Games: What games are you currently playing? [OT!]

[mrwiseman]

Hello Daigotsu, welcome back! It's nice to hear from you again.

[Nevan]

I've been wanting to play Folklore but don't have a PS3. How is it?

I'm playing Halo 3 and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga currently.

[Cataferal]

Personally, I didnt think much of Folklore from the demo I played. Being an A-RPG, it fell into the fairly typical trap of failing to provide enough variety in the core combat mechanics, which undermined any customisation it had to offer. The atmosphere was unique though, thanks to the ambient music and eccentric art design. I'd define it as a "rental" game, if your PS3 ever feels the need to tickle it's RPG taste-buds

Currently playing:

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) locally: ---10/10
Call of Duty 4 (PS3) online: ----------- 10/10

Two of the best multiplayer games i've played in years. I'll be clocking hundreds of hours on both before long, and will no doubt be playing these well into 2009.

Hoping to pick up GTA IV for PS3 later this month. I'm not usually into the whole crime thing, but it's hard to ignore the years of hard work and talent thats apparantly gone into developing the sheer scale of the game. Im still slightly skeptical, but early previews are definitely tiding me over.

Also, I'd like a new football (soccer) game. I've got my heart set on EA's latest offering, EURO 08, having been very impressed by the 360 demo (and their previous effort, FIFA 08). It's almost definitely the most realistic football game i've ever played. Problem is, I can't see myself handing over ?40 for such an incrimental improvement, so I'll probably have to wait it out for a price-drop.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ April 23, 2008 01:30 AM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[Nevan]

I agree Brawl is great, although I haven't played it much recently, I unlocked all the stages and characters. But it was quite an enjoyable experience, I'm looking forward to future downloadable content for it too.

GTA4 looks kind of appealing, although I doubt I'll get it on day 1.

[MaxSwell]

Folklore isn't as good as I thought it would be although some of the levels are beautiful. I played and beat Condemned 2 which was good. I just got Persona 3 FES today which is good so far even though I am only a couple hours into it.

[Nevan]

So I still haven't picked up GTA4 (but will eventually.)

I've been playing Twilight Princess and really enjoying it. Of course I've had it since last November, but never got around to it.

Also playing Halo 3 on occasion, and teaching my girlfriend how to play it.

[melfice]

I'm playing this and that in PS2 and PSP... "Shadow Hearts: From the new world" in the big sis, and "Dragoneers aria" in the lil sis mainly, but along those, also, Sega Super stars tennis, Trapt (That is, tecmo's Kagero Deception III or IV don't know...), Devil May Cry 2 (horrid, but i'm a fan of Dante, and beat the first and the 3rd)

And i can't remember more games.. just too much of them...

[Cataferal]

Bought and sold GTA IV. It's a great game for the first 15 hours, but then you notice a pattern in the proceedings. The dating system gets tedious after a while, and many of the missions feel too similar for comfort - which isnt helped by Niko's primitive motives. He just wants money... oh, and an old acquaintance who just might happen might be lurking around New York. Hardly gripping characterisation, despite the stellar voice-acting.

Add the fact the PS3 version suffers from upscaled-640p-jaggy-itis and a mid-20fps rate, and I cant shake off the feeling that I'm not experiencing the game in its prime. Maybe the PC version will be worth looking into, because other than these gripes, it's a solid and immersive game, with loads of great humour (on the TV and radio spots especially) and packed to the brim with small detail that make up a great whole.

Currently playing CoD4 fanatically.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ May 28, 2008 10:49 PM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]</font>

[Nevan]

I have yet to jump onto GTA4. I figure my money is better spent on Link's Crossbow Training and No More Heroes.

I still plan on picking it up of course, just not anytime soon, there are other games I would rather buy and play first, such as Boom Blox. And a few rentals I plan on checking out like Condemned 2.

However, recently it's been Halo 3, and Zack and Wiki. I must say Zack and Wiki is an intelligent game, but at times it is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played.

[mrwiseman]

Currently playing Lost Odyssey. 16 hours into the game pre-review:

Story and characters: Looks good. Characters have potential, but so far I don't care much for them. The 1000 thousand year story feature (~ 4 pages worth of text to read from Kaim's experiences as an immortal upon triggering certain events, some are mandatory, some are not) is pleasant and helps raising the game's length, though it's not directly related to the game storyline so far.

Gameplay: Average for an RPG. Random battles (sucks), strictly turn-based (characters' and operations' speed only affect how early they perform within the turn), not too many elements to play with. The game seems to be difficult; at least harder than the average RPG. The skill and magic learning and equipping system is good. Scenarios are big and are filled with items, though they are simpler than Eternal Sonata's in structure and there's not much of a puzzle to find everything. BTW, loading times leave something to be desired.

Visuals: Below average for the current generation. It looks pretty powerful from afar, but it actually runs in low resolution which means you get PS2-like jaggies and blurryness. It comes packed with mostly PS3-like textures (i.e. good, but not excellent), and lots of good shader effects (though the low resolution doesn't allow them to shine). Basically, this looks like a PS2 game with better special effects and higher polygon characters. There's lots of slowdown in some real-time cut-scenes as well (almost nothing during actual gameplay). The game uses a physics engine but it's grossly underused; it looks more of a tech demo than a gameplay element. Character animation is great, but other objects not done through motion capture or the physics engine, such as machines, move completely unrealistically. Artistically, it's well above average, though this is not necessarily saying much. I'll have to see more to be convinced. Disregard the hype - Lost Odyssey's visuals are nothing spectacular.

Audio: The music is pretty Uematsu. This means you'll love it if you love his style. It's a good quality soundtrack. The Japanese voices are good so far.

Overall: Just an average RPG to me. People are amazed with it probably because of the severe lack of quality RPGs of late. But Eternal Sonata is kilometres ahead; IMO a much more pleasing experience in terms of artistic value, graphics technology, gameplay, audio and loading times in that order.

<font color="#345E81" size="1">[ July 04, 2008 04:05 PM: Message edited by: -Wiseman- ]</font>