What are you playing now?

[Animavore]

Playing a demo of Hard Rain at the mo'. It's alright. You only get to do 2 scenes so it's hard to judge it. I might rent it out next week. It doesn't seem like something worth buying. I can't see it having any lasting value.

[GeneticJen]

Playing a demo of Hard Rain at the mo'. It's alright. You only get to do 2 scenes so it's hard to judge it. I might rent it out next week. It doesn't seem like something worth buying. I can't see it having any lasting value.

Best gaming experience I've had in a decade, but I did predict earlier that you wouldn't like it.

Playing Final Fantasy 13 now.

[noncredo]

About half way thorough Mass Effect 2 right now. Great game.

[Rob]

I've played about 2 hours of FF13. I used to be such a gamer, I just care too much about other things now to be dedicated to it again(Sex, science, internet{in that order})

[Skylarking]

I've beat the fuck out of some punks on Yakuza 3.

[Pombolo]

Playing some old games on emulators right now. Shadowrun on the Megadrive (Genesis) is great! Apparently it never made it to a European release when it first came out, that'd be why I never heard of it.

[tattuchu]

I've played about 2 hours of FF13. I used to be such a gamer, I just care too much about other things now to be dedicated to it again(Sex, science, internet{in that order})

I know what you mean. Used to be that that not one single day went by without me playing one game or another. I traded my PS3 and sold off my PS2 for tattoo work, though, and went many months without gaming. I still love gaming but, even now that I have a game system again, it doesn't seem as important to me as it used to be.

I would like to pick up the new Final Fantasy game, but money is tight at the moment. Well, money is tight always, actually. I pre-ordered The Last Guardian through amazon, and am playing Half-Life 2 while waiting for it. And speaking of HL2, I'm stuck at the lighthouse I just read a walkthrough in desperation. Seems a character is supposed to open up a hidden door for me. But he's not

p.s. Rob, what is the battle system like in this new FF game?

[Rum]

Anyone here a WOW player? I have had an account for four years. Several level 80s and still play an hour or so most days.

[GeneticJen]

My thoghts: This is my fave battle system so far in the series. It's like a weird hybrid between real time and turn-based combat. The ATB bar fills in real time, and you can select commands that take up slots on the ATB bar. It's hard to explain, but it works really well. They've introduced a really interesting Paradigm Change idea. Basically, the characters can specialise in different roles (Commando, Medic, Ravager, Synergist etc). But you cannot change a role in the middle of a battle. Well you can with the new Paradigm Change, but you can't select a single character and change their role. Instead, a Paradigm has characters set to certain roles. So you can have a Paradigm ready that has a healer helping out a fighter, or any other combination. And during the battle, you can switch Paradigms. The fact that you HAVE to make these changes intelligent to survive (except in the very early fights), and the fact that the ATB is constantly flowing, makes the battles much more frantic. You're still selecting attacks and other abilities, but it no longer feels like a "I take my shot and wait for you, you take your shot and then I get ready to take my shot" gameplay that we had in the past.

Enemies have their normal health bar, but also a bar that you can fill by chaining attacks together. Get it to a certain point and you can "stagger" the enemy, which has various effects on some enemies but generally makes your own attacks have more effect. So you are rewards for chaining attacks together quickly... but sometimes you can't afford to be attacking all the time because you need to be clever with your healers etc.

They've done well. The battles are slicker, faster and more exciting.

Rum, I had 4 characters, one at 60, on at about 45 and the others in the 20s. I then played EVE for quite a while too. Don't play either right now.

[Rum]

Rum, I had 4 characters, one at 60, on at about 45 and the others in the 20s. I then played EVE for quite a while too. Don't play either right now.

I tried Eve for a few days, but the graphics of the people/characters put me off. I know that is silly as the game is clearly very deep. If they do something to improve the look I will be back!

[leo-rcc]

Assassin's Creed 2.

[Animavore]

Just rented Bayonetta. Shall report back later on it's awesomeness/awfulness.

[SamanthaJane]

FFXIII and WoW =)

Although new baby is putting a crimp in it I can play FFXIII easier than WoW.

[GeneticJen]

Just rented Bayonetta. Shall report back later on it's awesomeness/awfulness.

And its fucking weirdness.

[Animavore]

This game Bayonetta is a good laugh. It is so ridiculously Japanese it makes me laugh constantly. They got Grey DeLisle, the voice of Mandy out of Billy & Mandy as the voice of Bayonetta so she sounds really sultry, sarcastic and classy at the same time. She's like a geeks masturbatory fantasy. There's lot's of moves, weapons, bad guys and bosses. It's non-stop button bashing fun.
That said the music is pox and sometimes the Japanese humour falls flat on its face or is a bit much. I don't think "subtle" is in their language. It mostly works though although I reckon some people would probably skip the cut-scenes altogether.
As Peter implied it is weird but also wonderful. It's a good rent but probably not worth buying (especially as there is no multi-player for added value).