I remember you Rez! Glad to see you're doing good too.

I had to have been around 12-13 years old when I first joined mBoard, which means I'm probably now older (or same age?) than you were back then—crazy.

Thanks for being a responsible adult figure in my childhood. I vividly remember you saying the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion was trash and was only good for hentai.

Hey guys I'm not sure if anyone remembers me—I haven't been here since I left for college in 2012; I'd like to apologize for being inactive in this community for so long. I know some of you keep in touch on Facebook but I haven't been on social media for years for the sake of my mental health. Despite being gone for so long, it feels like I was posting on this blue checkered forum just yesterday.

But you Matricians were basically my only friends in high school, I was a pretty awkward and sheltered kid haha. A lot has happened in the past 11 years I've been gone but I'll try to keep it as succinct as possible:

-I'm 31 now.

-I graduated in 2015 with a BFA in Graphic Design and was working as a graphic designer at a corporate company for 6 years. I got laid off in October last year—honestly I've been kind of burned out working there as the majority of work was just production work. I feel like I lost all my creativity. In 2015 I got into a new hobby (Olympic Weightlifting) which to this day takes all of my time outside of work, and I just didn't have the time or energy to do art/design for fun. I didn't even have time or energy to play video games since 2015. I do hope I can qualify for nationals in Weightlifting before I turn 40, as long as my body doesn't fall apart before then haha. My addiction for Olympic Weightlifting has replaced my addiction for video games and all other forms of entertainment. I joke it's like heroin—it's not good for my body or social life but I can't stop doing it. I swear I've gone from being a nerd to now being a meathead nerd.

-I dated a girl for 5 years. I thought we were going to be married but it didn't work out and I moved back with my parents. One of my regrets was only spending time with my girlfriend and not keeping in touch with my friends during this time as I basically lost all contact with them.

-I am just laughing my ass off reading all the old posts and comments here. I am in awe of how witty and hilarious we were as kids. There's also some serious cringe i've posted though but I was a edgy little turd.

-I am in awe of how creative and talented you Matricians were and are now. I really enjoyed seeing how much Mike, Snare, WW, ASR  (there's more people I'm forgetting, forgive me if I didn't include) progressed in their creative pursuits over the years.

-I want to get my creativity back and enjoyment in creating things like I used to be when I posted artwork here in high school/college. I'm trying to switch careers to UX design and get my portfolio done but I've been having trouble with focus/motivation. I got diagnosed with ADHD recently and hope that taking stimulant medication will help me get my portfolio done and be productive.

I'm also with you Majikn and WW on being a "late bloomer" and "work in progress". Seems like everyone my age is ahead career wise and is having kids already haha. But I'm glad to be posting here again and will try to post here more regularly. I'm also sincerely happy to see everyone I've known over the years grow up and be healthy.

HNNNNNGRRH MY CHILDHOOD

I only have two words to say about the ending:
[spoiler]space jesus[/spoiler]

Even after beating ME3 i'm still trying to avoid spoilers for my next Renegade playthrough.

I've been playing Mass Effect 3 A LOT recently. I just finished it earlier today, and it's definitely the best ME game in the series IMO so far thanks to all the references to the previous games. Took me [spoiler]57[/spoiler] hours to finish with all the side quests done and planets explored, but the game felt longer than the previous games (in a good way) because the majority of the missions are AMAZING. I thought ME3 did well in making the fight against the Reapers seem hopeless (as it should be).

I personally didn't expect the multiplayer to be that good was wasn't planning on playing it until after I finished the game, but I actually liked it a lot. It worked well in making you feel like you're fighting against the Reapers on the front lines and didn't feel very disjointed from the single player experience. The MP is also a good alternative to some of the repetitive fetch side quests (although I ended up doing them all anyway).



By the way, did you guys have any trouble with the custom face import glitch (if your shepard's face has been the same since ME1, ME3 reads it as an error which forces you to remake it). Fortunately using the fan-made fix tool I was able to make my Shepard look exactly the same as he was in ME1.

My shepard in ME3:

My shepard in ME2:


I also took a bunch of screenshots as I was playing, SPOILERS obviously: http://steamcommunity.com/id/robertlieu/screenshots/?tab=&showdate=1&filter=shortcut_76

btw i bet my Shepard can beat up all your shepards

finaly

The graphics for this port look really unflattering. Looks like they literally zoomed in the original sprites but smoothed only the edges of the sprites so that it doesn't look pixelly.

I've played GTA games before but the only one I've really finished was GTA IV (since thats the only one I actually own). I thought it was pretty fun, but that a lot of the game mechanics were clunky and clumsy (like the useless cover system and the character movement) and the checkpoint system.

However I have an honest question: GTA V trailer looks cool and I think the setting is cool, but what exactly makes it look any better besides a new setting? Was the bleak/realistic setting w/ the eastern European gangsters and all what made GTA IV worse than the previous GTA games?

The presentation looks incredible, the artwork and the website and everthing. I really like the background stories for all the creatures and stuff too.

YOU

 

At least with steam you just need internet to download the game and then after that you can play offline if you really want to. (even on multiple computers). Plus I like the automatic updates and the fact that I can download all my games conveniently from one source at pretty good speeds.

I really don't know who this Strider fool is

Strider's a NINJA!

 

You dont even neccesarily need a gaming pc these days w/ how long this current generation lasting. A decent $500 HP or Dell could run most modern games at playable framerates.

Any word on if the demo will be exclusive to Gold members on 360?

"Xbox players will need to have a valid Gold membership until June 30."
Source: http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/220634/sonic-generations-demo-available-tomorrow-but-only-for-20-days/

I immediately assume bad things about and take a stance against ANYTHING that is basically a toy franchise... not that I think I'm 100% correct in every single instance, but because I'm right so often that I have learned not to bother.

The closest thing to this that I tolerate are movies based on books. I tend to even avoid games based on movies or vice versa.

I enjoy that pretty much every fan of this show that I've seen so far types in an oddly coherent manner. I'm far beyond believing that such a characteristic makes one person better or even more intelligent than another (a lot of people I know who are smarter than me do not type at the level that I do), but it's something interesting to note.

Transformers? sans Michael Bay

whats your angle

btw wb

HNGNNGNGNGNRRHHHHHH < agony from waiting for next 3DS model

Alright OoT was great. Nobody's doubting that. But I'm kinda pissed at the Big N by now. They've gone from releasing new games of old franchises with at least a token change or gimmick to plain re-releasing of old games.

That's what I noticed for the current 3DS game line up. Most of the games contained names I've heard of before with a "3D" suffix added. I personally would like to replay OoT in 3D, but more than anything I'd like something new.

I'm okay with Nintendo re-using the same IPs since they usually come up with big changes to gameplay like with Mario 64 and OoT, however there hasn't been a really "different" game as of late. Of course Nintendo isn't the only company guilty of re-releasing old games.

Finished Lair of the Shadow Broker today. You guys were right, it does save Liara's character. In the end she genuinely made my smile.

hehe

: MOX   6 June 2011, 19:15:47

Can Black Phantoms join my game as long as I'm alive or only when I invite a Blue Phantom?

Sorry didn't notice this question.
As long as you're alive, they can invade, but not if you're offline.

I'm gonna pre-order Dark Souls.
I just started Oblivion, not that into it yet but I'm getting that it's gonna be a lot of what I got out of Fallout 3.

It's a forum, it's not like I'm setting a timer for replies to my questions!

I'm still playing Demon's Souls so I'm not sure about Dark Souls yet but it does look very similar (combat and interface wise) with a dash of more color.

*TV facing one way, WiiU controller facing the other way*
"You sunk my battleship."

 

"Or set your controller in a sandbox and dig your way to China via touchscreen!"
"Set controller on a patient in the hospital with the chest bursting alien coming out of the screen! (would work better if controller had 3D capability"

God I hope the developers pull through with something amazing. All I can think of are the innovations in tomfoolery and H games.

Funny name aside, If I was a game developer I'd probably have a lot of fun figuring out what to do with the new controller. They probably make some neat alternate reality gimmick stuff like with the 3DS.

Though to be honest maybe cus I'm not a game developer I can only think of gimmicky implementations of the controller rather than actual new gameplay mechanics. It'd might be neat where an NPC hands you an item in first person and you see it show up on the controller like it got into your hand, lol.

Not sure about having the buttons below the right analog stick rather than above like with the Dualshock and practically every other controller had dual analog sticks. That controller does not look very ergonomic; the DS lite was already painful for my hands with those sharp edges as opposed to the rounded fat DS.

weeyoo

Yes I got the Thief Ring and the Cling Ring, which made not having a body much more bearable. However I've only been invaded once, and it was when I invited a Blue Phantom over. Can Black Phantoms join my game as long as I'm alive or only when I invite a Blue Phantom?

So. Demon's Souls. I beat the first boss and regained my health bar. When I went to the second world I decided to get a blue phantom to help me out but then someone invaded my game and killed both of us. I'm back at half of my maximum health  .

I heard that each world gets harder when you die; is it noticeable immediately or is it a slow gradual change?

edit:

I finished The Witcher 2. One of the choices you can make in the game, causes the part of the storyline to go in a completely different direction from the other choice (different quests, location, and even side quests). I just started a second playthrough right after my first. I didn't feel very good about any of the choices I made in the game -- this is exactly how I hope choices are handled in Mass Effect 3. (hope that the paragon renegade system gets tweaked or removed). Most fun I had in an RPG since...well Mass Effect 2.

I don't really want to be a customer of EA at all so I might not even get Mass Effect 3

I'm not really sure what that means unless you're trying to say that ME2 was a disappointment for you. I personally don't care for how EA decides to sell games on the PC for $60 when they've always been $50 for the most part.

I thought ME2 had a lot of improvements over the first one especially with the more developed characters (not that they weren't fully developed in the first), though I found ME2's plot to be weaker. I just hope they put in some more RPG elements in ME3 and work on the dialogue system or at least the choices you have to make. I never found any decision to be difficult in ME1-2 unless I was purposely trying to play as an asshole. I mean I understand how much work is put into making the branching dialogue trees but ultimately they all seem to produce the same result. (with the exception of some parts of the game)

I bought The Witcher for $5 on Steam about 3 weeks ago and just started playing it. While the writing and production values aren't that great, the way it makes you handle choices is exactly what I would've liked to see in Mass Effect. While you don't get a plethora of dialogue options, each choice you make never seems to have a completely positive outcome; there's a consequence for everything.

I preordered and got The Witcher 2. For the first time I ended up buying a sequel without finishing the preceding game. Besides reading a lot about the features n stuff I decided to get it because it was $45 and DRM free thanks to Good Old Games. I'm in no rush to start playing it since I'm enjoying The Witcher 1 quite a bit.

Half of Demon's Souls is reading the Wiki. I haven't progressed far because I messed up my character's build and its killing me inside.

If they do release L.A. Noire for the PC, it will probably run the same as the GTA4 port which sucked. The technology is really cool; the motion capture is being used in a smart way for the detective interrogations.

You can't even position your teammates in origins on console? Thats lame. Maybe there's only no friendly fire for damage.

Oh my god, the stats confused me to no end. I actually had to check Gamefaqs for an explanation for the differences between dexterity and strength. Apparently dex is better for daggers, though Rogues get higher damage from cunning because of one of their skills or something. You should definitely equip light armor on your rogue because heavier armor provokes enemies more. Thats why you make your tank wear the heaviest armor you got.
But yeah even with Alistair using Threaten, the party member doing the most damage is going to have a greater chance of provoking enemies. You'll need to run away and wait for the cooldown on Threaten.

The Urn of Sacred Ashes quest was one of the harder ones in the game because of a boss you fight (who takes forever to kill). I would bring a bunch of healing items n stuff.

I heard Origins was easier (enemy stats and number of enemies) on the console as opposed to the PC. And spells that cover an area don't hurt your party members in normal as opposed to PC's normal.
Shame about the interface though. I never played Origins on the console but from the DA II demo I played the interface seemed pretty streamlined.

I agree with the stupid party members issue. It's a problem even in Mass Effect, but at least its easier to manage since it's a shooter.

Rogues kill really fast especially if you place them behind enemies for repeated back stabs. It's normal for them to be fragile though. I use someone like Alistair to tank and provoke enemies while I try to flank enemies with my rogue.

If Origins becomes too frustrating, hopefully you can lower the difficulty or something in the menu.

You aren't going to be saving THAT much money by building your own PC if you take extra software into account. Though only a lil more expensive, you can buy pretty fast pre-built computers from companies like HP and Dell.

Building your own PC is good because you can choose which components to focus on and which components to skimp on. When you pick the components of your own computer its easier to figure out if something is wrong or to replace either a CPU or video card when you want to upgrade. Each component you buy also has it's own warranty and customer support. If you buy a computer from say Dell, you would have to talk to customer service and possibly be talked into spending hundreds of dollars for simple fixes.

If you're buying a computer from Apple, then yes $1000 won't get you much. Though to be fair Apple's computers have great industrial design are made with materials like aluminum. They make every other computer look ugly/uninspired in comparison; there's a reason why companies like HP and Asus are trying to make  Macbook Pro'esque laptops.

i.e. you're just connecting a bunch of cables inside a computer case.

Maybe it's just the PC verison, but I found Origins easy to play even on Hard. You have to pause the game and micromanage a lot. You can't really trust your team mates to do the right move all the time. I personally enjoy this kind of gameplay. (though can be clunky with a controller on the console)

When I played Origins all the enemies scaled to your level. But I always did sidequests and stuff so I could power up my party with new skills and equipment.

I just use a controller because I like having rumble in my games. (and because sitting further away from the screen makes aliasing less noticeable)

Also, I've tried the tandem 360 controller/mouse thing, great for moving and shooting, but not jumping or anything fancy like that.

You could always just map jump to the D-pad for that.

Macbook Pro? The one with the aluminum unibody? NICE.

This is the same thing what happens when people try to start reading superhero comics.

I agree. Theres so many different interpretations and the alternative universe stuff that I don't even know where to start. Though awhile ago I decided to start Batman by reading Batman Year One which I enjoyed a lot.

Some PC games have dedicated walking buttons, but it's more intuitive to control movement speed with a joystick. Then again, I usually just tap the WASD keys instead of holding them down if I want to do fine movements.

I JUST GOT PORTAL 2!

I'm not going to say too much but I'm playing it with a huge smile on my face thanks to the dialogue.

Pc version had 360 controller support with rumble which is awesome. I connected my Dualshock 3 via usb cable and used Motioninjoy so Portal 2 thinks it's a 360 controller.

^
I can vouch for that. Coop is great fun when you have someone over, though shame it isn't online. Its also a very pretty game.

I haven't played an MMO in years, but I spent countless hours on Ragnarok Online which I enjoyed for the time.

Nowadays if I want to play an online game it would just be on Steam or the PS3.

Recently I bought Borderlands from Steam, and it's really well done in the sense that it feels like a small MMO (the maps feel really big). Reminds me a lot of old RPGs like Diablo or the old .Hack series where I would spend hours collecting loot and upgrading my characters n stuff. Borderlands has that same unhealthy obsession you'd get in other MMOs, though obviously it's an easier game to put down.

The $20 dollar credit thing is only for the PS3 and 360. I guess its a way for them to justify the $55 dollar price tag.

I went and placed my order on Amazon. $35 it is.

Oh OK that makes more sense. I could see 3D being cool especially first person games though I probably would only be able to play for an hour.

---

I think I might pre order Portal 2 PC on Amazon rather than Steam. Only thing is that I've never bought a physical copy of a Valve game before. Would it just give me a product code that I can enter in a pre-existing steam account? (so I could download Portal 2 on Steam if my disc ever dies)

Since I'm a student I have one year of free Amazon Prime. Instead of paying for $44.99 on Steam I could pay $34.99 for a physical copy (good since my download speeds are slow) on Amazon AND get free release date shipping.

I got the last humble indie bundle, which contained great games like World of Goo and Penumbra (made by creators of Amnesia) for the price you wanted to pay for.

Never heard of any of the games in the New Humble Indie Bundle except Trine, I'll have to think about it.

lol john is a scaredy cat.

Mass Effect 1 took like 4 hours to finish if you did only the main missions and ignored the side missions (optional obviously) which take up the majority of the game. It's main story portion is ridiculously short.

For an RPG I'd expect the game to be long, as long as it doesn't overstay its welcome. Unreasonable length? I don't know if you're played/finished ME2, but It'd be a buzz kill if ME2 was any shorter because one of it's strengths is the depth and lore surrounding it's universe. You become so invested in the characters and universe that the game doesn't feel long or tedious at all.

Length should depend on the game's design. I'm okay with short games depending on how repetitive the game is, like Portal for instance. I agree that one of the reasons that Portal is a great game is because its length is a perfect match for its design.

However, ATM big budget games are made to be longer while cheaper downloadable games are shorter; I don't see how this is a problem because if you're paying 60 dollars for a game, then you'd better get your money's worth.

Christ when that third image was loading I thought I saw something bad.

I am greatly disappointed Nintendo went back to a glossy piano finish for the 3DS.

This. A matte finish can end up looking cheap but the DSi's looks really nice.

Shame about the dpad placement though. However it looks comfy and should be good for every game except MAYBE platformers.

Hows Street Fighter IV with the new placement of the dpad? Is it uncomfortable?

I could understand if you're playing on the 360 or PS3 version. I have it on the PC so micro management is much less frustrating.

For sure Mass Effect is a better game than Dragon Age for me, but one thing I did like about DA was that it didn't exactly tell you which dialogue choices are considered good or bad. I liked it when the game left it to me to decide what was morally right. (which unfortunately is becoming more like ME's dialogue system from the DA2 demo I played).

In Mass Effect you are given a visual that tells you which dialogue choices are considered good or bad. That wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't only reward you for being either a saint or an bully; there's no benefit to being in the gray other than fulfilling curiosity.

...I need to go and finish my 3rd playthrough of ME2 now to get ready for ME3.

Are we going to see kids with images floating from their 3DS's in the future? lol