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PC GAMES thread - whatcha playin'? [NO SPOILERS UNLESS TAGGED]

99K views 2K replies 169 participants last post by  TitusTroy 
#1 ·
Got a PC game, old or new, you just started or finished and want to discuss? Post about it here.


Want to follow discussions about the PC games AVS Forum members are playing? Subscribe to this thread.


No rules* - hopefully hardware and configuration talk will be secondary to things like gameplay, graphics/sound, and controller support.


*actually one rule: don't ruin a game for others. If you think something might give away a plot point or puzzle solution, please tag with ["spoiler"] at the start and ["/spoiler"] at the end, without quotation marks.
 
#2 ·
Does being in the AVS steam group count?



Mostly been playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Sonic Generations (I beaten, but still really fun) in my free time right now, and a weekly session of Persona 4 via PCSX2 emulator since I need to finish that game sometime. I'm more busy at the university right now, so i need to not be too distracted.
 
#5 ·
I finished Crysis 2 last night. The Crysis games have always been more of a benchmark utility than a game to me.


Or so I thought.


The first couple hours of playing these cutting-edge PC games is distracting because I find I'm checking out the game engine, graphics, special effects, etc., and figuring out what video options to turn down to maintain the desired framerate over simply playing the game.


But once I settled in to Crysis 2, I found it to be a very solid, well-designed PC FPS. The shooting environments are nicely balanced, and evaluating each situation to make the decision to change the nano-suit from armor-strength guns-blazing to stealth sneaking around is perfect. And there's enough crazy, over-the-top action set-pieces for dozens of action movies.


I know I'm late on this one because I just put together a PC that can run it well, but if you also missed out on Crysis 2, or never played it to the end, it's highly recommended.
 
#6 ·
XCom: Enemy Unknown (tough) and World of Tanks (pick up and go). Waiting for Crysis 3 and BF4..
 
#8 ·
Ummm... well, I'm still playing BL2. I have 217 hours in the game. I'm only at level 29 on my first playthrough. Don't laugh at me!!! Can't help it though. I'm totally absorbed in this game. It must be the beautiful scenic vistas. Or the highly stimulating dialog with the characters.


-Or-


Maybe the reason it's taking me so long to get through is due to the annoying trackball someone ON THIS BOARD recommended!
Just kidding. I'm getting a real kick these days when taking head shots from nearly 1/2 the map away. Maya laughs, and I laugh. We have something in common. Maybe she'll give me her phone number. And NO, those aren't my tissues on the floor of that container in Moxxi's bar!



I'm leaning heavily towards Skyrim as my next purchase for PC, but I haven't put much time in on those... uhhh... console games like CoD BO2, Halo 4, BF3 'n shiznit recently.
 
#9 ·
I just started BF3 not to long ago. And I played a little bit of the walking dead... pretty col so far. I recently redid my rig so BF3 looks amazing mazed out..
 
#11 ·
Fallout 3 is the main game that I'm playing, but I did play Dead Space 1 yesterday. Yeah, I know, I'm like 5 years behind current times.


Fallout 3 is easily my favorite game of this current generation. (Bioshock and Crackdown are special mentions). For me, Fallout 3 is the closest thing I can get to, in terms of stepping inside a virtual world. Just exploring the wastelands and whatnot is a ton of fun. I love finding new locations, and getting new quests. Battling the animal life and Raiders and Super Mutants, is usually extremely enjoyable. The depth to the game is there, but at the same time, it's a great action game. It has the deep RPG parts of it, but at the same time, it's a solid action game in it's own right. I know most peeps played this in very late 2008 or early 2009, and I did play the game during 2009 on my Xbox, but I got about 20 hours or so into the game and then stopped for whatever reason. In late 2011, during a steam sale, I bought the Game of the Year version of Fallout 3 for like $7.50 or something, and then proceeded to use some mods. I'm using one of the texture packs, and also a mod called "Fellout".


The game is absolutely fantastic, but it does have it's share of faults. Just to show that I'm not blind to all the faults, here's a nice tidy list of the biggest problems with the game.



1. Glitches. Bugs. Game Crashing - Todd Howard games are known for being unbelievably ambitious, but at the same time, with that ambition, you get a game that is going to have it's share of problems. This game crashes on me pretty frequently. Part of this is probably because I'm running various mods, but still....


2. Super Mutants look like exact clones of each other - I know this is kinda a silly complaint, but when you've been playing this game for 100 hours, you realize that damn... all the damn Super Mutants are basically exactly the same, with only their clothing being different. You've seen one Super Mutant, you've seen them all. I know that Bethesda can't be asked to make thousands of unique character models, but they need to have some variations in the Super Mutants. They are a huge part of the game. The immersion is broken when you have to fight so many copy cat character models.


3. Voice Acting is constantly repeated - The voice acting in Fallout 3 is pretty good. You have to give Bethesda credit for having all the people in the world capable of talking and having conversations to one degree or another. Unfortunately, they just need to use like 100 times more voice actors. There is basically one child actor, that does the voice for every kid in the game (at least it seems that way). It sucks that they weren't able to get like 5 different kids to do the voices of the various kids. It just seems like there is only one actor for this. When it comes to the adults, there are only so many voice actors there as well. Many of the same voices are repeated over and over. I know that it must be extremely costly and time consuming to try to have so many different voice actors, but if they want to do this kind of game right, they need to hire a ton more.


4. The scenery is repeated too often - I really didn't notice this during my first 40 or something hours of play. But now that I'm like 80 hours in, it's hard not to notice how many of the designs are repeated over and over. Now, I know that it's impossible to have such a huge game world, and not repeat the same kinds of buildings and streets and playgrounds, etc, etc. Still, if you're going to try to create a believable virtual world you have to make it a bit more varied. This kind of thing is only going to get harder when we get to the next generation. Developers are either going to have to make twice as much art, or they are going to have to make their worlds smaller, and their games shorter.


5. Combat eventually turns into headshot after headshot - One thing that does kinda suck about the combat, is that you quickly figure out that the Combat Shotgun is the bee's knees, and if you can get in close on an enemy and blast them with a headshot, you can take them out pretty quickly. It gets to be a situation where you're just constantly exploding fools heads with that shotgun. Doing anything else is almost wasting your time. Sure, with the Super Mutants and more difficult enemies, you have to mix in a few Grenades and mines and some Assault Rifle, but nine times out of ten you're finishing the guy off with a headshot. It's fun to do, especially in the first 40 hours of the game, but during the second and third 40 hour periods it gets a bit redundant.



Anyways, again, I'm not trying to talk a bunch of smack about Fallout 3. I'm hopelessly addicted to the game. I've put well over 80 hours into my plays on both the 360 (back in 2009), and now on the PC. I'm not even close to being finished with the game, but I have no plans to stop any time soon. Fallout 3 is almost an embarrassment of riches in terms of how much flavor is in it's stick of gum. It lasts a long time. I just had to list some of it's faults, so that peeps would know that I'm not blindly in love with it.
 
#12 ·
Finished Mass Effect 3 last week. I love me some Mass Effect, but this was my least favorite. Main story was good, but the side stories and ending were crap.


Have yet to figure out which game I need to finish next. Played a little Skyrim for the first time since summer. I love the game but hate the UI. Slows all of my progress down.


@DLJ or anyone else - Any suggestions for a good mod to improve the UI in Skyrim? There's too many for me to choose from.
 
#15 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Simonian  /t/1455292/pc-games-thread-whatcha-playin#post_22902623


Hey... nobody held a gun to your head.
Are you having trouble using it? It does take a bit getting used to and it's a different kind of coordination.
Nope, no trouble at all. Thanks again for the idea.Headshots are coming much easier nowadays, just gotta lay off the caffiene.
Quote:
Anyway, only lvl27?!?! What the? Are you playing solo? You gotta play it coop. WAY more fun that way. Hit me up. I've gone through it twice already.
I leveled up to 30 last night. A few guys I work with have BL2 but they play on xbox so... I know the game is much better played in coop, but I guess I've just never seen the attraction of online play. Just how I roll I guess.


BTW, I still remember the first "3D" game I played back in the late 90's: "Forsaken". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsaken_(video_game) I loved this game.
 
#16 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rich3fan  /t/1455292/pc-games-thread-whatcha-playin#post_22904511


.. I know the game is much better played in coop, but I guess I've just never seen the attraction of online play. Just how I roll I guess..

You're not alone. I also played through both Borderland games and the DLCs single-player on the 360. I tried a bit of co-op with the first one, but I'm too much of a lone-wolf. Plus I hate adjusting my schedule and relying on availability of others for my precious gametime.


No matter what the mulit-player people say, the Borderland games are still a lot of fun single-player. BL 2 was probably my favorite game of last year.
 
#17 ·
When you can snipe a Caustic Goliath just enough to turn him into a Caustic Raging Goliath, and then pop a Midget Goliath turning him into a Midget Raging Goliath, stand far enough away but still be close enough to watch them go at each other, that's just pure comedy gold. I'm betting in co-op the palyers are too busy grabbing the better loot and running to the next fight, instead of standing around now and then just to enjoy the spoils of their victories.
 
#18 ·
Playing co-op is always best with friends. I was never a fan of playing with strangers online, as there is no communication or real teamwork involved. When I played co-op on Borderlands 2 we always went out of our way to make the enemies do hilarious things.


I recently jumped back on Skyrim for PC. I've put over 100 hours in so far, now I'm just going around and working on quests here and there.
 
#19 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rich3fan  /t/1455292/pc-games-thread-whatcha-playin#post_22904511


Nope, no trouble at all. Thanks again for the idea.Headshots are coming much easier nowadays, just gotta lay off the caffiene.

I leveled up to 30 last night. A few guys I work with have BL2 but they play on xbox so... I know the game is much better played in coop, but I guess I've just never seen the attraction of online play. Just how I roll I guess.


BTW, I still remember the first "3D" game I played back in the late 90's: "Forsaken". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forsaken_(video_game) I loved this game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaverJ  /t/1455292/pc-games-thread-whatcha-playin#post_22904557


You're not alone. I also played through both Borderland games and the DLCs single-player on the 360. I tried a bit of co-op with the first one, but I'm too much of a lone-wolf. Plus I hate adjusting my schedule and relying on availability of others for my precious gametime.


No matter what the mulit-player people say, the Borderland games are still a lot of fun single-player. BL 2 was probably my favorite game of last year.

Well I'm lvl50 and have done all the quests (save for the two last DLC's) so I can jump in, jump out at any time and not mess anything up for any of us.


If you change your mind(s) and want some extra Shock & Awe on the battlefield, hit me up.
 
#20 ·
Yeah I've yet to be able to get the guys from work to organize enough to play Halo 4 co-op on xbox; I think I've played BF3 with them a total of one time online, so I know what that's all about. Scott, lately I've been starting up BL2 after 4 pm my time (Dallas) when I get home from work, which would be what, 2 pm your time right? I'll keep your offer in mind and PM you here for a co-op when I'm ready and have a decent headset (you need a headset for online PC co-op gaming right?).
 
#22 ·
Grimrock is like a modern reboot of the turn-based, step-by-step, 90 degreee rotation dungeon crawlers of the 90s. I spent about an hour in it, and loved it, but then got distracted by Borderlands 2. At $5 I say that it is totally worth it, but only if you are going to play it right now. It is a great quality game that was received very well and has had great post-launch support. You just have to make time to actually sit and play it.
 
#23 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rich3fan  /t/1455292/pc-games-thread-whatcha-playin#post_22905951


Yeah I've yet to be able to get the guys from work to organize enough to play Halo 4 co-op on xbox; I think I've played BF3 with them a total of one time online, so I know what that's all about. Scott, lately I've been starting up BL2 after 4 pm my time (Dallas) when I get home from work, which would be what, 2 pm your time right? I'll keep your offer in mind and PM you here for a co-op when I'm ready and have a decent headset (you need a headset for online PC co-op gaming right?).

Sorta, yeah. It's better communication doing teamwork and stuff. Plus, it's just fun to talk while gaming.


That time would work for me on Wednesdays when I have a half day from work but usually I am at work til 5pm PST.
 
#24 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaverJ  /t/1455292/pc-games-thread-whatcha-playin#post_22906784


Any thoughts on Legend of Grimrock ? It's $5 on Steam right now, but not sure how this type of game plays anymore.


jmwatkins and DLJ: you guys have this, right?
As I said in this brief write-up , Legend of Grimrock was my favorite 2012 PC purchase (based on titles I've played).
 
#26 ·
The puzzles in Grimrock are very bought fully designed. Some of them approach Portal quality except with a greater variety of scenarios. I suggest taking a break to think things through if a puzzle has you stumped; they are satisfying when you can solve them without a FAQ. Keep in mind that items needed for some solutions at usually found on the same level you are exploring.


Feel free to ask for other tips if you need it. I beat the game and found close to 80% of the treasures and secrets.
 
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