What are you playing now?

[Bendu]

Playing a lot of Anno 2070 and no end in sight. Really love the new setting. And the new 'Meta-Online' a lot of fun.

[Starwars]

Just finished up Planescape: Torment. What an incredible journey that is. It's too bad the Curst/Carceri/Baator sections kinda suck compared to everything else, but still... man, what a great game. Absolutely amazing. *golfclap*

 

Dunno what to play now.

[GhostofAnakin]

Well, one of the annoying things about Arkham City is it's always "OMG B-MAN! YOU HAVE TO SAVE US!" Every... single... mission, so you're rushed along and don't feel like you can do the side missions >.>

 

I noticed that, too. It almost seems like the game is set up to do the main story first, then after that's done do the side missions. The only problem is they're a huge source of experience points, and without doing/completing them your character might not be a high enough level to do well against the boss fights in the main story.

 

On a side note: I'm kicking myself for buying the Robin bundle. I thought he'd have a quest or two in the main game, like Catwoman does. Instead, it seems the only time you can use him is in those challenge maps that's outside the main game.

[Tale]

Jedi Outcast

Got to Nar Shadda. As is tradition, given that it's filled with snipers, bottomless pits, and platforming, quicksave/load is abused until I accidentally quicksave while falling. And quit the game.

[Majek]

Well, one of the annoying things about Arkham City is it's always "OMG B-MAN! YOU HAVE TO SAVE US!" Every... single... mission, so you're rushed along and don't feel like you can do the side missions >.>

 

I noticed that, too. It almost seems like the game is set up to do the main story first, then after that's done do the side missions. The only problem is they're a huge source of experience points, and without doing/completing them your character might not be a high enough level to do well against the boss fights in the main story.

 

On a side note: I'm kicking myself for buying the Robin bundle. I thought he'd have a quest or two in the main game, like Catwoman does. Instead, it seems the only time you can use him is in those challenge maps that's outside the main game.

Nah you only need the gadgets that you get during the story,e everything else you get during level ups is just bonus.

 

And? He's quite fun in combat and predator.

[HoonDing]

Jedi Outcast

Got to Nar Shadda. As is tradition, given that it's filled with snipers, bottomless pits, and platforming, quicksave/load is abused until I accidentally quicksave while falling. And quit the game.

Jedi Academy is better in every way. Plus if you go dark side, you get to kick Kyle "Carth" Katarn's whiny ass.

[Bokishi]

Jedi Knight Dark Forces II pwns all

[CoM_Solaufein]

FNV and testing stuff for my mod in BG2.

[greylord]

Jedi Outcast

Got to Nar Shadda. As is tradition, given that it's filled with snipers, bottomless pits, and platforming, quicksave/load is abused until I accidentally quicksave while falling. And quit the game.

 

You quicksaved while falling???

 

You should at least have a hard save point every few jumps though!

[Malcador]

Jedi Academy is better in every way. Plus if you go dark side, you get to kick Kyle "Carth" Katarn's whiny ass.

 

And kill that whiney kid, too.

[Tale]

Jedi Outcast

Got to Nar Shadda. As is tradition, given that it's filled with snipers, bottomless pits, and platforming, quicksave/load is abused until I accidentally quicksave while falling. And quit the game.

Jedi Academy is better in every way. Plus if you go dark side, you get to kick Kyle "Carth" Katarn's whiny ass.

Ehh. I remember trying the demo out for Academy back in the day, and it felt too much the same as Outcast so I skipped it. But I'll be giving it a shot after I finish this play of Outcast.

[Majek]

Jedi Outcast

Got to Nar Shadda. As is tradition, given that it's filled with snipers, bottomless pits, and platforming, quicksave/load is abused until I accidentally quicksave while falling. And quit the game.

Jedi Academy is better in every way. Plus if you go dark side, you get to kick Kyle "Carth" Katarn's whiny ass.

Yeah right,maybe in absurdistan .

[Oner]

Jedi Outcast

Got to Nar Shadda. As is tradition, given that it's filled with snipers, bottomless pits, and platforming, quicksave/load is abused until I accidentally quicksave while falling. And quit the game.

Jedi Academy is better in every way. Plus if you go dark side, you get to kick Kyle "Carth" Katarn's whiny ass.

Except level design, dialogue, acting at some parts...

And Kyle never whines.

[entrerix]

played and finished Bastion over the weekend, that was a really great game, and $5 VERY well spent.

 

i wish i had known what all the weapons would be when i started, because i spent a bunch of money upgrading weapons only to replace them shortly after with ones i liked better, but in the end it didn't much

 

i hope they make a sequel, i'd love to play a version with even more weapons/upgrades, and new worlds to let their great art style shine

[Morgoth]

Some more Batman AA.

 

I still can't shut my jaw at these stunning and creative animations of Catwomen. Whoever animated her deserves a bloody Oscar (if there was a game equivalent).

 

Seriously, pure animation art. Mocop + post hand keyframing = win.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Morgoth

[Majek]

There's no Catwoman in AA.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Majek

[Morgoth]

There's no Catwoman in AA.

Video game wymens now confusing poor Morgoth.

[HoonDing]

Catwoman's presence is the only thing that elevates Akrham City above Asylum in my book.

 

Next game should have Batgirl and Huntress, instead of those spandex-wearing pussies Nightwing and Robin.

[entrerix]

i didnt really like the catwoman sections very much, and feel that AA was better in almost every way than AC, still, City was great, and by no means a bad game.

[Morgoth]

AC > AA.

 

Just defeated the Cobblepot and right now I'm in an underground base to track down some assassin. Not sure how far I am.

 

Catwoman....boy don't get me started. I really wonder how many animation sets they put into this game. You can keep screwing up bad guys and never stop being amazed by discovering new cool animations.

 

This is why animations contribute to the "life-likeness" of a game so much more than mere texture-resolution or shader fidelity. People really are looking at the wrong things.

 

I can't even wait what's in store when Xbox Next and PS4 arrive.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Morgoth

[Tale]

Downloading To the Moon. Apparently a few places list it as one of the best overlooked games of the year. And Gamespot editors called it Story of the Year, while nominating it in a few other story and music categories. Pretty good for a small indie adventure. I'll let you guys know what I think after I give it a good whirl.

[Calax]

 

Bleach Soul Ressurection is a third person hack and slash in the vein of Dynasty Warriors and Sengoku Basara. It's based on the long running anime during the Arrancar/Vizard arc. Sounds like it'd be a match made in heaven with Hollow's flying everywhere, Super powers snapping off, the Soul Society going crazy right? Well no, the long and short of it is that it feels like the developers don't quite have a grasp of what makes something like Dynasty Warriors fun (at least, in my personal view). The combat feels jerky, with very little in options for combo's (no XXXY combo for example). Instead it's all based around single button strings for combos. I suppose a higher level player could find a few combo's that work, but they'd feel jerky because of how the animations would play out.

 

Not everyone can get smacked into a building like that

 

Now then, Characters are varied, with all the major fighters from the arc (well, except for Renji and the evil scientists), each playing somewhat differently. The game design for their progression however is... painful. You remember the Sphere Grid from FFX? Basically the leveling up system is that with the options of either 5 basic upgrades (attack, spiritual pressure, health, defense, or limit breaks) or unlocking a character. Ok, not actually a character, they couldn't seem to fit in the various other fan favorites (Kisuke Urahara for example, isn't on the roster), so instead they added them as upgrades that allow various different actions. For example, Ichigo can unlock Urahara and get the ability to do a quick counter if you time the attack correctly, other "characters" tend to provide more static buffs.

 

Who doesn't love a good fight?

 

As you can see in the screenshot above (not the face, above that!) the game is GORGEOUS. Cell Shading makes the entire thing look very much like an anime, and honestly would probably be a good way to go in general for the industry for more outrageous games, particularly anime (anyone remember the original DBZ:Budokai look? Yeah...). The Cell Shading also provides a very much less taxing way to show these off compared to more "realistic" engines (like Unreal) so the entire game RUNS fantastically. Also it makes exploding buildings, sand dunes, or people, look like they actually took a BAD hit. A nice touch is that if your characters get their asses handed to them, the characters model starts to show the dust and damage from the fight.

 

Entirely Playable baby!

 

Now, here's the downfall of this game, there's actually less content than you may think. The "story" runs from Ichigos arrival at the Arrancar palace, until the defeat of Aizen, but it doesn't really have much of a connection between the missions so you need to have watched the anime to understand wtf is going on. Added onto this are a mission mode, and a semi-competative mode where you kill as much as you can for points. I managed to do the entire story in about 4 hours overall (no, I'm not kidding), and have done a couple of very samey missions. The game just doesn't have that much of a hook to it, and you feel either VASTLY overpowered, or REDICULOUSLY underpowered depending on the situation (basically you can flick on your "limit break" (not the technical name) and get an upgrade to your stats, which lets you throttle anyone nearby, but if you face a boss without it? eewww). The story's length is particularly annoying when you consider just how long the arc was in the series, and how many fights there were, and yet you're left with 12(!) missions to compress that entire story. For non-viewers, there were about 100 episodes for the arc, along with some 20 odd fights. Most of the fights not in the game were skipped because of the roster limitations, but some of the omissions are just.. bad. You don't get Ryujin Jakka (Old Man Yamamoto), any of the lieutenants, Komamura, or any of the Vizards.

 

There was SO much potential for this, but in the end, the game just feels like a cash in... at least Mugen Ichigo is unlockable.

 

 

>.> was writing a review for another board... but I'll just leave this here

Edited January 10, 2012 by Calax

[Majek]

i didnt really like the catwoman sections very much, and feel that AA was better in almost every way than AC, still, City was great, and by no means a bad game.

Well if i had to score them i would score AC lower that AA because it's more of the same BUT i like more that AA. I can't even play AA anymore after AC. It feels worse and it doesn't offer anything better or more fun.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Dunno if I mentioned I finished Drakensang: the River of Time a while back.

 

Its an excellent game, especially for someone who's just gotten into RPG's.

[Rostere]

Jedi Knight Dark Forces II pwns all

 

This.