Random Video Game Thoughts: ITS A ME! MARIO!

[shooter_mcgavin]

I finally decided to play LA Noire. It's good a lot of great concepts, game mechanics, and a really good plot (probably one of the more personal ones Rockstar has made). I didn't think its a great game though the game was a case of Team Bondi and Rockstar stretching too much a good thing, in the end I was more exhausted than intrigued. I guess the game goes too much of a repetitive cycle. But yeah for the moments they were fresh the game was fun to play, though it did not really emphasize any exploration at all.

[coolinout1]

Sad to see the GameCube get phased out, but I guess it was bound to happen.



http://www.goozernation.com/video-ga...ks-to-gamestop

[Bean]

I am finally playing Skyrim. I really like it and they've done good work. I will say, though, that this is just Oblivion 2 (obviously). It's not really much of a leap, it just fixes a lot of problems and adds a lot of nice touches. That is not insignificant but I do wonder how much this series has left in it (this feels like it may be the highpoint of this kind of model).

I've always thought The Elder Scrolls should be timed for the main quest. As in the main quest unfolds over the course of 100 game days. You can participate or not at will, but the events happen around you whether or not you pursue that quest. Such as a war breaks out on the 10th day and you can participate or not, affecting the outcome. The game wouldn't "end" after the main quest, same as now, but it would make the world feel truly organic instead of trigger-based. The current structure worked better in Fallout which felt more like the story of an individual, whereas the Elder Scrolls games feel more like world stories.

I've gotten sucked back into Skyrim over the last week or two, and what you're saying makes a lot of sense. It's a vast, rich, rewarding world they have built up, but it is rather undone by the feeling that the whole world just sits around waiting for you to show up. The province of Skyrim feels very lived in (I love, love love, traipsing around and discovering ancient ruins and barrow), but the people within Skyrim don't feel alive.

[shooter_mcgavin]

Skyrim is too big for its own good. For all it's ambition and openness the whole experience feels a tad unsatisfying. Perhaps its because the quests (side or main) feels so disconnected with the world or population, maybe because the main story isn't even on par with Oblivion, or perhaps maybe because the combat is rather unpolished.

I like the game heck I spent like 50 hours on it but it was more because I wanted a payoff but received none. At least Oblivion left me satisfied after the main quest.

I am playing Dark Souls now and I am loving the game. For all its difficulty and frustration I always feel a sense of reward everytime I reach a new area or beat a boss. Feels good playing, kind of like a 3D Castlevania: SOTN, which was one my all time favorites and my favorite PSone game.

[Howard Beale's Toothpaste]

I'm currently broke, but when I come into money, I'm in the market for more DS games (yes, I'm an extreme Nintendo partisan, what of it?). Anyone know of some good story-driven games? Preferably with a really unique artistic style (or absurd humor, that works, too). I have a lot of games, but few of them have much of a story outside of the Ace Attorney games and the Professor Layton games. and I love both of those series, but the former doesn't actually contain much gameplay as much as it's a clickthrough story with occasional logic puzzle interludes. And the latter is really only when you're in the mood for puzzles (some of which are wickedly difficult or timeconsuming). Anyway, yeah, story-driven mystery or adventure game, with more gameplay that Ace Attorney, but way more story and actual characters than, say, any Kirby game (no knock on Kirby, just that there's not really much story there).

[Artimus]

I used to be a Nintendo partisan. Then I stopped.

Now I'm glad because if I only had a Wii I'd have missed out on almost every single worthwhile title of the past 6 years.

[The Sapient]

My Wii gathered dust for years. I eventually just gave it away.

[Critix]

I have to get a new Xbox just to experience show shitty Ninja Gaiden III has been said to be.

[shooter_mcgavin]

I am currently playing my Wii .... for Virtual Console Games

Which is strange because even Nintendo Failed in handing it's VC

[Artimus]

I got Arkham City for my 360 and played it for the first time Saturday!

Yesterday I turned my 360 on and there's no video output.

This is twice in 2 years.

[RyanUltOsc]

I am playing Dragon Age Origins right now, pretty awesome stuff. Bioware is pretty much the most creative company in video games, imho.

[Artimus]

That entire game is ripped from other material. How is that creative!?

[Lonnie]

That entire game is ripped from other material. How is that creative!?

He said Bioware is creative.

[RyanUltOsc]

That entire game is ripped from other material. How is that creative!?

I'm not sure what you mean. What I meant is that Bioware puts a lot more effort into story and characters than other game companies.

[jb]

Anyone play Diablo III yet?

[makemeameteor]

Anyone play Diablo III yet?

I have, and I have conflicting feelings on it.

[Bean]

:looks up from Skyrim:

What's this about other games?

[Artimus]

I'm not sure what you mean. What I meant is that Bioware puts a lot more effort into story and characters than other game companies.

I wouldn't call that creative. They're just following broad fantasy tropes.

There was a time when they were creative on all fronts. But now what? They release an MMO based on their most successful property and all it is is a WoW clone. They couldn't even innovate the form. Mind you the Elder Scrolls MMO sounds worse.

Video game creativity should be of the form, not merely story.

[Sage]

So, Mass Effect 3...



I'm really baffled what to think about this. It's definitely a bit of a letdown after how pitch perfect Mass Effect 2 was, but the characters are so fascinating that I was willing to deal with a little bit of a tediousness just to see how it was all going to end.

But, while the characterizations are still strong, a lot of the quests seem...inconsequential? (Doubly so, when you factor in that controversial ending.) For a game that bases it core so much on decision-making, it doesn't really matter what you do throughout the game as long as you collect enough random points to reach the predetermined victory scenario. (I'm not even sure you have to actively collect any points, as long as you complete the main quests.) And, although you can still import your character from the first or second game, the decisions Shepard made in those games rarely, if ever, come to the forefront of the game.

I did love how perfectly the game created an overwhelming sense of apocalyptic doom, particularly as it (finally) reaches a literally scorched Earth towards the game's finale. It easy to dismiss violence and bloodshed when it takes place is some distant and futuristic planet full of complete nobodies, but it was fascinating to see those same game mechanics brought to a distinctly human environment. The last 20 or so minutes leading up to [SPOILER]the Catalyst[/SPOILER] are some of the best of series, giving Shepard one last moment with all the major characters before diving straight into a living nightmare on his home planet.

But, lol, those final ten minutes? ?! They are so abstractly bizarre that it has to be some kind of massive joke on the developer's part? [SPOILER](Though, the "indoctrination theory" that is currently circling the Internet is growing on me.)[/SPOILER] I'm cynically assuming that something more will come along in the future, but it's such a weird note for this series to go out on.

Has anyone else played this? It would be fun to discuss in more detail, but I'm trying to avoid spoiling it all.

It takes me, like, five years to find enough time to play through a video game, but I'm SLOWLY making my way there.

[RyanUltOsc]

I wouldn't call that creative. They're just following broad fantasy tropes.

There was a time when they were creative on all fronts. But now what? They release an MMO based on their most successful property and all it is is a WoW clone. They couldn't even innovate the form. Mind you the Elder Scrolls MMO sounds worse.

Video game creativity should be of the form, not merely story.

Hmm, I've heard that TOR is about as far from WOW as you can get. Who has accused TOR of being a WOW clone?

For me, graphics is overrated, so I place a high importance on story and characters, which is probably why I like Bioware.