Topic: Rate The Last Game You Played

[Lithium]

@ymeegod
 
Is it weird that I don't disagree with anything you just said, yet I played through this game as both characters and loved every minute of it? I think I just enjoyed the art so much and I didn't find the gameplay to be offensively bad so I was willing to ignore some of the glaring faults.

no its not weird, i loved muramasa as much as you did,I even replayed it as Kisuke right after i finished Momohime's story despite the fact that i rarely replay games let alone back to back. However it seems to be a fairly polarizing game that has obvious blemishes, the difference seems to be whether or not the player can look past it's faults and enjoy a game which in my opinion is greater than the sum of it's parts.


and while i'm at it i'll just quote an old post of mine from this thread

finished Kisuke's story on Muramasa (7 hours 20 minutes) anyways if you're only going to play one storyline play Momohime's.  Kisuke's storyline has a lot of backtracking while in momohime's storyline you're almost always traveling to new areas of the world.

personally if somone were interested in getting this game i would play one storyline and then save the other story for when/if you ever feel like "replaying" the game even  though pretty much everything is different except for the world (since both storys take place in the same region of japan that makes sense), i think there's 1 or two areas from each story that you don't go to in the other. Reason i say save the alternate story for a "replay" is because the gameplay is exactly the same.

It's very unusual for me to want to double dip on a game right after i finished it but i guess that goes to show how much i enjoyed playing this game, even with all the gameplay flaws i mentioned in my other post above.

[ymeegod]

Yeah, breaking the game into small dozes might have been the best option but with me if I stop I usually don't end up finishing .

Really hate backtracking.  I should have just used the shine stone or whatever but I treked acrossed the land by foot looking for fights (rarely getting any) to level up my character.  And the few fights I did get into was the 90% mostly the same type, either ninjas, monks, birds, or those pair of ghosts.  There's a couple of enemy types that I ran into less than 5 times but I ran into 100+ of those  6 man squad of ninjas.  Needs a better mix up.

Instead of 100+ blades, maybe they should have introduced multiple weapons instead?  For the most part I was using the same three hit combo into special attack (mostly spin).  Swords each had a unique special attack (and some of them were neat and useful) but for the most part your just slashing away in the same manner.  Odin Sphere had multiple characters but each had their own weapons/attacks so that helped break up the repetition.

For me I would have enjoyed the game more if it was shorten, get rid of the whole rpg level up, and just stuck with an action game.  Beat an boss, great here's 5+ swords to try, no need to endless grind and it's the bosses fights that make the game shine anyhow.

[ymeegod]

Finished up Warhammer 40K Space Marine (PS3) this weekend as well.  Overall have to agree with Broodwars about how generic the game feels; the only new thing was to gain your health back is through executions but your health only drops once your shield has failed and that shield regenerates (Halo) so you really don't have to worry about your health.  Also you have an Rage meter when activated it will recharge your health as well do double damage or slow down time.

But Broods right about the AI (especial the orcs) and their three repeated dialog quotes.  It seemed like every orc had to say "It takes more than that to kill me Space Marine" before they died.  Relic should have limited it to once in a while or added more options then three different sentences.

Another mistake Relic made was the pacing, the first 4-5 chapters were a bore since you only had limited weapons option; pistol, assault, and melee.  Also they limited you to carring only 4 weapons at a time which wouldn't be an issue but there's never a loadout selection stash "when" you need it.  Ended up in areas that were loaded with snipers and only had the pistol to use (the assault gun had no ammo) or in other areas where there's hoards of enemies but I just the sniper rifle.  Before major battles there should have been an loadout selection either that or not limit us to what we can carry.

The online multilayer is where you'll find most of your enjoyment.  Plenty of people (since it's free for PS3+ users) and you find an (COD) level up system to keep you entertained for hours.

I would give it an 6 out of 10.  It's a run of the mills FPS but the best part was it's free.

[Ceric]

Finished up Warhammer 40K Space Marine (PS3) this weekend as well.  Overall have to agree with Broodwars about how generic the game feels; the only new thing was to gain your health back is through executions but your health only drops once your shield has failed and that shield regenerates (Halo) so you really don't have to worry about your health.  Also you have an Rage meter when activated it will recharge your health as well do double damage or slow down time.

But Broods right about the AI (especial the orcs) and their three repeated dialog quotes.  It seemed like every orc had to say "It takes more than that to kill me Space Marine" before they died.  Relic should have limited it to once in a while or added more options then three different sentences.

Another mistake Relic made was the pacing, the first 4-5 chapters were a bore since you only had limited weapons option; pistol, assault, and melee.  Also they limited you to carring only 4 weapons at a time which wouldn't be an issue but there's never a loadout selection stash "when" you need it.  Ended up in areas that were loaded with snipers and only had the pistol to use (the assault gun had no ammo) or in other areas where there's hoards of enemies but I just the sniper rifle.  Before major battles there should have been an loadout selection either that or not limit us to what we can carry.

The online multilayer is where you'll find most of your enjoyment.  Plenty of people (since it's free for PS3+ users) and you find an (COD) level up system to keep you entertained for hours.

I would give it an 6 out of 10.  It's a run of the mills FPS but the best part was it's free.

That sound eerily a lot like my experience so far with Mass Effect 3.

[ejamer]

@ymeegod
 
Is it weird that I don't disagree with anything you just said, yet I played through this game as both characters and loved every minute of it? I think I just enjoyed the art so much and I didn't find the gameplay to be offensively bad so I was willing to ignore some of the glaring faults.

It's not hard to see both sides on this one.  My complaint with Muramasa is that it really could've offered a more involved experience on the gameplay side - or a more streamlined experience. Either way would work and might feel better - at least that is my guess. However, what was provided was enjoyable enough and so beautiful that the gameplay faults get a free pass from me.

[Oblivion]

999 - 9/10

Once of the most depressing and confusing games I've played in a long time.

[lolmonade]

Katamari Forever (PS3)

Having a lack of Katamari in my life since selling my PS2 and having an unusable copy of Katamari Damacy, I decided to get this game when a used copy dropped down to a decent price.  The game is a vast improvement visually over the PS2 games, which sometimes was a bit overly blurry and simplistic, but the game doesn't look too impressive for an HD game (very colorful though, so it can be mostly forgiven).
 
There is a bit of variation in the levels, but not much more than what was experienced from We Love Katamari.  Finding presents (hats) and cousins (character skins) are still part of the collection appeal, and it is still very satisfying to get to the levels where you're basically picking up continents and giant monsters, but you're not going to find much new here.  Basically if you enjoy more of the same, you'll have fun with this.  It's not going to win over new fans.
 
For me, i'd personally give it a 7/10.

[Ymeegod]

Finally gotten around to beating Boy and His Blob (WII).

I assumed this was going be another casual-platforming game that was geared towards children but don't let the name or look fool you--this is an hardcore adventure/platformer that will drive you insane at times. 

The gameplay and levels design works great for the most part and Wayforward does wonderful job of keeping things fresh throughout the 40 level story mode.  There's a couple of hints about what powers you should use but for the most part it's trial and error which leads to frustrations or extreme joy.  In the story mode the game has a very generous amount of save points so you'll only have to repeat the area where you died but in the challenge mode (another 40 levels) you have to complete them 100% prefect since there's no save point--one of my gripes since the challenge levels really make you think but repeating them over and over caused me to ragequit a few times.

Overall the game looks great but Wayforwad really didn't add much in terms of story or presentation.  In short this game is for those looking for a nice challenge.  An 8/10

[Ymeegod]

Speaking of Warhammer, finally gotten around to playing the RTS Warhammer 40K Dawn of War. 

It's been awhile since my last PC RTS game so I was a bit rusty with the whole micromanaging of troops/resources/ect but I found there's been a few changes/improvements that I liked.  The "Add" feature allows you to bolster up troop platoons with just a click; the troop will magically appear to where ever the platoon is so that works great to keeping squads alive after an intense battle.  You can add special troops or heroes to squads as well, like healers or commanders.  Everything is done rather well and you can access your specials easy enough.

Things I disliked:  pathfinding.  Damn AI had to led by the nose and there's no way to you to assign paths.  Where's my backup?  Oh there it is being blocked by one of my own tanks .

Another thing was the "hold" position didn't work 90% of the time.  To many times the enemy AI baited my troops into wandering into their bases by simply attack and retreat.  I have my squads set to hold yet when they are attack they go charging forward anyhow. 

And lastly my other major gripe, only one single player campaign ark out of three playable  armies.  You only got to play as the Space Marines, so there wasn't any SP missions for the Orks or the Chaos.  Of course there's skirmish mode and you can select any of the three but that's not really the same.

It's not going hold up well with current RTS but it great for it's time.  An 7.5/10  Right now I'm on to DoW 40K first expansion pack "Winter Assualt" but there's two more after that .

[Ymeegod]

After a few weeks I finally finished off Final Fantasy XIII-2 and here's a few of my thoughts.

The story is just an mess, time travel paradox crap with a twist, instead of changing the past to change the future you'll be going to future to change the past? Your main villain is trying to "stop" time, he's immortal, and he's the one that taught Noel everything he knows.  Not only does the main story make little to no sense but it ends with a "to be continued".  It's not just bad, it's downright awful.

As for the combat, some people liked FFXIII style but not me.  The battles are mostly autoplayed, since you can only control one of the two main characters at a time, you do get an third "monster" AI partner but you have zero control over it.  Everything is realtime meaning you can't pause the game to go strolling through the menu looking for items or spells so you try to leave it up to the CPU to select the correct attacks or buffs but for the most part it fails when you need it the most.  FFXIII-2 doesn't have a gambit system like FFXII where you can pre=determine what spells/attacks the AI can use or how to fight, FFXIII use a more simplified version and I HATE it. 

Instead of selecting spells, most likely you'll be selecting stances/roles by the way of the paradigm system, which also used to level up your characters.  The reason most people like this new system is because it allows for quicker battles (most matches are done in 30 seconds without you having to hit a key) but when it comes down to bosses the system shows it's weakness--the poor choices made by your AI squadmates.  For example if the AI is controlling your magic user it will cast spells pretty much as random even though the enemy has a specific weakness.  Gambit system worked so much better.

Other things that annoyed me was the QTE, platform elements, mandatory mini-games, and then all the freaking fetching quests that required backtracking. 

Overall, the series (FFXIII) isn't for me.  Not enough excitement for an action game, and not enough depth for an RPG game.  An 6/10.

[broodwars]

I have major problems with how bosses are handled in FF XIII-2, but my issue wasn't with the AI but that it's extremely easy to just Power Level now and brute force your way through boss fights once you start acquiring some of the more powerful Monsters like the Blue Chocobo about halfway through the game.  One of the strengths of the original FF 13 was that because the game capped your leveling in each area, the designers knew roughly how strong your party was and they could implement some downright brutal (but satisfying) boss fights.  You had to make good use of the various Paradigms, and you had to fight "smart".  Now you can just blast your way through the boss fights, and it's not very satisfying.

As for the AI, in my experience in both FF 13 games, the AI has adapted its spell usage to account for whatever strengths or weaknesses you reveal (either by hitting the enemy with the spell or using Libra) during the battle.  The only exception I've seen is if the mage only has that spell elemental type.  Otherwise, I haven't had any issue with the FF XIII series AI and find it generally does what I would have had them do anyway.

I really should get to writing some reviews when I have a solid afternoon/evening free, as I have 7 games in my review backlog that are really starting to bug me.

[Ceric]

Personally experience with FF13 is that the AI is Dumb until you cast Libra.  So effectively you have to waste a turn getting intel.

[broodwars]

Personally experience with FF13 is that the AI is Dumb until you cast Libra.  So effectively you have to waste a turn getting intel.

I don't mind that too much.  Personas 3 and 4 are basically the same way, although 4 lets you directly control your teammates so you aren't at the whims of the AI if you want to be.

[Ceric]

Personally experience with FF13 is that the AI is Dumb until you cast Libra.  So effectively you have to waste a turn getting intel.

I don't mind that too much.  Personas 3 and 4 are basically the same way, although 4 lets you directly control your teammates so you aren't at the whims of the AI if you want to be.

I would mind it less if you could eventually chose to upgrade out of having to do it manually.  I might just have not reached that point yet.  Thats for another reason.
Also initially I didn't much like the Stance Dancing combat in and of itself but it sort of grew on me as a Psuedo Rhythm game.

[Ymeegod]

I noticed the Friendly AI had issues with a few ga spells (enhanced spells).  For example it never casted hastega or curga even though it costed the same amount of "CT bars".  Instead it used the single forms (and it usually just placed spells on itself.

And forget about Raise.  Spent tons of points leveling up one medic class monster (can't recall the name) but it didn't use Raise II once . 

So for the most part I ended up playing the medic/syn/sab role since it was the only way for me to get my party setup for the main boss battles.

-----------------------

If the game had a co-op mode I would have done that instead.  :0

[ymeegod]

Just completed Mass Effect 3 Extended DLC (Xbox 360) and here's my thoughts:

First thing to get off my chest, the choice of endings still upsets most of us gamers, mostly because there's no total win-win solution no matter how many hours you sucked up it or what choices you made.

Other than that I found myself enjoying most of the game's story and characters and I loved hearing the NPC stories thoughout the game.  Tons of tear jerking moments and hell even some funny moments as well.  The dialog is well written for the most part.

The other improvements was no more mining operations, instead you get a quick scanning evade miniquest which isn't alot of fun but doesn't suck up the hours like mining did in ME2.  The combat system is vastly improved (you'll be able to throw out multiple combo chains with ease), but I found myself mostly sticking with powers at the end (if you unequip weapons your recharge rate doubles).  The friendly AI (squadmates) did have trouble with turrets and the Giant Reaper death beam but overall they were using cover and their powers on their own much better this time.

It's sad I didn't get to see the ending to the 150 hour triology that I wanted but hell Bioware did one hell of a job to keep me entertained.  An 9/10

[Lithium]

The Cat and the Coup

It's a short but sweet game that will outline the fall of democracy in Iran and the rise of the Shah and the current Iranian Regime, it's an 8 because it's a good game that's free and will only take 15 minutes of your time. try it out.
8/10



Limbo
Yet another highly over-rated indie game steeped in "try hard" art house pretentiousness while actually just being something that any art student could come up with. The gameplay seems comprised of a series of cheap death traps that don't actually feel all that satisfying to pass through since you get the sense the level designer just wanted to say "HAHA KILLED YOU". Despite it's sloppy controls,the cheaply designed levels and the pretentious art school project vibe it comes together is a way that is at least a step above mindlessly flipping through TV channels as a way to kill 3 hours in a boring day. Sure, It's an above average game, but nothing more.

6/10



Super Brothers: Sword and Sorcery
A game with an interesting world that draws heavily from the Legend of Zelda With excellent sprite work and good music, However the gameplay isn't there to back it up. with obtuse puzzles you'll end up wasting a lot of time literally hunting for pixels, most of the time even when you find said pixels they have to be clicked/touched in a certain order as well. While I understand that this was built with the limitations of the Iphone in mind the "puzzles" came across as poorly/lazily designed and fairly random. The game while only 4-5 hours long will actually end up taking a lot of real world time to complete since about half way through the game you can only progress the game during certain moon cycles in real life, seems interesting on paper until you realise that it could take a week or so until you can play the game again and progress the plot.

Try this game out if you got it in a bundle, but by itself I couldn't recommend it if it costs anything more than a dollar.

5/10



Dear Esther

Never mind the narrative, while good the main reason to play this "game" is if you feel like going for a walk on a beautifully mapped island. While going through Dear Esther I got a big Fragile Dreams vibe from this game: melancholy, beautiful and very lonely. When i talked about Fragile Dreams i said that they should have taken out the combat (and filler) of that game and it would have been an enjoyable game. Dear Esther is just that. Get this game if: You can get it for very cheap (i bought it for $2 on a steam sale) and if you enjoy hiking, taking walks or just enjoy aimlessly wandering around environments in other video games.
7/10
-----
Decided to use a lot of images because if these games have one thing in common (besides being indie games) it's that they're really nice to look at.

[Oblivion]

Slender


**** this game.


10/10

[Ceric]

I hope you listen to NFR ymeegod and Lithium.  We talk about ME3 more extensively and we are going for and Limbo.  If you haven't the Chapters are good on the M4A version.

[Lithium]

I'm listening to the forum cast in instalments, 3 hours is a lot to go through! I did enjoy the Mass Effect Conversation though but unfortunately the M4a format doesn't work on Zunes i just get an error message and it doesn't play. well, AAC files play on zunes but as soon as it has chapters it doesn't know what to do.

[Ceric]

I'm listening to the forum cast in instalments, 3 hours is a lot to go through! I did enjoy the Mass Effect Conversation though but unfortunately the M4a format doesn't work on Zunes i just get an error message and it doesn't play. well, AAC files play on zunes but as soon as it has chapters it doesn't know what to do.

Really,  That's interesting because I listen to the M4A version of the whole NWR Family of Podcast through the Zune player for Windows. (iTunes molested me in college and has an old feeling UI.)

[Lithium]

the zune player works, the zune mp3 player doesn't (I have the Zune HD)
which is why i've been listening to the "inferior" mp3 feed.

[ymeegod]

Well went though Limbo (PC) this afternoon after reading Lithium thoughts and I found myself enjoying the game despite the flaws.  Thought the game had a few cleaver puzzles mixed in and I loved the whole ICO feel to the game--where they drop you off and don't explain anything to you so you have to explore your options on what your character can interact with.  To many games baby you along, highlighting what has to be done but not this game--hell they didn't waste a second with enough the basic functions (I had to use the menu to figure out the controls).

As for the controls being sloppy; I didn't run into any issue until the end chapters where the developers played around with the gravity which switched your prespective.  All I did was flip the keyboard around or to the angle of my character and that help me though it.

My only gripe with Limbo, is it's short with little to no replay value (3hours), so it another puzzle/platformer like Boy and His Blob but only 1/5 the gameplay--bit size.  Depending on how much you spent (I say $5 or less) then the game's alright in my book.  Loved watching my little guy die and loved the little twisted jokes in the game.

I'll give it an 8/10 myself. 

[AnGer]

I finished the story of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] (3DS) just yesterday. There's still some stuff to tackle which I probably will NOT do with this save file since I apparently have a bug that prevents me from getting everything.

The game itself is still very good despite having a few issues that come with it. Like its predecessor and direct inspiration Birth by Sleep its balancing is... odd. In the beginning, the game throws relatively easy adversaries at you with the exception of a boss or two and its demands rise rather slowly until the last two worlds you visit – suddenly you need to face large numbers of fairly powerful enemies and a series of strong boss fights to end a up in a finale which is rather... cheap.

Considering the well told plot and the large number of possibilities concerning the use of Dream Eaters as well as the technical issues and the balancing, I'd give the game a 8/10.

[tendoboy1984]

Wario Land (Game Boy - 3DS Virtual Console)

In Wario's first platforming adventure, you control the greedy bastard as he steals treasure and coins from the (evil?) Captain Syrup and her band of pirates. Wario is neither a good guy or a bad guy, he's just a selfish, greedy pig who wants nothing more but to be rich.

Like the Mario series, Wario can use power-ups to enhance his abilities. These come in the form of different hats (Team Fortress, eat your heart out). The Dragon Hat lets Wario breath fire; the Bull Hat makes Wario's shoulder bash more powerful, and he can use the horns to stick to ceilings; the Jet Hat lets Wario fly through the air, and he can even use it to move quickly underwater.

All of the treasures and coins that Wario finds are stashed in a vault at the end of every level. The more treasure you have, the better the game's ending will be. This coin count is very similar to New Super Mario Bros. 2, in that every coin you collect is added to a larger total.

1-Ups aren't earned by collecting coins, rather, Wario gets Hearts by defeating enemies and finding them in blocks. Similar to the Mario series, 100 Hearts = 1 life.

Wario can gamble the coins he finds in 2 minigames. The first minigame is a game of chance. In this minigame, there are 2 buckets over Wario's head. If he pulls the rope, either a weight will fall (causing his coin total to drop by half), or he'll earn a moneybag (causing his coin total to double).

The second minigame lets you earn Hearts or 1-Ups. Wario has to toss bombs at a duck moving back and forth in the background. The more points he gets, the better the prize.

There are dozens of bosses and plenty of secrets to find in Wario Land. It's a fairly long game, if you want to collect every treasure and get your coin count as high as possible.

My Score: 8/10