Video Games Thread

[Late]

Red Alert eats time without you realising it. In fact, just checked and I've played 22 hours . That was the Allies campaign, plus the first 2(ish) missions from the Soviets and the Empire.
I seem to recall turning the difficulty down at some point (can't remember if I went from hard to medium or from medium to easy - either way it was embarrassing for a C&C veteran, but I was struggling)...

Agreed re Operation Flashpoint. Not sure if you've got the same one as me (I had Dragon Rising) but it was just too bloody hard, and I didn't like the general feel of it enough to try playing on an easier level. I remember repeatedly getting sniped from a mile away - the only way to kill them being to die then get them with the benefit of respawn hindsight).

I can't remember how long I played Star Ocean for but it was a bloody long time (maybe around 100 hours?). Well worth the effort, though. Good story, good mechanics (I even liked the real time combat, which is rare for me) and the usual Japanese amount of cheeky camera angles showing infeasibly busty young ladies in incredibly skimpy outfits. Only real downsides were the two annoying characters (Lymle and Faize, if memory serves), and the disk swapping - which only really becomes a nuisance if you're doing bonus stuff by revisiting old areas at the end of the game.

[harv]

Well according to http://howlongtobeat.com my backlog consists of 19 games and will take me 16 days and 8 minutes to complete them all LOL - its cos I've got so many RPGs in the list!  To be fair - I was listing the games from memory so I might of missed some out on the old backlog and I might of added some that I actually sold... but its already at an unhealthy level!  Will try and update the list tonight if I remember.

Star Ocean:TLH - which I have barely started will take on average 56 hours apparently...
Enchanted Arms - Im about 5 hours into this will take 44 hours in total

To be honest, thats put me off playing them now lol...

Some of the estimates seem a bit off though - 24 hours to beat Command & Conquer 3 - Red Alert - nahhh... and some of the games I have are also getting sold in the new year because I wont play them again - Operation Flashpoint for example.. because its bloody shit

Its good that its ranked the games I have with scores too.. The Witcher 2 and R.U.S.E score the best - I actually enjoyed the bits of R.U.S.E I played - but the gameplay gets a bit samey after a while.

If you like JRPGs then Xenoblade Chronicles is a must-play title for you. Considered by many to be the best JRPG released last gen. Wii consoles are as cheap as chips these days and Wii U's are backwards compatible so that's always an option.

[Late]

lol @ Harv still thinking there's room in this world for the wii

[harv]

Why not..? You won't find a better JRPG out there. ...well, not until Monolith Soft and Nintendo bring out their next effort.

The scale of the thing is amazing, makes the worlds of Oblivion and Fallout seem tiny in comparison. How they've managed to squeeze that world into such an underpowered machine is an outstanding feat of programming. And they've said that they're aiming to be like Bethesda which is pretty ambitious but given what they managed to do with the Wii hardware I can see them coming up with something amazing this gen. I can't wait.

[Late]

We're in the 1080p era and skirting the 4k, but you still seem to think 480p is acceptable. It really isn't.
Don't bother with the argument that graphics aren't as important as gameplay. We've been there a dozen times and I maintain that a good game should have both, and not have to pick one or the other...

[harv]

So 480p isn't acceptable on the Wii but sub-HD graphics are fine on PS3 and 360 titles are perfectly acceptable..? Double standards much..?

And if you play Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii U it'll be upscaled to 1080p anyway, which isn't a great deal different to playing CoD on the PS3 and 360. Didn't you say a while back when I thought that Black Ops 2 on the U was going to be HD that it was only a few lines different..?

And we're nowhere near skirting 4k resolution. We're years away from that unless you want to spend thousands on a new telly.

[jman]

I prefer classic JRPGs anyway - Xenoblade is turn-based meaning that it most certainly isn't classic.  I'd probably buy it if I had a Wii - given that the choice would be far limited on that console, but certainly not going anywhere near the Wii U or Wii just for that game - I'd probably enjoy the game, but its not worth it.. I could always buy Tales of Vesperia on the 360 if Im looking for a very similar JRPG.

[ancelotti]

I put a lot more than 56 hours into Star Ocean: TLH! But then I like to finish everything when I play JRPG's and in TLH that means finishing the bonus dungeons after the main story and ranking up to 1st in the Colosseum.

[Late]

I'll try to be brief...

So 480p isn't acceptable on the Wii...

No.

...sub-HD graphics are fine on PS3 and 360 titles are perfectly acceptable..

No.

Double standards much..?

No.

And if you play Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii U it'll be upscaled to 1080p anyway

You have too much faith in upscaling. A wii game played on a 40" 1080p telly via the wii U will not look much better than a wii game played on a 40" SD telly.

which isn't a great deal different to playing CoD on the PS3 and 360.

Take a look at COD on the 360 and COD on the wii side by side then come tell me there's not much difference. As I've told you a dozen times, I'd like to play COD with full HD graphics, but unfortunately the consoles from 8 years ago struggle to do that. Understandable (as most folk didn't have HD tellies) but a shame.
What's worrying is that the console from 2012 Q4 also struggles to do that.

Didn't you say a while back when I thought that Black Ops 2 on the U was going to be HD that it was only a few lines different..?

Yes, the versions on 360 and Wii U are very similar. Blops 2 on the U is only 720p - and I believe Blops 2 on the 360 and ps3 are also 720p. In fact appears to be a port of the 360 version. Really not sure what your point is, there.

And we're nowhere near skirting 4k resolution. We're years away from that unless you want to spend thousands on a new telly.

No, we're skirting it. It's been developed, it's available if you want to spend ridiculous amounts of money, and it'll be a lot of homes before the wii3 comes out. That means the U's 720p standard is going to look pretty crap this gen. But even without 4k the U's 720p standard is going to look pretty crap this gen if you consider it's gen to be that on the nextbox and ps4.




So, ignoring all your nonsensical and irrelevant bluster, my point remains - 480p graphics on a game look shit these days. And have done for years.

[jman]

Ugh, christmas parties suck.. especially when you have to work the next day.. hoping to go home in the next hour or two though so can anyone recommend any decent hangover games - games that you can just totally mong out too without any thought whatsoever ? 

[Late]

Just about any xbla game.
R-Type?

[jman]

Yeah, Im thinking Defense Grid will be a bit too taxing today lol.. plus Im getting so pissed off at the inability to get gold on some levels... so I'll have a look through xbla later - I think there are some deals on at the moment, probably start there.

[ancelotti]

Downloaded The Walking Dead recently on XBLA. Read some reviews and pretty much every one praised the game but it's even better than I expected. I love the artwork, very comic book-esque... and the interactive gameplay is similar to Heavy Rain - a game I absolutely loved.

For some reason it's split into 5 episodes, each costing 400 MS points. I've downloaded the first two at the moment. Well worth a try though.

[Late]

Looks great, that. I'm waiting for the complete story, which was supposed to come out (boxed) in Dec but has been pushed back to Feb.

[harv]

Have been playing Little Inferno again, the only way to describe it is weird but compelling. On paper this game really shouldn't work, pure brilliance. Outstanding.