And they built their work on a very strong foundation over at Hard Light. Freespace 2 just feels "right" when I play it, the controlls works as expected, combat has a nice pace to it and there is enough variety to make things interesting. I can see why this game has such loyal fans.

I did decide to finally start Europa Universalis: Rome as well (I marked it as "currently playing" on Backloggery a while ago), and I don't think I got the best possible start. I'm playing as Macedonia (usually considered to be the best beginners nation), and I quickly colonized the barbarian provinces to the north, and also managed to stabilize the political turmoil that was going on (I had to exile a few nobles in the process... I hope they don't return with an army to take back what they consider to be their rightful place). Then I decided to check out how the inevitable war between Rome & Carthago was going. To my surprise there was no war going on. In fact:

They had formed an alliance and were bullying all the other nations around them. I really don't think Macedonia will be able to stand up against an allied Roman/Carthagan army. And just before posting this, Rome conquered most of my neighbors. Only Sparta remains, and they are not exactly a political, economic or military powerhouse (they are far too small). 

*edit* Image not showing

*edit 2* Oh my, I just noticed that Carthage has Casus Belli against Egypt, so I suspect that Carthage & Rome will wage war against the Egyptians soon. If they do take Egypt, no other nation will be able to stand up against them. 

*edit 3* History is getting confusing here. I spent anoter hour playing the game, and it was a good thing that I did not give up, because both Carthage and Rome turned out to be incredibly unstable. Both empires suffered from poor stability and trecherious nobles, and thus both entered a state of civil war. Now it looks like the Seleucid empire (which i'm allied to) is becoming the next big player. During the Roman instability one of their provinces near me decided to break away and form its own nation. Luckily I had an army right next to it, and jumped on the opportunity to grab this province, which turned out to be the most population-rich province in my vicinity. I also conquered a barbarian nation to the north, so it looks like the Macedonians will be able to stand up against the other empires soon (unless Egypt splits into smaller nations, their population don't seem to be very happy right now. If that happens, the Seleucid empire and Carthage will be able to take the splintered empire with ease, and by doing so grow considerably)

Now starting: Soldiers Heroes of world war 2.

Just a warning to anyone who is planing to play the boxed version of this game: Crack it. I just had to spend a few min removing starforce from my system, because I did not know that this game was starforce protected. 

I'm playing the latest version in the Crazy Machines series: Elements released today.

The same formula as before, building Rube Goldberg-style contraptions to meet certain goals powered by Nvidia PhysX, now with even better graphics and elements like fire, water and wind.

Heaps of fun guaranteed. The crazy machines series are the best puzzle games ever 

Currently playing: Prince of Qin, a game based on chinese history, with a dash of chinese mythology from the Qin dynasty. I don't know exactly how close it sticks to historical facts yet, but it seems like an interesting game. 

I'm playing Mass Effect 2 again, finishing my renegade Shepard.

As you can see in my signature i gave up my EA boycott and bought the final ME today 

Plodding my way through Prince of Qin. The game is horribly poorly translated, but the story itself is interesting enough and the game is fun. I just wish that there would be less guesswork in finding out which dialogue option to pick, as they are from time to time rather unclear.

I also just decided to pull another backloggery fortune cookie from the pile and got: Exzsisus

Originally Posted By markornikov (27 FEB 2012 4:18pm)

I'm playing Mass Effect 2 again, finishing my renegade Shepard.

 

As you can see in my signature i gave up my EA boycott and bought the final ME today 

 

I'm loving the Mass Effect games. Good mix of character and mechanics (although I wasn't too fond of the intro of random ammo drops in 2, I preferred the weapon overheat mechanics in 1).

Originally Posted By Fnord (24 FEB 2012 3:18pm)

Currently playing: Prince of Qin, a game based on chinese history, with a dash of chinese mythology from the Qin dynasty. I don't know exactly how close it sticks to historical facts yet, but it seems like an interesting game. 

I started that once.  I still have it, I wonder if it'll play in 7.  Well, plz let us know how you like it.

Oh! Guess what I started up just for fun to see if it would work in 7... - Diablo 2.  It's hilarious to see the way the characters walk... 

...and to think that seemed perfectly normal to us way back when.  The intro still looks pretty cool though, even by today's standards;- those games from way back when often had pretty advanced into's.

I bought the two latest DLC's for Mass Effect 2, and I must say The Lair Of The Shadow Broker is loads of fun Spoiler Alertespecially the taxi chase on Illium

Originally Posted By markornikov (29 FEB 2012 5:11pm)

I bought the two latest DLC's for Mass Effect 2, and I must say The Lair Of The Shadow Broker is loads of fun Spoiler Alertespecially the taxi chase on Illium

Oh no, don't tell me they're good. As much as I'd like to extend my Mass Effect 2 experience, I was turned off by the price to gameplay ratio of the earlier pay-for DLC's I'd played (Kasumi and Overlord) and have been trying to ignore any future ME2 DLC.

I'm currently working on Icewind Dale 2, Chapter 4. They clearly didn't spend much of their budget on story or dialogue, but they did make combat fairly solid and quite tactical, so I'm enjoying that part a lot. I'm glad it's turned out to be fun as it's something of a gaming milestone for me, the last of the classic Bioware RPG's I have left to play.

Originally Posted By Andromus (29 FEB 2012 7:56pm)

Originally Posted By markornikov (29 FEB 2012 5:11pm)

I bought the two latest DLC's for Mass Effect 2, and I must say The Lair Of The Shadow Broker is loads of fun Spoiler Alertespecially the taxi chase on Illium

 

Oh no, don't tell me they're good. As much as I'd like to extend my Mass Effect 2 experience, I was turned off by the price to gameplay ratio of the earlier pay-for DLC's I'd played (Kasumi and Overlord) and have been trying to ignore any future ME2 DLC.

 

Once i've finished them, i'll tell you whether or not their worth their price 

Originally Posted By Traveller (28 FEB 2012 11:29am)

Originally Posted By Fnord (24 FEB 2012 3:18pm)

Currently playing: Prince of Qin, a game based on chinese history, with a dash of chinese mythology from the Qin dynasty. I don't know exactly how close it sticks to historical facts yet, but it seems like an interesting game. 

 

I started that once.  I still have it, I wonder if it'll play in 7.  Well, plz let us know how you like it.

 

Oh! Guess what I started up just for fun to see if it would work in 7... - Diablo 2.  It's hilarious to see the way the characters walk... 

 

...and to think that seemed perfectly normal to us way back when.  The intro still looks pretty cool though, even by today's standards;- those games from way back when often had pretty advanced into's.

Blizzard really did make great cutscenes back then. Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, Starcraft, they all had some of the best cutscenes at the time. 

Prince of Qin is not an outstanding game, but it is rather nice. It plays a bit like a more slow paced and story driven Throne of Darkness, which in turn played like a party based Diablo 2. I just wish the translation would have been better, because the story is a bit unclear. 

And for those interested: The main character in the game was actually a real historical person. He was asked to commit suicide in reality as well, though unlike in the game, he actually complied. 

*cheers* I can return to Prince of Qin again, after a "slight" computer malfunction. But like one of those pesky zombies from Thief, who just won't stay down, my computer does, once again, rise from the dead. And in honor of this, I'm officially renaming it "Zombie" (previous name was Eris, which I thought was fitting for a computer)

*edit*

Tried the KoA demo, and there were no messed up textures! The game ran smoothly as well, so I'm definitely adding that to my "to play soon" list. And I still have that gift code left, so getting the game should not put a big dent in my pocket. 

Originally Posted By Andromus (29 FEB 2012 7:56pm)

Originally Posted By markornikov (29 FEB 2012 5:11pm)

I bought the two latest DLC's for Mass Effect 2, and I must say The Lair Of The Shadow Broker is loads of fun Spoiler Alertespecially the taxi chase on Illium

 

Oh no, don't tell me they're good. As much as I'd like to extend my Mass Effect 2 experience, I was turned off by the price to gameplay ratio of the earlier pay-for DLC's I'd played (Kasumi and Overlord) and have been trying to ignore any future ME2 DLC.

 

Lair of the shadow broker was definitely worth it, even though it only adds one mission, it's a unique one and the dlc adds some extra features to the game once you've finished it.

Arrival only adds one short mission, but it's a strong one and is a clear link between ME 2 & 3.

I wonder if there's an effect in ME3 whether or not you've done this mission though

I've done my playthrough of the Mass Effects with a renegade shepard.

Things didn't always go as planned, especially during the final mission, lost a few people.

Sometimes this game is so unpredicable, even after several playthroughs, but i've decided to run with it.

I'm getting really curious about what impact everything will have in ME3, only 5 days left  

I seem to have some bad games streak going on. Yesterday I tried Crusades: Quest for power (a game which was supposed to be, according to its creators, relatively historically accurate). It turned out to be one of the absolutely worst RTSs I've ever tried to play. ½€ down the drain right there. Now I decided to let Backloggery decide what game to play, and it picked Star Assault. That game managed to bug out on me two times... during its first mission. Clearly a poorly tested and made game (good thing I got it in a compilation, and did not pay for it individually)

Originally Posted By markornikov (3 MAR 2012 6:07pm)

Originally Posted By Andromus (29 FEB 2012 7:56pm)

Originally Posted By markornikov (29 FEB 2012 5:11pm)

I bought the two latest DLC's for Mass Effect 2, and I must say The Lair Of The Shadow Broker is loads of fun Spoiler Alertespecially the taxi chase on Illium

 

Oh no, don't tell me they're good. As much as I'd like to extend my Mass Effect 2 experience, I was turned off by the price to gameplay ratio of the earlier pay-for DLC's I'd played (Kasumi and Overlord) and have been trying to ignore any future ME2 DLC.

 

 

Lair of the shadow broker was definitely worth it, even though it only adds one mission, it's a unique one and the dlc adds some extra features to the game once you've finished it.

 

Arrival only adds one short mission, but it's a strong one and is a clear link between ME 2 & 3.

I wonder if there's an effect in ME3 whether or not you've done this mission though

 

 

Well, I'm almost persuaded to try them, particularly if the last one introduces ME 3.

I accidentally read how ME3 will starts and now I now for certain the story continues after the events of Arrival.

Not that it is necessary to complete the suicide mission first though

I want to share my current situation with you.

According to Steam, I have played a total of 30mins of Skyrim in the last month.

Here, it's important to stress that I haven't played anything besides Skyrim, so you can see... my case is serious.

In other words, these days I'm so busy I don't even have time to scratch my nose!

I miss those days when I would get home after work and have a couple of hours to do whatever I liked (games, books...).

Now, all the free time I have is dedicated to my master thesis!

oh well... hopefully in a few months I'll be able to post frequently again!

I'm sorry for the rant... 

Originally Posted By Inesrocks (5 MAR 2012 12:11pm)

 

Now, all the free time I have is dedicated to my master thesis!

 

oh well... hopefully in a few months I'll be able to post frequently again!

 

I'm sorry for the rant... 

Go brother!

some darn addictive browser game, try to find all 250 possible combinations if you can.

Yes you can make a jedi or frankenstein out of the 4 elements 

http://littlealchemy.com/

I recently started Arx Fatalis. I've started it several times in the past, but each and every time I quickly gave up on it, the game just did not appeal to me. But now I forced myself through this early part, and the game is really starting to grow on me. Much like with Jagged Alliance 2, I really should not have judged the game so soon, first impression is not everything.

I'm bored with my mass effect playthroughs, so i started Dragon Age: Origins for the first time as a human warrior.

Enjoying it a lot so far 

Originally Posted By Inesrocks (5 MAR 2012 12:11pm)

I want to share my current situation with you.

According to Steam, I have played a total of 30mins of Skyrim in the last month.

 

Here, it's important to stress that I haven't played anything besides Skyrim, so you can see... my case is serious.

 

 

In other words, these days I'm so busy I don't even have time to scratch my nose!

 

I miss those days when I would get home after work and have a couple of hours to do whatever I liked (games, books...).

Now, all the free time I have is dedicated to my master thesis!

 

oh well... hopefully in a few months I'll be able to post frequently again!

 

I'm sorry for the rant... 

All the best for your thesis, Ines!  Let us know how it goes.  I know exactly what you mean - I've gone from a fairly hard-core gamer to what feels like a very occasional gamer...

Originally Posted By markornikov (18 MAR 2012 8:57am)

I'm bored with my mass effect playthroughs, so i started Dragon Age: Origins for the first time as a human warrior.

Enjoying it a lot so far