The Gaming Thread

[MagikFingerz]

To kick this off, I'd like to tip off anyone with nostalgic ties to Crash Bandicoot and Spyre the Dragon, who for some reason haven't heard of Humble Bundle before: You can get both of these games (plus Call of Duty WWII, all for PC) for $12 if you sign up for Humble Monthly. It's recurring, but you can cancel it at any time, unless you specifically opt for the 3, 6, or 12 month options (which are less than $12 per month).

I'd also like to give a shoutout to Titanfall 2, which has not received the popularity it should have. If anyone follows recent gaming trends and have tried Apex Legends, it's made by the same developers. Titanfall 2 goes on sale fairly often, and is perhaps the best FPS game I have ever played.

Any other gamers in here?

[BaconWise]

I think I fall into the casual gamer category. I play quite a bit, but not competitively and I typically opt for solo campaigns. I have sunk a lot of hours into WoW, Diablo II & III, Torchlight II, Elder Scrolls Oblivion, Fable, and Borderlands II (my favorite of all favorite things), just to name a few. Solo campaigns make it easier to jump back in at any time, so I'm not locked into a raid party or something like that.

Crash Bandicoot was a blast on Playstation. I used to jam out to Guitar Hero! I am a big fan of Star Fox and Goldeneye for Nintendo 64 and lots more of those classic console games. Gaming is a lot of fun, though it's difficult to find a lot of time with two young kiddos. I kinda like them more, most of the time, lol.

[robcan0630]

Been playing games since the Intellivision. I actually built a full-sized arcade machine about a year and a half ago that runs RetroPie. It has pretty much all that classic consoles from Atari to Nintendo 64 [around 2000 games total or so). My son gets lots of enjoyment from it.

[Adonael]

Unfortunately this just reminds me that I haven't played a game in about 3 months because I haven't had the time! That might be the longest stretch since I was 13 lol. I still need to finish Fallout 4 (heavily modded, over 100GB install folder) before I can play anything else simply because it's taking up all the space. There are also plenty of games from the past few years I really want to play but haven't because I want to wait until I buy a new monitor. I used to have a nvidia surround setup, three 2K 27" IPS screens at a total resolution of 7680x1440, playing games across them like one super ultra-wide from SLI cards. That's what we did before ultra-wide screens, but when I upgraded to a 1080Ti I couldn't do that anymore and just like I refuse to play any game at less than highest quality settings, I can't go back to experiencing the best games in old 16:9. So I wait until I can get an ultra-wide.

I've still had a blast playing other games I didn't expect to be worth waiting for, but turned out to be fantastic, like FarCry Primal, Mad Max, Shadow of Mordor/War, both Watch Dogs, Mafia III, Far Lone Sails, the first Warhammer Vermintide, Mass Effect Andromeda, Titanfall 2 (as mentioned above, very good single player). Some old stuff too, Duke Nukem 3D, System Shock 2, Machinarium, SWAT 4, also Armed & Dangerous which is one of the funniest games I've ever played. And others. But the two biggest stand-outs are first, Dying Light, what an incredible game! Second, GRIS, just beautiful! My other half played that one as well, but we have also played Earth Defense Force 4.1 & 5 together in split-screen, it's a hell of a good time slaughtering building-sized insects and aliens together lol.

Disclaimer, I don't play online games, they mostly feel like a waste of time to me, though I did play Battlefield 2 back in the day, and I spent a good couple of weeks on Warframe too. Some of my favourite games of all time are:

FEAR + Extraction Point Expansion
STALKER Series
Bioshock
Dishonored + The Knife of Dunwall DLC + The Brigmore Witches DLC
Halo Combat Evolved
Mass Effect Trilogy
Dragon Age: Origins + Awakening Expansion
Assassin's Creed II
Need For Speed Underground 2
Dark Souls (I also played Demon's Souls before that, not many have!)

Plus probably a lot more, I've played a lot of games, just not the last few years (I don't consider the second paragraph to be many). Love the shoutout to Fable above, I really enjoyed the first two, the original was a hell of an experience on the original Xbox when it was released, and I of course love Borderlands. Speaking of Guitar Hero, I never got into it, but the first DJ Hero was fun! The second one leaned heavily into shit modern pop songs so I didn't get into it at all. Anybody else remember Psi-Ops The Mindgate Conspiracy? Now that was a cool game! I'm reminded of it by the trailer for the recent Control.

[Harvonsgard]

There is, was, and never will be a better party game like Mario Kart 64. Only critic would be that there were to few battle maps, but regardless it was unmatched fun. I do miss the good old Counterstrike, Unreal Tournament and Quake days . That was a blast, too.
For single player I always played RTS, like the Command & Conquer series - memo to myself, I finally have to play Red Alert 3! - Warcraft and of course Starcraft.
The only PC game I still play occasionally is StarCraft II and I still have the both South Park games laying around which I wanted to play, but never took the time to.

[Timmargh]

I’ve not played Mario Kart personally but plenty of friends have and love it.

The most fun I’ve ever had game-wise was playing Micro Machines v3 on the original PlayStation with eight players and a pair of multitaps; it became a regular Sunday afternoon activity along with trying to recreate that week’s Grand Prix circuit using Scalextric.

Superb times.

[Harvonsgard]

I’ve not played Mario Kart personally but plenty of friends have and love it.

The most fun I’ve ever had game-wise was playing Micro Machines v3 on the original PlayStation with eight players and a pair of multitaps; it became a regular Sunday afternoon activity along with trying to recreate that week’s Grand Prix circuit using Scalextric.

Superb times.

I had to smile so hard after reading multitap. It feels like it is ancient archeology we're talking about.
It is kind of awesome that today we're able to plug in and play with people across the whole globe, but I don't know if it's just me, it is still more fun if you are around in the same room and play via LAN or split screen. To be able to get the direct feedback after you frag someone in counterstrike or the face your friend makes when you intercept him right before the goal line is just priceless.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I play NHL 20 on PS4 almost every day. I've been one of the top EASHL players for over a decade, now.

A couple of friends and I have been making our way through Gauntlet on Steam recently.

[Harvonsgard]

Any Fighting games enthusiasts in here? Street Fighter? Tekken? Dead or Alive?

[robcan0630]

Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Killer Instinct (from back in the day), Soul Calibur, Smash Bros, Tekken and DoA are all great. I like most fighting games.

Here is a picture of my arcade machine. Joysticks are good for these.

[MagikFingerz]

I like fighting games, but I could never get really good at them. Smash Bros is the only one where I feel like I've progressed past the button mashing stage

Played every Tekken since 3 though.

[Harvonsgard]

For Fighting game nerds Core-A Gaming is an awesome channel on Youtube. he doesn't upload very regularly, due to not being a pro gamer or fulltime youtuber, but the nerdiness is A++.

Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Killer Instinct (from back in the day), Soul Calibur, Smash Bros, Tekken and DoA are all great. I like most fighting games.

Here is a picture of my arcade machine. Joysticks are good for these.

How could I forget about Soul Caliber! I never played the modern Mortal Combat, since I always felt they are only gore over sub(-zero)stance. I did play one Mortal Combat title - dunno which one it was - when I was a kid with a friend all the time. But he had an SNES and the graphics of Street Fighter II were better than from PC Mortal Kombat, therefore we played SFII more.

There is nothing in life that I envy people for - except when they have their own Arcade! That is awesome robcan. The original Donkey Kong is a great classic. What Are the other games you can play on it?

[Timmargh]

… It is kind of awesome that today we're able to plug in and play with people across the whole globe, but I don't know if it's just me, it is still more fun if you are around in the same room and play via LAN or split screen. To be able to get the direct feedback after you frag someone in counterstrike or the face your friend makes when you intercept him right before the goal line is just priceless.

Oh, absolutely! My first multiplayer FPS experience was with six others in my mate’s dad’s office playing Duke Nukem on their LAN. We were laughing so hard because one mate set his player name to “a rocket” and every time he killed his little brother, the little brother would say something like, “This game’s stupid! I died after setting off a mine but it says ‘You were killed by a rocket!’”

It was funny to us, anyway.

[MagikFingerz]

Wish me luck, I'm about to start the behemoth that is Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Thankfully, as in my collecting, I am a completionist no more. Still though, howlongtobeat.com says just the main story takes on average 40 hours

[Adonael]

Thankfully I was never a completionist, and trophies/achievements never interested me, that being said Assassin's Creed II is the only game I ever 100% completed just because I loved it so much (also has the best OST of all time). I haven't played any since the fantastic Black Flag, but I'm apprehensive of Origins/Odyssey, knowing what kind of time investment I'll be taking on, I always feel that way with RPG's plus I know I can tack on a few more hours to the total time just taking screenshots lol. I ended up taking over 3000 in my very heavily modded Skyrim game last year/the year before, what a journey that was, 150 hours!

[Harvonsgard]

Kind of ironic, anything short of 100.0% irked in games. I always wanted to unlock all trophies or achievesmesnts. Not for the achievements themself, but seeing empty spaces in e.g. the trophy screen annoyed me somehow .
I even restarted games like Canis Canem Edit, because I lost a fight and then the statistics showed something like 99.8% fights won. Maybe this is why I stopped gaming. Way to many stats to keep track off, in modern games.
With cards it is totally the opposite. I don't care if it is a series or a set, I only get the editions I want, even if I would had unlimited funds, I wouldn't change that.

[theCapraAegagrus]

Try playing some Castlevania...

[MagikFingerz]

Thankfully I was never a completionist, and trophies/achievements never interested me, that being said Assassin's Creed II is the only game I ever 100% completed just because I loved it so much (also has the best OST of all time). I haven't played any since the fantastic Black Flag, but I'm apprehensive of Origins/Odyssey, knowing what kind of time investment I'll be taking on, I always feel that way with RPG's plus I know I can tack on a few more hours to the total time just taking screenshots lol. I ended up taking over 3000 in my very heavily modded Skyrim game last year/the year before, what a journey that was, 150 hours!

Still haven't started Skyrim for that very reason Everyone tells me how much time you end up spending in it, so I keep putting it off. That perfect time may never come, though...

[Smocito]

I've been playing videogames since I was 10. I'm 44 now

I usually play on the PC.
At the moment I'm playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey and The Division 2.

Odyssey is good (but there's no mention to Lotrek ), I preferred Origins but none of them beats the Ezio (AC2, Brotherhood and Revelations) games.
The discovery tours in AC Origins and AC Odyssey may be interesting if you want to know more about ancient Egypt or Greece.

[MagikFingerz]

I've been playing videogames since I was 10. I'm 44 now

I usually play on the PC.
At the moment I'm playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey and The Division 2.

Odyssey is good (but there's no mention to Lotrek ), I preferred Origins but none of them beats the Ezio (AC2, Brotherhood and Revelations) games.
The discovery tours in AC Origins and AC Odyssey may be interesting if you want to know more about ancient Egypt or Greece.

I agree, the Ezio trilogy was the pinnacle of AC. Odyssey seems very similar to Origins in terms of gameplay and mechanics, but at least the story is entertaining (so far, I'm barely level 23).

[Timmargh]

I've been playing videogames since I was 10. I'm 44 now

Me too! But I’m 46 … *feels old*

I bought a BBC Micro model B with money I’d saved plus £100 my grandad left me when he passed away – I wrote my own version of Pontoon/Blackjack/21/Whatever you want to call it.

After that I had an Amiga 500, then a 1200, a naff PC, PlayStation, then a PS2, PS3, but now only use my iPhone or Mac.

I can’t use my hands properly any longer thanks to FSH muscular dystrophy but I know of at least two companies who specialise in custom built controllers, ranging from handsets with multiple buttons in whatever-place-your-fingers-can-go to a tube you can suck or blow into to represent forward/back or left/right etc. The thing is, though, I’m content just watching videos of Elite Dangerous or GTA5 on YouTube – I’ve no urge to play them myself any longer.

[robcan0630]

Odyssey is good (but there's no mention to Lotrek ), I preferred Origins but none of them beats the Ezio (AC2, Brotherhood and Revelations) games.
The discovery tours in AC Origins and AC Odyssey may be interesting if you want to know more about ancient Egypt or Greece.

I agree, the Ezio trilogy was the pinnacle of AC. Odyssey seems very similar to Origins in terms of gameplay and mechanics, but at least the story is entertaining (so far, I'm barely level 23).

I liked Odyssey more than Origins, but Black Flag is still one of my all-time favorites.

[Adonael]

Definitely Ezio Trilogy, then Black Flag, then the first game (the hardest one, ACIII changed it so it was too easy and of course there's no difficulty option) for me. Debating whether to skip Unity when I finally get back into it. The way the light shone through the waves was mind-blowing at the time in Black Flag, one of the best pirate games ever made! I still associate Bundaberg Sarsaparilla with that game as I drank a ton of it during the two weeks I spent playing lol.

[Smocito]

I was top 100 in the world for quite some time in Black Flag multiplayer

I started with a Spectrum 48k, now it's decorating the table in the living room (just the keyboard)

[Smocito]

I liked AC Unity. In the beginning it had many bugs, but the atmosphere they managed to create in Paris was great.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaJLQ4x ... e=youtu.be[/youtube]

[MagikFingerz]

In case any of our resident gamers feel like giving to charity and getting some good games/books/comics in the process, there's a COVID-19 bundle you should check out at Humble Bundle.

[robcan0630]

I appreciate you sharing this. I have a lot of these already, but I went ahead and purchased it anyway. I’ll gift the codes for games I already have. I like to support what Humble Bundle does, even though I have a Steam backlog 2 miles long.