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Just beat Machinarium. The pizza guy came right as the ending cutscene started, though, so I missed that. Didn't want to play through the final room again (that shooter puzzle was a bit tedious) so I guess I'll have to just YouTube it or something.

I was pretty fond of the game, though. I also liked the hint system they used. I'm sure it's been mentioned here before. Making it a slight pain in the ass to look up a puzzle's solution was enough of a deterrent that a couple times I just took another stab at -- and solved -- the puzzle instead of trying to play that weird shmup thing.

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Did we really let this really old thread die? Was it for any reason or just because people wanted to talk at length about specific games in their respective OTs?

That said...

Bioshock 2 :tup: :tup:

I feel like this is pretty much sacrilegious, but the more I think about it the more I think I like Bioshock 2 better than Bioshock 1. While I certainly appreciate the originality and storytelling of the original, I think the actual mechanics (by that I mean the progression of plasmids/tonics/weapons and the minute to minute shooting) of the second game are better. Beyond that, I think the plot is a little bit more straightforward in a much more appealing way (hooray, a third act that doesn't fall flat and endings that don't feel totally superficial).

All of that said, I think the economy of 2 is a little weak. I always felt like I had more than enough money and ADAM due to my nature as a completionist. Maybe I've just become used to games with a far longer tail of rewards, but I can't even imagine stuff like ammo rationing ever playing a big part. By the end, I could drop any Big Daddy with the most basic level of ammo for essentially every weapon. Also, I don't want to think that this is a "easy game is easy" thing.

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The overabundance of resources is a thing that really bothered me about both of the BioShock games, especially coming at them as a huge fan of System Shock, which were incredibly restrained on that front.

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The result of this was, inevitably, that you didn't need to be especially crafty to tackle Big Daddies or other fights, so most of the time shooting was the best way out.

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Yeah, I actually played this on normal, instead of my usual easy setting choice, and did pretty well.

The main reason some people don't like to use this thread is because they'd say that talking about BioShock 2 talk belongs in the Bioshock 2 thread.

But if the other thread is kinda dead or the other thread doesn't exist, it doesn't really matter.:erm:

Anyway, after forcing me through the slog of A Valley Without Wind, I played Noitu Love 2 and it was GLORIOUS! It was great to play a non-stop action game with creative looking bosses and several unlockable playable characters! :clap:

I really hope everybody buys this little gem so Konjak can make Iconoclasts?

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Am about to finish Yakuza 2.

Difficult game to grade, it is so slow and has some utterly stupid parts but the story steamrolls and is great at making you actually care about the bit players and even the 'villains'. If you have a copy and a PS2 or PS3 that can run it, there are a lot worse games out there.

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Mass Effect 3 :tmeh:

Yes, a :tmeh:. The game was nothing but chores and dumb fetch side side quests. And when I mean dumb fetch side quests I mean even dumber than actually searching for something in a dungeon. You sort of find things by planet scanning. As for the chores, there's no space exploration. Just going to various factions and do their chores so that they will join you in the fight. There's barely any mystery in this game.

The main reason I liked ME1 was because of the mystery, and the space exploration. ME2 had much less, and ME3 pretty much none.

The planet resource scanning in ME2 was dumb compared to the more or less repetitive Mako-drops from ME1. But in ME3 they made it even dumber. You have to scan galaxies, and then maybe you could scan a planet to find something. Scanning the galaxies eventually call in the reapers that will chase you for a short while (until you leave that galaxy). Quite dumb.

In short, this is the worst game in the trilogy.

As for the ending of ME3, I like it. I chose the middle ending (have yet to see the other 2). I think it was a satisfying ending to the story. Sure, there are a bunch of unanswered questions (like wtf was happening to the illusive man). I really don't understand the whole fuss around the ending. There are numerous games with much shittier endings.

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Mass Effect 3 :tmeh:

Yes, a :tmeh:. The game was nothing but chores and dumb fetch side side quests.

There was also the main quest. How did you miss that?

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I just finished Portal 2, right on schedule.

I liked it, which says a lot given that I was not predisposed to. If ever there was a game that didn't need a sequel, portal is it.

Pros

-More portals

-The narrative did surprise me, which I didn't expect. Recursive style.

-A really good sense of moving between distinct places. I miss that sort of thing in smaller games.

-Haven't played it yet, but I love the idea behind the co-op campaign.

-The comic book they used to sell it. That thing was beautiful.

Cons

-While it isn't 'Portal 2: more cake jokes', I do hate that we are now exploring Glados's backstory. Every bit I learn about that world erodes my enjoyment of the first game.

-I was getting pretty good at portaling by later portals. I could quickly identify the few 'moving parts' in a puzzle, and then all that remained was to conjugate them.

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I watched the other 2 endings of Mass Effect 3. And I understand why people were bitching. You received more or less the same ending cinematic, there are only a few differences in the stuff you see. However, there are massive differences implied by your choice. So I still think they were bitching.

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-Haven't played it yet, but I love the idea behind the co-op campaign.

Playing to co-op levels with Patters was one of my favourite gaming things last year. Definitely go through them. Possibly better than the main game.

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Which reminds me, I haven't played the Portal 2 co-op either.

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I got two of game of the EA "indie" bundle and gave them a go:

Gatling Gears is a twin stick shooter which takes place in the Greed Corp universe (which I haven't played), where the land floats in the air and can crumble and fall.

It's pretty bullet hell-ish, but it also seems a bit strategic since you Gatling gun has a very short range and your other weapons have a recharge time and it's vital to take out the big guns before you get overwhelmed. :tup:

Warp is about an alien what can well... warp! You can warp into things and make them explode and as you advance, you can switch with items and even toss them, it's not that challenging if you're used to physics puzzle games and you just kill the guard, but it's fun to try to be a pacifist, too bad I didn't try until the end. :erm:

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I finally completed "The Witcher", after having started from the very beginning again. Last time I stopped playing towards the end of chapter 3. I don't really remember why - I had originally thought it was because neither the order guy nor the dwarf would trade with me due to my choices :finger: , but that was chapter 2, and chapter 3 has a smith too. So I don't remember. Anyway, completed it after about 1 week of playing.

I can now get down to starting "The Witcher 2"...that is, once I get my new graphics card installed.

That might take a while. The reason for that being the graphics card seemingly getting bigger and bigger. Seriously, the thing is too long for my case, because it would hit the box where my hard drives are secured. So I will have to either cut a bit out of that metal cage, or get a new case altogether. Both paths include an uncomfortable amount of effort. The cutting one because, well, you're cutting pieces out of your computer, and the new case path because I would have to migrate everything in there to the new case. Yay!

Even though the second one is likely the one involving more cursing and stress, I am leaning towards that one, because it would prevent future hassle with too big computer parts. I mean, it already is a bit tight inside there.

So I guess I'll have to talk to my father to help me finance a new case - good thing he has access to a business supplier...at least they are a bit cheaper there. Still, :finger: to the people who thought adding another 10 cm to a graphics card was a swell idea.

- :hmph: :hmph: :hmph: :hmph: :hmph: :hmph: :hmph:

P.s.: The witcher was great fun! Awesome story and execution. And finally less clichés. I really have to get down to reading the books, does anyone know whether the German or English translations are better? My Polish is a bit rusty...as in: Non-existant.

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Rage. Kind of disappointing. Continuous texture pop-in despite being on PC, even after all the potential patching time. The ending seemed like there was supposed to be another two or three missions that were lopped off without accounting for the change in the flow of the story.

Sword & Sworcery. Pretty good. I liked the phases of the moon thing, and even waited out getting the Bright Moon Trigon instead of cheating.

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I finished Torchlight and discovered a truth: in both Torchlight and Diablo 2 I have been playing a game within a game that was pretty much separate from the main offering. It was called: collect and fuse the gemstones.

Have you heard of this game? Collecting gems and fusing them in either the Horadric Cube or with the sprightly lad in town is super addictive and cool. In both games I was obsessed with it and at the end would have a massive store of gems... that I hadn't and wouldn't use. I'd always end up not using any of them, just finished the game with the gems untouched.

It's like I'm playing two games at once that don't really have a lot to do with each other. Super weird! Maybe at higher difficulty levels where equipment starts becoming really important those gems would be important, but not for a normal run. Still, it's so much fun!

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I finished Torchlight and discovered a truth: in both Torchlight and Diablo 2 I have been playing a game within a game that was pretty much separate from the main offering. It was called: collect and fuse the gemstones.

Have you heard of this game? Collecting gems and fusing them in either the Horadric Cube or with the sprightly lad in town is super addictive and cool. In both games I was obsessed with it and at the end would have a massive store of gems... that I hadn't and wouldn't use. I'd always end up not using any of them, just finished the game with the gems untouched.

It's like I'm playing two games at once that don't really have a lot to do with each other. Super weird! Maybe at higher difficulty levels where equipment starts becoming really important those gems would be important, but not for a normal run. Still, it's so much fun!

I know the feeling. I always end up hoarding all the enhancements in RPGs, and in the end I never used most of them for anything. Like the runes you could permanently engrave on your sword in "The Witcher". Or the meteorite rocks, with which I could craft new swords. I thought "I'll save the runes for a special, final sword", and thought I'd use the rocks for such a sword (though I wanted a unique one. The fact that you can only carry two swords, one silver sword and an extra weapon restricted hoarding a bit. So towards the end I didn't actually plan on making a meteorite sword after all.). I *never* get to that point. I hoard, and hoard, and then the game is over.

This seems to be a common practice in RPGs. Even worse with Elder Scrolls RPGs, by the way. Why am I carrying 500 wooden bowls? I don't know! But I might need them at some point. And in this case, it's really pointless clutter. (Except for Fallout 3. You never know what some NPC might need for some weird quest).

- :erm: :erm: :erm: :erm: :erm: :erm: :erm:

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Make sure you never use those invisibility potions either.

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Make sure you never use those invisibility potions either.

Invisibility potions are for suckers. I hide in the shadows of the woodchip wallpaper.

- ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

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I just beat Zeno Clash yesterday in essentially one go. What a bizarre game. Generally fun combat that had a level of complexity that I really didn't explore and didn't need to at the easiest difficulty. The story was pretty decent, though I felt like the ending was pivoting pretty hard into a sequel that may or may not happen any time soon. Definitely worth the $5-10 I spent on it however long ago.

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I love Zeno Clash; it's such a cult game. Rough and mean (and I still got my ass kicked, all the way to the end), but also good. The alien, bizarre world is very memorable.

One of those rare, brief flashes of brilliance from the industry that stuck with me.

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Am about to finish Yakuza 2.

Difficult game to grade, it is so slow and has some utterly stupid parts but the story steamrolls and is great at making you actually care about the bit players and even the 'villains'. If you have a copy and a PS2 or PS3 that can run it, there are a lot worse games out there.

What about Yakuza 1, have you played that? I keep hearing about the Yakuza games and am wondering if I need to play them. Would you recommend playing them all through?

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Just finished Uncharted 3

And damn do I wish that game had been better. Not that was really bad, and not that Naughty Dog didn't try. It was a game strewn with half started efforts to expand on Uncharted 2. Vertical fights, larger "combat arena" areas you could move around in more, more use of environmental stuff for sight and navigation. But it all felt cut short, like they just ran out of time and shipped the game with a lot more "a hundred dudes are going to try and shoot you now" scenarios than they might have wanted.

At times the game just went into either moments of pure frustration or, alternatively, boredom. And for the most part (except riiiight at the very end) that was something Uncharted 2 had managed to avoid for me. I just hope "The Last of Us" won't suffer similarly.

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