Author Topic: What Games Are You Playing 2013? (Read 186824 times)

Tide · « **Reply #1550 on:** June 15, 2013, 09:23:07 PM »

I dunno. At it's core, it certainly felt similar enough to me. They aren't the exact same game of course (which I apologize if it came off sounding that way), but pretty much whenever I was playing it, I would rather play SO3 if I wanted the ARPG experience. It felt less cohesive overall and the issues I had with the game were worse than the ones I have with SO3.

Even if they aren't similar...I consider SO3 to be pretty good as far as ARPGs go (dropping like 300 hours into it would be sign number 1). So I'm using that as sort of what I would expect the game to at least do. Kind of like, "Here's what I'm expecting. How do you fare in comparison" sort of deal. I mean it does better in things like ITEM CREATION, but just on the whole, as a game that came out many years after...eh. I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't hate it. Heck, it blows Vesperia out of the water for me, but compared to other games, not quite as good as I hoped. Which is a shame, because I really do want to like it more, but so it goes.

Luther Lansfeld · « **Reply #1551 on:** June 16, 2013, 07:50:53 AM »

FF13-2: Science has officially taken over the world and it is glorious. And a little Big Brother-esque. Now we get to listen to wanky wankman talk about how he wants to kill everyone because THIS GIRL, SHE'S SUFFERING, why do games think this is a good motivation??? And then we get this scene where Caius is all like "lol kill me" and noel is like wtf man it's the girl's birthday. BUT WE MUST HAVE A MANLY DUEL, MAN, and so we fight and it is stupid. Worst birthday ever.

Now I am traversing the final dungeon.

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #1552 on:** June 16, 2013, 09:50:19 AM »

Quote from: Luther Lansfeld on June 16, 2013, 07:50:53 AM

FF13-2: Science has officially taken over the world and it is glorious. And a little Big Brother-esque. Now we get to listen to wanky wankman talk about how he wants to kill everyone because THIS GIRL, SHE'S SUFFERING, why do games think this is a good motivation??? And then we get this scene where Caius is all like "lol kill me" and noel is like wtf man it's the girl's birthday. BUT WE MUST HAVE A MANLY DUEL, MAN, and so we fight and it is stupid. Worst birthday ever.

Now I am traversing the final dungeon.

I think he might have actually been the worst antagonist a FF game has ever had. Worse than Ultimecia or Space Pope.

Grefter · « **Reply #1553 on:** June 16, 2013, 12:24:23 PM »

FarCry 3 : Blood Dragon - Blitzed through this on Easy on the weekend. Why on Easy? Because curb stomping shit like a boss is exactly how this game should be played. Amazing 10/10 should be played.

Clear Tranquil · « **Reply #1554 on:** June 16, 2013, 01:41:22 PM »

I dunno, he actually (FFXIII-2 ending SPOILERS! and stuff) succeeds in destroying the world/remaking it anew/whatever it was he was trying to do, that's how the game ends with his plan fulfilled and it was a motivation that worked apparently. Although I'm not entirely convinced there wasn't someone pulling his strings there, since in the ending Yuel doesn't seem all too bothered about what he has done to everything and in the Lightning and Snow DLC she's as creepy as hell. I'm still half convinced Etro is the villain like Fang says she's a cruel Goddess and all, either that or there is another god behind Caius, he says Lightning is the pawn of Etro but who's he the pawn of hmmm. Also I don't think everyone was killed exactly in the end by destroying the world rather Chaos came and reshaped everything, not quite sure how that's supposed to work but apparently all death is ended or something, I'm not quite sure about the suffering apart along with of ending all death and suffering though because Lightning Returns~ Anyway for FFXIII-2 in itself the game ends with the end of the world and the playable/main heroine of the game dead, no wonder people were/are pissed off~

Meeplelard · « **Reply #1555 on:** June 16, 2013, 01:59:00 PM »

Caius is definitely not the worst FF Antagonist ever. He's definitely got some major problems, but at least he has some qualities here and there (he is really good at stealing the scene and has a sense of charisma about him. Of course, the problem is once you get past the surface...yeah...), and a few minor tweaks could have made him actually good, but they dropped the ball at several points in that development.

People just label him that because "oh god FF13-2 is the worst thing ever" and so every failure in the game gets magnified dramatically...same as FF13 in that regard really.

Hopefully, LR helps sort all this nonsense out, but it sounds like Toriyama is being Toriyama again and I don't hold out too much hope for it (still going to get it, of course.)

That said...games...

Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D: That name is a mouthful and should feel bad as a result!

Anyway, never played the Wii version, so bought this because portable and doesn't have Wii Mote wiggling. Control scheme in both variants feels weird and I have to complain about the forced usage of L/R for mundane actions which they seem to love doing these days. Why not just do what DKC with B = Jump, A = grab stuff, Y = Roll/Pound/Run (I think that was the control scheme.) A strong example of "if it's not broken, DON'T TAKE A HAMMER TO IT TO TRY AND BANG OUT THE KINKS THAT AREN'T THERE." I wouldn't mind so much except the game lacks customization controls; you pick Analog or D-Pad, and are forced into that scheme.

Beyond that nuisance, game seems promising. Part of what helps is that after NSMBU was disappointing on difficulty outside of a few stray stages, this game very much doesn't pull any punches right out of the bat. Also game's humor based on the few plot scenes I've seen is fun too (DK pounding a Tiki for trying to hypnotize him is a good way to start level 1!) Also nostalgic hearing all those DKC1 themes remixed, though I do hope for some original themes here and there.

...which reminds me, DKCRTF better have STickerbrush Symphony.

Luther Lansfeld · « **Reply #1556 on:** June 16, 2013, 04:16:58 PM »

Ultimecia's motivation makes no sense, but at least she doesn't have very much screentime. Caius stinks up the place with his large screentime and idiotic motivation. (Haven't seen the ending yet CTs, will read your post when I do.)

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #1557 on:** June 16, 2013, 07:22:33 PM »

Quote from: Luther Lansfeld on June 16, 2013, 04:16:58 PM

Ultimecia's motivation makes no sense, but at least she doesn't have very much screentime. Caius stinks up the place with his large screentime and idiotic motivation. (Haven't seen the ending yet CTs, will read your post when I do.)

That's basically the difference-maker, yeah. Caius is as bad as Ultimecia, in much the same way: badly written and awfully-designed, but he's in the game so much more and it puts him over the top. Also his abilities were defined by the director as "HE CAN DO ANYTHING" which means not only does he look awful, have bad lines and photocopied Soul Edge to cart around, but he exists as a way to excuse poor writing.

SnowFire · « **Reply #1558 on:** June 16, 2013, 09:07:00 PM »

Well, in fairness to FF8, it doesn't even *try* to "explain" Ultimecia's goal. "She's a crazy power mad villain, stop her." That's okay sometimes. Not every villain is motivated by being spurned by their girlfriend in high school or their mother dying or being betrayed by their best friend. Sometimes they're just evil, and have bizarre / irrational goals that can't really be negotiated with - to compare her to a far better villain, see Dark Knight Joker.

Caius is frustrating because as Meeple points out, the fact he's around a bunch DOES give him presence points in a way that Ultimecia lacks (okay, yes, "Edea" in Disc 1/2 is really Ultimecia, but Ulti only gets so much credit there). So he's a credible threat, and from a purely theoretical standpoint, some kind of deranged love triangle at the end of the world between Noel, Caius, & Yuel has genuine potential to ham it up. Just the actual script, and the attempt to "explain" Caius, attempts to do some bizarre half-jump cartwheel reverse twist, and ends up just faceplanting instead. They'd literally have been better off if Caius was just possessed by an evil spirit and they replaced all his lines & motivations with "MUST DESTROY... HELP ME NOEL... DESTROY". That'd be uninteresting and uncreative, but at least make something approaching sense!

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #1559 on:** June 16, 2013, 09:23:32 PM »

tl;dr- If you don't have any GOOD ideas, you're better off just not explaining anything at all.

SnowFire · « **Reply #1560 on:** June 16, 2013, 09:35:08 PM »

Also known as the "Midichlorian Principle."

Fenrir · « **Reply #1561 on:** June 16, 2013, 11:02:08 PM »

XCOM: 2 casualties the first time I see a sectopods (3 overwatches in the same turn? Really?) then 2 casualties the mission right after against three sectopods and with a terribly nerfed team.

I'm endgame and just need one cyberdisk to finish every research. Cyberdisks just don't want to appear though. I don't think I've always killed them before they could do an attack. I guess they adapted. I don't know if I want to wait for one to appear just for completition, especially since I'm playing iron man.

Anyway in this other mission I follow 2 alpha sectoids.
Enemy turn. One alpha sectoid mind controls a teammate, then 14 alpha flying enemies appear in the same turn. That's bad.

Everybody runs away and leaves poor mind controled Zhao to his fate. They hide far away and use overwatch every turn.
Three turns later, Zhao regains his sense, in the middle of every enemy. Stealth armor -> GTFO
Somehow this whole strategy worked. No casualties in that battle. Weird.

BTW Assaults are now officially rad and destroyers terrible. Other classes haven't changed.
Stealth armor is far and above every other piece of armor. It's ridiculous.

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #1562 on:** June 16, 2013, 11:07:31 PM »

Psi Armor is pretty cool too, if you take the right skills.

Fenrir · « **Reply #1563 on:** June 16, 2013, 11:24:52 PM »

No stealth and 20 less defense is a pretty difficult price to pay for more psy powers with long recharge time.

The only guy with psi powers in my team is the sniper (+One support, but he got eaten by a sectoid), so I pretty much don't use them anymore since I maxed them.

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #1564 on:** June 16, 2013, 11:44:07 PM »

I found it made the difference between mind control usually working on Berserkers and usually not, personally. Of course, my psi agent was an assault so he was good at finding clusters of dudes to MC at each other.

Meeplelard · « **Reply #1565 on:** June 17, 2013, 03:25:03 AM »

DKCR: ...why was I throwing bombs at a bird in a basket?

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #1566 on:** June 17, 2013, 03:52:38 AM »

Since both animals spend a lot of time in trees, birds and apes are natural enemies. You should watch that show Planet Earth, it explains all about that.

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #1567 on:** June 17, 2013, 10:40:25 AM »

Quote from: Anthony Edward Stark on June 16, 2013, 09:23:32 PM

tl;dr- If you don't have any GOOD ideas, you're better off just not explaining anything at all.

Disagree entirely. I'd rather you try something batshit insane and fail spectacularly than to be vague and boring and god I'm falling asleep just thinking about examples like golden sun....

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #1568 on:** June 17, 2013, 10:50:28 AM »

Not quite the same thing. Golden Sun was blatantly being as generic and half-assed as possible. FFVIII being FFVIII, there are a bunch of obscure, incredibly vague bits of plot and terminology surrounding Ultimecia that don't make a lick of sense. But there's just enough of it that a fan so inclined can make shit up to fill in the blanks. And if you don't have any good ideas, giving the fans some scraps and letting them make up the story will endear them to the plot far more strongly than you ever could on your own. It's the SNES Plot Principle.

Anthony Edward Stark · « **Reply #1569 on:** June 17, 2013, 01:05:27 PM »

If you offer me a choice between Caius and a Cactuar as my villain, I'd take the latter. Sure it has no personality, background or dialogue, but the ones they have to Caius actively make me hate him. Not in a way where I want to see him get taken down for his actions (see: Handsome Jack) but where I just want him the fuck off my TV. Ultimecia engenders the same response and thus, I like her more for being in the game less.

Meeplelard · « **Reply #1570 on:** June 17, 2013, 01:05:52 PM »

Of course, then we get situations where people take scraps that aren't even there to imply a character is deeper and more interesting than they are. Bonus points if the analysis goes against actual statements made in game!

Happens more with the earlier SNES RPGs than the later ones, mind you.

Grefter · « **Reply #1571 on:** June 17, 2013, 01:30:05 PM »

Golden Sun isn't bland and unexplained. It is boring and explained in amazing detail.

Warframe - So I haven't been talking about games much lately, it is because I have been playing this. All the time. Forever. It is good.

Meeplelard · « **Reply #1572 on:** June 17, 2013, 03:16:12 PM »

Quote

Golden Sun isn't bland and unexplained. It is boring and explained in amazing detail.

That is probably the single most accurate and concise explanation of Golden Sun I have ever heard.

Luther Lansfeld · « **Reply #1573 on:** June 17, 2013, 04:33:36 PM »

I actually agree with both sides somewhat on the bad but interesting villain vs. the boring villain. The problem with Caius is that not only is he spectacular in his terrible, he is frankly kind of bland in his obsession with death and just being a huge prick. It's not too much we haven't seen before and it's awful.

Van is an example of a villain I think ultimately didn't work all that well because his goals are so bonkers(along with being a little underdeveloped) but I respect the game more for trying than if they had just put in a generic villain.

AndrewRogue · « **Reply #1574 on:** June 17, 2013, 06:43:31 PM »

Quote from: Meeplelard on June 15, 2013, 06:55:15 AM

Okami pretty much requires you kill yourself to die.

Yeah.

On the subject of stupid writing: Generally speaking, bad writing is not going to fail spectacularly in an over the top and interesting way no matter what you try. It is just going to be bad. "So bad it's good" is not a reliable thing to shoot for and is actually pretty hard to achieve.

As others have said, though, the concept is that you don't need to explain EVERY little thing as it often makes the situation worse. I'll use a different example then most people: Silent Hill. Silent Hill 2 is the best game in the series... largely because it dispenses with the cult bullshit and focuses on the important stuff. Why is the town evil? Because fuck you, the town's evil. And it works!

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Author Topic: What Games Are You Playing 2013? (Read 186824 times)