Has anyone played any good video games lately?

Started by Music is life, July 20, 2013, 06:54:11 PM

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Inkidu

Quote from: Mathim on April 26, 2014, 12:23:34 PM
Since I'm new to the whole PS3-generation stuff, if I say I really, really enjoyed Fallout III, are there any other games I might like that are similar? I'm looking for stuff that's mostly exploration-emphasis rather than frequent-combat scenarios if that makes any sense. I know First Person Shooters are dominating the market but by and large, they all appear to be carbon-copies at a cursory glance. Recommendations?

And also, I know they've probably all but done away with the traditional JRPG genre but are there any of those on the PS3 anyone can recommend? Anything even remotely similar to the Final Fantasy series would be great (ironically I'm not interested in Final Fantasy XIII or any of the others that may have come out since).
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen might float your boat. It's around thirty bucks.
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consortium11

Quote from: Mathim on April 26, 2014, 12:23:34 PM
Since I'm new to the whole PS3-generation stuff, if I say I really, really enjoyed Fallout III, are there any other games I might like that are similar? I'm looking for stuff that's mostly exploration-emphasis rather than frequent-combat scenarios if that makes any sense. I know First Person Shooters are dominating the market but by and large, they all appear to be carbon-copies at a cursory glance. Recommendations?

The Elder Scrolls games (Oblivion and Skyrim) are by the same developer but trade in guns for swords and magic. I've been heavily critical of both games myself but if you liked Fallout 3 they'll likely float your boat and both are generally fairly fun when played as an exploration game/hiking simulator.

Fallout: New Vegas uses the same engine as Fallout 3 and is a pretty similar game. I like it a whole lot more and it's at least the originals equal to 3 in terms of exploration.

SinXAzgard21

Quote from: Mathim on April 26, 2014, 12:23:34 PM
Since I'm new to the whole PS3-generation stuff, if I say I really, really enjoyed Fallout III, are there any other games I might like that are similar? I'm looking for stuff that's mostly exploration-emphasis rather than frequent-combat scenarios if that makes any sense. I know First Person Shooters are dominating the market but by and large, they all appear to be carbon-copies at a cursory glance. Recommendations?

And also, I know they've probably all but done away with the traditional JRPG genre but are there any of those on the PS3 anyone can recommend? Anything even remotely similar to the Final Fantasy series would be great (ironically I'm not interested in Final Fantasy XIII or any of the others that may have come out since).

Any of the "Tales of" series.  They are all good and will get you the RPG fix.
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Revelation

Tales of is good, Graces alright (The combat was A+, the story was eh), Xillia was good, Xillia 2 is coming out in August, and Zestiria is coming out to the west eventually too.

If you're looking for a great PS3 RPG, i'd really recommend Valkyria Chronicles. It's something of a mix of strategy RPG and action RPG sort of, it's basically a 'fantasy' WW2 RPG where the setting is going through it's equivalent of the 2nd world war. You play a young commander who's given his own battalion to help fend off the german empire equivalent. It's rendered beautifully in a cel-shaded style and has a fun plot and characters. It's made by the people who did Skies of Arcadia, and some of the Skies characters cameo as soldiers you have in your group.

WackWackWack

Quote from: consortium11 on April 26, 2014, 01:01:08 PM
The Elder Scrolls games (Oblivion and Skyrim) are by the same developer but trade in guns for swords and magic. I've been heavily critical of both games myself but if you liked Fallout 3 they'll likely float your boat and both are generally fairly fun when played as an exploration game/hiking simulator.

Fallout: New Vegas uses the same engine as Fallout 3 and is a pretty similar game. I like it a whole lot more and it's at least the originals equal to 3 in terms of exploration.
That's something we can agree on. I'm one of those people that really hate Skyrim and I don't think Oblivion is all that special, either. Morrowind was pretty cool, though. Nice to see it it still has a modding community.

consortium11

Quote from: WackWackWack on April 27, 2014, 07:44:23 AM
That's something we can agree on. I'm one of those people that really hate Skyrim and I don't think Oblivion is all that special, either. Morrowind was pretty cool, though. Nice to see it it still has a modding community.

I though Skyrim was a solid improvement on Oblivion but both were a massive step-down from Morrowind. In terms of pretty much everything but graphics Morrowind was better than both (and even the graphical point can be mitigated somewhat with mods).

Inkidu

Quote from: consortium11 on April 27, 2014, 09:44:39 AM
I though Skyrim was a solid improvement on Oblivion but both were a massive step-down from Morrowind. In terms of pretty much everything but graphics Morrowind was better than both (and even the graphical point can be mitigated somewhat with mods).
I don't know, Sneak and barter were pretty BS in Morrowind making thieves kind of a grind to play.
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Shjade

Custom spells were also completely broken to the point where you might as well just be hacking the game after a while.

Also, Skyrim's combat, while still pretty flat and uninvolving compared to a good action game, was more responsive and smooth than Morrowind's.

Aside from those, yeah, pretty much a step down. I particularly missed having substantial factions. The Dark Brotherhood is nothing compared to the old Morag Tong (which, to be fair, is basically their lore: they're the broken down offshoot remnants of the Morag Tong, but still).
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consortium11

Quote from: Inkidu on April 27, 2014, 10:53:24 AM
I don't know, Sneak and barter were pretty BS in Morrowind making thieves kind of a grind to play.

Sneak and barter (unless manipulated by selling ludicrously expensive things) were pretty grindy in both Skyrim and Oblivion as well. The leveling system the series favours makes pretty much everything a grind... it's just some things are easier to grind then others.

Quote from: Shjade on April 27, 2014, 05:53:40 PM
Custom spells were also completely broken to the point where you might as well just be hacking the game after a while.

But a player had to make a conscious decision to use custom spells to that extent (and the custom spells/enchantments problems remain in Oblivion and Skyrim... 100% chameleon suit in the former and the restoration loop to fortify by 30,000,000 in the latter). If a player wanted to take advantage of it, fair play to them but they didn't have to.

Quote from: Shjade on April 27, 2014, 05:53:40 PMAlso, Skyrim's combat, while still pretty flat and uninvolving compared to a good action game, was more responsive and smooth than Morrowind's.

To an extent but combat in all three games is pretty awful... I'm not sure anyone plays the games for the combat in and of itself. We're talking at best a marginal improvement to a poor system that despite its prominence in the game isn't actually a particularly big aspect of what makes the games entertaining (and despite my criticism I do find the games at least somewhat entertaining). All three games are still cursed with generally poor AI, a combat style that rewards simply walking backwards while hitting the attack button and a massive downwards difficulty curve by the end of the game.

Quote from: Shjade on April 27, 2014, 05:53:40 PMAside from those, yeah, pretty much a step down. I particularly missed having substantial factions. The Dark Brotherhood is nothing compared to the old Morag Tong (which, to be fair, is basically their lore: they're the broken down offshoot remnants of the Morag Tong, but still).

The factions system frustrates me no-end. I know there's a "gotta catch em all" trend in modern gaming but even so, should one character really be able to be the head of the thieves guild, Archmage, leader of the Dark Brotherhood and Fighter-in-Chief all at the same time without it having any repercussions or real impact beyond the odd line of dialogue? Especially when one can become the Archmage without really doing any magic or the head of the thieves guild without really doing any thieving?

Beyond that, Morrowind might not have had the most reactive game-world but at least there was a sense that the various factions actually existed in it and what you did for them had a real impact beyond the completed quest dialogue. Skyrim and Oblivion? Not so much. Hell, in Skyrim you can assassinate the emperor for the Dark Brotherhood and yet the only difference to the world outside? A few lines of dialogue from guards. It's a general trend throughout the two games... despite the myriad of things you can do nothing actually really changes. Emperor dead or emperor alive? No real change. Stormcloaks or Empire? No real change. Master Assassin or Archmage or Master Assassin and Archmage? No change. The Oblivion and Skyrim faction quests play like they're stand-alone adventures with only a tenuous connection to the rest of the game.

On topic, I've been playing a couple of early access RPGs:

Wasteland 2: Disappointing.

Age of Decadence: Some aspects are awesome, others are very frustrating.

Shjade

Quote from: consortium11 on April 27, 2014, 08:13:09 PM
Age of Decadence: Some aspects are awesome, others are very frustrating.
As far as I'm concerned Age of Decadence is a tease for that name. >:|
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Inkidu

Quote from: Shjade on April 27, 2014, 09:58:05 PM
As far as I'm concerned Age of Decadence is a tease for that name. >:|
Well it hasn't been released yet. :|
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

consortium11

Quote from: Inkidu on April 27, 2014, 10:02:16 PM
Well it hasn't been released yet. :|

There's beta/early access available.

The biggest frustration for me actually relates to one of its strengths. They've put a lot of effort into making a non-combat character viable to the extent that you don't actually have to engage in any fights at all. The issue is that it's an uncompromising system. To compare it with a combat character:

There are different levels of builds for a combat character. Some will be perfect, some will be good, some will be OK, some will be poor. But pretty much regardless of how perfect a build you put together you stand a decent chance because you get to play the "mini game" (and that's a strange way to describe the combat but it applies for this example) of combat and through skill, tactics and a little luck you can make it through. The better builds make it easier but even bad builds can still survive.

There's not really any such "mini game" for a talking type character. You have to have the right stats at the right threshold levels. If you do... great, you've made it. If you don't you die. Yes, technically you've often simply been dropped into combat but the combat is challenging even for a fighting build and as you're playing a talker you've likely put little to no points into combat related skills and thus you're as good as dead. It turns the dialogue aspect of the game into a frustrating case of trial and error spreadsheet management where you either guess what specific combination (or combinations) of skills are required to pass the dialogue checks and hope for the best or you save up your skill points, save before each conversation, see what options there are, die, reload and upgrade your skills appropriately.

Now, many of the quests that require such checks can be avoided as they're side-quests. The issue is that it causes the impact to snowball... because you haven't completed the quest you get less experience, because you have less experience you can't upgrade your skills as much, because you can't upgrade your skills hitting the right dialogue thresholds becomes even harder. Rinse and repeat.

I'm not against the basic structure in-and-of itself; I'm a big fan of C&C in games and games which don't allow characters to do everything or escape the consequences of their actions (including build). But while the combat side of the game is at least somewhat forgiving if you haven't optimised your stats and equipment, the dialogue side is utterly ruthless and unfortunately puts far too much of the emphasis on strict stat management as opposed to actually working with the dialogue options you're given.

Shjade

Hasn't that been true in pretty much every game ever that's allowed such options?

I mean, if you're below the necessary skill thresholds in Fallout, you can't do the infamous pacifist ending, right? You just die?
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consortium11

Quote from: Shjade on April 27, 2014, 11:12:28 PM
Hasn't that been true in pretty much every game ever that's allowed such options?

I mean, if you're below the necessary skill thresholds in Fallout, you can't do the infamous pacifist ending, right? You just die?

By pacifist ending do you mean convincing the Master to commit suicide or the full pacifist run (the two are different)?

If you're referring to the first, yes, it's a stats check (as well as having done some background reading) but it only requires two skills to be (relatively) high, one of those can be boosted with consumables immediately beforehand and it comes literally at the end of the game so you have access to pretty much every experience point available to boost those skills. In contrast the AoD skill checks come thick and fast and it includes up to eight different skills that need to pass checks. In Fallout you could create a character who was primarily a fighter yet could still make the mast commit suicide because there was enough space for flexibility in a build. In AoD as it stands not so much; you not only have to put all your effort into being a talker, you have to put a lot of effort into being exactly the right type of talker at exactly the right time.

The full pacifist run is somewhat different as it is as much about being able to effectively sneak and knowing what quests do and don't require killing (as well as a bit of meta-game knowledge about when you can attack without killing) as it is about talking your way out of trouble. The ending still requires a stat check but again, only of one stat. Moreover the full pacifist run is something that a player really needs meta-knowledge to be able to pull off so a player should go into it knowing what skill checks are needed. In contrast being a talker in AoD is meant to be just as viable as being a combat character... unfortunately as things stand it's often simply too unforgiving.

NinjaNinja2013

I just finish batman arkham asylum the other day after getting stuck beating bane on my ps3 years ago. Really good game, but the Joker boss battle was the worse. It's not even a boss fight. At least it was tolerable unlike facing Poison Ivy. I hate those type of boss fights against large enemies.

WackWackWack

If we're talking about Fallout, the problem is actually the opposite, it's mindbogglingly easy to break, especially Fallout 3. I barely invested any points into Speech, I just put on that Neutral perk that gives you 30 points and I was able to bypass all speech tests and have a very combat efficient character *did I mention combat is a joke by the way?*, not a single speech check did I fail.
In Skyrim speech was useless all together, but it also suffered from being able to become everything and do everything with no limits, that's what really broke the level system for me.

Drake Valentine

I heard PS3 RPG......

I was about to say Persona, but then I remember they were on PS2. >_<` ALTHOUGH, they are making a Persona for the PS3; and if you haven't played other ones I think you can still play 3 and maybe 4 for the PS3, they are likely for DL. Persona 5 is in development, for fans of that series. I actually liked the Shin Megami games, but they started to feel lacking on the other consoles.. I mean.. The Shin Megami for 3DS made me sad of buying it and playing it; or was it classified as Shin Megami? *Thinks*

Any who, I am looking forward to a Persona 5. Taking a long ass time it seems, but I will gladly rehook my PS3 up for it.

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Rhedyn

I started playing Child Of Light today and so far I'm enjoying it. It's a really pretty game <3

Oreo

Quote from: Rhedyn on May 01, 2014, 10:44:49 AM
I started playing Child Of Light today and so far I'm enjoying it. It's a really pretty game <3

I was thinking about getting that one.

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Bliss

A friend of mine JUST posted about CoL on the Googleyploos. I am SUPER interested.
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Rhedyn

Quote from: Oreo on May 01, 2014, 11:31:46 AM
I was thinking about getting that one.

Quote from: Bliss on May 01, 2014, 11:32:24 AM
A friend of mine JUST posted about CoL on the Googleyploos. I am SUPER interested.

I've only played for about an hour or so but it's really fun. It's a gorgeous game and I'm enjoying combat system, I'm still getting used to controlling both the character and the firefly. I think it would be easier to play with a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse as I'm doing but I'm getting the hang of it now.

Caeli

Quote from: Rhedyn on May 01, 2014, 03:00:22 PM
I've only played for about an hour or so but it's really fun. It's a gorgeous game and I'm enjoying combat system, I'm still getting used to controlling both the character and the firefly. I think it would be easier to play with a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse as I'm doing but I'm getting the hang of it now.

It sounds like a really lovely game.  I've been meaning to look into it more since a friend told me about it.
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Mathim

Has anyone played Portal? I was thinking of picking that one up next time I'm at the used game store. Is it worth it, do you think?
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Oreo

Quote from: Rhedyn on May 01, 2014, 03:00:22 PM
I've only played for about an hour or so but it's really fun. It's a gorgeous game and I'm enjoying combat system, I'm still getting used to controlling both the character and the firefly. I think it would be easier to play with a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse as I'm doing but I'm getting the hang of it now.
I was just about to get it when I noticed it is a side scroll game. : ( I can't play those. They make me dizzy.

She led me to safety in a forest of green, and showed my stale eyes some sights never seen.
She spins magic and moonlight in her meadows and streams, and seeks deep inside me,
and touches my dreams. - Harry Chapin