Video Games

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:41 am

on the subject of Kingdom Hearts, imagine what 3 could be like now that Disney owns Marvel. I predict symbiotes in there somewhere.

Ganbare Gincun · Post by **Ganbare Gincun** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:31 am

Maxus wrote:So, which of these should I play first?

The only one I would touch is Vagrant Story. The rest... meh.

Roy · Post by **Roy** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 2:22 pm

Avoraciopoctules wrote:Wait.

http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Skill:Jump
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=196261

Could it be that I have been... deceived? What skullduggery is this? DDO seems claims that jumping is not only in the game, but exists as a viable tactical option that might be worth investing points into.

I wonder if they still have flight magic.

They don't. DDO is like 4th edition in that higher level characters have bigger numbers but are otherwise about the same. Things that actually change the dynamics of play are rare or non existent - kobolds are fought much like elder fiends and dragons are, except the latter has over 9,000 (thousand) HP.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:18 pm

Hmm. So is it more or less samey than Neverwinter Nights 1 (Taking well-done community modules into consideration)?
Also, is the combat more entertaining than in NWN? Since this is an MMO, I can't just spawn an item of at-will Implosion for when the encounters get tedious or use the DM tools to warp out of the dungeon.

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:24 pm

Maxus wrote:Xenosaga II

This is the only JRPG I have ever set down in frustration and never picked up again. Ever.

Every enemy in the game is a big pain in the ass to damage, being in a constant state of defense unless you hit them in precisely the right way to 'break' them open. Since they're only open for the duration of the current attack, and may require more hits to open than one guy can do, you have to have other characters wait on their turns so they can get in on your attack sequence and hit them for anything reasonable.

So combat looks like this: wait. wait. wait. wait. wait. fight + get in on it + get in on it + get in on it +... until it's dead or you're out of boosts. Repeat for every enemy on the screen, for every battle you ever fight, forever and ever. It takes a long time, which is really quite an achievement (of awfulness) in a JRPG.

Several hours into the game there's a section where you have to flee a facility that's self-destructing. With enemies who are not fleeing getting in your way and this god awful combat system slowing everything down. Turned it off. Didn't look back.

The 3rd one got rid of that shit and is worth playing if you enjoyed the 1st. You can pick up the story of the 2nd in game.

Suikoden IV

Kinda slow, but not bad.

Vagrant Story (PS1 game)

Quite good if memory serves.

shau · Post by **shau** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:44 pm

I agree with Tarkis about Xenosaga 2, but he forgot to mention that you also run into bosses that say "fuck you I am taking a turn now" and break your chain. Also, they ran into the "we have insufficient money to tell the story we planned to tell" more hardcore than Evangelion. Seriously, a major plot point in the beginning of the game is that their is some tension between Shion and her brother. Then during a brief cutscene, a narrator tells you that he joins the party for some reason and how that happened is never explained.

Awful, awful game.

Suikoden 4 is the Highlander 2 of the series, the one everyone hates and refuses to remember. Still, better than Xenosaga.

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:53 pm

Whoops. I just checked my ps2 library, and I was thinking of Suikoden 3, not 4. Didn't play 4, and probably won't on these recommendations.

Blicero · Post by **Blicero** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:00 pm

Although it's undeniably the weakest part of the trilogy, I honestly did not have a huge problem with Xenosaga II. Maybe it's because I was always primarily there for the story (much preferring Western RPG battle systems), but I didn't think that the Zone system was that bad. What annoyed me more was that there weren't any Tech Attacks and everyone had the same list of Ethers.

The story suffered from common middle-child syndrome, but it was still pretty neat.

I would say play it for a bit, and see if you like it.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:14 pm

I stopped by Gamestop on the way the work to kill some time, and ended up buying Final Fantasy X for $15.

Good buy. I'm enjoying it.

Some points/comments:

-Weird as it sounds, I'm okay with Tidus being high-strung and a bit whiny. I mean, he's far away from home, in a place where he doesn't know any of the (many) cultural quirks and his ignorance could get him in trouble, there's monsters everywhere...I'd be high-strung, too.

-I love this upgrade system so much more than FF12's. In FF12, you had absolutely no reason to care about anyone unless you liked how they looked. In here...well, everyone has their uses and specialties, to the point where I make it a point to try to use everyone in a single battle so they all get the AP because I might need them later.

-Jeez, this game is gorgeous. Those ruins at the beginning were incredibly atmospheric, with the storm, the cascading water pouring in from the rain, and the music. Also, water seems to be everywhere in this game as part of the aesthetic. I thoroughly approve and enjoy.

-I love how Seymour went all One-Winged Angel at that one point. I even sang some of that song as I fought him. Shame he chose that moment to do it, since about half my people and a couple of Aeons had their overdrives. What took up most of that fight was switching people in and having them do stuff so they'd get that boss-licious Overkill AP.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 6:47 pm

I remember FFX. I enjoyed it, but did not complete the game. I liked the way turns were organized, and the sphere grid and summoning system both felt nice.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:01 pm

If you do not play Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story then you're a double weenie.

I found Partners in Time to be serviceable but ultimately disappointing, especially with the control issues and problems of puzzle repetition. BiS goes out of its way to not repeat puzzles or gameplay mechanics and I really appreciate it.

Also, Bowser is an awesome main character. I like playing asshole characters who frequently get shown up or that pay for their assholery and Bowser is pretty much everything I look for in these kind of characters. Violent, easily bamboozled, goes around kicking puppies only to be attacked by puppies at the pound, solves everything with fists, goes around bragging about how cool they are even though the game mocks them for it. So on.

I like playing asshole characters but only if the game doesn't try to pass off the character as likeable or heroic. Travis Touchdown is a great character. Squall Lionhart is not.

NativeJovian · Post by **NativeJovian** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:31 am

Maxus wrote:-I love this upgrade system so much more than FF12's.

My only complaint about FFX was its upgrade system, which caused me to pull my hair out because there's no general sense of how powerful your characters are. There's no basis for comparison. FFX remains the only RPG I've ever cheated in order to win, because when I lacked a system to tell how powerful my characters were, I ended up ignoring the characters that were redundant or generally not as useful (which basically meant I used Yuna for white magic, Lulu for black, Auron for armorbreaking melee, and that's about it). This totally bit me in the ass late in the game when they dump you in a water area, forcing you to use the three super-awesome-swimmer-people (Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku), and I got TPK'd by random battles. I hate to borrow a friend's Gameshark and bring those three up to reasonable levels in order to continue.

It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I can't bring myself to touch the game after beating it the first time.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:17 am

NativeJovian wrote:
Maxus wrote:-I love this upgrade system so much more than FF12's.
My only complaint about FFX was its upgrade system, which caused me to pull my hair out because there's no general sense of how powerful your characters are. There's no basis for comparison. FFX remains the only RPG I've ever cheated in order to win, because when I lacked a system to tell how powerful my characters were, I ended up ignoring the characters that were redundant or generally not as useful (which basically meant I used Yuna for white magic, Lulu for black, Auron for armorbreaking melee, and that's about it). This totally bit me in the ass late in the game when they dump you in a water area, forcing you to use the three super-awesome-swimmer-people (Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku), and I got TPK'd by random battles. I hate to borrow a friend's Gameshark and bring those three up to reasonable levels in order to continue.

It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I can't bring myself to touch the game after beating it the first time.

I admit not having a level or much of guideline ("Oh. Tidus has 30 Strength. What will I do now?" ) for that is a pain, but I kept using everybody because I'm a touch OCD about levelling/using characters in RPGs. Well, after a while, anyway. I didn't use Kimahri and Wakka much, but when I noticed their damage sucked compared to Tidus and Auron's, I started rotating them in. They levelled up quite quickly, and I noticed that everyone who participates in a fight gets the same AP, no matter how many people were in. So I started switching everyone in and pretty soon they've levelled out.

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:45 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:If you do not play Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story then you're a double weenie.

.

Your description interests me, as I also have been looking for a game where Bowser was a main character. I'm assuming it's a wii game, is it a Wii Ware game?

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:49 pm

On FFX: I agree, the backgrounds were very visually appealing. The story was interesting, and I also liked the improvement system. What I disliked was the world was one long path and not a true "world". I also don't like it when I can't fly around the world in an airship in a FF game, that's kind of the whole point.

I found that once you finish Kimarhi's small area, put him in rikku's area. Rikku starts out pathetic and doesn't really improve enough to remain competitive, but she does in fact gain more than anyone else that early in the grid.

Also, I liked how all the characters felt different through most of the game, yet there was room for customization at the end.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 5:08 pm

I put him in Auron's, where he is currently gaining huge amounts of Str and HP.

Rikku has her uses, I found. She's even faster than Tidus and makes a good support character, what with the Al Bhed potions and all. Also, the thieving devil's great at keeping the party supplies topped up.

Ditto about the long path.

Also, it occurred to me that Tales of Symphonia seemed to have ripped the entire plot of this game and managed to stuff it into its own first act. I even realized why I vaguely dislike Yuna--she reminds me of Colette from Symphonia.

In FFX, it's...

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to bother you..."

"No, we really don't mind being bothered with the knowledge that one of the four heads of the world's religion is a father-murdering undead abomination whose will to destroy all is allowing him to cling to this world. Really, we LIKE being told stuff like that. We insist you tell us when stuff like that comes up."

And in Symphonia...

"I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to worry..."

"No, no, no, we WANT to be worried about your gradual transformation into an angel, if it strips you of your ability to smell, taste, touch, sleep, and feel pain. Really, it's the sort of thing we'd like to deal with now rather than when it becomes a crisis later. If anything like that happens, please share it, even if it's really weird like your body crystallizing."

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:52 pm

Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:
Lago PARANOIA wrote:If you do not play Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story then you're a double weenie.
Your description interests me, as I also have been looking for a game where Bowser was a main character. I'm assuming it's a wii game, is it a Wii Ware game?

Actually, it's a DS game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_%26_ ... side_Story

@Maxus: Ah yes, JRPGs and plot recycling. At least FFX had a bit less "Oh, my sixteenth highly suspicious stifled remark or ominous silence? It's nothing." "Lol, okay"

Also, have you noticed how Seymour looks slightly fat from the front, but thin from the sides? My sister and I always talk about his "Schrodinger's Blubber" when he gets more than a minute or so of screen time.

Also, http://aandk.legendaryfrog.com/movies_kbi_w.php
(about 4 minutes and 20 seconds in, there's a randomized clip out of 2 or 3 parodying FFX. I found the one with Seymour particularly amusing.)

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:18 pm

Possibly he's an eldritch abomination. He exists in more dimensions than us, so we end up with weird POVs like that. Or something.

SPEAKING of eldritch abominations, has anyone ever played that game where the girl turns out to be a Shoggoth? /tg/ has talked about it before...

Morzas · Post by **Morzas** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 12:10 am

Oh, Song of Saya? Yeah, that was one weird, sad game. There was one particular sex scene that freaked me out, too.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 1:30 am

Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:Your description interests me, as I also have been looking for a game where Bowser was a main character. I'm assuming it's a wii game, is it a Wii Ware game?

Nintendo DS game that came out this week.

This game is also a strange case since it has the only instance of a returning character in a Mario RPG that didn't appear outside the RPG-verse.

Fawful's amusingly bad English has been turned down a notch but in return they gave him a much more sly sense of humor (rather than it just being shrill and random) and lots of extra villain smarts.

Mario and Luigi (so far, I'm only a third of the way through) kind of take a back seat to the plot in favor of Bowser but I don't really mind since Bowser has a more engaging/funny personality and better interactions with other gaming characters.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 2:16 am

Lago PARANOIA wrote:
Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:Your description interests me, as I also have been looking for a game where Bowser was a main character. I'm assuming it's a wii game, is it a Wii Ware game?
Nintendo DS game that came out this week.

This game is also a strange case since it has the only instance of a returning character in a Mario RPG that didn't appear outside the RPG-verse.

Fawful's amusingly bad English has been turned down a notch but in return they gave him a much more sly sense of humor (rather than it just being shrill and random) and lots of extra villain smarts.

Mario and Luigi (so far, I'm only a third of the way through) kind of take a back seat to the plot in favor of Bowser but I don't really mind since Bowser has a more engaging/funny personality and better interactions with other gaming characters.

Dude, that's awesome.

I loved Superstar Saga; I might have to look into buying this game and agreeing to let my sister (who has the DS) have her own file.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:04 pm

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/03/25/mi ... w-trailer/

Jeez.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:14 pm

Games where you have to jump before the blocks appear? They never play like their demos. Because you spend most of your time jumping into raw space or missing ledges than actually navigating the world.

Ugh.

Still, like the quasi-3d, tho I'm certain it has been used before.

-Crissa

schpeelah · Post by **schpeelah** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:57 am

To me the game looks positively unplayable, not because you have to jump on not-yet-existing blocks (I've played several games with that and never had a problem) but because of being simultaneously in 3D and 2D - in the trailer it uses standard 2d platformer logic except for that "turn the world around" thing when it switches to 3d, which looks super confusing.

Morzas · Post by **Morzas** » Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:26 am

Arrgh, that sliver of sof'ware be very similar to a PSP game I played on me ship long ago! Look through me spyglass and have a gander at it.

EDIT: Arrgh!