The Video Games Thread

[black bart]

Soon the staff of Magnus Magnusson will be mine!!!! I think that's his name...he's an evil mage type chap.

[Clifford]

've given up games until the end of my degree. Although it's kept my mind on track, and not distracted (by minecraft, mainly) it does mean I search for new means of procrastination.

After the degree however ... a certain Skyrim may be purchased. Do you reckon it's worth geting the PC DVD version rather than downloading it through steam? My preference would be for the DVD version for ease of mod installation, although I hear Steam has made this quite easy anyway.

[daftbeaker]

It doesn't make a difference. The DVD version just gives you a way to install the files locally rather than downloading them, it's still a Steam game installed to the Steam directory and requires Steam to run.

The good news is it's still easy to use mods, all you do is copy the files into the game directory, choose the mods you want when Skyrim starts and away you go.

[Roland Deschain]

Steam's usually quite good with mods, especially when you consider the history of the Half Life series. I hope the degree goes well, and that you are able to spend plenty of time on Skyrim afterwards. I love owning physical copies of games, but the temptation to download is just too great, especially when it's so easy over the Steam network. When I get my copy of Skyrim, and this will happen some day, i'll be buying the PS3 version. I know a couple of people with it, and they haven't reported back any major issues yet, so all is good.

[black bart]

I have the PS3 version. Big TV, PS3, delusions of being Thor crossed with Harry H Potter, what could be better. My dream is to build Daedric Armour and marry my companion Lydia who looks quite fit underneath all her leather armour...that's if I don't accidentally kill her with my Dragonborn Shout.

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

I've come to the conclusion that I just don't have the patience for video games anymore. It's been building for a while now, but I finally had it yesterday.

I was really enjoying FFIV, FFVII, and FFIX. They're laughably easy games (with the exception of the endboss of FFIV, the only fight to give me any real trouble) with nice stories and pretty pictures. I followed the walkthroughs on the Final Fantasy Wiki all the way through all three games so I wouldn't miss anything (I'd completed FFVII and FFIX before anyway). I enjoyed it that way. I had done the same with FFVIII the first time I played it years ago. I doubt I would have enjoyed the game otherwise. Despite having a nice story, it's a fiendishly complex game in terms of character building and side quests. I used the official strategy guide, which made it easy, but I lent it to someone and never got it back. When I thought I might play FFVIII after FFIV, I hesitated, then decided against it, because I didn't want to deal with the poorly written walkthroughs on the Wiki, and it's also just a really hard game compared to the others. The most efficient way to complete the game is to gain as few levels as possible, which involves not fighting and keeping your characters KO'd as much as possible.

So I decided to play Blades of Exile instead. I got frustrated after fighting some measly goblins and dying, so I played Spyro the Dragon. Nice, colorful game, with lovely music by Stewart Copeland of The Police. The first two home worlds were easy, but when I got to the Magic Crafters' Home, I found myself repeatedly plunging into pits of doom, and I got frustrated and gave up. I didn't even make it as far as the really hard level in the Beast Makers' Home this time.

I'm not sure what changed in me. As a kid I was avidly devoted to video games, and wanted to make games for a career. Now I get frustrated so easily that I give up after only a little trouble.

Ah, well. Maybe I'll devote the time I used to spend playing video games to reading my Bible and writing stories. I still haven't contributed anything major to The Loose Canon.

[black bart]

Instead of reading the bible, read the Hobbit...that'll get you back in the mood. There aren't any bible based video games are there?

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

It's not that I'm not in the mood for a good story. I'm just not in the mood for a challenging game. I've got other challenges to deal with that are difficult enough, including dealing with Social Security, my Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, learning to do more chores more easily, etc.

I imagine that in between reading my religious texts and pirate stuff, I'll be catching up on my John Grisham collection (I have several of his books but have only read "A Time To Kill"), "The Silmarillion" (and maybe reread "The Hobbit" which I first read in the sixth grade and loved, and "The Lord Of The Rings", again, maybe actually get to the end of LOTR instead of getting distracted during the ascent of Mount Doom and then not picking it up again), "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" of which I bought two copies when it was released, one for my sister and one for myself, so I wouldn't have to wait for her to finish before I could start, and then never started at all, a textbook on the history of rock and roll that my sister got me for Christmas one year that I never touched, and other stuff.

This will of course take me many years, but it should be gratifying, I hope. I used to read avidly, but I fell off the reading wagon some time ago. It's a shame, but it's not uncorrectable.

I just have to get through the KJV Bible first. Leviticus is a mess. It uses the same pronoun for multiple parties, making deciphering its already ridiculous rules a chore. I guess I'm probably not getting to Passover in time for Easter. I thought it was in Exodus but it's not. Maybe it's in Ezekiel or something.

[bacon]

Tiny Tower

Stupid update didn't work . . . I'm locked out of my tower . . . I had almost 60 floors.

[ChowMein]

I miss my PC , my friend the hardware software electrical engineer wizard has had it parked UK his garage for the past few years .
I want to play Heroes Of Might And Magic 3 again .
Deemer's my favorite character , he starts off with the meteor shower spell .

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

I love Heroes 3, but I'm not very good at it. I like it mostly because it's visually and musically pretty with pretty descriptions.

[ChowMein]

I like to play it on King level , it's much more challenging , although my armies are wiped out quick if I'm not careful .
(orry about all the typos , it's not me , it's this idiotic HTC mobile phone . It will not spell correctly and has the comprehension and vocabulary of a fruit fly . This is a Google backed product , are Google products this annoyingly shitty ?
Oh well I did just buy this thing for use as a phone.
I can barely wait for this thing to die , so I can shop around for a at least a half decent hand held comp with at least a middle school diploma . You should read some of the moronic choices this tying gives me on every word I try to type on this itty bitty keyboard , how in the name of the FSM do I get rid of this bloody doorknob of a spelling assistant that is a outrageous hindrince to my posting on the net , and texting?

Do see all the mistakes in spelling , punctuation , etc..
I can't do anything about them , if I try the entire post get borked and I must rewrite .
On my desktop , this post would have taken 2 minutes , I've been at this one for the past mother******g @#$%! hour !

Okay , better now , I'm off to look for my cats prozac .

[black bart]

I like to play it on King level , it's much more challenging , although my armies are wiped out quick if I'm not careful .
(orry about all the typos , it's not me , it's this idiotic HTC mobile phone . It will not spell correctly and has the comprehension and vocabulary of a fruit fly . This is a Google backed product , are Google products this annoyingly shitty ?
Oh well I did just buy this thing for use as a phone.
I can barely wait for this thing to die , so I can shop around for a at least a half decent hand held comp with at least a middle school diploma . You should read some of the moronic choices this tying gives me on every word I try to type on this itty bitty keyboard , how in the name of the FSM do I get rid of this bloody doorknob of a spelling assistant that is a outrageous hindrince to my posting on the net , and texting?

Do see all the mistakes in spelling , punctuation , etc..
I can't do anything about them , if I try the entire post get borked and I must rewrite .
On my desktop , this post would have taken 2 minutes , I've been at this one for the past mother******g @#$%! hour !


Okay , better now , I'm off to look for my cats prozac .

It really messes you up when you're trying to do Pirate Speak as well!

[Wolfenstein]

I absolutely love the 3 first Monkey Island games. I got still got 1 & 2 on Amiga and I still have the Amiga.

[Roland Deschain]

Lucasarts released an HD version of the first Monkey Island game on Steam, and I actually managed to complete it. There are some puzzles in it which seem so illogical until you actually solve them. Usually by mistake. I'm just waiting for Day of the Tentacle in HD now. I have the original talkie version, but can't be bothered to reinstall ScummVM, etc to run it.