The Official "What Are You Playing?" Thread (Post Screens)

[Guest Golem]

How's the soundtrack? Any new variations on the Max Payne theme? It's not Max Payne without it.

[Chris 1]

How's the soundtrack? Any new variations on the Max Payne theme? It's not Max Payne without it.

I'm not hating on the game, so lets ignore that. MP3 doesn't have the same tone or themes are one and two, so the music and atmosphere is entirely different.

[-GD-X★ 7,757]

How's the soundtrack? Any new variations on the Max Payne theme? It's not Max Payne without it.

It has the main theme music. However, it has a lot of new stuff since the overall feel of the game is different. The production values, as a whole, are top notch and service each scene extremely well.

[Guest C.M.]

this music was awesome for the dock section

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XgYdIXFhYE

[-GD-X★ 7,757]

The music in chapter 12 was very atmospheric!

[Sabo 442]

Every now and then I like to play an old game, usually it's an old favorite but this time I decided to sit down and actually play through Xenogears. I got the game when it first came out but never did beat it because I got stuck on Disc 2 and couldn't figure out what I needed to do. Finally after so many years, I can say that I have played Xenogears from start to finish and I can honestly say this game is.... Garbage. Absolute garbage. I don't know where to begin, I have so much ammo to work with I'm deciding if I should just stick to the main points or if I should just go all out and rip this game to shreds. If you're a fan of this game then you might want to avoid reading this inevitable wall of text. Alright, first of all, maybe it's because I'm like way too late in experiencing the game but I honestly feel this is one of the worst JRPGs I've ever played, For all the praise this game gets I have to wonder if these same people would still feel the same way if they played the game again today. I don't think they would, the flaws in this game are too large and hard to ignore. Before anyone says it, no, a good game really isn't effected by time. If the game is designed well then it will age well. Xenogears is not one of those games. Not. Even. Close. Let's start with the part of the game that seems to get the most attention- the story. In short, it's downright terrible. First of all, the plot unfolds painfully slow. It took about 15 hours before it really started to go anywhere. My problem with the story though is everything was so damn cryptic and convoluted it just alienated me. I had no clue what the fuck these characters were even talking about half the time and anyone who claims they did is a liar. The game goes out of it's way to make sure it's making things as vague as possible, probably in a attempt to pull you into it's mystery but what actually happened instead was me being pushed out, scratching my head in confusion. The game doesn't let up with this approach to it's story telling either, as I got further into the game I was forcing myself to pay attention in the hopes that eventually the game is going to start making sense. And it did. Eventually. However, there was another problem and that problem being it happens all on the second Disc (more on this later) and the explanations for everything was just so stupid I found a new appreciation for the shit that passes for a story in FF XIII. This story is so bloated with ridiculously outlandish bullshit I have no clue how anyone could look past it's vile stench and actually say the story is good. It's not. I can appreciate some of the themes that were put into this game but the way it all fit together and the way the story is presented is just awful. Simply awful. The plot of the story isn't even helped by the cast of characters going through it either, if anything it just suffers more so. Fei is the biggest emo bitch I've seen in a video game in a while and you're stuck with this razor loving loser because he is the main character. His supporting cast is just as bad as he is. Citan is the first you'll meet and is seriously an asshole, he never fails to miss the chance to prove how much of an asshole he can be either. Elly will come shortly after and starts off somewhat interesting but then becomes your typical archetype for a main female character. She will at least disappear for moments at a time so fortunately you won't have to deal with her much until later in the game, then you'll wish she would just disappear again because she starts to become a large focus for the story from that point on. You'll then get mixed up with an obnoxious idiot named Bart who is followed by a crew of people who are even dumber than he is because they're actually following him. This dude lacks common sense, plain and simple. Then there's some beast guy who I don't really remember much about because he fades into the background shortly after he joins with you. A bit later you'll meet Billy who isn't that bad and is probably the only character in the game that didn't make me face palm. Oh wait... there was that segment where he finds out the truth about his organization and then all of his daddy issues- You know what? I take back what I said. He's just as bad as the rest of the group. Then we have... umm...Hang on, I know there's other characters but I can't remember them... OH! Then there's some fat rabbit creature, a bible knocking loli, a loli with a giant mech, and finally a test tube loli just to complete the set. There's a shit load of other characters that won't be in your party but it would take too long to go through them all so I won't bother because I want to jump onto another subject and move away from anything related to the world of this game. So lets move on to the gameplay. The combat system is busted beyond belief. FF VIII gets a lot of hate for it's combat system but this game's system is even worse yet no one mentions this. All the systems for the combat system are just poorly designed with no semblance of balance in sight. There are even mechanics to the system that will go completely untouched through the entirety of the game. What we end up with is a completely one dimensional combat system. There is no reason to use anything other than Deathblows. They straight up dominate the game and make everything else useless. Sure, you get magic spells but they pale in comparison to the power of Deathblows and Deathblows only get more powerful as you progress in the game so there's no reason to ever think about using a different approach. How the developers were able to NOT notice the problem with this to begin with is beyond me. Later on in the game though the developers must've finally realized they made Deathblows too good so instead of balancing them they instead take the lazy way out and start introducing enemies that can one shot a character and some enemies who will counter Deathblows. However, these things do little to discourage you from spamming them so these just end up being annoyances. Another problem with the Deathblows is having to sit through their animations as you just watch your character pummel the enemy to death. The first couple times you see the animation it's pretty cool, afterwords though you'll start wishing you could skip the animation like you can skip the summon animations in FF. This starts to become a serious issue when you combine it with the next problem- an INSANELY high enemy encounter rate. OMG the enemy encounter rate is this game is so high. You barely take two steps and BLAM! Battle. Approach a door- Battle. Door's opening- Battle. Walk through door- Battle. Take two steps-Battle. Finish a battle- Battle. In a battle? FUCK YOU, BATTLE IN A BATTLE, BITCH! Ok. that last one doesn't happen but it might as well. Point is the enemy encounter rate is ridiculous and I wouldn't be surprised if people have quit this game for this reason alone. It makes traversing through dungeons and trying to figure out the puzzles a complete pain in the ass. This also makes the issues with the combat system even more apparent because you're going to be spending A LOT of time with it. The encounter rate is so high you end up being over leveled very early in the game and only continue to get more and more powerful. Don't expect this game to challenge you, the game is making damn sure each of your characters are going to end up being one man armies well before the halfway point of the game. And now we come to my biggest issue with this game- the second disc. This is insulting. You spend all of disc one putting up with this games contrived bullshit and how does the game reward you for your patience? By making you spend the majority of your time reading text. There is very little gameplay in disc two. You don't get to experience first hand all the key moments the game has been building up to, instead you watch everything unfold on the sidelines as a character sits in a chair and explains what's happening while screenshots appear in the background. These sequences are also long, we're talking 30 minutes at a time just reading text with very minimal gameplay involved. The reading wouldn't of been so bad if what I was reading was good but nope, it was shit. The game was finally explaining everything and I just couldn't believe it, the answers to all the mysteries were just so stupid I was disgusted, it seemed like the writers were pulling shit out of their asses to have it all make sense. Just when I think the game couldn't stoop any lower it surprised me yet again with another retarded explanation. One dumb revelation after another and with each new one discovered I was hating myself more and more for even allowing this game to waste my time. Once I saw the ending approaching I didn't even hesitate, I straight up blazed through the rest of the game. Was it for anticipation to see how everything was going to end and get some closure? HELL NO! I was hauling ass for the credits. Those fuckin' beautiful, glorious credits.

[Quad Damage 1,742]

i tried playing xenogears this past winter and just stopped when after 25 hours not much was getting accomplished. apparently its semi-notorious for its slow 20hr start. i dont know why it never hit me that these are the same guys that made xenosaga but yeah story/dialogue segments were pretty long even by the genre's standards. i actually would have stayed with it because i already invested so much time into it, but i just decided to start playing some current gen games.

[Guest Golem]

Finished Part 1 of Max Payne 2. Loving it so far. It's just as dark, and I love that, but it's nice to see Payne interacting with network of people, a rarity in the first game. Went through the creepy amusement park. Reminded me a lot of The Machinist actually, I suppose Max shares a few demons with the main character of that film. Frankly, being stuck in a mock scene amusement park is my idea of a nightmare.

[-SK4- 5]

i tried playing xenogears this past winter and just stopped when after 25 hours not much was getting accomplished. apparently its semi-notorious for its slow 20hr start. i dont know why it never hit me that these are the same guys that made xenosaga but yeah story/dialogue segments were pretty long even by the genre's standards. i actually would have stayed with it because i already invested so much time into it, but i just decided to start playing some current gen games.

Youre already more than halfway through the game and you're near the mark where it starts to get really good I'd recommend you keep playing. Edited May 20, 2012 by -SK-

[User Name 21]

I played though Uncharted 1 today. I think I like it better than Uncharted 2. - I don't think the enemies are bullet sponges. The AK just fires Nerf bullets. I used pistols and always went for the headshots and the combat played nice and fast. It also isn't a complete cakewalk like 2 is. - There needed to be a lot more variety to the enemies, bosses, and evironments. It was all jungle and pirates until the end when the monsters showed up. I think shooters should be designed like platformers where the devs try to really mix up the enemies, bosses, and level themes to keep things fresh. - The final boss was terrible. Death by QTE for a final boss? - All the QTEs should've been removed from the game. There were so few of them and they were so randomly placed that they felt out of place. Six-axis should've been removed too. But that's such a minor gripe. - I liked the platforming more in this one. I never had to hunt around looking for where to go, and the pacing was faster. - I laughed when they worked the Nazis into the plot. All that was missing was the gold statue being stored away in a massive government wherehouse as the end credits started. - I still like it a lot better in shooters when I can keep my guns and mod them. I like the carrot of building up my weapons outlay. That's probably my biggest gripe with both Gears and Uncharted. - I liked that it was short, but I like short games in general. I'm starting to warm up to the series.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Saucer

[-SK4- 5]

UC1 I liked it better then 2 as well. UC3 is fucking godly though, probably my favourite in the series.

[Twinblade★ 3,931]

saucer what did you think of

Spoiler

the level with the creatures? that was easily the highlight of the game for me, and the main reason why i prefer UC1 to 2. The atmosphere was awesome, it felt like i was playing a survival horror game.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Twinblade

[User Name 21]

saucer

what did you think of

Spoiler

the level with the creatures? that was easily the highlight of the game for me, and the main reason why i prefer UC1 to 2. The atmosphere was awesome, it felt like i was playing a survival horror game.

It was my favorite part of the game too. That and the brief sub scene at the beginning of the game.

[Guest Golem]

Six-axis should've been removed too. But that's such a minor gripe.

That's 2007 for you

It didn't even seem to work most of the time.

[-GD-X★ 7,757]

For those who liked uc1 more than 2, you would like golden abyss. It's the most open uncharted game, focusing more on exploration (more than all of the titles) and gameplay than theatrics.

[-GD-X★ 7,757]

Finished Max Payne 3. Great game. I give it a 8.5 Pros: -Combat was good, despite taking a little time to get used the controls. Will be godly on pc. -Excellent production values. The visuals and music really immerse you in each setting, which are surprisingly diverse. The level of detail in some areas rival UC's Nepal level. -The story was solid for videogame standards. Nothing close to being Oscar-worthy. A solid knockoff of the Man on FIre premise though. Max had some clever lines with his monologue. They weren't abstract analogies like in the previous games. Yet some were still witty. Also, I felt Max's character resonated with me more in 3 than in the earlier games. Cons: -A few parts had large gaps with their check points. -Some of the on-rail stuff was meh. - A few parts were too over-the-top. The story and game would have been better without them. - No trippy sequences. - Not enough of the subtle dark humor from the earlier titles. The piano bits were great though, especially on the third attempt close to the end.

[Delita 698]

I really only like UC2 and Golden Abyss. UC3's awful aiming killed the game for me that by the time they finally relased the patch i didn't give a shit anymore to even play it. What an epic fuck up. The fact that they even tried to sweep it under the rug as them not noticing any difference is fucking disgusting. Fuck them.

[Twinblade★ 3,931]

I really only like UC2 and Golden Abyss. UC3's awful aiming killed the game for me that by the time they finally relased the patch i didn't give a shit anymore to even play it. What an epic fuck up. The fact that they even tried to sweep it under the rug as them not noticing any difference is fucking disgusting. Fuck them.

you finish binary domain yet?

[Delita 698]

I really only like UC2 and Golden Abyss. UC3's awful aiming killed the game for me that by the time they finally relased the patch i didn't give a shit anymore to even play it. What an epic fuck up. The fact that they even tried to sweep it under the rug as them not noticing any difference is fucking disgusting. Fuck them.

you finish binary domain yet?

PoC ruined my experieince with that game.

[Guest Golem]

Finished Max Payne 2 tonight. I think it just about beats the original but I was shocked at how soon it was all over, I honestly thought it might go another two acts. Alas it just left me wanting more. Awesome game though.