Video Games

[EduardoGaray]

I dont have any time to play videogames these days, which is a shame because...
EUROPA UNIVERSALIS IV just came out!!!

if you like strategy games, just start playing it, but dont blame me if you lost hours of sleep haha.

As soon as i have some free time i will start a new campaign with Spain, convert the religion to protestant and start conquering everything muhaha.

[smrr]

While finding my inspiration and whatnot, I came across this awesome YouTube channel.

For any N64 fans, this guy is on the money.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Beta64Channel?feature=watch

He explains how N64 games were like during their pre-release. I just saw the Banjo-Kazooie/Dream one, and my mind... has just been blown!

[Psychotime]

Bravely Default looks absolutely amazing. When people describe it as the best Final Fantasy game in over a decade, that's honestly what it looks like. I know that once I can afford it, I'll finally buy a 3DS and pick it up.

In other news, I've been playing the PSP port of the first Persona game, and it's just the kind of old school JRPG I hoped it would be.

Though the 2D graphics remind me of the original Fallout.

I'm currently at the

Spoiler

Alternate reality school, and my first party death was against a bunch of satanic toilets. The game really got difficult here.

One thing I like is that all your characters can switch out Personas. Why did they stop doing that, exactly? And I found the contacting demons thing a little strange at first, but now I'm totally just using an online guide I like it enough.

Of course I made sure I got Jack Frost as my earliest new persona, though I don't care for his design in this game.

Somehow, I was surprised that Igor was part of this series from the very beginning. I don't know, his intentionally jarring cartoony design seemed like something they would have been only done in the newer games. But it's cool to know now.

Honestly, his field sprite (which is unusually tall) looks like it'd be more at home in Super Mario RPG.

[EduardoGaray]

Bravely Default looks absolutely amazing. When people describe it as the best Final Fantasy game in over a decade, that's honestly what it looks like. I know that once I can afford it, I'll finally buy a 3DS and pick it up.

i've heard lots of good stuff about bravely default, too bad i'm not going to get a new console any time soon. :P

I also heard a lot of good things about Bioshock infinite, thats why i started playing it since it came in february with the playstation plus service, and i have to say...

I just wanted to kill everybody.

Seriously, and they proposed it for game of the year? it has some interesting ideas like mixing a messianic archetype with Quantum Physics, and the setting is certainly interesting, but during the course of the game you barely know anything about either the protagonists or the villains.

Its like, Elizabeth is in danger, save her! why? i dont give a fuck about her.
Columbia is going to crumble, we have to do something! cool, let it burn.

That along with the art style (that cartoony approach isnt my cup of tea) and being just another FPS bored me to hell.

[Triggerpigking]

I hate bioshock infinite more by the day, I think the reason so many reviewers liked it is because it has an interesting ending and where therefore hyped up about it without really thinkin back over exactly what the whole game was like, I disagree with what you said about Booker and Elizabeth though, I love theyre relationship and the world in infinite is beautiful....until after the opening when they started just makin it into generic fps area after another.
I think they missed the point of what made bioshock 1's world so alive feeling, one of the best parts of bioshock was listening to the voice recordings of the inhabitants and they were so well made that you could really get into the characters, (hell they even managed to make a brilliant book out of them characters), not to mention the level and enemy designs in the original were great, the enemys had personality and the world felt real.
Infinite however, when your walking through the world at the beggining it feels alive and it's really quite somethign amazing but after that theres no interesting voice logs(aside from one really interesting one about a guy and a little boy who fell into one of his beartraps, that was very much like bioshock 1), barely any good characters besides the main two(comstock is such a bad villain it's not even funny) and the world devolved into set piece after another with small boring areas where there was once this incredibly interesting world being made.
I said in the movies and tv thread, the dark knight rises felt like it was trying to be the dark knight again and this is a very similair situation, it feels like it's trying to be as revolutionary as bioshock 1 again while completely forgetting 1. we already have a bioshock 1 and 2. it somewhat unknowingly parodys what made bioshock 1 so good.

And don't even get me started on this crap with the two sides in infinite, for the first half of the game Daisy Fitzroy is a pretty normal person with a good reason for the uprising while in the second half she's a bloody psychopath for no reason, it felt like it was trying to shove some sort of anti-racist message down my throat and then does a 180 and...I assume it's asking the player which side you'd take between Daisy and Comstock...atleast that's the way it came off to me, but they're both bigotted evil people in the end, and they have seemingly no reason for why Comstock became crazy over religion and why Daisy lost her fuckin mind.
I actually have even more problems with the game like the horribly unused Dimension ripping powers of Elizabeth in the actual gameplay, see the old e3 demo, you could rip trains FUCKIN trains between the worlds while in the main game the most I think I could conjure up was a dummy booker. not to mention the horrible plasmi-I mean vigors which had no variety whatsoever.

[EduardoGaray]

Yeah i still dont find Booker or Elizabeth interesting, but i agree with you in everything else.
I feel like turning Daisy into a bloody revolutionary Psycho was a very contrived way to show you that there is no real difference between the "Tyrants" and the "Revolutionaries"

The first Bioshock was really good, mainly for the reasons you said, Bioshock 2 and Infinite are lacking most of what made the first great. And now that Kevin Levine has shut down the studio, the future of the franchise seems, uncertain.

Anyway, i'm just patiently waiting for... Dark Souls 2

just two weeks left, guys... :D

[Triggerpigking]

Dark souls 2 is gonna be amazing :D, I was a bit wary at first seeing as the main creator stepped down, but it looks like it's gonna be kicking my ass as always, purposely stayin away from all the gameplay vids now, speakin of which I still have'nt finished the Artorias of the abyss dlc despite owning it, i'll probbly play it after I finish metal gear peace walker, even if I think the series should really REALLY of just ended after 4(it was the perfect ending imo), peace walkers still a damn good game, have'nt got far enough into it to give a solid opinion but so far it's shaping up to be a damn good game.

I'm extremely wary of MGS5, it's my favorite series of all time but i'm not even sure I want to play 5, Kojima did'nt want to do it, David Hayter was replaced for god knows what reason considering he's always been snakes voice(excluding very old big boss), and ground zero is a glorified dlc to apparently "ease us in to the new open world" sorry but I did'nt need a skyrim or gta ground zero to ease me into it, we have these already they're called a fuckin tutorial, something tells me if metal gear solid 2 was made now, the first part would have been like ground zero.

[EduardoGaray]

Kojima loves to mess with the fans, one moment he is saying that he doesnt want to do any more metal gear games (he started saying that with 2) then he says he hopes metal gear games will keep coming even after his lifetime. So dont take whatever he says seriously. xD

David Hayter was replaced (beware, we wont know if he really was replaced after we get our hands with the game, remember the surprise with Metal solid 2? Fuck Raiden.) Because they wanted a more cinematic approach for this one, and also taking celebrities to fulfill roles in videogames is a common practice for the big players now. They also said they have modeled the character facial expressions after the voice actors.

The whole Ground Zeroes thing is outrageous, indeed. Its like selling the Tanker mission or the Virtuous Mission as separate games. Its total gimme yer money on Konami's part.
Thats why i'm going to watch the story on youtube and fuck it.

Now about Dark souls 2... i'm very intrigued by the changes they are going to introduce and what will remain. Seems like there is going to be a village this time. I dont know if i like the idea of a village/city, it kinda ruins the awesome athmosphere of absolute loneliness and despair the first dark souls had.
They also said something about getting rid of the "backtracking" if that means putting a bonfire just before each boss i will be really happy. Call me casual or whatever but i get shivers everytime i remember how many times i had to repeat the way to Ornstein and Smough or Bed of Chaos...

[Triggerpigking]

eh from what I know kojima did'nt want to do 3 either and 4 was just to finish the series,but it is true he is unpredictable, still I would rather he work on something new then just metal gear nonstop, theres only so long a series with a story like metal gear can go on until it becomes bad or even worse....resident evil*shivers*

As for David Hayter being replaced, I have considered the whole things maybe a ruse but raiden in mgs2 was a bit different then announcing a whole new actor for snake, who we've already seen in gameplay, still dear god i hope i'm wrong on him being replaced. Replacing Snakes voice actor for someone more famous is ridiculous because while Hayter himself is'nt really famous, snakes voice is iconic and has been for a long long time, replacing that regardless of if it's a popular actor or not is an incredibly bad idea.
It's gonna be a while before I buy a ps4(atleast until kingdom hearts 3) I guarantee give mgs5 a year and they'll release the super special omg game of the year despite not being game of the year edition which will have ground zero and whatever else dlc comes out for it, i'll probbly get 5 and ground zero's both then as a pack in.

I never minded the backtrackin in dark souls, I always think if backtrackin is done right it can make a games world feel more real and connected, so I hope it's not gone and they keep the world like dark souls 1.
As for bonfires at the bosses, no I think it'd get rid of alot of the punishing aspect of dark souls, alot of deaths in the game are usually due to rushin back to the boss and not being careful, and quite frankly I never minded that difficulty that much, which is funny I was playing mario 3d worlds final level recently with my friends and I was pissed like seriously pissed because we had to do it over and over and over again(I think it's the short repetion of dying that frustrates me) while dark souls never bothered me because it was such a long treck back to the boss and it made me alot more wary of the boss so that I did'nt keep constantly dying at it.
I had no idea about the village....that sounds like a very bad idea, the closest we had to a safe haven in dark souls was the first area after the tutorial(forgot it's name), and the music the design of the area was great, it made you feel safe but at the same time it was sorta depressing like the hub in demon souls as well.

[Ji-Li]

Mainly play rpgs and simulation games.
Primarily SMT, FFs, Grandia, Suikoden, etc. for rpgs.
Sims games and Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games are my strong favorites for simulation.

Hoping someday to work on an rpg for consoles at a nice company, but for now I've done facebook, casino, pc, and working on mobile games now.

[Triggerpigking]

I went on a rant about mgs peace walker here XD.

Spoiler

Okay after playing more of Metal gear peace walker I can say, eh, it's fun but I have a whole ton of problems with the story, the entire thing is set in 1974 20 odd years or so before the original metal gear(the original not mgs) but the tech in this game, well heres the tech in peace walker http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/image/articl...39-000.jpg and heres the allmightly war changing death machine we had to take down in the original http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j471...rTX-55.png you see were the black hole sized plotholes come in. I would'nt mind it personally, mgs3 had tech way before it's time like NV goggles for the sake of gameplay but the whole plot of this game which is canon btw depends around entirely around these unmanned a.i robots one of which is completely sentient.

The shagohod in mgs3 worked because it was clearly inferior to all the other metal gears and was developed in secret with enough money to fund a world war or 2, the ones from peace walker are sentient, unmanned and apparently inexpensive to make, why do they fear the metal gears in the later games then and furthermore why did the tech go backwards?!, it's also scaring me because mgs ground zeroes is a direct sequel to this.
Shame to because some plot points like the building of outer heaven are actually really well done here and are built into the gameplay, you have to manage your units, vehicles, your weapon development, health and food resources and did I mention you can build your own freakin metal gear! :D, it's really well done, not to mention the billion odd side missions. I also did not know this game was co-op, I have'nt got anyone to play with but god I wish I did, it'd be a ton of fun reminds me of monster hunter so much so that I actually managed to find this http://gamerinvestments.com/video-game-s...hunter.jpg best crossover EVER. So yeah overall games fun, but storywise it's riddled with some of the biggest plotholes i've seen in a game

And I also played betrayer, the beta anyway. Can I just say if you want an extremely unique horror game, PLAY THIS GAME, it's based around the lost colony of Roanoke and it has an incredibly interesting atmosphere and artstyle plus i've not seen a horror game based around this time period before.
Not to mention the combat and exploration is great, the game does'nt hold your hand in the slightest and the whole point is to gather clues and figure out yourself what happened to the colony, sound plays a massive part in the gameplay, it's very easy to die so paying attention to the sounds of enemy's and there direction is important, not to mention using the heavy wind to mask your gunshots.
It reminds me alot of the old 80s-90s pc horror games that did'nt hold your hand much, that and it's got a good dose of silent hill in a way, i'd reccomend it to anyone who's into horror or exploration games.

[EduardoGaray]

Mainly play rpgs and simulation games.
Primarily SMT, FFs, Grandia, Suikoden, etc. for rpgs.

Good taste :D

Triggerpingking: i agree with you on that about Peace walker! I think, Kojima even said once that he doesnt mind altering whats "canon" and what not, or changing events and other things even if that creates a plot hole or a contradiction in the continuity of the series.
The perfect example is Metal gear solid Portable Ops, the first metal gear game for the psp.
That game was supposed to be canon, its even mentioned in peace walker. Yet, both Kojima and Konami have apparently forgot that the game even existed.
With that said, i still have my hopes high for metal gear solid V, i got too hyped when i saw Ocelot in afghanistan during the trailer.

Also, you lucky Americans got Dark souls 2 yesterday. :(
I still have to wait until the next week.

Some of the new features of this game made me reaally excited, for example:
-You can be invaded anytime, in human or undead form, cool.
-Every time you die, you lose X amount of health permanently (until you become human again, i guess)
-After you have defeated regular enemies in a particular area enough times, they dont spawn anymore. Thats a BIG change, it will probably change the pacing of the game completely.
-You can teleport between bonfires from the beginning. Maybe die hard fans wont like this, but i'm okay with it.

What do you guys think about this changes?

Me? i cant wait for it.

[Ji-Li]

Haha thanks. I love Suikoden, although my first one got taken and sold off by my exgf's brother. :<
Rebought it on PSN, but it's not the same as the physical case. Wish I could get the second one on PSN also... if only they had it, cause I can't afford the physical copy. x.x; Got IV and regret it...
I also have a lot of other rpgs lol, my collection is my precious. O: Never sold a game and have like over 300 or something by now. Never out of inspiration for game dev. <3

I don't play MGS much, but I love the story and my bf always gets them and plays them a lot. So I know I'll enjoy watching him play MGS V when it comes out and we get it (well both of them since it's two separate right?)

Oh I wanna play Dark Souls 1 and 2 eventually, got Demon's Souls, but want to beat it first before I get Dark Souls. I haven't gotten a chance to play it much but I enjoy it already. :)

[Triggerpigking]

You just have to wait till next week? I won't be able to get Dark souls for another month, pc version releases late april *eye twitch* XD.
I'm liking most of the changes in dark souls 2, I don't like the non-respawning regular enemy's idea at all though, basically means you can just brute force your way through the game for the most part, not to mention revisiting areas after a few times will probbly end up feeling empty because theres no enemys.
Also I don't like the instant bonfire teleporting much, feel it cheapens the world a bit when you can fast travel all the time but it's optional and I won't be using it sooo it's not a big deal.

What sorta character you planning to play as btw? I usually play as the wanderer class focusing on dodging and the like but i'm thinking of mixing it up this time, maybe playing a sorcerer or heavier character.

If Kojima does'nt give a fuck about the canon anymore then he should'nt have put so much work into making it important, honestly at this point i'd be fine if they'd just reboot it, if he wants to keep making games in the series that's fine but he's pretty much devalueing one of the imo best storys in gaming, atleast if it was rebooted or made into an alternate canon(that'd actually be pretty interesting) we'd be able to have more games but would'nt be dragging the series down because they just want to keep making them.

[EduardoGaray]

Ji-Li: Suikoden II is the best one, hands down, i played it many years ago and i have forgot most about it, so i will have to replay it sooner or later.
I got Demon souls too, but it was way more unforgiving and frustrating than dark souls and i also prefer the exploration elements of dark souls so i never finished demon's and with dark souls 2 just a week away, i dont i will finish it anytime soon. xD

Triggerpigking: haha i was going to get it for PC too, but i cant possibly wait 6 weeks. xD

About the non-respawning regular enemies, you can see it both ways. On one hand it would make things easier but it also prevents you from farming souls in a specific area.
I forgot to mention that there is a new item to make the enemies (even the bosses) respawn again. (and with increased difficulty)
For the teleporting between bonfires, yeah thats why i dont mind it, i will probably only use it to go back to the hub area.

As for my character, you see, i always have this obsession in every rpg i play to create a character just like Guts from berserk hahaha.

About metal gear, i dont think the changes and contradictions are big enough to represent a problem (yet!) thats why i have my hopes high for MGSV But indeed, at this point a reboot (or another franchise) would be the best.
Though, what i personally would love to see is a game about the The Boss and the Cobra Unit during WWII, just imagine playing as the The Boss, in normandy and stalingrad. :D

[Triggerpigking]

Funny you should mention playing as the boss in world war 2, I actually constantly used to say to my friends that they should do that as a spin off XD.
And yeah I don't think the plotholes are big enough yet, but it's certainly getting that way, i'm a bit paranoid to be honest alot of my favorite games series have gone down the shitter in this sorta way.

I've thought about playing as a guts like character in dark souls before, I might try it with dark souls 2 that or a griffith build if possible.

That new item sounds interesting, being able to refight bosses could be an cool little addition.
I'm hoping they've bought back the Demon soul powered items from demon's souls, part of the fun of the game was planning out what you wanted to make with them as you only had 1 of each per playthrough, there was a bit of that in dark but not as much as before.
Funny you mention about Demon's souls difficulty, I always found it easier then dark souls and I think demon's souls is a slight bit better balanced then dark, dark's still the better game mainly because of the world and bosses but....the four kings man, the four kings.
Demon's souls also is'nt that long, you really should play it at some point because your missing out on one of the most epic bosses i've ever fought against, He's up there with the end's boss battle from mgs3 for me.

Also wondering how the lore in this game is gonna be, i've heard they said they wanted it to be a bit more easier to figure out(which I disagree with, I liked that learning the whole story requires some digging), but i've heard in the final game the whole plot is a bit cryptic which is awesome.
Wondering how it'll relate to dark souls as well, we know it's a prequel but is it gonna be direct or more like Zelda's canon were it's all very subtle.

[EduardoGaray]

Indeed i found Demon Souls enemies and bosses easier, but without bonfires to rest and having to go back to the nexus to use your souls, dying was much more punishing i think, if you died at the end of one level you had to go trough everything again. xD
But if it isnt that long, i think i could give it a chance, specially since you compared the end boss with Mgs3 last battle. :)

But yeah, Four Kings haha before the dlc patch you just needed an Electric Claymore/Zweinhander +5
and just beat the crap out of everyone, with the dark wood ring to evade like a ninja basically everything. Too bad they nerfed all of that, making things considerably more difficult.
But the boss i had most problems was Gwynn, because i cant parry lol i'm not really good at these games. xD

For the lore, i'm trying to avoid any spoilers (without success, so far...) but it seems like Drangleic could be Lordran, in the far, far future after the "Linking the fire" ending in dark souls.

[meat]

....I am forbidden from playing games since I have absolutely no self control, and I'm super picky in must collect all the set or keep all the followers alive kind of player. So even though I've got 5 never-played games on Steam I'm not allowed to play any games now.... ):

[Triggerpigking]

My problem with the 4 kings is theyre difficulty is very dependant on your playstyle, as you said you play a heavy Guts like build so it's easier to take them down before they all appear, My class was more based around constant evading and using small weapons to cut away at an enemy's health, so they were always beating the ever loving crap out of me, yeah Gywnn was awesome, really tough but awesome I love the music in that battle. Oh can I just say as well, we need a dedicated archery class in these games don't know why they give archerers the shaft so much.

Oh and the demons souls boss i'm refering to is the second to last one, the main boss of the castle level.
the actual final boss of the game was'nt even really a boss(although it was interesting).

Oh and I was wrong about 2 being a prequel, it was a translation error in one of the interviews I think.

[Ji-Li]

EduardoGaray: Oh I bet, Suikoden II has such a high price tag and my friend will not let me borrow it cause it's his treasure. I wish it would go on PSN. But at least I have 1 on there to replay. <3
I only tried Demon's Souls so far so I don't have much to compare with. But sounds like I'll appreciate Dark Souls a lot more since I'm starting with Demon's Souls. It's wooping my butt but I love it xD