What game are you playing now?

A place for Ogre users to discuss non-Ogre subjects with friends from the community.
Post Reply
User avatar
Klaim
Old One
Posts: 2565
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2005 1:04 am
Location: Paris, France
x 56
Contact:

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Klaim »

Nothing until I get a PS4 and Bloodborne (soon I hope).
Meanwhile I started getting electric guitar courses and continuing learning a lot. Also I started setting up my tools to start composing music (a bit for directing my games and other stuffs).
With perseverance I should be able to play progressive rock/metal/space-rock/math-rock in about 10 years. Also need a master keyboard to helo with working melodies but this can wait a few months.
User avatar
mkultra333
Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Posts: 1894
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:25 am
x 114

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by mkultra333 »

My computer started glitching out and crashing yesterday. Nothing sends a chill through the heart like your main computer dying. Spent all day trying to work out what was wrong. Eventually worked out it was one of the graphics cards. I had an SLI setup so I pulled out the bad card and then all was well.

But now I was just down to a single, measly GTX 560. Not exactly thrilling. So I've ordered a GTX 970, should turn up tomorrow. Theoretically should be at least 50% faster than my old SLI system, and 3 times faster on the games that couldn't use SLI (looking at you, Dead Rising 3.)

I'm thinking I'll celebrate the new card by getting Dying Light. It's pretty pricey, but I find it hard to resist an open world zombie game. But I think I missed out on the free Witcher 3 deal with new Geforce cards, the retailer I bought from isn't part of it. Not that I care too much, I played about thirty minutes of Witcher 2 and didn't like it. Still, would have been nice to add to my collection of unplayed games.
"In theory there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is." - Psychology Textbook.
User avatar
cybereality
Hobgoblin
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:40 pm
x 12

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by cybereality »

@mkultra333: Yeah, having a computer die is a sad day. You know what's worse? Having all 3 of your computers die at the same time (it's happened to me!).

I'm playing Dead of Alive 5 on PC now. Truth be told, it's a pretty poor console port. Settings are bare bones (can't even choose 1440p) and they removed online mode. Can't believe a fighting game launched in 2015 without online play. Otherwise the game is fun and nice that they threw us PC gamers something.
User avatar
mkultra333
Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Posts: 1894
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:25 am
x 114

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by mkultra333 »

@cybereality: 3 at once? Yikes. Let me guess... Power surge?
"In theory there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is." - Psychology Textbook.
User avatar
cybereality
Hobgoblin
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:40 pm
x 12

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by cybereality »

mkultra333 wrote:@cybereality: 3 at once? Yikes. Let me guess... Power surge?
No. 3 separate events that all happened within a few weeks (leaving me computer-less for a little while).

First, I blew out the RAM on my (then) new gaming PC with an aggressive overclock. What was probably a power supply failure on a spare machine. And a virus that completely crashed the hard-drive on my main dev rig.

Hey, such is life.
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

GOG have a new feature: reclaim games from DRM.
A small selection of games (including Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl, Stalker Clear Sky and Stalker Call of Pripyat) can be turned into DRM free GOG versions for free if you give them the original serial number.
http://www.gog.com/reclaim

That's pretty good. No need for my two stalker dvds or clear sky on steam, I can play them without DRM and without rebuying thanks to GOG.

I love Stalker, it's probably my favourite game series of all time. It's got problems, but the whole overall experience and the world it's set in just fascinate me. I've played the games many times, I've read the original book, I've seen the movie (although that was disappointing).
User avatar
Klaim
Old One
Posts: 2565
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2005 1:04 am
Location: Paris, France
x 56
Contact:

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Klaim »

Kojack wrote:GOG have a new feature: reclaim games from DRM.
A small selection of games (including Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl, Stalker Clear Sky and Stalker Call of Pripyat) can be turned into DRM free GOG versions for free if you give them the original serial number.
http://www.gog.com/reclaim
Oh wow that's nice!
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

Just tested, the Steam key for Stalker Clear Sky doesn't work. It needs to be a boxed version cd key.
User avatar
Klaim
Old One
Posts: 2565
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2005 1:04 am
Location: Paris, France
x 56
Contact:

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Klaim »

:roll:
User avatar
cybereality
Hobgoblin
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:40 pm
x 12

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by cybereality »

Kojack wrote:I love Stalker, it's probably my favourite game series of all time.
Nice recommendation. I think I will have to check this out. It's been in my library forever, just never got around to playing it.

Is it anything like Metro 2033? Because I liked that game a lot and it looks similar.
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

Yes and no.
Both are games are set in post apocalytic russia with mutanted monsters, based on russian books ("Roadside Picnic" for Stalker, "Metro 2033" for Metro 2033) and made by ukrainian game companies.
So there's a definite feeling of kinship between the series.

Metro 2033 takes place mostly below ground. It's a very linear game, slower moving, stealthy and mostly scripted. Ammo is extremely limited, as is money (which is also ammo in an emergency) and there's not many weapons (but some are damn cool, I like the ballbearing air rifle).

Stalker (I refuse to call it S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) takes place mostly above ground in an (mostly) open world. You have a lot of freedom of choice, there's tons of weapons, artifacts to collect, missions to do, plus the overarching storyline to progress through. Monsters use a-life simulation. NPC's go about their business.

In a way you could say that Stalker is like DayZ while Metro 2033 is like Left 4 Dead. Metro is a better looking and more polished but linear game, while Stalker is a bit clunkier but in an open world with more freedom.
Metro looks more like a real lived-in world (great detail in the environments) but Stalker acts more like a real lived-in world. Especially in Clear Sky, where factions of npcs are fighting for territory and you can join in or not, which affects their opinion of you.

Stalker has full inventory management, you have weight limits that affect your movement speed. This means you may have to be careful with your choice of ammo and weapons, since every bullet weighs you down a little. You also need food, medical supplies (bandages for bleeding, med kits, anti radiation drugs, etc), body armour, an anomaly detector, grenades, etc. All affecting your movement and stats.
On my second and further playthroughs I usually add a cheat for huge inventory limit, so I can just grab 30+ guns from the ground and unload their ammo later rather than doing it one at a time in the middle of a firefight.

Probably best to play them in the order they were made: Shadow Of Chernobyl, Clear Sky then Call Of Pripyat. Although Clear Sky is a prequel. All are pretty much stand alone though. I like Call Of Pripyat the best.
In SOH you are a stalker with amnesia trying to find out who you are. In CS you are a mercenary who teams up with the Clear Sky faction. In COP you are a military commander from a failed mission trapped in the Zone (which is interesting because stalkers hate the military, so you need to go under cover).
User avatar
cybereality
Hobgoblin
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:40 pm
x 12

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by cybereality »

Cool. I will give it a shot.
User avatar
mkultra333
Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Posts: 1894
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:25 am
x 114

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by mkultra333 »

Worth noting that both the Metro games are 3DVision ready and look really good (apart from one or two minor issues). The studio must have some stereoscopic fans, it's rare to find native stereo support in new games these days.

I remember stalker working ok in stereo too, but you had to disable real-time shadows. Pity there's no Helix mod for it. I liked the first Stalker game (Chernobyl) but didn't get into the Pripyat, I got stuck early on and didn't know what to do, so gave up.
"In theory there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is." - Psychology Textbook.
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

I've been playing the Dark Souls 2 DLC over the last few days. But I'm playing with an Xbox One controller on pc instead of the 360 controller I used up to now.
Hmm, my mind is mixed on the controller.
Pros:
- light
- buttons have a good feel
- texture on the sticks feels good
- sticks themselves seem less floppy, have a clear centre point
- dpad is WAY better than the crap 360 controller's pad. Great for dark souls

Cons:
- no wireless version on pc
- cable is too short and is stiffer than the 360
- micro usb is a bad connection for this kind of device, they break easily
- no quick break away cable at the end (tripping on a controller when hooked to pc is less common, but still a good feature)
- trigger buttons are unreliable, I have to hold them really hard to stop them deactivating even when they don't unclick
- trigger button position is too high
- triggers have a bad shape, it's like they are designed to be pushed from the hinge not on the end
- although it's 99% identical to the 360 controller (and is xinput compatible with the 360 controller), it's not driver compatible. Win7 needs drivers installed to use it, which sucks at my work where we're not allowed to install drivers ourselfs)
- plastic case has a lot of sharp edges where the top and bottom case halves join and around the battery hatch

My fingers are actually hurting from the trigger buttons, which is bad for dark souls 2 where I use shields and bows a lot. It's hard to hold zoom on a bow without it popping back to normal.

As for the DLC, Iron King seems quite easy so far. Ivory king is pretty easy too, although the icicle attack thing from the common enemies is annoying. Sunken king is harder, I've gotten as far as the bit where you drop down into those bloated insect things.


I REALLY am getting an urge to make my new AI combat framework based on Dark Souls.
For my AI classes I have a 2d sprite based program I wrote called Killbots. We've been doing the same basic thing for 12 years or so, but with different implementations. It's a robot tank combat game where two bots with limited visibility move around an arena (empty or maze) trying to shoot each other. Students write the ai and we have a tournament.
But just shooting is getting boring. I want to make a melee combat version, effectively the bots would be like writing AI for a new dark souls enemy. But that means I need to implement a full dark souls combat system. Might take a while. :)
User avatar
cybereality
Hobgoblin
Posts: 563
Joined: Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:40 pm
x 12

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by cybereality »

I like the Xbox One controller for use on the PC.
User avatar
mkultra333
Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Posts: 1894
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:25 am
x 114

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by mkultra333 »

Got my new GTX 970 today, nervously installed it, and was pleased to find everything working. Ran 3DMark Demo, basically this card is about twice as good as my old SLI system, and 4 times better for games that couldn't use SLI.

Replayed Dead Rising 3 in Nightmare mode, completed it this time in about 8 hours I guess, 1080p.

Wanted more open world zombies in a city that will be bombed if I don't complete a long series of tasks while crafting numerous items from blueprints, so downloaded Dying Light. So far... it isn't fun. It's the worst part of every FPS, that bit where you have to jump over some gap perfectly. I'm stuck in a train yard and for the life of me can't get these "traps" I'm supposed to activate. This is tedious. If this whole game is jumping puzzles I'm going to hate it.

The city looks great, the zombies look lousy. They are really featureless, their textures are so bland and flat they look like they came from a game 15 years ago.

Since I payed full price for this, guess I'll have to keep playing, hopefully I'll learn to like it.

Edit: Looked up how to solve the pole trap puzzle. You make a jump that looks impossible and feels very unrealistic. So off to the next thing... another puzzle. Tells me to fix a power box, press F to activate. I do it, box opens, nothing happens. I'm wondering if this is a bug. Run around looking for stuff, there's nothing. Look it up online. I have to go inside, in the dark, and amongst 20 other identical boxes find one that also will allow me to activate it, but only if I go right up to it. God, this is so boring.

But when I look at videos of the game, it's all hacking apart zombies, driving around in buggies, action, adventure, really wild things. No mention of inane, dreary, pace-sapping puzzles. Ugh.

There are aspects I like. I like the fear of running through the dark, scared of zombies. I like the way you get tired as you fight, so you can't just bash constantly. And there was finally a decent looking zombie too, at the power station, sort of a mini-boss. He was cool.
"In theory there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is." - Psychology Textbook.
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

mkultra333 wrote:But when I look at videos of the game, it's all hacking apart zombies, driving around in buggies, action, adventure, really wild things
There's no drivable vehicles in Dying Light, it's all on foot.

A lot of the game is climbing/jumping/running (not puzzles, just getting from place to place), so if you don't enjoy the parkour system then you might not have much fun. There's tons of zombie killing too, but I probably did more parkour than killing (and I killed many hundreds of zombies).
I really liked it, once I got used to the system I was leaping all over the place. The climbing mechanics worked quite well, with inverse kinematics on your arms (or so it seemed) so your hands always climbed on the actual world geometry.
User avatar
mkultra333
Gold Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Posts: 1894
Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 5:25 am
x 114

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by mkultra333 »

There's no drivable vehicles in Dying Light, it's all on foot.
I saw a video where the developer said they're adding new things all the time, and it cut to scenes of military dune buggies being driven about, among other things, so maybe they're in the process of adding it. Might also be a co-op thing rather then lone wolf.

I quit Mirror's Edge halfway through. I really liked the parkour in that game, but too many times it setup a "parkour puzzle" where you had to some obscure jump to proceed. I like the free running, fast movement. But I hate puzzles, I think they are the antithesis of an exciting action game. Unless they are optional, then I don't mind. Like I really enjoyed the latest Tomb Raider, because you could take or leave the puzzles. I felt more attracted to try and solve them.

Only other puzzle games I ever liked were the Portal games, and I knew what I was getting with that. I haven't liked the Dying Light puzzles because they have a petty feel to them. Why can I jump to the pole trap from the other pole but not from the bridge? The bridge is closer but they just arbitrarily said "Nope." And why lead a player to one box, but then really require they fix another entirely? There's no point, it just slows everything down.

I really want to like the game, it mostly got good reviews and it cost enough. I really like the city and some of the elements of realism, they add a lot to the horror feeling. Just hope the rest of the game is not as dull as the intro. I also really hated Dead Rising 2 when I first got it, and now it's a favorite of mine, so I might come around once I get used to it.

Edit: Have played a bit more now, and it's much better than the initial training mission suggests. I've quite enjoyed it. Sneaking and fleeing through the dark at night while those hunter zombie things are looking for you is great, very tense. And the missions and parkour tricks needed have been relatively straight forward, no real puzzles. Can be quite violent and desperate at times. Noticed something weird, if you die on a mission it'll often take you way back to a safe area, but if you quit to main menu and then come back you'll usually be really close to where you where when you were killed. I've just finished clearing out the fishing village.

They seem to have ripped off a lot of other games, particularly Dead Rising 2/3 and Left 4 Dead, but they get away with it because of the realistic environment and added parkour.
"In theory there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is." - Psychology Textbook.
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

So, GTA V is out on PC.
They seem to be having a lot of trouble with the game not running, it seems the installer is crap at downloading and keeps corrupting files. Apparently even the steam version is doing that for some people.
It's kind of odd that only the Steam and EBGames digital editions of GTA V come with steam keys. If you buy a boxed copy from a store or get a digital copy from places like Green Man Gaming, you only get a Rockstar social club key.

Prices for australians:
Green Man Gaming: $77au (download)
Harvey Norman: $78au (boxed)
JB HiFi: $79au (boxed)
Dick Smith: $79.98au (boxed)
Rockstar store: $89.95au (download)
EBGames: $89.95au (boxed)
Steam: $96.31au (download)

Yep, Steam is the most expensive platform for GTA V by a long shot, if you are in australia.

I just saw that Far Cry 4 is 40% off on steam this weekend. Cool, maybe I'll buy it... wait, even with a 40% discount it still costs $0.72 MORE than I can pick up the boxed version from my local EB Games. WTF steam?!?
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

I found a Green Man Gaming 20% off voucher (SAVE20-APRILD-EALSON). So GTA V only coust me $63.86au (should have been $61 but Paypal have the wrong exchange rate, they say $1au=$0.75us, when it's really $0.78).
User avatar
Zonder
Ogre Magi
Posts: 1168
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:51 pm
Location: Manchester - England
x 73

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Zonder »

Kojack wrote: Prices for australians:
Green Man Gaming: $77au (download)
Harvey Norman: $78au (boxed)
JB HiFi: $79au (boxed)
Dick Smith: $79.98au (boxed)
Rockstar store: $89.95au (download)
EBGames: $89.95au (boxed)
Steam: $96.31au (download)
Steam price in UK is £39.99 which is $76.79AU after exchange rate....
There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't...
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

Yep, UK doesn't get ripped off quite as bad as we do.
https://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs shows how much the uk and australian prices are inflated.

5 hours later... still downloading GTA V. Only 15min left apparently.

I need 500,000 more credits in Elite Dangerous to get a Asp. I like my Viper, but I'm pushing the power limit, I have to turn subsystems off just to put out the hard points.
User avatar
Kojack
OGRE Moderator
OGRE Moderator
Posts: 7157
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2004 7:35 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia
x 534

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Kojack »

GTA V downloader math:
350MB to download. Speed = 5MB/s. Remaining time therefore equals 5 hours.
Umm, what?
User avatar
Zonder
Ogre Magi
Posts: 1168
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:51 pm
Location: Manchester - England
x 73

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by Zonder »

It would probably be cheaper to pay for a US bank account and sign up to steam with that :)

But I wonder if the inflation is due to export and import duties + local tax?
There are 10 types of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don't...
User avatar
shadowfeign
Goblin
Posts: 213
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:51 pm
x 15

Re: What game are you playing now?

Post by shadowfeign »

Just started playing Telepath Tactics. Finally came out yesterday. Pretty cool little indie tactics rpg. Lot of interesting concepts in the game. Destructible terrain, create traps and obstacles, push/pull enemies. My only real complaint so far is that the menu design and ux seem pretty bad, and some of the design decisions seem weird, like to open a treasure chest you have to kill it with a sword, then collect a bag of loot? If you stand next to certain people, you gain a 'talk' option, so the same mechanic could have been pretty easily been turned into open treasure chest, so it seems an odd choice.

Overall, I'd say definitely worth the fifteen bucks I paid, I love tactics rpg's, and am hoping to steal a few ideas for my own tactics game(release date 2025ish I may have to push back the release date a few times though.)
Post Reply