What are you playing?

[demi]

N64

The erector of penises

[Ichirou]

I liked:

Eternal Ring
King's Field: The Ancient City
.hack (havent played G.U.)
Breath of Fire V
DQ8
Grandia III (story is crap but, i love Grandia battle system)
Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2
Shadow Hearts 1 2 3
Tales of the Abyss

Other notables:

Ys: Ark of Napishtim
Wild ARMs (havent played 5, but 3 is ok, 4 is crap, and I didnt like Alter Code F)
Valkyrie Profile 2 (havent put time into this but initial impression was... ugh)

I would add:

Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land
Final Fantasy X-2
Persona 3, 4
Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2
Xenosaga 1, 2, 3 lol

[demi]

Good list except

Persona sucks, and he already said he knows about those games

[Ichirou]

Who cares.  I just wanted to make a list too.

[demi]

And I acknowledged that, but, Persona doesnt belong on that list

[Ichirou]

Persona games are awesome.  You can bang animu girls.

[Bildi]

Still loving Gears 2, but it seems a lot easier than the first game.  Is that just me? 

In particular my squad hardly ever goes down whereas they were on the ground all the time in the first one (admittedly, that was a bit annoying).

[Stoney Mason]

I got in Fear 2 on GameFly and it's alright. Not great. Not awful. Just sort of average.

But the part that tickled me is after playing the single player for an hour or so I decided to try out the MP.

Okay lets do a ranked game custom search for any game type and any map.

Results

No results. Not a text blip on screen.

Okay. Well maybe people are just playing non-ranked games. Lets just do a player match custom search for any game type any map.

Results
3 games. One with 9 people. Another with 9 people. Another with 8 people.

So we have a grand total of 26 people in the world playing Fear 2 on Xbox Live.

If ever there was evidence that devs working on MP for some games is a waste it has to be stats like that.

[demi]

Those are probably boosters

[Stoney Mason]

The sad bit is it's not that bad. I mean let me be clear. It's average. Just like the single player but the guns feel decent enough. It's fun enough.

It's just out of step and out of time.

[cool breeze]

I enjoyed FEAR 2.  It was out around the same time as Killzone 2 and I liked it as much as that game.  But also revisiting Killzone 2 a little while ago I found that it hard to play, as in, it isn't as good as I remembered.  Then again, I bought that FEAR 2 DLC for $5 on sale that was an hour or two of more gameplay and I still enjoyed it.  I only played multiplayer during release and thought it was pretty bad.  This is coming from someone who played the FEAR 1 multiplayer a lot.

[drew]

tried the battlefield bad company 2 demo its great, but it seems like the kinda game where teamwork is required tho

ill share an atv with you anytime baby

[demi]

Anyone have TMNT 1989? I need the 2 online achievements for that game.

[The Sceneman]

I will buy it if you FR me and let me boost with you

[Vizzys]

tried the battlefield bad company 2 demo its great, but it seems like the kinda game where teamwork is required tho

ill share an atv with you anytime baby

so ive been playing and I dont think anyone has a mic, or maybe the demo doesnt have voice chat, I havent heard anyone talk and Ive lost prolly 3/4ths of the games Ive played

[demi]

I will buy it if you FR me and let me boost with you

Lag would probably be bad, bro.

[Stoney Mason]

so ive been playing and I dont think anyone has a mic, or maybe the demo doesnt have voice chat, I havent heard anyone talk and Ive lost prolly 3/4ths of the games Ive played

Practically no one talks or co-ordinates unless you are in a squad of your friends. It can be a very frustrating experience playing with randoms. Especially that game.

So basically if you have friends on your friend list playing and can join their squad you will have a lot of fun. If you just play with random people you will generally hate it. That's always been how battlefield is on consoles. You just have to adjust to it.

[The Sceneman]

you are probably right, I generally get pretty bad lag with bros in the states...  :'(

[Ichirou]

Aren't you and I in the same time zone?  Maybe we could do some TMNT cheev farming...together. 

[The Sceneman]

yeah Japan is 4 hours behind, I play with Chronovore quite often. I dont even own TMNT lol, but I did enjoy banging on the cabinet when I was a kid. Its only 400 pts right?

[Stoney Mason]

As I mentioned awhile back COD:WaW, Fear 2, and Sacred 2 all came in within the last couple of days of Gamefly.


Fear 2 I already mentioned. Not bad. I can sort of already feel this will be a bit tiresome and repetitive like the first but the core fundamental gameplay is solid enough. Solid game. Probably not a great game but solid. Always sort of amazes me though that a game that looks like this isn't running at 60fps. It really should with this level of graphics.

COD WaW is alright. The single player is a bit meh. Treyarch isn't nearly as good as scripting as IW is so the game suffers in that respect but its solid enough so far for what it is. Hardened is actually fairly early. The MP is a bit better than I thought it was. The map design is pretty good. The weapons feel good. The problem I've already seen though is that they never fixed the spawning which was broken when I played the beta way back when. Its improved but it still not "fixed". Unfortunate since otherwise I like the rest of the MP.

Haven't played enough of Sacred 2 to really say anything other than its pretty janky. The original was also but the jankiness sort of stands out more a number of years later and on a console where in most games the presentation is fairly strong. It feels like an Eastern European game on that level ( I think the dev team is german) I wish I was playing multiplayer but I don't know anybody else who has it. I'll have to put in a lot more time though to say anything really concrete. I enjoyed Sacred back in the day but I'm not sure if that was because I really liked the game or I was just sort of starved for loot games at the time.

[Ichirou]

yeah Japan is 4 hours behind, I play with Chronovore quite often. I dont even own TMNT lol, but I did enjoy banging on the cabinet when I was a kid. Its only 400 pts right?

Pretty sure...if the achievements are easy to get (i.e., in one run-through) we should do it, it would be a quick 200 gamerscore.

[demi]

They're easier to get single player using 2 pads. Theres only 2 that require online

[Ichirou]

What do the online ones consist of?

[demi]

* beat the game
* earn 250 points

the reason its easier to do them single, is because you get 10000 lives, unlike online where you only get like 10 or so.

[Ichirou]

Looks pretty damn easy overall.

[Bebpo]

I gave RFG another shake.  Plugged in a 360 controller and the game controls PERFECT.  Plus rumble is always nice.  About finished with Dust and enjoying it a lot more now.  First thing that helped was realizing you don't need to do EVERY GUERRILLA ACTION since you finish your morale meter pretty fast after a few.  This means you can figure out which guerrilla action types you enjoy playing and which you don't and do the ones you like.  Also getting some better weapons and armor made destroying stuff much easier.  Rocket launcher!  

Then I did the walker mission and OMFG THE WALKER IS AWESOME.  Walking straight through buildings you've been destroying a piece at a time and watching them fall apart with debris everywhere at 60fps is friggin nice looking.  Hell, I think the PC version of RFG is better looking than GTAIV or SR2.  It looks really nice.  One of the best looking PC games I've seen.  Man though, the Walker was so awesome.  Too bad that section was short.  I hope later on I can just ride one whenever and use it to destroy stuff!

Only complaints I have are that some of the driving missions are still stupidly designed.  Like I did the one into the badlands where you have to follow the car but you can't get too close and can't get too far and you have to just stay in this little zone the whole time.  I passed it on my first try, but design like that is just annoying and not fun.  I spent the whole time staring at my mini-map to stay between the two circles.  Also the actually "world" of Mars so far in Parker & Dust & Badlands is all pretty empty and boring looking.  It's like mountains + dirt with a a few little buildings here and there.  Not really an interesting place to explore.  I mean I noticed that you don't even have to uncover the whole map for a sector to beat it.  So there's still all these shadowed out places, but it's not really worth driving there since there aren't any mission markers and it'll just look the same as everywhere else.  The combat is kind of terrible too and it consists of me killing dudes and then jumping into the seat of a car whenever I get low on health and healing in the car and then jumping back out, but I've gotten used to it so I don't mind.

[The Sceneman]

TMNT has a disgusting cheev list, Im not touching that game with a barge pole

[The Fake Shemp]

Just beat Bionic Commando: Rearmed - yay!

[Don Flamenco]

picked up vesperia again.  too much talking, not enough killing (just finished the coliseum part)

[Raban]

Just beat Bionic Commando: Rearmed - yay!

I just started playing this and I can't beat the Area 001 boss. fml

[The Sceneman]

^ fyl indeed.

200/200 rite here yo. Come back once you beat the game on Super Commando

[cool breeze]

they patched in a super easy mode for you slow learners 

[Bebpo]

Just beat Bionic Commando: Rearmed - yay!

I just started playing this and I can't beat the Area 001 boss. fml

Toss the barrel at his weakspot

[Raban]

Just beat Bionic Commando: Rearmed - yay!

I just started playing this and I can't beat the Area 001 boss. fml

Toss the barrel at his weakspot

nvm I got it. I knew what to do, I just couldn't get him when the weak spot was on the top. he would shoot me and I'd drop the barrel, I forgot you can use the barrel to deflect bullets as long as they're high.

on stage 04, omg so hard.

[The Sceneman]

are you playing on Normal? Try and beat the game at least to unlock super commando difficulty. Give that a try and you will lol

[Ichirou]

I think you can still get all the achievements on super easy mode.

[Raban]

I think you can still get all the achievements on super easy mode.

No way I'm lowering the difficulty. I blame most of the problems on my supremely fucked up wired 360 controller. I'm buying it on XBL when I get my 360, so I'll see if it's any better there.

[demi]

So, I finally sat down with Trials.

After playing up to unlocking Hard...

I can see why it would be fun. But the physics are really bad. Majority of the time, you mess up, its because the physics did something wonky. You hit your head - crash. You land on a ramp - crash. You hit gas, suddenly you wind up on your back - crash. I'm all for trial and error, but a lot of this feels not user error, but instead game error. The fun:frustrating ratio is not in your favor. Why bother making a motorbike game, when most of the time you'll find yourself making slow progress up ramps in fear of the physics throwing you for a loop? You're also given not much control over your character while in the air, at least it doesnt feel that way.

But if you dont mind crashing, this is a fun game. The track designs are pretty nice.

[Stoney Mason]

Trials is way too hard for me. Which means I don't get to see all the content sadly.

I respect it and I respect that an exceptionally difficult game became very popular which is pretty rare but its not my cup of tea.

I think the physics are mostly fair and they are consistent. I just think it requires a tremendous amount of trial and error and god like dexterity to get through the upper tiers.

[demi]

Can you even fail levels? From what I saw, all you have to do is at least pass the level to continue. Or do you have to get upper medals?

[Stoney Mason]

I can't remember. Its been awhile since I played it. I know Archie over here likes it and there were a few people on my friends list back when I was on GAF that had some amazing times on it.

I enjoyed the lower tiers before the crazy hard ones because it was like a puzzle game. Figure out how to get through it and then improve your time. But once you hit those high tier ones, it becomes like that for every inch of the track which is just painful. And then trying to "master" it without mistakes which is the real goal and fun part of the game just became impossible to me.

All that being said, I still kind of want to buy the content pack DLC they did.

[Bebpo]

You are supposed to enjoy crashing.  It's quick and painless and you just keep retrying and trying new things.

Can you even fail levels? From what I saw, all you have to do is at least pass the level to continue. Or do you have to get upper medals?

YES YOU CAN FAIL

If you die 250 times or take longer than 20 mins you lose.  This actually starts happening in the hardest stages and when you have made it 90% through and it took you 200 tries and 15 mins it is SCARY for that last 10% that you keep dying on.

[Bebpo]

I did all the hard stages including the dlc pack ones, but the final difficulty is beyond my skill level.

[Raban]

Just for reference, when I get my 360 at the end of this week I'm gonna get a 1600 point card.

Half of that is inevitably going to Mega Man 9, what should I get with the other half? I was thinking BCR, but maybe there's something else worth checking out?

I already have N+, Rez HD and MS3.

[demi]

Perfect Dark

[Don Flamenco]

Castlevania:SOTN, SSF2THDR, MVC2, Ikaruga, Trigger Heart Excelica, Omega 5, Puzzle Fighter...and a ton more.  I can't imagine not having XBL games and being forced to choose between them at this point..so many damn games!

[Raban]

Perfect Dark

This is a good idea. I could wait for this. When is it coming out again?

Castlevania:SOTN, SSF2THDR, MVC2, Ikaruga, Trigger Heart Excelica, Omega 5, Puzzle Fighter...and a ton more.  I can't imagine not having XBL games and being forced to choose between them at this point..so many damn games!

Half of those are on my must-buy list, I'm just trying to prioritize. What's the most bang for my buck right now? I think PD wins that argument.

I just looked at the XBLA page for Perfect Dark. Why is it that the in-game models of Joanna Dark always look at least ten times worse than the renders we get in official art? Like wtf.

[Stoney Mason]

Just for reference, when I get my 360 at the end of this week I'm gonna get a 1600 point card.

Half of that is inevitably going to Mega Man 9, what should I get with the other half? I was thinking BCR, but maybe there's something else worth checking out?

I already have N+, Rez HD and MS3.

Shadow Complex, Poker Smash, Splosion Man, Puzzle Quest if you haven't played it on one of the other zillion platforms its on, Geometry Wars 2.

[Powerslave]

[Raban]

(Image removed from quote.)

I will eventually, but I've bought SOTN so many times across different consoles I've lost count.

And, watching the Perfect Dark footage, will we be able to turn auto-aim completely off and just have stick-look?

[Don Flamenco]

Perfect Dark

This is a good idea. I could wait for this. When is it coming out again?

Castlevania:SOTN, SSF2THDR, MVC2, Ikaruga, Trigger Heart Excelica, Omega 5, Puzzle Fighter...and a ton more.  I can't imagine not having XBL games and being forced to choose between them at this point..so many damn games!

Half of those are on my must-buy list, I'm just trying to prioritize. What's the most bang for my buck right now? I think PD wins that argument.

I just looked at the XBLA page for Perfect Dark. Why is it that the in-game models of Joanna Dark always look at least ten times worse than the renders we get in official art? Like wtf.

Perfect Dark is about 3 weeks away, I think.    SOTN is really the biggest bang for your buck, I think.  Shadow Complex is probably the runner up to that. 

Duke Nukem 3D is 400 points this week.

[Powerslave]

I wasn't replying to you, merely stating that I am playing this game atm.

[Beezy]

I played Splosion Man with three other people for the first time a few hours ago. I think that was the most fun that I've ever had playing multi on an XBLA title. NSMB Wii might be a better single player game, but I honestly doubt that it's better at multiplayer.

[Raban]

Perfect Dark

This is a good idea. I could wait for this. When is it coming out again?

Castlevania:SOTN, SSF2THDR, MVC2, Ikaruga, Trigger Heart Excelica, Omega 5, Puzzle Fighter...and a ton more.  I can't imagine not having XBL games and being forced to choose between them at this point..so many damn games!

Half of those are on my must-buy list, I'm just trying to prioritize. What's the most bang for my buck right now? I think PD wins that argument.

I just looked at the XBLA page for Perfect Dark. Why is it that the in-game models of Joanna Dark always look at least ten times worse than the renders we get in official art? Like wtf.

Perfect Dark is about 3 weeks away, I think.    SOTN is really the biggest bang for your buck, I think.  Shadow Complex is probably the runner up to that. 

Duke Nukem 3D is 400 points this week.

I can wait for PD. I've beaten SOTN like three times, Shadow Complex looks interesting and if the demo is good I might bite. DN3D I bought off GOG during the holiday sale.

[demi]

I picked up BlazBlue off GameFly for $11. Not bad... yes I'm aware of CS, but no I don't care

[iconoclast]

Reading demi's post actually made me want to play some Trials. I just did a quick run through the post-patch endurance run and WOW they made it so much easier. The only track I had more than 1 fault on was Underground; I can definitely get this Marathon achievement. The physics are definitely fair and consistent though, just remember your acceleration and body position (forward or back) matters a lot.

And like Bebpo said, you can fail on missions. The only track I failed though was Inferno 2, but I completed it eventually. I love me some Trials.

On a side note... made it to the final 20% of the final boss's life bar in Mushi Futari and got a game over. 1CC evades me once again

[demi]

Well, it must be me. I was tryin that Groundhog achievement. Why does every movement you do raise your front wheel and make you backflip? That's some funky ass gravity. I had to turn it off from the constant crashes from landing on the back wheel causing me to flip backwards.

[The Sceneman]

I think you can still get all the achievements on super easy mode.

nope, you have to hack all terminals on hard for one, and there is the legendary "Elite Commando" achievement which requires you to beat the game on Super Commando for a 5G achievement. Only demi and myself have it here. And of course the challenge rooms, good luck beating room 60

[iconoclast]

Well, it must be me. I was tryin that Groundhog achievement. Why does every movement you do raise your front wheel and make you backflip? That's some funky ass gravity. I had to turn it off from the constant crashes from landing on the back wheel causing me to flip backwards.

You're probably using one of the lightweight bikes and that makes it a lot easier to flip back when you accelerate quickly. I use the Scorpion 250cc most of the time so that's all I'm really accustomed to. It takes a little while to get used to, but soon you'll have it down. Most of the time when I land on a flat surface after a big drop I try not to hold the acceleration, as that's usually a recipe for disaster.