WHAT VIDEOGAMES ARE YOU PLAYING RIGHT NOW?

author=kentona
I finished KOTOR on my android the other day (still a great game), and also the wife and I finished the Reaper of Souls expansion for Diablo III on Hard last night. D3 is much better now than when I played it back 1.5 years ago, but it's still a bit frustrating with skill selection - "This rune increases damage" BUT HOW MUCH DAMAGE? HOW MUCH DOES THE SKILL NORMALLY DO? WHAT IS THE DAMAGE RADIUS? WHY IS IT SO HARD TO COMPARE? and then equipment will have specific mods like "+11% damage for Frenzy". Like, is that good? 11% more of what, exactly? Yet the game goes into great detail on the myriad of stats that get crunched in the background, but inexplicably the important ones regarding skill and equipment selection decisions are vague and opaque.

At least the game is dropping good equipment now.

Oh hey, I've been playing D3 too (the transmogs in RoS got me reinterested in the game)and I don't really get how those percentages are added/multiplied either! I mostly just look at the dps number on the character sheet, reroll stats to focus on the elements and skills that I actually use, and hope my squishy monk or demon hunter kills everything before she gets one-shotted by a rift boss. XD

Have you tried seasons yet? They give out these cute little pets that now pick up gold for you, which is pretty convenient. (but the new set dungeon requirements later on in the season objectives are straight up bullshit imo)

Tales of Zestiria: Reached the point where I need to get all earthen historia to progress. The game kind of treated them as optional in the sense that you could skip most of them entirely. This is no longer the case though.

Eventually I got a good grasp on the combat system. The game has quite a learning curve. The problem is that it throws in a lot of advanced mechanics while you're still grasping with the basics. The tutorials you get at the beginning of the game seem more helpful on a second playtrough to be honest.

The writing is still great, but it also seem a bit bland at places. The game is mostly about humanity and human society. It started out great, giving the main character a lot of power, but then quickly showing how useless super powers are at solving problems that have the root at society. For example, a war started and the hero was told that he can choose a side and make that side the victor, but either way one side will suffer the consequences of a loss and people will die during the war. He can't stop the war in a manner that doesn't defeat the purpose of doing so.

The problem is that lately, the party's discussion about humanity seem rather uninspired and bland. I suspect that the cause is that they make a comment about humans every time something happens. You may have inspiration for a few things to bring up, but hardly for fifty different aspects of the same subject.

The writing is, even though a bit tired, still great. I just wish they hadn't decided that they need a commentary about humanity for every town, dungeon, plot progression and side-quests.

author=Red_Nova
So I had to write a 400 word essay for the assignment I mentioned earlier detailing how Might and Magic VI is considered a classic game and list all the things it did right.

Here's an excerpt from the 950 word essay I wrote instead:

<snipped>

I wonder if I'm gonna fail this assignment?

I never liked turn-based-mode in that game, even though I usually prefer the ability to think about my actions. Funnily enough, I only really use real-time mode if somebody is about half-health in order to get the Cleric/Paladin to cast the healing that needs to be done. Of course, it's also true that I cheat like hell, and tend not to need healing as often, but, still.

Though, what pisses me off the most about healing spells in that game is how it goes from the First Aid (which is definitely feels like a beginning-of-the-game spell) straight to Power Cure. I mean, Shared Life is a neat concept, but, I don't feel like it should be heavily relied on.

Also, reading the maps in some of those dungeons was pretty confusing, if I remember correctly. There's absolutely a Z-axis involved in some of those maps, with rooms on top of each other and everything, but, the map displays in 2D.

Also note, this is from a guy that likes the series/games!

author=Pizza

So I had to write a 400 word essay for the assignment I mentioned earlier detailing how Might and Magic VI is considered a classic game and list all the things it did right.

Dude, what kind of bum course are you taking that makes you agree about the quality of a game for an assignment?

I get that they don't mean "don't list anything bad about it", but still, "write about how it's a classic and the things it did right" is a cruddy assignment outline.

Maybe it's to get you to see what few good things the game did, beneath the load of flaws?

Otherwise, I'd give Red Nova an A+ for that kind of work.

author=InfectionFiles
I feel like sometimes we are some of the few people here that might still play Diablo II which might be one of the best games ever.

Count me among the few. Love Diablo II!

i finally have all the children. i'm on chapter 21 of Birthright. closing in on the end.... can't wait to get to Troubador-land.

"but craze isn't dwyer a troubador" he obviously got immediately turned into a butler, you heathen. strategist is for people who have an actual magic score. too bad Mitama is still better than him in every conceivable way.

bonus: kaden has only died once in my entire run, and his daughter has never died, because they're both as OP as Ryoma. however, it's worth killing him once.

Been messing with Star Trek Online again recently, but of course they had to ruin it by removing Exploration Clusters which takes away a lot of the "Strange new worlds" and the "Final frontier" aspect the game used to have.
it's a shame :( those were awesome. It's so linear feeling now

Honestly, I felt the co-op in SM3DW was spot on, and one of the best co-op games I've ever played. With 3/4 people it was basically impossible to play, so maybe you're right about your feeling, if you want havoc.

Started playing Pokemon Omega Ruby. It's pretty solid as far as a remake goes. I'm impressed.

author=Red_Nova

author=Marrend
I never liked turn-based-mode in that game...

...
...
...There's a turn-based mode? You can actually prevent enemy hordes from wailing on you constantly?

I-isn't that in the instruction book? I swear it is. You can press Enter, and it goes into turn-based mode. Enemies do get something of a "move phase" while your party is stuck in place.