penumbren: That's part of the reason I never started the Telltale ones, even after I picked them up during different sales. I'm really enjoying S&M:HtR (even if I do giggle inappropriately every time I type out "S&M"); it has excellent voice acting, and the animations are just amazing. I suspect Telltale's games will actually be somewhat of a letdown in comparison, just because I still generally prefer pixel art to 3D. I'm old-fashioned that way.

Grim I've been looking forward to just because it's so incredibly unique and I never got to play the original - I can deal with 3D there. *g* Speaking of... If it hadn't been for xckx's generosity and some amazing luck on my part, I too would be waiting until this weekend to buy/play Grim. Somehow, I actually won his giveaway for it and, if I'm being honest, have been looking plaintively at it every single day on my game shelf, waiting for the "Soon" flag to go away. Yep, I'm pathetic sometimes.

penumbren: Bwahahahahah. Nope, not looking like a Smurf, although that's a pretty funny image indeed. It's still a miserable pile of crap, yes, although less miserable than yesterday, so I'll take what I can get. I really hate how these things can come on in less than an hour. Wake up feeling great, by noon snuffing and choking and wheezing. Bleh.

Our cats do this, too. When we had six, they ranged in age from 18 to 2. Even the eldest, who definitely knew better, would walk between my ankles for attention. Now that we have three (two age 15 and one almost 5), they're just as bad. The 15-year-olds are more demanding than the youngest one, since in their minds, they're still kittens. In my mind, they've outlived their mother, so they're entitled to it. :) Even if I do swear at them every I trip over one of them.

ETA: Bleh. So much for Double Fine's "tightening up the optimization" for Grim before release. It's still demanding OpenGL 3.3, and this computer can only do 3.1. I'll be stealing my hubby's for this game... tomorrow. >.<

CarrionCrow: This should give you enough info to get a feel for how bad it is.

adaliabooks: Lol. Sounds hilarious, almost makes me want to play it... did I mention I love grinding in RPGs? ;)

CarrionCrow: I have a pack of roughly 3 to 4 year olds here to deal with, along with a roughly 5 to 6 year old mother, for a grand total of 7 cats. Add 3 large dogs to it, combined with a small space, and I'll either end up being remarkably agile for a person of my size, or I'll end up twisting an ankle, one of the two.

CarrionCrow: Yes, you did, and I remembered your statement as I read that.

But here's the next question - do you still love grinding, even when you know that your efforts are being minimized by the developers apparently suffering simultaneous brain hemorrhages while designing it?

adaliabooks: We have two cats, both about 10 or 11. They are both insane in their own special way. They have a penchant for stealing things, but they would make terrible burglars because they howl like they are being murdered while doing it. Case in point, one of them spent all last night dragging any item of clothing she could get her paws on around the house and howling like a banshee.
The other one likes paperwork and plastic. He's also a vicious little bugger (with me anyway) and I dare not touch him if I don't want to be scratched.
But that's cats. What kind of dogs have you got? I'd love a pack of big dogs, but we haven't got the time, space or money at the moment.
adaliabooks: Lol. Yeah, that's the bit that put me off. Grinding, yay. Awfully broken game? Boo.
Might have to read the play through though, sounds like it could be fun.

CarrionCrow: There's one collie, one golden retriever and one mixed-breed (I know she's large and has multiple layers of medium-length hair, but since she was picked up in the desert after some piece of shit ditched her out there as a pup to die, I can't comment on breed with any certainty).

It's pros and cons. You definitely need space, and you can kiss buying anything but the largest bags of dog food goodbye. It gets purchased here 50 pounds at a time.

CarrionCrow: In all probability, you'll be far better off avoiding the game and enjoying the person writing about it.
The idea is to provide some kind of customization for your two-member party, but I can't think of anything that puts out a 50 foot wide burning red flag like the fact of needing to pick up a very specific person as your partner or else there's a chance you can't beat the game.

I never did get very far with it, but one of the twists on the standard idea of "go here, get super special items to save the world" is that one of the other six characters can potentially beat you to the punch, at which point you have to track them down and take them out in order to regain said item.
And since doing so is going to be awfully difficult in a game with broken leveling and stat distribution, odds are you won't be able to somehow one-shot kill a virtually invulnerable super priest.

adaliabooks: Sounds great. We used to have a retriever, they're lovely dogs. I want a Great Dane myself, although right now one of these is high on my list because they are beautiful :)

adaliabooks: Sounds like one of those games full of interesting ideas that have been really badly implemented. Shame, who knows, it might even have been good if they'd got it right..

CarrionCrow: That sucks. No clue why the requirements had to be spiked for a game that's frigging old. You make the high-gloss version for people with better gear, and keep the original as an option for those who want the original experience and/or don't have the tech level hardware-wise to run it otherwise.

CarrionCrow: Yes, they certainly are good looking creatures.
You might eventually snap one day after cleaning shed hair for a year or two from every cloth-based thing you and yours own, causing you to shave the dog bald from one end to the other, but they do look nice as dogs go.

Maybe...I can't read Japanese, so I can't check out an unported version to see what the hell's going on.
I'm just stuck with the broken nightmare that it is now.

Also, I'd actually suggest you not play it, for your own sanity if nothing else.
Besides, you'll be able to experience it vicariously as I wail, shriek and gnash my teeth attempting to complete it after 20 years.

penumbren: Because reasons! seems to be their answer. That, and OpenGL 3.3 is apparently four years old... which, funny enough, is just about how old my laptop is. >.< I'm downloading a video driver now, but I'm pretty sure I'm just screwed. Which is pretty screwed up, honestly, since I can run Microsoft Office 2013 and Corel PSP whatever-the-newest-version-number is, and you'd think that at least the graphics editing program might be demanding. I dunno. If only I lived on credit and/or made money hand over fist as so many other gamers apparently do, it wouldn't be a problem - I could go buy a new computer tomorrow. As it is, what do you think I could get for my $5.00 Best Buy credit? >.<

Oh, and apparently the original is an option you can choose to lower demanding settings... once you've got the program running. Which it won't, if you don't meet the OpenGL minimum requirements.

Argh.

Well, I told Chris I might be stealing his laptop for this one. Hopefully his has the stupid requirement - I haven't even checked yet, but we only bought it three months ago.

adaliabooks: Lol. It's ok, me and my girlfriend are both OCD crazy so we clean like mad anyway. What's a little more hair?

Don't worry, I have no intention of playing it really. I have too many good games with not enogh time to play to waste time on broken ones, and I don't share your passion for inflicting mental self harm through the medium of bad games ;)

penumbren: Because reasons! seems to be their answer. That, and OpenGL 3.3 is apparently four years old... which, funny enough, is just about how old my laptop is. >.< I'm downloading a video driver now, but I'm pretty sure I'm just screwed. Which is pretty screwed up, honestly, since I can run Microsoft Office 2013 and Corel PSP whatever-the-newest-version-number is, and you'd think that at least the graphics editing program might be demanding. I dunno. If only I lived on credit and/or made money hand over fist as so many other gamers apparently do, it wouldn't be a problem - I could go buy a new computer tomorrow. As it is, what do you think I could get for my $5.00 Best Buy credit? >.<

CarrionCrow: "A little"...
That's funny. -laughs-
Every time a dog gets brushed here, there's enough hair to make a chihuahua out of it.

Not planning on playing every shit game known to man, thankfully. Just need to clear out a few so I can stop thinking about them.

penumbren: And... OMFG. Acer's update system can go fuck a duck. I just directly downloaded the AMD video driver they had on their website and spent 20 minutes installing it... guess what? I now have OpenGL 4.1.

O.O

This, after repeated attempts at using Acer's update thingy, which kept assuring me I was completely up to date. <insert whatever expletives desired here, because I guarantee you they've been used.>

adaliabooks: Well, if OpenGl is the problem then a photo editor wouldn't (shouldn't) be affected. As far as I'm aware opengl is just for 3D stuff (or 2d games rendered by a 3d engine).
adaliabooks: Are you sure? ;)

I can live with the hair. I just miss having a dog. I love dogs (more than most people if I'm honest)

As for awful games, you should pick up an N64 and get Superman 64 widely lauded as one of the worst games ever made in the history of awful games. There are others too... one of the Mortal Kombat games, I believe the one where they tried to make it a side scrolling beat em up, was described by the reviewers at N64 magazine as being less fun than having battery acid poured in your eyes...

penumbren: So sorry, didn't see this! Yes, apart from the lingering headache, random ear stuffiness, ongoing runny nose alternating with stuffy nose, and randomly coughing things up... I'm great! :)

penumbren: And... OMFG. Acer's update system can go fuck a duck. I just directly downloaded the AMD video driver they had on their website and spent 20 minutes installing it... guess what? I now have OpenGL 4.1.

O.O

This, after repeated attempts at using Acer's update thingy, which kept assuring me I was completely up to date. <insert whatever expletives desired here, because I guarantee you they've been used.>

So, it takes a bit to load, but I can run Grim Fandango! Woohoo! Now I don't feel like the pope wasted his money.

Don't hurt me for saying this, but... I've never watched Fight Club. Had the ending spoiled for me ages ago, found the idea boring, and actively dislike Brad Pitt immensely, so... bleh. Maybe I can go pick up the 30th Anniversary Ghostbusters set from there after I get paid this week... if they still have it. I desperately want the remastered ones, because my old DVDs look like shit on HD tvs.

penumbren: That's what I thought, but given that I've run any number of graphically-demanding games on this laptop, I'm still astounded that it's a remade point and click adventure game that forced me into crisis mode. Just... really? Really? Sorry, I'm still in frustrated-and-not-a-rich-gamer-like-too-many-entitled-whiners-I've-seen-online-lately mode. (Also, that's not directed at anyone, I swear. Like I said - frustrated.) At least I finally forced my drivers to update, which seems to have fixed the problem.

CarrionCrow: I...hope so? -laughs while groaning at the possibilities-

Understandable, I tend to like the cats a lot more than most people.
If nothing else, they're very open and honest about what they do and do not want.

I'll have to try that further down the line. Have to clear out my GOG list before I can start the monumental task of console collecting.
I have seen video of that, though, so I'm aware that it's absolutely atrocious. Will need to track down which exact Mortal Kombat game is being mentioned.