The Gaming Thread

[gunsage]

Well guys, it's been fun, but this is where I must say goodbye. Sad, really...what with my Security+ exam only being a couple of days away. Yup. I sure had fun in reality, but I've another agenda now. Ahem.

I JUST PICKED UP CRISIS CORE! ZOMG!

So, in summation, life was fun, but FF7 is better.

[gunsage]

Okay okay, so I lied. Crisis Core is very good, but before even so much as LOOKING at it, what you really have to question is just how much you liked Final Fantasy 7. I don't mean Dirge of Cerberus or the movie...I mean ye olde, still very badass FF7. Here's why. You don't get to play as Cloud. In fact, even almost 10 hours in, I've yet to meet Cloud. I've met Sephiroth already, but not Cloud. The point is that so far I've gone through various locations mentioned, if not fully explored, in the world of FF7 with Zack.

Zack kinda reminds me of Tidus, but more BADass and less DUMBass. The gameplay is very repetitive. The worlds are flat and with no platforming, though there is the occasional going up/down hills/stairs. The "random encounters" aren't quite so random, which to a degree, kinda reminds of Chrono Trigger. Unfortunately, the battles are often button mashing with just a hint of strategy. It is an action/RPG after all and it kinda reminds me of Kingdom Hearts, except not so convoluted with the menus.

So far, it doesn't sound like a very good game. You are absolutely correct while also being infinitely incorrect. See, the real problem here is that if you're a FF7 fanboy (like me), it won't matter. You'll still thoroughly enjoy the game, pacing, etc. Furthermore, the main reason I'm bothering mentioning the repetitiveness is about 80% of what I've done so far is purely optional side missions. The game itself was quoted at 20+ hours. Of course, they make sure to mention that this is without the countless side missions.

What they don't make so good on mentioning is that it's not just the battles that are repetitive, it's the side missions as well. Most missions feature very little if any dialog. Therefore, often all you have to do is find the enemy that is visible outside of combat, challenge him/her/it, and win. Granted, this is a great way to get gil, sp, items, etc., but yes, it gets monotonous. It's challenging at times, but still. The main draw of the game is the visuals, excellent load times, awesome soundtrack, and the fact that it's a purely dedicated, fanboy pantswetting game.

If didn't like or didn't play FF7, this game probably won't be for you. However, if you thoroughly enjoy FF7, this is an excellent title. And really, despite the monotony present in the game, I'd say it's definitely worth full price...though the guide may not be. Yes, I got the guide too, just in case. That's about it for now. I think I might hop on it later, but right now I'm going back to something just as monotonous, but still different: Shining Force Neo. Laterz!

Edit: Forgot to include IGN link. http://psp.ign.com/articles/860/860615p1.html

[gunsage]

Well, today's a momentous day for a number of reasons. First the on topic. I just got Patapon! No, I haven't played it yet. Yes, I'm going to...STOP RUSHING ME! I'm enjoying Crisis Core more and more as I play it. After reading over the guide a bit, I'm REALLY liking it. I think really it's only monotonous for me at the moment because I'm mission grinding. Sure, the missions are kinda dull, but really, it's no big deal and you get plenty of bonuses for it, so why the hell not?

Now, here's the . I GOT MY SECURITY+! I only passed by about 11 points...tough stuff. Now onto my CCNA!

[Trayol]

Wow, you like monopolized this whole page. Good Job!

The only game I've been playing recently is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This game reaks of epic greatness. Anyone with a Wii needs to own this game.

[lordlundar]

Have it, love it.

I also picked up the C&C3 Expansion. The new units are sweet and the Global Conquest mode is interesting as well, even though it got the Idea from Rise of Nations. I also picked up Dawn of War Soulstorm. Nothing Really spectacular, but still a solid game.

[Andara Bledin]

Hiyo. Just thought I'd meander through and wave to the fellow WoW players.

I'm currently in my World of Warcraft phase and am playing nightly (and some days) on Chromaggus. My main is Midohri, an orc Hunter. Alts include: Lethe, Bebhart, Beshart, Tshandara, Tmandara, and Succubae.

When I'm not playing WoW, I can often be found playing City of Heroes/Villains or A Tale in the Desert.

For some reason, I couldn't get Thief 1 or 2 to work on my current PC. Too bad, too...I loved the original, but never got very far.

Check the DRM on Thief. It could be a bizarre conflict. I know that in order to play The Sims 2 or any of the expansions, I have to do a disk image because my CD-ROM drive is some generic bit of crap and the copy protection they have in the game has decided that I must be a pirate because of that. So, in order to play a game I own, I have to act like a pirate. Brilliant.

^-.-^

[Broomjockey]

I've been playing Bully: Scholarship Edition lately. Pretty good game. I recommend it muchly

[RayvenQ]

I've got an awesome mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R, it's called AKM Mod, originally a russian mod but it has been translated, well, kinda there's still some russian in it in places.

It's got several awesome features, much better and smarter AI, Random Anomolies, Random Stashes, AI actually loot dead bodies and one awesome if smal feature that if you wear a gas mask, your vision is obscured by the mask and you see your breath misting up the lenses.

The only problem is that you need 1.0004 of the game to run the mod, which isn't the latest patch so you'll probably have to uninstall the game and then patch up to 1.0004.

http://board.oblivion-lost.de/showthread.php?t=12558 Link to the thread containing much more info and download links

[Geek King]

Okay, I'm now playing Pirates of the Burning Seas, a MMORPG (mummorphugger!) set in the Carribean during the age of pirates. So far I'm liking it, but like all MMOs, they still have some issues to iron out. Server stability for one, though that's gotten much better since I started playing.

If I had to compare it to something, I say a cross between Sid Meier's Pirates! and E.V.E. Online. There is lots of running/sailing around doing pirate-y things, but there is also a strong marketplace dynamic you can get into. Also, there is a larger scale battle going on, as the British, Spanish, French, and Pirate factions are trying to take ports from each other. A port in contention starts with a small PvP area around it, which grows as the conflict does. Once it gets large enough, opposing factions get the chance to take it from the owners in a massive PvP/NPC battle.

Over weeks, the entire gulf area fights it out over various ports until one faction wins most of them, then the place resets once a winner is declared, and you have all your stuff/levels/industry still.

This game has a lot of promise, if they can smooth out some rough spots. Several patches have already been released, so it seems that the game is being taken care of so far. I mainly play on the Guadalupe server, British faction, as Mune McIvers, a privateer, if you're interested in popping in.

[lordlundar]

Be thankful you weren't in the private beta. They planned for a launch 3 months from when I signed up, and, well here's the list:

In my 2 weeks of testing I found:

- 20+ bugs that should never have been fixed before the ALPHA test.
- Half of the combat engine just started
- Top end aggressive NPC ships in starter spots

And they had a glitch which put the Spanish starter town on PvP. Now why is this so bad? When a town goes on PvP, it's open PvP, where there is no level minimum or maximum. If the country that holds the town loses the PvP time, they lose a town and cannot use it. Now this is the Spanish starter town, and if Spain lost it, there just went a faction in the game, as you could not spawn at the time.

This was the second time that the devs did this to Spain, and their response was "Oops, lets see how it goes." With a portion of potential clients losing any incentive to play. It wasn't so much the turning on PvP, as I can see it for testing. Heck, I wanted to see what would happen if a nation lost their starting town. The piss off was it happened twice in a week, with no warning, and a number of players having a lot invested into the town. Combine that with the flippant attitude of the devs, and I had enough. And they expected this to be launched in 3 months? HA!

I suppose I owe SoE a thanks on buying the company and holding back launch to actally fix most of the crap. To me, it just seemed like the devs just don't care about the game.

[gunsage]

Starting from the top...

Bully was a great title for the PS2, but unfortunately, they didn't add much when converting it for the new systems. One system they ought to port it to is the PSP. That'd be cool. I need to go back and figure out the exact error I was getting, but yeah, I don't think it completed the install sequence. On a slightly unrelated note, I couldn't get Grandia 2 PC working either. Not really trying to monopolize the page, but more or less just keep it as current as possible so you guys don't have to go searching for it.

Also, definitely interested in Brawl, but I've yet to get a Wii. While I'm at it, Patapon's not bad, especially for a $20 game, but think about it like Loco Roco. It's bright, colorful, quirky...but you'd probably be a little pissed if you paid over $20 for it. That's not to say it's a bad game. In fact, it's actually pretty fun, but mostly in small doses. Still loving Crisis Core and again, I definitely recommend it if you like FF7.

[gunsage]

Jeebus! I mean, really? Third paged? Anyway, as usual, I've been hammering away on Shining Force Neo. I'm likely to review that soon on here so you'll know why. I'm planning on picking up Mana Khemia today. This makes Atlus my top company right now...well...besides Nintendo, technically...as most games owned for a company. It used to be Squaresoft. Thus, I officially declare Atlus to be the 2000's Squaresoft. And really, I don't think I'm in the wrong for declaring this, given that I was a devout Squaresoft and even Square-Enix follower, but with as hit/miss as they've been, yup, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

In memoriam of this, what do you guys think are the best Squaresoft, Enix, and Square-Enix titles? I figure this'll be a fun contest that we can weigh with longest game, best graphics, best story, best music, best innovation, etc. And obviously, ALL Squaresoft, Square-Enix, and Enix titles are at play here. It'll be something I'll have to think about because I wouldn't want to do FF7 across the board (as it's apparent I'm a HYUGE fanboy), so this will certainly be interesting!

[Broomjockey]

Chrono Trigger.

There, it wins.

[lordlundar]

When I'm not playing WoW, I can often be found playing City of Heroes/Villains or A Tale in the Desert.

Which server for CoH/CoV?

[Andara Bledin]

Which server for CoH/CoV?

It is almost completely up to whichever group I'm hanging with at the time and what server they're on.

If I do go back, though, it'll probably be to hang with the Ars Technica crew. That's the group I'm hanging with on WoW right now. When I was hanging with the Gu Comics crew, it was on Guardian.

Heh. Just checked the Ars Technica gaming forum, and the City of Heroes thread that's still running was named by Nekojin: "City of Heroes / Villains Perpetual Thread v3: Spandex, Leather, and Catgirls, Oh My!" Anyway, that crew plays on Virtue, so it's most likely I'll be back on Virtue when I return.

^-.-^