Video games...what ya playing? And what are you looking forward to? (3 Viewers)

[Dickies]

Finally managed to pick up Uncharted again and actually made it through. Glad I did, even though it got pretty weird towards the end of the story. I've heard U2 fixes most of the problems with U1, so I look forward to progressing through the series.

 

[bonesman]

bout to check out Thief in a couple hours (ps3)... quite a bit of hype on this one

 

[Chaka]

bout to check out Thief in a couple hours (ps3)... quite a bit of hype on this one

Looks kind of like Dishonored.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

After watching a bunch of videos I simply could not resist picking up Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen

I mean the monsters you fight look ridiculously cool.

 

[TheAristocrat]

We were talking about older[ish] games earlier.

How do people feel about Dragon Age: Origins?

Initial thoughts (PC). Player control is pretty weak, having to hold down the right mouse button to allow for traditional W,S,A,D movement is weak. Combat also seems to be difficult to control, with the constant pausing to set up special attacks of which there appear to dozens (hundreds) which makes the learning curve for their proper deployment very steep.

Letting characters do their own thing seems to get them surrounded by enemies in a hurry (or my mage indiscriminately freeze blasts all my melee fighters along with the enemy defeating the purpose of the freeze blast) if you don't micromanage them even if you give them preset behavior patterns.

Tactical view isn't very tactical as your views are so easily obscured by virtually anything and the whole right mouse button thing makes 3rd person view a PITA.

Cutscenes, damn there are a ton of them so far. And sometimes you literally do nothing more than move 10 feet on screen between two cutscenes, which seems kind of pointless.

The story is clearly very deep and nuanced and is likely going to be the shining jewel of the game. I am just not sure if the gameplay is going to be worth it to allow it to develop for me.

My initial feeling is that they probably should have taken the story and made a movie instead.

Honestly sounds to me like you'd prefer DA2 better than DA: origins.Most of your detractions are what people like about it, it is supposed to be a highly micromanaged pause and control RPG. It's more in the form of some of the old D&D type games. I hope you can get used to it, because I think it's a fantastic game in a really great world they created with some pretty decent history to it. By the end of the game I really wanted to learn more about the other lands surrounding it, and am excited to get into more games from the series to explore it.

DA2 they decided to take out some of the micromanage control and I think is a little less pause and setup to hit a broader audience. They wanted to try and combine DA:O with a more action oriented game. I actually liked some of it, but missed the micromanage. A lot of people really panned and hated it for the changes they made.

I'm with Chaka on DA:O. I found the player control to be really bad. Bad to the point of irritation, and I'm not playing a game to be irritated by the controls. I had similar issues with the controls for Dead Space (not the same issues, but irritation about the controls). And the cutscenes...I would much rather have the text in a speech bubble I think.

I really am enjoying the story and, in general I don't mind cutscenes (particularly as the voice acting seems to be top notch so far), it's just that there are so many of them it breaks up the continuity of the gameplay. I am hoping it tones down a little as the story progresses.

As far as the player control goes it seems like you just need to trust your people to do what they need to for survival. I do have a bit of an issue with the character creation. It seems kind of pointless to have created a character when it seems like you can choose to be any of the characters in your party. I also wish the rogue wold just open locks automatically if they are in the active party, it's kind of stupid to have to select the rogue and manually tell them to open a locked box every single time.

I always lead with my rogue so that I could find traps and open locked stuff with a click. As soon as combat begins, I go to my main character and unleash hell.

Also, I make sure that my party tactics are set to my combat strategy. For instance, no other mage can casually shoot a fireball from their tactics. I make those decisions to keep the party alive.

 

[NewlyRetired]

After watching a bunch of videos I simply could not resist picking up Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen

I mean the monsters you fight look ridiculously cool.

Cool. I think you will enjoy. Set your expectations reasonable and it should be fun.

Did you see the post where I gave you some thoughts on the game?

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=496856&p=16551443

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

After watching a bunch of videos I simply could not resist picking up Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen

I mean the monsters you fight look ridiculously cool.

Cool. I think you will enjoy. Set your expectations reasonable and it should be fun.

Did you see the post where I gave you some thoughts on the game?

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=496856&p=16551443

I did and thank you so much. I'm about to start it up!

 

[NewlyRetired]

After watching a bunch of videos I simply could not resist picking up Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen

I mean the monsters you fight look ridiculously cool.

Cool. I think you will enjoy. Set your expectations reasonable and it should be fun.

Did you see the post where I gave you some thoughts on the game?

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=496856&p=16551443

I did and thank you so much. I'm about to start it up!

sweet! I am still playing so shoot me a pm if you have any questions.

 

[Drifter]

Holy crap is the ending to Rage horrible. The final level wasn't even a challenge. I'm saving up all my new BFG ammo thinking I'm going to have some crazy final boss fight and all I get is a slow spawn of mutant soldiers? I just casually pop rocketed them all. Plus, I get no exposition n who the authority is or what they are trying to do? Why does doing what I do, solve anything? Won't they all just get jumped on and killed?

Stupid and lazy game making.

 

[Herc]

RAGE or AC- Black Flag tonight and this weekend?

Rage is decent but the ending is ME3 original bad. I vote AC black flag

I tried to warn you

 

[SlaX]

Still have to finish playing Black Flag. I have so many games in backlog, I really shouldn't have to buy another game until the next generation consoles arrive.

 

[Run It Up]

azura's wrath is on sale for xbox 360. any thoughts on the game? i can't even tell what it's about from the gallery, but i've heard it was fun.

Its anime the video game. It takes pretty much every anime trope in existence and shoves it in to an action game.

 

[Chaka]

We were talking about older[ish] games earlier.

How do people feel about Dragon Age: Origins?

Initial thoughts (PC). Player control is pretty weak, having to hold down the right mouse button to allow for traditional W,S,A,D movement is weak. Combat also seems to be difficult to control, with the constant pausing to set up special attacks of which there appear to dozens (hundreds) which makes the learning curve for their proper deployment very steep.

Letting characters do their own thing seems to get them surrounded by enemies in a hurry (or my mage indiscriminately freeze blasts all my melee fighters along with the enemy defeating the purpose of the freeze blast) if you don't micromanage them even if you give them preset behavior patterns.

Tactical view isn't very tactical as your views are so easily obscured by virtually anything and the whole right mouse button thing makes 3rd person view a PITA.

Cutscenes, damn there are a ton of them so far. And sometimes you literally do nothing more than move 10 feet on screen between two cutscenes, which seems kind of pointless.

The story is clearly very deep and nuanced and is likely going to be the shining jewel of the game. I am just not sure if the gameplay is going to be worth it to allow it to develop for me.

My initial feeling is that they probably should have taken the story and made a movie instead.

Honestly sounds to me like you'd prefer DA2 better than DA: origins.Most of your detractions are what people like about it, it is supposed to be a highly micromanaged pause and control RPG. It's more in the form of some of the old D&D type games. I hope you can get used to it, because I think it's a fantastic game in a really great world they created with some pretty decent history to it. By the end of the game I really wanted to learn more about the other lands surrounding it, and am excited to get into more games from the series to explore it.

DA2 they decided to take out some of the micromanage control and I think is a little less pause and setup to hit a broader audience. They wanted to try and combine DA:O with a more action oriented game. I actually liked some of it, but missed the micromanage. A lot of people really panned and hated it for the changes they made.

I'm with Chaka on DA:O. I found the player control to be really bad. Bad to the point of irritation, and I'm not playing a game to be irritated by the controls. I had similar issues with the controls for Dead Space (not the same issues, but irritation about the controls). And the cutscenes...I would much rather have the text in a speech bubble I think.

I really am enjoying the story and, in general I don't mind cutscenes (particularly as the voice acting seems to be top notch so far), it's just that there are so many of them it breaks up the continuity of the gameplay. I am hoping it tones down a little as the story progresses.

As far as the player control goes it seems like you just need to trust your people to do what they need to for survival. I do have a bit of an issue with the character creation. It seems kind of pointless to have created a character when it seems like you can choose to be any of the characters in your party. I also wish the rogue wold just open locks automatically if they are in the active party, it's kind of stupid to have to select the rogue and manually tell them to open a locked box every single time.

I always lead with my rogue so that I could find traps and open locked stuff with a click. As soon as combat begins, I go to my main character and unleash hell.

Also, I make sure that my party tactics are set to my combat strategy. For instance, no other mage can casually shoot a fireball from their tactics. I make those decisions to keep the party alive.

#### this game.

My entire party is composed of a buncha P######! Tactics are all but useless because the party is constantly bunched up. Your characters get swarmed immediately and are constantly dealt damage from all directions and unless you concentrate your fire on one opponent they deal out minimal damage to enemies. You can't go one-on-one vs enemies (that is if the game is decent enough not to send double the number of enemies against your party).

Leveling happens so slowly that you can't seem to build up enough power to deal with even basic enemies let alone anything resembling a boss. Hell you get taken out by wolves regularly while travelling between quest locations. Makes getting from point A to B a frustrating experience at best. Oh hey I want to go to that castle *BAM* surrounded by 8 wolves aaaaaand now I'm dead!

Story is fine but just not worth it at this point don't think I am going to continue this one.

 

[thecatch]

Never had any of those problems with DA. Is the difficulty cranked up or something?

 

[Chaka]

Never had any of those problems with DA. Is the difficulty cranked up or something?

Normal difficulty.

I am a pretty experienced gamer and the combat in this game just plays clunky as heck. Some of the worst I have experienced.

 

[thecatch]

Never had any of those problems with DA. Is the difficulty cranked up or something?

Normal difficulty.I am a pretty experienced gamer and the combat in this game just plays clunky as heck. Some of the worst I have experienced.

Maybe it has something to do with the PC version.

 

[Chaka]

Never had any of those problems with DA. Is the difficulty cranked up or something?

Normal difficulty.I am a pretty experienced gamer and the combat in this game just plays clunky as heck. Some of the worst I have experienced.

Maybe it has something to do with the PC version.

I am certain that has a lot to do with it.

 

[Drifter]

I've been playing Chivalry medieval warfare this weekend. This game is an absolute blast. First mp game I've enjoyed in a while.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

I've been playing Chivalry medieval warfare this weekend. This game is an absolute blast. First mp game I've enjoyed in a while.

I envy you so bad- that game looks promising.

 

[Drifter]

I've been playing Chivalry medieval warfare this weekend. This game is an absolute blast. First mp game I've enjoyed in a while.

I envy you so bad- that game looks promising.

I must have picked it up in a sale because I wouldn't have paid its current price without knowing anything about it. It's a good time though

 

[NCCommish]

Holy crap is the ending to Rage horrible. The final level wasn't even a challenge. I'm saving up all my new BFG ammo thinking I'm going to have some crazy final boss fight and all I get is a slow spawn of mutant soldiers? I just casually pop rocketed them all. Plus, I get no exposition n who the authority is or what they are trying to do? Why does doing what I do, solve anything? Won't they all just get jumped on and killed?

Stupid and lazy game making.

I was disappointed

 

[NCCommish]

So more Fallout this weekend. Finished up chapter 1 of the survival guide with the war at Super Duper Mart. Again I got jumped by 3 guys outside.They were definitely bounty hunters. I even got the bounty note this time. 1000 caps? I might turn myself in for that. Of course the wanting my head separated from my body does seem like a negative consequence of that transaction. Anyway Super Duper is stuffed full. So many things to take and sell, really helped my cap situation tremendously. Also some of the raiders were pretty well equipped.

Also went in and cleaned out Springvale Elementary. Interesting dig they have going I assume at some point that gains significance.

So far I'm concentrating on side jobs out of Megaton. I delivered the letter and found the family dead and the son missing, so dogooder that I am, I guess I am going to try to rescue the kid from the fairly obviously mutant vampires.That sounds like fun.After I finish that I guess I'll find out from Moriarty where daddy went. Or maybe survival guide chapter 2. Choices, choices.

 

[Worm]

Kotaku review just blasts Thief.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Kotaku review just blasts Thief.

Oof. Looks like I'll be passing on this.

 

[NCCommish]

Kotaku review just blasts Thief.

I'm not much of a stealth game guy but the ads for this looked cool. After that I think I'll avoid.

 

[hagmania]

Kotaku review just blasts Thief.

They probably didn't pay them to review it.

 

[NewlyRetired]

I got the platinum trophy last night on Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen. Took 110 hours but was probably closer to 90 since I spent time in the Dark Arisen content that had no trophy's.

I am going back to Dark Arisen content now and hope to do better than the first time where I limped through it at level 65. Now I an going to enter at level 95.

 

[The Hank]

Kotaku review just blasts Thief.

I'm not much of a stealth game guy but the ads for this looked cool. After that I think I'll avoid.

Oof, yeah I'll definitely pass now. Yikes

 

[hagmania]

Here's another Thief review with gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJS1yCSKlhs

 

[Chaka]

Here's another Thief review with gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJS1yCSKlhs

It's getting crushed pretty much across the board.

71 at Metacritic. Link to Metacritic's reviews (PC).

 

[The Tick]

Never had any of those problems with DA. Is the difficulty cranked up or something?

Normal difficulty.I am a pretty experienced gamer and the combat in this game just plays clunky as heck. Some of the worst I have experienced.

Maybe it has something to do with the PC version.

I am certain that has a lot to do with it.

I played it multiple times through on the PC, first with a rogue main character then a mage. As I said earlier, you can't just let your guys free roam and hope you survive the battle, you won't. You have to micromanage everything in that game. Most big battles I was always in the most overhead view possible and pausing ever 30 seconds to make sure everyone was doing what I wanted and a lot of healing. It is a difficult game, some bosses took me a long time to beat, probably one of the only games that has happened to me on recently. I think the toughest section for me was the boss battles out of the dwarven city. You also really need to do all the side quests to get all the experience possible to help level up.

As I said before, sounds like it just may not be your thing. I think DA:2 was a little more action oriented so if you are enjoying the story and world, may want to check that out, it'd be pretty cheap on the next steam sale.

 

[hagmania]

Here's another Thief review with gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJS1yCSKlhs

It's getting crushed pretty much across the board.

71 at Metacritic. Link to Metacritic's reviews (PC).

Interestingly enough: http://kotaku.com/metacritic-matters-how-review-scores-hurt-video-games-472462218

Kotaku is atrocious, even if it hits the nail on the head with Thief.

 

[Apes with Guns]

azura's wrath is on sale for xbox 360. any thoughts on the game? i can't even tell what it's about from the gallery, but i've heard it was fun.

Its anime the video game. It takes pretty much every anime trope in existence and shoves it in to an action game.

thanks. i went ahead and bit on it. 6 hours of fun for $8 seems like a good trade to me. at least it's worked out for me with the ladies.

 

[OC Zed]

I really want to get into NBA 2k14, but the controls are so damn complex and touchy that I feel like I'll never be competent.

 

[Todem]

So I finished Uncharted 2 this past weekend. Fantastic game. On to Uncharted 3 tonight.

Currently playing (PS3):

Madden 25 Dolphins Year 3 Connected Franchise

NHL 13 Black Hawks Year 1 BeAGm

MLB 13 The Show 1999 season replay NY Yankees

WWE 2K14 Universe Mode

Once I finish Uncharted 3 which will take me a week or two I have the following games in my que.......pick one for me to start!

Dark Souls

Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

Far Cry 3

Batman Arkum Orgins

Kingdoms of Amular

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil Revelations

Metro Last Light

I am heavily leaning to Dark Souls or Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Picked up Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns last week. Pretty awesome . Definitely better than the 1st two in the series.

 

[NewlyRetired]

So I finished Uncharted 2 this past weekend. Fantastic game. On to Uncharted 3 tonight.

Currently playing (PS3):

Madden 25 Dolphins Year 3 Connected Franchise

NHL 13 Black Hawks Year 1 BeAGm

MLB 13 The Show 1999 season replay NY Yankees

WWE 2K14 Universe Mode

Once I finish Uncharted 3 which will take me a week or two I have the following games in my que.......pick one for me to start!

Dark Souls

Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

Far Cry 3

Batman Arkum Orgins

Kingdoms of Amular

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil Revelations

Metro Last Light

I am heavily leaning to Dark Souls or Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

I have played both Dark Souls and am currently deep into Dragons Dogma DA.

Dark Souls is a better game all around. But both are fun. Dragons Dogma I would rank slightly above Kingdoms of Amalur which was fun as well.

 

[Bogeys]

So I finished Uncharted 2 this past weekend. Fantastic game. On to Uncharted 3 tonight.

Currently playing (PS3):

Madden 25 Dolphins Year 3 Connected Franchise

NHL 13 Black Hawks Year 1 BeAGm

MLB 13 The Show 1999 season replay NY Yankees

WWE 2K14 Universe Mode

Once I finish Uncharted 3 which will take me a week or two I have the following games in my que.......pick one for me to start!

Dark Souls

Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

Far Cry 3

Batman Arkum Orgins

Kingdoms of Amular

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil Revelations

Metro Last Light

I am heavily leaning to Dark Souls or Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

Far Cry 3 would be my choice of the above if you really liked the Uncharted series. Not linear like the Uncharteds but feels the same to me, or at least more so then the others on your list that I have played.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Dragons Dogma is awesome so far. The enemies you face are in a word , incredible.

I picked up Viking the other day for like $4 or $7 and it's pretty solid as well. Actually, the only thing "wrong" with it is it's a little too similar to DD and I can't play two huge RPGs at once.

 

[The Tick]

So I finished Uncharted 2 this past weekend. Fantastic game. On to Uncharted 3 tonight.

Currently playing (PS3):

Madden 25 Dolphins Year 3 Connected Franchise

NHL 13 Black Hawks Year 1 BeAGm

MLB 13 The Show 1999 season replay NY Yankees

WWE 2K14 Universe Mode

Once I finish Uncharted 3 which will take me a week or two I have the following games in my que.......pick one for me to start!

Dark Souls

Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

Far Cry 3

Batman Arkum Orgins

Kingdoms of Amular

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil Revelations

Metro Last Light

I am heavily leaning to Dark Souls or Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen

Far Cry 3 would be my choice of the above if you really liked the Uncharted series. Not linear like the Uncharteds but feels the same to me, or at least more so then the others on your list that I have played.

Just finished Far Cry 3 over the weekend and I really enjoyed it, had a 3 day weekend to get it started and think I played like 26 hours+ that first weekend. I think it was a good combination of stealth killing and just full out blowing stuff up and it worked well for me. Main story missions were pretty fun to me, but I think my favorite thing was taking out bases and trying to get the bonus xp by doing it without being seen. I really got better by the end where as in the first half I usually only got the bonus when I was lucky.

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

Picked up Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns last week. Pretty awesome . Definitely better than the 1st two in the series.

Would you say it's a totally different gaming experience compared to the first of the series? I loved XII gameplay (similar to all of the previous FF games) and storyline, hated XII-2, this one seems like it's a whole different genre with the same storyline now that it's just Lightning.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Picked up Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns last week. Pretty awesome . Definitely better than the 1st two in the series.

Would you say it's a totally different gaming experience compared to the first of the series? I loved XII gameplay (similar to all of the previous FF games) and storyline, hated XII-2, this one seems like it's a whole different genre with the same storyline now that it's just Lightning.

Definitely better than Xiii-2 in pretty much all facets. More freedom in movement of the storyline than the 1st one. No more follow a path, kill a few monsters then cut scene.

-levelling is nowhere near as linear as the previous ones (no crystarium that you blindly follow)

-4 open cities/lands that you can go to whenever

-lots and lots of side quests to level up through / get items (they can get tedious)

-no more party / paradigm. Lightning can have 3 'roles' which all have their own ATB that you switch through.

If you enjoyed the 1st then you'll like this one IMO. Well worth the purchase for me.

 

[Apes with Guns]

NHL 13 Black Hawks Year 1 BeAGm

I'm completely the suck at NHL 13. I love it, and it's fun, but since you cant just knock the crap out of dude, I have a hard time with it. just can't get the other team out of my zone.

I lowered the level to rookie and lost in a shoot out.

 

[Drifter]

I've been playing Chivalry medieval warfare this weekend. This game is an absolute blast. First mp game I've enjoyed in a while.

I envy you so bad- that game looks promising.

I must have picked it up in a sale because I wouldn't have paid its current price without knowing anything about it. It's a good time though

Had a moment last night in a Free for all Death match where two guys were engaged in combat with each other and I ran up and removed both their heads with one swing. Awesome.

Also had a great gaming moment where the objective was to push a primitive bomb to the city gate. We were stalled out forever with the opposing team doing a good job of even preventing us from getting close to the cart.. With about a minute left in the game, I managed to hack down 4 defenders, reach the cart and fight off one more defender while pushing it the last couple feet to the gate with seconds left in the match. The explosion threw me a few hundred feet and killed me but what a way to go...

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

I've been playing Chivalry medieval warfare this weekend. This game is an absolute blast. First mp game I've enjoyed in a while.

I envy you so bad- that game looks promising.

I must have picked it up in a sale because I wouldn't have paid its current price without knowing anything about it. It's a good time though

Had a moment last night in a Free for all Death match where two guys were engaged in combat with each other and I ran up and removed both their heads with one swing. Awesome.

Also had a great gaming moment where the objective was to push a primitive bomb to the city gate. We were stalled out forever with the opposing team doing a good job of even preventing us from getting close to the cart.. With about a minute left in the game, I managed to hack down 4 defenders, reach the cart and fight off one more defender while pushing it the last couple feet to the gate with seconds left in the match. The explosion threw me a few hundred feet and killed me but what a way to go...

Those style games - that and there is another one -Mount n Blade - along with the upcoming Ultima Online remake have me strongly considering building a PC.

 

[Drifter]

I've been playing Chivalry medieval warfare this weekend. This game is an absolute blast. First mp game I've enjoyed in a while.

I envy you so bad- that game looks promising.

I must have picked it up in a sale because I wouldn't have paid its current price without knowing anything about it. It's a good time though

Had a moment last night in a Free for all Death match where two guys were engaged in combat with each other and I ran up and removed both their heads with one swing. Awesome.

Also had a great gaming moment where the objective was to push a primitive bomb to the city gate. We were stalled out forever with the opposing team doing a good job of even preventing us from getting close to the cart.. With about a minute left in the game, I managed to hack down 4 defenders, reach the cart and fight off one more defender while pushing it the last couple feet to the gate with seconds left in the match. The explosion threw me a few hundred feet and killed me but what a way to go...

Those style games - that and there is another one -Mount n baked or donating similar - along with the upcoming Ultima Online remake have me strongly considering building a PC.

Mount and Blade? I have that one too but haven't played it. It's not MP, is it?

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

I've been playing Chivalry medieval warfare this weekend. This game is an absolute blast. First mp game I've enjoyed in a while.

I envy you so bad- that game looks promising.

I must have picked it up in a sale because I wouldn't have paid its current price without knowing anything about it. It's a good time though

Had a moment last night in a Free for all Death match where two guys were engaged in combat with each other and I ran up and removed both their heads with one swing. Awesome.

Also had a great gaming moment where the objective was to push a primitive bomb to the city gate. We were stalled out forever with the opposing team doing a good job of even preventing us from getting close to the cart.. With about a minute left in the game, I managed to hack down 4 defenders, reach the cart and fight off one more defender while pushing it the last couple feet to the gate with seconds left in the match. The explosion threw me a few hundred feet and killed me but what a way to go...

Those style games - that and there is another one -Mount n baked or donating similar - along with the upcoming Ultima Online remake have me strongly considering building a PC.

Mount and Blade? I have that one too but haven't played it. It's not MP, is it?

I could actually run the first one but I don't think my laptop could hack the MP so I never tried it- it was a blast and was prolly the $5 I ever spent on a game.ETA- : lmao: at my auto correct " mount and baked" lol - fixed it

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

Picked up Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns last week. Pretty awesome . Definitely better than the 1st two in the series.

Would you say it's a totally different gaming experience compared to the first of the series? I loved XII gameplay (similar to all of the previous FF games) and storyline, hated XII-2, this one seems like it's a whole different genre with the same storyline now that it's just Lightning.

Definitely better than Xiii-2 in pretty much all facets. More freedom in movement of the storyline than the 1st one. No more follow a path, kill a few monsters then cut scene.

-levelling is nowhere near as linear as the previous ones (no crystarium that you blindly follow)

-4 open cities/lands that you can go to whenever

-lots and lots of side quests to level up through / get items (they can get tedious)

-no more party / paradigm. Lightning can have 3 'roles' which all have their own ATB that you switch through.

If you enjoyed the 1st then you'll like this one IMO. Well worth the purchase for me.

Thanks for the feedback, a big fan of the franchise but I liked the party aspect of it so I had shyed away from this one. I'll give it a shot.

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Picked up Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns last week. Pretty awesome . Definitely better than the 1st two in the series.

Would you say it's a totally different gaming experience compared to the first of the series? I loved XII gameplay (similar to all of the previous FF games) and storyline, hated XII-2, this one seems like it's a whole different genre with the same storyline now that it's just Lightning.

Definitely better than Xiii-2 in pretty much all facets. More freedom in movement of the storyline than the 1st one. No more follow a path, kill a few monsters then cut scene.

-levelling is nowhere near as linear as the previous ones (no crystarium that you blindly follow)

-4 open cities/lands that you can go to whenever

-lots and lots of side quests to level up through / get items (they can get tedious)

-no more party / paradigm. Lightning can have 3 'roles' which all have their own ATB that you switch through.

If you enjoyed the 1st then you'll like this one IMO. Well worth the purchase for me.

Thanks for the feedback, a big fan of the franchise but I liked the party aspect of it so I had shyed away from this one. I'll give it a shot.

No problem. The change from party to just Lightning isn't that big of a difference IMO. You can set up to about 10 custom Schema's for Lightning (only 3 can be used at once) ie. Physical, Magic, Defense, Medic, Fire, Ice, mixtures, etc. So in battle, instead of switching to different party members and paradigms, you just switch between schemas. The parties always annoyed me when you'd lose a member for part of the story and you'd have to continually revamp your setup.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

On the heels of Irrational Games shutting down, today there were layoffs at Sony Santa Monica (God of War). Pretty shocking to see this happen at two pretty high-profile studios.