Author Topic: Favorite New Video Game?  (Read 9156 times)

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Favorite New Video Game?
« on: 2005-10-27, 10:46:12 AM »
There have been many new releases lately, and depending on what console you own (or just simply your PC) you might be playing one.

So, what new release have you been playing the most?

I have been playing two new games lately, and to me, they are quite fun.  The first one is Shadow of the Colossus(For Playstation 2).  This game is so artistic and breathtaking, I have just been captivated the whole way through.

Another is Castlevania:  Dawn of Sorrow(for Nintendo DS).  This game is a classic side scroller and a great addition to the Castlevania series.  It's not quite as good as Symphony of the Night, but it's close.

Both of these games help me to think more creatively about my projects.  I get alot of inspiration and ambition from others work.  So, there you have it, those are my two new Muse(sp?).

So, what have you been playing?

durnurd

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« Reply #1 on: 2005-10-27, 02:13:43 PM »
I haven't been playing any new releases lately.  The most recently-released game that I've played is Dungeon Siege II, which isn't that bad, but it's not that great.  It's basically something to pass the time with my friends on the weekends (multiplayer).

And I haven't even played Shadow of the Collosus, but I've heard enough and seen enough about it to know that if you own a PS2, you also must own this game.  If you don't.....well....just buy it.  (*wink* *wink*, BlueMonk).

The next-oldest new release is KOTOR II, so you can see that I don't keep up very well on the new games.
Edward Dassmesser

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« Reply #2 on: 2005-10-27, 02:36:28 PM »
If Bluemonk doesn't already have Shadow of the Colossus, I think he should get it as soon as he can!  It is an excellent achievement (i'm guessing from your hint he has a PS2 ;) ). :)

KOTOR II you say?  I take it you're playing on PC?  I have it for X-Box, and I was sorely dissapointed with it, seeing as how the first was such an outstanding RPG on all fronts.  I finished it though.  I liked how it was like the old one, but then agian, I disliked it because it was too much like the old one.  Not enough new, in my eyes. :(

I haven't played Doungeon Siege II yet.  I heard it was supposed to be alright.

cbass

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« Reply #3 on: 2005-10-27, 05:15:40 PM »
Remember, every minute bluemonk spends playing a new game is another minute before SGDK 2.0 is released :twisted: .

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« Reply #4 on: 2005-10-27, 05:39:32 PM »
So true, cbass, so true.  Maybe he shouldn't check it out....well, I don't control him!  He should definately check it out at some point.

durnurd

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« Reply #5 on: 2005-10-27, 09:40:08 PM »
I think there's no controlling how much he's going to play PS2, if not Collosus, then some other game, and since Collosus is such a good game, then it won't be time wasted.

As for KOTOR II, yeah, I'm playing it on PC.  Haven't got any consoles, and I never played the original, so I'm not dissapointed at how similar it is to the first.  However, I am dissapointed at how buggy the program is.  The QA people didn't quite do their job on this one, I think.
Edward Dassmesser

bluemonkmn

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« Reply #6 on: 2005-10-28, 06:20:57 AM »
I'm currently playing "Star Ocean: 'Till the End of Time".  Durnurd tells me it's on the top 10 list of games people never finish because they're too long or something. I love that kind of game :).  I'm up to almost 90 hours of gameplay... possibly the longest ever -- I think I only spent about 80 hours max playing any Final Fantasy game.  I bought the game in January and started playing it in August or early September I think.

But I have been trying to conscientiously put more work into SGDK 2.0 lately too, even though it's currently "TV season" too.  And I have been making some progress (oops, I'm getting a little too on-topic here ;)).  I think it was just yesterday morning that I got a layer full of tiles drawing in the windowed layer editor.  There's no way to edit them or scroll them yet, but I saw them draw once, using Managed DirectX calls.

One of the coolest things about SGDK 2.0 is that everything stays in sync so well due to the use of .NET "Datasets".  If I have the layer editor window up and the Tileset editor window up, and I change a tile definition, boom I immediately see the layer editor behind it show the new tile appearance in the tile selector (and probably on the layer itself, when I get that fully functional).  Similarly, if I have the counter window up and change the value of a counter, boom, all the tiles linked to that counter will change to their new appearance in the layer editor.  Hopefully the days of renaming something and breaking a number of references throughout your project are over! :)

durnurd

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« Reply #7 on: 2005-10-28, 08:11:26 AM »
Oh, I was thinking about counters and stuff when talking about the explosive sprite recently.  And I was thinking, this could probably be made easier in SGDK 2.0 somehow, either with counters or something else, and it was another thing that I wanted to remember to make sure was addressed.  But since, as I understand it, everything will be scripted internally, it will be easier to introduce new types of sprites as "plug-in"s of sorts, yes?  Like, have a folder in the SGDK directory called "Sprite templates" that would contain a bunch of default sprite types as scripts, and then you could download (or create) and add your own new types of sprites.  And this would apply to other stuff too.  Just more ideas.
Edward Dassmesser

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« Reply #8 on: 2005-10-28, 11:10:27 AM »
Awesome, it sounds like you're making quite a bit of progress on SGDK 2.0.

To stay on topic, however, I have Star Ocean: Till the end of time.  I actually beat it, but it was only 60 hours for me.  My favorite thing about it was definitely the battleing system.  Definitely innovative for this type of game.  The story seemed a little flat, though.  the voice acting wasn't very well done, either.  The rest of the game, however was actually really good to me.

I've played most of the Final Fantasy's.  Those are some outstanding RPGs.  They have really, really well done stories.  Can't wait for number twelve.  They aren't as long as Star Ocean though...

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« Reply #9 on: 2005-10-28, 08:58:09 PM »
So, did you like rush through Star Ocean or did you try to find every little secret?  Did you "cheat" by looking anything up online?  The only thing I've looked up so far is how to get Mayu to join my inventor force (and found how to get the killer chef to join at the same time).

There are a couple things bugging me about this game.  First of all, the enemies seem far too difficult in some areas.  Maybe I'm dodging too many of them and not going up in levels fast enough.  Or maybe I'm not spending enough time on inventing better weapons and armor.  Or maybe it's just supposed to be this difficult (certainly more difficult than the Final Fantasy battles).  I can usually handle myself alright unless the enemy starts healing itself... it usually heals itself all the way when it does heal itself and then there's no hope of finishing the battle alive for me.  But when I fight in a team, I have a really hard time of keeping my teammates alive.  I play Fayt at level 50 and they (Sophia and Peppita) are around level 30.  Perhaps I'm just getting into some spaces earlier than I should.  But the place I am right now is someplace I'm forced to be, and some of the enemies here are taking my teammates out in one well-placed attack, and then while I try to revive them they can sometimes take me down with a couple attacks.  My attack seems pretty hefty, I can hit the enemy for about 30000 if I'm lucky, but normally closer to 8000.  I'm taking advantage of elemental weaknesses to do so.  But what I really need is better defense.  Apparently level 7 defense and 7000 hit points is barely enough, but Sophia and Peppita are stuck back around level 5 defense and 2000 hit points right now.  Maybe I just have to pick a better team.  I think Cliff has more hit points and defense.  I think I'm just missing some big pieces of strategy.  I don't like having people fall unconscious and having to revive them so often.  A long battle is fine, but I'm tired of falling in the middle so often.  If that's the way it was deigned to balance out, it's a really annoying balance in my opinion.

The other thing that bugs me is the invention system.  It's supposed to be this great way to make money, but often times it will take 3000 Fol to invent something even though it's only supposed to cost 300 per cycle.  It takes away the 300, and then for no apparent reason, in the middle of the cycle, my Fol goes down by 3000 sometimes.  That doesn't seem like a good way to make any profit.  And what's the point of multiple lines?  Fail faster and more expensively all at once!  Why would I pay extra for that!?  I've invented a couple valuable things, but much as I try, I feel like I pretty much break even.  It may be nice to have a patent on something so I can buy it at 1/5th the price, but most of the things I invent I only need one of anyway, so there's no point in discounting them in the future.  It bugs me that half the chests I find are filled with invention materials, and I can't open them because I can't hold any more because I can't see the point in using the materials in the first place.  Why bother spending 500 Fol to improve by Natto when I could just buy another blueberry and blackberry at less than half the cost?  Inventing just seems like a losing game.  Maybe they expect you to cheat your way through with some kind of guide on how to be profitable/successful, but I don't like to play games that way.

Oh, and one more thing that really bugs me, falling unconscious because I'm out of MP.  That's just not right  :x.  I'm really used to games where you only really have to worry about HP when it comes to going unconscious.  Anyway, I think this game isn't quite as well balanced as it could be.  The balance is less rewarding than most games -- maybe that's just to prolong the agony/enjoyment as long as possible :twisted:.

Otherwise it's an amazing game.  Very deep with it's hundreds of pages of definitions and libraries of readable books, and zillions of different items.  I hope I don't miss too much going through without cheating.

Man, if someone could make a game this big and long with GameDev, who knows how many secret levels of star ratings they'd unlock :o.  Oops, did I say secret star ratings out loud?  I mean regular old star ratings... and instead of unlock, I mean... earn... yeah, that's the ticket. :)

cbass

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« Reply #10 on: 2005-10-28, 09:49:28 PM »
Quote from: "bluemonkmn"
Man, if someone could make a game this big and long with GameDev

Mwa hahaha, we shall see.

Well, maybe not that long, but I'm doing all my planning to be quite big.  Advanced planning and making ways to make content easier to produce have been what most of my time has been spent on so far with gamedev.

A big thing I have been doing to cut down on content creation time is to make script generate most of the sprites and thier templates rather than adding them all in, (For each map, grrr   :twisted: )

Well, this has been totally off topic to this post, but i guess I'm in the right forum.

As far was what games I have been playing.  I played world of warcraft, which was great fun for a couple months.  I tried http://www.moonpod.com/English/about_ss.php indie game, its pretty fun.  kind of a cross between master of orion and asteriods.  Maybe ill try out that castlevania one, as I got a DS last christmas but have only been playing gameboy advanced games on it.

I don't own any consoles, but I was thinking of maybe getting a playstation and buying some bargin bin RPG's to see if there are any gems.  Anyone have any suggestions?

durnurd

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« Reply #11 on: 2005-10-28, 10:01:02 PM »
Well, if you haven't played Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX, Tactics, IV, V, or IV, then those are some good options.  They're all for PSX I believe.
Edward Dassmesser

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« Reply #12 on: 2005-10-29, 09:45:48 AM »
Well, yes those are some annoying things you point out about Start Ocean.  No, I never cheat my way through games, it knocks down on the enjoyment in my opinion.  No, I didn't rush it.  I'm interested on where you are?  You seem to be at maybe too low of a level...I'm not sure...

The invention method in the game is quite screwed up.  There really is no stratagy, as far as I see it.  I just forgot about it, except for the Synthesis material.  You can forge items into weapons with that.  Like, raise it's attack power or make it do elements.  that was really the only one worth it.

I have made many long games for SGDK.  Not 90 hours long, though...  Some of my games probably have a more well thought out story then Star Ocean, though. :P I must say, too, Star Ocean has some of the worst Doungeon design in a game.  I believe I could do better with my games.

In regards to the MP thing...yeah it's annoying.  It seems to be a perfect way for the Final Boss to kill you so much.  I can't believe I beat that boss.  It was after about a month of giving up on it, though.

Well, in reply to cbass, yes those games durnurd stated are all great classics... but he forgot Chrono Cross!  That is one outstanding RPG for playstation.  If you get a PS2, then all those (or most) can be played on it.

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« Reply #13 on: 2005-10-29, 10:14:13 AM »
Actually, the ones I listed are all playable on a regular old Playstation.  I've personally never played Chrono Cross, but that brings up a good point.  Chrono Trigger is another great game.  But it comes with Final Fantasy IV in a 2 disc set.

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a Square-Enix Fan :)

But I should warn you that FF IV through VI and Chrono Trigger are SNES ports, meaning they are only 2D, but the graphics are still quite impressive for their time, and I wouldn't pass up a game just for that.  In fact, if you haven't played FF VI, you are missing out.  It's many people's opinion that it's still the best in the series.

In fact, I recall now that they came out with a "Greatest Hits" series of Playstation 1 games, which, as you can imagine, are the greatest Playstation 1 games. Here's the list at Amazon
Edward Dassmesser

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« Reply #14 on: 2005-10-29, 11:10:12 AM »
Yeah, I'm a big fan of them too [SquareEnix].  They make some really good stories, and it seems that's what games are missing these days.

About those games...I know they can be played on the original PS...I just thought maybe he could get the PS2 (or not) and still be able to play those games, seeing how it's backwards compatible.  I would just go for the original Playstation if you want to play those great games, cbass.

Chrono Trigger!  Yes, I love that game!  It's right there with...maybe Super Mario RPG as my favorite SNES [Super Nintendo] RPG!  You haven't played Chrono Cross, Durnurd?  You should!  It's a great game, made even better if you enjoied Chrono trigger! :)