Video Games

[Crissa]

It'll be downloadable content. No idea when, though.

-Crissa

[Prak]

ah, guess I better go get WoL then...

When did they change the decision to release three separate games? Or are they just changing the distribution method on the last two?

[Kaelik]

Also, Starcraft 2 I'm impressed with so far. Trying the Single Player Campaign again on hard.

I played through the campaign on hard the first time, with the exceptions of two missions; the last level and the protoss mission that's basically the same as the last level. I just did not have the patience to grind through all those zerg on hard.

Incidentally, if you want to play a round sometime, I'm Gelare.678

so, I don't keep up on games really, wings of liberty is just playing as Terrans, right?

when are the zerg going to be playable

Zerg are playable in multiplayer now. Wings of Liberty has a mini protoss campaign inside.

Zerg campaign will be first expansion, something swarm.

[Crissa]

Probably to get it out the door faster, and lengthen the time their game is in the stores.

You don't have to buy this version in stores, either.

-Crissa

[Jilocasin]

May as well throw out my SC2 name/code too.

RobMcElheney 704

[Zinegata]

Also, Starcraft 2 I'm impressed with so far. Trying the Single Player Campaign again on hard.

I played through the campaign on hard the first time, with the exceptions of two missions; the last level and the protoss mission that's basically the same as the last level. I just did not have the patience to grind through all those zerg on hard.

Incidentally, if you want to play a round sometime, I'm Gelare.678

so, I don't keep up on games really, wings of liberty is just playing as Terrans, right?

when are the zerg going to be playable

Please ignore Crissa. It's not a downloadable update. (She's crazy)

Zerg are playable in multiplayer now. The Zerg campaign comes in about a year under the subtitle Heart of the Swarm. And hopefully not costing $60 also.

[Crissa]

So, what was I wrong about? You can download the game now.

-Crissa

[Ganbare Gincun]

Really specific, helpful information.

Well, damn.

Seconded. Good lord, that a lot of build optimization info! Many thanks for your assistance!

Martial Artist: Either long enough for Psyche Up, or to max Focus for the stats.

I've heard that this pairs up well with an eventual transition into Gladiator. Do you concur with this opinion? Or instead pair up with Fighter first before going into Gladiator?

Paladin: Max their class skill tree. MASSIVE HP and Defense boosts. You WILL need this post game. Full stop. Even if you don't care about post game, Paladin is the cornerstone of most optimized strategies, so you'll do it anyways.

I have heard this from everyone that I know that has played the game. An all cloth party is NOT going to cut in in the post-game. It may not even cut it *during* the game.

What is your opinion about the other weapons? I'm assuming that Bows, Knives, and Hammers are still sub-par like they were in DQ8, but how are Boomerangs, Claws, Fisticuffs, Staves, Wands, and Whips?

What does your party look like? I'm assuming you have a Paladin, Gladiator, and a Sage - what is the class of your fourth team member?

[Crissa]

Actually, knives are just as good as swords. I haven't tried a bow yet. Fisticuffs is lowest, but it comes with some snazzy specials that make up for it.

I always use whips, but they're lower damage than swords and set to classes that already have less strength.

Staves seem to do as much damage, but have less specials. Wands do less damage, but often have spell-triggers and get back mana.

Strangely, the game gave me an all-cloth party to start with. Cloth is a bit... Weak against bosses. Heck, you often can't poison or debuff or interrupt bosses, either. But Mages have Sap, which is awesome against bosses and with melee...

-Crissa

[Zinegata]

So, what was I wrong about? You can download the game now.

-Crissa

Firstly, "Downloadable Content" is, in gaming parlance, a highly ambiguous term. It's very much in use to describe free downloadable updates for online games.

The proper and more specific term for Heart of the Swarm is that it is an expansion pack. Which by definition is something you can purchase, by either downloading it, buying it through a store, or a whole host of different channels. And that's the stated plan.

Whether Heart of the Swarm will be released a stand-alone expansion pack also remains to be seen. But if it is, it further puts it away from "Downloadable Content", as it's more of a "Downloadable Full Game".

Also, you deny that you're crazy. You're wrong there.

[Prak]

thanks for the info.

But Zine, Crissa's saner than you.

[Zinegata]

thanks for the info.

But Zine, Crissa's saner than you.

Sanity is overrated.

[Prak]

god damnit, you had to say something I agree with didn't you?

[Gelare]

I played through the campaign on hard the first time, with the exceptions of two missions; the last level and the protoss mission that's basically the same as the last level. I just did not have the patience to grind through all those zerg on hard.

Incidentally, if you want to play a round sometime, I'm Gelare.678

so, I don't keep up on games really, wings of liberty is just playing as Terrans, right?

when are the zerg going to be playable

Please ignore Crissa. It's not a downloadable update. (She's crazy)

Zerg are playable in multiplayer now. The Zerg campaign comes in about a year under the subtitle Heart of the Swarm. And hopefully not costing $60 also.

Sorry, I couldn't answer this earlier, I was too busy playing Starcraft II. I hope you'll forgive me.

Anyway, you can totally be the zerg right now. Wings of Liberty has a long and awesome single player terran campaign, with a short (but still pretty great) protoss mini-campaign inside. In multiplayer, all the races are fully there and available.

Wings of Liberty is, as has been noted, the first game in the Starcraft II trilogy. It'll be followed in 18 months Blizzard time (seven years real time) by the Zerg expansion, Heart of the Swarm, which will have a big zerg campaign, and that will be followed in another 18 months by the Protoss expansion, Legacy of the Void.

You can purchase Starcraft 2 in stores, or you can buy it online and download it.

In summary, Starcraft 2 is totally sweet. Buy it. Play it. Friend me. It'll be awesome.

[Prak]

damn. the issue, for me anyway, is that I really like playing as the zurg, the terrans and protoss not so much. And I'm not big on multiplayer because I'm not particularly proficient at it.. though I hear there's some kind of tutorial for mp newbs in this, is that right?

[Crissa]

I didn't like the terrans in the original game. I liked playing them multiplayer, but the campaign was bland.

This one is... Well. It's something alot more interesting. Branches are there, you don't have to score X well to open anything up.

The unlocking stuff (unlocking portraits? Damn it...) is annoying.

-Crissa

[Kaelik]

damn. the issue, for me anyway, is that I really like playing as the zurg, the terrans and protoss not so much. And I'm not big on multiplayer because I'm not particularly proficient at it.. though I hear there's some kind of tutorial for mp newbs in this, is that right?

The Practice league is on slower speed and has rocks surrounding your natural and main.

Effectively, this means you will be Carrier or BC or Brood Lord/Corrupter rushed if you are actually new.

You can however just play on slower speeds, play against weaker players, play against pathetic AIs, or team up with good players against AIs of varying skill.

Totally all possible.

[cthulhu]

The bronze league is full of bads anyway (like, amazingly bad), so you will be matched up against similar people. I still don't know what all the units do and I'm in silver and win almost 50% of my matches (including when I get zerg as I don't know what anything does!)

[Zinegata]

I have no idea what the Zerg do anymore in SC2 honestly.

It's just waves of purple critters to me now.

[RandomCasualty2]

The bronze league is full of bads anyway (like, amazingly bad), so you will be matched up against similar people. I still don't know what all the units do and I'm in silver and win almost 50% of my matches (including when I get zerg as I don't know what anything does!)

Yeah, unlike original SC, SC2 has a great matchmaking system.

[cthulhu]

Yeah, I play random race as it's way more fun than mindless executing the same terran rush over and over (instead, I excute three different rushes over and over). As for match making in SC 1/ Warcraft 3:



^ is pretty much it.

[Crissa]

I wasn't going to try multiplayer until I wasn't on my laptop and accidentally popping up desktop items when I mean to switch battlefronts ^-^

-Crissa

[Avoraciopoctules]

So, I've been playing Tales of the Abyss.

It's somehow not hitting all my buttons like Symphonia did, but it's not bad.

Notes so far:

-Battle system's interesting. It actually ties in a lot of the phlebtonium. Use a magic attack, and it leaves a magic residue behind. If it's strong enough, someone else can use it to augment one of their own attacks. In the game cutscenes and knocking around, they talk about this residue anyway.

-The characters are...entertaining enough. And the characterization is handled well. I haven't seen a game that would make you miss NPCs when they die before. Also, the party mage is a riot. He's very, very good at winding people up.

That's the one with Luke fon Fabre as the protagonist, right? I didn't finish it, but my sister did, and she found it hilarious. Luke's grizzled mentor was unofficially renamed "Master BadTouch".

I've definitely enjoyed most of the more recent games in the series, though Tales of Symphonia 2 only really got awesome when I started self-identifying with the female love interest more than the protagonist and imagining that she was at least partially acting the way she was to troll him. It made it easier to cope with all of the painful unreasonability exhibited in the story.

Haven't finished many of the Tales games, but I definitely had fun playing and want to go back to them at some point. Vesperia is the one I stopped playing most recently and most want to return to. I still find it refreshing that the developers wrote a protagonist that is willing to drown a hideously evil human in quicksand to save innocent lives without angsting about it for countless scenes.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

Well, prepare for Duriel because he's one annoying boss

I grinded a couple levels on the fake tombs, and managed to take out Duriel. Early I kept Iron Maiden until he killed my melee skellies, then after they dropped I alternated Recasting Clay Golem and Decrepify. Between the three ice mages I had, Decrepify, and my Clay Golem's slow effect Duriel couldn't do a lot. It took a relatively long time, but I managed to take him out.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Anyone played Machinarium? I read about a 75%-off sale, and am trying to decide whether to find a means of capitalizing upon it.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... es-Amnesty