Me said:
Yeah, I know. I posted right before heading to bed. Should have read it a bit more closely.
Ahh yes... the last great Al Lowe game. Probably my favorite in the series as well.
GasBandit
Staff member
Confusing and cumbersome. Pretty much describes every FF after 7. Including 7, if you pay too much attention to Cloud's backstory.
To be fair, that was sort of intentional. Cloud's a basket case, so it only makes sense that his personal history would be just as confusing to us as it was to him.
figmentPez
Staff member
Hmmm, what all have I played since I last posted...
Cave Story - I liked this one, but not as much as I hoped I would. It's a good game, but I'm just not as much of an old school gamer as I used to be. Part of me wants to go back and find all the secrets I missed the first time, and try to figure out branches in the story and stuff, but most of me says I'd have a lot more fun playing a new game. That little part of me that's itching for a replay is left over from when I was a kid, and only got two or three new games a year.
Puzzle Bots- still haven't finished this one. Sometimes I find it hard to get into adventure games. I keep telling myself that they're one of my favorite genres, but they don't give me the adrenaline rush of playing more action-oriented games, and I guess that makes them less addictive. Still, Puzzle Bots is colorful fun. The plot is really goofy, and the writing is a nice blend of intentionally campy and snarky humor. The puzzles are on the easy side, though.
Bunch of Heroes - This one is fun, but I have a feeling it's balanced for multiplayer. The single player missions can be really difficult to finish, even on easy, but it's not a consistent difficulty. Some missions are a breeze, and others are a pain. Also, health pick-ups are way too random. That said, it's definitely more fun than it is good. Hopefully I'll get to play some multiplayer with Halforumites at some point.
NightSky - finished the main game, now working on the harder alternate mode. This one is a beautiful 2D puzzle... platformer? The game involves moving a ball through obstacles, and to the other side of the screen, but different rules apply in different areas. The most common powers allow you to speed up or slow down the ball, with a resulting loss or gain in traction. However, there are times when you get to reverse gravity, or control parts of then environment. There are also times when you won't control the ball at all, or when you'll be forced to move slow. Overall it's pretty good. Sometimes the puzzles can be a little frustrating because of the twitchy precision they require, but mostly it's a good balance of difficulty between figuring out the idea of each puzzle, and the dexterity of executing it.
So, I've worked through enough of the smaller indie titles on my list that I want to get something bigger and more mainstream. I'm thinking an RPG/shooter and I think I've narrowed it down to Fallout 3 GOTY or Mass Effect. Any votes on which one I should go with? Maybe wait for the Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition?
Cave Story - I liked this one, but not as much as I hoped I would. It's a good game, but I'm just not as much of an old school gamer as I used to be. Part of me wants to go back and find all the secrets I missed the first time, and try to figure out branches in the story and stuff, but most of me says I'd have a lot more fun playing a new game. That little part of me that's itching for a replay is left over from when I was a kid, and only got two or three new games a year.
Puzzle Bots- still haven't finished this one. Sometimes I find it hard to get into adventure games. I keep telling myself that they're one of my favorite genres, but they don't give me the adrenaline rush of playing more action-oriented games, and I guess that makes them less addictive. Still, Puzzle Bots is colorful fun. The plot is really goofy, and the writing is a nice blend of intentionally campy and snarky humor. The puzzles are on the easy side, though.
Bunch of Heroes - This one is fun, but I have a feeling it's balanced for multiplayer. The single player missions can be really difficult to finish, even on easy, but it's not a consistent difficulty. Some missions are a breeze, and others are a pain. Also, health pick-ups are way too random. That said, it's definitely more fun than it is good. Hopefully I'll get to play some multiplayer with Halforumites at some point.
NightSky - finished the main game, now working on the harder alternate mode. This one is a beautiful 2D puzzle... platformer? The game involves moving a ball through obstacles, and to the other side of the screen, but different rules apply in different areas. The most common powers allow you to speed up or slow down the ball, with a resulting loss or gain in traction. However, there are times when you get to reverse gravity, or control parts of then environment. There are also times when you won't control the ball at all, or when you'll be forced to move slow. Overall it's pretty good. Sometimes the puzzles can be a little frustrating because of the twitchy precision they require, but mostly it's a good balance of difficulty between figuring out the idea of each puzzle, and the dexterity of executing it.
So, I've worked through enough of the smaller indie titles on my list that I want to get something bigger and more mainstream. I'm thinking an RPG/shooter and I think I've narrowed it down to Fallout 3 GOTY or Mass Effect. Any votes on which one I should go with? Maybe wait for the Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition?
I had never played Mass Effect until about 6 months ago and I actually finished it. Which I never do. That's how good it was.
Then I started playing ME2 and it just felt off and goofy for some reason. The story was still good but the mechanics just seemed so different from 1. So I got 3/4 through it.
Not interested in ME3.
Then I started playing ME2 and it just felt off and goofy for some reason. The story was still good but the mechanics just seemed so different from 1. So I got 3/4 through it.
Not interested in ME3.
Really, you found the story for ME2 good... i mean it's basically just a fetch the companions quest with a final mission at the end... it's not bad, but the first one felt more organic...
And the combat was improved, although i felt they made the biotics too weak, while they where obviously OP in 1...
And the combat was improved, although i felt they made the biotics too weak, while they where obviously OP in 1...
See, I hear this a lot, but I didn't have any trouble using my Engineer during all of ME1, mainly because pistols are OP.
I remember saying I think ME2 is a 10/10 game, but a 7/10 sequel to ME1.
Well biotics being OP doesn't say anything about the others...
And of course the pistols are very powerful because they're so accurate... and lets not even get started on the sniper = taking out Geth Colossi by hand...but ME2 actually got the weapon combat pretty right... although taking out the different dmg types to implement them as a few skills was a step back...
Biotics just disabled most enemies no matter what... while in ME2 they where kinda pointless against shields, which made them useless on the highest difficulty, where everyone had shields... so you'd just spam warp and use your pistol if you where an Adept.
figmentPez
Staff member
I've been playing Shadowgrounds (got it as part of the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle), and it's thoroughly mediocre. The voice acting is bland, the enemy design is cookie-cutter, the story is generic aliens invade earth colony, the settings are standard futuristic outpost, even the weapons are pretty standard (Pistol, pulse rifle, flame thrower, rocket launcher, mini-gun, etc.) It's not a bad game, though. The controls work, the weapons are all useful, the graphics are functional (the lighting is actually pretty good) and the soundtrack is decent.
The actual complaints are mild. The enemies are dumb as bricks, but that's okay for an overhead shooter. The difficulty is rather uneven, and likes to try to be hard by spawning enemies out of nowhere, inside the range of your motion tracker (though off-screen, except for those climbing out of vents). There are some clipping issues, and it's a little too easy to get stuck on corners. Plus, the ceilings of buildings don't turn transparent until you've stepped inside, so it's hard to know if there's something inside ready to maul your face off.
There are no manual saves, and no mid-level saves, so you've got to finish a mission in one sitting if you're going to make progress. Missions can take more than a half-hour to complete. This is not good game design, IMO. Plus, the way deaths are handled is... odd. You get five respawns per mission. When you're brought back, it's at the last spawn-point with all the enemies you were fighting still riled up. It's possible to respawn right in the middle of a cluster of rocket firing enemies, though this is rare. More often I've come back to find the enemies I was fighting dead from explosives, an auto-turret, or after-burn from the flamethrower. For most missions the 5 respawn limit is very generous (I'm playing on medium difficulty.) I've only had to restart a mission twice. Once was the second to last level (which loves to lock you in a small room with a slowly spawning supply of highly damaging enemies), the other was due to a bug when the boss monster was killed while I was respawning.
Overall, I had some fun. It's not a great gaming experience, but I don't feel like it wasted my time.
The actual complaints are mild. The enemies are dumb as bricks, but that's okay for an overhead shooter. The difficulty is rather uneven, and likes to try to be hard by spawning enemies out of nowhere, inside the range of your motion tracker (though off-screen, except for those climbing out of vents). There are some clipping issues, and it's a little too easy to get stuck on corners. Plus, the ceilings of buildings don't turn transparent until you've stepped inside, so it's hard to know if there's something inside ready to maul your face off.
There are no manual saves, and no mid-level saves, so you've got to finish a mission in one sitting if you're going to make progress. Missions can take more than a half-hour to complete. This is not good game design, IMO. Plus, the way deaths are handled is... odd. You get five respawns per mission. When you're brought back, it's at the last spawn-point with all the enemies you were fighting still riled up. It's possible to respawn right in the middle of a cluster of rocket firing enemies, though this is rare. More often I've come back to find the enemies I was fighting dead from explosives, an auto-turret, or after-burn from the flamethrower. For most missions the 5 respawn limit is very generous (I'm playing on medium difficulty.) I've only had to restart a mission twice. Once was the second to last level (which loves to lock you in a small room with a slowly spawning supply of highly damaging enemies), the other was due to a bug when the boss monster was killed while I was respawning.
Overall, I had some fun. It's not a great gaming experience, but I don't feel like it wasted my time.
figmentPez
Staff member
Finished Shadowgrounds today... that ending was... oww, so much stupid it made my head hurt.
Never mind all the stupidity leading up to that point. "You go ahead without me, I'm sure I'll be safe in the communications room... despite the fact that these aliens can rip through reinforced doors, and there isn't even plywood covering the entrance to this place!"
I am now thoroughly convinced that someone could start up a series reviewing just the cut-scenes from games. Ignore the gameplay, and any commentary on that, just mock the story, voice acting, animation, etc. This game would be perfect for that (along with Darksiders, Zeno Clash and The Dig).
They're on the alien spaceship, with an alien device powered bomb. They pass by a shuttle bay, and say they can't set the bomb up there, they need to place it for maximum destruction. Then you fight through hallways, after doing the same dodge the security beams puzzle about a dozen times, and fight an end boss that sits in a chair surrounded by multi-layered spinning force-fields. (So many cliches!) Finally you place the bomb and alien ghosts show up to give you their backstory and claim the bomb will destroy the entire solar system. Yes, the bomb that couldn't be placed in the shuttle bay has the power to destroy the sun.
Not only that, but you believe the alien ghosts whose minions have been brutally murdering, poisoning the water supply and it's hinted they've infected people and changed them into aliens. You just believe them, hand over the bomb, and trust that they'll leave in peace. No questions, no argument, just "Oh! You were trying to save us by slaughtering innocent civilians!" Bullshit!
Not only that, but you believe the alien ghosts whose minions have been brutally murdering, poisoning the water supply and it's hinted they've infected people and changed them into aliens. You just believe them, hand over the bomb, and trust that they'll leave in peace. No questions, no argument, just "Oh! You were trying to save us by slaughtering innocent civilians!" Bullshit!
Never mind all the stupidity leading up to that point. "You go ahead without me, I'm sure I'll be safe in the communications room... despite the fact that these aliens can rip through reinforced doors, and there isn't even plywood covering the entrance to this place!"
I am now thoroughly convinced that someone could start up a series reviewing just the cut-scenes from games. Ignore the gameplay, and any commentary on that, just mock the story, voice acting, animation, etc. This game would be perfect for that (along with Darksiders, Zeno Clash and The Dig).
Finally completed Bioshock. It was excellent in every way I hope a game will be, and has almost convinced me that I will buy Infinite when it comes out, breaking my "wait five years and pay $20 for the GOTY edition" rule. I must now choose between my Halloween prizes: Dead Space or Resident Evil 5. Should I go with alien undead, or regular zombified people?
Suggestions are welcome.
Suggestions are welcome.
In my opinion Dead Space is a survival horror game with strong action elements, whereas RE5 is an action game with small survival horror elements. It depends on which you enjoy more. I would also say that you probably get more game with the RE5 gold edition.
I categorize all these game in lazy port categories. It is completely unacceptable in this day and age that a game company can release games and not cater to gamers who want simply tech, such as remapping fucken keyboards to meet their needs. The fact I needed a 3rd party tool for all above games isn't something a client should endure.
Spoiler alert,
both games have neither alien undead or zombified people.
At least Resident Evil 6 looks like it'll have some zombies again.
Only if you are using the strictest definitions of those terms. In Dead Space the aliens are using dead tissue, so they are basically undead. And if the Plagas virus/parasites basically make people into zombies, just not the dead kind.
But that's all semantics.
But that's all semantics.
In RE4, it's more of a parasite, which has a queen that can directly control the drones... and the queen is somehow being dominated by a human. Basically, they can use guns because the guy in charge is directly making them do it. It's absolute bullshit, but at least they tried to explain it.
RE5 doesn't give you any such explanation. They can just somehow do it... which makes no fucking sense.
RE5 doesn't give you any such explanation. They can just somehow do it... which makes no fucking sense.
Replaying Trine to get all the remaining XP (had all the skills already though), using a guide... because damn, some of those can't be found without massive amounts of hitting everything...hell, 3 from Crystal Caverns where hidden underwater in a place you couldn't see, and you had to break stuff with the warrior's sword... #2 was way better at letting you know where to look...
figmentPez
Staff member
While it did seem to lean heavily towards being console-centric, I didn't get the impression at all that it was simplified. The combat seemed like it actually had a fair bit of control and choice to it, and the skill trees looked to have a fair amount of customization possible.
I'd be more interested if it weren't EA, because that means it's going to get a deluge of DLC at inflated prices, and I don't want to encourage that practice. Maybe if it comes out with some complete edition in the future.
Wat?