Video game thread. Huzzah!

[t-rey]

After the little bit of E3 I've read about, I'm finally starting to have some interest in a PS4 or XboxOne.

Still have a tremendous backlog to get through first though. Up next - God of War 3. Yep, that's how far behind I am.

[AngryGoldfish]

Totally become addicted to buying games on Steam. I have 28 games now and I've probably spent no more than $100 since February. Under normal circumstances that would get me two new releases and that's it.

At the moment I'm playing Hotline Miami. Might try and play Fez with my little sister.

[Wes Mantooth]

Started DS2 new game plus today, so far so good. Really hoping there's a boss that takes me more than 3 tries to kill this time.

[dubhain]

Whoa! Haven't been around for a while (been in Ireland for two weeks, great trip! Highly recommended place to visit).

Really excited about Bloodborne!

I'm currently playing the Destiny alpha and it seems alright so far. Granted it is just an alpha so there is a lot of stuff to work out. I didn't even plan on playing the alpha but they invited me to try it and I figured why not?

Have any of you tried Entwined yet that was announced at E3? It's not bad I finished up to the start of the 8th lifetime so far. It can get frustrating toward the later lifetimes but still a neat game. Like the concept of controlling two characters at once.

I like the idea from Far Cry 4 that you can invite your PS friends to play with you and they don't even need to own the game to play along.

Anyone interested in PS Now or PS TV?

I think the biggest level of excitement for me was Uncharted 4 though. Love that series! Can't wait to see how they next-gen up Drake and that world.

[AngryGoldfish]

You were in Ireland? Oh cool. Whereabouts do you mind me asking?

[dubhain]

I don't mind at all.

We (my wife and I) flew into/out of Dublin. I was there for five nights then was staying aroung the Thurles area for three nights as we think that is where my family was from originally. One of the first businesses we saw walking on the main street had the family name on it. We were in Kilkenny for a night then in Cork for a night, Killarney for two nights, and then back to Dublin (actually a hotel by the airport) for the last night.

While in Dublin, we went to Howth for a day and to Newgrange/Tara for a day (as far as excursions outside the city went). While around Thurles (we rented a car for the Thurles/Kilkenny part of the trip), we went to Cashel, Cahir, Mitchellstown (for the caves), Nenagh, the Cliffs of Moher, and Ennis. We were in these areas on the weekend of the bank holiday so unfortunately a lot of stuff was closed. We stuck to Kilkenny the whole time we were there exploring the castle and such what. In Cork, we went to Blarney and did the whole Blarney Stone thing. In Killarney, we did the Ring of Kerry and Muckross House/Torc Waterfall.

Didn't get to do everything we wanted to but we certainly did a lot . It was a great trip (my first outside North America)! I'd love to go back and explore the north part of the island. A lot of people were saying we should check out Galway and Belfast. Two weeks just wasn't enough. Where in Ireland are you from, if you don't mind my asking?

[AngryGoldfish]

Woah, you did lots. In fact, you've done more than I have and I've lived here most of my life!

I live in Sligo, in the Northwest. It's a nice city/town and has plenty of bars and shops, but I love Galway. It's small yet has everything you need and is full of life. If there were a train route between Sligo and Galway I'd go there for weekends all the time. Sadly there is only a bus route and I get terrible sickness and anxiety on buses. I hate cars too but I at least can pull over in a car and stop for ten minutes to gather myself. Trainz fo l1fe.

We actually had gorgeous weather today. The best of the year so far. Hopefully we'll have a summer as nice as last years'. We had three weeks of 20-25 degrees of sun. I know that's not a lot for many, but for us that's a huge deal. Ireland is without a doubt the most beautiful country I've ever seen... when the sun shines. If we had more consistent weather I think Ireland would be as populated as the UK. Would that be a good thing? No, because it would ruin much of the natural beauty, but it does illustrate the importance of sunshine here. When we get it, our world stops turning for a little while and everyone becomes happy. Then when the rain and cold comes again, we put our heads back into the grind.

[dubhain]

I really enjoyed travelling by train while I was there. I had only travelled by train once in Canada and it was great but it is just such an expensive (and slow) way to travel here that trains are mostly used for transport of goods. It does provide you with some amazing scenery though that you can't see otherwise however so I can't knock the train system here entirely. The province I'm originally from doesn't even have trains anymore (not since the early 80s) so I never even rode a train until I was in my early twenties. Plus the trains and buses in Ireland all have wifi!

There was only one scary part about driving a car over there for me and it was the really narrow roads where it is basically one lane but two-way traffic and the speed limit is 80km/hr and you can't see around any bends because of hedges or fences. Didn't mind driving on the other side of the car/road at all otherwise.

We had quite a few nice days weatherwise while we were there. A few days in a row of sunny and between 20-25. Actually got sunburnt pretty badly on the first sunny day. Otherwise it was in the 10 to 15 range and cloudy or raining, which was still fine by me. Ireland still looks pretty darn good even in the rain. Couldn't believe how lush the vegetation is there; felt like I was in a rainforest in some parts. I feel like we got a good approximation of the range of summer weather during our trip. No storms though. The weather wasn't all that different from what I grew up with though.

Maybe I'll post some pics of the trip when I get a chance. My wife took about 2000 so we're still sorting through them even though we've been back for a week as of today.

[AngryGoldfish]

I really enjoyed travelling by train while I was there. I had only travelled by train once in Canada and it was great but it is just such an expensive (and slow) way to travel here that trains are mostly used for transport of goods. It does provide you with some amazing scenery though that you can't see otherwise however so I can't knock the train system here entirely. The province I'm originally from doesn't even have trains anymore (not since the early 80s) so I never even rode a train until I was in my early twenties. Plus the trains and buses in Ireland all have wifi!

There was only one scary part about driving a car over there for me and it was the really narrow roads where it is basically one lane but two-way traffic and the speed limit is 80km/hr and you can't see around any bends because of hedges or fences. Didn't mind driving on the other side of the car/road at all otherwise.

We had quite a few nice days weatherwise while we were there. A few days in a row of sunny and between 20-25. Actually got sunburnt pretty badly on the first sunny day. Otherwise it was in the 10 to 15 range and cloudy or raining, which was still fine by me. Ireland still looks pretty darn good even in the rain. Couldn't believe how lush the vegetation is there; felt like I was in a rainforest in some parts. I feel like we got a good approximation of the range of summer weather during our trip. No storms though. The weather wasn't all that different from what I grew up with though.

Maybe I'll post some pics of the trip when I get a chance. My wife took about 2000 so we're still sorting through them even though we've been back for a week as of today.

Trains are only practical for short distances in built up areas. America and Canada are just too big for trains to be a viable option. Obviously there are trains and subways in cities though.

Yeah, driving in Ireland is weird. We have smaller cars and smaller roads, with more holes than a Swiss mountain path. My road is very small and will only fit one car, but they drive down it at 40mph. Very dangerous, for both pedestrians and vehicles. We have a lot of families in my neighbourhood and we're always out walking, so we have to be on high alert all the time. The crazy thing is, most of the drivers speeding are not actually speeding. They're within the limit, it's just a ridiculously fast limit and is highly unsafe for such rural roads. You do get used to it, but at first it's a frightening experience. The same happened to me when I went to Morocco.

It's the colours that make Ireland so beautiful. Everything is indeed very lush and natural in appearance. Most of the areas are never touched apart from cattle and sheep and the odd farmer. With that said, there is a terrible amount of litter here and there are many unkempt areas that ruin the natural beauty. That's going to happen everywhere, but it's always a shame seeing McDonalds rappers everywhere.

Here is a picture I took today on my phone while walking to pick up my sister from school:

Ireland - home.jpg (311.86 KiB) Viewed 5870 times

[t-rey]

Started God of War 3 last night. I regret waiting so long to get around to it.

[dubhain]

How far into the game are you? Just wait until you get toward the end....

[t-rey]

I only had like 20 minutes to play (#dadproblems) so the Titans are still all over Olympus and I'm climbing upward fighting hordes of enemies. I just finished the remastered psp games, so I got used to those and was thoroughly unprepared for the graphics, cinematic feel, and number of enemies.

[dubhain]

The sense of scale in that game is amazing! You get a real sense that the Titans are just massive. So you haven't faced the first boss yet then?

You're definitely right about Ireland's colours and natural beauty, AngryGoldfish. The untouched-ness of the land in Ireland is definitely appealing.

It was the same thing with us walking on a rural road with some houses/families around, the drivers were driving the speed limit on a one lane road with blind corners/hills. The speed limit should absolutely be lower under those circumstances.

Sorry about going off-topic again, guys.

[colin]

The only God of War I've played was the original back on the PS2, I remember quite liking it. I got a God of War bundle PS3 several months ago and haven't played any of them yet. Which game should I start with? I know I should maybe go back to the first one, but realistically I don't have a ton of gaming time anymore and there's no way I'm plowing through all six(?) of them within the next decade. I'll likely only play two or maybe three tops.

[dubhain]

They are all great games but, imo, you should go with 2 and 3 since you've already played the first one. I can't speak to the other GOW games as I haven't played them....yet.