Squishy Tia
seanstar wrote:
And of course, the other problem with Legend of Dragoon:
(WARNING: DOCUMENT CONTENTS MAY MAKE YOU GO BLIND)
(ADDITIONAL WARNING: IF DOCUMENT CONTENTS DON'T MAKE YOU GO BLIND, THEY MAY MAKE YOU GO MAD)
(ADDITIONAL ADDITIONAL WARNING: IF YOU DON'T GO BLIND OR MAD, THE DOCUMENT IS MORE OR LESS MADE OF SPOILERS)
(CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.)
http://www.psychsoftware.org/stuff/temp/Dragoon.pdf
(sorry, this version is still appallingly incomplete)
Man...and I thought this flow chart below was convoluted...yeesh.
jack59splat59
Thought I'd let everyone know that I'm playing Black Ops. I may go back to Reach sometime soon, but probably not until the day Bungie releases that new map pack and Black Ops gets boring.
HelixNRG
I'm playing Snatcher for the Sega CD via the amazing Kega Fusion emulator. And I'm absolutely loving it.
- Alex
seanstar
Knocking off a few at the bottom of my queue between finishing Dragoon a couple days ago and likely starting Epic Mickey around Christmas:
Alundra 2 (Playstation): It's like they tried to make a MegaMan Legends in a steampunk setting, only they for some unfathomable reason bought out the Alunndra IP and gave the hero a sword. And then made the controls counterintuitive, wrote worse dialog, and decided that every attack needed to give the receiver (you or the enemy) a multiple-second invincible knock-back / stand-up animation. Oh, and enemies do about 5x the damage to you that you do to them.
Enter the Matrix (PS2): I've heard this one dubbed the worst game of all time, but it's really not. Once you get past the incredible genericism, it's... set in the Matrix universe. And stuff. Which I guess will be cool if I ever get to the point of using Matrix abilities, but the 2 dozen in-game/after-the-fact tutorials so far have focused on the basic basic moves. Like walking against things and button mashing because the controls change every time the game shifts contexts and it's really faster to mash on a hunch than remember what's supposed to do what when. At least the first area only involves going through the entire first area twice.
Castle Shikigami 2 (PS2): Ranked worst voice acting ever in a clip shown at Video Games Live. Really, though, I can hardly blame the voice actors. They probably got each line of the script in context, making the meaning far more ambiguous than if they just read them independently as written. It's actually a fun game if you can stop laughing long enough to not die at every character-boss encounter. Just remember XS Games takes no responsibility for damage if you turn your TV sideways.
mossy_11
I finished playing Ash on my iPod Touch yesterday. It really impressed me, with great dialogue and humour, simple menus, and solid (albeit rather shallow) combat mechanics. I fully recommend it, and will have a review posted on Australian Macworld early next week.
I also finished my first campaign in Civ 5 recently. It took me roughly six weeks, partly because I was writing a Game Diary about the experience over on Bitmob. I'm digging the hex grid and the new combat mechanics, but the AI and revamped diplomacy are really disappointing.
Next up is NyxQuest, which I bought off Steam a short while back, and probably also a bunch of adventure games (assuming a feature article I've been offered (at another site) goes ahead).
dickmedd
mossy_11 wrote:
Next up is NyxQuest, which I bought off Steam a short while back, and probably also a bunch of adventure games (assuming a feature article I've been offered (at another site) goes ahead).
Thanks for reminding me to get that. I played the demo and was really impressed. It seems simple, effective and enjoyable!
jetboy
Alundra 2... good t hear it isn't worth playing. The original started off being good but I found it just went on and on with me asking "WHEN DOES IT END?!?!?" It wasn't hard, just one of those grinding games, with way too much grinding IMO.
Landstalker (somehow related I think?) is an all time favourite of mine though. I should replay it some time... great story, I wish the 3D remake that was demonstrated for the PSP some years ago came to life. Guess it never will now :(
seanstar
I enjoyed Alundra the first time through, and definitely respected WorkingDesigns' job on it. Mechanics were solid, puzzles were interesting, and it was a bit more mature than the Zeldas of the era. Alundra 2... before the intro is even finished, you know it's not going to be anywhere near as deep, and by the first save point you're starting to get annoyed.
Squishy Tia
mossy_11 wrote:
I finished playing Ash on my iPod Touch yesterday. It really impressed me, with great dialogue and humour, simple menus, and solid (albeit rather shallow) combat mechanics. I fully recommend it, and will have a review posted on Australian Macworld early next week.
I also finished my first campaign in Civ 5 recently. It took me roughly six weeks, partly because I was writing a Game Diary about the experience over on Bitmob. I'm digging the hex grid and the new combat mechanics, but the AI and revamped diplomacy are really disappointing.
Next up is NyxQuest, which I bought off Steam a short while back, and probably also a bunch of adventure games (assuming a feature article I've been offered (at another site) goes ahead).
From what I hear of the Civ5 AI it's basically a damned if you do, damned if you don't sort of scenario if you try for anything diplomatic. Want to be a good guy and appease your neighbors? Great! They'll accept all the gifts you give them, including cities, only to determine you're too warlike (for having said cities to gift in the first place). Want to ask for something from them? Nope, won't happen. But hey, they'll sure ask YOU for stuff and expect it.
It's as if the game developers took the World of Warcraft playerbase, its demeanor, rudeness, and behaviour, as well as intent, and rolled it into a clusterfuck of a ball and called it the Civ5 AI.
I have not heard one single positive comment regarding Civ5 other than it's easier to learn than Civ4. Its AI apparently stinks...that much.
seanstar
just finished my first play of
Epic Mickey (Wii): The recently-released compellingly advertised action-platform RPG pitting Mickey against a world of his own destruction and various Disney IP that hasn't seen the outside of the vault in decades. Good art, good storytelling, and the certain charm that I would expect from a Disney game having played a few, spent some time in the making of one, and studied for 2 years in a program with tight ties to the Disney development philosophy. Mechanics are mostly solid, although the camera sometimes gets infuriating, and when it does, it gets VERY infuriating. Design is overall very good, with two notable exceptions:
The intersection of the quest system and the game's autosaving/no-backtracking progression. Basically, if you can't mathematically prove that there is no place in an area that you can reach that you haven't yet reached, and do so in short order as you play, you're going to either miss stuff or drive yourself mad searching. At first the game trains you to be anal in your search pattern because you can't backtrack. (Or rather, once you realize that the game is never going to let you backtrack, you throw your controller across the room, then restart because you already missed a couple things.) Then, once you've settled into exploring every corner of every area until all your quests are satisfied, the game throws quests that could apply to any one of a series of areas, with no clue which of the series of areas to look in, or how many areas there are. So you burn out searching the first area, come to the conclusion that the game's not that pathological and that whatever you're looking for will be at least moderately-sanely-visible when you actually get to it. And you'd be right... until the game then throws ending-critical quests only satisfiable in the very first area of a world, which you don't realize you've failed until you hit the end of the world having not satisfied them. As a minor consolation, there is a New Game + mode, but to anyone who says "man up, stop whining, the New Game + mode makes it completely fair for them to all but force you to miss stuff the first time," I'll offer you $20. But you have to pick it up from me somewhere in Chicagoland in person on January 10. Don't worry, if you don't catch me tomorrow, there's always next year.
The 2-path completion system (in conjunction with New Game +). Apart from quests that you can complete in 1 play but usually won't manage 100%, there's a good-path/evil-path system in place. And in order to 100% complete the game, you need to play the evil path at least once. Which is fair, I guess, if you value video game completion higher than the morals that keep you from, say, killing someone your friend asked you to save. So either Disney has created a game in which the world and character immersiveness is not strong enough that being a d!ck in-game feels like being a d!ck in real life (in which case they fail by their own standards) or else they're encouraging players to be/become d!cks (in which case they fail at their own principals).
The game also has more bugs/glitches to it, particularly in all aspects of the quest system (triggering, items, completion, listed status) than I would expect from such a high-profile modern game.
Don't let my complaints fool you- Epic Mickey is worth buying and playing, and really doesn't have that many faults, it just has a few BIG faults that can stick in your mind even after it provides an overall enjoyable play experience.
dickmedd
Will be sure to give Epic Mickey a look!
My girlfriend bought me a PS3 this Christmas, thus thrusting me into a daunting arena of modern games. We've played some LittleBigPlanet co-operative, including two of us on our screen playing online with our friends, which is honestly great fun.
As well as LBP, I've gotten Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (I've never played the first but did play the second on someone else's PC) which is completely epic. It's a game that looks complex to control when someone else is playing but is pretty accessible for someone like me who hates a steep learning curve.
The same can be said for Red Dead Redemption, a game that's more than just GTA in the old west. Immense landscapes, seemingly endless content, enjoyable story and characters. It's a winner.
Finally, I've only played a few minutes of it so far but I finally can play Metal Gear Solid 4. As ever it looks as though it will consume plenty of my time.
On a more retro front, I've been getting through Hideo Kojima's Snatcher, hopefully with an aim to write another RGOTW article before too long...if I ever finish all of this work!
menace690
Currently frustrated with the constant crashing in Fallout New vegas for PS3. Unfortunately, between load times and crashing I am only mildy enjoying this one Still sub-questing and going for everything I can... but I basically walk away a lot due to crashing.
Playing Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii and I love it.
Next up: Need For Speed.
I will then be replaying Uncharted 2.
jetboy
Just finihed Flashback on my iPhone. First time of note! I always used to give up too easily...
I don't get much time to rest at work so often find myself taking extended trips to the toilet where I motor through a level or 2 of whatever game I am playing.
Other previous games:
Zenonia (gaaar I hate grinding!)
Babylon Twins (loved it)
Jenga
Touch the Numbers
I kinda like games with no ending because I can motor through them and stop/start whenever I like. Jenga is the best!!
seanstar
Now starting
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra (PS2): As expected, between epic cutscenes and generally such a high degree of plot and background/universe detail as to make even my head hurt cross-referencing it all, the ultimate entry in the Xenosaga series delivers its share of flashy action and light puzzle-dungeons on an engine which, true to form, is simultaneously nothing like the previous games and still approachable and strangely familiar. While I would not recommend diving into Episode III without playing the past 2 games (really, III is the hardest to come by, so even if you do grab it in isolation, do yourself a favor and track down I and II), no matter how long ago you played I and II, the (MASSIVE) in-game database will give you plenty of recap to get back in the plot. The core cast is all back, plus a few extra guest-PCs formerly only seen as NPCs. Core PCs have the same sort of branching skill trees seen previously, while still serving distinct party roles with distinct personalities. As the box notes, money and shops have also returned after hiatus in the prior installment. I'm only a leisurely 11 hours in, but already I can see the threads coming together to pull more of the series' infamous "tell you so much that you come away knowing less than you ever believed possible about what's going on," and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how they manage to wrap this one up!
Squishy Tia
I'm still on Xenosaga I. The play mechanics arent' that bad, but unless you have it installed onto a HD and load it that way its load times become excruciatingly long, and considering battles become nigh on repetitive ad nauseum very quickly, well, you can see why I haven't completed it yet. I did find and buy II and III new while I had the chance, just in case I ever finished Xenosaga I. You noted that III has the return of shops and money - is it as stingy with both as Xenosaga I and Xenogears is? That was always a sticking point with how much I had to grind for money in those games. :)
I was looking forward to Gran Turismo 5. Until I heard that despite having damage modeling in (which should affect your cars on its own), they left the one part of GT4 I hated so much I stuck it in a deep dark place to rot for all eternity: The 30 MPH 10 second hard timer if you touch another car/wall. This is in addition to the instant disqualification in many races (rally and special events) if you even so much as touch another car - even if they hit you from behind due to the AI being "on rails" just so it can stay on a predetermined path. When you get locked down with penalties because of unavoidable hits/collisions due to the apparently not improved AI (again it's on rails and WILL knock you around just so they can stay on their preset course), it just kills the joy of it all. It's a shame really, since I was looking forward to a modern looking nostalgia trip. I don't mind if I have to race with finesse instead of the "bash the car out of your way" brute force needed in GT1-3 (which is why the hard timer penalty was brought into GT4 in the first place), but I don't need distractions from what should be a racing game, not a game of "avoid the AI at all costs and hope you win"..
Oh well. Maybe I'll go play some GT1 for nostalgia's sake. GT-3000 FTW.
mossy_11
Had to stop playing NyxQuest after a poorly-designed boss fight ruined the experience. I don't know if I'll go back to it and continue.
I started playing the PC version of Burnout Paradise. Loving it so far -- there's something relaxing about cruising around the city exploring and crashing into things. Controls are a bit weird, but that's to be expected, since it was designed for consoles. They haven't bugged me enough to set up my PS3 controller to work with it yet.
I also started on the new Nintendo DS Lufia game, which is an overhauled remake of Lufia II. Only a few hours in, I'm already concerned about what they've done to the story and combat -- everything has been streamlined, and the turn-based combat has been replaced by a simpler version of the Secret of Mana-esque action-RPG style.
It's good that the game progresses at a faster pace, but I would have preferred if they had simply refined the old system -- à la Dragon Quest IV-VI on the DS -- and left it at that. I consider the original to be on a par with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, so it really didn't need such a dramatic overhaul.
I can't speak for what they've done to the story or characters, since I've played so little, but I have a bad feeling about some of the changes. I'm trying to stay positive, since it still has some of the witty banter and charming dialogue of the original. But even there it has lost something, with the "nod and a wink" jokes and references to RPG tropes seemingly abandoned.
seanstar
Re: Xeonosaga-
It's true you can't necessarily play Xenosaga in the same style as, say, Final Fantasy, but I don't recall being slowed down or put off by anything in the series. The battles in III are a little repetitive, but they're also largely avoidable, so it's really your own call how much you want to fight. Also, the enemy sets don't make the battles different so much as the scenario differences per fight. I'm hitting the point now where the same set of moves really can't be relied upon to take care of the same set of enemies every time, since I need to really start breaking out special attacks, which means balancing how much EP I want to spend with how much Boost I've carried over or can build up, and how much I need to do health and status maintenance while building Boost up again. Also, true, not all enemies give great gobs of cash, but nearly everything drops useful items, and one equipment set will last multiple chapters before the next comes out, so thus far I've only done one round of grinding to bring everyone up to the maximum equipment as soon as it came out. The rest has just been coasting.
pizuz
About Xenosage, I really loved the first one, but afterwards the series went downhill, unfortunately. The writing of Xenosaga I was absolutely stunning. I still remember the awesome scene with Ziggy and MOMO in the escape pod when the music and all ambient sound effects became and you my first thought was: I hardly knew ye.
It is a shame how much Namco botched the subsequent releases with all that repetitive crap and boring narration, just because they felt like catering to a larger audience and firing half of the production staff of MonolithSoft, including the writer and the composer.
If you want to see how good writing can make great games, play the Xenosaga I and Xenogears and read the script of Xenosaga: Pied Piper which never made its way anywhere except some obscure Japanese mobile phone games market. The translated script can be found here:
http://zarathustra.kaisho.org/
jack59splat59
seanstar wrote:
Enter the Matrix (PS2): I've heard this one dubbed the worst game of all time, but it's really not. Once you get past the incredible genericism, it's... set in the Matrix universe. And stuff. Which I guess will be cool if I ever get to the point of using Matrix abilities, but the 2 dozen in-game/after-the-fact tutorials so far have focused on the basic basic moves. Like walking against things and button mashing because the controls change every time the game shifts contexts and it's really faster to mash on a hunch than remember what's supposed to do what when. At least the first area only involves going through the entire first area twice.
This is one of my favorite games of all time!
blueman56
I'm splitting my time between Outrun 2006: Coast to Coast, love this game, its arcade perfection and runs great.
Also really got back into GTA3, my preferred out of all of them, there is just something special about it which keeps me coming back.