Son of Videogames Thread

[Kosciuszko]

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a good xbox 360 non-FPS, non-JRPG, non-sports game? (I'm really getting burned out on the first, I haven't liked the second since Legend of Dragoon, and MLB 2k11 is more then enough for the third). Preferably I'm looking for a game that doesn't have guns at all, but I could deal with a rockstar-style open-world game or a Fallout-type or Mass Effect-type game so long as it was as deep. The problem is that I think I honestly may have played all the good (and several not-so-good) ones. I've done:

Catherine. The best game I've played this year, nary a gun in sight, and pretty damned fun.

The problem here is it's still full-price in all likelihood. And it's divisive- some people love it. Other's hate it, but largely due to the lack of all the things you don't want (i.e. guns and combat).

If you check Amazon you might find a nice 40 dollar copy if you're lucky. So give it a shot.

ETA: I'll also mention a number of reviewers specifically cite the difficulty as reasoning for why they dropped the score. Don't be put off by this- the game isn't that tough, has a Super Easy mode if you have issues, etc. It even has a checkpoint system.

[The Anti-Targ]

Just finished Batman: Arkham Assylum. So my early impression was 7/10. I ended up liking it more than my early impressions, but i still found the combat mechanics to be underwhelming. Fortunately there's a lot more than combat to recommend the game. Taking out enemies using stealth is much more fun. So I'm upgrading my final rating to 8/10, just. I certainly prefer God of War. Though GoW is hack'n'slash adventure whereas AA is beat'em up adventure, so for me there are some inherent advantages to God of War. In terms of beat'em up adventure games I can't think of a better one than AA.

A little disappointed that the Killer Croc boss "battle" required the use of quotation marks for the word battle. I think they could have done something creative for Killer Croc so they missed an opportunity there. I did like the Scarecrow levels, though I thought they limited themselves a bit in level variation by not making use of the grapple or any of Batman's other gadgets. And the way you finally "defeat" Scarecrow is also a tad lame.

So things to improve on with Arkham City. I'm keen to play it though I'm probably going to buy it used just like I bought Arkham Assylum used. Don't care if they use online pass because I'm only really interested in the campaign.

[haLobEnder]

I feel like such a shill for Steam lately, but Alpha Protocol is going for $2 right now. As flawed as it was --at least on console-- it's probably one of the most original RPGs I've played in some time. Well worth the price anyway.

[Relic]

GoG is offering Plansescaoe, BG 1+2 and other D&d games right now for 60% off.

[Muttering Bill]

I just spent the last hour watching Dark Souls gameplay videos on YouTube. Damn, I can't wait for this game! I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend: starting a new character in Demon's Souls. I think I'll go with a mage build this time - I haven't done that yet.

ETA: Actually didn't much like Bayonetta (or rather I did but I got stuck on the second to last chapter and I've finally given up). Didn't like Darksiders eithers, but I did really like Dante's Inferno and back in the day God of War and God of War 2 were great; so I do like the genre at times. So I may check out DMC: 4 Vanquish sounded good, but I just looked it up on wiki and found this: "Don't be surprised if you finish your first playthrough in four hours or less." So since I'm single player only I'll be skipping that.

If you thought Bayonetta was too hard, then definately stay away from Ninja Gaiden 2. DMC4 is tough, but you can play through the game on easy to earn orbs for upgrades/abilities that are cumulative with other difficulty levels. I started on normal, got through a few levels, then started a new game on easy and played through both at the same time, alternating (replaying) every level. A little cheap, but whatever.

Really, the 360 is a bit lacking in action games (that aren't shooters). I think you've exhausted all the good ones.

[Slurktan]

I just spent the last hour watching Dark Souls gameplay videos on YouTube. Damn, I can't wait for this game! I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend: starting a new character in Demon's Souls. I think I'll go with a mage build this time - I haven't done that yet.

I just started playing Demons Souls hardcore last month and I'm loving it. But I think my builds (I've restarted many times) are always way too over the place. What stats do you build first normally? (Not on a mage build)

[Muttering Bill]

It's been a while since I've played this, so I don't really remember my builds exactly. But I know that I went mainly for Dexterity builds before. The first thing I did was to get my Faith up to where I could get Evacuate. You may not want it, but I found it to be extremely helpful. From there I concentrated mainly on Dexterity, Endurance and Vitality (I think that's what they were called).

I can check my characters, and get more details. But not until Monday - as I currently don't have internet access at home (didn't pay the bill). I think Inigma and Anti-Targ have both been through it, so maybe one of them can offer some better advice before then.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Been sucked into Baldur's Gate 2 of late. I had an issue loading Throne of Bhaal and ended up losing all my endgame saves. :o I had downloaded both the Experience Point Cap eliminator and the Bonus Merchant downloads. Do any of youse guys know if this will screw up any attempt to port your character over into the expansion? I want to plug those two particular mods in again, but I don't want to risk losing my saves again.

[Jon AS]

Been sucked into Baldur's Gate 2 of late. I had an issue loading Throne of Bhaal and ended up losing all my endgame saves. :o I had downloaded both the Experience Point Cap eliminator and the Bonus Merchant downloads. Do any of youse guys know if this will screw up any attempt to port your character over into the expansion? I want to plug those two particular mods in again, but I don't want to risk losing my saves again.

Those mods won't cause problems, but why are you using an XP cap remover with TOB installed? The cap there is at 40 million I think, you'll never hit it.

[Jojen]

A few months ago I gave Red Dead Redemption a try. I hadn't played any of the earlier Red Dead games, and was hesitant about Redemption because the trailers made it look flat and washed out. I was happy that the actual game environment was much richer and colorful. Gameplay seemed pretty solid, there was lots to do and places to explore, had good AI and the random encounters were pretty entertaining, too.

That said, I never felt truly sucked into the experience. I thought Marston was cool and all, and I liked the western theme, but found the storyline uncompelling. If it were a book or a movie, I would have been disappointed.

I recently played the DLC Undead Nightmare and although I thought a western/zombie game would be a fun mashup, it became tedious and dull after a while, and targeting was somewhat buggy. It was ok for what it was, but if it was a full-length game, it would have sucked.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Those mods won't cause problems, but why are you using an XP cap remover with TOB installed? The cap there is at 40 million I think, you'll never hit it.

The first time around I was playing Shadows of Amn without having the expansion loaded. I hit that 3 million EXP cap then dowloaded the remover. After finishing SoA, I tried to load up the expansion, but it wouldn't load. Thanks for the tip. I guess I won't have to reload the EXP Cap remover now that I've got the expansion installed?

[Jon AS]

I guess I won't have to reload the EXP Cap remover now that I've got the expansion installed?

No, installing TOB removes the XP cap from the SOA section as well (and updates SOA to TOB functionality, too; be sure to install the TOB patch, though).

[The Anti-Targ]

I just started playing Demons Souls hardcore last month and I'm loving it. But I think my builds (I've restarted many times) are always way too over the place. What stats do you build first normally? (Not on a mage build)

It's been a while since I've played this, so I don't really remember my builds exactly. But I know that I went mainly for Dexterity builds before. The first thing I did was to get my Faith up to where I could get Evacuate. You may not want it, but I found it to be extremely helpful. From there I concentrated mainly on Dexterity, Endurance and Vitality (I think that's what they were called).

I can check my characters, and get more details. But not until Monday - as I currently don't have internet access at home (didn't pay the bill). I think Inigma and Anti-Targ have both been through it, so maybe one of them can offer some better advice before then.

Indeed I have. But only been through completely once. Used a thief build tricked up to do reasonably good magic. Basically I took the wusy route and tried to kill as many things as possible at range. The good thing about magic attacks is that they have some homing ability, unlike arrows. Having powerful ranged attacks makes some boss fights a piece of piss. e.g. basic soul arrow can take out the Tower Knight and you don't suffer any damage the entire fight, let alone running the risk of dying.

With high dex, using the right sort of weapon and upgrades (Crescent Falchion FTW!!!) means you can do pretty strong melee attacks with the thief build as well. But you just have low armour so you are easy to kill in HTH combat.

Counter intuitively the "easy" mode on Demon's Souls is to play as a thief (high dex) build or Mage/Royal. The hard mode is playing as a pure melee build (high Str endurance and vitality). I still have to get through DS in my soldier build. I put DS down for a while to get through some other games (trophy whoring in part) and I need to get back to it.

I also bough the Black Phantom edition of the game, which had a walkthrough. I didn;t use the walkthrough too much. But the great thing about the walkthrough is it tells you the ideal order in which to do the worlds / levels within each world.

Soul farming is also handy if you feel like you're under-powered for a particular battle.

[Kosciuszko]

I've been playing Demon's Souls on my old Royal. I never got very far, not due to difficulty so much (playing a Royal is basically easy mode) as I just lost interest.

I'm liking it but more and more I think I'm going to re-roll as a Temple Knight or Knight. I want a big melee character to really appreciate the mechanics. More and more I'm finding myself shoving my Royal's shield down the enemy's throat for the lulz.

Or maybe I'll go Wanderer.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Fez, I may have missed it but have you tried the newer Castlevania Lords of Shadow? It takes a God of War approach to fighting, but I have to say it is one of the first action games this gen that doesn't feel like a rip off of God of War. The game is really outstanding in my opinion. I am a Castlevania nut, but there is just a lot of quality to this game. Even the voice acting is top notch with Robert Carlysle playing the Belmont, and Patrick Stewart doing the narration and voice of a knight in the game. I recommend it.

[The Anti-Targ]

I've been playing Demon's Souls on my old Royal. I never got very far, not due to difficulty so much (playing a Royal is basically easy mode) as I just lost interest.

I'm liking it but more and more I think I'm going to re-roll as a Temple Knight or Knight. I want a big melee character to really appreciate the mechanics. More and more I'm finding myself shoving my Royal's shield down the enemy's throat for the lulz.

Or maybe I'll go Wanderer.

My third character is a wanderer, but that's still waiting in the wings after 1/1 until I get done with my soldier. I went soldier rather than temple knight because I prefer the spear to the halberd. Again cowardly poking at enemies from behind the shield.

[Fez]

Thanks for the advice folks. I kinda figured I'd mostly exhausted my options, but still, its good, though disheartening, to have confirmation. I did order DMC: 4 from Amazon for $12, which at that price almost has to be worth it. And in the meantime I'm just replaying Mass Effect 2 again, 'cause you can't go wrong with that.

[ICE CROW]

Hey guys im hoping one of you can answer this question for me. I just bought a PS3 yesterday it was on sale for 239 and came with Uncharted 1+2 game of the year edition and the God of Collection HD remakes, which was perfect cus those are some of the exclusives that are the only reason i would get a PS3. I have a had a 360 for years, im not one of those over the top fanboys or i wouldn't have obviously just bought a PS3. But the 360 is my console of choice, i got the PS3 cus i didn't have Blu-ray player and there are a couple of PS3 exclusives i wanted to play.

1st question is has anyone seen a controller charger cable either extender of just a longer on thats over like 10 feet. That was something that instantly pissed me is how short the charger cable is, i sit 10 feet away from where my console is and the cable barely goes half way. I ve been searching online but haven't seen one yet.

2nd question is if any of you have purchased any of the PSONE classics, this is something i kinda excited about. Before i make any purchases though i need to ask, has anything be done to the games at all in terms of upscalign at the very least. More importantly do the games play in the native 4:3 mode leaving black bars on the left and right of my HD TV or have they modified to fit 16:9.

Thanks guys.

[kungtotte]

I don't think you need to play with the charger cable plugged in. I don't have a PS3 myself but when I'm at my buddy's house we play a lot (hours and hours) without having to recharge the controllers, and then we just plug them in when we're done and/or taking a break.

[Kosciuszko]

No real upgrading is done that I notice. I have black bars on my screen with FF7 and Wild Arms. Not really tried any others. The biggest benefit is the loading times basically being gone in some cases.

And I just rented Deus Ex: HR and am waiting on a copy from Amazon that I just bought.