Already did that. I did a completely clean install 2 days ago and it didn't solve the issue. I'll probably take it in tomorrow or friday for servicing. Dole out the dollars for something probably insignificant, but whatever. Strangely, I had 25 tabs open in firefox and played Skyrim afterwards (without the tabs) again 2 hours ago and it played just fine (granted, GPU was pushing at 90 C which is horrendous).

Been playing a lot of BioShock 2 after finishing BioShock Infinite. I immediately felt that this was a vastly inferior game to compared to Infinite, but soon changed my mind as the game went on. The game was a bit slow in the beginning, but once it really started getting going it became really fun. The weapons are pretty awesome, lots of alternative ammo, my favourite is the explosive ammo for the spear gun. It seems to be a lot longer than Infinite, which was my only really gripe about that game. The whole Big Daddy/ Little Sister thing is a bit creepy, especially as you can kill and harvest the little girls, but still a fun game.

Dystopia4; if the dynamic between Big Daddies and Little Sisters creeps out, then that's because the creators did a good job.

Absolutely, the game does have a creepy, unnerving horror edge and they do that well. I found that the vampiric Spider Splicers especially succeeded in this regard.

Just bought this on Steam sale for only $7.50:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/230700/
La-Mulana is a Metroidvania type of game featuring some sort of Indiana Jones-type archeologist dude (with whip and all) that's supposedly to be the "Dark Souls of Metroidvanias", as in that it's really hard and doesn't hold your hand. You explore weird ruins and try to solve their mysteries. It features tons of obscure puzzles apparently, lots of people get stuck. Babby gamers need not apply.

I just started but I like it so far. The pixel art is nice and the music is pretty cool. I wonder if I'll resist the urge to use FAQs or if I'll just give up at some point. We'll see.

As soon as the Ultimate Edition drops below ten bucks, I'm on it. Loved the vanilla game.

Playing through Skyrim once again, this time as a Bosmer (Wood Elf). Going about this character slightly different. More or less is willing to take on all jobs, if they don't conflict with the characters beliefs. Also, playing a duel wielding (axe and dagger)/ ranger character, with the addition of some magic. Mainly Illusion (which is my favorite type), Alteration, and Restoration. Enjoy, casting a fear spell while hidden on a few bandits and letting them dispose of themselves.

What was the M-A consensus on Dishonored? I remember that it was discussed, but I can't for the life of me remember what people actually thought of it. I've been contemplating picking it up for ages now.

Well it's a critically acclaimed title with multifaceted gameplay and a unique setting. I immediately bought it, even though now I kind of wish I had waited for a sale where the DLC is included. It's not like I got nothing to play...

I loved it myself. One of the most fun stealth games I've played, admittedly easy, but very, very fun thanks to the blinks and whatnot. My only real complaint was the ending being ridiculously underwhelming (think Bioshock 1 style), and I feel they could have gone more extravagant on the setting. It's pretty short, but is worth two playthroughs to play with the stealth and the brutal slaughter/powers. And I have no issues with short games anyway, I'd rather an 8 hour game with 8 hours of content to a 15 hour game with 8 hours of content.

You should pay attention then, it was like $5 on one of the daily sales...



Great game. Fun gameplay, plenty of options, original setting and some replayability. It's rather on the easy side once you get many powers (I'd suggest avoiding Dark Vision if you want more challenging stealth) and the story is rather predictable, but those are minor complaints. Also, Blink has to be one of the most fun abilities in any game.

Though, you also should have gotten it when it was on (bigger) sale a few days back.

Yeah the story was kind of lackluster toward the end. The twist was embarrassingly obvious. However, I thought the final level was really really cool.

Well, consider me a Dark Souls convert. After dying a shitload of times to the Taurus Demon I figured out how to stop playing like a dumbass and actually take things strategically. (Though I'm well aware this is still effectively the starting area.) So far pyromancy has made taking out all the fatties in the Undead Parish quite a bit easier.

I bought Dishonored and Spec Ops The Line on a whim, though they're going to be pretty far back in the catalogue since I'm probably focusing on Dark Souls for the time being. And even after that I still have Deus Ex HR, Dragon Age and Mass Effect 3 to finish...

If you buy games that haven't hit the bottom price tag yet, play them before they get cheaper! Otherwise buying them early was completely pointless.

Well, true, and I realized that by the time I get around to actually trying Dishonored and SO it'll probably be around the fall sale time anyway. Durrr.

Thankfully I didn't have this problem when I got DE and DA last year, since they were at $5 and $7.50 respectively (granted, DE was on sale for $3 this time.)

It was $5 when I bought it. I guess you missed the sale.

Rayman Origins on sale. Great metascore. Anyone played that?

Oh yeah, definitely get it if you like platformers at all.

And, you know, if you would play it soon. Otherwise wait for the winter sale.

I love platformers. Grew up with 'em. I have fond memories of the original Rayman game.

Yeah, actually, I've got enough games to play over summer break. But still, I do like to have a more "simple" game that I can distract myself with when I don't feel like playing the current "big" game I have installed. On the other hand there still are a bunch of indie titles that I haven't checked out yet. Decisions, decisions...

It just went up as a flash deal for 8 hours. BarryLamarBonds, you better jump on that. Might be your last chance!

Playing through New Vegas with the Project Nevada mod. It basically fine tunes and rebalances the game while adding some extra features like sprinting and bullet time.
http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/40040//?

Can anyone recommend me some stgs/shmups avaliable on Steam? Stuff like Ikaruga and so on. I got a bunch already but I feel like getting more, always nice to have some variety.

Jamestown and Sine Mora are both pretty cool.

Have you checked out Rogue Legacy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0DKxOEikTs

Sort of a Metroidvania style game, except when your hero dies, an heir with random attributes takes his/her place. From generation to generation, you carry over your upgrades and gold, using the gold to buy new equipment and upgrades for the new hero. Traits can be stuff like ADHD (faster motion), color blindness (black and white gameplay), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (a whole lot of farting), Gigantism, Dwarfism, and so on.

Yeah I heard of it, but I don't like the concept (though it's kinda funny), and Roguelikes don't appeal to me.

I just started playing it on PC as a warrior. It's pretty easy when it is one at a time on the skeletons as you can just let them hit your shield and then you whack them a couple times and they die. Just got to be patient and not rush things as you don't want to get surrounded. The bombs are a pain in the ass and I keep getting hit by them. I just got to the Taurus Demon and he wooped my ass a few times already. I went through some door using the master key to go down the stairwell right before that boss and ran into some knight who just one shotted me even though my shield was up so I decided not to go there again... I'm thinking of trying a more ranged class as it is difficult to get in close at times, particularly the bosses.

Oh and this is the worst port I have ever seen from a console to a pc. It currently runs in some windowed mode and doesn't even fill the screen up, and I can't adjust the resolution and I read that it is stuck at 30fps. Thankfully I already use an xbox controller. I expected a lot more quality from such a highly acclaimed game...

Master key is a bad choice of gift for noobs. Get the twin humanity instead. Also:


You're welcome.

I found it easiest to lock on to the bomb thrower then roll to side before he chucked it, since the throwing animation takes a fair bit of time. Though as a pyromancer I could also just snipe him with a fireball.

Beat the Taurus Demon last night, again helped by its fire weakness. Once my fire ran out, I found it easiest to roll to his side as he did the sweeping attack, then hack away around his tail as he recovered and turned around. If you lock on and keep close to his body you can side-dodge most of his attacks and position yourself near his tail to get in a few hits.

Plowed through the Undead Parish today and just collected the Elite Knight armor from the Grove (though I just dashed in and grabbed it, didn't bother fighting the green knights and tree things.) Found the hidden passage there where you can attack the tree thanks to a well-placed multiplayer note. I already ran into the butterfly boss once...Gearing up for another slog of boss-battle-training, hehe.

Fucking pyromancy...Makes taking down those green knights so much easier. Figuring out the timing was tricky at first on account of the casting speed and range, but I can really clean up with it now.

Consider giving Spec Ops The Line a bump in your waiting line. It's way shorter than the other games you've listed (takes about 5 hours to complete if you don't bother with collectibles), and you'd miss out quite an experience if you'll never end up playing it as a result.

So I went back to Firelink Shrine and killed the guy sitting there because hey, worked for the Undead Merchant. But then he just dropped 1000 souls, and given that I found an etching nearby that said "Need Humanity" I have to imagine he had some other purpose. And now I feel like a dick.

Oh well, onward to the graveyard! Or the Bell Gargoyles...Wasn't expecting two of them! Thankfully it seems the second's fire breath does collateral damage on the first.

(Oh, and is it just me or is the trident-wielding knight guarding the path to the bell tower dancing occasionally?!

Gonna have to wait for a console sale. My PC can't even run Diablo II well. Thanks for the heads up though.

lol. Lucky for you he doesn't do much. I'd advise against murdering NPCs in general, though.


Yep, the dance buffs the enemies and makes them hit harder, haha.

Yeah, I figured as much. The thought briefly crossed my mind when I saw the blacksmith, but everything he sells seems too useful.

I took down the gargoyles on the third try and got the gargoyle halberd. Buffed it a bit and trying to figure out if I like it or the Uchigatana more. Working on fighting the Moonlight Butterfly now; rolling seems to be the only way to dodge its attacks and bought a shitload of crossbow bolts to pick away at its health before it gets in close range. This is the first time where I realized it's actually smarter to wear lighter armor to certain fights since the elite knight armor makes it way too slow to dodge its attacks effectively.

I"m no expert in Dark Souls, but having magic and a good dodge speed really helps against the Moonlight Butterfly.

Moonlight Butterfly is the easiest boss in the entire game. I never died once against him (whereas almost every other boss, even those that are super easy for me now, has killed me at some point or other across various builds and characters...), he's just... kinda sad. And yes, always stay below 50% of your equip burden. Below 25% is ideal but hard to accomplish, you need a lot of endurance and wear only the lightest gear.

It's hilarious that you considered murdering the blacksmith. You'd have screwed yourself over so bad.

I first realized that would be a bad idea when he said only blacksmiths can ascend weapons. Speaking of the blacksmith, someone left a note in front of him that said "amazing chest ahead." Not that I'm not guilty of leaving "imminent rear" from time to time...

It only took me three tries for the bell gargoyles earlier today. Spammed fireballs to get the first one out of the way and the second went down with a few well-timed thrusts. Hopefully the butterfly will be easier now that I have the gargoyle halberd for reach when it comes closer to the bridge.

Fuck yes, I hope you bought it. That's a great game.

Nope. Winter sale it is. Still got too much of a backlog.

Dear god, I've already died to that fucker with the cudgel in the watchtower basement more than every other boss put together at this point. Easy to dodge, but one tiny mistiming and he one-shots you.

Also, I've been getting booted from the online connection because my framerate is too low, even with DSFix on. I need a faster computer. Though it's strange, because Mass Effect 3 runs on this one like a breeze.

Done BioShock 2, great game liked how your actions throughout the game dictate how the game ends. I also thought it was interesting that there were no real bosses. Since then I've gone and started the first BioShock, which came as a bonus with BioShock Infinite. Although I understand that it was very important when it came out, I have to say BioShock 2 improved on a lot of things. The gameplay here is more clunky, I don't like that R2 is what you use to shoot (playing on PS3), it sucks that you don't get back to full health when you use a first aid kit and that you have to actually inject yourself when using another round of EVE. Also, the hacking is retarded in this game, the little pipe puzzles are awful and annoying. Despite all this, I'm still having fun with it and I would call it good, although not as good as the subsequent games in the series. I do dig the philosophical bent in these games, although the fact that an isolated objectivist society (under the sea no less) inspired by Ayn Rand would not be sustainable for an extended period is perhaps a bit obvious. However, I do think this is smarter than a lot of games while not loosing the brutal edge.

Did you rescue that guy wearing gold armor locked in the cell hidden behind a breakable wall near the gargoyles? Also about the moonlight butterfly... whenever I make a new character I go straight to it through the valley of drakes, pick up the soul by that big undead dragon, kill the black knight, get the crest shield and kill the butterfly and then I'm lvl 30 in no time Damn I can't wait for Dark Souls II now!

Edit: no that guy you killed really has no purpose, he ends up going hostile later anyway and I think it's the same outcome either way.