Any gamers around here?

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Played Crusader Kings 2 with a dynasty of Norse Muslim Patricians who eventually claimed the Caliphate. If this isn't the most OP combo in the game, then it is surely in the top 10. Ho-lee jeebus.

[Hydra009]

I recently beat XCOM: Enemy Unknown on Long War mode.

You might ask, didn't you start that a couple years ago?  Yes, I did.  It was a pretty long campaign, lol.  I used the option that spawned additional enemies on missions, every mission was a huge firefight.  Very satisfying.

[Hydra009]

Places to not play Pokemon Go:  State Department briefing on Daesh.

“You’re playing the Pokémon thing right there, aren’t you?” Kirby asked an otherwise occupied journalist.

Who responded, “I’m just keeping an eye on it.”

Kirby continued. “Accelerating global efforts.” “Enhance cooperation to counter Isil’s messaging.” “Confront them in the information space.”

The briefing over, finally, Kirby turned back to the offender.

“Did you get one?”

“No, the signal’s not very good.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

[trdsf]

Still mostly playing Wizard101.  Have picked up Neverwinter and Champions Online and Fable Anniversary, but they haven't really caught my attention.  Finally got the full version of Poker Night 2, which is fantastic.  And Kerbal Space Program is boomful.  At least the way I play it.  I am not a rocket scientist.

[Hydra009]

After City of Heroes got shut down, I tried Champions Online.  Very disappointing.

When I tried it - which was years ago - there were few maps, frequent server issues (the login server was down a LOT), unexciting quests, and boring lore.  IIRC, there wasn't even a way of comparing the stats of different items, you'd just have to eyeball it and hope you made a wise choice.  I wasn't a big fan of the cell-shading, either.

I liked character creation, power customization (though you could end up with an ineffective build if you stray too far from the preferred builds), and the amusingly campy WHAP! BAM! SPLAT! sound effect bubbles.  The reaction-oriented combat was pretty nice as well.

All it all, it was like the Angela Anaconda of video games.  I'm sure it was supposed to appeal to someone, but I can't for the life of me figure out who.

[Munch]

After City of Heroes got shut down, I tried Champions Online.  Very disappointing.

When I tried it - which was years ago - there were few maps, frequent server issues (the login server was down a LOT), unexciting quests, and boring lore.  IIRC, there wasn't even a way of comparing the stats of different items, you'd just have to eyeball it and hope you made a wise choice.  I wasn't a big fan of the cell-shading, either.

I liked character creation, power customization (though you could end up with an ineffective build if you stray too far from the preferred builds), and the amusingly campy WHAP! BAM! SPLAT! sound effect bubbles.  The reaction-oriented combat was pretty nice as well.

All it all, it was like the Angela Anaconda of video games.  I'm sure it was supposed to appeal to someone, but I can't for the life of me figure out who.

I found myself spending more time enjoying in the character creation of that game then the game itself, the gameplay was boring as crap, the lore was generic, and it didn't have any kind of progression. As a superhero fan it was nice to design my own kind of heroes, but there was no depth to the ingame characters other then cheap knockoff versions of well known superheroes.

On the subject of mmos, Wow's just released the pre patch for the newest expansion, Legion, and oooh boy was it a dozey. Wow might be soul sucking and cash grabbing, but sometimes they do something in the story that takes you back and wants you to keep playing to find out what happens next.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

I'm really enjoying No Man's Sky so far. The best word I can use to describe the experience is "theraputic." Basically the same feeling I got back in the days of Minecraft Alpha. Good to play while catching up on podcasts and audiobooks.

[trdsf]

I found myself spending more time enjoying in the character creation of that game then the game itself, the gameplay was boring as crap, the lore was generic, and it didn't have any kind of progression. As a superhero fan it was nice to design my own kind of heroes, but there was no depth to the ingame characters other then cheap knockoff versions of well known superheroes.

Yeah, chargen was in some ways more fun than the actual game.  I have more fun just flying around looking at stuff than actually beating bad guys up.

Also, I'm shit at these kinds of games.  :)

[Blackleaf]

I'm really enjoying No Man's Sky so far. The best word I can use to describe the experience is "theraputic." Basically the same feeling I got back in the days of Minecraft Alpha. Good to play while catching up on podcasts and audiobooks.

It looks cool, but it seems like the gameplay could get a bit monotonous. I wonder how the game keeps track of everyone's progress considering how theoretically huge the universe is, with every galaxy having planets, every planet having sub areas, and every sub area having unique fauna, animals, as well as materials to mine from. And how often do you actually encounter other players in the game?

[Hijiri Byakuren]

It looks cool, but it seems like the gameplay could get a bit monotonous.

It's varied enough that I don't get bored, but repetitive enough that I can turn my brain off and relax after a long day at work.

I wonder how the game keeps track of everyone's progress considering how theoretically huge the universe is, with every galaxy having planets, every planet having sub areas, and every sub area having unique fauna, animals, as well as materials to mine from.

Actual discoveries get logged into an atlas, which you synch up with anytime you're connected to the server. The rest is only tracked client-side; so if someone mines a planet dry and I later find that planet, I will be able to mine from it as though no one else ever touched it.

And how often do you actually encounter other players in the game?

Basically never. It's theoretically possible since players have an open lobby while connected to the server, but in practice the servers have been so overloaded from all the people playing that even if two players do arrive at the same location, server de-synch means that the planets might be in different phases of their client-side orbits and rotations for each player.

[Shiranu]

Painfully relevant...

“Hatred and prejudice will never be eradicated. And witch hunts will never be about witches. To have a scapegoatâ€"that’s the key. Humans always fear the alien, the odd. Once the mages had left Novigrad, folk turned their anger against the other races and as they have for ages, branded their neighbors their greatest foes.”

[mauricio]

I'm really enjoying No Man's Sky so far. The best word I can use to describe the experience is "theraputic." Basically the same feeling I got back in the days of Minecraft Alpha. Good to play while catching up on podcasts and audiobooks.

no man's sky trailers looked amazing but the actual gameplay videos look boring. I hated minecraft, but i loved terraria. I love the idea of procedural generation and survival but the games can vary a lot. I like the terraria and minecraft approach of the biomes, rather than having the entire world generated from a single set of assests. Also an approach more focused in exploring and fighting and crafting pragmatic stuff rather than aesthetics or constantly refilling status and resource meters. Seems like the next game from the terraria developers is gonna scratch that itch. For now I have stellaris and starbound. The feeling of wonder and discovery is something I seem to crave.

[Nonsensei]

I've got 21 hours into No Man's Sky and honestly, I'm finished. Forever. The glow of experiencing the game for the first time wore off quickly, and now its just so fucking repetitive. Theres no story to speak of, theres not much to do aside from gather resources and craft marginal upgrades to your gear, space combat might as well not even exist its so pathetic, and honestly the only thing that distinguishes one planet from the next is the color and the weather.

Events across all planets are identical. There was actually one guy who maxed out everything by just playing on the starting planet for 25 hours. Someone described it as a good tech demo and thats pretty accurate. If they ever add any content and story I may revisit it, but it will have to be very, very good.

[trdsf]

Went and bought Poker Night at the Inventory last night.  Much fun.  Wish one could bring in Steam friends into the game, in this and in Poker Night 2!

[Hydra009]

honestly the only thing that distinguishes one planet from the next is the color and the weather.

Quite a shame, too.  I had extremely (probably too high) expectations.  From the reviews, it looks like suffered from the same faults as Spore did when that was released - a game that couldn't live up to expectations.