Olorin, this thread is not for you, buddy!

So Ed and Rough inspired me to start this thread by posting in the chatbox what they were playing currently.

For myself, I just finished Fallout: New Vegas, as well as the new add-on for it, Dead Money. I also recently finished replaying Star Wars: Force Unleashed because I'm about to play Force Unleashed 2 and wanted to go through the storyline of the first game again. Prior to that, it was all about Halo: Reach and Mass Effect 2.

After that I have the following games on the backburner: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Alan Wake.

Got Dragon Age: Origins 2 and Dead Space 2 on pre-order, and looking forward to F.E.A.R 3 and Crysys 2 as well.

Man, talk about sequelitis - the gaming industry is as bad as Hollywood!

So, who here is an avid gamer and what's making your thumbs sore these days?

I havent played anything a month or so, but I was playing Black Ops and prior to that I was playing Call of Duty Modern Warefare2 way back (from May until November of last year I took a leave of xbox live, was taking over my life)

I still need to get and play the new Assassin's Creed game, and I never got around to getting Halo Reach, but I need to.


If anyone plays xbox live, look me up... my name on there, go figure, BladeCollector

I'm a Playstation guy. I had a 360 til it died on me. I haven't had a ton of time for gaming, between the computer and the piles of schoolwork I'm too busy. But when I do play, I play AC Brotherhood and The Beatles Rockband. Can't wait this year for Resistance 3, Uncharted 3, and War in the North. WitN doesn't look like it has too much to do with LotR really, just the standard Elf/Dwarf/Man group with too many magic-like powers, but still pretty cool. I've been breaking my thumbs on Brotherhood these days, trying to get the multiplayer trophies. I platinumed and 100% AC 2, so I'm working on Brotherhood which is more difficult because of the "full sync" ratings. I've finished the campaign, found all Borgia flags, done all the secret places, and rebuilt Rome 100%. All that's left is to redo some missions to achieve full sync, get more treasures, and obtain my four remaining trophies.

Ooo, New Vegas! Just finished the main campaign earlier today, and have since begun a new game. So much fun, and I'm finding I like it more than Fallout 3.

Prior to that, played through Alpha Protocol, a game I believe is highly underrated and a real gem in the spy game genre, and The Force Unleashed II. TFU II is fun to play when I want some mindless fun with big flashy things.

I could go on and on and on, hehe.

EDIT: And now that I'm hearing all these great titles being mentioned again, I think I'm going to have to put Assassin's Creed II and Mass Effect 2 on my list of things to go and re-play!

One thing I like about this thread so far? No one has mentioned WoW yet. So now I have to slap myself for saying it... but hey, at least I'm not playing it!

[quote=""Valkrist""]One thing I like about this thread so far? No one has mentioned WoW yet. So now I have to slap myself for saying it... but hey, at least I'm not playing it! [/quote]

WoW, the worlds most effective purity ring.

Currently playing Left 4 Dead 2 and I just grabbed Battlefield Bad Company 2 for $14 of Steam. L4D2 is a hilarious game. Nothing better than coming home from work and shooting zombies. I understand its not the best zombie game out there, but it's the only one I have. I don't spend a lot of money on games these days.
Starcraft 2 was a waste of time and money. Fable 3 was alright, but nowhere near as fun as the first one was. I grew very tired of it quickly.

Bad Company 2 is pretty amazing. I know it's been out for almost a year now, but damn I am enjoying it. You can blow everything up. Every building, fence, tree, and wall can be destroyed. Bout damn time these things made it into a FPS.

I'm a Nintendo fan so I'm currently playing Goldeneye pretty regularly and I have Donkey Kong Country Returns on the backburner.

I played The Force Unleashed II about a month ago. It's quite possibly the worst video game I've ever played. It took me about 4 hours as it's only a handful of levels. There really isn't any story to it either. The first wasn't exactly perfect but it was enjoyable. I'm waiting for The Old Republic to come out so I can get obsessed with that.

The Old Republic looks awesome! Did you see that trailer for it? The best way to describe it would be something like "instant man-action-gasm"

Is that the new MMORPG for SW coming out or a single player game?

(yeah, I know I can look it up but it's more fun to post about stuff here)

Yep, that's the one. I might get it since I'll have time to game over the summer.

Ok, I've seen some stuff for it then. Looks awesome but I'm staying away from pay-to-play games. I even cancelled my xbox gold membership a while back. The $$$ and time factor are simply two things I'm not willing to give up now, having been there before with LOTRO.

Yep, totally understandable. I'm glad I moved to PSN, it's free and there's no trolls. And if you do buy the paid membership, you acutally get your money's worth if you're big into gaming.

The Old Republic is headed up by the fellow who wrote the original Knights of the Old Republic. Otherwise I probably wouldn't bother with it. It'll be the first time I ever play a subscription game. Otherwise the only online gaming I've done would be on the Wii, which is free and fairly limited compared to the other consoles.

The only thing I'm worried about with The Old Republic is that it was announced two years ago and they still haven't released any concrete info about the game. The trailers look -amazing- but there's no official date of release, no system requirements, no idea of the monthly charge, etc.

[quote=""Fingolfin""]WoW, the worlds most effective purity ring.[/quote]

LMFAO!!!! That's great, Fin! I sponser the Gamers Club here at my school, and there are some WoW fans, but not me. The summer is my main playing time, but I do spend a couple hours a week playing the zombie mods of CoD World at War, which are still going strong. I'm a PC gamer, mostly. I just got Black Ops for the PC for Xmas, and like it better than on 360. I don't do much on the 360 anymore but use Netflix, honestly. As for the Wii, the wife has her games, and I just kicked the Super Mario World crack habit.

I tend to not buy too many new games, b/c I get a thorough look at them as the sponsor of the Gamers Club. The officers freely loan me any titles worth playing, but I don't find too many worth buying.

Oh, also I'm about to download the newest version of Roma Surrectum for the Total War engine. It looks phenominal!

Cheers,

Guy

Currently playing "Dragon Age - Ultimate Edition" (with all add-ons).

Finished "Fallout: New Vegas" yesterday for the second time. Gotta say I liked Fallout 3 a little better.

Wanting to play "Force Unleash 2", but I will wait for now. Let us know how it goes, Val???

"Fable 3" will be next, but I've heard it's quite short. Thorin, can you confirm this???

Absolutely STOKED for "The Old Republic"!!!! Waiting for a release date.

Runescape! I play runescape!

No really, I do. Been playing it for the better part of 6 years, and I'm awesome in my full dragon armor.

Downloaded D&D online two days ago, and so far, it's awesome. I also play oblivion and jade empire from time to time. You should try out the latter if you're a wuxia fan, that game is awesome.

Rough, Dead Money was a very difficult DLC for very little reward in the end (though you do get five new achievements to brag about.) Be warned if you decide to download it.

Unleashed 2 is proving fun so far and seems a little easier than the first one though (I'm playing on hard difficulty) and much lighter on the plot elements. The out-of-game bonus challenges are brutal though - you gotta be a fiend with your controller to beat some of the times on those things. Phew!

On the Subject on No. 2, does anyone else find it strange that this new Starkiller seems even more powerful than the original version? Won't get into spoiler territory, but those who've finished it know what I'm talking about

I was super disappointed that the KOTOR game is a MMORPG and not a console game... KOTOR I and II are 2 of my favorite games of all time and I was really looking forward to KOTOR III. One of the things I loved about KOTOR was the fact, other than if you were in the middle of a fight, you could save the game at ANY TIME, every game should be like that!!

I want to try the new KOTOR game online, but I just don't have the money for a monthly bill for games right now, I tried STO for a few days and I didn't like it at all... I waited for that game for YEARS, I went out on the day it came out and got it, and was SUPER disappointed!

Other game series I am a fan of are of course, Halo and Call of Duty... I like Assassin's Creed and the Splinter Cell games (I could totally go for a Sam Fischer movie!), Resident Evil is another series I usually really like... I still remember the first time I ever played RE 1 for PS. I got it for christmas one year, I turned it on, started playing, walked through the mansion to the dining room and to the hallway when you see the first zombie of the game in the cutscene, it is eating someone, looks up at you in that cutscene and comes after you... after that I turned the game off, and didn't even think to play it for another 6 months... it scared the CRAP out of me!!! haha, then it turned out to be one of my favorite games ever!

[quote=""Rough666""]"Fable 3" will be next, but I've heard it's quite short. Thorin, can you confirm this???[/quote]

Yes indeed, it is short. The story is split into two parts. The first part was typical of Fable and the second half was dreadful. Buy it second hand, it's not worth full price, even if it has come down. I should have waited myself... but I was eager for something "new".

Lovely, and isn't it going to be just peachy when it's released for the PC after many months and at full price? (I've only got a PC as a gaming platform- would really like to try a PS3 though)

It was a dumb move to never port Fable 2 to the PC, and another dumb move to say, "Oh, we're going to release Fable 3 for PC the same time as the consoles!" and just weeks before release to follow that statement with, "Actually... We've decided to put the PC version on a separate release schedule, with no release date given AT ALL. Sorry, PC users, didn't you see this coming?"

Once the leading force for innovation, the PC has slowly become the red-headed stepchild of the gaming industry.

You know, I used to be on an 18-month to two year cycle on my PC upgades, usually spending upwards of $4k to outfit my desktop rig with the latest and greatest tech to play the newest games. I also have an xbox 360, but I used to only buy 2-3 console games per year, compared to 8-10 pc titles. Now? The trend has reversed with developers, and PCs are becoming largely redundant as gaming machines unless you're part of the WoW crowd. In many ways, the PC has become a victim of its own advances, with DirectX, Nvidia, and ATI combining to make gaming on the PC a nightmarish jumble of multiple configurations and driver update headaches. So what do they do now? They code for the 360 and the PS3 and the PC is lucky if it ever gets a release of the same game, many times a poorly made port that is riddled with bugs and poor gameplay.

So, these days, I spend $0 on my PC and spend most of my time on the 360. Don't get me wrong, I still love the PC and think there's no better platform for FPS and most RPG games, but it is quickly losing the battle for the sake of ease that is the console. You won't catch me playing Dragon Age or Crysys on the 360, but the day isn't far behind when the PC gaming industry dies out altogether.

Same thing I've been playing for the last ten years, Diablo II. Cant wait for III

[quote=""BladeCollector""]I was super disappointed that the KOTOR game is a MMORPG and not a console game...[/quote]

I'm with you. I was incredibly annoyed by that, as I've never played an MMORPG, and to be honest I have no desire to start...But I loved KOTOR...so I'm willing to make that jump...Most likely. The thing I hate about it is it pretty much erases the potential to play through again, right? I don't really know how MMORPGs work...heh What I would love to see is a fully complete game offline that has a strong online component/potential. I wouldn't mind hoping online with folks for advanced quests, etc. But I really don't want it to be necessary. I don't really get into online gaming in any way. I need a strong offline mode to be interested in a game...

There is some replayability in these MMOs in the sense that you can always try playing the game with a different class, profession, trade, etc. Basically, it all just ends up being slight variations on a theme though. The quests remain the same, and though you will have the ability to approach and solve them differently with a new class, I'm not sure if there's enough 'newness' there for you in the end. I know there wasn't for me.

Of course, the main thing about these games is the social aspect, but again that can be a double-edged sword. 90% of the quests in these games are designed to be solvable only by two or more players, so if you think you can just fly solo through one of these things, you will find it impossible, and you would also be missing the point of the game. The cons of this system of gaming is that the anonymity of the internet and online gaming communities in these games tend to make a lot of people think that certain kinds of behaviour are ok simply because you don't have to deal with the other person face to face. Politeness and respect often take a plunge, and maturity can be quite elusive sometimes, especially in games that permit player-vs-player killings. There's many folks that simply quit these games because of ignorant twelve-year olds that are intent on ruining your game for their private amusement, and then there's the twenty-something-year olds that pretend they're twelve so they can justify their online immaturity to you and themselves while making your life miserable.

The other downside also is sometimes finding enough people to quest with. Again, because very little in these games is designed for solo play, you often have to take a leap of faith and pair up with complete strangers and hope they not only stick around until you can finish things, but also don't screw you over in the end. There's also scarcity of players sometimes, or simply not enough people around willing to help or that need to do that same quest as you. Joining a group or guild though can often solve this problem as these small online-buddy groups are there to help all members.

Anyhow,I quit playing these games not just for the money and time it takes, but also because aside from that investment, I hate to have the risk of having my personal e xp erience and enjoyment of something be spoiled by some utter jackass who has nothing better to do. It's simply too frustrating and happens too often to take the risk and for that reason I prefer to play games alone. If something bad happens, there's no one to blame but myself, but to be dependent on the common courtesy and decency of others to enjoy my game that I paid for? That's something else altogether.

Edit: one last thing - these games are designed to be a self-perpetuating world or universe, and play is continuous and always evolving. As such, there is no "endgame" per se, but typically new content is released, new classes and items get added on, level caps raised, new areas and quests, etc. As an example, if something like World of Warcraft had a logical ending to it, hundreds of thousands of people would have stopped playing it long ago, because what would be the point?

Wow, Valkrist... Excellent post right there.

Which one? PC vs. console or MMOs?

Both

Actually Val, having played MMOs for years, I'm gonna have to disagree with most of what you have said there.

First off, when it comes to game-hours, there will be 200+ hours of uncontinued game content in most online games. Some games, like warhammer online and world of warcraft, have a vast amount of different races, all with different lands and quest lines, wich also ties in with the deep stories of these games, meaning a enjoyable unrepetitive game-e xp erience. The only thing you will have to go through again when you start a new character, is building your character and leveling it up, wich doesn't mean much, as your surroundins, quests, etc, will be completely different.

Actually, it's more like 5% of quests that require a group of players, rather than you alone. These are typically the end quest of a quest chain, where a small-time boss has to be killed. other than that, the rest of the quests are perfectly soloable, and a group of players won't make them much easier, just quicker. Then there are instances, dungeons with boss monsters and lots of shiny loot inside. These almost exclusively requires a group of players, but most instances are targeted at higher leveled players, and by then, you will have found yourself a guild/clan to go raiding with.

For the social aspects of MMOs, I'll continue with the guild thing. Guilds are pretty much the most important aspect of an MMO in my eyes, together with the visual aspects of the game. Most guilds are filled with cool people, and a strong bond usually forms in these guilds. I still have a handful of very good friends from games I quit playing ages ago. The guild will usually help you out with anything you need, be it money, quest help, or drag you through a low level instance.

True, there are silly 12 year olds running about, but they will pretty much leave you alone, if you leave them alone. And there certainly are not that many. Some guilds have age limits, and I advice you to find a guild with people of age 16 or over, as this will greatly enhance the game and social e xp erience.

Of course, this post is based on my own MMO e xp eriences, and MMOs vary greatly. But I believe this is a pretty general e xp laination of how an online game works.

If you've never played an MMO before, you certainly should. It's loads of fun. Perhaps it won't be your thing, but then again, what would be so bad about trying it out?

[QUOTE=GuardianWolf;74020]I'm with you. I was incredibly annoyed by that, as I've never played an MMORPG, and to be honest I have no desire to start...But I loved KOTOR.../QUOTE]

me too... I really wanted to see the end of Revan and the Exile's story. What I love about the KOTOR games is the character development in them. The characters are so rich and as the player progresses their relationship with them, more and more is revealed about them just as in real life relationships.

Obsidian did say that they still wanted to have a crack at making KOTOR 3

Valkrist,

I agree with your thoughts on that one. I used to do nothing but PC games, and now rarely find myself buying any new titles. World at War was the last one I bought, if that tells you anything. Before that, Orange Box, and before that--Halo.

I stopped playing Halo 2 on the 360 b/c I wanted the mods and control that the PC servers gave, instead of the "here's where you're gonna play" selection that the 360 gives you. The kids with foul language on the xbox is just too much. Yes, they can be muted, but they're still annoying as hell. It was nice running the clan, because with total server control, I could bring the kick/ban hammer down if some kids, or adults, started acting up.

The last clan I belonged to, or ran, was Halo PC. We even did the world tourney-thing, it was that big, and enjoyed the company of some good online friends. There was a 21+ requirement, but that's hard to verify at times. Just b/c you say you're an over 18 clan, doesn't mean you really and truly are. That's the bane of online playing. Hell, the average age of the core group was 35, with one member being 56. Some of us core members still keep in touch, albeit now by facebook mostly.

Since those days, I drop in and out of a few servers, play with my neighbor's kids on the 360, or the Wii with the wife. I don't see any return to the hardcore days of gaming, since prop collecting has taken priority.

Plus, I like going outside and feeling the sun on my face now. lol

Cheers,

Guy

Darlak... see, that's the beauty of it all, in that it can always be so different for everyone.

Yes, there is solo content - enough to keep newcomers busy, or those who can't find a group to do the more important quests. However, in most MMOs, there soon comes a time when you simply can't progress without other players, because like you said, it involves questing for the better rewards the game has to offer. In my e xp erience, aside from very minor and easy quests, the only main activity you can do alone is tediously grind away for crafting components for hours on end, or kill single creatures to slowly build up xp . Not my idea of fun, but everyone does it at some point.

Regarding other problem players, I did mention that the best way to avoid this is to join a guild. Not everyone running around is a jerk, but there certainly is a fair share of them, enough in some cases to make people want to give up or just slap someone for their ignorant attitude.

There's also the factors that Legion just mentioned: people lie and there's no way to verify their claims with regards to age on these things. Some MMOs or FPS servers may attract a more mature crowd, but there are quite a few morons out there with no manners and an irrational desire to ruin your day.

Like you, Darlak, this post is based on my personal e xp eriences also. I ran with a guild for a year-and-half that had some of the coolest and most helpful people I've ever met online. It's not all bad, obviously, and we had a ton of fun, but good times aside, there were a lot of other factors to weigh when considering the overall e xp erience. I guess we are opposite sides of the same coin here, and just trying to make everyone aware of the ups and downs.

Indeed, people do lie about their age alot in MMOs, but then again, if a 12 year old kid joins a 16+ guild, he will soon be weeded out as an immature dingbat. Then there are those that lie and say that they are over, say, 16 to get into a guild, and end up being more than mature enough to be in the guild, regardless of age. I once befriended a guy who turned out to be 13, while in a runescape clan ages ago. real cool guy, and quite possibly more mature than me. (although that's not all that hard to accomplish)

And yes, there is the un-avoidable aspect of grinding and farming, which seems to appear in every MMO, to one grade or another. As I see it though, it is a necessary evil. From great strife comes great rewards. Someone must have said something like that... Some time in history. Makes sense anyway, and it's true, at least when it comes to MMOs.

Of course, there are alot of negative sides of the social aspects, but I've come to simply ignore such issues where possible, as the way I see it, the positive aspects of MMOs far outweighs the negative ones.

But really Guardian, try The Old Republic when it comes out, you might be positively suprised. And if such is not the case, KOTOR 3 might come out regardless of the MMO. Besides, tenfolds of SW games will come out over the next few years, as it's a huge brand.

Just be happy that you got an online game, instead of no game at all =P

Well they recently revealed that TOR will be revealing what really happened to Revan so...yeah. I kind of have to play now.

So I finished Force Unleashed 2 and AC: Brotherhood. Unleashed was good but short, and the story was not as compelling as the first game. Brotherhood was a good direct sequel to AC2, with lots of good challenges and continuing the interesting story of Desmond/Ezio. However, the ending was a total cliffhanger, so I can't wait for AC3.

Now I'm ready for Alan Wake and Dead Space 2, but I'm waiting for my new tv to be delivered in a few hours.

Also can't wait for Dragon Age 2. I'm dying for a good rpg to sink my teeth into. They just don't make many of those these days.

For anyone curious about that DC Superheroes MMO game that I posted the trailer to a while back, a couple of friends of mine are playing it and say that it is surprisingly good and they are enjoying it a lot.

I forgot about this thread Val!

Before my xbox got the RRoD I was playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, which I really really enjoyed. The story development was awesome and the ending was a huge cliffhanger.

One of the things I like about Assassin's Creed, is it makes me look up history. Although the story tellers take huge liberties in the historical events, but the characters except for the ones e xp licitly developed for the game are historical and events coincide with real dates (although they arent always historically accurate). Such as in assassin's creed I, all of Altair's targets died in that year. I learned a lot about the Borgia family from Assassin's Creed II and Brotherhood (by looking up after playing the game) and I find out that a Showtime series is going to start airing in April called The Borgia's starring Jeremy Irons as Rodrigo Borgia!

When I first started playing AC I was I had no idea the story was going to get SO deep and I love it.

I did learn that the way they are going to number AC games is the only games to get a number in the sequence is going to be when they have a new ancestor in the Animus, AC I was Altair, AC II was Ezio, Brotherhood was still Ezio so it wasn't III... I wouldn't mind another Ezio game, he is a cool character, but I want to know where they are going to go from here, how far are they going to take it into history. I'd like a game where you would have to alternate between some of the animus ancestors, they mentioned a lot of Assassin's in AC 2 that came before Ezio, such as from Egypt, etc.


I only finished the storyline before I RRoD'ed I didn't finish all of the hidden "Truth" missions and I didn't finish all of the side missions, I did finish the lairs of Romulus and got the armor and I had some contracts left for my assassin's (which I thought were and AWESOME edition to the game)

Anyway... I am out of xbox commission for a while until I get back on with an Xbox

Hmm, all these good things I'm hearing about Brotherhood... I'll have to give that one a chance.

Just finished my fourth playthrough of Dead Space 2, this time on hard-core mode where there's barely any health or ammo and you can only save three times (each time you die, instead of sending you back to your last checkpoint, hard-core sends you back to your last save!). It was awesome. Made a lot of mistakes that ended in Isaac's death due to being overly careful about what to do and not do, but it felt very rewarding in the end.

(EDIT: And here's a cool pic I found with Isaac and his refurbished plasma cutter, an item you get if you've got an original Dead Space save: http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-con ... e-suit.jpg)

I absolutely loved Dead Space 2. It had great story, lots of suspense, characters who I cared about, and Isaac Clarke had a voice! The action was more intense (and fitting, I think), and my favorite new monsters were the avian ones which acted like Jurassic Park's velociraptors. Very cunning, very tricky, every time I entered a room with lots of boxes they could hide behind I would start jumping at shadows. Awesome game, my mouth was just hanging open at the end, but I won't give anything away.

Yes, you MUST get Brotherhood, Jaman.

And I agree with BC. As a history nut, I was sucked into AC 1 even back when I was a middle schooler. Now I've learned so much more, the AC universe is like a heaven on earth for history nerds. I heard one of the developers once say that he would love to make a game about the Russian ancestor featured in the new AC comic. That would be interesting indeed.

The next AC could be in Russia like the comic book... but there's all kinds of places in the world... all the history. Could be involved in the American Revolution, American Civil War, WW I and II, who knows, one of the Assassin's could have been the one to take out Goebbels and Hitler etc.

But like I said, I'd like to e xp lore ancient egypt as an AC assassin, think of all the pyramids and temples to e xp lore, they've had Templar Tombs, Lairs of Romulus, they could have Lairs of Ra or Anubis, etc in Ancient Egypt... possibilities are endless!!

One of the fun things for me (aside from being a history buff also,) was that I have been to Florence, Venice, and Rome. Therefore, it was tons of fun revisiting a lot of those places in the game because so many of those monuments, churches, and even bridges and streets are still there today. It actually felt surreal at times, knowing that I had stood on the exact same spot as Ezio was standing at many points in the game. In Venice, I even retraced the path that me and my group took while sightseeing, except this time I was pickpocketing people and dodging guards instead of taking photos and checking out the local girls!

Val you lucky dog! My friend took a trip to Tuscany, Florence, and Rome last summer. I was incredibly jealous. I want to go to Italy something bad.

I may not have been to the places, but I did Google Earth Venice and trace out the AC 2 map on it. You can't get much nerdier than that. I remember seeing a painting in my history book last year of people taking over the arsenal in Venice and I looked at my friend and said "Hey, that's where I killed the Doge of Venice last week!

That sounds like a good vacation... I've always wanted to go to Italy anyway for vacation for many reasons, its Italy, all the history and the architecture, the Vatican, plus my dads side of the family is part Italian, I am actually, on my dads side, only 3rd generation born in America...

but an Assassin's Creed sightseeing tour would be awesome, retrace the paths of Ezio and see all the buildings and sights he did, although I won't try any leaps of faith or anything like that, haha

We could help it take...assissted leaps of faith....yesss, we could. Heeheehee...

Well, I'm looking forward to when Brotherhood is available on Steam

In the meantime, I have just finished Dragon Age II.

It was in *every* way superior to the first game, apart from having very limited locations (and reusing those locations many times). A bit short, and I must've missed something in the beginning since I didn't get that pirate lady as a party member, but still absolutely worth playing.

The graphics are of course much better than Origins (and the game is paradoxically less taxing on the gaming platform), the inventory system is streamlined, the combat is infinitely more satisfying, and the voice acting is brilliant.

All of the intrigue with the turmoil between Mages and the Templars, racism toward the Elves, the unfathomable Qunari, Abominations, Blood Magic, the Tevinter Imperium... It is fleshed out so much more fully in this game, something I felt Origins for the most part glazed over in favor of a generic "We've got to save the world!" plot.

I think anyone who has played Origins/Awakening should give II at least a rent (it's only around 15-20 hours long, although from the looks of things it has tons of replay value).

Ah, Jaman;.....it's a music thread.

Wrong thread Thrand!

I've been replaying Uncharted, the first one. Trying to get a platinum trophy. I played through twelve chapters of story last night. It never gets old!

Killzone 3. Nice and refreshing after Black Ops.


I don't understand what the fuss is over Dragon Age. Honestly. My friend shipped me a copy of Origins for my birthday and I played it for half an hour just to say I did, and never touched it again. The graphics were horrible, the designs were hideous and very cartoonish, and the gameplay. I couldn't believe how limited and outdated the gameplay was. It honestly felt like I was playing a PS1 game made by some obscure one-title game company. Now let's compare this to the fighting system in Demons Souls, for example. DS blows it away. Graphics, mood, designs, locations, too. DA had incredibly poorly rendered scenery and locations and I just could NOT get into it. Again, another superior game comes to mind: Oblivion. Need I even e xp lain? I doubt it.

But yeah, DA felt really cheesy and lame. I normally wouldn't bother bashing it but the fact that so many of my friends have been hyped about the sequel, it really leaves me scratching my head. When I look at an RPG, I ask: how much freedom is there? Well, DA limited you to ridiculous amounts. You couldn't even step off a porch without having to use the damn steps on one side. I ask: is there a good atmosphere that I can get lost in? DA? No. Oblivion? Absurdly, yes. Wandering under the trees at night with the breeze blowing through them, beautiful stars above, and the ice-covered mountains in the distance set to a beautifully composed score. Now that's an RPG. And of course I ask: how's the design work? If people are shaped like legos and their weapons/armor look like something from a middle-school anime fan's notebook sketches, I definitely won't enjoy it. And then there's the trailer trying to be all "cool" by having the dude twirl that humongous whatever-it-was-hunk-of-ugly-gaudy-metal, and then vault into the air like a weightless jedi on wirework. Yawn.


On the bright side, Skyrim is looking pretty cool!

I agree with you, Sed- Elder Scrolls games make the Dragon Age offerings look almost shamefully bad in comparison.

Only 8 more months until our hunger is truly satisfied

The trailer was pretty awesome (and I usually think game trailers suck besides Metal Gear Solid trailers). When I see a good one it's pretty GOOD!