Last game you finished, tell us about it

[JemyM]

I was missing this thread on this forum. This is a thread for thoose who like to finish games on regular basis, where you can write the game you finished as well as a short review.

To get things going I will list the last 5 I finished from most recent and then back in time.

Psi-Ops - The Mindgate Conspiracy (9/10)
Metal Gear Solid meets Jedi Knight in a game about a special operative with psionic powers. Decent story and superb gameplay. Sad that so few know about it.

Sanitarium (7/10)
Bizarre horror adventure with decent graphics and a deep disturbing story.

Runaway 2 (9/10)
Possibly the best adventuregame I have played in years. Glorious 2d art, advanced storyline/plot, loveable characters, hillarious jokes.

Halo (7/10)
Some features such as vehicles was ahead of it's time save this FPS from complete boredom. Possibly the most repetitive shooter I have ever played. The story was nice though and the last level was truly epic.

The Suffering (8/10) + Ties That Bind (6/10)
The Suffering was a quite decent horror game. Dark disturbing story, spooky atmosphere, twisting storyline with multiple endings, nice storytelling techniques and pretty good controls. Questionable graphics was the only flaw.
The sequel (Ties That Bind) improved the graphics, but dropped everything else, including ripping apart the satisfying ending of the original.

My personal score system (no need to follow this):
10 Game History (Worth playing, even if you hate the genré)
9 Excellent (A must play if you like the genré)
8 Good (Recommended if you like the genré)
7 Timewaster (Visual flaws but some saving qualities if you like the genré)
6 Cracked (Only worth checking if you love the genré and can stand up with open flaws)
5 Failed (Warning, even fans will hate this one)
1-4 Poor (Games I would not even finish)

[JDR13]

I thought Halo was great. Yes, some of the levels were extremely repetative, but it had a good story behind it, and some cool large scale battles.


Last game I finished was Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, for the Nintendo Wii.

I don't play very many console games, but once in a while I a need a break from the PC. Twilight Princess was pretty good, I'd rate it a 9 for a console game, but my standards are slightly lower for console games because I don't expect as much. If you're a fan of the Zelda series then I'd say that you have to play this game as it might be the best Zelda title.

[Jaz]

I usually finish the games I buy, unless I really, really dislike them, which happens rarely enough.
As I won't count replays, the last game I finished was Dark Messiah (back in January I think).
Graphics were nice and bled Arx-flair, the story was your regular save-the-world-plot-with-a-mean-twist, characters were one-dimensional and boring. All in all a mediocre game, good for killing a few hours, but nothing more - the only character I remember is Duncan, which doesn't exactly speak for the cast.

[txa1265]

My last finish was Sam & Max Season 1: The Mole, The Mob and the Meatball for the PC. Actually in the past few days I've played all 3 released episodes (Ep 4 is on GameTap now and gets general release next week) - and I could probably include all of them since I spent a total of ~8 hours playing all 3.

I'd rate it as 4/5. (sorry, the majority of sites I write for a */5 based so I think that way). The writing was tight, the humor top notch, but it is very small and short, and in the second and third episodes that starts to impact the gameplay a bit. There are few items to discover, which limits the overall scope. But still ... it is loads of fun and for $8.95 an episode I still think it is a great value.

[Kendrik]

Dawn of War - The Dark Crusade. (9/10)
Love the whole dawn of war series. Will replay to see all the 7 endings (I know I could use You-tube but where is the fun in that). Best Stratagy game ever and reingnited my interest in the Warhammer Lore - so I'm currently reading Warhammer 40K books like they going out of print

[Danicek]

The last I finished (something like 1 month ago) was Gothic 3. I would rate it 8.5/10. I really enjoyed it and had no real issues and encountered no bugs (even though the game is considered buggy).

The gameplay itself was one of the best. The story and mainly the feeling + music was top in my opinion.

[narpet]

Last game I finished was NWN2...

Score 8/10:
I really loved the game. It had a lot of choices to make, really good combat (IMO), a good story that was well developed (once again IMO), and great character interaction and development. I was very impressed, considering that I really didn't expect much from it. It's the first CRPG where I played a spellcaster (of sorts). I always choose melee type characters as my main character in CRPGs, but I went with a chaotic good Warlock, and I loved it. He was the perfect mix of magic and melee for me (the way I developed him).

I also liked the ending (I know a lot of people didn't like it). I thought it was unique and still allowed for a sequel or add-on's.

[Corwin]

I'd only give NWN 2 a 7/10 for all kinds of things I didn't like!!

[Sorcha Ravenlock]

NWN2 is the last one I finished as well.
I rate it 9/10, it would have been 10/10 if it wasn't for the ending. The difficulty was just right for me, and I adored the story and the companions. Best RPG I've played in a long time, posssibly my most favorite RPG of all times :blush:

[magerette]

NWN2 was the last I finished as well. I enjoyed it, and like narpet, probably more so in that I didn't expect much. I was pleasantly surprized by the writing, I thought it was faithful to all the Forbidden Realms games that had gone before without being too slavish, and I even enjoyed the cut scenes, something I generally don't care much for. The ending was rather silly, but it didn't really spoil the game for me. I would rate it in my top ten rpgs.

[dteowner]

If a replay of Wiz8 doesn't count, and I'm not sure FastCrawl really qualifies, I think the last game I finished was Dungeon Siege 2. I really finished that one since I played and completed all 3 levels of the game in order to collect as many set items as I could.

I enjoyed the game a fair bit. Sure, it was RPG lite, but the "mindless click-n-watch combat" actually worked for me. Prior to that, I had been playing several brain-intensive rpgs, so a nice relaxing killfest fit the bill nicely. Character development actually made a difference in the way you played (even if you had to pick a path and follow it religiously rather than becoming a generalist) and the ridiculous amount of phat lewt kept outfitting the troops a continual adjustment. The game does what it does very, very well. I've been careful recommending it to folks because their enjoyment will hinge on whether they want what DS2 does. Someone looking for in-depth stories and complex strategy is going to be very disappointed, since that's not was DS2 is about.

[Dez]

Kotor

Oh my..what could i possibly say.. I totally loved it, simply put one of the best roleplaying games i've played all time and best star wars since the orginal trilogy :)

The game has all what i'm looking from a proper crpg game. Good dialog, diverse quests (trial was my favorite btw!), multiple choises and consequences, moral aspect (Sometimes it is VERY difficult to stay lightside).

And lastly but not least the storyline blew me away! You can actually find a sw game that has a storyline worthy to orginal trilogy. Writing is stunning quality whether judging by npcs or storyline.. I only wish npcs in latest tes or gothic 3 were same caliber. Voice acting was top notch as always in lucas arts games. My favorite npc was this HK-droid who claims not be an assasin droids since they are illegal :p "Do you wish me to get rid of this meatbag master?"CLASSIC STUFF. I bursted in laughther more than once during a game when he made those lovely remarks of his :D

Only downside i can think of is the first planet. It doesn't feel very belivable because it is supposed to be a huge city planet, yet you can only explore few streets and buildings.. Luckily locales get a lot better when you fly off...

I'm already playing kotor 2 and can't wait kotor 3! :)

[xSamhainx]

Tomb Raider - Legend

In a way loved it, but had some problems too. It's Tomb Raider for the new crowd. You tend to be lead by the nose a bit more than I would prefer. End up just flipping around thru conveniently-placed poles everywhere, it becomes rote repetition. Just learn when to release, and youre all good. Keep going forward, jump, release.

Overall I liked it tho, fun combat and just the exploration aspect of the TR games always keep me happy. I like the character of Lara Croft too, she's one of my all-time fave game toons.

[txa1265]

Tomb Raider - Legend

Hey Sammy - did you play on PC or console? If PC did you use keyboard & mouse or a gamepad?

[Dez]

First tomb raider is a classic, second one was good entertaiment, but from there the series went downhill. I never finished 3:rd part... Maybe i should give the latest tomb raider a chance? Although i will likely wait a budget release.

[xSamhainx]

I played it on Xbox.

I bought this one for $30ish, and consider it worth it, I'll run thru it again eventually on the harder difficulty. Plus, there's a "Lara's Mansion" level accessible between missions that has lots of secrets you can unlock that provide more outfits, weapons, extras, etc. The environments are really cool, and it's sort of a return to what the series was originally all about - adventuring in ancient ruins, w/ lots of high-flying cliffhanger type stuff. I'm a nailbiter when it comes to the heights stuff, even in games, so it's pretty thrilling for me when leaping from one really high area to another or whatever.The game is gorgeous too, which almost goes without saying these days. The story is pretty flaky, w/ the legend of King Arthur and such tied into the death of Lara's mother. It serves it's purpose tho, shipping you to one cool locale after another.

You can choose to not use the "mechanism detection" type feature in Lara's binoculars that make some of the puzzles too easy, that's what I personally do to provide a bit more of a challenge.

[txa1265]

I played it on Xbox.

I only asked because I played it on PC (natch) with Key&mouse (like everything) ... and there has been some debate about controller use for PC games. Personally I stuck with keyboard only for FPS until RtCW so I can stay entrenched with a control scheme for a while ;)

[JemyM]

I only played the first bit of Tomb Raider before I jumped to Tomb Raider Legends and I have to say that TR:L is a very good game. A very good story, nice controls, glorious graphics, lots of fun bonus content etc.

I would probably give Legends a 9/10 and I do not care if it's "short", it's awesome while it lasts.

[Moriendor]

I only played the first bit of Tomb Raider before I jumped to Tomb Raider Legends and I have to say that TR:L is a very good game. A very good story, nice controls, glorious graphics, lots of fun bonus content etc.

I would probably give Legends a 9/10 and I do not care if it's "short", it's awesome while it lasts.

Fully agree, though I'd subtract one more point for the PC version because it was suffering from serious consolitis. The PC version was poorly optimized and you did get occasional stuttering in next gen mode where no stuttering should have occurred. Might have also been the copy protection (SecuROM) messing around in the background... I don't know, but there was something that prevented the game from running as smooth as it should have (and it was not my hardware... one could tell that it was a different kind of "lag").

Also, it seemed like the collision detection (maybe due to the higher resolution on PC and sloppy resolution scaling?) and key press/input delays or responsiveness were not quite optimized for the PC.
Otherwise it was great fun all the way through to the end though :) . I'm looking forward to the 10 Year Anniversary edition that is supposed to come out in May. Just hope they put a little more work into polishing the PC version this time (yeah, I know how likely -or not- this is to happen... *sigh*).

[Lucky Day]

Savage Island Part I

I managed to finish it after 23 years.

[JemyM]

Savage Island Part I
I managed to finish it after 23 years.

Congratulations :D

[SleepingDog]

Would you believe Civ 4? Though my main love is RPGs (with a collection going back to the early 90s) I has always been a sucker for the Civ games. Civ 4 appears to have corrected some of the bits that Civ 3 made very hard. Have you tried to defend when you don't have iron but the other guy does and nobody will trade? Defending and throwing units at a technological superior enemy is no fun. 9/10 for Civ4.

The demos for Messiah and Gothic 3 - not sure what to make of them. The Messiah engine runs like a dream but the story in the demo was very limited. Gothic 3 - control systems a bit naff but I think I can learn to use them.

Before that played BG2 - SoA using the Fade mod. Waiting for the extension of the Fade mod for the ToB part. Still a 9/10.

Oblivion is next on the list and perhaps KoToR or maybe the other way round.

[titus]

Kotor was the last one, well didn't really finish it. Couldn't beat the endguy :(

[txa1265]

Kotor was the last one, well didn't really finish it. Couldn't beat the endguy :(

What was the problem - once you figure out the 'strategy' it is actually pretty easy.

[titus]

guess I never found it, made it untill where he regenerated the first time buy killing a prisoner and then died

[txa1265]

guess I never found it, made it untill where he regenerated the first time buy killing a prisoner and then died

The first time I beat the game I did it by taking advantage of an exploit where you could use items without a 'turn' cost, then still return and get in attacks. But the main thing to remember is that you can always stop him from regenerating ;)

[titus]

how?
and also, he did a lot of damage to me, I could hit him a few times and then choose heal or die
sorry for the of topic

[txa1265]

If you go 'toe to toe' with him and his regenerative abilities you are likely to die. You can take out much of his 'first life' using ... um 'indirect' items. Then make sure you only have to kill him once - use whatever means are needed to keep away and destroy the tanks, then you can go at him directly. Depending on how you have allocated powers and attributes during the game it can be a fairly easy battle. Just remember that although he has considerable physical strength you still need to play the 'sorcerer buff / strip' game like in BG2 ...

[Moriendor]

how?
and also, he did a lot of damage to me, I could hit him a few times and then choose heal or die
sorry for the of topic

First you need to destroy these thingies (was it crystals?) that he uses to regenerate. Just ignore him and keep running around the room in circles and destroy those things that are mounted to the tops of those columns first.
Then make sure you use every available buff on yourself and every available DoT on the bad guy.

When that is done, keep running around the room in circles (up the ramp on either side, down the ramp, up the ramp again on the other side etc). The pathfinding of NPCs isn't very good so you will eventually gain some distance between him and yourself after a few rounds.
Now use the pause button every once in a while (when you're out of his range) and attack him ONCE, then immediately start running in circles again. Do that about 100 times (it takes quite a bit of time) and quick save often. Malak will drop eventually.

It basically depends on your offensive capabilities. It definitely sucks a bit that the whole game is party-based and super-easy up to that point. I barely had any offensive capabilities on my own character because I decided to make my NPC party members the damage dealers. I think the only attack that was not resisted in the end fight was Force Wave so I was stuck having to use that one. It's pretty low damage so it took me a very long time to defeat Malak.

That was not a very nice decision of BioWare to pull that kind of surprise out of the hat. Maybe it would have been better if you would have been able to pick the character that you want to throw at Malak because if you make a character that relies more on buffs, DoTs and defense then there's a good chance that you will have some real trouble with the end fight. What do they think at Bio? That we're Nostradamus or something? I hate it when a game goes "Haha surprise... neenerneenerneener you picked the wrooong skiiiilllls... neenerneenerneener" :biggrin:

[txa1265]

It basically depends on your offensive capabilities. It definitely sucks a bit that the whole game is party-based and super-easy up to that point. I barely had any offensive capabilities on my own character because I decided to make my NPC party members the damage dealers. I think the only attack that was not resisted in the end fight was Force Wave so I was stuck having to use that one. It's pretty low damage so it took me a very long time to defeat Malak.

Very good point ... I guess coming from a FPS background I always set myself as #1 damage doer - even as a Mage I set up for attack and use others for buffs. So in this battle my first character was a Consular, but has maxed Force Speed and Dual Weapons as well as offensive FOrce Powers, so I could turn on speed, toss a maxed Wave to knock him back, then chop away with dual sabers for 6 attacks per round.

[Moriendor]

Very good point ... I guess coming from a FPS background I always set myself as #1 damage doer - even as a Mage I set up for attack and use others for buffs. So in this battle my first character was a Consular, but has maxed Force Speed and Dual Weapons as well as offensive FOrce Powers, so I could turn on speed, toss a maxed Wave to knock him back, then chop away with dual sabers for 6 attacks per round.

Hehe, I'm also coming from an FPS background but if an RPG offers up a lot of non-combat skills then I'm always extremely curious and tempted to find out how far those will (or will not) get you or what options other than combat will be accessible by making use of those abilities.
In other words: I sometimes love to intentionally gimp my character(s) just to find out how well the developers anticipated that someone would make such retarded choices as me :biggrin: .
Oh well, in the end it just took a lot of patience, but I guess I should have chosen Bastila or that old Jedi (forgot the name... Jindo?) for the diplomatic/defensive roles. Would have made the end fight a lot easier :) .

[txa1265]

Oh well, in the end it just took a lot of patience, but I guess I should have chosen Bastila or that old Jedi (forgot the name... Jindo?) for the diplomatic/defensive roles. Would have made the end fight a lot easier :) .

Oh sure, can't remember the old guys name ... always the same for you youngin's ... see swirlin' destiny and think ... wait, what was the question ... oh, yes, my name ... Jolee Bindo ...

[Moriendor]

Oh sure, can't remember the old guys name ... always the same for you youngin's ... see swirlin' destiny and think ... wait, what was the question ... oh, yes, my name ... Jolee Bindo ...

ROFL... d'oh... yeah, that's it, of course. Well, at least I got all the letters right with "Jindo" :) .

[JemyM]

Jade Empire: Special Edition (9/10)
A must for all roleplayers. Wonderful story. Gold as everything else from Bioware.

[JemyM]

Cold Fear (7/10)
Average survival horror on a ship. Predictable. A few scares but nothing memorable.

[curious]

i would agree with your ranking of cold fear but i thought the setting was a fairly novel idea. i can't think of any other game that captured the feeling of being on the ocean even close to as well as this game did with the occasional crashing waves and the constant ocean swaying that almost made me have to take dramanine. weather effects in games are always a serious atmosphere booster for me. the controls/weapons i thought were above average to for a survival horror game. but yes the story and scares were nothing of the memorable sort. but if you like survival horror games i'd say this game is a must to your list.

[JemyM]

i would agree with your ranking of cold fear but i thought the setting was a fairly novel idea. i can't think of any other game that captured the feeling of being on the ocean even close to as well as this game did with the occasional crashing waves and the constant ocean swaying that almost made me have to take dramanine. weather effects in games are always a serious atmosphere booster for me. the controls/weapons i thought were above average to for a survival horror game. but yes the story and scares were nothing of the memorable sort. but if you like survival horror games i'd say this game is a must to your list.

I love horror games/movies and I tend to watch/play all of them, even the badly rated ones. The idea of a survival horror on a ship was exciting since it felt different. The concept was great. The ship was nicely done, as well as the other area... but there was something lacking from the game that made the whole thing feel uninspired and not that interesting. Overall the story did not feel great enough and the fact that you could not team up with the russian mercenaries annoyed me. And the whole plot felt cliché to the end.

One thing I never understood...
There are no ghosts in Cold Fear, but when you reach the small house above the rear of the boat for the first time (where you later find the colonel) you see in the window a flash of someone looking in. This is the only event in the entire game a similar cutscene can be seen. Who was the guy in the window?

[JDR13]

I played Cold Fear.

I had forgotten about that game until you guys mentioned it, being a big fan of Resident Evil I thought it looked pretty good. I enjoyed it, but JemyM is right on about it being "nothing memorable". I thought the first few hours on the Russian whaler were the best part of the game. It was a neat touch to have to grip the railing when waves were slamming into the boat.

Doesn't touch Resident Evil though.:)


*edit* JemyM, I remember the part you're refering too. I never really thought much of it, I figured it was just one of those zombie things.

[bjon045]

I just finished Jade empire, took me about 11 hours (split over 3 days). I would give it maybe 5/10. It was basically an exact KOTOR clone (which isn't a good thing), all the conversation options/story were basically the same as KOTOR and combat was even more simplified/action based.

[txa1265]

I still don't see finishing it in 11 hours as a possibility ... unless you avoid all conversations and side-quests - and the fact that you hate KotOR makes the choice of even playing this game mystifying. I mean, it is nearly two years old, giving plenty of time to check a couple of XBOX reviews and see that you shouldn't expect anything different.

Anyway, I also finished Jade Empire SE, which took me ~25 hours. Still deciding on my overall feeling / scoring on that, which is a rarity - I like it quite a bit, actually more than I expected, but there were numerous drawbacks.

I have also finally finished Mazes of Fate on the GBA, and really liked it - it felt like a small production, and there were a couple of broken quests and inaccessible areas, but the overall feel really hearkens back to the good ol' days of RPG classics.

Also finished Scarface: Money. Power. Respect on the PSP. Should have been called Scarface: Suck. Suck. Suck. instead.

Getting close to finishing a few others, report on those when done ;)

[JemyM]

3 games finished during the weekend. Jade Empire, Cold Fear and Infernal

Infernal (7/10)
First person shooter about a fallen angel working for satan himself.

Pros:
* Stunning graphics
* Top level physics

Cons:
* Uninteresting/Nonexistant storyline that feels unimportant
* Uninspired linear maps
* Nothing new, no new gameplay elements
* Repetitive boring opponents
* Uninteresting characters, both bosses and friends lack proper presentation
* When I burn with hellfire, why am I hurt by flamethrowers?
* Headshots appear nonresponding
* The infernal powers are meaningless and barely used
* Most of the infernal powers are difficult to control
* Greatest puzzles is to figure out how to do something obvious but just finding how the developers intended you to do it
* If you are an atheist you will probably just find the concept silly
* Weapons are unbalanced. You end up using your favorite but that's about it.

[txa1265]

Infernal ... like Call of Juarez, another title we don't get for months ...

[JemyM]

Both are from poland right?

[JDR13]

Just finished F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point. If you liked F.E.A.R., then definitely get Extraction Point.

Highlight to read.


Great game but a somewhat disappointing ending. Where F.E.A.R. ended with a dramatic cliffhanger, Extraction Point just leaves you scratching your head.

[txa1265]

Just finished F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point. If you liked F.E.A.R., then definitely get Extraction Point.

I agree - as I said in my review (http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=3505), "build on the already solid gameplay core, but none of it is groundbreaking."

[curious]

@JDR13
if you want a survival horror game that not only touches resident evil but in some regards suprases it you should put this game on your list to play at some point.
http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=1972

[JDR13]

@JDR13
if you want a survival horror game that not only touches resident evil but in some regards suprases it you should put this game on your list to play at some point.
http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=1972

Thanks curious, I actually have MG:Unification but I never finished it. I remember grabbing it out of the bargain bin a few years ago and giving it a spin. I found the control to be somewhat frustrating and ended up getting stumped by a puzzle at some point and never going back.

Did you finish it?

[curious]

yeah a few years ago but not without a walkthrough. theres was a point i got stuck as well. it was worth it though as the last stretch of the game had some really awesome parts to it. and you're right the controls were a bit difficult but i imagine this had something to do with it being a playstation game (first?) too.

[Zaleukos]

The last game I finished was Dune, an adventure-strategy hybrid from the early 90s. It was fun but the ending was a bit lame compared to the book and the movie.

I'd rate it 7/10. I tend to look for replay value in my games and there arent that many paths to victory in that game. The AI is pretty passive (only scripted events?). The gameplay was however refreshing, and the graphics are gorgeous for the time period (except for when they use poorly digitized movie pictures rather than hand drawn ones, somehow devs didnt realized what looks better back then). The soundtrack isnt very good, but the game is fully voice acted and the voice acting is decent.

[txa1265]

Finished Lunar Knights on the DS, really solid anime-inspired action-RPG that might be my favorite DS RPG yet!

Also finished The Warriors on the PSP. Whew ... I had seen that when it was in theaters, but never since, yet some things still struck a nerve ...

Finally, I finished Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters on the PSP. What a really huge game - the main part is short, but there is replay value and multiplayer and minigames and on and on ... and you feel like you're constantly rewarded for everything, so you just keep plugging away ...

[txa1265]

Alien Shooter Vengeance (PC) - nicely done sci-fi action-RPG. Reminds me a bit of ShadowGrounds, but that game looks better. But the sheer density of the onslaughts you need to survive is impressive ... I killed just over 16,000 monsters in the 15 missions, finding loads of hidden stuff and completing many side-missions. Great for $20 - the survival modes are pretty cool also.

[JemyM]

Fable: The Lost Chapters (9/10)
While Fable had a slow start, I fell in love with it once the story took off and got serious. It's obvious that the developers have spent a great amount of time developing the game. I did not feel it was a short game either (I did about everything that could be done in the game which took me over a week).

[txa1265]

I did not feel it was a short game either

I consider myself a completist - KotOR took me 65 hours the first couple of times, yet Fable TLC took me 15 hours. Too. Darn. Short.

[JemyM]

I consider myself a completist - KotOR took me 65 hours the first couple of times, yet Fable TLC took me 15 hours. Too. Darn. Short.

And you did finish everything?
I bought all houses, got all tattoes, haircuts, got two wives, finished the long lasting quests such as the hero doll quest, the book quest, the 30 silver keys, the hidden treasure etc and I opened all demon doors. This morning I grinded money for 3 hours straight to be able to afford the last house.

It was very easy though. I finished the entire game without dying once and still I used nothing but the light will user robe and the bright wizards hat.

[txa1265]

And you did finish everything?
I bought all houses,<...>
No - but neither did I buy every vendor out of stock in every other RPG. I owned more than one house (3?), married only once (lawful good, don't you know ;) ) did the book quest and everything else I could find.

I've never managed to fully replay it, either.

[JemyM]

No - but neither did I buy every vendor out of stock in every other RPG. I owned more than one house (3?), married only once (lawful good, don't you know ;) ) did the book quest and everything else I could find.

I've never managed to fully replay it, either.

Well, Fable gave me 11-3=9 days with 2-5h break per day for school.

[txa1265]

Well, Fable gave me 11-3=9 days with 2-5h break per day for school.

I'm glad you got a lot out of it - I liked the game, just found it short and not too deep as an RPG.

[JDR13]

I'm amazed that anyone could get as much out of Fable as you guys did. I had to force myself to finish that game and would never consider replaying it. The only thing I could think of at the time was how much I'd rather be playing Gothic:)

[curious]

fable is like a day at an amusement park: difinitely some short bursts of entertainment which are more rewarding the younger you are. under certain conditions might need a dentist afterwards.
gothic is like owning a nice car. lots of freedom and usuage over many years and obviously not for those under 16;) under certain conditions might need a mechanic afterwards(or before)

[JemyM]

My first spark of real interest came with:
Finding and learning the fate of your Sister.
At that point I started to feel that the game was more than a game made for kids.
It was at that point a rather uninteresting story started to grow more and more important. Then there was a few other adult themes...
Sleeping with all the girls in your own bordello, enduring a year of torture, watching your mother getting killed.
But yes, it's a parody of RPG's and there were quite a few laughs along the road, and some of it felt silly.

At the end I felt that the story was well delivered, at least after the first plot twist.

[txa1265]

But yes, it's a parody of RPG's and there were quite a few laughs along the road, and some of it felt silly.

Problem is - it *wasn't* a parody!

[JemyM]

Problem is - it *wasn't* a parody!

Riiiight. :)
At least it have alot of humor.

[JDR13]

Too bad the joke was on us:(


"Project Ego," Fable’s working title throughout its early development, was hyped from the beginning as being the most open-ended game in history, with an incredibly vast array of gameplay and character customization options, and also with an incredibly dynamic world, where every single thing players do could change the outcome of the game

Yeah right!

Quote by Peter Molyneux:

"If you can see a place in the distance, you can go there"

Ok Peter, thanks a lot. The problem is you can't. On top of that, there's this game called Gothic that was released 5 years earlier that did a better job of fitting that description than Fable.

[Jaz]

I got satisfaction out of playing my good character, marrying someone in every town (two in Bowerstone), and buying all available houses, but my most memorable Fable moment was from my evil game: getting a divorce was really, really unpleasant.
The story? Oh yes, I remember there probably was a story, too... :)

[JemyM]

Maybe a separate thread for the Fable discussion.

[JDR13]

Sorry, didn't mean to start ranting there. Can you tell Fable disappointed me?:)

Getting back to the topic. I just finished StarCraft for the 3rd time and I'm getting ready to start playing the expansion Brood Wars. I rarely ever replay RTS games but StarCraft is an exception. I'll be grabbing a copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. this weekend to play next.

[txa1265]

OK, been busy this week ...

Chili Con Carnage (PSP) - wonderful fun shooter!
Pocket Racers (PSP) - really crappy race knockoff.
Battlezone (PSP) - nothing like the arcade classic, more like UT with slow tanks and cheater AI.
Spectral Souls (PSP) - cool battle system, but everything else is crappy and has the worst load times - about 5 seconds to load a single test box with 1 line (imagine a conversation!)
Safecracker (PC) - very fun puzzle adventure!
Battlefield 2142: Northern Strike (PC) - nice mini-expansion

A couple more games I've 'finished', but the reviews aren't in yet.

[JDR13]

!?! I wish I could spend that much time gaming!

[txa1265]

!?! I wish I could spend that much time gaming!

Not me! I only liked 2 of those games ... except for Chili Con Carnage they were all reviews for another site where there was political trouble (two publisher's contacts were taking games and reselling and never getting them reviewed!) and I agreed to step up and urgently get a bunch of them reviewed as a favor for the site founders ... which meant eating into my sleep time, basically. A few more to go and I'm back to 'normal' (whatever that is ... )

[Role-Player]

Problem is - it *wasn't* a parody!

It kinda was a parody... On gamer expectations and their willingness to gobble up everything developers say :lol:

[JemyM]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R (9/10)
Not perfect but very close. This is really one game they have worked on for a long time.

[txa1265]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R (9/10)
Not perfect but very close. This is really one game they have worked on for a long time.

How long (approx) did it take you?

[Role-Player]

Jade Empire: Special Edition (PC)

Good news is that it's still a Bioware game. Bad news is that it's still a Bioware game.

There's plenty o'role-playing to go about and the Open Palm and Closed Fist paths do lend some credibility to the whole thing... In concept. However, there is a string of poor implementations with it. Closed Fist is said to promote strength through adversity which isn't necessarily evil - but most dialogue still boils down to insanely altruistic/greedy/on the verge of popping a vein with all the violent threats. And as a result you'll encounter many situations where going either path doesn't entirely encompass the whole philosophy.

Combat is definitely an improvement for Bioware. Since it's their rules system, and not an attempt to shove turn-based rules and conventions into a realtime framework, it's much more fluid, responsive and just feels natural. There are no akward pauses in animations because your character can only execute three attacks per round, for instance. It's very WYSIWYG in that regard. But it's also painfully easy. Styles don't matter that much - you can very much go through the whole game with the styles you learn at the beginning. All that matters to styles is hitting with them - it doesn't seem to matter how slow or fast they are. Once you chain them, the combos are rarely - if ever - broken by enemies. Because of this speed isn't really important - range is. But this can be averted by either stunning or doing a series of jumps and rolls around enemies to get in close to attack. A lesser - but more developed - amount of styles would be better.

It's also incredibly short and has a pretty forgettable cast of characters aside Kang the Mad and Wild Flower - the first for being 'quirky', the second for role-playing options. Regretably they're still forced on players and are only useful in combat if you activate Support mode. I didn't care for romances but the game goes out of its way to shove them in my face. Unlike KotOR where you could play a female PC to keep Bastila's hormones in check, you can't do it here since there's hetero and homosexual romances all struggling for your attention - even characters you didn't start a romance with. I'm sure that will be great for someone.

The ship minigame is nice but as expected, pretty out of place. Baloons in a setting with rampant machinery doesn't really make sense, and a rickety and unstable ship in cutscenes is incredibly stable and easy to pilot in the minigame. Go consistency, GO! There's a couple of situations where the minigame is forced on players, too but a couple of times is better than all the time.

Bottom line: it's got some improvements over KotOR but not enough to elevate the game above it. Nice game while it lasts but nothing on par with Baldur's Gate 2 and KotOR.

[JemyM]

How long (approx) did it take you?

2-3 days in total, playing the whole day.

[HiddenX]

Dark Star One

Excellent game - space action at his best - the closest thing to Elite 1 I have ever met.
I really hope that Ascaron Entertainment will make an addon or sequel.

Gamespot review:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/darkstarone/review.html

[txa1265]

Few more ...

Sid Meier's Railroads (PC) - pretty solid, just not deep enough to keep the challenge going. unlike Civ IV, which is still on my system, this is gone.

M.A.C.H. (PSP) - This is really great, I'm having a blast, I'm ... whoa ... is it over *already* ... yep, it was like that ;)

Meteos Disney Magic (DS) - wow that was loads of fun! I expected a licensed crap rip-off of Meteos, but they completely reworked the game and added tons of fun Disney themed stuff! The big negative - no Disney music!

[curious]

spellforce 2 9/10. finished this last friday after about 2 1/2 weeks with it. i had bought the original when the platinum edition came out and totally enjoyed the first one, but near the end of the first expansion it became more of a chore to play. my fault for trying to play them all at once. never got to the 2nd expansion. needless to say i didn't really like the spellforce 2 demo for some reason and waited 'til recently when i got a good deal on it. it was great and like all the spellforce games they have to me the best fantasy music save the gothic series. the campaign didn't drag on at all which is nice and the quests were much better than from what i remember of the original. the voice acting was below i thought, ashame since so much of the game was top notch. the graphics were beautiful and coupled with the 'better' hero controls really made for an engrossing 3-d world. its funny that most games i can play with graphics settings close to high but it is the strategy games like this and mtw2 that humble my computer to mid range settings. my only complaints with the game were the level cap that i reached with 4 'islands' including the one i was on left to go. also my companions maxed out at level 24 when i hit level 30 so lots of better items were wasted. but most importantly is my gripe with the removal of trees as a resource: i so loved the ability in the first to not only chop down trees but replant them as well--that was an rts dream fufillment.

working on nightwatch now, which is really enjoyable for the most part (great music, unique 'universe', diverse skills/spells that actually level up with use)...except when it gets monotonous.

[Ionstormsucks]

STALKER - mild spoilers!!!

Good game. I was a bit disappointed about the last few zones - namly Prypiat and Chernobyl. Prypiat is one of the most impressive locations in the game, but the developers don't really give you enough time to explore it. You always have the feeling that you have to hurry (which isn't true), but the constant fighting that's going on in Prypiat makes it hard to explore the zone. At that I was pretty tired of fighting monolith mercs... Chernobyl I found a bit too simplistic - I would have wished for a more spooky atmosphere inside the sarcophagus, instead again just monolith mercs.
The end however (so far I've just seen one of the false ends I guess) was pretty good... and makes you want to see the other possible endings as well.

[JemyM]

Metal Gear (6/10)
A bit outdated by todays standard. Note that I refer to the 1987 version on MSX.

[txa1265]

Yet some more ...

Top Spin 2 (PC) (7/10)- pretty fun, lousy controls (really needs a gamepad) and I like Virtua Tennis more. The kids got a good laugh at my expense, though ;)

Whirlwind Over Vietnam (PC) (7/10)- the looks are pretty good, and while I'm not a huge flight-sim fan, it was 'OK' compared to others I've played in the past ... and the difficulty 'curve' was more like a step! I went from coasting to thinking 'wha happened?!?!'

Spectrobes (DS) (?/10 - still not decided) - cool idea, nicely implemented, repeated 100,000 times over and over ... imagine playing a RPG and having to right click to search a 3ft radius around your character. Then moving 3 feet and repeating. And again ... and again. Then you travel to a different planet, and do it some more. My kids love it, but I will be happy to never see it again.

[JemyM]

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (7/10)
ALOT better than the original Metal Gear. I played the fan-translated MSX version. The one that uses portraits of famous american actors :D

[narpet]

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (7/10)
ALOT better than the original Metal Gear. I played the fan-translated MSX version. The one that uses portraits of famous american actors :D

JemyM - I am seriously impressed... how in the world do you finish so many games so quick???

Granted, I know that I'm slow... it can take me 1 to 6 months to finish a game (talking CRPGs here, but I'm even pretty slow with FPS games). But I have some excuses for that, mainly that my only game time falls between 11pm and 1am after I get the family off to sleep each night. :) I had much more time when I was younger, childless, and single, but I was still fairly slow at finishing games even then.

You've finished more games in about a month than I've finished all year, and then some. How the heck do you do it?

***In case there's any doubt, this post is meant as a compliment*** :biggrin:

[txa1265]

Sam & Max Season One, Episode 4: Abe Lincoln Must Die
This was the funniest one yet ... definite major laugh out loud moments ... just starting #5 (sometimes being a reviewer has its' advantages ;) )

[Arhu]

The M in JemyM must stand for "Machine". ^^ I'm impressed as well!

And in Mike's case, txa1265 is machine code already! We have been infiltrated by Cylons! (Yea, I'm watching too much Battlestar Galactica).

The last game I finished was NWN 2 and before that.. uh.. Serious Sam 2 (multiplayer) on New Years Eve? Ah, no, there were some small games in between, like Cave Story. I guess I'm waiting until I can afford a new system to be able to play the latest games in their full glory.

[JDR13]

I also wonder how some of the people here seem to be able to finish 3-4 games a week.

I'm lucky to be able to finish 1 game in a weeks time. I have too many responsibilities to spend any more time than that on games.


@Arhu

So you're a BSG fan too huh? Did you watch the season finale Mon night? I've watched every episode since the beginning, it's really the only show I watch.

[Jaz]

Speaking of Cylons - while I like the new series and love what they did with the Centurions, I sorely miss the IL types of old. Lucifer and Spectre were my favorite characters :(.
And the 'M' in JemyM might just as well stand for 'Mentat'...

[JemyM]

Difficult to say. It takes a specific kind of breed to be able to just sit down many hours in front of a game. I guess most "normal" people would need to do something else when I just got warm. Im the kind of person who are able to burn up alot of hours into my narrow interest without getting tired.

But I recently lost alot of weight and started on the gym which have improved my stamina and also reduced my need for sleep. This have almost doubled the amount of hours I can play games.

But I also do not have any kids and I only have part-time studies to occupy the rest of the day. My wife waste time with her mmo's so she keeps off my back. But I actually managed 4 hours school, 2 hours math homework, 1 hour at the gym and making dinner today and still got around to finish Metal Gear 2 with a walkthrough.

[Role-Player]

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (7/10)
ALOT better than the original Metal Gear. I played the fan-translated MSX version. The one that uses portraits of famous american actors :D

I originally played the game up to the point where you need to save the cientist by listening to Morse code. Never got past that part.

As short as it was I walked away from the experience disappointed with Metal Gear Solid, since the latter was held as innovative and all that jazz... When it seemed to "borrow" heavilly from Solid Snake: infiltrating by water, the minefield and the warning prior to it, the Hind D... I'm willing to bet it might borrow other stuff but I still need to play the game.

[curious]

night watch---8.5/10

had the day off so i after taking care of household things before lunch i wrapped up the last few levels this afternoon. glad i finally picked up this game as i enjoyed the movie alot. i really like the direction the game took and dispite some levels dragging on a bit this was a very well done games. smart ai, cool spells and effects, destructable environments, aparently meaningful game decisions to make, above par voice acting which is shocking for considering there was only 6 voice actors. the music was definately enjoyable nearly the entire game even though i sat through the credits so long i heard the song 3 times. all around good game that's not too long and good for the casual rpg gamer as its turn based and you can save anytime and it even remembers your camera angle and what action you are performing. if you live in a starforce bombshelter you probrably want to skip the game, but if you don't fear the reaper then i highly suggest putting this one on your list.

[Sir Markus]

I just finished a game called 'Chrome.'

It's a first person shooter, and it doesn't have any of that annoying tactical stuff.

It has kind of a small inventory. But overall I thought this was a great game, and looks nice. Lot's of lengthy cut scenes though.

[txa1265]

I just finished a game called 'Chrome.'

I liked that one as well - there was a pseudo-sequel 'Chrome Specforce' that came out a couple of years ago that was pretty nice.

[magerette]

Finally got my Brigand through the TQ expansion. It makes a nice package, and those who have waited to try the game will benefit from all the new additions. The actual new game content is fairly short--I'd say about one quarter or less of the original game time, but there are so many enhancements that add to the replay factor that it actually adds quite a few more actual hours of play. Good stuff!

Now maybe I can get to a few other items on my list, like Darwinia and the Lazarus mod for DS. (Well, after I get a few more characters through the game....;) )

[txa1265]

I'm still struggling because I don't want to have to replay all of TQ to get through the expansion ... someone posted a couple of near-end save games, but they are both pure fighters, not mages, so I dunno ... it is shelved for the moment.

Finished my 5th Anniversary run of Jedi Knight II - this is one of (if not) my all-time favorite games, and I have played it ~35 times or so over the last 5 years (came out 3/26/02)

[JemyM]

Metal Gear Solid (10/10)
Not much to say. This game has it all, including one of the best story I have seen in a computer game. The similarities to Metal Gear 2 was great. The equipment/weapons was identical and many puzzles were the same, including the morphing key. I am still happy I played Metal Gear 1 & 2 first.

[JDR13]

Metal Gear Solid (10/10)
Not much to say. This game has it all, including one of the best story I have seen in a computer game. The similarities to Metal Gear 2 was great. The equipment/weapons was identical and many puzzles were the same, including the morphing key. I am still happy I played Metal Gear 1 & 2 first.

You played the PC version then? Did you use a gamepad?

[JemyM]

You played the PC version then? Did you use a gamepad?

I played the PSX version in a emulator. I have two dualshock 2 controllers.

[JemyM]

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (10/10)
I was sceptical that anything could stand up to the first game, and I was sceptical to play Raiden. While the game have obvious flaws in the PC port, I judge the game based on what is what supposed to be without the port issues and that's a perfect ten. The story is absolutely fantastic. I was almost brought to tears in many scenes.

[Asbjoern]

Blade Runner. A very atmospheric and involving adventure game. And I who thought Westwood only made strategy games.
Though it's an old game it's still worth playing and the graphics are generally very impressive.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Again a very atmospheric and captivating game. The graphics engine is superb for a 1930's adventure/FPS game.
It is highly recommendable though hard to finish without a heavy use of a walkthrough and if someone has problems with finishing then write to me. I had to use another person's savegame plus god mode in the last scene to finish (PC version).

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl. It has been long since I last played a game that frightened me as much as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. when exploring enclosed areas. The FX of this game are phenomenal.
It's still a bit troubled by bugs and it actually didn't take long for me to finish. I'm a bit uncertain about whether or not this game is good.

Call of Juarez. An incredibly beautiful game compared to graphics and the gameplay functioned well mixing linear and non-linear environments.
After playing Gun I would've hoped this game to be a more complex version of Gun, but it wasn't. It can't be argued as something negative though.
The control of the two main characters was a well made feature and the only downside is that it was too short.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. A very good RPG. The quests were innovative and well written, and the atmosphere was brilliant.
One very important point to criticize though, is the nature of the evolvement of the story. It is made through quests and everytime you get a quest where you need to get the help of somebody (and you do that constantly in the main quest) the in exchange for their help what you to do a quest for them. This is very ridicilous but otherwise a very good game.

[JemyM]

Blade Runner. A very atmospheric and involving adventure game. And I who thought Westwood only made strategy games.
Though it's an old game it's still worth playing and the graphics are generally very impressive.

Westwood made both Legend of Kyrandia and the Eye of the Beholder series.

[Jaz]

...minus part three (talking about EoB here). And the Lands of Lore series. And Hillsfar...

[txa1265]

Sam & Max Season One, Episode 5: Reality 2.0
Loads of laughs, new areas, combat, and lots 'o 8-bit luv ;)

[JemyM]

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine (6/10)
Meh. Like the rest of the game, pretty much zero personal choice and bad storytelling that fails to rise any emotions making the actions done feel meaningless.

[txa1265]

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Knights of the Nine (6/10)
Meh. Like the rest of the game, pretty much zero personal choice and bad storytelling that fails to rise any emotions making the actions done feel meaningless.

I found it even more disappointing than the main game because I thought many of the areas looking so great and just brimming with possibilities ...

[JemyM]

I found it even more disappointing than the main game because I thought many of the areas looking so great and just brimming with possibilities ...

I was watching the developer of Fable 2 talking about their upcoming game and he said something which striked me as something very true. Every game can tell a story, but the ones that end up really really good are the ones that deliver emotion, and some of the strongest emotions is love and friendship.

After playing MGS and MGS2 the hollowness of Oblivion was painfully clear to me.
In MGS even the tragic tales of the villians brings you close to tears, and every time you believe you know the story, it takes a complete U-turn. Looking back to the games I loved the most, emotion have always been there, and even when I forgot the end, I never forgot thoose emotions. The way I felt for my friends in games like Gothic, KOTOR, Planescape Torment and Baldurs Gate.... This is not only true to roleplaying games. Even games like Max Payne and Tomb Raider: Legends managed to deliver alot of feelings. Feelings of loss, about hatred and revenge, about friends, about love.

In Oblivion, all the feelings are null. I remember when Martin died, that was probably the only time I felt something, because unlike 99.9&#37; of the oblivion's generated population, it was someone I remembered. Beyond that, No friends. No love. Generic villians without face, background or history. You do not fight for your friends, with your friends, for your country, for your world, because there's simply nobody who you care about.

Oblivion have more issues, but I think I should pinpoint that as the largest hole of the game.

[Corwin]

You know, you're right and I'd never thought of that before!!

[JemyM]

Elder Scrolls Oblivion: Shivering Isles (7/10)
Slightly more humorous than the previous content of Oblivion, and at least an attempt to give you choices that effects the outcome of the quests. Also a bit more memorable NPC's this time around. Still lack emotion and nothing you do feels important, and still no NPC's you have any reason to care about. Just like Oblivion however, most of it was boring. Nice scenery is the only reason to play the game I guess.

[HiddenX]

Spellforce 2 - Addon: Dragon Storm

If you like Spellforce 1 + 2 you'll love this one:

+ interesting story
+ the genre mix rts & crpg is more on the crpg side this time
+ a huge bag full of quests
+ new skills, new units
+ you get the "doing one more quest" feeling after midnight
+ much weapons, armors and equipment to find (armor sets, too)

- the last Spellforce game from the developer Phenomic :-(

[txa1265]

Yet some more ...

Top Spin 2 (DS) (2/10)- imagine a DS game with 15 second load times! And laggy game play, and wonky controls ... wow that is crappy!

F-24: Stealth Fighter (DS) (5/10) - graphics right out of 1995! Cookie cutter missions - I actually had some fun but would be kicking myself if I had to pay for the game myself ...

[JDR13]

Yet some more ...

Top Spin 2 (DS) (2/10)- imagine a DS game with 15 second load times! And laggy game play, and wonky controls ... wow that is crappy!

F-24: Stealth Fighter (DS) (5/10) - graphics right out of 1995! Cookie cutter missions - I actually had some fun but would be kicking myself if I had to pay for the game myself ...


I don't think I've ever seen a single review of a DS game that would make me want to buy that system. Can you play GBA games on a DS?

[curious]

the last game?!? why is that, is phenomic going under or did they sell of the spellforce name.

[txa1265]

I don't think I've ever seen a single review of a DS game that would make me want to buy that system.
Head on over to GamerDad and check out my reviews for Lunar Knights, Hotel Dusk, both Castlevania games, Metroid Hunters, etc ... there are some really awesome games there.

Can you play GBA games on a DS?

Yes, but I actually liked playing them in the 'DS Phat' better than the DS Lite since they don't stick out/.

[chamr]

the last game?!? why is that, is phenomic going under or did they sell of the spellforce name.

Neither. They don't own the franchise, JoWood does. Phenomic sold out to EA and will be working on something for them now. JoWood wants to continue the series, but they have no developer assigned at this point.

@HiddenX: great. Another game to add to my list that I'll never get through for years and years and years... :'(

[HiddenX]

@curious
the last game?!? why is that, is phenomic going under or did they sell of the spellforce name.

Electronic Arts has acquired Phenomic, the old Spellforce team is now working on a new (unknown) rts-game.

Jowood has still the rights for the Spellforce-licence - they have to find a new development team for Spellforce 3.

[JDR13]

[QUOTE=txa1265;24833
Yes, but I actually liked playing them in the 'DS Phat' better than the DS Lite since they don't stick out/.[/QUOTE]


So you can play all Gameboy games on a DS? I might just have to pick one up then.


btw: Isn't Metroid Hunter better known for it's multiplayer? Does it have any connection story wise with any of the other Metroid games?

[curious]

do they own the name as well as the technology? i would imagine it would be a smart move if they did for jowood to have someone make another expanison as often times expansion are contracted out anyway. then if that developer does good enough they can continue the series in their style or in the case with the empire earth series run it into the ground and continue on towards the earth's core.

[txa1265]

So you can play all Gameboy games on a DS? I might just have to pick one up then.


btw: Isn't Metroid Hunter better known for it's multiplayer? Does it have any connection story wise with any of the other Metroid games?

You can play all *GBA* games, but not link-ups. You also cannot play original GameBoy games, you need a GBA for that.

Metroid Prime Hunters is linked more to the GameCube series, and it has a real Quake-ish run&gun feel.

[chamr]

do they own the name as well as the technology?

To my knowledge, like most publisher-to-developer relationships, JoWood owns everything but the developers' souls (and maybe a few of them to boot).

[JemyM]

Resident Evil 4 (8/10)
Decent actiongame with an uninspired chlich&#233; plot. The lack of continuity felt like the greatest turnoff in this otherwise well praised game. In one moment you are fighting infested villagers in a not so friendly rural area, the next time you are in a well kept, well decorated, expensively decorated castle that also have a cellar filled with lava and it's own rollercoaster system!? A large part of the game consists of chasing down gold coins, gold coffers, gold bars and combineable treasure, which you can sell at well scattered merchants. All of that removes the feel that you are playing a survival horror game and I do not know what's left of it. It's definitely not a scary game. Still a decent actiongame though.
Note: I also finished the Separate Ways expansion.

[txa1265]

You should mention platform on the games, especially since some are multi.

[JDR13]

Separate Ways isn't really an expansion, it's just a very short side story that shows some different aspects of the storyline.

Since you mentioned "Seperate Ways", then you obviously played either the PC or PS2 version.

I don't play very many console games as I've mentioned in the past, but I loved every minute of RE4. Sure it's not perfect,( I hated the traveling merchant system) but it ranks up there with Zelda: The Twilight Princess as the best console games(imho) that I've ever played. My opinion is biased though because I've always been a huge Resident Evil fan, just look at my avatar. :)

[JemyM]

Separate Ways isn't really an expansion, it's just a very short side story that shows some different aspects of the storyline.

Bonus story then maybe.

Since you mentioned "Seperate Ways", then you obviously played either the PC or PS2 version.

Yes, the patched PC version with darkness/light and the mouseaim utility. I bumped the resolution up to 2048*1536 as well. :D I know, no dynamic light like the GC version but I doubt that would have changed my opinion regarding the actual content of the game.

My opinion is biased though because I've always been a huge Resident Evil fan, just look at my avatar. :)

I am a huge horror fan but that have upped my resistance quite alot so to me RE4 wasnt scary so what was left for me was a storydriven actiongame with some continuity flaws. When playing storydriven games like this I am generally picky about things that seem to not fit into the environment or theme of the game without at least giving a decent reason for it.

My wife have planned to buy a new television set and when she does I might grab a previously owned GeCube and play the RE1 remake. I have RE2/3 on PSOne, just never played them since I want to play the upgraded RE1 first.

[JDR13]

So you've never even played any of the other RE games yet? If you had then you would have understood RE4 better and no doubt liked it even more.

I own them all on Gamecube, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and Code Veronica. It's the main reason I bought a Gamecube to begin with. Someday I would like to play them all in a row from beginning to end.

As far as scare tactics go, I don't think RE4 was really meant to be that scary, they seemed to put more effort into the story and suspense which is fine by me. I'm not sure what you mean by "continuity flaws", I think that stems from not totally understanding everything because you haven't played them all.

[JemyM]

So you've never even played any of the other RE games yet? If you had then you would have understood RE4 better and no doubt liked it even more.

I know alot about the games already and played parts of them. I did not feel like I missed anything from the plot.

I'm not sure what you mean by "continuity flaws", I think that stems from not totally understanding everything because you haven't played them all.

It have nothing to do with the story. Throughout the game you visit many areas and find many objects that seems to be out of place. The castle is the best example. It seems to be a very sharp contrast to the rural landscape. Even if you would happen to find a castle like that in the wilderness, it would definitely have been run down/part ruin, not spectacular in richness and glory. A volcano is usually not a good place to build a castle on either. What about the gigantic statue? It seems just tossed in like the developers felt like "Now when we have a castle, a lava cellar, a built in rollercoaster etc. we must also have a gigantic robot, yeah, that seems like a good design plan".
As soon as I passed from the rural landscape into the castle, my mind pretty much snapped and I started to wonder where the developer lost it. If I designed the game I would probably have placed something like a runned down small city/village at that point in the game which then passed over to the mine. I feel that would have fit together better.
Then you have all this gold. It seems every farmer in the area have striked a gold rush and im in fact here to get rich, not to rescue the presidents daughter. Put against the backdrop of a run down rural landscape with parasite infested farmers, all the gold seems severly out of place. If I would have designed the game, I would probably have dropped the whole merchant concept (it doesnt fit the game nor it's theme) and I would probably have spent more time placing ammunitition in places where they make sense. A traditional rule in theese kinds of games is that weapons & ammunition doesnt come in numbers, especially not in a rural landscape southern europe.

[Ionstormsucks]

I am a huge horror fan but that have upped my resistance quite alot so to me RE4 wasnt scary so what was left for me was a storydriven actiongame with some continuity flaws. When playing storydriven games like this I am generally picky about things that seem to not fit into the environment or theme of the game without at least giving a decent reason for it.

Played it together with a friend who owns a playstation. First we ate pizza until we couldn't really move anymore and then we got ourselves pretty drunk. I think it's really the way to do it. RE4 was mucho fun! You wouldn't believe how satisfying it is to shoot a few villagers if you're drunk... story doesn't matter much either then.

[Stanza]

System Shock 2

Picked up a copy off Amazon a year or two ago, and just recently cleaned up my six-year-old computer and promoted it to my Legacy Gaming System. Could never get the game to run on my newer systems, especially the dual core, since it likes to randomly crash or hard-lock the system when frobbing objects, even though I can get Thief TDP and 2 to run.

Disappointing.

That's the only word I can think of to describe the game. And I cannot yet put my finger on why. There seemed to be lots of little reasons, but it's the big one below that stands out.

There were lots of little things I liked: a character development system, the Dark Engine's stealth system (only it didn't work very well here), the graphics were surprisingly good, but then it's easier to do sci-fi/techno textures than fantasy/stone textures. And the ambiant sounds frequently reminded me of Jedi Outcast.

The biggest problem I had was the infinitely, instantly respawning monsters. There was only one thing better than killing a mutant, looting the body, and finding yourself being shot in the back of the head by the instaspawn replacement before you can grab that bag of chips -- and that was killing the monster, starting to loot the body, and having the replacement spawn in right in front of you, arms stiffly ourstretched in that crucified pose the Dark Engine uses for actors before the animation system starts up. Then getting shot in the face.

Reminded me of trying to play through the city zones in Thief 3. In the end, the best tactic was to get through them as fast as possible so you could reach the next mission zone -- to skip the game content, not to experience it.

It felt like two completely different games badly bolted together. One of them being a really bad (id style) first-person shooter. Step on the invisible trigger, game spawns monsters. Oh look, a really nice power-up just sitting in the middle of a room, with nothing guarding it! I'll just waltz over and pick it up. Ri-i-ight.

The never-ending parade of monsters really killed any sense of progression. At least in a Sacred/Diablo game you get XP for the endless waves of monsters. Here you might get 5 nanites or a bag of chips, assuming the body doesn't disappear before you can loot it. Which does not make up for losing half your health or wasting several irreplaceable rounds of ammo if you weren't able to sneak up on the critter.

Then I finally got the invisibility power. That should have felt like an accomplishment. Instead, it felt like I'd turned on a cheat code since I could just run past all of the monsters -- in fact, I'd often run around a corner and see the game spawn in a couple new monsters down the corridor. And if I'm using cheat codes, it means I've given up on the game and just want to get it over with. Then I realized that's exactly what I wanted to do.

I do hope Bioshock is not going to be a spritual successor to this kind of gameplay, but given their emphasis on it being a whole new form of FPS, I'll be expecting the same old lame FPS tricks in a sparkly new package.

[JDR13]

@ JemyM, I guess those things could seem out of place, but why are they any stranger than anything else in a video game? A castle in a rural area seems odd to you, but giant parasites exploding out of villagers heads is ok? The RE series is fiction, there are no traditional rules.


@ Stanza, Sorry to hear you're not enjoying SS2 as much as everyone else did, that's actually one of my all time favorites. It sounds like you might be experiencing some bugs though. Yes, the respawn rate is on the high side, but never once in all the time I spent playing it did I see a monster respawn right in front of me as you describe.

[txa1265]

Just finished Titan Quest Immortal Throne (thanks to Magerette for sending me her end game TQ character!) - I've also made it back through with my own character and made some progress on Epic difficulty with each of the characters. I like most of what they did in the expansion, but I get some pretty serious 'rubberbanding' at times ...

... and I've probably finished a dozen or so others since my last update (about a month ago) so I'll just list them ...
- Final Fantasy VI Advance (GBA)
- Virtua Tennis 3 (PC & PSP)
- Trackmania United (PC)
- Call of Duty: Roads to Victory (PSP)
- Test Drive Unlimited (PC & PSP)
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC)
- Trace Memory (DS)
- Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade (PC)
- MLB '07: The Show (PSP)

[JDR13]

So you finish an average of 3 games a week?!? Do you play video games as a job or something? It must be nice to have that much time for gaming. :)

I'm lucky to finish 2 games in a month right now.

[txa1265]

So you finish an average of 3 games a week?!? Do you play video games as a job or something? It must be nice to have that much time for gaming. :)
Final Fantasy VI I've been playing for a while, and most of the others are pretty short. STALKER was one that cost me some sleep ...

[JemyM]

@ JemyM, I guess those things could seem out of place, but why are they any stranger than anything else in a video game? A castle in a rural area seems odd to you, but giant parasites exploding out of villagers heads is ok?

There's a good explanation for the parasites, but not the castle. In many great games, the theme is followed to the end, things fit right in and they make sense based on the changes in reality that have been made for the setting.

The RE series is fiction, there are no traditional rules.

That's never a good excuse. All good fiction with supernatural content still keep themselves into the framework of reality with just a few aspects changed. For instance, in Alien, there are aliens. That doesnt mean Ripley can fly. Some elements of reality is changed in the movie, but the rest of the laws are the same as the real world. If las plagas infects a rural area in spain, las plagas infects a rural area in spain. That doesnt mean that rural areas in spain is suddenly a good place to find a well equipped top-notch castle.

[JemyM]

Splinter Cell Double Agent (7/10)
This would have been a 9 if it wasnt for the extremely bad PC port. I have had the game installed for ages but it's first now I got it to work until the end. I have to say that Splinter Cell 3 was better, but SC4 is not a bad game. I am glad I kept on trying.

Having said that, it's now time for me to take a few weeks break for schoolwork. I have finished all the larger games I had planned for now. Maybe I will spend some time with Sam & Max but that's it until the holiday. I have a few projects for summer though.

[JemyM]

I gave up on Titan Quest. I was half-through babylon, but I just played it to have something to do with my girlfriend. I explained to her how much I hated it and she allowed me to deinstall it.

[JDR13]

There's a good explanation for the parasites, but not the castle. In many great games, the theme is followed to the end, things fit right in and they make sense based on the changes in reality that have been made for the setting.

That's never a good excuse. All good fiction with supernatural content still keep themselves into the framework of reality with just a few aspects changed. For instance, in Alien, there are aliens. That doesnt mean Ripley can fly. Some elements of reality is changed in the movie, but the rest of the laws are the same as the real world. If las plagas infects a rural area in spain, las plagas infects a rural area in spain. That doesnt mean that rural areas in spain is suddenly a good place to find a well equipped top-notch castle.


So a castle in the countryside in rural Spain would be on par with Ripley being able to fly in Aliens?

The castle isn't out of place at all. Why is it so hard to believe that the Salazar family, along with the assistance of the Los Illuminados, had protected that area for years and over time outfitted the castle to that degree? It was explained that Ramon Salazar was the eighth castellan of the castle, showing that it had been in that family for quite a long period of time. It was also a very secluded area due to the fact that they controlled the surrounding villages which in turn helped protect the area from outsiders.

If anything was out of place in that game it was the merchants. :)

[JDR13]

Finally finished my latest replay of StarCraft and SC Brood War. It took me longer than I thought it would but it's been a busy month and I haven't had much time for gaming.

Definitely still my favorite real time strategy game, now I'm looking forward to starting C&C 3 in the next week and seeing if it lives up to expectations.

Still waiting on patches for Gothic 3 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in the meantime.

[JemyM]

So a castle in the countryside in rural Spain would be on par with Ripley being able to fly in Aliens? The castle isn't out of place at all. Why is it so hard to believe that the Salazar family, along with the assistance of the Los Illuminados, had protected that area for years and over time outfitted the castle to that degree? It was explained that Ramon Salazar was the eighth castellan of the castle, showing that it had been in that family for quite a long period of time. It was also a very secluded area due to the fact that they controlled the surrounding villages which in turn helped protect the area from outsiders. If anything was out of place in that game it was the merchants. :)

It doesnt feel right to me for several reasons.
1. Alot of administration is required for a such place, including deals with the rest of the world. This takes skilled people who can make deals with outsiders. The Los Illuminados doesnt feel like such people.
2. The robot, the rollercoaster and similar constructs required good engineers/mechanics. Yet again, the Los Illuminados doesnt feel like engineers/mechanics.
3. Despite the amount of followers you got, castles decay over time, even if you work on them non stop. This castle had simply no decay.
4. Castles was built by alot of people for their leaders. Only cities of a certain size had enough people and resources to actually build one. There are no city next to this one.
5. Some puzzles seems thrown in to give the player something to do, but doesnt feel like something that have any purpose in a real castle, such as the pathway that you had to rise up from the water using two winches.
6. The lava room. Come on.
7. I have many problems with the medieval catapults on the rooftops. They are made out of wood, so they have to be freshly built as well as loaded with fresh ammunition. Why go that length to build and load catapults when you can more than likely afford modern weapons, especially when you have already taken over a nearby army base.

All in all, the castle feels tossed in because it's a game. The developer did not seem to take the moment to plan the environment as something which should make sense or feel realistic, and that's what breaks my illusion.

[JDR13]

I could easily pick apart all the reasons you listed but I really don't want to drag this out any longer, you're really just nitpicking here. I could point out a dozen things that aren't perfect about any game but why bother? My advice to you is to pass on the other Resident Evil games because I don't think you're going to like them.

[JemyM]

My advice to you is to pass on the other Resident Evil games because I don't think you're going to like them.

I have already decided to play through at least the RE1 remake, RE2 and Codename Veronica in time. This might not happen for yet another year though as I have many other games on my list.

[Zaleukos]

Just finished Ultima Underworld 2 again. The game world feels remarkably small (and here I tend to complain about the tiny size of Gothic 3 and TES "continents"), but at least the scale is right (each world is after all basicall just a building). The game and particularly the interface hasnt aged that well. I dont mind pixellated graphics but the controls are very sluggish, and there are too many places where jumping and finding the right lever are at the core of puzzles, something I hate even in games with an appropriate engine for it. The dialogue and dialogue-related puzzles are however good and disingenious, but would have been helped by a built-in journal. I like my games to be somewhat less linear, but knowing that non-linearity and good story tend to be at odds with each other I can forgive this.

The game is as far as I can tell (might be my rather unsophisticated playing style) heavily biased towards melee fighters, with ranged weapons running out of ammo, and spells requiring space to cast (in a real time game with sluggish controls this make them useless). Crappy ranged combat also makes certain levels (the void with those brain-suckers) a pain.

6/10 for being ahead of its time I guess. Good story, but TBH even the old Goldbox games provide a more fluid interface for combat and such...

[Corwin]

That game was WAY ahead of its time. I may be biased, but it's in my top 5 all time games!!

[Zaleukos]

Oh, I loved to play it when I first got in my 486, and back then I would have rated it 9/10 or so, but it's just a bit too clunky to play today:p EDIT: If it had been a human I would say that it had a good life but is past retirement age:)

[KasperFauerby]

I just *love* the underworld series. I can't count how many hours I've spent on those games - first playing them, later trying to hack/reverse engineer them :)

I might never finish this project, but some of you might be interested in my little hobby project:

http://www.peroxide.dk/ugck/

The demo isn't completely up-to-date with what I've managed to get working, but there hasn't been much interest, so I've never updated it with my latest additions..

Unfortunately it's not much time I have for it with a full-time job in the game industry and a 2 months old son ;)

[Corwin]

Oh, I loved to play it when I first got in my 486, and back then I would have rated it 9/10 or so, but it's just a bit too clunky to play today:p EDIT: If it had been a human I would say that it had a good life but is past retirement age:)

Hmmm........that sounds a LOT like me!!!! :)

[narpet]

Okay... everyone better sit down for this one...

I finally finished Avernum 4! It took me from the beginning of February until today, playing 1 to 2 (sometimes 3) hours almost every night!

I love that game... best I've played in a while. I'm going to write a mini review, so check it out if you're interested.

[Corwin]

Do you plan to post it here? If so, submit it to Dhruin and he may post it to the main page!!

[GothicGothicness]

Last game I finished Ogre Tactics... and it is one of the best games ever!!

[narpet]

Do you plan to post it here? If so, submit it to Dhruin and he may post it to the main page!!

I posted my quick review in the General RPG forum.

[Jaz]

The last game I finished (yesterday) was the original Hexen (pre-Hexen95, pre jHexen), as a fighter this time. I'm still mystified about how I replay the game several times a year, and still manage not to remember how to get to all secret levels.

[JemyM]

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream (6/10)
Interesting game. Rape, nazism, torture etc... every taboo in the book. Decent graphics for it's time but not a game I would recommend to just anyone.

[txa1265]

Silverfall (you'll have to wait for my RPGWatch review for the score ;) )
Long and arduous campaign, decent tech vs. nature implementation, love Love LOVE the art styling ... but ultimately just a huge action-RPG just like every other huge action-RPG.

Some handheld stuff as well ... that will be in my next article that I want to finish next week once I finish Valhalla Knights.

[Role-Player]

Last game I finished Ogre Tactics... and it is one of the best games ever!!

The Snes version? No matter how many times I start playing through it I never get around to finishing it, either because I get bored with the overall dreadful combat or because I get owned in the later maps. If only the combat had been like the GBA title...

Currently going through Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Hellaride!

[JDR13]

The Snes version? No matter how many times I start playing through it I never get around to finishing it, either because I get bored with the overall dreadful combat or because I get owned in the later maps. If only the combat had been like the GBA title...

Currently going through Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Hellaride!

Your view concerning Ogre Tactics is the same as mine is for Final Fantasy Tactics. A lot of people talk about FFT as being one of the best strategy rpg's ever made for consoles. I've tried playing it twice now and both times quit about half-way through. I just don't see what's so great about it, and I'm a huge FF fan.(of the older titles)

Good luck on CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth. I hope you enjoy it more than I did.

[Role-Player]

I can't relate a lot since unfortunately I never got around to playing much of the original Final Fantasy Tactics. I do know that both it and the Ogre Tactics game for Gameboy Advance - Knight of Lodis - had something very simple over the Snes title - the ability to actually decide how to attack instead of sending one group of characters against another and watch them trade blows with no input whatsoever (aside those Tarot cards, that is). I think the game really suffers with this.

Call of Cthulhu is being somewhat hit and miss. I enjoy the setting and the focus on stealth and exploration - even if the latter is harmed by a considerably restrictive environment there's a couple of situations which can be handled differently. The combat isn't very difficult considering enemies aren't very sharp - though I'm playing in the second difficulty level since harder modes apparently need to be unlocked (!) - and stealth kills are at least there.

By far the most frustrating experience so far as been escaping the Gilman hotel since the escape sequence requires a very fixed set of movements and actions, and learning them is a clear trial and error process instead of a more fluid, open-ended scenario. Also, the possible paranoia system is nice but tricky to manage since - at least from a first time player perspective - it requires you don't explore and find the bloody situations.

I'm currently trying to escape Insmouth through the truck sequence.

[Asbjoern]

CoC is a very good game, though after escaping Innsmouth it loses much of its charm and only in a few locations you get to experience the greatness of the first part.
Later on the insanity system becomes a problem instead of an intriguing system.

[JDR13]

I had very high expectations of CoC, too high in fact. The game just isn't that good and has more frustrating area's than fun ones. I did finish the game, although I felt somewhat unfulfilled when it was all over.

Here's a very good adventure\horror game that I'm playing right now. It's a budget title (only $20) and it's better than a lot of full priced titles that I've played. Try the demo if you think you might be interested.

http://penumbra-overture.com/

[GothicGothicness]

The Snes version? No matter how many times I start playing through it I never get around to finishing it, either because I get bored with the overall dreadful combat or because I get owned in the later maps. If only the combat had been like the GBA title...


No, for the Playstation. I tried a SNES ogre tactics... couldn't compare at all.

This game was among top 10 of best games of all times in Japan. I say it kick ass cause it really does... GBA or SNES ogre tactics cannot compare this game just OWNZ! lots of different endings and choices... really great gameplay.. and it'll depend A LOT on which characters you choose and who you ally with how the gameplay will unfold... It also has a bonus you can get to the 99 level of hell... but it is SUPER HARD.. working on it! Really fun though.

[JemyM]

Phantasmagoria (5/10)
I had promised myself to play Phantasmagoria during this summer, and now it's done. One of Sierras experimental games and probably one of the worst from them.

Phantasmagoria 2 next.

[Role-Player]

Well, just finished Cthulhu. My opinion hasn't changed much - it's an enjoyable ride and something I'd be more eager to replay than most Resident Evilesque affairs out there but it usually takes time to grow on you. The more you want from the game the less it will give you, up to a point where you'll find yourself not having great expectations about the game - only to be suddenly surprised when the game decides to throw in a trump card, even if briefly. This is what mainly categorizes CoC to me: an adventure with short highs and long lows.

I had a problem in the end sequence where Jack Walters needs to escape some crumbling caves because the run speed is slow as molasses. After downloading a third party program I managed to increase his run speed to something much more manageable.

I'll still probably give it a go on the higher difficulty levels to try and reach Rank A, though.

[Asbjoern]

Yes, lows and highs. Though the graphics engine was ideal for this game and I very much enjoyed using the rifle. The first part of the game, where you explored yourself and Innsmouth without any guns was the best part though. The drunkard in the alley, the news paper office etc.
I used god mode in the last scene to escape the cave.

[JDR13]

A lot of people experienced that bug at the end. It probably took me 25-30 tries before I escaped that cave. Someone suggested lowering your resolution makes you run a step faster in that game. I can't confirm if that actually works or not, I think I just got lucky when I finally escaped.

[JemyM]

Phantasmagoria II: Puzzle of Flesh (7/10)
Overall a better game than it's prequel, first thanks to a much better story that is actually quote exciting, second thanks to better technology used in how the game blend with FMV sequences. Not the greatest game ever made though but decent for a adventurefan.

[narpet]

I just finished the Oblivion expansion, The Shivering Isles. It was pretty good. I liked the landscapes the best, and with my new geforce 8800gtx I was able to turn everything up and really enjoy it. It was a very nice change from the eversame lands of the OC.

The plot was okay and I had a good time, but the main quest was really just one fedex quest after another. I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was getting the new set of armor that I was able to get one of the smiths to make (I won't put any spoilers here).

A lot of reviews have raved about how Bethesda has created a realm of madness... well... ummm... okay. Some of the NPCs were interesting, and Sheogorath himself was pretty well developed and acted, but I never really felt like I was in a realm of complete madness. More like I was in a realm of slightly quirky people, with the occasional mad man/woman.

But overall it was fun...

[JemyM]

Resident Evil Zero (9/10)
After playing the more hyped Resident Evil 4 I wasnt expecting much, but RE0 was to me a better game. Great horror atmosphere and well presented main characters. Unlike RE4 the environments and loot felt like it all fit in and the story was ok. Looking forward to take up the RE1 Remake next!

[txa1265]

Soldier of Fortune 2 (PC, 8.5/10)

Yeah, 8.5 ... I *know* ;) It is a major cop-out for someone like me who prefers a 5 star system with no halfsies :D But there it is.

This was my '5th anniversary run' as the game released ~May 22nd 2002, and I've probably played it ~20 or so times on the PC, 1 or 2 times on the Mac. It is one of my all-time favorite shooters - but the funny thing is that it is a flawed game and I have known that from the very start. The game has forced stealth areas, levels that could have been designed on an etch-a-sketch they are so linear, and compensates for dodgy AI by giving enemies loads of HP and damage. This time I saw more 'ghost spawning' than I remember.

Yet I love the game - and mostly it is because it combines some great combat areas with enemies who give you a fierce fight and the best damage system I have ever seen (to this day!).

[JemyM]

Resident Evil (10/10)
I played the GameCube version (the remake) as Jill. What can I say? There are no problems with this game. Maybe a few puzzlerooms did not feel like they belonged in the mansion, but the story was nice, the character development was good and the game looks fantastic for it's age (even the remake have a few years of age now). I did not bother with replaying the game as Chris, instead I watched his unique scenes (with Rebecca for example) on youtube. Im off to Resident Evil 2 now.

[Moriendor]

S.W.A.T 4 - Gold Edition (including the Stetchkov Syndicate expansion)

This game was like a rollercoaster ride. Great atmosphere, sound, graphics, environments, mission settings etc but a lot of that was ruined by the completely pathetic AI of your squad members and the enemies.
You are the leader of a team of five SWAT members (so four AI dudes) and you can indirectly take control of teams of two (blue team and red team) to position them at different strategic places for example or to have them enter a room from two sides.

The problem is that your AI mates are really good at getting stuck in doorways or on ladders/ramps. They don't really know what a line of sight or a line of fire is. They have zero situational awareness and sometimes run by enemies that are standing right next to them or that hide behind a door (surely real SWAT officers are trained to check behind doors). They sometimes shoot each other but when a bad guy is waving his weapon around like a freak after being flashbanged then they do nothing about it but yell at the guy to drop it instead of shooting. Then when Mr. Bad Guy recovers from the flashbang, Mr. Bad Guy takes out 2, 3 or if you're in bad luck all 4 of your team members. Yup. That's right. Four fully trained SWAT dudes are allowing one bad guy to wipe them all out after they have flashbanged the shit out of the guy and had already taken control of the situation.
They also do not respond to your commands at all sometimes until you press the corresponding key a second time. This is obviously less than helpful when a situation (like entering a room from two sides) requires timing.

It also doesn't help at all that the animations are completely pathetic as well. This is a game where good graphics actually matter because the quality of the graphics or animations is actually a gameplay element. Why? Well, you need to achieve a certain mission score to be able to advance to the next mission. You get negative points for "unauthorized use of force". These negative points can be avoided if you yell at a suspect to drop his weapon. So sometimes you will find yourself in a situation where you will be standing really close to a subject with your weapon pointing at the guy and you'll be yelling at him to drop it repeatedly. Then all of a sudden the bad guy points the weapon at you (this happens in under 1/10th of a second so you have no chance to react) and kills you. That's bullshit. The animation from holding/waving gun around to aiming/pointing gun should take much longer and be much more fluid like in real-life so that you have a realistic chance to react.

All of the above led some missions to be an extreme exercise in frustration. I finished the game and the expansion on normal difficulty but I really can't even begin to imagine the frustration on any higher levels. That must take a lot of patience and dedication with some missions. Most missions are rather easy but there were two missions that I had to do over and over and over again before I got the required 50&#37; score that is required on normal difficulty to advance to the next mission. The calculation of the score seems to be bugged anyway. I repeatedly received negative scores (-10%) for "unauthorized use of force" even when I paid extremely close attention to not shooting before yelling to drop it. The mission results were plain inexplicable at times and did not correspond to what actually happened during the course of a mission.

Still, it was tons of fun and very immersive if and when the game worked as intended. I wish it would somehow be possible to merge the good parts of SWAT 4 and Rainbow Six (R6 pre-Lockdown that is) for the perfect squad shooter *sigh*...

[txa1265]

S.W.A.T 4 - Gold Edition (including the Stetchkov Syndicate expansion)

This game was like a rollercoaster ride. Great atmosphere, sound, graphics, environments, mission settings etc but a lot of that was ruined by the completely pathetic AI of your squad members and the enemies.

Very well put - I didn't know that they had a Gold Edition, I played them individually. It sometimes feels like you want to 'lone wolf' it, but that is suicide.

[JemyM]

Resident Evil 2 (8/10)
RE2 have aged a bit since it came and unfortunally the story isnt satisfying enough to make the game perfect as it's prequels, but it was still an ok experience. I am looking forward to Code Veronica, but first RE3.

[Jaz]

Sudeki (Xbox):
I played and finished it before, but its been a while ago.
Sudeki is a very colorful game in the JRPG style (though it is by a British developer) without some of the length present in some of the Japanese games I played - but this also means it's rather short, especially when you played it before and know when to go where.

The story is... decent, though not really breathtaking: the world Sudeki was given to god Tetsu who, after a while, started to feel lonely, and made another god in his image. Heigou, however, was eveil. The two started to squabble over who owned Sudeki, and in the end the Heigou was banned, but the world split in two. 1000 years later, Heigou will return, and just the chosen ones can fight him...
Visuals are sweet, especially when you wander between the two halves of Sudeki later in the game: the bright, fruity-colored state Haskilia and its dark, gloomy counterpart Cyantia make for a nice contrast.

Character development is handled in the same old manner: you fight and solve questst, get XP, and can invest them on level-up. There are a handful attributes and several magical skills to spend your points on. Mismanagement IS an option: by spending points on magical attributes, for example, on a character you usually don't use for magical attacks or defenses, you can render your group unusable... but then you'll notice that quickly...

You always start with the same character and expand your group in the same manner because it's a plot-driven affair. Once you have all four basic characters together, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be able to use them all in your party: sometimes one or two of them are needed elsewhere, the group is split, and you'll always be left alone to fight bosses (though with different bosses, you'll have different characters to fight them - none of your choice).

Each character (or better: type of character, because you'll have to adventure with some of your shadows from the 'other' world later on) has a special ability: the tank can move crates, the mage can make invisible things visible, the artillery can fly short distances, and the acrobat can climb certain walls. Some puzzles need the abilities of several characters to be solved - this reminded me a lot of Lost Vikings :).

Real-time combat can be rather chaotic: sometimes you'll have to switch characters in mid-combat (to heal the group, for example), so re-adjustment to your new position can be a bit confusing. Apart from that, it's extremely bloody: enemies tend to gib, and that violently.

Okay, now the rest in shorthand:
I liked:
-the Lost Vikings like gameplay
-the colors! and the rest of the visuals
-the boss fights (sometimes strategic even for a single character)
-the plot twist

I didn't like:
-the length (too short)
-story on rails after reaching Cyantia (decent exploration wasn't possible anymore after this point)
-unresolved story element (Tal and his father, Tal and Ailish... etc.)
-some of the voice actors were terribly uninspired (at least in the localized version)

Summary:
More an action adventure w/RPG elements; grand visuals for its time. Highly entertaining while it lasts, despite a few shortcomings - a solid game:
8/10.

[JemyM]

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (8/10)
Slightly more rewarding than RE2 and less aged but the story was still not as interesting as the first games (zero and the remake). Looking forward to Code Veronica X now.

[GothicGothicness]

More an action adventure w/RPG elements; grand visuals for its time. Highly entertaining while it lasts, despite a few shortcomings - a solid game:
8/10.

I found one MAJOR problem with the gameplay. Get princess allish one of the powerfull shooting rods. and in each combat just back and shoot with her. This way I passed all the combats and never died or had any problems. They should have fixed that somehow... it could have made the combat hard and more enjoyable if they did.

[Jaz]

Well, personally I don't like difficult battles, so that was fine with me. Ailish wasn't the only powerful party member, by the way: you could do pretty much the same with Elco. If you cranked up his strength, equipped him with the ion weapon and the nano spell (which makes all friendlies deal double damage), he dealt more than 1000 HP damage per shot... to every hostile in his line of sight. Needless to say I used Elco whenever possible, and the Elco (double damage) / Tal (powerful shield) combo served to shorten fights significantly.
Whenever you had none of the distance fighters in your party, fights were more difficult. Fortunately, there were not many instances like that... and unfortunately, the end boss fight was one of those.

[JemyM]

Resident Evil: Code Veronica X (9/10)
After the remake the best game in the series, also one of the longer. Best told story, most memorable villians. Harder than the rest.

[JDR13]

Resident Evil: Code Veronica X (9/10)
After the remake the best game in the series, also one of the longer. Best told story, most memorable villians. Harder than the rest.

RE4 is the best game in the series followed by RE:Code Veronica and then RE0. Everyone is going to have a different opinion based on personal preference though.

[txa1265]

RE4 is the best game in the series followed by RE:Code Veronica and then RE0. Everyone is going to have a different opinion based on personal preference though.
The only RE I've played is the original, redone for the DS. It was pretty average, but didn't necessarily update well - especially many of the melodramatic moments and horrific voice acting. My GamerDad review (http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=3101).

As for me, I just finished replaying Dark Messiah Might & Magic 2x - once for fun and the second time to play an archer for the first time yet. My score - wait for the RPGWatch review coming soon ;)

[JemyM]

RE4 is the best game in the series followed by RE:Code Veronica and then RE0. Everyone is going to have a different opinion based on personal preference though.

I gave RE4 an eight.

I hope the Survival Treasure Hunt isnt a sign of things to come. I found the whole goldrush for merchants concept to be absolutely alien to the entire genré, not to mention that many items seemed to pop up in the wierdest places. Thoose farmers seem to have been living on gold for a long time... how come they live like that when they are so extraordinary rich?
Furthermore, how many wierd places can you mention in RE4 in which you found a box of ammo?

In a Survival Horror game (and zombie movies), limited resources and using items you come over is part of the genré. Chasing gold to buy stuff isnt.

There were many things in Resident Evil 4 that did not quite fit in. I know it's just a game, but I think that things out of place shatters the immersion and reduce the scariness. When you pass from a rural rundown landscape into a well-kept glorious medieval castle shock-full of richness and glory, with it's own rollercoaster and lava basement, it just ruins my ability to take it seriously.
If anything, Resident Evil 4 had been better, more immersive and scarier, if it had better direction of it's content, maybe sparing some of the alien ideas for other games.

The interface was nice, the story was decent, but the dramaturgy was a complete mess. Had not RE2 and 3 been as aged as they are, they would end up higher on my list.

[JemyM]

The only RE I've played is the original, redone for the DS. It was pretty average, but didn't necessarily update well - especially many of the melodramatic moments and horrific voice acting.

I played the remake for GameCube last week and I have to say that it's one of the finest games ever made. It's really an icon for how a remake should be made.

[JDR13]

There are many things in games that might seem "out of place", after all we're talking about video games, not real life. There were plenty of things(items\weapons\ammo) in all of the RE games that were in strange locations. I agree that RE4 in particular had a lot of gold and ammo lying around, but the mechanics of that game were a little different than the previous games in the series as well. RE4 was more action oriented and had a great deal more enemies to contend with, which in turn made it necessary for more ammo.


Even in Gothic 1&2, which are my all-time favorite games, there were a great many things that were definitely "out of place".

[JDR13]

I played the remake for GameCube last week and I have to say that it's one of the finest games ever made. It's really an icon for how a remake should be made.


The RE1 remake on GC is indeed an excellent game. My only complaint is about the difficulty levels they give you to choose from. The easier one is a little too easy, while the hard one is downright brutal. They should have included something in between the two.

[xSamhainx]

I actually just found my old Playstation with the original RE over in a box in Mama Sam's garage last weekend..

Thinking of giving it a spin, wondering if it still works, and how much of the secrets and stuff I still know. I only played thru it once

[JemyM]

I actually just found my old Playstation with the original RE over in a box in Mama Sam's garage last weekend..

Thinking of giving it a spin, wondering if it still works, and how much of the secrets and stuff I still know. I only played thru it once

GameCube's are very cheap now. If you have some money over, consider grabbing one with the Remake. It's difficult to see that the remake is from 2002 when the game looks better than many PC games from 2006!

[enodenroH]

Finally.

After beeing stuck in the Crypts for a while, I stopped for a year or so because of that, I finished Arx Fatalis.

I hoped that Akbaa would be easy to kill, I mean, that it wouldn't take like a thousand hits to kill him. And so it was.
I cornered him in the entrance of the room and he just stood there and took a beating.

Don't have anything much to say anymore about this game.
Most of you have all heard about it and completed it.

What I can say is that I loved it and probably never will sell it.
I surely will replay it one day but it won't be for a while because I have a long list of other games to play before that.

Next on my list : Fallout! :w00t:

[JemyM]

Final Fantasy VII (10/10)
I believe this might very well be the longest game I ever played. I started to play the day after I finished Code Veronica X, exactly two weeks ago and I have played between 6-16 hours per day. I did pretty much everything there was in the game, except for chocobo breeding and the last two weapons (Emerald & Ruby). And what can I say... the brick-models did not look good, the RPG mechanics were pretty weak compared to the RPG's I enjoy... howevevr, I do not believe I exaggerate when I say that this game carry one of the best written stories of all time, one that every serious gamer should experience once in their lives.

[Gig]

Fable (9/10)

I loved so much about this game, the atmosphere, the progression, the economy, courting, buying and renting houses and shops. I took of 1 point because I thought it became just a teeny tedious by the end.

[JDR13]

Very generous scores for both of those games.

[JemyM]

I also gave Fable a 9. The mechanics are quite bad, and the humor can sometimes make you feel very very old, but the story was greatly told and kept me going.

[Jaz]

I've never given a game a perfect 10 I think, but apart from that... both were games I greatly enjoyed, so there.

[Gig]

I've never played any of the Final Fantasy games, my only exposure to the franchise is the fun little movie from a few years back, I have it on DVD.

So what kind of games are they? I always had the impression that the FFs were fighting games like DOA and that the title had became an MMO. However, I've also noticed that JemyM has fairly narrow tastes, so now I'm wondering if Final Fantasy isn't more RPGlike?

[JDR13]

They are Japanese rpg's with turn-based combat.

[JemyM]

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus (8/10)
Dirge of Cerberus (DoC) takes off 2 years after the movie, meaning 3 years after the game. The game is about the character who were not main characters in the first game, such as Caith Sith (Reeve) and Yuffie, but mostly DoC continues the tale of Vincent and Lucretia. In DoC, Vincent is given a role with as much depth and complexity as Cloud had in the original game. The story takes up on the loose threads started in FF7 as well as Vincents level 4 limit break (Chaos). They have really tried to take after FF7 when they did the new game. Many mechanics from the original game is reused in Dirge, including some of his weapons (such as Death Penalty), many items such as Elixir, Ether, X-Potion, Phoenix Dawn etc. Vincent also get experience and levels up and gains more hitpoints and more accuracy etc. I cannot really put my finger on why I cannot give the game a greater score, maybe it's because next to a well told story and advanced game mechanics, there is a game that is a pretty average shooter that feels very repetitive. After watching the very beautiful end movie I am satisfied with having played it, even if I had prefered to watch a video with all cutscenes prerecorded and thus spared me from actually playing the game.

[txa1265]

I've never played any of the Final Fantasy games, my only exposure to the franchise is the fun little movie from a few years back, I have it on DVD.

So what kind of games are they? I always had the impression that the FFs were fighting games like DOA and that the title had became an MMO. However, I've also noticed that JemyM has fairly narrow tastes, so now I'm wondering if Final Fantasy isn't more RPGlike?

You are thinking 'Final Fight' ... Final Fantasy is celebrating its' 20th anniversary this year. They are tightly controlled Japanese RPG's with (mostly) strong stories that are told AT you and some pretty cool turn-based combat.

Not being a console guy, I never played any of them until my wife bought me the Final Fantasy I & II GBA double pack along with my Nintendo DS for Christmas when the DS came out. Since then I have played I, II, IV, V and VI for the GBA and III for the DS.

VI is my fave of that group.

[JemyM]

Final Fantasy VIII (9,5/10)
Many have told me to not mess with Final Fantasy VIII. That the game can be passed, that it should be disliked. I cannot agree. There are not many games that make me go up early in the morning, take an extra coffee late at night just to get more hours to play, and there are not many games that made me cry at the ending.
Except a few issues with game balance and mechanics (unbalanced and easily exploited) and a slow start (first CD) the game is superb, equal to only a few other games on the market. The story is fantastic and well written. The characters arent as developed as they are in Final Fantasy VII but alot more than the usual games on the market. I do not think I ever seen a such long ending either. It took me eight days to finish it. 6 days less than FF7.

[JemyM]

Kweeeeeeh!?

Final Fantasy IX (9,5/10)
Yet again I have lost a few tears over a fantastic ending on a fantastic journey. FF9 took me 14 days to go through, including all sidemissions and lots of extra training. I still do not believe the main story reaches up to the previous ones, even if the characters are in the same level as the FF7 characters, but that's like comparing a legendary game with a legendary game+. I am still happy I have played it. I should have done it ages ago. Kupo!

[JDR13]

JemyM, do you rate games on a scale of 8-to-10. :rolleyes:

[txa1265]

Let's see ...
- Time Ace (DS) - mediocre flight shooter and also way too short
- Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom (DS) - as usual a great start followed by a mediocre game, but this is the worst of the DJ games yet.
- Brooktown High: Senior Year - crappy dating sim will make your high school years look good.
- Crush (PSP) - really good puzzler, but too short.
- Scooby-Doo Who's Watching Who? (PSP) - despite the presence of Scott Innes as Scooby and Shaggy (same as the cartoon) and Jennifer Hale (Bastilla, Fall from grace, etc) in the voice cast, this is a lame port of a mediocre console game. The DS version is far better.
- NBA Live 07 (PSP) - mediocre port of a mediocre basketball game.

Others are in the upcoming 'Whole Game in my Hand'.

Jeez ... what a crappy list.

[JemyM]

JemyM, do you rate games on a scale of 8-to-10. :rolleyes:

No. Games I finish I usually end up rating between 5-10 with 1-4 reserved to games I did not finish at all. And I stand by the scores for the latest games I played. 2007 is a special year. The goal this year have been to catch up on games that some people claims to be great. I started out with Metal Gear, then Resident Evil and now I am playing Final Fantasy. So far, theese games have been just great. Once im through with the good stuff, im probably back to play bad games again. :P I do not think I have had a gaming year like this since back in the amiga days.

[GothicGothicness]

Well, the FF's games are good so they deserve this good rating... acctually the gameplay is not that good but especially FF7 has an excellent story and lots of nice movies... it really depend on what you like in a game though I'd also rate them between 8-10 and they have lovely music too.. You gave that mess dirge of Cerberous way too high score though :P

Yet again I have lost a few tears over a fantastic ending on a fantastic journey.

Well I have to say I hated that ending IT is a very nice CG MOVIE BUT HOW THE HELL DID HE SURVIVE BY SINGING??? LOL

[Sir Markus]

I just finished Painkiller, it was a surprisingly good game. Not an RPG but a FPS with dark fantasy-like settings.

Doomlike in its simplicity but nice graphics, and I found it in the bargain bin for about ten dollars.

[JemyM]

Well, the FF's games are good so they deserve this good rating... acctually the gameplay is not that good but especially FF7 has an excellent story and lots of nice movies... it really depend on what you like in a game though I'd also rate them between 8-10 and they have lovely music too..

I think the mechanics in FF9 was alot better than FF7 & 8. It was a very solid system, well balanced. I enjoyed the 5-slot equipment system. Lots of reason to experiment with different equipments. I liked the party, all characters well balanced to eachother and you did not find yourself with a few omnipotent characters early on like in FF7/8, all characters were useful for different reasons. The game "held back" when it came to XP/AP so I did not get to level 100, 9999hp and 999mp like in previous games, instead I ended up somewhere around level 70 with Zidane, 5000hp and ~350mp on my best mage. I also had to carefully select my abilities to have a chance to reach 9999damage per strike (only Zidane managed to do that). Still I trained my characters alot more in FF9 than I did in FF7/8.
I also felt that alot more of the combat mechanics was useful in FF9, compared to the previous titles in which you could just forget about 90&#37; and still beat the game. In FF9 you had a reason to go through your combat abilities once in awhile and change them.

Well I have to say I hated that ending IT is a very nice CG MOVIE BUT HOW THE HELL DID HE SURVIVE BY SINGING??? LOL

My theory is that it have something to do with the summonings. Garnet was the child of the summoners and she got the song from them and Zidane was there and heard it too. Maybe one of the Eidolons helped him? I do not know for sure though.

You gave that mess dirge of Cerberous way too high score though :P

When it comes to mechanics, Dirge of Cerberus as a game was quite solid. The story was "ok". Some levels was very cool, some boring. It did not have any glaring weaknesses, but it did not have any real strengths either, or the games weaknesses was eased by the games strengths. I felt it was an ok timewaster, especially for a FF7 fan. It gave me a similar feeling to Halo or Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Other games that I could surely have missed out on but had some fun with while playing them.

[GothicGothicness]

I also felt that alot more of the combat mechanics was useful in FF9, compared to the previous titles in which you could just forget about 90&#37; and still beat the game. In FF9 you had a reason to go through your combat abilities once in awhile and change them.

Did you defeat Ozma?? that is one tough battle!! unless you use some tricks.. I had the wrong characters at high levels so I couldn't do him.

[JemyM]

Did you defeat Ozma?? that is one tough battle!! unless you use some tricks.. I had the wrong characters at high levels so I couldn't do him.

I actually skipped Ozma as I did with Ruby/Emerald Weapon in FF7 and Omega Weapon in FF8. They did not seem rewarding enough for the hassle. :)

[narpet]

Just finished Titan Quest. Thanks to all of you who recommended it. I had a blast... never got bored.

The game is beautiful, and well written. This is the very first time that I've ever had any fun with a game of this kind (I'm dread to classify it as Diablo-like, since I hated that game so very much).

Truly a great game... and almost bug free (the patched version that I played). That last battle was nearly impossible though... man... talk about dying a lot!

[JemyM]

Final Fantasy X 9,25/10
Final Fantasy X delivers a great and multibottomed storyline like always. The step up to PS2 meant improved graphics but except for the main theme To Zanarkand, the music is a step down. I enjoyed the return of a technology filled fantasyworld but the free roaming which was so enjoyable in the previous three games were gone. The battle mechanics held great balance at first but dropped a bit later on. I killed the final bosses with like 2-3 strikes each. Unlike FF8 and 9, FFX did not touch my emotions as much even if I loved the characters (Unlike FF8 and 9, FFX did not make me sob like a fourteen year old girl). There were some great scenes but they were rare. It's sad that I could not use all characters more due to the imbalance I mentioned before. The weakest part was the equipmentsystem. I barely bothered changing weapons/armor and the ultimate weapons was simply boring to get (over 10 hours of Blitzball??). It took me 17 days to finish FFX which is 3 days longer than FF7 and 9. Yet again I finished the entire game and all extras, but I skipped the Dark Aeons except for the one required to kill to get Aurons last overdrive. Many "buts" FFX is still an awesome game that was worth buying a PS2 for, even if it does not quite reach up to the previous 3 as far as I concern. But that's like comparing the best to the bestbest, few series spend so much time on building so deep and complex storylines that still keep me surprised when the twists just keep bombarding me.

As a sidenote. My girlfriend sitting near me when I ended it cried openly at the ending.

[JemyM]

Final Fantasy X-2 8.5/10
100&#37; complete, perfect ending. The best word I can put on Final Fantasy X-2 is "original". This game is absolutely nothing what I had expected. From the game mechanics to how the story was told and numerous things I never seen in a game before. FFX-2 is a direct sequel to FFX and whoever have not played the first game have no reason whatsoever to play FFX-2. FFX-2 expands on the many plotlines introduced in FFX and manages to tie up all the loose ends. In FFX-2 I have seen the first all-girl party. I do not remember a roleplaying game in which the main character is a woman. I have never seen a roleplaying game that plays out like a girl manga. This is a very feminine game with strong feminine themes. It's not as deep and complex as other FF games though so I had to take down the score a bit even if it's still a decent game and well worth it for thoose who played the first game.

[txa1265]

Final Fantasy X-2 8.5/10
100% complete, perfect ending. The best word I can put on Final Fantasy X-2 is "original".

Did I miss something or did you start at #7 in the series? I only ask because after playing III on the DS earlier this year and VI on the GBA, I have been recently playing FF I and II on the PSP. All of my FF experiences are on handhelds. Wonder where all of those older games fell on your list of stuff.

FWIW, the PSP versions of FF are a waste of ... well, everything. Get the GBA double pack for a *much* better value. And FF2's level system still sucks.

[JemyM]

Did I miss something or did you start at #7 in the series? I only ask because after playing III on the DS earlier this year and VI on the GBA, I have been recently playing FF I and II on the PSP. All of my FF experiences are on handhelds. Wonder where all of those older games fell on your list of stuff.

FWIW, the PSP versions of FF are a waste of ... well, everything. Get the GBA double pack for a *much* better value. And FF2's level system still sucks.

Since the beginning of the summer I have played FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX and FFX-2.

I think I scored them:
FFVII: 10/10
FFVIII: 9.5/10
FFIX: 9.5/10
FFX: 9.25/10
FFX-2: 8.5/10

It's difficult to rate theese games. They are all absolutely great. Very long and large, deep and complex storylines, original game mechanics, state of the art graphics (for it's time), great music and memorable characters. Usually where one of the games fall short in some areas it makes up in others. For example FFVIII have a very slow start and annoying game mechanics, but pay back the double with an absolutely awesome story once CD1 is finished. FFIX do not have an interesting story but it makes up with very loveable characters and a heartwarming story that made me sob several times out of joy, happiness and sadness. I also think the inventory mechanics in FFIX is the best.

I think the series is a must play for thoose who enjoy a game with good story with memorable characters because that's what the FF games deliver first and foremost. The mechanics are not as advanced as, for example, the Baldurs Gate series and the free-roaming exploration is not as open as, for example, Gothic.

Theese are large scale productions that really leaves nothing short. They makes even the longer western games to appear small and cheap.

[txa1265]

I think the series is a must play for thoose who enjoy a game with good story with memorable characters because that's what the FF games deliver first and foremost.
Oh, I know that - I have played 1 - 6 on GBA, DS and/or PSP at this point. I, IV and VI are my faves. I have no interest in console gaming so until they come to the PSP or DS I'll take a miss on the others (though I *will* be playing the Crisis Core FF VII game when it hits PSP in a few months).

I was just wondering about your opinion on those earlier ones, since i couldn't find them in this thread.

[JemyM]

I thought PSP was PSOne compatible?
I played FFVII-IX on PC in an emulator.

[txa1265]

I thought PSP was PSOne compatible?
I keep my PSP 'legit' - no hacked firmware. That way when I have an issue with a game I *know* it is an issue with the game.

The downside of that is that I cannot just load up PSOne images on my memory stick. And as it is Sony has continued to delay releasing the Playstation Store access from PC or PSP (PS3 only), so that option is out even if Sony decided to release FF VII for the Playstation store.

[fatBastard()]

I just finished Bioshock (first play-through) and Crysis or Mass Effect have to be pretty damn impressive if either of them are to take the coveted "Game of the Year" award away from Bioshock.

Everything in the game is top notch; from voice acting to animation or from architectural design to character concept - all aspects in this game really is AAA production. For once, a highly anticipated game has actually managed to surpass all the hype. Bravo Irrational ... erm I mean 2K Boston, Well done indeed!

For those in doubt about how to categorize Bioshock, let me just say that the tag line: "Spiritual successor to System Shock 2" is a VERY accurate description. However, time has passed and the market has grown and changed somewhat so while the ties to SS2 are very strong they are also ... how can I say this so it doesn't sound too negatively ... simplified in the sense that Bioshock is a multiplatform title and consequently many of the stereotypical traits of a PC RPG (such as inventory management and lots of stats) have been toned down, replaced with something else or left out all together.

In short: If you're looking for a Baldur's Gate or Wizardy sort of game then Bioshock is not for you. However, if you liked Deus Ex and/or System Shock then I guarantee that you'll love Bioshock.

[Asbjoern]

I just finished Bioshock (first play-through) and Crysis or Mass Effect have to be pretty damn impressive if either of them are to take the coveted "Game of the Year" award away from Bioshock.

Everything in the game is top notch; from voice acting to animation or from architectural design to character concept - all aspects in this game really is AAA production. For once, a highly anticipated game has actually managed to surpass all the hype. Bravo Irrational ... erm I mean 2K Boston, Well done indeed!

For those in doubt about how to categorize Bioshock, let me just say that the tag line: "Spiritual successor to System Shock 2" is a VERY accurate description. However, time has passed and the market has grown and changed somewhat so while the ties to SS2 are very strong they are also ... how can I say this so it doesn't sound too negatively ... simplified in the sense that Bioshock is a multiplatform title and consequently many of the stereotypical traits of a PC RPG (such as inventory management and lots of stats) have been toned down, replaced with something else or left out all together.

In short: If you're looking for a Baldur's Gate or Wizardy sort of game then Bioshock is not for you. However, if you liked Deus Ex and/or System Shock then I guarantee that you'll love Bioshock.

I'm not finished with it yet, but I'm not particularly impressed. To me it suffers really, really much from "consolization" of the gameplay. 2K Australia hasn't done a great job there.
Not that it isn't a good game but it has some fatal gameplay flaws such as the lack of inventory. And what is that hacking mini-game about? More or less a joke.

[txa1265]

I finished up Bioshock on Friday, and also agree that it is truly an excellent game. It is funny, as I've had the weekend to think more, I can think of many minor little annoyances, but they are all just that - minor.

[magerette]

I envy you guys the ability to play this game, as I can't without becoming violently ill. This is just one of the reasons I don't normally play shooters, nor am I normally drawn to the PA/Sci-fi setting, but in the case of Bioshock all my normal rules go to the wall. I loved everything about this game--the atmosphere, the world, the story, the presentation, even the lack of any rpg type stuff like a paperdoll or even a face. ;) It made the game more itself, if that makes sense.

Anyway, if this one doesn't get all the GOTY awards on the planet( and deservedly so) I'll be amazed.

[JDR13]

I finished up Bioshock on Friday, and also agree that it is truly an excellent game. It is funny, as I've had the weekend to think more, I can think of many minor little annoyances, but they are all just that - minor.

Christ, you finished it in 2 days!?

Weekdays no less, don't you work?

[Prime Junta]

I finally finished the last, greatest spreadsheet cRPG -- NWN2. My final verdict is "meh." It ticks all the boxes, riffs off the Planescape setting, works pretty well, is epic in scope and so on, but I somehow get the feeling that there's no *passion* gone into it. Many of the battles (especially the endgame) were ultra-tedious slogs, the characters were clich&#233;d (Ammon Jerro was the only one that broke the mold even a little), and even the romance was sort of half-heartedly done. The UI was really bad in many ways -- sometimes it felt that most of the game was about inventory management ("I know I had a bleepin' Bel Juril tucked away somewhere!") and stepping on world map transitions to reshuffle the party.

Way too much phat lewt. You know something ain't right when you've just slain an ancient red dragon and are going through his hoard and find nothing of use to your party.

Way too big a party. Having lots of characters to choose from is good, since it permits many different build and combat strategies, but having them hanging around doing nothing except when they're foisted on you becomes a chore. It would have been much better to have only a small window to recruit them, and have them walk off if they're doing nothing but sitting in the inn drinking ale.

Most choices illusionary, and no choices provided where they really count. For example, I would never have forgiven Ammon Jerro for what he did: I would have hanged him or thrown him into the dungeon to rot for his crimes, never mind how "vital" he is. The game didn't let me. If the consequence for this decision would have been to make the King of Shadows unbeatable, then so be it: going out in a blaze of glory for standing by your principles would have been totally narratively satisfying.

But it was still engrossing enough. I will probably buy the Mask of the Betrayer; the Rashemen setting sounds interesting, and it also sounds that they've addressed at least some of the problems in the OC -- less combat slogs, more story-driven, smaller party with people that actually do walk off.

[txa1265]

Christ, you finished it in 2 days!?

Weekdays no less, don't you work?

Yeah well ... I put aside my PSP and DS, and didn't do any reading or watch any TV at night and ... quite frankly skipped out on some sleep ... then my family had me again for the full weekend :)

[JDR13]

Yeah well ... I put aside my PSP and DS, and didn't do any reading or watch any TV at night and ... quite frankly skipped out on some sleep ... then my family had me again for the full weekend :)

When do you sleep? I notice a lot of your post are during the night\early morning hours.

[txa1265]

When do you sleep? I notice a lot of your post are during the night\early morning hours.

I get up at 4AM. My wife was really, really sick after the birth of our second son and spent 2 weeks in the hospital, and he had a couple of trips to the NICU with apnea ... at that point I quickly went from a heavy 8+ hour sleeper to a very light ~4 hour sleeper ...

[curiously undead]

it would actually be four days JDR13 i finished bioshock myself on friday (well saturday actually at 2:30 in the morning). i spent every waking hour not at work playing it and like mike got little sleep. i'd say i spent somewhere between 30-40 hours on it as well. to me its a culmination of not only levines best games thief 2, system shock 2 but also troika influences as well especially in the artistic categories-arcanum, bloodlines, and even the fallouts. i don't understand peoples "console" complaints though as steamlining is done in computer software all the time and it was far more keyboard and mouse friendly than most pc games. when you remapped the keys it even changed the what key to use floater. also you could turn off alot of "hints" like the compass and other aids as well. inventory management is still a part of the gameplay with limited ammoholds as well as tonics and plasmids which you can think of an inventory or spellbook if you like which you can drag and drop back and forth. much like a filet mignion isn't going to appeal to a vegetarian this game isn't for everyone, though i think everyone should appreciate it for the creative marvel it is much like even a non christian could be awed by the sistine chapel even if they don't see god shining down on them.

oh and when i say its not for everyone, children are the number one on that list. its a great game but wait 'til there older or may a little sister visit you in your sleep.

[xSamhainx]

if I got up at 4 am, I could fit in 2 hours roughly of gaming before work. hmm.. ='.'=

Last game I finished was Overlord. I was impressed, really liked it, it's the most original title Ive played in a long time. It had it's share of problems, and the replayability is minimal if you have other things to play, but overall I think it was a good purchase.

[JDR13]

If I got up a 4 am, I would never make it to work! :lol:

[Jaz]

Just finished Hexen 2 (the GL version). This time I really made it through in about three days... looks like I finally know where everything is, including the Egyptian hub's crowns.

[chamr]

... at that point I quickly went from a heavy 8+ hour sleeper to a very light ~4 hour sleeper ...

God, I envy you! The low sleep requisite part only, of course...

[Gallifrey]

I recently finished up Mafia. Not too bad, it had a nice narrative and looked good, but as a game it wasn't great.
There are far too many cutscenes that take over from the player's control right in the middle of a mission, which is frustrating, and the missions themselves are short with very long narrative cutscenes. Fortunately, the voice acting is extremely good so watching is ok, but I found the lack of player involvement frustrating.

The game has, for it's style, a somewhat unique approach to acquiring cars and driving around. Police will react to your speeding or reckless driving, and you either have to stop and pay a fine (but there's no money tracking, so it doesn't matter) or evade them which can be tedious. While the realism is initially welcomed, it gets hugely frustrating after a while to be driving slowly when you're trying to get a mission done.

What is neat is that because the game takes place between 1932 and 1938, you see the cars on the road changing and developing. And the city environments are extremely well done, but you can't really get out and randomly explore (as you can in GTA). It looks nice but it's all very much on rails and your time in the city is tightly confined.

The missions have entirely too much try, fail, repeat built into them. On the one hand it's nice to have to approach things tactically (you can't rush in guns blazing) and you often have to scrounge for guns and ammo after you run out), but as the game progresses enemies just become ludicrously hard to kill.

I picked this up because I'd heard good things about the game (which I'd previously vaguely been aware of) upon the announcement of Mafia 2 coming out. It wasn't bad, I did actually finish it, but nothing I'd ever replay.

[dteowner]

Finally completed UFO:ET. Excellent game, although it lost some momentum while I was sans-computer for 2+ months. Lucky Day and I are planning on putting together a review for the Watch, so I won't spoil it here.

[Sorcha Ravenlock]

I finally managed to finished URU, with the help of several walkthroughs I have to admit. But what a great game, I truly love the atmosphere :)
I've had the game for years, but never quite made it to the end, I'm happy I did now :D

[Jaz]

Just finished Hexen II: Portals of Praevus, and now I remember why I didn't remember anything of this addon (apart from the new player character, setting and boss).
Levels are very linear and consist mostly of long, winding corridors between three-room buildings. It's impossible to get lost and near-impossible to do things in any other sequence than the one, true sequence the level designers imagined.
While I did some serious running to and fro between levels in a hub in the original Hexen II and Hexen (and did curse the level designers quite a lot at times ;) ), there was nothing of this here - just sequential series of corridors filled with HP-heavy enemies, and perhaps a button to push at the end of said corridors. One of the few things I actually did remember was a 'real' puzzle - one where you had to visit three different places to find out what you're supposed to do, and how. But mind you, all three places were in the same level and rather close to each other, too, so... nothing special here, either.

Well, I loved the basic game, and I loved the prospect of playing in a Sino-Tibetan setting, but the designers of Portals of Praevus wasted a great opportunity to please me. No wonder it's my least-replayed of all the Heretic-Hexen games and addons. What a shame...

[JemyM]

Half Life 2: Episode Two (8,5/10)
This is the first game I have finished in months since once school hit in, it was impossible for me to keep playing like I used to. This first break I decided to begin with a shooter since they do not require as much effort as the RPG's.
I was not a fan of the original Half-Life 2. Overall it felt rather repetitive, running through the same landscape, shooting the same combine soldiers/zombies over and over again. The physics were great but that was the only thing special about the game. The story in the original Half-Life 2 was almost non-existant, the NPC's not that interesting (except Dog) and overall the game felt like a rail-shooter in it's ultra-linear gameplay. Episode One was not much better.
Im happy to say that Episode Two managed to improve my opinions about the Half-Life 2 series. This time there was variation in the environments, there are more monsters now which brings HL2 closer to Half-Life 1. The story is much better and I started to get more in touch with the NPC's. The story in Episode Two also adds emotion, which is almost required for me to appreciate a story.
Still, Half-Life 2 Episode Two is a completely linear experience and the "Doctor" Freeman still never speaks, neither is his personality brought forward at all. He's supposed to be a scientist, but he's mostly a grunt. Since Episode Two is by no means an unique or outstanding game, I have to score it 8,5 which means "solid game, a little better than average but can be missed".

[Jaz]

Final Fantasy X - 8/10 (PS2)
Finished this one last night, and I must say I'm impressed by the way just how manageable the game was even with the most difficult enemies. By this I don't mean that the game was easy... it wasn't. But quite opposed to what I thought for a very long time, it was *not* necessary to grind (something I absolutely hate). There was a sound strategy for every enemy. Opposed to what some people I know said about the game there was no need to have any party member at 50,000 HP, there was no need to acquire specific spells or skills or the Solaris weapons... unfortunately it took me quite a while to figure that out :). Plus, it made me cry. Way to go!

[narpet]

Just finished Two Worlds and I really enjoyed it. As has been said elsewhere, it's a little on the easy side... but it was still a blast. Lots to do, and a lot of fun doing it. Tons of weapons and armor that are unique and fun.

I never play spellcasters so I can't speak much for the spells or magic system. The only spell I learned that I used was the healing spell. I also didn't do much with alchemy... I never really get into that when I play CRPGs.

I found many game changing quests, some related to the main quest and some not... which was a lot of fun. I took my time and scoured almost the entire world, and I think that really added to the fun of the game. There were quite a few out of the way places with some interesting stuff going on.

Perfect? No... Great? Almost... Really good and lots of fun? Definitely

If I had to give it a score I would use a 1 - 100 percent score and I would give it a solid 80&#37;. I would have rated it higher if it would have been a little more challenging. I definitely consider the 40+ hours that it took to finish, leisure time well spent.

[dteowner]

Finished Puzzle Quest. I thought sure there was a plot twist coming given all the empty map, but perhaps that just points to a sequel/expansion. What a great game! Simple, and yet so addictive. The RPG angle gives some purpose to the puzzles, which helps control the repetition. I need to pick up Sunspear to enable his companion quests (I think I only had one leg left in his branch), otherwise I think I sucked every quest out of the game. I forged some very powerful items, but still had a dozen or so spells to learn. I figure the game will have replay value in the future, although I plan to put it away for a while.

[dteowner]

Wrapped up Eschalon tonight. Well worth the money, although I'm not sure how much replay potential there is. I think the game has tremendous restart potential, given the strong urge to try different character builds, but I'm not sure you'd have to or want to push those builds to the end of the game. The ending cutscene was a little sudden and you can miss it entirely if you hit a key once it starts (dumps you to desktop, although not a crash).

I played an axe wielder with divinity skills. It worked out pretty well for me.

I guess I'll keep my last save handy in case it has some use for Eschalon 2.

[Corwin]

How long did the game take you?

[dteowner]

28.9 hours on the in-game clock, although I'd say with restarts and reloads I got close to 50 hours out of the game.

[Corwin]

That's pretty good, I'm just over 4 hours by the game clock myself!!

[chamr]

*shakes head* I'm pushing 30 and I'm 90&#37; sure I'm only about half-way. What is wrong with me? :blush:

[JDR13]

Starting to get curious about this Eschalon game.

So many games, so little time. :-/

[dteowner]

*shakes head* I'm pushing 30 and I'm 90% sure I'm only about half-way. What is wrong with me? :blush:The story sort of "accelerates" as you go, IMO. I finished the last quarter of the game content in about 4 hours on the game clock. I didn't mow a couple of the end maps very well and I know of a few non-quest things I didn't complete. Then again, maybe you're just a lousy gamer... :D

[chamr]

Then again, maybe you're just a lousy gamer... :D

Why I oughta.... *shakes fist*

:)

[JemyM]

Final Fantasy XII 9.0
Finally... I started this at the end of the summer and I did not finish it until now. Except for skipping some of the best weapons and the four +1 million HP optional bosses, I finished everything there was in the game.
The twelfth game in the FF series makes a major improvement in mechanics and graphics. Playwise it's one of the best RPG's out there, reminding me more about an MMORPG than a single-player RPG and larger than many MMORPG's out there!
It is also the longest RPG I have ever played, beating games like Baldurs Gate II and Oblivion in gaming hours. Unfortunately the characters are not half as well presented as with previous games which I "only" gave this game a 9. The main character hardly have a role at all, it's he just along for the ride. Storywise it's pretty good though even if it's obvious they are deeply DEEPLY inspired by Star Wars.

[JDR13]

[B] Unfortunately the characters are not half as well presented as with previous games which I "only" gave this game a 9.


Only a "9"!!

What were you thinking?! :rolleyes:

[Jaz]

The main character hardly have a role at all, it's he just along for the ride.As Vaan wasn't supposed to be the main character at all (or in the game in the first place), that's hardly surprising :). I heard he was a last minute addition because game testing showed that having Basch in the lead turned off a significant portion of the teenage girls who - at least in Japan - are the numerically most important group of FF franchise customers.

[JemyM]

Only a "9"!!
What were you thinking?! :rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI27WJ7ZG7Q

[txa1265]

As Vaan wasn't supposed to be the main character at all (or in the game in the first place), that's hardly surprising :).

He *DOES* lead the way on FFXII Revenant Wings for the DS ... sweet game I'm in the middle of now.

[Jaz]

Yeah, I know. If I had a DS, I'd play it... :(

Last game I finished: Final Doom: Plutonia Experiement *shudder*. Waaaaay too difficult to be enjoyable, even though some levels are nicely designed. I even had a nightmare two nights ago. A nightmare involving four Cyberdemons in a local hotel bar. Go figure.

[JDR13]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI27WJ7ZG7Q

Describes FF fans perfectly, I know because I used to be one, before the series turned to crap.

[JemyM]

Describes FF fans perfectly, I know because I used to be one, before the series turned to crap.

Either the Final Fantasy series are exceptionally good, or it might just be that the rest of the market have turned to crap, because the FF series, even on PS2, have given me the most rewarding experiences I had in years. Despite all the titles released 2006 I cannot rate any of them as particularly great. They all had issues, some of them major bugs/issues making fans disappointed. Except maybe Oblivion, but that had the problem that it was not a good RPG. When it comes to 2007 the only quality RPG I can remember that is not either an expansion or remake is The Witcher. When compared to the rest, FFXII is indeed the greatest RPG of 2006.

[Jaz]

@JDR13: Aren't all fanboys the same? Anyway, my sonny enjoyed this movie, mainly because Lulu was in it.

[JDR13]

@JDR13: Aren't all fanboys the same? Anyway, my sonny enjoyed this movie, mainly because Lulu was in it.


Not sure what that means, all I know is that I lost interest in the series starting with VIII. I still played IX and a small part of X before I realized that I was sick of sitting there watching $hitty movies rather than actually playing a game.

[Jaz]

I meant that a franchise anti-fanboy made a clip about a franchise fanboy, and that anti/fanboyism seems to be a universal phenomenon.

Last game I finished (yesterday) was In Extremis. Bought it in 93 or so, never finished it due to losing my way - and reinstalled it last year. All forgot about it, now I finally, finally finished it. It's an amazingly bad game with a few good moments.

[JDR13]

Last game I finished (yesterday) was In Extremis. Bought it in 93 or so, never finished it due to losing my way - and reinstalled it last year. All forgot about it, now I finally, finally finished it. It's an amazingly bad game with a few good moments.



This game? http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=2115


14 years to finish it huh? I'd say you got your moneys worth. :biggrin: