The Gamer's Quarter

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject: Endlessly Oceaning

So after raging on and on about how I'm starting to hate traditional video games and whatnot, I'm really in the mood for something different. Well lo and behold, Endless Ocean comes out today!

I went to the official site and now I'm thinking, "Underwater Enya? FUCK YEAH!" I keep bitching about wanting games about exploration, about being sick to death about pointless combat systems, and now I think I'm ready for this.

I want to buy it just to support this kind of bizarre creation. Fuck yeah — as soon as I have the money, I'm buying Endless Ocean. Would anyone consider diving avec moi? I might drink a little bit before each session.

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Let me track down a wii first, then we'll talk.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:26 pm Post subject:

DO IT. I've got a fresh bottle of untasted Filipino rum that says this game is going to be awesome.

I hope Shane Bettenhausen reviews the game at 1up. I can't wait to see what kind of bullshit they come up with for this.

EDIT: Fuck me, it's only $30! I might even be able to get it for $25. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

For some reason this was released in Europe a couple months ago and a number of people in Euroland have been talking about how great this title is, which I kind of expected because it was made by the same people who did the Everblue series.

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:51 pm Post subject:

I am just so down with petting dolphins right now. As long as your diver doesn't suddenly pull a harpoon gun in third-person, over-the-shoulder mode and grunts (through his breathing apparatus), "Let's take these bitches down!"

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Lestrade, don't even lie. You would enjoy a game like that, as well.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

boojiboy7 · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 3:55 pm Post subject:

This game actually sounds pretty damn interesting, but also oddly frightening, but only because I have an odd terror of the vastness of water. Man, when I was a kid, Star Trek 4 was such a creepy experience in the theater.

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:01 pm Post subject:

It came out here last week though I've only been able to get it yesterday. It's a very lovely game, quite calming, you just swim around with fishes and interact with them and write rude messages on the screen with the underwater pen which I haven't got yet but I imagine that you can write rude messages on the screen. It's also a very nice looking game and this is without it running through a component AV cable. Who needs blue skies when you have blue seas.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

damnit, it was released at full price here too!

i'm not buying this or ghost squad until it's $40-50. I 'mseriously considering just modding my wii and pirating everything because I'm sick of this shit!
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Dude what

Don't write this stuff here, they will blacklist you from the magazines

I remember Amiga Format magazine used to have editorials saying that all people who pirated software should be hit by buses. They hate it because their advertisers hate it.

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

The real crime is the ridiculous prices I have to pay!
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SuperWes · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:35 pm Post subject:

Everblue is fucking terrible and I expect nothing less from this game.

Despite this opinion, I applaud Nintendo for bringing out pointless crap like this. Games shouldn't be limited to just a few small genres. I'm sure there are plenty of people that will dig it, but to me it's kind of like Nintendogs without the petting. I applaud them further for bringing it out for $30. I thought it was $50 and I was going to bitch about how they charge $50 for stuff that should be cheaper ($50 for Warioware Wii is pretty much when I decided I don't have blind love for Nintendo anymore), so I'm glad I don't have to!

Tell me how awesome this game is and that I should get it and I might be convinced.

-Wes
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captaincabinets · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:31 pm Post subject:

The only problem with this game is that the ocean is not endless - you really have a pretty restrictive radius from where the boat is placed in which to swim. Apart from this, it's ace.

Also I put a low pass filter and a flanger effect over Air's back catalogue for that authentic "head underwater" sound. I highly recommend it.
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Why am I being boiled into a bright red lobster by this little kid?

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

At $79 au?
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:08 pm Post subject:

K-Mart has it for $66, a more tolerable price.
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Worm · . Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 142

I don't even understand this. You pet dolphins?
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Exit stage left, exit stage right, there is no place to run, all the fuses in the exit signs have been BURNT OUT

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

You dive in the ocean and ah, swim around in it. You explore wrecks, caves, there's the possibility of befriending dolphins who I believe will swim off to find you things, including pointing the way to rare fish. I don't think you even get a harpoon gun or anything.

In other words, it's the logical extension of the aquarium screensaver, only you get to paddle around in it.

captaincabinets · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:29 pm Post subject:

Cycle, I was highly recommending filtering your mp3s for underwater pleasure. As for the game, it's one of those ones you either feel compelled to buy of your own volition, or you don't. Me, I'm very much attracted to water in games since I'm so fundamentally scared of the deep stuff in real life.

But yeah, I got it at JB-Hifi for $75, on release day, but since I had been frothing about this for some time, it was no big deal. You get rammed so much over the prices down here that I guess you just learn to accept it / pick your battles.

Interesting side note: Before I even heard of this last year, I was coding a DS game which was very similar, in which you explore randomly generated 2d (+ discrete z-axis) aquatic life - without danger - using the little guy from the film clip to Radiohead's Pyramid Song. I had gotten as far as putting in a sweet sinusoidal wavy effect and making a random rock formation generator before getting distracted. Now this is out, I don't even have to bother!
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Why am I being boiled into a bright red lobster by this little kid?

bleak · . Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 258

I remember playing a game similar to this back when PSX was the jam and they had those Playstation demo discs packed full of demos for you to try. One of the demos included therein was this undersea treasure exploration game which I think lacked weapons or anything, and it was pretty neat! I can't remember the title of this game for the life of me though, and I'm pretty sure it did abysmally badly.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

you are thinking of aquanauts holiday
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captaincabinets · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

I think he's thinking of Treasures of the Deep.

Edit: Or maybe not! That actually had weapons in it.
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Why am I being boiled into a bright red lobster by this little kid?

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

i thought that too, until the LACK OF WEAPONS bit

treasures of the deep had lots of weapons! it also had way too much action which dissapointed me so much. i never played past the first couple levels.
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captaincabinets · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject:

yeah yeah but memory is a fickle thing, no? In regards to Bleak thinking it had no weapons.
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Why am I being boiled into a bright red lobster by this little kid?

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

your ds game sounds cool btw

i always wanted to try aquanauts holiday, but never have. i played the guys other game though... TAIL OF THE SUN. that had a similar thing going.
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captaincabinets · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:54 pm Post subject:

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

depends what you mean by good. it's actually a pretty hilariously bad game, but i loved it. you basically just run around, eat things, fight things and level up your "tribe" in different ways (resulting in different endings depending what you leveled up the most) and yeah, beasically the only goal is survival, exploration, and making that damn tower.
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Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

Tail of the Sun has some great ideas, but its fans always forget to mention the unplayably-bad part. The camera's constantly fixed at a barely-overhead position, so going south (towards the camera) is ridiculously dangerous and frustrating.

I ought to play it again.
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bleak · . Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 258

Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Yeah, I want this game, but damn that price! I'm totally looking into modding.

This reminds me, my dad, he was playing CRYSIS and asked if there were any beautiful games where you like, just walked around and look at pretty things. He has said that a couple times, so I've been trying to think of games... he liked Myst but I'm trying to think of games where exploration isn't hampered by puzzles and what.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:46 am Post subject:

There's LSD though it's a different kind of beautiful than what your dad would be after.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Oh yeah that would be good, but I'm looking for something a little more recent.
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Lasa · . Joined: 26 Nov 2006 Posts: 128

It seems like this is a total downgrade from Everblue 2.

Where's my treasure hunting and fetch questing?

Lestrade · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:16 am Post subject:

I'm glad this thread is getting as much attention as it is. I have to wait a bit before I can get this game, but sweet fuck, I will! Maybe I'll make an official TGQ YouTube video of me playing the game, overlaid with pulse-pounding action music and Gears of War one-liners. Every time I pet a dolphin, you'll hear the bristling "chk-chkkkk!" of a Lancer being reloaded, and Marcus Fenix saying, "BRING IT!!!"

Wow, I think I've lost my mind.

fish · . Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Posts: 113 Location: montreal

EAT SHIT AND DIE, WHALE.
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boojiboy7 · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:14 am Post subject:

Lestrade, just use all of Cole Train's lines.

I want to see a dolphin jumping out of the water and hear "Soooo HOT!"

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject:

i totally forgot about this game. is it out now? it looks lovely.
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Cycle · Mac daddy Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 2767

Actually, this is probably a perfect game to get my dad...
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helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Make sure you get him Lestrade's modified version.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:43 pm Post subject:

boojiboy7 · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject:

So I have spent about two hours with this. Spotting my first whale was awesome. Just the relaxing feeling of it all is really awesome.

Does anyone who has it know if there is a way to make it play more than one song on a dive? That part is minorly annoying.

God, exploring the ocean terrifies me and is really awesome.

Deeper thoughts on all this later.

captaincabinets · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:49 pm Post subject:

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

boojiboy7 · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:01 pm Post subject:

guys, the abyss is terrifying.

Lestrade · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:16 pm Post subject:

Dammit, need money to buy this!!!

Mr. Mechanical · Friendly Stranger Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 1276

Redeye · . Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth

Worm · . Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 142

Mercenaries. I mean if you think death is pretty.
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Exit stage left, exit stage right, there is no place to run, all the fuses in the exit signs have been BURNT OUT

bleak · . Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 258

Lestrade · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:37 am Post subject: