What are you playing now?

[MacTeq]

I will probably at least get STAR TRAIL, which was, by and far, my favorite of the series. I actually saw Guido's KS and promoted it like crazy - but had a feeling it would not reach it's goal. He was asking for $1 Mill. That's a LOT of money. Especially after seeing LSL, SpaceVenture, etc - cutting it close to the $500,000 mark. To want TWICE as much, in the same amount of time, for a game? Just knew it wouldn't make it... I, like others, probably were waiting to see if it would get close to the mark before backing it... Shame.

Yeah, the money was just too much, especially since he simply didn't have much to show for in his campaign. I heard him talk about it on a podcast a few months back, seems like he just didn't want to take the risk of investing heavily in project he didn't know would get the necessary funding - fair enough.

[AndreaDraco]

After finishing my Tremere playthrough of Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines - one of the finest games I've ever played, and one of the best written -, I started playing the first Deus Ex and I've just reinstalled the first Fallout.

[Tawmis]

I will probably at least get STAR TRAIL, which was, by and far, my favorite of the series. I actually saw Guido's KS and promoted it like crazy - but had a feeling it would not reach it's goal. He was asking for $1 Mill. That's a LOT of money. Especially after seeing LSL, SpaceVenture, etc - cutting it close to the $500,000 mark. To want TWICE as much, in the same amount of time, for a game? Just knew it wouldn't make it... I, like others, probably were waiting to see if it would get close to the mark before backing it... Shame.

Yeah, the money was just too much, especially since he simply didn't have much to show for in his campaign. I heard him talk about it on a podcast a few months back, seems like he just didn't want to take the risk of investing heavily in project he didn't know would get the necessary funding - fair enough.

True. And he has a pretty extensive history in the RPG gaming community. He didn't just do the Realms of Arkania games, but quite a few games that followed by other developers and such (even into some fairly recent games, like within the last 5 years, I believe). What I would love to see is someone yank the rights to Wizardry away from SOE or whoever the Japanese company is that owns it now, and give us a PROPER dungeon crawl RPG. Another nod to my mention of "great graphic can ruin a game" - the whole thing SOE has done with Wizardry torques me off. (Link leads to my article I wrote about this on my site, NeverendingNights.com)...

-sigh-

I suppose that's the problem. "Back in the day" - there's no real way to recapture that sense of nostalgia. The world, and gaming, and graphics, and life - all keep moving forward, so things in the past get harder and harder to see and there's no way to get back to it.

[BBP]

Still busy getting rid of Manannan! Yesterday I had all the right ingredients for the cat cookie spell. As my RW collection came without manual, I'd written down all the recipes in a little book I keep handy for such occasions. Failed a couple of times before I found out I missed one step.
I'm really enjoying the game, besides falling off the mountain path and the ladder a few too many times.

Edit:
OK so Manannan is gone (muhahahaha), had the same problem with another spell so I just checked all of them again. I found with the SCI-viewer that one of Manannan's punishments is to turn you into a snail: I tried leaving, bumping in to him and refusing to do chores, but how do you get him to turn you into a snail? Or are the punishments random?

[AndreaDraco]

Just started Telltale's The Walking Dead (not a fan of the TV show, or the comic book), and liking it so far.

[Mostly]

Just started Telltale's The Walking Dead (not a fan of the TV show, or the comic book), and liking it so far.

Have fun making gut-wrenching decisions.

(It's a great game.)

[AndreaDraco]

Have fun making gut-wrenching decisions.

Indeed. I played Episode Two yesterday and it was one of the most intense playing experience I've ever had: near the end, since I couldn't quite stop playing, the tension was becoming almost unbearable. And the stunning thing is that this tension sprung for my deep affection for the characters - Lee, Clem, Carley and Lilly in particular -, despite having known them for so little, which is really a testament on the quality of the writing.

Really beautiful.

[Mostly]

Have fun making gut-wrenching decisions.

Indeed. I played Episode Two yesterday and it was one of the most intense playing experience I've ever had: near the end, since I couldn't quite stop playing, the tension was becoming almost unbearable. And the stunning thing is that this tension sprung for my deep affection for the characters - Lee, Clem, Carley and Lilly in particular -, despite having known them for so little, which is really a testament on the quality of the writing.

Really beautiful.

It gets pretty rough in Chapter 3. Keep spare tissues next to your desk and prepare to go through a rollercoaster of emotions.

[AndreaDraco]

It gets pretty rough in Chapter 3. Keep spare tissues next to your desk and prepare to go through a rollercoaster of emotions.

Halfway through. I'm... well, I can't even find the right adjective.

For the first time since starting the game, I went back. I just had to try to save Carley. She was my favourite character and the romance slowly growing between her and Lee was endearing. It was brutal, and shocking.

[Mostly]

It gets pretty rough in Chapter 3. Keep spare tissues next to your desk and prepare to go through a rollercoaster of emotions.

Halfway through. I'm... well, I can't even find the right adjective.

For the first time since starting the game, I went back. I just had to try to save Carley. She was my favourite character and the romance slowly growing between her and Lee was endearing. It was brutal, and shocking.

I tried that, too, but it didn't work.

(I had actually saved Doug, not Carley, in Ep. 1, but either way Lilly kills the one you saved).

[MacTeq]

The Walking Dead is surprisingly excellent. I didn't read the comics and stopped watching the show after a season or so but the game really hits you on a different level. I have no idea how they could ever live up to this in season 2 though.

[Datadog]

Just started "Walking Dead" tonight, and surprise, surprise, you're all talking about it.

Only on chapter 2 so far. Might finish 3 by the end of the night - just needed a breather. I'm surprised how differently the game plays from the demo I played long ago. It takes the quicktime events from "Jurassic Park", but turns them into something more interactive. It also seems to be a step back in the direction of a traditional adventure, although it has a fair way to go. I think their goal is to lure in a new audience, and then slowly warm new adventurers up to puzzles.

But the main grab of this game has to be the choice-making. I really need to give this a second run and see how the experience changes when I choose to help other people. Although I don't like the punches this game is taking at my code of ethics. At times, it's like the best choice is do nothing at all.

[MacTeq]

It's mostly smoke & mirrors though. Characters will talk about your decisions from way back all the time but it doesn't actually influence the course of the game that much.

[BBP]

Sherlock Holmes - The Awakened. At least, I spent half an hour installing it, ten minutes reading the manual, five game minutes of dazing on how to work the interface, ten minutes to fire up the manual and see what I missed, discovered I missed nothing, tried again and discovered all the icons that should show up are incredibly tiny, got the matches and a newspaper, and then quit the game and spent half an hour fanning myself, trying to cure motion sickness. Baaaaaah.

I think I'll go back to KQ2. Could anyone tell me what the text parser name is for that red thing outside grandma's house?

[AndreaDraco]

Characters will talk about your decisions from way back all the time but it doesn't actually influence the course of the game that much.

I'm OK with that, if it means that narrative consistency is preserved. I have to start Episode 5 and I'm really in awe with the game.

I really don't care about puzzles, and the organic challenges the game presents are so integral to the plot that I always believe them, or at least almost always (I could have done without the start-the-train-engine conundrum). Stellar writing and characterization, even for very minor characters.

It's truly one of the best gaming experience I've had, and I sincerely hope that Season Two can live up to this standard.