JonCole

http://steamcommunity.com/id/jonac13/

Yeah, I totally agree with the whole pacing issue. And there are a couple of annoying aspects to the multiplayer that further complicate the process, like having to follow the host's quest log rather than anyone else's. When you're really far ahead, sometimes you have a little more insight into the order that you should complete sidequests, but if the host is a little new it's hard to have them keep up.

I've been meaning to write a Bitmob article on this, but after playing Assassin's Creed 2 I don't think I can go back to PoP. The game was beautiful, but the platforming was so linear and boring with respect to AC2 that I don't even want to go back.

This might have been endemic to the match, because I was having similar issues with my audio and the stuttering animation. GTA4 is buggy as shit.

I was half expecting: The Makers of Final Fantasy Present... Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Oh, I have a DS, that's what I tried to make clear in the letter. I was sort of wondering if it stood on it's own, not necessarily against the other systems. The DS is pretty awesome for big RPGs and whatnot, but it doesn't really fit in the pocket as much as I'd like.

Holy fuck, I am addicted to this game. Thanks a lot (just kidding, I hate you (though seriously, this game is great (god, this game is going to destroy my life))).

Ah, clearly I'm horrible at using the forum search function. Bah!

When a rogue fighter doesn't play by the rules... his thirst for power threatens to destroy the universe!

I actually managed to pick up MGS4 from the Amazon Black Friday stuff so I'll be playing it in the near future, though probably after I burn through the glut of holiday games from this year. Might get a chance to play it towards the end of the month, if I had to bet on it.

Totally agreed. In fact, recently Chris Grant over at Joystiq posted a negative review of Left 4 Dead 2 due to problems with the AI director with respect to difficulty, and lots of people were giving him grief because he wasn't giving the graphics, plot, and such their due time. He made the perfectly reasonable counterargument that if he can't enjoy the game on a fundamental level, why does he have to spend time going through the ridiculous bullet points that some publications (one of particular note being Game Informer) really subscribe to? If you can barely play through a game, why rate it on its replay value? If you spend most of your time at a killscreen, why rate the graphics?

Yeah, you said that you'd reply in a completely pedantic way that doesn't respect personal opinion. Got it. You seem to not understand that the vast majority of people who bought Lucidity did so despite the issues that most people talk about (and believe me, most people talk about the issues) and support LucasArts as a result. At this point, you're just going on and on about nothing.

I'll be there!

I just watched Armageddon for laughs last night, since it's just about to get phased out of Netflix Watch Instantly. And... well, I laughed quite a bit. That movie is absolutely ridiculous, with its cookie-cutter plot, typecast characters, and abundance of explosions. Despite it's horribleness, it just shows that Michael Bay was at least able to create an entertaining movie before the advent of fully CG characters, when he turns out total sacks of shit like Transformers 2.

First of all, you say that you have a 2400 HD with the seeming implication that it's better than the ATI X1300. If I did read that right, then let me tell you that they're basically in parity. Furthermore, the listed Steam requirements are obviously minimum requirements - practically no modern, HD game will run without hiccup on the indicated 3ghz single core/Geforce 6600 setup they list. So, it really shouldn't be incredibly surprising that the game doesn't run great... all I can say is that you should ratchet down all of the graphics options to their lowest and see what you can do from there. For future reference, Tom's Hardware puts out a monthly feature called "Best Graphics Cards for the Money" and at the end of each installation, they provide a graphics card hierarchy. For instance, this month's chart is here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2464-8.html To be honest, you shouldn't expect a game to run very well if your graphics card meets just the minimum requirements. Furthermore, I would go as far as to say that you shouldn't expect anything special unless you're a good two to three tiers on that chart higher than the minimum spec.

Can you at least agree that Michael C. Hall was amazing in it? I have the biggest mancrush on that guy; I could watch Dexter over and over again for the rest of my life. Also, I'm too lazy to dig through all the old pages that I missed but I definitely recommend Fringe. It's like mixing the episodic nature of Lost with the sci-fi variety of X-Files and adding some JJ Abrams Star Trek action for spice.

As a relative newbie to the community, I don't know how well I'd fit into a podcast, but I'd be interested to try it out nonetheless if I'm wanted. Either way, I'll try to make it to GTT on Tuesday.

I would go as far as to say massive improvement. The platforming somehow feels even more fluid than the first game but also requires a little more finesse. The sidequests have a bit more variety and just seem to be better thought out. A lot of the elements of the plot are actually interesting this time (and the end isn't nearly as disappointing as AC1's, though perhaps nearly as cryptic). Honestly, this is my game of the year. Best $60 I've spent in a while. I actually got all 1000 achievement points too and still enjoyed the game all the way through (collecting feathers is rewarding and the environments are actually interesting enough to make you want to explore, with significant contrast to the flags in AC1).

My girlfriend and I both have it for PC and played for quite a bit... had to do some port forwarding and stuff, but we also haven't played since the last major patch. I've had a great time with it so far, but I've just been distracted by more recent games. Definitely looking to go back and play it... I'd say it's worth it.

Magenta Saturday Steam Deals Left 4 Dead - $7.49 SPORE™ - $19.99 Resident Evil™ 5 - $24.99 Borderlands - $33.49 City of Heroes® Architect Edition - $9.99 Ghostbusters: The Video game - $9.99 Trine - $9.99 Order of War™ - $9.99 So, I'm considering Trine. Anyone played it, and is it worth $10?

I just thought of this now, but Bing is running 20% cashback on Dell.com, which would bring a PSP 3000 to $135 if the promotion applies. I've never used Bing Cashback, but I've heard good things about it at CAG. How to use Bing Cashback - http://www.bing.com/shopping/pages/howtouse.aspx?FORM=R5FD2

Have you got a chance to play it? I was actually looking at that for a little bit earlier.

Man, was I tempted on that one... but I'm not nearly that much of an impulse buyer. My HDD/Video card upgrade a month or two ago was good enough for me.

I feel like such a bad person because graphics so heavily influence my enjoyment of games. I've actually played a decent bit of the LucasArts adventure games after getting them from Steam a little while back, but they didn't hold my attention for an incredibly long time. Also, I recently tried to play Vagrant Story but I just couldn't do it. What I really need is a mindblowingly amazing game that grabs me right from the start and convinces my brain to be a little more tolerant of dated graphics.

Today's Steam Deals: Dead Space - $15 Madballs in Babo: Invasion - $2 Cities XL: Limited Edition - $25 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - $2.50 Left 4 Dead 2 - $37.50 (Overpriced, Gamestop.com has it for $30 [Free shipping with code SAVER]) Mini Ninjas - $15 Majesty 2 - $10 Bought so far (personally): Dragon Age (Steam, $37) Osmos (Steam, $2) PS3 Bundle w/ Infamous, Killzone 2, $10 Amazon Credit (now sold out, apparently, $300) Rosewill Wireless-N USB 2.0 Networking Adapter (Newegg, $10) iPod Touch 32gb (Apple Store, $286 post-taxes) So far, a fairly fruitful Black Friday. The Steam deals for today are decent, but not nearly as good as first day sales. Dead Space is the only tempting pick, but I already have it for 360 and after that ~$600 hit I'd rather not go for it.