UGH. Like others, I saw this title and almost shit my pants.

But no, this is not a remake/continuation of Battlezone/Battlezone II, ie two of my favorite games, all time.

On the other hand, it does appear to be some sort of ripoff of that classic game, Airlift or whatever it was called, the side scrolling chopper game from the 80s where you rescued PoWs and could randomly shoot up everything else? I played the hell out of that in my Apple II days.

*Note to developers: never, NEVER, use the name Battlezone.

Painkiller and the few addons it had were actually pretty fun. It's also usually on sale on gog.com or gamersgate or steam or whatever for like 5 dollars or less, well worth it, just for the stake gun.

It is showing it's age though now, of course.

It was never anything spectacular, just a standard, old Doom style shooter with tons of enemies and not much realism at all. Just the way shooters should be.

I pre-ordered this, played about 4 to 5 hours so far. I'm enjoying it, although I think they may have really messed up the Barricade mechanics.

It seems like not only do the suicide bomber rat guys blow them up, as they should, but orcs will randomly attack barricades even when their path is not blocked? I have discovered orcs sometimes standing at a barricade, whacking away at it. May just be a bug, as orcs are getting knocked all over the place by traps, dwarven grenadiers and blunderbuss grenades.

Also, the blunderbuss is pure spammy bullshit, I gave it about 5-6 levels of play, and now I want my headshot prone crossbow back. Unfortunately it's going to cost about 20+ skulls to get the crossbow back to OMD1 status.

Still, the game is great fun, and Robot Entertainment's art and sound guys are ridiculously skilled.

Interesting; 20 dollars seems high, but not completely out of the question.

Anybody have any practical experience using "Beamdog" ? I've never heard of that service before, but one less download client is always a good thing to me.

Ah, the memories, back when Bioware made games I actually liked.

Prez wrote on Jul 23, 2012, 16:07:
If there really was an exploit to make wizards invulnerable, why post it so Blizzard would see it and then just take it down and fix the exploit? Keep it to yourself and your coop partners. Sounds like it is simply trolling either Blizzard or the community at large to me.

This exploit has apparently been around since May 15th(the launch date, for those who have forgotten.) It's also been posted repeatedly in the bug forums, etc. It's just becoming more widely known now, with posts in the main forums. It certainly explains how people were farming Act 3/4 in the early days though. I'd try it but my wizard is only 33.

I'm guessing even the god mode farmers are getting bored/worn out with Diablo 3 and nobody cares to really keep it secret anymore.

I know this is a Diablo 3 thread in theory, but what exactly are you guys liking so much about GW2? I have yet to get into a beta weekend of course, and the game LOOKS good graphically, but I hear the loot is pretty generic, a lot of MMO tropes exist in the game, etc.

Is the combat that good? Quest system, etc. ? I am probably going to try Guild Wars 2 when it comes out, I'm just wondering what exactly is making people love it compared to say, Rift or any of the post-WoW MMOs.

Jerykk wrote on Jul 22, 2012, 21:23:
Uh, what do you consider a sweet spot? DR2 and Arkham City were on sale for $10. Both games are easily worth at least that much.

Yeah, I was about to buy them both, then realized I have like 6 months worth of straight play time already, from various sales and stuff I just haven't even got to yet. I had to stop myself from just buying it all. More of my own issue than Steam sale price on those two, to be honest. Maybe by the winter sale I'll have cleared out stuff that has been gathering dust and I'll get those games.

nin wrote on Jul 22, 2012, 21:00:
I came real close to pulling the trigger on that one, but the RPS write up scared me away. Once you've played it a bit, let us know...

The game looks and sounds beautiful, Fatshark's art team is ridiculous. The gameplay seems a little too simple, even with three people(should have been FOUR, imo with the four classes) since each class only seems to have two abilities that are unlocked at the start of the game. The only changes to the characters seem to be increasing percentages on vairous abilities or adding minor effects to the abilities, ie. healing to AoEs and so forth.

I guess 7.49 isn't a bad price to experiment with the game; I am going to play it through and get a better opinion (about 2 hours in) but what looks like it's going to bug me in the long run, certainly bugs me now, is that your team is EASILY replaced, with rare spawn PCs.

You can upgrade your base team, or even base recruits, but they won't be as good as a 'green' (indicating rarity not how new they are) recruit, as far as I can tell so far.

Still, Fatshark is adding to the game all the time, it just feels so far like the game would have been better with the dreaded pause+command setup and a far more complex list of powers(and more characters at once) than the current realtime spammy setup.

...People... stop buying Skyrim, so the price can finally drop to under 10 dollars!

The Damage:
----------------
C&C Red Alert 3
Darksiders
Portal 2
Warlock: Master of the Arcane (With Warlock DLC)
Saints Row 3 full pack
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Binding of Isaac (bundle)
Civ 5 GotY (+Korea)
Rage
Krater(Possibly a waste of money at 7.49, time will tell)

I am still waiting on (most likely a winter sale at this point) Dead Rising 2, Skyrim of course, Stronghold 3, Batman AC and some others to hit that sweet spot. Steam and Gamersgate sales have spoiled me utterly.

Dead Space 1 and 2 are two of my all time favorite games, I'm somewhat ashamed to say. Everybody pans them for being more shooty than scary, etc. but regardless I still enjoyed the hell out of both of them. I'm playing through Dead Space 2 for the umpteenth time right now, when I'm not playing Warlock or D3 or Krater.

Guaranteed buy for me, possibly not day 1 if they start pulling a lot of same day DLC nonsense/weird pricing schemes. This series has traditionally gone on extreme sales on the PC a few months after release.(under 10 dollars for sure) I may end up waiting a little, but I will DEFINITELY get it. Many of my regular gaming buddies like the series too, and I'll probably do a little coop unless it is completely intolerable.

System Shock 2 vs any of the Dead Space games isn't exactly a fair comparison, imo. That was what, like 1999? Before the industry took off and games became ridiculous multi-million dollar boondoggles. Look to the indie scene for more frightening games(Amnesia).

*EDIT* oops a couple people already mentioned Amnesia, my bad

Closed Betas wrote on Jul 16, 2012, 18:55:
Blizzard has no excuse for D3 being online only? Are you a Baboon who learned how to type? Here's one reason.. Server side control of drops, which alleviates all types of hacking, duping, and online auction house protection..

Diablo 3 is already one of the most hacked games, all time, regardless of it being online only. I'd think this was a sarcastic remark if not for the personal insults. Widespread duping of gold and items, auction house exploits that are STILL unpatched(as of last night, patch day today)... I actually laughed out loud when I read the above post.

Then of course the rampant botting and macroing, which seem to go entirely ignored by Blizzard, who is busy trying to find ways to nerf MF,

Don't get me wrong, I have hundreds of hours in D3 at this point, 3 chars in Inferno Act2+, but Blizzard obviously failed utterly at any attempt to curtail hacking. The whole online only thing still smells like just an attempt to encourage people to use the RMAH(which is unnecessary, even the GAH! )


As far as the actual topic, I was going to buy From Dust, but saw on the Steam forums that no one could even start the game after buying it. Avoiding that game like the plague still because of the UPlay problems.

Ok, I'm already about $50 dollars into this... where is the 75%+ off Skyrim, Batman AC, etc.

ps. I bought Warlock: Master of the Arcane when it was 5 bucks... easily the best 5 dollars I have spent. However the DLC appears to not be functional? I'll try to figure it out once my eyes recover from the 9 hour marathon Warlock game I played yesterday.

Annex wrote on Jul 13, 2012, 19:49:

If you read the kickstarter page, they explain the financial situation and details. To quote what they said:

"We put everything we had into Defense Grid; we wanted the game to be able to reach a lot of people, and looking back we probably sold the game at too low a price. It paid for it’s cost, but not enough for us to make DG2 on our own. "

This is a real shame. I liked Defense Grid a lot, but it seems like a lot of companies, even outside of the video games industry, are constantly on the verge of collapse simply because they didn't spend five minutes with anybody with ANY sort of economics background to determine their pricing scheme, regardless of how good their actual product is. (Iron Lore!)

Luckily for these guys, they are going to make a metric shitload through this Kickstarter. I can't even think of anybody I know who plays games who DIDN'T eventually get Defense Grid at some point in one of the various sales.

I'll probably contribute to this Kickstarter if I don't get utterly bled dry by these Steam sales.

Hrm, watched the video expecting complete trash, this looks potentially good. Of course, it's a cross platform 3rd person 'rpg,' the bar the developers aimed for could be extremely low.

I've got my Steam Wishlist. I'll try to limit myself to only buying stuff that hits the under 10 dollar mark, that I REALLY want(but maybe not at full price!)...aka, Skyrim, Dead Rising 2, Batman 2, Warlock, Rage, etc.

Still, I definitely have more games than I have time to play, and it's been that way for years. Curse you, universe!

Wowbagger_TIP wrote on Jun 28, 2012, 16:04:
Haven't played D3 beyond the demo, so I have no Inferno experience. How does it compare to the endgame plans for Path of Exile? Is Inferno any fun? Is there any variety to it, and does it change much?

http://www.pathofexile.com/news/2012-06-26/dev-diary-maps

Inferno... is a frustrating experience, imo. Diablo 3 is fun for non-AH users from Normal to Hell mode, while Inferno requires some SERIOUS farming time and/or possible Auction House use, after Act 1. Still, a bit of a challenge is probably better than no challenge at all, and Act 1 Inferno is doable with purely dropped/crafted gear, I know this from personal experience. With the drop rate increases as listed in this thread, I can conceivably farm Act 1 Inferno enough to progress through the rest of the Inferno Acts.

Path of Exile... I played the closed beta, it seems entirely too boring to me to play long term. Still, it's only beta, maybe the game will improve, and they at least seem to have SOME plan for end game, even if it is sort of ripped off from Torchlight 1. I am definitely going to be keeping an eye on PoE, but currently it's a worse experience overall than Diablo 3, in my opinion.

Still, there are more choices coming out for the Hack and Slash crowd:

Grim Dawn, Lineage: Eternal, Torchlight 2, and as you mentioned, Path of Exile. Grim Dawn and TL2 seem promising to me.

Alamar wrote on Jun 28, 2012, 15:09:
I appreciate the suggestion... I've considered putting some range in my build (maybe even spear with 'rage flip'), but I'm hesitant to put stuff in a build I'm really not going to want around after the one fight...

Your build seems to have all damage passives, and I'm not sure I can cope without some bonus armor/reduced damage.. : )

Well, your mileage may vary, but I literally do not have the gear to tank Inferno, on any character(except possibly my Monk who is still leveling up). I can get like 9000 Armor, somewhat crappy resists(300-400), and all the Barb defensive passives, but I still get killed in 2-3 hits. Damage seems more viable to me, until I get some more gear. I have used the Spear a bit, it's pretty good actually, but it ties you into using Rage Flip and No Escape. All of the other spears just bring enemies you are trying to avoid right into melee range...

Still, Spear is somewhat viable, and I'll probably go back to it once I get a better two hander, to make those Spear throws outright kill white trash/seriously damage rares/elites.



*Note: White Trash in this instance refers to non-rare/elite monsters in Diablo 3.

Alamar, if you don't have great equipment, a Throwing Barb(I suggest 2h, but if you have a great 1hander you can go that route) is effective in Inferno. I am in Inferno Act 2, no AH use at all, with pretty much garbage gear, on my throwing oriented DPS barb. The "Sand Giant" constructs are not worth getting into melee range for more than a few hits. Axe spam, Leap in a bit, Revenge, retreat, throw more axes, etc.

My current Build

To be fair I have yet to attempt Kulle on this barb(only on my WD) and not yet in patch 1.03.

But DPS > Tanking unless you have ridiculous gear, it seems.

2h Leap/Charge(Dreadnaught) with some Groundstomp and Seismic Slam seems doable also, but I am waiting to find a 1000+ Damage 2hander for that.


All that said, I am sure Diablo 3 will be a great game after a few more months of patches.

*EDIT* Typo.

It's about time. I'll start a large scale map tonight, and fill that bitch with starbases! Slow Advance + Turtle = satisfaction.

How lame, I thought Francis was going to be that character from Stripes... I'm old.

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors, probably my favorite living author. It's really no surprise that he's enthralled by swordplay, given that every cool character in every story he's written has a swordfight at some point.

Hopefully this project succeeds, but I've already exceeded my lifetime Kickstarter limit, I think. Grim Dawn.