magic > firaga > cast > the video game thread

[BigSchu22]

I pre-orded the digital deluxe edition, but have only played a few hours so far due to general underwhelming as well. It felt like a less polished version of ME2 with less character development. I agree, Shepard is not that interesting, he's the typical hero character. I'm not as up-in-arms as the internet seems to be, especially since I haven't beaten it yet, but this ending debacle screams of EAs typical involvement. They've ruined numerous franchises lately. Crysis and Command and Conquer come to mind.

Maybe I'll pick it up again once the free DLC comes out. I am hoping D3 can makeup for the lackluster ME3 though. How is it now that they've removed skill points and such? I find that change to be an odd one for an isometric RPG-ish game.

[fernandito]

I'll take the plunge and say that I absolutely hated the ending to ME3. It negated so many of the choices we made throughout the series ... they ultimately led to nothing.

I'd love to discuss it in depth if you guys have the energy and desire to do so.

[DoctorDodge]

Still nowhere near to completing ME1, yet. Hearing that description of the ending to ME3 feev doesn't inspire me with confidence. Have you started playing TWD yet, btw?

Oh, and awesome sig, BigSchu22! Must get back to season 2 soon, I think.

[fernandito]

Still nowhere near to completing ME1, yet. Hearing that description of the ending to ME3 feev doesn't inspire me with confidence.

Don't let the ending discourage you. The rest of the game is still a masterpiece of modern gaming and one of the best games this generation.

Have you started playing TWD yet, btw?

I actually completed it over the weekend! I was a bit skeptical of cel shaded look at first - would have loved a more gritty take for something like this - but it grew on me as the game went on. I loved the decision-consequence aspect of it, and the fact that it was very character driven as opposed to an a run-n-gun zombie shooter. Waiting for the monthly releases is going to be torture.

[fernandito]

...this ending debacle screams of EAs typical involvement. They've ruined numerous franchises lately. Crysis and Command and Conquer come to mind.

Ah helllll naaaaaaaahhhh

I just started playing Crysis 2 a few days ago. It's my first Crysis game. Are you saying they pulled an ME3 with the ending ?

[DoctorDodge]

Yeah, I kinda like the cel shaded look instantly, because it kinda instantly let you know that it was based on the comic and not the tv show. Also agreed on the fact that it wasn't, thankfully, like a ton of other zombie action games out there. Was a little skeptical when I heard that TellTale were making these - not at first, as I loved their surprisingly story driven Sam & Max series, but then they released Jurassic Park - but this has been their best work in a while.

And I will get back to ME1 eventually, but I think I'll catch up on The Witcher series first. Really enjoyed what i played of the first game. Been a while since I played it though, but razz's theme reminded me of how awesome it was.

[OchrisO]

I'll take the plunge and say that I absolutely hated the ending to ME3. It negated so many of the choices we made throughout the series ... they ultimately led to nothing.

I'd love to discuss it in depth if you guys have the energy and desire to do so.

I'll throw this in spoilers since some people haven't finished:

Spoiler:

I really hated that for such a large chunk of the end of game it is just Shepard and Anderson. I hated that you don't find out if the two people you took with you survived. I hated that there is no wrap up of all of the other characters, or even of Shepard, really. Joker crashing the ship and the door opening(if you didn't have a save game you don't even see anyone step out of the door) wreaks of upcoming pay DLC, which disappointed me.

That everything turned out to be pretty much a God driven system to keep robots from rising up and destroying all life Terminator style seemed like a really cheap way to end an otherwise deep and amazing storyline. I chose to destroy them all my first time, then went back and played through that long ending sequence again to chose to make them stop fighting and control them and the ending was almost exactly the same, which was a giant ripoff after having walked that long injured walk with Shepard all over again.

Like I said, I didn't scream at the skies or anything, but I was pretty shocked that they seemed to put so little effort into wrapping up their greatest masterpiece. I expect it was all an EA setup to sell us DLC, though.

[fernandito]

Read your post, Chris. Here are my thoughts

Mass Effect 3 spoilers

Spoiler:

Why was the option to destroy synthetics even present ? Doesn't that go against EVERYTHING Shepard stands for up until that point ? The whole seresi he's trying to prove that organics and synthetics can co exist, and all of a sudden he's going to throw that out the window. I'm sorry, but no.

Also, how the hell did Joker / Normandy get away from the all encompassing blast ? Wasn't he on Earth with Shepard? So Joker just decided to ditch everyone to save his own ass?

By destroying the Mass Relays, isn't Shepard ultimately killing everyone ? Without the mass relays, all survivors are stuck on that galaxy. How will they all survive? Are the billion of them going to touch down on a ravaged Earth and fight for whatever food might be left ?

[BigSchu22]

I'll take the plunge and say that I absolutely hated the ending to ME3. It negated so many of the choices we made throughout the series ... they ultimately led to nothing.

I'd love to discuss it in depth if you guys have the energy and desire to do so.

I have many many hours of ME1 and ME2 under my belt and I'd love to discuss the franchise in depth. While I haven't completed ME3 yet, I know a great deal about the ending and the theories out there. The fact that my choices in the past 5 years amount to nothing is the biggest reason I have only played about 8 hours of ME3 so far. I even have a couple of different play-throughs so I could see how my different choices affected the outcome of ME3... I guess they wont now.

[BigSchu22]

Still nowhere near to completing ME1, yet. Hearing that description of the ending to ME3 feev doesn't inspire me with confidence. Have you started playing TWD yet, btw?

Oh, and awesome sig, BigSchu22! Must get back to season 2 soon, I think.

Thanks! A an amazing show IMHO. I was about to start a series re-watch soon. Seems like the season of re-visits for me lately with DT and Farscape. I've got to get through all the Farscape and DT comics as well!

[BigSchu22]

...this ending debacle screams of EAs typical involvement. They've ruined numerous franchises lately. Crysis and Command and Conquer come to mind.

Ah helllll naaaaaaaahhhh

I just started playing Crysis 2 a few days ago. It's my first Crysis game. Are you saying they pulled an ME3 with the ending ?

The story in Crysis 2 was pretty interesting, except for the fact that they almost completely ignore the protagonist from Crysis 1 (Nomad). There are a few things that changed with Crysis once EA became involved:
1) Open world design replaced with linear urban environment with typical FPS obstacles and leading by placing objects in your way, which was a big let down. One of the best thing about Farcry and Crysis 1 was that you could come at a problem or situation from any angle or direction. You could go wherever you wanted and do whatever you wanted, now you have set objectives in set directions (for the most part).

2) Graphically, Crysis 2 is slightly worse than Crysis 1 because it was developed for consoles and ported to the PC instead of the other way around -- a trend that I'm afraid is now the norm. Even with an amped up PC and all the settings turned up, Crysis 2's engine has differences that can't be made up for when compared to Crysis 1 engine. It's little things, but when I play a sequel, I expect to see a marked improvement over the original. Crysis 1's graphics were amazing and I had to build a completely new computer just to play it. Not so with Crysis 2. There are numerous examples, just google Cryengine 2 vs. Cryengine 3.

3) They changed the ceph from Crysis 1 for some reason and got rid of the whole snow/cold requirement. There are a few new types of Ceph to fight, but they're repeated over and over again.

So, there's a few other small things, but basically the graphics are worse and it's a more generic FPS with a much more linear level design.

[BigSchu22]

I just read Chris and feverish' spoilers and I couldn't agree with both of you more. I think this pretty much sums up the retarded explanation for the Reapers:

Spoiler:

[fernandito]

btw - I added a spoiler tag to your image for those who haven't finished the game yet.

[BigSchu22]

btw - I added a spoiler tag to your image for those who haven't finished the game yet.

I was going to add spoiler tags, but it asked me for options? Not sure what they are, so I figured the image was vague and silly enough not to ruin the dumb GC ending.

I suppose I should check the FAQ for the options.

[DoctorDodge]

Ah, no, I don't use that myself. For spoiler tags, I use . Very simple to use, that button. I'm not sure what the options are for the other one either, really.

[BigSchu22]

Ah, no, I don't use that myself. For spoiler tags, I use . Very simple to use, that button. I'm not sure what the options are for the other one either, really.

Thanks, I'll do the same!

[BigSchu22]

I have a question for you guys about ME3 for those who have finished it. It's about relationships. I remember Bioware saying that if you remained faithful to your ME1 romance throughout ME2, that it would pay off "big" in ME3, but I have heard nothing about this. Was there any pay off that you know of?

I went with Ashley in ME1, stayed faithful through ME2, and so far her dialogue has been uninteresting and barely related to our previous relationship. Not to mention the fact that she's stuck on the Citadel, so I can't even interact with her most of the time.

Also, wasn't it annoying that the quest system has no check-in updates? I'm going to have no idea what I have and haven't completed once I pick up ME3 again.

[fernandito]

Sorry chief, as a PS3 user I started my Mass Effect journey in ME2 so I couldn't say. I'm sure Chris could shed some light on this though.

[BigSchu22]

Sorry chief, as a PS3 user I started my Mass Effect journey in ME2 so I couldn't say. I'm sure Chris could shed some light on this though.

That's OK, I have a PS3 as well. My PS3 is mostly used for DVD up-converting and streaming media though. I have a stack of unopened games that I need to get through on my PS3, like Dragon Age and Origins.

I've always been a big PC gamer and I couldn't pass up the $5 ME1 and ME2 deals on Steam a couple of years ago.

[DoctorDodge]

I do enjoy PC gaming, but there's only so much room for the games on my laptop. Generally, I like to use for either really old games from gog.com like Wing Commander, adventure games like Sam & Max and The Walking Dead, or cheap deals, such as ME 1 and 2 as BigSchu22 pointed out. I'm strongly considering getting a ps3 for my birthday, especially since it looks like there's gonna be a Doctor Who that, shockingly, actually sounds like a good game! It's also out on pc, but ps3 has co-op, so that should be doubly fun to play when Jennifer comes over in July.

Feev, you're a big ps3 gamer: any recommendations?

[BigSchu22]

I do enjoy PC gaming, but there's only so much room for the games on my laptop. Generally, I like to use for either really old games from gog.com like Wing Commander, adventure games like Sam & Max and The Walking Dead, or cheap deals, such as ME 1 and 2 as BigSchu22 pointed out. I'm strongly considering getting a ps3 for my birthday, especially since it looks like there's gonna be a Doctor Who that, shockingly, actually sounds like a good game! It's also out on pc, but ps3 has co-op, so that should be doubly fun to play when Jennifer comes over in July.

Feev, you're a big ps3 gamer: any recommendations?

Don't get me wrong, I did play my fair share of games on my PS3, but I've had it since 2008 and I've always been a bigger PC gamer. I do like a lot of the PS3 exclusives though. The Uncharted series is very good. The graphics are great, the environments and levels are very immersive, it has a very cinematic feel to it, and it has a good mix of platforming and shooting.

If you're into FPSs, I really enjoyed the Resistance series, especially Resistance 2. I have 3, but haven't started yet.

The first Assassin's Creed was amazing, I've got a few hours in 2 at the moment, but I'm not impressed so far, it feels more of the same. Although, there are so many new Creed games, I have no idea what the state of the franchise is.

I highly recommend Bioshock as well. Bioshock 2 was not as impressive, but the first game is highly enjoyable and pretty unique. There are other games as well like, Infamous, Heavy Rain, Metal Gear 4, and of course RE5 even though it's all action, it was still a pretty good game.

[DoctorDodge]

I do have Bioshock 1 and 2, but just haven't gotten around to playing much of them yet. Played some of 1 though, and you're right, it is very cool.

[fernandito]

Feev, you're a big ps3 gamer: any recommendations?

You've come to the right person my boy ! I'm going to assume you're speaking strictly of PS3 exclusive games, yes ? If so :

Uncharted series - One of the best titles of this generation, quite honestly (and receiver of a plethora of accolades). It plays like an interactive Indiana Jones film, but that doesn't mean that the platforming aspect doesn't take center stage. Running and gunning, climbing, platforming, and one of the most endearing video games characters in, well ... ever (!), these are titles that every true gamer owes it to themselves to play.

Metal Gear Solid 4 - the pioneer series of blending cinematic sequences with stealth gameplay. The only caveat is that you watch the game (cutscenes) almost as long as you play it. Still one of my all time favorite games. Top 10 for sure.

Infamous 1/2- If you were take the Grand Theft Auto open world template it and marry it with a comic book storyline and a Spider Man esque protagonistic, you'd get an idea of what this addicting OW game is like. Fast paced gameplay, very addicting.

God of War 3 - To me, the king of Hack n' slashers.

[DoctorDodge]

Sweet. Cheers, bro! Infamous 1/2 has actually caught my eye before as well as Uncharted. I'm also keen to get the Prince of Persia trilogy just for the achievements, too. Love those games!

[fernandito]

Yeap, love the POP games.

My suggestion ? Start off with the Uncharted series. Those games are just too epic to not be played right away. The first one is good, but 2 and 3 are GREAT. Masterpieces of modern gaming.