General Gaming Discussion

Rather than to have this stuff in the console thread, I thought it would be best to say stuff regarding games here. I'll start by replying to a post directed towards me:

I don't like Killzone 2 for other reasons, but the cover mechanic is one of the most important. I like moving and for my enemies to move. The game had some nice one-hit kills and such, but I thought that it, generally speaking, was too easy. It has the same problem lots of other cover shooters have, in that there's a sort of fake difficulty about the game. You need to memorize where to take cover and when enemies will spawn and from where. Don't get me wrong; I think the game is a lot better than other cover shooters that I've played, but it's still not my kind of game. And keep in mind that I thought that Rainbow Six: Vegas was okay, not great. There are other things about it that I think are better than KZ2. I actually think that KZ2 has the better cover shooting mechanic, simply because it takes place in first person.

As far as the graphics are concerned, I don't care about them. The gameplay is what matters to me the most. You're obsession with graphics is a typical console gamer attitude. Better graphics don't make games any better.

Graphics were fine. Sound was fine. Mission structure was fine. I'm not picking on the game for those things. I just don't think the game was fun to play. I didn't like how static it was, the two weapons restriction, regenerating health, allies who can never die, dialogue was bad and obnoxious, etc. And that final battle didn't impress me.

Half-Life 2's final battle was challenging? Are you kidding me?

Nah, it definitely was a puzzle. Play other adventure games and you'll see. It's fairly brain-dead that you need to screw in a light bulb in order to light a room. The challenge is usually in how to attain those items, but that was console-tard simple in Shenmue as well. If it was just Sega's idea of interacting with the environment, then my only reaction is to laugh and shake my head.

I didn't say that the influence wasn't there, because it was. I meant that it didn't share VF's complexity. It didn't even come close.

Yeah, all the NPCs talked, and most of the dialogue was awful and trivial. I don't need Oscar worthy performances. I need them to sound like human beings and to talk about stuff that isn't mind-numbing. Who cares is Ryo can suddenly learn Chinese? It's because the fact that he couldn't in the first game was a major element in the story. The pamphlets allowing him to automatically master moves was a contrivance to be sure, but it wasn't one that was woven into the story. I can't simply ignore it for that reason. It comes across as a hole in the plot.

Your criticism of Brad doesn't affect me. I really don't care about him one way or the other to either defend him or to agree with you. But I haven't been playing VF5 with a pad. Ever. If you want to pick on my choice of controllers, pick on me for using the Hori EX 2. That was one terrible stick.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that kingo uses a controller. Maybe not all the time, but sometimes.

You know what? I know that Shenmue's story isn't exactly novel, but it's executed well enough that I maybe, just maybe, would buy the game if it releases, just to see how everything ends.

Killzone: Shadowfall definitely doesn't have perfect reflective surfaces. I've read about tech and John Carmack explains it here. But the reflections are cool and the game looks good in general. Watching the gameplay though, it doesn't seem different from the last game. The slow motion stuff looked new, but I don't know how it will tie into gameplay. In FEAR it worked to great effect because while the world moved slowly, your aiming speed stayed the same. In Killzone: Shadowfall, it looks like it's just an aesthetic effect. You seem to aim as quickly as the world moves. It doesn't look like a game that will interest me.

 

Well, it's not his games that interest me. I think that id hasn't made a great game since Quake III. Does Carmack even work on the games? As far as I know, he's just a tech guy. And his tech is what really excites me. I think that his contributions have made a huge influence on the way games are designed. But in particular, I'm very excited for id Tech 6.

Currently, most games use polygons with texel (TEXture ELements) laid over them. The resolution of those textures change depending upon how close you are through mipmapping. Basically, the textures scale down the closer you are to them. Carmack is trying to do the same thing with geometry through what he's calling sparse voxel octrees. You may be familiar with voxels in other games. For instance, Minecraft is a popular game that uses them. They're just uncommon.

Voxels are pretty much a volumetric equivalent of a pixel, each with its own color. Put many of them together - hundreds, maybe thousands - and you can get a pretty detailed image. There would be no texturing laid over them. The voxels are the textures. His idea is to change the number of voxels present in geometry depending upon how close you are to them. It's similar in concept to what's already being done with textures. So if you're standing really close to an object, it may be composed of 100,000 voxels. Get far away from it, then those voxels could just be maybe 10 voxels or less. Of course, the detail wouldn't be as great, but you're far away anyway and wouldn't notice it. This idea is supposed to have a lot of benefits over polygons, but I'm still researching this and I don't have all the details.

According to Carmack, this idea wasn't ready because of performance issues. I think we're approaching the time where this thing can be totally possible, though. In fact, it's already been done to an extent.



As you can see, voxels don't scale that well up close. But they look really good from a normal distance. As technology improves, that's going to become less and less of an issue. I think the sparse voxel octree is the next big step in the evolution of computer graphics. Unfortunately, the industry is set on following polygons. Lots of games look good, but I don't think they'll have the level of detail voxels afford. They'll need to use mapping techniques, which aren't the same thing.

 

Taking a break from VF and getting back into SP gaming. I've kinda been, just with Super Hang-On, Revenge of Shinobi, Bangai-O, MG:R, God Hand and Viewtiful Joe.

As far as MG:R and VJ go, it's more about multiple play throughs and unlocking things.

God Hand I bought day one, many moons ago, but never sat down with it. I was "ehh.." about it, but figured there was something I wasn't catching. Checked a couple YT vids and saw that there very much was the "under the hood" approach to the combat that I wasn't pissing together. I wouldn't recommend to a lot of people, but if you are looking for an action game, that's really customizable and keeps your hands busy, I'd say go for it. I would actually say this is a bad game, but it keeps me coming back, because still like it's goofiness.

I have Bayonetta in the mail coming. I borrowed this a few years back and beat it, but at the time I wasn't feeling SP games really (outside of the occasional Rez playthrough) on top of that I was miffed at SEGA for not bringing VF5R to the states. I was more focused on SSFIV, MW2 and VF5, as well as GGPO, and was just done with SP gaming altogether. I ended up borrowing it from a neighbor a year or two later. Playing it I kept thinking "What an awesome game, this is really well done!", but at the same time I wasn't trying to spend $ as I was busy with other things and wanted to spend the time I did have for games, on multi-player.

Gonna pick up Vanquish as that was another one, where I played the snot out of the demo, but wasn't keen on paying $60 for it, despite how awesome it looked and played. Not being able to carry over a game save is still a stupid decison, but whatever.

Bangai-O HD: Missle Fury. Outside of VF this is probably my favorite game this generation. Fast, beautiful and ridiculous. The game is retardedly hard, but I never feel the urge to spike the controller.

Looking forward to Killer Is Dead in August and would like to pick up a WiiU in that time, because of Wonderful 101, which looks like a Sat. morning cartoon and has really cool details (how the weapons are made out of the heroes you recruit). On top of that it comes from Hideki Kamiya, and his games have yet to dissapoint, so I have high hopes. Sonic Xtreme (Lost World is the official name) Bayonetta 2, and X are the 4 must haves for me. Bayo and W101 look to have over 100+ hours of replayability as do most of Platinum's games so I know they will not dissapoint.

and yeah...bed time....

 

Alright so I picked up Bayonetta, Vanquish and Devil May Cry 4 over the past couple days after trading in some games (DOA4, DOA5, P4A and UMvC3) with some money left over.

I think Bayonetta might be my personal favorite out of them because I like that kind of character action game, BUT Vanquish is a game that makes me go "HOLY SHIT!!!". The setting is awesome and kinda reminds me of Zone of the Enders, except you're grounded.

The game is linear but non-stop action and the surroundings look absolutley gorgeous. I was pretty floored by the train sequence where the enemies train is on a track that has being aware that it can be sideways on a track and above you as well. The background goes by insanely fast and the effects here are quite breath taking.

Weapon switching looks awesome and makes the game that much smoother than in other games as well, since the guns actually morph into the next one instead of grabbing another gun. The effect looks great and if you zooming in, the camera never pans out and keeps the transistion smooth, unlike any shooter out there. Boss battles are awesome and really give you a "OMG!!!" feeling.

I wish this game was open-world and had multi-player, but as it stands, this is a game I see playing over the next several years "just because". I'm really excited to see how accurate and fast I can get.


Next on the "to get list": Catherine, Shadows of the Damned, Binary Domain and Anarchy Reigns.

 

I cant believe you trade in the DoA games....

Bayonetta is ok... I prefer Ninja Gaiden and The Dishwasher to that. But I agree with Vanquish, its a really fun game. What was P4A like?

 

P4A is awesome really, it's just the people I game with, don't like it/play it for various reasons. I almost didn't trade it in actually because as product it really is well put together. There is enough single player content there, but as far as single player games, I would be playing dedicated single player games for a lot longer. Fast paced and simple but intuitive controls, that get you into the game faster, but has underlying depth of you wish to pursue it.

DOA same story and DOA 5 will be coming out. I probably won't pick it up as soon as I expected though, because if other games releasing in the same time frame, namely Killer Is Dead.

 

Before I get into new games I'm playing around with the old ones. I've never finished Riven, so I really want to get back to it. Myst was too easy. Maybe Riven isn't directly harder, but there's a much bigger world to explore.

I also want to try MDK. I heard that Shiny's early work was great. If the game is as good as I'm hoping, I might play the sequel made by Bioware.

 

MDK was pretty awesome. It had a surreal look to it, and MDK 2 was one of my favorites because the sequel added to it. Those games showed me that 3D action games could be awesome. It wouldn't be until Zone Of The Enders and then Devil May Cry, really showed how awesome 3D action games really did come in their own.

 

http://www.gamespot.com/news/ubisof...d-after-server-hack-6410992?tag=Topslot;Slot5

Now keep in mind that this same company is developing a DRM system that will store all of your saves online. If this kind of thing happens again, you won't even be able to play offline.

 

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/mdk

I'm really considering it. I have a lot of old games to catch up on. I also want to get the 20th Anniversary version of Another World that's being offered on the same site I linked above. I'd get Flashback too if I could, though I hear Ubisoft is developing a remake.

 

Man, I really need to look into a gaming PC, which I plan on doing. My laptop is holding on, but kick ass pc, that doubles as a gaming PC is a must. I can probably play MDK without it, but there are other games (namely Sonic & All-Stars: Transformed) that I really want for the higher pc-spec.

On top of that, the oldest console I own now is the Dreamcast and it be cool to play some old Genesis games I still love.

I would say go for it on MDK.

 

So I just Bayonetta on Normal, gonna go through this game all the way multitple times, aiming for Platinums and the whole nine.

I remember this game being awesome when I played it a few years back, but after today, it's on another level. The over the topness, stages, bosses, music...just...the whole package was perfect.

I was going to play some DMC4 after I beat this, but I don't know. I'm thinking I should just take a break, because the whole design of Bayo is on another level.


Beat Vanquish last week, and really liked this game as well. Flirted with God Hard mode, but I'm thinking Bayo will be keeping me busy longer than I anticipated originally. Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 could be the only games I buy when I eventually get a WiiU and I don't think I'd ever get bored. Bayo 2 is gonna be fucking nuts!

 

Went through DMC4. Game was a riot, but falls short of the greatness that is Bayonetta. Bayonetta does a better job of getting you into the game faster with certain abilities then adds to it from there on, while DMC4 is solid (Nero is a ton of fun!), but you need to unlock abilities before the games pace picks up in going from place to place. Overall had a great time, even though there were points where I got lost.

Started using Dodge Offset in Bayo, and man this is an awesome feature. Still getting it down consistently but it opens up the game that much more!

 

Bayonetta is an amazing game. You feel so powerful in that game and it is so fast paced while still keeping you in control of the action. Loved it so much!

 

Yeah need to play that game again! It really is a great game. Must play for anyone who hasn't played it yet.

 

I have it and haven't even scratched the surface.. Started out cool but just became repetitive too me.. Felt like a "Girl Powered" version of DMC. Maye I will go back and finish it.. Currently find myself playing Bionic Commando, Outrunners, Cliffhanger: Edward Randy and Assassin's Creed 2.

 

No doubt it's a female DMC clone, but really it's good compared to the many that have tried to clone it and failed. When you get the time give it another chance without judging it. Really it's quite fun! Plus you are cheating yourself out of some of the best female pop locking, fanboy perverse shit ever lol

 

Yo when you beat the game she gives you a straight up Michael Jackson style dance video featuring the angels as backup. I think her game is way better than DMC ever was.

 

Ummm NO! Maybe DMC 2, but definitely not the original or DMC3.

 

We will have to disagree on that one.