As an anime fan, you’d probably get a little more appreciation out of the Disgaea series, just based on the way it plays with anime genre conventions.

So, in TF2 update news…

THE NEW DEMO SHIELD IS AMAZING

Seriously, I’m not sure if I can describe my love for it and keep said description appropriate for younger audiences.

swenson, do you have any kind of boots you’d be willing to trade? I need to craft me some of them Air Babas.

Scratch that, I gambled on the class/slot weapon blueprint and got lucky. I dunno what I’d have done with another Loch-and-Load, but now I am the ultimate Demoknight.

SWENSON I want to vent to you about something you probably don’t care about.

As good a game as Mass Effect is, so many little things have been pissing me off and ruining the experience. Like I destroyed this geth transmitter thingy without realising it was a mission. Then I completed Feros. Then I look at my objectives and see that to complete the geth transmitter mission I have to talk to some guy. But he went off and killed himself! So that mission is permanently stuck as incomplete. Usually when it is impossible to complete a mission the game says so. So the developers just forgot about it. Bitches.

And when you had to use the sleepy grenades to try to keep all 12 people alive when they were trying to kill you, I tried really hard to keep everyone alive and if someone died I reset. So by the end of it I am fairly sure all 12 people were still alive. And yet the person who gave me the mission to get the power cell is now dead and I can never complete the mission. But at least this time it tells me I cant complete it.

Also sometimes NPCs freak the shit out of me when they just stand in a random place without moving a muscle and when you go up to them it says talk but they never talk. I think this one person was a glitch where they were meant to die from random geth shooting but didnt so she was stuck there. She freaked me out and annoyed me so much every time I passed her that i threw a grenade at her feet and killed her. When I am playing a mostly paragon game.

I also wish you could compare things you’re buying with what your party has even when theyre not in your current squad. So I dont have to take 2 people with me to a store, compare and buy stuff, then go back to the ship and swap people then go back to the store. I dont do this because I think I currently have the best guns and always find better ones for free on missions then swap them around when I am looking at my crew’s lockers, but still…

And lastly I was in a camp and my crew were spread out everywhere and there were some things I could decrypt. But because technically my squad only included Shepherd in it at that moment and he isn’t my decrypter guy I couldnt decrypt anything despite Tali being around the area. Then I dont think you can ever go back there.

I mean its not like whatever was in those crates or whatever you got from those incompleted missions mattered at all, but it’s just WHY BIOWARE WHY!? I could vent more and find more annoyances but I think I’ve done enough. I just really want to get to 2 which should be a billion times better and hopefully fix all/most of the past mistakes. Also damn driving the car over the same boring planet with recycled locations…

I still think ME2 feels smaller somehow.

Have you gotten the new flare gun, swenson? It dropped for me and I can’t really figure out what I’m doing with it, other than it sounds hilarious when you shoot it.

Maybe I should play TF2.

It is free, and it does have an Australian class ready-made for you to pick up.

They probably figure they can get more money by giving the game away and making it back on optional purchases like hats and weapons and such.

Well I just finished Mass Effect and will likely move onto 2 today. The ending was pretty epic but I am confused about some of the location layout. I kept the Council alive because I thought it made sense to have them around next game. As cool as it is to have your decisions affect the next games and alter the course of the story and such, I really don’t want to finish all 2 or 3 games 2 – 100 times to see how it all changes.

I give the game a….. 7, maybe 7.5. These days the supposedly good games get really high scores way too easily, lowering the bar for everything. The squad command system wasn’t the best and when playing in medium I almost never even needed to use commands or special abilities. I am sure in hard all those stat points to different things and the specials would have begun to matter more and thus been a better experience but I suck at games so yeah. I just found out Dragon Age is by Bioware too and it’s squad command is way better because it is incredibly necessary. It is do or die in that game if you don’t command them properlly. I started Dragon Age and need to get back to that…

Also I have heard very good things about KOTOR which of course is Bioware again. Would anyone say it is better than Mass Effect and/or Dragon Age?

Except for those of us who’d like to play it but own PC rigs that suck.

Tell me about it. :P

TF2: I didn’t get the new flare gun yet, unfortunately. Want it, but don’t have it yet. What’s unique about it? Does it have any special abilities or something

I’ll trade you mine if you want. You can detonate the flares with secondary fire, which I guess creates a small AoE for less damage. It can also hurt you, but you can use it to boost your jump, but I don’t know by how much.

WRT the Sale: I basically have no money to buy anything in the sale, but I kinda want to get Recettear since I haven’t played an RPG I could sink my teeth into for a long while and it’s only $5 right now. If I had the cash to spare, I’d buy Portal 2… but sadface.

Steam Summer Sale is making me drool.

I'm not buying it.

Thinking about getting a Nintendo DSi when I have the money. However, I have no idea what games can be played on it. Anything you guys can recommend? (I like rpgs, mostly.)

Did they remake that for the DS?

Yes…

The only RTS games I’ve ever really played are Age of Empires II (The Conquerors Expansion) and Red Alert II. In my opinion II was the best game out of the entire AoE series.

Why did no one tell me just how much fun alternate game types for Team Fortress 2 are?! I spent this afternoon playing Prophunt, Pyro Dodgeball, and Fort Wars, and it was AWESOME.

For the uninitiated (seriously! Go find a server and start playing! They’re so much fun!), in Prophunt, Red is disguised as various props (barrels, bushes, a giant Strider robot from Half-Life 2 if you’re particularly unlucky in a certain map) and has thirty seconds to hide somewhere around the map. Then Blu (by default pyros) has to try to find them by shooting them. Dodgeball is pyros deflecting rockets at one another. So much fun. And then Fort Wars is kind of hard to explain, but basically each team has a couple of minutes to build a fort on their side of the map (you have to “buy” props to build with, and you get money by winning a match or killing someone, etc.). Then the middle of the map is unlocked and you can go get the intelligence and you try to hold onto it in your fort until time runs out. Also awesome.

My favourite thread indeed, you guys are so so awesome. Seriously, you all play the same games!

I BOUGHT TF2 when it first came out, I feel so sad now that it’s free. Why, oh why did Valve do this to me?! Incidentally, I didn’t like it that much when I played it so it hasn’t had much action in my Steam account. Keep in mind I was migrating from CSS and it just felt dull and lifeless after that. I mean I was a pro at CSS, my clan even got to the quarter finals of GotFrag back in 07…

I play everything and anything I can get my hands on, I’ve never had a favourite genre, though I’d have to say my all time favourites were the Descent FreeSpace games and Half-Life.

Has TF2 got any better? Is it worth playing now? And do I get like, bonus content since I was one of the first to buy it?

I’ve never played CSS or other multiplayer FPSes, so I can’t really compare TF2 to them, and I haven’t played it for very long, so I can’t say if the gameplay has really changed all that much, but I suspect it hasn’t. I really enjoy TF2, obviously, but if you didn’t like it before I doubt you’ll suddenly like it more now.

But a big part of it is finding good servers to play on, I’ll be honest. Servers with decent players who are nice to each other. I still pick up random public servers from time to time, but a lot of the time these days I must admit I play on the MLP servers, simply because it’s a smaller playerbase (so you sort of get to know people) and has a nicer atmosphere than most places. And because they’re MLP servers, you don’t tend to get the typical idiot 12-year-olds-who-act-like-they’re-5 swearing at everyone. It takes a manly man (and, in my case, a… manly girl?) to openly admit that you like that show, after all!

And the micspammers tend to choose good songs, so there’s that. ;) But random public servers can be very, very hit-and-miss, and more often than not you end up with a rotten team.

I've never actually played TF2. I think I have it, but it's not installed on my computer and I've never felt the need to play it. I just stick to Half-Life, Portal, Halo, Amnesia, and Battlefront. Plus, either my internet connection or my computer is slow, so anything multi-player just lags, and lags a lot.

I like my single player games. For one, you don't have anyone commenting on how bad you suck at the game (because of lags), or have them flip because, yes, I am a girl, and once I fix my computer, I'll kick their butts.

Capture the Flag is the best multi-player mode ever. Especially in Holomatch, with disintegration on. Anyone ever played that game?

It's not that girls are bad, it's just that my Steam name makes me obviously female, and some guys on the internet don't like that. They'll camp by the spawn points and wait for me to come back in. That's never fun. When you have that on top of lags, you learn to hate playing games on the internet.

And it's NinjaCAT C-A-T. Cat. Not to be rude, but I really don't like it when people change my name. It's been that way since I started school.

On a different note, I'll finally be able to play Co-op in Portal 2 once my video card comes. Go Portal 2!

Apologies of course, I didn’t know you’d react so venomously to my penchant for rewriting people’s names! :)

That is…truly sad. Do they actually do that? It’s like you’re an alien to them. Poor guys must not have much interaction with members of the fairer gender. I’m sorry that you feel that way about online multiplayer because it truly is a fantastic extension of gameplay when you can challenge people like yourself.

Personally, I join a community online who plays the game so that I get to know them and they know me when I come online. It’s a lot more friendly that way. Maybe we should start up an II TF2 server?

That’s a good point. I suppose we could set a time, and whoever wants to play at that time could join the server or something. I’ve honestly never had a problem; I’m part of at least five Steam gaming communities and each one has servers for my favourite games. It’s just a matter of joining them!

Haha, it’s so sad that you girls feel that way. Honestly, it’s solid immaturity. My sister used to whip me and C&C all the time!

And for that matter, HL2 Deathmatch is one of my favourite all time multiplayer games. There’s nothing like using the gravity gun to blow someone away! I think I still have my ranking on some of the servers there actually. Ever heard of TSGK? Best DM servers ever.

There’s a girl that sometimes gets sexually harassed on one of the servers I play on, but her name is “blonde dyke” and she does appear to have a naked chick as her thumbnail picture(I swear I’m not victim blaming, though!).

Also the Soldier can now use lasers PEW PEW PEW

Unrelated to TF2: Recettear is a pretty cool game if you’re manly enough to play it.

I’m always the scout; I love the shotgun.

I was quite happy with my score yesterday; it was the first time I’d played since I bought it back when it came out and I got a kpd of 18-26.

I don’t understand this store business though.

I need to play more DM, really. I played a little before I got into TF2, but then I switched almost entirely over to TF2. But you don’t get the gravity gun wackiness in TF2, which is the absolutely best part of DM!

Regardless, expect a friend request from me. :D

@MegaB – the important thing to know about the store is that no weapons are only available for purchase. Every functional item and I think most cosmetic ones are available as drops or craftable items in-game. And for what it’s worth, the default weapons are not necessarily worse than other ones, so you aren’t going to be at much of a disadvantage if you don’t have all the flashy weapons yet. A lot of them are very situational, anyway.

Actually, there was another really cool weapon in DM; the crossbow.

I loved that weapon.

You guys are really bad for me. I’m supposed to be working and you’re making me download all these games again.

That’s not very fair. :P You have to be manly just to understand the mechanics of a game called “An Item Shop’s Tale”?

swenson, WAZZAP

I always favored the AR2 myself. There’s always plenty of ammo and grenades lying around for it. Plus you don’t really have to aim. :P

EDITED:

And now there’s an ImpishIdea STEAM GROUP. Put yer moniker down and I’ll add you. First ten or fifteen dudes and ladies get to be officers. :D

I doubt there are even ten people to fill the position, to be completely honest. :D It’s so you guys can get stuff done when I’m offline, since I barely ever use Steam.

EDIT: Lol, which one? There’s five or six. :P

Playing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night again. It’s one of my favorite games ever.

I told myself that I was only going to play Dreamfall: The Longest Journey for fifteen minutes tonight… it is now 3:00 AM and I have finished it. It was worth it, I think :3

The gameplay is not the best—the puzzles include too many annoying fetch quests, the combat is awful, and the stealth parts are annoying, but the plot and the scenery make the game more than worth playing. The plot is engaging and complex. It’s told mostly through dialogue, which can at times be interesting and witty and at times slow, but the characters are a joy, especially Crow and Roper Clacks. Familiar personalities that bring a bit of absurdity into an overall dark and melancholy mood. If you haven’t played The Longest Journey I think you’ll miss out on a lot, though, in terms of characters, plot relevance, and I think overall enjoyment. The sheer beauty and joy of exploration was enough to keep me hooked; having played The Longest Journey, it was such amazing fun to run around and take in the sights of Marcuria, transformed from pre-rendered 2d backdrops into a living city.

I’m quite sad that it’s likely to be a two year wait before the next installment in this series. I want to know how the story ends :P

I traded my Killer’s Kabuto for a Strange Knife. I’m okay with this.

Hahaha, that’s hilarious. So eerily accurate.

Hohohoho! I just had a whole lot of fun playing Dodgeball on TF2. That was awesome!

Swenson, thank you ever so much for mentioning it. You now have my undying loyalty.

Playing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night again. It’s one of my favorite games ever.

Dracula’s castle music is one of the awesome-est themes I’ve ever heard on a PS1 game. I regret that I never played the game myself as a child ;(

I just spent a good 3 hours playing SotN myself, and I’m probably only like 30% in. Then again, I’ve never played before, and I’m a slow gamer in general.

It’s a fun game so far, though. I’m used to games being ridiculously easy, so I don’t watch my health or save. It’s gotten me killed like 3 times already and wasted so much time, but eh.

Vanguard’s in ME2 are ridiculously fun. Heavy Charge + Geth Plasma shotgun = Total destruction.

Infiltrator4lyfe, yo.

Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup.

I am so bad at roguelikes, yet I can’t stop coming back for more.

Yeah, it’s by Linley Henzell. Haven’t played those though, are they good?

Anyone else seen "these":http://mkgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/batman-arkham-skins.jpg yet?

With you on that 110%. Both of them look beyond incredible.

A bunch of games are apparently $4.99 on Origin, including Mirror’s Edge. I’d consider getting it, but that would mean I’d have to download Origin, which by all accounts is… more annoying than Steam, and what do I need two game-launching-and-buying programs for? I can do without any of the sale games, anyway.

Eh, you suck at every class at the beginning. For a long time, I refused to play anything other than Pyro and occasionally Medic because they were the only things I was decent at (check my stats, I’ve played as Pyro four times as much as my next most-played class), but more recently I’ve been forcing myself to try other classes, and discovered being an engie is also ridiculously fun. Now I’m working on my sniping skills which are terrible.

And if other people get all whiny because you messed up or something, don’t worry about it. You’ve gotta learn somehow, after all, and let’s face it, the offline training is just not the same as an actual game.

Yeah, what swenson said. It’s really just about playing various classes until you get the hang of their mechanics and learn their ins and outs. My primary class is Spy, but that wasn’t always the case. I loved playing Spy in TFC back in the day, but I couldn’t really figure out how to play it correctly in TF2, so I stuck mostly with Sniper and Pyro. Then one day I just said the hell with it, I’m going to play Spy until I figure out how it works, and spent a few hours dying many embarrassing deaths until I figured it out(and got the Dead Ringer, which fits my preferred style way more than either of the other Invis-watches).

Now I mostly play Spy(gotta level up my Knife some more!), but I also play Demoknight, Medic, Pyro, and sometimes Soldier. The only class I feel totally incompetent with at this point is Scout, which I don’t expect I’ll ever make the effort to learn.

And get your own SteamID, you weiner. It’s free, and so is TF2.

Picked up the Johnny Mnemonic FMV game for a dollar today. I haven’t played it yet, but it looks promising, in the sense that something that manages to combine one of the worst films ever with one of the worst game ideas ever can be promising.

I have to rant while it's still in my system.

It's a fun diversion, and has occasional peaks of genuine greatness, but EA and DICE should be utterly ashamed of their _Medal of Honor_ reboot. They hyped up their open beta and did didly squat with it. Absolutely horrible hit detection, teeth-grindingly bad hit lag, and an inconsistent damage set. And it sets an all new bar of fail when a game can't even add up accumulated multiplayer round points and accurately crown the winning team.

You didn't miss a thing.

No, no. "EA's reboot":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2ewpnpedJI&feature=relmfu. Released last year.

Nice! I love it when that happens. Sometimes it’s worth it to try and stick it out, even if you’re sure you’re not going to win.

Also, Fallout 3 is $6.75 on Steam today. Should I buy it, or is that a stupid question and why am I even asking it, it’s only seven bucks, for crying out loud?

New Vegas is also on sale, for $9.99. I suppose I could get either. I’ve never actually played a Fallout game—no, wait, I did start playing a little of the original one, but… it’s not exactly the same type of game as Fallout 3 or New Vegas.

EDIT: Fallout 3 it is, I suppose.

That is a beautiful soundtrack. I’m glad you linked to it.

I started playing Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines.

I don’t care if the graphics aren’t the best and if it glitches. FUN.

Not to mention I love to eat hobos, bums, and rats. MMMM.