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Status check, nerds! What are you geeking and why? Books, comics, shows, movies, games, whatever!
I've hit a potentially frustrating mission in Assassin's Creed, so I'm putting it down and picking up some abandoned games.
Dragon's Dogma is a lot more fun than I remembered. I think when I set it down I was just in the mood for a different kind of RPG, but picking it up again I can't remember what my problem was. Getting the hang of crafting and enhancing, which makes collecting very gratifying. And playing a mage involves a cool control mechanic, where you hold down left trigger and a letter button to charge up a spell while using the right stick to select a target. Then after 3 seconds of charging you release the buttons and your spell flies off with an explosive impact. A really neat way of conveying the sense to the player physically. Fun every time I do it.
Of equal fun is Neverwinter Nights 2, which I returned to a couple days ago. I won't want to play it every night, especially once I'm done prepping my office for painting and get back to computer work. But I just love all the spell options and light tactical choices. I don't think any other RPG has made me feel as much like my idea of a "Wizard" when compared to Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2. I'm actually planning to take the Steam Controller I got for Christmas and make these two games my first project for creating custom controls. I'm not super optimistic, but given the existing key binding options I think there's a good chance that it will work better than some other PC strategy/rts games.
Finally, I'm chipping away at the last disc of Lost Odyssey. I enjoy the combat and progression so much in that game, but it has infrequent save points and large puzzle dungeons. Which means playing that game means playing ONLY that game for nearly an entire evening. Additionally, it's the kind of JRPG where if you don't do all the obscure, unhinted side quests available before the final dungeon (quests you'd only know about by playing with a strategy guide in your lap), you won't be leveled enough to beat the game. And oh yeah, the monsters that fill up the final dungeon don't give you XP. So no leveling there. Have to find the special secret dungeon with high level monsters to grind for awhile. Hate that crap. BUT! The combat, spell animations, interesting monster designs, ALL make it worth killing a Saturday afternoon now and then. So that may be what I do tomorrow!
I've hit a potentially frustrating mission in Assassin's Creed, so I'm putting it down and picking up some abandoned games.
Dragon's Dogma is a lot more fun than I remembered. I think when I set it down I was just in the mood for a different kind of RPG, but picking it up again I can't remember what my problem was. Getting the hang of crafting and enhancing, which makes collecting very gratifying. And playing a mage involves a cool control mechanic, where you hold down left trigger and a letter button to charge up a spell while using the right stick to select a target. Then after 3 seconds of charging you release the buttons and your spell flies off with an explosive impact. A really neat way of conveying the sense to the player physically. Fun every time I do it.
Of equal fun is Neverwinter Nights 2, which I returned to a couple days ago. I won't want to play it every night, especially once I'm done prepping my office for painting and get back to computer work. But I just love all the spell options and light tactical choices. I don't think any other RPG has made me feel as much like my idea of a "Wizard" when compared to Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2. I'm actually planning to take the Steam Controller I got for Christmas and make these two games my first project for creating custom controls. I'm not super optimistic, but given the existing key binding options I think there's a good chance that it will work better than some other PC strategy/rts games.
Finally, I'm chipping away at the last disc of Lost Odyssey. I enjoy the combat and progression so much in that game, but it has infrequent save points and large puzzle dungeons. Which means playing that game means playing ONLY that game for nearly an entire evening. Additionally, it's the kind of JRPG where if you don't do all the obscure, unhinted side quests available before the final dungeon (quests you'd only know about by playing with a strategy guide in your lap), you won't be leveled enough to beat the game. And oh yeah, the monsters that fill up the final dungeon don't give you XP. So no leveling there. Have to find the special secret dungeon with high level monsters to grind for awhile. Hate that crap. BUT! The combat, spell animations, interesting monster designs, ALL make it worth killing a Saturday afternoon now and then. So that may be what I do tomorrow!
