Chatterbox: Video Games

Does the PS 3 connect differently than PC, or something? Because my internet is so shitty I can't even see Google (I have to use my phone's mobile network), but I can play Mass Effect 3 multiplayer without even lag.

I just earned the big blue button prize in Nintendo Land. It's crazy. I mean, the yellow button shrinks all your prizes by putting them back in their boxes, the green button changes the time of day and music to go with it, but the blue button... makes everything float in the air! Everything floats and flies around, while the music changes to a light-hearted orchestrated theme. It's very strange.

In fact, it made me think of Mario Paint and how that game let you mess around in the title screen, clicking different things to make weird stuff happen, like changing the music, having shooting stars fall from the sky, and so on. The plaza in Nintendo Land is similar. It's toy-like and very interactive.

It's about time someone made something like this.

I figured the gaming market was headed in this direction for a while. Handheld phones lack actual sticks and buttons, but they can do a lot of things. Current handheld game systems are practically a joke in terms of graphical power. And while Google programmed support for game controllers into the Android operating system, the fragmentation of Android (so many different devices, screen resolutions, and versions of the operating system) hasn't helped.

But Nvidia made not only a really powerful graphics chip for handheld devices that can power displays up to 4K (3840x2160) resolution, but they also made a handheld device that runs it and has sticks and buttons. Naturally, it runs Android. It can also be plugged into a TV.

I really want to see this, or something like it, take off. Handheld gaming is turning into smartphone stuff that I don't care for, and hopefully this could help bring it back. Plus the ability to plug into a TV helps make it also a portable console. If this device fails, I want to see someone else pick up the pieces and improve the concept. Either way, the concept of a handheld game system that can be plugged into a TV and has console-quality graphics, and runs downloadable games, is the sort of thing that I figured would exist someday. Now it just needs to be done right and be successful.

Just took down the first boss of Asuras Wrath. Holy motherfucking shit.

I got The Sims 3 the other day. It's just as addictive as its predecessors. Where did my time go?!

It looks like the Nvidia Shield isn't something I'd really want to use. But again, I hope some company does the concept right. I think at some point, handheld and TV will be unified.

I have no idea what you are talking about....

~looks up youtube~

~pure shock~

Heh, that was my reaction too.

Oh, and Laculus, get the DLC while you're at it. the boss of Part IV Nirvana will blow you're mind even more.

edited 10th Jan '13 2:51:43 PM by Demongodofchaos2

I just spent roughly an hour in a game completing a sidequest in The Last Story with no tangible reward, just so I could have a good excuse to walk back and forth through several alleyways grinding Gnome Metals just so I could have all my equipment upgraded so I could stop worrying about it.

I HAVE NO REGRETS.

Clasic JRPG for the Wii you say? How is it overall?

Nintendo Land just has a ton of content. Since you can click on a Mii and see what their accomplishments are, I keep seeing people from time to time who got 200% on one of the adventures, or even achievements like a platinum trophy on the insanely hard Donkey Kong Crash Course.

I'm close to having all prizes, but I really need to get better at some of the single-run (i.e. not divided into numerous levels that can be chosen separately) games, as some of them are quite hard. Interestingly, I got a platinum on Balloon Trip Breeze, but I saw someone else who got platinums on the games I have a hard time with say that Balloon Trip Breeze is really hard. I also did not get 100% on any "team"/"adventure" attractions (i.e. the three that are single-player or co-op, and divided into multiple levels that you earn one after another). Some people have gotten 200%, which I assume is the true limit.

The game has a lot more challenge than I initially thought, and it's a shame I blew it off at first and thought "this game is lame and has no depth".

Also, I like how even wandering the park is a subtle minigame in itself. The game shows 3 player-created Miis and tasks you with finding them, which only gets harder later when the game intentionally picks Miis that look similar to other Miis (e.g. if it asks you to find a brown-haired person in a blue shirt, there will be numerous other player-created Miis that have blue shirts and brown hair in similar hairstyles). It gives you more of a reason to roam around the park plaza than atmosphere alone.

If you ask me, pretty awesome! It has some really fun combat (though you kind of need to remember to turn off automatic, which is sort of weird that that's the default), with some interesting strategy built into it via the "magic circle" system. There are lots of sidequests, the writing is overall pretty good, and even if the story is definitely on the "RPG Cheez" side, it does just the right thing just often enough that it overall keeps you entralled. My main complaints with it stem from the fact that it has a disconnected overworld traveled mostly through maps (awww, I wanted to roam some) and that the "puzzle bosses" are not precisely up to Zelda caliber, but overall I'm very pleased with it and would definitely recommend it RPG fans.

Sounds good to me.

I've been playing Resonance of Fate for the PS 3 (we have a thread) and some cheese and combat complexity are what make that game so fun. As cheesy as the first few chapter-start "skits" are, I swear they have more character than some other entire games.

Intro, chapter 0, chapter 2 (should be SFW...) AKA: The FUNIEST THING I'VE SEEN IN QUITE A WHILE. Oh, it is also referenced/joked about throughout the required parts of the chapter.

This is NOT a game for the kiddies, folks (even if there is nothing actually shown). Though teens would have a blast.

I seriously think that there's a psychological thing for me where if I have beaten a game, even if there's tons of optional things to do, I just don't feel like playing it anymore. And yet, if I'm doing those exact same optional things but haven't won the game yet, I'll gladly continue doing them and be engaged in the game.

I wonder if it's related to whatever aspect of human psychology is responsible for procrastination? That when we have a task that isn't done yet, we have more fun doing all sorts of other things, but once the task is finished, we don't care anymore?

Anyway, I "beat" Nintendo Land, in the sense that I became a Star Player for every attraction, and earned the credits, as well as every prize. That means I beat the "main" levels for every attraction (their word for mini-game), but with every single one, there are extra challenge levels that show up after the main game. I haven't finished the extra challenge levels for most of these games, but somehow, I don't have as much drive to do so. I "won" the games, so somehow, even though Metroid Blast has 10 more levels, Zelda Battle Quest (which I don't care for) has 5 more levels, and Pikmin Adventure has 8 more levels, to say nothing of Donkey Kong's Crash Course and Captain Falcon's Twister Race, I just don't have as much drive to keep playing even though I was mostly playing just for fun and not for a goal the whole time.

It's an annoying psychological limit in my case, and I wish I didn't have it.

I completely understand. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time is the one that broke me of all "excessively completionist" habits.

So you've beaten the game with your characters around lvl 75-80! Here are the Bonus Dungeons to complete you journey to lvl 255 (plus a little more optional story)! And that's not all! We also have a ton of achievements that you get by playing through the entire game on 3 different difficulties and completing time trials for the bosses (this require tons of grinding)!

...yeah, I think I made it to about lvl 115 on my first "playthrough" and never even tried the other difficulties.

edited 15th Jan '13 11:49:36 AM by Belian

Holy shit, those dudes' faces are so girly it looks like a parody. Did they manage too out-FF FF?

No... I really can't compare Resonance Of Fate with Final Fantasy.

For one thing, the main weapons are (absurdly customize-able) guns and the setting is entirely Steampunk. There is no magic but everything works like magic.

For another, those three characters are the only playable characters in the game (as far as I know) and the secondary characters are fairly diverse. Including an "artist", a female Big Eater with noticeable assets, and a fat, (apparently) spoiled brat who inherited his position/power ("apparently" because he does have a project that will help everyone out if accomplished).

Finally, you can unlock/purchase clothes for them. Including contact lenses to change their eye colors (Left and Right eyes are separate) and spray-in hair color. Right now I could give the older/perverted/biker guy silver hair or rose highlights and pink glasses. Or put the girl in one of three different cat-ear hairbands (right now she has a bee on her head). And I haven't looked at the Boutique shop for a while.

edited 15th Jan '13 4:24:42 PM by Belian

...I was talking about the absurdly bishonen faces.

I know, but I never really pay that sort of thing much attention. And I have a hard time thinking of these two as feminine at all.

I just sort of followed my thoughts as they branched out to a more general comparison. Not to mention that I hadn't really talked about those aspects before.

And I was just that board bored. >_>

edited 15th Jan '13 7:57:48 PM by Belian

Bored .

...I should have known I spelled that wrong. I'm hooked on Phonics more than spelling.

For me, the Playable Epilogue is just the beginning! I'm still excessively completionist no matter what. It actually kind of cheers me to know that, even though I've beaten a game, I can still go back and keep playing it and do things.

On my own game playing, I finally bought a version of Plants Vs Zombies and am enjoying that. But I kind of want to get the minigames open soon. I've actually seen almost all the game through a Let's Play (that was the whole reason I wanted it, actually) and the mini-games look like the best part to me. Not that I'm not enjoying the main game. S'fun!

I also bought a digital download Dragon Quest spinoff called Dragon Quest Wars, and am trying to perfect my strategy. So I can at least reliably beat the computer, anyway.

A question to all those who have played Mass Effect. I recently found the entire Trilogy for PS 3 for dirt cheap compared to what the retail prices are over here. I played the Mass Effect 2 demo and I found it quite enjoyable. Is the trilogy worth it, and are the 3 games unbutchered?

Yes, yes, a hundred times yes.

I don't actually have the trilogy, but I had Mass Effect 2 for PS 3. Can't say that it felt butchered, it worked pretty well. I also liked it quite much back then, as it even beat my procrastination (I didn't actually finish it, since a crash, that was caused by my console, not the game, killed my save file).