The Gaming Thread

[RayvenQ]

I was just reminded of something that happened at my local game store, background information, they all know me and are all my friends.

One of the girls had a Half Life 2 Headcrab Plushie with her that day, so, knowing I played the game, she threw it at me playfully, so I caught itt and began to have an epic wrestle with the thing, quoting one of the game characters "Get that freaking head humper off me!" before throwing the plushie across the room.

[Dark-Star]

Heh. Pretty creepy...try playing System Shock 2 in a dark room...for several hours...and then going out to blindly find your way to the bathroom and seeing two glowing eyes at about shoulder height. (it was our cat sitting on a table)

I came this close --> | to screaming bloody murder.

EDIT: Oh yeah - and if you ever happen to be overnighting at a place with a grandfather clock, DO NOT play a spooky game with clock chimes as a part of the gameplay. When the 'real' clock strikes midnight you will start seeing things in the dark. (didn't help I was alone in a big guest room in an old creaky house) >_<

[gunsage]

I've still got Panzer Dragoon Saga, and a working Saturn.

Also Radient Silvergun, which is worth popping in once in awhile. Best overhead shooter ever.

Got both of those emu'd. Sure, it's probably not as good as the real thing, but they're both very fun. Unfortunately, RSG has just a liiiiiiiittle too much going on for the emu and the frameskip caused me to not be able to see what was going on in the fourth boss battle. Nice.

If you do that though, just don't play in the dark, either alone or with someone in the room who can creep up on you

This reminded me of something. When I first got my first PS2 (it got stolen later), one of the first games I had gotten for it was Silent Hill 2. I started playing the game in the late afternoon and by the time I'd gotten to the apartments, it was dark outside. Yeah, me and one of my friends playing through the creepyass apartments in a pitch black room then coming upon the first mannequin monster. Good times.

[RayvenQ]

Stalker actually isn't so bad. The worst of it is excessive swearing. Lots of F-bombs and the occasional S**t. Otherwise there really isn't a lot of blood and gore. I mean to say you can shoot a mutated animal or a person at point blank with a shotgun and the worst is they scream or what have you and then fall over. There is little to no blood even when something gets caught in some of the more sinister anomalies in the game.

There is one called the vortex whose description basically says whatever gets caught inside this anomaly is literally ripped apart by the force and the worst you see is the body disappears and there are a few fine red particles that spray down but thats it. Its not graphic in a Resident Evil sort of way.

There are a few rather scary looking creatures later in the game that have been mutated due to radiation exposure, but again this is not very graphic.

I can't say I have played the entire game yet, but I can say so far its not something I would be worried about my 4 year old niece seeing except for hearing the swearing.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R can be pantwettingly scary sometimes or just downright creepy and a soloution for the problem of swearing would be to wear a set of ear/headphones when playing a game that you know might have swearing in it.

If you do that though, just don't play in the dark, either alone or with someone in the room who can creep up on you

Does anyone know what the basic system specs or relevant comparison would be for Portal? I was under the assumption it should just work since it's using the Half-Life 2 engine. And actually, HL2 ran very well on my PC. I am thinking of upgrading my RAM soon, but I'm wondering if that will be enough. What I REALLY want to play is Bioshock.

If you can run Half life 2 very well then you can run portal just as well (If not slightly better since there aren't any NPC's therefore the AI isn't biting into your processing) Get it, the ending itself is totally worth the money for it, infact so is the rest of the game.

So I got portal like you guys recommended. I played up till level 15 at which point I gave my friend's brother a chance and he finished in about 3 hours or so. I loved the game though I'm kind of nervous to finish it myself. Most of it I got through by pure luck of fucking around and beating the level without knowing how I did it. I very much see why everyone recommended it though!

If you haven't seen the ending, then play it until the end, seriously.

[Chanlin]

I also want to start Stalker - problem is having pre-teens when I want to play M-rated games. I'll just start next week when they're in school.

Stalker actually isn't so bad. The worst of it is excessive swearing. Lots of F-bombs and the occasional S**t. Otherwise there really isn't a lot of blood and gore. I mean to say you can shoot a mutated animal or a person at point blank with a shotgun and the worst is they scream or what have you and then fall over. There is little to no blood even when something gets caught in some of the more sinister anomalies in the game.

There is one called the vortex whose description basically says whatever gets caught inside this anomaly is literally ripped apart by the force and the worst you see is the body disappears and there are a few fine red particles that spray down but thats it. Its not graphic in a Resident Evil sort of way.

There are a few rather scary looking creatures later in the game that have been mutated due to radiation exposure, but again this is not very graphic.

I can't say I have played the entire game yet, but I can say so far its not something I would be worried about my 4 year old niece seeing except for hearing the swearing.

[Geek King]

You know, another possibility is the Wii's Virtual Console. Of course, if they were going to add that, I'd make the demand that several Saturn titles needed included such as Albert Odyssey, Panzer Dragoon Saga, etc.

I've still got Panzer Dragoon Saga, and a working Saturn.

Also Radient Silvergun, which is worth popping in once in awhile. Best overhead shooter ever.

[gunsage]

problem is having pre-teens when I want to play M-rated games.

I'm going to have to start thinking about that as well. Sure, my little girl's not even 2 yet, so she really doesn't catch the gist of what's going on, but still. I rented Silent Hill Origins for the PS2. Good stuff, actually. VERY tough. Although, there's something I don't quite understand from a review I'd read about it recently that I'd like to provide perspective on. In previous Silent Hill games, you got weapons, but they were fairly well spaced out and for one reason that's typical among most survival horror games: they don't break.

Reading that statement, you already know what's coming next. That's right...THEY BREAK. Sure, you find weapons a plenty, but they BREAK over time...some a lot quicker than others. Further, a lot of weapons require expert timing because enemies are rather ruthless in this one, from a close quarters combat perspective. Now keep this in mind as you process the next statement that I'd found in a review: there aren't enough enemies.

WHAT. Not enough enemies?! Your goddamn'd weapons are breaking! There'd BETTER be less enemies! Now sure, they could've remedied this by having ye olde system of plank of wood here, lead pipe there, etc. Instead, they opted for this new style which, while annoying that stuff breaks, also allows for a LOT more weapons and diversity of such. In any case, as a direct port from the PSP, I'm in awe about how good it is, not just in terms of gameplay, but also graphics, animation, etc.

Really, about the only things I'm left bitching about is how much damage the enemies do coupled with their neverending cheapshots and also how quickly your dude gets tired and starts just about limping after running for about 10 seconds. That's about it for that. On another note, I beat Apollo Justice! Friggin' awesome game all the way to the end. And that's about all of it.

[RichS]

You know, another possibility is the Wii's Virtual Console. Of course, if they were going to add that, I'd make the demand that several Saturn titles needed included such as Albert Odyssey, Panzer Dragoon Saga, etc.

Now you have me wondering if my Saturn still works... That's what I should do this week, pull all my old consoles out and play them. Maybe I'll get my daughters hooked on one of them - While fixing my paddle controllers, I had them playing (i.e. arguing over ) Warlords on my old 2600.

I started FEAR early - it's been very good so far. Though, I've gotten to Interval 4, and I'm lacking firepower.

That, and I'm stuck on Half-Life 2 Ep. 2 - the darned multiple Strider mission. I'm near the end, where the Combine is flying in Striders and driving me insane.

I also want to start Stalker - problem is having pre-teens when I want to play M-rated games. I'll just start next week when they're in school.

[gunsage]

You know, another possibility is the Wii's Virtual Console. Of course, if they were going to add that, I'd make the demand that several Saturn titles needed included such as Albert Odyssey, Panzer Dragoon Saga, etc.

[Geek King]

Never got a chance to play Shining Force 3, but I loved the other ones. Unfortunately, this one got turned into a Diablo clone. Now sure, there's a bit of depth here, but not as much as, say, Diablo 2. It's still fun, but it's not the same. They really should've just made an actual Shining Force game...but didn't. Ah well. That's about it for now.

I've been hoping that Sega would get off their butts and stop raping the Sonic franchise long enough to put a Shining Force compilation together. I'd really like to play the other two parts of SF3, since only part one got ported over here. Its like watching Star Wars: A New Hope, and knowing there were two other movies made, but not be able to watch them.

[gunsage]

Well, I was going to reference this guide, but then I noticed something. For starters, there aren't abilities on there (at least not special attacks anyway) that are there before you're supposed to get a character. In other words, you don't get some REALLY AWESOME SPECIAL ATTACK if you leave her at level 1 on the dating thingy for, say, Muza. Further, I suppose it isn't absolutely necessary that every character have EVERY ability.

Lastly, there's the town girls. If you scroll past the standard girls in your party, you'll see that there's also specially accessed "town girls" you can date as well. I recall getting far enough to get the samurai...but I don't remember if I got that much farther after it. Also, I don't know if it mentions anything about the PS1 for PSP emu, but you might want to check out this site for all your PSP emu needs.

Up until recently, I was going here for the SNES/PSP emu stuffs as well as the Genesis/PSP emu stuffs. Honestly, since the PSP's been out for a while now, I've been able to get them el cheapo on Amazon. There's still a few more I want to get, but you get the idea. Here's the games I grinded on today...

- Shining Force Neo
- Dragonquest 8
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner

With Devil Summoner, I enjoy it because it's a definite change from the norm of the series. It can be fun, but often it's very repetitious. So I switched over to DQ8 for a while, which is great, but the strategy guide is vague enough to the point that it can be TOO vague sometimes...and I just got the ship...so I decided to switch yet again. Neo is a bit of a disappointment...yet it's still fun. How is this possible? If you've played the older Shining Force games, you know they're awesome old-style strategy/RPG titles with little anime cutscenes for battle animations.

Never got a chance to play Shining Force 3, but I loved the other ones. Unfortunately, this one got turned into a Diablo clone. Now sure, there's a bit of depth here, but not as much as, say, Diablo 2. It's still fun, but it's not the same. They really should've just made an actual Shining Force game...but didn't. Ah well. That's about it for now.

[Geek King]

Anyway, while we're semi-on the topic of Atlus, have you beaten Thousand Arms? What's your dating strategy?

Hmm, I don't think I ever beat it, but its been a long time. I need to look up that emulator for the PSP that lets you play any PS1 title on it. As to dating strategy, I didn't really have one. I just play for fun, but then again, I'm also one of those guys who just has to look in every corner and down every hall, so I would juggle all the girls at once at their highest allowable level at that time.

[gunsage]

Just a slight addendum here. I made this test a few years ago and figured you guys would be interested. Please note that there aren't very many PC questions from what I can recall, but it's still fun overall, at least in my opinion.

Edit: Apparently OKCupid's changed their standards or whatever. You can still take the test, but they want you to sign up to get your results, which is pretty ridiculous. Still a fun test, in my opinion, but if you're not a members and don't want to be, I wouldn't worry about it (it's 100 questions anyway).

[gunsage]

True enough. Even glancing at my shelf, there are SO many Atlus titles, both for PS1 and PS2. Honestly, another company that was similar, but was since died, was Working Designs. Normally, I'd say Arc the Lad Collection was their finest work, but then I played Growlanser Generations. What I would like to have seen before they passed was them getting together with Falcom and remaking every last Ys title.

Ys and me have an odd history of sorts. I'd heard about Ys I & II on the Turbo Duo, but up until Final Fantasy 7, I was pretty well brand loyal to Nintendo. As a result, the first Ys game I played was Ys III for the SNES and I LOVED IT. In fact, up until a couple of years ago when I finally got Ys I & II emu'd, I had no idea why people absolutely seethed hatred when it came to the third. Therefore, I never understood why 4 and 5 were kept from an English version and really enjoyed Ys VI for the PS2 (especially since I had played the Japanese PC version and could clearly tell the differences).

I should also point out that Atlus also assisted in bringing NIS over here which puts them good in my book regardless. I also need to check Vanillaware's site and see if they're working on anything new. Odin Sphere was cool, but it feels like they're just touching the tip of the iceberg of their potential. With nice, HUGE sprites complete with that morphing/breathing effect? Yeah, they DEFINITELY have the potential to do big things.

Anyway, while we're semi-on the topic of Atlus, have you beaten Thousand Arms? What's your dating strategy? Here's why I ask. What I noticed is that you can't seem to get old level spells once you've passed them up. In other words, certain spells you can get with a later on character via Sodina wouldn't be accessible if she was above even level 1 intimacy. Now true, you get better and better spells with each level, but the point is is there an easy way to get those old spells without having to downgrade her intimacy, assuming it's even possible?

Therefore, if it's not possible, wouldn't it be better to NOT go on a date with ANY character until after you've gotten all party members? That really subtracts from a significant piece of core gameplay if that's the case. Maybe I'm just overthinking it, I don't know, but it's one of the main things that have made me want to start over again and again. Just wondering. And yes, I've looked at various FAQs, but none have really addressed the issue.

[Geek King]

Also, if you like that, definitely check out Thousand Arms. I say that because in that one you play a blacksmith who goes on dates to become more intimate with women in his party to forge better weapons. Yeah.

What makes you think Its not sitting on my shelf right now? (You are a hundered years too early for this fight, youngling! ) I was fond of the pirate girl, myself. You have good taste though.

And a quick note: Atlus is mainly a trasnlation house that picks up many different companies' games to port over here. They have an excellent track record for choosing quality titles as far as I'm concerned, so I'll buy a game just on the Atlus name now.