSN games. Mostly what I use the PSN for, actually, is PSP titles. I've stopped going out to buy UMDs and just like to download them. Unless Playstation Plus started working those into the mix, I don't really see the appeal. Why pay $15 every 90 days for games that may or may not be any good when I spend less than or equal to that for games that I know I want? I guess I sort of miss the point of Playstation Plus beyond that. Also, as I understand it, as soon as you stop subscribing you lose all the games they gifted you. Could anyone explain the appeal, or is it really just for people that use their PS3s more than I do? I think my console usage goes PC, DS, PSP, 360, PS3, and then Wii (the Wii would be higher if it weren't living at my girlfriend's house and inaccessible to me). Do I just need to be a bigger Sony gamer to care?

That's weird. I've never had any problems at all. Maybe they just like Alberta?

Bought it since it was half off on Steam today. I'll be starting on it after finishing Cryostasis, I believe. Psyched!

I very much agree about The Host. It's Korean, and a fabulous movie. One of my favorite films from that year, actually. I was talking about it this afternoon, as yesterday my theater opened Mother, the latest from Bong Joon-Kim, who also directed The Host. None of my coworkers had seen the earlier film, and I was astounded. Also good if you like Korean horror is Save The Green Planet, which came out in 2006, if memory serves. It's poster is a dude in a tinfoil helmet waving around a flying saucer on a stick, but the actual movie is unbelievably dark. It's about a deluded beekeeper who kidnaps and tortures people thinking he is doing so in order to stop an alien invasion. One of the most fucked up films I've ever seen, and I'll never be able to hear "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" without flinching again.

Oh man, I used to love watching the Maxx on TV. Does this mean that I missed a legit DVD release? Has there been one for The Head as well?

Fuck cougars indeed. When I was doing that stranger mission for the guy who wanted all sorts of beaver pelts, flowers, and feathers, gathering the red sage in Rio Bravo was infuriating. In the space of 20 minutes I was jumped by seven goddamn cougars. All I could do was unload my gun into them while saying "Dammit, I only came out here to pick some fucking flowers!"

Fair enough, I thought you meant story-wise. I thought the ending was incredible. So few games that I can recall have done a denoument section that is anything other than a cutscene, and none quite as skillfully. I thought going back and working the ranch was actually very rewarding. Herding cattle could be a bit awkward at times, but never bad, and I also never found it boring. I just think that to say that they were boring would be to miss the point. The entire game, you're struggling with John to calm his life down and get back to that. I thought it was very interesting that when he finally achieved it, you got to live some of it with him. Really brave move, and I think it payed off amazingly.

Just finished it. I too had been avoiding the thread for fear of spoiling myself on the ending. Holy shit. First off, a general personal note about act 4. I live in Alberta, specifically in Calgary. This city is, in Canada at least, where the great plains meet the rocky mountains. West Elizabeth, while presumably modeled on Colorado, may as fucking well have been my home. Tall Trees is where I go hiking in the winter, and Beecher's Hope is where I used to go to ride horses back when my uncle had his ranch. When John went home, I went home. It felt so familiar, so comforting. Even though it was just a game's representation of my home, it got the feel so right. Every emotional note just resonated so much more because it wasn't just John's home, it was mine as well. I kind of wonder how differently this would impact someone who lives somewhere completely different, but I figured that this was worth saying. Story wise DON'T CLICK IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME. FUCKING SERIOUSLY. I don't know what else I can say about this ending. If you started this game, you owe it to yourself to finish it. Unfortunately, due to my wanting to see what everyone was raving about, I ended up mostly abandoning my revenge on the Waltons. I'd take any bounty that had "Walton Gang" on it, and went out of my way to kill any roadside bandits, but going specifically for revenge got put aside. I really wanted to see that ending. I'm really glad I have seen it now.

I just finished Red Dead myself, about 5 minutes ago. Do not listen to the person above me. That was one of the best endings I've ever seen in a game. further thoughts to go in the thread for it.

Closer to Season 1. It plays pretty much identically, but the writers hit their stride a lot more and the puzzle design is tighter. Season 3 really is a thing in itself. I played about half of 303 this evening, and it's great. I still think 302 is the best so far, but I'm willing to be swayed by the last half of 303.

Ouch.

Bear attacks? I'm not familiar with your British customs...

God, don't make me actually do the math. ~200 puzzles x 10 minutes = 2000 minutes. 2000/60 = 33 hours, 20 minutes God fucking damn it.

I've actually found myself getting more and more tired of GWJ lately. It seems like every time I decide that some week will be my last for that podcast, they have Lara Krieger (sp? for both names?) on, who really ups the quality of the 'cast, or a good guest. Just enough to draw me back for a few more weeks, until I start feeling like that again and they do it again. I have a hard time putting my finger on what it is that irritates me though. I think it may be the overly-structured nature of the podcast. They've been doing it for so long that it feels so formulaic and much less genuinely fun, maybe. Oh well, whatever. Still not a bad show.

I've played Picross 2D to death and would highly recommend it. Been playing a lot of 3D in my down time, and it certainly is addictive. I'm on level 7 of Normal now, (198 puzzles in or so?) which has actually proven itself to be trickier than I expected. Wondering what hard is going to be like when I get there. This is a great game, especially as it is cheaper than most new DS games. Go for it.

Dammit! I came in a bit late. Happy birthday, 'blix! I'll be racing you tomorrow, assuming you show.

Yeah, I didn't buy anything that was over $10, but I did buy about $45 worth of stuff yesterday anyway. Only thing I'd really be interested in at this point that I don't already have would be Dark Void.

I believe that the first DLC is at least free? I have a copy on the way from Amazon. Waiting on the conclusion of Red Dead before I get started though. (Just got to Blackwater)

Fair enough. My games completed count just skyrocketed!

This is actually a conundrum for me. When I tally up games that I've completed in my head, do I count Telltale games by episode, or by season? I complete each and every game that Telltale releases, often the week it comes out (haven't done 303 yet, as I now have a coworker who will get sad if she doesn't get to watch the games), but I usually don't add them to my tally until a season is complete. How do people do this? Do you have specific reasons for why? Am I just thinking about this way too much?

Well done, Doctor General!

And that'll do it for Modern Warfare 2, which I did the last two acts of in 2 sittings. I don't really know what to say about it. Exhilarating but empty, maybe? It held my attention really well, got the adrenaline going pretty consistently, and had a pretty intense endgame, but the whole thing felt hollow compared to CoD4. Still, I enjoyed it. For a game I didn't pay for (last christmas), I can't really complain. I was only really beating it so I could free up the space on the HDD my laptop uses for Steam games, but it was still a pretty fun few hours while it lasted. I assume that if this kind of game held any multiplayer appeal for me, it would be a mainstay on my hard drive. Now, on to Dragon Age: Awakenings!

Don't know why you spoiled that, but yeah, I'm with you. I died a whole bunch on the way up to boss fights, but any boss fight, including the final one, were a total breeze. It felt a little sad that the boss had been built up so damn much over the course of the game as this unstoppable evil thing and then it just took me smashing it with a sword for about 10 minutes and popping a heal every now and then. Oh well.