The Gamer's Quarter

[Mr Mustache]

I think I agree with antitype, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish the game, but what I played wasn't at all bad. I especially like the handling of computer consoles; not sure if it's been done like that in previous or subsequent fps games, but it was nicely implemented.

Probably the biggest disappointment is that the enemy death animations are lame in comparison to the nicely intricate ones of the older games. Also, the game gets repetitive, but I felt that way about every other Doom I've played so...

(I also enjoyed the flashlight switching)
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Straight up

[antitype]

Yeah, I mean, nobody ever complains about Doom or Doom II being too repetitive. They're just as guilty of the "monster closet" thing.

Totally agreed on the handling of the computer screens. They feel almost tangible with the way they're fluidly implemented.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[dongle]

The pace was off. Cutscenes and logs and long empty passages and the flashlight kept it from being Doom-y to me. I haven't played the game since it came out but I don't recall the long, relentless firefights I was used to in Doom like the secret mission in Episode 2 against a bunch of Barons then half a dozen Cacos. Doom was primarily oriented towards action, with quiet spots to throw you off before a monster closet or a new room full of critters. Doom3, I felt, was biased towards periods of calm or relative calm (surprise encounters with only one or two 'easy' type enemies), with maybe a couple bigger fights per level against a couple tough enemies. The lack of large encounters was probably due to the demanding nature of the Doom3 engine at the time, but all the same the series went from being an ultra-violent bloodbath to a horror FPS.

Chainsaw and berserker were pretty memorable moments, though.

[antitype]

Hey, so I'm about to try Oblivion in hopes that it's not as hideously wooden and clunky as Morrowind. Are there any mods that I should just go ahead and apply? I've heard there are lots that can vastly improve the game, if only in appearance (e.g. something to make people not so ugly).
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[Scratchmonkey]

Morrowind is about 20 times better than Oblivion.

Okay, that wasn't very helpful.

I didn't mind the ugly people myself, one thing you might want to apply is the psychic guards mod, which makes it so that when you commit a crime, only local guards (or guards that can see you, depending on the mod) know you're a criminal, rather than every guard in the game instantly knowing.

Also, depending on how you react to it, you might want to apply some sort of leveling/scaling mod. If you don't, you'll have to get used to fighting wildly different creatures depending on what your level is and having things like common bandits equipped with Daedric and Ebony armor when you get to the higher levels.

[antitype]

[antitype]

[Scratchmonkey]

It depends on the mod. Most of the smaller ones can be applied safely, many of the larger ones, including some of the scaling ones, recommend that you restart the game.

I mean, the Morrowind thing is a purely personal thing; it depends on how you react to the settings. I found Morrowind interesting and creepy while Oblivion was pretty generic. It doesn't help that all the Oblivion gates are pretty much the same and you don't get the variety of landscapes or architecture that you get in Morrowind.

Mostly, I think that it's clear that Bethesda didn't get as much time as they wanted to work on Oblivion. There's one part of the game that feels polished and has some narrative depth, and that's the Dark Brotherhood side-quest. The rest of it, as pretty and interactive as it is, is just hella sloppy, as opposed to the clunky, ugly and interesting Morrowind, which is really as close to having some sort of actual politics as a game has come.

[antitype]

I can certainly understand why people feel Oblivion is generic, but I have to admit that find the whole beardy fantasy aesthetic really charming. Man, this game is beautiful once you set foot outside, too. I just need that mod to get rid of the ugly mid-distance popup — I'm pretty sure I've heard of one.

Morrowind's aesthetic is certainly more unique, but the wooden emptiness of what I played just really got in the way of my enjoyment. Oblivion feels more warm and welcoming. Maybe I'll change my mind, though, once I'm acclimated to the series via Oblivion and I'm looking for more.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[Scratchmonkey]

It was when I started pushing at Oblivion that I felt underwhelmed. Even though the aesthetics of the game are initially livelier, the game design sticks out a lot more and that just killed it for me. I react pretty badly to games with obvious "videogame logic" and with a game where you're supposed to be exploring a world, that killed it for me, whereas even if Morrowind is super-clunky, there's enough attention to detail that it feels much more immersive.

Or to put it another way, I really liked it for the first 5 hours or so and the experience was downhill after that. I also didn't play very far through the main quest, so that might have something to do with it -- I got the impression that with their limited amount of time, they put a lot of effort into the "proper" route of the game that the side-areas were neglected, which definitely wasn't the case in Morrowind.

Edited to replace "for though" with "or so". There's a linguistics pickle for you! Also, I'm probably coming off as to negative. If you wind up really enjoying Oblivion, more power to you and if so, let us know -- I'm making a new computer in a few weeks and I'll probably try and pick it up again.

[antitype]

Well, I suppose I'll have to reserve further judgment until I've put in a good 10-20 hours, then.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[Cycle]

[dongle]

Doom 3's level design was about atmosphere whereas Doom 1 & 2's level design was about playability.

[Cycle]

I'd argue the first two games were about both! Also, Doom 3's atmosphere ran pretty thin pretty quickly. They kept throwing the same tricks at you and it became predictable.

That's the worst thing a FPS can do in my opinion, have predictable enemy placement.
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[Scratchmonkey]

[antitype]

It wasn't the color palette that bugged me. It was that everything moved like it was made of wood, faces were all fucking butt-ugly (this has been mostly remedied in Oblivion), when you went over steps or ledges there was no smoothness to your movement — it was all jerky and lifeless. Also, right away I hated the fact that when I went to get a ride to the next town on one of those long-legged creatures, which looked so cool, I was just instantly transported there via loading screen. Talk about destroying my sense of immersion. The color palette was about the only thing that didn't bother me.

Anyway, I've just finished my first Oblivion Gate and I'm really enjoying myself. Aside from some weirdness with NPCs (apparently if you don't catch something they say and they start going about doing things when you have no idea what's going on you're just kind of left hanging (I didn't hear someone tell me I needed to go and get a key for the gate from inside the chapel and they all just kind of stared into space, waiting)) I've got no real complaints. Well, I guess I wish equipment didn't wear out so quickly.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[antitype]

Pffhaha. So I'm working through the bit where you bring Brother Martin from Kvatch to the Weynon Priory, and along the way some dude happens to be dismounted from his horse, fighting a wolf or something. So I decide to see if I can grab his horse and take off. He catches me at first and I choose to run — he pursues for a while, but gives up before long. I wait a moment for Martin to catch up, and then some random archer comes over a bridge and attacks me, so I hop off the horse and shut him down. When I went to get back on the horse again, though, Martin yells, "Don't do that!" and started blasting me with magic. I choose to fight him, since, well, obviously he's a key character in the plot and I'm not supposed to kill him, but — I manage to defeat him and knock him unconscious for a few seconds. So he gets back up and scowls at me. When I talk to him and tell him to follow me he's back to his cheerful self: "To the Priory!" For a second. Then he's scowling at me again. But I've got a horse, right?

Heh. I guess I could have continued from there, but it no longer felt right. I'll try again later, and if the horse is there on the path again I'll just let it be.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[dongle]

[Winged Assassins (1984)]

Above everything else about the game I feel that Doom 3 needed a better balance of light and dark. If you look at the previous games there's lots of areas which are well lit and the areas that are dark aren't too dark, you can easily tell what's going on. Doom 3 is just all dark and not much else.
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[Redeye]

[Cycle]

Yeah, I used the flashlight mod. It did wonders for the game! Not quite enough, though. They were smart and only put it on some of the weapons, and scaled it down so the atmoshere still stayed strong. I have no idea why id didn't do something like this, seriously. Silly people!

Also, Dongle, I guess I agree with what you're saying!
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[antitype]

So this guy wants me to become his fellow VAMPIRE HUNTER. He seems very sincere, but I don't know if I can take him seriously.


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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[Crazy Bacon Lips]

DO IT. That guy is fucking awesome. I mean just look at him.

[antitype]

Man, I really need a mod/plugin that either eliminates friendly fire (so to speak) or keeps NPC companions from jumping in front of me during battle. "I'm on your side!" "I'm on your side!" Yeah, yeah, fuck off.
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antitype.livejournal.com | last.fm

[Cycle]

I've been playing a few new DS games.

Labyrinth is basically Cameltry DS, except that it manges to look worse than the SNES version and I don't think it plays as well, either. I hate this charging crap, there is way too much smashing through blocks now. I prefered using momentum in the original game, which also crafted better level design. I also hear it's possible to complete the game in 45 minutes by abusing the charging mechanic!

I didn't like Impossible Mission at first. Then I tried the merged version and now I think it's awesome! The new graphics look fantastic, like Flashback quality, and the new player sprites also look great, but they didn't "feel" right when I played. Using the original sprite has gotten me back in the groove and now I'm having a blast. I'll try one of the new sprites once I finish it and see if I still feel the same way about them.

I tried playing Wario for about five minutes, but sick of it. Man, I'm so tired of games like this making pointless, annoying use of the stylus. I just want to jump around and not bother with that shit! And don't make me fucking attack with the stylus! Fuck this game. Same with any other game that does the same thing. Don't make me use the stylus unless I fucking have to, ok!

QuickSpot is nice and relaxing and I'll probably be playing it quite a bit.

TMNT is horrible.

Spider-Man 3 suffers from the same problem as Wario.

Trioncube is the perfect game for someone who sucks at Tetris. Really sucks. Cute, though.

ok i think that's it
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[dhex]

is there a way to fine-tune the joystick controls in gzdoom? i've tried flipping the sensitivity all the way down and i still turn too quickly.

other than that it runs like a dream. kinda fun.

semi-related: someone made a roguelike mod for doom 3 that's apparently pretty good.
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[dessgeega]

i remember hearing about one of those for the original doom as well, but any search for "doom roguelike" invariably brings me to doomrl.
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[Cycle]

Oh man, I remember reading about the Doom 3 RL, but it wasn't ready by the time I got sick of Doom 3. I should check on its progress, it looked awesome! I should check out that Descent mod too, that looked sweet.

Finished Impossible Mission with... just over an hour to go. Obviously, I am out of practice! This is how to do a remake. It's brilliant! Hell, I think I'm going to buy this game just to make sure it happens again one day!

I'm not sure whether to play the (seemingly perfect) port of the original game now, or try the fully updated version. I'll guess I'll try the full update, I've played through the original enough times already. The updated version features a few changes that makes the game a little more forgiving, by the by, but nothing I take offense at. In fact, good on 'em. They included the original game if I want good ol' fashioned punch-you-in-the-balls gameplay, anyway. Also, not only can you play as a chick in the new version, but you can also play as a robot (as in the third game in the series).

Seriously, this is a great remake.

Go buy it and stuff.

Apparently it's coming to Wii and PSP also, but I can't imagine playing it without the stylus and map at the bottom now. It works great.

It's also pretty much the perfect portable game.

Great remake.

Seriously.

EDIT: Oh snap!

It even has difficulty modes. I'm guessing this only effects the time limit. It starts on easy mode, so I had 8 hours... if I played on hard (traditional) mode, I'd only had six and would have lost the game. Well, now that I'm prepped up, I'm gonna go take it on. I've done it before and I can do it again! Woo! The difficulty modes also work on the original mode! That's cool!
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[Winged Assassins (1984)]

[Cycle]

p.s Dungeon Doom

also, haha I remember this.
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[antitype]

[simplicio]

Honeycomb Beat is good, like an unofficial 3rd Polarium game!

Ogre Battle is just lovely. I'll write more about it after some more time with it, which may be a while, because

Secret of Mana arrived in the mail today. It's perfect, really. From a nostalgia standpoint, sure, but even more so on levels of design and play. I always remember being in love with the music and sound, oh the sound! But what strikes me this time through is the ecology of it. What game these days has an intro sequence like this? Ambient music with a steady heartbeat, a simply written narration detailing the cyclic destruction of the world, accompanied by shots of the world. Forests, landscapes, man-made structures, but totally devoid of life, panning around to emphasize the stillness, until we suddenly run into 3 idiot kids in front of a giant waterfall. Here's trouble.

The way you run right into that first flower, not even thinking a little piece of the woods might knock you on your ass and poison you. The way you can follow Dyluck into the witch's spooky forest, see the landscape, hear but not quite see the creatures therein, as the arrows they shoot just touch the visible edge of the screen, and the soldiers you followed are nowhere to be found. The way you first run into Gaia's Navel, but the girl pulls you right back out as that bat you see starts glowing with some unknown spell. The way a slime bobs slowly onto the screen, but infuriatingly slips around your weapons, and then divides so consistently it becomes worrying. Every enemy here is introduced perfectly, in a way that gives insight into both tactics and ecology.

There's another thing at work here too; this world is bigger to the characters than it is to the players. They have, through modest graphics and gesticulations, their own language we players aren't privy to. Now this is fairly common in jrpgs as a whole, in the form of a recycling of animations for various purposes, but I've never seen it used so abstractly as it is here. We players see Luka on the pedestal of the mana seed, and we players assume that's who Jema's talking about. Our hero, however, who is admittedly a kid and perhaps a slightly stupid one at that, registers shock that this beautiful girl is in fact a 200 year old sage. To us players she looks more like a muppet- the beautiful girls in this game have the big curly hair and pose provocatively all the time. But it's a throwaway moment that was kept in because it tells us about the internal logic of the world. Much the same with the introduction of the Sprite child, which is a bizarre exchange of actions that make sense only abstractly, but is suddenly validated when we eavesdrop on the Sprite's conversation afterward. I had that guy crying, he says. There is no crying animation in Secret of Mana.
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"Worlds turn the new machine to thee. To thee. Though, thine the new machine space."
-Kurt Schwitters, 1919

[ryan]

I'll catch up to your score in Pac-Man, Wes. One day.

Aside from enjoying some wakka wakka time, I'm also involved in a stalemate in WarHammer: Dark Crusade. I'm surprised Relic didn't do anything to prevent a situation like this from happening: 2-3 sides left, all territory is level 10+, and no army is strong enough to capture any of the territory.

Also, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam for the Wii. Like the PS2 version, only now I get to pretend I'm steering the skater? Wee!

Call of Duty on the PSP continues to teeter on being pretty cool. The developers were generous with the control schemes, but none seem to be what I require.
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Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

[Harveyjames]

[SuperWes]

[helicopterp]

I picked up Second Sight based on Dracko's recommendation. I've only played through the first three stages, but I agree with him that it sets itself up for a well-structured story. I buy John Vattic as an interesting guy, and I like the way I'm working at the story from two angles.

The bad part of the game is Vattic's movement though. What is it about this game that makes me feel like the character barely makes contact with the ground? He doesn't have any weight to him. It's maddening. The telekinesis controls the same way.

I'm also starting to worry that the game's going to overload me with powers and dilute the usefulness of the neat ones.


Pro-Tip: In the third level, access the security guard's computer and log into his chat program. His wife or girlfriend starts typing and then gets really, really worried when he doesn't respond. It's a great touch.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[Dracko]

Got Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, Commandos 3: Destination Berlin and Shogun: Total War all for £10 today. Can't wait to give them a proper go.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[dessgeega]

video of some umihara kawase replays recorded in the past couple weeks, ending with an admittedly sloppy demonstration of how to pass the first "boss" most players encounter.

my current nemesis is field 18, accessible from one of the three doors in field 11. all the walls are covered with conveyor belts. or spikes. rough stuff. i'm going to pass it though.

EDIT: and so i did! there's a video of field 24 here.

EDIT AGAIN: more here!
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[Scratchmonkey]

A little Winning Eleven Pro Evolution 2007 and it only reinforced my initial impressions of the jump in difficulty from the third level to the fourth level. It goes from scoring ridiculously easy goals, like 5 goals per game with shit players, to the CPU practically making you want to cry because you can't even hold possession and scoring virtually every time it gets a sniff of goal, while your fantastically talented players bloot mis-kicks into the second deck.

It's maddening, because if you want to come back to the game after some time away, your choices are either no-challenge no-fun or running the gauntlet for a couple days until you get your edge back.

[dessgeega]

i bought a copy of the genesis port of atari's roadblasters for seventy-seven cents. it's a sequel of sorts to spy hunter, but with a behind-the-car into-the-screen perspective. despite the title's mad max stylings, a shiny optimistic futurism pervades the game. roadblaster's clean flat-color visuals make it one of the best-looking racing games on the sega drive. accuracy is rewarded: shooting an opponent raises your multiplier, while shooting and missing lowers it, and the multiplier determines how much reserve fuel you're awarded - more reserve fuel means more leeway with track time limits. i like it.
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[ApM]

Shit! I had no idea there was a Genesis port. I love Roadblasters dearly, and will be eBaying this post-haste!

[SuperWes]

[Cycle]

Beat Impossible Mission on hard, with just over an hour and a half to go. Intense stuff!

EDIT: Oh snap!

Original mode, hard, with over three hours to spare. BAM!
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[Winged Assassins (1984)]

In God Of War 2 you play as an angry bald man who has to kill things when the game tells you to press the buttons. This shit's pretty fun yo, to hell with people who don't have a similar train of thought. It's a real looker too and it only really slows down on the fly-bys but that's because there's ass-loads of detail in the environments. Colour me technically impressed.
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[Cycle]

Hey Rero, we sure seem to disagree on lots of things despite having similar taste in genres and ideas!
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[dhex]

i've been playing vasara a lot. why? i have no fucking idea. it's hard as shit but very compelling once i figured out the scoring system.

i should go back and play doom some more.

or arcanum. i think this weekend will involve arcanum.
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[Pijaibros]

[dhex]

the slow dude with the spear is pretty good too. but mind you, i haven't broken half a mil yet.
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[Winged Assassins (1984)]

[dessgeega]

so after being intrigued by the screenshots at this link, i absolutely had to play 005. and i couldn't bring myself to stop until i had completed a whole round.

it's a spy game - one of a number to try and capitalize on the popularity of james bond - "in four scenes", most of which involve running and / or sneaking. the sprites are colorful and cute, as per most sega arcade titles of its era - it's also similiar to those games i have in mind in that it doesn't have sound in mame. it does have an ice-skating rink, though. and a warehouse where you have to elude guards with flashlights, and they're actually pretty smart and work together to try and flank you.

it took me a lot of tries to finish all four scenes (specifically, that last helicopter scene), but i eventually earned a "RRRREATRRRR ESCAPE". YES INDEED!
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