Media Videogame thread

[TrainerSplash]

I don't have many things to talk about personally, but I've been planning to buy Kid Icarus Uprising for 3DS. Sadly they don't make new copies anymore and I either have to buy a rare used copy or buy a digital version. Sad cause I heard it was funny and I got my 3DS late so I missed out on some games.

Current game I play is Pokemon Shuffle, although like a Mobile game I found it very attracting to play, I don't normally like puzzle games (specifically ones mixed with action such as Zelda). I played the original trozei and I found that fun as well, Shuffle is a different spin on it though. I honestly thought it would be a short game, but I'm currently on level 90 with mega mawile which I have been stuck on for a few days.

 

[Lemonade]

1 more post and then maybe I could trouble you Bummer to move the stuff to a new thread? :)

I'm not doubting boss fights can be interesting, and I never did. I was always talking about mobs and non-bosses, you guys brought up bosses. The key here is that the sheer number of random mobs you fight is not at all comparable to the relatively small number of bosses, and in mob fights there is basically no reward for finding new ways to beat them. Here is what I said:

These games basically turn into mashing A and maybe a few D-pad presses until the battle is finished

Maybe I'm (barely) generalizing; I haven't counted the average number of random encounters I got in Chrono Trigger, but I most certainly mashed A more than I thought about anything. That is not enjoyable, so I feel no reason to keep playing when I could be doing something else.

Here:

3ish hours in, how are those mobs different? Looks to me like they are easily beaten by pressing A to do a normal attack. And running away from random encounters is no different, it's equally as boring.

Another example, this mob fight is Tidus and Auron spamming their basic Attack and Yuna spamming Pray. The next mob is practically the same. I don't find anything rewarding about finding other ways to beat these monsters because spamming A is what lets the game progress.

FFIV, running from random encounters.

Call me impatient or something, but when there are so many other games out there (not to mention free and still not boring after 2000 hours), I don't see what keeps me playing these rpgs.

 

[vonFiedler]

You act like Fire Emblem and FFT don't have random encounters that become identical in nature. Difference is those take 15-30 minutes as opposed to 1-2. I love FFT but it's def a game I play in 2-3 hour sittings.

Jumping 3 hours ahead in CT, I don't see anyone spamming A, I see the player using the appropriate positioning based attack to dispatch a group of foes.

Good lord did you just post a DSP video? I wouldn't be using his videos as evidence for anything, you might notice that DSP actually fucks up when fighting the bomb, a rather nasty mob and clearly one you can't spam A against. Here you have 4 radically different mobs that require 4 different party members to defeat over 3 fights, and of course Yuna is always a bonus, you'd know this if you played the first level of the game.

Then you bring up running from encounters like it's the same thing, but now you're using absolutely paradoxical logic. You might run from an encounter because it's too hard (FF IV is a very hard game), but then it's clearly not a fight you can mash A in. It's ludicrous to somehow associate that these are the same thing. However there is a solution to running from too many fights; don't run from too many fights. I don't run from any. And again, that's not a self-restriction. By fighting I gain more exp and make the game easier in the long run.

Bosses may be the meat of the game, but mobs are still an important teaching tool and a source of instant gratification that propels gameplay. Another possibly good example for you might be Fate/Extra. That's a game entirely structured around bosses, where mobs are used as interdiagetic and practical training due the game's unique 1 on 1 combat system. Still, in most games mobs also get hard themselves once the training wheels come off. That FF4 video is around the halfway point of the game and you can tell it's pretty brutal, but that's not where it starts being like that.

 

[chimp]

Dunno if this has already been said but

I think the biggest difference between tactical RPGs like Fire Emblem and traditional turn-based/action like Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger is the AMOUNT of enemies.

In Fire Emblem, its separated into chapters. Each chapter has a set amount of enemies to fight. This number, and the enemies themselves, will be the same every time you play. Traditions have random encounters: a dungeon can have anywhere from 1-10000000 enemies. Aside from moving the characters, obviously, FE is no more of a A-masher than CT or FF. Both games require huge amounts of planning and forethought. The only difference being WHEN you need to consider your options. In Fire Emblem, you have to strategize during the battle; knowing where to put certain units, when to attack, when to use certain items, etc. In turn-based games, the forethought and strategy come BEFORE the actual battles themselves. I haven't played much Final Fantasy, so let me use another game in the same vein, Dragon Quest, specifically, V. There are plenty of hard bosses and dungeons in the game. I found that, in most cases, that I'd never be able to beat it unless I organize my party effectively. For example, giving certain characters special items (like my Golem a staff that lets it heal itself), deciding which party member should be equipped with the most effective armor, optimizing the party order, etc. The battles themselves, (even random encounters) had the same vein of strategy. Knowing which enemy to attack with which character, conserving MP and items, adapting to enemy changes (stat boosts), etc

I can understand not liking these types of games (DQ V, one of my all time favorites, did get a little tedious from time to time) but saying they have any less strategy than any other genre is not accurate or fair. Its like saying chess doesn't have strategy because you're just moving pieces.

 

[Trax]

Portal on the other hand was totally worth the money. I played that through a good few times (more than making it under the £1/h mark). I actually had it on 360 as part of the Orange Box, and then bought it again on steam, and I've still played plenty of it and its sequel.

See I only got the one play through out of Portal (I don't generally replay puzzle games or games I played for the story) and still consider it 100% worth it, because that play through was seriously fun.

My favourite genre is RTS style games. Command and Conquer/Sins of a Solar Empire and the like. I recently started going back and playing through the various CnC games because of the CnC Ultimate Collection on Origin. I am honestly surprised how well Red Alert 2 has aged all things considered. Pretty disappointed in CnC4 though. Man, it could have been really good except for the failings in unit design and story telling...

Just on RTS aging, I was amazed at how well the Warcraft series had aged when I had the strange urge to play some Warcraft 3 the other day. It's sad that there really aren't any good RTS coming out besides Starcraft these days.

 

[Shinryu]

See I only got the one play through out of Portal (I don't generally replay puzzle games or games I played for the story) and still consider it 100% worth it, because that play through was seriously fun.




Just on RTS aging, I was amazed at how well the Warcraft series had aged when I had the strange urge to play some Warcraft 3 the other day. It's sad that there really aren't any good RTS coming out besides Starcraft these days.

Agreeing with the lack of good RTS, I would kill for a new proper Age of Empires (my favorite RTS from back in the day), not necessarily a Steam HD redux (even if it did release an expansion for it). And not that horrid online AoE they tried making mmo-ish or whatever. Really don't get why they even disbanded Ensemble Studios a while back, they did good games, thanks lameo Microsoft >.>

I dunno, I have WC3, but I usually don't feel much of an urge to play it. Probably because I play WoW as well and too much WC-related for me is overkill, but I would like to see WC1 and 2 re-released with graphical updates and more cohesion so the story follows what's now been established in the MMO lore. Then again I was never much of a SC person either, I like it but just not as much as WC3 or AoE.

 

[DHR-107]

Agreeing with the lack of good RTS, I would kill for a new proper Age of Empires (my favorite RTS from back in the day), not necessarily a Steam HD redux (even if it did release an expansion for it). And not that horrid online AoE they tried making mmo-ish or whatever. Really don't get why they even disbanded Ensemble Studios a while back, they did good games, thanks lameo Microsoft >.>

I still play AoE3 Comp Stomp with some friends every so often. Good fun for a few games :) Sometimes AI is very aggressive and other times it barely does anything. It's a bit strange. We tend to turtle in and build up an army then storm forwards :P Lots of fun using 30 cannons/organ guns/cavalry etc to ruin another race.

I prefer CnC because it doesn't have a unit cap. Unlimited units makes CnC for me, I don't like the pop cap games like AoE overall, but they are a lot of fun too.

 

[Yuri]

I still play AoE3 Comp Stomp with some friends every so often. Good fun for a few games :) Sometimes AI is very aggressive and other times it barely does anything. It's a bit strange. We tend to turtle in and build up an army then storm forwards :P Lots of fun using 30 cannons/organ guns/cavalry etc to ruin another race.

I prefer CnC because it doesn't have a unit cap. Unlimited units makes CnC for me, I don't like the pop cap games like AoE overall, but they are a lot of fun too.

and still you never played me3 with me, asshat >:(

 

[Bummer]

Finished Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians. Overall a simple but charming game, but the ending left plenty to wish for (didn't even have a boss battle or even an explanation behind the villain's plan). Still, I liked how the made certain music terms into living organisms within their ecosystem, and the puzzles and levels were tricky enough to make me stop and think for a while. Not a great game, but good enough.

Speaking of puzzles, also "finished" The Bridge today. Those who have played Braid will definitely like this game too, where the game's challenges can be dividided into Hard and Super Hard. Or in other words, if you beat the game once, you get Mirror versions of the same levels, although the challenges are not the same. They also made a good job setting the mood, it was a solid mind trip from start to finish.

Also had some leftover time to try out Bob Came In Pieces. It seems to have gotten fairly good reviews, but I've grown to hate it. It's all straightforward puzzles where each solution requires you to slightly adjust your ship, making you run back and forth between your garage multiple times just to move something from A to B. The controls are also bad imo, particularly how the game handles the ship's momentum, so even though all levels have time challenges, it takes a certain kind of person to actually beat them. The game is now hidden in my Steam Library, because I certainly won't acknowledge me owning it.

 

[vonFiedler]

Life is Strange is looking like it's gonna be the best 5 episode choice based adventure game yet.

 

[Trax]

Agreeing with the lack of good RTS, I would kill for a new proper Age of Empires (my favorite RTS from back in the day), not necessarily a Steam HD redux (even if it did release an expansion for it). And not that horrid online AoE they tried making mmo-ish or whatever. Really don't get why they even disbanded Ensemble Studios a while back, they did good games, thanks lameo Microsoft >.>

I can tell you why they disbanded Ensemble.. Microsoft doesn't want to make games that aren't for the Xbox, and RTS are terrible on controllers as they found out with Halo Wars.

I dunno, I have WC3, but I usually don't feel much of an urge to play it. Probably because I play WoW as well and too much WC-related for me is overkill, but I would like to see WC1 and 2 re-released with graphical updates and more cohesion so the story follows what's now been established in the MMO lore. Then again I was never much of a SC person either, I like it but just not as much as WC3 or AoE.

I'd rather see a Warcraft 4 that retcons over the crappy MMO lore and just have remakes of WC1 and 2 with HD graphics and ideally fixing WC1 having shitty controls and updating the multiplayer while they're at it. I know I'm dreaming though.

I wasn't a big SC fan, then something changed and I found I liked it, idk what happened there -- I think the original campaign is a bit of a slow boil though.

 

[Shinryu]

A WC4 would be fun, originally I was a fan of WoW lore but it's just gone on a continual dump since about the end of WotLK with that shitty ending to it. It's obvious in the game there's multiple time threads, so branching off a line to do a WC4 would be entirely possible and fun.

 

[Trax]

Personally I started to dislike the MMO lore when it started killing off major characters.. in some cases without so much as a bloody cut scene.

 

[KeldeoJustified]

Should I buy Meme run? It looks cool with all the memes and saw reveiws and they r8 it 8/8



E: Should I pick smash 64 or matio party 2?

 

[Ner1n]

E: Should I pick smash 64 or matio party 2?

Both games are stupidly boring if you don't have someone to play, but do I love me some Smash~
Mario Party games are fun for a bit, but you spend most of the time raging trying to put up excuses to why you lost a minigame and then there's the RNG factor that can make you go from being miles ahead of everyone to the bottom of the scoreboard on a single turn and there's NOTHING you can do about it. And believe me, it makes you want to PUNCH people.
So I'd say Smash.

Talking about Smash, I'm getting a N3DS in April with 4 games. I'm shipping it from the US (I live in Argentina) and the plan is to get: Pokemon X/Y, OR/AS, Sm4sh and the last one I still don't know. I was thinking maybe Monster Hunter 4? But I'm open to suggestions, since I'm clueless as to what games the N3DS has out there. Also, it has to be a game that lasts and has A TON of replayability (an online feature would be nice), since they are quite expensive for me and I'll probably have these 4 games for a GOOD while.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Both games are stupidly boring if you don't have someone to play, but do I love me some Smash~
Mario Party games are fun for a bit, but you spend most of the time raging trying to put up excuses to why you lost a minigame and then there's the RNG factor that can make you go from being miles ahead of everyone to the bottom of the scoreboard on a single turn and there's NOTHING you can do about it. And believe me, it makes you want to PUNCH people.
So I'd say Smash.

Talking about Smash, I'm getting a N3DS in April with 4 games. I'm shipping it from the US (I live in Argentina) and the plan is to get: Pokemon X/Y, OR/AS, Sm4sh and the last one I still don't know. I was thinking maybe Monster Hunter 4? But I'm open to suggestions, since I'm clueless as to what games the N3DS has out there. Also, it has to be a game that lasts and has A TON of replayability (an online feature would be nice), since they are quite expensive for me and I'll probably have these 4 games for a GOOD while.

Kid Icarus Uprising is one of the better 3ds games, and you can pick it up with coins on Club Nintendo for a bit more if you have the coins.

 

[moonbound]

On topic, didn't Uprising support circle pad pro or at least the new c-stick? I still haven't played the game, largely because I've had repeated problems with carpal tunnel (thanks Melee). I'd definitely go for it now that I have coins to burn and will be *eventually* getting a N3DS

 

[Limi]

On topic, didn't Uprising support circle pad pro or at least the new c-stick? I still haven't played the game, largely because I've had repeated problems with carpal tunnel (thanks Melee). I'd definitely go for it now that I have coins to burn and will be *eventually* getting a N3DS

It doesn't support dual stick. All the CPP does is to give the option of holding the stylus in your left hand.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

On topic, didn't Uprising support circle pad pro or at least the new c-stick? I still haven't played the game, largely because I've had repeated problems with carpal tunnel (thanks Melee). I'd definitely go for it now that I have coins to burn and will be *eventually* getting a N3DS

If you can get a stand somehow, the game will be miles more comfortable

 

[Trax]

Kid Icarus Uprising is one of the better 3ds games, and you can pick it up with coins on Club Nintendo for a bit more if you have the coins.

If you can get a stand somehow, the game will be miles more comfortable

I'm just putting these two quotes together because they amuse me..

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Stands are like $4 tho

 

[Aladyyn]

So anyone tried the new Unreal Tournament Open Alpha? I jumped into a match earlier today and the gameplay was pretty decent given the development stage. The game doesn't look very good but that doesn't matter because it's easy on the eyes and isn't cluttered like UT3 was (thank god). I might keep playing from time to time since I'm not a huge fan of DM and CTF but rather the more complex game modes (Onslaught from UT2K4 was fucking amazing). Also I'm bad but idc it's gonna be fun.

It also has hats aka the most important thing.

 

[Trax]

Stands are like $4 tho

Yes, but from where I sit, if a game requires an additional stand for the system to sit on (a hand held system no less), then something is off in the design -- either it's on the wrong system or the controls are poorly thought out. Though I suppose with that said I defend PC games that play better with a controller.

On a note where I'm not being a sniffy jerk, has anyone played "One Way Heroics" and if so what did you think of it?

 

[Stratos]

i actually enjoyed ki:u perfectly fine and i never used that lameo fuckin stand

(tho the stand comes with the 3ds so it's actually $0)

sadly cant answer either user's previous query .... :(

 

[colours]

Just bought this from Amazon:

It's an old game, but I'm super excited! I'm on my 3rd play with Okami, and I figured I might as well pick up the sequel. I'm a few years late, but I was heavily reluctant on purchasing this game when it was released simply due to the fact that Amaterasu wasn't the main character. ._.;; Silly of me, I know. But the more I play Okami, the more I want to actually enjoy the series, so I asked myself: Why not pick up Okamiden? So I did.

Will update once I get the game! I have pretty high expectations considering how the original Okami turned out. I encourage everyone who hasn't played the Okami series to at least give it a shot; you'll probably like it just as much (or hopefully, even more) as I do!