What are you playing?

[Bebpo]

Kind of not feeling Yakuza Isshin.  The main story is alright and fun though the combat while having variety is pretty janky.  But what kills it is the game is constantly interrupting you everywhere you go with subquests that are boring and 5 mins of some person talking and random battles while walking around.  Even the main story is just a lot of talking so far a couple of hours in.  It's just...kind of boring and slow and not all that fun to play.  I used to go OCD and do all the side-stuff in RGG1/2/Kenzan but with the pacing of this game I think I'm going to try to actively avoid all side-stuff and just try to get through the main story and hope the pacing is alright.

The first real city (Kyoto) feels really small and narrow compared to the cities of the modern day games in the series and I remember Kenzan's city being a bit bigger than this.  Hope there's some bigger locations later on.  Kind of hoping I'll enjoy this game through, but may end up bailing on it and not bothering with the series anymore.

[fistfulofmetal]

Planetary Annihilation seems pretty rad. It has a lot of the same stuff Supreme Commander has, but streamlined. Also it's fucking awesome that you can go and basically colonize another planet for conquest. Needs more units and giant mech shit but so far I'm enjoying it.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

One Finger Death Punch is fucking awesome. It got put on Steam and apparently I got it in a Groupee bundle a long time ago. It's a twitchy, rhythmy, fighty, super addictivey good time.

[Bebpo]

Planetary Annihilation seems pretty rad. It has a lot of the same stuff Supreme Commander has, but streamlined. Also it's fucking awesome that you can go and basically colonize another planet for conquest. Needs more units and giant mech shit but so far I'm enjoying it.

Did they finish and release it?  Or still early access?

nm, checked steam and early access.  Looks cool though!

[fistfulofmetal]

When you send units to another planet the ship follows a trajectory around the sun as to use it's gravitational force to slingshot itself toward the other planet. It's so damn cool.

So far you only really go to the other planets to get more resources and expand. But there aren't any ways to actually influence stuff on another planet (other than resources). It would be cool to have planet to planet missile launchers or lasers or whatever. Also! It needs space combat. GIANT SHIPS. MORE GIANT UNITS.

[Joe Molotov]

Planetary Annihilation seems pretty rad. It has a lot of the same stuff Supreme Commander has, but streamlined. Also it's fucking awesome that you can go and basically colonize another planet for conquest. Needs more units and giant mech shit but so far I'm enjoying it.

Did they finish and release it?  Or still early access?

nm, checked steam and early access.  Looks cool though!

It's moved out of Beta and into Gamma. 

[Raban]

So in anticipation for Ground Zeroes I decided to check up on what westerners pass for stealth-action games by playing Dishonored. I'm pleased to report that it's a surprisingly great game. The level design is really smart and rewards creative use of the powers in a few very satisfying ways, particularly when you're using the game's most unique item; the heart. Whipping that thing out reveals most of the secrets in a stage as well as whispering a little story exposition on command, which makes it a cleverly designed tool for drawing the player's attention to parts of the environment they might've missed. At the beginning I got a little frustrated when I'd get caught until I got better at actually saving the game when I get through a section "perfectly" so I could just play the same area a handful of times to plot my route through the stage without worrying about failing. It'd be nice if the game's autosave system was better about this, but c'est la vie.

Speaking of caveats, I found the story to be quite flat. It might've been better if Corvo was a speaking character who was written to relate to the player, because pretty much every person in this game is a worthless piece of shit living in a morally corrupt and destitute world. Having some sort of wit or charm thrown into the mix would've done wonders to ease the relentless tension that ultimately feels tiresome by the end of the game.

I've only heard praise for this game's story DLC so I'll give that a shot next. It also happens that they're making a sequel called Darkness of Tyvia (there are notes in the first game that describe this place; a dark, cold, mountainous region that houses a number of cities divided by wilderness ), so I hope they at least attempt to create a more likeable set of characters and address the weird autosave issues.

[magus]

Atelier Escha & Logy is out and i've jumped on it like a ravenous dog

so far it's pretty eeeeeeehhhhhhh,the introduction is really long and boring and full of tutorial's,the plot is that somewhere on the world a new city has been created which stands on a bunch of ruins so marion has been sent there to investigate,as such she ask for the help of two alchemist,loli escha and tough dude logy and when you put their name together they make for a branch of theology about how we are all going to die and you get to pick who you play with,i picked logy because i heard it translated into a more rpgish game but so far it doesn't really feel much different from ayesha

so unlike ayesha and totori this time there are no missing family members to rescue and you work for marion instead so the game plays more like an improved version of rorona,every 4 month you are assigned a task and you have to clear it otherwise you game over,on top of your big task you also get a bunch of smaller task like "explore this place" "fight this monster" and the like,doing these give you point which increase your rank which in turn translate into a better salary and also gives you extra item and power ups

items are now infinite,when you make a consumable you set it in a preparation menu and it automaticaly get restocked for you to use again when you get back to town which make me a lot more comfortable about using consumable's, the catch is that each item has a number of slot and the more powerfull the item,the more slot it consume so you can't bring a shitload of elixir like in the previous game... you also pay a money fee for every item you use

delivery and slaying quest are still there but this time they reward you with candy,apparently later on you use this candy to control homunculus and give them the task you don't want to do but i haven't got so far

another feature is that as you gather item and slay monster you fill a bar,the bar goes up to 200% and when you get to at least 100% you can summon a special power like improved item quality,finding treasure or fighting a rare mob,when i picked a fight with a rare mob i actualy got in a pretty tough fight and it was the easiest choice i could pick so i was pleasantly surprised

the alchemy system has been reworked once again,everytime you add item you get point into any 4 element and then you can use those point to use your skill where in ayesha you could use your skill freely... so for example here you have a skill to improve item quality but if you want to use it you need to use at least 1 earth point so you can't use it if you don't add any earth based item

apparently later on you also get the ability to create new armor/weapon where you couldn't in ayesha but it's not something that you can do in the first few hours of the game... which is annoying!

the new character aren't really that interessing, escha is your average cheerfull girl, logix is as square as an rpg main character can get and the party is rounded by a guy called awil who uses a giant hammer and really feels like he's here just so that you can have 3 party members battle... NPC include this little girl who sells oddity and try to scam her customer and a muscle guy owning a bar

there are a lot of returning character from ayesha including wilbell and nio,it's nice to see them here but they don't serve much purpouse other than making some reference to the previous game and acting like they did in ayesha... the battle system is identic to ayesha (well i guess you now have 2 item users for what it's worth)

i'd say the thing that really bothers me the most is the music,it just doesn't have the same catch,ayesha music was awesome but i just don't feel this one

[chronovore]

Atelier Escha & Logy is out and i've jumped on it like a ravenous dog

so far it's pretty eeeeeeehhhhhhh,the introduction is really long and boring and full of tutorial's,the plot is that somewhere on the world a new city has been created which stands on a bunch of ruins so marion has been sent there to investigate,as such she ask for the help of two alchemist,loli escha and tough dude logy and when you put their name together they make for a branch of theology about how we are all going to die and you get to pick who you play with,i picked logy because i heard it translated into a more rpgish game but so far it doesn't really feel much different from ayesha

so unlike ayesha and totori this time there are no missing family members to rescue and you work for marion instead so the game plays more like an improved version of rorona,every 4 month you are assigned a task and you have to clear it otherwise you game over,on top of your big task you also get a bunch of smaller task like "explore this place" "fight this monster" and the like,doing these give you point which increase your rank which in turn translate into a better salary and also gives you extra item and power ups

items are now infinite,when you make a consumable you set it in a preparation menu and it automaticaly get restocked for you to use again when you get back to town which make me a lot more comfortable about using consumable's, the catch is that each item has a number of slot and the more powerfull the item,the more slot it consume so you can't bring a shitload of elixir like in the previous game... you also pay a money fee for every item you use

delivery and slaying quest are still there but this time they reward you with candy,apparently later on you use this candy to control homunculus and give them the task you don't want to do but i haven't got so far

another feature is that as you gather item and slay monster you fill a bar,the bar goes up to 200% and when you get to at least 100% you can summon a special power like improved item quality,finding treasure or fighting a rare mob,when i picked a fight with a rare mob i actualy got in a pretty tough fight and it was the easiest choice i could pick so i was pleasantly surprised

the alchemy system has been reworked once again,everytime you add item you get point into any 4 element and then you can use those point to use your skill where in ayesha you could use your skill freely... so for example here you have a skill to improve item quality but if you want to use it you need to use at least 1 earth point so you can't use it if you don't add any earth based item

apparently later on you also get the ability to create new armor/weapon where you couldn't in ayesha but it's not something that you can do in the first few hours of the game... which is annoying!

the new character aren't really that interessing, escha is your average cheerfull girl, logix is as square as an rpg main character can get and the party is rounded by a guy called awil who uses a giant hammer and really feels like he's here just so that you can have 3 party members battle... NPC include this little girl who sells oddity and try to scam her customer and a muscle guy owning a bar

there are a lot of returning character from ayesha including wilbell and nio,it's nice to see them here but they don't serve much purpouse other than making some reference to the previous game and acting like they did in ayesha... the battle system is identic to ayesha (well i guess you now have 2 item users for what it's worth)

i'd say the thing that really bothers me the most is the music,it just doesn't have the same catch,ayesha music was awesome but i just don't feel this one

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[StealthFan]

That's what I was thinking when I saw that post. Goddamn dude.

[etiolate]

Started playing Dues Ex HR for the first time. I am not sure if I am unuse to cover mechanics or if cover mechanics just suck, but I am not enjoying the early bit of the game. I want to do espionage and Deus Exy stuff. Not go from shootout to shootout.

[magus]

That's what I was thinking when I saw that post. Goddamn dude.

here's the version for you guys, you can play as a loli

out of 10

[chronovore]

Played a single round of Texas Hold 'Em Poker. I had a Jack. By the river, two more Jacks and two Aces. Hey, I've got a Full House, Jacks over Aces. I felt pretty good, went all-in. My opponent also had a Full House: Aces over Jacks.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[The Sceneman]

been stuck at home with the flu so been playing a buttload of Xbox. What I've been playing lately

got 200/200 in Shoot Many Robots - one the most mediocre games I've played recently. Not a bad game by any means, just completely unremarkable in every way. Except for the item descriptions, you can tell thats where the entire writing budget went. That guy needs a promotion and his own game project.

Beat Dust: An Elysian Tail - got 100%, 400/400, all treasures and the best gear and everything. Really effing amazing project considering it was by one guy. I can get past the overt christianty bent and bizarrely furry style (I thought Furry was all depravity, but Dean Dodrill pushes his pure Christian vision with this art style, wtf) - when the game is clearly a love affair with old-skool Castleroid shit with the best gameplay hooks. Game is uneven of course but it mirrors my intentions with my current design project so I forgive any imperfection.

Playing a good amount of Civ Rev. Great game, but too easy! The AI can't cope with the amount of decisions the game offers and even a novice TBS player like me who's experience is nothing but SRPGs and Advance Wars has no trouble macking the computer on all victory levels, even on the hardest difficulty. Biggest issue is that there are 4 victory options, but you can have it all, it's not a race for tech or cash or culture, if you're doing well you've got all of that shit. Culture victory seems too easy, I had attained it by 1975 yet I kept flossin on tech cos I wanted that space station. Fun game though for free and cheevs flow like wine. At the very least it's got me into the Civ franchise so I wanna get my teeth into some real PC shit now.

Peace Walker HD - I skipped this on PSP so was happy to pick the HD port for 5 bux in the recent sale. Wow, I'm such a stickler for MGS's universe/story conceits (blame my childhood for playing MGS on PS1) this is brilliant stuff.

Also playing a good amount of Grand Theft Auto Online - because it's awesome

[The Sceneman]

Started playing Dues Ex HR for the first time. I am not sure if I am unuse to cover mechanics or if cover mechanics just suck, but I am not enjoying the early bit of the game. I want to do espionage and Deus Exy stuff. Not go from shootout to shootout.

Have you even got to the first hub area yet? The intro is all crappy shooting and cover stuff.  The game is top tier, just takes an hour or two to get going. Once you get doing proper missions you can do all the hacking and stealth and air ducts and whatnot

[Cerveza mas fina]

Civ Rev deserved a sequel

[Cindi Mayweather]

Scene man is wrong. Intro is nothing but stealth.

[The Sceneman]

Maybe you're forgetting the first first mission, before Jensen is maimed and augmented? I remember that being next to impossible to stealth and was all shooting set pieces? Maybe my memory is hazy.

In any case, if Etoilate is going "from shootout to shootout" then he's playing the game wrong probably

[Cindi Mayweather]

The mission where they attack the hq? Maybe. I dunno.

[fistfulofmetal]

you can most def stealth the very first part of DXHR

[demi]

You have to stealth it - there is an achievement for it.

[a slime appears]

I swear I'm gonna beat Ryse tomorrow morning.

I need to ship it off so maybe I can get South Park before I take off for GDC.

[fistfulofmetal]

Insurgency seems like a modern Red Orchestra. It plays pretty much the same in nearly all aspects.

[a slime appears]

I beat Ryse. You know what? Fuck the haters, I really liked the game.

Sure it's combat is stupid simple and the level design is a goddamn straight line, but man is it awesome being able to play as a Roman fucking shit up.

[iconoclast]

Monster Hunter 3U
I just reached the 7-star quests in Tanzia, so I finally have access to the monsters I need for my next set of upgrades. I'm starting to get a little bored of the game, though. The lure of new gear helps, but in the end I'm still fighting the same damage-sponge monsters over and over (some of which are really boring to fight). Maybe I just need to try some new weapons and start playing online to break up the monotony.

I don't mean to complain too much though, it's still a great game that has kept me hooked for well over 100 hours.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Are you playing on 3ds? The lack of multi really ruins the longevity of the 3ds version.

[iconoclast]

Nah, I have the Wii U version now. I still prefer playing solo, but multiplayer is nice when you need to steamroll an enemy for parts (like Goldbeard). I'm looking forward to MH4U, but it's going to be hard going back to the 3DS. Hopefully Capcom does another HD version.

[magus]

Monster Hunter 3U
I just reached the 7-star quests in Tanzia, so I finally have access to the monsters I need for my next set of upgrades. I'm starting to get a little bored of the game, though. The lure of new gear helps, but in the end I'm still fighting the same damage-sponge monsters over and over (some of which are really boring to fight). Maybe I just need to try some new weapons and start playing online to break up the monotony.

I don't mean to complain too much though, it's still a great game that has kept me hooked for well over 100 hours.

yup yup,online is how i played the game for like 100+ hours... if it's like the wii vanilla version some content is also online exclusive so you really got no choice

personaly i stopped playing after i saw the whole game,the final boss is a real pain in the ass,the first time i fought it, i died several times much to the pain of other players

[Bebpo]

Ryu Ga Gotoku Isshin - Slowly progressing.  Main story is decent enough, but man combat is just not there.  It's mildly entertaining but really feels like a simple 2000 series slash slash slash game.  Even the fist-fighting feels dumbed down compared to RGG1/2 because of the focus on the other stances (for instance, my favorite part of RGG1 & 2 was grabbing people and doing different environment kills with heat moves.  So far, 3 chapters into the game, I haven't found a single environment kill besides smash guy's face into a wall).  Hopefully it'll get more interesting as the movelist grows but I feel like the combat is gonna be weak for the whole ride and really I'm just in for watching Kiryu overthrow the government in feudal Japan.  And yeah, the non-cutscene dialogues go on forever and the graphics are pretty shitty and still look like PS2 games outside of the cutscenes.

South Park - Awesome.  On day 2 now.  Still not sure how everyone is calling it jokingly easy (not that I disagree because it does seem to be the consensus, I guess I'm just missing the system-breaking parts of the battle system that make it very easy).  I mean I haven't died since one time in the beginning but I'm having to heal every round because you only have 1 or 2 party members and the enemies hit extremely hard on their turn knocking over half your life away in a single attack.  I feel like I'm surviving and not dying because I'm playing smart and strategic.  It doesn't seem like an "easy" game where I can just hit attack over and over again and steamroll the enemies.

Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 - Just finished the finale of Macross 7 TV in Stage 49.  That stage was ridiculous and like a 2 hour+ srpg map with so many bosses.  Watched the final 2 eps of Macross 7 TV cause I'd never seen it to enjoy it in anime form after playing through its story in the game and man what a ridiculous anime of singing and singing and battles of nothing but flying around singing.  Heh, enjoyed it but glad I never spent the time to watch the show.  Now there's about 12 stages left in the game, and at 2 hour-ish a stage for these end stages, that's another 25 hours to go and I'll finally be done with this after 3 years+ and 200+ hours sunk in.  Still have End of Eva, Gunbuster, Gundam SEED, Ideon storylines to finish along with the OG storyline.  Finished Gaogaigar Final, Dangaioh Final, Mac 7, Jeeg already.

The Yahwg - Played through this finally this morning and holy shit I love this game.  Played it a bunch of times and then read about different ways you can play it as a party game with other people locally, either each player taking on a character and reading their character turns aloud or playing as 2 characters and having everyone in the room vote on choices.  Can't wait to play it with friends.  It's also a game where the font makes such a huge difference.  The game, with a standard boring font, would be nowhere near as good.  Really nice looking text makes this choose-your-own-adventure game a fun read/play.

The Stanley Parable - Played through this right after and eh, I didn't really care for it.  Was cute the first couple of times I played it and got a few endings.  But it's so snarky and there's a lot of repetition and boring standing around waiting for narration and it's just not particularly fun, unlike The Yawhg which is consistently fun. 

[Bebpo]

Started playing Thomas was Alone - I like it, though I kind of hate how these games have like 100+ levels.  I get tired of them after 30.  The music and narration and visual design is all nice though.  I really like the presentation of developer quotes between chapters looking back at the events that happened.  Will probably push through the whole thing over a few days.

[demi]

Bought I Am Alive and Call of Juarez Gunslinger for $3.74 each on Xbox since they're on sale.

[archie4208]

Beat South Park.  Best RPG in years.  Too easy though.

Started Tales of Xillia.  Holy fuck this is as shit.  Haven't played a Tales game since Versperia so it seems fun.

Started trying to learn some more Crusader Kings 2.  My head hurts. 

Just kinda spinning my wheels until Dark Souls 2 hits.

[a slime appears]

Ryu Ga Gotoku Isshin - Slowly progressing.  Main story is decent enough, but man combat is just not there.  It's mildly entertaining but really feels like a simple 2000 series slash slash slash game.  Even the fist-fighting feels dumbed down compared to RGG1/2 because of the focus on the other stances (for instance, my favorite part of RGG1 & 2 was grabbing people and doing different environment kills with heat moves.  So far, 3 chapters into the game, I haven't found a single environment kill besides smash guy's face into a wall).  Hopefully it'll get more interesting as the movelist grows but I feel like the combat is gonna be weak for the whole ride and really I'm just in for watching Kiryu overthrow the government in feudal Japan.  And yeah, the non-cutscene dialogues go on forever and the graphics are pretty shitty and still look like PS2 games outside of the cutscenes.

And I was hype for the game coming to the US.

[demi]

I bought Borderlands 2 GOTY, and it's just not as fun solo. Need to find a group to run with to play these DLCs.

I'm in that "dont feel like playing anything" mood - waiting for the Twitch update to drop.

[magus]

Atelier Escha & Logy

played up to assignment four... the pacing of this game is soooooooooooooooooo slow, the characters go visit some ruin,they go there and find... nothing... then more time doing nothing passes and a village is in danger! good! let's go,they go to the village solve their water problem which was caused by... nothing... so more time passes and ehy it's finaly time to investigate the river from which the village draw it's water! so they go there and find the water has drained,what has caused the water to drain? nothing... it's such an incredible drag!

the issue is even made worse by the fact that you have 120 in-game day to complete all of your assignment,there is usualy one big plot assignment and 24 smaller assignment,doing the big assignment takes like 20 days so the other 100 days are left for doing the smaller one and the smaller one are all chorish stuff like

- get into 9 fight
- go into this zone and pick this item
- create this item
- create 6 item
- defeat this monster which is slightly stronger than the other one
- bring this item to this NPC

it just drags things even more!

but anyway more character have joined the party,these include

- threia, a woman archeleogist that acts all stern and professional like, i think they really wanted to make her a womanly character because she use magic earring in battle's and all of her attacks consist of making magic blast flashing off her earrings and brushing off her hair

- reyfer, a cowboy that fights using a shotgun, coolest character ever

- lucille, a timid loli that's into medicine, she uses a medic bag and syringe to attack, she's sort of lame but it's counterbalanced by the fact that she's the only character with healing spells (escha and logy can heal but they have to waste item to do so)

- linca, she's the only playable character returning from ayesha (wilbell is there too but she's DLC only) and she's still marion awkward unsociable sidekick

but anyway this game just doesn't have the same spark i got from ayesha,ayesha had better pacing,better music and featured tons of cool cities and place to visit,where in this game so far i got to like my 3rd forest in a row... the two best thing that this game got over ayesha is that one, there is a money manegement aspect to the game,stuff in this game is expensive and money is scarce so you definitely have to decide where to spend your money and two, it has a more enjoyable battle system made by the fact that you have a 6-man party member and can tag character in and out where you couldn't in ayesha
 

[The Sceneman]

Bought I Am Alive and Call of Juarez Gunslinger for $3.74 each on Xbox since they're on sale.

I Am Alive is AAA+, play immediately

[tiesto]

Up to the part where Bravely Default goes to hell. Disappointing since I was loving it up till that point. Now I'm just gonna power level through the rest of the game.

[StealthFan]

Now I'm just gonna power level through the rest of the game.

[chronovore]

Finally booted up the Games-with-Gold free copy of Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes. Thought I'd do the tutorial, turns out the lessons are integrated to the story, and I played for two hours. Game is really relaxing and fun! I can't imagine anyone is actually playing this online. I may need Sceneman to help me grind out that cheevo.

Been trying to finish up some titles which have been sitting around doing nothing on my HDD. Gastronaut's Small Arms, the XBLA's unasked answer to Smash Bros. is now done. I could spend a couple bones to buy and finish the DLC, but NAWWWWWWW. I hate that Xbox doesn't show it as done, since I didn't purchase the DLC.

Went back to Spelunky, trying to remember how to play it. I was never very good at it, but I'm really bad at it now. I want to keep trying.

Went back to Alien Hominid, since I haven't finished it, and my last Achievement in it dates to 2007. I'm at the final stage, but playing this is pretty nerve wracking. People talk about how hard this game is, and it is hard, but it's also not that well designed. Behemoth's more recent efforts are better games which don't feel as... randomly punishing as this does. I continue playing it because I like the character, and enjoy the world they've put it up against.

[The Sceneman]

Clash of Heroes is totally:

Probably the best game I've played so far from the Games with Gold promotion

[chronovore]

Clash of Heroes is totally: (Image removed from quote.)

Probably the best game I've played so far from the Games with Gold promotion

Best emoticon, or BEAST EMOTICON?

Yeah, it's pretty compelling. It seems reasonably balanced as well. Trying to take out a lvl 7 foe while I'm lvl 6 is hard, but not impossible. Most of it seems really well explained, and it is oddly natural feeling in setting up attacks and defenses. It's pretty sharp!

[The Sceneman]

Haha yeah it's my favourite emote here and I commonly use that gesticulation IRL also, I was bored this evening so I made that.

Yeah what grabbed me about clash of heroes was the awesome blend of puzzle game mixed with RPG, it's a common hybrid nowadays but that game had a really unique playstle and presentation. Online competitive play is great too, a good deal of luck is involved as sometimes you'll get ideal unit set ups dropped for you, but I've had some real edge of the seat matches. A shame you didn't get amongst it when it was the free game! There were a lot of active players. Lets duel soon!

[CajoleJuice]

Clash of Heroes is totally: (Image removed from quote.)

Probably the best game I've played so far from the Games with Gold promotion

this emoticon needs to be added for threads featuring average white girls

[Joe Molotov]

Clash of Heroes is totally: (Image removed from quote.)

Probably the best game I've played so far from the Games with Gold promotion

this emoticon needs to be added for threads featuring average white girls

[The Sceneman]

And bad videogames!

[Cerveza mas fina]

Just finished Brothers.

9/10 what a beautiful little gem, def earned a spot in last gens favourites.

I never played Ico but I bet its a bit like this.

[magus]

so ground zero got leaked on the web, i don't care much for metal gear solid but between the fact that

- i'm not having much fun with atelier escha & logy
- i remembered all of the good time i had being fucking excited for metal gear solid 2 when it was the hot launch title showing the power of the ps2
- i remembered all of the good time i had being fucking excited for metal gear solid 3 when it was the next game from the kurazy mind of hideo kojima
- i never saw metal gear solid 4 and therefore do not know the horrible horror related it
- the download was very small,in fact metal gear solid 4 is as big as ground zero x 15 times

i decided to give it a try,i only had the chance to play for like 5 minutes (because obviously the first 5-10 minutes had to be some longass cinematic intro featuring this song) the thing i don't really get is the plot and yes i'm saying 5 minute in

spoiler (click to show/hide)

apparently you have to rescue paz from peace walker from some prison... why? i tought she was a minor character whose whole point was to be jailbait to promote peace walker... and now she has plot relevance? oh and you also have to rescue some spanish guy with some stereotypical name like pablo or chico or something

[close]

anyway i didn't even have the chance to reach the first checkpoint,just check the control and the like so i only made a very brief impression, but honestly it doesn't feel like metal gear at all, the selection menu where you could pick stuff like the socom and cigarette is gone or if it's there i couldn't find it even after pushing every button,you instead already start with a boring ass rifle,there is no health bar and therefore no ration's,if you get shoot instead the tv screen start getting these sort of burned spot like a film that slowly get fucked up but if you don't get hit for a while you regenerate health like every modern boring shooter ever, if you press start you get a pretty cool 3D map that show the whole area and if a soldier spots you the game goes into slow motion and you get a chance to gun the enemy down before they sound the alarm,they don't even do the typical "!" metal gear sound!



good night you sweet prince

but anyway if you guys want me to check anything out (himuro? i know he's pretty spergy about mgs) i'd be happy to do so

[Rahxephon91]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Paz was revealed to have more going on. Something about Cipher(Zero) using her. She actually hijacks the Metal Gear you build and you fight her. I don't know, Peace Walker is garbage.

[close]

But yeah the gameplay sounds about right honestly. They've been slowly stripping away past gameplay elements. Which has always been strange to me as they refuse to go back to previous MGS play styles. The handheld games would be much better if they used the old MGS playstyle, but I guess Kojima thinks "f that shit, you'll put control styles that don't fit one analog control schemes on one analog control schemes".

Shame about  atelier escha & logy. I was somewhat interested in playing it, but yeah I'll keep avoiding that series.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Wait, time slows down before they signal for their alarm? That's all I need to know! No buy. The dissolution of Metal Gear Solid continues! I should get the HD collection and end my MGS fan hood with a nice bottle of wine.

[The Sceneman]

So is the no David Hayter thing a hoax? If not - no buy. Removal of the iconic alert sound is wtf. Regen health

That basically wraps it up for Konami. They had a good run.

[chronovore]

Wanted something brain-dead and relaxing this afternoon, so I put in Shoot Many Robots for a bit.

I fiddled around in earlier levels, then had the bright idea to try and progress the as-yet-unfinished campaign. I ran into a boss I couldn't beat, with a nasty checkpoint a bit further back than I liked. In attempting to beat it repeatedly, I went from level 28 to 31 from the XP, shouted obscenities at my TV, but couldn't clear the boss.

I was going to have a stroke, so I quit out, only to find that I'm still level 28 since it won't save the data until I clear the last boss. So I almost had a stroke anyway.

My experience in WSOP and Zynga Poker remain disparate: I'm up to nearly $600,000 in Zynga, due to people not paying attention to possible hands. Also, bluffing in Zynga works frequently. In stark contrast, I continue to find new ways to give my money to others in WSOP, which also includes every single time I've ever attempted a bluff.

[magus]

So is the no David Hayter thing a hoax? If not - no buy. Removal of the iconic alert sound is wtf. Regen health

That basically wraps it up for Konami. They had a good run.

as character appear they get names and names of VA too, when big boss appear it says kiefer sutherland (who a quick google search reveals to be jack bauer,uh that's pretty cool)

EDIT: allright i just finished the main scenario in a hour and ten minutes, you just rescue chico,then you rescue paz and the scenario ends,there isn't even any boss to fight...

the metal gear classic alarm sound and red ! is still there but for some reason i only noticed it once! when it happened,the guard were already in alert so reflex (the slow time thingie) didn't trigger,and i was really close to the target so i'm starting to think the problem is that between the fact that most of the time someone spot you from far and that reflex has it's own graphic (more like motion blurrrrrrrrrr) and sound effect (whoshhhhhhhhhhhhhh) it just ends up being hard to notice

After finishing i got a score and a rank (C, i died several times trying to steal a tank,murdering the whole base with the tank was tons of fun so i regret nothing ) and one of the score condition was "No Reflex" so i guess it can be disabled for the joy of himuro though i have no idea how to do so (hard mode i guess?)

i also found that there is a weapon select menu! it's mapped to the digital button... other than the rifle you just have a tranquilizzer gun and a pair night googles,there are no item to find on field... but you seems to unlock more weapons depending on your rank at the end of each scenario

after finishing you unlock 4 side mission which i still have to try,a completition percentage saying 9% also appeared which kinda scream "dude there is content we swear!"

other than the intro,there is a cutscene when you rescue chico,another when you rescue paz and the ending... the ending is a little

spoiler (click to show/hide)

they find a bomb inside paz so they open her up and remove it while she scream through the whole ordeal with all the guts and blood

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oh also one of the side mission didn't unlock,i think i know why

spoiler (click to show/hide)

it's supposed to be a mission that fellate all over the original metal gear solid with tons of callback's and the like

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[Cindi Mayweather]

A C? Christ. I may have to buy this anyways. I can't trust your opinion on the stealth gameplay if you're getting C's dude.

[Raban]

Wait, time slows down before they signal for their alarm? That's all I need to know! No buy. The dissolution of Metal Gear Solid continues! I should get the HD collection and end my MGS fan hood with a nice bottle of wine.

This has been known for quite some time. I dunno, man. If you're going into this all critical of anything they change, you're going to hate it. This is Kojima's attempt to evolve the series beyond its PS1 roots. I know it's hard to let go of the things you may think are crucial to the series, but all of the changes sound like things that should've happened years ago.

Also since when do we seriously pay attention to magus' impressions about games?

[Cindi Mayweather]

Slowing down time when guards are in alert is not shedding psx roots. It is neutering a genre.  More than that, guards did not signal alarms until MGS2 when you could shoot out their radios. I refuse to believe shooting out radios is an outdated feature. It is practical and well established. Might as well slow down time before an enemy attacks you in Ninja Gaiden.

[Raban]

Yeah because getting spotted by an off-screen enemy and instantly going into alert was sooooooooh much fun. Ugh. Gonna go back to ignoring this thread until I get to play the game myself.

[Cindi Mayweather]

Getting alerted by off screen guards is a thing? That is pretty much impossible. Any alert you get in MGS will mostly be in your line of sight, and if they're not in your line of sight, it is your own lack of awareness especially in MGS3 and up. That's no reason to slow down time when you're caught.

[demi]

You can watch me play like a professional on stream when I get it for Xbox One

[magus]

Yeah because getting spotted by an off-screen enemy and instantly going into alert was sooooooooh much fun. Ugh. Gonna go back to ignoring this thread until I get to play the game myself.

someone sound butthurt

Getting alerted by off screen guards is a thing? That is pretty much impossible. Any alert you get in MGS will mostly be in your line of sight, and if they're not in your line of sight, it is your own lack of awareness especially in MGS3 and up. That's no reason to slow down time when you're caught.

most of the game takes part in this big heliport so there are several spot where there are no real corner to hide in it and soldiers move around a lot (some of them even go around jeep you can steal and drive) so yes it can happen to be caught by a soldier that you didn't see

there are a few features to make up for this,if you see an enemy with your binocular you get to mark them and you can see them even if they go beyond walls and the like,if you hold an enemy soldier you can ask him for info on other enemy soldiers and if someone is close to seeing you but still hasn't done so you get a white marker that indicates where that soldier location is

Slowing down time when guards are in alert is not shedding psx roots. It is neutering a genre.

nah it's not really a big deal,since the area is pretty big and usualy when you get spotted you get spotted my multiple soldiers so even if you gun one down the other still sound the alarm,the situation were i was able to dodge an alarm thanks to this feature weren't many,instantly tranquilizing people with the gun by hitting them in the head with the tranquillizer gun also doesn't happen anymore and the silencer on your rifle breaks after a while




you can see it here on 5:15 and on 6:40 you can see the player getting seen by some soldiers he didn't see

you can see on the second video what i mean when i said you usualy get seen by multiple soldiers,somehow the player in that one was able to abuse the system in a way i haven't been able to do... at mark 3:00 you can also see metal gear iconic alert sound and !

by the way the two video above are basicaly the whole main mission

anyway i did all of the side missions and each took around 10-15 minutes, the first require you to kill 2 soldiers but if you get spotted the soldiers leave and the mission fails (but they have to physicaly leave so you have time to catch them up if you are close) the second requires you to BLOW SHIT UP (by the way i got an A on my first try clearly demonstrating that at least i'm good at blowing shit up) you get to ride the helicopter and rescue some contact... at the end it turns out

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the contact is actualy hideo kojima because he's a narcistic asshole

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mission 3 requires you to contact some soldier by holding him up and mission 4 to destroy some anti-air artillery using c4... everytime you clear a mission you unlock challenge like tracking all of the enemy soldiers so it's pretty clear they want you to replay this over and over and over to get any value of it, otherwise you aren't getting more than 1-2 hour out of it
 

[The Sceneman]

You didnt know who Kiefer Sutherland was, magus?