What are you playing?

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1330240493' post='120042']



The game is gloriously over the top and nonsensical and I love every retarded moment so far.

[/quote]



I think you meant "quick time event galore".

[al kusanagi]

No, there's actually a game in there. Roughly 30% beat-em up, 30% Panzer-Dragoon style shooter, and 30% QTEs.



And while I tend to hate QTEs, at least this game has them follow some logic where they actually correspond to what's going on on the screen (mimicking the functions of the buttons during the action parts) rather than the arbitrary bullshit most games with them have by just using any button or, even worse, randomly assigning the buttons any time you replay something.

[AEUGNewtype]

[quote name='Wapiko' timestamp='1330217533' post='120029']

GDI 13-2 you are pissing me off. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... omgwtf.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':omgwtf:' /> Stupid Caius and his stupid healing tricks.

[/quote]

Man, I need to stop playing pinball and Gears 3 and finish 13-2. I already finished the story, but need to get all the endings and about 40 more fragments. Haven't played it in almost 2 weeks.

[Zounder]

So I just realized Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 comes out tomorrow. Looks like I will have to put aside some time for that as well as SSX. I really enjoyed the first one so I'm really looking forward to this one. I'm kinda glad I had no idea this was coming out so soon, or else I would have driven myself crazy with anticipation this past week with SSX coming out on the same day.

[Melon]

Hahaha, I'm getting that game too. I forgot about it and went a little wacky when amazon sent me a text saying my order had shipped. Hopefully I can finish up the last couple of plotlines in Hakuoki before I start this.

[showraniy]

I just wanna pop in on all the 13-2 talk and say that playing that game (almost done!) has made me appreciate 13 so much more. I gave it such hard shit for being such a huge disappointment when it came out, but damn can Square do amazingly terrible things with a sequel! I kind of wonder if they actually like destroying their own games at this point. I guess it could always be worse.



But hey, has anyone played From Dust? It's really simple (and apparently there's an actual genre for it called god games?), but it's really fun, and I'm... kind of addicted. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... mellow.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' /> I played the demo four or five times before buying it. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hawhaw.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hawhaw:' />

[Ap2000]

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1330403608' post='120216']

I just wanna pop in on all the 13-2 talk and say that playing that game (almost done!) has made me appreciate 13 so much more. I gave it such hard shit for being such a huge disappointment when it came out, but damn can Square do amazingly terrible things with a sequel! I kind of wonder if they actually like destroying their own games at this point. I guess it could always be worse.



But hey, has anyone played From Dust? It's really simple (and apparently there's an actual genre for it called god games?), but it's really fun, and I'm... kind of addicted. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... mellow.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' /> I played the demo four or five times before buying it. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hawhaw.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hawhaw:' />

[/quote]



I did.

I wrote about it some pages ago.

[Wapiko]

Agreed though - I didn't like 13, it was too linear for me. 13-2 is like a "Sorry, here's pennance!" game to me <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nceman.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':danceman:' />

[al kusanagi]

13-2 starts out and you're all "WTF is this shit?" but then as it goes on it starts to make sense and gets pretty good... Then you get to the end and the game pulls its cock out and slaps you across the face with it.



Fuck that incomplete piece of shit game!

[showraniy]

[quote name='Wapiko' timestamp='1330455409' post='120256']

Agreed though - I didn't like 13, it was too linear for me. 13-2 is like a "Sorry, here's pennance!" game to me <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nceman.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':danceman:' />

[/quote]



Oh, I'm certainly not saying 13 was good, but once you give it a chance, it's most definitely not bad either. Especially after playing 13-2, I got a whooole new appreciation for 13 at least taking itself seriously enough not to employ a horrid storytelling device like time travel! God, that's such sloppy storytelling, I can't even. Sure, if the whole series of 13 and 13-2 started out with time travel, it'd be fine if done well, but there are no words for the carelessness of 13-2 shitting all over whatever 13 had attempted to build.



I haven't finished it yet (going back for sidequesty stuff), but I'm pretty sure I know how it'll end based on trailers and general storyline hints which are probably supposed to be subtle but don't feel that way. Noel is the timeline contradiction keeping Lightning from existing outside of Valhalla, I'm guessing?



And hey, when it all comes down to it, at least 13 isn't 12!

[al kusanagi]

TO BE CONTINUED!!!



Those are the words that 13-2 ends with! I will save you the rage I felt and warn you ahead of time, but there's no goddamn resolution!!! Worst ending in the series since VII's dogs fucking running!!!



And I liked 12, since it was pretty much just Star Wars as told by Square, with a much hotter Wookie.

[Wapiko]

Are you fucking kidding me =| WHYYYYYYYYYYYY



why the hell would they do that?



everybody knows the second sequel is THE WORST.

(Pixar films and Aladdin 3 aside)

[showraniy]

They won't make a 13-3. If they aren't stupid, at least. I heard it had a lame open ending, but I'm guessing that's because they just wanted to get the game out, and the story doesn't really have any real conflict to resolve... other than time travel and paradoxes, which can go on forever without resolution. (Hi, Butterfly Effect!) <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... mellow.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' /> So yeah, just release it and get whatever they can out of it, and then move on!



I'm waiting for Versus myself, so I'll just hold out for that for another fifteen+ years. And maybe I'll get Type-0 if the Vita drives down PSP prices enough for me to get one. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hawhaw.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hawhaw:' /> Type-0 looked pretty good from the liiiittle bit of it I've seen, so maybe I'll check it out whenever it comes over to the U.S. If it's not here already.

[Melon]

12 had Balthier therefore 12 is the greatest of them all. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':noway:' /> 12 was partially directed by Matsuno therefore 12's first half is the greatest. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... >/hmph.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hmph:' /> I haven't played 13 yet. I couldn't get past the character designs. I'm over Nomura's work. And it seemed like I didn't miss much. >> Anyway, I'm almost over with melodramatic girly schlock too. I can only take that stuff in stages and most of it plays out like a bad shoujo manga.

[al kusanagi]

It's not an open ending. It is a straight up "we wish this was the Empire Strikes Back" ending, with the entire game left unresolved. And, yes, there are multiple endings, but the to be continued one is the "true" ending. I've heard that an actual ending maybe released as DLC (if it doesn't do well enough for a 3rd one), but either way, fuck them for doing either.

[Ap2000]

The magical word: Milking shit with even shittier DLC.



But hey, at least you have the main loli now in a Bikini !

[showraniy]

[quote name='Petit Melon' timestamp='1330470132' post='120276']

12 had Balthier therefore 12 is the greatest of them all. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':noway:' /> 12 was partially directed by Matsuno therefore 12's first half is the greatest. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... >/hmph.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hmph:' /> I haven't played 13 yet. I couldn't get past the character designs. I'm over Nomura's work.[/quote]



Oh god, I almost forgot about Balthier. I take back what I said. He and Fran were the reason to play 12.



I heard Sakaguchi hand-picked someone (was it Matsuno?) to direct 12, but he stepped down, resulting in the convoluted mess that was 12's storyline.



And you didn't miss much with 13, but the mythology and planning that went into 13's world beats any previous FF by far. It's the most elaborate cosmogony and it makes for great immersion into the universe itself. The actual storyline that takes place in that fantastic universe is subpar, but that's mostly because the mastermind behind the entire conflict of the game didn't appear until the final boss fight when you fought it. It felt just like IX's final boss where you're kinda going the whole time, "Who is this and why are we fighting?"



And I guess a good portion of the story was explained in the datalogues in the menu instead of in the actual storyline, but I didn't keep up with every single datalogue update, so not too sure how much I missed because of it. I just know lots of people complained that you couldn't properly understand what was going on without reading pages and pages of datalogue entries which updated after every new location/person/etc.



Other than that, everything about the game suffers from being beautifully and intricately made, but falling short when it comes to actual player enjoyment of it. For example, the battle system is streamlined to play out perfectly with really intelligent, awesome AI, but there's minimal strategy to it. I thought X-2's battle system was 100% awesome, so I actually wonder why they never picked it up for other games... If they wanted a battle system that was more "modern" and left the turn-based look behind, X-2 had already more than successfully done that, so I dunno why 13's ended up the way it did.



You might've heard all this already, but just laying it out there in case. If you're a diehard FF fan, 13 is more good than it is bad. It's just a letdown after they spent 6 years making it that it feels like a brain-free guided tour through prettiness.



[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1330470243' post='120277']

It's not an open ending. It is a straight up "we wish this was the Empire Strikes Back" ending, with the entire game left unresolved. And, yes, there are multiple endings, but the to be continued one is the "true" ending. I've heard that an actual ending maybe released as DLC (if it doesn't do well enough for a 3rd one), but either way, fuck them for doing either.

[/quote]



What in the what. Releasing a proper ending through DLC is a whole new low to the cancer called DLC. :( /oldschool gamer elitism







Sorry, I don't mean to hijack this thread with FF talk, but... I could probably talk about FF forever. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />

[al kusanagi]

Again, I've having such a great time with Syndicate's co-op! The campaign is pretty "meh," but the co-op stuff is awesome. The level of customization is really nice. Since I've gotten pretty badass at the combat, I'm able to put all my special abilities into medic type skills instead of combat enhancing ones, so I can keep everyone alive while still shooting all the bad peoplez!

[Ap2000]

[quote name='Petit Melon' timestamp='1330470132' post='120276']

12 had Balthier therefore 12 is the greatest of them all. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':noway:' /> 12 was partially directed by Matsuno therefore 12's first half is the greatest. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... >/hmph.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hmph:' /> I haven't played 13 yet. I couldn't get past the character designs. I'm over Nomura's work. And it seemed like I didn't miss much. >> Anyway, I'm almost over with melodramatic girly schlock too. I can only take that stuff in stages and most of it plays out like a bad shoujo manga.

[/quote]



FF12 is by far the worst Final Fantasy I ever played (6 - 10).

- The combat is a fucking mess and a joke. How can you want not have 100% control over your characters !?

- The characters are, except for the OK Balthier, all whiny pieces of shit.

- The "skill" system is so insanely retarded.

- Vaan is the worst main character in any FF ever.

- The fighting system again.



I threw that crap out of my PS2 after ~12h of trying to play it.



[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1330477392' post='120287']



What in the what. Releasing a proper ending through DLC is a whole new low to the cancer called DLC. :( /oldschool gamer elitism

[/quote]



That's a wrong conception.

It's the company that pulls off this shit, not the medium.

And in Square-Enix's case... well, their last good game was when the two were still Squaresoft and Enix.

[Melon]

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1330508860' post='120307']

- The combat is a fucking mess and a joke. How can you want not have 100% control over your characters !?

- The characters are, except for the OK Balthier, all whiny pieces of shit.

- The "skill" system is so insanely retarded.

- Vaan is the worst main character in any FF ever.

- The fighting system again.

[/quote]



I didn't mind the fighting system. FF games are not like the SMT games, where mindlessly mashing a button will give you a win/a minor mistake won't make you die whereas in the other a routine random encounter can and will murder your bitch ass. All they did was take the mindless mashing out of it and I enjoyed setting up the AI to do the work for me. Plus, you don't get many gambits until late in the game so you still had to do management with spells and items. You missed hitting attack over and over again?



You didn't have to use Vaan the entire game. After I had my three characters I switched him out and never used him again. The skills meant I could mold each of my players into what I want. It's not unlike FFVII's materia system whose lack of classes ensured I could put in the characters I liked and not worry about battle effects. Of course, Matsuno wanted the main character to be Basch but Sakeguchi-whateverhisnameis didn't think he was young/FF enough so he was forced to put in Vaan and Panelo. So you can blame 12 y/o fanboys for that one. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... tongue.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> The game has the best voice acting of the final fantasy games and the best syntax/wording thanks to Alexander O. Smith.



BASICALLY the game was partially directed by my favorite director, translated by my favorite translator, designed by my favorite character designer, and didn't have voices that made me cringe. Plus the Judges were the most badass bosses to ever grace a rpg and the environments were great. What's that, I'm fangirling? okay I'll stop. 12 gets a lot of bullshit, yes, and it's pretty obvious when Matsuno leaves, but I still enjoyed it more than the other FF games released that generation and more than the FF games of the PS generation. If anything, everyone's stark hatred of it makes me defend it more. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />



But anyway, for turn-based RPGs I look forward to the SMT/Persona/Devil Survivor games because those aren't a total joke and their bad designs aren't as bad as 1,000 buckles Nomura.



P.S. You linked VGCats, which is the worst gaming comic ever. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... stling.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whistling:' /> I still adore you Ap~

[Zounder]

I have to second mostly everything Petit said about XII, especially:

12 had Balthier therefore 12 is the greatest of them all.

He's pretty much my favorite video game character of all time.



I'd also like to point out that there's a whole lot of RPGs based on not fully controlling your own characters, like lot of MMORPGs (like FFXI) and a lot of games released after XII (Most relevant to the discussion being FFXIII and XIII-2.) So it's not like it's some crazy concept. And really, I don't think there's a whole lot of intrinsic difference between pushing a button to make a character do something directly, or pushing a button to make a decision that directs your character to do something. But I can understand why one would prefer one over the other.

[Ap2000]

For me, FF10 perfected the fighting system.

It oozed with strategy left and right.



[quote name='Petit Melon' timestamp='1330531744' post='120320']



P.S. You linked VGCats, which is the worst gaming comic ever. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... stling.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whistling:' /> I still adore you Ap~

[/quote]



It used to be pretty good and the punch lines were good, but it went down the shitter.

[showraniy]

Aw, what's wrong with VGcats? I really like them. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />



[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1330508860' post='120307']

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1330477392' post='120287']



What in the what. Releasing a proper ending through DLC is a whole new low to the cancer called DLC. :( /oldschool gamer elitism

[/quote]



That's a wrong conception.

It's the company that pulls off this shit, not the medium.

And in Square-Enix's case... well, their last good game was when the two were still Squaresoft and Enix.

[/quote]



I hate DLC in principle. This is probably a tired argument, but I don't keep up with the gaming community anymore, so I'm not sure. I miss the days when I paid the standard $40 or $50 and got the full damn package, not this random added good stuff for $5 at a time later. At the end of it, I've invested maybe $90 into your game just to get all the FUN shit. That's ridiculous.

[al kusanagi]

I'm perfectly happy with far after the fact DLC, like something released 6 months to a year later that revitalizes a game, but day one DLC, or DLC that's already on the damn disk is complete bullshit.



Also, fuck them for the whole "Game of the Year Edition" double dips as well.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1330578387' post='120359']



I hate DLC in principle. This is probably a tired argument, but I don't keep up with the gaming community anymore, so I'm not sure. I miss the days when I paid the standard $40 or $50 and got the full damn package, not this random added good stuff for $5 at a time later. At the end of it, I've invested maybe $90 into your game just to get all the FUN shit. That's ridiculous.

[/quote]



There have been Addons since a long time already.

This has nothing to do with DLC, but publishers being fuckfaces.



[quote name='Al Kusanagi' timestamp='1330578774' post='120361']

I'm perfectly happy with far after the fact DLC, like something released 6 months to a year later that revitalizes a game, but day one DLC, or DLC that's already on the damn disk is complete bullshit.



Also, fuck them for the whole "Game of the Year Edition" double dips as well.

[/quote]



Eventhough I personally don't care for it, that's what a lot of people actually like since then they're buying the full package.

[AEUGNewtype]

Now I remembered why I don't really discuss video games anymore, and especially J-RPGs. Everything that everyone says is the exact opposite of what I think, and they take it WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too seriously.

[Melon]

AEUG, not posting because people disagree with him? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' /> Have you mellowed out in your old age? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... >/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[showraniy]

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1330508860' post='120307']

- The combat is a fucking mess and a joke. How can you want not have 100% control over your characters !?[/quote]



I'm with Zounder in being indifferent to that. I hear so many people complain about it, but I don't get why everyone cares so much about it. If there's plenty of strategy using one person, that sounds good to me.



[quote name='Petit Melon' timestamp='1330531744' post='120320']

Sakeguchi-whateverhisnameis

[/quote]



Wait, as in Hironobu Sakaguchi? I thought he was the dude who left after X and made Lost Odyssey?



[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1330601414' post='120373']

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1330578387' post='120359']



I hate DLC in principle. This is probably a tired argument, but I don't keep up with the gaming community anymore, so I'm not sure. I miss the days when I paid the standard $40 or $50 and got the full damn package, not this random added good stuff for $5 at a time later. At the end of it, I've invested maybe $90 into your game just to get all the FUN shit. That's ridiculous.

[/quote]



There have been Addons since a long time already.

This has nothing to do with DLC, but publishers being fuckfaces.[/quote]



My issue is paying separately for stuff that could've easily been in the game. I'm talking as far back as PS1 and PS2 days without networks to add things anyway.

[Melon]

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1330634897' post='120424']

Wait, as in Hironobu Sakaguchi? I thought he was the dude who left after X and made Lost Odyssey?

[/quote]



I honestly am not sure because the only director I cared about was Matsuno. In my mind it's "some dude after Matsuno" but that name popped in my head first so I thought it may be him. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />

[Ap2000]

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1330634897' post='120424']



My issue is paying separately for stuff that could've easily been in the game. I'm talking as far back as PS1 and PS2 days without networks to add things anyway.

[/quote]



So you're saying it happened back then too or it didn't ?