The Video Games Thread

[Eich]

Excatly what is sounds like. You take two different pokemon with different abilities, put them in a day care.... DINGDING, now there's an egg? wherever did that come from?
Egg hatches, you get baby pokemon with unique abilities if you do it right.

Yep!  I'm trying for an umbreon with a couple of specific egg moves right now.

[Fimbulvarg]

Excatly what is sounds like. You take two different pokemon with different abilities, put them in a day care.... DINGDING, now there's an egg? wherever did that come from?
Egg hatches, you get baby pokemon with unique abilities if you do it right.

Ah, so they've made it into an eugenics simulator then.

[Eich]

Oh my gosh, this is hilariously child friendly.  I picked up an egg from the day care, and the day care guy said, "We don't know how it got here... but here's an egg for you!"  XD

[Fimbulvarg]

Oh my gosh, this is hilariously child friendly.  I picked up an egg from the day care, and the day care guy said, "We don't know how it got here... but here's an egg for you!"  XD

Well, it's not like they could embark on an elaborate explanation of what happened.

Looking forward to December at the moment. I don't have much time for serious video gaming until then. I'm halfway through Tales of Vesperia and look forward to finishing it. Great game.

[Eich]

Well, it's not like they could embark on an elaborate explanation of what happened.

Looking forward to December at the moment. I don't have much time for serious video gaming until then. I'm halfway through Tales of Vesperia and look forward to finishing it. Great game.

True.  I just thought it was funny that they acknowledged there was a reason for it showing up. 
I'm pretty much there with you.  I've been wanting to play some infamous, but my roommates hog the damn tv so much for sports and crap... You'd think they'd have learned how to watch shows on their computers by now.  This 3ds is a Godsend for my in-home afternoons.

[Fimbulvarg]

Since Eich posted a top 10 list I'm going to reciprocate, but I just couldn't make it only 10 so ... top-15 (and that is only possible if I try to limit the inclusion of games belonging to the same series).

1 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2 Metal Gear Solid 3
3 Metroid Prime Trilogy
4 Knights of the Old Republic 2
5 Super Smash Bros Melee
6 Mass effect 3 (baaad ending but dlcs redeemed it in my eyes)
7 Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
8 Super Mario 64
9 Civilization 5 (Word has it Minna plays a lot of civilization too =P)
10 Shogun 2
11 Assassins Creed 2
12 Minecraft
13 Pokemon Yellow
14 Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracles
15 Age of Empires 2

[Hrollo]

Ok then I'll post mine.

1. Minecraft
2. SpaceChem
3. Bahamut Lagoon
4. Dark Earth
5. Civilization II
6. Total Annihilation
7. Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey
8. Quake
9. Katawa Shoujo
10. Final Fantasy VII

Commentary:

2 > best programmation and puzzle game ever; also kinda hard, I still haven't finished all the custom levels (though I have finished all the default levels and the challenges, which apparently only 1% of the people who buy the game do).

3 > never-released-outside-of-Japan super famicom tactical RPG goodness from Squaresoft (played it in emulation with a fan-translation); awesome graphics, very cool story, and manage to subvert many of the tropes usual of console rpg at the time.

4 > a very little known game from 1997; a unique (at the time) mixture of sorta point-&-click and action/adventure thing, in an interesting steam-punk-ish post-apocalyptic universe, with a dash of fantasy and horror; while the great lines of the story were pretty linears, there was a ton of *little details and variations* that you could change from one game to another; like you would need to do thing x, y and z but you could do them in a different order and that would result in different dialogues or different encounters, or a character having a different roles depending on which way you followed; I have finished this game a dozen times (it's not very long), and yet I know I *still* haven't seen all the possible dialogues and events that can occure (I still have the cd but unfortunately the game works really bad on modern systems).

Also very good graphic for the time, it used the same trick as the early Resident Evil games, a painted 3D-looking background with fix camera angles, where the character is the only thing that's in real 3D.

7 > yes, I have finished it with 100% completion. Eventually. After at least 20 tries and having to look up where the heck the last Mudokon was.

8 > I've played a lot of first person shooters. Quake is still fun as hell.

9 > fan-made visual novel (with a ero-game aspect that you can however turn off in the options) which starts with a rather questionable premise... and handles it in the most sensitive, mature, nuanced way you can imagine. If you're looking for a good story with disable characters, look no further (though it's a visual novel, which means there is *very little* interaction; you're mostly asked to chose lines of dialogues here and then - though your choices determine where the story goes next).

[Eich]

Anyone want to trade a milotic over to me in Pokémon Y?  I only have wifi for my 3ds for another 16 hours...   :'(

[Fimbulvarg]

Anyone want to trade a milotic over to me in Pokémon Y?  I only have wifi for my 3ds for another 16 hours...   :'(

"Interpol here, we've received unsolicited advice regarding an ongoing illegal trafficking operation organised through the interwebs".

I think I have a talent for making Pokemon games sound a lot darker than they present themselves.

[Eich]

"Interpol here, we've received unsolicited advice regarding an ongoing illegal trafficking operation organised through the interwebs".

I think I have a talent for making Pokemon games sound a lot darker than they present themselves.

You definitely do.  International, endangered animal trafficking rings are merely simulated in this situation, Fimbulvarg.  I'm now without a 3ds friendly wifi.  It was very nice while it lasted...

[Lenny]

Lists of favourite games... aaargh, this is just as bad as lists of favourite books...

but it's fun looking at other people's lists, there are some really interesting games there that I now want to play, haha.

Currently my favourite game is The Witcher, simply because I'm playing it and enjoying it like I don't think I've ever enjoyed a fantasy RPG before. Maybe it's because it's the first time I've played a fantasy RPG set in a quasi-European setting that's actually made by Europeans rather than Americans. It... makes a difference. Also, I have the option of playing it as English game, English subtitles, and whatever I like audio (currently set on German). This I like, very much (several English accents irk me, and I can't distinguish accents in German yet, so problem solved! Plus I get German practice.). Also, it feels like whoever made the game really truly loved it - there are so many little details in characters, environments, everything, really. I can't wait to finish it and get onto the second game.

I also really enjoyed LEGO: Lord of the Rings. First time I've ever seen a LEGO game look so beautiful, and so many easter eggs that hint at pop LotR culture, haha. Plus, LEGO open world. Really cool. I enjoy LEGO games in general, but that one was really really nice.

Oh, an oldie that I still like to replay every now and then: LEGO Island. This is where my love of LEGO games came from. Absolutely ridiculous humour. The boss fight is chucking pizzas from a helicopter at the villain.

For something non-PC... Professor Layton. I love this series to bits. I've played them so often I can finish all in-game puzzles in the first game in 6 hours. First time I played Unwound Future I finished all in-game puzzles in just over 12 hours. The only game I'm missing from the series is the crossover with Ace Attorney, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright. Whacky and heart-tugging storylines, coin hunts (this is also why I like LEGO games, pfft), really whacky characters and character designs and environmental designs (I wonder how the buildings stayed up, haha), and puzzles. I may be weird, but I really like puzzles. They're fun. And this series was really good, and improved on the same working formula for each game. A bit like what Pokémon do.

It's not really in my top favourites, but hey... Age of Mythology. Spent many hours playing through the campaigns over and over again. I mention it simply because FLYING PURPLE HIPPOS. Like all "Age of" games, the cheats you can get in this game are things of wonder.

Another long-time favourite... Return to Castle Wolvenstein. This thing turned into a family tradition, haha. Every year or so my dad and I will replay it, just because. I would be crazy happy if one day it receives a remake, but hey, we all know how likely it is that will happen.

I'll stop now. Whoops, I wrote a lot... *sheepish expression*

[Fen Shen]

I really enjoyed playing The Witcher, too. You know that there's a collection of short stories and a novel series on which the games are based? If not, check them out - they're part of my favourite books 
And I think that explains to some point why the atmosphere of the world feels so intense.

[Lenny]

I really enjoyed playing The Witcher, too. You know that there's a collection of short stories and a novel series on which the games are based? If not, check them out - they're part of my favourite books 
And I think that explains to some point why the atmosphere of the world feels so intense.

Yup, I know that!<3 Discovered it when researching the game. I've been hunting for translations in languages that I can read, and have been disappointed to discover that in not a single one of those languages has translation of the series been yet completed *sigh* So now I'm debating if I should wait until that's occurred and binge-read (which may take very many years), or stuff it and read the books available now.

I do think it makes a difference that they had an existing source of world material to draw from It lends a rich feel<3

Edit: Hang on, I take that back! Seems most of the series has been translated into German, only the newest book missing. Now, if only I can track down those books from out of Australia, haha...

[Fen Shen]

As far as I've heard from people who have also read the Polish original, the German translation is a really good one. And the newest book is already announced *happydance*  So good luck for book hunting from Australia...

Back to games topic: My significant other is playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag at the moment, and he's always doing it in the same room where I'm working on my thesis. Without headphones since his are broken. By now I can sing most of the pirate songs... 

[Fimbulvarg]

As far as I've heard from people who have also read the Polish original, the German translation is a really good one. And the newest book is already announced *happydance*  So good luck for book hunting from Australia...

Back to games topic: My significant other is playing Assassin's Creed Black Flag at the moment, and he's always doing it in the same room where I'm working on my thesis. Without headphones since his are broken. By now I can sing most of the pirate songs... 

The funny thing about that game is that you actually have to collect the shanties. I was rushing through it (because frankly I didn't like it very much) so my crew only knew one or two songs. By the time I was halfway through the game I would actually shout "NO!" whenever they started singing that same old sea song for the umpteenth time.