What are you all playing right now?

[ukatheist]

This movement of bringing feminism into games pisses me off, tbh.  She can jump 100 feet while firing a fucking gun, make Molotov cocktails in 1 second, fire a grappling hook into a hoop with 100% precision, but she can't have big breasts anymore. . . cuz, you know, don't want to break the sense of realism.

Fuck that.

I lived for her 1000ft jumps, it was so funny seeing her take off like a rocket

As far as her looks go, it's not so much the realistic model that bothers me. In fact I do really like this new look, it's beautiful but without trying too hard to be sexy like the old Lara was.

I'm more pissed that they have this new girl they've created and they're marketing her as "Lara Croft", when virtually nothing about her character resembles the woman I grew up playing. Where's her signature twin pistols? Where's her aristocratic background? Where's her dry English wit, and comical deadpan non-reaction to danger?

Uh, where are the tombs she's supposed to be raiding?

Apparently the new game (which I'm not buying yet at full price, because I'm giving Square Enix all my petty for fucking us PS4 fans over), has fixed a couple of those things. Still not enough from what I've seen, I want a new actress tbh. I don't think the current actress is a bad actress at all, however she is not Lara in my opinion. There's also a lot "off" about her lines, but I blame the writers for that. It's weird, the actress speaks with a British accent, but I find a lot of her sayings and mannerisms really Americanised (if that makes sense). It's like an American who has no knowledge of British humour and dialect wrote the script.

She is british, but has lived in US (california) for going on 10 years now.

[Expired]

I'm playing not eating all the cake and biscuits in the cupboard game.

[Sal]

Been playing, and still am, RuneScape for 11½ years.

[Casca]

Found my old Nintendo DS charger, so I popped in Final Fantasy VI Advance. Most of my time is eaten up by other activities, work, and my wife (third trimester), so it's nice to play for a bit and easily put it down when I need to.

I did download Last of Us for PS4 last week (on sale for $10), but I need a few hours carved out to really absorb myself into it, and having that stretch is harder to come by lately.

[TubbyTubby]

Playstation VR. At least I would if I could prise the kids away from it. I have to wait till after bedtime. Good kit for the price though.

[Edwardo Piet]

Playing music, making music, playing AoE2 HD Edition The Forgotten + African Kingdoms, playing Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.

Sailing through and playing with the atoms of life and knowing that I'm above the bullshit irrationality of it all.

[Regina]

So I got the new Tomb Raider (well ahem, not new, since Square Enix fucked over us PS4 fans, but moving on...)

Some tipsy thoughts on the game post-finishing, I'll spoiler for those who intend to play or just aren't interested in my inebriated ramblings.

---

The Good;
- I like that these "survivor" games are long, not even including the optional/extra content. I can't stand meagre 3 hour campaigns
- Throwing the chickens is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in Tomb Raider
- I love that they did, somewhat, scale the combat down, and the added emphasis on stealth is really nice. There were still plenty of fights but it never felt like the endless waves or fighting the whole of bloody Russia at once that TR/2013 felt like.
- Lara is actually starting to remind me of old Lara again now. She's squealing less, she's having more badass moments and idk if I'm just imagining it but I even see it in how she moves. I just wish she'd lighten up a bit and get her witty humour back. They also need British writers to write her lines, because I'm sick of these Americanised lines that are obviously written by an American with no knowledge of how real British people speak.

The bad (no shade) -
- The Deathless men were just The Oni 2.0 in Grecian fancy dress this time, and nobody asked for that. I feel like if they want to go down the supernatural route, do it big then. Make them creepy AF, serving all the ice zombie GoT realness.
- Some parts (especially towards the end of the game) were clearly ripped straight from TR/2013 and merely re-decorated to look new. And it's bloody obvious.
- I hate how in some of the more action-packed scenes, absolutely EVERY jump has to be a close call, and every set piece you touch has to break, just for dramatic effect. It's too much when it actually slows the gameplay down to a sluggish pace to do it (the Uncharted games are horrible for this too). Sometimes subtlety goes a lot further.

---

[abaris]

Now, you have a smart-looking, feminist-looking, Lara Croft.  She IS a stereotype now.  To me, it's not a step up.  Why can't an exaggeratedly super-hot looking woman be smart and strong?

Both male and female characters are usually sexualized in games. Man are usually Rambo types with huge muscles and females on the busty side. There are exemptions. Bethesda or Bioware games usually don't take that path in their vanilla state.

I don't care for busty as well as muscle man. And ordianary guy or gal does just fine in my opinion. Some years ago I resorted to playing female characters when the opportunity way offered because I grew tired of the stereotypical hero.

[bennyboy]

Now, you have a smart-looking, feminist-looking, Lara Croft.  She IS a stereotype now.  To me, it's not a step up.  Why can't an exaggeratedly super-hot looking woman be smart and strong?

Both male and female characters are usually sexualized in games. Man are usually Rambo types with huge muscles and females on the busty side. There are exemptions. Bethesda or Bioware games usually don't take that path in their vanilla state.

I don't care for busty as well as muscle man. And ordianary guy or gal does just fine in my opinion. Some years ago I resorted to playing female characters when the opportunity way offered because I grew tired of the stereotypical hero.

I have NO problem with characters of ANY appearance, so long as they are story-appropriate.  But Tomb Raider should be unrealistically hot, because. . . she just is.

I'd be equally pissed if they made the new Duke Nuke 'em a flabby computer geek with pimples-- cuz fuck that.

If I want normal, I'll look in the mirror, or ask my wife to come into the room for a second.

[Joods]

Playing minecraft