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Sir Pepoy Josepito
Super Special Awesome
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 603
Location: in sanity
Sun Jan 18, 2009 1:12 am |
 Post subject: Currently Playing *spoilers for all sorts of video games* |
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Sequels of Highly Acclaimed Games from the Relative Past!
Half-Life 2
Currently in Chapter 6 - "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..."
20 years have passed ever since the resonance cascade incidence that triggered the catastrophic events of HL1, and for reasons yet unknown to me, the "Combine", another "alien race"(?), have taken over Earth and enslaved humanity. A "Dr. Breen" has stood up and negotiated a compromise of sorts for the rest of the world to keep the Combine from totally wiping out the human race. The cities of Earth are reduced to "ghost towns" where the citizens are cowed into strict obedience and processed for control and information, always under constant surveillance by cameras either installed on every nook and cranny or mechanized into self-propelled machines. An underground movement has formed, planning on overthrowing the current oppressive overlords and restoring humanity's place on top. I don't exactly know how any of this is connected to the events of the first game (lost) but I've still a long way to go so I'll reserve judgment for this part of the game later.
An absolutely stunning game visually, even for a game released 4 years ago, and I commend Valve for tweaking this game well enough to make it run even in the worst of machines (like mine!). I can only imagine how much more beautiful this game would look if I had a pimpin' video card and MOAR RAM.
The environment is beautifully rendered, whether it be the great expanses of the cities or the cramped spaces of the sewers, although "beautiful" might not be the right word to describe the dystopian world HL2 paints. Shades of gray dominate the scenery as our hapless mute hero Gordon Freeman now walks through the life-drained cities of Earth, and drab greens and browns round up most of the colors in the underground sewer systems where the "resistance" makes its moves.
I can also see that Valve put a great deal of effort in the visuals of the characters as they all look, move, and even "feel" real. Although some of the textures for the regular NPCs look pretty average, the detail put in all of the NPCs' faces is amazing. Every line, crease, facial hair, can be seen even up-close. And it doesn't end there. No amount of detail in the textures of the skin can bring a "dummy model" to life without good animation. And the animation for every NPC is top-notch, especially the facial animations. The faces aren't static at all, even when they aren't speaking, displaying a full range of emotion whenever something happens in the game. Fear, joy, laughter, annoyance, despair, it's all there!
But the real star of the game is the physics engine. Just about everything works as they would in real-life (except the whole alien invasion thing and the mastery of teleportation and all sorts of sci-fi technology, all of which could very well even happen in the future!). Playing with the gravity gun is all sorts of fun. I really can't express it in words. You're just gonna have to trust my word (and all the other reviewers) or play the game yourself.
So far, it's been a very exhilarating experience. I'm almost always on the run or on the edge of my seat from being scared your poetry-less. Like its predecessor, it still does a great job of pacing things as there are still moments when you can take a break from all the action and suspense, usually in the form of solving a puzzle that shows off the game's physics engine or communicating with the NPCs to get more of the story. The chapter I'm currently on actually took the game to the "survival horror" genre and it actually does it very well.
Still, there's something lacking in this game for me. Asides assuming the role of Freeman again and seeing a couple of familiar faces and enemies, this doesn't feel like Half-Life to me. I've already read about people saying you don't need to have played the first game to appreciate this one and some would even go as far to say that the connection between the two is very minimal. So I guess the only flaw I'm finding right now is that it feels like an entirely new game to me. But, as I've said before, I'm going to have to finish it first before I come to a conclusion. It's still been a very fun game and I've heard it even gets much better as it goes on.
Final Fantasy X-2
Currently in Chapter 1 (around 15% complete)
aww yeah
What more can I honestly say? Really now?
2 years after the events of FFX when Tidus/Yuna and co. finally destroyed Sin for good and when Tidus disappeared, Yuna and Rikku are still together, but now no longer as summoner and guardian respectively, but as free-spirited, fun-loving "sphere-hunters" and they're joined by a couple of the old Al-Bhed Airship crew from FFX, and a new character, the aptly-named goth/punk-girl PAINE. They roam the skies of the now peaceful Spira, revisiting the exotic locales the cast of FFX ventured through in Yuna's pilgrimage, this time going through uncharted dungeons to look for "spheres", artifacts that give light to Spira's mysterious past and are OBVIOUSLY of immense value. Oh, and they also unlock these TOTALLY FABULOUS OUTFITS FOR ALL THE GIRLS TO WEAR! YEAH!
All this traipsing through dark dungeons in frilly and revealing (mostly revealing) clothing does seem to have more to it, at least in the case of Yuna, the main protagonist. She still seems to believe that her one true love is actually still out there. Their discovery of one sphere that showed a man, resembling that "guy", trapped in a cage drives Yuna to continue her new "career" as a sphere-hunter, beside the FUN it gives her.
Visually, everything looks pretty much the same as FFX, with a little polish to make things look a bit prettier. And the "shaking" that was visible whenever the models would interact with one another in FFX is gone now. Oh and of course, TOTALLY FABULOUS OUTFITS.
Biggest difference in this game is... well, the actual gameplay! They've done away with the CTB system of FFX that slowed things down to a crawl but let the player strategize to the fullest, and now they've gone back to the ATB system that resembles the previous FF games. Battle is much more frenzied and it does give a bit of excitement to the usual tedious JRPG enemy encounters.
The game also lends another idea from the previous FF games with the Garment Grid system which lets the only 3 available players, Y.R.P. (YES THAT'S HOW IT LOOKS), change dresses (dress spheres), effectively changing "job classes". There's a great variety to these job classes, from the usual FF class "Warrior" and "White Mage" to completely new ones "Gunner" and "Songstress", all of which give you lots of cool, different ways to win battles (YES, YOU CAN SING AND DANCE YOUR WAY TO VICTORY!).
Another thing about the game is that it doesn't follow the typical procedure of your usual JRPG as the whole thing is segmented in Chapters and further subdivided by Missions which you can play in no particular order and even jump in and out if things get a bit too difficult... which sadly never seems to be the case as of now. That lack of difficulty does make the whole bit of changing classes not even necessary when you can power through battles with the default classes and just keep on pressing X. I'm only at the first stages of the game so I can't say for sure but I have read from some reviews that difficulty doesn't really increase for the rest of the game so this flaw may hold true for me, too.
Overall, the game feels very fun and light-hearted, never taking itself too seriously. I guess it's up to the player to make the most out of the game with the great many options but lax difficulty, taking in the "ridiculosity" of the story and the "flavor" to the gameplay elements (my GOD was that opening sequence a WTF and ROFLMFAO moment) and just have a good time with it. I'll just tell myself that this has nothing to do with the first game at all!
So... what are you guys playing?
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Knighting Gale
Poozer
Joined: 28 Jan 2009
Posts: 91
Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:33 pm |
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I'm playing through American McGee's Alice and the sequel to The Longest Journey, Dreamfall. Not getting far on either 'cause I tend to space out and do something else and leave the game sucking up tons of RAM, but.
THE REAL PURPOSE OF THIS POST: to say 'oh god someone else likes FFX-2 everyone else I know hates that game, gdi. :[' |
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fnspidey
Guest
Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:43 pm |
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| Hmm. I play Pokemon Yellow, KOTOR and Space Pinball. Whoopee |
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Sir Pepoy Josepito
Super Special Awesome
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 603
Location: in sanity
Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:24 am |
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| Knighting Gale wrote: | | THE REAL PURPOSE OF THIS POST: to say 'oh god someone else likes FFX-2 everyone else I know hates that game, gdi. :[' |
LIKE, I KNOW, RIGHT?
too bad the disc ain't working now
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NakoZonbineko
One
Joined: 08 Jan 2009
Posts: 210
Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:24 pm |
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I'm playing Digimon World DS and Digimon World Dusk... Sad to say, I keep on starting a new game for some unknown reason...or maybe because I want to get 999% scan data...
Anyway, I've finished playing Trace Memory, but I haven't fully enjoyed it because of a lack of a real DS. T_T
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Sir Pepoy Josepito
Super Special Awesome
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 603
Location: in sanity
Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:36 pm |
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I FINALLY FINISHED HALF-LIFE 2
hl:ep 1 here i come
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NakoZonbineko
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Joined: 08 Jan 2009
Posts: 210
Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:53 pm |
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I've recently played a dating simulation game with characters from SNK games. I can't remember the title...and it's in Japanese. My head hurt. So did my friends'.
These days, I'm playing Pokemon Green (yes, in Japanese), and a hacked Pokemon Crystal with lv60-something Charizards and Kadabras popping up at night in between New Bark and Cherrygrove.
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Knighting Gale
Poozer
Joined: 28 Jan 2009
Posts: 91
Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:31 pm |
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I'm playing through:
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days ... in Japanese. .3.
... And that's pretty much it. LOL;;; |
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Sir Pepoy Josepito
Super Special Awesome
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 603
Location: in sanity
Sun Aug 23, 2009 1:35 am |
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<B>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines</B>
Currently in FINISHED THE GAME LOL
The game that could've been a real big hit and a classic if it wasn't prematurely delivered which led to a ton of bugs that almost made the game unplayable. The game was shipped right on the same day as the long-awaited sequel to the classic FPS Half-Life and was obviously overshadowed by the juggernaut. But thanks to a very dedicated online community (and a couple of patches from the development team before the company went under) that fixed most of the bugs in the system, the game enjoys a cult-classic status. And rightfully so.
The game, alongside Half-Life 2, was the first to use Valve's Source engine and it obviously shows. You can pretty much take everything I've said about Half-Life 2's visuals and physics engine and apply it to this game. Of course, the atmosphere of the game is completely different. The game is set in Los Angeles, not-so-sunny California, zooming into select districts of the city where a sinister air pervades the eternal night sky cast over the urban decay, lying within a secret vampire society waging a silent war between political factions over control of the city. Every character you meet oozes The ambient soundtrack helps achieve this atmosphere of darkness and a constant state of uncertainty as the music is restrained yet always there like a shadow stalking you in some dark alley. Voice-acting is top-notch and it adds so much more to every character you meet, greatly enhancing the immersion level, making you feel as if you're really a newly-embraced Kindred (that's the word for "vampire" in the World of Darkness) knee-deep in political intrigue as you interact with fellow Kindred and Kine (read: humans) and all sorts of creatures of the night.
And the story, oh, the story. A tangled web of warring factions and power players, each one believing they know what is right for the survival and betterment of vampire society, and you are dropped right in the middle of it. It is up to you to decide on which side to take although a word of advice, there are but two and only two people you can entirely trust in the game. It all plays out in grandiose fashion with one of the most well-written dialogue delivered in one of the best voice-acting I've ever had the pleasure of hearing, with twists and turns and lots and lots and lots of backstabbing. Oh, joy.
The game lets you choose between 7 vampire clans with the option to play either as a male or female. Choosing which clan and gender to play as will obviously have an effect as to how you'll end up playing the game. Different clans have different set builds and parameters for said builds, special abilities, and even dialogue options. For example, Clan Gangrel allows the player to transform into a wolf but there animalistic nature makes them more prone to "frenzying" that makes the character go into a rage with a significant boost in physical abilities but becoming uncontrollable, Clan Tremere gives the player the ability Thaumaturgy which gives the player the power to cast spells but physical attributes suffer, while Clan Nosferatu gives the player an advantage in hacking into computers and the ability Obfuscate which allows the player to become invisible but vampires from this clan have mutated into grotesque figures, looking more like monsters than humans, thus keeping them from coming into unnecessary contact with humans unaware of the existence of vampires lest they break the ever important "Masquerade".
Then there's the character sheet that allows you a certain level of freedom in building up your character. Stats are divided into Attributes, Abilities, and Disciplines, all three having subdivisions. Physical, Social, and Mental for Attributes; Talents, Skills, and Knowledges for Abilities; specific disciplines for... Disciplines. The first two subdivisions then have the different attributes and abilities that can be leveled up with experience earned through doing quests and other specific actions. You can make your character a charismatic, sweet-talking sword-wielder or a gun-toting seductress who can tank a point-blank shotgun blast.
One separate stat is your "Humanity". How close you are to your human nature that you parted with after the "Embrace" and how close you are to "the beast within". The lower the humanity, the higher the possibility of frenzying. You can increase it through experience points or through doing certain actions (some of which can also decrease your humanity).
One last thing to take note of in the character sheet is the Masquerade. Vampires follow a certain set of rules, a law, in order to continue existing in the realm of humans who would probably wipe vampires out if knowledge of their existence ever does get out to mainstream consciousness. This law is called the Masquerade which basically states that a vampire must never reveal his true nature to humans. In game, this means that the player must not feed on humans or trigger certain special vampiric abilities in the midst of humans (or humans you don't plan on killing in combat). There is a limit of 5 Masquerade violations where breaking it often will lead to vampire hunters roaming the streets looking to bring you to "peace" and going over 5 will automatically make you lose the game.
Overall, the game is an enjoyable experience with an immersive experience backed up by great visuals, a great soundtrack, a top-notch voice-acting, depth in gameplay, and an engrossing story. Only flaws are technical issues where the game may suddenly crash on you for no real reason or some characters may not spawn at the right locations that haven't totally been fixed by the patches but they're not enough to drag the game down to mediocrity.
Finished the game recently as a male Toreador choosing to play the game akin to how I would think and the ending put a smile on my face. About to start a new game with a male Malkavian (or maybe a female Ventrue) and I cannot wait to play again. Still have a lot to sink my fangs in (can't end this review without one vampire-related pun!).
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