The Gaming Thread

[RichS]

I have a new toy, and I'd like to get some games for it...

It was an impulse buy - I had to go to K-Mart searching for a graphing calculator (none), when the corner of my eye caught the 'Clearance' sign on the locked cabinets.

The store was clearing out the old PSP value packs for $110. I waited a week - they had 7, when I came back they had 2, so I bought one.

Pretty neat device. I got the firmware updated and it's on my wireless network. The 32MB memory stick is too light memory-wise for what I want to do, though. I'm hoping to transfer some of my kids' DVDs to it for those long trips. I already found a free program to do it, I just need a bigger memory stick.

Doesn't mean I'm not going to have any fun with it. So, anybody that owns one, I know I have a couple of games in mind (Loco Roco and Lumines) , but what's some other good games for it?

And, another question for all - who bargain-hunts when buying games and systems? Maybe the best deal you got? I know I rarely buy games if they're over $20, and if K-Mart wasn't clearing them out, I would've waited on the PSP.

[Andara Bledin]

So yeah... I found a new fetish. This game, as lackluster as it is, is absolutely ADDICTING. The game is Decker, a cyberpunk title about hacking.

Whoa. Decker! I love that game!

It's disturbingly addictive for a freeware game. On the game's website, under Cost, it says "Free, but donations welcome. J (Actually, if you have money to spare, give it to charity.)"

This totally reminds me that I need to reload it onto my machine since my last drive failure. Oh, and Rogue, too. Mustn't forget Rogue. Oh, and Dwarf Fortress. Speaking of addictive... Roguelikes rock!

^-.-^

[marty]

I'm upset at the gaming community right now for continuing to overhype Call of Duty 4. That's all I ever hear about. Please, pleaaase give me a break from GO TO WAR MUST KILL TERRORISTS games..no wonder I abandoned first person shooters and got sucked into another RPG.

[gunsage]

Persona 3 FES. Release date is now the 23rd. That is all.

[gunsage]

So yeah...I found a new fetish. This game, as lackluster as it is, is absolutely ADDICTING. The game is Decker, a cyberpunk title about hacking. It kinda falls along the lines of Uplink, but somehow maintains itself as being less complicated, yet more complex. What I mean by that is it's easier to understand and get better at, but clearly there's still an amazing amount of depth.

UN-fortunately, it's also very hard and unforgiving. Of course, that's another asset that makes it so addicting...there are times where you deck in, absolutely make a mess of the place, get all kinds of files you can sell later, etc...and it's all done oh so easily. Then there are other times, often on the same location, that you have difficulties even getting in the front door and get KILLED. Not dumped, disconnected, or otherwise...KILLED.

You see, your health wanes as certain things go on in cyberspace. Get dumped often and your health declines rapidly. Another unfortunate aspect is you don't simply rest one night and get full health. No, often if your health is VERY low, you may have to rest for months. The problem here is you pay rent...and if you can't pay, it's game over. >

As I said...VERY unforgiving. You really have to think ahead about how to develop your character. Are you going to buy a new program or make it yourself? How long will it take to develop if you do it yourself? Do you have that kind of time available before rent is due? Do you have multiple days, which can equal multiple attempts at a contract or just one day? Very fun, very addictive, VERY unforgiving.

And that's about it for now.

[gunsage]

Oddly enough, though, they're typically very close if not right where I'm at when it comes to reviews. Another thing that I liked up until recently was that you could "check prices," which was pretty handy for getting store locator engines and also seeing clear gaps in prices you could take advantage of via Amazon. In any case, I've come to not really "trust" professional reviewers, especially if I've already played said product or I'm interested in the game and a review won't really change my mind on the matter.

There are a number of games that I get on the fence about and that's where they really come into play. It's nothing I should sweat about, but it annoys me nonetheless.

[Broomjockey]

I thought that was IGN, but I guess not. And the major controversy, if I remember it correctly, was there were a bazillion or so adverts for Kane & Lynch...suddenly it gets a 6 something from a reviewer who was notorious for being harsh in his reviews...and suddenly he's never heard from again and, hey! There's a new review for Kane & Lynch! Something like that.

Actually, you're leaving out large chunks of what make it a real controversy. First, he was let go almost the same day as the review, and he wasn't allowed to comment why. Then over a week later, GameSpot finally gave a news release talking about it. Only it was full of corpspeak basically saying "We can't tell you what happened." No one at any point denied that he was fired for giving a bad review to a game that was a huge source of ad revenue.

Then one of the guys who'd been there from the start quit, and basically said "I'm not allowed to say what's going on, but you're all right in what you suspect." He then went on to say it wasn't really gamespot's fault, but c|net's, but that doesn't exactly help solve anything. So you can't trust anything that Gamespot does for reviews anymore because if they're willing to axe a reviewer for threatening ad revenue, maybe they're willing to pad a review for a few extra bucks.

[gunsage]

Well, here's the thing. If you played the game for 10 hours, you'd notice that you're flying right through the chapters, even if you do all the little goodies, optionals, etc. To a degree, there is some truth in what they're saying about the difficulty. Then, suddenly, THERE'S AN UNEXPECTED UPHEAVAL in difficulty. Read my review and you'll have a little more info on what I'm about to say.

You don't get exp, but rather, AP. This makes you pretty much not want to get into battles because enemies get tougher the longer you're in a dungeon with the day/night progression, even though it's the same goddamn'd enemies. Yeah, that's kind of annoying. Further, AP is necessary in order to develop your characters, but because of the way the grow book works, you can only access more and more things as you make newer and different alchemic recipes.

The problem here is often you've tapped out all you can make for a time because you need ingredients you'll find in the next chapter. As a result, there are only so many abilities left to buy, assuming you haven't already. In most cases, you have, so it's not really necessary to battle...at least, for the first few chapters. Again, the first 10 hours are fairly easy and hand-holding. After that, though, the game picks up.

The enemies get tougher, there are more and more abilities, etc. I mean, really, it's definitely a welcome addition to an already well done series, in my opinion. Further, the implication that the series is getting progressively worse? Yeah, total BS. There may have been people that didn't like 2 as much as 1. I don't blame people for not liking 3 much because of its quirks. But to say that MK is worse than ALL of those is very very wrong.

When I go to review something, I try to have as much experience as possible in it first. I mean, after all, if you only played, say, Final Fantasy 6 for 10 hours then reviewed it, you'd most likely miss out on...

- The branching storylines.
- World of Ruin.
- Possibly even getting espers.

There are some games you play that are very very long, but you have a decent idea of what the game is after 10 hours. This is the kind of game that you constantly get more and more and more things added to the gameplay. So yeah, you're right. I honestly don't think they got a good idea of what the game is/was about, but reviewed it anyway.

[LostMyMind]

Just out of curiosity, did they really review the english version of the game or just rip reviews of the japan's version. I can't believe any reviewer actually got the game and reviewed it in the short time (4/4/08 was the release date for the english version). I don't believe any old-school type RPG can be fully played in that short of time. Since RPG usually means 5+ endings depending on actions took.

Plus, if those reviewers actually reviewed Doom today they would give it a very low score. Or any other legacy games. The reviewers aren't reviewing game play. They're reviewing how it compares to their favorite game. If it's a sand box game, they compare it to GTA. If it's a RPG, then they're comparing it to mass effect or oblivion.

Which is why I don't trust reviewers at all. Unless the reviewer has the exact copy of my personality, their review is not going to match up to my experience of the game.

[gunsage]

After I started reviewing at projectwonderboy.com, I didn't give a rat's ass about whether a game was good or not. I figured if it was something truly awful, it would give me something to write about. Otherwise, I just got myself a fun experience. And really, either way, since I'm only renting, it's no big deal. For example, normally, I'd highly recommend the Shadow Hearts series to anyone who likes RPGs...but to more casual gamers that RARELY play RPGs?

The problem here is that the original SH, in my opinion, is GREAT! Clearly there are a lot of flaws and if you don't like RPGs all that much in the first place, it may be a bit offputting. Further, some places have the original to rent, but anymore you'd have to buy it. That's NOT CHEAP. That's another reason why there need to be more honest, clear-headed reviewers out there.

When I sit down to review something, yes, it's going to be objective, but also, I'm putting in my two cents. Therefore, I try to keep things as open as possible to interpretation so that you get an idea of whether or not, regardless of what I scored it, you would actually get into it. For example, if you really like sandbox-style RPGs, you'll probably get a bit out of Metal Saga.

If not, though, STAY AWAY. It is definitely flawed and could have been better. I like it, but I tried to acknowledge its faults for those that may be "on the fence."

[Chanlin]

I don't really read game reviews. If I see a game I think I might like I head out and rent it first.

[gunsage]

I thought that was IGN, but I guess not. And the major controversy, if I remember it correctly, was there were a bazillion or so adverts for Kane & Lynch...suddenly it gets a 6 something from a reviewer who was notorious for being harsh in his reviews...and suddenly he's never heard from again and, hey! There's a new review for Kane & Lynch! Something like that.

The problem I have with IGN is when they score something high, there's a very good chance it's going to be something at least fun. Unfortunately, you just can't trust them on a whole lot else. Maybe I'm personally biased about this because I really enjoy the series, but the way I look at it, the series isn't getting worse, why are the reviews heading in that direction? While we're at it, a newer version of Persona 3 is coming out sometime this month. Here's the gist of Persona 3, for those that don't know.

[Broomjockey]

Sure, I posted my review, but IGN has been quite biased lately vs. a number of titles. They really do need some new people is all I'm saying. Maybe I should get my reviews off of Gamespot instead. Ah well.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Gamespot the one that fired the reviewer because he gave a mediocre score to a game that was getting heavy rotation in the advertising? And then another major person quit and said that everything was going down the crapper there due to the higher ups? And you're going OVER to them?

[gunsage]

So yeah...I'm about ready to punch some reviewers in the face. Allow me to explain. Actually, you don't even really need an explanation since most of it is in my reader review there, but still. I have all three Atelier Iris games that have come out in English. I remember getting the first one for my birthday one year, in fact. The AI series, for those unindoctrinated, is a very oldschool-style RPG that allows you to perform alchemy, where basically you take various ingredients and recipes and mash 'em together to make stuff...sometimes making entirely new items!

In any case, all three offer a fairly decent amount of depth, though my money is on the first and second ones being the best of the series...until I played Mana Khemia. MK isn't the best of the series, but it comes close by adding a lot of things and tuning up various others. That said...FARKING IGN GAVE IT A 5.7. Not only that...IGN dicked around doing the second AI review for about a year or so, then hurriedly seemed to have done it at about the same time they reviewed the third one.

Worse still, by their "standards," they're claiming each one is getting worse with each version. I call BS. Yeah, the third one had some...questionable...innovations (timed dungeons, missions, etc.), but it was still a nice addition. To be fair, on the low end, I'd probably give it a 7. In other words, the worst in the series, in my opinion anyway, deserves a 7. To recap, if you like oldschool RPGs with a hint of uniqueness, you should already have this collection.

Sure, I posted my review, but IGN has been quite biased lately vs. a number of titles. They really do need some new people is all I'm saying. Maybe I should get my reviews off of Gamespot instead. Ah well.

[LostMyMind]

Does anybody else here use RPG Maker, have you found something better, or what? Personally, I think the best was 2003 version, where everything was side view much like FF6, rather than the old style of Dragonquest whatever. In any case, it's still very fun to play with and I've been using RPG Maker stuffs since the late 90s.

I haven't gotten around to using RPG Toolkit but I believe that is the latest RPG Maker (open source one too). You can get it at Toolkit Zone

But yeah, I've used RPG Maker. I even got the PS2 version.