What games are you currently playing?

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Wait, wait, wait. I'm confused.

There's a kind of sphinx that isn't furry?

When I say "furry", I am not saying the same word you are.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

When I say "furry", I am not saying the same word you are.

You intended to mean anthropomorphic. What Armando was pointing out was that Sphinxes were always part-Human (at least in the head).

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I just like being contrary.

Malacite, the cats are Sphynxes. The crazy mythological kind are Sphinxes.

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

You intended to mean anthropomorphic.

No, I did not. I meant furry.

Disney draws anthropomorphic characters.

Sick fucks on the internet draw furry characters.

There is a difference.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

So, you only use furry to intend "disturbing," then.

'K.

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

No. There is a stylistic difference. There are furry pictures that are completely worksafe, and there are disney-style anthropomorphism drawings that will make your skin crawl. Frequently because they are disney characters, but that's another point.

[dirtyclown]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I haven't been paying much attention, but I've gathered that Yellow Mage is a furfag.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Just finished Demon's Souls. Kind of a disappointing ending, but the game didn't have a spectacular story so I wasn't expecting a spectacular ending either. This kind of brings me to something I have been thinking about for a while though..


Why do so many games make the final boss incredibly worthless and easy? Demon's Souls was a game of incredible difficulty, but the final boss doesn't move, doesn't attack, just sits there and monologues at you until you plop 8 or 9 arrows into it's face to kill it. Really disappointing.

At any rate, that's one down, 29083 to go.

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

popped No More Heroes back in; realized I could go with the fake ending, watch the credits roll, and call it done. Plus I have it ready to start over (probably on Sweet; do me some collecting) whenever I want to play it again.

In BG&E news

Got out of the slaughterhouse. I am really not understanding the love for this game.

Sure, the graphics are good, but they don't seem very unique. They don't pop at me, they seem very generic. PS2 Platformer X. The camera is ok at best, and frequently clips through walls, or gets stuck behind a wall and leaves me with a view of brown while I'm trying to fight or escape from enemies.

The combat is ok, nothing very bad or good about it. The stealth sections are annoying and seem fairly pointless, especially the ones that instakill you if you're detected. Plus, I had heard it was Zelda for Adults. Really, it's more like Metal Gear Solid for kids; only I don't love it to death. On one occasion, I had to break the guard's sequence (by shooting him and then hiding) in order to get past them. That's not challenging, that's just poor design.

The characters are pretty good, but the story seems very generic. I've heard it gets better towards the end though, and I don't mind when games do that, so I'm definitely finishing it. The soundtrack is very nice when it's acting ethnic; otherwise it's just good enough. Some of the sound effects, especially the menus and the sound when you die, sound like they're ripped straight out of Star Wars Starfighter-- which I only remember because it was the first PS2 game I bought.

Worst of all, I've run into glitches which simply should not happen. On top of the camera getting stuck inside walls, on one occasion I ran out into an area only to find that it hadn't loaded. I was basically walking around in thin air above the first floor. Worse yet, there were no graphics for the mines on the ground. I was luckily able to reset it by walking out of the room and back in. In another occasion, I walked up to a wall to climb up it, clipped through the floor of something it was next to, and jade fell into a void. I had to reset my PS2 to get out, which would've been a huge pain in the ass were I not the sort who saves often on the first playthrough.

The races are stupidly broken, since you can just buy boost things to carry in with you. The puzzles are ok, but I've yet to run into an A-HA moment like in Zelda games, where you see the genius trick behind opening a door. On a few occasions, I've solved a puzzle to rid some obstruction before I even realized there was an obstruction there.

It's certainly an above average game, but I don't think it approaches anything near greatness.

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Beat BG&E.

It's not a bad game, but I have no idea where the love for it is. To me, it's like a summer action thriller. It's a fine way to pass some time, and it's a bit of fun, but there's no reason to fall in love with it, to watch it again, or to nominate it for any prizes. For $10, I could've bought far worse, but I think knowing what I know now I could've found something else.

Up next:

Baroque (PS2) -- from your friends at the local library. I don't think I'd spend more than a couple dollars on the Wii version, so PS2 for free? sure why not.
*Devil May Cry 2 -- Because I'm so disappointed in BG&E, I need something to remind me what a truly shitty game is.
*Devil May Cry 3-- Because I'm going to have just played DMC2, and will need something to remind me that life is worth living.
*GUN -- $5 for a decent game? sure why not
Zone of the Enders -- Refresher before ZOE2
*Zone of the Enders 2 -- ZOEEEEEEEEEEEEEE2ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Also on the library front, I'm 8th in the queue for KHreCOM, but who knows how long the wait will be.

On the book front, three of the ones I checked out are done. [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Build-Time-Machine-Paul-Davies/dp/0142001864/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242455465&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: How to Build a Time Machine: Paul Davies: Books[/ame] is fascinating, at least until the last chapter or so. Does a very good job of breaking down complex physics to something that's very clear.

6 left on the shelf next to me, and almost definitely four more I want to check out soon (three would be a follow-up to one I checked out, if it's any good, the fourth would be the 9/11 Commission Report, which apparently is actually very interesting and well written.) The last five I should have no problem checking out whenever I care to, and they're pretty large, so they may get put on hold for a few months while I work through my gaming backlog.

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Finished Persona 4 with the true ending. I'm not 100% sure about what I think of it for various reasons although because it does give closure I do prefer it to the other endings especially if you consider the implications of both bad endings and how creepy the normal ending seems again due to the implications.

Major Persona 4 Spoliars for each ending inside.

Still as cheesy as the true ending was I do find it much better than Nanako dying and the party murdering a technically innocent man (or both living but Nanako still being under the effects of the fog), the fog not being lifted and Adachi running free or Izanami basically stepping in to undo all of the work you did to defeat Amino-sagiri.

Currently I'm playing:

Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce (PSP) - I sort of swore off DW games right after DW5:XL came out. DW4 was nothing but a disappointment when compared to 2 and 3 and 5 only really brought even more idiotic AI and the annoying Legends Mode with your CAW which I affectionately nicknamed "Babysit your general until the timer runs out or you get bored and play a much better game like Samurai Warriors 2...Mode". Orochi Warriors was a lot of fun to play but only because of the dialogue. You were still fighting with the same people with the same battlefields and Lu Bu would still one shot the Zhou Yu I painfully maxed out every game regardless of what difficulty you were on. They still didn't fix the headdesk inducing AI and the fact that difficulty never had any effect on the AI. All increasing the difficulty ever did in the DW games past 3 (In DW2 and 3 the AI got smarter as you increases the difficulty) was gave you less attack and defence (to the point where you could be one shotted by anything not an archer in OW and OW2). So after all of that time you spent getting those uber attack and defence up equips was for nothing and all of that effort you spent getting Lu Bu's infinity plus one spear all you basically got was on overglorified toothpick if you turned the difficulty up to hard or expert.

When I heard that DW6 actually took out half of the characters and changed nothing about this I frankly couldn't be bothered. I picked up a copy from a bargain bin in a game's store and immediately regretted me decision and quickly put DW3 back into my PS3.

So when the very friend who got me into DW (and the Three Kingdoms franchise in general) when it first came out here in the first place and one of my closest friends to boot (Who also plays a Taru BLM on Odin though the idiot didn't tell me that until after I hopped to Kujata) told me that Strikeforce was coming out in the UK and was going to be on theI was sceptical to say the least. DW has frankly been stagnant for well over 8 years The PSP spin offs of the DW games were frankly embarrassing so what would make this any better?

So after being bombarded by texts to get this bloody game for an entire week I caved. I was surprised to find that is was very cheap. I got my copy for £15 (about $22-23) brand new and still sealed so I was impressed by that. I tried out the game and found out that I like this game a lot. The game shifted from Golden axe inspired beat em up to an action RPG. It game up on trying to sound historically accurate and just embraced the Rule of Fun and went all out with the crazy Dragonball-esque stunts, moves and transformations.

Usually I recoil in pain when someone says a game has RPG elements or says it's an action RPG. Usually it means that it's going to be some kinda of FPS (Bioshock, Fallout 3), platformer (Ratchet and Clank) or adventure game (GTA, Zelda) that has some tacked on system of upgrades that thinly disguises itself as character customisation. With Strikeforce I was pleasantly surprised to see that the RPG elements didn't just seem tacked on to appeal to RPG fans like myself and it does become an actual part of the game. Anyone familiar with the Monster Hunter series of games will instantly find the game's styling familiar. Your base of operations is a village like Monster Hunter. You collect drops from enemies for money and to upgrade your equipment like Monster Hunter. You do quests in between story missions (handwaved ingame to represent your character action as a mercenary between battles) to unlock the story missions like Monster Hunter. Honestly a cynic could call it one big Monster Hunter rip off with Dynasty Warriors slapped on it to make money but it's really not the case.

The most notable change is the ability to go into Fury mode. Basically it's a super sayian esque transformation that makes you stupidly strong, fast and lets you jump to heights that would put most Jedi to shame but strangely enough doesn't add anything to your defense. This ability is more or less essential given how brutal the game's difficulty and the availability of your fury will decide on whether you succeed or fail.

Character customisation is also a nice addition. In your little village aside from your Monster Hunter esque weapons upgrade system you can also buy different things to customise your character. One of the most notable ones is the ability to chose a secondary weapon that you can switch to at any time. You can't change your primary weapon. I wish I knew that when I started since I wanted to give Zhou Yu his straightswords back but since the game wouldn't let me and because the guy looks ridiculous without his trademark Chinese Straightsword I went and switched to Sun Ce due to his main being a spear (I like having the ability to do some crowd control). The weapon switching is done with a simple button press and it can be done mid attack for some incredibly cool looking combos. When you get to send a peon flying into the air, you get to leap up into the air, kill him and his flying sorcerer buddies before pulling out a longbow and shooting the hapless peons on the ground before your feet even touch the earth you know a game is taking a step in the right direction. My only criticism about the secondary weapon system is that unless you are playing multiplayer there is little point in taking anything other than a bow as your secondary slot purely because ranged attacks are so useful in DW games. Don't get me wrong a spear/broadsword combo is great and will ensure you can take on most enemies it's just bows are that useful in this game.

Aside from the secondary weapon you can also equip various weapon augmentations though sadly as soon as you get the ability to add poison effects to your weapons there is little point in using anything else due to tne ridiculous DoT they have even at low levels. You can also get augmentations to your character or "Chi" as they are called ingame. To sum it up you can equip 4 augmentations on your character at one time and there are some very interesting combinations. Half of the fun of the Chi system is more or less coming up with new augment combinations.

The game also has a heavy emphasis on Co-Operative play, one of the most fun parts of Dynasty Warriors. Streets of Rage was fun with a fright so being able to fight alongside a friend on a big battlefield is even more fun. In Strikeforce you can essentially form a party with friends to take on the quests and missions in the game. Having a balanced party is also very useful as a group of glass cannon characters won't stand a chance against some generals when they go into Fury mode.

Really the only bad thing I have to say about the game is that there is never enough enemies to fight onscreen (which can lead to some VERY easy fights when you attack a general, zone, rezone, attack him again, zone, repeat until the general falls down or one of you gets bored and gets killed bum rushing him) but that is mostly due to the limitations of a handheld. That and for a DW game the music is well, poor. Not even Lu Bu's custom entry music stands out in this game which is a shame since the -Warriors franchise always has memorable music.

[Taskmage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Semi off topic, but worth sharing. If you like Castlevania this pretty much has to be funny.

A miserable pile of secrets! But enough talk. Have at you!

One of my friends memorized that little speech. It's a riot watching him perform it with the voices.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Picked up FFIV for DS recently.

The Elemental Archfiends really don't fuck around this time. None of the bosses really do. I'm on the Water Archfiend now, guess I have some levelling up to do.

It feels like a real director's cut of the game, rather than the Advance version, which was the Wonderswan version with US easymode and bonuses. But then, this remake is actually done by the original writer and director of FFIV.

The characters and dialogue feel perfect, too. The voice acting is understated, but it suits the tone of the game just fine. Kain feels a bit odd, though. He always sounds sinister.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Trauma Center: Second Opinion is on hold indefinitely. I was told it would be impossible to finish alone because it was designed for co-op, but I tried it anyway (on Hard mode too) and I made it to the final chapter, but I've come to an operation I can't finish in time alone even if I set it to Easy mode. Putting it on hold until I find someone to play it with me.


Found the DS remake of Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure on sale at Best Buy last week so I picked that up and enjoyed it for a few hours this weekend. Seems like a pretty short game so I'll probably finish it today.


After that.. I think I might actually start playing FFXI again. The only other console game really appealing right now is the MH3 demo, and only because I want to kill that damn Rathian. The demo only gives you 20 minutes and you have to hope the monster you're supposed to be fighting decides to mimic a Rathian cry to call her out before too much time passes.

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Picked up Baroque from the library, played through the first two dungeons.

It does seem very interesting, but between the camera, the horrible combat, the general repetition, and simply not making a ton of sense from a gameplay perspective (for example, a character tells you to enter an orb; you find something that says "CONFIRMATION COMPLETE" "PROCEED AHEAD" and points into another room, you follow the pointing into the other room and there's a giant glowing thing there. You try hitting it, shooting it, running into it, and nothing happens. You google it, and find out you're supposed to walk up against the giant spike covered thing the guy was on. I can't like it, although that disappoints me. Even free, this game isn't worth it to me. The worst part is that the music is mediocre, but the character designs, story, and general style seem top notch. It's all dragged down by the game being about as fun as yardwork.