Masume's Happy-Fun 360 Suggestion Thread!

Masume

After graciously receiving my government funds for 'spawning' I find myself with extra cash on hand, thus giving me a perfect reason to waste it on something meaningless. Being the avid/old school game system owner since Pong I have set my eyes on another system to own other than my Wii, and since I have no love for Sony's beast I will go purchase a 360. So here I am, looking for suggestions on titles in certain genres, as well as other random stuff. I figured the good folks here can help me out (as always), or provide sarcastic comments. Either way I win!

First off, I assume the new units have the cooler processor? Is that prevalent now, or do I need to look for a particular SKU to avoid the dreaded RROD?

Packages: Any suggestions on good bang for your buck packages out there, for games/accessories included?

Unit type: I know I want to avoid the 'lacking an HD' unit, but is there a particular model I should aim for?

Genre suggestions:
I'm an informed gamer, and I know where to look for reviews etc, as well as keeping up with most current games, but I want good feedback and suggestions from folks *here*, because we rock of course. I could use suggestions in these genres for me or the misses:

• RPG's
• Diablo-ish action/RPG
• Generic Action/Shooter games (Leave Halo 3 out please)
• Recommendation for unique/wacky title

I am trying to get my wife pumped for this system as well, and she loves anything RPG/action based, but is there any titles you fellow married men have found that their wives enjoy?

Thanks in advance, we'll laugh, we'll cry, and then invade a small foreign country.

urahonky

Please. PLEASE pick up Blue Dragon. The game feels immature at first, but it gets really good. I can promise the Boss Music will be enough to sell the game. (Marumaru can die in a fire though) edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCNyNmuFSlw

The Darkness is a great shooter, with an amazing story. You should pick it up.

Viva Pinata is a great unique game. I played it for about an hour (fucking school) but I'm loving it to death.

muninn

For your FPS needs, I cannot reccommend Bioshock and Call of Duty 4 enough. In my eyes those two titles are the pinnacle of the genre.
For rpg suggestions, I dont think 360 has much to offer. There is encghanted Arms, which is a bit mediocre, but that game with Chopin (Eternal Sonata?) is really good.

Masume

muninn wrote: »

For your FPS needs, I cannot reccommend Bioshock and Call of Duty 4 enough. In my eyes those two titles are the pinnacle of the genre.
For rpg suggestions, I dont think 360 has much to offer. There is encghanted Arms, which is a bit mediocre, but that game with Chopin (Eternal Sonata?) is really good.

Gah, I should mention, I am an avid PC gamer as well, so I did nab the more PC centric titles already, IE Bioshock and COD4. Also have Lost Planet, despite it not being PC centric.

I am curious about Enchanted Arms and Eternal Sonata, my wife's interest got really piqued since she's the RPG nut. Any more info on those are always good.

urahonky

Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, and Enchanted Arms are really your only choices for RPGs on the 360. Blue Dragon is good, I've yet to play Eternal Sonata (it's on my GF queue) and Enchanted Arms is terrible.

Bill Nye

Lost Odyssey comes out next week!

urahonky

And Lost Odyssey.

Lunker

Masume wrote: »

I figured the good folks here can help me out (as always), or provide sarcastic comments. Either way I win!

Indeed.

For all purposes the Premium model's 20GB hard drive should fit most people's needs fine unless you plan to download a shit-ton of Xbox Originals (the original Oxbox titles) or rent/buy a lot of movies. Hard drive space and the black color are really the only main differences between Premiums and Elites nowadays, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know much about what units have the newer chipsets but "avoiding the RROD" isn't guaranteed with any set, nor is it nearly as prevalent as it used to be on message boards a year ago. Regardless of model or chipset, MS now has a 3-year warranty specifically for the RROD so that may ease your worries a bit.

For games:

• RPGs: Mass Effect is a must-have for Western RPG fans. Sexcellent. For JRPGs, Blue Dragon comes recommended by a lot of its fans; don't pay attention to the demo as its apparently just terrible. It's essentially Dragon Quest in spirit and feel. Eternal Sonata is more of an action-RPG from the Tales/Star Ocean school of thought.
  
• Generic Action/Shooter games (Leave Halo 3 out please): Taking BioShock and CoD4 out of the equation: If you're looking for ridiculous fun shooty-go-boom action, Earth Defense Force 2017 is just fantastic. Cheesy and oh so awesome. Also great for local co-op with the wife. Dead Rising is also a very unique experience; embrace the game's limiting save system and just have fun because you can replay it and New Game+ as many times as you want.
  
• Recommendation for unique/wacky title: I think Beautiful Katamari isn't nearly as bad as its detractors made it out to be. There's also a lot of quirky stuff on the Live Arcade that's well worth checking out, like Rez, E4, Pac-Man CE, Heavy Weapon, Geometry Wars, Alien Hominid HD, etc.
  

Also, I don't think co-op gets any better than Rock Band. My wife loves playing with me, although she also enjoys a round of CoD4 with me from time to time. XBLA titles are perfect for accessible, quick, fun bursts of local co-op gameplay.

LewieP

Rez HD

Gnome-Interruptus

Blue Dragon: really really good if you like the Final Fantasy style grind alot JRPG

Eternal Sonata: whomever compared it to Star Ocean was right on the money, gameplay is very much sporadic bursts of button mashing within your turns time limit. Story wise its very good.

Diablo Style(3/4 overhead platform RPG): I would recommend Overlord myself, or else go with Mass Effect (I havent played ME yet).

Shooters: I really would recommend Gears of War, I actually prefer that over the Call of Duty and Halo games, but your preference may vary.

Platformers: Kameo:Elements of Power, its sort of kiddie, but I really enjoy it, good puzzles, almost a Zelda like game. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, this game will drive you insane trying to collect all the goodies and achievements etc

And of course, Guitar Hero II and III along with their downloadable tracks, unless you really want Rock Band. I'm a GH fan myself.

skarsol

Masume wrote: »

First off, I assume the new units have the cooler processor? Is that prevalent now, or do I need to look for a particular SKU to avoid the dreaded RROD?

A 175watt power supply (can see the specs on the box) guarantees the cooler processor.

Local H Jay

No person should own a 360 and not have Dead Rising.

NexusSix

Unique, wacky, and in the bargain bin: Get you some Viva Pinata and Dead Rising. See if you can pull up the Dead Rising thread we've been resurrecting off and on for the last several months. It's not for everybody, but I love it and it certainly qualifies as unique and wacky (what other game allows you to kill hundreds of zombies with chainsaws and guitars while dressed up as Mega Man?). Read up on it a bit to see if it'd be your cup of tea before making a purchase.

I also recommend Rez for the unique category. Not sure what your music tastes are like, but if you're at all into electronic stuff, you have even more reason to look into this game, especially if you have a Dolby or HD set-up, or both.

RPGs: Mass Effect, of course. And I'm a huge fan of Elder Scrolls and still play Oblivion to this day.

For family fun, I second Lego Star Wars, and after playing Scene It? movie trivia last weekend at a friend's, I have to say that game is twelve bags of fun. Scene It? has more of a Wii feel to it and the gameplay has a great flow. Only drawback is that there are only a couple thousand questions in the game and I'm not sure if new DLC has been announced.

A couple of other bargain games I thought were fantastic: Condemned and Fight Night Round 3.

Edit: your wife must play Mass Effect. Must, must, must. The RPG elements and combat are a blast, but the story is a total mind-bender.

Ginger Mijango

Crackdown! probably in a bargain bin somewhere.
Another vote for Mass Effect aswell.

Atlus Parker

Gnome-Interruptus wrote: »

Diablo Style(3/4 overhead platform RPG): I would recommend Overlord myself, or else go with Mass Effect (I havent played ME yet).

And it shows as neither of these games feature what could be considered Diabloesque gameplay.

In that category you have the new Kingdom Under Fire game, Phantasy Star Universe, and Arkadian Warriors on XBLA. Try these games before purchasing as they're not everyone's cup of tea.

MisterGrok

As for Diablo-esque Action RPG, check out Marvel Ultimate Alliance (which may come with your 360). It's essentially Diablo with a Marvel Skin. Funny thing? I hate Diablo but love M:UA. It's all in the packaging.

I second the following games:

Dead Rising
Earth Defnese Force 2017
Crackdown
Mass Effect
Lego Star Wars
Viva Pinata

As for anything else: Demos, demos, demos! A ton of games release demos on Xbox Live. There is always a trial version for Arcade games (unless they're free, Aegis Wing FTW!)

Also, I'd like to just say that I wasn't as enamored with Eternal Sonata. I thought the demo was the bee's knees and went out and pre-ordered the game. Eventually, the combat gets really tedious and the story just doesn't make any sense. That aside, it's still one of the most beautiful games I've seen and the interludes with Chopin's music and biographical bits was really neat.

ToyD

I'll second quite a few suggestions.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga is just pure fun platforming. So wacky and so many appropriate achievements.
Viva Pinata: Kinda RPG (character building) and mostly sandbox play. Basically collect them all. The achievements will keep you busy with each type of pinata and the later pinatas just build on the initial ones in terms of requirements to get them to appear and stay. Lots of fun.
Mass Effect: Very, very similar to KOTOR and a good game, but without the jedi. RPG goodness.

Also, don't forget some of the arcade games. Some of those are really fun as well. You can always try the demos, but I enjoyed Boom Boom Rocket, Heavy Weapon, Worms, and 3D Ultra Minigolf.

Masume

Yeah Mass Effect is a given, actually! I was following that before it came out without owning a 360, if that gives you an idea of how much I wanted it. Bioware hits all the right spots for me.

The New Kingdom Under Fire looks kick ass, and Diablo-ish? Is there Co-op perchance?

Ahh the Pinata game! Forgot about that one, really worth it then? I recall plenty of jokes about crackdown too, so I might have to hit it as well. Hadn't heard of EDF 2017, I'll go look up some screens if it's decent.

Oh, and Rock Band is also a MUST. Loved playing it with other friends on their systems, plus it gets my wife singing, which is always good. Question on that though, should I nab GH3 for the extra Guitar since I like GH anyways, and RB only has one guitar? Plus, I hear RB's guitars break regardless of what you do.

Loving the input guys, keep it coming!

RainbowDespair

Lost Odyssey comes out in a couple days and looks and sounds like a possible RPG of the year contender with impressive visuals, music, story, and gameplay. It's supposedly very similar to the old Final Fantasy games so if you or your wife were fans of those, definitely pick it up. Aside from that in the RPG category, you have Blue Dragon (like the Dragon Quest series but with high definition visuals and a job system), and Mass Effect (a top notch Western-designed RPG set in space). Eternal Sonata is also supposed to be fun, though not as good as the aforementioned titles.

For quirky titles, I highly recommend checking out XBox Live Arcade. XBox Live Arcade consists of over 100 different games you can download directly to your XBox 360's hard drive for around $10 a piece. Some of the most highly recommended titles on the service are:

Pac-Man: Championship Edition - On many people's top 10 Best Games of 2007. It's Pac-Man, but with lots of tweaks and improvements to make it just as exciting in 2008 as the original Pac-Man was back when it was first released in 1980.

GripShift: A combination of racer & puzzle game. Race, jump, and fly through over a hundred levels trying to meet different goals as quickly as possible (reach the finish line, find the hidden gripshift icon, collect all the stars).

Rez HD : A trancy game that mixes simple shooter action and music. Considered one of the best games of all time.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved: A really fun arcady shmup. Only $5.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: A great Action/RPG port from the PS1.

Lumines Live: A really fun puzzle game that has great music & visuals.

Poker Smash: Another fun puzzle game that has a lot of depth.

Heavy Weapon: A fun 2D shooter where you shoot down enemy planes as a high powered tank. Great fun with multiple player co-op.

Bomberman: The ultimate party game.

Carcasonne & Settlers of Catan: Two board games that are great fun.

Omega Five, Mutant Storm Empire, and Mutant Storm Reloaded - All great shmups.

For some non-XBLA suggestions, Devil May Cry 4 is an incredible action game and has some minor RPG elements (learning new skills & gaining new weapons). Culdcept Saga is a fun mix between Magic the Gathering and Monopoly and is only $40. The Club comes out this month; it's a first person shooter, but with a racing game mentality - download the demo and see if you like it (I thought it was a ton of fun). Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise are both good racing games with an emphasis on destruction and Gears of War is a good shooter from a year or two ago so you should be able to get it for cheap these days.

Oh yeah. If you haven't gotten them on the PC already, The Orange Box & Bioshock both come highly recommended.

Ganluan

I just got myself a 360 a week or so ago, and I picked up Eternal Sonata with it. I'm really enjoying it and am impressed with how big the jump has been in RPG graphics since the PS2. I've also got Mass Effect but want to finish Eternal Sonata first.

Also, download Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and marvel at how it's still just as awesome today as it was when it came out.

HarshLanguage

Seconding Skarsol's "175W" unit suggestion. That's the way to get the latest internal hardware for any model. It'll be on the bottom line of the serial # sticker on the 360, the power supply line. Check the tech forum for a thread on the heat-related care and feeding of 360s, as well. It's common sense mainly. As for what model, the Pro (20gb included) is probably good. But you could also buy an Arcade and a separate hard drive and headset and save a few bucks. The Elite probably isn't worth it, unless you know for sure you want the HDD space.

Masume wrote: »

I recall plenty of jokes about crackdown too, so I might have to hit it as well. Hadn't heard of EDF 2017, I'll go look up some screens if it's decent.

Crackdown is just awesome, it's a great shooter with a world you can literally jump around, blowing stuff up and shooting gang members. The controls are spot-on, leveling up is fun, and the game is literally endless if you want it to be. And it has some fun achievements.

Don't buy EDF because it's "decent." Buy it to revel in its cheesy B-movie, B-game shoot-everything atmosphere and soak in the blood of ridiculous giant ants and other aliens. It's mindless, glorious gaming fun.

Both of those should be $20ish brand new. That's the great thing about the 360's back catalog, most of the good stuff is cheap now. Other recommendations: The Darkness, Saint's Row (GTA clone but good), R6 Vegas, Condemned. I was going to suggest Halo 3, because it's actually a good game and not because it's Halo. Don't dismiss it that easily, unless you really just don't like FPSes.

There's not much Diablo-ish stuff on the 360. Oblivion is a great RPG but not Diablo-ish. I guess Too Human, if it's any good, will scratch that itch. But if you look at original Xbox games, there's a bunch. Have you played anything from that generation?