magic > firaga > cast > the video game thread

[Woofer]

My niece's friends started this anime and gaming convention, so I thought I would let folks here know about it.

EXP Con, October 8 - 10, 2010

EXP Convention is a weekend long all ages event to be held at the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village and St. Johns County Convention Center. The main purpose of EXP Con is to celebrate and promote American and Japanese video gaming, Japanese animation also known as anime, manga which are Japanese graphic novels, cosplay which is the act of creating and modeling costumes based on characters from Japanese and American media, and the melding of Japanese and American pop-culture.

[turtlex]

Wow, woof! That is so cool !

[Woofer]

I know! I said I would do my best to help them out. Who knows? Maybe I'll even get to attend if the job thing picks up.

[IWasSentWest]

GOTY edition is great for oblivion. just don't get turned into a vampire and have the intention of going back human. there is a glitch

I've heard of that. What is that exactly ?

I haven't heard of it either.

i'll explain then lol

Spoiler:

if or when you get bitten by a vampire in the dungeon during one of the quests, it really does have its perks. you are stronger, can hold more weight, get cool looking eyes, and get to feed on people. all kinds of stuff. BUT, if you do not feed when needed, you begin to weaken back to your normal state, and the light of day will slowly deplete your health until you feed again. in the original game, this was all fine and dandy because you can seek out a vampire cure, visit a witch woman, get the right ingredients and be cured. but in the GOTY edition, the witch woman does NOT accept blood root. you have to gather a certain amount (btw, blood root is pretty rare), but when you bring her the blood root, the option to give it to her doesnt work. the quick way to fix this is to go out and rent the original oblivion game, finish the quest, then return it the next day.

[Tatts4Life]

GOTY edition is great for oblivion. just don't get turned into a vampire and have the intention of going back human. there is a glitch

I've heard of that. What is that exactly ?

I haven't heard of it either.

i'll explain then lol

Spoiler:

if or when you get bitten by a vampire in the dungeon during one of the quests, it really does have its perks. you are stronger, can hold more weight, get cool looking eyes, and get to feed on people. all kinds of stuff. BUT, if you do not feed when needed, you begin to weaken back to your normal state, and the light of day will slowly deplete your health until you feed again. in the original game, this was all fine and dandy because you can seek out a vampire cure, visit a witch woman, get the right ingredients and be cured. but in the GOTY edition, the witch woman does NOT accept blood root. you have to gather a certain amount (btw, blood root is pretty rare), but when you bring her the blood root, the option to give it to her doesnt work. the quick way to fix this is to go out and rent the original oblivion game, finish the quest, then return it the next day.

ah now I remember reading something about that.

I've been on the Bethesda forums talking with people about mods. I was telling people there that there should be a mod that only lets you get bit by a vampire instead of during a fight. The reason I thought of it was because I was playing a mod and it glitched in a way that when I was bit by one of the people I didn't get a message or see anything in my effects area that said i caught the disease. In the game you have I think 3 days to go to a chapel and cure yourself before it's too late. Well I was playing that mod for at least 12 game days before I was able to get out of the are and find a place to sleep and level up. It was then that I got the notice that I became a vampire. I was hoping to save that till after i was done doing all the good quests and become evil when I was done.

[IWasSentWest]

never gave me a time limit on being a vamp. hmm

[Tatts4Life]

never gave me a time limit on being a vamp. hmm

yeah if you get bit you have 3 days to get to a chapel to pray at the alter and the disease is cured. Other wise after 3 days when you sleep to level up you turn into a vampire.

[IWasSentWest]

oh yeh, i thought u meant after 3 days if u didnt get cured you could never get cured. my bad

[Tatts4Life]

Well I picked up oblivion again after playing Fallout 3 for a little bit. I was in the middle of doing the last thieves guild quest where you go steal an Elder scroll from the palace library. I was at the point where you try and sneak through the guards sleeping area after shooting the arrow of extracation. Well when I walk into the sleeping quarters all the guards start attacking each other and I can pretty much walk through unnoticed. I tried reloading and going in at different times of the day and the same thing happens. This is the first time I've ever had this happen with all the time I've played on the 360 and PC.

[SynysterSaint]

Hey ... just wondering if any of you xbox360 players have tried Alan Wake yet?

Any thoughts? I mean, how bad can it be when they quote Stephen King in the opening?

It's a very well-done thriller game, but it falls horribly short with the horror aspect. It succeeds in many of the same places that the Silent Hill series does: rich characters, fantastic use of lighting and sound, as well as a generally unsettling atmosphere. The story is also disturbing at times and ends completely ambiguously (the developers promise to make the ending more concrete with future instalments).

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with the game is the gameplay. The aspect of using light to disrobe enemies of their power has been severely overused before Alan Wake, making for a less-than-satisfactory combat system, and the ability to foresee and prepare for enemy ambushes is disgustingly easy (the game might as well have bright, flashing, neon signs telling you "enemies are here!").

If you can look past the not-so-original gameplay mechanics, the story is phenomenal and it really is an enjoying play-through. While not a perfect game, Alan Wake is very much worth the money.

Well since
1. It's a 360 exclusive
2. Nobody can do King right, so associating visual entertainment with him is bad idea,

I have low expectations.

1. So are Gears of War and Halo, but the Xbox 360 exclusivity doesn't keep them from topping Resistance and Killzone in every way

2. They're not doing "King". They're doing scary. Not the "jump out and make you scream" cheap thrills of F.E.A.R., but legitimate, psychological scary . . . which is what Sai King excels at. In terms of how "King-like" the game is, I would give it a 8 out of 10. The game isn't outwardly scary. In order to understand the full intricacies of the terror, you need to think of the implications of the narrative and to use your imagination to fill in the holes that the story never explains. The game is very much "King" in the sense that the game won't scare you, but it will leave with you with a nice, cold sweat in the dead of night.

The game development team weren't trying to mimic King, but they certainly paid him homage with the opening quote. They were specifically telling you that if you're picking this game up in the hopes of getting another Silent Hill 2 (where you're frozen solid with fear the entire game), then you're wasting your time; however, if you're picking up the game to address your worst fears and to foresee what lies in the shadows, then you're in the right place.

[turtlex]

Hey ... just wondering if any of you xbox360 players have tried Alan Wake yet?

Any thoughts? I mean, how bad can it be when they quote Stephen King in the opening?

It's a very well-done thriller game, but it falls horribly short with the horror aspect. It succeeds in many of the same places that the Silent Hill series does: rich characters, fantastic use of lighting and sound, as well as a generally unsettling atmosphere. The story is also disturbing at times and ends completely ambiguously (the developers promise to make the ending more concrete with future instalments).

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with the game is the gameplay. The aspect of using light to disrobe enemies of their power has been severely overused before Alan Wake, making for a less-than-satisfactory combat system, and the ability to foresee and prepare for enemy ambushes is disgustingly easy (the game might as well have bright, flashing, neon signs telling you "enemies are here!").

If you can look past the not-so-original gameplay mechanics, the story is phenomenal and it really is an enjoying play-through. While not a perfect game, Alan Wake is very much worth the money.

Thanks!

Honestly, we've been talking about maybe getting an additional console platform, and reading the Alan Wake review made me doubly consider the xbox.

[fernandito]

West, Tatts, I need your guys(s) help! :

I'm a little over 10 hours in , playing as a Dark Elf , and I have a few questions -

-Those soul stones , it says that I need to fill them in order to be able to do use them , how exactly do I do that ? Is there some spell I need to acquire ?

-I haven't purchased any property yet, but there's a guy selling a house in Chorrol (?) for 5,000. Will this be like Fallout 3 where I can use a safehouse to store all the stuff I don't want to carry around with me ?

[IWasSentWest]

a house is basically the same as in fallout 3.

the soul stone : http://oblivion.wikia.com/wiki/Soul_Trap

that describes it better than i can.

[IWasSentWest]

oh btw: about 6 or so hours into ffxiii. was kinda iffy at first, but it is becoming a pretty neat game. wish i could be snow instead of lightning though :/

[fernandito]

a house is basically the same as in fallout 3.

the soul stone : http://oblivion.wikia.com/wiki/Soul_Trap

that describes it better than i can.

Excellent, thank you good sir. I'll look into it as soon as I get home.

oh btw: about 6 or so hours into ffxiii. was kinda iffy at first, but it is becoming a pretty neat game. wish i could be snow instead of lightning though :/

You won't get to choose your party until about 15 hours or so, which is when the game really opens up. Stick with it. How do you feel about the linearity ?

[IWasSentWest]

not big on the linearity. i want world maps, airships, towns full of people and things.

the paradigms are really neat, really add to the battle system in my opinion. the crystarium kind of pisses me off because you can't just keep on using ur cp, you gotta wait untill the character is leveled up, which is bs. if i have the cp, i should be able to do what i want with them. but other than that, i don't have many complaints.

def. can't wait to find out how much of a badass

Spoiler:

ragnarok

is!!!

i just started chapter 4

[fernandito]

Well, I'm sorry to say you're going to have to get used the brutal linearity and the lack of towns/shops, about 97% of the game is that way. Only in Chapter 11 do you get the freedom to explore at your own leisure.

Save your CP ! Even if you've reached your limit and have CP left over, save it for when the Crystarium expands again. The points needed to obtain new skills will increase significantly with each new level you gain.

[Tatts4Life]

West, Tatts, I need your guys(s) help! :

I'm a little over 10 hours in , playing as a Dark Elf , and I have a few questions -

-Those soul stones , it says that I need to fill them in order to be able to do use them , how exactly do I do that ? Is there some spell I need to acquire ?

-I haven't purchased any property yet, but there's a guy selling a house in Chorrol (?) for 5,000. Will this be like Fallout 3 where I can use a safehouse to store all the stuff I don't want to carry around with me ?

You have the PS3 GOTY version right? Pretty much the only homes you can get are the ones you can buy in towns. If you had the 360 version I would recommend getting Battlehorn and or Frostcrage spire. The first is for your fighter and the second is a home for your mage.

As for the soul stones the link that West posted explains it best.

if you go to this site it helps you out with practically everything with the game.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion

[SynysterSaint]

oh btw: about 6 or so hours into ffxiii.

You won't get to choose your party until about 15 hours or so, which is when the game really opens up. Stick with it.

The "tutorial" section of the game ends at around 30 hours. There's no game good enough in the world to make me have to sit through 30 hours of tutorial (the first 15 hours just to get a party . . . the steeple of the "Final Fantasy" aspect of the game). FFXIII is a piece of rubbish, in my opinion. "Stick with it" is not something you should have to tell someone about a good video game. Ever.

[fernandito]

I think you're either on board with it's linearity or you're not, and I decided that I liked the game , the characters, and the story enough to stick with it. Thankfully the battle system - which is the designated component to carry the weight of the game - was compelling enough to keep me coming back for more. It's not the best Final Fantasy , nowhere close to it, but I loved the game nonetheless.

[turtlex]

Sony just put up ( and emailed ) info on PlayStation Plus.

I still don't think I'm going to sign up. $50 bucks for a year. Limited offer on buy 1 year, get three additional months free.

[fernandito]

I don't use the PSN to an extent where upgrading to PLUS is justifiable. Pass.

[turtlex]

Well, I use it practically daily, but I don't need access like they're listing.

I've done a couple of Beta tests and they were fun ... but I don't want to have to pay for them.

I'm with you, Feev.

[Tito_Villa]

Yeah i doubt i will sign up to it either, i don't need it to play the games!

[IWasSentWest]

oh btw: about 6 or so hours into ffxiii.

You won't get to choose your party until about 15 hours or so, which is when the game really opens up. Stick with it.

The "tutorial" section of the game ends at around 30 hours. There's no game good enough in the world to make me have to sit through 30 hours of tutorial (the first 15 hours just to get a party . . . the steeple of the "Final Fantasy" aspect of the game). FFXIII is a piece of rubbish, in my opinion. "Stick with it" is not something you should have to tell someone about a good video game. Ever.

your fan-boy nature against the ps3 and any/all of it's games and content really annoys me. just saying what everyone else is thinking