Kevin's Watch

CovenantJr wrote:

Kaydene wrote:

CovenantJr wrote: I'm really enjoying it. It has some pacing issues, and the many many many references to things from the first two games make it a bit of a headache to follow the plot, but it's largely very well executed. Taking Snake around a war-torn middle eastern city in Act 1 was quite a break from Metal Gear tradition, and made for a pleasant change.

I'm glad it turned out to be a good game. I watched my ex play Metal Gear Solid and quite enjoyed being a spectator. lol.

The Metal Gear Solids tend to be like films punctuated by bits of game.

And yet they haven't made a movie of it yet.... tsk, tsk, tsk....

Orlion wrote:

CovenantJr wrote:

Kaydene wrote: I'm glad it turned out to be a good game. I watched my ex play Metal Gear Solid and quite enjoyed being a spectator. lol.

The Metal Gear Solids tend to be like films punctuated by bits of game.

And yet they haven't made a movie of it yet.... tsk, tsk, tsk....

It's true! I remember talk on the internet about them making it into a movie. Hum. I wonder if it was ever even considered, or just an internet rumor.

I think a Metal Gear Solid movie would seem painfully brief. In MGS4, the epilogue alone was over an hour of pure dialogue. (Yes, I finished it tonight.)

Anyway, back on topic for a moment: now MGS4 is finished, I'm switching to the recently arrived Aliens vs Predator.

I've been playing Dawn of War II, and then will soon be playing Chaos Rising (DoW2 expansion).

I haven't had much time for gaming lately. :\

I'm playing two things:

1) Fallout 3. As some might remember, I hated Fallout 3 when I played it the first time. This time, with prior knowledge of the need for trade and importance of grabbing as much ammo as I can afford every time I see it, things are a little easier. I also set it to Easy, so I'm not continually being killed by Mirelurks everywhere I go.

2) N+ It's very simple, but astonishingly addictive. It's very easy to play this for two hours while thinking it's actually been ten minutes.

Forces of Corruption, the expansion for Empire At War, and Hitman:Contracts.

--A

I picked up LittleBigPlanet. I like it and it will be good for the kid when he gets old enough. Platformers tend to hit the bottom of the pile for me after awhile, but this one is so damn inventive. But I'm starting to move into the "I'm frustrated" territory already.

N+. Addictive, infuriating, hilarious. Great game for XBox Live

I just picked up a copy of Brutal Legend. We'll see if it's as good as I'd hoped, or as bad as the critics said

DRAGON AGE! All the time. Every night. I'm obsessed.

And then there's the occasional Splinter Cell Conviction date night. I'm always Kestrel because he is awesoooooome.

Started Lost Odyssey a few days ago. It is a Final Fantasy game. Not even a second-rate imitation; it is a Final Fantasy game in everything but name, including quality (so far).

I haven't had much time for that sort of in-depth play though, so I've mainly been on Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

CovenantJr wrote:Started Lost Odyssey a few days ago. It is a Final Fantasy game. Not even a second-rate imitation; it is a Final Fantasy game in everything but name, including quality (so far).

I haven't had much time for that sort of in-depth play though, so I've mainly been on Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

JazFusion wrote:Oh man. Lost Odyssey. The first half the game was pretty entertaining. Somewhere during the second half the writers quit and hired a 12 year to finish writing the story, whereupon he took a huge shit and never looked back. I literally finished that game only because it gave me 125 gamerpoints just for finishing the game. I promptly traded it in the next day.

I'd also like to add it was too long. They could have pared down the game into 2 discs instead of 4, and it would have been a good game. It was entertaining for a while and gave me my Final Fantasy fix; but eventually I just got tired of it.

I did get something of a sinking feeling when I counted the discs. I'm a bugger for not finishing RPGs anyway, but four discs of RPG?! I might as well give up now.

Reached disc 2. Yeah!

Also, playing some Bad Company 2 again. It's not as much a Battlefield game as 1943 is, but it's damn good.

I've been getting into Scavenge in Left 4 Dead 2. There's a guy called SenileZman who I keep playing with. If you're on his team you're unstoppable. He's talkative and organised.

I've been loving Batman: Arkham Asylum. I'm not a big comic book guy, but I did watch some of the animated series here and there, and I've watched most of the movies. It's been fun finding out about several of these characters, and seeing how dark and freaky these villians can get. The moments with Scarecrow have made me wish I could play this while the wife is in the house, as (particularly the Morgue) they have been creeping me out.

CovenantJr wrote:I did get something of a sinking feeling when I counted the discs. I'm a bugger for not finishing RPGs anyway, but four discs of RPG?! I might as well give up now.

After 51 hours I reached disc 4 of Lost Odyssey. Eek.

CovenantJr wrote:

CovenantJr wrote:I did get something of a sinking feeling when I counted the discs. I'm a bugger for not finishing RPGs anyway, but four discs of RPG?! I might as well give up now.

After 51 hours I reached disc 4 of Lost Odyssey. Eek.

Finished after A MILLION HOURS. Well, something like 85 hours anyway. I didn't do all the time-consuming side stuff either.

CovenantJr wrote:

CovenantJr wrote:

CovenantJr wrote:I did get something of a sinking feeling when I counted the discs. I'm a bugger for not finishing RPGs anyway, but four discs of RPG?! I might as well give up now.

After 51 hours I reached disc 4 of Lost Odyssey. Eek.

Finished after A MILLION HOURS. Well, something like 85 hours anyway. I didn't do all the time-consuming side stuff either.

The end game sequence alone was A MILLION HOURS. Holy sheet. Maybe/possibly/hopefully it was fun? For a couple of hours? Wasn't it so cute when they kissed?! /no /notreally /gag

I've been playing Darksiders and Eternal Sonata. Darksiders is AMAZING! I love it.

Eternal Sonata is actually a good game. It's more or less a JRPG. The story is pretty weird. Chopin in an alternate universe? I can't explain it more than that. The environments are very lush and it satiates my need for a JRPG once in a while.

At last, Mass Effect 2. I've just started assembling my new team, and so far...it's actually not so great. I'm enjoying it and taken entirely on its own it would probably be great, but in the context of Mass Effect it's...well, 'disappointing' isn't the right word. I haven't been feeling disappointment. It's more...underwhelming. It just lacks the spark of the first game, and some of the mechanics have been changed for the worse. Switching weapon overheating for ammo probably seemed like a good idea, but in practice it adds an annoying element of conservation to combat. The removal of most items also probably worked on paper; it does avoid all the clutter of ME1's inventory, but it also drops some of my favourite parts of the game. No longer can I customise my party members; instead, I can make small adjustments to Shepard and negligible ones to the other characters.

The experience is also surprisingly linear. There is the whole space-roaming thing again (though done differently) but in general the game has safe sections and combat sections - the two types are kept distinctly separate, and when a combat section is complete it's closed off. Whether this is really any more linear than ME1 is probably debatable, but it feels linear. If it makes me think "Ugh, this is so linear," then there's a problem.

The bit that's annoyed me the most so far, though, is the Citadel. Why can't I get onto the Presidium?! Being limited to one room is ridiculous. It's the sole familiar location, and I can only look at it from a balcony. Bah.

All this ranting probably sounds like I hate the game. No, I don't. It's really too early to form an opinion, and I have been enjoying it in any case. It's just that so far it's nowhere near the equal of Mass Effect 1.

JazFusion wrote:

CovenantJr wrote:

CovenantJr wrote: After 51 hours I reached disc 4 of Lost Odyssey. Eek.

Finished after A MILLION HOURS. Well, something like 85 hours anyway. I didn't do all the time-consuming side stuff either.

The end game sequence alone was A MILLION HOURS. Holy sheet. Maybe/possibly/hopefully it was fun? For a couple of hours? Wasn't it so cute when they kissed?! /no /notreally /gag

I've been playing Darksiders and Eternal Sonata. Darksiders is AMAZING! I love it.

Eternal Sonata is actually a good game. It's more or less a JRPG. The story is pretty weird. Chopin in an alternate universe? I can't explain it more than that. The environments are very lush and it satiates my need for a JRPG once in a while.

Firstly, yes, I did actually enjoy Lost Odyssey. It was certainly too long, but I finished it - which is something I seldom manage with JRPGs. Agreed on the kiss. Bleh. Less gag-worthy than Sarah, though. Why was Kaim so intent on finding her? She was so bland.

Secondly, I've considered both Darksiders and Eternal Sonata myself. I think I played the demo of Darksiders, but I don't remember it particularly grabbing me. The idea is enticing though. Incidentally, I'm tempted by DeathSpank, though the local-only co-op (using an uncustomisable secondary character) is disappointing. XBL Arcade Diablo-style hack and slash job with Monkey Island's sense of humour? Hmmmm.....