What are you guys playing now?

Ticket to Ride is a bit more abstracted than the average computer game, as good board games should be. I like it and consider it one of the big gateway games.

I think the best correlation I can give is to consider playing a video game version of Monopoly versus AI. It's sorta fun but the AI can generally be exploited in some way. And what is it that truly makes Monopoly a fun board game? It's not the mechanics of the game as those are quite simple, it's the strategy in trading with other players and the human interaction.

While there is no direct interaction in ticket to ride with other players like trading cards and such, there is a lot of human interaction where you notice so and so is building a particular route or hoarding a particular color of cards. That's pretty much lost on the video game. And playing any board game is much more of a social experience.

Basically, yes, the board game with friends is much more fun than the computer game is what I am saying.

Monopoly isn't a fun board game, now I'm really confused.

Its the same game. Except you play one at a table with other people in the same room, and one you can play online or with AI. Boardgames are a lot more abstract or "gamey", they aren't simulations.

EDIT: Didn't see the above three posts when I posted this. Civvver makes a good point about the difference between playing a game on PC vs the actual boardgame. Monopoly usually makes people mad or bored. Mostly bored because it lasts a long time and isn't that great of a game, although your right that a lot of what fun it does has is largely drawn from just hanging out with other people (whom you presumably like, or are family).

I actually had a fun game of monopoly about 5 years ago. Like, more so than just because I was with people I like. IIRC it actually was a more close game than typical, with more happening, and a fair amount of trading. Bankruptcy was a real possibility due to often having traded on margin. But indeed, by and large, Monopoly is boring.

Whereas back in the Pentium II era, I had Monopoly for the computer. It was so bad that I never finished a single game, and that was before I'd discovered Civilization. Part of it was that there were animations that were pointless and unskippable, but even without that, it would not have been very enjoyable.

So... I can see it being a lot better with friends, but it still sounds like a game where I'd want to play it somewhere else first before buying it myself.

Been playing LEGO MARVEL Superheroes a lot lately. Very fun game to just kick back and relax too, and it would take some serious time to get 100%. If you're a bit of a superhero geek like me you'll enjoy unlocking all the characters on offer, of which there's over 100. Unfortunately there are bugs and glitches, but not enough to take away from the fun.

I feel like a loser, all weekend I played Game Dev Story on my iphone lol. I probably spent 6 hours on it whilst watching various sports on tv. Game is addicting. My best seller was 40 million copies!

Lately I've been playing a space sim called Pioneer. It supposed to be a fan remake of Frontier: Elite II, which I don't have any personal experience with but I've been playing Pioneer for a couple of days and it's pretty cool! You get a space ship and do missions here and there but the planets and solar systems are life sized so it takes days to reach the nearest planet, which requires changing the game speed.

Not only that, the planets and systems are procedurally generated so there is practically an entire galaxy to explore.

http://pioneerwiki.com/wiki/Pioneer_Wiki

Leonel said:

Lately I've been playing a space sim called Pioneer. It supposed to be a fan remake of Frontier: Elite II, which I don't have any personal experience with but I've been playing Pioneer for a couple of days and it's pretty cool! You get a space ship and do missions here and there but the planets and solar systems are life sized so it takes days to reach the nearest planet, which requires changing the game speed.

Not only that, the planets and systems are procedurally generated so there is practically an entire galaxy to explore.

http://pioneerwiki.com/wiki/Pioneer_Wiki

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Before I read the text, just seeing the graphics I thought 'looks like Frontier'. The original is difficult to play on modern machines - this definitely looks worth a look until Elite IV hits later this year.

Dell19 said:

Lately I've been playing a lot of Diablo 3. Created a new character and just hit level 70 recently.

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Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. There's nothing to do or hold the interest once you get to that point.

civvver said:

I think the best correlation I can give is to consider playing a video game version of Monopoly versus AI. It's sorta fun but the AI can generally be exploited in some way. And what is it that truly makes Monopoly a fun board game? It's not the mechanics of the game as those are quite simple, it's the strategy in trading with other players and the human interaction.

While there is no direct interaction in ticket to ride with other players like trading cards and such, there is a lot of human interaction where you notice so and so is building a particular route or hoarding a particular color of cards. That's pretty much lost on the video game. And playing any board game is much more of a social experience.

Basically, yes, the board game with friends is much more fun than the computer game is what I am saying.

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I think with board games it varies a lot with both the player and the game how much the experience varies from a computer game. I have a friend who plays board games mainly for the social element, while I do so mainly for opponents who are more unpredictable and often more skilled than the AI, not for 'human interaction' beyond that. I can happily play chess, Axis & Allies or Space Hulk against an AI that can put up some challenge, then transition to players when that gets stale. I treat RTSes the same way; humans are there to give a different experience from vs. AI games.

Then again, since someone mentioned it, there are things like Talisman. As a board game, it's mechanically little more than a characterful version of Yaghtzee (for those who don't know it, an essentially pointless game in which players roll dice at each other and do literally nothing else). I played the digital version but it got tedious after only a couple of iterations, because people are really necessary to generate the characters' 'stories' - famously, it's a game where you play mostly to see which of you gets the unluckiest encounters and rolls.

For myself, I've mostly been playing Company of Heroes 2 recently, but have varied it somewhat with Distant Worlds, Baldur's Gate and, yes, Space Hulk.

PhilBowles said:

Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. There's nothing to do or hold the interest once you get to that point.

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Could always start a new character.

I'm still playing it quite a bit even after hitting level 70 as there is a group of set items that I'm working towards getting 3 of them. Have two so far and just need the righ crafting material. I find it a fun time waster, its a bit like playing LOL but without the competitive aspect.

PhilBowles said:

Before I read the text, just seeing the graphics I thought 'looks like Frontier'. The original is difficult to play on modern machines - this definitely looks worth a look until Elite IV hits later this year.

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It's free too so pick it up!

Waiting for the servers to lose some people for Watch Dogs, and for he last two weeks been playing Trine 2 coop. beautifull game, although not sure how xp sharing and picking up works in coop

Friend of mine's been playing Watch Dog since Friday. From what I've seen and discussed with him about it, get a refund and wait for a sale. Zero replay value and Ubisoft was too afraid to do anything above average (or just didn't bother because they know it will sell well anyway and they seem to be enjoying setting the standard for generic/average console games now).

Trine 2 is a great game, I need to finish the DLC.

Dark Souls II
Tropico 4
Far Cry Blood Dragon...

I have to say, I've finished Dark Souls 1 this year and am enjoying Dark Souls 2 tremendously. They are games that appeal a lot to me, not because of their so-called challenging aspects (which are vastly overrated I think, unless dying automatically means challenging), but because of the their low-ish fantasy setting that brings me back to an older and darker style of fantasy, and because everything in the game is meaningful, every item is unique, etc. It feels like it has a thick, rich texture. I don't know how else to put it. Some aura of myth. Some deep lore which isn't exposed to you by long-winded characters and cut scenes as if you were a 4 years old. It also reminds me a bit of games like Castlevania Symphony of the Night, or Metroid for SNES, which are a game style that I enjoy. But Dark Souls games aren't strictly "Metroidvania" that's for sure.

Probably requires a controller, and I find the game strangely satisfying to control with my xbox360 controller that I bought for my computer. So yeah, I've had a kind of Dark Souls obsession this year, and these games probably sit rather "snuggly" in my top 20 games of all time list (that was a pun for other Dark Souls players out there, wherever you may be, although I seem to know basically no one who owns Dark Souls 2 on my Steam list). Maybe even in the top 10 who knows.

Mostly I am playing some Star Trek Online, some DOTA 2, and a little bit of Guncraft (capture the flag mode).

And I finished Saints Row 3 recently.

the game works, i installed it easily (partly reason why i bought it on disc is because i would know the servers would be shaky and i didnt fancy downloading 30GB), and if the server is down i play offline. I just havent got the time to play it extensivly because of exams and papers.

And even if its dissapointing, why would i ask for a refund? i bought it on my free will, nobody forced me. I could have waited for reviews if i wanted. 80% of the complainers that claim the game doesnt work, bought their pc at wallmart 3y ago for a fiver probably

cardgame said:

too much warthunder

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People already have KingTigers D:
Iam just unlock my PzIII-J

World of Tanks, I have like unlocked everything thats good.
So just playing some low tier TDs and level German light tanks. I got numerous tanks unlocked waiting for sale.

scheva007 said:

And even if its dissapointing, why would i ask for a refund?

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That was on the assumption you hadn't 'opened' it yet. Since you have, it doesn't really matter anymore then.

80% of the complainers that claim the game doesnt work, bought their pc at wallmart 3y ago for a fiver probably

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While there has been far too much focus on the graphics (although Ubisoft did misrepresent how they would look like in the marketing campaign), its having trouble running smoothly for people with pretty powerful PCs. Not everyone, but quite a few people. Total Biscuit had difficulties with it and he has two NVIDIA Titans in SLI... one of those alone should be enough to max it out. Its just poorly optimized. There have been plenty of complaints about other parts of the game too though, driving, the main character (voice, actions in game not really in line with his goal of vigilantism), lack of replay value, etc.