Video Games

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:04 am

What's so hard to pronounce about "eff pee ess"?

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:10 am

Don't ask me, I just report trends, I don't make them.

-Crissa

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:28 am

I'd assume because most people like saying words more than letters.

Anyway, Lago got me wondering, so I asked around. A cousin (there's a few nearby) recommended Jak 3 for the Playstation. Josh said it's a platformer with a lot of...extras. You get a good variety of guns, and the game's divided into two main areas: A city where you can do things like ride hoverbikes, and a desert area which contains its own city, as well as a lot of desert; then they kindly give you vehicles for navigating the desert.

The game also loads up on the minigames, awarding tokens which you can spend on extras in the game. Some of the minigames are pretty good, challenging you to, for example, see how much air time you can catch in a vehicle.

There's a lot of one-off things you do in the story, but the game has a replay-a-chapter setting. So if you really liked the hanglider, you can go do that again.

After playing around on it myself, I can see what he means.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:38 am

I really liked that series. I started with the second game, and my impressions were fairly positive throughout. It is a bit DIAS at times, though.

DragonChild · Post by **DragonChild** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:16 pm

Demigod is out, and it is totally awesome.

Is anyone else playing this? I'd love to add Impulse friends if so - I'm "Karrius" on Impulse (and Steam, and most everywhere else non D&D).

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:34 pm

I've been playing The Witcher[/i] on a computer without a graphics card. It's both fun and frustrating. It's a quest-based RPG with skill trees done well. The one major flaw (in the skill tree system) is that there are two virtually identical skill tree sets for using "iron swords" and "silver swords". There's some neat synergy, such as where you can deal more damage to enemies that are on fire to take greater advantage of a spell that sets enemies on fire.

I can't say anything about the flow of the combat system because, as I said, I'm using a computer without a graphics card. Even so, it's very pretty and has a nice ambiance.

Buy it, especially if you have a graphics card and/or can get it from amazon for $6. Don't bother with the "expanded edition" unless your ISP has harsh bandwidth caps, as it's all free content.

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:24 am

DragonChild wrote:Demigod is out, and it is totally awesome.

Is anyone else playing this? I'd love to add Impulse friends if so - I'm "Karrius" on Impulse (and Steam, and most everywhere else non D&D).

I am playing, considering a purchase. Its like someone turned DotA from Warcraft 3 into a full game and made it more fun.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 9:28 am

You guys have Demigod already, demigod damnit, we aren't supposed to be getting it on the shelves for like 3 weeks.

Mind you I probably should just buy it direct from Stardock and show support for those not-steam guys. I would have done so and presumably been playing the Beta before now had my computer not died.

Nice to here it's good. It does have basic LAN gaming capabilities right? It hasn't gone all online like some bastard games have. Me and my Supreme Commander buddies were planning on organizing a little event...

Edit: Bugrit the Stardock price plus mail is comparable to Australian retail (ie astronomical) so I may as well buy the damn thing here. And screw digital distribution version only, Steam has given that far too much of a bad name, I'll be damned if I'll go with that on my bandwidth either, this thing is 8 gig once installed. Even if my limited experience with Stardock has been pretty good on technical issues, It'd take three weeks to download it anyway.

DragonChild · Post by **DragonChild** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:32 pm

It does have basic LAN gaming capabilities right?

Yup.

Part I'm loving most about Demigod: I keep picking random sets of skills and am totally rocking. I played Oak, normally a strong, melee summoner + supporter as a spellcaster without summons, who just shot off blasts of magical damage. I was killing people like CRAZY. It was surprisingly effective.[/spoiler]

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:15 am

The LAN mode is apparently free in that you can play LAN with only one legit copy and the developers even point this out in the manual. I was playing single player with just the iso, no hacks no keys so I'd believe it.

I just bought in digital. Since I had the iso already and it was cheaper than waiting three weeks to get a physical copy in .au. Also its 2.7 GB installed.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 1:06 pm

Draco_Argentum wrote: Also its 2.7 GB installed.

I guess the rest of the 8 gig it wants is cache or something.

The LAN thing I was hoping would be like that, the developer has a long history with that policy (a sensible one shared by fewer and fewer developers and publishers these days, "FLAT OUT" FRANCHISE I'M TALKING TO YOU YOU STUPID FUCKERS).

But unless one of my friends gets me the ISO I think I'm waiting for the box to go on the shelves. Even if they do I think that would be my purchased version.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 2:33 pm

Stardock has very friendly policies, my mate's brought it online, I need to wait until mI get an iinternet connection.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:03 pm

Goddamn, Paper Mario is a long game. I do enjoy playing it, though.

I played Super Paper Mario first and I can totally sympathsize with the complaints that it feels nothing like the previous games because it isn't. I'm 3/4ths of the way done with the game so far and the only thing keeping my interest is the Blumeire/Timpani tragic love story and the antics of Bleck's minions. Though this fucking cloud level is really getting on my nerves.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:04 pm

Actually, speaking of which, can anyone recommend to me a game with a good love story in it that's not made by Bioware? I don't care if it's player or NPC-driven.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:08 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:Actually, speaking of which, can anyone recommend to me a game with a good love story in it that's not made by Bioware? I don't care if it's player or NPC-driven.

Odin Sphere (PS2) has a pretty heavy romantic focus. When you're not playing sidescroller beat-em-up.

Cielingcat · Post by **Cielingcat** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:09 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:Actually, speaking of which, can anyone recommend to me a game with a good love story in it that's not made by Bioware? I don't care if it's player or NPC-driven.

Baldur's Gate II has some romance options, but that may count as Bioware. I can't remember if they had a part in it.

It does not really have a true love story though.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 6:03 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:Actually, speaking of which, can anyone recommend to me a game with a good love story in it that's not made by Bioware? I don't care if it's player or NPC-driven.

1. If user-made modules for Neverwinter Nights bypass the "no Bioware" restriction, http://adamandjamie.com/nwn/download.asp

2. Ico

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:20 pm

Lago PARANOIA wrote:Actually, speaking of which, can anyone recommend to me a game with a good love story in it that's not made by Bioware? I don't care if it's player or NPC-driven.

Prince of Persia "Sands Of Time", also the best "platformer" of our era.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:52 pm

So. The Realms of Arkania Trilogy: The Blade of Destiny, Star Trail, and Shadows over Riva.

Eh? Ehhh?

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:23 pm

Tales of Symphonia (the first one, I can't speak for the second) was very character-driven, and had an affection system (a la Final Fantasy 7) that dictates a couple of plot points, as well as who the main character palled up with in the end. If you really wanted to, you could play through the game eight times to see the differences between each of the rest of the party members.

Not so much heavy on the huggy-kissy side of romance (even if the main character pairs up with the hot ninja woman, it's very much established that it's only the beginning of any relationship), but if you take the time to do sidequests and see the skits (little side conversations), you do get where you feel like you know the characters.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:09 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realms_of_ ... of_Destiny

"Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny is a classical 3d party computer role-playing game that has up to six characters (plus an optional NPC that may be recruited) moving through 3d towns and dungeons. Travels between those 3d levels were simulated by showing a path on a regional 2d map. The game generally uses the same pseudo-3d-engine as Attic's 1991 game Spirit of Adventure, utilizing an increased resolution for the 3d part of the screen. The game also borrowed ideas from Eye of the Beholder (the inventory user interface) and Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (the main screen user interface layout). The game did not feature NPC/monster sprites in the 3d view (a shortcoming that can be found in the entire Northlands Trilogy) that were already introduced by the first 3d computer role-playing game - Dungeon Master - in 1987. Instead of visualizing fights in the 3d view, the game switched to the isometric perspective for a unique turn-based strategical combat simulation.
"

"An orc chief has united all tribes of the orcs and plans to attack the lands of the humans. The player is hired by Hetman Tronde Torbensson, the leader of the Thorwalians, to find the sword Grimring (the Blade of Destiny) and prevent an orc invasion on Thorwal. However, Grimring has been lost since the death of its bearer, the Hetman Hyggelik the Great. In order to recover the sword, the player must find pieces of a treasure map which shows the location of the sword. Once the sword is recovered the player needs to defeat the orc chief and his minions. If the player does not succeed within about two ingame years, the orcs will attack and the player loses."

??

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:52 am

I was asking more for opinions than an explanation.

I've played and beaten Star Trail and Shadows over Riva, but the third game had a cliffhanger bullshit ending that never got resolved so I couldn't muster up the energy to play the first one.

Anyway, it's an RPG by Sir-Tech, the same fellas who made Wizardry. It's a cRPG based off of the German tabletop roleplaying game 'Das Schwarze Auge', a.k.a the Dark Eye. I have a copy of that from DTRPG. It's pretty much your basic AD&D clone even with the ultrageneric name of 'Adventuria' with a lot more emphasis on skills. In fact, levelling up skills is pretty much the same mechanic as spells, which use MP (ugh). A couple of cool things was that you could power up your spells by casting them at a higher level, but this drained your fucking MP like crazy and you didn't get a lot to begin wit.

DSA uses that tired old idea from Old Skool RPGs where non-human races were a class unto themselves, which is fine for the games but not so cool for the RPG. Though the latest edition doesn't do that. In fact, you might be excited to know that Fanpro (the guys behind Shadowrun) are behind the latest edition. Or not. The game has a passing resembleance to Shadowrun mechanics and it's certainly playable, but like most legacy RPGs the worst parts about it are stuff they inherited from previous editions.

But anyway, back to the game. The first two games are dungeon/town + overworld based, where you pretty much just travel on a map until you find something of interest. The travel minigame has some micromanaging you don't see in most RPGs. You need sleeping bags and proper clothes if you don't want to get sick, if you get injured you need to dress up your wounds or they'll get infected, and you can search for herbs/food/water when you set up camp. There are some random encounters but surprisingly little combat on the overworld. Most of the random encounters involve some cute little cutscene like deciding whether or not to free a trapped deer or buying a merchant's cheesy wares.

The actual dungeon crawler part plays a lot like your first-person fixed-perspective 3D dungeon crawler you see all the fucking time, though there's a lot more to do than in most. The game puts quite a bit of emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving, so you can't just bash your way through puzzles. While combat is somewhat mandatory being a dungeon crawler RPG, I'd say about half of the fights are unnecessary in any game and you can get around them if you want. The micromanagement of the overworld applies here, too, but it's not as pronounced. Dungeons tend to err towards giving you more tools than you need to solve the puzzle, so except for your equipment, some healing bullshit, and a keyring you don't really need to go out of your way to get things.

The game is not without its bad points, though. The game (especially Star Trail) really loves stripping you of your equipment without reimbursing you. There are also some ways of making the game unwinnable that aren't obvious, such as fucking up some puzzles, getting stuck without being badass enough to get free, and just the same sTrial and Error crap that plagued games of this era. The class system is also woefully unbalanced. There is no need to get a jester, a thorwalian, a rogue, or Wood/Ice elves, which means that half of the goddamn classes are useless. Magic also makes some combats a little too easy but at the 'cost' of not being able to do it much. Which leaves you having to rest a lot.

The graphics are a bit outdated, especially Shadows over Riva which came out in fucking 1996 and looks like a 1992 RPG.

Anyway, I thought it was a nice game at the time.

Manxome · Post by **Manxome** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:04 am

Draco_Argentum wrote:Its like someone turned DotA from Warcraft 3 into a full game and made it more fun.

Since DotA seems to be the popular go-to comparator for anything within 3 genres of itself, I feel I should ask whether you mean that they took the Aeon of Strife concept and ran with it (each player controls a powerful hero in the midst of battle between two continuously-spawning CPU-controlled armies) or if they actually replicated all the specific asinine mechanics of DotA All-Stars, like handing out resources based on killing blows (and encouraging you to kill your own side's units to reduce enemy resource accumulation), giant arbitrary item "recipe" trees that you have to memorize to be effective, huge snowballing winning streaks, and so forth.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 1:07 am

Lago PARANOIA wrote:So. The Realms of Arkania Trilogy: The Blade of Destiny, Star Trail, and Shadows over Riva.

Eh? Ehhh?

A great series for its era, but if you missed the boat then its WAY dated now.

There is a NEW game effectively in that series, "Drakensang".

But I was not fucking impressed with it. Since you can't get it here I got it for free, and I want my money back.

Perhaps I'm too harsh. The graphics were cool the rules mechanics... Ok those were an inferior inconsistent meshing of the old school germanic rpg system from the earlier games with bloody annoying modern MMO real time combat.

And the story line, adventures and fixed additional party member characters... MAN those were bad. I basically gave the stupid game up when it became clear I was going to need to go and do at least an entire additional branch of the main plot line just in order to level up and get better gear to complete a side mission against FUCKING RATS.

DragonChild · Post by **DragonChild** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 2:21 am

Since DotA seems to be the popular go-to comparator for anything within 3 genres of itself, I feel I should ask whether you mean that they took the Aeon of Strife concept and ran with it (each player controls a powerful hero in the midst of battle between two continuously-spawning CPU-controlled armies) or if they actually replicated all the specific asinine mechanics of DotA All-Stars, like handing out resources based on killing blows (and encouraging you to kill your own side's units to reduce enemy resource accumulation), giant arbitrary item "recipe" trees that you have to memorize to be effective, huge snowballing winning streaks, and so forth.

They took the AOS concept and ran with it. Resources based on killing blows exist for heroes, although people who "assist" still get a huge chunk of gold. I don't know this for certain, but I think the total gold is actually more if you have multiple people working together, it's just divided. You can't attack your own side's units. I think killing enemies does give gold as well, but not as much as you can get for other methods (namely, gold mines).

There are no recipe trees to speak of at all. There is still a bit of a slippery slope, but not as much - killing early on will get you an advantage, but if you do die then, you spend more time needing revived and the people who killed you got a bigger reward. There are unit-spawn portals that can be captured, so in some way that makes the slipper slope steeper, but they can also just be captured BACK. This helps to make games that are decided end quicker, but you can't just rush in and solo a building and win - if you do that then leave, the enemy will take it back before it does any good.