Pretty much. Like I said, the basic IDEA of a really cool game is there, and I admit I probably got through it because it reminded me so much of Ultima 9 (which I loved since it was the first freeroaming RPG I played).

But.. yeah. Chapter 1 and 2 were pretty good, but it went downhill quickly from there.

Which side did you join, out of interest?

The first time I got conscripted by the monastery and did all of the monastery stuff up until the point where you are formally assigned a class because I thought I wasn't officially a monastery dude yet. That's how it works in Gothic, you can pretty much do all the quests up until the point where they say "I will make you a wizard" now or whatever. I guess it doesn't work that way in Risen because the second you enter the monastery, you become a monastery dude. I started a new game because Fuck God In His Ass Until His Anal Blood Floods The World and then I joined the bandits.

If you liked it, you really should play Gothic 1 and 2. They are very good games that do everything in Risen better.

Yeah, I joined the bandits too. Kind of wished I joined as a warrior, though, since they can use weapons AND magic, wheras my guy runs out of mana after casting like 2 levitation spells.

Oh, and final boss spoilers, since you didn't get there: the game auto-equips the strongest axe (its.. a hammer, but hammers count as axes?) for the final fight, and if you switch weapons it doesnt count your hits on the final boss. nor are any skills you picked up through the game needed for the boss. you just dodge his attacks, deflect missiles back onto him (with the handy Plot Shield you pick up, in case you were a non-sword-and-shield user) then hit him once with your hammer (axe). repeat like 10 times and you get a 20 second voiceover on a black screen, roll credits.

Yeah it was awesome.

I didn't like having to kill all those monastery guys right before the end of the game. Some of them were okay guys and I actually went out of my way to make sure they stayed alive in the part before.

There were lots of parts like that. The worst part was killing Mendoza. You really should have been able to talk him out of it.

Lots of dumb design/story choices in that game.

Just beat Uncharted 2 on Crushing...  Sweet Jesus that was frustrating.  Now I just need to find the last 40 some treasures and I'll have my platinum trophy.  I may try some more of the multiplayer, I didn't do too bad at it.  Just a few cheap rocket launcher deaths and some melee BS.

Than gotta beat Dante's Inferno...  too bad it glitches up quite a bit, Switches not showing up. Its apparently a well known problem.  I'm still not a fan of the unskippable cutscenes, and perfectionist platforming.

been playing Fight Night Round 4. Legacy Mode is great, though my character Crazy Indian is having a tough time toppling the guy in 8th place.

my god just beat 1 ending of heavy rain and it was good I almost walked away with the best ending if i would of got the FBI agent to link the crime but sadly i was missing something.

I replayed the first mario gameboy game again. The physics are more awkward than I remember but maybe thats just me! Actually I was mildly horrified at how easy it was for me since all that time spent playing it in childhood had apparantly burned it directly into my muscle memory. So my hands were playing it smoothly and well while my brain was going "help whats happening why am i in a pyramid?? oh no a spider :0" and it was kind of weird. I couldn't remember any of the tips&cheats I used to find as a kid though like invisible blocks and the like. Finding that stuff was always most of the fun (like all the silly bonus shit in pokemon or whatever) and I got kind of bummed for a second after realising I would probably never again care about videogames to the extent that I'd go through that stuff again. Then I stopped caring but even in freeware I still kind of miss the concentrated dedication that lets you stumble over weird shit!

i've been playing new super mario bros wii and it's okay i guess. it feels really bland, though.

Playing Heavy Rain now. Loving it so far, even if it is only visual interactive fiction. I'm a sucker for great storylines and characters, and so far the game has managed to get me emotionally attached to some of them.

more opinions on heavy rain. is it worth buying?

I say you can buy heavy rain and play it over and over to get all the different endings or rent it and be happy with one play thru depends on if you like getting everything. it's almost like a glory-fide visual novel.

But all I can tell you is I loved this game.

Rent it probably. There are two IMPORTANT ENDINGS really, two different ways to play through it but yeah I thought it was really good.

Yeah I loved it so far. But, definitely a rental. Not really the kind of game you'll think about replaying in a few months after beating it.