[tiam]

The ending cutscene for mgs4 is between 2-3 months long. I actually had to turn it off and go to bed its so long.

[Defiance]

Apt, you just about phrased my feelings on Metal Gear perfectly. It's a giant clusterfuck that, under any other developer, would probably horrendous. But somehow Kojima makes it work.

The ending of MGS4 is about 90 minutes long if you cut out the final fight. Be sure to prepare some popcorn and have some beer on hand.


Peace Walker is my biggest disappointment from Kojima so far, though. The story was very "meh." The convoluted, over-the-top stuff that worked so great in the other ones really fell flat for me here (honestly, when you play, DO NOT UNLOCK ACT 5. The story is actually decent if you skip Act 5). Plus, the technology felt extremely off...I know things have never made a whole lot of sense in Metal Gear, but some of the tech in Peace Walker looked at least 30 or 40 years ahead of its time in the Metal Gear world).

I'm tentatively looking forward to rising. At the very least it should be a fun action game (Bayonetta was awesome), but I'm actually kind of disappointed that there won't be ridiculously long cutscenes in this one. It's kind of a staple of the franchise, something that people either love or hate, and I absolutely love the big convoluted messy stories.

Ground Zero (and Phantom Pain, assuming that's MGS5...who knows) is what I'm really looking forward to. Big Boss is awesome, and I look forward to seeing what Kojima does with a more open-world type game.

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

Defiance, on 07 February 2013 - 03:42 AM, said:

Apt, you just about phrased my feelings on Metal Gear perfectly. It's a giant clusterfuck that, under any other developer, would probably horrendous. But somehow Kojima makes it work.

The ending of MGS4 is about 90 minutes long if you cut out the final fight. Be sure to prepare some popcorn and have some beer on hand.


Peace Walker is my biggest disappointment from Kojima so far, though. The story was very "meh." The convoluted, over-the-top stuff that worked so great in the other ones really fell flat for me here (honestly, when you play, DO NOT UNLOCK ACT 5. The story is actually decent if you skip Act 5). Plus, the technology felt extremely off...I know things have never made a whole lot of sense in Metal Gear, but some of the tech in Peace Walker looked at least 30 or 40 years ahead of its time in the Metal Gear world).

I'm tentatively looking forward to rising. At the very least it should be a fun action game (Bayonetta was awesome), but I'm actually kind of disappointed that there won't be ridiculously long cutscenes in this one. It's kind of a staple of the franchise, something that people either love or hate, and I absolutely love the big convoluted messy stories.

Ground Zero (and Phantom Pain, assuming that's MGS5...who knows) is what I'm really looking forward to. Big Boss is awesome, and I look forward to seeing what Kojima does with a more open-world type game.

MGS2 spoiler

Spoiler

Did you play the second game? Not only did I have to cartwheel around as a naked shemale, but the story was so messed up they had to pretty much end it with "yeah, it was kind of a dream anyway". That said, I still really enjoyed the gameplay, but the story, characters and horrendously boring setting sorely disappointed me.

This post has been edited by Forkassal: 07 February 2013 - 10:35 AM

[Aptorian]

Briar King, on 08 February 2013 - 04:11 AM, said:

Im thinking about purchasing the Dead Space games. The trailers for DS3 look fucking awesome I think. Any input on this series?

I've played the first two. They're awesome. I don't particularly enjoy horror games so I played them on easy which means you are swimming in supplies and the enemies are easy, but that doesn't take anything away from the story and atmosphere. These games really are something special.

Contrary to the first two games from what I hear the third game is not so good. It has all the trappings but the co-op stuff and the emphasis on the scavenging and DLC stuff takes away a lot from the game. Also supposedly the side stuff gets old fast, they have copy pasted a lot of the environment and the snow planet was not so great.

Still going to play it of course but it's not a day one purchase that is for sure.

[Aptorian]

Originally Dead Space was a survival horror type of game where you were scavenging ammo and health while trying to uncover the mystery of the fate of a SOS sent from a mining ship. It was REALLY creepy in places and has a very disturbing atmosphere if you're not used to horror games. The second game was a more polished experience, with a bigger emphasis on action while still retaining most of its survival horror elements.

The third game, while certainly still scary in places, has strayed pretty far from the path. It's co-op focused, you can buy the stuff you need with real world currency, it's far more run and gun, etc. As you yourself have just remarked, this third game has been designed and marketed for a broader more action focused audience. So to speak, Dead Space 3 is the Resident Evil 5 of the series.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Playing metro 2033 and loving it. The whole Russian setting is a welcome change, I just wish I remembered Russian well enough to play with Russian audio, which is an option. It's a shooter with more to it than just shooting, which is what I need in a shooter. A little bioshocky in some places.

[Aptorian]

Briar King, on 13 February 2013 - 01:07 AM, said:

Any recommendation on if I should pick this up for PS3 or 360?

Yeah, get it on PC

Raymond Luxury Yacht, on 13 February 2013 - 09:06 PM, said:

Playing metro 2033 and loving it. The whole Russian setting is a welcome change, I just wish I remembered Russian well enough to play with Russian audio, which is an option. It's a shooter with more to it than just shooting, which is what I need in a shooter. A little bioshocky in some places.

Do the Assassin's creed thing and switch on the English subtitles?

This post has been edited by Aptorius: 14 February 2013 - 05:40 AM

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Then I feel like I miss out on details of what is onscreen because I'm reading the subtitles instead of watching the action. First world problems.

[Kanubis]

I absolutely loved the Russian accent on the English voice though. I found it incredibly soothing. I would actively look forward to the character speaking. I wanted to meet him in real life and drink vodka with him.

Anyway, I'm fully employing the wonder of modern computing by playing Shining Force and the sequel on the Sega Genesis pack thing you can get through Steam. And Final Fantasy VI on an emulator.

I'm also playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 on the side.

Basically I'm failing at gaming a bit at the moment.

[Mentalist]

I will be delving back into system Shock 2 later on today.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Kanubis, on 14 February 2013 - 10:35 AM, said:

I absolutely loved the Russian accent on the English voice though. I found it incredibly soothing. I would actively look forward to the character speaking. I wanted to meet him in real life and drink vodka with him.

Anyway, I'm fully employing the wonder of modern computing by playing Shining Force and the sequel on the Sega Genesis pack thing you can get through Steam. And Final Fantasy VI on an emulator.

I'm also playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 on the side.

Basically I'm failing at gaming a bit at the moment.

Yeah, I think they might have actually gotten a real russian voice actor. It's good. Some of the random voice acting sounds like cheesy pretend accents but it's well done for the main parts and especially Artyom.

[Macros]

Went to play a bit more Rome last night.
my computer has eaten the save files and wont let me save.

mother fucker.

[Defiance]

Nearly got all of the Oblivion mods I wanted installed, game was more or less running smoothly (had only one CTD in two hours of play, no missing textures)...and then I tried to install FCOM. Despite following the install guide to the letter, it still utterly fucked up my game (disabling every FCOM-related thing didn't work either).

So, basically wasted my entire day yesterday. I think I've just about killed my motivation to play this game.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

I've been playing the shit out of Clash of Clans, a iphone game that is addicitve and deep as hell. Village building, army raising, resource gathering and stealing, upgrades for all. Good stuff. Not sure if it's on android or facebook or anything, but for a free game it's well worth playing. One of those deals where you can set your upgrades going and then leave the game alone for hours and come back to it when you are ready. Check it out.

[Aptorian]

I finished MGS4 and MGS: Peacewalker.

MGS4 was an amazing mini-series. The gameplay stuff was also fun. I think in the end the story wrapped itself up waaay to neatly and they went way too soft on the fate of Snake and other characters.

WARNING
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT LOOKING IN HERE
IF YOU EVER PLAN ON PLAYING THE GAME
WARNING

Spoiler

Why the hell didn't they kill snake? It was a perfect death after all emotional drama they had him go through the game. They should have staged the fight between him and Liquid Ocelot first and then afterwards had him crawl through the microwave. It would have been a perfect end to his character. It made absolutely no sense that Snake was able to survive or even fight after going through that microwave. It was bullshit of the worst degree to stage a full on 20 minute punch out with Liquid after that. While it had it's own moments it completely ruined the emotional roller coaster of see snake crawl through the microwaves and finally reach the AI.

And even worse, then when you think he's going to blow his brains out in the cemetary, fucking Big Boss of all people show up and tell him that he doesn't have to die after all. And then Big Boss dies taking the last living patriot with him. What a bullshit way to end the story. Seriously. Fuck that shit.

Peacewalker was a strange game. I read in an article that Kojima claims that Peacewalker IS MGS5. That it was a game that he stood by 100% and was very passionate about, I have to say though, it felt like playing a side story of the MGS franchise, which I guess it also was, but they could have done more with this game, despite the lacking power of the PSP. It lacked proper bad guys and crazy monologues and conspiracy theory shadow games. It also didn't do much set up for the rest of the franchise.

Also, I was pretty disgusted when I learned through a FAQ that you can get a date with Paz, if you play your cards right. She's a 16 year old girl. Why in the fuck would I, a 40 something grizzled soldier, be interested in dating a 16 year old innocent girl?! Fucking Japan.

The past couple of weeks I have been trying to make my way through the pile of PS3 games I have started but not finished.

I've played:

Transformers: War for Cybertron - I didn't like the health system in the game and thought it made the game a bit too hard, but over all I think this is a wonderful game. It perfectly captures the characters of the cartoon and it tells a pretty great story of what went on before the Transformers came to Earth.

For a guy who used to watch the original show as a kid, there was something quite thrilling about getting to play as Megatron and Optimus Prime. When you're playing as Megatron you revel in the sheer feeling of power, that fusion canon he wears on his arm is a monster. His megalomania and his complete and utter contempt for weakness and cowardice is very entertaining. Playing as Optimus you feel like you are fighting the good fight. Everything about Optimus, the dialogue, his choices, is the opposite of Megatron. He is compassionate, inspiring and heroic to a fault. And Cybertron itself was an extremely cool place to set the game. It felt just alien enough that you were always waiting to see where the game took you next.

I definitely need to play the second game some day soon.

Killzone 3 - A much better game than Killzone 2. This game was fun. It seemed like they tried to break away from the military shooter in space schtick and just went with what they thought would make for interesting FPS gameplay. The story was a lot better in this game but it ended really weirdly. It will be interesting to see how they explain Killzone 4.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - The reboot of the Franchise. I've started and stopped this game several times before finally deciding to get through it. For some reason those opening levels really frustrate me. Probably because of the quick time events.

Anyway, this is a mix of God of war and Shadows of the Colossus. And honestly I think it does what it does a lot better than both of them. It surprised me to come to that conclusion but I honestly think this game is better than God of War 3. I had so much fun with the story and gameplay. Unfortunately the games narrative unravels towards the end of the game and it loses the feeling of relief and satisfaction because the story takes a weird turn. It also has the craziest epilogue and set up for a future sequel I have ever seen in a game.

Spoiler

A thousand years pass and we are in the future?! Gabriel has become Dracula? And the evil guy isn't dead but now Gabriels "friend"? And Satan is coming to start Armageddon part 2? What the fuck is going on!?

Bayonetta - This game was not really to my liking. I'm not really into fighting games or Japanese anime weirdness so it was a bit of a challenge getting through the game. What kept me going was the insane boss fights and just plain silliness of the protagonists exploits. I think this is the first game I have ever played, or story I have witnessed for that matter, that gets Angels "right". Angels, as described in ancient texts, aren't pretty people in white gowns with wings and a halo over their head. They are insane, mutant, eldritch, what the fuck am I even looking at kind of things. And this game really does that well. The horrible otherness of them clashes well with Bayonetta's complete and utter disregard for everything and her complete confidence in her own innate asskicking potential. I think Bayonetta might be the craziest female badass in videogame lore.

Next up is X-com enemy unknown - I just started the game and I already see why people got so in to this game. I started out by naming my marines, I am going with action movie stars, and instantly I felt a connection to each one and a slight dread that one might die any second now.

This post has been edited by Aptorius: 23 February 2013 - 07:14 AM

[Mentalist]

Aptorius, on 23 February 2013 - 07:04 AM, said:

I finished MGS4 and MGS: Peacewalker.

MGS4 was an amazing mini-series. The gameplay stuff was also fun. I think in the end the story wrapped itself up waaay to neatly and they went way too soft on the fate of Snake and other characters.

WARNING
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT LOOKING IN HERE
IF YOU EVER PLAN ON PLAYING THE GAME
WARNING

Spoiler

Why the hell didn't they kill snake? It was a perfect death after all emotional drama they had him go through the game. They should have staged the fight between him and Liquid Ocelot first and then afterwards had him crawl through the microwave. It would have been a perfect end to his character. It made absolutely no sense that Snake was able to survive or even fight after going through that microwave. It was bullshit of the worst degree to stage a full on 20 minute punch out with Liquid after that. While it had it's own moments it completely ruined the emotional roller coaster of see snake crawl through the microwaves and finally reach the AI.

And even worse, then when you think he's going to blow his brains out in the cemetary, fucking Big Boss of all people show up and tell him that he doesn't have to die after all. And then Big Boss dies taking the last living patriot with him. What a bullshit way to end the story. Seriously. Fuck that shit.

Peacewalker was a strange game. I read in an article that Kojima claims that Peacewalker IS MGS5. That it was a game that he stood by 100% and was very passionate about, I have to say though, it felt like playing a side story of the MGS franchise, which I guess it also was, but they could have done more with this game, despite the lacking power of the PSP. It lacked proper bad guys and crazy monologues and conspiracy theory shadow games. It also didn't do much set up for the rest of the franchise.

Also, I was pretty disgusted when I learned through a FAQ that you can get a date with Paz, if you play your cards right. She's a 16 year old girl. Why in the fuck would I, a 40 something grizzled soldier, be interested in dating a 16 year old innocent girl?! Fucking Japan.

The past couple of weeks I have been trying to make my way through the pile of PS3 games I have started but not finished.

I've played:

Transformers: War for Cybertron - I didn't like the health system in the game and thought it made the game a bit too hard, but over all I think this is a wonderful game. It perfectly captures the characters of the cartoon and it tells a pretty great story of what went on before the Transformers came to Earth.

For a guy who used to watch the original show as a kid, there was something quite thrilling about getting to play as Megatron and Optimus Prime. When you're playing as Megatron you revel in the sheer feeling of power, that fusion canon he wears on his arm is a monster. His megalomania and his complete and utter contempt for weakness and cowardice is very entertaining. Playing as Optimus you feel like you are fighting the good fight. Everything about Optimus, the dialogue, his choices, is the opposite of Megatron. He is compassionate, inspiring and heroic to a fault. And Cybertron itself was an extremely cool place to set the game. It felt just alien enough that you were always waiting to see where the game took you next.

I definitely need to play the second game some day soon.

Killzone 3 - A much better game than Killzone 2. This game was fun. It seemed like they tried to break away from the military shooter in space schtick and just went with what they thought would make for interesting FPS gameplay. The story was a lot better in this game but it ended really weirdly. It will be interesting to see how they explain Killzone 4.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - The reboot of the Franchise. I've started and stopped this game several times before finally deciding to get through it. For some reason those opening levels really frustrate me. Probably because of the quick time events.

Anyway, this is a mix of God of war and Shadows of the Colossus. And honestly I think it does what it does a lot better than both of them. It surprised me to come to that conclusion but I honestly think this game is better than God of War 3. I had so much fun with the story and gameplay. Unfortunately the games narrative unravels towards the end of the game and it loses the feeling of relief and satisfaction because the story takes a weird turn. It also has the craziest epilogue and set up for a future sequel I have ever seen in a game.

Spoiler

A thousand years pass and we are in the future?! Gabriel has become Dracula? And the evil guy isn't dead but now Gabriels "friend"? And Satan is coming to start Armageddon part 2? What the fuck is going on!?

Bayonetta - This game was not really to my liking. I'm not really into fighting games or Japanese anime weirdness so it was a bit of a challenge getting through the game. What kept me going was the insane boss fights and just plain silliness of the protagonists exploits. I think this is the first game I have ever played, or story I have witnessed for that matter, that gets Angels "right". Angels, as described in ancient texts, aren't pretty people in white gowns with wings and a halo over their head. They are insane, mutant, eldritch, what the fuck am I even looking at kind of things. And this game really does that well. The horrible otherness of them clashes well with Bayonetta's complete and utter disregard for everything and her complete confidence in her own innate asskicking potential. I think Bayonetta might be the craziest female badass in videogame lore.

Next up is X-com enemy unknown - I just started the game and I already see why people got so in to this game. I started out by naming my marines, I am going with action movie stars, and instantly I felt a connection to each one and a slight dread that one might die any second now.

They WILL die.

Just sayin'

[Aptorian]

I know, and it fills me with regret. I have named the 4 starting Marines Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sigouney Weaver, Dolph Lundgren and Sylvester Stallone. I am worried that by the end of my game I will be left with C list actors. I might have to switch to movie character names instead. Rocky Balboa, John McClane, Terminator Terminatorsen.

[Aptorian]

Nooo I lost Arnold! He got ambushed by a cyberdisc but I managed to get him back from critical, only for him in the very next round being cheap shotted by a sectoid before I had time to heal him.

I am sad

[Defiance]

Extremely late in this response, but regarding Metal Gear Solid 2:

Spoiler

Personally, I really enjoyed it. It's probably my least favorite of 1-4, but I thought the themes regarding memes and censorship were really well done. I know that a lot of people hated playing as Raiden, but while he's certainly no Solid Snake I thought his character illustrated an excellent point: how often do we just accept what we are told without question? What actually "makes" someone's identity anyway?

That said, 2 definitely had the worst environment in the series (I liked the tanker and Arsenal Gear, but the oil platforms were bleh). Also, the Rose codecs were god awful.

Anyway, started up The Witcher 2 again. I'm following Iorveth's path this time around and playing on hard difficulty. I have to say, not counting the first two hours or so in Flotsam, hard difficulty really is a joke. Then again, Quen is overpowered as fuck. I'm going to have to try the game on Dark when I do my inevitable replays in the month or two before The Wild Hunt comes out. I might explore a bit more in the Magic tree, possibly mixed with some Alchemy, when I play on Dark to make things interesting.

[Morgoth]

Aptorius, on 23 February 2013 - 04:38 PM, said:

Nooo I lost Arnold! He got ambushed by a cyberdisc but I managed to get him back from critical, only for him in the very next round being cheap shotted by a sectoid before I had time to heal him.

I am sad

Remember that the only way to truly play Xcom is Classic Ironman. It can be frustrating at times, but it makes the game such a great experience. Losing a high lvl soldier suddenly becomes an almost physically painful experience.