A rant about gaming.

[Newbie]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Not that the original Halo was one of the spectacular failures of a game that people will eat up even though it's trash.

I am able to forgive Halo for three reasons:

1) It still amuses me. I have people over almost weekly, and we play the Halo 2 for a long while.

2) Some of the people behind it made a game that wasn't a shameless cash in: Stubbs the Zombie, Rebel Without a Pulse. This is one of the most amusing and inventive games I have ever played, and they were able to make it because of the work they'd done on Halo. It gave them the engine and the income they needed. I'm sure they can be credited for many other "legitimate" games, but this is by far my favorite.

3) Halo's story is actually much larger than people give it credit for; it's very much a developed universe. There are novels about what came before, and they are working on games and even a film regarding this. FPS games are not the greatest vehicles for stories as they tend to be more for instant gratification types than intellectuals.

 

[DarkFire1004]

Re: A rant about gaming.

It kind of reminds me of Final Fantasy VII. Most people hate it because it's so popular.

 

[Alias]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Meh. I've just never owned an Xbox so didn't really ever play the single player version. When it came out on PC it was old news, so the only experience I have with Halo is with the lanners that omgwtfpawnnubskthxbai in multiplayer. I can respect the single player. But I also have to point out the fact that the majority of Halo players do not appreciate said single player. And also, that comment by me was not sarcasm. I was genuinely saying, the original Halo wasn't made of epic fail >.> The other two, I might be able to say that with confidence. I hate rehashes of the same game.

Final Fantasy... is weird. I've played 1, 2, 3, 7, I think I've played a bit of 8, and I may have picked up 12. Never finished any of them. To this day, I have yet to figure out why. The only FF game I've ever been interested enough in to finish was FF tactics.... does that even count?

 

[Kusanagi]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Personally, I love FF7; it's the amount of crap that has spewed forth (i.e., Dirge of Cerberus) that I hate. It may not be a dead cow, but they still need to stop milking it all the same. I can deal with cameo appearances in other games (Kingdom Hearts) and I even like the Advent Children movie, but that's about it.

I forget: did the Halo universe come first, or the game? If the universe came first, I have high hopes for the movie. If the game came first, not so much.

Halo 1, I love Single Player, and multiplayer is fun if you play with friends. Halo 2 I loved for both modes, though I started to like the multi a bit better. As for Halo 3. . . meh. I like the multiplayer, but as it is the latest installment, all the Halo 1337-douchebags are on it, and I loathe the Rat's Nest and. . . I think it's Construct, the one with 3 grav-lifts to the top, though there's a main way and a sneaky way to get up, therefore bypassing the lift campers? Then there's Gaurdian..... I have a love/hate relationship with it. It's THE most common map I've played to date, and it's always the same strategy: get the Shotgun and the Hammer -> camp. The Hammer (it seems to, anyways) can knock back grenades, and the shotgun is practically insta-kill, even with your shield up to full.
Anyways.

And just to be dis-jointed:
The only FF I've managed to get through is FFX, and that's only because it's the only one I actually own... well, scratch that, I have 1, 2, and 3 for Gameboy, as well as Tactics and War of the Lions, and also XII... but I've had FFX the longest. I only just got the other ones within the last couple of years. I mooched off my cousin for FF7, and nearly beat it. I'd like to get my hands on FF8 - hell, I'd like to get my hands on all of the ones I don't have; I just don't have the time to play them all within the time period of my life that I actually plan to have free time during AS WELL AS am still interested in playing them.
Plus, I dunno where to find them and I'm pretty penniless >.<

 

[Alias]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Step 1: Google epsxe.
Step 2: torrent said game isos.
Step 3: ??????
Step 4: Profit!

 

[ZeroSpace]

Re: A rant about gaming.

You see, the basic idea people have for games is that it needs to be entertaining.
But I want it to be more. I want something that leaves a impression in me forever so when I am thinking about my gamer life or brain storming an idea, I want it to be there and remind me what was the most amazing impression that it gave me? And why? Games are entertaining, but why not make it more? Thats what people are aiming for when they got in the gaming industry. Hell, I am still looking forward to a small group publishing a great game, it might be hard, but talents, luck and some interest in their hobby would give them the chance they need. Yes it's a dream, but when it happens I will be the one having the last laugh.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: A rant about gaming.

I still remember "The Darkness" and when I gave an old woman in the New York Subway system a journal from her dead husband. What she said, I just felt... good. It was an amazing experience for me really.

 

[Mega Man Trigger]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Chrono Trigger left a pretty big impression on me. I downloaded the ISO first, but bought it for the DS midway through because I'd feel bad for stealing such an awesome game.

 

[Kusanagi]

Re: A rant about gaming.

I can't torrent on my home computer, and I don't like to if there's a way I can legitimately buy the game.

 

[ZeroSpace]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Yeah really good games just needs to be bought.

 

[Wonderboy]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Ok, I haven't read through the entire thread, as I'm leaving my house in 5 min, but I wanna say 2 things.

1. I think Halo 2 was a piece of art, the way the antagonist from the first game turns to a victim and then a protagonist, and all those things, bu tmostly I just enjoyed the story and the music, someone put together all the cutscenes from that game, and you can actually watch it pretty much as a movie.

2. All good games should be bought. When I was still a proper gamer, I would download games, then If I really liked them, I would buy them. I bought BF2142, Audiosurf, halo 2, half life 1 with all the expansions, sinistar, descent 3 just to name a few, and I think all should follow this strategy.

Woah, got to go!

 

[Alias]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Well considering the manufacturers don't make the games for PSX anymore, the only way you could get your hands on a legitimate copy is to buy it from a third party, like through eBay. None of that money goes to developers or development companies, so to be honest, I would tell you not to feel bad about getting said material for free.

Personally, for me, it's not really a choice; I simply don't have the money to spend on games anymore, whether I'd like to or not. I'm going to be working two jobs soon just to make ends meet. School loans are on my ass, etc etc.

But in your position, like I said, since there's no way you can pay the devs since you can't buy the games in stores anymore, just go ahead and download it. PS1 emulators nowadays don't even need that great of a computer to run as well as native hardware would run it. If you can't torrent, I'd be happy to see if I still have some isos buried in my HDD somewhere. I know I have Legend of Legaia sitting around somewhere.


@mega man:
Emulate the SNES version. It's really the only way to go. That's the old school shit, man.

 

[Bartnum]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Let's talk about the kills, the main part of the game. What comes to my mind when you say the word "Assassin" is something much like a ninja. A shadow slips in and slips out, and nobody notices the target is even dead until the shadow is long gone. *Did they ever give you an option to do this? No. The best you could do was try to get close to your target without getting noticed, which was often more difficult and more time consuming than simply rushing through all the guards. It's a game about assassinations, not public lynchings. **The stealth kills weren't even rewarded, as every guard within a twenty mile radius would instantly know you were there as soon as you so much as touched your target and start attacking.

*Not true. I took out the first target (Tamir in Damascus) with a stealth kill by blending in with the crowd, and I got away before the guards came at me. Though I admit it wasn't very far, it was far enough to get back to the safehouse without any resistance. Granted though, this was the only time I've managed to do this with a primary target.

**Not true either. I've never had that happen, and I use stealth kills a lot.

I agree with pretty much everthing else you said about the game though. I'm looking forward to Assassin's Creed 2 in the hopes that they've fixed some of these problems. Though I hear that the combat system is heavily based off that of the first game, which annoys me because the combat system in the first game is FUCKED. They give you all these fancy moves, but half of them require ridiculous timing and don't work half the time. There's also the small issue of fighting large groups on enemies, because if one of them hits you you can't do anything for a second, so all 10 of his buddies will move in and each land a hit within the space of about 3 seconds reducing your health to nearly nothing. Granted, that's more incentive for you to be more Assassin-like and avoid fighting large groups, instead using the environment and citizens to your advantage and hiding from them, but then for your last two targets you're forced to fight large groups, and if you've been running and hiding from large fights all game you aren't going to have a hope in hell due to simple lack of knowing what the fuck to do.

Mass Effect was genuinely epic, I'm looking forward to that sequel as well. I'm hoping for two things to still be included: alien sex scenes, and ridiulously long elevator rides. Let's face it, without them it just isn't Mass Effect.

As for the Halo series, I'm a big fan. I love the story, I love the gameplay (single and multi player), and I especially love the music. You can't complain about the music in the Halo games. Granted the games have their flaws, but since I can't be bothered to explain them I'll redirect you to Zero Punctuation's reviews of

You must be registered to see the links

and

You must be registered to see the links

.

If you haven't seen or heard of

You must be registered to see the links

, I'd take a look. If nothing else, it's bloody hilarious. Most of the games mentioned thus far (Halo, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed) have all been reviewed, so you might find some good arguments there.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Actually, apparantly Mass Efect 2 is changing the long elevator rides... so not quite the same.

Alien sex I cannot guarantee, but considering they are putting sex in their Dragon Age game, I'll assume its in ME2 as well.

 

[Alias]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Oops. I should have been more specific.

Stealth kills on the primary target are not rewarded, especially since every guard in the town is alerted to your presence. Stealth kills on regular civilians/guards don't count. Me? I've been able to get to every single target and use the hidden blade to kill them before anybody knew I was there (my attempt to make the game more interesting), and every single time as soon as I killed him, the guards instantly knew I was there and started chasing me. Kudos to you for doing it on the first one... I guess there just weren't any guards nearby so you could immediately blend before they actually were in sight of you?

I just think the devs could have given the whole "assassination" thing way more depth. When I was playing through Splinter Cell, it was SO rewarding going through an entire level without killing, KOing, or otherwise making my presence known. I was a shadow that slipped in, got what needed to be done done, and slipped out, like an eel through oil. Made me feel like a fucking ninja, man.

AC just didn't have that. It was like... you can try to be stealthy, but in the end BRUTE FORCE IS THE WAY TO GO.

And I'm just like... wtf man. Assassins aren't supposed to be able to take on fifty guys at once. They're supposed to get in and get out and leave somebody fucked up without anybody knowing they were even there.

Mass effect was fun. It was a new spin on an old way of doing things. Which I appreciated a lot. I didn't find the story too compelling, but I've never much liked military storylines. All that yessir nossir threebagsfullsir just turns my stomach.

About sex in video games. Who agrees with this statement: make it explicit, or don't put it in at all. I'm really not a fan of how they put "sex" in mass effect. It just had a feeling of awkwardness about it. And the way they tried to artfully hide it.... meh. 3D graphics just aren't to the point where you can successfully pull something like that off, I think (as opposed to movies where sex scenes can actually be quite artistic). Then and again, I thought the whole romance side thing to Mass Effect was pretty bad. So it might have just been that.

I mean... you have a couple conversations with a chick and suddenly one of the dialogue choices is "Ash is.... special to me." When he's never called her by a nickname of any sort, nor shown anything other than friendly concern for one of his soldiers.

 

[Nunu]

Re: A rant about gaming.

i think the artfully hiding it is a mistake, well more of a cop out really. i got my hands on Fahrenheit (indigo prophecy) recently and thats got sex scenes (more than one even), its even got nipple and i think it only adds to the game. Also because there is more than one it makes it a lot less of a token sex scene like mass effect had.

mass effect wasn't a story about sex, it just had a bit in there to make it sell better, like movies often do nowdays.

 

[lurker]

Re: A rant about gaming.

I agree that good games need innovation. Spore and Left 4 Dead, my major games I wanna game, catch me for the intuitiveness of the creatures featured are all self made in the former, and the (at least to me) new co-op system from the latter.

But I also agree that some games and stories need to stop getting milked. Halo, not a fan of. Shooters in general, ditto. But the main grouping of games? SHOOTERS, SHOOTERS, SHOOTERS DAMNIT!

 

[DarkFire1004]

Re: A rant about gaming.

its even got nipple

For some reason, that was hilarious to me.

 

[Sinfulwolf]

Re: A rant about gaming.

I agree that sex should be allowed in video games. I mean, we already see it in movies, and some books I've read have sex scenes that read like porn. I don't get why people are in such a huffy over the display of sex, especially in an M rated game that should really only be played by folks 17 or older. I know it doesn't work out that way, but that's not the developers fault, and they shouldn't have to hold back what they want to do, due to younger kids getting their hands on the game.

Besides, why can we so easily see real women naked in movies, but 3D dimensional mapping is so bad? It's slightly confusing.

Now... while I enjoyed the sex in Mass effect, because soldiers in close quarters like that just need to get off... they didn't need the somewhat clumsy romantic plot thread leading to it. But I suppose you can look at it in a way, where you've been fighting alongside someone, you're talking to them, you just get close to them, you don't need a very strong romance thread in the circumstances. That's my opinion at least.

 

[Alias]

Re: A rant about gaming.

Agree with that whole post. I can think of two things that might explain the lack of concern about movies as opposed to games, but neither of them do it very well:
1. Movies are a much older source of media, so the public has had a longer chance to get used to the idea.

2. Minors get carded when trying to see an adult movie in theaters. This is pretty much shot down by the fact that after the theaters, movies become just as accessible to minors as games.

And yeah, in that sort of situation, it would be much more plausible to have a casual relationship as opposed to the clumsy romantic plotline the devs threw in there.
Unfortunately, the public would only see that as putting sex in the game for the sake of having sex in the game, rather than to add a full sense of realism. The little "romance" that was thrown in was probably done to cover the devs' ass.

@Lurker: Spore was very meh. Having a security system that rootkits your computer didn't help. The first stage was cool, but after that it was sort of lukewarm. I'd say it was worth the playthrough, though. There's a lot of creative stuff you can do.