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I'd like to get a gaming desktop when I move back to the states, but will have to procure a job first. My laptop is pretty powerful but it does have an overheating issue. As long as I game on a cooling fan it doesn't get too hot, but I'd prefer to game on a desktop anyhow. I miss having a desktop.

Yea Blood Omen was the first game we bought when my brother and I got our playstation when I was around 9 I think? We picked it at random, he was scared of it and only played the demo disk until we got a second game, but I loved it. And my dad actually got into it too so it's one thing we kinda did together (each playing our own games but sometimes taking turns watching the other play). I was so frustrated when my dad beat the first boss (Nupraptor) first, but then I beat Malek first and from there on out stayed steadily ahead. xd But yea I never really finished the other games (and never even started Defiance), and didn't like the Soul Reaver games as much (probably because I very much mentally align with Kain) but Blood Omen will probably always be one of my favourite games, for nostalgia if no other reason. I do at one point want to sit down and play through the whole series again though.

Yea the first time I play an rpg I always like to play it pretty in character. In later playthroughs I might do a more d**k around type character but yea, I guess rpgs are something I expect several playthroughs of, either b/c of games like DA: Origins which has 6 beginnings, or in any game where main story quests have the possibility for two or more different pathways/endings, I feel good rpgs aren't designed to be able to get a full playthrough in one experience. And of course some quests mean other quests aren't accessible, so yea, not too fussed on doing all the quests in a first play rather than creating a character and playing their way.

I don't know if I felt Skyrim's story was weak, just not to my interests as much as Oblivion (didn't get far enough in Morrowind for a fair compare yet), and yea the DLC was more enjoyable, but I also think that's in part b/c of having amazing DLC. The Miraak DLC also feels very main quest related and I think that might have made the better 'main' quest. I guess with Skyrim the main quest just seems so easy to ignore in some ways. Like in Oblivion even if you aren't doing it the land is filled with Oblivion gates and thus daedra and you at least feel the effects of the main quest even if you aren't playing it (for whatever reason). For Skyrim the main quest seems more inconsequential, especially with that civil war plotline. That seems to have the more dire feel and even impacts a lot more side quests than the main quest. I know you don't put dragons in a game and make them a side quest, but they feel like a side quest and so the main story suffers for that. But it's very rich in good quests, the DLC is awesome, I love house building and there are so many amazing mods so I think it's still the better game, even if it's not the better story (assuming main = story).

I also loved the idea of the black books but hated the actual playing of them. They were Tom's favourite part of the game though, and to that end Dragonborn was definitely his favourite DLC though I still prefer Dawnguard. But yea I think Dragonborn was richer then the main quest and probably would have made a better main quest if it was re-done to give it more impact and prominence as it's still clearly arranged as a side quest atm.

Yea I've gotten very used to having only a laptop since I moved to the UK but every time I game I miss the desktop set up. I have a monitor, keyboard and mouse and sometimes just use my laptop as a tower but I'd like the real deal.

Yea I definitely need to play Defiance. My brother played all the games despite his initial fear, but he prefers Raziel. Traitor! Lol, but of course we'd be on opposite sides. I do love redemption. My dad doesn't really game anymore either save for maybe solitaire or something, though he did keep our old Playstation when my bro and I both got PS2s. My partner has a PS3 (he had one at the beginning of our relationship but it broke and he only recently decided to replace it over the summer) but I still feel like I haven't moved on from the PS2, I just went PS2 to computer gaming but might give console gaming a go again when I finish my thesis and have more time for gaming generally. Although still not so sure about the current console generation.

Oh I have fun playing an evil/selfish/cruel character, but I also tend to start off with a general good guy persona. I mean the main quest in most games tends to cater to that, though that's one thing I liked about Kain. Not really an rpg, but I do like that you can be evil and you can even chose an evil ending. Most games that do good/evil don't split it very well, like Fable, and being evil just seems ridiculous. But yea in an rpg I can definitely enjoy evil but there somewhat seems to be less to do that isn't canon breaking, as ultimately the goal of something like Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age is to be the hero, even if you are a bit of a d**k.

Yea I can totally see someone totally missing the main quest in Skyrim. It's also not even easy to get to the Greybeards at a low level. But yea I think it's a good quest it just gets a bit overshadowed by having such brilliant side quests/DLC going on. And the civil war definitely feels like the more present force in Skyrim, though it's definitely not the most interesting thing to play. I think the thing I found most disappointing about civil war is it's basically the exact same quests no matter which side you play for (just reporting to general X instead of general Y and storming blue vs red forts). I think it would have been more interesting if the strategies and game plan for each side had been more varied.

Lol, up until recently we didn't have an external monitor but we bought one to serve as a TV (as we don't have one and decided a monitor would do as we only planned to stream and watch dvds, and it's a lot easier to tell the council we don't need a TV license if we don't even have a TV if they come suspicious or something) before hosting a LAN party. So we could watch movies not around a laptop screen in the evening. So yea it does actually work pretty well if you have a good gaming laptop but want the larger set up. Also, after my tower died I kept my old monitor back at my parents (up until my dad stole it because he wanted a flat screen when I moved back to the UK even though I said he couldn't have it, whatever) and when my old laptop screen broke I could still use it with the monitor. Not sure what happened with the old laptop, it was clearly an internal problem (only half the screen would load, the rest would be black) but worked fine with a monitor. Something lose I guess, but yea, how do I end up blathering on to what could have simply been a 'yup, it works great' comment. xd

Ha, yea my brother was the same way, he played Soul Reaver back before he gave scary Kain another go. biggrin And yea I think they are both characters where you are inclined to root for your first. I couldn't get my partner into Blood Omen but he might be more inclined to play the other games so maybe he'll be the same way.

Yea we have a backwards compatible PS3 which is good as most of our games are PS2 games. It's very likely I'll go with a PS3 again when I go back to the states as the new gen of consoles is not being very friendly to the old gen. Which is so stupid when most ppl had their PS3 games online and there is no reason to make ppl re-buy games. I do like the Kinect though, but yea a cheap 360 for a select number of good offline games would be the only reason I'd get an Xbox, and definitely no Xbones. wink

Oh I'm a wonderful psychotic puppy-kicker, MUWHAHAHA! I also like to play insane, insane is fun, and can justify the puppy-kicking without straight up cruelty but again I don't mind that. But yes I never even finished Fable b/c it was getting a bit obnoxious in that (I also didn't like the controls), maybe one day I'll give it another go though I'll probably just be good. I feel if you have to be black and white about everything than being good ends up feeling more organic. Yea Mass Effect is I believe the sci-fi version of Dragon Age (same company and everything), I do want to play them at some point but haven't yet. But yea Dragon Age is the same way where you can import the original game into the second game and it'll impact quests and parts of the story, although not sure if they carried that through the third game as I don't have it yet. But yea will definitely be getting Mass Effect, probably after I finish my thesis though - and after I get Inquisition which is going to be my first self reward after I finish this PhD. However, buying Dragon Age II ended up being a bad idea as I lost a huge chunk of summer to it so no more rpgs as I will get immersed. I watched my partner replay some of his fallout games while I worked, and that made me want to play those as I haven't, but no rpgs until my writing is a lot less s**t. xd

Okay and my brain totally just turned off and I read that as Empire and Stormtroopers and I'm like, why are they fighting each other? So I had to scroll back to what I said to remember that we were talking about Skyrim and not Star Wars. xd But yes, on point, I agree entirely. Is there a mod that tackles that? Because that I might be very interested in giving a go. Umm...when my PhD is further along b/c I don't have a loophole that allows me to play rpgs I've already played during my write up period. stare Whether I get to it now or in 8 give or take months though, I am very interested in the Skyrim civil war but the execution left much to be desired.

Yea I think it was the same issue with my laptop, I never lost the full screen and I believe it still works, though haven't touched it in almost 3 years now. Will probably decide what to do with it when I move back to the States, probably destroy the hard drive and scrap the rest? Idk.

Yea when I finish my PhD I want to replay Blood Omen so maybe I can turn this into a sort of joint activity. I do think he's more likely to prefer Soul Reaver so we'll see.

Sounds like a good 360 bundle, pretty cheap for inclusions of most of the things you want. But yea other than dance or karaoke games I probably wouldn't get an Xbox as Microsoft games are always on PC, although have heard rumours about Microsoft getting less friendly to PC (I think wanting more micropayment type stuff) so we'll see where things go with Windows 10 (which I am not upgrading to) and the next generation. Atm though while I never thought I'd prefer PC gaming I really do.

Yup, BioWare is pretty amazing for rpgs. I haven't played Knights of the Old Republic but watched my partner play it a bit, he really loves it (he's a huge Star Wars fan). I'm less into Star Wars and tend to not like series based games as much (though I've had fun with a lot of Lego games), but maybe I'll give it a go at some point. Just because a well made and well thought out rpg is always worth my time, and we already own the game anyhow.

Yea, I'll def want to play Fallout at some point. Last time I watched my partner play and kind of dictated what he'd do but it just made me want to play my own game but didn't have time. Can't game and write and need to get a lot more writing done. Stupid writing.

And thanks, had a look through and will have a more detailed look later but it sounds like it's meant to do what I want. Will give it a more thorough investigation when I have a bit more time. Was watching my partner play through the pit fighter mod, which I think is in some ways nicer than Oblivion's arena, but not as immersive in regards to dialogue and interaction with other fighters.

Hmm, I wasn't going to trash the laptop (just the hard drive as basically you can't ever properly wipe a hard drive from what I've found) but was probably not going to try and recycle it in pieces. But if the effort might have a monetary worth I'd be curious. It'll be at least a year and a bit before I move back to the states so if you get around to attempting this procedure ahead of then do let me know how it turns out. I also have a tower (that is dead) I need to recycle as well, and we'll see what condition my current laptop is in at this time. Though while I will probably want to upgrade (if I can afford it) come 2017 I'm hoping this will still be working as it'd be nice to have a backup laptop.

Haha, getting a bunch of guys to play dance games sounds fun. I can't remember what I played but it was this sports like game (with things like rafting) on my friends Kinect and that was a lot of fun. Definitely a good party thing.

Yea Windows 8 was also designed heavily with touch screens in mind and that's not what I want for a non-touch screen device. Plus Windows 10 is going insane on security features (and I worry about it blocking things) and again there are issues with how well it supports games so definitely not upgrading.

I love the idea of Star Wars and am very interested in the universe just less interested in the plot of the films. Never really gotten into the extended universe though my partner has something like 30 books so could definitely give it a shot at some point. But yea I think the universe interests me enough that I could probably get into the game, getting into the mentality of a character rather than spectating characters who aren't as interesting to me as the world around them.

I never get the itch with horror games. I love horror movies and I love to watch horror games but it's too much for me to get immersed in that kind of thing (so I bought Alien Isolation but only to watch my partner play it, same thing with Dead Space). Shooters I tend to just get bored and don't really pay attention as a spectator, but rpgs are probably the most watchable but they are also the ones where spectating is too hard. So I can usually only stand it for so long before I have to stop watching or start playing.

Yea pit fighter looks pretty good although as my partner found out, it may not be the best thing to do straight out of the gate at level 1 (especially if you are a melee fighter as you just don't have the health to take hits) but you can do it pretty low level, but yea looks like a good one and it adds some radiant quests too (although again pretty basic but solidly integrated). Yea Skyrim is a great game for mods. Still eagerly awaiting Skywind as that sounds like when they get it together it'll be something amazing.

No basements in CA as that's not very earthquake safe but the garage might work. We do have a shed but it's a bit of a mess. I guess in good weather I could just do it in the overhang next to the shed and leave it outside, but yea we'll see. It sounds like an awesome thing to do with something I'd just throw away or donate but unsure if the net gain will outweigh the effort.

Oh my friend has Kinect Sports too! I like tennis the most, I don't think I tried bowling. Too many bad memories of Wii bowling which resulted in a lot of pain the next day. Boxing is fun too.

Yea I can find the movies entertaining but their focus is probably not what I'd focus on. But I imagine I will be seeing Force Awakens in cinema, we shall see how that turns out.

I've loved horror since I was little as well but my first time playing a horror game, Resident Evil, at 17 resulted in me freaking out, having terrible nightmares and developing a real life phobia of zombies. I still watch and love tons of zombie movies but I no longer play games that are story-wise more involved than L4D or Killing Floor. So now I tend to just stick with watching my horror. Anyhow, heard of Amnesia but never seen a play-through of it. It does sound good but not sure it's the kind of thing Tom would play so we'll see if I get around to watching it at some point.

Yea Skyblivion might look nice but it's definitely not as in dire need of the update so not too fussed about that. Anyhow I'll either give Morrowind another shot when I finish my PhD in a year or so (writing, defense and corrections if needed, hence the or so) unless Skywind comes out first in which case I'll just go straight to that. Of course when I say that I mean of course after I finally play Inquisition (which I will buy in the near future if it ends up on some sort of massive sale but am not allowing myself to play until the PhD is done). So perhaps looking at 2 years give or take here.

Yea as long as it was at least a generous amount more than the cost of chemicals I think it'd be worth doing, but it would also be interesting as an experiment too. As I only have two machines I'll be surprised/pleased if I managed to get $100, definitely wouldn't expect to get $1000 though that would be nice. Could definitely use $1000 derived from what is essentially recycling. razz

Nothing specifically happend with Wii bowling it was just painful the next day, there's something unnatural about what you have to do with your body to play that game. I wasn't the only one who found surprising muscle pain from fake bowling. But yea I definitely like racket type games more than bowling. It feels a bit more authentic.

Yea I can't handle midnight showings usually, I've done a few in the past and none have been overly traumatic (though I did queue once for like 6 hours for a spider man movie with an ex - then boyfriend, now ex - and some friends, and I didn't even like spider man but my then boyfriend was a HUGE fan) but movies are just too expensive these days to not have a good experience. And risking a crowd ups the chances of not having a good experience (more likely to have fussy/crying babies/children, people on phones, people talking, not getting good seats, etc).

Running and hiding probably would be my MO but probably couldn't make myself get through the game so yea will have to find someone to watch. Maybe I'll trick Tom into playing it. blaugh

Yay for returned saves! That is so frustrating. When I've started up games to find a save lost in the past it's made me not want to play anymore. It's just if I'm expecting to find myself at a certain place in the game to discover I'm actually going to have to start over, kills the desire to even play for me. So glad you won't have to start over to finish your game. Hope you finally get through it. biggrin

I'm not a fan of the Wii, but I'm not a fan of Nintendo generally. The closest to liking a Nintendo system for me was GameCube, but even then not my preferred console. In part, because Nintendo has the worst controllers ever, there's plenty of memes about how the inventors of Nintendo controllers had never seen human hands. It's so true though.

Yea I have a friend who pre-booked Force Awakens tickets in London, not even a midnight showing I don't think, and it comes out to what converted is about $50 for two tickets. Ridiculous. I only enjoy the cinema if it's at about 1/3rd of its capacity (or less) and nobody is near me (and then hopefully no babies or people on their tech). So I usually go after a movie has been out for a few weeks. I think the midnight showings I have done were Spiderman 2 (a franchise I personally had no interest in but went with friends and a then bf), Harry Potter 4 and Dark Knight. I can't recall any others though there might have been a few more. I remember Dark Knight b/c it was a last minute decision to go at midnight and it was an epic quest to find a theatre not already sold out. And Harry Potter 4 was while I was living in a small town that actually had a massive cinema so even though it was a midnight showing it was nowhere near full which was nice. Spiderman 2 is memorable for the 6 hour camp out in the queue my bf insisted on (we were literally first though and got to sit exactly where he wanted). So if there were any others there is nothing memorable about them but at least that means there was nothing notably terrible either I suppose.

Yea I never played Pokemon games as a kid so my partner got me to download an emulator. I started trying to play again recently and found my save files have been corrupted and decided screw that. Left me time for Sims though so that's fine. biggrin