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Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:30 pm Posts: 229
Gender: male
MBTI type: infp
Class: Viking
I like my food: Spicy
A few days ago I returned to Europa Universalis 3 (it got a new xpac).
It's ever so fun making your own tiny and somewhat pathetic home-country into the unrivaled superpower of the world. *giggles megalomanicaly*
Anyone else like this game?
_________________ Is the cup half-full or half-empty? Neither, the cup is the rightful domain of air, and water are the imperialistic invader that must be fought by all means neccesary. Drink it.
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:09 pm Posts: 189 Location: Wakefield, UK
Gender: male
MBTI type: INFP
Enneagram type: 4w5
Enneagram Tritype: 459
Class: Pirate
I like my food: Delicious
I can't say I've ever played that one, trondor, or even heard of it unfortunately. Though I do recall an old game called Imperium Galactica that I used to play when I was younger, which was about conquering and developing planets, and creating an intergalactic empire. It frustrated me to no end because even a Pentium II and Win 98 was too modern for it, in that when the diagnostic detected the IRQ of my soundcard, the program froze. I tried working around it but I doubt I could even do that nowadays. In the end I settled for playing with no sound and called my savefile the Silent Sergeant or something. It was fairly fun. Also Gene Wars. And Theme Hospital.
Also, DC! Gish! Awesome game. Reminds me of when a bunch of mates and I were playing it at a LAN party along with Geometry Wars, the sumo multiplayer was hilarious.
So yeah, I'm definitely an RPG sort of guy, as I'm sure those of you who know me from INFPgc are aware. I could list endless numbers of titles, but I'll just stick to the main ones which come straight to mind. Which is still sort of endless. You have been warned.
Console-style: - Final Fantasy series. (VII was my first RPG, and an incredible experience, though I still remain... erm... more level-headed than some. Even despite the nostalgia filter. I'm not sure I like where they're taking the series.) - Star Ocean (1 and 2 more than 3. Star Ocean 2 is amazing. I only rented it a few times but it left such an impression on me that I tracked it down on eBay years later, and don't regret a penny of it.) - Grandia (the first one. seemingly a common complaint is that the story builds up slowly and it is cliché, but I actually appreciate the attention to detail and found it quite emotional.) - Valkyrie Profile (the second one is good, but the original VP was really a monolithic title if you ask me. between the soundtrack and the sublime story and writing, I cried many times.)
Computer-style: - Baldur's Gate series. (my parents bought me the first BG before I knew much French at school - and the manual was in French. deciphering AD&D was possible only thanks to the help of GameFAQs. but BG2 and by extension the Forgotten Realms played a major part of inspiring my imagination during school.) - Neverwinter Nights (I considered the single player to be a ghastly disappointment compared to BG. but it was my first really robust multiplayer experience, where I stuck around and got to know various communities. also dabbled around in scripting/mod-making a bit.) - Knights of the Old Republic (it came closer to recapturing the spirit of what made Baldur's Gate amazing than did NWN. also it was set in the Star Wars universe, and I used to be quite the SW geek when I was younger, so I appreciate it muchly.)
Handheld titles: - Fire Emblem (this is quite a recent discovery of mine, but I think they're all fantastic, even though everything prior to FE7 is in Japanese without translation patches. also, I know that only FE6-8 are on handhelds, but I also have the GC and Wii ones. brilliant soundtrack, story/writing and gameplay. what more is there?) - Pokémon (I became interested in it shortly before it became a craze, but the craze was really bewildering because it made me unintentionally and temporarily popular. I have many fond memories of training and battling teams with perhaps the only other competent friend I had in school at the time. he bought me Silver when holidaying in America, and I also have an event Celebi! the cartridge still works, although the clock is off. also the TCG was fun, but expensive, and few people could play that properly either. I still have the Mewtwo card from seeing the first movie somewhere. the anime was a guilty pleasure, and was what prompted me into originally discovering, emulating, and then buying, Blue Version. probably my next obsession alongside BG.)
Though I'm predominantly an RPG fanatic, it must be said that before I discovered them I was a big fan of racing, platformers and beat 'em ups. I'm talking Ridge Racer, Mario Bros, Sonic and Street Fighter. This would later evolve into Gran Turismo, Crash Bandicoot and VF4 Evo (which I played semi-seriously for a while). I also have experience playing UT2004 at a high level of competitive play, enjoy dabbling in Quake Live, and have recently been playing a game called Bloodline Champions - it's a kind of PvP/Arena type of deal except all skills are aimed rather than automatic and it's totally skill based, with no levels or equipment and all abilities doing set amounts of damage/debuff. It was very addictive at first, but it becomes a bit repetitive and routine when trying to master just the one bloodline.
Also, yes, Vagrant Story is downright incredible (as is Final Fantasy Tactics. they share similarities to FFXII due to the same producer/director/composer working on them.) At this point if you're still reading I have to say I'm surprised at Zanreo's first game being Pokémon Crystal! Definitely a good way to be introduced, though. I can't remember what my first game was, as I had an Atari ST at 3 or 4 years old. (As a sidenote I had to check to confirm what kind of Atari system it was, and when I saw a screenshot of the ST's operating system, my heart skipped a beat.) I remember playing Bubble Bobble and some obscure educational game that tried and failed to teach me long addition. By far the favourite of my early childhood however was Parasol Stars! What a game that was! It wasn't even released on arcade cabinets. I'm sincerely tempted to play it again through a PC Engine emulator.
_________________ We are beyond our own ability to define ourselves - we can only describe what we think we are.
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 11:15 pm Posts: 131 Location: big city
MBTI type: pfin
Enneagram type: ocean
i was playing ff7 and baldurs gate for a bit but rpgs take too long and i always stop.
i'm always playing the facebook game "fairyland." the game mechanic is being nice--water other people's plants and sometimes spot animals in their gardens. progress in the game causes donations to the nature conservancy to protect rainforests. yay.
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:20 pm Posts: 750 Location: UK
Gender: female
MBTI type: INFP
Enneagram type: 5w4
Class: Viking
I like my food: Abundant
I'm a big RPG fan as well. I especially love those with a massive world that I can get lost in, usually western RPG's like Morrowind, Oblivion, Fallout etc. I've been playing Fallout New Vegas and Mass Effect 2 the most recently (I say recently, I haven't had time to play either the past month or so) and both have unique worlds that I enjoy being part of. New Vegas especially for the hardcore mode which forces you to engage within role playing actions such as eating and sleeping.
The game that I am most looking forward to this year though is Skyrim, the next in line to the Elder Scrolls games. I just know I will play it to death. Hell, I poured hundreds of hours into Oblivion.
On a non-RPG note, Child of Eden is also going to be fantastic. It's a game all about love and peace and will feature music from Genki Rockets, who create some beautiful, cheerful music.
_________________ ~I'll think of a witty comment later, or not. Maybe something to do with clouds?!~
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:09 pm Posts: 189 Location: Wakefield, UK
Gender: male
MBTI type: INFP
Enneagram type: 4w5
Enneagram Tritype: 459
Class: Pirate
I like my food: Delicious
Well, as my wrists are still somewhat dubious, over the last week I've been losing myself in Persona 3: FES. I haven't quite finished my first playthrough yet but at this point I feel compelled to ask: why the shit didn't I play this sooner?! If you can put up with a few annoying, repetitive Japanese rap/hip-hop tracks that blemish the otherwise in my opinion solid soundtrack (it's probably an acquired taste) and you don't mind forfeiting your life for the next week or two then give it a look. Probably hands down the best RPG I've played on the PS2 platform along with FFX and Suikoden V. If this game is anything to go by, I'm going to be getting down and cosy with the Megaten series in the very near future, Fatlus memes be damned.
_________________ We are beyond our own ability to define ourselves - we can only describe what we think we are.
i wanted to try one of the "persona" games but, they were out of my price range. i found "rogue galaxy" for 4.99 on amazon though. gonna give that a shot.
_________________ "...he must bring forth values which are an equivalent substitute for his absence in the collective personal sphere. Without this production of values individuation is immoral and, more than that, suicidal..." Jung
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:58 am Posts: 1909 Location: Halfway Down the Stairs
Gender: male
MBTI type: INFP
Enneagram type: 4w5 so/sx
Finally got around to playing Batman: Arkham Asylum recently. Awesome game - highly recommend it, especially if you're a Bat fan. Can't wait to get my hands on Arkham City (as soon as I can afford it anyway) - thanks in no small part to the teaser trailer:
_________________ What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2009 9:58 am Posts: 1909 Location: Halfway Down the Stairs
Gender: male
MBTI type: INFP
Enneagram type: 4w5 so/sx
Finished playing through Transformers: War for Cybertron's online co-op campaign mode with a couple of mates recently. What a fun game! Definitely worth a 7 out of ten from me.
Spoiler:
The graphics are pretty good, and I like the aesthetic design too - it's like a cross between the recent movies and the original show (even if having fairly dull-coloured metal robots on a fairly dull coloured metal background meant that sometimes I had difficulty making out what I was looking at on my relatively low-res screen).
The gameplay itself is good, pretty responsive controls (which is a boon considering there's a fair amount of platform jumping to be done), and the way you need to help your team-mates up if their energy drops too low and they get knocked down is a nice touch (though that sort of thing seems increasingly par for the course for co-op games these days). I would have liked to have seen more examples of having to work together to solve puzzles though - there's only one bit I can really think of that exploits the multi-player feature that way (you get split up and have to activate switches that allow your team-mates to reach new areas where they can activate switches that allow you to reach new switches (etc,) until you finally meet up again).
As far as the combat goes there's some nice gunplay, which (on normal difficulty at least) actually requires you to conserve your ammo (though I would have liked to have seen more variety and creativity when it comes to the guns on offer - despite the game's attempts to get you to think otherwise there's really only three or four basic types), but I felt the melee side of things was a bit weak - it's just one big bash attack that never feels as if you're actually hitting anything. I would have preferred more of a mini-combo affair with a greater sense of impact (if I'm a big giant robot smashing another big giant robot in the face with an energy mace, I want it to feel like that!).
There's some nice variety in the gameplay though, with a few racing and flying segments thrown in to mix things up a bit. They aren't amazingly well done or anything (it's not like you could present those parts as a separate game entirely and they'd stand up to the competition), but they make a nice change to the usual routine (even if the fact you can't fly directly upwards at your normal cruising speed can be a bit of a pain in the rear end).
As far as the extra modes go there's a pretty good co-op tower defence mode which allows you to spend the points you accrue during each attack wave on things like energy and ammo and new weapons and such, and in another nice touch your points can be pooled with other players, so if they're a little short and can't quite afford that energy replenish or whatever, you can share some of your points with them.
it's in the set-pieces where this game really shines though, every level has a good two or three really spectacular moments that immerse you in the game and help you feel like you're fighting this epic war that's been raging over an entire planet for decades, if not centuries. And it doesn't hurt that a number of these spectacular moments involve the game's bosses, especially the final bosses for both the Autobot and Decepticon campaigns (though, speaking of the bosses, one or two of them have some really cheap attacks that end up making those parts of the game more frustrating than they should be, but fortunately the game is pretty generous with its check-points).
Like most everything Transformers related, its biggest weakness is probably in the character and story-line side of things. The plot (such as it is) is so clearly a strung-together series of set-pieces that half the time I really wasn't sure why we had to go to these places and do these things other than "because the enemy is there" or something. And nobody in this game really has anything resembling a story-arc, mostly because it suffers from the 'never explain motivations' and 'only have three or four character types' problems that are endemic to the franchise.
All-in-all, if you're a fan of either third-person shooters or Transformers in general, I think this is definitely one worth checking out.
_________________ What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. - Gerard Manley Hopkins
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