What are you playing?

[Flint the Dwarf]

Dishonored. I finally got time to make some good progress in it yesterday, and I'm loving it.

Frick yes. I'm about to go play more of this now. But I agree, stealth is the way to go. It takes longer (a good thing), it's more challenging and thus more rewarding, and it's supposed to get a better ending. And it's just really fun. Also, the game just looks awesome and doesn't need a supercomputer to run it.

I'm also reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, which takes place in late 1600s London during the rise of natural philosophy, and that's how they modeled this game, albeit with some extra technology (but still mostly true to the ideas that were being propagated at the time). So it's kind of a cool companion model for me.

[aesling]

Dishonored. I finally got time to make some good progress in it yesterday, and I'm loving it.

Frick yes. I'm about to go play more of this now. But I agree, stealth is the way to go. It takes longer (a good thing), it's more challenging and thus more rewarding, and it's supposed to get a better ending. And it's just really fun. Also, the game just looks awesome and doesn't need a supercomputer to run it.

I'm also reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, which takes place in late 1600s London during the rise of natural philosophy, and that's how they modeled this game, albeit with some extra technology (but still mostly true to the ideas that were being propagated at the time). So it's kind of a cool companion model for me.

Yeah, I really enjoyed what they did with the setting, because while some parts of it are pretty grim and grey as befitting a plague-infested shithole, they're not afraid to use splashes of color, or have one or two environments that are just flat out gorgeous (even if those places are just a decadent facade). It really highlights the fallen glory of Dunwall.

Also, now that I've gone through it all patient and stealthy-like, I plan on replaying it in a more stabbey fashion. I can easily see myself playing it at least two more times, though, with different tactics and story decisions.

[dj_ultima_the_great]

I wasn't planning on mentioning Bayonetta again - I know I've made a few posts already - but this time, it relates to something I read in Game Informer the other day.

There was an article about two guys who are both going for 1,000,000 gamer score on Xbox, and one of them commented that he usually stops playing after getting all of the achievements, because he feels that he's done everything that the developers laid out for him. I've always thought that this was a pretty shallow way of playing.

After getting 100% on a game for the first time with Bayonetta, I can say that I was right. (I'm playing the PS3, but the requirements are the same.) I mean, the trophies don't even cover an extra mode of play, an extra boss fight, two unlockable characters, an extra weapon, a number of new accessories, gameplay mastery (ie: getting high rankings in chapters), speed play, costume unlocks, little collectibles, and probably a bunch of other stuff that I'm not thinking of right now. There's no way I could have considered myself finished with Bayonetta after getting all the trophies. I thought that the point of this stuff was completionist gameplay, and maybe Bayonetta is just lacking in terms of trophies that were created for it, but I can't help but think that this is going to be true for lots of other games that I play as well.

tl;dr - people who play only for trophies/achievements are morons who are missing half of the games on which they spent their hard-earned money.

[BasharOfTheAges]

They're not playing to have fun, they're playing to get their name on a list. A lot of people that hold records don't actually like what they do, they like having their 15 minutes.

[CodeZTM]

I like achievements that lengthen the amount of time you play with a game. Like Saint's Row 3, Devil Survivor 3DS, Lollipop Chainsaw. Man, I had such a blast with Saints Row 3 because of the crazy achievements they make you get. ^_^

I'm on my 6th playthrough of Devil Summoner 3DS for the same reason, because I want to unlock all the additional stuff that the achievements hold. In the process, I'm becoming obscenely powerful and even the meta-game bosses are bowing in submission to me. :3

But yeah, aiming for just achievements? I can see the novelty of it if you have a big group of friends constantly competing, of if you're into that sort of online community, but as someone that isn't really a social gamer anymore, it's just not for me.

[Flint the Dwarf]

tl;dr - people who play only for trophies/achievements are morons who are missing half of the games on which they spent their hard-earned money.

That's so weird. I don't even play for trophies, I just play until I'm done. I often don't even finish games. I don't consider it a waste of money if I don't, though.

[inthesto]

I'm also considering picking up a fighting game and getting myself back in the game. Pretty disenchanted with SF4, don't like MvC3, so that leaves...Tekken? Christ, learning Tekken is a bitch and a half.

Brawl

I said fighting game, not versus platformer.

Also, achievement gaming is stupid. I don't know why people even give the first shit about like checkboxes on their game list.

[NS]

I'm also considering picking up a fighting game and getting myself back in the game. Pretty disenchanted with SF4, don't like MvC3, so that leaves...Tekken? Christ, learning Tekken is a bitch and a half.

Tekken's not quite as hard as you'd think. It's all about just getting familiar with a character's style that you like and can see yourself picking up. Obviously learning all the links is big too but a lot of them come pretty naturally.

Other then that I'd say try the Blazblue/GG route? I haven't gotten into Blaz yet but it seems like my most likely next Fighting game venture.

[TEKnician]

I'm also considering picking up a fighting game and getting myself back in the game. Pretty disenchanted with SF4, don't like MvC3, so that leaves...Tekken? Christ, learning Tekken is a bitch and a half.

Tekken's not quite as hard as you'd think. It's all about just getting familiar with a character's style that you like and can see yourself picking up. Obviously learning all the links is big too but a lot of them come pretty naturally.

Other then that I'd say try the Blazblue/GG route? I haven't gotten into Blaz yet but it seems like my most likely next Fighting game venture.

ANy games with combo breakers. I still remember playing Naruto Gekitou Ninja Taisen 4 for Gamecube and EVERY character was broken as hell. Even Stupid INO was good. Seriously, you can 100-to-death ANYONE with ANYONE.

But i like how you can get so good with combos, that you can play around like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6v7V5PiWZA

[dj_ultima_the_great]

Gettin' my groove back. I spontaneously decided to start up my Fatal Frame II speedrun again. Segment #3, one of the bitchiest in the whole run, is finished. Only about six more to go~!

My best time ever is 1:34:09, and I'm shooting for at least 1:33:30, but I think I can get a whole minute (or more) off of it yet. I have never completed a run where all of my new strategies were put into play, and so we'll just have to see!