|
I thought we were on to something when the first weapon he picked up was basically a laser chainsaw. I was like "gently caress YES. I'm a space explorer who is ALSO a space lumberjack?" It was the most excited I got the whole game and it wore off quick.
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 10:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 23, 2024 07:09 |
|
|
Defiance Industries posted:I thought we were on to something when the first weapon he picked up was basically a laser chainsaw. I was like "gently caress YES. I'm a space explorer who is ALSO a space lumberjack?" This is what American games are for, except they tend to miss the over-the-top part. ... Quentin Tarantino should direct/produce a WRPG.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 11:09
|
|
|
amaranthine posted:I don't really hate any of the other characters (ok, maybe meracle), should I? Meh. I wasn't expecting much from Star Ocean 4 besides "cheesy anime" so I was fine with them. Of course I know they are terrible, I guess it just depends on your tolerance level. The White Dragon posted:This is what American games are for, except they tend to miss the over-the-top part. Yes please.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 12:36
|
|
|
(Posted in another thread but I think it better belongs here) I can't believe that there aren't more Diablo style games in existence. I love the style of the older hack and slash loot fests, you can play those things forever. You kill screens of guys, take all of their poo poo, upgrade your character, get new skills, play with friends, etc. There's been such a drought of these action RPG / semi-roguelike / hack and slash / whatever games it's ridiculous. The only 2 recent ones (that were worth playing at least) are Torchlight and Borderlands. Torchlight is basically Diablo 2 with a modern UI, though it's only single player (they are making a sequel with multiplayer). Borderlands is first person but still totally awesome. Before those 2 there was nothing for a really long time. The older games are classics man, Diablo 1 / 2, Dungeon Siege 1 / 2, Baludur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath. I recently picked up Sacred 2 for 360. It seems ok, but it's really old school in the sense that they just drop you into the world and don't really explain anything at all. It's also really glitchy and just feels unfinished. Still having fun with it though. Dungeon Siege 3 is coming soon but it doesn't look terribly stellar. To me, the modern WOW-style MMO is just the Diablo formula stretched out over time - you fight less guys at once, you level slower, you upgrade loot slower, you get gold slower, etc. As popular as these MMOs are I cannot believe there aren't a billion of these much faster-paced ARPGs flooding the market. Diablo 3 is going to be an amazingly outstanding game and it can't come out soon enough, but until then, MORE WAITING with nothing that really fills the void.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 20:17
|
|
|
Dr. Glasscock posted:(Posted in another thread but I think it better belongs here) Slower-paced is more profitable. If you make a faster-paced MMO people won't be playing it for as long, which means less subscription money.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 20:20
|
|
|
Sam. posted:Slower-paced is more profitable. If you make a faster-paced MMO people won't be playing it for as long, which means less subscription money. True, but Diablo 2 is STILL getting patches like 10 years later. I would imagine that means enough people are still buying and playing it to warrant development resources. If they had released more expansions for the game I'd still be buying them to this day. I'd even pay a subscription fee for Diablo 3 if it lives up to the hype. There's also the rest of the video game industry pumping out not-MMO games and making money. I know what you mean but it's just weird.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 20:38
|
|
|
Have you played Titan Quest? It's a pretty good Diablo-like based around Greek mythology. Pretty cheap now on steam too.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 21:03
|
|
|
Depths of Peril was pretty fun when it came out too - weird mix of Diablo 2 and strategy games.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 21:13
|
|
|
The Ninth Layer posted:Have you played Titan Quest? It's a pretty good Diablo-like based around Greek mythology. Pretty cheap now on steam too. Yeah I grabbed it and the expansion during a Steam sale, it's ok I guess. I thought it was PAINFULLY generic and not very exciting. It wasn't anywhere near Diablo 2 as far as I was concerned. I had some good coop fun with it but it faded pretty quickly (I played Torchlight for longer). Dr. Glasscock fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Jun 3, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 21:20
|
|
|
Vanan posted:Depths of Peril was pretty fun when it came out too - weird mix of Diablo 2 and strategy games. I'm playing this right now; if you can get past the outdated graphics it's pretty fun. It's been scratching my Diablo itch pretty hard.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 21:43
|
|
|
Cake Attack posted:Oh and thanks for the Trails in the Sky recommendation earlier in the thread The Black Stones. I beat it a couple of days ago and thought it was great. It's rare that an rpg can hold my attention for a full 60 hours (I play slowly) but it did.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2011 23:53
|
|
|
Nutbladder posted:The Japanese come up with way better campy white-guy hero names than Americans do, but I don't think they've grasped the rest of it yet. Roscoe Bearkiller or Keine Fuckgiver would have been pretty amazing protagonists, and yes the Japanese have a propensity towards sissies, even Nier, who's a buff middle aged man is a bit of a wuss personality wise I suppose Edge has reason to be though he accidently blew up a planet
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 00:07
|
|
|
Dr. Glasscock posted:Yeah I grabbed it and the expansion during a Steam sale, it's ok I guess. I thought it was PAINFULLY generic and not very exciting. It wasn't anywhere near Diablo 2 as far as I was concerned. I had some good coop fun with it but it faded pretty quickly (I played Torchlight for longer). I agree with this. I had more fun playing Torchlight single player and talking to my buddy about how our characters were progressing than actually playing Titan Quest together. That shouldn't be the case. Anyway... I just picked up a PSP with FFT, a couple non-rpg games, and loaded Vagrant Story on it from PSN. I bought it so I could play RPGs without being tied to a console. I already have FFT and plan to get Tactics Ogre and rebuy Front Mission 3 for it. Knowing that, is there any real reason for me to get Jeanne D'arc? I've heard its a pretty good little game, but does it have anything that'll really grab me enough to take my attention away from those other srpgs?
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 00:07
|
|
|
I would say no. I played Jeanne D'Arc in a fit of boredom over a weekend once and while it is entertaining, its game mechanics are extremely simple and the customization is pretty remedial. It doesn't really hold a candle to FFT and definitely not Tactics Ogre. Tactics Ogre has so much content in it, it is really the only SRPG you need on the PSP. With post game content there is probably well over 200 hours of things you could do (but most people don't bother with some parts of it, like the item collecting).
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 00:14
|
|
|
Would the Dynasty Warriors series be considered sorta like a Diablo clone? Plus they are making Phantasy Star Online 2. PSO was pretty much a Diablo 1 clone.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 00:15
|
|
|
How is Mass Effect 2? I've never played this series and my friend is lending it to me. How good is the roleplaying aspect (as in a world crafted around my decisions) in this game? Is the game good in general? I mean it gets a lot of hate but has gotten fantastic reviews.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:05
|
|
|
Mass Effect is a very popular series and quite beloved on SA, where in the world were you hearing that it was "getting a lot of hate"??? I tend to hate WRPGs but I've come to really love ME. Especially the dialogue wheel, which allows you to shape Shepherd's character (and I do mean he/she has an actual character as a result), rather than the usual approach of having the main just serve as a lifeless avatar of the player who doesn't actually feel like a person in the story. The gameplay is a bit of a mixed bag for some but I think it's mostly solid. ME2 especially streamlined and improved a lot of it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:16
|
|
|
Ice Blue posted:Would the Dynasty Warriors series be considered sorta like a Diablo clone? Plus they are making Phantasy Star Online 2. PSO was pretty much a Diablo 1 clone. It scratches the same itch sometimes but no, not really. That said if somebody took Dynasty Warriors and gave it mouselook, multiple attacks/styles per character, and a Diablo-like loot system, then we'd be going places.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:22
|
|
|
Nate RFB posted:Mass Effect is a very popular series and quite beloved on SA, where in the world were you hearing that it was "getting a lot of hate"??? Neogaf.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:43
|
|
|
Nate RFB posted:I tend to hate WRPGs but I've come to really love ME. Especially the dialogue wheel, which allows you to shape Shepherd's character (and I do mean he/she has an actual character as a result), rather than the usual approach of having the main just serve as a lifeless avatar of the player who doesn't actually feel like a person in the story. I find the dialogue wheel is one of the worst parts of the games. It's cements the worst part of Bioware games - the incredibly polar dialogue choices - into an actual gameplay element, and for some reason, calls it innovative. Simply because you're choosing from a wheel instead of a list.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:43
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:How good is the roleplaying aspect (as in a world crafted around my decisions) in this game? Well, the worldcrafting is most evident if you go from ME1 to ME2, but I really like it. You know Suikoden's early attempt at worldcrafting? It's the American Suikoden, except they've had a decade and a half to refine the breadth and depth of the effects that your actions have. But yeah, the dialogue is highly polarized, and neutral stances are very unrewarding. Just don't look up any fanart, or offsite discussions. Hell, some on-SA discussions of the ME universe can come... ehh, somewhat close to Bioware levels of 
Fur20 fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jun 4, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:50
|
|
|
The White Dragon posted:Well, the worldcrafting is most evident if you go from ME1 to ME2, but I really like it. Please explain.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:53
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:Please explain. A lot of the effects of your decisions aren't immediately apparent in-game because it was planned around being a trilogy and data importation and poo poo. Taking some decisions might block you out of certain quests (or unlock others), but clearing out some bandits holed up on some desert planet isn't going to suddenly curb interplanetary piracy. But come ME2, you can see what you've changed, and the people you've changed, and what this means for the bed you've made for yourself.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 04:58
|
|
|
The White Dragon posted:A lot of the effects of your decisions aren't immediately apparent in-game because it was planned around being a trilogy and data importation and poo poo. Taking some decisions might block you out of certain quests (or unlock others), but clearing out some bandits holed up on some desert planet isn't going to suddenly curb interplanetary piracy. So in other words I should play ME1 before 2 to get more robust role-playing experience?
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 05:08
|
|
|
You should play ME1 because it is also a good game and really the whole thing is one continuous story. This is partly why the PS3 version of ME2 makes no sense to me; it just isn't the same if you aren't importing in a character that has gone through ME1 and made the glut of decisions that help shaped Shepherd and the rest of ME's universe.Morpheus posted:I find the dialogue wheel is one of the worst parts of the games. It's cements the worst part of Bioware games - the incredibly polar dialogue choices - into an actual gameplay element, and for some reason, calls it innovative. Simply because you're choosing from a wheel instead of a list. Nate RFB fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Jun 4, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 05:13
|
|
|
Yeah Mass Effect 2 is the "better" game but they're both really good and worth playing. I found Mass Effect 1 a little difficult to get into and even put it down for about a year after barely getting far at all, but once I committed to pushing through it I found it really engaging and fun.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 07:39
|
|
|
Nate RFB posted:I just like that it points Shepherd's character a direction and he/she runs with it, rather than just repeating whatever the selected line was verbatim. It "fleshes out" Shepherd's dialogue in a sense and makes his conversations sound like...well, conversations. Yeah, this is part of why I liked Alpha Protocol, and part of why I disliked Dragon Age. Your dialogue choices should point you in the direction, but they ought not to be verbatim. But I suppose when it comes to a game where they'd have to hire 2-6 voice actors for the main character's lines, even when they've already done it for other games, folks can get stingy as hell.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 07:52
|
|
|
Fumaofthelake posted:Knowing that, is there any real reason for me to get Jeanne D'arc? I've heard its a pretty good little game, but does it have anything that'll really grab me enough to take my attention away from those other srpgs? Eh, it's a somewhat fun game. But it's definitely not better than the other SRPG's you mentioned. Buy it and play it when you have nothing else on your plate.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 07:57
|
|
|
Hey here's a question. Are there any more RTS-RPG games out there like Warcraft III? I always thought it was awesome to build an army around one buff unit and level him up. I remember there was that Dragonshards game but I heard it wasn't great so I never played it. Is it worth checking out and is there anything else like that?
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 08:02
|
|
|
The Ninth Layer posted:Hey here's a question. Are there any more RTS-RPG games out there like Warcraft III? I always thought it was awesome to build an army around one buff unit and level him up. I remember there was that Dragonshards game but I heard it wasn't great so I never played it. Is it worth checking out and is there anything else like that? If you want an somewhat old game that's heavy on the RPG elements, there's Spellforce, and it's sequel. It's so RPG that there are times that you'll feel like you're playing a third-person RPG, until you start commanding units. The sequel is much better, if I remember right. Also, I had a lot of fun with Warlords: Battlecry (I think there are three in the series), which is based around levelling up a single hero in a variety of ways between missions. The RTS elements aren't particularly strong, though.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 08:07
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:How is Mass Effect 2? Bad. quote:How good is the roleplaying aspect (as in a world crafted around my decisions) in this game? Overhyped. Yes, it mentions the decisions that you made in ME1, but they ultimately change nothing. Maybe I'm spoiled by other games, most notably Alpha Protocol, but it's pretty much a linear story with romance options (that are mostly terrible). quote:Is the game good in general? I mean it gets a lot of hate but has gotten fantastic reviews. Personally, no. A lot of Bioware games seem to get fantastic reviews yet be completely underwhelming (see: Dragon Age 2) due to the massive conflict of interest that is present in game journalism today. The game is extremely easy, incredibly linear, and the writing is... not very good. I mean, the dialogue is ok, but the storyline is dumb as poo poo and pretty much all of the romance options will make you want to throw up. The side missions that aren't directly related to your teammates are completely pointless, planet scanning is a chore, the "inventory" system is terrible. Also, I know that I'm pretty much the only person who seems to think this, but the "dialogue wheel" poo poo is terrible and I hate it. Is it worth playing? Eh. Might as well try it out, I suppose. It played way too much like Mass Effect pretending to be Gears of War, and not enough like Mass Effect pretending to be Deus Ex. There are still good qualities in it (unlike, say, Dragon Age 2), but you really need horse blinders to ignore the significant steps backward that it made in many areas.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 18:00
|
|
|
I wouldn't call it a bad game. It may be disappointing to some but not really a bad game unless you're big on hyperbole. Plus I don't know if I'd say DA2 got "fantastic reviews". It was inflated still but not really that high compared to DAO. ME2 was a great game to many people and considered GOTY by many people. I don't think you could say the same about DA2.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 18:15
|
|
|
Ice Blue posted:I wouldn't call it a bad game. It may be disappointing to some but not really a bad game unless you're big on hyperbole. Plus I don't know if I'd say DA2 got "fantastic reviews". It was inflated still but not really that high compared to DAO. ME2 was a great game to many people and considered GOTY by many people. I don't think you could say the same about DA2. I'd more accurately describe it as "disappointing", but bad is sort of close to how I feel about it. As for the topic of DA2 reviews, it's averaging around an 80 (from what I can tell), with many of the mainstream US magazines saying poo poo like "RPG of the decade" and other such garbage. Again, maybe I'm being a little bit hyperbolic, but not that much - an 80 average is still a good score and far, far above what it deserves.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 18:46
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:How is Mass Effect 2? It has a fun narrative, as it mostly borrows all of its themes from popular sci-fi movies/syndicated series such as Battlestar Galactica, etc (although if you hate this sort of thing, then just skip the series in my opinion). The voice acting is pretty good for the most part, with the sore thumb being the male version of Shepard in ME1 (thus a lot of people just play the female version, or FemShep for short). Some character personalities/writing are better than others in ME1, and the characterization across the board is better in ME2 at the expense of the main plot. Decisions you make in ME1 do have some impacts in ME2. They're not completely global but there are some good ones (to elaborate more would be to kinda spoil things). It's hard to appreciate some of this because you won't ever know about them until you start reading threads/getting spoiled. It was a bit overhyped but there are parts there. The gameplay in ME1 is a bit archiac at this point. It's a pretty basic cover-system-FPS with a lot of stats and powers. ME2 streamlined a lot of it and it made more FPS'ey and I thought it was pretty good. Lots of people disagree on how they handled powers by putting them ALL on a single linked cool-down (which slows things down and tries to make it strategic but ...) which is perfectly understandable. [e]As a random aside, if you hate the whole planet exploration thing, the side mission stuff in ME1 is by far the weakest part of the game and is perfectly skippable. The only things it changes in ME2 are giving you more exp/money/minerals to start out with (most people just cheat the minerals in ME2, fwiw).
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2011 18:58
|
|
|
I played Mass Effect 1 and got into it at the time, but the gameplay is just... Bleh. It's incredibly plodding and stiff compared to ME2. If I ever want to replay ME2 I'll get the PS3 copy and the digital comic so I can never ever have to play ME1 again to import a character.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2011 03:16
|
|
|
Fumaofthelake posted:I played Mass Effect 1 and got into it at the time, but the gameplay is just... Bleh. It's incredibly plodding and stiff compared to ME2. If I ever want to replay ME2 I'll get the PS3 copy and the digital comic so I can never ever have to play ME1 again to import a character.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2011 03:22
|
|
|
Fumaofthelake posted:I played Mass Effect 1 and got into it at the time, but the gameplay is just... Bleh. It's incredibly plodding and stiff compared to ME2. If I ever want to replay ME2 I'll get the PS3 copy and the digital comic so I can never ever have to play ME1 again to import a character. You do realize that you can just cook up a save for the PC and xbox versions right? This also allows you to skip the mining PC Version ofc has the better controls for a shooter (subjective) The game is far from perfect, but it was a big summer blockbuster thats just fun to play; I miss the illusion of depth the first game gave you (even though all items eventually ended up leading to the same basic layouts) but the game does control smoother. The writing could be much better and was really hit or miss, the main plot was throwaway but some of the semi-sidemissions are very well done in an action movie way; and it is still infinity better than an 10hour run of the mill very shallow but very shiny FPS. I can see how people dislike the game though, there are parts that I really dislike myself. On the other hand I personally can't stand CoD but I can't deny the games are at the very least competent and they obviously deliver the experience fans want; Tastes differ after all. I'd say give the first a chance, put it on casual pick the Adapt or vanguard (space wizard and battle mage to put it into classic RPG terms) boost your defenses a bit and just casually stroll though the game whole throwing a lof of dudes off ledges and stuff; the first is worth it for the cool setpieces and setup for the second at the very least. It also has the MAKO which is flawed but infinity better then ME2's vehicle, ME2's isn't required for the story though. Or just go to http://www.masseffectsaves.com/ grab a file that sounds appealing and give the second a shot; the game is cheap enough that you don't really lose money on it. Zedd fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Jun 5, 2011 |
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2011 03:31
|
|
|
Ok, I was exaggerating. I would actually be buying it for PS3 since I sold my Xbox, but I guess my post was a little disingenuous since I do know about those resources (and used them to basically make an ME1 import from scratch for ME2 and give myself a boatload of resources). I think ME1 is worth playing once, MAYBE twice if you're really into it, to give yourself a frame of reference for the different save flags, then just generating saves to take into ME2 if you ever want to do anything else.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2011 03:44
|
|
|
I found the first Mass Effect to be complete and utter tripe propped up solely by the interesting ideas behind the failed implementation, but I think it's pretty obvious how much of a minority opinion this is. Everything about the gameplay was frustrating or seemingly designed to piss me off, and a lot of the little ancillary things like menu navigation were still atrocious even though I played the supposedly revamped PC version. Mass Effect 2 on the other hand I had a fabulous time with. A lot of bullshit that killed the fun in the first game got thrown out, like player inventory and grenades. It still face-planted hard with the moon mining nonsense, but it was good enough for me to play through twice. In both games the dialog wheel is laughably predictable, and in the first game there's even an entry in your journal explaining exactly how it works and where the different alignment options go in case you're super thick and can't figure it out. This takes any sort of mystery away from the conversations because you know just how Shepard will respond (reassuring platitudes/bland yes-man/punch in the throat) even after you factor in the sometimes extremely vague option descriptions. Protip: If you've ever played a first or third-person shooter before then do NOT play either game on normal difficulty because you might slip into a coma from the total lack of challenge.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2011 06:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 23, 2024 07:09 |
|
|
Nutbladder posted:
The Witcher 2 will ease those feelings of predictability. And it's actually challenging.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2011 06:57
|
|
