Would you say that Risen is woth the effort, man? I was eyeing it the other day and thinking it might be worth a try some time after Dragon Age Origins. But then I remembered there's also Ego Draconis to consider... Damn.

As for Mass Effect, well, I know I've been badmouthing that game quite a lot and it deserves it no less, but I imagine it must be stupidly cheap on Amazon by now, so... I'd get it if I didn't have it already.

As for this

"The multiplayer component is especially fascinating. Producer Takeshi Kajii invented it after an experience when he and several other motorists were stuck in a snowstorm. They all got out of their cars to help each other out of the snow, one at a time, but once a car was freed, the driver had to keep going or he/she'd get stuck again. So no one was able to stop and thank their fellow drivers or even really communicate. They were all complete strangers helping each other and then vanishing. The result is a multiplayer side that I've never really experienced before, and which is really a huge portion of the game's value."

Wow, what a story!!! Didn't know that and... yes, essentially, this is exactly how the game feels to me. (Aside for oportunistic fucks who will give you fake warnings and lure you into traps so they can invade your game and kill you, but that improves the experience anyway.)

Belated post!

Yeah I read Abyss of Addiction when it was posted and that was what put Demon's Souls on the radar for me. Incidentally I re-read it before posting my question! I spoke to my friend some more about it and he echoed what both you and Steerpike said about failure being so brutal. This is something I can live with providing the game plays fair and by the sounds of things it does. What I think has seduced me is the tension that will be wrought from such a punishing death and of course the risk/reward dynamic that comes with it. I also liked the eerie silence as my friend trampsed around the castle.

Anyway I bought it last night but the site went under maintenance while my card was verifying - very annoying - and now the company isn't responding to my emails to confirm they received my payment!  It's too close to my Christmas holiday for shit like that to be happening!! That would be a kick to the balls if it arrived when I go back to work... [Image Can Not Be Found]

I've finally got round to playing Penumbra and it's paptastically scary. I've ordered some man-sized Huggies just in case.

I picked up Freespace 2 on GOG a while back, as well. Though I haven't sat down with it for more than an hour. Echoing something I read in one of Steerpike's reviews, it is often very hard to get into an old game that you initially missed during its in period.

I've also posted about my beginnings recently in the world of Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl. Most recently I've been very tempted to put my sawed-off shotgun to the back of some guy's head who is twiddling on a guitar around a campfire ... alas, I find more value in my living than in his dying.

As it is almost January 26, 2010, I've also been preparing my "proper" go-round of Mass Effect in time for the glorious sequel. In response to some of those who posted around the holidays in this thread: ME definitely does have a slow and frustrating start. Especially if you choose Therum as your first destination once you command the Normandy (the planet where you find Dr. T'Soni). All I can say to you is to go back and give it another try. If you're having trouble with the combat-- which as a few people have said: it tried to be Gears of War-ish, but didn't work exactly-- you can use the aim assist feature to soften the difficulty, and it works quite well.

Being a BioWare devotee I grabbed ME upon its initial November 2007 release, played it for about a week, got frustrated with the ridiculous driving portions in the Mako, and didn't touch the game for another two months. When I finally came back I was determined; and I finally did get by that damned driving portion on Therum and went on to find much joy in the game, that which I probably couldn't relate here in any fewer than ten-thousand words.

Anyway, if you fancy yourself a big sci-fi-aholic you owe it to yourself to see the game through. While the main story is not anywhere near as revelatory as Knights of the Old Republic's nor as subtle or moving as Jade Empire's, it does well enough to carry the experience along. I found most of my satisfaction with it came during individual missions or character interactions, not the overarching story. Particularly if you enjoy Star Trek-like fiction, you know, the "future of humanity in space" sort of thing, you might be surprised and find many sublime moments throughout; whether it's through conversation, exploration, sheer imagination, or small things like the detailed descriptions of otherwise seemingly useless planets, there is a lot of good in Mass Effect that helped me fill in some of the holes left elsewhere.

I'm hoping Mass Effect 2 delivers all this, improved tenfold.

Oh, and a couple tips for any who return to ME: maxing out Liara's Singulatiry power and Tali's AI Hacking will greatly aid you in combat. And Wrex makes a fine meat shield.

Phew, I've talked enough!

Wow, is it the Fo3 version with all the "DLC" attached? (It's sad to me that anyone generally new to gaming, i.e. they've discovered it during the so-called seventh generation of consoles, is being raised, so to speak, in this environment where extra content, aka "DLC," is viewed as a nice low-priced treat. To drop a grand cliché, back in the day I remember they either gave it away for free (a patch!) or had the balls to claim it as a substantial half-priced retail product (expansion pack!) Heck, can you imagine how much money Blizzard could make if they retroactively charged Battle.net accounts for every balance patch they slapped onto StarCraft?)

Er, parenthesized rant aside there, that's a nice pickup.

Steerpike, I've had Modern Warfare 2 since launch and oddly haven't touched the single-player campaign. I've spent but all my hours on it blundering around in the castrated PC multi-player suite. I really can't do the twitch shooters (and I make no mistake that CoD is a twitchy shooter, not a tactical one) when it involves other humans. They're just too good...and I have to go to work sometimes.

My piece of advice today: do not under any circumstances fire up a new game of Plants vs. Zombies at 11:30pm on a week night. It's just way too addicting. And they trick you but not having a quit or save button, too. Dastardly!

I've finally gotten around to playing Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. It seems a tad easier than the originals, but it's still just as crazy/quirky. Never fear, I have picked the up new one with Miles, but I won't crack the shrink-wrap until I'm done with this one.