Monday Blues - What Did You Play? [Archive]

Purple Santa

10-20-2008, 04:21 AM

The alarm clock buzzes to bring you another Monday. Another week of fun filled goodness at work, school, squatters and everyone else do to make it through the week.

What did you play while the weekend was still around? Not much on my end. I need to scale back my gaming plans cause they are all crashing and burning with classes in full swing now. It's basically working on papers...papers...and little gaming :(.

So my plans of lots of gaming goodness came down to an hour of Saints Row 2. Luckily, it's a fun game so far, so I didn't mind that being my only gaming time. Hoping everyone else had better luck gaming....What DID YOU PLAY?

KamaItachi

10-20-2008, 04:32 AM

I played "Look after the whole family, because they are sick".

It is shit.

Squidbot

10-20-2008, 05:16 AM

I played Mercenaries 2 for a short time, before becoming horribly bored, and then played Warhammer for the rest of the weekend.
I was very dissapointed by Mercenaries.

Wilkz07

10-20-2008, 05:52 AM

Gaming Weekend for me (even with errands and such)

PC
Warhammer Online

360
Saints Row 2
Dead Space
Golden Axe (ugh, terrible)
Fallout 3

didn't get around to playing anything on ps3

boratika

10-20-2008, 06:06 AM

I finally picked up Bionic Commando Rearmed. I got through 3 levels and that was all I had time to play all weekend.

I did go see Burn After Reading, so that was rad.

Mostly I played "what the hell's wrong with my uncles computer". I swear, it has like a 60+ hour campaign.

And KamaItachi, that avatar brings back a whole pile of memories.

DangerousDaze

10-20-2008, 06:07 AM

I played "You can't have the TV because I've got tons of stuff recorded on Sky+ to catch up and this disk is nearly full". Not quite as shit as looking after a sick family but it's getting there.

Kielaran

10-20-2008, 06:07 AM

First I played "meet my brother's fiance for the second time."
Then I played some Oblivion, trying to get throught the guild quests.
On Saturday I played "go to my cousin's wedding and get shot down by the girl working the bar"
Then Sunday was more Oblivion.

I really need to finish up that game post haste with all the stuff coming out...shit all that is happen this week. I am screwed.

kropotkin

10-20-2008, 06:52 AM

On the PC I dove into Warhammer Online and levelled up to Rank 23 with my Zealot. I have to say around 50% of the XP earned was in scenario runs as opposed to PvE stuff. Not bad but the scenarios are getting repetitive.

On the consoles I played Saints Row 2 on the '360 and found it a little wanting. This game is nothing compared to GTA4 but maybe I really shouldn't be.

Speaking of GTA4 I also played that as part of the Superhappyfuntimeshow gaming night on Saturday. The multiplayer in the game is a little overlooked in my view as we had a blast playing the various modes. I'd recommend anyone jumping in again, at least for a short period.

Finally I played Lost Winds on the Wii as I'm a sucker for quirky platformers and this one fits the bill nicely. It reminds me a lot of Okami on lots of ways come to think of it.

Commissar Rob

10-20-2008, 07:02 AM

I played "Look after the whole family, because they are sick".

It is shit.
The graphics on that one can be really, really...disturbing. Particularly if you get the "Wrath of the Stomach Flu" expansion...

I played take my son camping. It was awesome! Dutch Oven cooking FTW. I also played run a 5K with people half your age. That was...humbling.

Finally, got a couple of deathmatches in with Resistance 2 - fun and very fast paced. Need to try some co-op next. Also spent some time with Warcraft 3. I never actually beat that one. I'm up to the Wyvern mission with the Orcs and really enjoying it.

Gorvi

10-20-2008, 07:27 AM

I got a lot more gaming in that I thought I would. I had planned on playing a lot of Wild ARMs XF, but that didn't happen. I got through a few stages, though, and I'm making progress. The story so far is surprisingly good, with some pretty good writing. The battles are still staying fresh, too, which is quite the feat considering I'm 45 hours into the game.

I played a good amount of WipEout HD too. It really is a sign that a racing game is great when 2 1/2 hours can go by and I don't even notice it. Holy shit, though, some of those races get hard. I actually had to turn the AI level down from Skilled to Novice just to place in one of them. I eventually did end up getting gold, just because I'm obsessive like that. That game is more than worth the $20 and they pretty much have my money for any additional tracks if they ever put them up for DLC.

I was starting to think I wouldn't get around to it, but yesterday I did finally get a chance to try the Resistance 2 online beta. That game will be my new addiction when it hits in 2 weeks. Man, did they ever nail it with the class system for co-op. That was another "what do you mean it's been 3 hours" kind of gaming session. The whole tank, DD, healer mechanic works so damn well. I only got around to playing the Medic class, which was a lot more fun than I thought it'd be. We're definitely going to have to get some games going around here when that comes out.

I played a little bit of Disgaea 3, though only enough to finish leveling up an item from 6 to 10. I tried out the class world, but stupidly got my healer killed rather early and ended up getting a game over. I'm not buying Valkyria Chronicles until I at least finish the main storyline of Disgaea 3 (I don't want 2 strategy games going on at once on a console), so I need to get working on that. The game is great, I just need to squeeze it in.

FFXI saw a little bit of time, though nothing substantial. That'll probably change this week, though.

frederec

10-20-2008, 07:34 AM

Played some Disgaea 3, leveled the ultimate piece of armor fully, now I'm going to start copying it like crazy. Guides suggest using the ultimate emblem rather than armor since the stats are better, but I really like the movement boost from the ultra-armor.

Also am getting into the fan translation of Persona 2: Innocent Sin. It plays a lot like Eternal Punishment, and is reminding me how awesome that game was. I am already getting a hint of why this game wasn't localized, since one of the main characters seems pretty openly gay (bi?), and apparently the protagonist can develop a relationship with him. Even still, getting Eternal Punishment but not Innocent Sin is almost like getting Digital Devil Saga 2 but not 1. One way or the other, I'm glad to finally be able to play it.

And the wife is getting into Mother 3. Now before going to sleep, we're each playing fan translated games on our PSP's. It's kinda cool.

Soulless Toast

10-20-2008, 07:39 AM

I played Dead Space: Spectator Edition. All of the fun, none of the work.

Abednigo

10-20-2008, 07:40 AM

I actually got back into WoW. With the wife pregnant and very sick and often just trying to get through the day with movies on her laptop I needed something to pass the time between taking care of her and bringing her food and water. Poor thing is miserable, but it actually helped me to have some mindless entertainment over the weekend, and she was very happy that I found something to do. I can get a little stir crazy in the apartment. :-)

So I took my 41 Warlock and got him to 42. I haven't played in about a year and was thankfully camped at an inn the whole time so I've been in bonus experience for an entire level and will have it through mid 43. At the end of my session last night I discovered the joys of Hallow's End! I don't think I've ever laughed that much while playing WoW. The Shadow of the Headless Horseman setting fire to towns and screaming out it's threats was seriously creepy, but totally awesome. And all the experience you get from a handful of candy that the inns give out (and the cool bonus effects the candy gives you) made returning a lot of fun. My Warlock currently has a pumpkin for a head too. :-)

I also played a little Puzzle Quest. I have it on my PSP but I got it for the PC too (downloaded off Gamestop). I love playing it on my nice big widescreen monitor.

Bingley Joe

10-20-2008, 07:50 AM

Dead Space. Just a whole lot of Dead Space :D

Suave Peanut

10-20-2008, 07:53 AM

I mostly played Halo 3, considering that I am visiting family in North Carolina and am far, far away from the rest of my collection. I also got in a wee bit of NHL 09 and some Trace Memory when I was out.

Young Al Capone

10-20-2008, 08:38 AM

I played a shitton of Lock's Quest, to the exclusion of pretty much everything else. I think I played about 5 minutes of Dead Space and Burnout Paradise combined.

How come no one told me Lock's Quest was so damn good?

boratika

10-20-2008, 09:18 AM

How come no one told me Lock's Quest was so damn good?

Because they were too busy saying it were no good. Now I'm not sure what to think:confused:

LarsenNET

10-20-2008, 09:22 AM

MGS3, almost done. I should be able to move on to MGS4 this week.

Young Al Capone

10-20-2008, 09:22 AM

Because they were too busy saying it were no good. Now I'm not sure what to think:confused:

Who gave it bad reviews or said it was bad for that matter? A quick check of Metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/locksquest?q=lock's%20quest) and Gamerankings (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/945732.asp) show it at a solid 80%, with even the negative reviews recognizing it as a good game with some flaws.

It isn't perfect, Lock doesn't always listen to me, but it is still a great game. I have been having a wonderful time with it.

itchyeyes

10-20-2008, 09:24 AM

I finished The Witcher on Friday. The ending was a bit week IMO, for a game that had such a great story throughout the rest of it. The rest of the weekend I spent playing Colonization. It took me several restarts to get the hang of it, but I'm now finding it every bit as addictive as any other Civ game.

aVaKus

10-20-2008, 09:28 AM

Got a little bit of time with Dead Space, but not nearly enough. I'm only at chapter 5 now. I am trying to slow down with it a bit as Mags keeps yelling at me to let him catch up. :p
He'd better get with it!

boratika

10-20-2008, 09:47 AM

Who gave it bad reviews or said it was bad for that matter? A quick check of Metacritic (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/locksquest?q=lock's%20quest) and Gamerankings (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/945732.asp) show it at a solid 80%, with even the negative reviews recognizing it as a good game with some flaws.

It isn't perfect, Lock doesn't always listen to me, but it is still a great game. I have been having a wonderful time with it.

I meant the folks 'round here. (Funny, I just realized I haven't read a review in some time.) They mostly seemed to say it would be good if it wasn't insanely easy. But they also seemed to mention Pixel Junk Monsters, so maybe their difficulty scale is just set much higher now.

Young Al Capone

10-20-2008, 09:50 AM

I meant the folks 'round here. (Funny, I just realized I haven't read a review in some time.) They mostly seemed to say it would be good if it wasn't insanely easy. But they also seemed to mention Pixel Junk Monsters, so maybe their difficulty scale is just set much higher now.

I never played PixelJunk Monsters, but this really isn't that easy beyond the first handful of missions.

I have played a few that required restarting the map and redesigning my defenses from the ground up, and have often finished missions with nothing but the smoldering ruins of my former fortress.

astranoir

10-20-2008, 09:51 AM

I played some Diablo II and some Dead Space. I didn't game as much as normal this weekend because for some reason I was super-exhausted most of the time :(

Edit: I also downloaded the PixelJunk Eden demo and played around with it a bit.

hunterx280

10-20-2008, 09:55 AM

TF2...TF2...and more TF2. I was going to play some Assassins Creed but I became obsessed with getting the Pyro achievements. I must admit, rewards via achievements makes them worth it. My favorite had to be the OMGWTFBBQ pyro achievement. Basically, you need to kill someone with a particular taunt. After playing for what must have been 6 hours on Sunday I finally got it along with 11 other achievements over the weekend. I still have some 5 or 6 more to go to unlock the last pyro weapon then it's on to the medic or the heavy. I'm not sure which.

Bad Buddha

10-20-2008, 10:00 AM

Finished up a game of Hinterland as a Dwarf Architect; ended up with around a 12,000 point score. The damned King kept asking for souls and the crypt was way the heck out in the nasty zone. I lost 50 fame every time he asked.

Got into The Witcher for some more monster killing. Chapter 2 seems to have no direction. I'm blundering all over the place saving whores and boinking Half-elf women. I'm not saying it's not fun, but I wish I could see a bit more progression. I just keep checking the journal and work on whatever quest seems close or almost complete. Kick-ass game!

played a couple of rounds of Puzzle Quest when I had a free moment.

I also played run a 5K with people half your age. That was...humbling.

I ran a 15K when I was around 23 or so. I had been running 6 miles a day for weeks and thought I could do it. That extra 4 miles killed me! About a mile from the finish line I was just barely maintaining a slow a jog and I heard two guys coming up behind me.

One was describing the road surface, "...a little gravel... there's a pothole to the left... we're going to be bearing to the right..." and the other guy was saying "Faster! Come on! Keep it up... Faster, faster!" As they zipped past me, I saw that a young guy was in the lead calling out directions and he had a nylon strap on his wrist. Hanging onto the end of the strap was a blind guy that looked about 75 years old. He was the one calling out "Faster!"

I tried to keep up with them but about a quarter mile from the finish I developed some horrendous stomach cramps that had me doubled over and dry heaving for about 4 minutes. Once I could stand up again I slowly jogged to the finish line.

Yeah... humbling! :p

biosc1

10-20-2008, 11:24 AM

Let's see, other than the struggle of trying to get my brand new 24" monitor to display the correct resolution (yes, I'm still whinging about that), I was lucky enough to get an invite to play Shadowrun this weekend.

PC:

- Shadowrun: Oh my, I've never actually played this game online until Saturday. A couple of hours just sped by while playing this strangely addicting game that reminded me a lot of the feeling I had when I first started playing Counterstrike many eons ago. Other than the very very odd trolling that went on in the beginning involving a couple of kids that must seriously have no life if they are trolling a game that been out this long, it went very well.

360:

- NHL09: Played a few games of OTP on Saturday and then finally played my first game for the COG league on Sunday morning, thanks to an invite from Haemmorage.

- FIFA09: Played a couple of games, one exhibition and one Be A Pro. The Be A Pro mode doesn't feel as "tight" as the NHL09 version yet, but I've only given it a brief play, getting a nice header in a tie game :) It's been a couple of years since I've played a FIFA game and it shows...I'm pretty bad at it. Great feel to the game though, the controls feel very good.

TheKeck

10-20-2008, 11:52 AM

We played Cranium Kabookii. Poorly made game, but still some fun to be had. I'm glad I don't own it.

Also played Mario Kart Wii, and Portal:Prelude.

Spectre-7

10-20-2008, 11:54 AM

I wasted a shocking amount of time this weekend playing the demo for Spectromancer, (http://www.spectromancer.com/) a digital card-game from the makers of Magic: The Gathering that's now available on Penny Arcade's Greenhouse. (http://www.playgreenhouse.com/)

I usually don't do card-games except for Texas Hold 'Em, but this one's addictive as hell. Despite that, I'm a very cheap bastard, and I haven't quite convinced myself to shell out the 20 bones for the full version yet. :)

Purple Santa

10-20-2008, 02:47 PM

Finally I played Lost Winds on the Wii as I'm a sucker for quirky platformers and this one fits the bill nicely. It reminds me a lot of Okami on lots of ways come to think of it.
Lost Winds is an awesome game...and yes a must for "quirky platformer" lovers. You should try World of Goo after you finish LW.

I played Dead Space: Spectator Edition. All of the fun, none of the work.

I'm going to be playing that game except with Fable 2 starting at Midnight tonite with Ms. Claus. I have to much work to do so the tv and consoles are all hers...otherwise it would be a tussle for the controllers...and yes she would win :p. She's mean I tell you...

I now have Dead Space from Gamefly...but with Ms. Claus taking over the 360...and just no time, damn I'm dying to play with no options of getting anytime soon...and my pile of games to play is just piling up (Silent Hill, Dead Space and soon LBP...Fallout 3...)

Heretic Machine

10-20-2008, 04:42 PM

Well, I bought Armored Core 4, Mass Effect and Overlord at Gamestop with their buy 2 get one free sales. I started playing AC4 on Sunday, and today I beat it. It was a pretty awesome game, and I'm quite pleased with the purchase. It makes me want to go buy Armored Core 4: For Answer as well.

I'll probably try to play some Overlord tonight and tomorrow, until my Fable 2 pre-order comes in some time tomorrow evening.

Reverant

10-20-2008, 04:51 PM

Tortured myself with Max Payne, and then healed the shit out of some Destruction players with my Zealot.

JayK47

10-20-2008, 04:52 PM

Saints Row 2 and dabbled a bit in UT 3 which is nowhere as much fun as UT. I guess I played so much UT to the point of where I am bored of anything that is UT. So UT3 is not all that bad, I am just really bored of the UT formula. And stupid me, I keep buying the damn things even though I am bored of them. At least I wait until they are low in price. I think I picked up UT3 for $10 for GoGamer. I'm a compulsive game buyer.

Wraith

10-20-2008, 05:04 PM

I played a little bit of SimCity 4 (PC) and a lot of Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3). I'm on the last mission of GTA4... Spoilers:

I'm doing "Out of Commission," the mission where you chase down Jimmy P. after he kills Kate. Whose idea was it to include a motorcycle chase and helicopter chase in the last mission? And both of these following a reasonably-long car chase and decent-sized shootout.

I've failed this once because I didn't start chasing soon enough, once because I drove the bike off in the wrong direction, and once because I crashed the bike after only going a few yards. (I hit some rocks, flipped and got stuck. I got off the bike, got back on, and the bike was perfectly upside-down. I was on it, head in the ground, spinning wheels, going nowhere.) I suck at driving bikes in this game.

I looked up the FAQs, to see if there was an easier way to do this, but no, I have to ride the motorcycle down the beach (chasing Jimmy's boat), hit a jump to board a helicopter waiting for me in mid-air, and then continue to chase down this boat in a helicopter. I also suck at flying helicopters in this game.

For me, bikes and helicopters are two of the least-fun elements of the game, at least when it comes to missions. (It is fun to pick off bikes while driving real vehicles, though. They're more tempting targets than pedestrians.) So to see these two elements come together as a required part of the final mission is a bit of a downer.

But, at least I've gotten this far. This will probably be the (one) game I actually finish in 2008. (No, I'm not going to worry about getting 100% completion.)

Spigot

10-21-2008, 03:50 PM

Wraith, I hear ya. That whole last mission is a bit of a pain until you fail it once or twice. I feel your pain.

Purple Santa, you need to get these threads frontpaged!

Oh, and I played Dead Space to the exclusion of pretty much everything aside from Peggle. I was too busy with work to play much else.

Oh, I did play a tiny bit of Age Of Booty and a bit of Fable 2 Pub Games on Saturday night while I listened to some podcasts, but as far as games that actively engaged my brain, it was pretty much all Dead Space.

rinichanraar

10-21-2008, 04:19 PM

Trying to catch up on games I never finished or missed when they first came out: finished Army of Two, working on Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Call of Duty 4.

MGS3, almost done. I should be able to move on to MGS4 this week.

MGS3 was fantastic, and I'm actually thinking of going back and playing it again because someone posted the theme song in the "video game music" thread.

All I can hear in my head right now is, "I'm stiiiiiilll in a dreeeam, Snake Eateeeer."

Spigot

10-21-2008, 04:45 PM

Aye. MGS3 is so good... as is MGS4.

Purple Santa

10-22-2008, 06:09 PM

Purple Santa, you need to get these threads frontpaged!

Weekend gamer is/has been frontpaged. No love for Monday Blues yet :(. But you are the "senior" non-mod columnist, Mr. Obscure gaming...maybe you have some pull :). I'm just happy the "company men" let me keep doing it :D

Edit: And ibid what Spig said on MGS 3 and 4...games that need to be played and enjoyed...