What are you playing? Thread 2.0

[Muttering Bill]

I picked up Eternal Sonata for the battle system, which was really interesting, but I can't stand the characters. I want to punch the girl. At least Allegretto has more sense in his head. I haven't made it very far in the game, mostly because any time the stupid bitch talks all I can respond with is, "And then now you can throw yourself off a cliff, because suicide makes everyone a winner."

I'm also very early into the game. I made the mistake of taking Alegretto out of my party - I want to level everybody evenly because I hear that your characters are often getting split up, so when he jumped ahead I switched him out for Polka. Everyone died on the next fight.

I'm at the point where Aleretto/Beat and Polka/Frederic join up. Couldn't find a save point in the next area, so I've got about 45 minutes to redo. I got pissed off and haven't touched it in a few days. So when I get back to it (which will be today) Alegretto is never leaving my party again. I'll swap the others around, and hope for the best if I'm forced to do without him. I just hope that the cut-scenes are skipable.

The story isn't really doing much for me yet either. A couple of orphans and a sick girl are going to convince a Count (or Duke or whatever he is) to lower taxes? It's uncompelling and fairly ridiculous. I'm sure it'll get better - it has to! And I find Beat to be on about the same level as Polka. (Still less annoying than the Star Ocean cast.) But, yeah, the battle system is awesome, so I'll stick it out for that (and because I don't have anything else).

[Minaku]

The names kind of ruin it for me. Allegretto, really? They couldn't give him a first name reminiscent of other famous composers? Instead he gets something that means, "a little slower than allegro". Great. I expected the town of Tenuto to be stomped into the earth and held, since tenuto means to hold the note to the fullest extent of the rhythmic value. Wonder when we'll meet someone named Fermata or Pizzicato.

I'll play again when I don't have games like Team Fortress 2, WoW, or Echochrome to occupy my time.

[Rhaco]

Battlefield:Bad Company's online game has sucked me in in the last week or so. [...]

Is anyone playing this on Xbox Live?

Great game. I got it at release and it was pretty much the only game I played for the next ~6 months. I haven't played it much since, but I was decent at the time -- over 10k kills with a skill level of 2-3. Just keep playing and experimenting with different kits on different maps until you find which combos work best for you. Call of Duty 4/WaW's on-foot gameplay is more polished, but nothing beats Battlefield's big maps and vehicles IMO. And I became a DICE fan for life when they released all those new maps for free.

If you're liking BC, you should look into Battlefield 1943. It's going to be available on Live sometime in June for $15. I can't wait.

[Elrostar]

Great game. I got it at release and it was pretty much the only game I played for the next ~6 months. I haven't played it much since, but I was decent at the time -- over 10k kills with a skill level of 2-3. Just keep playing and experimenting with different kits on different maps until you find which combos work best for you. Call of Duty 4/WaW's on-foot gameplay is more polished, but nothing beats Battlefield's big maps and vehicles IMO. And I became a DICE fan for life when they released all those new maps for free.

If you're liking BC, you should look into Battlefield 1943. It's going to be available on Live sometime in June for $15. I can't wait.

I think it's actually available now. Something like 1200 MS points. I'm very curious to try it.

I'm discovering that I'm definitely best at playing as a Support character so far. But I think that may also be the easiest? I'm not sure. I'm not seeing all that much player-to-player coordination going on, via voice chat. It seems like the sort of thing that would help a whole lot.

[Rhaco]

I think it's actually available now. Something like 1200 MS points. I'm very curious to try it.

Nope, not out yet. They've been saying June for awhile now, but won't give an exact date. Speculation is the middle of the month. There's supposed to be some big news this Thursday, so who knows, maybe an early release, but more likely just some new videos and an official release date.

I'm discovering that I'm definitely best at playing as a Support character so far. But I think that may also be the easiest? I'm not sure.

I was usually Assault on maps with few vehicles and Demo on maps with a lot of vehicles. Of course, I usually played with a friend who was always Support, so on the big vehicle maps he'd be able to repair our vehicle(s) and I'd be able to help destroy enemy vehicles. Worked pretty well most of the time.

I'm not seeing all that much player-to-player coordination going on, via voice chat. It seems like the sort of thing that would help a whole lot.

Yeah, it's rare that you get good randoms in your squad (true of most games, really), so it's best to go into the game with a friend or two. The squad-only voice chat doesn't help, but that was apparently a performance necessity. I think they're improving the chat system in 1943 and/or Bad Company 2, but I can't remember the details.

[Mackaxx]

Saints Row 2. Very very fun romp of a game but at times/often the story missions can be cringe inducingly brutal. Still, the voice acting is excellent throughout. Graphics arn't up to GTAIV standard but the fun factor and variety of this game far dwarfs GTAs more recent efforts.

Both games are great, but in different ways.

Also, any boarders in Australia looking for cheap games should perhaps look to the UK, at the moment were kinda worth half a British pound which is actually much better than usual. A lot of sites ship for free to Australia (sendit.com for instance) and as the UK games are PAL they are guaranteed to work on an Aussie system. Limited range of titles on the site I mentioned but there are others and the prices are nowhere near our ridiculously over inflated charges. I see games quite often for $120 lately.

Region free games from Playasia were a good option when the aussie dollar was strong against the US and will be again soon I'd say as the inflated US dollar continues to slide in proportion to ours. Right now your better off with the brits though.

[Derfel Cadarn]

I messed around with Half-life and it's Opposing Force and Blue Shift expansions with the graphic upgrade installed. Still quite fun. I preferred the Opposing Force weapons - desert eagle, sniper rifle and machine gun.

Then I decided to replay Half-life 2, not touched it in a few years. After playing the original, I was blown away by the graphics. Despite being 5 years or so old, the graphics are still pretty awesome. It's a fun game, switching from the normal fps shooting to zooming about on the hovercraft and buggy. I'm at the stage where I've just gotten the buggy. Ravenholm is still one of the scariest parts of a videogame. Afterwards I'll play Episodes 1 and 2, I've not played them yet, looking forward to it.

I also found a used, but (apparently) mint condition copy of Planescape Torment via Amazon. Awaiting arrival. I bought it when it came out but traded it in without completing it to my lasting regret.

I've also been playing about with the Sega Megadrive collection on the XBox, which is about 40 Megadrive (Sega Genesis in the US) games and a few Master System ones. It's pretty fun for a quick half-hour blast. It's got all the Sonic games and all of the Phantasy star games plus a few more RPGs which could consume a serious amount of time. Golden Axe 1, 2 and 3 is still fun despite the laughable graphics.

[emberling]

So I've pretty much exhausted the entire PS2 library of games I care about.

My console interest is pretty much entirely limited to the JRPG, and I'm fairly picky even there on what I'm interested in - most of the excessively Japanese stuff falls pretty flat, including anything Shin Megami Tensei, as does pretty much anything involving 'strategy' or 'tactics'.

I'm not entirely done - I still have about half of Star Ocean 3 (which is a replay, but I never beat it the first time) and Shadow Hearts 2 left. I'm mostly unable to complete these at the moment because the actual owner of the PS2 in question is busy playing one of the excessively Japanese games I can't stand (Ar tonelico 2).

But anyway, it seems that it's about time to graduate to the next generation. I'm just... extremely doubtful about the choices involved here.

As far as existing game libraries, the PS3 has a whopping zero games currently released that I'm fully interested in (though Valkyria Chronicles is getting enough buzz that I'd definitely give it a try). It's also more expensive than I'm currently willing to pay, though a used system is actually an option here. Future announced exclusives that have my interest are FF13 Vs. (of which we know nearly nothing) and Heavy Rain (which I can certainly handle not having).

X360 is the obvious choice as it has six interesting games already released (Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, Star Ocean 4, Infinite Undiscovery, Blue Dragon, and Lost Odyssey - from what I've heard, at least four of these games will be very worth it, though which four isn't quite clear as only Eternal Sonata gets universal praise and that one interests me the least of the lot). It also potentially allows playing some western RPGs earlier than I'm used to, though the PC versions of said games tend to be much improved.

I almost bought the system during a Memorial Day sale but decided waiting until after E3 would be smarter, as many things could change in this breakdown.

During my wait, I'm just wondering more and more if it's going to end up being the right move. Most of those games have a PS3 port in the works anyway. The Japanese console sales numbers are extremely discouraging to the idea of X360 as the premier JRPG platform. Almost all of the interesting stuff is now announced as cross-platform, which is fine by me, but I'm just wondering whether this trend will continue or whether Japan will eventually give up on 360 entirely as PS3 is dominant everywhere except USA. Certainly we already see titles such as Valkyria and Disgaea on PS3 only; fortunately for me, the developers that don't care to target the dominant USA HD console also are the ones that develop games that don't target me specifically.

But it just seems more and more likely that the battle will eventually end up being Mistwalker on the 360 side against FF13 Vs., Atlus (who I don't give a crap about but is worth mentioning), and every random minor developer on the PS3. And chances are that between those three categories, there will probably be at least two games I want. I seem to recall that Mistwalker's future projects are believed to be potentially cross-platform or not necessarily tied to 360, so it comes down to two-ish random-ish games vs. Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. And I'm sure I can at least live without Blue Dragon.

The smart thing to do is probably to either wait until things solidify more - for example, to see if there are significant platform differences on FF13 - or to buy the Xbox now and just be prepared to buy an additional PS3 (or Wii, if things get really weird) a few years down the line.

On the other hand, there's been a decent amount of well-loved games I've missed out on due to not owning the proper consoles (Skies of Arcadia, Tales of Symphonia, TWEWY) and I feel no particular burning desire to rectify this. So missing a couple games might not be the end of the world. But then, I imagine a world in which I had not made the actually quite stupid impulse buy of my PSP; in such a world I would never have played Crisis Core due to it being the only truly interesting game on the system (I actually bought it for the amazing-looking FF1/2 and SO1/2 remakes, which were inevitably disappointing because behind the amazing graphics they were games I had already played).

Crisis Core, of course, beyond being incredibly good (if a bit flawed in spots), pretty much singlehandedly restored my faith in JRPGs in general and Square in particular after the unbelievably boring FF12 (which would have made an excellent movie and a decent MMO, but made a terrible single-player 'game') and the otherwise pretty much complete drought of anything interesting coming from the genre that didn't involve Personas.

Anyway, to try not to be completely off-topic, I'm attempting to get into Mass Effect again, another of the many excellent RPGs that I absolutely adored but somehow never managed to finish (notable others in this club are Star Ocean 3 and VtM: Bloodlines). This is a contrast to excellent RPGs that I couldn't stand to play despite recognizing that they are good games for someone else (Persona, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and Arcanum go here). It's rather slow going - I keep slamming into nitpicks that make me start over. I get through the introduction and start randomly shooting the ship to make sure my controls are right and discover that the sound settings are absolutely FUBAR, so I quit and spend hours finding a fix and go back to realize that I probably should have saved after the apparently unskippable intro. Then I discover that my character's hair looks absolutely horrible (graphic-wise) and just ruins the entire experience, so I have to start over with new hair. Then I play for a bit on the opening mission and remember that I found the Soldier gameplay rather bland and decide to try an Adept and start over again...

[lotuspixie]

Last week I downloaded Majora's Mask for virtual console. I never played it when originally released, but since ocarina is just about my favorite game of all time, I was super excited.

The verdict? eh... It's a good zelda game, and if it weren't for that pesky time limit on everything, I would love it. It's just that everything feels more like a chore and less like a game when you know you have a time limit and can't just wander and explore.

Although perhaps I just haven't played long enough. I'm starting to realize that I can explore, then save and reset and move on to a quest. But I just can't wrap my head around how the 3 day limit makes this game fun. :/

[Rhaco]

DICE finally revealed their "epic" news concerning Battlefield 1943. The game was supposed to only come with three maps (more being a possibility down the line, assuming the interest was there), but there will now be four -- the 4th being Coral Sea, which is apparently a dogfighting plane-only map. Interestingly, it will initially be inaccessible to players, only becoming unlocked for a platform's players once 43 million kills have been made on that platform. I like it. Should take a month or so to unlock on the 360, I'd think.

[The Winged Shadow]

Playing Mass Effect at the moment. I was surprised at how short it was at first, then i realized i hardly touched any of the assignments. So playing it again, this time doing as many assignments as i can. First time played as Soldier so this time I'm playing as an Infiltrator.

It took a bit to get use to the Sniper Rifle, but now I'm loving it. I did unlock Assault Rifles, but didn't put any points in it since it felt too overpowered/boring while i was plying soldier class (hardly used other weapons when i had it maxed). The mixture of Sniping and Pistols just suits my style. I mostly party with Liara, Ash and Wrex (funny dude!) as they seem to fill up my weaknesses pretty well.

I love the fact that each time i play i can do things differently and go through the storyline at my own pace, so it makes me want to play it again and again just to see the different scenarios. I really like the history and tension between the races as well, it made the world just that much richer.

The only criticism i have for the game is that it feels too static. One thing i love about GTA games is that they are very dynamic. People walking around, cursing at you when you bump into them, cars speeding on highways, police chases etc. It felt that doesn't matter what you are doing, the world is moving around you. I didn't feel this on Mass Effect. All the people are standing in the same place all the time, not many npc walking around doing their own things etc. I did like the fact that i could overhear conversations, but there wasn't enough of those.

But an amazing game none the less. I haven't had this much fun in a while, can't wait till the 2nd one comes out! Thanks to Ini and Anatole for recommending it (i was gonna get Crysis otherwise) :cheers:

[malek]

So I've pretty much exhausted the entire PS2 library of games I care about.

My console interest is pretty much entirely limited to the JRPG, and I'm fairly picky even there on what I'm interested in - most of the excessively Japanese stuff falls pretty flat, including anything Shin Megami Tensei, as does pretty much anything involving 'strategy' or 'tactics'.

And how are you doing with PS One JRPG's as best stuff is on older console ?!

There is no way that any fan should miss out on Suikoden 1 & 2, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Front Mission 2, Grandia, or in broader sense Castlevania Symphony Of The Night and Legacy Of Kain - Bloodomen.

[Paxter]

On the other hand, there's been a decent amount of well-loved games I've missed out on due to not owning the proper consoles (Skies of Arcadia, Tales of Symphonia, TWEWY) and I feel no particular burning desire to rectify this. So missing a couple games might not be the end of the world. But then, I imagine a world in which I had not made the actually quite stupid impulse buy of my PSP; in such a world I would never have played Crisis Core due to it being the only truly interesting game on the system (I actually bought it for the amazing-looking FF1/2 and SO1/2 remakes, which were inevitably disappointing because behind the amazing graphics they were games I had already played).

Crisis Core, of course, beyond being incredibly good (if a bit flawed in spots), pretty much singlehandedly restored my faith in JRPGs in general and Square in particular after the unbelievably boring FF12 (which would have made an excellent movie and a decent MMO, but made a terrible single-player 'game') and the otherwise pretty much complete drought of anything interesting coming from the genre that didn't involve Personas.

What about the PSP version of FF Tactics? Or had you already played it on PS1? The 80 odd hours I played on that pretty much justified my PSP purchase. Crisis Core was a bonus ;)

And do you reckon I should buy the SO1/2 remakes (I have never played those games before)?

[TheBigTEA]

What about the PSP version of FF Tactics? Or had you already played it on PS1? The 80 odd hours I played on that pretty much justified my PSP purchase. Crisis Core was a bonus ;)

And do you reckon I should buy the SO1/2 remakes (I have never played those games before)?

I bought my oldest boy a PSP for his birthday and FFT..and then promptly stole it from him for a week to get my fix. What a great game, and it is even better on the PSP. They need to make a RPG tactical game for the next gen consoles.

Also picked EVE back up after a couple year hiatus...and I am sucked in. Is there any game out there that requires you to do more research and planning OUTSIDE of the game than this one? EveMon, EFT, browsing the forums, testing fittings, mapping out runs...it is just crazy. And fun. So much fun. I can't wait to get to a point where I feel comfy PvPing again. Some of the new additions since I played last are also exciting.

[emberling]

I've tried every PS1 RPG I've ever heard of, and most SNES. Some of those you mentioned fell utterly flat for me and I couldn't get past the early areas (Suikoden, Grandia), but it's hardly unexplored territory.

Suikoden specifically seemed to share the qualities that Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star have that are 'old-school' (read: hideous and poorly designed) and make me want to gouge out my eyes.

I have FFT on both PS1 and PSP but never really played the PSP version after discovering it's plagued with horrible slowdown in battles. What the fuck. I hated the battle system anyway and only pushed through the original game by mercilessly exploiting.

I love Star Ocean but many people don't and it's far from perfect so I wouldn't give it unequivocal recommendations. I'd suggest... ahem... finding a way to try before you buy. If you have access to SO3 or SO4 and liked them well enough, go for it. The original versions of the first two games are also really impressive and worth a look. Any of the first three should be easily... accessible with, ahem, minimal expenditure. If you like what you see there, get the remakes (which are undeniably superior, despite the complaints rabid fans make about HORRIBLE NAME CHANGES. I mean, the original romanization for a character's name was Fear. And not for some Darth Maul-esque scary baddie, either.)

The only real complaint I had with the remakes was that they are basically exactly the same game mechanically. Pretty much all the skills and such were identical in both (and changed from the originals, though clearly heavily based on SO2 original).

[haLobEnder]

What SMT games have you played Kuro? In my opinion Persona 3 and 4 and the new Devil Summoner game are remarkably different from most of the JRPG herd. Is it the fact that they take place in actual Japan what turns you off? If so I guess my recommendation of the Yakuza series wouldn't interest you much either...

As far as current generation JRPGs go the pickings are slim. The best I've probably played is Tales of Vesperia and that's not saying much.

[Paxter]

I've tried every PS1 RPG I've ever heard of, and most SNES. Some of those you mentioned fell utterly flat for me and I couldn't get past the early areas (Suikoden, Grandia), but it's hardly unexplored territory.

Suikoden specifically seemed to share the qualities that Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star have that are 'old-school' (read: hideous and poorly designed) and make me want to gouge out my eyes.

Suikoden II and Grandia are two of my all-time favourite games. But they were also my first JRPGs - so it may have been a case of me falling in love with the genre rather than falling in love with the games.

[Max the Mostly Mediocre]

Continuing my journey through the FS2 mod world, I've started messing with The Babylon Project, which is an entirely stand-alone total conversion (that is, you don't need FS2 to play the TC) which lets you join the Earth Alliance and fly things like Star Furies. And kill Narn and Centauri and Mindbari. Or fly as a Shadow, and kill everything. I heart.

[malek]

I've tried every PS1 RPG I've ever heard of, and most SNES. Some of those you mentioned fell utterly flat for me and I couldn't get past the early areas (Suikoden, Grandia), but it's hardly unexplored territory.

Suikoden specifically seemed to share the qualities that Dragon Quest and Phantasy Star have that are 'old-school' (read: hideous and poorly designed) and make me want to gouge out my eyes.

Suikoden (especially Suikoden 2) has sooo much going on, and so much things to find, explore, lose time with...

I still have to find game with more moving storyline, as it is the only game ever that left me with a tear in the eye at the end.

Absolutely fantastic game, and my all time favorite (but I hate with passion every installment that came after Suikoden 2)

[emberling]

What SMT games have you played Kuro? In my opinion Persona 3 and 4 and the new Devil Summoner game are remarkably different from most of the JRPG herd. Is it the fact that they take place in actual Japan what turns you off? If so I guess my recommendation of the Yakuza series wouldn't interest you much either...

I have no objection to actual Japan compared to, say, actual London; neither is particularly attractive (but neither is 'generic fantasy world 526', and the games that do have interesting settings, such as Star Ocean, like to pull those settings away and replace them with generic fantasy world 527 for 3/4 the game).

Side note: I find it inexplicable that there isn't more copying of Final Fantasy in the setting department. FFX is the only one since 5 that was truly generic. FF6 and FF7 had this awesome steampunkish thing going, and FF12 had a major Star Wars vibe. I love technofantasy of all descriptions and the world needs more of it.

I could list innumerable things I hate about Persona:

- OMG SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS.

- HIGH SCHOOL SIMULATOR

- Worst battle music ever (P3)

- Semi-arbitrary time limits

- Combat is pretty boring

- Arcane fusion system is time-consuming, uninteresting, frustrating and required

- (minor) This isn't 1988, how about some skill names that aren't gibberish?

I also received uh, Digital Devil Saga 2 as a gift and discovered that it started in the middle of the plot with no recap, and the clunky interface and uninteresting battles didn't make me want to seek out the first. I suppose the same might have happened with Xenosaga II if I hadn't played the first one, and I do love me some Xenosaga, but whatever. And I actually liked II's battle system, which makes me unique among the entire earth.