What Video Games Have You Been Playing, Part 10: Or; A Shameful Display!

[Synobun]

No, it's a modern-day retro platformer video game which I highly recommend.
Also @cardgame

That link goes... nowhere.

Platformers are for dweebs anyways.

 

[Takhisis]

I fixed it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I got The Sims 2 working, but forgot to add the memory fix to the graphics rules.

 

[PhroX]

"Finished" my first game of Dawn of Man (researched all techs, got a population of around 200 people without shortages) and my initial impressions still stand - it's a fun little game, but there's not going to be that much longevity to it. I'll probably give one of the tougher starts a go in a couple of weeks, but unless there's some pretty major content updates, I can't see myself playing much beyond that. That said, I have enjoyed it, and it was cheap, so I've no regrets about buying it.

Now I'm puzzling over the patch notes and gem stats for Path of Exile 3.6. I think I'm going to go with a Chaos DoT build to try out the new Soulrend and Bane skills (with the buffed ED/Contagion as an alternative if I'm not liking the new ones), but I'm not sure whether to go Occultist or Trickster, let alone how I'm going to take the build - life? CI? (probably not as I'm SSF though it could be a long term goal) hybrid? hybrid with EB+MoM?

 

[Akka]

ME2 had the best story, ME3 had the best combat. Both were better than ME1 in almost every respect. MEA is...ok. It's not bad but it's not the glory that was the original trilogy.

ME2 had the best story? Really? I mean, sure, the characters and their individual stories were generally great, but the central plot about the Collectors and Cerberus was crap. ME1 had easily the best main story of the trilogy even if basically every other aspect of it was outclassed by its follow ups.

I tend to be puzzled by many opinions about the respective ME entries of the trilogy.
ME in its entirety has a terrible story. The core idea is good, but it's so FULL OF PLOT HOLES EVERYWHERE it takes an ungodly amount of suspension of disbelief to be swallowed. And when it's not plot holes, it's contrived coincidences which kind of ruin the whole "Shepard manages the impossible through magnetism and force of will" and change it into "Shepard lucks into all the winning lottery tickets allowing the story to progress".
ME3 being an especially egregious case where basically nothing makes any sort of sense, though Arrival would easily get the crown if it weren't a DLC (seriously, HTF could a plot like Arrival ever be greenlit ?).

The strength of ME lies mainly in its storytelling, dialogues and worldbuilding, which are rather strong in all three but fluctuate on each entry.
ME3 has the best dialogues (I have utter contempt for the game as a whole, as it ruined the whole trilogy, but it's wonderfully written, and Citadel is just a pure gem that is the true ending of the serie), ME2 has the best storytelling and ME1 is dead last by a significant margin in all categories save the worldbuilding, in which it's absolute king and is IMO the cornerstone of the whole franchise.
ME1 and Dragon Age both managed to build VERY well thought-out worlds, being self-consistent and showing a great deal of attention to details. My gripe is that the sequels basically wrecked both careful setting with the Hollywood ball, ending with space magic in ME3 and Monty Haul of magic-and-spirits in Dragon Age 2 & 3. Not that the sequels are devoid of qualities (though it takes a VERY lenient eye to find DA2 something else than a farce, but ME2 is certainly better overall than ME1), but they all stand on the shoulder of what the first entry built, and I feel they squander too much of it away.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Okay I have to ask.... HTW?

 

[Akka]

Okay I have to ask.... HTW?

It was a "WTH" which switched the wrong letters around when morphing into a "HTF".
Fixed now

 

[Ferocitus]

It was a "WTH" which switched the wrong letters around when morphing into a "HTF".
Fixed now

Welcome to oldwizardsfacebook.

 

[Broken_Erika]

I got The Sims 2 working, but forgot to add the memory fix to the graphics rules.

It's the Purple People Edition!

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I like to refer to it as a Pepto-Bismol overdose.

I did get the game finally up and running, in glorious 1600x1024 resolution. Imgur compression makes it look less glorious.

Spoiler :

(An online friend gave me a new computer as a gift! I hadn't been expecting that.)

 

[Takhisis]

Why is the guy wearing camo?

 

[Snerk]

What guy?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

What guy?

The guy getting blasted with the flamethrower.

Why is the guy dressed like a fireman blasting people with a flamethrower?

 

[Takhisis]

It looks as if somebody hadn't been reading his Bradbury.

 

[cardgame]

I bought Titanfall 2 Ultimate Edition for $7.50 and so far really enjoying the SP campaign.

 

[Snerk]

Why is the guy dressed like a fireman blasting people with a flamethrower?

Because it's the perfect crime.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

He really, really, really wanted some crepes suzette.

Sims have a habit of setting themselves on fire when trying to flambe crepes suzettes and baked alaskas.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I guess my meds are working now because I just got this achievement in Audiosurf

The song was Foghat's "Slow Ride." That song is not a slow ride at all.

I did it again! Unfortunately, I forgot to copy my high scores over so I don't know if I did better.

It's a fun song to play, but for some reason it always sets off Parkie tremours towards the end. I guess it's just the sheer length of the thing.

 

[Mouthwash]

Got back into Spore briefly (because of Galactic Adventures), and wow are these graphics outdated.

It's over now; I made half an adventure before uninstalling it.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I bought Titanfall 2 Ultimate Edition for $7.50 and so far really enjoying the SP campaign.

I have only heard good things about that game, especially about the single player campaign. I think I'll get it for my birthday.

Got back into Spore briefly (because of Galactic Adventures), and wow are these graphics outdated.

It's over now; I made half an adventure before uninstalling it.

With servers down, were all the creatures just default creatures or what? I really enjoyed that game but after the first two play-throughs it got pretty boring given how skin-deep some of the stages were.