What games are you currently playing?

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Most of the ppl I talk to say Tidus was an emo little shit and a terrible character.

I disagree, especially having played Dissidia 012.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

The problem is the presented Tidus correctly like nine years too late. They're not going to fix that for the HD Remaster, either.

[Raydeus]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

That's odd, I didn't see Tidus like that. But then again in the Japanese version his seiyuu is Masakazu Morita (Ichigo from Bleach and Rush in the Last Remnant) so I have no idea how bad the English voice/dialog was.




PS > I just finished playing through L4D 1 and 2. Gotta love zombie hunting... well I was running away most of the time, but you get the idea. XD

[Icemage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

XII I loved pretty much everything, except for how thin the plot became from the time you kill Cid until you storm the Bahamut. They clearly got in a rush toward the end; which was a real shame, since they already had those big beautiful areas made up, and practically left them abandoned. Heck, iirc, the King Bomb is an optional boss, and Nabudis and Nabreus are behind him. You can skip the fight, and those areas entirely. Even people who do go there are often times just running in to grab Zodiac Spear, and running out never to return. Apparently this was originally another place you were supposed to visit, along with that giant crystal thingymajig.

The License Board in FFXII can go die in a fire. Twice. Also: Unlikable characters aside from the somewhat tolerable Balthier and Fran (a problem FFXIII shares, actually).

---

Currently I've gone back to playing Tales of Graces f on PS3 and Pure Chess on PS Vita. Can't quite find it in me to pick Lollipop Chainsaw back up.


Icemage

[Raydeus]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I just spent a few hours finally playing Ys. And I'm glad to report that I died, repeatedly.

It's been a while since I've gotten pwned by quirky fast boss patterns and overwhelming mob numbers on a starter dungeon, but I'm starting to get into the SNES mood after playing for a while.

[Kailea]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Love Y's I have the Sega Master System version, but I don't really want to get into the game till I can get the TG-16 CD version...... what version did you play? The PSP remake?

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

The License Board in FFXII can go die in a fire. Twice. Also: Unlikable characters aside from the somewhat tolerable Balthier and Fran (a problem FFXIII shares, actually).

I don't think the License Board is genius, but I also actually never thought of it as a major element of gameplay. It's there, and you can play around with it and power yourself up, but I don't think the leveling system is something that makes a game (it can break it, but I never thought the License Board did. Unideal, but that's it)

And characters aren't there to be likable, they're there to be characters. You can debate the characters themselves (I will agree Vaan was fairly shallow; but he's there as an observer almost as much as a participant, so that's kind of the point. Same with Penello. Ashe wasn't supposed to be likable, and the "good guys" aren't supposed to be so clearly "good"), but "likable" is a terrible standard for characters. You could argue Kefka styled villians are likable in a way, sure, but what's likable about Darth Vader, or Voldemort, or Satan, or whatever other great villian you want to invoke? Look at other game series you like, and you'll see plenty of unlikable characters. Good story, like presidents, isn't defined by which one you'd most like to have a beer with.

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Honestly I would've liked to try out XII International's Licence/Job board hybrid. I always found the regular License Board to be just too unstructured and unfocused, and it kind of stifles planning by not showing you anything beyond the immediately adjacent squares.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

FFXII was a Invalice/Ogre game made by the Ivalice/Ogre team. This means it's going to have politics, religion, racism and all that fun stuff ramming together and a protagonist that is more of a fly on the wall than anything else.

Solid Snake hasn't been the central hero of his own series since MGS, turns out the entire saga is really about his father and The Boss. He's not really a likeable person.

Vincent Brooks is totally not a cool guy. He's pathetic, cheated on his girlfriend and has to come to terms with that to keep her, walk away and lose her or be a royal bastard and move on to the new girl. He grows as a person any way you go, but likeable? Not really, that's what makes him important, though, because we could all slip up like him and find ourselves there.

Adam Jensen is a well intentioned guy that may do bad things. He walked away from a hard call, leading the weight of guilt on someone else then finds he has go face a world of bad decisions he can't walk away from. He does the best he can, but his name will be spat upon no matter what he does.

What's to like about any of them as people? I don't want to be any of them, just escape reality with them for a bit.

[Raydeus]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Love Y's I have the Sega Master System version, but I don't really want to get into the game till I can get the TG-16 CD version...... what version did you play? The PSP remake?

Yep, I'm playing the Steam version of the 3rd game, but I also played the SNES version a very long time ago back when it was Wanderers from Ys. Also liking the music arrangements so far.

- - - Updated - - -

PS > After I finish Oath I'll probably get Origin since I never played that one. In fact I only played the first 3 if I remember correctly.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I don't think it's about liking them personally so much as actually finding them interesting.

Outside of Balthier & Ashe, I found 12's cast bland (and I'm talking strictly about the playable characters). We've had this debate a bajillion times already too. BBQ adores 12, the rest of us found it lacking in various aspects for one reason or another. Dead Horse.

I would love to see another FFT in the vein of the original however. One of my biggest disappointments about 12 was that it was seemingly set in St. Ajora's time, but they never got into that story so it must happen after 12 but before Tactics. Not sure how interesting a proper sequel would be, unless they came up with an all new plot and maybe dragged Ramza back in as a side character this time around rather than the lead role as they tied up everything rather well in the ending.

They never did explain why there are only Humas left in Ivalice either in Ramza's era (or why the traditional summons are there while the ones in the other Ivalice games aren't). Well, that's not entirely right... they're in FFT, but they are all Zodiac Beasts/Lucavi/Whatever you want to call them. I'd like to see one set in Ivalice centered around the stones again, but in St. Ajora's time period (can even be after his death but just before whatever destroyed that civilization and all the high tech) and with the players actually getting and using the stones. Would be interesting to try a morality system with them as well;

Do you use the stones for good, or do you become a Lucavi?

[Icemage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I don't think the License Board is genius, but I also actually never thought of it as a major element of gameplay. It's there, and you can play around with it and power yourself up, but I don't think the leveling system is something that makes a game (it can break it, but I never thought the License Board did. Unideal, but that's it)

There are sub-optimal levelling systems... and then there and systems like FFXII's that require you to learn how to wear a hat.

And characters aren't there to be likable, they're there to be characters. You can debate the characters themselves (I will agree Vaan was fairly shallow; but he's there as an observer almost as much as a participant, so that's kind of the point. Same with Penello. Ashe wasn't supposed to be likable, and the "good guys" aren't supposed to be so clearly "good"), but "likable" is a terrible standard for characters. You could argue Kefka styled villians are likable in a way, sure, but what's likable about Darth Vader, or Voldemort, or Satan, or whatever other great villian you want to invoke? Look at other game series you like, and you'll see plenty of unlikable characters. Good story, like presidents, isn't defined by which one you'd most like to have a beer with.

I'm not expecting every (or even most) character to be likable, but I do expect them to at least be interesting. When almost the entire ensemble cast of playable characters is so forgettable, it's hard to feel any sort of empathy or pathos when bad things happen to them. I spent the second half of FFXII wishing most of the party members would come to an abrupt demise because of massive levels of stupidity, and nearly the entirety of FFXIII doing so for pretty much the entire party minus Fang.


Icemage

[Feba]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

There are sub-optimal levelling systems... and then there and systems like FFXII's that require you to learn how to wear a hat.

This is funny enough to look at, but seriously, how is having to use a license for equipment any stranger than having to be a certain level? We've got no problem with the latter. "Hey hero, here's a hat" "I AM NOT YET POWERFUL ENOUGH TO DON IT"

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I still honestly don't understand why all the hate towards Tidus. He wasn't *that* bad, in fact I've seen far worse. Plus if you played Dissidia 012 (which most of these people probably haven't) you gain a deeper insight into his relationship with Jecht and can appreciate them both all the more for it. 10 definitely could have used some better writing here & there but overall I still don't think it's nearly as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. I still say Vaan's the worst the character they've ever done by far.

Really? Vaan is worse than Quina?

But being serious, Tidus wasn't bad at all. Remember that he has a VERY good excuse to be whiny at the beginning. He was torn away from his world in an incredibly violent manner and quite literally dumped several hundreds of years into his future where he would have to come to terms with everything he knew and loved (except Blitzball) no longer existing. Everyone he knew is now dead, everyone he ever loved is now dead, he is now in the middle of an alien culture that not only encourages but prides itself on sacrificing young men and women to stop the fucked up alien space whale that sent you to the future for like, 10 years tops before it starts killing everyone again.

Also...

Spoilers for the people who never played FFX...Yes both of you...

He later finds out that he is really dead and may not technically exist at all. Plus the space whale is really his dad and killing his own dad will stop the cycle of death. But if he does that then him, his dad and his badass Samurai friend will also die.

Yeah imagine having to go through that bullshit.

That and you realise that you also picked Yuna over Rikku...Yeah I'd turn emo and hate myself too...

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

That and you realise that you also picked Yuna over Rikku Tara Strong...Yeah I'd turn emo and hate myself too...

Fixed.