412 replies to this topic

[Fez]

Zadok, on 13 April 2012 - 01:22 PM, said:

Come on, I hate the ME3 ending as much as anyone but Gears of War never even had a story, let alone a satisfying ending.  Trying to make generic meathead #45's death poignant with that stupid Mad World song was laughable as well.  Comparing ME and Gears of War story wise is like saying your filet mignon is ruined because there was a hair on it while praising a perfectly prepared shit sandwich.

Sure overall Mass Effect blows Gears of War way the fuck out of the water storywise. But Gears did have a story, simplistic,sure, cliched, absolutely, but it did have one, and for what it had, I think it ended quite satisfyingly.

A better analogy would be that Gears was a perfectly acceptable PB&J, while Mass Effect was an amazing Reuben from a Jewish deli in lower Manhattan that gave you trichinosis.

(and yes I am aware that trichinosis comes from pork, that's how unlikely it was that it would happen)

[Zadok]

Fez, on 13 April 2012 - 02:28 PM, said:

Sure overall Mass Effect blows Gears of War way the fuck out of the water storywise. But Gears did have a story, simplistic,sure, cliched, absolutely, but it did have one, and for what it had, I think it ended quite satisfyingly.

A better analogy would be that Gears was a perfectly acceptable PB&J, while Mass Effect was an amazing Reuben from a Jewish deli in lower Manhattan that gave you trichinosis.

(and yes I am aware that trichinosis comes from pork, that's how unlikely it was that it would happen)

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong but I thought the Gears 3 ending consisted of getting to the final stage and activating a magical weapon that killed all the non-bros.  But most game stories suck if you break them to the bare bones level, its the characters that make a game memorable or interesting and Gears fails miserably here too which is the real problem.

[The Anti-Targ]

Fez, on 13 April 2012 - 02:28 PM, said:

Sure overall Mass Effect blows Gears of War way the fuck out of the water storywise. But Gears did have a story, simplistic,sure, cliched, absolutely, but it did have one, and for what it had, I think it ended quite satisfyingly.

A better analogy would be that Gears was a perfectly acceptable PB&J, while Mass Effect was an amazing Reuben from a Jewish deli in lower Manhattan that gave you trichinosis.

(and yes I am aware that trichinosis comes from pork, that's how unlikely it was that it would happen)

You can get it from Horse meat too. Not sure if Horse is a Kosher species or not, but is possibly a less objectionable slice of meat to be putting into a Jewish deli analogy.

[Cocomaan]

Anyone else played Witcher 2? I saw that it is getting a 360 port and I'm interested, although I am not sure I want to pay 60 bucks to get it.

[haLobEnder]

I've played The Witcher 2 on PC. It's a good game, though personally the hypersexualization has prevented it from claiming the same place in my heart that I have for most Bioware titles.
It should be noted I'm not against sex/romance in games, in fact, I'd like to see more of it in many cases. There's just something about the way The Witcher series handles it that bothers me. Like, if you see a woman in the game who isn't made out to be completely hideous, chances are you'll be sleeping with her/seeing her naked at some point in the game.

Oh, also, I payed $50 for my PC copy of the game and would totally do it again -- the physical copy of the game had so many goodies --a CD soundtrack, coin, a walkthrough, bonus DVD, 2-sided map, papercraft figurines--  that it was well worth the price. I don't think you're going to find the same deal with the 360 version.

Edited by halO bendeR, 16 April 2012 - 09:39 AM.

[Cocomaan]

halO bendeR, on 16 April 2012 - 09:35 AM, said:

I've played The Witcher 2 on PC. It's a good game, though personally the hypersexualization has prevented it from claiming the same place in my heart that I have for most Bioware titles.
It should be noted I'm not against sex/romance in games, in fact, I'd like to see more of it in many cases. There's just something about the way The Witcher series handles it that bothers me. Like, if you see a woman in the game who isn't made out to be completely hideous, chances are you'll be sleeping with her/seeing her naked at some point in the game.

Oh, also, I payed $50 for my PC copy of the game and would totally do it again -- the physical copy of the game had so many goodies --a CD soundtrack, coin, a walkthrough, bonus DVD, 2-sided map, papercraft figurines--  that it was well worth the price. I don't think you're going to find the same deal with the 360 version.

Sweet, the last paragraph kind of sold me on buying it at (near) full price. Going to see if I can get a used copy right out the gate.

Can you explain what you mean about hypersexualization? I found Skyrim to be really dull and dry, so some characterization, lude or not, in my RPG would be nice. Bioware's RPGs are starting to tire me out with the old Obsidian engine and totally boring interactions.

[Jon AS]

Cocomaan, on 16 April 2012 - 10:36 AM, said:

Can you explain what you mean about hypersexualization? I found Skyrim to be really dull and dry, so some characterization, lude or not, in my RPG would be nice. Bioware's RPGs are starting to tire me out with the old Obsidian engine and totally boring interactions.

I don't know that I'd call it "hypersexualized". Sure, there's plenty of prostitutes, scantily clad women and the game opens with a scene involving a naked woman, but it's no where near as bad as the sex card collection stuff from the first game. Plus there's also plenty of ultraviolence (in fact, much more than there's any kind of sexualization) to balance out the sinful sex stuff...

What do you mean by "Obsidian Engine", btw? Eclipse (Dragon Age) or Unreal3 (Mass Effect) are the most recent ones Bioware used (plus whatever The New Republic is based on).

[paddington]

I can only remeber 2 sex scences in the witcher 2.  I could of missed others or just turned them down.  Problem with the first was I felt compelled to collect all the sexcards.  At least they take their underwear off, unlike DA:O.

I enjoyed the cut-scenes more than any recent bioware game, there was a little more humour in them, however I am kind of going off cut-scences.  Spending 15mins listening to people yap on just gets old for me.

[Cocomaan]

Jon AS, on 16 April 2012 - 11:29 AM, said:

What do you mean by "Obsidian Engine", btw? Eclipse (Dragon Age) or Unreal3 (Mass Effect) are the most recent ones Bioware used (plus whatever The New Republic is based on).

My bad, I am the worst video game nerd ever. I played Fallout 3, FO:NV, and Skyrim more or less back to back. Whatever engine those are using is done to death!

Also, Dragon Age looked interesting, but the combat looked kind of boring. I still might try it out.

[Jon AS]

Cocomaan, on 16 April 2012 - 01:01 PM, said:

My bad, I am the worst video game nerd ever. I played Fallout 3, FO:NV, and Skyrim more or less back to back. Whatever engine those are using is done to death!

Ah, yeah. I secretly dream of somebody using the CryEngine 2 or 3 for a game with actual plot. It could be amazing.

Cocomaan, on 16 April 2012 - 01:01 PM, said:

Also, Dragon Age looked interesting, but the combat looked kind of boring. I still might try it out.

Did you enjoy BG2? DA's combat isn't as tactically involving as that (on the plus side: no THAC0!), but if you did it's likely you'll like Dragon Age.

[Cocomaan]

Jon AS, on 16 April 2012 - 01:48 PM, said:

Ah, yeah. I secretly dream of somebody using the CryEngine 2 or 3 for a game with actual plot. It could be amazing.

Right? It's like the two can never meet. In gaming, you either get artists or you get writers, and never both.

Quote

Did you enjoy BG2? DA's combat isn't as tactically involving as that (on the plus side: no THAC0!), but if you did it's likely you'll like Dragon Age.

Loved it. From what I'm hearing, if I want to play DA I should be playing Origins, not 2, right?

I'm currently in a tabletop game with 3.5 rules, my first time. No THAC0, Ability scores finally make sense, Feats are great. It's so much fun, I wonder why I spent my younger years without it. Ah well. Playing DnD is like having AIDS, nobody really talks about it.

[Jon AS]

Cocomaan, on 16 April 2012 - 01:55 PM, said:

Right? It's like the two can never meet. In gaming, you either get artists or you get writers, and never both.

Exactly. Though I have to say that Bioware managed some impressive visuals in Mass Effect using the Unreal3 engine, low-res console textures notwithstanding.

Cocomaan, on 16 April 2012 - 01:55 PM, said:

Loved it. From what I'm hearing, if I want to play DA I should be playing Origins, not 2, right?

Origins definitely feels more complete, and combat is superior. There are good things to say about DA2, and if you can get it cheap there's no reason not to play it, but it was a letdown after the promising first installment.

Cocomaan, on 16 April 2012 - 01:55 PM, said:

I'm currently in a tabletop game with 3.5 rules, my first time. No THAC0, Ability scores finally make sense, Feats are great. It's so much fun, I wonder why I spent my younger years without it. Ah well. Playing DnD is like having AIDS, nobody really talks about it.

I've never played 3e or 3.5 in a p&p group, but I really liked the looks of the 3.5 system. Too bad 4e seems to have gone off in a completely different direction and they nuked the Forgotten Realms setting for being too complex.

[Week]

Is it true that fallout 3 GOTY becomes virtually unplayable due to freezing and other bugs? I would read the thread on New Vegas but I would rather avoid spoilers.

Looking for something decent RPG-y to play on ps3...Skyrim sounds like it is too bland. Dragon age 2 too..not good. Recent final fantasy games sound too emo and linear. Bah

[haLobEnder]

As far as I know Week it's New Vegas that has most the bugs. It's still worth checking out both games though, as even if you encounter a glitch here or there, it's really such a tiny sliver of the total experience. I do think you can get fatigued with the Fallout universe pretty easily though; The GotY edition might just have too much content on it for its own good.

Skyrim is bland. While there are some interesting quests here and there, if you're looking for a compelling ongoing narrative --or characters you actually want to interact with-- that's not The Elder Scroll's strong suit.  

Like most everything else, the problems with Dragon Age 2 have been blown out of proportion on the internet. It's still a pretty decent game all told, and I actually found the companion characters to be a lot better than the first games.


Forget Witcher 2 Cocomaan, if you haven't played Dragon Age: Origins yet pick that up instead. Just make sure you get it on the PC as that's definitely the way it was meant to be played.

Edited by halO bendeR, 16 April 2012 - 09:19 PM.

[The Winged Shadow]

I cannot recommend Witcher 2 enough. It is easily one of the best RPG I've played in the last few years. I'd rate it above Dragon Age: Origins in terms of overall game. I enjoyed the combat of DA:O a bit more since I could control multiple characters, some spells had good synergy etc. But Witcher 2 had a better story, characters, plot, scenery etc in my opinion. Your choices matters a whole lot more, since your second (?) chapter is completely different depending on your choices in the first chapter.

The combat is a lot of fun in the harder settings since you really have to think things through for the boss fights (not sure if its still the case in version 2.0), and depending on the skill tree you decide to go into, traps, bombs, throwing knives, potions, blade oils, signs etc all get pretty interesting to use. If you are not a micromanager of skills during combat in DA:O, then the Witcher 2 combat is more fun IMO.

And while Witcher 1 probably went a bit overboard (YMMV) with the sexualisations, I think Witcher 2 had done a much better job balancing things out. It focused less on banging random npc's and more on the relationship between the protagonist and his love interest.

I didn't find the story of DA:O to be particularly interesting, though I did enjoy reading the codex to get a feel for the world. And while the Wticher 2's world building wasn't as comprehensive as DA:O, I found the world and the storyline to be much more engaging.

[Maia]

Week, on 16 April 2012 - 07:56 PM, said:

Is it true that fallout 3 GOTY becomes virtually unplayable due to freezing and other bugs? I would read the thread on New Vegas but I would rather avoid spoilers.

I have heard that on PS3 Fallout 3, Fallout NV and Skyrim all get that problem after a while. It is the engine versus PS3 architecture thing, ostensibly.

So, nobody is playing Legend of Grimrock?

http://www.grimrock.net/

Looks sweet and has excellent word of mouth. If I had a less ancient PC, I'd have been all over it.

[a wooden chair]

I have been playing Grimrock. Very time consuming for perfectionists that scour each level for hours looking for every hidden wall-switch. I love the fluidity of the combat too, especially because I can play it entirely with a mouse while I heal my primary hand.

Currently almost done with level 6 of the dungeon.

[paddington]

Maia, on 17 April 2012 - 02:38 AM, said:

So, nobody is playing Legend of Grimrock?

http://www.grimrock.net/

Looks sweet and has excellent word of mouth. If I had a less ancient PC, I'd have been all over it.

I am finding Grimrock fantastic. There has been some great puzzles, an some really frustrating puzzle so far.  I am on level 6 an it's taken me quite awhile to get there, probably about 10-15 hrs so far. Been playing on hard an have found that if I don't plan the fights, then my team can get wiped out really quick.

Graphics wise, the lighting effects are nice, an some of the monster models are good (spiders are great). Combat does get a little stale, however I find that combat gets that way in most games.

For £10.71 it's great value.  Good puzzles, limited potions, limited food and torches an some creepie atmospheric moments.

[Mindphlux]

Grimrock is quite enjoyable.  I only wish the class variety was on par with Wizardry 8 or some of the Might & Magic games.  However, since I see it being quite a bit shorter than those games it isn't a huge deal.  I'd love for it to do well enough that an open world game of this type with modern graphics was developed.

Having a minotaur that can punch monsters to death as a viable class option is great fun.

[haLobEnder]

Wow, the Enhanced Edition patch for the Witcher 2 on PC is 10.55 GB; That ought to be some pretty meaty content. That or it's downloading the entire game again or something.