Video Games Thread

[Late]

I wouldn't hang around. Rumour has it they've got about 2 weeks left - quarterly rent bill 25 March is likely to be the killer blow.
Share prices dipped to half a pence yesterday (they later recovered to around 1.5p*), which is horrendous when you consider they were £3 around 2/3 years ago.
Around a quarter of the deals on hukd seem to be games/consoles/peripherals from game/gamestation, lately - with a lot of the offers being nationwide/online but loads of others being store specific as each manager scrapes in as many pennies as he can.




*By my reckoning that recovery from 0.5p to 1.5p means the 8'000 or so staff are still screwed but someone on the stock exchange has just made a fortune by tripling his investment. Horrible to see the vultures can still make a mint from the misery of others. Just the way the world works, though...

[harv]

I've decided to give the Halo franchise another go. What order should I play them in..? I'm assuming the Xbox Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 should be first up, but what about the others..?

[jman]

The order they were released in of course...

Halo CE
Halo 2
Halo 3
Halo 3 ODST
Halo Reach

Spin offs are Halo Wars and Halo Anniversary.. but they aren't really necessary to play... although I do have them all still

Halo 4 will spawn a whole new trilogy with Master Chief in, although less excited about that due to the development passing to 343.. im sure it will be great and everything.. but its not bungie y'know

[jman]

100%ed HP last night...

Also finished NFS:The Run... much quicker than anticipated... overall run time or gameplay time was only like 2 and a half hours... it still took weeks to complete the game.. the loading screens take ages.. also the reset times (if you go off the course) should be instantaneous but they take like 10 seconds as well... so I probably stared at more loading screens than I did playing the game... had a quick go at the challenge series.. and it looks like it'd take too long to get those achievements.. so I think Im done with that game...

Next up.. undecided.. either FF XII-2 / Crackdown 2 / complete one of the crappy games (Metro, Fracture, Bionic Commando)

[Late]

I'm undecided on whether to get Final Fantasy XIII-2. I didn't bother with it's predecessor due to all the reports of how linear it was (for the first 15 hours or so anyway).

Lately I've been hankering to play the older FF games, though. Sold all my ps2 games a few months back, but still have the ps2 itself as well as my ps1 games, and I feel FF7 calling out to me.
Not sure it'd be a good idea though. Whenever I go back to play previous gen games I used to love I always feel disappointed, and end up slightly spoiling my memories of it.

[jman]

Yeah I wouldnt bother with FF XIII... whether you need to play it to play FF XII-2 I dont know yet... I will finish the first one before I start the second one.. but only because I am on the final boss... I've forgotten most of the story anyway, but good to have a refresher I think..

In regards to FF XIII though... the battle system is one of the best since FF7 and FF8 imo.. but you just go from one battle to the next.. over and over again.. even when you get to the bit where the game isnt supposed to feel as linear.. ultimately, your still just battling... but you just get to choose who you battle and you get to run around a bit.... you dont even have to do the optional stuff at this stage.. you can just carry on the story.. (which is what I did) and then your straight back to linear battles again...

Im hoping the second one addresses the linearity.. the first one just felt like half a game because of its monotony... the graphics are truly superb though... some of the best I've seen on a console.

I think I've lost the first disc on FF7 though.. think I left it in a broken portable PS1 which I was testing out.. chucked the console out with the game still inside... am such a douche    way to ruin my whole FF collection and lose one of my favourite games ever made... Im hanging on to my PS final fantasies for the long run... I reckon they will become a collectors item within 20 years...gonna have to repurchase FF7 at another date though.. would have to lose the most expensive one too!

[jman]

Lol I love game fails...

Battlefield 3
Skyrim
GTA 4

[harv]

Well I'm now Haloed up to the eyeballs

Got Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 ODST from CEX for 14 quid and Halo 3 and Halo Reach from Gamestation for 15.96. Not as cheap as I was hoping for but can't complain too much.

[ancelotti]

Downloaded the early release of FIFA Street. Fairly enjoyable but probably lacks longevity. Online features are very limited compared to the original FIFA series. Won't be buying it on Friday.

Gonna pop into Gamestation tomorrow and hopefully use up my remaining credit on a few bargains. Heard they were pricing new PSPs as pre-owned so wouldn't mind picking up a cheap slim & lite if they've got any.

[Late]

Was toying with the idea of possibly getting a psp myself, but they still haven't reduced the pre-owned ones at in my local (I think they were around £99, but not sure what model).
Not too bothered, though. I have a DS-lite (sic) and an android tablet and get all my games on both for free so it never really made much sense for me to get a psp (I assume piracy's not as easy on the Sony handheld, but I've never looked into it).

I saw they had bundles of the Wii with balance board and wii fit, for £55 all in. Torn on whether to get that for my dad - he borrowed ours for a while last summer and enjoyed it. £55 is a cracking price for that bundle - but of course it's old tech and may be available cheaper later this year when the Wii-U comes out.
Should just give him ours, tbh. Bloody thing is still in the carrier bag I brought it home in, despite the wife nagging me for ages to get it returned to us.
Women.

[harv]

You should blow the dust of your Wii and download Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story mate.

[bealec]

Currently level 8 in Skyrim. Haven't bothered much with the main storyline quest been doing lots of side missions for the companions and the Mage college. Doing pretty well tried to take on a mammoth it didn't end well also same outcome when I took on a giant. Just up to the bit where the dragon appears outside Whiterun in the main storyline.

[Late]

You should blow the dust of your Wii and download Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story mate.

I really want some last gen graphics and dodgy control interfaces in my life, so I'll go do that now.

Currently level 8 in Skyrim. Haven't bothered much with the main storyline quest been doing lots of side missions for the companions and the Mage college. Doing pretty well tried to take on a mammoth it didn't end well also same outcome when I took on a giant. Just up to the bit where the dragon appears outside Whiterun in the main storyline.

If you can find a well positioned log or rock to stand on you can take on giants and mammoths without fear of being hit. Takes a while at low levels, of course.

[harv]

Two of the best JRPGs released in years, you're missing out. Xenoblade in particular is astounding, the scope of it is bloody huge. From a design standpoint alone it's very impressive.

Edit: Aaaaaargh!!! Now I remember why I stopped playing the first Halo early on. Driving the Warthogs is beyond crap!!! Very bad design decisions made with the steering, whoever decided that the camera movement steers the bloody things deserves to be shot!!! Why on earth couldn't they do the sensible thing and have acceleration, deceleration and steering done with the left stick..?!!?!? Forward and right to turn right, forward and left to turn left. It's simple, it's intuitive. It's good design. I blame it entirely on the industry requiring all designers to have a design degree before getting employment. I don't know what they teach during these courses but it certainly isn't common sense.

It drove me to quit the game when I first played it. Terrible design decision. I'll persevere with it this time around, maybe I'll get used to it after a while. Bloody frustrating though!!!

[jman]

You must just be crap at it, warthogs are so easy to drive, great intuitive design imo, the vehicle design is one of the best in any game