I didn't get that far into Xenoblade, but I found the best way to play it was to cut off my normal "do everything" instincts and just stay in a zone until I was getting a bit bored, then move on.
You can also just follow the main story, and only do the timed side quests (if you even care to do those), and be perfectly fine.
I think the reason Xenoblade gets a reputation as "grindy" is because people have a hard time separating the two parts of the game. In a sense, Xenoblade is really two games. Which you choose to play will influence how grindy you found it.
I have read that Crusader Kings II is the most accessible of the Paradox titles. Is that true?
I've had my eye on it for a while, just never got around to actually buying it.
yeah, it's by far the easiest paradox game to get into. And later today it's going to be on sale at amazon for like $10
0
MordaRazgromМорда РазгромRuling the Taffer KingdomRegistered Userregular
I missed out on voting, which I am sad for, but this is really interesting. A well-done poll to be sure! I do like seeing which people are in line with my taste in games, hehe kind of a special voyeurism.
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While we're doing high-fives, high-five to all the dudes who voted for Binary Domain. I loved that damn game so much and I was honestly kind of blown away by it. And Lollipop Chainsaw and Sleeping Dogs. And Far Cry 3.
It was just a damn good year for games all around.
While we're doing high-fives, high-five to all the dudes who voted for Binary Domain. I loved that damn game so much and I was honestly kind of blown away by it. And Lollipop Chainsaw and Sleeping Dogs. And Far Cry 3.
It was just a damn good year for games all around.
BIG BO!
I have never actually played Binary Domain, but the Giant Bomb quicklook is probably one of the most entertaining pieces Giant Bomb ever put out.
While we're doing high-fives, high-five to all the dudes who voted for Binary Domain. I loved that damn game so much and I was honestly kind of blown away by it. And Lollipop Chainsaw and Sleeping Dogs. And Far Cry 3.
It was just a damn good year for games all around.
BIG BO!
I have never actually played Binary Domain, but the Giant Bomb quicklook is probably one of the most entertaining pieces Giant Bomb ever put out.
It's honestly really nicely put together. Gameplay is pretty solid, the story is crazy, but the dialogue is really entertaining, and it's just a lot of fun. I think it's dropped to $20/$30 out in the wild, so it might be worth grabbing up if you're interested at all.
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
From watching the quicklook, Big Bo himself seems worth playing the game for, if no other reason. He was incredibly entertaining, if a bit racist in his "this is how Japanese people think African Americans act and talk" mannerisms.
Are there any demos available anywhere for FTL or Hotline Miami? They never dropped to the magic -75% for me to impluse buy them on Steam but I may be more willing to pick them up next sale if I try a demo first
PurpleMonkey on
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MordaRazgromМорда РазгромRuling the Taffer KingdomRegistered Userregular
Don't take this the wrong way, but they're dirt cheap to begin with. I hate Hotline Miami and I STILL picked it up because I like to support Indies, I picked it up for $5, it is well worth the $5. FTL is a bit more pricey, but they did have daily deals with FTL on Steam a few times now.
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I didn't get that far into Xenoblade, but I found the best way to play it was to cut off my normal "do everything" instincts and just stay in a zone until I was getting a bit bored, then move on.
Yeah. As good as the game is, the sidequests are pretty terrible unless they involve fighting a unique monster.
The Walking Dead got my #1 spot for one major reason. A lot of people are going to say this is a dumb reason, and that it doesn't really have anything to do with how good of a game it was or not, but I don't care.
This is a spoiler about the games ending, head's up
To me, I kinda saw from Episode 1 that between Clem and Lee; somebody was getting bit and then one was going to have to shoot the other. This pretty much got 100% confirmed for me when Lee got bit at the end of Episode 4. And sure enough, we got to the obvious conclusion that I saw coming a mile away. I fumbled around with the final puzzle to help Clem kill the zombie policeman and got to the end, which I saw coming a mile away.
But even though I knew it was coming, the attachment I had to the fictional characters coupled with the way the dialog was crafted honestly still made my cry. Like, I was seriously a wreck for a good hour or so after beating that game. I sometimes cry during movies (Bubba Ho-Tep gets me pretty good) but I don't think I have EVER cried during a videogame. Not in Gears of War 2 when
Dom shoots his wife
or Gears of War 3 when
Dom sacrifices himself to save everyone
or even in Half-Life 2: Episode 2 when
Eli gets killed and we see Alyx crying over his corpse
. I have seen characters I've liked die all over the fucking place; but it has never, EVER had the emotional resonance that the end of Walking Dead did.
Walking Dead was by far the most impactful game I played all year. And quite honestly, it was probably the most impactful piece of media I've experienced all year. That is why I put it as #1 on my list. You might think that's stupid or whatever, but there it is.
...You know, I honestly can't remember what I put at #2 now.
I didn't get that far into Xenoblade, but I found the best way to play it was to cut off my normal "do everything" instincts and just stay in a zone until I was getting a bit bored, then move on.
Yeah. As good as the game is, the sidequests are pretty terrible unless they involve fighting a unique monster.
...And it kinda comes full circle that the benefits of the filling out those terrible side quests make the latter unique monsters enjoyable.
If Xenoblade didn't bury content like it does behind such completely awful quests it'd be almost perfect. As it is it's a fun but flawed experience.
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0
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited January 2013
How is Katawa Shoujo an H-game? By that logic, so's God of War.
And I knew none of my niche tastes would make it too high, but good for Spec Ops.
I don't think The Walking Dead is anywhere near Game of the Year, but I reflected that in my own voting and this list was generated thanks to a whole mess of opinions, not just mine. I know a ton of people around here really liked the experience, and its won other GOTY awards, so I'm not exactly surprised.
I'm surprised Journey ranked so high though. Previously, the PA forums had a great number fewer PS3 owners vs 360 owners and the voting reflected that. I know that it drops 6 spots looking at our votes only, but that's still pretty significant for a PS3 exclusive downloadable title.
People please the worst game is Black Ops Declassified. Campaign that's less than an hour long, poor AI, glitches causing enemies to get stuck on level geometry, touch screen controls, poor network connection and multiplayer maps so small people will spawn right in your crosshairs. It's the only Call of Duty you can legitimately call the worst game ever and not look like a contrarian prat
Wiki: "Despite the negative reception, the game has reached position 16th in UK sales chart and has sold 118,615 copies on its first week of release, making Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified the 2nd biggest game on the Playstation Vita behind Uncharted: Golden Abyss."
But is that actually a good point to get to? Should game play not be an important part of games?
There is a deeper philosophical question here I guess. One we're certainly not going to answer here.
I'm going to say something most of this forum will think is crazy but I felt that Walking Dead had some of the best gameplay moments this year, in addition to being the first video game story I ever played that I would qualify as good without the added caveat of, "for a video game."
To explain, my favorite moments in games are when the mechanics and story intermingle in a wildly effective manner that yields, for me anyway, more immersion in a game than anything else. To use some past examples of this done really well, the ending of metal gear solid 3 where you
have to pull the trigger to shoot the boss.
It was especially well done in Shadows of the colossus where the entire point of the game is that you find these giant monsters and climb them, hanging on for dear life. In some of the crazier moments you might really clamp down on r1, the button for holding on to shit. And yet the ending of the game is essentially a metaphor for
finally letting go. I know I personally fought that instinct for an hour trying my hardest to hop over to the altar. It wasn't until I actually made it up to the altar and couldn't do anything that I finally gave up.
That was a powerful moment to me. Or the nuke in CoD, also a well done scene.
At the end of TWD, in one of the final scenes,
You confront the man who kidnapped Clem. It culminates with you choking this man, which is represented by your standard mash Q QTE. The thing is, as you choke this guy, the QTE prompt disappears, and if you stop choking him when it does he will turn the tables on you. You have to keep mashing it, well past the point where the prompt disappears, in order to kill the guy yourself. Now, I did not do this, because I didn't want to kill a dude in front of Clem (boy did that bite me in the ass), but there were a ton of people that did.
How powerful is that? Where pure emotional investment and adrenaline drive a really important gameplay decision? That one singular QTE, mash Q to do a thing, was a greater experience than entire games managed to muster. Even if 98% of the game is embarrassingly easy adventure game puzzles and walking around talking to everyone, or generally uninteresting QTE's, thatremaining 2% was transcendant. I would give 20 mechanically brilliant but otherwise not really using the medium to it's full potential games for those moments.
Edit: all that said, while there are 3-7 moments like this in Walking Dead, they don't start showing up until near the end of ep 3, so if you were put off by eps 1 and 2, I am not surprised.
Wiki: "Despite the negative reception, the game has reached position 16th in UK sales chart and has sold 118,615 copies on its first week of release, making Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified the 2nd biggest game on the Playstation Vita behind Uncharted: Golden Abyss."
Call of Duty: a license to print money.
Do they count copies that are included in hardware bundles? I know in the US, the Black Ops Vita bundle was the same price as the system alone. Even if you didn't want the game, there was a free memory card. And of course it dropped right in time for Christmas shopping.
It's honestly really nicely put together. Gameplay is pretty solid, the story is crazy, but the dialogue is really entertaining, and it's just a lot of fun. I think it's dropped to $20/$30 out in the wild, so it might be worth grabbing up if you're interested at all.
I really dug the hell out of Binary Domain. I'm a total sucker for a solid shooter with actual boss fights. So many shooters go for pseudo-realism, so boss fights are just; a) QTE sequences; b) soldiers with more health+firepower; c) a LOT of soldiers. So giant robots are a welcome change.
Wiki: "Despite the negative reception, the game has reached position 16th in UK sales chart and has sold 118,615 copies on its first week of release, making Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified the 2nd biggest game on the Playstation Vita behind Uncharted: Golden Abyss."
Call of Duty: Too many colons' big first week sales aren't surprising despite being a poop game. Most people who buy CoD games don't really need to read a review or anything before purchase. I've purchased every Xbox iteration since MW1 and I've never read a review on a CoD game. You kinda know what you're in for.
Anyway, TWD woo!
Also, I had a thought about this awesome GOTY poll thread. I don't know if it'd increase participation, but what about waiting until March or April before doing it? It'd give more people a chance to play the awesome stuff that came out towards the end of the year before voting. FarCry 3 woulda landed in a higher spot I bet!
Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.
Call of Duty: Too many colons' big first week sales aren't surprising despite being a poop game. Most people who buy CoD games don't really need to read a review or anything before purchase. I've purchased every Xbox iteration since MW1 and I've never read a review on a CoD game. You kinda know what you're in for.
Anyway, TWD woo!
Also, I had a thought about this awesome GOTY poll thread. I don't know if it'd increase participation, but what about waiting until March or April before doing it? It'd give more people a chance to play the awesome stuff that came out towards the end of the year before voting. FarCry 3 woulda landed in a higher spot I bet!
You do have a point there (I certainly would've played a couple more games till then) but I think there's a limit to how far we should push it back. When voting in April 2013, some people might forget that one game they played in January 2012, or at least forget what they liked about it.
Call of Duty: Too many colons' big first week sales aren't surprising despite being a poop game. Most people who buy CoD games don't really need to read a review or anything before purchase. I've purchased every Xbox iteration since MW1 and I've never read a review on a CoD game. You kinda know what you're in for.
Anyway, TWD woo!
Also, I had a thought about this awesome GOTY poll thread. I don't know if it'd increase participation, but what about waiting until March or April before doing it? It'd give more people a chance to play the awesome stuff that came out towards the end of the year before voting. FarCry 3 woulda landed in a higher spot I bet!
You do have a point there (I certainly would've played a couple more games till then) but I think there's a limit to how far we should push it back. When voting in April 2013, some people might forget that one game they played in January 2012, or at least forget what they liked about it.
I always thought they should do 2 polls every January. One for the year just passed, and one for the year prior to that. It'd be interesting to see which games really stuck with people, and which games faded from memory.
+1
G RolDorsia? Nobody goes there anymore...Nell'sRegistered Userregular
Call of Duty: Too many colons' big first week sales aren't surprising despite being a poop game. Most people who buy CoD games don't really need to read a review or anything before purchase. I've purchased every Xbox iteration since MW1 and I've never read a review on a CoD game. You kinda know what you're in for.
Anyway, TWD woo!
Also, I had a thought about this awesome GOTY poll thread. I don't know if it'd increase participation, but what about waiting until March or April before doing it? It'd give more people a chance to play the awesome stuff that came out towards the end of the year before voting. FarCry 3 woulda landed in a higher spot I bet!
You do have a point there (I certainly would've played a couple more games till then) but I think there's a limit to how far we should push it back. When voting in April 2013, some people might forget that one game they played in January 2012, or at least forget what they liked about it.
I always thought they should do 2 polls every January. One for the year just passed, and one for the year prior to that. It'd be interesting to see which games really stuck with people, and which games faded from memory.
That would be good for me, as I always seem to be a year behind on most major release. Backlog, price, interest...everything plays into it; but I rarely play a game during the year of release.
For instance, my GOTY list for 2012:
1. Mark of the Ninja
2. Dishonored
3. Lollipop Chainsaw
4. Syndicate
5. Renegade Ops
6. Mass Effect 3
...and that's it. Those are the only 2012 releases I played during 2012. I've excluded TWD as I'm still working my way through it. I actually loved all six of the above games (well, maybe not ME3). Perhaps I'll get on the ball for 2013, but right now the only game I've purchased this year is DmC (2013 GOTY contender!).
Although, the only upcoming 2013 games I'm semi-stoked about are the Tomb Raider reboot and Remember Me. I'll probably pick up Dead Space 3 and Metal Gear Rising at some point, but I don't have day one intent.
EDIT: Oh, wait! The Darkness II was 2012...that would be my new number 4, shuffling everything else down.
G Rol on
0
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
@Arkady: Fair points, but I don't think we're defining game play the same way, which is fine.
Posts
You can also just follow the main story, and only do the timed side quests (if you even care to do those), and be perfectly fine.
I think the reason Xenoblade gets a reputation as "grindy" is because people have a hard time separating the two parts of the game. In a sense, Xenoblade is really two games. Which you choose to play will influence how grindy you found it.
Why thank you, I am glad you liked it
yeah, it's by far the easiest paradox game to get into. And later today it's going to be on sale at amazon for like $10
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It was just a damn good year for games all around.
BIG BO!
I have never actually played Binary Domain, but the Giant Bomb quicklook is probably one of the most entertaining pieces Giant Bomb ever put out.
It's honestly really nicely put together. Gameplay is pretty solid, the story is crazy, but the dialogue is really entertaining, and it's just a lot of fun. I think it's dropped to $20/$30 out in the wild, so it might be worth grabbing up if you're interested at all.
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Yeah. As good as the game is, the sidequests are pretty terrible unless they involve fighting a unique monster.
But even though I knew it was coming, the attachment I had to the fictional characters coupled with the way the dialog was crafted honestly still made my cry. Like, I was seriously a wreck for a good hour or so after beating that game. I sometimes cry during movies (Bubba Ho-Tep gets me pretty good) but I don't think I have EVER cried during a videogame. Not in Gears of War 2 when
Walking Dead was by far the most impactful game I played all year. And quite honestly, it was probably the most impactful piece of media I've experienced all year. That is why I put it as #1 on my list. You might think that's stupid or whatever, but there it is.
...You know, I honestly can't remember what I put at #2 now.
...And it kinda comes full circle that the benefits of the filling out those terrible side quests make the latter unique monsters enjoyable.
If Xenoblade didn't bury content like it does behind such completely awful quests it'd be almost perfect. As it is it's a fun but flawed experience.
And I knew none of my niche tastes would make it too high, but good for Spec Ops.
I thought this would happen. You see, when there is only one game that qualifies, where else are you going to rank it?
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Too late. Amy won hands down. That shitty Family Guy game gave it a run for its money though.
You haven't played Amy then. Family Guy and Steel Battalion can fight over second place if they want.
:rotate: :bz
I'm surprised Journey ranked so high though. Previously, the PA forums had a great number fewer PS3 owners vs 360 owners and the voting reflected that. I know that it drops 6 spots looking at our votes only, but that's still pretty significant for a PS3 exclusive downloadable title.
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Call of Duty: a license to print money.
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I'm going to say something most of this forum will think is crazy but I felt that Walking Dead had some of the best gameplay moments this year, in addition to being the first video game story I ever played that I would qualify as good without the added caveat of, "for a video game."
To explain, my favorite moments in games are when the mechanics and story intermingle in a wildly effective manner that yields, for me anyway, more immersion in a game than anything else. To use some past examples of this done really well, the ending of metal gear solid 3 where you
At the end of TWD, in one of the final scenes,
Edit: all that said, while there are 3-7 moments like this in Walking Dead, they don't start showing up until near the end of ep 3, so if you were put off by eps 1 and 2, I am not surprised.
LoL: failboattootoot
Do they count copies that are included in hardware bundles? I know in the US, the Black Ops Vita bundle was the same price as the system alone. Even if you didn't want the game, there was a free memory card. And of course it dropped right in time for Christmas shopping.
I really dug the hell out of Binary Domain. I'm a total sucker for a solid shooter with actual boss fights. So many shooters go for pseudo-realism, so boss fights are just; a) QTE sequences; b) soldiers with more health+firepower; c) a LOT of soldiers. So giant robots are a welcome change.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Anyway, TWD woo!
Also, I had a thought about this awesome GOTY poll thread. I don't know if it'd increase participation, but what about waiting until March or April before doing it? It'd give more people a chance to play the awesome stuff that came out towards the end of the year before voting. FarCry 3 woulda landed in a higher spot I bet!
You do have a point there (I certainly would've played a couple more games till then) but I think there's a limit to how far we should push it back. When voting in April 2013, some people might forget that one game they played in January 2012, or at least forget what they liked about it.
I always thought they should do 2 polls every January. One for the year just passed, and one for the year prior to that. It'd be interesting to see which games really stuck with people, and which games faded from memory.
That would be good for me, as I always seem to be a year behind on most major release. Backlog, price, interest...everything plays into it; but I rarely play a game during the year of release.
For instance, my GOTY list for 2012:
1. Mark of the Ninja
2. Dishonored
3. Lollipop Chainsaw
4. Syndicate
5. Renegade Ops
6. Mass Effect 3
...and that's it. Those are the only 2012 releases I played during 2012. I've excluded TWD as I'm still working my way through it. I actually loved all six of the above games (well, maybe not ME3). Perhaps I'll get on the ball for 2013, but right now the only game I've purchased this year is DmC (2013 GOTY contender!).
Although, the only upcoming 2013 games I'm semi-stoked about are the Tomb Raider reboot and Remember Me. I'll probably pick up Dead Space 3 and Metal Gear Rising at some point, but I don't have day one intent.
EDIT: Oh, wait! The Darkness II was 2012...that would be my new number 4, shuffling everything else down.