|
Post by Varion on Jun 11, 2010 8:12:34 GMT -5
Xenoblade has nothing to do with the Xenoverse, apparently. It's not even remotely related, aside from having a lot of the same development staff - they just used that name to sell more copies, I believe. -Tom Yeah, pretty much. Nintendo's marketing decided it would be better to capitalise on the Xeno series name than just leave the game as 'Monado - Beginning of the World'. Same development studio, same director but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Considering it was unveiled at E3 2009, I'd say there's a good chance the English version will be formally announced at this year's. Which is next week. So yeah, should be soon.
|
|
|
Post by tancients on Jun 11, 2010 9:34:33 GMT -5
Never got to play the English version of it, but was invited into the private beta hanbit was holding for the Japanese version. Kinda spiffy.
|
|
|
Post by Nalacakes on Jun 11, 2010 11:58:48 GMT -5
Eep, I'm so jealous Varion. My copy didn't arrive today, and if it doesn't come tomorrow it won't be here until Monday. I wouldn't feel guilty about playing a backup since I've already paid for the game, but I don't really know a lot about that side of the Wii, and I'd rather not toy with it in case I messed something up. Thanks for your detailed impressions, though! It sounds like everything I hoped it would be and more. And from reading some of your posts here, we seem to like many of the same games, so knowing that you're enjoying it so much makes me even more eager to get my hands on it~! ^^ How have the story and characters been so far? It's obvious that it's much more about questing and exploration than your average JRPG, but the cutscenes they showed in the trailers were directed with all the style and flair of those in the Xenosaga games, and the premise alone is incredibly intriguing. So I'm optimistic, even if the story isn't the main attraction.
|
|
|
Post by schlagwerk on Jun 11, 2010 12:01:48 GMT -5
Transformers: War for Cybertron multiplayer demo. I've already capped the levels of the 2 classes available in the demo, but I could see myself popping in and playing for a round or three from here until the actual game is out. It plays and feels like any other 3rd person shooter without a cover system, but it has the charm of Transformers along with it and that makes it fun. Now I'm a tank.
|
|
|
Post by Lunar on Jun 11, 2010 13:21:49 GMT -5
Got a PSP-3000 this week So far I've been mostly playing Peace Walker, but I have FFT to tear into still. My sister stepped on my UMD for Ys VI when I was visiting home last weekend though so I gotta find another one before I can play it
|
|
|
Post by cronorei on Jun 11, 2010 14:28:14 GMT -5
Xenoblade has nothing to do with the Xenoverse, apparently. It's not even remotely related, aside from having a lot of the same development staff - they just used that name to sell more copies, I believe. -Tom It's not "officially" connected since that would be copyright infringement. But the director (guy behind gears and saga) has said the two "giants" the world is on are in fact Bart's mech from gears and I believe Jr's mech from Saga. He added it wasn't part of the official story due to obvious reasons, but that is the connection for fans to know
|
|
|
Post by Nalacakes on Jun 11, 2010 15:29:35 GMT -5
It's not "officially" connected since that would be copyright infringement. But the director (guy behind gears and saga) has said the two "giants" the world is on are in fact Bart's mech from gears and I believe Jr's mech from Saga. He added it wasn't part of the official story due to obvious reasons, but that is the connection for fans to know Was this your source, by any chance? www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2010/040110a.htmlIt was part of RPGamer's April Fools joke. Unless I've missed something?
|
|
|
Post by Incog Neato on Jun 11, 2010 16:08:29 GMT -5
GIANT FORUM STRETCHING IMAGE!!!!
Anyway, I've been playing the heck out of Adventure Mode in Pop'n Music PSP. It's soooo addictive. @_____@~ Still not crazy about a lot of the tunes though but still, the challenge objectives make them fun to play!
Currently got 20 out of 20 music unlocks but I have a feeling there's more!
Right now, I'm in an area with a crap ton of -50 points traps. X____x I have about 980 points but still, I need to hold onto them to pay the d00de to play the songs that level me up. ^^;
Guuh. Stupid song with weird parrot avatar. It's not even much of a song! It's like a bigass narrative going on while background music plays. Ugh. Hate this thing.
And what I hate even more is that it's the one I keep failing to pass!
The challenge in it is to get a max combo of 150 and deal with the stupid "Left Right Press" which basically compresses your play area into the middle. >___>
Already tried it twice but I keep blowing the combo because I break it at a specific part every time.
*punches right thumb* HIT THE NOTE ON TIME, DAMMIT!
|
|
Kuro-chan
Limendy
Clones are awesome! ... Even with the wrong hair colour...
Posts: 228
|
Post by Kuro-chan on Jun 11, 2010 21:04:41 GMT -5
I have been getting a lot of games coming in the last couple weeks, so I have been testing a lot of them to make sure they work. One of the more recent ones I played for longer than 2 minutes to make sure it worked was Rogue Leader (Star Wars) for Gamecube. I am stuck at the 3rd mission as it is... >_>
|
|
|
Post by Varion on Jun 11, 2010 22:15:15 GMT -5
How have the story and characters been so far? It's obvious that it's much more about questing and exploration than your average JRPG, but the cutscenes they showed in the trailers were directed with all the style and flair of those in the Xenosaga games, and the premise alone is incredibly intriguing. So I'm optimistic, even if the story isn't the main attraction. The story is interesting enough so far, certainly. It's not quite something I'd spend hours of my day thinking about (as I confess I did for Sora no Kiseki at times) but if you were to strip down the gameplay elements I think I'd still be playing the game. Can't say for sure until it's over though, because there's always the chance the answers the game will give won't be as interesting as I'd like them to be. It's clear there's more than 'man vs machine' going on here. The characters are actually a likeable bunch overall! Particularly refreshing is the main characters are actually quite mature in their outlook - the protagonist for one isn't a whiny little kid as seems to be the RPG trend these days. He's not quite Yuri's Vesperia in terms of maturity and life experience, but for someone who has to see visions of others dying on a regular basis, some of which he isn't able to save, he holds up remarkably well. He's not the only one either, the rest of the characters I have so far are sympathetic and I'm yet to find any of them annoying. The overall good writing helps with this too - while the script isn't completely devoid of your typical RPG lines, they're relatively minimal and the dialogue is actually quite enjoyable to read. No idea how well this will translate into an English version, but in the Japanese version at least the game has a pretty good script. The cutscenes are great too. There's a big scene about four hours in that particularly stood out as really well done. I doubt there'll be anyone who doesn't see it coming, but the execution still makes for some really gripping stuff and, well, I was surprised at the conclusion for sure. Incidentally, I'm now 20 hours into the game and have seen less than half of the areas from the field trailer, and that only included areas from one of the gods! I am unashamedly taking my sweet time with this game.
|
|
|
Post by Incog Neato on Jun 12, 2010 19:53:48 GMT -5
I dunno what happened but man, I can SUDDENLY pass level 1 - 3 Normal stages in all the Beatmania IIDX games I have without any assists -- that is, I'm playing the game the way it's supposed to be played with 7-keys and scratching and all that. o_O I can also do some level 4 tunes!! :D
I guess all the DJMax Trilogy and Pop'n stuff I've been doing has greatly helped or something.
Too bad 9-button Pop'n still fries my brain whenever I try a song with it. :P 7-button messes a little with the mind too but not as bad.
|
|
Lenalia
Wilewarer
Awesome Custom Title
Posts: 456
|
Post by Lenalia on Jun 12, 2010 23:05:39 GMT -5
Varion, your writeups on Xenoblade are making me interested in the game. I really didn't care much for FF12, so I was disappointed when the battle system seemed so similar at first glance... but now I'm interested again. Not completely sold yet, with all the other games I have in my backlog, but interested again. Anyway, the two games I've been playing recently: OpoonaI'm not very far into this yet (I just got to Lifeborn), but I think I'm far enough in to share my thoughts (though for those who saw my post in the overworld music thread, my opinion hasn't really changed). What in most RPGs would be the "meat" of the game -- going out on quests, fighting monsters, and so forth -- seems to be bland and uninteresting so far. The battle system is reasonably fun, but that's about all I can say for those sections (though I suppose the plot hasn't really had time to kick in yet). On the other hand, the part of most RPGs that most developers don't really seem to put as much care into (or, in the case of strategy RPGs, almost entirely omit) -- the towns -- are much more interesting and fleshed-out with nice little details. (You can watch TV! You can make friends with townspeople, who have names and personalities despite not being important to the plot! You can visit the gym, or the pool, or other "unimportant" areas!) I usually hate it when it feels like a game's screwing with me to waste my time, but that's not at all the case here -- it'd be easy to write things like this off as superfluous, but it makes the domes a definite joy to just wander around and explore, and is easily the highlight of the game for me. (Also worth noting is the music. I'm aware that Sakimoto was involved -- I always liked his music, though I figured that part of it is the dramatic orchestral style he's written in for games like FFT and FF12, since that lines up with my own tastes in music really well. but a lot of the music so far isn't really in that style -- for instance, Tokione has a good amount of synth instruments, and still sounds great to me. The music, too, is a definite highlight of the game, and I'm looking forward to the soundtrack release.) Champions OnlineI don't normally go anywhere near MMOs. Aside from a very brief stint in SMT Online, the last one I played was The Realm, ages and ages ago (for reference, it predates EverQuest). I was drawn to this one solely because a few friends picked it up recently, and I missed gaming with them enough to (slightly reluctantly) join in. So far, though, it seems to have been a pretty good choice. The battle system is more action-y than I'd expect from this genre, which is a very good thing. There are enough quests, too, that I haven't felt obligated to level grind once yet. (What I've heard from people who've played FF11 about how they play it -- and how normal level grinding is there -- just backed me away from wanting to play it. It's nice that this game is much better in that regard.) The character creator, too, is extremely versatile. I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising, since it's from the developer of City of Heroes, which was also well-renowned for its robust character creator. I've definitely been having some fun with it -- I might post pictures of my creations to LJ or somesuch later (since I don't especially want to spam this place with it all).
|
|
|
Post by AllenSmithee on Jun 12, 2010 23:08:33 GMT -5
Playing Red Dead Redemption, and having a total blast. It's REALLY nice.
|
|
|
Post by Ascended Mermaid on Jun 13, 2010 1:41:31 GMT -5
I'm playing Ys V PS2 right now and I must say... I'm quite impressed! I wasn't expecting it to have so much depth! The first two things that stood out to me when I started were the graphics and the music. The graphics of course follow the same style of Taito-Ys that not everyone agrees with. The music is... arguably of higher quality than that of the SNES synth. The sound isn't as epic, but it's close! Second, the gameplay. There's a little bit of back and forth in the beginning, quite possibly more as I go along -- but this doesn't really bog the game down at all. The magic system is almost improved -- take note wyrdwad, you can expect a materia-esque system where you junction magic to your sword, and then either increase the magic's power or choose to combo various magics together. I haven't yet found a spell that increases Adol's speed, but you know I'll be looking for that. Attacking is much easier than in Ys IV -- sword combos are very similar to that of Napishtim's, BUT, attacks are still somewhat sluggish. Adol is... maybe a little faster than his Ys IV incarnation. I'm at the first 'dungeon' (cave) and... this reeks of old-school map-drawing insanity! Whenever you change paths in the cave, the screen rotates! I actually got lost. Oh, and expect to see Napishtim-style escort missions here. That's right, you have to make sure some punk doesn't get killed and that he doesn't fall behind. I'm assuming he tells you what way is the right way to go, as he won't let you take certain paths -- but this does not mean he won't let you get lost. The level design is more open-field compared to Ys IV -- where you had invisible walls where there weren't paths and it could confuse you as such if the background didn't match up. I still instinctively hug the 'walls' (where the screen ends) to find exits. There seems to be a lot of exploration, as well as customization (You can have your sword tempered -- which does not come without risks! Also, magic, as I said, provides a customizable experience.) All in all, I'm very pleased. I might actually finish this before Ys IV! (If only I hadn't died in that dark cave and got myself sent *way* back...) Again, thank you GMF! // Oh, I almost forgot! (...wait, I forgot... what did I forget...?) 1. LAYOUT! That's what I forgot! It's similar in layout to the SNES Ys V, but at the same time, very different. It seems re-arranged; instead of going to Foresta Village first and then the cave, and then getting magic, and then meeting the Iburu Gang (and fighting the boss after) -- you get magic, meet the Iburu Gang, fight the boss, go to Foresta Village, and THEN go to the cave. I wonder what else is different?! 2. Ys III Game Over music. (I don't know why I felt like mentioning this!) 3. Area names are in English and Japanese (as you enter them) -- helpful for the backloggery! 4. DOGI! Yes, the wall-crusher is here; wanna have your walls crushed?! // Oh, I'm such a goof! He wasn't telling me I was going the wrong way, he was telling me to wait up. I haven't seen another dungeon like that cave. I made it up the waterfall (here's a tip; use quick saves when you make jumps, and commit suicide when you don't) and I'm still quite amazed by the game. It's definitely better than Ys IV PS2 in every way. Except, unless I'm doing something wrong and/or completely misunderstanding, there are one-way teleporters to the Alchemist's House all the way down at the first area. That means retracing your steps quite heavily if you want to upgrade your magic! Please correct me if I'm wrong. I also haven't seen the rainy lake area so far. // Just a heads up, the waterfall cave is another one of those disorienting caves! To elaborate on the area design, it really is an improvement from Ys IV! No more elongated, winding, almost completely empty paths -- there is a little more detail and more to do. I might even dare say that this is an improvement over the SNES Ys V -- and that's a tough thing to say! The only downside here, is that it might even be too short -- and it seems to be quite on the easy side! (Though, I suppose playing these ARPGs, we can "create" our own difficulties and just skip buying equipment!) Another missing (or moved) area is that HUGE forest maze (from the SNES incarnation) after the waterfall cave. I'm in Felte now. I won't be able to get back to this until the start of next week! 5:21:11 to go!!!
|
|
|
Post by Lunar on Jun 14, 2010 11:00:32 GMT -5
Aah, very nice. I was really put off by Mask of the Sun: A New Theory, but if Lost Kefin is that much better maybe it's time to revisit ol' Xandria another time
On a continued PSP binge, I'm quickly discovering that I love console style games but not necessarily sitting in front of a TV to play them. Therefore, the PSP is my current favorite system. About halfway through Peace Walker right now, and I downloaded and played the mess out of the God Eater demo last night. It's really hard to resist the urge to import it at this point, the game is pretty great! Monster Hunter gameplay with better mechanics and weapons(I can pick up small monsters with my sword and throw them over my head, this game is a winner to me), plus a Go Shiina soundtrack = something I will definitely be sinking many hours into.
|
|
|
Post by schlagwerk on Jun 14, 2010 11:44:54 GMT -5
PROTIP: God Eater comes out in the US sometime in Q3 this year. I'm prolly gonna give it a pass.
|
|
|
Post by Ascended Mermaid on Jun 14, 2010 17:16:29 GMT -5
Aah, very nice. I was really put off by Mask of the Sun: A New Theory, but if Lost Kefin is that much better maybe it's time to revisit ol' Xandria another time I don't disagree with you there. The pacing is a little faster than the SNES version, though if I must object to one thing, it's the control. Adol has better aim in the official games. Not just because he has more than 8 directions, but also because Falcom implemented a sortof "auto-aim". Yes, Adol can still miss in the official games, don't get me wrong, but have you ever noticed how he will look at the nearest enemy to the direction he's looking as you attack? Even still, magic is a godsend in this (and is even MORE useful than the magic in the SNES incarnation). They even paid tribute to Ys II's homing fire magic! All spells are instantaneous, as well -- nevermind the SNES version's "wait 5-10 seconds to cast a big spell" gimmick. You can also mix and match spell crystals, so you don't have permanent combinations -- it's more dynamic. Magic does take time to recharge, which is only fair, as some spells are incredibly damaging! For example, the strongest fire magic fires out SIX homing fireballs! I can't complain about the trek between the alchemist's house and Felte, but I do still wish the teleporters weren't one-way. Then again, it honestly doesn't matter a whole lot. I save my game before teleporting and checking to see how much magic I can create, and it's not like it takes a long time to get back to where you came from. Felte is, as usual, somewhat confusing.
|
|
|
Post by Incog Neato on Jun 14, 2010 20:46:09 GMT -5
PROTIP: God Eater comes out in the US sometime in Q3 this year. I'm prolly gonna give it a pass. Heh. I never did finish the demo. It's just not my type of game. :\
|
|
|
Post by HJ on Jun 15, 2010 14:10:26 GMT -5
Mega Man Zero Collection. Maybe I'm just gooood, but they really aren't that tough, despite a lot of people raving about their insane difficulty. Don't get me wrong, they're not easy either, but I found Mega Man 9/10 harder.
|
|
korzic
Chryolos
Hmm, something feels off...
Posts: 697
|
Post by korzic on Jun 15, 2010 14:49:31 GMT -5
Continued replaying Tales of Eternia again on Hardcore/Mania. I hope to actually finish it this time, but the final boss' HP is a bit daunting on this difficulty... Of course, I've got to make it through a couple of other painful bosses first (Rem, in particular)... Anyway, Volt wasn't quite as bad as I remembered, but he still managed to kill me a few times when he was low on HP. Oh, I was checking the Monster Collection Book for that game, and saw that for the "Shileska G." enemies, I don't have their "100%" chance items listed, but the other lesser %'s are. How does that work, I wonder...? EDIT: It turns out that it's a 100% chance to steal, not the normal end of battle reward. Figures, I rarely use Chat.
|
|