The "What Are You Playing Today" Thread

[Dracos]

Excellent post.

Anyhow, playing some mass Effect 3.  Just started it last night.

First thought?

"What the fuck?  Why does that bitch have my ship?  Why does the earth federation get my ship?  Even assuming I am loyal, that ship just happens to have the same name and is totally a Cereberus ship from top to bottom which I took from them.  I'm also a spectre.  They don't have the authority to ground me."

Sure, this all gets revoked minutes into the intro, but weak first impression.  I don't even care all that much about the big disaster going on.  Just that THAT IS MY SHIP, BITCHES~!

I also checked over my imported save with an editor.  "Huh, that whole quest arc got erased.  Yeah, No.  I did that."

This isn't to really comment on the game quality either way, just that the intro was a real "Eeh?" coming from the end of Mass Effect 2 as a winner that saved everyone, and finding myself a war criminal more than a war hero.

[Ebiris]

You did kill 300,000... well, I was gonna say 'people', but they're batarians, so eh.

[Jon]

I didn't. I figured my Shepard was in jail because they thought she was a terrorist the same way Ashley thought she was a terrorist.

Then again, the only good part of ME3 is the middle, because that's where you get to make choices.

[Brian]

Fallout 3 (again).  I mentioned this in IRC (a lot), but:

I had the disc version of FO3, but none of the DLC; Steam offered FO3 + all DLC for 19.99, which was cheaper than buying all the DLC for my disc, so I just grabbed that (and New Vegas, but I haven't touched that yet on account of replaying FO3).  With all the DLC, the game is a bit different in some ways.

Found a bug where Three Dog randomly congratulated me for purifying the wasteland on the radio, even though I didn't do that yet.  Could be because I have the '100 extra songs and Three Dog jabbers less' mod ("More Where That Came From") installed. >_>

I had intended to play through the game as normal and avoid the DLC entirely until after doing my normal shenanigans (that being ... get Pyro, a Shishkabab, raise sneak/melee (yes, I know sniping is easy -- that was run #1; this is run #4 (and my second melee run)) and then run around hitting everyone with a fiery lawnmower blade until I can grab their stuff).  One of the DLC is evidently some insanity involving an alien abudction, which I wasn't ... really expecting.  I found a crashed ship and mistook it for the 'you find an alien weapon!' encounter.

It was not.

One traumatizing probe sequence later, I'm annoyed that I was abducted carrying my max capacity (I had just retrieved the prototype medic power-armor and a fatman), but thankfully, most alien loot is weightless.  Mostly I'm thinking this is going to be a largely bizarre side-trip, but it did have some very interesting interaction options so far.  I suspect I'll like the other DLC better, because it'll feel more in keeping with things.

The alien spaceship is kind of cool, but at the same time, feels ... run down, beaten up, and like another crummy part of the wasteland.  Even the shiny parts of the ship look scuffed as heck -- thematically, really unsure what to make of it.  So, weird.  Annoyed that I was abducted two nights ago, and it'll probably take me tonight and tomorrow to finish playing through and getting back to the D.C. Wasteland.  This is probably not the proper mindset to explore this content.  Should have just reloaded a save from before the abduction, but oh, well.


I'm also playing Orcs Must Die for some relatively mindless fun.  It's ... alright.  I don't care for 'leaderboard' games much usually, but this one is less offensive.  I caught it on a Steam sale a while back (go fiscal responsibility!) so I didn't pay much for it -- but I feel I paid about the right price.  There's two packs of DLC, one of them giving more levels, and one of them angering me in its blatancy: "Use these DLC weapons and toys to beat your friends on the leaderboards!"

$%#@ you, underhanded marketing ploy.  $%#@ you right in the #*&%$@.

Aside from that, it's been described as a tower-defense game, which it somewhat is; you also get to run around in third person with your hero and manually kill orcs, which adds a little.  The gameplay is not terribly deep, but it's generally somewhat amusing -- the entire thing is comedic, which is kind of welcome.  At the same time, because it's so shallow and I am a perfectionist, I tend to keep replaying levels until I get all the skulls to upgrade my tools -- which is pretty pointless because tar pit, elven archer, arrow panel, and if I'm feeling particularly clever, poisoned spike trap.

Yeah, it's nice that you're giving me new and weird traps every level, game.  I've got a small handful that I like and have upgraded; a more compelling design would not be giving the player a choice in which traps to bring to a level (until replay at least).  Unfortunately, the game rewards my effective strategy of 'don't change anything you don't have to,' so I don't adapt much.

Consequently, I play one level every few days and lose interest.

[Dracos]

You did kill 300,000... well, I was gonna say 'people', but they're batarians, so eh.

I haven't played that DLC I guess?  So I haven't at least.  I wasn't really aware of that plot element.  Even if I was, yeah, they're not humans and I'm a spectre.  It really shouldn't matter.  I'm effectively super special forces.  *shrugs*

[thepanda]

Is Orcs Must Die better than Dungeon Defenders?

[Brian]

I've never played Dungeon Defenders, so I couldn't say. :x

[Kt3]

I have both.  When I finally get around to installing Orcs Must Die, I'll let you know how it shakes down.

[Jon]

Just completed my second playthrough of Journey. The soundtrack is exquisite.

[Dracos]

BvS continues to devour timespace.  I am not yet globally number 1 having consumed all content.  I must stay away from MMOs.

Running beside it is Mass Effect 3, where I've been negociating with criminal empires to add their forces to my army.  Ignoring multiplayer until the end since I am told it has a decaying effect on it.

Tales of Graces F co-op is remaining super awesome.  Sure the story sucks and everyone rags on Ashbel the eternally forgiving for things he didn't do, but I could kill things in it all week long.

And have!

[Brian]

Finished inFamous 2.  I'm mulling over the 'good' ending, and I guess I'm ... okay with it.  The gameplay was nice -- they polished a good bit from the first game.  In some ways, not quite as good, but mostly, fun.

I caught an interesting possible sequel hook, but probably they're not going to further the story.  The grapple power was really cool, but it was kind of a pity that it's not really ... useful.  Devourers are much more of a pain to fight than Titans, so that felt a bit inconsistent.

Otherwise, I'm player 2 in Tales of Graces f with Drac, which is a bit less engaging than getting to do stuff outside of combat.  Fortunately, the co-op bonus and alternately fun/horribly mockable storyline help carry through.

[Kt3]

Tales of Graces f?  What a coincidence, I'm playing that as well with a friend.  He already beat it, so I'm doing a New Game + and he's been my copilot.  It's been a fun time, but I've been spending quite a bit too long in areas trying to grind out titles.  It's a bad habit.  :d

[VySaika]

So who do you guys tend to control in ToGf? I swap around between nearly everyone, but Sophie's my favorite to use, with Asbel and amusingly enough Malik right behind.

[Brian]

Drac's Asbel 100%, I'm whatever needs a particular ability spammed to unlock a title -- but prefer Sophie.

[Oroboro]

I think I spent more time laughing at the story in ToG than I did taking it seriously, but it was relatively enjoyable the whole way through. Some of the character interactions were great too, especially anything with Malik being a troll.

Probably one of the funnest combat systems in an RPG I've seen in a long while, though. I played Sophie primarily, while my friend handled Asbel, and occasionally Malik.

Got a good 90 hours out of it in the end. Haven't spent that much time on a JRPG in ages.