Woo boy, even though this year has had plenty of great stuff for me, it's had a few disappointments as well.
No More Heroes
Waited till it came down to $30, and felt it the highest I would pay after playing it. The game was dripping with style and the story and characters were cool, but you know, actually playing the game was a bothersome chore. Let's hope NMH2 improves.
LittleBigPlanet
I actually avoided the hype for a long time on this one, succumbing to it just a few weeks before release. Got into the beta and realized...I was right to avoid all that hype. Not saying it's a bad game, it's just not for me.
Dead Space
Solid in most respects. In many ways, it trumps Resident Evil 4, which is essentially what I'm going to compare it to as it's survival-horror with a behind-the-shoulder camera. But with repetitive enemies and a completely sterile, soulless feel to it all (including a main character who never speaks or reacts; had this been first-person it would have been easier to get away with), I find it hard to get into. Also the only tension that the game invokes at all is that it's very loud, to the point of being a constant annoyance to the ears.
Fallout 3
Basically just Oblivion with guns. I know this is what it was pegged as, and then some people were trying to defend it and say it's not, but it totally is. Not that I hate that; I loved Oblivion and I really enjoy Fallout 3. Just was expecting something different. VATS is cool.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
This one is probably the hardest to explain. It has all the same mechanics and everything, but it just doesn't feel like the first game. However, it is a buggy mess with shitty voice acting.
Mercs 2 is the only one of those that I can say I flat-out hate.
EDIT: Oh shit, this isn't specific to this year? Then I'll throw in Mass Effect, a game that proved to me that even BioWare can't make the bald space-marine thing work. The story and every single character was completely uninteresting, and the battle system, while a cool idea, was more frustrating than anything. I heard Alpha Protocol might have a similar battle system? Let's hope they pick up BioWare's slack. ME looked nice, though (when textures actually loaded).
Spore disappointed me greatly. I stopped paying attention to the hype about it a long time ago, but I was nonetheless left with the urge to create and play with cute/demonic little creatures of my own. I was very disappointed to find out that my creature mattered very little, or not at all, after 2-3 hours and the focus turned from my awesome walrusaur(s) to lasers and spaceships. It just felt like five smaller, dumbed down games in one, when really the most appealing aspect, to me, was the creature stage. And with all the hype it got a year ago, I expected it to be a bigger part of the game.
Assassin's Creed disappointed me with its uncreative repetitiveness, and because for the most part the stealth aspects of the game were completely optional and barely even hinted at. It seemed to me that the game embraced upfront violence more than stealth. All the "upgrades" you received were combat oriented, not to mention the end of the game itself... ugh. I liked the graphics, I liked the engine, I liked the controls, but I really wish there was a lot more emphasis on stealth and doing the job without being noticed (until it was too late,) not to mention some creativity in the side quests. Running around killing guards, grabbing flags or pickpocketing some guy was fun the first time. Not so much the tenth. The game was also really, really easy. This is probably because counter was so overpowered that it was nearly impossible to LOSE a fight unless you wanted to, which made avoiding combat less attractive than it would've been.
Grand Theft Auto 4. I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of the GTA series. I have a hard time getting into them, especially the story lines. But GTA3, GTA:VC and GTA:SA grabbed me early on in the game, which convinced me to finish them. Plugging in cheats and camping on a roof sniping tires was cool too. After a few hours of GTA4 I still wasn't hooked though. The dreary backdrop and clunky controls really annoyed me, as did the camera in tight spaces. The whole cell phone thing really annoyed me too. I guess it is a good game, but I don't find it very fun, nor do I think it's a vast improvement to any aspect of the franchise.
Mario Galaxy, but please don't lynch me for saying it. I fuckin' loved Mario 64. Damn it was awesome. I can still play it and be happy with it. Galaxy annoyed the hell out of me though. The camera, the controls, the game world. This was the make or break title for the Wii for me, and as a result the Wii got sold (for sweet, sweet amounts of cash.)
Blue Dragon. Argh. It looked cool, it should've been cool. The characters were shitty, the voice acting was so goddamn corny, the game mechanics were slow and repetitive.
Mass Effect. Mass Effect is arguably one of the better games I've played on the 360, but it still had huge flaws that really bothered me. I felt the RPG elements were kinda underdone and neglected, especially equipment. Was a great action game with a great story, but the RPG half (or 10th) of the game was something I was looking forward to, and I didn't really enjoy it much.
Malvient on
EVE-Online: Eryx Terayen, Seraphal
World of Warcraft - Calbert, Azjol-Nerub (PvE)
Resistance 1. The guns sound like peashooters. I'll probably get Resistance 2 next week since I want a new shooter, but the guns still sound the same it seems. Hopefully the DualShock 3 will make it a bit more tolerable.
I always have to say something about this when I see it. As someone who listens to the Insomniac podcast, I remember hearing them talk about how in R1 they tried to make the guns sound 'real'. People thought they felt weak. because we have gotten so used to unrealistic sounds in games and movies. So in R2 they made them 'hyper real'. Took the real sound and went over the top. Seems to have worked.
I just find it facinating how media has giving us unrealistic expectations about things
It's tough to emulate gunfire realistically. Sure, a M16 fired outside at an open range probably won't sound terribly loud - but take it inside, or fire a shotgun or large caliber rifle in an area with physical objects that can echo can make firing without ear protection painful. I used to live at the end of a fjord, and I woke up one day when I kept hearing thunder - but it turned out it was just a friend sighting his .30-06 rifle over a mile away.
I generally prefer the games that take it over the top. Firing a gun is a violent act (I've known girls who've cried the first time they do it), and it helps when the game really tries to convey it.
As for disappointing games, it's the same as it always is this time of year - some surprise, others meet expectations, but most fall somewhat short. I loved Dead Space and am really enjoying Fallout 3, but Spore, TFU, Stalker:CS, FarCry 2, Fable 2, and Mirror's Edge all ended up alright games that honestly aren't worth the current asking price. I resolved to only purchase one game this holiday season and just rent everything else, and I am exceedingly happy with my decision.
Most recently: Spore, Fallout 3 and Mirror's Edge. Spore and Mirror's Edge were just very linear and nothing to get excited about.
Mirror is so not worth $60, luckily I had the foresighted and chose to rent it.
Fallout 3... I can't quite put my finger on it but once I reached the Citadel I just didn't have the will to keep playing.
Dead Space
Solid in most respects. In many ways, it trumps Resident Evil 4, which is essentially what I'm going to compare it to as it's survival-horror with a behind-the-shoulder camera. But with repetitive enemies and a completely sterile, soulless feel to it all (including a main character who never speaks or reacts; had this been first-person it would have been easier to get away with), I find it hard to get into. Also the only tension that the game invokes at all is that it's very loud, to the point of being a constant annoyance to the ears.
If you thought the audio was just all loud and Isaac had no character you weren't listening at all.
Listen to Isaacs voice work when he stomps or swings the gun. The dude sounds freaked the fuck out during those actions. Or how about his animations when he's covered in the little necrospider things? That's not a character that doesn't react to anything, that's a character who wants these goddamn things off. Just because he speaks doesn't mean he never reacts to things.
And for the audio just being loud... what the.... I don't even know how you could possibly think that. The audio was designed with "Cones of fear" so that audio tension was greater the closer you approached the point of origin the more tension there would be in the audio. Unless you teleported from focal point to focal point, you just chose to forget a large portion of the game if you thought the audio was just a loud, constant annoyance to the ears.
There are (maybe) reasons to dislike Dead Space, but if you're blaming the audio and the main character not reacting to anything I'm wondering if you actually played Dead Space
I moreso meant he never reacts to the people around him or story proceedings. According to his body language he doesn't even give a fuck about his woman.
And I don't give a fuck about the "cones of fear" or whatever their marketing department calls it, all I know is it was either dead silent or loud as all fuck.
UnbreakableVow on
0
Vargas PrimeKing of NothingJust a ShowRegistered Userregular
edited November 2008
I was definitely not expecting to see many (read: any) Mass Effect mentions in here.
I've been playing a little of Little Big Planet every week with dorm folks and it's been pretty underwhelming and frustrating, especially being something that is supposed to bring the PS3 popularity. About 1 in 5 levels we've played online so far, we haven't been able to complete, because either someone would get stuck on a jump, or we would drop a key and get stuck, or we wouldn't know how to beat a boss.
I'm hoping it will be one of those games that gets better(levels hopefully) over time, but for now, I'd pass.
Also the jumping in it frustrates me since it's so floaty and imprecise, but someone said earlier in this thread to let go of the joystick when you jump or land, so I'll have to try that next time I get to play.
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
edited November 2008
I have a question that has not necessarily come up in this thread, but has been bugging the hell out of me. I could think of nowhere else to ask than here.
There seems a strong, vocal contingent that believes KOTOR 2 is better than KOTOR 1. We got some nice bonuses for character building, but gameplay was virtually identical. The story in two is just... nonsensical. And bad. The first one made sense. I couldn't even follow the second. To this day, I still have no fucking clue what happened at the end of that game. I've beaten it twice.
I ask because a couple people have basically said Obsidian > Bioware, but I just haven't seen that myself.
If it helps you, I didn't like either of them. For the same reason. They played like ass, were boring, and a chore to complete. And I'm a massive Star Wars fanboy. Nothing disappointed me more than those KOTOR games, especially since people loved them and it looks like it's all I'll be getting for SW games for a long time.
Fable 2 is the biggest by far. I dont really want to play a violent version of the sims. If anything, Fallout 3 is what fable 2 should've been. All of your decisions DO amount to something in fallout and you dont have to worry about cheating on wives or having fucking kids... srsly wtf?
Stalker Clear Sky sucked cuz it made no improvements on actual gameplay, just graphics. The bugs were so retarded that i couldnt even talk to key NPC's at times and fuggin enemies sniped the shit out of you with pistols even though you were completely out of sight. Again, fallout 3 is what STALKER should've been. Pretty graphics dont make up for stupid AI and bugs out the ass.
I'll jump on that GTAIV disappointment bandwagon. The whole game just took itself too seriously. Then you have this big city to tool around in, but nothing really fun to do in it. Your wanted level will, at worst, end up bringing a helicopter after you. Where is the Army? The tanks? The vehicle physics were "realistic" (i.e., boring), the weapons selection was lackluster and tame (I want my minigun!), the ammo limits were stupid, property "ownership" was practically useless, and so on and so forth. What's the point of playing through a game where you start out as a nobody foreigner with almost nothing when you end the game the same way? Vice City had some excellent features, but yet Rockstar somehow keeps leaving them out. It doesn't make any sense to make each iteration "different" instead of better.
And the cell phone. The cell phone.
If you seriously can't understand how anyone would want to work the story of a guy who had everything (or at least a lot) and lost it all into a videogame, then again, may I point you in the direction of Saint's Row 2? I hear it has sewage trucks.
Seriously, though, I am curious about one thing. Why didn't people like the cell phone? Not saying there can't be anything to dislike, just I haven't heard it brought up that much as a black mark against GTA IV.
Saint's Row was complete silliness until I played mission 4 of the Brotherhood. Then .. well, wait and see what happens.
Spore is mine for this year. TFU was a letdown as well, but I'm not too peeved I payed full price for it, just wished that I could have waited untill the price dropped a bit.
Spore though... I think the best way to describe this it that I was expecting an experience similar to what I am now having with Banjo-Kazooie N&B: A fun editor to build and create stuff with, but also a solid game where I can put those creations to use and have fun with trail & error...
Instead, I get a game that has that fun editor, but the "game" itself is much too shallow for most of the game, with the creature, tribal, and civ stages being too short and having very little to do with them, and the space age become very tedious very quickly with pirate raids, hostile faction, eco disasters, etc etc...
If they had added more depth to creature-civ, (not worried about the challenge, though, knew going in that probably going to be an easy game) options to make said stages, and toned down the attacks and disasters in space, Spore would probably still be on my computer right now.
The story in two is just... nonsensical. And bad. The first one made sense. I couldn't even follow the second. To this day, I still have no fucking clue what happened at the end of that game. I've beaten it twice.
I WILL KILL YOU THEN FIND YOUR FAMILY THEN KILL THEM AND THEN FIND ANYONE WHO EVEN REMOTELY EVER THOUGHT YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING EVER AND KILL THEM TOO BECAUSE YOU'RE SO WRONG.
KOTOR 2 was vastly, vastly better written than KOTOR 1. For one, KOTOR 1 didn't have anyone even remotely approaching the awesomeness of Kreia.
There are two things to remember in KOTOR 2 to get the story though.
1: It is a personal story. You are not saving the universe. That happens, sure, but it's not the point. You are trying to figure out who the exile is, and live out the Exiles story.
2: Your source of exposition was lying to you.
2 is what gets people the most. Kreia is a liar. She's a lying lying liar. Lies all the time. So whenever she tells you anything, up to the last 5 minutes of the game, you cannot trust her. Combined these are also why KOTOR 2 is so much better written than KOTOR 1. KOTOR 1 was about saving the galaxy, or ruling the galaxy, and even with the twist your character was Luke fucking Skywalker all over again. Destroy the big bad guy, save the republic, everyone's happy. Everyone gets along, everyone loves you, even if they know who you really are.
2 also is a much less absolutist game. The Jedi council are not the good guys. They're kind of better, but they're not the Jedi council in 1 who lead your character on the path of righteousness. They're dumb. They make mistakes. They may see themselves as the typical view of the STar Wars jedi, but their inaction lead to death. They see the Exile and they want simply to cast her out of their lives. Forget about her because that doesn't change anything. As Atton says: "You don't get it, do you? The Jedi, the Sith, to the rest of the galaxy they're the same. People with too much power squabbling over religion while the rest of us burn".
I'll admit, when I first played 2, I didn't like the story, because I wanted to be goody-2-shoes-light-side-Jedi and go through a happy story. But then the Council still wanted to exile me. And then Atris still went crazy. And then Kreia still betrayed me. And Bao-Dur still dies. And instead of a big happy Star Wars family shit still sucks and I didn't do anything.
But that's what makes it so good. It's not a typical Star Wars story. Good doesn't just win and the galaxy is happy. Your crew hates each other. T3, the R2D2 of KOTOR, lies, and covers up records, and when found out attacks other droids. GOTO breaks laws to preserve the republic. Visas blindly(ba-dum tschhh) follows pretty much anyone. Atton is about as fucked up as a person can get.
And then there's Kreia. Kreia isn't Darth Vader. She's not Darth Malack. She's not even really Sith. She's just Kreia. She's a teacher and she wants to teach you, but her ways don't fit in to this stupid light/dark shit. She uses the force, but she hates the force, she thinks it weakens people. She chastises you when you try to be goody-two-shoes or evil-mcPuppy-kicker. She betrays you in the end not because she's evil, but because you need to go to Malachor and you need to fight her to finish learning, and that's what she wants. Shes pragmatic to an extreme, and she wants to teach the Exile. Not altogether altruistically either, she wants to teach the Exile because the Exile survived Malachor, when everyone else died, and she wanted to know why. She used to be a historian, but then learned that the Jedi didn't explain everything, so started looking elsewhere. She in the past failed as a teacher because her students did see everything with the light-dark divide.
The game is a subtle, character driven game, not a grand galaxy driven game, and that's why it's "confusing". You have to actually look at what the game is telling you to understand it, not just play along and hope.
By the way, the ending? Malachor set things in motion. It cut the Exile off from the force, and lead to her exile. It was condensed into a super-dense planet by Bao-Dur's Mass Shadow Generator, literally crushing everyone in the battle. The Exiles journey started as the Exile, ultimately, because of the battle of Malachor. In the end either the Exile destroys Malachor, or stays there and uses it to teach. The giant block that started everything is either blown up, or becomes a focal point. Think about it.
If you felt that KOTOR2s story was poorly told or confusing, it's because you weren't actually paying attention to it.
While I'll agree that the story of KotOR2 was vastly superior to the first, it was still a crappier game because it was a bug-ridden piece of shit with a botched ending.
Fable 2 is the biggest by far. I dont really want to play a violent version of the sims. If anything, Fallout 3 is what fable 2 should've been. All of your decisions DO amount to something in fallout and you dont have to worry about cheating on wives or having fucking kids... srsly wtf?
Stalker Clear Sky sucked cuz it made no improvements on actual gameplay, just graphics. The bugs were so retarded that i couldnt even talk to key NPC's at times and fuggin enemies sniped the shit out of you with pistols even though you were completely out of sight. Again, fallout 3 is what STALKER should've been. Pretty graphics dont make up for stupid AI and bugs out the ass.
Not to start anything here but your actions in Fallout 3 count for fuck all. Seriously. Some dialogue might change and one city can go but every preview had been built around that action. The rest is pretty much worthless.
I'll have to agree on Kotor 2. What a disappointment, it felt like they were trying to make Star Wars: planescape and just reached too far. I can see what they wanted to do and I even can fill in some of the blanks. But that doesn't change the fact that so many plot points just didn't go anywhere. While Kotor wasn't nearly as ambitious, it at least accomplished everything it tried to do.
I'll have to agree on Kotor 2. What a disappointment, it felt like they were trying to make Star Wars: planescape and just reached too far. I can see what they wanted to do and I even can fill in some of the blanks. But that doesn't change the fact that so many plot points just didn't go anywhere. While Kotor wasn't nearly as ambitious, it at least accomplished everything it tried to do.
And Kreia was nothing but a 2nd rate Ravel.
Yes there was nothing new or interesting about a supremely written mother character in a video game.
I also enjoyed both Kotor games, although I liked 2 a lot more after I found out what all the cut content was. But it was half finished and the ending was arse backwards despite itself. (I'm all for disjointed surrealism, but dear god.) All told I preferred Revan, he killed more people for kicks than the Exile did, and that's the only count that matters in hell.
I'll have to agree on Kotor 2. What a disappointment, it felt like they were trying to make Star Wars: planescape and just reached too far. I can see what they wanted to do and I even can fill in some of the blanks. But that doesn't change the fact that so many plot points just didn't go anywhere. While Kotor wasn't nearly as ambitious, it at least accomplished everything it tried to do.
The story in two is just... nonsensical. And bad. The first one made sense. I couldn't even follow the second. To this day, I still have no fucking clue what happened at the end of that game. I've beaten it twice.
I WILL KILL YOU THEN FIND YOUR FAMILY THEN KILL THEM AND THEN FIND ANYONE WHO EVEN REMOTELY EVER THOUGHT YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING EVER AND KILL THEM TOO BECAUSE YOU'RE SO WRONG.
KOTOR 2 was vastly, vastly better written than KOTOR 1. For one, KOTOR 1 didn't have anyone even remotely approaching the awesomeness of Kreia.
There are two things to remember in KOTOR 2 to get the story though.
1: It is a personal story. You are not saving the universe. That happens, sure, but it's not the point. You are trying to figure out who the exile is, and live out the Exiles story.
2: Your source of exposition was lying to you.
2 is what gets people the most. Kreia is a liar. She's a lying lying liar. Lies all the time. So whenever she tells you anything, up to the last 5 minutes of the game, you cannot trust her. Combined these are also why KOTOR 2 is so much better written than KOTOR 1. KOTOR 1 was about saving the galaxy, or ruling the galaxy, and even with the twist your character was Luke fucking Skywalker all over again. Destroy the big bad guy, save the republic, everyone's happy. Everyone gets along, everyone loves you, even if they know who you really are.
2 also is a much less absolutist game. The Jedi council are not the good guys. They're kind of better, but they're not the Jedi council in 1 who lead your character on the path of righteousness. They're dumb. They make mistakes. They may see themselves as the typical view of the STar Wars jedi, but their inaction lead to death. They see the Exile and they want simply to cast her out of their lives. Forget about her because that doesn't change anything. As Atton says: "You don't get it, do you? The Jedi, the Sith, to the rest of the galaxy they're the same. People with too much power squabbling over religion while the rest of us burn".
I'll admit, when I first played 2, I didn't like the story, because I wanted to be goody-2-shoes-light-side-Jedi and go through a happy story. But then the Council still wanted to exile me. And then Atris still went crazy. And then Kreia still betrayed me. And Bao-Dur still dies. And instead of a big happy Star Wars family shit still sucks and I didn't do anything.
But that's what makes it so good. It's not a typical Star Wars story. Good doesn't just win and the galaxy is happy. Your crew hates each other. T3, the R2D2 of KOTOR, lies, and covers up records, and when found out attacks other droids. GOTO breaks laws to preserve the republic. Visas blindly(ba-dum tschhh) follows pretty much anyone. Atton is about as fucked up as a person can get.
And then there's Kreia. Kreia isn't Darth Vader. She's not Darth Malack. She's not even really Sith. She's just Kreia. She's a teacher and she wants to teach you, but her ways don't fit in to this stupid light/dark shit. She uses the force, but she hates the force, she thinks it weakens people. She chastises you when you try to be goody-two-shoes or evil-mcPuppy-kicker. She betrays you in the end not because she's evil, but because you need to go to Malachor and you need to fight her to finish learning, and that's what she wants. Shes pragmatic to an extreme, and she wants to teach the Exile. Not altogether altruistically either, she wants to teach the Exile because the Exile survived Malachor, when everyone else died, and she wanted to know why. She used to be a historian, but then learned that the Jedi didn't explain everything, so started looking elsewhere. She in the past failed as a teacher because her students did see everything with the light-dark divide.
The game is a subtle, character driven game, not a grand galaxy driven game, and that's why it's "confusing". You have to actually look at what the game is telling you to understand it, not just play along and hope.
By the way, the ending? Malachor set things in motion. It cut the Exile off from the force, and lead to her exile. It was condensed into a super-dense planet by Bao-Dur's Mass Shadow Generator, literally crushing everyone in the battle. The Exiles journey started as the Exile, ultimately, because of the battle of Malachor. In the end either the Exile destroys Malachor, or stays there and uses it to teach. The giant block that started everything is either blown up, or becomes a focal point. Think about it.
If you felt that KOTOR2s story was poorly told or confusing, it's because you weren't actually paying attention to it.
I was definitely not expecting to see many (read: any) Mass Effect mentions in here.
Shocking.
Mass Effect is like Assassin's Creed. What's there is great, but the amount of content is really inflated with needless repetition.
Mass Effect is nowhere near as bad as Assassin's Creed.
Nowhere near as bad, but it's still there and still an issue. It was easily the most repetitive Bioware game and really felt rushed because of it. If the size of the galaxy is going to be one of your main talking points prior to release, it might be a good idea to make sure there's actually enough original content to justify it.
It's the kind of game that makes me excited for a sequel or expansion pack that'll deliver on the promise of the foundation that's been laid.
sethsez on
0
KorKnown to detonate from time to timeRegistered Userregular
Posts
No More Heroes
Waited till it came down to $30, and felt it the highest I would pay after playing it. The game was dripping with style and the story and characters were cool, but you know, actually playing the game was a bothersome chore. Let's hope NMH2 improves.
LittleBigPlanet
I actually avoided the hype for a long time on this one, succumbing to it just a few weeks before release. Got into the beta and realized...I was right to avoid all that hype. Not saying it's a bad game, it's just not for me.
Dead Space
Solid in most respects. In many ways, it trumps Resident Evil 4, which is essentially what I'm going to compare it to as it's survival-horror with a behind-the-shoulder camera. But with repetitive enemies and a completely sterile, soulless feel to it all (including a main character who never speaks or reacts; had this been first-person it would have been easier to get away with), I find it hard to get into. Also the only tension that the game invokes at all is that it's very loud, to the point of being a constant annoyance to the ears.
Fallout 3
Basically just Oblivion with guns. I know this is what it was pegged as, and then some people were trying to defend it and say it's not, but it totally is. Not that I hate that; I loved Oblivion and I really enjoy Fallout 3. Just was expecting something different. VATS is cool.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
This one is probably the hardest to explain. It has all the same mechanics and everything, but it just doesn't feel like the first game. However, it is a buggy mess with shitty voice acting.
Mercs 2 is the only one of those that I can say I flat-out hate.
EDIT: Oh shit, this isn't specific to this year? Then I'll throw in Mass Effect, a game that proved to me that even BioWare can't make the bald space-marine thing work. The story and every single character was completely uninteresting, and the battle system, while a cool idea, was more frustrating than anything. I heard Alpha Protocol might have a similar battle system? Let's hope they pick up BioWare's slack. ME looked nice, though (when textures actually loaded).
Some people like to hate things because everyone else in the world loves them. :P
Assassin's Creed disappointed me with its uncreative repetitiveness, and because for the most part the stealth aspects of the game were completely optional and barely even hinted at. It seemed to me that the game embraced upfront violence more than stealth. All the "upgrades" you received were combat oriented, not to mention the end of the game itself... ugh. I liked the graphics, I liked the engine, I liked the controls, but I really wish there was a lot more emphasis on stealth and doing the job without being noticed (until it was too late,) not to mention some creativity in the side quests. Running around killing guards, grabbing flags or pickpocketing some guy was fun the first time. Not so much the tenth. The game was also really, really easy. This is probably because counter was so overpowered that it was nearly impossible to LOSE a fight unless you wanted to, which made avoiding combat less attractive than it would've been.
Grand Theft Auto 4. I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of the GTA series. I have a hard time getting into them, especially the story lines. But GTA3, GTA:VC and GTA:SA grabbed me early on in the game, which convinced me to finish them. Plugging in cheats and camping on a roof sniping tires was cool too. After a few hours of GTA4 I still wasn't hooked though. The dreary backdrop and clunky controls really annoyed me, as did the camera in tight spaces. The whole cell phone thing really annoyed me too. I guess it is a good game, but I don't find it very fun, nor do I think it's a vast improvement to any aspect of the franchise.
Mario Galaxy, but please don't lynch me for saying it. I fuckin' loved Mario 64. Damn it was awesome. I can still play it and be happy with it. Galaxy annoyed the hell out of me though. The camera, the controls, the game world. This was the make or break title for the Wii for me, and as a result the Wii got sold (for sweet, sweet amounts of cash.)
Blue Dragon. Argh. It looked cool, it should've been cool. The characters were shitty, the voice acting was so goddamn corny, the game mechanics were slow and repetitive.
Mass Effect. Mass Effect is arguably one of the better games I've played on the 360, but it still had huge flaws that really bothered me. I felt the RPG elements were kinda underdone and neglected, especially equipment. Was a great action game with a great story, but the RPG half (or 10th) of the game was something I was looking forward to, and I didn't really enjoy it much.
World of Warcraft - Calbert, Azjol-Nerub (PvE)
It's tough to emulate gunfire realistically. Sure, a M16 fired outside at an open range probably won't sound terribly loud - but take it inside, or fire a shotgun or large caliber rifle in an area with physical objects that can echo can make firing without ear protection painful. I used to live at the end of a fjord, and I woke up one day when I kept hearing thunder - but it turned out it was just a friend sighting his .30-06 rifle over a mile away.
I generally prefer the games that take it over the top. Firing a gun is a violent act (I've known girls who've cried the first time they do it), and it helps when the game really tries to convey it.
As for disappointing games, it's the same as it always is this time of year - some surprise, others meet expectations, but most fall somewhat short. I loved Dead Space and am really enjoying Fallout 3, but Spore, TFU, Stalker:CS, FarCry 2, Fable 2, and Mirror's Edge all ended up alright games that honestly aren't worth the current asking price. I resolved to only purchase one game this holiday season and just rent everything else, and I am exceedingly happy with my decision.
Mirror is so not worth $60, luckily I had the foresighted and chose to rent it.
Fallout 3... I can't quite put my finger on it but once I reached the Citadel I just didn't have the will to keep playing.
If you thought the audio was just all loud and Isaac had no character you weren't listening at all.
Listen to Isaacs voice work when he stomps or swings the gun. The dude sounds freaked the fuck out during those actions. Or how about his animations when he's covered in the little necrospider things? That's not a character that doesn't react to anything, that's a character who wants these goddamn things off. Just because he speaks doesn't mean he never reacts to things.
And for the audio just being loud... what the.... I don't even know how you could possibly think that. The audio was designed with "Cones of fear" so that audio tension was greater the closer you approached the point of origin the more tension there would be in the audio. Unless you teleported from focal point to focal point, you just chose to forget a large portion of the game if you thought the audio was just a loud, constant annoyance to the ears.
There are (maybe) reasons to dislike Dead Space, but if you're blaming the audio and the main character not reacting to anything I'm wondering if you actually played Dead Space
And I don't give a fuck about the "cones of fear" or whatever their marketing department calls it, all I know is it was either dead silent or loud as all fuck.
Shocking.
sketchyblargh / Steam! / Tumblr Prime
BOOSH
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I'm hoping it will be one of those games that gets better(levels hopefully) over time, but for now, I'd pass.
Also the jumping in it frustrates me since it's so floaty and imprecise, but someone said earlier in this thread to let go of the joystick when you jump or land, so I'll have to try that next time I get to play.
Multiplayer didnt work. At all. Fuck you, 2K.
There seems a strong, vocal contingent that believes KOTOR 2 is better than KOTOR 1. We got some nice bonuses for character building, but gameplay was virtually identical. The story in two is just... nonsensical. And bad. The first one made sense. I couldn't even follow the second. To this day, I still have no fucking clue what happened at the end of that game. I've beaten it twice.
I ask because a couple people have basically said Obsidian > Bioware, but I just haven't seen that myself.
PSN: Threeve703
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Stalker Clear Sky sucked cuz it made no improvements on actual gameplay, just graphics. The bugs were so retarded that i couldnt even talk to key NPC's at times and fuggin enemies sniped the shit out of you with pistols even though you were completely out of sight. Again, fallout 3 is what STALKER should've been. Pretty graphics dont make up for stupid AI and bugs out the ass.
Saint's Row was complete silliness until I played mission 4 of the Brotherhood. Then .. well, wait and see what happens.
Everything I'd read and seen sold it as an Elder Scrolls: Oblivion level experience. It wasn't. Not even close.
Spore though... I think the best way to describe this it that I was expecting an experience similar to what I am now having with Banjo-Kazooie N&B: A fun editor to build and create stuff with, but also a solid game where I can put those creations to use and have fun with trail & error...
Instead, I get a game that has that fun editor, but the "game" itself is much too shallow for most of the game, with the creature, tribal, and civ stages being too short and having very little to do with them, and the space age become very tedious very quickly with pirate raids, hostile faction, eco disasters, etc etc...
If they had added more depth to creature-civ, (not worried about the challenge, though, knew going in that probably going to be an easy game) options to make said stages, and toned down the attacks and disasters in space, Spore would probably still be on my computer right now.
Version 1.3 came out a few weeks ago. Multiplayer works fantastically now.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
I WILL KILL YOU THEN FIND YOUR FAMILY THEN KILL THEM AND THEN FIND ANYONE WHO EVEN REMOTELY EVER THOUGHT YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING EVER AND KILL THEM TOO BECAUSE YOU'RE SO WRONG.
KOTOR 2 was vastly, vastly better written than KOTOR 1. For one, KOTOR 1 didn't have anyone even remotely approaching the awesomeness of Kreia.
There are two things to remember in KOTOR 2 to get the story though.
1: It is a personal story. You are not saving the universe. That happens, sure, but it's not the point. You are trying to figure out who the exile is, and live out the Exiles story.
2: Your source of exposition was lying to you.
2 is what gets people the most. Kreia is a liar. She's a lying lying liar. Lies all the time. So whenever she tells you anything, up to the last 5 minutes of the game, you cannot trust her. Combined these are also why KOTOR 2 is so much better written than KOTOR 1. KOTOR 1 was about saving the galaxy, or ruling the galaxy, and even with the twist your character was Luke fucking Skywalker all over again. Destroy the big bad guy, save the republic, everyone's happy. Everyone gets along, everyone loves you, even if they know who you really are.
2 also is a much less absolutist game. The Jedi council are not the good guys. They're kind of better, but they're not the Jedi council in 1 who lead your character on the path of righteousness. They're dumb. They make mistakes. They may see themselves as the typical view of the STar Wars jedi, but their inaction lead to death. They see the Exile and they want simply to cast her out of their lives. Forget about her because that doesn't change anything. As Atton says: "You don't get it, do you? The Jedi, the Sith, to the rest of the galaxy they're the same. People with too much power squabbling over religion while the rest of us burn".
I'll admit, when I first played 2, I didn't like the story, because I wanted to be goody-2-shoes-light-side-Jedi and go through a happy story. But then the Council still wanted to exile me. And then Atris still went crazy. And then Kreia still betrayed me. And Bao-Dur still dies. And instead of a big happy Star Wars family shit still sucks and I didn't do anything.
But that's what makes it so good. It's not a typical Star Wars story. Good doesn't just win and the galaxy is happy. Your crew hates each other. T3, the R2D2 of KOTOR, lies, and covers up records, and when found out attacks other droids. GOTO breaks laws to preserve the republic. Visas blindly(ba-dum tschhh) follows pretty much anyone. Atton is about as fucked up as a person can get.
And then there's Kreia. Kreia isn't Darth Vader. She's not Darth Malack. She's not even really Sith. She's just Kreia. She's a teacher and she wants to teach you, but her ways don't fit in to this stupid light/dark shit. She uses the force, but she hates the force, she thinks it weakens people. She chastises you when you try to be goody-two-shoes or evil-mcPuppy-kicker. She betrays you in the end not because she's evil, but because you need to go to Malachor and you need to fight her to finish learning, and that's what she wants. Shes pragmatic to an extreme, and she wants to teach the Exile. Not altogether altruistically either, she wants to teach the Exile because the Exile survived Malachor, when everyone else died, and she wanted to know why. She used to be a historian, but then learned that the Jedi didn't explain everything, so started looking elsewhere. She in the past failed as a teacher because her students did see everything with the light-dark divide.
The game is a subtle, character driven game, not a grand galaxy driven game, and that's why it's "confusing". You have to actually look at what the game is telling you to understand it, not just play along and hope.
By the way, the ending? Malachor set things in motion. It cut the Exile off from the force, and lead to her exile. It was condensed into a super-dense planet by Bao-Dur's Mass Shadow Generator, literally crushing everyone in the battle. The Exiles journey started as the Exile, ultimately, because of the battle of Malachor. In the end either the Exile destroys Malachor, or stays there and uses it to teach. The giant block that started everything is either blown up, or becomes a focal point. Think about it.
If you felt that KOTOR2s story was poorly told or confusing, it's because you weren't actually paying attention to it.
The fact that Lucasarts forced Obsidian into a stupidly short dev time, thereby forcing a lot of cut content, didn't help either.
*que arbitray post of KOTOR 2 LP*
Best WRPG of the last few years.
So dissapointing, KotOR2 was.
Twitch (I stream most days of the week)
Twitter (mean leftist discourse)
Not to start anything here but your actions in Fallout 3 count for fuck all. Seriously. Some dialogue might change and one city can go but every preview had been built around that action. The rest is pretty much worthless.
And Kreia was nothing but a 2nd rate Ravel.
Yes there was nothing new or interesting about a supremely written mother character in a video game.
I mean come on it's been done before.
Like.
Um.
She was supremely written? She just kind of rattled off some Kojima written bullshit about being a soldier and then died.
MGS3 is one of my favorite games from last gen, but your response here has me laughing out loud, hahah that's awesome
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
You sir, are wrong.
WRONG!
We are now super-best-friends.
Mass Effect is like Assassin's Creed. What's there is great, but the amount of content is really inflated with needless repetition.
Mass Effect is nowhere near as bad as Assassin's Creed.
Nowhere near as bad, but it's still there and still an issue. It was easily the most repetitive Bioware game and really felt rushed because of it. If the size of the galaxy is going to be one of your main talking points prior to release, it might be a good idea to make sure there's actually enough original content to justify it.
It's the kind of game that makes me excited for a sequel or expansion pack that'll deliver on the promise of the foundation that's been laid.
It was the first game that I ever muttered, "Thats it?" upon completion.
Pokemon Safari - Sneasel, Pawniard, ????