What are you playing?

[Great Rumbler]

Put about ten hours into Resonance of Fate and I love this game. I'd say it's easily one of top five [maybe even top three] JRPGs I've played since the PS1.

I'm really shocked that Star Ocean: The Lost Hope got roughly similar review to Resonance of Fate. Did the people who played Last Hope not watch the cutscenes? After several hours they just got so grating and annoying, the story, characters, and cutscenes really torpedoed Last Hope big time. I went from "this game is pretty fun" to "I really hate this game" in the span of few hours. RoF, on the other hand, has less cutscenes, less story, and more random [but fun] character moments that let the game live and die by it's gameplay, and so far it's done much more of the former. The world in RoF is also more interested and visually arresting than most other RPGs.

[Bebpo]

SO4 is terrible.  I dunno how any site could give it above a 6.

RoF is Valkyria Profile Tri-ace.  Fun cutscenes, fun battle, fast paced.

[Great Rumbler]

SO4 is terrible.  I dunno how any site could give it above a 6.

RoF is Valkyria Profile Tri-ace.  Fun cutscenes, fun battle, fast paced.

I know Jin complained about the lack of cutscenes to really explain what was going on behind the scenes [and instead just relied on random cutscenes scattered around], but I like that about it. There aren't any 30+ minute cutscenes stacked together to bog the whole thing down, just some short scenes to provide a bit of background/insight. The scenes with the characters are just fun little vignettes that show up and then are gone long before they have the time to get annoying. I'd MUCH rather have JRPGs that do cutscenes like this than the way most JRPGs seem to do things.

[tiesto]

Honestly, the lack of expository cutscenes was one of my only complaints with the game, but I still managed to figure out enough on my own, just by piecing together plot points and interpretation. Glad to see you're enjoying the game, it's definitely one of the best games to come out in a while, and (even though I enjoyed SO4) the best tri-Ace game in a long while.

[Great Rumbler]

Honestly, the lack of expository cutscenes was one of my only complaints with the game, but I still managed to figure out enough on my own, just by piecing together plot points and interpretation.

They've probably gone a bit farther away from that than they really could have, but it hasn't really bothered me so far. I don't know, the background with the world, the way it works, and what's happening to it just kind of feels like interesting background information, but not really something that's vitally important for me to know. I'm still just up to chapter 4 though, so that could change towards the end.

[demi]

yes, it looks interesting

that's the best you're gonna get

[Diunx]

What should I play next? King's Field: The Ancient City, Tales of the Abyss or Beyond Good and Evil?

[Great Rumbler]

BG&E

[demi]

MOH is abysmal online. I literally could not move from my spawn because some guy decided to camp where he spawned and not move.

I got some quick achievements and I am sending this back. You know it is an abysmal game when I cant even stomach it for the 1000.

[Stoney Mason]

MOH is abysmal online. I literally could not move from my spawn because some guy decided to camp where he spawned and not move.

I got some quick achievements and I am sending this back. You know it is an abysmal game when I cant even stomach it for the 1000.

I told ya.


But yeah the game is sniper crazy. All the long distance weapons are super powerful and super accurate. Even the non long distance weapons are crazy accurate. And the map design is pretty bad. So it's very easy to trap entire teams in their spawn. Also the higher player count doesn't help in this regard. I thought the SP was decent. But the MP was garbage. Which is pretty surprising since most people thought it would be the reverse.

[tiesto]

What should I play next? King's Field: The Ancient City, Tales of the Abyss or Beyond Good and Evil?

Never played any of the King's Field games, nor Beyond Good and Evil (a friend gave me the game a while back, saying "take it off my hands, this game sucks!")... Abyss is good, provided you can tolerate a slow start, a lot of backtracking, lots of weird pseudo-scientfic words that make no sense, and an extremely sluggish, load-heavy world map. It's not the best Tales game, and far from the best RPG on PS2 but it's pretty good.

I did most of what I wanted to do with Bayonetta... may go back and play on Hard mode, but not for a while. Also beat Hero 3 mode on Half Minute Hero. Made it to the desert town in Ys 7. So for now it's mostly gonna be playing Ys 7, and then research into XNA indie game development, and some more DJing. Need a bit of a break from gaming for a little bit.

[demi]

I would pick Kings Field. That game is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. You can play BG&E on anything so its not a hidden gem

[Bebpo]

Abyss is the best Tales but the 3DS version will be superior so wait for that.

King's Field I dunno, never played them.  Never enjoyed first person dungeon crawling even back in the Ultima Underworld/Phantasy Star days.


BG&E is short but good.

[magus]

BG&E is supposedly pretty much zelda but in reality you spends waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time playing a crappy stealth game than doing zelda-like stuff

tales of abyss has a really annoying cast of character and drama so phoned in that it makes me want to rip my hair,the battle's are like every other tales which means "button mashy" tough i guess for some people it's an improvement over any turn based system,personaly i find tales of symphonia more bearable

haven't played any king fields game

[chronovore]

Anyone who says BG&E sucks is easy fodder for the plonk bin. Claiming that it's overrated is reasonable, but it's definitely a good game.

So I put aside EA MMA for a little bit to try Viking: The Battle for Ass-Guard, thinking it would be full of beer and male ass-grabbing, a true Evilbore classic. It's just vikings though. And not just any vikings; I thought I'd get to ride a boat to a neighboring village, steal their stuff, including women, and bring it back to my village while they starve and cry. And masturbate, because they don't have women -- but no. These are Dungeons and Dragons style Vikings, with magic pendants and teleportation portals and dragons!

In truth, they could have made it about raiding neighboring villages and stealing their crap. The whole game is about "reclaiming" your island from the forces of Hel, which involves leaving your little village, going to neighboring areas, and beating the hell out of anyone in there. Then it becomes... er, "returns to being" your land.

I blame a local friend for this purchase. We were in the game store, and he used several terms in a single sentence which overwhelmed my reticence to buy: "viking," "open world," and "stealth." One of the things I like about OWGs is revisiting old areas to do new tasks, using what I learned before to my advantage. It's not the case here; it's a series of linear battles which happen to take place in little strips of a larger world. You visit them once to do the mission, and that's it. If I was short on cash maybe there would be a reason to return for hidden gold, but I prioritized buying items which make them appear on my radar (VIKING RADAR), so now I'm cleaning up during the initial playthrough or immediately after clearing the area. The waiting-to-be-freed viking brethren are in the same poses as the topless maidens who needed to be rescued in the Conan game, so I'm always disappointed to get near and discover bearded men in bondage. 

Overall it's pretty, doesn't yet seem particularly deep, and suffers from a janky camera (most likely from someone in marketing telling them to move the camera closer to the main character so he's larger on the screen). The close up, speed-ramped dismemberment kills are satisfying.

[iconoclast]

I absolutely hate Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions. I can't even begin to describe how fucking awful the combat and controls are. Really regret renting this piece of trash. By far the worst 2010 release I've played (not counting distinguished mentally-challenged fellow games like Kirby).

[cool breeze]

funny enough, Shattered Dimensions 360 and Kirby were the two games I had lined up to play.

[Bebpo]

I absolutely hate Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions. I can't even begin to describe how fucking awful the combat and controls are. Really regret renting this piece of trash. By far the worst 2010 release I've played (not counting distinguished mentally-challenged fellow games like Kirby).

?

The combat is pretty boring like Ninja Blade, the camera can spaz at times, and the levels are too long, but otherwise it's pretty good.  The challenges (like Lara Croft) are great, the fanservice is amazing, the visuals are pretty good (40-60fps on ps3 version) and there's a lot of content.  Best comic book game in years that's not Batman AA (although SD is better than Batman AA in a lot of ways).

Kind of surprised you hate it.  Are you trying to play it on hard or something?

funny enough, Shattered Dimensions 360 and Kirby were the two games I had lined up to play.

Should still give it a shot.  I guess it's a like/hate game.  But you liked the DS version, which was just as janky in gameplay, so you should like it.  I'd rent the PS3 version over the X360 one if you can though.  X360 is locked 30fps, PS3 is unlocked GoW style framerate that usually feels pretty smooth.

[iconoclast]

Yes I'm playing on hard. What's really really bad about the combat is that the targeting system is absolutely horrendous. Half the time it's impossible to tell who you're even locked on to, which is a real pain in the ass when you're trying to web-zip over a shielded guy who's otherwise invulnerable to everything. Even the basic controls like jumping and dodging and web-slinging are just stiff and not as good as they should be.

But, I will rescind part of that post since I was mad as hell when I made it. The game has moments where it's fun, but when you're in large battles (7-10+ enemies) it just becomes completely broken and terrible. And several of the enemies are simply no fun to fight (particularly the shielded guys and the medium sized enemies that you can't launch into the air). Otherwise it just feels like a run of the mill (ie. not good) Spider-Man game.

I do like the graphics and presentation though.

[cool breeze]

Should still give it a shot.  I guess it's a like/hate game.  But you liked the DS version, which was just as janky in gameplay, so you should like it.  I'd rent the PS3 version over the X360 one if you can though.  X360 is locked 30fps, PS3 is unlocked GoW style framerate that usually feels pretty smooth.

I already have it bought on the 360 because of that Vanquish Kmart deal (where it was $30).  I'm only annoyed because the PC version is supposed to be coming out next week or something at Walmart and I'd rather have got that.

[Bebpo]

Yes I'm playing on hard. What's really really bad about the combat is that the targeting system is absolutely horrendous. Half the time it's impossible to tell who you're even locked on to, which is a real pain in the ass when you're trying to web-zip over a shielded guy who's otherwise invulnerable to everything. Even the basic controls like jumping and dodging and web-slinging are just stiff and not as good as they should be.

But, I will rescind part of that post since I was mad as hell when I made it. The game has moments where it's fun, but when you're in large battles (7-10+ enemies) it just becomes completely broken and terrible. And several of the enemies are simply no fun to fight (particularly the shielded guys and the medium sized enemies that you can't launch into the air). Otherwise it just feels like a run of the mill (ie. not good) Spider-Man game.

I do like the graphics and presentation though.

Yeah, games with broken combat are made a lot worse on higher difficulties since you have to actually use it.  And the lock-on is very, very broken in the game.  Whenever I had to web grab an object to throw it, half the time it would web grab a shielded guy instead.  Very annoying.

At least on normal it's pretty hard to die so those things just make battles take a few extra mins and are only a little frustrating instead of a lot.

[cool breeze]

I played the Killzone 3 beta for like 10 minutes and it was kinda crummy.  The look, sound, and presentation is all exactly the same as Killzone 2, except now the shooting feels more like Call of Duty.  I like Call of Duty multiplayer, but Killzone 3 is almost identical to Killzone 3 until you aim and shoot a weapon; even movement, jumping and that stuff feels the same.  It's like trying to milk a chicken.

[Bebpo]

I think I'm at the last location in Ghost of Sparta.  Seems like it'll be about 6 hours, so 25% longer than Chains which was 4 sounds right.  I'm enjoying it though it is just more of the same. 

The graphics and art in this are pretty insane.  Visually it's for the psp what God of War 2 was for the PS2.  Chains -> Ghost is pretty similar to the jump in visuals from GoW1->2.  Santa Monica Studios involvement in this one is probably why the art direction is so good (and why it's almost identical to GoW3's art direction).

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Wrapped up Ys: Oath in Felghana.  Not going to write a long review of this but the game is good.  I won't crack open the seals for the bonus material that is in the collector's edition.  My plan is that I can sell it for at cost or more a couple of years from now.

I'm starting up Red Dead Redemption.  I'm still not a big fan of open world games (I did love Red Faction: Guerrilla though) and this one is more of the same but set in the west.  I'll give it a chance but these games aren't my cup of tea.  I'd like to still dig around the game though and see if I can find some fun things to do.

I also received Crackdown 2 from GF lol.  I forgot I had this in my queue.  I'd rather get a better game.  I didn't bother installing and playing it - I'm just going to send it right back.

Next PSP game I want to get is Knights in the Nightmare.  Might GF the new God of War game.

[magus]

i gave a spin to Flingsmash so i could put some use to the motion plus i have lying around the house and well... the concept is fun,the game is colorfull but the controls are terrible! as soon as you swing the wiimote 3-4 times,the motion+ loses it's calibration and all your swings end up wrong which is absolutely awfull because the game is all about precision,if you point the wiimote at the sensor bar,it recalibrates but it's still horrible

it also seems incredibly short... there are 8 world each with 3 stages and in an hour i was already at world 5!
it's pretty much a score game but getting an high score require precise aim and being able to aim precisely is impossible

[chronovore]

Was disappointed to find that after the final battle on the initial island, Viking: Battle for Ass-Guard shunted my ass directly to the next island with no way to return. This makes me want to rescind the "open world" label for the game. I had planned to scoot around and pick up all the remaining treasure after cleaning house but, BOOM, there I am on a new island without the windfall of funds I'd been counting on.

The new island was more of the same, more of the same, and it had that half-finished feel that seems typical of Sega external developed stuff. There's a certain "reek" given off by Viking that makes it feel a little like Sega's almost-good HULK game. The camera has the same shuddering, overreacting sweep to it. The QTE's have the same mediocre implementation, blitting a button cue on the screen briefly, but not showing whether it's a single press or a repeated tapping clearly. It's just... some kind of Sega jank they must insist on during QA.

[Bebpo]

Tried to take some pics of GoW since the direct feed stuff doesn't really give a good idea how it looks in motion on your actual screen.  Even pics don't do it justice because there's always effects/animation on screen like wind blowing or waterfalls running or ashes falling and lightning changing up the lighting.  They even kept the GoW3 thing where your fire blades are a light source and light up the area. 







You can see how they really tried to capture the painting-style art direction from GoWIII.  I absolutely love that direction.

Anyhow, yeah PSP is a beast.  Love this system <3

[iconoclast]

Is ghost of sparta as short as chains of olympus?

[Bebpo]

6 hours.  Just finished it.  Watching the credits now.

It's short enough that it feels like a sidestory, but long enough that it feels like a satisfying game.


Storywise it's actually the only decent game in the series, lol.  They tried making Kratos somewhat human and not just RAGE MONSTER but unlike GoW3 where they tried that with the loli and it felt out of character, they made it work here and it actually made for a solid little story with a satisfying finish. 

Gameplay ummm, it's GoW.  They really did almost nothing new with it.  The big new thing is the fire meter which lets you make your main weapon flaming for burning armor and hits create explosions that go off on an enemy a few seconds after they're hit.  So they add in enemies with armor that you can only hit with fire attacks until you explode their armor.  Otherwise the main weapon movelist is same as always and there's only 1 other weapon in the game and a few magics.  So basically plays like GoW.

But the exploration side is great.  Huge vistas, cool mythical locations and characters, great graphics, a really good soundtrack to make everything seem more epic.  Controls pretty well too.

If you like GoW it's a must play, if you don't like GoW it won't change your mind, if you're middleground about GoW it's worth a rent/buy when it's $20.

[Himu]

Ys III: Oath in Felghana

Finished Ys: Oath in Felghana. Awesome game, will play on hard mode later.

Zelda II

Zelda II is testing my patience. Are there any good places to grind?

Random iphone gaming tidbit

Damn, what were they thinking when they implemented these controls on the iphone version of Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition? I mean, the controls are fine once you've gotten past the learning curve, but even the pc Maniac Mansion fan remake has better, more intuitive controls. I tried to get the fish for like 3 minutes, holy shit. I had to settle for changing to classic version to get it. I had to DRAG my finger from the plank to Pick Up and then back on the fish. Works fine with a mouse but not a finger.

I tried out Monkey Island 2 and thankfully, controls are pitch perfect and the way it should have been in the first place: the game should auto-detect what you want to do. For example if you click a person, the game should automatically have you talking to him, if double click an item Guybrush should be able to store in his inventory.

I thought we got past this Push, Pull, Walk, Talk, Look At, Pick Up, Open, Close classic SCUMM interface when Grim Fandango hit. Thankfully Lucasarts learned their lessons.

Please update Monkey Island 1: SE for iphone so that the controls are like that of MI2: SE's. Seriously, it should take little to no manpower to do this.

Otherwise, it's boner-worthy being able to play MI1 and 2 on the go and while the images of MI:SE made the art and graphics (or more specifically, Guybrush's redesign) not look to my liking, on a portable screen such as the ipod touch's both games look stunningly beautiful.

[OptimoPeach]

Finally caved and bought Civ 5. Goodbye life

[Raban]

Black Ops multi, AC2 single player, Brotherhood multi.

Win, win, win.

[Third]

*sexy GOW pics

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck I really need to unbrick my PSP. 

[Great Rumbler]

I've been playing some Lost and the Damned this weekend and I've really liked it, just cruising around and doing a few of the early missions. I thought "Maybe I was too hard on the IV, maybe it wasn't really that bad and I was just upset because of comparing it to the old games", but then I came across one of the big reasons why I got so frustrated with the game in the first place: EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CONTROLS MAKES IT FEEL LIKE YOUR TRYING TO SWIM THROUGH MOLASSES AND THE CAMERA SUCKS.

[Positive Touch]

that reminds me, now that i've got a good pc i'm gonna download gta4 and try out the first-person mod

[chronovore]

I've been playing some Lost and the Damned this weekend and I've really liked it, just cruising around and doing a few of the early missions. I thought "Maybe I was too hard on the IV, maybe it wasn't really that bad and I was just upset because of comparing it to the old games", but then I came across one of the big reasons why I got so frustrated with the game in the first place: EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CONTROLS MAKES IT FEEL LIKE YOUR TRYING TO SWIM THROUGH MOLASSES AND THE CAMERA SUCKS.

Here's a fun experiment: Run around in Saints Row 2 for 10 minutes, then try going back to GTA IV. That's the mistake I made. Scenester and I had been playing a ton of co-op SR2 and I felt the GTA urge. Wow, I couldn't believe how everything feels like hip-wading in mud. What's funny is hearing the same thing from others about Red Dead Redemption. I could see it if they're coming directly from SR2, but there is a whole 'nother level of responsiveness in RDR compared to GTA IV.

Gotta ask though: What's wrong with the camera?

[Great Rumbler]

I've been playing some Lost and the Damned this weekend and I've really liked it, just cruising around and doing a few of the early missions. I thought "Maybe I was too hard on the IV, maybe it wasn't really that bad and I was just upset because of comparing it to the old games", but then I came across one of the big reasons why I got so frustrated with the game in the first place: EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CONTROLS MAKES IT FEEL LIKE YOUR TRYING TO SWIM THROUGH MOLASSES AND THE CAMERA SUCKS.

Here's a fun experiment: Run around in Saints Row 2 for 10 minutes, then try going back to GTA IV. That's the mistake I made. Scenester and I had been playing a ton of co-op SR2 and I felt the GTA urge. Wow, I couldn't believe how everything feels like hip-wading in mud. What's funny is hearing the same thing from others about Red Dead Redemption. I could see it if they're coming directly from SR2, but there is a whole 'nother level of responsiveness in RDR compared to GTA IV.

Gotta ask though: What's wrong with the camera?

The camera's fine when you're outside [although I think the driving camera needs to be higher in the air], but when you're running around inside of a building it's just so horrible. Coupled with the molasses-like controls, I dread having to go inside of a building.

[Raban]

I still love GTAIV, even after playing RDR

I have a Himu-like love for GTAIV like he loves 808s & Heartbreak.

[Herr Mafflard]

Finished up Act 1 on Vanquish. So good.

When I play 'pure gameplay' action games like this, it takes me a while to 'get' it, but when I do, it's like the best feeling ever. I died a few times yesterday near the very start of the game - on the first boss - if you can call it that ( the one from the demo), and I was getting so frustrated that I shut it off. I came back to it today, breezed through that section on my first go, and finished up Act 1 no problems.

I think the last game that I had to 'get' was Ninja Gaiden. Games are getting so homogeneous these days that you can't differentiate most of the action games from one another, especially western ones (Gears, CoD etc.) - unlike Vanquish or Ninja Gaiden, there is nothing to 'get' in those games - you just point your gun and shoot. So sad that games like Vanquish often get overlooked for the mass market appeal of games like CoD etc, of which I also enjoy - but i can't help but feel that the success of those games often stifle the development of Vanquish and the like.

Mikami director of the two greatest third-person shooters ever

Also played a bit of Enslaved.

Ha this like the complete opposite of Vanquish - button mashing combat interspersed with some auto-platforming. That isn't to say I don't like it, it's pretty to look at has some great visual set pieces and is no doubt shaping up to be a fun ride. Collecting those red orbs is a bit of a pain tho.

[Damian79]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

ATLUS RETURNS FROM A TERRIBLE FUTURE WITHOUT RADIANT HISTORIA, TIME-TRAVEL RPG FOR NINTENDO DS, WITH NEWS OF NORTH AMERICAN RELEASE IN FEBRUARY 2011

Gonna go back (and forward) in time.

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA — NOVEMBER 22, 2010 — Atlus U.S.A., Inc., recently returned from an expedition into the future, today announced a North American release for Radiant Historia, a new internally-developed time-travel RPG for Nintendo DS. Channeling the heart and soul of fan favorite 16-bit RPG classics, Radiant Historia combines a unique position-based battle system, intricate hand-drawn details, and one of the best soundtracks in recent memory as it takes gamers on a steampunk adventure back and forth through time.

“We’ve seen a future without a North American localization of Radiant Historia,” warned a stern Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales. “That future was depressing and noticeably lacking in the ‘epic handheld RPG’ category. Knowing what that tomorrow would be like, we’re excited to release Radiant Historia for Nintendo DS in February 2011. It’s the kind of gaming experience that is really a time machine unto itself, transporting gamers back to the 16-bit era, the golden age of RPGs. Prepare to jump forward and back through time, meeting a variety of memorable characters and taking in some of the most polished, lovingly hand-drawn visuals ever to grace a handheld entry in the genre. A gaming future without all that? Not pretty,” he concluded, grimacing.

Radiant Historia is currently scheduled to release on February 22, 2011 for Nintendo DS™. For more information, visit the official website.

www.nintendoeverything.com

Radiant historia coming to the US.

[Damian79]

From that video it almost seems like a chrono trigger game.

[Damian79]

Er shit meant to post all that shit in the random gaming thread.  :/

[EmCeeGrammar]

I'm part of the problem because I got it at half price from amazon, but Sin and Punishment 2 assaults every sensory organ and perception module of your brain and injects it full of awesome. I wish I could taste this game. My mouth would orgasm. 

FUCK STARFOX

[Bebpo]

Yeah, it's $15 right now
http://searchresults.pcrichard.com/search?keywords=vg_bgn_Wii

Anyone who hasn't played S&P2 yet should jump on that for sure.  Best Treasure game in years.

[Raban]

I still love GTAIV, even after playing RDR

I have a Himu-like love for GTAIV like he loves 808s & Heartbreak.

So you admit its shit? thank you.

No I won't, bury myself like Himu did. I think GTAIV is fucking perfect, but the learning curve and transition from PS2 GTA gameplay was a huge shock that some people can't get over. I understand why people don't like it, but I don't agree with those people in the slightest. GTAIV is my favorite game this gen so far. My only outstanding issue was the repetitious missions.

[Great Rumbler]

I still love GTAIV, even after playing RDR

I have a Himu-like love for GTAIV like he loves 808s & Heartbreak.

So you admit its shit? thank you.

I think GTAIV is fucking perfect

Perfectly boring.

[Raban]

It's OK rumbler, I still love you since I normally share your taste in video games. GTAIV seems to be my black sheep with all my video gaming friends. I haven't met anyone that loves that game like I do.

[Bocsius]

Still dragging myself through ME2 replay. But this week, the greatest thing to happen to Xbox 360 happens to Xbox 360. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

 

[Great Rumbler]

It's OK rumbler, I still love you since I normally share your taste in video games. GTAIV seems to be my black sheep with all my video gaming friends. I haven't met anyone that loves that game like I do.

I love open-world games and I loved all the previous GTAs, but IV just doesn't do a thing for me. It's like GT5: well-made and immaculate, but hollow. It's like a house made by a renowned architect, it looks absolutely stunning on the outside, but when you go inside you find that there's no furniture, no photos or knick-knacks on the walls, nothing to indicate that it's actually a place where people live. Just a beautiful building, but nothing more.

[Trent Dole]

Still dragging myself through ME2 replay. But this week, the greatest thing to happen to Xbox 360 happens to Xbox 360. 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

 

ya ya ya ya ya

[brawndolicious]

It's OK rumbler, I still love you since I normally share your taste in video games. GTAIV seems to be my black sheep with all my video gaming friends. I haven't met anyone that loves that game like I do.

I love open-world games and I loved all the previous GTAs, but IV just doesn't do a thing for me. It's like GT5: well-made and immaculate, but hollow. It's like a house made by a renowned architect, it looks absolutely stunning on the outside, but when you go inside you find that there's no furniture, no photos or knick-knacks on the walls, nothing to indicate that it's actually a place where people live. Just a beautiful building, but nothing more.

I don't really get the comparison to GT5.  It definitely has a lot of soul and imagination in there.  Especially when you see the connection between the main story and the Episodes from Liberty City DLC.  I mean it's subjective whether or not  you like it but you can tell that the world was somebody's imagination coming to life.

As far as the gameplay goes, it's a big jump in quality from the old 3D GTA's as far as I can see.  The driving is definitely less forgiving, and may have been a bad design choice considering how often you drive, but I liked it and I loved the shooting compared to the old games.  Only complaint is that I wish your character could run faster.

[chronovore]

I love open-world games and I loved all the previous GTAs, but IV just doesn't do a thing for me. It's like GT5: well-made and immaculate, but hollow. It's like a house made by a renowned architect, it looks absolutely stunning on the outside, but when you go inside you find that there's no furniture, no photos or knick-knacks on the walls, nothing to indicate that it's actually a place where people live. Just a beautiful building, but nothing more.

Well said. This is my gripe with IV too, and why I appreciated the chance in the RDR thread to think about what separates it from GTA IV despite the similarities. GTA IV feels empty. In IV, nothing happens of note unless it's during a story mission. I was interested to see the occasional parked car with its engine being checked, or the trunk being loaded. It was kind of neat to see a cop chasing a fleeing suspect. (Though even that was in from Vice City, where it offered a "Good Samaritan Award" of $5 or $500. In IV the reward is a shiny new STAR or two, and a beating.) But nothing ever "just happens" to the main character unless he initiates it.

I don't really get the comparison to GT5.  It definitely has a lot of soul and imagination in there.  Especially when you see the connection between the main story and the Episodes from Liberty City DLC.  I mean it's subjective whether or not  you like it but you can tell that the world was somebody's imagination coming to life.

As far as the gameplay goes, it's a big jump in quality from the old 3D GTA's as far as I can see.  The driving is definitely less forgiving, and may have been a bad design choice considering how often you drive, but I liked it and I loved the shooting compared to the old games.  Only complaint is that I wish your character could run faster.

It's possible that the Tales from Liberty City DLC story tie-ins were originally conceived of during the initial production of vanilla GTA IV, but it's not fair to claim brilliance in the storyline relative to items which may have just as likely been retrofitted into the continuity. The story itself was pretty good for the first 30% of the missions, sure. It's just that there wasn't anything other than the story.

As for the gameplay being an improvement, I think the gunplay is a big improvement from the PS2/PSP games' lock-fire-switch, lock-fire-switch. The trouble is, as much as it makes you feel like a precision-shooting badass, the driving is substantially more harsh. So you can feel like a precision-shooting badass who suffers horrible palsying and epilepsy when behind the wheel of a car. And, honestly, the cover feature is also unresponsive enough that it feels like Nico is afraid to leave cover.

[Positive Touch]

anyone patch policenauts on windows 7?  i cannot for the life of me get the english patch to work cuz that xdelta3 program will not work.  suggestions would be appreciated.


also spellcheck recommends changing policenauts to placenta

[Diunx]

Have you tried downloading an already patched image?

[Positive Touch]

hey fuck you man

[Bebpo]

I'm about halfway I think through Jane Jensen's Gray Matter and am extremely impressed.  It's the first really good retail serious adventure game I've played since the genre died in the late 90s.  Gray Matter is for sure, Gabriel Knight 4, and so far it's better than GK3 and up there with GK1/2.  The story and characters are very, very good, the art is fantastic and the music is A+++.  Good pacing and puzzles so far too and length seems solid.  They use motion comic for the important cutscenes like Peace Walker and it works great.  Feels like watching a top-notch film.  Totally engrossed in it.  Game was worth the 8 year wait.

Making some early headway in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood.  It's good, but not really feeling it 100% atm.  Part of that is because I opted for the PS3 version which is total shit and that's taking away from the immersion of it all.  After I finish Gray Matter I'll probably just marathon this in a couple of days.

And playing Criminal Girls because it's addicting.  It's basically cute and slightly perverted Etrian Odyssey.  Very addicting dungeon crawler.  I finally got some really powerful attacks and more party members and things are starting to look good for my team of underage women!

[Joe Molotov]

I'm about halfway I think through Jane Jensen's Gray Matter and am extremely impressed.  It's the first really good retail serious adventure game I've played since the genre died in the late 90s.  Gray Matter is for sure, Gabriel Knight 4, and so far it's better than GK3 and up there with GK1/2.  The story and characters are very, very good, the art is fantastic and the music is A+++.  Good pacing and puzzles so far too and length seems solid.  They use motion comic for the important cutscenes like Peace Walker and it works great.  Feels like watching a top-notch film.  Totally engrossed in it.  Game was worth the 8 year wait.

Sweet, I'm "importing" it now. Love Jane Jensen.

[Great Rumbler]

Grey Matter has a more troubled production history than Duke Nukem Forever. 

[Bebpo]

Sweet, I'm "importing" it now. Love Jane Jensen.

Cool.  Yeah the only complaint I have is that there's a billion load screens (short ones).  Otherwise great.

btw, double clicking runs to any object.  This may seem obvious, but there's a lag after you double click before they start running so at first you think there's no run button.  

Grey Matter has a more troubled production history than Duke Nukem Forever. 

Yeah, I'm positively surprised the end product came out pretty quality.  I was expecting something more like GT5.  Hopefully it doesn't fall apart in the end due to production troubles.

[bork]

Playing Halo Reach multi, SSF4, Soul Calibur IV, Assassins Creed 2, and AC Brotherhood multi.  Also some Dance Masters and Dance Central on Kinect.

Just ordered Call Of Duty Black Ops, which I'm getting for free (using Amazon credit and reward points), so now I don't mind getting both it and Bad Company 2, which I will probably go out and pick up tonight.