Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A

[locke]

and at 94 stars I think I'm done with mario galaxy two for a few months, it's not worth losing my voice screaming at the tv in frustration. Trying to get the double time comet star on the block world took twenty plus lives just to get to the final bowser flag, and then when I finally got all the silver stars the animation shows up and the star appears at the top, except, they naturally stop flipping between blocks, and I plummet to my death. thirty lives and forty five minutes wasted. ugh. the most frustrating part was that the whole stage teaches you to never shake the remote to spin jump yourself to save yourself because the spin jump is so very slow by the time you 'land' the block will have cycled completely through and you'll fall to your doom. So the whole time the star animation was going on I was telling myself 'whatever you do, don't shake the remote and spin jump, you'll just pop up, and the block will change underneath you and you'll fall to your doom so I held still and fell to my doom because the damn blocks stop changing when you release the star. Arrgh. I'm still pissed off.

and all this was after I wasted fifteen minutes just trying to get anywhere on the damn star world cyclone stage with the thwamps. grrr.

Yeah, I am definitely taking this game with me when I go home this weekend and I'm going to leave it with my sisters, it is definitely NOT worth the frustration.

[Mich]

I think the Six-Stringed Samurai inspiration is intentional, the Vegas connection is just too obvious.

Ha, I never thought of that! I love that movie so much.

But yes, it is definitely a lot more challenging. All of the Big Decisions (tm) actually make me think and consider them, and I'm still deciding who I'm going to go with for the Super Final Big Decision (tm). As usual, though, it seems Obsidian took a game and made it much more complex and deep. KoTOR II and Neverwinter Nights 2 both got way more thought-out (and have much more gray-and-gray morality) than their predecessors. And I'm loving it. It also just feels more like a Fallout game, which is probably due to Obsidian having staff from Black Isle. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's because, in 200 years, people aren't living out of corrugated metal houses and drinking only irradiated water?

Having more than three voice actors helps, too, and each character feels like an individual that I can more easily remember.

The number of quests packed into the Strip was a bit overwhelming the last time I was there, but man, this game has quests falling out of its ears. In FO3 every once in a while I would finish up my quests and be like "I guess I'll go explore over there and see if there's any quests in that direction." I'm not not sure if I like that or not.

Finally, hardcore mode is great and makes me feel a lot more immersed, even if I have to check a special meter to know if I have to eat, drink, or sleep. If I'm walking across the Mojave, damnit, I should have to stop and drink some water every once in a while!

[Janus%TheDoorman]

The number of quests packed into the Strip was a bit overwhelming the last time I was there, but man, this game has quests falling out of its ears.

Yeah, I wasn't sure if that was just me misremembering how many quests you might juggle at once in FO3 but, man, there is always something to do in the Mojave. People called this an overblown expansion pack for FO3 but it's really not in terms of just how much there is to do. Even Oblivion didn't stack them this deep.

It starts to feel like a MMORPG at times in that a lot of the quests are basically just excuses to play the game, they don't often require unusual methods of completion, but because almost every quest has several completion options and they all weigh on your reputation differently, they all feel important in their own way.

I've developed sort of tunnel vision, single-mindedly pursuing the story quests and completing the side-quests that crop up almost unavoidably doing that, but not going out and actively looking for things to do.

[Paul]

MMOs might explain the disappearance of some ex-pwebbers. It apparently had you for a couple of years

*cough*WoW*cough*

It might have had somehting to do with it. But mainly it was school. Architecture was very stressful for me. Nothing like getting 4 hours of sleep every day for weeks at a time...

As for WOW, never really liked it much. Eve is a sandbox game, I find it much more interesting..

Fallout 3, now that was a great game. I need to re-download it and play it again. And the Los Vegas version looks pretty cool too.

[Janus%TheDoorman]

Well, that didn't take long.

I've run into a snag in New Vegas that illustrates a fault with the faction system. My Mark of Caesar doesn't seem to be working properly - the Legionnaires and Caesar himself still beat the hell out of me at their Fort. Even when my status with the Legion was neutral, they were aggressive toward me, and having killed several of them in response, I quickly became vilified. Now, in most games, this wouldn't be a problem? So, the bad guys hate you? Fine, you're a good guy, that's how it's supposed to be! But with New Vegas, everything is tied together so closely - not just the the Legion quests, but Mr. House's and the NCR quests both require me to head up to the Fort, and so I'm rather stuck.

[Phenious]

Anyone play Fable 3 yet? I was liking it, until my brother all but completed it 100% in three days, with breaks for Reach every few hours. At which point his character had maxed out all the skill lvls. When in the end your character is completely balanced, not much point in making it customizable. Everyone will end up with the same person with different pants. Oh boy! not really a choose your own path is it when you still end up at the same place with everyone else.

[human.]

So my RA gave me Persona 4 for the PS2 to play. I don't even know what it is.. Has anyone here played it/have good things to say about it?

[Mich]

So my RA gave me Persona 4 for the PS2 to play. I don't even know what it is.. Has anyone here played it/have good things to say about it?

It.

Is.

Ridiculous.

I borrowed it last Spring Break, I think, and finally got around to finishing it this summer. It is definitely a long-haul game. The guy I borrowed it from hadn't actually beaten it until after me, due to the length of time it is, and the natural breaking points in the story. But you do live out a full year in-game. Every day, practically.

Um, half of it is kind of visual-novel/relationship sim, where you spend time in class, hanging out with friends, and building non-combat skills. And the rest of it is straight-up JRPG with twists on summoning and such. The characters are almost universally annoying at first, but man, I loved every single one by the end, and the twist(s) are pretty great and unexpected unless you are specifically expecting them because they are unexpected.

Oh, and the Real(tm) ending is pretty much impossible to get without a FAQ. Luckily, New Game Plus!

That game made me feel so weeaboo, though. I couldn't play it with my roommate around.

[Janus%TheDoorman]

Went for the Wild Card ending of New Vegas. I viewed them on YouTube beforehand, and actually the NCR ending seemed the better one, but the truth is that it just takes a hell of a lot of work and some luck and timing to make the Wild Card ending good. Most of the ending stories are completely independent of the main questline, and the few that aren't, like the Followers, take the most work to ensure they turn out well. Poor Arcade. He got the good ending here, but 9/10 of his endings are the worst in the game.

I really, really want a sequel that responds to a New Vegas save file with at least the same depth Mass Effect 2 responded to the original. There will presumably be a Broken Steel-esque follow up DLC, but that's not quite the same thing.

[Mich]

Went for the Wild Card ending of New Vegas. I viewed them on YouTube beforehand, and actually the NCR ending seemed the better one, but the truth is that it just takes a hell of a lot of work and some luck and timing to make the Wild Card ending good. Most of the ending stories are completely independent of the main questline, and the few that aren't, like the Followers, take the most work to ensure they turn out well. Poor Arcade. He got the good ending here, but 9/10 of his endings are the worst in the game.

I really, really want a sequel that responds to a New Vegas save file with at least the same depth Mass Effect 2 responded to the original. There will presumably be a Broken Steel-esque follow up DLC, but that's not quite the same thing.

I went Wild Card, too. It's amazing how many people assume it's a bad end purely because it has "anarchy" in its summary. My one regret about it, though, was that I completely forgot to recruit Arcade. I was just like "Oh, hey, this must be a companion, I'll come back." I never did.

[Dr. Mobius]

Red shirt guy 1, Blizzard lore team 0

[Mich]

Red shirt guy 1, Blizzard lore team 0

Ugh, these videos are so painful for me to watch. Are they painful for anyone else? I keep getting linked them and they just makes me feel bad.

Not for the Blizzard team.

[fawkes]

Red shirt guy 1, Blizzard lore team 0

Ugh, these videos are so painful for me to watch. Are they painful for anyone else? I keep getting linked them and they just makes me feel bad.

Not for the Blizzard team.

Yeah, it's painful. Even worse when it's in person.

[zeroguy]

Red shirt guy 1, Blizzard lore team 0

This freaking video... blizzard wasn't "omg pwnzed!" or anything. It's a freaking mistake in the continuity! The kid said he just said the damn book, and the guy on the left basically just admitted that yeah, it's an oversight.

The amount of positive response for that kind I've seen just... really makes me wonder about internet peoples. You're supposed to be better than this, dangit.

Edit: What I meant to post originally...

How have I never heard of "Steel Battalion" before? This looks like the most awesome mech game I've ever seen. The controller itself is just ridiculous! It's crazy!

[Mich]

How have I never heard of "Steel Battalion" before? This looks like the most awesome mech game I've ever seen. The controller itself is just ridiculous! It's crazy!

The people I know who own that game and its controller claim it is awesome. I have yet to ever play it, though.

[jotabe]

Just one more turn...

[Janus%TheDoorman]

I went Wild Card, too. It's amazing how many people assume it's a bad end purely because it has "anarchy" in its summary. My one regret about it, though, was that I completely forgot to recruit Arcade. I was just like "Oh, hey, this must be a companion, I'll come back." I never did.

My ending didn't describe it as anarchy. I think if you upgrade the Securitrons and possibly do other things to stabilize the Strip, you get the description I got which basically just suggests that the Securitrons run the Strip with an iron fist with regard to disturbances, but things are otherwise prosperous.

How have I never heard of "Steel Battalion" before? This looks like the most awesome mech game I've ever seen. The controller itself is just ridiculous! It's crazy!

You've never heard of it because it was $300 new and deleted your save if you died without hitting the eject button. Only for the hardest of the hardcore.

Just one more turn...

Am I the only one finding that game incredibly slow to start up? I mean, not that Civ IV was quick in getting you up through the stone age, but Civ V takes forever. Absolutely forever.

[jotabe]

Well, you are correct, it is slower than Civ4, and i used to play that in Epic pace.
But i think it's a good thing: in Civ4, if you chose a civilization whose special unit belongs to the ancient or classical eras, you were in a significative disadvantage, as you had no time to build up an army and organize a conquest before rival civs reached the next tier of units (at least, i couldn't do it lol). On the other hand, civs with special units in modern era could trounce you.

I hope this time around i can get past of prince level

[Dr. Mobius]

I don't know which is more amusing: red shirt guy, your reaction to him or that Blizzard is immortalizing him as an npc in Cataclysm.

[zeroguy]

I played some River City Ransom today, which is about as fun as I remembered it. Finally beat it, too; I don't think I ever did as a kid, since I didn't know why the doors to RC High were always closed. I didn't realize you need to defeat all of the enemies in certain areas to get bosses to appear, and you need to beat all of the bosses up to that point to get it to open. I like the game, but man... not good design right there.

And holy hell, the harder difficulty mode is hard! I didn't even remember that there were difficulty levels.

Blizzard is immortalizing him as an npc in Cataclysm.

...ugh. Are there Leeroy Jenkins references in official wow material, by the way?

[Janus%TheDoorman]

I know Leeroy got his own card in the TCG, but I don't think there's anything in the actual game about him. But then, I don't play WoW, so I'm not terribly well informed.

[Rei]

I've been playing Commander Keen 4 lately. This makes me very happy.

[Eaquae Legit]

I've been playing Commander Keen 4 lately. This makes me very happy.

It didn't make you happy last night. Man, I thought you were gonna stab the keyboard.

[Rei]

Yes, well... I had already passed that horrible level and then forgot to save it before dying. Nearly stabbing the keyboard is part of these things sometimes. Kind of like nearly throwing a book across the room when characters are being stupid.

[Dr. Mobius]

Are there Leeroy Jenkins references in official wow material, by the way?

Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy!

There's also More Dots! and Many Whelps! Handle It!, which are references to a certain well-known vent recording (language, NSFW).

[jotabe]

Are there Leeroy Jenkins references in official wow material, by the way?

Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy!

There's also More Dots! and Many Whelps! Handle It!, which are references to a certain well-known vent recording (language, NSFW).

Also, in the licenced TCG:


Edit: Ok, just saw Janus' post, but i'll leave the card there, because it's cool anyway.

[Mich]

I started playing Dofus yesterday. It seems like it will be pretty fun, but I haven't done much. I've mostly just been in an MMO, "Upgrade and put a lot of effort into a character" mood, I guess.

[zeroguy]

Not a vidyagame, but have you seen Wakfu yet? Watch Wakfu, dangit.

[Mich]

Not a vidyagame, but have you seen Wakfu yet? Watch Wakfu, dangit.

Dude, I told you, like, forever ago that I watched Wakfu, and we talked about... what's-his name's hat thing. That's the main reason I'm playing Dofus.

Although I really should go back and finish at least a season of Wakfu. I'm just not in the mood for subtitles at the moment, I'm afraid.

[zeroguy]

Yeah, I meant that in a "have you finally seen all of Wakfu yet". Seriously, get on that. You gotta watch the series, and then the Nox special thing; it's pretty good.

More related to games: Nooooooooo! I don't wanna waste another several months playing this kind of game again! But I probably will, because IWBTG was just so damn fun. Argh.

[Wil]

I give you, The Elder Effect 3; Massrim...

[neo-dragon]

You know one thing that helps make video games great? Their music! And I’m not talking about Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

Every gamer has some tracks that move them. It may be because the song itself is awesome, or because of the memories from the game that it invokes. I’m not a musician, or even what you would call a musical connoisseur, but I think that while programmers, graphic artists, and even script writers get a lot of praise for their work in gaming, the musical composers are unsung heroes (pun intended).

So here’s my tribute to just a few musical masterpieces.

“Dragon Roost Island” – From: The Legend of Zelda – The Wind Waker (Live Performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyPyjprG ... re=related

“Fountain of Dreams” – From: Super Smash Brothers: Melee (Originally from some Kirby game)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LFl91YN3UM

“Ocarina of Time Medley” – From: Super Smash Brothers: Brawl (a medley of songs from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DYSp4qHiNc

“You are not Alone” - From: Final Fantasy IX (Live Performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXlE8ZESSEI

“Mega Man Theme” - From: Marvel vs. Capcom (Originally from Mega Man 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2D4ZPzzbU4

“Theme of Ryu” - From: Street Fighter IV (Originally from Street Fighter II)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMbLyirBM4Y

“Star Wolf” - From: Star Fox Assault. (Originally from Star Fox 64)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2sGNGGEbOo

“Aerith’s Theme” – From: Final Fantasy VII (Live Performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UODCxAtyDo

[Satya]

http://ocremix.org/

[Mich]

I've spent the past two weekends completely absorbed by Red Dead Redemption. I was able to snag a 360 a few weeks ago from my friend who has several extras lying around due to various circumstances (he got a bunch of parts from my bricked laptop, so it was a pretty fair trade). Anyway, RDR is great. Really, really great. So great it competes with my previously-decided-upon GOTY, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

If the ending hadn't been spoiled for me on the DAY IT CAME OUT, I probably would have cried at the end credits. A few manly tears, that's it. But it was that great. When did Rockstar stop making fun games and start making good, good games? Seriously.

Also, ending credit song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYLpYu2EQxg

Also: Sweet list Adam. Got a couple of my favorites in there.

[Bean_wannabe]

On the subject of awesome, game music, this definitely qualifies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypdatn0tweE