The Gamer's Quarter

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Just played the first level of Black. Stopped because it seemed like playing with the sound way down because somebody is sleeping is probably not the ideal scenario for that game.

Recently, it's been a whole lot of Winning Eleven. I've gotten over my irritation with Professional difficulty and am getting more into the swing of things. I still think the jump from Regular to Professional is ridiculous, it just felt especially awful because I hadn't played WE for a while. Now that I'm getting my chops back, I'm not finding the game to be such a tough nut to crack.

Still waiting for the huge reworked Dwarf Fortress update.

simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Treedweller · . Joined: 03 Mar 2007 Posts: 5 Location: Canada

Yeah, I understand that the language barrier is a big hindrance, but here's hoping that the translations are completed soon. It may be a great game, but it's a big annoyance to be glued to a translation guide the whole time... It'll be a relief to play Mother 3 in English.
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SuperWes · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:07 am Post subject:

I've been playing Bullet Witch today. I bought it on sort of a whim at Best Buy today and I'm already on Stage 5 (out of 6).

It's good! Much better than I expected. I want to say I like it about as much as Lost Planet, and I liked Lost Planet a lot. They're kind of similar games really, but the world of Bullet Witch and Alicia as a character are just a whole lot more likable than what Lost Planet gave us. Oddly enough, the worst part of Bullet Witch so far has been the first few stages. Normally games tend to begin with their best and then just kinda keep you busy until near the end when they throw their best at you again for the grand finale. Bullet Witch begins with a confusingly designed stage full of artificial barriers that disappear when you shoot giant floating brains, and then by around the third stage it sort of abandons this set up in favor of more straightforward and fun-to-play levels.

I wouldn't call it a must-buy or anything at this point, but it's a great game to tide me over until GRAW 2 and Motorstorm hit next week. Man, March is a busy month for gamin'!

-Wes
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dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:18 am Post subject:

i'm playing god hand. it's fucking incredible.
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Lestrade · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:26 am Post subject:

Crackdown! I am having so, so much fun.

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:31 am Post subject:

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:32 am Post subject:

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:49 am Post subject:

I guess I'll have to get Gold again?

How "upped" do I need to be? I'm a lot farther along than that screenshot I posted.

P.S. Any tips for quickly building strength? I want to throw trucks.

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:00 pm Post subject:

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

SuperWes · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:40 pm Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I picked up Izuna on Friday afternoon. I have played it for about 7 hours and am almost through the main game. It's better than I thought it would be, but very, very, very broken for a roguelike. Anyways, it's not too bad, and while it is easy, most people won't consider it as such.
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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!"

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

It's worth noting that not only are GBA Micros 50 bucks at Wal-Mart, that includes the Anniversary Edition as well, which is a nice little deal.

Lasa · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 128

Worms 360 is sadly bare bones.
I already miss my carpet bombing, holy hand grenades and exploding grandmas.

SuperWes · Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:15 am Post subject:

I kinda like that it's bare bones. I'd rather have a tightly made bare-bones version of Worms than the terribly shoddy full-featured ones they've been putting out since the Dreamcast.

Hopefully they'll build on it from here. I'm hopin' they let you record your own voices in the next version.

-Wes
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

So long as there's the ninja rope and scottish voices, I'll be set.

That said I think Armageddon was the perfect balance of weapons versus simplicity, and there were more than enough rule sets to let you pick and choose what weapons you wanted to allow. Everything since then (although to be fair, i've only really played World Party) has seemed a bit too cluttered.
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

The Sega Genesis Collection for the PS2 is treating me right. Digital Eclipse can't do a fantastic job to save their life though, but at least this is their best work to date. Still, I don't enjoy bright screen flashes in my Sonic 2.

At $20, this is really a fantastic buy. I got a Genesis after daydreaming about one for years, so to have everything back on one disc, and in pretty good shape, it does the heart good.
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simplicio · . Joined: 03 May 2005 Posts: 1091

Yeah, now if someone would just reissue Ranger X in an easily comestible format I'd be set.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

So we discovered today that flOw has been ported to the PS2.

Also, I'm black-listed from returning video games to Best Buy without a receipt!
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Why is that!

Also, what's the deal with Flow! I know it's supposed to evoke feelings, but feeling bored isn't really up there on the list of great emotions!
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I returned Rule of Rose a few weeks ago and bought Dead Rising with the credit I got, but I guess you are only allowed to do that once in their system.

It's ~~the best example of games as art I have seen in a while~~ REALLY REALLY PRETTY.
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Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I was completely entranced with flOw on the PC. I don't like it as much on the PS3 unfortunately.
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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!"

SuperWes · Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:15 pm Post subject:

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I have been playing Way of the Samurai for the last few hours at the urging of Shaper. It's a lot of fun and has held up pretty well even if the graphics are silly and the localization is just bad. There are loads of spelling errors and wrong word choices that are just funny, but the speech is displayed in comic book style text bubbles so maybe that is intentional. The music is really great but I wish there was more of it, as I keep hearing the same maybe four songs over and over again.

On my last playthrough, I was playing off both sides fairly successfully and uncovered the government conspiracy to take over the area. I found this completely amazing double-ended sword but was getting surrounded by five or more lapdogs of the state at a time and got struck down.

Also, i was amused that hitting on a waitress in one playthrough led me to having a reputation as a lecher in the next.
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

I always thought Way of the Samurai had really really great ideas in terms of "this is what a videogame can really be used for in a way that's totally unique" that hasn't entirely been picked up on. I mean, it's pretty much taking the "emergent narrative of the gameplay" and yoking it to the expositional content of the game. That's pretty neat!

(And, I suppose, like most 'neat' things, it's very difficult to take it out of the context of it being a nice trick and actually doing something with it. That said, I think WotS does a good job at trying to present ideas in regards to 'modernization' and more specifically the Westernization of Japan.)

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Yes, I only got a chance to make one playthrough when I demoed it about a 6 months ago. I really enjoyed what it was trying to do with story. This is the first time that I have found a copy in acceptable enough condition. I'm going to play it soon.
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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!"

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

While I understand why they didn't do it, I'd love to see WotS, or a game similar to WotS, with a Bushido Blade-style approach to combat, that is, one good hit and you're basically dead. It would be incredibly frustrating; still, I think the rush of mastering a system like that and walking around as a Mifune-esque character would be entirely worth it.

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I started playing Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked which is very good. I bought this game a while ago but after the Suda51 talk at GDC my interest was renewed.

The gameplay is your basic 3D brawler but it has some amazing touches. The integration with the background music is great, and being able to switch between songs and change the tempo of the fight seems to add a small amount of depth. The counter system (which is like a QTE upon two attacks colliding) is neat. Hyper mode is excellent once I did the tutorial which explained how it actually affects the gameplay.

The real draw is Fate mode and Trance mode. It's kind of hard to describe them, but they draw a lot from the killer7 visual style and the first time I entered Trance mode I basically was screaming out "holy shit" the entire time.

There are way too many cutscenes for the amount of gameplay you have, but I'm not really surprised because it's an anime license. The writing isn't terrible but I wish they had an option for the original Japanese voices.

Overall, I am enjoying this game very much.

Edit: Something interesting I noted while playing was that I instictively tried to use the right analog stick to move the camera around but there is no camera control in this game. I brought this up with Matt.

Nana: I can't move the camera around. It's a little weird.
ShaperMC: Suda51 doesn't yield control of the camera to the player. Has it been a problem?
Nana: Not really, now that you mention it. It's mostly just disorienting at first.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Okay I found the beetle sumo wrestling minigame in Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked and it is awesome. Basically you bet on one of three beetles to win in a fight, with different odds on each one winning. The fight itself is done like a pokemon battle (only you are just watching) complete with Game Boy-like sound effects and pixel art graphics. When you win, your opponent's trainer screams out "No! My Buraigar!" Genius.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Chapter three's boss ramped the difficulty up quite a bit, and I had to pay a lot more attention to how I was fighting. I think I'm getting into the groove of leveraging hyper mode so that I can later go into Trance mode (which is still extremely excellent).

I love the little touches this game adds, like when you are playing Jin and die he says "There are still things I need to do." Or when you back out of his path in the character select screen, he says "spineless coward."

Also, I'm going to have to buy the anime now since I am enjoying the game this much ;_; Nevermind that with the Amazon discount on MSRP it's still more than $100.
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I never have to play Hexic HD again.
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dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:42 am Post subject:

nana gave me her copy of the pc version of psychonauts (five discs!) because it won't run on her computer. i've been playing it (i just finished lungfishopolis). it's pretty much exactly as apm described - a lucasarts adventure game with the conventions of adventure games replaced by conventions of platform games. so it's basically a reskinning of every other 3d platformer you've played - instead of collecting coins you collect "figments" - but what a reskinning! the art direction is very strong - i don't think i've seen a single straight surface in the entire game (save for the stage shaped like a cube).

i also played andrew "mister" toups's copy of god hand while staying at nana's. and ordered it online before i left. i played through the first stage and it's utterly fantastic, easily one of the best games of its generation. listening to matt coach me on - "use the up-square shield breaker!" "do a ball buster and then pummel!" - reminds me of older days of skill-based gaming in a very good way. it has a great sense of humor too. and the music is fantastic. i hope my copy arrives soon.

i also finally bought nonono puzzle chalien. play-asia had it for half off during their lunar new year sale, but i hesitated - probably hoping it would sell out and i would save the money. well, it sold out, and i realized i really wanted a copy. they restocked a bunch of games the next day, including the bit generations titles, but while those were still listed at half price, puzzle chalien was not. they finally put it back on sale and i snatched it up. that game is pretty fantastic.

shaper gave me a gameboy micro for my birthday, so i will probably attempt to play sound voyager later, now that i am equipped with headphone technology.
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Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:01 pm Post subject:

nothing better illustrates that tim schafer is an adventure game writer who just happened to develop a platformer than the milkman conspiracy. i've managed to get into the post office through trickery, but all i've found is a glowing cobweb over the door. and the cobweb duster costs four times all the money (arrowheads) i've ever found so far. how do i progress?
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I have heard this is the point that most people stop playing the game at.
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dark steve · . Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 1110

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

ApM · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 5:40 pm Post subject:

Weird -- in the PS2 version, I definitely recall it popping up a friendly, obnoxious little dialogue box telling you that you'll need the cobweb duster to progress. If I recall correctly, it even suggested getting the dowsing rod and didn't let you enter Boyd's brain until you had it, but those details are a bit hazier.

Making you go back and buy the dowsing rod and wander around camp is already pretty much the worst design mistake the game makes. If the dialogue box doesn't show up in the PC or Xbox versions, then that's about ten times worse.

Seriously, though -- it's the last serious misstep until the notoriously difficult final level. Although I wonder if they eased up on that in the PS2 version, too -- at that point, drowning wasn't actually taking lives away.

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

Well, I just typed in the cheat code for arrowheads, and the cheat for 1000s of lives.

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject:

i bought the dowsing rod and rounded up the arrowheads i needed for the cobweb duster. it didn't take too long. i hadn't really explored the campgrounds before that, so it was tolerable. i finished the milkman conspiracy and went on to the next stage.

now i'm up to a door that slams in my face unless i'm invisible. invisibility cannot be earned until level 30. i'm level 27. this is getting absurd.
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ApM · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:38 pm Post subject:

That is indeed pretty absurd.

May I suggest trying one of the other two stages that are available to you at this point?

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:13 pm Post subject:

i didn't realize there were other stages! i went to waterloo world, though i needed invisibility there too. fortunately, i was able to rank up to earn it by the time it was required. that's still a dumb mechanic. if the player needs to collect a number of trinkets to progress certain points in the game, that's a guarantee that she'll inevitably run into a wall and have to do busywork for a while while the story is on hold.

it's a way of padding out a game. lucasarts adventure games and psychonauts are primarily about character, setting, and dialogue - the "gameplay" exists just to pad out the experience. in lucasarts adventures inventory puzzles serve as padding; in psychonauts, tropes of 3d platforming do. the problem is whereas if you're stuck on a puzzle you can just look up the solution online, if you're stuck on a platforming sequence you have to keep throwing yourself against it until you manage to pass.

and it's easy to get stuck on the platforming in this game because it's not terribly good. the developers really had no clue how to make a platform game, so they cribbed from the 3d platformers they had handy. including banjo-kazooie-style collect-em-ups. it's hard to keep a story moving at an even clip when there's a doodad toll bridge in the middle of it, and that's no small setback when the story is all your game has going for it.
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dessgeega · Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:22 am Post subject:

i took a break to play castlequest, a nes port of raphael that i got at fry's for ninety-nine cents. it's a platforming game set in a castle of one hundred rooms which you move through freely (when you can reach an exit). together the rooms form one enormous puzzle of elevators, crates, locks and keys. it is a bit like being trapped in a giant clockwork machine.

there are many ways to die - crushed to death, monsters - but you're given fifty lives at the start of the game. most likely, though, you'll get stuck and have to reset the game. there are keys and locks scattered throughout the castle in six different colors, and if you don't unlock doors carefully you'll end up surrounded by locks you have no keys to.

it is a cruel game but i admire its artifice. i've managed to find the castle map, and that will have to do for now.
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Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

I was feeling pretty awful last night, so I Picrossed my brains out until morning. Hooray for autistic retreat!

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I played Rythm Tengoku for about an hour last night.

Wow.

Ok, at first I couldn't see what people were raving about so much until I reached the "1st Mix" and then I was in love. Now I'm having a really challenging time dealing with my visual and audio seperations. This game is really unique and does, in fact, feel more like Wario Ware 2 than any of the real sequels. Now... if I could just beat this damn mouse thing :(

EDIT: What the hell do you have to do with the cat face mini game?

Also, drum kit minigame = win
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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!"