Video Games Thread

[jman]

I didnt get very far in FFXIII-2 before turning it off late lol.. Im about 4-5 hours in and it still seems pretty linear to me.. not as much as its predecessor though.. nowhere near as much... theres no point even trying to understand it.. I finished the one before and dont understand very much to be honest..  the battle system is much more up my street compared to that of Star Ocean which just seems pants.. I dont know if you played Lost Odyssey but I found it more retro FF-esque than the later final fantasys.. that might settle your cravings if FFXIII doesnt

I just bought Prince of Persia : The Forgotten Sands.. I totally forgot about this game.. but I loved the revamped Prince of Persia game.. and I enjoyed the xbox version of Sands of Times (which is the prequel to this game) ergo I should enjoy The Forgotten Sands..

Also bidding on a few cheapos on ebay.. I'd get Resident Evil 5 but still unable to find it for under a fiver, and not paying more for it, because its not worth it with its annoying gameplay mechanics.. also on the lookout for Fight Night 4 for £3-£4 as played the others in the series and wouldnt mind playing a boxing game now.

[jman]

You're aware you're in the minority, there, though?

Did you ever play FF 7/8/9?

Final Fantasy is rubbish because the best ones didnt appear on a nintendo console .. therefore harv doesnt like it.
Ask him about JRPGS on the wii like Xenoblade or Monster Hunter Tri.. and they are the best things since sliced bread... lol

[Late]

I dont know if you played Lost Odyssey but I found it more retro FF-esque than the later final fantasys.. that might settle your cravings if FFXIII doesnt

Cheers Kieron - will be sure to pick that up.

[ancelotti]

Good shout there, Jman. Lost Odyssey is a cracking game.

Don't mind turn-based combat, it just seems a bit archaic to me. The real-time combat in Star Ocean seemed revolutionary to me as a kid and was much more fun than taking turns to attack! In real-time combat low-level characters actually have a chance against high-level enemies with the right strategy.

Having said that, FF7/8 will always be the best JPRGs for their superior stories. Couldn't get into FFIX but X on the PS2 was incredible. Since then, I haven't really enjoyed any of the recent FF games.

[harv]

You're aware you're in the minority, there, though?

Did you ever play FF 7/8/9?

Final Fantasy is rubbish because the best ones didnt appear on a nintendo console .. therefore harv doesnt like it.
Ask him about JRPGS on the wii like Xenoblade or Monster Hunter Tri.. and they are the best things since sliced bread... lol

Erm...the Wii is the first Nintendo console I've ever owned. The last two gens I've had a PS1 and PS2. And like I've said, JRPGs usually tend to have turn-based combat which these days is old hat. Xenoblade and Monster Hunter have real-time combat thankfully, and Xenoblade is considered by many to be the best JRPG released this gen.

I like the Monster Hunter franchise, always have done since they started to release it on the PSP. I love the idea of killing creatures and creating armour and weapons from a creature's body parts.

And unlike most JRPGs the combat in Xenoblade is excellent, but where it really stands out is with it's scope and terrain design. It's a very well put together game.

I tend to prefer WRPGs to JRPGs tbh.

I still can't understand the fuss about FF7, there are plenty of better PS1 games out there including Resident Evils 1, 2 and 3, the first 3 Tomb Raider games, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Syphon Filter and Alien Trilogy are prime examples.

[bealec]

"Tomb Raider is better then FFVII" I can tell why you don't work in the games industry anymore.

Final Fantasy VII is one of the greatest games ever.

[harv]

I just can't see the appeal myself. The first Tomb Raider game was groundbreaking at the time and capitalised on the popularity of Indiana Jones. It was fantastic. I've just never felt the love for Final Fantasy, mainly due to turn-based combat being so 'Eighties'...it was bad enough then, but is a great deal worse nowadays.

[jman]

Cant believe you havent played Lost Odyssey yet late... your in for a treat.. im actually jealous!!    

Actually its one of the older games I didnt sell so I still have it despite finishing it and all its DLC a long time ago.. I havent 100% the achievements though.. some are missable and are a total bugger to get.. but I might play through it a 3rd time, going for 100% completion, it really is a great JRPG.

Will give Star Ocean another go at some point, the battle tutorial was overly complicated though, they should of really introduced you to different parts of the battle system as you progress through the game and not just give one massive tutorial.. it was just too much to take in for me....by the time I had finished it, I was bored lol.

If you like real time and turn based kenny, have you tried Eternal Sonata, it uses both.. its a bit cutesy wutesy in terms of graphics and its characters... I got about 6 hours in before I stopped playing.. but the storys not bad (just a bit weird) and been meaning to get back into it at some point.

[Late]

Keeping it real like Ian Beale, Kenny?
You're a strange feller.


At risk of sounding a tad racist... are all Japs pervs? I don't think there's a single female character in Star Ocean who's not wearing skimpy/fetish gear.
Meracle.
Reimi.
Myuria.

Agreed about the battle tutorial, Kieron. Bored the tits off me. You can go back to it at any point, though (from the main menu or just walk into the battle training room within the game) so feel free to rush or skip the tutorial. You can get by fine just by spamming A in most fights. I never bother with the sidestep/dodge crap.
Incidentally, the fact you can manage by just spamming A is one of the reasons I think real time combat doesn't work as well as turn based combat in these games.
Real time means mashing buttons. Turn based is more tactical/strategic.


You never answered, Harv... Did you actually play FF 7/8/9?

[harv]

Tried FF7 and it didn't float my boat.

[AVFCRoss]

Can't stand the Final Fantasy games, I hate games that have millions of things to get your head around in order to understand whats happening, both in terms of the story and gameplay....It makes them incredibly inaccessible, imo.

I remember playing one on the PS2 (think it may have been X-Part 2)...I only bought it to tide me over into the PS3's release but I did end up playing it for a few months. Eventually hit a brick wall with it because I got to this ridiculous fight section with this monster that just wouldn't die.....Spending about 45 minutes trying to defeat a single enemy, only to die to it because it has a ridiculously unnessecary amount of health? Yeah, massive CBA with all that.

[ancelotti]

Keeping it real like Ian Beale, Kenny?
You're a strange feller.


At risk of sounding a tad racist... are all Japs pervs? I don't think there's a single female character in Star Ocean who's not wearing skimpy/fetish gear.
Meracle.
Reimi.
Myuria.

Agreed about the battle tutorial, Kieron. Bored the tits off me. You can go back to it at any point, though (from the main menu or just walk into the battle training room within the game) so feel free to rush or skip the tutorial. You can get by fine just by spamming A in most fights. I never bother with the sidestep/dodge crap.
Incidentally, the fact you can manage by just spamming A is one of the reasons I think real time combat doesn't work as well as turn based combat in these games.
Real time means mashing buttons. Turn based is more tactical/strategic.


You never answered, Harv... Did you actually play FF 7/8/9?

Cheers. Beale is about as reem as it gets!

Button bashing does work to some degree in real-time combat, but later in the game you wouldn't last long against the tougher bosses, and eventually, the bonus dungeon bosses with like millions of HP! At that point you need to be micro-managing your party constantly as the AI isn't clever enough to heal you when a boss deals a devastating attack. As long as you know how to blindside/double-blindside in The Last Hope, 90% of enemies aren't a problem!

The Japs are definitely pervs! At least, the guys at Tri-Ace are!

Star Ocean 3:

Sophia
Nel
Maria

Star Ocean 2:

Rena - She actually gets pregnant in the game's ending - she looks about 10?!
Celine

No FF characters stick in my mind apart from Lulu from FFX - some rack!

[harv]

What I've always found a bit odd is the fact that 99.9% of the time it's very difficult to tell the difference between men and women

Mind you, I've heard that late has a penchant for ladyboys so that would explain his love for JRPGs

[Late]

No thanks.

* Late backs away from Harv.

[ancelotti]

LOL!