The Return of the Video Games Thread

[DvChWi]

Went on a downloading spree, and pick up some nifty game demos.  Here are some of my thoughts on each of them:

Neverwinter Nights
My favorite of the bunch.  A third person RPG in the style of a bunch of other RPGs that I've never played before.    I very much liked the feel of the the game, and look forward to buying it.  From what I read, the multiplayer is supposed to be a blast, if you're playing with people you know.  I'm looking forward to being able to complete the campaign cooperatively.  I love that kind of stuff.
Myst 4
Nothing really new here, except for the fact the visuals have continued to improve.  The demo is rather short, though.
Rise of Nations
The Age of Empires series of RTS games have always been favorites of mine, and this one seems to be continuing in that tradition.  Kind of like a cross between Civ2 and the Age of Empires games.  I bet this would make a great LAN party game.
Doom 3
AWESOME graphics, fairly standard shooter style gameplay.  But, it does look amazing.
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3
The previous two RCT games were my personal favorites in the sim genre.  This one is the same basic concept, except with an all new 3D look.  The interface looks great, but were a couple things(placing paths on reshaped land, placing entrances and exits on certain rides) that were quite tricky to figure out that were easy to do in the first two.  I suppose it would be easier once you got used to it.
Far Cry
Another shooter that looks great.  Haven't got too far on this one, actually.

Other interesting things:
Elder Scrolls IV preview.  Morrowind was a great game, and its follow up is looking even better.  Be sure to check out the screenshot of the forest.

So, this thread can just be free form video game discussion, but I would like one question answered:  what other PC RPGs are good?  I love Morrowind, but haven't seen anything else out there very similiar.  

[RokrantheGreat]

[RokrantheGreat]

Oh, one more little thing. It seems that there is a very high chance that Elder Scrolls IV will be a Xbox 2 launch title...    Of course, it will probably be better on PC anyway.    

[Vlad!]

I haven't played any of those games you've mentioned though if I had time I would like to try and possibly buy NWN. The two games I have most recently purchased for the PC are Warcraft III and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. Both excellent games. Although I enjoy many console RPGs, PC ones have largely failed to impress me. Mainly on the PC I play flight simulators and strategy games with RPG elements. Well, mainly I play Visual Studio 2003 and OpenOffice 1.1.2

As for console games, the only console that I own is a Nintendo 64 (well, I have an SNES but it's in the closet gathering dust). Although it doesn't have a very impressive RPG library at all, the games are fun and generally come cheap nowadays, and it provides a nice relaxing time that doesn't require much thought. The other, superior consoles (Super Nintendo, GBA, and PSX) are fairly easily emulated on the PC if I find one game or another that I just have to play.

[DvChWi]

[bloop]

"Knights of the Old Republic" captured the SW spirit very well.

"Far Cry" is pretty, but also too dang hard.

[Vlad!]

Scary as heck? Come on. You had me all worked up about it for nothing.

Well, Rokran isn't allowed to watch any R-rated movies except religious propaganda. I haven't played it, but I've seen enough screenshots to know that if I hadn't been ritually desensitized then it would scare the living crap out of me as well

[RokrantheGreat]

[RokrantheGreat]

Played through the NWN demo... bummer that its so short, but a top notch game looks like. The full version's on my birthday list, definitely.

On another note, it's time for my Halo 2 Review!!! Hehe. Well, I picked this one up asap on Tuesday. Me and my little bro have been playing the campaign cooperative since then. First impressions are very good.

Graphics: Awesome, as expected. My TV, however, cannot due them justice. Need to try this puppy out on a HD TV to really get it all. Master Chief is much more detailed and alot more shiny. The environments are very  pretty, saving one jaunt under water that I found a bit lackluster.

Gameplay: I can only comment on the single-player/cooperative so far, haven't hit LIVE yet. This is obviously a sequel. The core gameplay is pretty much identicle to the original Halo. I was a bit dissapointed at first, but I realized that I was whining that it plays just like the best game of all time imo.   There are several new gameplay features. The new double-weilding system is pretty cool. Double SMGs or Plasma Rifles looks awesome. That brings me to the new weapons: the SMG is just that, the assault rifle has been given a scope and shoots bursts, the Covenant has a sniper weapon (beam rifle), and most importantly you can now weild the energy swords that those nasty Elites used on you in the original Halo. My favorite weapon by far, you can kill most unshielded opponents in one hit, shielded ones in two hits.

Story: Pretty good so far. Only on the 5th mission, not sure how many are left. One great aspect of Halo 2's story is that it is told from both MC's and the Covenant's viewpoints. One big thing with the game is you actually get to play as Elites, mainly in multiplayer but also the Covenant cutscenes sometiem turn into a level in which you get to play as "The Arbiter," a sort of holy warrior for the Covenant (he's actually the Elite in charge of the Covenant forces in the original Halo). These levels are not only a blast, they are a good change of pace. Different abilities (cloaking      ) and weapons, as well as the grunts fighting on your side, are pretty darn cool.

Multiplayer: I can put in a bit on this. I've seen most of the multiplayer maps, several of which will seem very familiar. The new maps include revamped versions of several of Halo 1's classic battlegrounds. Two of these are Battle Creek (called "Beaver Creek" in Halo 2  =)  ) and Blood Gulch. The environments look much better on these of course, and small changes have been made. On "Beaver Creek," the buildings are different, and the ladders to the sniper positions have been replaced by ramps... making them harder to defend. Other than that its pretty much the same. The Blood Gulch v.2  is much smaller, making for less run time between bases in capture the flag games. Also, the bases on each end have a third level added, which houses a Banshee. Also the middle of the map is less wide open, with xtra rocks and trees added for cover.

Overall I'd give it two big thumbs up, and recommend it to everyone with an Xbox. Or even those without an Xbox.  =)  

[DvChWi]

Time for my mini first impression Half Life 2 review!

Gameplay:  Just started the single player game.  Wow.  The pacing is amazing, the puzzles actually make some sort of sense, and the physics engine is the most amazing thing ever.  You can pick up almost anything, push it around, throw it, watch break, just like the real thing.   The attention to detail in all areas in amazing. Great level design.  The story is great so far, but I'll need to play it more to see if it is truly great.  The voice acting is very high quality for a game, and the fascist/nazi guys make great bad guys(they have great AI, btw). Very engaging.

Graphics: :zoinks:  I have a fairly inexpensive 3D card, so I wasn't sure how good this was going to look, but my worries were unfounded.  The game looks amazing! Great lighting and textures, very detailed environments, as well as the best looking NPCs anywhere.  Some examples of the detail:
textured glass doors that look real(semi-transparent and all)
a desktop magnifier that works as you walk over it
vats of liquid that properly distort the area behind them
great looking TVs and monitors

Sound:  There are an amzing variety of sounds.  Basically, if you would expect something to make a noise in real life, it makes it in this game.

Multiplayer: Multiplayer is simply Counter Strike:Source, a revamped version of the old CS. Basically the same thing as far as I can tell, other than improved graphics.

Basically, this is a very impressive game.  The attention to detail is the best I've ever seen.  I hope we can one day have an RPG with this level of craftmanship and detail.
 

[RokrantheGreat]

I hope we can one day have an RPG with this level of craftmanship and detail.

Oblivion... /crosses fingers

[GusX:]

Review.

Download / register user name here

Bored, start up playing this online multiplayer game.. It's awesome.

[Vlad!]

Behold the Frankenthread! Returned from its three-plus-year grave to torment the denizens of the Off-Topic board!

I discovered last week that the PS3 online service thing is free. They cleverly disguise this fact by calling it the Playstation Store, which I ignored with great fury. But then last week I wanted to get a demo of Devil May Cry 4, mostly just to sneer at it, and so I asked Google, and it told me. And thus I went.

I actually downloaded multiple demos. My opinions:
Devil May Cry 4
This game saw some do-rama on the internets because the PS3 version requires installation while the 360 version doesn't. The irony in this case being that the load-time benefit of the PS3 version is negligible at best. I can attest to this, as the demo is a hard-drive only feature and its load times were what I would charitably describe as "Original PlayStation-era Length" and uncharitably describe as ridiculously freaking long. I found myself pretty much just mashing buttons, except for the boss fights where I spammed the one move that's actually useful to the exclusion of all others. Devil May Cry is unashamedly a 3d Metroidvania, and in my mind it suffers for the addition of a third dimension. Give me Aria of Sorrows or Portrait of Ruin any day.

Genji: Days of the Blade
I downloaded Genji mostly out of curiosity. I had never played a game in this series before, and while it's definitely not my genre of choice (see above review), I figured that it would cost me nothing but a few minutes to see whether it's something I'm interested in or not. Short answer: no. Long answer: very no. It just feels uninspired, as though the entire development budget was spent on making the grass wave realistically in the wind.

Heavenly Sword
I seem to recall hearing some buzz about this game before I was even a PS3 owner. I guess it's supposed to showcase the PS3's incredible graphics power, but I was distracted by the terrible rendering job done to main girl Nariko's hair. Seriously, it's a third person game and her hair reaches down to her knees, so we're going to be staring at it for pretty much the entire game. Couldn't more time be spent on making it not behave like it was made out of wet cardboard? Although, per my comments above, I can put up with cardboardy-hair if the time was instead spent making a fun game.
So is the game fun? Well, I'm not sure I can say. About a third of the demo is taken up by a cutscene that involves a little bit of exposition and some dialog with Nariko's freaky, facepainted, and possibly autistic sidekick. Then the next two thirds is taken up by button-mashing combat. Apparently the third-person button masher genre is booming. One thing I did like is how it incorporated the "fighting styles" motif from games like Jade Empire seamlessly into real-time combat. Combat is also very well choreographed, so moves that are haphazardly entered via the controller become a seamlessly strung-together dance of death on the screen. Which is really my main problem with the game (and with the genre as a whole): is there really that much entertainment to be derived from mashing buttons to slaughter foes? The Dynasty Warriors series says an enthusiastic YES!, but it gets old after a while.
Not that it gets a chance to become old in Heavenly Sword, or at least the demo, since the thing is over in less time than it takes to grill a decent slice of cheese toast.

Folklore
Folklore is the PS3's best RPG to date. The fact that it's the PS3's only RPG to date gets swept under the rug more often than it should, but nonetheless considering that it's by the same company that made the painfully lackluster Genji (above), it's not bad at all. The atmosphere is very artsy and dark (the fact that it even attempts to cultivate a consistent atmosphere is a plus in my book), with dialog segments reminiscent of Vagrant Story and complex, interesting protagonists (well, protagonist; I only played through Keats' section of the demo, but I'll give Ellen the benefit of the doubt in assuming that she's complex and interesting too). This is also the only game I played which made use of the motion-sensing ability of the Sixaxis controller (Heavenly Sword claims to make use of it, but I didn't see any way to use it while I was playing). I'm glad to see some nice use of that functionality, but I'm also glad that it's not used as a gimmick in practically every game (see: the Nintendo Wii).
The combat is performed on the map (similar to say Final Fantasy XII), and Folklore is only borderline RPG, while also showing the underpinnings of an adventure game, similar to what Hotel Dusk would be like if Kyle Hyde were sent to the Netherworld to do battle with the demented souls of dead people using mystical and possibly druidic powers. OK, so it's not really anything like Hotel Dusk, but there's a lot of walky-walky and talky-talky in addition to the combat, and the combat itself involves less button-mashing and more of the Vagrant-story-esque "which of my forty-three weapons is most suited for defeating this particular monster" tactics.

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War
Publisher KOEI used to publish complex hardcore strategy games like Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, until they realized that there was more money to be had in publishing developer Omega Force's hackety-slashedy Dynasty Warriors games, which purport to combine strategy and combat but oversimplify both to the point of ludicrousness. Not that Dynasty Warriors and its derivatives aren't fun; on the contrary, the series has published about eight hojillion takes on the same basic concept: a single warrior tears through hordes of enemies with ridiculously powerful moves and then beats a boss to capture a territory.
Bladestorm attempts to add some of the strategic element back into the series. Rather than being set in ancient China or feudal Japan, it takes place (as the name would suggest) during the hundred years' war. Instead of leading a single soldier, you control a mercenary who leads an entire squad. Certain squad types (mounted, archers, swordsmen, etc) are effective against some other squad types, reminiscent of the battles in the Suikoden games. Unlike Suikoden, however, these effectivenesses seems to be pretty much moot, since when I was playing the demo my squad of swordsmen tore through regiments of mounted knights like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Presumably later in the game these tactical decisions will actually start to matter. Presumably.

Overview
The fundamental problem with the PS3 is that its games are so freaking expensive. I enjoyed Bladestorm and thought Folklore was OK, but when you attach a $70 price tag, well, all of a sudden it becomes a lot more difficult to justify the expenditure. I certainly plan on buying Disgaea 3 on launch and will probably continue to support the Final Fantasy series until its effeminate, sword-wielding leads haunt my dreams (but not in that way, geez), but games that I'm borderline on just end up being neglected or, as will probably happen to Bladestorm, filed away in my mind to wait until I can get it for a price that's slightly less outrageous.

[NinjaRob17]

Give me Aria of Sorrows or Portrait of Ruin any day.

I just finished my first Castlevania game, Portrait of Ruin. Holy crap, it's awesome. I need to get Aria of Sorrows.

I still love the Devil May Cry series, though. I just played the demo on the 360. Nero is alright as a character, and his extendo-arm is pretty neat, but I prefer playing as Dante. He just seems to be a more diverse character.

I would like to get a PS3 since my PS2 is acting up in ways that make me sad, but I have no money to spare for one. Plus, the only reason I would get one would be for Ratchet & Clank and some third-party games which are available on other systems to begin with (Force Unleashed, Devil May Cry 4, Rock Band...). Disgaea 3 and Dynasty Warriors 6 interest me too, but not enough to buy a system over.

[spacebrat311]

Just finished Portal earlier this week on a friend's pc. A-mazing.

[Vlad!]

I just finished my first Castlevania game, Portrait of Ruin. Holy crap, it's awesome. I need to get Aria of Sorrows.

You, my friend, are in for a treat. Make sure you also grab Dawn of Sorrows for the DS, but of course since it's a sequel to Aria of Sorrows then play AoS first.

I still love the Devil May Cry series, though. I just played the demo on the 360. Nero is alright as a character, and his extendo-arm is pretty neat, but I prefer playing as Dante. He just seems to be a more diverse character.

Fair enough. As I said, it's just not my genre. If you like that kind of thing, there are a few 3d Castlevanias for the PS2; I think one is called Lament of Innocence, and I think there's also at least one more.

I would like to get a PS3 since my PS2 is acting up in ways that make me sad, but I have no money to spare for one. Plus, the only reason I would get one would be for Ratchet & Clank and some third-party games which are available on other systems to begin with (Force Unleashed, Devil May Cry 4, Rock Band...). Disgaea 3 and Dynasty Warriors 6 interest me too, but not enough to buy a system over.

The problem is, if you want a PS3 you need to buy one soon, just because the 60GB ones are becoming increasingly rare. The new 80GB ones use the software emulation for PS2 games, and, to put it lightly, the software emulation sucks. That said, I bought the system mainly to play PS2 games and based on future potential (read: Disgaea 3). If none of the current or upcoming games interest you, it may be a better investment to pay fifty bucks to have your PS2 repaired (or one thirty to get a fancy new silver one) and then buy a non-backwards-compatible PS3 sometime down the line once it has a respectable library of games.

Just finished Portal earlier this week on a friend's pc. A-mazing.

Portal is certainly the favored child on the Internet right now. Personally, I haven't played it. I'm sure it's good, but good enough to distract me from Final Fantasy XII and Phoenix Wright 3 (my two current games-in-progress)? I'm not so sure.

[NinjaRob17]

Just finished Portal earlier this week on a friend's pc. A-mazing.

I would get that, but I'm certain my laptop would not be able to handle it. My graphics card sucks. I'm not sure if I can get it individually for the Xbox 360, but if so, I'll get it for that, since my roommates have a 360.

Portal is certainly the favored child on the Internet right now. Personally, I haven't played it. I'm sure it's good, but good enough to distract me from Final Fantasy XII and Phoenix Wright 3 (my two current games-in-progress)? I'm not so sure.

First off, I love the Phoenix Wright series, though I've only played the first one. They're definitely addicting.
Second, for some reason I can't get into any RPGs lately. I have Final Fantasy XII, Valkyrie Profile 2 and Wild Arms 3 sitting on my shelf, but I have no inclination to play them. I'd rather play Viewtiful Joe or Devil May Cry or the original Mega Man series. It's strange, because I used to love RPGs, but now I'm sort of "meh" toward them.

[spacebrat311]

I live an all-mac life, so The Orange Box for 360 will probably be a good investment for me anyway.

[Vlad!]

First off, I love the Phoenix Wright series, though I've only played the first one. They're definitely addicting.

I really wish my DS had a screenshot key, just because there are so many laugh-out-loud funny quotes that would go well in my screenshot gallery.

Second, for some reason I can't get into any RPGs lately. I have Final Fantasy XII, Valkyrie Profile 2 and Wild Arms 3 sitting on my shelf, but I have no inclination to play them. I'd rather play Viewtiful Joe or Devil May Cry or the original Mega Man series. It's strange, because I used to love RPGs, but now I'm sort of "meh" toward them.

Heh, these things go in cycles (or they do for me). Sometimes I won't be feelin' RPGs, or tactical RPGs (my main love), or puzzle games, or RTSes, or whatever. Sometimes I won't be feelin' video games at all, so I get my read on or watch some anime or do something else suitably nerdy. But then something happens, I end up playing one of the games I was neglecting before, and I get addicted all over again.

[NinjaRob17]

Heh, these things go in cycles (or they do for me). Sometimes I won't be feelin' RPGs, or tactical RPGs (my main love), or puzzle games, or RTSes, or whatever. Sometimes I won't be feelin' video games at all, so I get my read on or watch some anime or do something else suitably nerdy. But then something happens, I end up playing one of the games I was neglecting before, and I get addicted all over again.

This is exactly what happens to me, too. Whenever I go back to a game I neglected, I usually ask myself why I ever neglected it in the first place.  This is the same for books, shows, music, etc.

I've been having fun with Audiosurf lately, which is a mix between a rhythm and a puzzle game. It's just so dang addicting!

[Vlad!]

I grabbed a couple more demos last weekend. The theme this time is 'giant robos':

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
Confession time: the only DW I've actually played is the one for the DS. That one is good but mindless fun, and is also incredibly easy. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam for the PS3, while still fun, is somewhat less mindless and (in the demo at least) goes from easy to brutishly difficult surprisingly quickly.

It took me about four tries to get past this one boss-level character. However, now I feel pretty confident in my ability to take him down, and I have in fact beaten the entire demo. My verdict: pretty darn fun. It feels sort of like the Super Robot Wars games, except that instead of a totally sweet strategy game incorporating robots and characters from all sorts of universes, this is an over-the-top territory-control button masher incorporating robos and characters from the Gundam universe. Mostly from Gundam Wing, I think, which is too bad because I watched about four episodes of Gundam Wing before I decided I had experienced quite enough Gundam, thank you, and had other, better things to spend my time on.

The fundamental problem with the Dynasty Warriors type games--and Koei shows every indication of being aware of this problem already--is that a lot of times they all feel like the same game. I say that, of course, after having played two of them and watched a third being played, so a grain of salt is possibly in order. But I already have Dynasty Warriors for the DS, so if I ever feel the need to mash buttons and tear stuff up, I can do so both at home and on the go. I realize I sound like a broken record about the price of PS3 games, but I just can't get over the fact that Sony expects us to seriously pony up sixty bucks for what has to be at most five or six hours of gameplay if you play it straight through (probably at least another hour if you suck like me and have to play through some of the battles multiple times).

Armored Core 4
I had actually played the 360 version of AC4 when I was in college, and my impression hasn't changed. It's not bad, but the controls are incredibly awkward and the interface between missions is absolutely horrible. There's really no excuse for this, as similar games (Mechwarrior, Front Mission, ...) have been out for over a decade and have gotten it right (yes, I realize that Front Mission is a completely different genre, but the customization and between-mission sections are similar conceptually). I do think the graphics are better on the PS3 version.

The fundamental problem with AC4 is twofold. First, the camera controls really suck. I mean, terribly suck. Second, there is stuff going down all the freaking time. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I just don't like it when there's missiles flying at you from all over and a bunch of people trying to shoot you and helicopters dropping crap on your head and man, seriously, if there's all this stuff goin' on, why is it that they're only sending in one dude in a mech? At least in Mechwarrior you got your useless teammates as meat shields.

[dgp11776]

I'm obsessed with Guitar Hero II.  I just got a PS2, so I've been having a lot of fun with that game.  And, for a blast from the past, I bought a copy of NHL 2002 online for a few bucks.  Brings back memories of playing with my brother-in-law.

[Vlad!]

Best worst-dressed NPC in a video game: this category sees a lot of competition, but I've found a serious contender


For not realizing that the underwear goes under the pants, you, miss, are our latest fashion faux pas.

[Vlad!]

Retuuurn of the Demooos:
Rachet and Clank: Lots of Subtitles
The subtitles have something to do about the future and destruction and whatnot. Anyway, you know of what I speak.

Anyways, this game isn't really my cup o' tea. To be more specific, that statement applies to the entire genre. Ever since I first played Ocarina of Time, the whole third-person 3d adventure game just hasn't really worked out for me. This is especially true on the console. For some reason, game developers don't realize that no matter how good the analog stick is (and the sticks on the sixaxis are by no means bad), there's going to be some dead zone and some mushy control action going on. The mouse is where it's at.

Now, R&C does a pretty good job of making up for this. Much like Heavenly Sword, you just mash the buttons and the character on screen interprets said mashings fairly liberally. My biggest problem from the get-go was very simply the freaking camera controls. Video game manufacturers just can't seem to get together on this. For some people, inverted camera controls make sense (these people, like myself, probably use the mental model that the camera exists at some fixed point which we (the player) are behind, so nudging the stick, and thus the back of the camera, left will cause the camera to pivot around the y-axis and cause the view to pan right). For others, direct controls make sense (these people undoubtedly have no mental model of how the camera exists and thus expect the screen to move right when they push the stick right).

The solution is to simply allow the player to choose whether the camera controls are inverted or not. Preferably each axis should be a separate toggle.

Anyway, Ratchet and Clank. Right. Bottom line: played like a solid game. A lot of thought clearly went into designing and building the world, its inhabitants, and the way the user interacts with said world. Of course, not enough thought to actually provide an option for inverting the camera, but what can you do?

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
This game has been seeing a lot of positive reviews. Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame didn't maul it too heavily in his review, Amazon sent me an e-mail recommending that I purchase this game OMG NOW, and even my co-workers are getting in on the action. Plus, the main character and I share a first name. Between Nathan Drake and Nathan Zachary (of Crimson Skies fame), video game Nathans seem to be swashbuckling, wisecracking manly-men who play leading roles and are very good at what they do, to the extent that you the player are good at what you do, because you're controlling him.

ANYway, extremely superficial reasons for liking a game aside, as I discussed above, my love of third-person adventure/platformers is pretty much nonexistent. That said, Uncharted is a very beautiful game. I found the controls very responsive, with one exception I'll mention below, and my favorite part was that, every time I thought "oh, I wonder if I can do that", I could do it, which seems pretty cool in my book. The game takes a page from games-as-art poster-child Ico and does its best to hide the HUD whenever possible, treating you to a fantastic view of whatever epic stretch of scenery you happen to be looking at. In terms of justifying the amount of money spent on a nice TV and a PS3, this game will definitely help do it for you.

My biggest problem with the game was really the combat. As mentioned above, analog sticks do not and will quite possibly never give as smooth an experience as a mouse. The enemies can naturally pick you off at 200 meters, and there is no reason why you can't return the favor except for the fact that it's so difficult to control the reticle at such twitchy distances using a thumbstick. Maybe I'm just bad at it, which is possible considering how seldom I play games that require any degree of fine control over the analog stick whatsoever, but I found this frustrating.

I will say this: I really enjoyed the platforming elements. For those who know my preferences this will come as a shock, since I generally hate platforming. But the controls of Uncharted just feel so smooth and natural that I felt about as at home jumping from rock to rock as I ever expect to feel. The game also uses the motion sensitivity of the controller in platforming segments, though I'll say that I was largely unimpressed with how that felt sort of shoehorned in.

Again, the biggest failing in my mind is the high development cost of the PS3. If Uncharted were $35-$40, I'd consider it. As it is, I certainly do not consider purchasing it. But, as Abraham Lincoln once said, for those who like that sort of thing, it's exactly the sort of thing they would like.

[spacebrat311]

For some reason, game developers don't realize that no matter how good the analog stick is (and the sticks on the sixaxis are by no means bad), there's going to be some dead zone and some mushy control action going on. The mouse is where it's at.

No matter how much more precise the mouse is, I feel dead inside gaming with one. Makes it feel less like a game and more like a spreadsheet. The console vs. pc game debate always makes me laugh though, because both sides seem to feel that they are true gamers and the other side are somehow aberrant.

[Vlad!]

No matter how much more precise the mouse is, I feel dead inside gaming with one. Makes it feel less like a game and more like a spreadsheet. The console vs. pc game debate always makes me laugh though, because both sides seem to feel that they are true gamers and the other side are somehow aberrant.

I'm not really on either side of the debate. I feel that there are some games more naturally suited for the console, and some more suited for the PC. RTS and FPS games are best-suited for the PC because the mouse/keyboard combo yields much better results for those genres, IMO. But 2d platformers are made for the console and just plain play awkwardly on the PC. Many games are suitable for either one. I've played plenty of 3d console games that do fine with aiming, because they have auto-aim and other features that make it work well on the thumbstick. R&C and Uncharted just don't seem to be two of those games.

[NinjaRob17]

Glad to see you watch Zero Punctuation, too. Also, Rock Band and Smash Bros. Brawl are freakin' sweet.

[Vlad!]

I read on the internet (so it must be true) that Nintendo has in the works a model of Wii that has the hardware to play DVDs in it. While this in itself does not seem like a fantastic upgrade, I'm sort of hoping it will result in a hardware refresh, a price drop, and the introduction of more colors (white would stick out like a sore thumb in the black theme of my PS3, HD-DVD player, and TV). Thus, I have not yet purchased a Wii. I did, however, win a copy of the Fire Emblem game, which I am for the record totally psyched about.

[NinjaRob17]

First place, nice! Apparently the newest Fire Emblem game is the one of the hardest ones yet, so be prepared!

[Vlad!]

Interesting. I've never been particularly adept as a gamer--there have definitely been games that were so hard I gave them up just because I wasn't willing to invest the time necessary to actually be capable of progressing. The FE games have up to this point reached a generally good balance between "brutally difficult" and "trivially easy" (the exception possibly being the final battles in both FE7 and The Sacred Stones, which both required four or five tries from me before taking them down). I plan on playing through Path of Radiance again since Radiant Dawn is supposed to be a direct sequel, so hopefully I'll have my strategy cap on when I go to play it.

[dgp11776]

I beat Guitar Hero II on 'Hard' this weekend.  I finished two of the songs on 'Expert,' but then failed miserably on the third.  I have a feeling I'm just going to have to relive the glory of the other levels, because I have little hope that I'll do much damage on 'Expert.'

[bloop]

I am playing:
Zak & Wiki (Wii)
Metroid Prime:  Corruption (Wii)
Resident Evil 4 (Wii)
Zelda:  The Phantom Hourglass (DS, but I can't find my DS ATM  )

[Vlad!]

Zelda:  The Phantom Hourglass (DS, but I can't find my DS ATM  )

Haha, one disadvantage of the portable systems is that those of us who tend to misplace things can lose a >$100 piece of hardware disturbingly easy (somehow I haven't lost mine yet).

I didn't like The Phantom Hourglass too much anyway. The biggest thing that ticked me off was that you had to go back through that stupid dungeon each time. It doesn't improve with repetition. I'd rather see Nintendo make a new adventure game rather than trying to wring any more blood from the Zelda rock.

[bloop]

I don't think I've gotten that far in the game, but I do love the Zelda franchise as a rule, and I was enjoying it. 

The video games industry, unlike virtually everything else, thrives even artistically with its sequels.  All 3 big N flagship franchises (Metroid, Mario, Zelda) have a sequel as its best game, IMO, and I think that holds true for many other video game company franchises as well.

[Vlad!]

The video games industry, unlike virtually everything else, thrives even artistically with its sequels.  All 3 big N flagship franchises (Metroid, Mario, Zelda) have a sequel as its best game, IMO, and I think that holds true for many other video game company franchises as well.

I agree. However, Nintendo not only creates sequels, they actually seem to create the same game all over again, with a marginally new plot and perhaps fancier graphics. We're like fifteen games removed from A Link to the Past, which was IMO the pinnacle of the series, and we're still stunning enemies with boomerangs, solving puzzles by lighting or extinguishing torches, bombing cracks in walls to find goodies, et cetera.

I have difficulty describing what is wrong with Phantom Hourglass, precisely, except to say that for me it lacks the elusive fun that I'm looking for. Nothing in the game compelled me to continue playing, so after the third boss or so I just put the game down and never picked it back up. I have so many other, probably better games waiting to be played (Phoenix Wright 3 and 4, Revenant Wings, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, Contra 4, Rune Factory, Luminous Arc, Front Mission) that to spend time playing a game that is at best mildly entertaining and at worst actually boring.

Also, the original Fire Emblem is being remade for the DS and should come out in English, so I need to blaze through my queue for that

Yeah, I know, I have a really tough life ^_^

[bloop]

I think I need some time and distance to really know how it aged, but Twilight Princess was quite good.  I think most people I've met put either Ocarina or Link to the Past as the pinnacle of the series, and it's hard to argue with them.  Personally, I liked Majora's Mask more than Ocarina, and maybe a little less than Link to the Past (but I do think Link to the Past is a tad on the easy side).  If I have a problem with TPH, it's that it's a little hard to get used to the stylus-based control scheme that they set up for me to fail.

I think the point of the Mario series is more gameplay and execution than story and, to that end, I think the last one might actually be the best one of that series.

I have a hard time voting for anything over Super Metroid in the third flagship, although the FPS Metroids are well-done as well.  Didn't much like the DS Metroid , but the GB Metroids were good.

I want to play almost all of those other games you mentioned, particularly Revenant Wings and Contra 4.  I think I have Phoenix Wright 3, but that game sometimes just feels like a pixel hunt to me. 

To some extent, though, I think most sequels are based on the same or very similar rules, so the complaint seems a little lightweight, to be honest.  If you can complain about the boomerangs and basic go-to approaches to solving puzzles in Zelda (which don't always work, btw), then it makes sense to complain about a number of things in any given sequel.

[Vlad!]

I think I need some time and distance to really know how it aged, but Twilight Princess was quite good.  I think most people I've met put either Ocarina or Link to the Past as the pinnacle of the series, and it's hard to argue with them.  Personally, I liked Majora's Mask more than Ocarina, and maybe a little less than Link to the Past (but I do think Link to the Past is a tad on the easy side).  If I have a problem with TPH, it's that it's a little hard to get used to the stylus-based control scheme that they set up for me to fail.

Heh, I actually don't mind the stylus control, except that I could never really get used to the boomerang mechanics. And yes, Twilight Princess looks pretty good. I don't have a Wii yet, but when I do I may have to check that stuff out.

I think the point of the Mario series is more gameplay and execution than story and, to that end, I think the last one might actually be the best one of that series.

My former roommate says similar things. I've never been able to get into platformers, and though I liked Mario 64 tolerably well I've never beaten it solo, just because I don't have the patience for some of the stages that are pretty much designed to own you.

I have a hard time voting for anything over Super Metroid in the third flagship, although the FPS Metroids are well-done as well.  Didn't much like the DS Metroid , but the GB Metroids were good.

I've never gotten into the Metroid series. The DS one was pretty wretched. Super Metroid was pretty good, and I got most of the way through before I became bored and quit.

I want to play almost all of those other games you mentioned, particularly Revenant Wings and Contra 4.  I think I have Phoenix Wright 3, but that game sometimes just feels like a pixel hunt to me. 

The pixel hunting aspect gets frustrating sometimes, but what just irks me to death is the "find the flag" sections, where you can't progress until you trigger the one event that will drive the plot forward. The games exude so much charm and personality that I pretty much have to like them, sometimes in spite of myself, but there are parts that frustrate me.

To some extent, though, I think most sequels are based on the same or very similar rules, so the complaint seems a little lightweight, to be honest.  If you can complain about the boomerangs and basic go-to approaches to solving puzzles in Zelda (which don't always work, btw), then it makes sense to complain about a number of things in any given sequel.

Well, take for example the Final Fantasy series. Sure you have similar elements running throughout (many times purposefully, like the Cid thing), but each game feels like it was designed from the ground up to be new or different in some way. For example, I feel like Square pretty much nailed the job system in FFV. I love it. But they changed it up and did more good work with it in FFT. Then, for FFX-2, they busted out yet another completely new job system that also worked.

Also, let's look at the Castlevania series. We have the original platformers (brutally hard, but fairly entertaining), the Metroidvanias (starting with Symphony of the Night; some of my favorite games), and the 3d ones that feel more like Devil May Cry than Castlevania (which I haven't played). But within each sub-series, there are also some subtle variations. And--I feel this is important--each game has its own place in the Castlevania canonical timeline.

My frustration with the Zelda games is less about the repetition, though, and more about the feeling that all the fun has gone out of the franchise. Now, I'm the first one to admit that the series is clearly not aimed at me. I played the first three (to completion) and loved all of them, and I enjoyed Link's Awakening a fair amount, but I have yet to even complete a Zelda game since. Even the much-lauded Ocarina of Time couldn't hold my interest for more than the 50% of the game I completed before I abandoned it. But with Ocarina, I felt like there was a good game underneath all the elements that frustrated me. With Phantom Hourglass, I found the seeds of a good game buried within a dodgy exterior and a plot that felt like it had been phoned in.

[spacebrat311]

I think I need some time and distance to really know how it aged, but Twilight Princess was quite good.  I think most people I've met put either Ocarina or Link to the Past as the pinnacle of the series, and it's hard to argue with them. 

I'm pretty firmly in the Ocarina camp. I do like Majora's mask, but not nearly as much.

[bloop]

Well, I have to side with the critics on this one as I'm still having fun (but I'm not very far into it either).

And--I feel this is important--each game has its own place in the Castlevania canonical timeline.

I think "Legend" is the key word with Zelda.  With that in mind, the series makes a little more sense as "myth" rather than "history".  In the Final Fantasy series, the chronological order of the games just doesn't matter as they take place independently.  The Zelda series seems to overlap quite a bit more, by contrast.

I'm pretty firmly in the Ocarina camp.

Right now, I'm in the Twilight Princess camp, but that one is so recent that a little perspective might be needed, so I hesitate to call it "the best".

[NinjaRob17]

The only Zelda game I ever finished was Link's Awakening, because puzzle/adventure games - Zelda in particular - usually give me frustration rather than enjoyment. The Phoenix Wright series is the exception to the rule in this case (pun maybe intended?).