GAMING THREAD aka holy fuck, l.a. noire = ^_^

[Static]

Is anyone still playing Diablo 3?  I have to say, considering all the hype over the series and the anticipation of this one ever getting a release, it's just so incredibly boring and shallow.  There is absolutely -no- endgame of any kind and item rolls are just so horribly randomised that you can farm for days and have nothing to show for it after NPCing every dropped item or salvaging them for materials.  Even ilvl items have so little deviation to pick them apart from lower level items and in some cases ilvl63 item stats are WORSE than items as low level as the 20s!  How does that work? 

Dungeons are particularly boring now, I've farmed certain areas so much that I autopilot the entire map (which is only rotated on different excursions rather than any true kind of dungeon randomisation) and there is nothing in place to keep the experience exciting or interesting - events are so few in number that you generally see the same ones over and over and no longer provide any kind of distraction from the mundane task at hand.

I'm not too bothered any more by 'silly' monster affixes that people are still complaining about, CM build wizards tends to laugh in the face of anything and if you're smart you'll use teleports wisely and position yourself well for attacks whilst avoiding desecration/arcane/molten/plague traps it's not a big deal and I've also completed Inferno on Barb -  The problem is that there is now literally nothing to do.

[r00]

I agree for the most part.

It got too repetitive for me by 57 and I haven't played in a few weeks.  Plus, if they are going to have separate loot tables, why not increase the drop rate of class related loot for the character you are playing?  90% of my gear had to be auction house purchased because of lack of relevant drops for me. 

It's fun, but way, way too short and replayability is limited.

For now, I have been playing Star Wars:The Old Republic.  The storyline is pretty decent and I am enjoying it.  It should hold me over until the next WoW expansion.

[Static]

I agree for the most part.

It got too repetitive for me by 57 and I haven't played in a few weeks.  Plus, if they are going to have separate loot tables, why not increase the drop rate of class related loot for the character you are playing?  90% of my gear had to be auction house purchased because of lack of relevant drops for me.

Not only this, but how about not having them randomly rolled when it IS class specific?  Why on earth do I want Str & Dex on a Wiz only helm?  The amount of class specific items that just roll as completely unusable due to it not even possessing the classes main stat is just unbelievable.

It's fun, but way, way too short and replayability is limited.

It's far too short, Act IV is an absolute breeze, I was very surprised when I reached Diablo so quickly during the first play through.  Also Act II is one of the most boring sections of any game I've played in a long while, fun though it is running around the same desert sands for hours without the scenery changing one little bit.  Act III fun once you get past Ghom, I found the run up to him with the ramparts, catapults and the breach quite dull, but once you start travelling to hell it's decent. 

I'm just pretty disappointed, I missed out on the series previously and bought D3 due to the acclaim the series has gained.

[Aaron]

It got boring. I mean loot is Shit for the most part bosses didn't drop crap for me... It doesn't have the replay value like d2 has.

Borderlands 2 is coming out soon as is guildwars 2. I know I'm buying Borderlands when it comes out not so sure about guildwars...

[individualzero]

I'd look into GW2 some more, Aaron! It's an amazing game (from the samples I got of the beta during the weekend events), and coming from someone who couldn't stand the original Guild Wars, I think that says a lot.

[Goose]

I ended up putting Rage on the backburner again.  I caught an awesome sale on a GTX560 (which would be a serious upgrade from my 8800GT), but my damn motherboard wouldn't take the thing.  It won't fit a double-wide card because the SATA ports are in the way.  Damn thing won't seat properly.  Boourns.  So, I'm stuck waiting until I have enough money for a whole new rig in order to play Rage.

But then came the Steam sales.  They roped me into a play queue that's just ridiculous.

First came Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode 3, which if you bought for $5 on release day also got you Zeboyd's previous two games, Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII.  Played through PA:OtRSPoD3 (wow what an unholy acronym), it was just as good as the previous two eps despite the drastic change in graphical style.  The writing really is the core of these games, and that's really what shines.  Started into Chthulu Saves the World, which is equally awesome in a completely different way.  This game does for old-school RPGs what Tenacious D does for rock 'n roll.  Love it.

Then came the Steam summer sale.  Picked up Legend of Grimrock, Torchlight, and Bioshock 2.  Plus I figured out what was stopping me from getting past the bloody tutorial in Magicka (turns out which cloak you choose at the outset actually makes a difference, and without knowing it I chose a cloak that makes it impossible to heal yourself, which is a core part of the tutorial), so I can now attempt to play that.  Add onto that a copy of Xenogears Chronicles for the Wii, and I've got a serious queue of gaming going. 

Can't argue with getting six games for less than $20 though.  Steam sales will kill us all.

[boofu]

Boom let daddy play and I built a new gaming rig 



i5 3570k
ATI 7850
8 gbs of ram

 

I'm going to OC it when I transfer it over to a new case next month. I used my old ATX case and hard drive to save cost. I'll upgrade those later.

Last time I built a computer it was 2004...

[sin]

I've never built a computer, but I NEED to upgrade my graphics card, and I have never done anything remotely comparable to that, computer-wise (although I hear it's pretty easy).  I figure someone will give me a decent graphics card for christmas if I put it on enough lists, and I can find a guide on the internet to keep me from disabling my whole comp through my ineptitude.  Anyone have any suggestions for a good "for the money" graphics card?  My current one is so bad that I am so ashamed of it that I will not disclose what it is, so whatever you suggest will be better...

[individualzero]

Can you tell us a little more about your rig? We'll need to know the kind of power supply you've got (this is probably the most important thing you can tell us). If you can tell us the wattage then that SHOULD be enough to go off of, but put as much detail as you can please, obviously amperage, rails, and exact make and model can help a lot too since it would suck if we told you "go buy [card]" and it fries because the model you have wasn't a good fit for that card.

Some other things that will help is:
1. a clearer budget ("For the money" could mean a $100 budget card or a $250 beast that'll run whatever game or application you throw at it and eat it alive, or a $400 card that'll set you for the next 4-5 years depending on the rest of your rig, even),
2. what kind of games you're looking to play (and at what resolution over how many monitors?),
3. what kind of RAM and CPU and motherboard you're running with now (your motherboard will help a lot here too. Making sure your motherboard/CPU/even your memory won't bottleneck a more powerful and thus more expensive card)
and 4. if you can tell us what kind of graphics card you think your case will fit. Some of the higher-end gaming GPUs get hella long and hella wide.

tl;dr: if you can just tell us more about your power supply and budget and maybe other details, as much as you can tell us, folks like Goose and myself and others can surely help you pick the right card for your rig and your budget!

P.S. Putting a computer together and taking out/putting in components is cake, especially for replacing a component already in there. A graphics card is about as easy as taking out a bent Lego and putting a shiny new one in. Just make sure to follow the standard precautions (like discharging static AWAY FROM YOUR CASE AND INTERNAL COMPONENTS), dusting out the rig when you open it up, etc.

[Static]

I'd look into GW2 some more, Aaron! It's an amazing game (from the samples I got of the beta during the weekend events), and coming from someone who couldn't stand the original Guild Wars, I think that says a lot.

I just pre-purchased GW2, it looks so good!  WvW is going to be so much fun!  Can't wait for this one, Diablo 3 is set for an uninstall....

[Aaron]

I've been playing Borderlands 2. One of the best things in the game (the game play is amazing) but the shit the people say is even better then the first game. Its great, I have to pause just to stop lolzing to get back to playing the game. It's some awesome stuff.

[Static]

I've been playing Borderlands 2. One of the best things in the game (the game play is amazing) but the shit the people say is even better then the first game. Its great, I have to pause just to stop lolzing to get back to playing the game. It's some awesome stuff.

I absolutely love it, they've hit a home run with it for sure.  I've just finished my first playthrough with Zero and he's a lot of fun, he can be a bit squishy at earlier levels, but I pumped everything into his Bloodhed tree to unlock Many Must Fall, which is the most fun game-changer ever.  Coupled with Execute, being able to leap into the air, kill a buzzard, kill something else on the way down and still remain invisible to kill more foes is just awesome!   I'm glad that he's a valid character with highly legitimate melee abilities as opposed to being a tacked on ninja character for novelty value, in fact just for plain fun value, I would never go the sniper route with him simply because being in the fray and dropping decoys is simply too enjoyable.

[Aaron]

Bought Star Craft 2 today. My roommate watching youtube videos of people playing odd ways (like one is he can only play as Terran and only use Nukes) Oddly my roommate doesn't even play the game that much... I played a bit of it. I got my ass handed to me. However, I loved the first one, and I like the second one so far. I still need to figure out the rock paper scissors of the new units. And how they moved some of the units around. (I like Protoss and Zerg the most... Protoss being my fav...)

 

[Static]

Dude, what's your Steam name?  We need to play BL2!

[Goose]

I heard today that Okami is being released in an HD remaster on PSN today for $15.  Those of you with PS3s either are going to buy and play this, or you've already played it on the PS2/Wii, or you hate joy.