Llyranor

Going through Demon's Souls on PS3 right now. Utterly fantastic dungeon crawler gameplay/combat. The game makes no apology for outright killing you - essentially removing all the souls you've accumulated (the currency to buy/repair/upgrade items, and boost your stats) - then you respawn in 'dead' form at the very beginning of the map and having to recover your corpse. If you die a second time, you respawn in dead form again, but your previous corpse is gone forever, along with all the souls it had. It features real-time combat, and is very timing-based. As your stats/equipment become better, you can become very efficient at killing things, but it remains extremely skill-based. Even the early level enemies can still kill you if you're careless. Actions available in combat include running/dodging/rolling/backstep, blocking (with a shield - which drains your stamina, which can stun you if your stamina is low to begin with; or with a heavy weapon, which drains stamina but doesn't nullify hp loss, just reduces it), parrying (requires exact time with the shield or a secondary weapon you're holding in the left hand; if you time it right, you can stun the enemy and leave them open for a riposte attack), and all your various attacks depend on your current state (if you've just done a roll or backstep, for example, or whether you're holding a weapon one or two-handed, whether you're using a regular or strong attack). It's also important to note that all weapons having completely different attacks (also, again, depending on whether held one or two-handed). A longsword will allow you slashing attacks, or a lunging piercing attack as a strong attack if held in one hand, but it'll deal a stronger slashing attack if held two-handed. A long spear will be more unwielding to use if you hold a shield at the second time (however, the option is still available to you), but its longer piercing reach allows you an advantage. In enclosed spaces, though, that turns into a disadvantage as your attacks may end up hitting the walls. A halberd will allow piercing and slashing. Unlike other games where this can just seem visual, this has direct implications with combat. The interface works pretty well. You're allowed two weapons in the right hand slot, and two on the left hand slot (can be a shield or a second weapon). You swap between them with one quick button press. Another button will quickly switch you between holding your primary weapon one or two-handed, thus shelving away your shield/2nd weapon. This all happens during combat, switching back and forth depending on the tactical situation. Here's a standard example. I'm crossing a bridge that's being guarded by a firebreathing dragon. I need to time it properly so as to avoid its breath attack (which would kill me in one hit), run across the bridge towards the tower gate, which is guarded by 5 archers and 2 knights. I'm sprinting towards them, shield held up to block the arrows coming my way, equipped with a longsword. One of the knights moves forward. I roll diagonally, evading his attack and nearing the archers. As I finish my roll, I do a spinning attack that hits 2 of them (this is the standard attack after making a roll with this weapon). It brings them down to 1/4 health, not strong enough. As I do that, two arrows land in me. The knight, in the meantime, is behind me. He lunges forward. I turn around quickly, raise my shield back to block it just in time. My stamina being already drained. I get knocked back a bit, but managed to get out of the way before he follows through. I roll sideways, evading the next wave of arrows. Shield raised, I time it so that as soon as the next wave of arrows flies past, I switch to my bastard sword, hold it two-handed, and land a strong attack on the archers. I take down 3 of them in one swing. Being a wieldy weapon, it drains my stamina pretty quickly. The knight lunges at me again, I block it with my sword (but take damage and stamina drain for it), I swing back, but he blocks it as well, which ends up with an arrow in my back. I switch back to my longsword, get rid of my shield and hold a dagger in my left hand. I roll a few times, land next to the archers and make work of the ones I've injured before with some quick dagger thrusts. By then, the second knight is approaching me (from the opposite direction of the other knight). I roll behind him, slashing him a few times with the longsword, then deflect his incoming attack with my dagger. It stuns him very briefly and I stab him with the longsword. It's not too effective, but I'm in a good position now. I switch to my shield as they both near me, blocking both attacks with raised shield. I attack back, but one blocks it. I back away, switch to two-handed bastard sword again. I lure them both past a doorway. As one makes it through, I roll sideways past his spear attack, then follow up with a strong attack, stunning him briefly. I follow up with another fierce blow, which kills him. I then draw up my shield and deflect the second's attack and riposte with the bastard sword. I then roll behind and end him with a two-handed swing. It's not a very *flashy* game, and combat videos don't really do it justice, but it's all about the controls. There's a lot of tension given how punishing death can be, and how easily you can die in a few hits if careless. It puts other real-time CRPG combat systems (Gothic, TES, other hack & slashers) to shame, really. The one it would most remind me of would be Mount & Blade, minus the mount, but with much better/diverse melee combat. I'd recommend the game for anyone with a PS3 who enjoys challenge and dungeon crawlers. And who has better reflexes than Hades.

LMAO a mage just set a dog on fire because it was barking too loudly

I'd say A Song of Ice and Fire is my favorite fantasy series. If you really want to kill yourself, though, I've heard the Mass Effect and Dragon Age novels are a real blast.

Because you killed their dog, Monte Carlo.

The sp and mp demos were fun, but the game's not something I'd actually buy.

Honestly, Red Faction doesn't have the storytelling depth of MGS4.

Waa waa waaaaaaa

I hope you like Big Rigs vehicular physics and the Oblivion persuasion minigame!

It'll take some convincing, but the best thing about this is that it doesn't replace the traditional controls. You still have your dual analog, and it works on top of that. It could work as complementary voice recognition, head-tracking (as in the awesome Track IR), or something as simple as gestures for more efficient squad controls (which are usually pretty iffy). I'm not sure that it'll necessarily be pricey. It's pretty much 2 cameras. The functionality software will be much more important. But the Wii hasn't really convinced me that developers are ready for motion controls yet.

I don't get it, didn't Mass Effect just basically mix in standard Bioware storytelling + Gears of War + Oblivion persuasion minigame + Big Rigs vehicular physics?

Are grenades still melee weapons?

He was talking about FO3.

Is this a Mass Effect bashing thread or what?

As far as I can recall, they haven't said anything specific about this, yet. However, I'm guessing (hoping?) that melee will at least sport some limited combos and special abilities, especially as your character invests more points into the HtH side of things. IIRC, you have your fast and strong attacks. Quick tap vs hold button. If you tap multiple attacks in succession, you build up a combo. The higher the skill level, the longer the combo potential. You can end the combo at any time by using a strong attack finisher. You have multiple animations per combo - the game just chooses one or the other for diversity's sake, but it doesn't actually affect the gameplay. You also have different attacks depending on your state and the enemy's, whether the enemy has spotted you and you're sneaking behind (eg. snap neck), whether you're charging at him (eg. jump kick), and so on. Essentially, it sounds like an actual gameplay option, as opposed to Mass Effect's all-purpose single button action.

Where the freak is the link? I'm clicking on the words, but nothing happens. What front page news? Where? What the crap is this?

You'd feel pretty lousy if he went off and killed a bunch of people, though. It'd be like you were the real murderer, because you helped him.

Don't think there'll be free-roaming. You'll probably warp around between locations/missions.

You don't get it, man. French chick isn't angry because you slept with Book chick, she's angry because your relationship with Book chick has progressed past a certain point where you went and slept with her.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/10...ins/#more-12708 http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.ph...mp;postcount=20 ROFLASKGJASKGASKGHASKJGHASKGAHS

There are plenty of those on consoles. Some with pretty refined gameplay. Granted, they're combat-centric rather than focusing on roleplaying, but fart-a-fart fart. Also, ToEE

I'm guessing SC:C will have much better gunplay/stealth elements, but that will be the only thing that game has going for it. The big difference between Alpha Protocol and SC:C is that I'm buying Alpha Protocol.

AoD isn't stylized, it's just ugly 3d. Okami is stylized.

Yeah, ditch that Mario Galaxy shovelware and get mature non-crap games like Mad World. You can kill people in creative ways in that game, it's gametastic!!1

The only place Liara needs to be is dead in a ditch with Hades smothering her as any other celestial body would for her incessant stupidity.

The only huge pile of lame here is you, Gfted1.