THE BORE
General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: Van Cruncheon on October 12, 2006, 12:14:37 PM
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I am on vacation for the next two days. Hurray.
In honor of this marginally auspicious occasion, I picked up two new RPGs: Tales of the Abyss and Devil Summoner: Kazunoha Raidou versus The Soulless Army.
Tales of the Abyss ain't bad. I was REALLY skeptical about it and almost didn't get it, but the recommendation of an animu freak friend of mine pushed me over the edge. He insisted that it wasn't as terrible as Legendia or Symphonia, which were unplayably tedious and cliched. Okay, Symphonia was just boring and mediocre, but Legendia was legitimately awful.
Anyway, the prologue is brief, and I quickly skip the stupid animu cutscene. The main hero is a spoiled jagoff; I can dig that. He hates yokels, shoplifts, and wants to kill the mandatory cute critter sidekick -- this is a bit of an improvement, yes. Battles play out like Symphonia, which is a plus, and the visuals are a bit more detailed albeit more jaggy. No random encounters! The growth system for characters looks like a good time-waster, and the music is solid. Load times are blessedly brief. Combat took a couple hours to get beyond button-mashing, but now that I can have the chick create the elemental circles needed for stronger skills and have learned to chain shit, I look forward to fighting. Oh wait, there's a FUCKING LOLI...thanks, Namco, you undersexed shitheel smalldicked pedophiles. Ah well. The game is good enough to endure that particular indignity.
Y'know what I liked about 16-bit gaming? RPG artists couldn't render their creepy loli/maid fetish shit in any detail, so I could pretend I wasn't somehow tacitly supporting the tastes of cretins. *sigh*
Initial assessment? The first decent Tales game since Eternia.
Devil Summoner seems really fuckin' cool -- the battles play out more fluidly than TotA, and the art direction is mercifully free of lolis. On the other hand -- and I'm ashamed to say this, because the thought of a Chandler-meets-Lovecraft tale set in Restoration-era Japan seems FUCK AWESOME -- the story is actually kinda SNOOZE, and I prefer Abyss' vastly more cliched plot just 'cuz the main character is such a refreshing change of snotty asshole. If I'm gonna madly mash the X button through dialogue, please make it be atypical.
On the other hand, Devil Summoner's battle system is in fact FUCK AWESOME. It's a little mash happy early on, just like TotA, but the action-based combat is so smooth and so fast and so slick I can see myself grinding it for hours. Demon AI is solid, and picking the right demon for the right occasion can be tricky. The recent Megaten aesthetic is honestly the best in RPGs, and I dig the setting, even if the first couple hours didn't give me a whole lot of decent plot provocation. Capturing demons for summoning and upgrading them is the sort of inexorable hook I can't escape. :(
Initial assessment? Megaten rules, even when more action-oriented.
I need to find a new copy of Nocturne, by the way. If any of you fucks wanna sell me or trade me your copy, I'm game.
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(http://indarktrees.com/pics/carusofyou.gif)
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This thread is awesome. Anyone care to wager how it'll get derailed? My money is on this very post.
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This thread is awesome. Anyone care to wager how it'll get derailed? My money is on this very post.
How about if I just post a link to this:
http://indarktrees.com/pics/greatest_sketch_ever.mov
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:hyper
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(http://xeroseven.net/evilbore_smile.gif)
This about sums it up.
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:lol It's funny because it's true.
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Haha
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I'm playing Baten Kaitos this weekend. :filthyfaggot
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Devil Summoner is pretty damn fun. The battle system could be better but the game is so fun I don't really mind. I like the addition of adventure elements. It makes the game feel unlike any other jrpg I've played before it.
Initial assessment? Megaten rules, even when more action-oriented.
I love you.
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Digital Devil Saga 1/2 FTW imo.
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At first I was worried about the campy and cheesy atmosphere/story/setting of Devil Summoner but I really dig it. :-[ The noir vibe is killer. 8)
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I can't tell what's going on that GIF. :(
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I can't tell what's going on that GIF. :(
Summary: THE OP IS TOO FUCKING LONG AND BORING. AHNOLD SMASH. :punch
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"waaa I want a gaming forum" lol
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I am on chapter 2. I am really enjoying the story, the noir vibe, the way you solve puzzles and the adventuring. I'm enjoying it as much DDS at this point.
I fused once I got to level 18. I fused my Pyro Jack with my Alp and made a Jack Frost with Fire Resist (:lol), Agi, Mabufu, and Dia. He's pretty rock. I also made a couple of other guys. Most of my party is up to my level up to this point and I've acquired more demon holding tubes through getting a good amount of loyalty out of my guys.
Loving this game!
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"waaa I want a gaming forum" lol
I want your face in my vagina. Now that we've cleared that up...
Devil Summoner is kick ass. That is all.
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yeah I picked up devil summoner tonight, im totally obsessed with VP2 at the moment tho :(
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I got Tales of the Abyss.
I was liking it quite a bit until I got to a point where I encountered a story character that I could not discern the gender of. That gives the game an automatic F-. How am I supposed to enjoy the game if I don't know what I'm supposed to be jerking off to?
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I ended up returning Tales of the Abyss without even opening and bought another X360 (for PSU). Think I am done with PS2 games...
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Another 360? Did your previous one die?
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no my X360 is fine, I bought another one so my brother can play PSU with me online. The PC or PS2 versions won't work with the 360 version so if he wants to play he needed his own X360.
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PSU is super-crap, dude. WTF!
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WTF is an animu?
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"animu" is a derogatory term that describes the incredibly cliched, generic anime style. See: Eureka 7; the Tales games; anything featuring a maid or loli; harem anime; Naruto; anything featuring art from Kousuke Fujishima.
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BTW Drinky, Fon Master Ion in Tales is DEFINITELY A GIRL.
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have you jerked to her
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Speaking of Eureka 7, that show fucking blows.
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E7 sucks.
Devil Summoner is awesome.
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Yeah I bought Devil Summoner just cause I knew after two weeks finding a copy would be a bitch ;)
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I bought it because of that...and because it's the latest entry into the most consistent and high quality jrpg series the entire generation.
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I didnt get the digital devil saga games, used to have nocturne. I mostly bought it cause the battle system sounds fun and the story structure is fairly unique
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Is One Piece cool?
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One of the best manga series ever
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Picked up Tales of the Abyss today, gotta finish vp2 first :D