Topic: Quality to come, but what about now?

[Stu]

Perhaps you lot can offer up a few suggestions; I've got a pretty sizeable list of games I'm looking forward to on the Cube (Viewtiful Joe, F-Zero, Mario Kart, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil IV, Pikmin II, Rogue Leader III, etc) but they are all a good few months away at the moment (I'm in England - PAL), and the current crop of releases are hardly convinving me to go out and buy them.

Time to buy a few DVDs, and wait for the quality to come, or have I missed a gem somewhere?

These are the games I have:

The Sims.
FIFA Football 2003.
Sonic Mega Collection.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004.
Resident Evil 0.
Super Mario Sunshine.
Metroid Prime.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Plus bonus disc)
Pikmin.
Wave Race: Blue Storm.
Super Monkey Ball 2.
Super Monkey Ball.
Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Burnout 2: Point of Impact.
Star Wars Rogue Leader.
Eternal Darkness.
Timesplitters 2.
Sega Soccer Slam.
Luigi's Mansion.
Resident Evil.
Ikaruga.

I thought I'd have plenty of games to buy, but Megaman Network Transmission is a bit of a stinker, as is Wario World, and Sonic Adventure DX is only worth a rental, as I've finished the Dreamcast version.

I'm thinking Rayman 3, or an Action Replay and copy of Animal Crossin are my only 2 options... anyone got a great game I've missed, that's out in PAL?  Only things I won't consider are American sports games... I don't care how good the latest Madden is, I'm not interested.  Not that interested in extreme sports games, like Tony Hawks either.

Normally, if I'm looking for a game, I'd go to IGN, click on the 9.0 page, and pick one I haven't got, but I now own all the games on there, apart from some American sports games, Starfox (which despite looking good, wasn't worth buying, in my opinion), and Splinter Cell, which is a very shoddy port of the PS2 version.

Many thanks.    

[PIAC]

skies of arcadia definatly, aslong as you like RPGs ofcourse (but if your waiting for FF:CC then i guess thats a given) and its definatly been released in PAL land (given im in australia and we get stuff almost last)

[Stu]

Yeah, I was thinking about that.  Never heard of it before, but the reviews are good, and it's not like we have much choice on the RPG front... I'll grab a copy.

What's Phantasy Star Online like, if you're not online?  Still worth a purchase, or is it only worth it with the Broadband adapter and all that?  

[PIAC]

well, ive only played the Dreamcast version of PSO, and i loved it both on and offline, BUT i never owned a dreamcast so obviously didn't give it alot of play time. i also rrrrrrreally want it for GCN but dont have the space in my budget for it, that and ive never seen it anywhere :\

[Mario]

Ermm... have you ever thought about actually playing some of those games?

I have 16 games and in fact, im glad that im not getting any more for a few months, right now im enjoying playing Pikmin, Wind Waker, Metroid Prime and many others. Every now and then i play some SSBM, Wave Race or Timesplitters 2 single player and multiplayer. Enjoy the games you have man, jesus. And Starfox Adventures is a very good game.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Mega Man Network Transmission got an 82 from GameSpy.com.  So in terms of positive reviews it's a hit or miss.

I happen to like it; I've had it for over a week since i got it early by pre-ordering from Capcom, and the Battle Chip system, which works like an RPG-card system.  The early difficulty the reviewers cite concerns the fact that you must learn the chip system to be effective and successful, and playing the game "old school Mega Man" style head-on will get you killed in no time.  So, the frustration lies in learning a new way to "play Mega Man."  But once you understand system, you'll be able to apply it to classic Mega Man mechanics, then the game can get surprisingly interesting, and it'll appear to be a real-time RPG.

I like MMNT loads better than the stuff that came out on PSX, but that's just me.

[Stu]

Quote
Originally posted by: Mario
Ermm... have you ever thought about actually playing some of those games?

I have 16 games and in fact, im glad that im not getting any more for a few months, right now im enjoying playing Pikmin, Wind Waker, Metroid Prime and many others. Every now and then i play some SSBM, Wave Race or Timesplitters 2 single player and multiplayer. Enjoy the games you have man, jesus. And Starfox Adventures is a very good game.

Yeah, I am playing my current collection; just finshed Wind Waker, I'm 75% through Ocarina of Time, finished Metroid - now trying Hard mode, and I'm 95% through Burnout 2... no reason not to buy a few new games though, is it?

I do enjoy the games I have 'man, jesus', where did I say I didn't?  It's because of my enjoyment, that my collection is 21 games strong, were I not enjoying early titles like Pikmin, Rogue Leader and Monkey Ball, I wouldn't be buying Monkey Ball 2, and looking forward to Pikmin II and Rogue Leader III.

Point taken though - no rush, as I have plenty of good games to fall back on, but I like to have 1 or 2 quality games waiting for me, when I want a new one.   So far, the Cube has more than provided in the department.

Thanks for your comments.

[Mario]

Ok fair enough, i shouldnt have jumped to that conlusion.

[Artimus]

I have 9 games and I have plenty to play! Read a book...get out of the house...do something. 21 games and you've beaten most of them is just...sad!

[Stu]

I've beaten Zelda, Metroid (on Easy only), Eternal Darkness, Pikmin, Timeplsitters 2, Sega Soccer Slam, Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil, and some of the games on Sonic Mega Collection.  More than half of my collection remain unbeaten, although I will try to beat them all (Monkey Ball is proving a tough nut to crack on Master mode)

Just out of interest, if I had of beaten all 21 of my games, why would that be 'sad'?  I've seen people get 32 million points on Ikaruga, and people get 9999 play points on Monkey Ball, both things I could never do... is that sad?

I see no connection between owning 21 Gamecube games and not reading, not going out and being sad... I suppose owning 9 games is ok though, yes?

Mario has 16 games, is he now sad, or does he remain cool?  It's all really rather interesting, isn't it.

Oh, as you have an interest in reading, I suppose I should tell you what I'm currently reading.  At present I'm reading 'A History of Britian volume 1; 3000bc - AD1603' by Simon Schama, and 'The Universe in a Nutshell' by Steven Hawking.  The later is very heavy going, but then, I don't think you are supposed to really understand Hawking, you just read what he has to say, and turn the page.

[mojorizin]

Aside from SMS, I think Rayman 3 may be the best platformer on GC.  Its a bit quirky, so it probably requires a rental.  Its a beautiful game to look at - if your into psychadelia - looks like a Janis Joplin fever dream.

[Stu]

Quote
Originally posted by: mojorizin
Aside from SMS, I think Rayman 3 may be the best platformer on GC.  Its a bit quirky, so it probably requires a rental.  Its a beautiful game to look at - if your into psychadelia - looks like a Janis Joplin fever dream.

Yeah, I've seen it running, and it does look good.  I may have jumped the gun, when I said there was nothing out to buy at the moment; Rayman 3, Phantasy Star Online, Animal Crossing and Skies of Arcadia Legends will do a good enough job of keeping me entertained until the big hitters come out.

I wonder if you could own an Xbox and 25 games, and still be buying quality?  I don't know, as I've only played Halo and Splinter Cell, but I certainly couldn't name 25 Xbox games I'd bother to buy.  Interesting thought.

[Round Eye]

Quote
Originally posted by: Stu
and 'The Universe in a Nutshell' by Steven Hawking.  The later is very heavy going, but then, I don't think you are supposed to really understand Hawking, you just read what he has to say, and turn the page.

Too true, I guess if you did understand it all you would be Stephen Hawking.  Just wondering if the book is good?  Does he go into any quantum physics?  That stuff is really interesting, and raises some interesting ideas about the truth of our reality.

I wish I had your collection of games.  Then again I am having trouble finding the time to finish the ones I have, which is about half of yours.

Ahh..  Xbox they are so happy with their Halo.  Kinda funny, sounds like Xbox owners should just buy that game and then Krazy glue the lid.

[Stu]

The first two chapters (A Brief History of Reality and The Shape of Time) both deal with quantum theory.  I'm currently reading Chapter 6 (Our Future?  Star Trek or Not), which is all about biological and electronic life continuing to develop in complexaty at an ever increasing rate.  So, the Gamecube 2 will be smarter, but so will we.

It's a great book, but sometimes, you get to the end of a page, and you realise that you haven't really understood a single word Hawking has said.  I suppose that's why he's the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and is considered one of the most brilliant theoretical phsysicists since Einstein, and I'm not.

As for my games... you can only have one in the Cube, and as long as it's a good one, be happy.  The good thing with having a good selection though, is being able to play the sort of game you are in the mood for.  10 minutes to kill?  Ikaruga, Monkey Ball or Smash Bros are perfect.  If you want to settle down with a 'proper' game, then Metroid Prime or Eternal Darkness fit the bill, much better.

And Halo... well, I sometimes wonder where the Xbox would be, had Halo not been made.  I don't think it would be a million miles away from the fate of the Dreamcast, to be honest.  Unlike the Cube and PS2, which have big games, but could afford to lose them, Halo is in a different class.  It has probably sold more Xbox's alone, than the entire selection of other games.

You get the feeling that the Cube could lose Zelda, or Mario, or Metroid, and the PS2 could lose GTA: Vice City, and it would hurt sales, but if the Xbox had lost Halo, it would be a much bigger deal.  Halo is still in the top 10 retail chart for Xbox, more than a year after it's release, and is still the most talked about, and played game; and will remain so until... Halo 2.

The Xbox needed Halo alright.  

[Artimus]

Yes, 21 games is sad. That's a lot of games! Do you realize that is over $1000 worth of games? Find me 21 worthwhile XBOX games to own! Heck, even PS2 doesn't have 21 brilliant games. The N64 certainly didn't 2 years into its lifespan.

[Stu]

I'm still not sure why owning a Gamecube and 21 games to play on it is 'sad'.  Perhaps you could explain?  What exactly do you mean by 'sad'?

I've already made the point about the Xbox, and the difficulty you'd have owning 21 games, without buying any old junk.  I think the PS2 could do it though, although a lot of the games would be sequals, RPGs and sports games.

[Bloodworth]

This is another "What game should I get?" question.  Which belongs in the thread at the top.