Bastion is perfect for it's length, but I feel like it wouldn't have been as good if it were longer. I'll also praise it for putting story telling ahead of everything else. The narrative is entirely what drives Bastion.
GasBandit
Staff member
I agree on both counts. When it came to length, this was not a game that needed 70 hours of playtime. However, what it does need is a sequel. Of approximately the same length.
Not to mention the soundtrack is glorious.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Game's fun, but the Spirit stuff is annoying and I think it's kind of crap that they give you the option of letting Sora or Riku go to whatever worlds first or second, in whatever order, while the story makes it pretty clear that Sora is supposed to visit each one first.
I actually thought the first parts of Dead Space were scarier because you don't have as much firepower then. All you have is your plasma cutter, and while it's nice and reliable, it also gives you a sense of vulnerability that goes away once you get your hands on bigger guns. Then it's all like "Oh you're going to jump out at me? WELL EAT RIPPER!!"
Second game does away with all that and just lets you get on with blasting Necromorphs.
...apparently Jay is a big fan of Kingdom Hearts 3D's sloppy storytelling? Or its Pokemon rip-off mini-game?
I still think your companions should've been Donald and Goofy.
I still think your companions should've been Donald and Goofy.
He's probably disagreeing with the existence of KH3D in general.
I kind of stalled on that game at the Three Muskateers stage.
Yeah, I played a solid 3 hours last night. Tips I got were very useful.
My ship is almost fully upgraded and during the course of the mission I got some extra guys who helped out a lot. I got a Rock guy who's immune to fire (he's my fireman) and 2 mantis guys.. who are my invader response squad.
I've been unlucky finding anything NOT missle based or a teleporter tho.
I love the randomness of the game so much.
I had 2 near deaths so far... fighting near a sun is an INTENSE moment.
My ship is almost fully upgraded and during the course of the mission I got some extra guys who helped out a lot. I got a Rock guy who's immune to fire (he's my fireman) and 2 mantis guys.. who are my invader response squad.
I've been unlucky finding anything NOT missle based or a teleporter tho.
I love the randomness of the game so much.
I had 2 near deaths so far... fighting near a sun is an INTENSE moment.
I've died like a million times already playing FTL (okay, more like 12 but who's counting). My best so far was that I managed to win the first round against the rebel flagship but the second round tore me apart completely. That was with full shields, full weapons, tons of power, two level 3 burst lasers and a level 2 heavy laser (craploads of firepower). I don't know if I'll ever be able to get that ridiculous loadout again.
Imagine you're piloting the serenity from Firefly, but you're stuck in a harsh, rogue-like universe.
Alternatively: If you were playing Homeworld, except that you only had one ship, but you could customize it.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Are You Even Trying Edition
Positive: Three Musketeers world is the first since Traverse Town where I actually like the events going on. The Mickey, Donald, Goofy hijinks are just silly fun without attempting to force melodrama. It doesn't feel like it's trying to cram a complicated plot into a tiny box.
Really frustrated by how the drop system affects the storytelling. I thought it sounded like a cool gameplay tweak, but the odds of getting a sequence in any semblance of chronological order is slim. I just happened to forcibly stop Sora's side just before the finale of the Musketeers section, which is right where Riku's efforts come into play--but not because the game wanted it that way. Somehow Sora's drops are few and far between, while Riku's are frequent. My guess is because Riku gets almost zero story on his end.
And speaking of their divided ends, the game is inconsistent as to how this works. In some worlds, like Traverse Town, there seems to be a doubling of the world, with Sora in one and Riku in another, and other characters are split between them. In other worlds, like the Pinocchio and Hunchback worlds, even the NPCs have been doubled, so Sora and Riku play out different sequences of events with the same cast. And in in worlds like Tron: Legacy and Three Musketeers, it seems like they're in the same exact world, no copies, only they can't see each other, but they're manipulating the events of NPCs who are all together and can all see each other.
It's just so fucking sloppy and it's the same kind of shit that made me call it quits when I finished the first game 10 years ago--inability to stick to the rules of its own universe.
I like a lot of stuff about Kingdom Hearts. Character design, mythos, combat, Disney stuff, the main story when the game can be arsed to get to it. Some of the ideas are great, like a person's changed emotions actually change them into a physically different entity (or entities). Then there's the inconsistency, the plot padding, the nonsense monologues, crappy dialogue, the shitty, shitty mini-games (some of which you're forced to play), and the fact that in more than one side game, the characters' memories are erased at the end, and then in later games, those memories must be retrieved, like the narrative is dancing around the games that were intended to be made and the ones where Square-Enix had opportunity for mid-quel cash-grabbing. I'm gonna be really pissed if the characters all lose their memories of the events in this game at the end just to save Square-Enix from doing proper continuity whenever they get to KH3.
I can accept having a love/hate situation with a franchise, so long as Square-Enix never gets a dime from me. So far, so good--I bummed the first game off a friend, my wife owns the second if I ever want to play it, the side games are wastes of time, and I got this one used. Don't think I'll be keeping it when I'm finished though.
Positive: Three Musketeers world is the first since Traverse Town where I actually like the events going on. The Mickey, Donald, Goofy hijinks are just silly fun without attempting to force melodrama. It doesn't feel like it's trying to cram a complicated plot into a tiny box.
Really frustrated by how the drop system affects the storytelling. I thought it sounded like a cool gameplay tweak, but the odds of getting a sequence in any semblance of chronological order is slim. I just happened to forcibly stop Sora's side just before the finale of the Musketeers section, which is right where Riku's efforts come into play--but not because the game wanted it that way. Somehow Sora's drops are few and far between, while Riku's are frequent. My guess is because Riku gets almost zero story on his end.
And speaking of their divided ends, the game is inconsistent as to how this works. In some worlds, like Traverse Town, there seems to be a doubling of the world, with Sora in one and Riku in another, and other characters are split between them. In other worlds, like the Pinocchio and Hunchback worlds, even the NPCs have been doubled, so Sora and Riku play out different sequences of events with the same cast. And in in worlds like Tron: Legacy and Three Musketeers, it seems like they're in the same exact world, no copies, only they can't see each other, but they're manipulating the events of NPCs who are all together and can all see each other.
It's just so fucking sloppy and it's the same kind of shit that made me call it quits when I finished the first game 10 years ago--inability to stick to the rules of its own universe.
I like a lot of stuff about Kingdom Hearts. Character design, mythos, combat, Disney stuff, the main story when the game can be arsed to get to it. Some of the ideas are great, like a person's changed emotions actually change them into a physically different entity (or entities). Then there's the inconsistency, the plot padding, the nonsense monologues, crappy dialogue, the shitty, shitty mini-games (some of which you're forced to play), and the fact that in more than one side game, the characters' memories are erased at the end, and then in later games, those memories must be retrieved, like the narrative is dancing around the games that were intended to be made and the ones where Square-Enix had opportunity for mid-quel cash-grabbing. I'm gonna be really pissed if the characters all lose their memories of the events in this game at the end just to save Square-Enix from doing proper continuity whenever they get to KH3.
I can accept having a love/hate situation with a franchise, so long as Square-Enix never gets a dime from me. So far, so good--I bummed the first game off a friend, my wife owns the second if I ever want to play it, the side games are wastes of time, and I got this one used. Don't think I'll be keeping it when I'm finished though.
The Traverse Town "doubling" thing probably has to do with it's The World Ends With You influence. In that, your dead and walking around Shibuya, but you exist at a wavelength that makes it possible for you to see and hear living people, but not for them to see and hear you. It's possible Sora and Riku were simply on different wavelengths during those events.
That's sort of how Joshua explained it, but there's no reason it should be different than other worlds since Traverse Town is supposed to just attract anyone who's lost their way.
Between this and The Third Birthday, I feel like Square-Enix is the only company I know that can write a story so bad that it sours enjoyable gameplay. Any other game I've played, I'm fine with a crappy story so long as the gameplay is good. But for them, it's like they promise a good story too, and then shit all over it. I'm not even sure I want to give The World Ends With You another shot because of their bullshit.[DOUBLEPOST=1348110387][/DOUBLEPOST]But anyway, finally made it to Fantasia world, woooohooooo!
The World Ends With You avoids those plot problems by making it primarily a character piece. The actual events are interesting only in how they affect Neku and the others and if you want more details on WHY all the events are happening, you need to wait until you've finished the game and then search each day's events for files. They aren't too hard to get and you can get some great items along the way.
Jet Set Radio HD! Picked it up off of Steam (using the mobile app). Pretty good PC port, unlike the recent Tony Hawk HD release I don't have to modify ini files to change the resolution. Game looks gorgeous, barring some textures, but considering that it's mostly flat colors and cel-shading, you rarely notice. Using the 360 pad you can control the camera using the right stick, which is a welcome change from the DC version.
If you were a fan you should pick this up!
If you were a fan you should pick this up!
So I started Lonesome Road... got bored with it almost immediately and left for the Mojave. Just been wandering the desert discovering new locations and doing the unlisted sidequests. I'm addicted again. I mean I had got my player up to level 40, was saved right before the very last quest, and I had spent a tonne of time already just wandering the Mojave.... but there's still so much I haven't discovered. I will find it all, oh yes. I will find it all.
Mount and Blade Warband. After a long hiatus I decided to load up my old save game and continue my conquest of the realm. I freaking love this game and I hope to hell that the sequel is worthy of the name.
Right now I'm training troops for an inevitable declaration of war from those lousy Rhodoks. When they do throw down the gauntlet, they'll be facing my invasion force of 60 huscarls and 75 veteran bowmen. That's enough to singlehandedly take pretty much any castle and if micromanaged properly even some cities.
I can't believe I'm level 40 in this game... where does the time go.
Right now I'm training troops for an inevitable declaration of war from those lousy Rhodoks. When they do throw down the gauntlet, they'll be facing my invasion force of 60 huscarls and 75 veteran bowmen. That's enough to singlehandedly take pretty much any castle and if micromanaged properly even some cities.
I can't believe I'm level 40 in this game... where does the time go.
Torchlight II. It's everything Diablo 3 should have been. My Engineer Reginald is a gentlemanly powerhouse, as is my Ferret, Doctor Squeakum.
Nearly done with Kingdom Hearts 3D. The Fantasia world was everything I'd hoped for, particularly Riku's boss section. Almost finished with the game, so Jay can take his account back from FigmentPez and the disagrees will cease. 
Pushed into Act II and character is closing in on 30. More stuff to like about this game:
Pet: They're not just a sell mule now, they do respectable damage and can take hits much, much better than in T1. Also, they can be sent to buy potions/scrolls if need be.
Skill Trees: Still a lot to choose from, in three trees that all augment different facets of your class. For example, the Engineer's trees cover melee damage (2-hand or 1-hand, as long as you use some form of axe/hammer/polearm), drones/turrets/cannons (the Cannon is a shotgun-esque weapon), and 1-hand/shield (with armor and barrier-based skills as well). I've not messed with the other classes yet, so I can't say much there. I know Berzerker has a rage-ish tree for multi-hit damage skills, a tree for mostly Frost-based damage, and a tree based on turning into and summoning wolves.
The world: IT'S SO GODDAMN BIG. No more back-and-forth to Torchlight as you clear quests/floors. It's set up more like D2 so far, with one large map that has multiple side-quests and single or two-floor dungeons.
Events/hidden areas: Perhaps my favorite thing so far. For example, finding a skeleton stabbed into an obelisk which you can click. It starts a small wave event of mobs, culminating in a Champion mob and loot. I don't want to spoil the hidden areas, but I'll at least say to keep an eye out for clickables. It's easy to miss, but worth the effort to find these things.
This is a great dungeon-crawler so far, the best I've played in a very long time.
GasBandit
Staff member
so Jay can take his account back from FigmentPez and the disagrees will cease.
TL2 is all kinds of fun. Really, really enjoyed the 5ish hours I played of it last night CynicismKills did a much more eloquent job of describing it than I could hope to right now, so I'll just agree with what he said. Although, I was extremely happy with the fact that, even though the authentication server was hosed from so much demand right at launch, I could still play my game in offline mode; and if I want to play that same character online later, I can do that too. No spending three days wanting to play but being cock blocked by error 37.
Dear Jay,
It was a night of finishing games!
Kingdom Hearts 3D: As expected, the plot doesn't really kick in until the final world. If the player hasn't recently brushed up on the lore, there's almost no way to follow any of what's being said. But there were a couple neat plot twists, and hearing Mickey Mouse's voice say with sincerity "How could I have been so blind?" is hilarious. Probably could've done with one less friendship speech.
Will be either selling this or passing it along to my little cousins once my wife gets to watch the key cutscenes.
Batman: Arkham City: Anyone who bought the Catwoman DLC got ripped off for how short it is. I got the GOTY.
Story was fantastic. Gotta do more side quests.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: As expected, the plot doesn't really kick in until the final world. If the player hasn't recently brushed up on the lore, there's almost no way to follow any of what's being said. But there were a couple neat plot twists, and hearing Mickey Mouse's voice say with sincerity "How could I have been so blind?" is hilarious. Probably could've done with one less friendship speech.
Will be either selling this or passing it along to my little cousins once my wife gets to watch the key cutscenes.
Batman: Arkham City: Anyone who bought the Catwoman DLC got ripped off for how short it is. I got the GOTY.
Story was fantastic. Gotta do more side quests.
-Finished- Black Mesa if you can call it that.
Ok so games I'm STILL working on:
Lego Batman - I really should buckle down and finish the game up but it's really a bit of a casual thing for me, 10-20 minutes here and there. So it'll be a while yet.
World of Warcraft - Friended Squidleybits last night and enjoyed a chat while still attempting to get through my Loremaster achievements. It's very obvious I won't be done by Panderia. Oh well.
Final Fantasy XII: International Zodiac - I should play this more, I don't know why I don't. Every time I fire it up I enjoy the ever loving hell out of it, yet for some reason I procrastinate on playing it.
New game I'm playing:
Borderlands - With the intention of getting pt2 soon I wanted a nice refresher of the first game to get me all set-up for the sequel. Always fun, always fresh, love this game.
Game I'm currently not playing but was:
FTL - Getting to the final area and getting trounced by the droidpocolypse Trademark: Ravenpoe really put a damper on my attempt to play again. Am I -done- with it? Hell no, it's an amazing game. Just a bit put off for a while.
I did not read up on anything before playing the game and did NOT know the game ends in the Lamda Complex. This completely ruins my plans for doing an entire Half-Life playthrough now. Still, I really enjoyed the trip down memory lane and will play it through again when they finish up the Xen world
Ok so games I'm STILL working on:
Lego Batman - I really should buckle down and finish the game up but it's really a bit of a casual thing for me, 10-20 minutes here and there. So it'll be a while yet.
World of Warcraft - Friended Squidleybits last night and enjoyed a chat while still attempting to get through my Loremaster achievements. It's very obvious I won't be done by Panderia. Oh well.
Final Fantasy XII: International Zodiac - I should play this more, I don't know why I don't. Every time I fire it up I enjoy the ever loving hell out of it, yet for some reason I procrastinate on playing it.
New game I'm playing:
Borderlands - With the intention of getting pt2 soon I wanted a nice refresher of the first game to get me all set-up for the sequel. Always fun, always fresh, love this game.
Game I'm currently not playing but was:
FTL - Getting to the final area and getting trounced by the droidpocolypse Trademark: Ravenpoe really put a damper on my attempt to play again. Am I -done- with it? Hell no, it's an amazing game. Just a bit put off for a while.
Clarification: You only need to buy the Catwoman DLC if it is a used copy. The DLC is free for any purchase of the game. It's one of those instances of comanies trying to find ways to still wring some kind of profit out of used game sales.
Sigh. I've got Torchlight II, Guild Wars 2, and Borderlands 2 to play, but I really want to get Fall of Cybertron and Arkham City. I'd also like to get the Uncharted series eventually, too. #firstworldproblems