Newkie

Just finished off The Witcher II. I was a bit late onto the first one having only played it last year but it's graphics and gameplay didn't seem too behind the times. The second one though has really great textures if you can run it at top spec with no difficulty. The gameplay has changed a fair old bit-unusual for most rpg sequels with Fable, Kotor, Elder scrolls, Mass Effect etc seeming to stick with what they know. It definitely freshens the game up a bit and-particularly at the start-made the game a real challenge (I found). It's no longer possible to string together 20-bit combos to tear through a group of soldiers, instead you have to make a lot more use of guile, particularly the dodging roll and "ripostes" or well timed counters. The use of posion, fire or stun grenades etc etc as well as throwing knives also livens up combat options.

However-not sure whether this was because I started the game on its second from top difficulty (on the top-Nightmare you can't actually manually save and with this game, where autosaves are basically built around cutscenes, it would definitely bring about rage issues or cardiac arrest) but I did find that you slowly learn what combat style suits you and you rinse and repeat this through the game. The same can be said of a lot of RPGs of course but in most of them you will learn some flashy new explosion or jedimindtrick power even if they are gimmicky. The Witcher though is built around passive traits-all your armour and essentially every attribute/trait you get only adds passive bonuses to the game, with the exception of magic which I found to be a bit of a waste anyway unfortunately as you could get the most out of it-a 1hit invulnerability shield (Quen) and a "blast" (Aard)-from the start

Anywho. while the combat isn't great what I do love about the Witcher series is the storyline/general character interaction. Maybe I'm a bit childish for laughing when a prisoner calls you a c**t or the fact that you can get one of the best weapons in the game by complimenting the Lady in the Lake's firm ass rather than her virtue (if you do the latter she gives you the finger, and not the good kind)-before plugging her watering hole but the humour in the series is great. I also like the fact that unlike kotor/fable/mass effect with the whole "evil choice make u red and bad and scawry/good make u nice angel man wiv halo" (which was cool about 10 years ago) the Witcher/II more often than not presents you with two or three morally grey choices (and in two they've even brought in a count down!) where you're actually racking your brain over what the consequences might be, or worrying after you've chosen something, which is a far better approach than murdering some poor sentient Fish creature just because you want a better force choke ability.

I did feel though that the game let itself down a bit with the whole character import from the first game-really it seemed to make very little difference given you rarely meet up with the same characters, or if you do they don't seem to remember you ****ing them over, which was a shame. If they had left it out entirely I wouldn't have complained, but as the option was there I coudln't help feeling disappointed. Hopefully they can fix this for the third installment (which from the little released about it sounds like it should be good, 20% larger than skyrim-which for a game which is quite linear in where you can travel will be some achievement if they can pull it off and keep the same depth to the story/quests as the first two had).

Overall a very satisfying 8/10.

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Mojo

Sleeping Dogs on the PS3 has kept me entertained this past week or two. It's the first game I've completed in a long time. I usually get bored or distracted. I'm a child at heart.

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Last.FM | Echoes and Dust

djchameleon

Well man, talk about sucking the fun out of things. I love Harvest moon for those two reasons. I may try a demo of Animal Crossing and see if it's for me or not.

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Fame, fortune, power, titties. People say these are the most crucial things in life, but you can have a pocket full o' gold and it doesn't mean sh*t if you don't have someone to share that gold with. Seems simple. Yet it's an important lesson to learn. Even lone wolves run in packs sometimes.

debaserr

What are you talking about? Micro is like the whole game.

It's addicting when you first get it. You will like it.

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Last.FM

Circe

The big difference between Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon (for me at least) is the way you put time in them. For Harvest Moon you set out in the morning with a plan of what you want to do and spend all your time following through with that plan. Animal Crossing is almost like a daily routine. You run around digging up the day's buried items, catching some fish and insects, talking to the villagers and edging your way towards whatever you're next going to spend money on. I greatly prefer AC for that reason but I guess it depends on whether you want to sink hours every day into your addiction of just get a fix from it every now and then.

debaserr

I've been playing New Leaf about an hour or less per day for the last few weeks. It's a game I can only play so much of, but it is pretty amazing to play in small chunks. I've been playing with my brother and it definitely adds something more to it. Best new game I have played in a long time.

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Last.FM

Psychedub Dude

I got the special DLC episode "400 Days" for the Walking Dead last night and finished it in one sitting. Telltale still has it, this episode is on the same caliber as the first series of eps. Although it was relatively short (2-3 hours) I still really dug it.

The cool thing here is there are 5 mini stories going on here that are related in that they all took place within 400 days of infection. Each story is rather brief (they don't last more than 30 minutes each) but even in that short span of time you'll still care about these characters and their struggles.

My one gripe is a pretty lackluster epilogue, but it's a great transitional episode for this series. I'm hella hyped up for season 2.

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There is only one beer left
Rappers screaming all in our ears like we're deaf
Tempt me, do a number on the label
Eat up all their MC's and drink 'em under the table

[B]Last.fm

Shadows Of Our Souls

LoathsomePete

Finally got bored of powerleveling different builds in Skyrim and am going back to the slew of other games I've purchased over the last month or so. I think after I finish The Walking Dead: 400 Days I'm going to try and finish The Swapper.

edit: Okay that was over quicker than I thought it would be, even for $5. Not really disappointed, just a little underwhelmed. I think the game would have benefited from having a linear path for who you got to experience, although there were some cool callback moments, like finding out what was stolen from the Shel chapter when I played the Bonnie one last.

Anyone else think Vince was Glens brother?

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Last.FM
101 Albums That May Not Change Your Life, But I Really Like And You Might Too

SplitScreenSadness

I'm currently playing through the entire Metal Gear story. I need to buy and play Guns of the Patriots and then I will be ready for MGS 5

Psychedub Dude

I really dug the way the story was presented. Telltale really knows how to create involving and engaging characters who are so full of life; its even more impressive in 400 days since each scenario is so brief.

I agree that it was really short, but I did play through it twice since I was heavily intrigued by this cast and how things would play out differently. First time I did it blindly and picked Bonnie, Wyatt, Shelby, Russel then Vince but the second time I did the scenarios in order.

Overall I'm very pleased with it because to me this little dlc proves that Telltale hasn't lost a step, and that Season 2 is gonna be absolute bat **** crazy

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There is only one beer left
Rappers screaming all in our ears like we're deaf
Tempt me, do a number on the label
Eat up all their MC's and drink 'em under the table

[B]Last.fm

Shadows Of Our Souls