Saturday night gaming confessions

Where to begin...

• I spend more time reading about and discussing games than playing
• There are a number of big franchises I've never played (MGS, Metroid, for example...)
• I look forward to games and then take like half a year after their release to actually buy them
• The last 8 months I've spent more time playing Mario Kart than all other games combined
• I kinda thought the Xbox One was cool at first (then I actually learned of all their policies)
• I think current gen graphics are fine, despite having a pc which easily walks all over them.
• I don't finish most games I start. In fact the % of games I actually finish is quite probably under 20%

Ninja Gaiden Sigma is the supior version of black with added levels, characters, and higher res graphics. Chaos theory was best on pc bar non. and halo 2 could also be played on PC, but halo sucks anyway, imo.

Bottom line... Xbox not required for any of the games you mentioned.

I hope you went back and played the past games before that. Please tell me that you did.. FF1 on NEs was my first final fantasy game, 2nd nes rpg (dragon warrior was the first), and 6 or so rpg video game in general (after ultima, might and magic, phantasie, and pools or raidence) ... man i am showing my age... bah.

I beat every weapon, I did every side quest, I did everything that is humanly possible to do in the game but I never beat it and that game is FFVII. I felt like it was a waste of time to fight Sepiroth when I was so incredibly overpowered.

I played Metal Gear Rising twice, one on hard on PS3 and then on Revengeance with the Konami code on PC, but never beat the final boss because it was so lame my motivation sunk.

Never beat Xenogears either. I played till the second disc when the visual novel part started and I just gave up. A masterpiece of a game completely ruined by its final act.

I think FF8 is actually my fav FF game but that's most likely because it was the first one I ever played and everything felt so new to me at the time.

Im sure thats a glitch, like the threads from 1969

I play through the campaign in most FPSes on Easiest difficulty because I see no point in seeking realism in a genre that makes you and your enemies bullet sponges.

I have played every Super Mario game with the exception of Super Mario 64. The very polygon graphics puts me off the game.

I am a lover of ESRB E and E+10 games because I hate vulgar language, violence, sexualized themes, and blood and gore. It may explain why non-Nintendo systems do not appeal to me.

Eventhough it is a shame that Japanese game development is in a state of decline, I feel that Western development is in the glided age with many negative trends coming from the West.

I never beat Super Mario Bros. I just recently found out about the unlimited continues code, but I still don't want to go back and play it.

I have never finished a GTA game.

I have only played 5 Hentai games so far and I really need to star building my Hentai backlogs.

I did with Final Fantasy 1 and Final Fantasy 2 on the PSP but have yet to play FF3,FF4,FF5,FF6,FF7,FF8,FF9 and FF12

I never had a console or a handheld, and I am a gamer for the last 20 years, I just didn't had the need to own one.

True on Chaos Theory and Halo 2. Every time I get the itch to play Chaos Theory, I'm on the PC version no question. I just know that Agent doesn't game on a PC, so yes he missed those games.

Absolutely fucking false on Sigma being superior to Black, holy hell lol. I felt like such a fool when I sold off my original Xbox because I also assumed that Sigma would be the better game. NOPE. The only advantage is the better graphics.. but that's not even an advantage because it comes at the expense of performance and shitty mid-battle load times. The added content is bullshit Hayashi grade gutter trash that only serves to get in the way of an awesome game. It's like trying to eat a bad ass steak dinner and someone keeps on shoving McDonalds in your face.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma is a decent substitute if you don't have the option to play Black, but otherwise it's just a bloated, neutered version of an awesome game.

Look at this @jg4xchamp:. See how people still try and spread Hayashis lies.

@finalstar2007: Don't refer to yourself as a jrpg or Final Fantasy fan until you play the good games in the series.

When playing The Sims, I made a max number family (14 I believe) and took all the doors of the house. While trapped inside I started a cooking fire and watched them all burn. Women and children. Good times!

NGS is only more appealing on the surface level. It's the things that you mentioned, the idea that more = better.

NGS is ok if you're just casually playing NG on normal as a one off experience. Most gamers aren't going to care about the intricacies in that case. If you really want to enjoy the game to the fullest, Black is the only way to go.

Conan already mentioned the performance issues and the abrupt loads, but it goes far beyond that.

Dedicated players inevitably get hooked on karma runs which are air tight in NGB and broken in NGS. The NGS leader boards are stacked with cheaters for the first few hundred spots. Lost timer bonuses, pathing glitches, and a slew of other issues and exploits that just ruin the perfect system that NGB had in place. In some instances, timers are extended for the sole purpose of milking Karma, it makes no sense.

The difficulty in NGS is a joke. Even on the hardest difficulties the enemies are push overs compared to NGB. So much less aggressive and they do dumb stuff like biting the flying swallow over and over again. They take far less damage to beat. Bosses will just sit there and take hits. It's insulting lol. As if toning down the enemies isn't bad enough, you're loaded down with extra shops, save points and healing items.

Then you have the all out broken collision, especially with larger enemies. Whiffs about and for no reason at all. The great thing about NGB is that any mistakes made are all on the player. In NGS the game fudges things up. Extremely frustrating when you're on a good run.

These are just the main offenders, but the list of flaws in NGS goes on.

Also there is only one new character in NGS, Rachel. Maybe you were thinking of NGS2? Her gameplay segments are shoe horned in and her play mechanics are both simplistic and overpowered. Again as Conan said she only gets in the way.

In the Sims, Busttin Out, I forgot how to do it but it involved going up to the outdoor bug zapper, having the them touch it and get zapped and then would be naked so I'd have parties where they would all be walking around nude. lol :P

I didn't console game after Sega Genesis until I got an original xbox free. Never owned a PS2.

Fucking Ninja Dogs all over this forum, so not surprised.

Got plebs who love God of War (scrubs), love the Dynasty Warriors stuff (definitely scrubs), people who enjoy video game stories (I mean come on, might as well be a fan of herpes), so none of this surprises me. But yeah Hayashi blows, his added content sucked, even his challenge room stuff was inferior to the stuff from actual Ninja Gaiden Black. Everything about that game that is from NG1/NGB is fantastic, because that stuff at its core is fantastic, all the added content however is fucking lousy. Blatantly inferior to the stuff that was on the disc.

Same reason I don't really dig Sigma 2. It's a more polished experience from a performance standpoint, but it compromises the ruthlessness of Ninja Gaiden 2, and the "new" content that is meant for coop and shit was hella lame and unsatisfying. Which showed up in how fucking pathetic Ninja Gaiden 3 is...if that game existed, and was real.

But yeah the OG Xbox had plenty of quality shit to go along with NGB, you had Crimson Skies (badass game), Otogi 1 and 2 (badass games), Unreal Championship 2 (badass game, and I love me some Unreal 2k4), and Halo 2's multiplayer was divine.

:O

Owned a SNES but nevel played a nintendo made game on it.

so you have not played any of the good ones?

God of War is more than just a mindless hack & slash though, it's more like an adventure game. The series has fantastic level design, something the h&s type of games don't usually offer. It has superior writing and story-telling than any other h&s game. And then we have the puzzles, the very best the h&s genre has to offer.

I agree that NGB is superior to Sigma but God of War has its rightful place as one of the best h&s series in the industry.

Some I can think of right now:

FF8 is my favorite game in the franchise, svck it haters :P

I'm really tempted right now in spending more than double of what I paid for the base game to buy some custome packs in DOA5:LR PC.

The Witcher franchise so far has been a big pile of overhyped sh*t, svck it fanboys :P

I also once tried a nude mod for Lara and since Legend I liked areas with water and to get her wet.

Also @finalstar2007: So you are a big FF fan and haven't played any of the good ones?

@jg4xchamp:

Preach it man. And we really need to find a name for this false NG3... Ninja Dog Den, I dunno. **** it, it doesn't deserve a name.

On the subject of vidya stories, I bought Planescape Torment again last night. Haven't played it since it came out, think I was about 16 or 17 at the time. I liked it back then, but I was also a bit impatient. I'm thinking I'll be able to appreciate it more now, gonna dive into it this weekend. Need to install a slew of mods first though.

@Gue1:

Yeah man that shit always trips me out with Finalstar, how can you manage to cut around all the good titles with surgical precision? I bet he only goes for the crust when eats a sandwich and throws the rest away. I bet he gets on Netflix and watches all the shitty straight to vhs/dvd sequels to good movies without watching the originals.

The story telling itself is fine, but the writing is hot garbage. If you enjoy video game stories that's good for you, but an entire franchise built on some massive bleeding vagina throwing a tantrum because he got punished for being a bleeding vagina? makes for a poor script.

God of War 2 is fine in terms of pacing, but the puzzles are just as much like the combat. Meaning that they are fine in the context that they pace the experience, but overall they are entirely forgettable elements of the gameplay that are overly simplistic, and in the case of the original God of War straight tedious.

And I do not subscribe to "good enough for this genre" metric. If the puzzles are lame they are lame. If the story is shit, I'm not cool with the qualifier "it's good for a video game" that's having a low bar for arbitrary reason. The other action games straight clown it in the areas that matter in the genre, and sans one game the franchise is fairly mindless across the board.

Planescape is legit, some aspects of that story are praised or remembered for incorrect reasons, but that's usually what happens with a lot of things. It's like Demon's Souls being praised initially as the "oh it's so hard game" ...taken that praise by itself that would be a lame ass game, who gives a shit if it's hard? But reality was that it had a great combat loop, creative online systems, atmosphere for days, and gave the player a lot of freedom and all that jazz.

The UI in planescape is mad scust though, not one to usually use mods, but I mod in new menus in that game.

The only Castlevania game I played was Order of Ecclesia for about a half an hour. I don't know why but that franchise never appealed to me.

The only WRPG that I bothered to beat was KOTOR. The rest either feel outdated, uninspired, and/or have bad combat.

I think SOTC isn't a good game. I'd say it's average and that's me being nice about it because it actually has a good ending. Funny because I loved Ico more then SOTC.

I think Valkyria Chronicles was the best PS3 exclusive last gen (although now it's on PC).

I tried to like Kirby games but I honestly find them meh. I did enjoy Kirby 64's multiplayer back in the day.

Ape Escape for the PS1 is the best Sony platformer ever made.

I think Super Mario RPG has the best soundtrack in any Mario game.

I hate most video game stories and the outdated/reactionary philosophies they espouse. I can still enjoy the artistic content of the stories though e.g. the way it is conveyed (especially if it is through game play).

While the art style in games is not something that particularly drives me toward or away from video games, I do not like the whole fantasy setting with elves and ogres and dragons and shit (especially in western RPGs). It will never stop me from playing good games though, like Dragon's Dogma.

I'm sorry Heil

@Gue1: "God of War is more than just a mindless hack & slash though, It has superior writing and story-telling than any other h&s game. the very best the h&s genre has to offer."

What the **** did i just read

I mean I like god of war (to a point) but c'mon. If santa monica is making another god of war starring kratos, well that sucks. Tired of hearing that wuss moan honestly... :p

What i'm hoping is they make a god of war based on egyptian mythology, and actually add some depth to the combat. Doesn't have to be bayonetta but it should be in the middle ground. None the less, if it doesn't star kratos and wow's me i'll play it at some point.

@jg4xchamp: "and sans one game the franchise is fairly mindless across the board."

Which one?

I liked Gears of War Judgement.

I bought an Atari Lynx over the Gameboy !!

BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!! ;-P

When I was in high school and Tekken 3 just came out on PS1 there was a naked Nina rumour code floating around. I never could get it to work lol

@jg4xchamp said:

@Seabas989 said:

I think Valkyria Chronicles was the best PS3 exclusive last gen (although now it's on PC).

I'm surprised. You liked it more then Demon's Souls?

God of War 2

Well it's definitely the standout but still a very similar game, I agree it's the best though

I'd give the nod to Demon's Souls over it, doesn't mean I don't appreciate anyone else putting it at numero uno. It's way the **** better than the rest of the stuff the playstation crowd gasses up.

On balance it's combat is better than 1 (if only a hair better because of more combos), and it's straight up better paced and has a better sense of rhythm from the rest of the franchise. God of War 1 and 3 enter the realm of immense tedium. The original game usually gets argued for because it's the only time the plot actually worked in the franchise, but that's bullshit. He was a douche then too, and the game sucked more.

2 I can legitimately respect as a game. The combat, puzzles, boss selection are balanced in a way that you're never one thing long enough to find it dull. Individually the mechanics and scenarios aren't all that special, but the entire composition makes for a consistent well thought out gameplay experience. Story sucks dick, but video game stories. So no fucks given.

What thats pretty silly to say. You can be a fan of jrpgs without playing all of the old ones. Hell I would rather someone read a character and plot summary of FF4 since that game is imo boring as all hell when it comes to everything else in it.

I actually enjoyed Army of Two, and played the hell out of that stupid game.