I almost bought Tales of Legendia today, instead I got DDD2, FTL.
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I almost bought Tales of Legendia today, instead I got DDD2, FTL.
Finished Stranglehold today, a great rental. Same vein as Max Payne (not better than MP2) with some fun twists. It ranges from really good looking to all right, the story is passable, it controls well and the action with the different special movies make for a fun game. Good game to play in short bursts to kill some time.
Finally beat Far Cry this morning, not that good imo.
Finally finished Zelda:PH today. 8.0/10.
Finally beat Guitar Hero 3 on Expert today.
Whoever decided that randomly making parts of songs (like the beginning of the guitar solo in One or Mosh 1 in Raining Blood) require twice as many notes as the actual music needs to be flayed. I've never seen such dumb bullshit, even from the dumbest of songs in Beatmania IIDX or Pop'n Music.
Glad to hear it's pretty good overall, I've gotten enough fun out of the demo to lead me to believe I'd have a blast playing the full version a couple times through, so I'm probably gonna grab it after the holidays.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rumpy
I finished up Marvel Ultimate Alliance today. Pretty game overall though I got real tired of it around the end.
Stranglehold is pretty good for what it is. Its worth picking up for cheap or a rental. I don't think its as good as any of the Max Payne games but its a fun game when you take full advantage of the environments.
Finally got around to finishing Resistance. Meh.
Yeah, Resistance was extremely meh. It was very well put together, but the gameplay just wasn't all that exciting. Here's hoping Resistance 2 really steps it up because I really like the 1950's/alien's scenario.
I found that the idea of the theme was a lot better than the execution, for whatever reason it was never able to make me care about what was going on and I thought a lot of the designs were really bland. The beginning of the second to last level where you enter the tower and can look straight up into the vast network of tubes and pathways was probably the coolest moment of the entire game, but aside from that it was one big blur. I'd rather they move up to modern day or futuristic, honestly.
Time Crisis 4 (1 credit/Arcade mode)
Score: 5,896,240
Time: 29'22"76
Accuracy: 62.6%
Sometimes you don't want to "just hold down the trigger & keep firing" during the helicopter scene.
http://users.zoominternet.net/~tain/100s/myst.png
Beat Myst. I was really, really young the last time I even thought about playing this. People who say it's full of illogical puzzles are illogical retards. Great game save for the interface and extremely dated CG. I look forward to playing Riven sooner or later.
I really wish I could have played realMyst instead, though. Going by the trial, it looks better, it (obviously) controls WAY better, and the little animations all over the place would have made the whole thing significantly more immersive. I just couldn't get the full game running for the life of me, even after some pointers from Compass.
Got 100% on Lego Star Wars II. The game was pretty fun but got very repetitive and not being able to skip scenes was just outright painful.
You're kinda making me want to do this. I have the Mac version of realMyst and I may try it out on my G4 the next chance I have. Last time I tried to play it I was also very young and didn't find a lot to get excited about, but I find myself wanting to give it another shot more and more. But the bits I played of Riven interested me even less the first time around... well, we'll see, I guess. D:Quote:
Originally Posted by Tain
edit: for the record, I never did play realMyst outside of seeing it on my cousin's computer, and I did find it quite visually impressive at the time, certainly a hell of a lot more engaging than the renders in the original game. I can see that alone making a big difference, but I won't be back at that computer for a few weeks.
I was annoyed when I found out the end of Myst was at the beginnig of Myst. Good trick actually. I remember Riven being gorgeous when it came out, could never get into it though, the puzzles were just way above me.
Riven is significantly more difficult than Myst I felt. In a bid to please the less patient gamers who just wanted to wander around looking at the pretty sights, and were frustrated that they had to <GASP!> solve puzzles in the hub in order to access the other Ages, Cyan opened up the majority of Riven's world from the get-go.
This has the unfortunate effect of giving the player an overload of information to process all at once. In order to get anywhere (story-wise) you really have to immerse yourself in the world, visit a bunch of locations, and do your best to filter out what's relevant and what isn't. That being said, I'm pretty sure the clues and mechanics to most puzzles are single island-contained, but you wouldn't necessarily know this going in. And there definitely are at least a couple overreaching puzzles that take all the islands into account.
realMYST is really, really good. Shame it's so hard to get working on XP. Hopefully there aren't any problems with Macs.
Is Cyan still around? Last I heard there is a online Myst game.
I was meaning to ask you, what sort of video card did you have when you played it? I'm curious because I think I heard the game was more nVidia-friendly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Compass
ATI 9600 PRO.
The game just hates XP. Or XP hates it. I'm sure you can get it to run with enough trial and error, though, regardless of your card.
27. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - DS
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1198291305
The dullest, most plodding game I've ever played, handily snatching the crown from Breath of Fire IV.
I can't believe I'm reading positive comments about Myst on TNL.
You take that back, BoF IV was a solid game.
I wouldn't go that far but, then again, I gave up on the game after several hours. I'm amazed how much praise the game got. I guess so many people complained about Trace Memory being short that they made sure to drag Hotel Dusk on with way too much dialogue. I'm in the minority but I enjoyed Trace Memory more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Compass
How long did Hotel Dusk take you? I still haven't played it, and I think I'd still like to, but if I recall Trace Memory lasted just over 3 hours for me. If they could do something in a similar vein around the 10-12 hour mark I'd be quite happy.
I should have given up long before the end. My annoying, stubborn compulsion to see bad games through to the end has wasted far too much of my life. I liked Trace Memory way more. Or, I should say, I liked Trace Memory.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
Grave, I don't know how long. Felt like twenty hours. Probably closer to fifteen. There's no way to speed up the text beyond a slightly faster crawl, which made most of the conversations positively agonizing. The whole time, I kept remembering that EGM reviewer who gave it a 10. Seriously, how does he sleep?
Myst was better than Hotel Dusk, at least. gtfoQuote:
I can't believe I'm reading positive comments about Myst on TNL.
and I liked the last third of Hotel Dusk!
Seriously, though, why does everyone hate it so much?
Because we hate you.
1. It was popular.
2. It takes patience.
3. There's no killing.
4. Speaking of killing, Myst is solely responsible for the death of the hand-drawn adventure game, and must be lambasted for all eternity as punishment.
Numbers one and two being the most probable.
Oh, also.
http://users.zoominternet.net/~tain/...no_trigger.png
Chrono Trigger was awesome for a while. Save for a few dumb situations, like Dalton's airship, I was at least able to enjoy the characters and zipping around time periods. But then, despite the game never hinting at me having to grind in the slightest, I hit the areas leading up to the final boss.
Long story short, I wanted the game to end when end of time old dude first prompted me to go ahead and start the big fight. I got all pumped for a final battle, only to find that I would have to do a lot of bullshit sidequests I couldn't care about before standing a chance. I wound up using emulator voodoo to wrap it up; playing this on the real thing would have been a nightmare for me.
How'd you do the voodoo that you do?
D:Quote:
Originally Posted by Tain
Tain is dead to me.
I'm coming to the party late. A majority of the games I've beaten this year have come in the last 2 months anyway.
1. Halo 3
2. COD 2 (veteran was one of the hardest/cheapest difficulties of all time)
3. Beautiful Katamari
4. Heavenly Sword
Polished off God of War II. It's as close to perfect as any 3D action game I've ever played. My few complaints are: the constant v-synching, a few minor camera problems, and the fact that I still hate the button-prompting.
Other than that, it's topped only by the first DMC, if you ask me. Gorgeous production values, perfect length, good challenge level, and never a dull moment.
Next is R&C: UYA, in between FFXII and Zaku! Zaku! Zaku! sessions. I've not played any in the series, but it seems like Arsenal is the best one.
just fiished S&M Episode 2.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_B
Agreed, and same shit in COD4.
I still have this and Max Payne 2 in their shrinkwrap. I should really get to them.Quote:
Originally Posted by BioMechanic
Compass. So much of this is wrong i'm giving you a -^___^, which gives you some kind of horrible sad face.Quote:
Originally Posted by Compass
I support Compass' Hotel Dusk review. That game was so fucking boring. I could deal with the slow text speed, but the redundancy of the dialogue is what eventually led me to shut the game off for good.
UNINSPIRED NPC: I think I saw a man leave a moment ago.
[ASK HIM ABOUT THE MAN]
YOU: You said you saw a man leave?
UNINSPIRED NPC: Yes, I saw a man leave.
YOU: So a man left...interesting.
Awful. I beat Ontamarama for DS the other day, which was also awful. Before I bought it, I was wondering why I hadn't seen a thread for it. After I bought and played it, the reason became clear: it's just not worth talking about.
I also finished Phantom Hourglass, which I very much enjoyed. I would have loved to see the time-freezing gimmick utilized outside of the last two battles. It was short, there was next to no boring sea exploration, and the inventory consisted of only a few items that were used frequently throughout the game instead of an expansive collection of one-time-use trash.
18. Arkadian Warriors - Fun little hack 'n slash distraction to veg out to while listening to podcasts/music.
19. Actraiser - What an awesome game. I remember playing the first action stage and first sim stage when I was younger on the SNES, but never got past that to appreciate what a cool game this was. Especially impressive considering how unique it was when it was originally released (well, from a console perspective).
Monster's Curse for TG16 makes 8. Great game, but unless the Master System version makes magic, there's no way it's the best 8-bit game evAr. If best game ever means hacking at the monsters until they go away instead of using any actual skill, okay, it's still not as good as Deadly Towers. But we don't live in that kind of world, and of course it's much better than Deadly Towers. Still, there's not an 8-bit Super Mario that isn't better.
I wish i had played it back then, instead of Kid Kool or whatever i was playing. It's a great game and eyes of the past might make it the best ever.
I assume you're talking about mine and/or Frog's opinion on WB3. For me, I didn't like WB3 quite as much as the 8-bit Marios and a few others back in the day. It wasn't until replaying it a few years ago that I was amazed at how well it aged. Dragon's Curse is a pretty good way to judge how well you'll like WB3 although it still looks and feels like a WB3 rom hack to me.
And I recently replayed The Last Ninja 1 and 2, and I still love them. 1 was always my favourite, mostly because I like the Ancient Asia theme more than the '80s New York one in 2 but now I'm thinking 2 is the more well designed game because it doesn't have as many annoying jumping parts (although they aren't so bad if you use emulator save states). I never liked 3 that much but I should give it another try.
28.
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1198669599
I started out loving this, then got kinda annoyed in the middle due to the loose controls and dull gameplay, but then really liked it again at the end (last level and finale were both cool).
When you remember it was a launch game, it becomes more impressive. Still looks insanely pretty too.
I'm definitely gonna pick up Kameo for super cheap.
Halo 3, on Heroic.
On the whole I was quite satisfied with the end, at least in terms of gameplay. For a long time I was stuck at the end of the seventh level, at the sequence with the two Scarabs. For the longest time I tried to dive-bomb the first Scarab with the VTOL craft (can't remember the name), blow it up, then pray that I would find a waiting Warthog to take down the second Scarab. This proved unworkable as a solo-player strategy. So I grabbed the Warthog from the start and eventually brought down them both.
I have to say, the eight level was nowhere near as bad as I expected it to be. I daresay it was the best Flood-only level in all three Halo games. The new "pure Flood" forms introduced some badly-needed variety, and the level itself is pretty well put together. A little too reminiscent of System Shock 2, maybe, but SS2 was hardly original in that regard either.
And I really enjoyed the final dash to the frigate in the final level. It brought back happy memories of the first Halo.
I'd like to play through again on Legendary, if anyone's interested.
When I went through it on Legendary by myself, I shot the pilot of the other hornet so it wouldn't take off. I then dive-bombed one scarab with my hornet, and then ran back for the other hornet to take out the second scarab.Quote:
Originally Posted by sleeve
Yeah, I hated it the first time I played through it, but after going through it again (and again), it wasn't that bad anymore.Quote:
I have to say, the eight level was nowhere near as bad as I expected it to be.
I'm always down. Hit me up on AIM whenever you want to play.Quote:
I'd like to play through again on Legendary, if anyone's interested.
Super Mario Galaxy, getting all 120 stars. Well paced and very intuitive game, but it got a little stale near the end. I'm not going to get the last little extra any time soon, kthx. I wanted more of the gimmick stages -- the Manta Ray races made me want to see a Wave Race on the Wii, and the ball stages control better than Super Monkeyball on the Wii (PS: Fuck you Sega for ruining that series).
Also completed Quest mode in VF5 100%. I don't know why -- after about halfway through, it turned into a total grind. But what's done is done. The AI on expert is surprisingly good (and way better than the PS3 version), but el oh el at some of the stuff it does on reaction (sir please duck another low on frame one kthx) and it responds badly to abare situations and okizeme. It will make adjustments in other areas (like throw usage), but not in those situations.
Yeah, I played WB3 for the first time about 10 years after it was released (never could find it back in the day, though I wanted it) and it blew me away.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
Dragon's Curse doesn't feel quite right. The control is different, just a little looser, and I hate the character design. It's mostly the same game, though.
Yes, the enemy patterns in the game are repetitive, but I'm not sure why people complain about that. It's kind of true of almost ever 8-bit platformer including Mario. Wonder Boy 3's platforming feels fantastic.
My final (most likely) completed game of 2007 is Portal. It was as brilliant as everyone said, very original and the Douglas Adams-ish humour was great.
Unworkable because you're considering the wrong vehicle. Pilot the Hornet directly above a Scarab, jump out, blow out the core, and then run back up to the roof and hop back into the Hornet to pilot it over to the other Scarab. The way I eventually did it on Legendary was to pilot the tank up on the ridge to behind the crop of rocks at the entrance to that area, hop out and trigger the Scarabs, then run back to the tank and clear out the entire area and weaken both of the walkers. After that they were easy pickings, naturally.Quote:
Originally Posted by sleeve
Send me an invite when you're on, if I'm not in a party (I'm playing an MMO again SAD CHRISTMAS) I'll join for that.Quote:
I'd like to play through again on Legendary, if anyone's interested.
Just under the wire.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
Quote:
Originally Posted by Compass
Yesterday I beat Etrian Odyssey.
After getting my ass handed to me so many times by various foes and earlier bosses, I was surprised at how easy the level 25 boss was.
I've still some side quests to do, and a little extra post game fun; but I think I can finally put this game down and move onto something else for a while.
huzzah!
First game beaten of 2008:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1199260331
62 stars. Not feeling it.
Just beat Portal again, this time on my own machine. Was much more fun without somebody getting irritated and wanting to tell me what to do when I take too long. And now, challenges!
Start a new thread noob.Quote:
Originally Posted by Compass
What do you mean by not feeling it?
Good call. I forgot about the year in the thread title. New thread is started.Quote:
Originally Posted by kingoffighters
I talk about SMG in the official thread.
I actually beat this right at the end of 2007, so here is where it belongs. GAFfers have already seen it, but I'm curious what the reactions are at TNL.
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition
Stylish Action - Playstation 2
Memory Card - 8 saves
1 player
Delays are temporary, mediocrity is forever.
Probably the only thing I liked about Working Designs is that quote from Vic Ireland. What does that have to do with DMC3? Not a whole lot, actually - other than the part about mediocrity.
Devil May Cry 3's main claim to fame is its combo system. You can equip two weapons and two guns, and there's a lot of flexibility to chain long strings of combos and juggle opponents into oblivion. One button is reserved for your gun attacks and another is for your melee weapon, so it's easy to manage. Also appreciated is the ability to switch to your other weapon/gun on-the-fly with a single button press. Everything is very fluid.
The only problem is that the game doesn't revolve around the combo system. The game IS the combo system.
DMC3 is broken up into stages. Littered throughout the stages are tons of enemies to fight. But the enemies exist only as fodder for you to juggle. They are not very powerful, nor do they require much pattern recognition. The game just surrounds you with enemies and lets you do your stuff. Then there's the half-assed platforming. The combination of loose controls and dramatic camera angle changes make the platforming a chore. Perhaps Capcom chose right by not making platforming a key ingredient in the game. But in the end, the enemies and the stages themselves feel like they're there just to pad the game and hold you over until the boss fights.
But what incredible bosses there are. Easily, the best part of the game, they will have you tearing your hair out in frustration. That's exactly the type of game I like. The bosses are ruthless and have very limited opportunities to strike. The difficulty forces you to utilize every technique from running to chaining combos to double jumping in order to win. It's the only part of the game that feels like you're playing a game.
I do not understand why developers have forgotten how to make a proper game that is engaging throughout. Sure, normal enemies were never on the level of bosses, but the padding in DMC3 is a bit too much. Unless you're the type of person who gets off of watching yourself pull off 30 hit combos on defenseless enemies, the experience is rather empty in between boss fights.
I have not even begun to discuss the other elements that bring DMC3 down like the awful camera that loves to obscure your view so that most of your enemies are off-screen, or the fact that the entire game takes place inside of "rooms", or the pathetic combination of over-the-top cheese and forced melodrama.
Devil May Cry 3 is a one trick pony. But I don't particularly enjoy the trick. The combo flexibility means that instead of mindlessly executing 5-button combinations, you slightly-less-mindlessly execute 20-button combinations. That's hardly my idea of fun, and does little to pass the time between one boss fight and the next. DMC3 is strictly for the ADD crowd.
Stop the presses, Tsubaki hates a great game.
Next in the news, dog$ hates portable gaming.
sounds like someone played on easy mode IMO.
Also all this needs is bbbobb leaving japan and the apocalypse is here.
That, and a Vic Ireland quote for no reason. Wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by bbobb
You don't seem to get my post about how surprising it is that Tsubaki hates a great game do you?Quote:
Originally Posted by B-Ri
Sarcasm a new concept to you?
If I recall Tain wasn't too fond of it either for pretty valid reasons.
:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Grave
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbobb
Sarcasm a new concept to you?
Because a combo system is not my idea of fun. For the record, I played the game on Hard for several hours and although the game was harder, it still wasn't any more enjoyable. I stand by my assertion that the game is empty in between boss battles.
In fact, some people in GAF actually chimed in and said that DMC3 was a step back from DMC1 because of the stages/normal enemies (although they still loved DMC3 as a whole). I never played DMC1, but a lot of them think I would enjoy that more. I can't say I'm all that interested in trying it out though...
The Vic Ireland quote exists to say that DMC3 is mediocre. It is not a bad game by any means. But it's that competent C+/B- level game that conjures up a huge fanbase, but doesn't really excel at anything except for the combo system. My problem is that some of the other elements are not as well thought out as the combo system, and that's where the game suffers.
first mistake, listening to themQuote:
Originally Posted by Tsubaki
Yes, he should listen to someone too lazy or too stupid to capitalize or use punctuation instead.
Jesus Christ, this is a fucking message board. Get over it.
unless you sign your name to posts, could care less, or rediculous. Those should result in an instantaneous ban.
how about instead of you, an insecure cross dressing closet case? hrm... thats a tough one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Compass
There are a lot of things you accuse Compass of, but being a closet case is not one of them. He posted a dress in a haul thread, the man isn't exactly playing his cards close to his chest.
Triple fail for B-Ri, not counting the sentence structure (if you can call it that) which is a par-for-the-course fail in and of itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by B-Ri
Insecure? Nope, never had this problem fortunately. I've always been pretty comfortable with who I am. Cross-dresser? I suppose it might depend on your definition, but no, I don't think I meet most criteria for this one either. And closet case? Fail again. I don't make a show of it, but have also never been shy about expressing my gender of preference.
A message board that considers itself a cut above the rest. Meanwhile, B-Ri posts like he's sending frantic SOS signals from an Afghani prison camp.Quote:
Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name
:lol: :lol: :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Compass