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Last game played...

Started by Keef Monkey, 11 June, 2011, 09:35:35 AM

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The Enigmatic Dr X

This week I've been mostly playing... Starcraft

The first one; thought I'd replay it before hitting Starcraft 2.

It looks okay for its age, and it plays very well. It's a bit easier than I remember but then maybe AI has moved on in the last 17 years!
Lock up your spoons!

JamesC

Thief.

It hasn't had stellar reviews - even on this thread - but I love it.
I got it after trading in the tiresome InFamous: Second Son.
Most of the negative criticisms of Thief seem to revolve around story/acting/graphics - none of which I really care about. The mechanics just work brilliantly and I could sneak about nicking stuff all day. Brilliant fun.

Krakajac

#782
JamesC - did you ever play the original Thief games?  If you did, do you think the new Thief game compares well to the first two, as far as atmosphere, etc?

As far as my game playing is concerned, still playing Rocksmith 2014 and enjoying it - never thought I'd learn to play lead guitar on "I was made for loving you" by KISS.  :lol:

JamesC

No I never played the originals so I can't say how it compares I'm afraid.
What I will say is that the adventure/stealth/puzzle mechanics work as well in this as in anything else I've played - and it always seems fair which is a big deal in this sort of game.
I suppose you could say it lacks a little polish. The guards say the same few lines of dialogue over and over and the graphics won't blow you away (although they're perfectly serviceable) but none of those things affects the gameplay.

Krakajac

Great - thanks for that.  I might have to track down the PC version and give it go!

Theblazeuk

Only a taffer would pretend the original Thief didn't have repeated dialogue for the guards. It was however hilarious, particularly the odd drunk/thick voiceset.

Just finished TWD:Season 2 ep 3 and Wolf Among us: Ep 2. The former was good but certain choices were so clearly not going to work out I didn't really think about them. But they were choices I wanted so much, I just knew they wouldn't work out.... No way Kenny will manage to hit the bad guy and actually rescue people. The Fables chapter was great but I do keep wishing I didn't know what was going to happen to most of these characters. Its funny though as Bigby is the only character I really keep turning to the "..." dialogue option (i.e. words are cheap) - just seems appropriate about 90% of the time.

jackstarr

QuoteNo I never played the originals so I can't say how it compares I'm afraid.

Nowhere near.

QuoteWhat I will say is that the adventure/stealth/puzzle mechanics work as well in this as in anything else I've played

Thief 1 and 2 were way ahead of their time - I haven't seen a stealth game since work as well with light and sound.

One of the biggest selling points of the original is the immersion - you feel as though you're there - the sound plays such a big part in the game, and the tension is really ramped up in tight situations.   The new game has none of this tension - attention to sound as a game mechanic is lackluster, and you need to rely on the HUD to make progress rather than your surroundings.  Turning off the HUD doesn't help, as the game has been designed with the HUD in mind, drawing attention to the lack of freedom in the level design. 

I can appreciate the mechanics for what they are, but for my money Thief and Thief 2 are still far superior - far more sophisticated, but at the same time much tighter.  The new Thief comes across as a remake of Thief 3 for the ADHD crowd.

QuoteIt was however hilarious, particularly the odd drunk/thick voiceset.
Yep, even with the repetition the voices were great.  The new game lacks character across the board.

radiator

Bravely Default on 3DS.

It's nice and all, but it's just not rocking my world like I thought it would - to be honest I'm finding it a bit of a drag.

I had heard this was effectively an old-school Final Fantasy game in all but name, and I like repetitive JRPGs, but it just seems a bit limited. There are seemingly only four playable characters, and the skill progression is achingly slow and a bit bland - there's nowhere near as much customisation and tinkering as I was hoping for - something along the lines of FFVII's 'materia' system. There's a hell of a lot of backtracking and the gameworld feels very small and underpopulated as a result.

I also find the somewhat twee style a bit grating, and the script and characters are dismal. I mean, the stories in these games are almost always incoherent, convoluted gibberish but at least they usually have a certain charm to them.

Keef Monkey

Playing Thief as well at the moment, and I'm going to put my hand up and admit to loving it too.

Never played the originals (I got this on the strength of the studio's Deus Ex game, which I adored) so not really comparing it to anything, and I'm finding it's really, really tense and very absorbing.

The repeating audio lines are a real niggle, because it's not a case of reusing assets, I'm getting an actual bug where the same conversation will just repeat infinitely end to end, which is grating if you're spending a while in an area. The map hub city is a real pain to get around too, a lot of it just feels really unintuitive, like I can never see how I'm supposed to get from A to B or whether the window I'm about to open will just be a small interior or will load in a new hub area. So that's a bit of a pain.

The missions themselves though are great, I played what I guess you'd call the 'horror' level last night and found it really scary, the way they sustain the tension without resorting to chases and fights (a pitfall a lot of horror games fall into in my opinion) is really impressive.

I'm not going to call it a stone cold classic or anything, but I picked it up half price on XB1 and feel like I've got a bit of a bargain.

shaolin_monkey

I really had a hankering for Dark Souls again last night, but seem to have mislaid my copy.  Shame, as I needed some laid back tactical swordplay.

Instead, (ignoring the unplayed copies of Assassins Cereed: Brotherhood, Saints Row IV and Colonial Marines, and about 10 other titles in my gaming pile of shame) I decided to have another bash at Fallout: New Vegas.  This was a title I picked up and got bored with very quickly originally, as I was expecting it to have the same vibe as Fallout 3, but was really put off by the cowboy music and feel. 

Anyway, needless to say, I get very involved in it, lost track of time, and am using paper clips to prop open my eyes in work this morning.

JamesC

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 01 April, 2014, 10:04:30 AM
Playing Thief as well at the moment, and I'm going to put my hand up and admit to loving it too.

Never played the originals (I got this on the strength of the studio's Deus Ex game, which I adored) so not really comparing it to anything, and I'm finding it's really, really tense and very absorbing.

The repeating audio lines are a real niggle, because it's not a case of reusing assets, I'm getting an actual bug where the same conversation will just repeat infinitely end to end, which is grating if you're spending a while in an area. The map hub city is a real pain to get around too, a lot of it just feels really unintuitive, like I can never see how I'm supposed to get from A to B or whether the window I'm about to open will just be a small interior or will load in a new hub area. So that's a bit of a pain.

The missions themselves though are great, I played what I guess you'd call the 'horror' level last night and found it really scary, the way they sustain the tension without resorting to chases and fights (a pitfall a lot of horror games fall into in my opinion) is really impressive.

I'm not going to call it a stone cold classic or anything, but I picked it up half price on XB1 and feel like I've got a bit of a bargain.

That horror level was bloody terrifying!

mogzilla

Playing the witcher 2:assasin of kings again as I rushed through the first time so trying to take my time and discover more stuff. the flotsam level area still bugged me for some reason so I ploughed through that and now am enjoying the atmosphere of a medieval encampment.
don't get into an argument with an idiot,he'll drag you down to his level then win with experience.

CheechFU

Battleblock Theatre, I got key for the pc beta test. I already have it on xblive but whose pants can resist 1,000,000,000p resolution and mind blowingly realistic hair simulations.

Hawkmumbler

Finished the main story of South Park The Stick of Truth last night. Anyone who's a fan of the series but had resevations about this based on speculation alone should drop it right now and buy it. It perfectly captures the visuel and environmental feel of the series. Oh, and it's piss your pants funny.

I, Cosh

Not sure whether this belongs here or in "What's everyone reading?", but I recently finished playing the first installment of Steve Jackson's Sorcery! on the iPad. Great fun, apart from the annoying fighting system. The best bit being that you can now stick an infinite number of fingers in pages containing the choices you didn't make...
We never really die.