The Gamer's Quarter

[Swimmy]

I figured this area would be at least as long as the last.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

[dessgeega]

i have been playing contact!

the number you have dialed is currently in space.

this game's got some tricks up its sleeve, i can tell.
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[GSL]

Goat-pushing minigame? I'm at the military base already, and I don't really recall any escort missions of any sort.

Am I playing it out of order?

EDIT: SHAPER!! The forums are busted and doing strange things with post times!

[dessgeega]

so contact is pretty much a dungeon crawl with an interesting (or more interestingly articulated) player-game relationship, where the professor is the game, terry is the protagonist, and the player is the medium through which they communicate. (like every video role-playing game that exists.)

it's cute, but i don't know if the gameplay is worth the time the game seems to be asking of me. i feel like i've played enough to "get it" and to continue i'd have to genuinely enjoy playing it. and i don't know that i do. (killer7 at least had the decency to be over as soon as you figured out its angle.)

hey, is there any way to avoid the rock boss's attack after it's lost its arms?
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[dark steve]

[Shapermc]

[dessgeega]

[antitype]

[dessgeega]

so i finished that island, went to the next and completed the goat-pushing minigame (aka escort mission). i've decided a need to stick with the game at least as far as the military base. after that we'll see whether i want to keep playing.
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[Swimmy]

I've been stuck on the escort mission for a little while.

This game is pretty terrible, aside from the packaging. I think I might put it up in the trading thread.
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"Ayn Rand fans are the old school version of Xenogears fanboys."
-seryogin

[Shapermc]

That area that you're holding out for has a couple genus moments in it.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[dessgeega]

[Mister Toups]

[dessgeega]

i've finished ft. eagle.

rarely does a game so aggressively waste my time as does this one. i can feel the seconds of my life ticking away while i play it.

the thing with the screen was kind of clever, i guess?
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[dessgeega]

the gamer's quarter
maybe a quarter sarcastic
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[Lackey]

[dessgeega]

andy's progress quest comparison is pretty apt. you push the b button, move up to an enemy, and watch icons pop up over terry's head showing which of his ten jillion stats have gone up. you do this until you can beat the next can't-run-away battle without having to spam all your precious health-up items.

there's no skill. there's barely any play. all you do is watch numbers go up. it's the worst kind of video rpg.
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[GSL]

[Mister Toups]

[dessgeega]

well, i've decided that i want to see the ending of contact. i'm going to do this they way i do other games i can't stand but want the experience of: hunker down and muscle my way through as quickly as possible.

currently i am at the earth wind and fire and water lock. i changed into my aqua suit and, sure enough, i need costumes. the only ones i had were water and cheffery, but i read something on another forum, and it got me the earth suit. that leaves wind and fire. someone please just tell me where to go.

i find it pretty annoying that i've found the thai curry recipe, went and gathered coconuts and rescued a spice dealer and when i try to cook the curry, it tells me "he can't make this yet". he can't prepare coffee yet either. what?
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[helicopterp]

The most frustrating thing for me so far is how long it takes the ship to get anywhere. Is there any way to speed it up? I usually just set down my DS for six or seven minutes to go do something else.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[dessgeega]

i always just go to sleep.
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[Mister Toups]

[dessgeega]

it's kind of lame that potions have any place in this game's food-based inventory.
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[dessgeega]

also i think i liked the contact in my dream more that the real one.

aliens told my mind-controlled protagonist (who may or may not have still been terry) "that trick with the the screen was clever, but the real power lies in videotapes". "videotapes, of course! it's so simple - and so brilliant!" i thought as the aliens led maybe-terry to their secret lab where they were developing the newest and most effective distracting videotapes.
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[dessgeega]

so habara was easily the most interesting thing the game has done so far - until it turned into another boring dungeon slog. even the gorgeous 8-bit wonderlands quickly became headache-inducing wars of attrition against unavoidable opponents. (tromping through a dungeon dressed up as a mall fighting slimes dressed up as cell phones made me realize why some people can't stand earthbound. i'm not sure i can either after all that.)

but the "boss" almost - almost! - made up for it. it felt like the game was finally starting to deliver on its premise! there better be more of that on castlevania island. i'm almost done!

p.s. the pyramid fight was like they tried to come up with another clever boss fight to fill their quota but ended up merely producing an unintelligible one. "what a mess!"
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[dessgeega]

someone please tell me where to find a key.

i was fortunate enough to have "andrew mister" toups forewarn me about the fetch quest before the final island, but now there's this stupid door standing in my way of completing it.

help.
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[Harveyjames]

I admire how you guys have the tenacity to stick with games you don't like. I usually feel like I've 'played' the game after about an hour, and usually the only games that get any play after that are the ones I enjoy.

[dessgeega]

well, i finished it. the ending was almost clever, but still felt pretty hollow. that's my review of the game, in fact. at least it was short.

now i'm going to trade it in for a game that one actually plays.
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[TheRumblefish]

I am playing Deep Labyrinth and enjoying it.

No joke.
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[dessgeega]

tell me about it, please.
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[TheRumblefish]

[Nana Komatsu]

So it appears that Lumines Plus for PS2 got pushed back? Amazon says February while EBGamespot says January.
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resetbutton.net: videogames for unattractive people

[Shapermc]

[dessgeega]

no.

sorry! i'm not going to have an american ps2 tomorrow.
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[Lestrade]

FUCKING Gears of War tomorrow in a FUCKING collector's box.

[Shapermc]

Gears of War is really freaking tempting.

Also, you probably won't see it until Wed.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[Dracko]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to Gears of War too, and I don't even own a 360 or a TV.

Still, I'm not convinced by the approach taken to the story, but it seems that even Cliff Bleszinski is aware of the territory and archetypes he's using, so there's potential for surprise. And hey, it's an Epic game after all: Muscle men are somewhat expected, and the original Unreal honestly surprised me in more ways than one.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[SuperWes]

[Shapermc]

I just found out that Tempest is coming to the 360 next year.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

[dessgeega]

[friedchicken]

[dessgeega]

[friedchicken]

I can't deny that I've been getting irritated with Sony for quite a while too. I can remember thinking at their last ridiculous launch (well, the PS2) that they would learn lessons about a major system launch. Instead it looks like they've actually planned such a colossal clusterfuck to some degree. I assume by your mention of local businesses that you're talking about the allocation of PS3 units being heavily weighted to ginormous retailers, virtually locking out the smaller local folks?

For some reason I feel like Wes disagrees with this opinion, and I'm dying to hear his reasoning. But maybe I'm wrong. Wes?

[dessgeega]

[friedchicken]

Oh yeah!

[Shapermc]

[friedchicken]

OH YEAH!!!!!

[SuperWes]

[Swimmy]