What's new

Games Discussion Thread


Alias

Lurker
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
1,908
Reputation score
137
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Hahaha, I own a Mac (laptop) and have a big Apple sticker on my windows desktop's case. So maybe not Microsoft's bitch yet, but I'm sure some if not most of the folks in my major will grow up to be little Microsluts. Me, I'm a pc gamer and I'll always code for the PC - I don't care if consoles is where the money's at. I've dabbled in Xcode a little, too (Unix's code) but that doesn't have a game design platform like XNA. So, in all seriousness, you could say that =P
 

Sinfulwolf

H-Section Moderator
H-Section Moderator
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
6,983
Reputation score
434
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Having played a little more of Divinity II I can officially say its not really that great a game. The main hook of it (that for the first time ever in an RPG you can turn into a dragon and take to the skies) doesn't come through fully until much later in the game. You get a bit of a taste when they flip everything they spent the first hour or so of gameplay completely 180 on you, but not much more. Never mind that Draken II (which though an action game, was somewhat an action RPG) let you jump on a dragon after the prologue was finished.

The difficulty is pretty annoying. To make any headway with the main quest you have to complete almost every side quest thrown at you just to get the experience to be powerful enough to tackle it. While side quests are nice, and add some good fun, sometimes I want to ignore the less enjoyable ones to play through the main storyline. So, the game feels very much like a grind just to progress normally. To players who enjoy games like World of Warcraft and the such, it shouldn't be as big a deal.

While I'm not too huge on graphics, afterall I thought Dragon Age was a good looking game, the graphics in this just pulled me out of the experience. Never mind the animations. Characters have a jilted walk that doesn't seem at all realistic. The combat doesn't seem very involving either, and considering how much time you spend doing it, is very much a shame. Swords just don't seem to connect with the enemy very well, and you feel very distant from everything. The combat itself plays out almost identical to Sacred 2 for 360. You map your various attacks and potions to the d-pad or the XYBA face buttons and proceed.

Character customization. For modern RPGs this should be huge. Alas it's not. After games like Oblivion and Mass Effect the simplicity of choosing between a handful of faces that look very similar to each other save some hair growth (for males) or makeup (or females) with some scars and tattoos thrown in, but not much of either, just seems so very lacking. And considering your eyes get turned silver within five minutes of gameplay, you don't choose eye colour either.

On a good note, the music is pretty good. I rather enjoyed it and might even download it, though its not exceptional. The voice acting wasn't too bad. The choice of using British accents for the characters was pretty neat, but for those living in the UK it's nothing new at all.

I think its a fairly horrible game, others may disagree, but I'll be trading it in for Mass Effect 2 at the end of the month. In the end it could not stand up to such fare as the Elder Scrolls series, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Diablo, hell I felt more drawn in with Sacred 1 on PC and 2 on 360 then this game.
 
OP
Rule 34

Rule 34

Lurker
RP Moderator
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
3,877
Reputation score
192
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Oh yeah, Mass Effect 2. I'm definitely going to wait and check their Tech Support forum before buying it, what with all the problems I had with Dragon Age and even Mass Effect when it came out.
 

Alias

Lurker
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
1,908
Reputation score
137
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Even I had some problems with Mass Effect. Seems like a sound strategy, Rule. Of course, I don't think there could be any game by Bioware that was as bug-ridden and prone-to-crashing as KotOR 2.

Oh yeah, and @Sinful: When you say Divinity was the first ever RPG to let you take to the skies as a dragon... why exactly does neither Seiken Densetsu 2 nor 3 count? (Secret of Mana and it's J-only sequel which was fan-translated to a rom) Flammie was a dragon =p
 
Last edited:

Sinfulwolf

H-Section Moderator
H-Section Moderator
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
6,983
Reputation score
434
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Oh yeah, and @Sinful: When you say Divinity was the first ever RPG to let you take to the skies as a dragon... why exactly does neither Seiken Densetsu 2 nor 3 count? (Secret of Mana and it's J-only sequel which was fan-translated to a rom) Flammie was a dragon =p
I actually didn't say it. They did. In their manual.
Perhaps you missed the skepticism I had in that part of the post where I even mentioned other dragon like games.
And again, do you actually take to the skies in those games? Like actually leave the ground behind to fly about? I wouldn't know as I've never played. If you can do such a thing in those games, that just makes these guys utter liars.
 

Alias

Lurker
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
1,908
Reputation score
137
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Ah I wasn't sure what you were trying to get at. But, yeah, essentially Secret of Mana is an action RPG and at certain points in both games you get a wind drum that calls a white dragon that you fly around on. It's fully controllable in all three dimensions - which, by the way, is fucking impressive considering it's the same generation as Chrono Trigger (2D SNES). You don't exactly turn INTO a dragon, but you can pretty much land anywhere in the world. Is there any air combat? Anything that happens when you're in the air besides travel?
 

Sinfulwolf

H-Section Moderator
H-Section Moderator
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
6,983
Reputation score
434
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Ah I wasn't sure what you were trying to get at. But, yeah, essentially Secret of Mana is an action RPG and at certain points in both games you get a wind drum that calls a white dragon that you fly around on. It's fully controllable in all three dimensions - which, by the way, is fucking impressive considering it's the same generation as Chrono Trigger (2D SNES). You don't exactly turn INTO a dragon, but you can pretty much land anywhere in the world. Is there any air combat? Anything that happens when you're in the air besides travel?
Yeah there's air combat, and really, that little segment where I played as the dragon was the best part of the game in so far. The movements were smooth, the combat was easy (a nice break from the rest of the game), though I'm sure the difficulty would ramp up later on.
 

Alias

Lurker
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
1,908
Reputation score
137
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Eh. I'd still say they're blowing smoke up their own asses with that claim. Maybe the act of being able to be in combat as a dragon while you're flying is new, but I've seen all of those elements in other games before, albeit not in the same one. Ever play Skies of Arcadia? Basically it's a pirate game, except there's no sea - instead, it's sky. And the islands are floating chunks of land. And the ships sail on the wind instead of the water. You can get on your ship and still get into combat in midair - both with your units in typical RPG style battle and an awesome ship-to-ship combat mode, firing cannons and whatnot. Sounds like the exact same thing, except replace "ship" with "dragon."
 

dmronny

Lurker
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
5,219
Reputation score
94
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Darn you Alias, now I want play Secret of Mana, and Crystallis again. Don't care how old they are, they were my first favorites. Now to just find them so I can play them.

I think one of the Breath of Fires lets you become a dragon and fly as well, though there's no combat while flying. Plus the first Final Fantasy let's you fly anywhere as well once you find the airship. So yeah they're trying to blow smoke up their own butts a little at least.
 

DarkFire1004

Tentacle Goddess of the H-Section
Staff member
Administrator
Super Moderator
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
4,897
Reputation score
1,783
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Oh my God. Someone else actually played Crystalis? I completely blame Zelda for stealing the spotlight from that game. It deserve way more praise than it does now.


But anyway, I preordered Splinter Cell: Conviction. Anybody else actually seen that game? I liked the direction they took with Double Agent, with the whole alliance thing, but it seems like now they're taking the direction of Assassin's Creed. Either way, it still looks pretty damn awesome.
 

Sinfulwolf

H-Section Moderator
H-Section Moderator
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
6,983
Reputation score
434
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Actually from what I can tell, they've somewhat dropped the Assassin's Creed "hide in plain sight" deal, and are going with more actual Splinter Cell style gameplay. So, shadows are good.

There's also going to be a co-op mode like there was in Chaos theory. So instead of playing through the campaign with an artificially inserted buddy that don't make sense to the storyline, one player will be an American operative, and the other will be Russian, both working together to find something. Can't remember what. The co-op campaign is supposed to be a kind of prologue to the single player campaign, which apparently sees good ol' Michael Ironside (I mean Sam Fisher) going up against the organization he was once a part of.
 

DarkFire1004

Tentacle Goddess of the H-Section
Staff member
Administrator
Super Moderator
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
4,897
Reputation score
1,783
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Is the co-op online only? I'm like one of the few people who didn't purchase Live, so I'm stuck with the regular multiplayer.
 

dmronny

Lurker
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
5,219
Reputation score
94
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Yes Crystallis was way overshadowed by Zelda, but at least Zelda wasn't bad.

I don't have live either so don't feel bad about that.

Hadn't heard of a new splinter cell yet, but it sounds like it will be a good one. Always did like the others in the series, though I would probably prefer it more like the actual splinter cell style than assassins creed style.
 

Sinfulwolf

H-Section Moderator
H-Section Moderator
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
6,983
Reputation score
434
Re: Games Discussion Thread

I'm not sure if the co-op is online only. I hope it isn't either. I like me my split screen.
 

Kusanagi

Chief Nippleseer
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
4,290
Reputation score
308
Re: Games Discussion Thread

That reminds me... is it just me, or are a lot of games being made 2-player split-screen only? I understand the reasoning behind it, but I think it's bullshit. Put the extra work into your game so I can have 3 buddies play with me on one console.
 

XSI

Lurker
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
2,521
Reputation score
423
Re: Games Discussion Thread

That reminds me... is it just me, or are a lot of games being made 2-player split-screen only? I understand the reasoning behind it, but I think it's bullshit. Put the extra work into your game so I can have 3 buddies play with me on one console.
And then the greedy director says no, because that means one copy (60$ or so) can be used by 4 people.

If they don't make splitscreen, that's online(15/month each or something for xbox?) and 4x the game(4x60$). Trust me when I say the actual people making the games want to give people a good experience and allow split screen, it's just that they get their funding from the big companies. And they want profit above everything else.

The only ones that don't seem to do this are Nintendo games, but they're mostly busy with the wii, so chances are you won't see things that don't include waving the controller around like you're having a seizure. With 3 friends very close to you doing the same. Usually the controller has to be held about eye-height, or if you're unlucky, crotch-height.
 

ToxicShock

(And Reputation Manager)
Staff member
Administrator
H-Section Moderator
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
11,239
Reputation score
1,016
Re: Games Discussion Thread

sorry, I'm going to admit that I'm jumping into this without reading things, but I'd just like to throw in my 2 cents that more games need "monster infighting"
 

Newbie

Lurker
Joined
Nov 9, 2008
Messages
1,789
Reputation score
180
Re: Games Discussion Thread

sorry, I'm going to admit that I'm jumping into this without reading things, but I'd just like to throw in my 2 cents that more games need "monster infighting"
More games? I have yet to see this occur in a single game. It is an interesting concept, and would kind of add to the immersion if done right: Predators hunt prey, prey does fight or flight, symbiotic type creatures that either boost or weaken the monsters they're attached to. Higher and lower order predators, and herbivores. Give the world it's own ecology and such. Probably be a pain to do, but it's an awesome idea.
 

Sinfulwolf

H-Section Moderator
H-Section Moderator
Joined
Nov 28, 2008
Messages
6,983
Reputation score
434
Re: Games Discussion Thread

They did it way back in DooM. They've done it in Avatar. You're right though, not too many games do this. Apparently it's pretty big in Legendary.
 

SirOni

Demon Girls #1 Fan
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
7,206
Reputation score
493
Re: Games Discussion Thread

Ah I wasn't sure what you were trying to get at. But, yeah, essentially Secret of Mana is an action RPG and at certain points in both games you get a wind drum that calls a white dragon that you fly around on. It's fully controllable in all three dimensions - which, by the way, is fucking impressive considering it's the same generation as Chrono Trigger (2D SNES). You don't exactly turn INTO a dragon, but you can pretty much land anywhere in the world. Is there any air combat? Anything that happens when you're in the air besides travel?
You're forgetting the awesome Panzer Dragoon series, you literally fly around on an ever evolving dragon and shoot at shit thats trying to kill you. And I'm not sure about the BoF series as I've only played a little bit of the PSP remake of 3, almost completed 4 and about 3/4 of the way through Dragon Quarter, but in those your dragon transformation abilities are limited to battles and even then when you transform into a full fledged dragon in 4 its only to perform a powerful attack.

Also, most J-RPG's give you an airship that you can fly around the world map in. Hell, LoZ Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks allow you to put cannons on your boat and train to attack enemies and other stuff.
 
Top