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I just like having choices when I play a shooter. I really liked Deus Ex because it had the RE4 briefcase full of guns to choose from, and all the special powers to play around with.

I finished Reach. The game irritates me badly because it's so good looking (colors and skyboxes) but the gameplay is so simplistic. No cover system, no dodge mechanice, can't hold on to my guns, can't upgrade my guns, only one special power at a time, can't hold on to special powers, enemies are sponges...none of those things would be an issue by themself but all of it together is blah.

The new Deus Ex.

I'm surprised at how much I like it. I can play it like Snake Eater where I'm mainly using stealth to sneak up on enemies to kill them instead of sneaking past them, and for whatever cosmic reason, I find that infinitely more satisfying. The upgrade system has also been a good carrot because the upgrades give the player good choices that have a big impact on gameplay like they should.

I could snipe at things like the writing but I don't really care. I'm glad I caved and bought it.

yeah that's how I played. I either knocked out or killed every enemy. Rarely ever snuck past them. Glad you're enjoying a game for once lol.

I'm not that bad.

The new Deus Ex. I'm surprised at how much I like it. I can play it like Snake Eater where I'm mainly using stealth to sneak up on enemies to kill them instead of sneaking past them, and for whatever cosmic reason, I find that infinitely more satisfying. The upgrade system has also been a good carrot because the upgrades give the player good choices that have a big impact on gameplay like they should. I could snipe at things like the writing but I don't really care. I'm glad I caved and bought it.

Rune Factory Frontier I quit when I reached the point where you have to actively manage the runes or crops grow at a snail's pace. A game largely built around repetitive maintenance work isn't a good game. I wish they'd make a game like this where the focus is on designing and building your town instead. Where it's about creativity instead of maintenance. Animal Crossing has that to a degree but it needs to be a lot deeper; where you can design the buildings brick by brick. And then you can go to war with other villages and destroy them.

I think I may keep going. I Redboxed Dead Island, played an hour, instantly disliked the combat, and now I feel like going to back to Xenoblade. So glad I didn't buy Dead Island now though.

have you tried the digital setting? apparently it improves the combat a lot.

I found out about it an hour ago, and I've been playing it since then but now it has Condemned 1's one button melee combat.

I think I may keep going. I Redboxed Dead Island, played an hour, instantly disliked the combat, and now I feel like going to back to Xenoblade. So glad I didn't buy Dead Island now though.

You really don't have to do the sidequests. Most of them reward you with money, but monsters drop quality armor constantly, so there's no need to buy armor from the shops. The only thing I've spent money on since the beginning of the game are arts upgrades. Then I generally avoid fighting grunts that are at my level or lower and concentrate on fighting the ones that a few levels higher because you level up a lot faster obviously. At least that's been my experience up to Prison Island.

Tri is a multiplayer action game with RPG elements. It also looks really nice. To me Tri and Xenoblade are apples and oranges. My issue with Xenoblade isn't grinding. I rarely did any sidequests. If I saw someone with an exclamation mark over their head, I'd take their sidequest, but I wouldn't set out to complete it. If I completed it by happenstance while doing the main quest, cool, but otherwise I didn't care. My problem is that the areas were large and empty so I'd be walking and walking with nothing interesting to look at or find. The only thing to break up the monotony was having a grunt occasionally attack my party. Shopping is almost pointless because you get lots of quality armor from monster drops, but monster drops aren't much fun either because there's no chance of getting something really good like in Diablo. So there's not much of a carrot when it comes to fighting grunts either. Then the cast has no energy, and they're all the usual JRPG cardboard cutouts. At least up to the point where you get to Prison Island, which is where I'm at. The plot lost my attention when it used the old "backstabbing secession crisis in the royal kingdom" setup. I'm plain sick of that one. I’m sure that’s just a subplot and there’re lots more twists and turns, but the thought of this going on for another forty or fifty hours is too much for me.

Saucer, you still need to play Portal.

It's on my $20 or less buy list.

I'm around 20 hours into Xenoblade and I think I'm done. The world is big, empty, and boring. The pacing is glacial. The side quests are filler like "Kill 5 of Monster X". The characters are dry and their rapport is dry. The character models are ugly. The environments are utilitarian. And the graphics are dank and muddy. The music is great, the combat system fine, and it's never a chore to play, but it's way too drawn out and I always feel vaguely bored.

I started Xenoblade today. I wanted to see what it looked like and wound up playing it for a few hours. Love the music. I wonder if it's the same person who scored Baten Kaitos. The chracter models are ugly, the graphics have that blurry/grainy look that Disaster has to a degree, the Cockney accents are unfortunate, the constant tutorials get annoying, the combat system is fun, the scale is surprising, the freedom is welcome, I don't care about any of the characters so far, but I like the sword.

I finally hacked my Wii and played through RE: Darkside Chronicles to see if I wanted Veronica HD. The game is what it is but what surprised me is how good the game looks. Like Top 5 on the Wii in terms of graphics. What a waste. With that effort, it could've been a good mainline RE game.

yeah its a really good looking game. some excellent lighting effects.

Did you play through the fan translated version of Fatal Frame 4? I have that dled and I'm thinking about playing it next. I'm on a horror kick again.

I finally hacked my Wii and played through RE: Darkside Chronicles to see if I wanted Veronica HD. The game is what it is but what surprised me is how good the game looks. Like Top 5 on the Wii in terms of graphics. What a waste. With that effort, it could've been a good mainline RE game.

I can hook you up with an IPT invite if you need one, Saucer.

That's very cool but I think I'll take the lazy way out and ask a friend to make me a copy of the game.

xenoblade. pretty awesome game.

Where did you dl it from?

Recently: Goldeneye Wii: Like eating raw oatmeal. Quit after two hours. Insantely Twisted Shadow Planet: I like the art style, setting, utility items, and its faster pace compared to Metroidvania games due to its simplier maze (I was in the mood instant gratification). On the flip side, the planet wasn't insane or twisted--more like Tim Burton with a small budget--and it needed better grunts and weapons and more of them. The game was a nice surprise. Pokemon White: I just bought this yesterday because I was in the mood for something light hearted. Eh. I probably should've just bought an icecream cone but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

de Blob 2. Boring. I know I shouldn't buy games because they're cheap but I do it sometimes anyway.

I finally started Donkey Kong Country Returns last night and played through to the end of the fifth world. I outright hate the waggle. It's the worst use of it I can think of, and the game's design never requires it so Nintendo outright forced it on the player. But that aside, Retro is really talented at level design, sound, and using color. The game's also surprisingly challenging. It's probably the hardest game I've played this gen (haven't played SMB or VVVVVV).

playing through Nier. It's kinda boring, if nothing cool happens soon, I'm gonna stop.

but teh music ;(saucerHBR

Hey don't look at me, I didn't like the game and quit before finishing it.

When does Nier pick up? I'm at the part where you're looking for the mom of the two kids who upgrade your weapons in the robotics factory. So far it's bland. Brown low-budget art direction, ugly main character with little personality, crude jumping mechanics, lots of simple fetch quests...

I just spent 15 minutes following a slow moving girl through the desert to a block puzzle temple where if you get hit you have to start each block puzzle over. I ridiculed the hell out of God of War for block puzzles like that. And before that I forced to have the girl give me a slow paced tour of her village where she showed me nothing of consequence. I'm not seeing it at all so far.

But I think you'll give me that its presentation is low budget (both in terms of art direction and graphics), the fetch quests are boring, fighting grunts gets monotonous fairly early on, the dungeons are rarely anything more than a series of empty rooms, the upgrade system doesn't have much depth, the environments lack personality, and the shops are rarely worth bothering with.

http://www.systemwars.com/forums/showthread.php?92306-When-does-Nier-pick-up&highlight=Nier

http://www.systemwars.com/forums/showthread.php?92705-I-don-t-think-Alice-or-Shadows-of-the-Damned-will-deliver&p=2394675&viewfull=1#post2394675

Been playing Fragile the past few nights but I'm shelving it because the gameplay is bad and the plot hasn't gone anywhere. If anyone's finished it, can you tell me what happens? I quit shortly after reaching the hotel where the girl's taunting you to leave.

I'm playing Bioshock 2. Bored. I feel like I'm going through the motions for no purpose. You really limit your audience when you rehash a game that relies on atmosphere. It's down to the faithful.

Dragon Age 2....and Okamiden

Does Okamiden start out anywhere near as dead slow as Okami?

I've been playing Basara 3, and I have no idea how Az made it through the storyline for every character. You're just repeating the same dozen stages over and over, and the level designs are simple too. At first I thought it was okay because the characters are faster than in Dynasty Warriors and the presentation is pretty nice, but after awhile I feel like I'm doing time on a assembly line.

Francis York Morgan is such a great character.

See!