What are you playing?

[Ap2000]

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1360206046' post='143852']

Possibly, but that'd be a bad idea on their part because I doubt I'll play 3 either. Also, keep in mind I'm saying this as someone who knows nothing about the story in these games, just the gameplay. The only thing I didn't like about 1 and 2 were the cheap scares of OH LOOK A FREAK JUMPING OUT OF THE VENTS TO KILL YOU. Just felt like cheap horror I wouldn't pay to watch in theaters anyway. But again, I only played a little.

[/quote]



Well, publishers, especially EA, don't really always do what their buyers want them to do... very apparent by the disgusting DLC overload for DS 3.

I only played the first one, which had those jump scares, but also had a really, really great and intense atmosphere.

If you want a game with a similarly strong atmosphere, but more in the suspense and less in the pure horror way and mostly without those jump scares, I'd suggest Alan Wake. It's even on sale on Steam right now.

[AEUGNewtype]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1360182727' post='143819']

Do you play the first couple of hours as Raiden and then switch to Snake? Because no Snake, no play.

[/quote]

What is this, 2001? Are people still asshurt about Raiden being a main character even tough he's far more interesting than Snake by the end of MGS4?



[quote name='neshcom' timestamp='1360186682' post='143826']

I'm sure you don't. It's all swordplay, very little sneaking. It takes place four years after MGS4, so...

[/quote]

You can sneak through certain sections and it's still a mechanic of the game, just obviously not the main focus. And Snake's character is really irrelevant after MGS4. Obviously this doesn't deter Kojima from beating this dead horse, since the next 2 games in the series are said to feature Naked Snake again, but especially if new games in the series are set after 4, the story needs to focus on what happened to Raiden and possibly some of the other few surviving characters besides geriatric Snake, if he's even still around 4 years after MGS4.



[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1360233024' post='143864']

I only played the first one, which had those jump scares, but also had a really, really great and intense atmosphere.

If you want a game with a similarly strong atmosphere, but more in the suspense and less in the pure horror way and mostly without those jump scares, I'd suggest Alan Wake. It's even on sale on Steam right now.

[/quote]

All of this is true. Alan Wake is great, and DS1 and 2 are a pretty big step above what 3 appears to be. The first 2 have a direct emphasis on survival, atmosphere, and suspense, which should be some of the main elements of any horror game, but DS3 is basically just Uncharted In Space, where crazy shit is always happening on huge setpieces with cliche Hollywood action movie music and QTEs/sad jump scares dictate the majority of your time spent. In 1 and 2, you had to struggle to keep yourself alive with almost every encounter and get by at the skin of your teeth with almost no ammo for a large amount of the game.

[showraniy]

I watched a trailer and gameplay video of Alan Wake and definitely plan to play it at some point now. It honestly doesn't look all that scary to me, but definitely looks really fun. I think Silent Hill just ruined horror in general for me, because I'll never be as scared of anything as I was playing that game.

[Raiden]'s far more interesting than Snake by the end of MGS4

My god, it keeps happening. I agree with AEUG on this one. I have nothing against Snake (any of them), but I always liked Raiden more. The way Quinton voiced him in MGS4 just screamed Christian Bale levels of Dark Knight corniness at me, but he sounds a lot better in Rising since he ditched that super alto speaking voice. Also, I mean, come on. He's a cyborg. With badass ninja skills. I liked him in MGS2, but cyborg Raiden is always better.

DS3 is basically just Uncharted In Space, where crazy shit is always happening on huge setpieces with cliche Hollywood action movie music and QTEs/sad jump scares dictate the majority of your time spent.

DS3's fights didn't involve half as many jump scares as I encountered in 1 and 2. I never played Uncharted, and don't care for but don't hate QTEs, so the only good thing I took away from 3's demo is that it DIDN'T have jump scares. Unless you count the crane randomly falling off a cliff and startling you, which I can deal with in my cutscenes but not as the entiiire scare factor of the whole game. Don't get me wrong, I liked 1 and 2 well enough; I just didn't like that every encounter was about mutated people jumping out of nooks and crannies. It just started to get old when that was the only way the game ever tried to scare me.

[al kusanagi]

I'm not "butthurt" over Raiden. I just don't think it's a "Metal Gear" game without Snake. I've already got a half dozen action games on my yet to be played pile, so there's no need to add another if it's mainly a hack and slash game.

[AEUGNewtype]

I think Silent Hill just ruined horror in general for me, because I'll never be as scared of anything as I was playing that game.

Tried "Siren"? :) Probably the only series that has frightened me as much and possibly more than Silent Hill. If you take the horrible atmosphere, darkness, and tension of Silent Hill and combine it with the stealth of MGS or Splinter Cell, and then make your character almost completely defenseless in all situations just for added fear, and you'll have Siren.

The way Quinton voiced him in MGS4 just screamed Christian Bale levels of Dark Knight corniness at me, but he sounds a lot better in Rising since he ditched that super alto speaking voice. Also, I mean, come on. He's a cyborg. With badass ninja skills. I liked him in MGS2, but cyborg Raiden is always better.

I love his cyborg voice, period, but yeah, he is a lot more emotive in Rising, he has more of his original, lively character back, but with much more cynicism, confidence, and he still has that awesome little twinge of auto-tune/digitizing to his speaking voice that just barely reminds you that he's a cyborg with every line he speaks. Such a cool feature.

I'm not "butthurt" over Raiden. I just don't think it's a "Metal Gear" game without Snake. I've already got a half dozen action games on my yet to be played pile, so there's no need to add another if it's mainly a hack and slash game.

That's understandable that you have a lot of action games to play, but from what I've played and seen of it, this one seems like it should probably take precedence over any of those, unless you somehow still never played through the likes of DMC4, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden 2, etc. and still have those on your list to play. And yes, the focus of the game is different from most Metal Gear games, but that's why its called "Rising" and not "Solid," and why Ac!d was called that as well, etc. Kojima knew fans would be anal about it, but its the same world, same characters, etc. so the name doesn't matter to me.

[showraniy]

Hm, Siren. I've heard of that one. Looking it up, I think I might have good luck finding a cheap used copy, so I'll definitely add that one to the list. I really need to dust off my PS2 and relive The Good Ol' Days™ anyway. PS3s not being backwards compatible is one of the greatest travesties of my life. :(

[al kusanagi]

All the Alan Wake games were on sale on Steam this week, but I think the sale ended today. 10 bucks for the whole franchise.

[yuzuriha]

My Itadaki Street Portable came yesterday, a full 20 days before the earliest ship day they gave me! I haven't played it yet, but I can't wait to rip it open tonight.

[Ap2000]

I normally don't go to IGN and I feel the need to point out that somebody linked this article on another board...

But, this was quite interesting to read:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/08/ ... ocus-on-pc

And linked in that article:

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/01/22/f ... -microsoft



His talk about Balmer is exactly the impression I always had of him.



Just, ignore the comment section.

[al kusanagi]

The problem is, if not Microsoft, then who? Sony is not doing well at all, and the PS4 is going to be a make or break system for them, and the WiiU hasn't been performing to expectations. The next Xbox is about the only system that will have a solid user base by all accounts, unless the pricing is completely insane. The way the trends are going, we may be looking at a single console future in the next 5 years.



Personally, I've only recently jumped into PC gaming after getting a new computer this summer, and if every title were available on PC, I could see myself going in that direction, but I've been a console player since day one, so I'd still like to see the tradition going.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1360356376' post='143968']

The problem is, if not Microsoft, then who? Sony is not doing well at all, and the PS4 is going to be a make or break system for them, and the WiiU hasn't been performing to expectations.

[/quote]



MS is #1 only in North America. They made nearly 2/3 of their hardware sales there.

Europe is Sony/Nintendo territory and Japan luckily doesn't care about MS at all. Sony and Nintendo are much more balanced out in terms of overall sales in the three major territories.



Sony should have just let the portable market alone after the PSP. The Vita is doing horribly bad and is such a huge financial loss.



I think the Wii U will fail in the long run, but it might sell as much as the N64 if they're lucky (~35 mil). The crowd they attracted isn't the hardcore crowd that will stay loyal to the system. Sony and MS managed to do that however, Sony with the PS1 & PS2 probably moreso than MS.

And I'd say a few people "left" the Wii for Kinect in the past ~2 years, so they don't care about Nintendo's console line anymore. Nintendo also did a horrible job at not making the Wii U look like just a tablet-addon for the original Wii.



I personally wouldn't mind a 2-console generation with Nintendo and Sony.



Eventhough I'd never buy one, maybe the Steambox will be succesfull, who knows.



We'll see on the 20th what Sony has to offer.



PC + PS3 is the way to go.

[yuzuriha]

I have a WiiU and I'm hardcore and loyal to the system...

[AEUGNewtype]

PS3s not being backwards compatible is one of the greatest travesties of my life. :(

Mine is :P I got one of the old original models that was fully PS2 compatible. Anyway, Siren is on PSN for $9.99 which is about as much as you'll pay to find a used copy in good condition. The remake for PS3 is also PSN exclusive (it wasn't released on a disc in the US) but its $40 and not as good as the original, though it is pretty interesting.

MS is #1 only in North America. They made nearly 2/3 of their hardware sales there.

And North America has the biggest market for video games of anywhere in the world. The amount of market NA has for console gaming is 4 times the size of Europe and Japan put together at this point. Japan is moving over to mostly portable gaming now, since a lot of Japanese developers and franchises are all on the handhelds and console games are becoming a thing of the past, comparatively.

Even though I'd never buy one, maybe the Steambox will be succesfull, who knows.



PC + PS3 is the way to go.

Both of these statements are a complete joke. This Steambox/Ouya shit is probably the dumbest idea I've heard out of the gaming industry in a long time, and there is some dumb shit that comes out of this industry. The purpose of the thing almost defeats itself out the gate. Mobile and PC gaming are completely separate entities from the consoles for a plethora of reasons, so trying to merge them with the idea of a console is an absolute joke. PC gaming is also a money-sink that has very little returns in profit, since the industry is rife with piracy and most developers end up having to drop their retail prices to get decent sales numbers through legitimate channels.



Console gaming is about having a standardized platform that works perfectly with any game you put in it, instead of having to fuck around with computer for an hour and a half to get each game to work and buy new hardware every year or two to get it to continue working with current games, also being more prone to problems and crashing for the entire life you use it since it is not solely designed for running said games and the games being developed have no way to be standardized during development since there isn't a level ground of hardware to develop for. Funny enough, these companies are saying they'll release a new updated version of the console every year so it can keep up with current games. Why not just use a fucking PC at this point? How counter-intuitive and redundant is this?



And while I have been enjoying some PS3 games lately, it took them 7 YEARS to get enough exclusive games to make me want to even bother borrowing the system from a friend. Not saying it doesn't have any games, but it has so much less software than its competitors that it makes the console almost half-worthless aside from the Blu-ray player. Sony fucked up something fierce this generation and I don't know that they'll ever actually recover. They still sold some consoles, but attach rates for those systems compared to others in their respective territories is really nothing to write home about.



Fanboys complain that "Microsoft had a year head start" on PS3 as they reason MS had so much success this time around, as if time was the only thing that MS had on their side when they launched. How about: good pricing, fantastic software support across the board, great online service, etc. All basically the opposite of what Sony accomplished with the PS3. I hope Sony learned something this time around, but being a Japanese company, I'm sure they'll continue their standard, stubborn bullshit and not learn anything and just have the national banks bail them out of financial hell like they have been for the past 5+ years.



Nintendo really isn't worth mentioning when talking about console competition, as the Wii U is failing hard and the Wii fizzled out years ago. Only thing they have any ownership of is hardcore fans and the handheld market.

[Ap2000]

I'm not even going to argue with you anymore, AEUGN.



[quote name='yuzuriha' timestamp='1360360106' post='143980']

I have a WiiU and I'm hardcore and loyal to the system...

[/quote]



Considering how slow the U sells and how well the Wii sold, you are the minority though.

[neshcom]

I fucking hate myself for chiming in on yet another unsolicited console argument, but

PC + PS3 is the way to go

I absolutely agree. The 360 may have the bigger of the two console libraries, but so many of its games are already ported to PC and can be bought cheap and its exclusives, while numerous, are just lame. It's totally anecdotal, but I'm sure mentioning how little the margin is between 360 and PS3 sales will fall on deaf ears in the never-ending war to decide which fucking shade of purple is best.



Still, I'm sure there will be a casualty in the big three in the coming decade and mobile/4th party consoles and more-approachable PC gaming (the biggest library of games btw) will fill any gaps left like they did the past decade, especially PC. You can't underestimate something like Steam (Steambox or not) being able to continue to offer you the same games you own plus current-generation releases whenever you decide to upgrade hardware.

[AEUGNewtype]

[quote name='neshcom' timestamp='1360370116' post='143985']

so many of its games are already ported to PC and can be bought cheap and its exclusives, while numerous, are just lame.

[/quote]

This is so hilarious. You state this as if all console games are all expensive, and if you think that big of a percentage of the games for 360 are ported to PC, you're obviously unaware of a good 50% of the console's library. Walk into any used game store today and you'll find console titles that just came out less than 6 months ago on sale for $20 or less, and a lot of the titles are even released at somewhere between $30-50 at launch, with XBLA games being exclusively between $5-20. Games older than 6 months will usually be in the $5-15 range for retail copies. You obviously play polar opposite types of games than I do.



It just puts me in stitches when people try to brag about how the PC has the biggest games library of any platform when 70% of its library are shovelware, MMOs, RTS, and other genres that are completely devoid of innovation, individuality, and a solid gameplay experience while another 20-25% is games that are also on a console. I prefer quality, not quantity.



Your preferences will vary greatly depending on what type of games you play, and for me as well as others who play the kinds of games that I play, a PC is more or less worthless and not worth the trouble as a gaming platform. If you mostly play any of those genres I mentioned or FPS games, then I can see it being ideal for you, but saying PC is the sole future of video gaming is flat-out ignoring reality and speculating something that is so far beyond accurate predictability with the current information we have.

[neshcom]

[quote name='The☆AEUGNewtype' timestamp='1360377977' post='143987']but saying PC is the sole future of video gaming

[/quote]

Literally no one said that. I'm cool with talking preferences, but I'm not being drawn in to an aggressive opinion discussion.

I didn't mention console game prices and I know what used games are, I gave my opinion on 360 games just like you did with PS3 games, and "filling the gaps" is basically the opposite of "sole future of video gaming."

[AEUGNewtype]

[quote name='neshcom' timestamp='1360380314' post='143989']

[quote name='The☆AEUGNewtype' timestamp='1360377977' post='143987']but saying PC is the sole future of video gaming

[/quote]

Literally no one said that. I'm cool with talking preferences, but I'm not being drawn in to an aggressive opinion discussion.[/quote]

You're right, no one clearly stated it, its just the vibe I get from the wording and vocabulary, and the overwhelming thing I've been reading on a lot of articles lately regarding the whole Steambox/Ouya thing, so I guess it seeps into my consciousness.

[al kusanagi]

To be fair, in the last year there have been a hell of a lot of PC versions of games released within a week of the console version, the majority of them with better performance than their console counterparts. The gap will close when the new consoles come out, but I find myself picking up games I passed on when they came out in favor of the PC version a couple of months down the line when Steam offers them for 75% off.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1360386055' post='143994']

To be fair, in the last year there have been a hell of a lot of PC versions of games released within a week of the console version, the majority of them with better performance than their console counterparts. The gap will close when the new consoles come out, but I find myself picking up games I passed on when they came out in favor of the PC version a couple of months down the line when Steam offers them for 75% off.

[/quote]



Most PC versions release around the same time. The ones that take longer to come out are rare exceptions... or made by Ubisoft.

What exactly do you mean by "performance" ?



I wonder if the new generation will be able to play most games in 1080p, because that'd be a more interesting step than anything else in terms of graphics imho.

[al kusanagi]

By performance, I mean that the PC versions more often have better frame rates, higher resolutions, sharper textures, etc, but with more powerful hardware in the consoles that will change. And there's sometimes a brief release delay since the PC ports are secondary to the console release, but it also lets them add more features. Also, sometimes games release on Fridays on Steam, when the console releases are on Thursdays.

[yuzuriha]

Back on Skyward sword after entirely too long. An annoying part right now, now I remember why I stopped for a while.

[AurA]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1360438974' post='144023']

By performance, I mean that the PC versions more often have better frame rates, higher resolutions, sharper textures, etc, but with more powerful hardware in the consoles that will change. And there's sometimes a brief release delay since the PC ports are secondary to the console release, but it also lets them add more features. Also, sometimes games release on Fridays on Steam, when the console releases are on Thursdays.

[/quote]



Games are a lot cheaper on steam too. The day 1 prices are usually the same or sometimes 50$ instead of 60. But Steam will often have sales that drop that price down 25-75%

[Ap2000]

[quote name='yuzuriha' timestamp='1360472290' post='144048']

Back on Skyward sword after entirely too long. An annoying part right now, now I remember why I stopped for a while.

[/quote]



It had such a charming and entertaining first 20 hours... and then they want you to revisit the same assets. Was it that ? Because that's why I stopped.

[Melon]

I played around ~2 hours of Ni no Kuni and a power surge knocked me out. I basically did a bunch of fetch quests and other small things that I do NOT want to repeat so the game is going to be regulated to the backlog pile until I get the urge to play it again.



From my initial impressions - game is too easy, but when you have to go into the menus and pick things, enemies still attack and whittle your HP down; something that is bound to piss me off when the longer bosses came around.

The animated sequences are beautiful and I probably would have put up with the game longer to see them if the surge hadn't happened.



So I'm going back to the Wii for more Xenoblade goodness because I love that game~ (I hope by time the sequel comes out WiiU would have dropped in price) Maybe I'll crack open The Last Story too. I should try to play the both before Pandora's Box comes in. (I feel the need to own all Rainfall games lol)

[yuzuriha]

Playing Skyward Sword again since I finally had some extra free time. Taking a while to get back into the swing of things. I forgot how annoying flying around on the stupid birds was.

[Melon]

So the game that gave me trouble at gamestop was RHYTHM THIEF.



And this game is FUN. Everything is pitch perfect so far. An intriguing storyline, great battles, exploration section, things to collect, animated cutscenes, voice acting, great songs, unique ways of doing the rhythm sections....



It truly saddens me that there may not be a sequel because it was released just before the final fantasy rhythm game. I like this one a lot more so far.

[neshcom]

Yeah, buddy! Picked up Revengance with my friend and we played about 3 hours so far. It's really good and has a lot more polish than the demo. One thing I've noticed is that, for an action game, it's got some good depth and story, but, for a Kojima-attached game, the polish is so weak. With so many pre-rendered scenes and slow-motion, you'd think they'd avoid doing slow-motion in the worst possible way: frame holding. It happens so much and it kills me every time. Things like that and the so-so lip synch and sometimes sloppy level design distract a more discerning eye from a game that really entertains. I wish there was an even higher standard for a game in this universe, but this is a not-perfect gem in a sea of absolute horseshit. Also, hoooooooly shit, this game has a motherfucking Jar Jar Binks. Hope that little fucker dies or gets lost or something.

[showraniy]

Too tired to do it myself, but I've been watching my brother play through Revengance today, and so far it looks fuuuun. I hope to play it soon. EVERY enemy is SO freaking hard though! Not that I don't like the challenge (it's rewarding and fun to finally beat them), but I'm just honestly surprised every encounter is so hard. Especially when the story made a point in the beginning of saying Raiden was awesome, upgraded, technologically better than the other cyborgs, blah blah.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1361338444' post='144834']



I hope to play it soon. EVERY enemy is SO freaking hard though!

[/quote]



In the GiantBomb quick look they noted that it's rather easy. hah