Video Game Thread 2.0

[Southern Comforter]

I usually play stuff like Grand Theft Auto (I play TONS of GTA), but recently, I've been trying to add more variety. However, when I did that, I just wound up becoming obsessed with Disgaea. I played it once when I was 14, and it was confusing, so I dropped it, but I picked up the second one not too long ago, and god damn, it is the most fun I've had in ages. My friend tells me I should just skip over to 4 because she's obsessed with 4 (well, with the character designs, but obsessed nonetheless), but I don't have a PS3. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have even tried it if my friend didn't convince me to buy a $50 PSP at the mall. He also got me Monster Hunter so we could play together, but I forgot it existed after I got my hands on Disgaea.

When I'm not playing GTA clones or Disgaea, I enjoy the Metal Gear Solid series. There's also a few DS games I never got to finish up, namely Professor Layton. It was fun while it lasted.

[Carnotaurus]

Got a craving for Spyro the Dragon this weekend, so I bought the three Legend of Spyro games off ebay. Just started playing the first one tonight.

Why do these games get so much flak?  All I hear is negativity, but so far, I'm liking A New Beginning quite a bit. Sure, the plot's somewhat cliche and by the book, but the graphics are good, the voice acting is top notch, and while it feels more on the rails than classic Spyro, I feel it works in conjunction with the grand-scale plot. It's not bad, it's just different, and it reminds me of Jak and Daxter for some reason, which is a huge plus!

[Witchyjoshy]

It gets so much flak because it's not a clone of the original trilogy.

By the way, you cannot imagine how happy your post right there made me

[Søren]

This new game called released on steam called Star Conflict. Its F2P and very cool. Shiny

[FirsthandTuna]

No they modded it so Annie isn't there there's a battle Joker picks you up and then the Geth live and we all are happy except the relays are damaged (boo) and the granddad stargazing scene is there (fun fact in the original cut it was a real hero playing the grandfather take a guess which one)

I know, I'm just being an ass because I have it on the XBox and I can't mod it and that makes me sad.

Also, Buzz Aldrin?

[syaoranvee]

War of the Roses is on steam for free until midday sunday, it's a nice little medieval team based pvp game, although the way of attacking and blocking (click mouse, move in it direction you want to hit or block) can take getting use to.

[kefkaownsall]

Yep a real American hero

[Carnotaurus]

It gets so much flak because it's not a clone of the original trilogy.

By the way, you cannot imagine how happy your post right there made me

It's got all the basics, though. Collecting gems, rescuing dragons, burning stuff, there was even a semi-speedway level. It really does boil down to "NOT MAH SPYRO."

I've been watching LPs of the original games after Year of the Dragon (and playing the ones I can find). Only Enter the Dragonfly and Legacy of Shadow actually look bad. That's a pretty impressive record. I want to check out Skylanders, but that is way too expensive for my poor ass.

[Art Vandelay]

I've been watching LPs of the original games after Year of the Dragon (and playing the ones I can find). Only Enter the Dragonfly and Legacy of Shadow actually look bad. That's a pretty impressive record. I want to check out Skylanders, but that is way too expensive for my poor ass.

Skylanders is essentially forcing you to buy not just DLC but also merchandise in order to play the game (from what I know, certain levels are all but impossible to complete without a certain character). Even if the game itself were solid, supporting such a horrid business model would be a huge no no.

[Carnotaurus]

I've been watching LPs of the original games after Year of the Dragon (and playing the ones I can find). Only Enter the Dragonfly and Legacy of Shadow actually look bad. That's a pretty impressive record. I want to check out Skylanders, but that is way too expensive for my poor ass.

Skylanders is essentially forcing you to buy not just DLC but also merchandise in order to play the game (from what I know, certain levels are all but impossible to complete without a certain character). Even if the game itself were solid, supporting such a horrid business model would be a huge no no.

Exactly, and those figurines don't come cheap at all. The full set even before Giants cost more than the system, plus you have the game's hefty price tag on top of that. It's a neat concept, I think, but more suited to either smaller and cheaper figurines or trading cards, something that isn't such a massive moneypit.

[Art Vandelay]

I've been watching LPs of the original games after Year of the Dragon (and playing the ones I can find). Only Enter the Dragonfly and Legacy of Shadow actually look bad. That's a pretty impressive record. I want to check out Skylanders, but that is way too expensive for my poor ass.

Skylanders is essentially forcing you to buy not just DLC but also merchandise in order to play the game (from what I know, certain levels are all but impossible to complete without a certain character). Even if the game itself were solid, supporting such a horrid business model would be a huge no no.

Exactly, and those figurines don't come cheap at all. The full set even before Giants cost more than the system, plus you have the game's hefty price tag on top of that. It's a neat concept, I think, but more suited to either smaller and cheaper figurines or trading cards, something that isn't such a massive moneypit.

I would certainly argue that it's not a neat concept. If it was just a simple deluge of on-disk DLC, that'd be bad enough. But the fact that the only way to unlock what would normally be $1-5 DLC is with a $20+ figurine and a $40+ peripheral that serves no purpose besides unlocking said DLC and on top of that, the game is designed from the start to force you to buy all of the bloody things? Well, I'd say it's a concept that badly needs to die in a fire before any other publishers think that it may be a business model.

The only way I could see this sort of thing being halfway acceptable is if the game itself were free-to-play, it were still completable with the base characters and the additional characters could simply be bought digitally at a more reasonable price. In other words, a pretty standard microtransaction-driven free to play model.

In other news, I finally finished the original Deus Ex. I have to say, all three endings were hugely disappointing. None of them give us anything more than a few measly lines of dialogue and a historical quote. That's it. Not even a glimpse of how things turned out. Have Ion Storm never heard of "show, don't tell", or had they just run out of money when it came time to wrap things up? Either way, it's a quite a big fuckoff blemish on an otherwise fantastic game.

[kefkaownsall]

It's still better then how they handled it in HR.  As for Skylanders to be honest the idea is a solid one when you realize that the audience is little kids.  It's actually a great way for parents to play with their kids not to mention you can play with the figures outside of the game

[Art Vandelay]

As for Skylanders to be honest the idea is a solid one when you realize that the audience is little kids. It's actually a great way for parents to play with their kids not to mention you can play with the figures outside of the game

I'm not sure how that makes even a modicum of sense. Does the act of placing a figurine on a sensor somehow turn an otherwise single-player experience into a great family bonding activity? If so, I'm really at a loss as to how. Sure, you can play with the figurines when you're not playing the game. As it turns out, though, were the figurines not in fact needed to access content in a game you already paid for, playing with them would still very much be within the realm of possibility.

[kefkaownsall]

Kind of see I was viewing it as using it as like inspiration.  Like you see Spyro doing something cool in game and then you and your son try to reenact it with your figures.

[Art Vandelay]

That's just a wee bit of a stretch.