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Wild Star now F2P.

+ I enjoy it.
- Laggy because they were unprepared for the amount of interest.

Good to know. I'll have to check out Wildstar again.

Finally playing The Last of Us. Great game!

It really is. I've been waiting for the PS4 version to come into my work for pennies.

I don't know what the general feeling is here regarding emulators, but after the G/Jer THPS2 stream I downloaded a PS2 emulator and I'm having ridiculous amounts of fun/nostalgia playing Timesplitters 2. Such an amazing game. I only hope that after 13 years I can finally beat Robot Factory on hard.

Edit: I did it! Wow, I sucked at vidja gaems as a teenager.

So I got the Uncharted Collection for PS4. If you've been thinking about buying it, get the PS4 version. The lighting's better, higher resolution, 60 fps, it's just so much smoother and none of the voice acting was lost.

If you're wondering if it's worth buying if you already have it, I'd say yes. It looks and feels a much higher quality.

Five Nights At Freddy's is getting a... cutesy RPG? ...Alright.

Just finished watching Alex play SOMA. It was a really interesting narrative, though it feels like the medium was... poor-suited for telling the story. Mostly because it felt like the story had to take long breaks just to be a game (not the puzzles, but the slowly moving between places, just because). But I really disliked the ending. It felt like a giant middle finger.

I don't mind sad endings. 'Losing the coin flip' is an interesting way to do it. But it feels like the sudden 'and then Catharine dieded, leaving Simon alone' at the very last moment was cheap. It felt like it was just them trying to make the ending really sad. Sadder than being stuck as a dead-person robot under the ocean. It was just a last-moment thing that felt contrived as much as anything.

Also, the whole aspect of copying being the only way seems untrue. It's not like there's not a way for most systems to delete files after moving them. If it's able to write, it seems like it should be possible to delete. Maybe there's some kind of delete-protection on the chips? But more likely, it's a plot device.

To triple post, here are some of my early thoughts on Fallout 4:

-The way they made useless items useful is actually kind of brilliant. Having any given item become material helps a lot. But that makes storage a lot bigger of an issue. I decided to RP a smart, lucky, and charismatic character. What this means is that I can barely carry anything. And having to carry garbage makes the problem worse.

-The whole 'build' aspect is... cool. I like it. I think it's unnecessary, but it's an interesting little addition to the game. It might get more annoying soon though. It seems like every area can be 'customized.'

-The graphics seem to be going for a slightly more colorful look than they did in 3 and NV. That's fine with me. But I think it lessens the atmosphere of the world somewhat.

-I had assumed we were going to be playing the 'child' character again, starting from the beginning. Honestly, I'm not sure I like having my character basically set for me when starting off. You're either a housewife with a law degree, or a military man.

-There's something about the gameplay that just doesn't feel quite... right to me. Like, the gameplay beyond the RPG elements is reminding me a lot more of RAGE than Fallout. Maybe it's just having to get used to the large number of UI changes though.

Apparently I'm stuck in 2013. Now I'm (re)playing Black Flag. Just sailing about, killing time.

As with every new Bethesda game, Fallout 4 is the most Bethesda game to date.

I'm having fun, certainly but it is tinged with a constant feeling of disappointment. The animations are still awful, the writing is often uninspired and forced. The UI is.. worth a multi paragraph post on the Venting thread, it has made some really amateur mistakes.

But it is fun. Exploration, discovery, all that stuff is still fun. But it isn't an RPG anymore. I can't say no to peoples quests, even if I do they still give me the quest. I rarely get the option to talk my way out of a fight; most quests only have a single way to complete them and that is to kill literally everything. I can romance EVERYONE at the same time, and none of them will mind. I could try to roleplay, but the game isn't really built to respond to that. Ultimately it feels a bit like Far Cry Post-Apocalypse. The RPG stuff has been so streamlined I'm not sure it often feels like it isn't really there anymore.

It is fun and there is a lot to do and see, but it is disappointing to see Bethesda continually ignoring big problems in favor of quirky novelties or easy new features.

Bebop Man wrote:Apparently I'm stuck in 2013. Now I'm (re)playing Black Flag. Just sailing about, killing time.

I bought Divinity Original Sin last night!

Kapol wrote:Just finished watching Alex play SOMA. It was a really interesting narrative, though it feels like the medium was... poor-suited for telling the story. Mostly because it felt like the story had to take long breaks just to be a game (not the puzzles, but the slowly moving between places, just because). But I really disliked the ending. It felt like a giant middle finger.

I felt it was the entirely logical ending given the premises of the game and the only likely outcome given what had previously happened. It also struck me as having been fairly strongly foreshadowed by an earlier event.

I'd agree that the stealth gameplay sections felt like too much of a speed-bump though.

Also, the whole aspect of copying being the only way seems untrue. It's not like there's not a way for most systems to delete files after moving them. If it's able to write, it seems like it should be possible to delete. Maybe there's some kind of delete-protection on the chips? But more likely, it's a plot device.

That wouldn't mean it's any less of a copying process, you're now just destroying (or, depending on your point of view, killing/murdering) the other one.

There is/was a faction in-game that attempted this course of action: the researchers who killed themselves after after they were scanned. You do encounter one of them at one point, although I can't recally off-hand exactly where/when.

Been playing Fallout 4. It's decent, in a pale shadow of Stalker sort of way. All the fun RPG elements have basically been removed or are not to my liking, so what is left is the mechanics of combat and exploring and surviving a hostile environment. And it does those things pretty well.

Like fallout 3 and NV, the UI is a sin against game design, and the game was released in a practically broken state in terms of bugs. Not one of my group of friends has been able to play the game without having to deal with near game breaking bugs.

MetricFurlong wrote:I felt it was the entirely logical ending given the premises of the game and the only likely outcome given what had previously happened. It also struck me as having been fairly strongly foreshadowed by an earlier event.

My problem is that it had the main character be a complete ass for no real reason. Yes, his reaction was similar to the one he had during the first copy process. But, if anything, that makes me feel like it makes less sense. He started throwing a tantrum despite it being the same thing as the first time. Which, fine. It sucks. But then having the other AI just completely shut down and more or less die, leaving him alone, just felt like it was trying too hard to be a forced sad ending. Sure, it might have been hinted at (I assume you're referring to the stress part when getting the information in the earlier scene). But that didn't make it feel better for me.

That wouldn't mean it's any less of a copying process, you're now just destroying (or, depending on your point of view, killing/murdering) the other one.

There is/was a faction in-game that attempted this course of action: the researchers who killed themselves after after they were scanned. You do encounter one of them at one point, although I can't recally off-hand exactly where/when.

But I don't see why that's a problem. The entire idea is to move the consciousness to a new 'body.' So getting rid of the source one makes sense, at least to me. I don't think that's worse than creating a version that will likely only suffer. That could be a good talking point of the morality of the entire thing.

Kapol wrote:My problem is that it had the main character be a complete ass for no real reason. Yes, his reaction was similar to the one he had during the first copy process. But, if anything, that makes me feel like it makes less sense. He started throwing a tantrum despite it being the same thing as the first time.

Because he had to go through the same thing as he previously had, only this time on the even worse end of it. After having been through some other horrible experiences in between with only the (somewhat delusional) hope that it wouldn't end this way propping him up.
Frankly, I'd be more surprised if he didn't throw a fit.

just felt like it was trying too hard to be a forced sad ending. Sure, it might have been hinted at (I assume you're referring to the stress part when getting the information in the earlier scene). But that didn't make it feel better for me.

Again, I would say it makes sense given everything that's established (and the event in question would have happened anyway even if not immediately then) and serves as the pay-off to an earlier event. It also serves as a contrast to the final scenes, in fact it's almost the polar opposite in a lot of respects.

I'm not saying you have to like it or anything, mind you. Just that it didn't seem to abandon, or conflict with, the pre-existing narrative to the point I'd call it forced.
You may disagree, in which case fair enough.

But I don't see why that's a problem. The entire idea is to move the consciousness to a new 'body.' So getting rid of the source one makes sense, at least to me. I don't think that's worse than creating a version that will likely only suffer. That could be a good talking point of the morality of the entire thing.

The 'source version' in this case is a person. What you're proposing is therefore that someone be killed as a result of the process.
Now you can argue that in some cases the source may be left with a fate worse than a quick death. In fact that's the rationale for taking the option of killing the first leftover version of the protagonist. I'm not sure that's guaranteed enough to take for granted to the point of building it into the system, though.

MetricFurlong wrote:[
Because he had to go through the same thing as he previously had, only this time on the even worse end of it. After having been through some other horrible experiences in between with only the (somewhat delusional) hope that it wouldn't end this way propping him up.
Frankly, I'd be more surprised if he didn't throw a fit.

Again, I would say it makes sense given everything that's established (and the event in question would have happened anyway even if not immediately then) and serves as the pay-off to an earlier event. It also serves as a contrast to the final scenes, in fact it's almost the polar opposite in a lot of respects.

I would say that everything was established, though I feel that some of it was only hinted at rather than fully fleshed out. For the tantrum, I think him having one makes sense. Him throwing the full force of it at the only other 'person' alive does not, to me. Especially since he spends so much of the game calmly going along without what's happening (likely because he is deluding himself, but still), and then suddenly spends the last minute or so of the game treating the only other character like shit.

My problem is that, to me, that doesn't feel like a satisfying ending. Especially since, even if it was established in the world, it doesn't feel like one that feels justified.

The 'source version' in this case is a person. What you're proposing is therefore that someone be killed as a result of the process.
Now you can argue that in some cases the source may be left with a fate worse than a quick death. In fact that's the rationale for taking the option of killing the first leftover version of the protagonist. I'm not sure that's guaranteed enough to take for granted to the point of building it into the system, though.

We're getting into the teleportation paradox more than anything. You're moving someone from one place to another, but destroying the original person in the process. That is, again, something that could be discussed quite a bit and doesn't actually have a right answer.

But judging by the character's behavior, he would have clearly preferred the teleportation method. It seems like there should have been some way to do it, and that the scientist would have had the ability to make it happen. Especially given her seeing the reaction the first time, as well as knowing what happened to all of the others that had been uploaded. The fact she didn't/couldn't felt more like a narrative device more than anything to me.

Okay, finished The Last of Us and Hitman: Absolution. Now I'm playing Tomb Raider (2013 reboot), RE6 (again, online, with a friend) and AC: Brotherhood.

An old friend of mine lives near to my parents, we were half way through a game when we ran out of time. Who do you think will win? I'm black, its his go (obviously, cos he's in check) I think we're about to swap queens, I overextended a little to keep the pressure on him.

From just looking, my initial thoughts are that Black will win, so I ran it through a simulation.

It has Black pegged to win in 60 turns (or 30, if you're only counting your own). Of course, this is not accounting for human thought, this is just the optimal play as determined by a computer, so take that with a grain of salt.

Hah! Yeah, nothing optimal about my playing, though I have had the advantage through most of the game, he's about to get ahead on bishops, but I'd just snagged his rook a turn or two ago.

Anyone played Divinity Original Sin? Is it as good as people say it is? Because I feeling like it's falling short of these expectations.

I like the overall mechanics, but the way the story is structured let me down a bit. The Enhanced Edition does repair some things on that front, but I was kinda hoping I didn't have to save the universe for a change.

Does it get better? Because during the exploration I feel like I am walking across a muddy field.

Really annoying when trying to do the more RPy quests where I am running around a town trying to find the right NPC to talk to. Or right McGuffin to Verb at.

So... is the Tomb Raider multiplayer dead? Just finished single player and wanted to check multi. Servers work fine but there's just nobody on them.