I didn’t see any equivalent of the What are you reading right now thread over here on the games forum, but I thought it might be a good addition.
In addition to occasionally logging in to EVE Online (though I might pick up again more once I’m completely transitioned over to my laptop), I’m playing Final Fantasy XIII on my XBox. Not at all what I expected, but the scenery is beautiful.
With my tattered sock…
Just finished Portal 2… again. I’m going to take another run through with the commentary.
I’m working my way through Mass Effect 2 on Insanity mode. I made a mistake of not making it my 2nd time through (So my character started on level 1 instead of the maximum level of 30) but so far I’m doing okay. I’m stuck on Horizon right now getting the frak kicked out of me by collectors. Which is probably a poor definition of “okay” but… yeah it’s all good 
On my Android phone I’m totally addicted to a game called Refraction. I got it free and I don’t know if it’s worth $3, but it’s very, very fun.
I’m playing Edgeworld and Angry Birds on Google. AB is a bit easier on a computer (vs. a phone,) since you can be more precise in your aiming.
about to start the deep roads expedition on my 4th play-through of Dragon Age 2 :eek:
DA2 might tie KOTOR for my 2nd most runs through of a game at 5, Mass Effect 1 I topped out at 7…though I was unemployed at that time so I don’t really see myself getting up to 7 on anything again anytime soon
can’t wait for Skyrim!
I’m playing quite a lot of Runescape at the moment. It’s an online MMORPG but it is pretty different from anything I’ve seen before.
The main difference from other games I’ve seen is the fact that there are a lot of different skills you can practice. 22 skills including five combat skills but also things like cooking, smithing, crafting and farming. You have to practice each skill individually to earn xp for it. There is a huge amount of items and you are able to create most of them yourself if you have the right level. A lot of the tasks and quests don’t require combat but is more focused on plot and using different skills. I also like the fact that you don’t have to choose from the start if you are a mage, stealth or a fighter. Whatever you want to be you just need to practice the appropriate skills.
I have an old laptop and haven’t bought the PS3 yet so there might be other good RPG’s out there that don’t require a lot of combat and grinding to get xp but focus more on plot instead. My main problem with it, and it is a pretty big one for an MMO, is the multiplayer part. There seem to be a lot of kids playing it and I haven’t really found a good clan for adults yet. At least not one that doesn’t require a much higher level than what I have at the moment.
I have heard it is harder to do insanity as an import because the enemies are scaled to your level. I did an new character for my Insanity and it went pretty smooth. What is your class? Sentinel is the best for Insanity, IMO. Warp, Overload, Throw and Tech Armor make you a god in Insanity. I also started picking teammates that were right for the mission rather then ones I like. Before Insanity I hardly ever took Miranda with me, but that changed really fast as she is basically a Sentinel also. I took Miranda and Mordin (Incinerate) to Horizon.
Yeah, that was the one thing I was a bit disappointed with on the Sentinel playthrough I just finished. Didn’t make much sense to take Miranda along since I had the same skill set (even Slam as my extra power for most of the game 
) I did use her and Mordin for the final battle though. Triple threat powers against the Reapernator’s armor.
Miranda is an annoying character, but perfect for Hardcore/Insanity - IMO. Warp, Overload and Incinerate are the key skills because they can strip armor/shields/barriers, Biotics have little effect until they are gone. I went with Squad Warp ammo (extra power) because it’s made specifically for for that reason.
I’m bouncing back and forth between Forza 3, Fallout New Vegas, and finishing my 7th play through of Mass Effect 2. Or is the tv is occupied, I always seem to fall back on Civ 5.
I’ve gotten my kids hooked on Star Control 2 via The Urquan Masters. We’ve moved from there onto an open source project called TW-Light which is a re-written version of the fight engine from that, and it’s a blast.
Yeah. Like I said, I always had her on my squad until this playthrough (even though I mostly play on casual or normal). She has the two main defense stripping (mmm… Miranda stripping… what was I saying? ) powers. Plus, I have trouble separating her from Sarah Walker.
It’s not bad if you import your ME1 character, but if you import your ME2 character you’re screwed. When I was doing my insanity run I tried importing my level 30 soldier. In ME1 I breezed through insanity run with my Level 60 soldier with a full squad of Spectre X weapons. I figure it wouldn’t be so bad in ME2, I was wrong. It sucked so bad. All the enemies deal more damage and virtually all of them have shields. You pretty much die after about 3 shots as health upgrades don’t carry through. Neither do your damage upgrades. You’re squadmates also die ridiculously easily. I wasn’t doing too bad I done the first round of recruitment missions and the first major collector mission. It was a side mission that caused me to give up. You know the one with the crashed ship and wave after wave of Loki mechs. I just couldn’t do it, it royally sucked. They just kept coming and ammo became an issue. Not fun at all. It was probably for the best that I gave up then and there as there is stuff later on that would have been way harder.
I still take the squadmates I like on missions rather the most effective. I can’t bring myself to leave Garrus behind, he’s been my right hand man since the start of ME1. The other slot usually goes to whoevers mission it is, Mordin or Tali. It’s a tough enough choice to pick between those two. Jack gets left to rot in the basement.
A few weeks back the dvd drive in me Wii got busted. I sent the Wii to Nintendo and they wouldn’t fix it cause I had install Homebrew on it. You can’t copy saved games, Mii’s, etc. to a different Wii. So, I’ll be busy catching up to all my saved locations not to mention crying about all them purchased online games I cannot transfer over.
Here is their response:
[i][b]Hello,
Thank you for sending your Nintendo system for repair.
Upon examination of your system, our technicians determined that it has been altered. We discovered that the product was altered by downloading of unauthorized software, such as the “homebrew” channel. Therefore, we are returning your system to you unrepaired.
A system that has been altered is permanently damaged and cannot be brought back to its original working condition. Your only option is to purchase a replacement.[/b]
[/i]
Frakkin Nintendo FAIL!
From the reading I’ve done, I can try and hack the new Wii I purchased into thinking it is my old Wii. What a pain, though. I figure I can swap Wii’s and play the online games with the busted Wii and play disc games on the new Wii.
What about just getting a replacement optical drive?
That’s what I was paying Nintendo for.
It’s another option, though.
So I got Deus Ex: Human Revolution and it’s awesome. Well, at least the first part of it’s awesome.
I got to what I think is the first boss fight with a guy named Barrett and I’m stuck. I must have replayed that fight 20 times last night, and it ended the same every time. Dead in less than a minute. I start the fight with low ammo, and none of my upgrades are much help in a stand up fight. I hate to think I’m gonna have to start over and change my upgrade progression just for one fight, but it seems like this might be the end of the game for me otherwise.
The game itself is as wonderful as Sean says it is. Amazing graphics, rich environment and I really got sucked into the story quick. I just have to figure out how to continue it.
I’m really enjoying Deus Ex too thus far! It oddly sort of gives me a Mass Effect sort of feel to it somehow, I guess in the way the missions are set up. I love the graphics on it too, but I wish it’ll use a little bit more color than yellow. It’s so damn YELLOW!
But anyway, Barrett. I didn’t have any heavy weapons (playing stealth), so it was mostly a lot of running around and ducking while chucking things at him (grenades, those red barrels and air tanks in the room - they all stun him for a bit, giving you an opening to unload on his face). Surprisingly it didn’t take too long before he dies (I think I killed him on my third try, and I’m a horrible shot.) There’s also a bunch of ammo lying around and some mines (and/or grenades? can’t remember. There’s a lot of stuff to pick up even if you went in with low ammo) in the room, so hope that helps.
eta: i’m just playing on normal difficulty tho, so there’s that.
Well, I’ve been pretty much mainlining DC Universe Online this weekend. My primary hero is all the way up to Level 18, almost 19.