Do We Have Any Gamers Up In Here?

[Grifynne]

So, just out of curiosity, do we have anyone who plays video games around here? Especially online PC type games (maybe FPS, MMORPG, that sort of thing - unless you play Rock Band on PSN ).

Lots of cool people here so thought I would ask. My husband and I have a close friend we play with regularly. We are anxiously waiting for Elder Scrolls Online but we're probaly going to be trying the new D&D Neverwinter tonight. And we also love some Left 4 Dead 2, ARMA and we have a spot open for Borderlands 2. We played Defiance, but that one is kind of hit or miss lately. Doesn't seem to offer much in the way of longevity.

Thought I would cast the net out there see if any gamers are secretly hiding here and might be interested in joining us. Or even if you don't want to join us, it's always interesting to find out what other people play.

We used to be hardcore Dark Age of Camelot players back in the day. Did some time in WoW long ago as well. More recently we played Age of Conan. And, as far as single player goes, Skyrim is still my absolutely favorite!

 

[mike]

Ive played Battletech since it was a lead figure of a hex board game in the 80's.
Ive played every computer version since.

I have played as part of an online clan on a few occasions too

Is what im playing with these days

 

[Stano123]

Im a seasoned gamer, I have to thumbs to prove it, but only PS3 now, but I have done my apprentice, I started on the Atari 1600, on to the the Spectrum 48k, Amstrad, Commodore 64,1500 and onto the Sega and on from that... Nintendo mega drive to the cube, xbox to the 360, finally the ps3.
Looking forward to GTA, The two of us and Battlefield 4.

Loved Skyrim

Don't get as much time anymore, but still like keep my hand in, im getting too old anyway.

 

[Grifynne]

Ive played Battletech since it was a lead figure of a hex board game in the 80's.
Ive played every computer version since.

I have played as part of an online clan on a few occasions too

Is what im playing with these days

Mike, that looks like something my husband would be into. He and his dad are big on the table top games, too. Although think they prefer the war games. My husband mostly plays video games but he and his dad always chat about it when we visit lol. I know there was some kind of a mech game my husband played recently that I thought he liked but I can't recall the name of it.

 

[Grifynne]

Im a seasoned gamer, I have to thumbs to prove it, but only PS3 now, but I have done my apprentice, I started on the Atari 1600, on to the the Spectrum 48k, Amstrad, Commodore 64,1500 and onto the Sega and on from that... Nintendo mega drive to the cube, xbox to the 360, finally the ps3.
Looking forward to GTA, The two of us and Battlefield 4.

Loved Skyrim

Don't get as much time anymore, but still like keep my hand in.

Oh man, those thumbs sure take a beating with the console controllers. I played Atari WAYYY back in the day. That was good times, so simple but so fun. I used to look for Atari and original Nintendo emulators online for a bit of good old nostalgic fun.

We have a 360 but haven't really had a reason to play it in a long while. My husband and I break out Rock Band on Playstation 3 a few times a week. I never get sick of that game. (of course I'm sure he gets sick of my terrible singing).

Battlefield 4? OH I'm going to have to keep an eye out for that one. We used to do LAN parties in high school and 1942 was a gaming staple for us. I especially liked it when my guy's eyes and teeth would clip out of his face.

Are you into adventure horror? My buddy showed me this trailer for The Evil Within and it looks really awesome:

I will probably spectate for that one. Used to love watching my husband play the Silent Hill games. It's soo nerve racking!

 

[Stano123]

The Last of Us gameplay trailer • Trailer • Eurogamer.net


Naughty Dog's new PS3-exclusive The Last of Us trailer • Trailer • Eurogamer.net


This looks amazing,

 

[Muadib]

I've been a gamer since the early 90's, starting out with the Wing Commander series and Lucasarts adventure games like Monkey Island, Loom, Zack McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle and so on. Love the old NES classics, Mega Man being my all time favorite series. Then I got into the Final Fantasy series, 6 and 8 being my all time favorites and that led me to games like Shenmue and Morrowind, the third game in the Elder Scrolls series, which then led me to MMORPG's. I played Star Wars Galaxies for a long time and after taking a break from MMO's in general, I've recently gotten back into Star Wars The Old Republic. I also hang out on Xbox Live, though not as much as I used to, after playing the Mass Effect series and Skyrim for so long, I've taken a bit of a break from console gaming, at least until GTA V and Watchdogs hits, if Watchdogs lands on the current gen platforms. My gamertag is Muadib420 on XBL, anyone from these forums is welcome to hit me up if you see me online.

 

[Stano123]

[quote="Grifynne

I will probably spectate for that one. Used to love watching my husband play the Silent Hill games. It's soo nerve racking![/quote]

OMG, if its like that, I wouldn't be able to play it, looks great from the trailer, but obviously need to the actual game.

 

[Grifynne]

The Last of Us gameplay trailer • Trailer • Eurogamer.net


Naughty Dog's new PS3-exclusive The Last of Us trailer • Trailer • Eurogamer.net


This looks amazing,

OMG that looks awesome! I had to show my husband, he is all about post apocalyptic themes.

 

[Grifynne]

I've been a gamer since the early 90's, starting out with the Wing Commander series and Lucasarts adventure games like Monkey Island, Loom, Zack McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle and so on. Love the old NES classics, Mega Man being my all time favorite series. Then I got into the Final Fantasy series, 6 and 8 being my all time favorites and that led me to games like Shenmue and Morrowind, the third game in the Elder Scrolls series, which then led me to MMORPG's. I played Star Wars Galaxies for a long time and after taking a break from MMO's in general, I've recently gotten back into Star Wars The Old Republic. I also hang out on Xbox Live, though not as much as I used to, after playing the Mass Effect series and Skyrim for so long, I've taken a bit of a break from console gaming, at least until GTA V and Watchdogs hits, if Watchdogs lands on the current gen platforms. My gamertag is Muadib420 on XBL, anyone from these forums is welcome to hit me up if you see me online.

I know some people who played SW but, even though I used to like the movies, I'm not a huge fan in terms of gaming. I prefer traditional fantasy with my MMORPG, although I sometime deviate when my "gaming partners" make me. Which is part of why I have a Defiance account lol. That game isn't terrible but, it's not great either.

I think ours was treize26 but we haven't logged into Xbox in forever and a day. It's the same on PSNet (I think - it's my husband's account we share). Monkey Island was hilarious. I loved Murray the talking skull!

Anyone on Steam? Feel free to look me up, username Grifynne.

 

[Muadib]

I know some people who played SW but, even though I used to like the movies, I'm not a huge fan in terms of gaming. I prefer traditional fantasy with my MMORPG, although I sometime deviate when my "gaming partners" make me. Which is part of why I have a Defiance account lol. That game isn't terrible but, it's not great either.

I think ours was treize26 but we haven't logged into Xbox in forever and a day. It's the same on PSNet (I think - it's my husband's account we share). Monkey Island was hilarious. I loved Murray the talking skull!

Anyone on Steam? Feel free to look me up, username Grifynne.

Yeah I'm the exact opposite when it comes to MMO's, I definitely prefer the Sci-Fi setting, which makes it difficult to find good games because while there's a ton of Fantasy out there, there's very few good Sci-Fi MMO's. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Fantasy, I beta tested LOTRO but never really got that into it, I think I've tried every major Fantasy MMO out there, even a lot of free ones and I've never really found anything that captured my interest like SWG did and SWTOR has recently. I have been following Elder Scrolls Online and I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed by the direction they've chosen, it seems like it's going to be a bit of a WoW clone, I was hoping for more of a sandbox type game that followed the console mechanics, but it seems like they're going a different route.

 

[Grifynne]

Yeah I'm the exact opposite when it comes to MMO's, I definitely prefer the Sci-Fi setting, which makes it difficult to find good games because while there's a ton of Fantasy out there, there's very few good Sci-Fi MMO's. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Fantasy, I beta tested LOTRO but never really got that into it, I think I've tried every major Fantasy MMO out there, even a lot of free ones and I've never really found anything that captured my interest like SWG did and SWTOR has recently. I have been following Elder Scrolls Online and I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed by the direction they've chosen, it seems like it's going to be a bit of a WoW clone, I was hoping for more of a sandbox type game that followed the console mechanics, but it seems like they're going a different route.

Aww, I love LOTRO! I was just logged in the other day. I don't sub anymore because I play so sporadically. Just leveling up my Loremaster on my own since my fellow gamers don't wanna play anymore. The problem we had was finding small group content to keep us going.

I never really got the feeling that ESO was a WoW clone. It looked somewhat different (although those games always seem to borrow elements from previous successes). The general consensus among us (well my little group) is that we're trying to not get too excited since so many MMOs flop anymore. It's not a niche any longer, which has made overall quality suffer. Which is very sad to me because we have had some great times in the older games.

I just love Skyrim so it's hard not to get all hot and bothered over ESO. I admit though, I am disappointed that they are essentially done with Skyrim now but I suppose all good things must come to an end. There are some cool extras in the Steam workshop, but it's just not the same.

 

[Muadib]

Aww, I love LOTRO! I was just logged in the other day. I don't sub anymore because I play so sporadically. Just leveling up my Loremaster on my own since my fellow gamers don't wanna play anymore. The problem we had was finding small group content to keep us going.

I never really got the feeling that ESO was a WoW clone. It looked somewhat different (although those games always seem to borrow elements from previous successes). The general consensus among us (well my little group) is that we're trying to not get too excited since so many MMOs flop anymore. It's not a niche any longer, which has made overall quality suffer. Which is very sad to me because we have had some great times in the older games.

I just love Skyrim so it's hard not to get all hot and bothered over ESO. I admit though, I am disappointed that they are essentially done with Skyrim now but I suppose all good things must come to an end. There are some cool extras in the Steam workshop, but it's just not the same.

Well, to be fair, I stopped being interested in ESO when they announced they would be having pre-made classes ala WoW, I was hoping for a more sandboxy type mechanic where any character can do anything and you level your skills based on what you do in game. Kind of like in the console games, if you use your sword a lot, you build up your skill with the sword, if you use stealth, you build up stealth, magic builds up magic and so on and so forth. Admittedly, I haven't kept up on the latest updates since that initial disappointment so I may be way off base in my criticism.

I agree with you on the overall downfall of quality in MMO's, I know it's cliche to blame WoW but anyone who doesn't think that game has had a huge impact on the state of today's MMO's is living in a fantasy land. Any company that develops an MMO looks at that game and says "Gosh, wouldn't it be wonderful to have what they have, 9 million subscribers all paying $15 bucks a month, how can we get a piece of that?" The easy answer seems to be, copy many of the features of their game and hope for the best. I don't think development houses realize that people that love WoW aren't going anywhere, they need to try catering to the gamers who are looking for something different. I think it could be a huge market, but what do I know?

Anyway, that's the end of my little rant, talking about Elder Scrolls Online has made me want to check it out again and see what's new, I'm sure I'll end up giving it a shot at some point whether it's a WoW clone or not.

 

[ward]

Grifynne i am also an avid fan of Skyrim, still playing it currently, i was also really disappointed there will be no more DLC 's for Skyrim, but with new character variants and Mods for the PC Skyrim still has a ton of life in it for me.

I'm definitely a fantasy setting kind of gamer, as you can see from my Avatar. Made a few mods for Skyrim, Oblivion the Witcher, Baldur's Gate, ETC.

Ever since this video

I am now excited for The Elder Scrolls online.

Other games I'm looking forward when i have the time to play are the alpha Release of Grim dawn which should be very soon. An ARPG in the style of Diablo and Titan Quest.

Diablo 3 was the biggest disappointment for me personally in gaming HISTORY. So i hope that Grim Dawn is everything it wasn't and that just may turn out to be the case.
Next is War for the Overworld, a Dungeon Keeper inspired sim-like RTS game.

Finally Project Eternity due out in 2014, it's looking really good so far look at this.

I will definitely be getting into ESO probably as an Orc front-line Tank I love the melee combat stuff, been years since i played an MMO however.So if you and your husband are looking for a team in ESO and want a wacky mature UFO/Paranormal free thinker kind of guy in your group count me in!

 

[Grifynne]

Well, to be fair, I stopped being interested in ESO when they announced they would be having pre-made classes ala WoW, I was hoping for a more sandboxy type mechanic where any character can do anything and you level your skills based on what you do in game.

Hmm, I'm going to have to check this out. My understanding was that it would be wide open just like the single player games where you could choose any skill combinations without any restrictions or pre-made classes. That was definitely an attractive aspect for us. Haha I feel stupid referring to myself as a group, but my husband, our buddy and I have mulled over this on Mumble many many times.

I agree with you on the overall downfall of quality in MMO's, I know it's cliche to blame WoW but anyone who doesn't think that game has had a huge impact on the state of today's MMO's is living in a fantasy land. Any company that develops an MMO looks at that game and says "Gosh, wouldn't it be wonderful to have what they have, 9 million subscribers all paying $15 bucks a month, how can we get a piece of that?" The easy answer seems to be, copy many of the features of their game and hope for the best. I don't think development houses realize that people that love WoW aren't going anywhere, they need to try catering to the gamers who are looking for something different. I think it could be a huge market, but what do I know?

Ya, I agree. I mean WoW was ok back in the day. It took me a while go accept the cartoonish graphics, but I eventually got over it and had some fun years ago. That's the big problem, it's not a niche so they are worried about quantity over quality. They want to do whatever will appeal to the biggest market, even if it has already been done (and who wouldn't want to go the 'safe' route with features/mechanics that have been 'proven' to work). The downside is that it kind of waters down the game and makes it just another crappy title in a sea of the unoriginal. No personality and no reason to get noticed by anyone who maybe isn't into the WoW approach.

I also get sick of the 'lets churn out a half finished game and get paid now!' mentality. Seems like most games aren't quite polished when they hit the shelves now thanks to DLC. I love DLC, but it's being used as a crutch and way to make more money - sometimes on content that really should have been packaged with the initial purchase.

I'm hopeful that someone creative, innovative and independent will come along and do something awesome, but in the meantime we keep wading through crap.

Anyway, that's the end of my little rant, talking about Elder Scrolls Online has made me want to check it out again and see what's new, I'm sure I'll end up giving it a shot at some point whether it's a WoW clone or not.

That's my thought. We signed up to get into beta, so I'm hoping we'll get in so we can get a taste of what to expect. If it's terrible I may wait until it goes on Steam sale or something. Although my crazy love for Skyrim will probably overwhelm me and I'll get it sooner.

We used to play MMOs for years at a time. Seems like now it's sort of like the idea of the 'throw away' society where we're lucky to get a month or two out of a title.

 

[Muadib]

Hmm, I'm going to have to check this out. My understanding was that it would be wide open just like the single player games where you could choose any skill combinations without any restrictions or pre-made classes. That was definitely an attractive aspect for us. Haha I feel stupid referring to myself as a group, but my husband, our buddy and I have mulled over this on Mumble many many times.

Here's an article that describes the class system pretty well, basically you have to choose from 3 (so far) pre-made templates that determine the class skills you will be able to use, but you can use any weapon and develop your skills in that weapon and you develop your armor skills the same way, so it does have pre made classes but you can differentiate a bit within the system apparently. It sounds a bit like a jumble between sandbox and pre made and doesn't look that appealing to me personally, but who knows? Like I said, I'm sure I'll end up giving it a go anyway.

Classes in Elder Scrolls Online



Most MMO games require to choose a class for your character in the beginning. This choice is always very important because it sets a lot of restrictions for your future experience. Elder Scrolls Online also has a class system but it is not so strict. Classes in ESO determine your basic skills. Does not matter what class you choose, you can use all weapons and armor types anyway. It is your choice what type of armor to use: heavy, light or medium leather. The same applies to weapons, you can wield any weapon and fight as you wish. So classes in ESO do not restrict you to only using a limited set of gear. They just set the general direction of your future development.
All Classes

• • Templar
  • Dragon Knight (DK)
  • Sorcerer

The tradition of all TES games is to allow the player to level up weapon mastery for any weapon type. ESO has the same system. As you level your weapon you will get new skills that will increase their efficiency. These skills will level independently from your normal class skills, and will change depending on the weapon you are currently using.
Health, Magicka and Stamina trees can also be found in ESO. All these pools depend on how you spend your skill points. It is your choice how to use points. You can use them all to increase only one attribute or several attributes. You are free to develop your own “build”. Such system allows to create a unique character with unique points’ distribution depending on your will and playing experience. Imagine the ability to create a fire wielding healer or stealth based mage. ESO opens up some interesting possibilities.
All your gameplay will be affected by the way in which you spend your skill points. For example if you spend most of your points to increase Health you are developing your protagonist as a warrior or tank. If you prefer Stamina you will be a damage dealer. But the distribution is not strict and you can decide how to develop your character.
Is it possible to change your character’s class?

There is no information, but it seems it is impossible.

 

[Grifynne]

Grifynne i am also an avid fan of Skyrim, still playing it currently, i was also really disappointed there will be no more DLC 's for Skyrim, but with new character variants and Mods for the PC Skyrim still has a ton of life in it for me.

I'm definitely a fantasy setting kind of gamer, as you can see from my Avatar. Made a few mods for Skyrim, Oblivion the Witcher, Baldur's Gate, ETC.

Ever since this video

I am now excited for The Elder Scrolls online.

Other games I'm looking forward when i have the time to play are the alpha Release of Grim dawn which should be very soon. An ARPG in the style of Diablo and Titan Quest.

Diablo 3 was the biggest disappointment for me personally in gaming HISTORY. So i hope that Grim Dawn is everything it wasn't and that just may turn out to be the case.
Next is War for the Overworld, a Dungeon Keeper inspired sim-like RTS game.

Finally Project Eternity due out in 2014, it's looking really good so far look at this.

I will definitely be getting into ESO probably as an Orc front-line Tank I love the melee combat stuff, been years since i played an MMO however.So if you and your husband are looking for a team in ESO and want a wacky mature UFO/Paranormal free thinker kind of guy in your group count me in!

Omg that's beautiful. Elder Scrolls always had the most amazing music. I love it!

I haven't heard of Grim Dawn but I'm not real keen on that style of game. We recently tried Torchlight and it was ok but something about the movement jacks me up. I used to play old Dungeon Siege and I loved it years ago but for some reason I just had a hard time getting into that again. Maybe it's too much MMO and FPS. I was never into the Diablo franchises but my husband and some of our friends were. I know he said one of the more recent ones was absolutely terrible, so I never bothered with it (and maybe that's a good thing!).

So if you and your husband are looking for a team in ESO and want a wacky mature UFO/Paranormal free thinker kind of guy in your group count me in!

Absolutely the kinda guy we want! lol As long as you don't have anything against adult language and Scotsmen. If you want to keep in touch, we have a little guild forum (we have been using the same guild tag since the early days of DAoC lol), feel free to check out our little forum at Legion of the Void - Yak's Bend - Guild Wars 2 - Guild Hosting - Guild Launch. It's mostly just a few of us but we use it to keep in touch when new games come out, or to just say hello every once in a while. And we're a little on the older side of things, my husband and I are in our 30s and our buddy is 40. They prefer to have more 'mature' people in our group anyway lol.

 

[Grifynne]

Here's an article that describes the class system pretty well, basically you have to choose from 3 (so far) pre-made templates that determine the class skills you will be able to use, but you can use any weapon and develop your skills in that weapon and you develop your armor skills the same way, so it does have pre made classes but you can differentiate a bit within the system apparently. It sounds a bit like a jumble between sandbox and pre made and doesn't look that appealing to me personally, but who knows? Like I said, I'm sure I'll end up giving it a go anyway.

Classes in Elder Scrolls Online



Most MMO games require to choose a class for your character in the beginning. This choice is always very important because it sets a lot of restrictions for your future experience. Elder Scrolls Online also has a class system but it is not so strict. Classes in ESO determine your basic skills. Does not matter what class you choose, you can use all weapons and armor types anyway. It is your choice what type of armor to use: heavy, light or medium leather. The same applies to weapons, you can wield any weapon and fight as you wish. So classes in ESO do not restrict you to only using a limited set of gear. They just set the general direction of your future development.
All Classes

• • Templar
  • Dragon Knight (DK)
  • Sorcerer

The tradition of all TES games is to allow the player to level up weapon mastery for any weapon type. ESO has the same system. As you level your weapon you will get new skills that will increase their efficiency. These skills will level independently from your normal class skills, and will change depending on the weapon you are currently using.

Health, Magicka and Stamina trees can also be found in ESO. All these pools depend on how you spend your skill points. It is your choice how to use points. You can use them all to increase only one attribute or several attributes. You are free to develop your own “build”. Such system allows to create a unique character with unique points’ distribution depending on your will and playing experience. Imagine the ability to create a fire wielding healer or stealth based mage. ESO opens up some interesting possibilities.
All your gameplay will be affected by the way in which you spend your skill points. For example if you spend most of your points to increase Health you are developing your protagonist as a warrior or tank. If you prefer Stamina you will be a damage dealer. But the distribution is not strict and you can decide how to develop your character.
Is it possible to change your character’s class?

There is no information, but it seems it is impossible.

Well that's interesting. I suppose there is still some flexibility. I'm curious how it will feel in the game.

 

[ward]

Omg that's beautiful. Elder Scrolls always had the most amazing music. I love it!

I haven't heard of Grim Dawn but I'm not real keen on that style of game. We recently tried Torchlight and it was ok but something about the movement jacks me up. I used to play old Dungeon Siege and I loved it years ago but for some reason I just had a hard time getting into that again. Maybe it's too much MMO and FPS. I was never into the Diablo franchises but my husband and some of our friends were. I know he said one of the more recent ones was absolutely terrible, so I never bothered with it (and maybe that's a good thing!).

Absolutely the kinda guy we want! lol As long as you don't have anything against adult language and Scotsmen. If you want to keep in touch, we have a little guild forum (we have been using the same guild tag since the early days of DAoC lol), feel free to check out our little forum at Legion of the Void - Yak's Bend - Guild Wars 2 - Guild Hosting - Guild Launch. It's mostly just a few of us but we use it to keep in touch when new games come out, or to just say hello every once in a while. And we're a little on the older side of things, my husband and I are in our 30s and our buddy is 40. They prefer to have more 'mature' people in our group anyway lol.

Just applied to your fine guild with a short background application form, hope i make the cut
With the class info Muadib provided (thank Maudib!) i am definitely eying an Orc Templar or DK front-line fighter for sure.

BTW anyone know a release date for The ESO?

Also really glad so many people on this thread enjoyed Skyrim, i only finished the Main quest once! (so far), Dragonborn is such a fantastic expansion pack.

 

[Grifynne]

Just applied to your fine guild with a short background application form, hope i make the cut
With the class info Muadib provided (thank Maudib!) i am definitely eying an Orc Templar or DK front-line fighter for sure.

BTW anyone know a release date for The ESO?

I'll bet you do! In fact, I bet if you go back there now you'll have already been approved!

And all I have heard so far was mid to late 2013 for ESO release. Wish they could give us something concrete but I doubt they are certain yet.