Ah, cool, I'm somewhat interested in the Souls series. If I am to get into it at all I would prefer to just play one as dungeon crawlers are typically not my forte. Also, is there much micromanaging of stats in the Souls series? Thanks for the detailed response.

Personally I would go with Demons Souls, it is by far my favorite in the series followed by Dark Souls 2, I found the original Dark Souls over bearing and extremely frustrating at times.

Demons Souls you pick your path through it and the bosses can be manipulated depending on your build. As an example Flamelurker, if you equip the Clever Rats Ring you can sneak past him to the stairs behind where he starts, then lock on and cast poison cloud over and over to kill him. It is a bit more manageable overall I found. You have to play it slowly and methodically to get through it. I just found it more enjoyable than the 2 Dark Souls games overall and do revisit it every so often, I am currently on my 3rd play through now on it but a bit stuck on World 4 with the heavy skeletons and the narrow cliff side path!!

No, you just add points in the same way as you would any other RPG, strength, dex etc As an example one of the areas is full of poison so plough points into the stat that reduces poison damage and wear the poison bite ring and you can just work your way through it

But yeah, if you have PS3 go for Demons Souls definitely and if you like it go for Dark Souls 2

Gods vs Humans

Destroy a tower. Over and over and over again. That is all there is. The objective is to do that without pissing off the "humans" (more like sentient black blobs) too much though. They need to be happy in order to earn you more "worship points" which you need if you want to have access to more powerful spells in which to destroy the tower with. If you zap them in the ass, they will get angry and build the tower faster. This is my main problem with the game. I don't think it makes sense that you have to wreak havoc upon the towers, but at the same time need to be careful not to hit any living creatures. First of all, many of the spells are AoE spells; thus they are bound to hit at least someone. Second, the humans have a very annoying habit of entering the door just before you hit the mouse button to summon a fireball or whatever. Third, the game would be much more fun if the goal was to really give the little bastards hell instead of being a pussy. Therefor, usually when the tower was almost about to fall, I'd just summon fireball after fireball, not caring who it hits and whether or not the worship meter would plummet to zero as a result. It's all the same in the end.

My secondary problem with the game is that it's way, way too long. 75 levels of repetitive tower smashing is just too much. I had seen everything there is to see by the 5th level or so (not to mention, already being bored by then). Two to three hours would've been a fine length: not eight hours. And I didn't even touch the optional extra challenge levels - or the harder difficulty! I don't know how the developers expect anyone to continue on to those after the initial adventure mode. I was sick of the game at this point and I suspect so will everyone else who has beaten the game.

My third problem was that the game is simply tedious to play. Oh what fun it is when only one of four pillars on a floor is left standing, but then you run out of mana and have to helplessly watch how the repairmen fix the whole floor in turbo mode (because they're usually angry as fuck at that point). Not to mention: it doesn't matter in how shitty condition the floor is: if they manage to upgrade it to be sturdier while you're blasting it (not sure how it all works), boom: the floor gets full HP just like that, in a blink of an eye. I thought I was the miracle worker here! Luckily, I found a way around this: there's a power that summons a hot babe and all they can do then, is drool as they watch her. During this, you can unleash a fucking armageddon if you want to and they just don't care. Rinse and repeat, until the floor is fucked. Not sure if this is a bug or a feature, but it saved me my sanity in the last ten levels or so.

Anyway, as you can tell, I really can't recommend the game. It looks cutesy and has a neat idea behind it, but the execution is all-around poor. Avoid.

Thanks for the info! Yeah it was the bar area that took forever (probably around a full hour itself) compared to the previous areas and pretty much doused my interest in the game, I was enjoying it immensely until then. If there is only an hour or so left then I'll try and finish it then, thanks again!

I like what I've played of Stacking (70% through?) but it gives me motion sickness. Not sure if it's just cuz my APU-equipped laptop is not up to snuff or if it's the game itself.

It could be the narrow field of view. A lot of people complained about headaches and motion sickness, so they patched the game to let you change the FOV in the options menu.
I got a headache pretty quickly from playing it, but once I widened the FOV my headaches stopped.

Darkstone:

I have to run off in a minute so no time for an in-depth review but I noticed there haven't been any 'game finished' posts about this game aside from F4LL0UT's post last year so if you're looking for information about this game or if you're on the fence about a purchase, feel free to ask and I'll answer whatever questions you have based on my experience.

Just got my first successful run of The Binding of Isaac Rebirth on my PS Vita. Excellent game, considering that I never could get accustomed to the original version I own on Steam, given that I can't be bothered to get joy2key to emulate keyboard keys on my joypad.

I wasn't sure i would be hooked by that game, but I found it to be of the exactly perfect lenght and difficulty. Each time I died, I knew it was my fault, not the game's fault. So it got me motivated to try again and again to better my performance. And boom! it pays, since I've beaten the game at least once.

I'll let it rest for a while, I have other games on my Vita I need to finish, but I will definitely get back at Isaac sooner than later.

And that's what I call a good game.

So far in 2014: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2014/post132

House of 1,000 doors. Another hidden object game with puzzle and quest elements. Not the best I've played, but certainly not the worst. I'm surprised at all of the HOGs that have added voicing, animation, puzzles and plot to the games. Definitely worth the bundle price for some times when I can't get into anything deep.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl

Recommended. Enebias' Seal of Approval!
That's all you need to hear. Stop wasting time, go buy it now!

Jokes aside: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is probably the best post-apocalyptic game I have ever played. In this post, I will birefly explain the reasons behind my statement.

First of all: what kind of game is SoC?
Good question: I would define it as a free-roaming FPS with deep RPG and survival horror elements.
You take the role of the "Marked One", a mysterious man who seems to be coming from the center of the Chernobyl Zone of Exclusion, found by a scout in a truck wreckage, close to death and deprived of his memories, with only two words registered on his PDA: "Kill Strelok".
Problem is, you have no idea of who that guy is, where to find him and, most of all, what are the reasons behind that message. You objectives are clear: search for that individual, and you will probably remember who you are... doing so will not be so simple, though.

Your search is obstacled by the Zone itself, a place dangerous like no other, where mutants roam free and "homo homini lupus" is an euphemism.
Imo, the atmosphere of the setting has no equals, aided by an unforgiving and very realistic gameplay: every detail is studied to be as believable as a fictional world could ever be, and the crafting effort made by the developers grants to each player a memorable experience.
This is no Fallout 3: the game is not based on a progressive cheat-unlock,as there are no level ups, no perks, no assisted aiming systems and no progressively increasing parameters – only you, your equipment and your personal skills.
This is one of the aspects of the game I appreciated the most: the sense of progression does not come from unlocking power-ups, but from your own self awareness. In the beginning you will feel like a rookie, struggling to survive with just a few pathetic second-hand weapons and a leather jacket, constantly chased by bandits, monsters, hunger, radiations and anomalies; each time you survive a challenge, though, you start to better handle the weapons, knowing their drawbacks and learning what is the best way to use them; you learn the tactics of your enemies and modify yours in response (notice how the rookies will just go berserk, while the military will cleverly use covers while trying to ambush, flank and outsmart you); you map the area, knowing which places are safe and which are not, this time exploiting radiations and anomalies to * your * advantage; in paractice, you become an expert like a real survivor would. The sense of achievement in that is immense, and way greater than any skill distribution screen. Know that this aspect will never abandon you, challenging you through all the way from the Cordon (the area where other reckless Stalkers like you illegally trespeass from the military guarded stations) to the notorious power plant itself. You begin like a castaway, but you will end with the same skills as veteran SPETSNAZ... if you don't die first, that is.

The sense of dread is constant: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. never uses jump-scares, relying instead in evoking a sense of danger similar to the one I felt in System Shock 2. Each time you leave a safe settlement, you know you are alone and that everyone (and everything) is out hunting, too. Life in the Zone is a brutal run to the last resource, with the hope of surviving against all odds.
If that is still not enough, know that the main quest chain is excellent: whenever you take a glimpse of the real situation, more and more questions arise, forcing your curiosity to dig deeper and deeper.
You know that in doing so you will see things that would be better left unseen and discover terrible secrets that will condemn you to be forever marked and pursued, yet you cannot stop: once you are consciuos of what is happening, you can never turn back.
I admit some moments have been geniunely scary, wisely put toghether by masterful writers, facing you with the unexpected and letting you distinctly feel a silent, heavy pressure.

Before concluding, let me talk a bit more about the gameplay.
Note: I modded the game with the Zone Reclamation Project patch. It fixes a significant amount of bugs and adds a few minor tweaks. Personally, I selected just three: a different order in the title menu (putting "last save" first, replacing the "new game" option), a portable bedroll (used only once to start a mission at night) and the possibility to repair items from two NPCs (rarely used, and it costed exorbitant amounts of rubles).
You have the possibility to use just three weapons at each time: your knife (deadly, but useless in a firefight), a pistol and a main weapon of your choice (among SMG, shotgun, assault rifle, machine gun, sniper rifle and rocket launcher). Each of them has its own peculiarities, no one being useless, and you can tap their full potential only when you personally learn how to use them properly, like you would do with real ones. My only complaint is that, despite the strong realism in each weapon... when looking through a scope the aim is perfectly steady. A bit contradictory.
Taking a few bullets (and with few I mean 2-5) will kill you, so you have to rely on medkits and bandages to stop the bleeding and close the wounds. Later, when armour types start to become varied and you enemies use military-grade equipment, you need to study your position, aim precisely for the weak spotsand change the type of ammo based on your needs (armour piercing round are a bless).
Also, you need to be supplied with food and you should make a clever use of artifacts, mutated objects that can grant you advantage in every situation, if correctly deployed.
The limited carrying capacity of 50kg and the effect of the weight on the fatigue bar are your real enemies, making you slower and forcing you to stop altoghether for exaustion, sometimes in the middle of the battle. While you will find plenty of gear, this limitation will strenghten the need to rely on what you can find, trying to maintain a light backpack at all times.

The faction system is also compelling and believable: each one has its own different morals and goals, and every action has a consequence, changing the balance of powers in the Zone. Thankfully, there is no stupid karma system, but only a straightforward reputation one: mind you own business, and the factions will remain neutral; help them, and you'll make friends; be an idiot or join their enemies and they will be forever hostile. Period.
Personally, I preferred to remain a loner, working for everyone until the missions didn't involve hostilities towards other groups: that way, I was renowed as friendly and reliable with all the non.compulsorily hostile ones.

I could talk about this game for hours, but I will be merciful and stop here: try it yoursleves and be immersed in the pelasure of discovery! :P
Seriously: you cannot go wrong with this purchase. 5 Stars, undobtedly!
I particualrly recommend it to those who enjoyed the new Fallouts: this game is similar (actually, the "innovative" titles from Bethesda resemble this one), only much, much better made.

Note 2: I experienced serious problem of stuttering around fires. The framerate counter still displayed a constant 60, yet each time a fire was on sight they seemed to drop way below 30.
I solved using this settings on my nVidia card

- Maximum pre-rendered frames: 1
- Multi display/mixed gpu acceleration: Single display performance mode .
- Threaded optimization: OFF
- Triple buffering: ON
- Vertical sync: Adaptive

Dreamfall chapters book one done.


what a great beginning. And definetely was worth buying it at full price. even it being so short it had so much to do to see, listen to...

not a difficult game. actually very simple when it comes to gameplay. yet i didn't mind. it was enjoyable trip and i am anxious to play more of it. but i will hold off replaying book one for now. lets see what happens first in book 2,

Depth Hunter 2: Deep Dive

No, it's not some messed up pornographic game despite its title. It's actually a diving "sim". And not too bad at that, either. It's pretty relaxing, the game looks and sounds nice and the pace is pretty slow constantly. I like that, it's nice to play relaxing games too every once in a while. The game is really short though; I did every mission on every location and didn't even hit two hours doing all that. Fun fact: that makes this the first game that I've beaten before even earning all the Steam Trading Cards the game has. Of course, I could back and simply enjoy the free mode, collect coins and stuff, but I don't think I'm going to. Anyway, a nice little game for a little while.

Little Inferno

Bizarre fun little game. Quite unique visual design and sometimes, when you burn things you can't help to feel bad ;)

A nice surprise !

So far in 2014: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/games_finished_in_2014/post132

Explodemon

Loved the humor. As far as gameplay, this platformer and it's exploding mechanic are all right but nothing truly great.

This War of Mine

The sleeper hit of the season. Before seeing it on GOG's frontpage, I didn't even know they were making a game like this. After watching a few YouTube videos of the game, I was sold: I had to get this game. And I don't regret my decision one bit: it's an amazing game. Forget Call of Duty or any other similar "war games": this is the game that truly knows how to depict the horrors of war. You're not a hardcore soldier and a killing machine, mowing down hundreds of enemy troops. Instead you're controlling a bunch of civilians caught in the middle of it all with no way out, and who must do whatever they can to survive.

The first few weeks were probably the most nerve-wracking. There was so much stuff that needed to be done but very limited resources and too little time. In addition, I was genuinely terrified of any violent encounters, because the combat is tough and like I said, the characters aren't experts in killing. Eventually, I had to raid a home inhabited by some old farts, and when I had to brutally bludgeon them to death with a crowbar just that I could get their stuff, it truly felt heart-breaking. Another sad highlight was when I went to another house, also inhabited by some defenseless old folk, save for their son who guarded the house with his shotgun. When I ambushed the son from a dark corner and slashed his throat, I definitely didn't feel joy doing it. Especially when the mother would come cry over his dead son, pleading me to take whatever I wanted and leaving after that. War is hell.

Later, I became better at the combat: or rather, how to stealthily kill only those who would pose a threat. I didn't kill anymore civilians after that, only raiders or other nasty folk. After the first month, I was already pretty self-sufficient anyway with my rat traps, herb gardens and whatnot. It was mostly just the matter of waiting for the war to end at that point. At the end, four guys survived, only one died (a sickly mathematician...it was probably 50% "let's see if I can kill a guy from behind with a crowbar" and 50% "I don't have enough resources to feed five people: one has to die"). I got to relate to all of them and really cared for them. That says more than enough about the quality of the game. If you want to have feels: you have to get the game. It's awesome and you won't regret it. 'Nuff said.