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Games Discussion Thread


SirOni

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Fair enough. It would probably help to have someone with me who's competent as well XD
 

Cappy

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

In L4D? Good luck lol, maybe try finding a contact on steam, they tend to have elites every now and then :3
 

SirOni

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Lol I picked L4D up for the 360, so I don't think I'll be able to access my Steam account.
 

Cappy

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

lawl, no wonder, you're probably playing with this guy;
 

SirOni

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Haha, nah, it was with one of my friends, we were just trying the game out because neither of us had actually played L4D before yesterday.
 

Cappy

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Ah ok, well it's quite fun online, you should definately hop onto versus mode as soon as possible, throwing up on people as a boomer is so fun <3
 

DarkFire1004

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

So I haven't been on this weekend because Splinter Cell Conviction came out. Here's a tip for you guys, play this game in short bursts. You'll get way too sucked into it otherwise.

The Last Known Position concept they had going is pretty funny, but kind of unrealistic. What happens is when an enemy spots you and you successfully get away from them, you'll leave an after image of yourself that represent the place that enemies last saw you. They'll start shooting at that area, then close into the position. But after they get there, they just kind of hang around there instead of actively hunting you. Don't get me wrong though, that makes the game much easier, which you'll need. You've got a lot of people to get away from sometimes and this is the only way you'll get out.

The Mark and Execute, when you first use it, seems like a insta-kill button at first, but you'll realize later on you don't really use it as much as you want. At least, I didn't. The way Mark and Execute works is that you get a melee kill on someone, stealthily or otherwise, which allows you to mark a couple people for an instant kill. The number of people you can mark is based on your weapon, which you can upgrade by doing various challenges. When you use your Mark and Execute, you lose the ability to do it again until you melee another person. But the problem with me is that I'm too used to the old Splinter Cell formula, where you sneak all the time and melee every person in sight and rarely ever use your gun. One thing that's really helpful though is that when you mark a person, an arrow appears above their head. Even if you haven't melee'd someone yet, the arrow will still appear, which kind of acts like an enemy pinpoint for you.

The story. Man, I didn't even listen to the story. I was too busy waiting to sneak around and kill shit. It's awesome. I think it's something like Sam is trying to find his daughter's killer, found him but the guy is actually tied in with Third Echelon and blahblahblah.

You get a ton of weapons to play with this time, but interestingly enough, I found that the old Splinter Cell gear actually worked the best (The Five-seveN and the FN2000). You can upgrade every weapon by doing challenges that you can check in your main menu. These challenges range from easy, such as mark and execute at least two people five times, to hardcore Splinter Cell, like finish a level without retrying and without firing your gun or getting spotted. You get points when you complete a challenge, and you upgrade your weapons. The problem though is that they only allow you to upgrade the weapons with the things they give you. What that means is that you can't fit the AK with a silencer because that's not one of the choices.

They also have a couple cool extra weapons. The silenced shotgun from the preorder is... It's not quiet at all. All it did was give the shotgun more range. You can go on Uplay, whatever that is, and unlock the SCAR, which is decent but not really helpful. Then there's the weekly content they said they'd be adding in. This week it's some machine pistol I never use because they're too loud.

The multiplayer is like the awkward brother of the campaign. It shares many of the aspects from the campaign, and yet it's completely different. You can do everything Fisher can do, but now you have a friend who can do the same. But the problem is in multiplayer you barely ever sneak now. Unless you get an automatic game over for being spotted, you're almost always being caught by enemies and you end up having World War III against literally dozens of guards. Not that it matters, because it's still fun in a more traditional co-op shooter.

My main gripes are the controls and the length of the game. The controls are really different from what you're used to with shooters. You press the left analog stick to reload you press the left trigger to go into cover. You can't even ready your weapon. You just point your gun at any point and press the right trigger to immediately fire. And I also wish they put the grenade button (X) a little farther away from the action button (A). I've thrown a grenade at myself more than once just because I was trying to look under a door. The length of the game is another problem. Maybe it's because I went on a gaming marathon with it, but that was way too short to play on Normal. You'll die a couple times along the way, but it's not too difficult. The game just makes you want to replay over and over.

Meanwhile the online is kind of interesting. If you don't have a headset, you and your partner are basically screwed. No communication = "What's he planning on doing and how can I help?" And if you ever think you're bad at being a spy, trust me. There are people that are a lot worse.
 

Alias

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Re: Games Discussion Thread



Thoughts?
Stopped reading about halfway through when I realized he was trying to make a point about specific games not being art after NEVER HAVING PLAYED THEM.

@Dark: Sigh. I wish there were more Splinter Cell-esque games. Velvet Assassin, Assassin's Creed, and even the Hitman series don't even come close. Unfortunately I've only ever gotten Chaos Theory to work on my computer. Now that there's a new one... whoo. Must have!
 

Unknown Squid

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Hmm, that's a much more positive review than me and my sister have been giving the game. Splinter Cell: Conviction. The game where 80% of the time you may as well be playing it on a black and white TV.

Ok, so when your in the light you get colour, and you'll want to see that to know when your visible. But I do really hate the new on/off stealth and the stupid grey scale filter effect they use to let you know your hidden. It makes the entire area, even the lit areas, so much harder to see in, and a real pain to try and figure out when one grey object ends and the next begins. Add to that how the Sonar vision is also in grey scale, and things just get confusing.

The "on/off" stealth I mentioned bugs me as well. The way any one spot of floor counts as being either flatly dark or not dark, with no scale between them, just seems backwards. And how your AI opponents are deafer than ever. The game instructs me to do a running slide up to a wall beside a guard, I think "What? But won't he hear me? Is that really what I'm meant to do?" I perform this manoeuvre into the cover, Sam scuffing loudly along the ground as he goes, the dude practiaclly standing right next to me, and he's apparently totally unaware.

Then there's the thing that you can no longer move bodies. The game forces you to leave them where they drop, and wait around to make sure that the other patrolling dude doesn't come past him and start going nuts or just take out every patrolling guard in the region just in case their paths pass the body at some point.

I get why they've made these changes, and how they're trying to take the game into a faster more aggressive style of play. Assualt stealth or whatever. But it doesn't really work for me. They've doped the game up on "cinematic style" and tried to turn Sam Fisher into Jack Bauer. The stylised text on the wall and such, while it looks kinda neat, I don't care for. All the cool stuff is kind of watered down by the bits that bug me.

Oh, and if they use "Sonar Vision" and no longer have the thermal, night vision, motion, electrical or any other vision modes, what the hell are the extra lenses for on their googles? Do those lenses actually emit and pick up sonar pulses or what?

I can't justify any more ranting without playing the game some more, since I'm not very far in yet, but those were my first impressions. So far 'Chaos Theory' is by far my favourite of the series, and represents what I want in a Splinter Cell game.
 

DarkFire1004

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Holy fuck. I can't believe I forgot the black and white aspect. Squid is completely correct. You'll be playing this game almost ALWAYS in black and white. Your eye really starts to get tired or starts to strain after a while and you really need to take a break after a bit or you may seriously hurt yourself.

Every other point Squid made is also spot on. I actually found myself at one point trying to turn night vision on and ended up turning on the sonar instead. I didn't really have a problem with the bodies because I'm usually right next to them waiting for the guy to come by and spot it so I can take him out too.

Also you forgot to mention that when you move with sonar vision on, your entire vision is blurred and you can't see shit. If you're an old Splinter Cell fan, or if you're just looking for a more realistic spy game, this game'll probably make you rage a little.
 
OP
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Re: Games Discussion Thread

I'm currently playing through a little game called Drakensang 2 - an RPG similar to Dragon Age, but different enough to merit its existence.
It's based on a game system called The Dark Eye, similar to D&D. The battles are turn-based in realtime, if that makes any sense. In comparison to DA:O, the battles appear a bit wooden. But what it lacks in epicness (the game is rated 12 and upwards in Germany, so no decapitation) it makes up for in authenticity. You almost immediately find yourself immersed into this world, and there is not a single thing that breaks this atmosphere. Everything has a background, there are people conversing in the streets. The world just seems to be realistic within its universe from front to back.
True to the game system you start off as a little fish in a big pond, and the game lets you feel that within the first hour of the game. The main story actually deals mostly in politics instead of a world-devouring force of evil and offers some shades of grey. As such, the threat feels smaller and less tangible than in DA:O, and sometimes you find yourself forgetting about it for hours as you run after the fuckload of side quests there are.

Nonetheless it's an experience I've enjoyed so far, and I will continue to do so for some more hours (or until my birthday comes, and with it Mass Effect 2).
 

Sinfulwolf

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

I've recently been playing GoldenAxe: Beast Rider for the 360. It is surprisingly decent. There's not much depth to the game, indeed the story is shit, but for a hack and slash game its the game play and combat that are important.

The game does a pretty good job of combat, with an interesting twist on defense I've not before seen (It is very possible that it was present in another game I've not played), in which when an enemy attacks you their weapon glows blue, orange or green. You then have to quickly either parry (blue, green) or evade (orange, green) in order to prevent getting hit, and then leaving the enemy open for counter attack. If you time the button presses perfectly you'll do a brutal counter showing off a cool little animation of Tyris (you're character) cutting into the enemy. Unless you're damn good, the animations don't happen enough to get too boring. As for the combos, again it rewards you for doing perfect button presses in that your sword catches fire for that attack and you get a "titan bonus" which basically gives you more gold to unlock upgrades.

The combat is surprisingly difficult for these apparent advantages you have, and not using defense will get you killed, especially in later levels.

Of course, the game's subtitle is 'Beast Rider', so of course you get mounts. There are four, with a secret one near the end. Each ones plays quite differently from the others, which is great, though of course there's usually no choice in what beast you'll be using at a particular moment. Enemies can dismount you if they cause enough damage, and then take yer damn beast away, but the game lets you give them a flying jump kick to knock them off their clawed gorilla or whatever thing they happen to be riding, so that you can take their place.

Magic is also part of the game. There are only two spells, both of which are firebased, selected with the d-pad and fired with the B button. When spells are upgraded you press the button multiple times to fire the more powerful but more expensive spells. However, you only get 6 "potions" to fire off, and they are fairly rare.

On top of the main game there's the "Challenge Mode" that you can go back through specific portions of the game, as well as "Trials of Tyris" which is a 10 stage arena taking on waves of enemies from the levels the arena is based in.

All in all, not too bad a game at all. I'm enjoying it, but still, the game isn't anything very special. Fairly basic hack and slash, shit story, good graphics, and some decent re playability.

7/10
 

Incubus

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

They remade a goldenaxe game?

I remember that as a 2d sidescrolling fighter with three characters, a barbarian man, a barely clothed barbarian female (whom I used to use, but not for that reason, she had the best magic; I was too young for the more pobvious reason) and a dwarf with a big axe.

Geez...
 

Sinfulwolf

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

They remade a goldenaxe game?

I remember that as a 2d sidescrolling fighter with three characters, a barbarian man, a barely clothed barbarian female (whom I used to use, but not for that reason, she had the best magic; I was too young for the more pobvious reason) and a dwarf with a big axe.

Geez...
Yeah, they remade it, and you only play as the barely clothed barbarian female. Though they give her a few outfits throughout the game.
 

Alias

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Sin, stop making me want to play all these games that are not for pc ><
 

Copper

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

I've heard mixed things about Beast Rider. Might have to give that one a rent, perhaps. I think they did it for PS3 as well, so I'll have to poke around and see. I recall playing that in the arcade as well and feeding massive amounts of quarters into it constantly. The version of it on the PS2 Sega Collection thingie that it's on is a broken, poorly translated piece of crap but it's a fun time killer at the very least.

And is Drakensang 2 the translated title, Rule, or is that the German? I've heard of Drakengard (1 and 2) but that's a new one on me. And if it's that good, I can live without decapitations. Heck, I can live without them now *laughs*

Side note: was reading something, could've been a fanfic, could've been one of my mangas, but they used the term "zweihander" and I knew what it was, hehehe.
 

Incubus

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Based on his description, it ain't Drakengard.

<3s my Drakengard. And now, a brief commentary of Drakengard 1.

"Oh, just another hack and slash game like Dynasty warriors? Oh okay, that's cool, but I kinda expected more from square enix.

Wow, awesome villain.

Huh... what? How is that...? Did we skip a good deal of the story somewhere? This doesn't seem right...

Oh. Yes, we did. Huh, it doesn't quite play chronologically, you have to do certain things to unlock some chapters that fill in some gaps.

Heh, cool ending, but apparently there's four others I can unlock now.

Oh god. Oh god. OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD. What the shit? WHAT THE SHIT? That is some messed up shit.

That is some really messed up shit.

Lawl, Japan."

I really need to resume playing Drakengard 2 on hard mode; unlike the first you have to repay through the game on a higher difficulty in order to unlock alt endings. The downside of this is that while the difficulty may be increased, you retain your existing levels, so it's not hard enough that you don't spend half a game one hitting mooks and it gets a little boring. 2 is really cool as well though.
 

Copper

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

I play Dynasty Warriors on a regular basis. Leveling up and trashing mooks is what my friend and I call "quality gaming time." And I didn't *think* it was Drakengard, but figured it was close enough to warrant asking. Should be interesting once I eventually get to the darn thing.
 

Incubus

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Trouble with the replay is the mooks aren't worth any xp and you don't have the slightly more challenging officers around to break up the tedium. I dunno, i can play Dynasty Warriors a lot more than I can pay hard mode of DG2.
 

Copper

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Re: Games Discussion Thread

Eh, for me, if the story and characters are engaging enough, I can stand to play something over and over again. Hellooooo, Dragon Age.
 
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