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Started by Keef Monkey, 11 June, 2011, 09:35:35 AM

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Richmond Clements

Rebellion's Zombie HQ on the iphone.
Same engine as Dredd Vs Zombies but, IMO, a better game.

The Enigmatic Dr X

My missus is off to Asda to get me Dead Space 3, armed with a couple of trade ins and a price guarantee voucher. Can't wait!

(BTW: I'm giving the kids a bath and cleaning away the detritus of three days school break, so she has the better deal)
Lock up your spoons!

von Boom

Halo 4. The multiplayer's not too bad, but the campaign has been distinctly meh so far. I've only completed two chapters and am working up the desire to continue, but probably won't for a while.

radiator

I'm a bit further into Ni No Kuni now, it really is a beautiful game. Minor criticisms would be that some of the side quests are a little simplistic/tedious, but I'd highly recommend it if you've ever even slightly been a fan of JRPGs.

Professor Bear

I've watched my mate playing that and it looks fucking gorgeous in action.

Red Faction, part of the THQ fire sale going on in online stores right now as the company's properties are thrown to the wolves and the carcasses are picked clean by bargain-hunting vultures.  Dated, certainly, but a lot easier to play than I remember.  Considering it's less than 2 quid for a pretty laid back FPS you'll likely breeze through without problems (as long as you remember to save every now and then), I'd say this was a no-brainer as long as you don't mind something that shows its age.

Rog69

Quote from: radiator on 14 February, 2013, 04:48:03 PM
I'm a bit further into Ni No Kuni now, it really is a beautiful game. Minor criticisms would be that some of the side quests are a little simplistic/tedious, but I'd highly recommend it if you've ever even slightly been a fan of JRPGs.

I really like the look of this game but I'm not over keen on JRPG's so I'm really split on getting it.

How much of a JRPG is it?

radiator

QuoteI really like the look of this game but I'm not over keen on JRPG's so I'm really split on getting it.

How much of a JRPG is it?

I'm not a huge JRPG guy either - the only ones I've played are old school Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games and it feels very much in this tradition, but quite streamlined and much more user-friendly for a modern audience. I find a lot of JRPGs incredibly obtuse and abstract (including the more recent Final Fantasies), but Ni No Kuni seems fairly intuitive and thoughtful to me. It shares a lot of recognisable tropes with those games - you control a small party of characters on an epic quest, traversing a vast world map (upon which you are liable to be attacked by roving monsters), occasionally stopping in towns where you can undertake quests, buy new equipment and supplies, and stay the night in a hotel to restore health and magic. There is a central, linear story thread, but many optional side-quests.

Defeating enemies in combat yields currency and exp, which levels up your characters abilities and stats. Combat is essentially turn-based, but a lot more dynamic and hands-on than the norm, and while there are JRPG-style 'random battles', they aren't as annoying as in other games as you have far more control over when and where you have to fight (and as you level up, eventually lower-level enemies will actually flee from you). There doesn't seem to be much grinding required, and I am playing on Normal difficulty (there is an Easy mode for people who just want to experience the story). The combat is mainly built around the fostering and deployment of creatures called familiars - they essentially fight under your command. I believe this shares a few ideas with the Pokemon series - though I wouldn't know as I never played those games.

Also worth saying that as with Level-5's other games, the localisation and voice-acting is superb - there's no poorly-translated dialogue, the story is completely coherent and the voice-cast - especially the gruff Rhod Gilbert soundalike who voices your little fairy sidekick, replete with his own hilarious slang ("Knickers!" "Cry Baby Bunting!" "Tidy!") is a real highlight.

I'm always a bit wary of the Japanese aesthetic - especially when it comes to RPGs, but the character design - by Studio Ghibli - is (unsurprisingly) astounding and gorgeous. The entire game is a visual feast. And while I usually couldn't give a solitary shit about game narratives, the one in this game is really quite competent - sweet-natured and quite moving in it's own way. If you're a fan of Ghibli you'll love it.

I say give it a go - if you're going to play one JRPG, make it this one. But give it at least an hour or two as it's a bit slow to start.

Rog69

Thanks for the reply Radiator, I think you've swung me towards getting it now.

It's mainly the random encounter element that causes me to avoid JRPG's, It's a mechanic that I don't particularly enjoy but if it's not too an annoyance in this game I am willing to give it a try.

radiator

Here's how it works in Ni No Kuni:

As you traverse the world map, you can see monsters all over the place. Some you can avoid, some you can outrun, but some will get you and you'll have to fight them. So in that way, there are random encounters, but just being able to see who is attacking you and having a chance of avoiding them takes a lot of the surprise/frustration out of it.

You can turn the tables on them by sneaking up on them (which means you get the first turn in combat) and as I say once you level up, weaker monsters will actually start to run away from you. But if you try and outrun them and they catch you, they get the jump on you during combat.

Combat is way more hands-on than most turn-based RPGs though and somewhat reminds me of Knights of the Old Republic. You can (pretty much) freely move around in combat and avoid enemy attacks, but you still use a turn-base menu system to deal damage and cast spells and whatnot.

JamesC

Quote from: radiator on 14 February, 2013, 10:48:06 PM
Here's how it works in Ni No Kuni:

As you traverse the world map, you can see monsters all over the place. Some you can avoid, some you can outrun, but some will get you and you'll have to fight them. So in that way, there are random encounters, but just being able to see who is attacking you and having a chance of avoiding them takes a lot of the surprise/frustration out of it.

You can turn the tables on them by sneaking up on them (which means you get the first turn in combat) and as I say once you level up, weaker monsters will actually start to run away from you. But if you try and outrun them and they catch you, they get the jump on you during combat.

Combat is way more hands-on than most turn-based RPGs though and somewhat reminds me of Knights of the Old Republic. You can (pretty much) freely move around in combat and avoid enemy attacks, but you still use a turn-base menu system to deal damage and cast spells and whatnot.

The battle encounter system sounds very much like King's Bounty to me which I always thought worked very well.

Professor Bear

Sounds like the early Zeldas, too.

RPGs have been ruined for me of late by the notion of character creation - if you can't create your own character from the very start, I probably won't bother.  Even the lack of character customisation in GTA4 compared to San Andreas made playing it a grind from start to finish - thank goodness for Saints Row 3 or we wouldn't have had a fun GTA game in this generation of consoles.

radiator

We'll have to disagree there. I utterly despise Saint's Row and think GTA 4 is the best in the series, because it strived for something a little more grounded in reality and had a great sense of place and atmosphere. Imo it showed a great deal of restraint to opt for a muted colour palette and strip back on the more outlandish elements of the previous games.

It sounds like all most people want to do in a GTA game is run around and blow stuff up and cause chaos but to me that's fun for half an hour then quickly gets boring. As soon as they bring in the jet packs and helicopter gunships I lose interest. Less is more - To me, the odd, fleeting moments of insanity that arise organically in gameplay are far more memorable and enjoyable than the enforced wall-to-wall insanity and wackiness of Saint's Row.

I couldn't give a monkeys about character customisation. Only seems relevant in multiplayer games.

JamesC

I'm not bothered about character creation as long as the character you do play is interesting.
I really enjoyed Sleeping Dogs because I found the character and story engaging. I think the emphasis on martial arts as opposed to progressively larger and more powerful guns kept the sense of place - it was always a believable Hong Kong story.

Professor Bear

Quote from: radiator on 15 February, 2013, 11:47:10 AM
We'll have to disagree there. I utterly despise Saint's Row and think GTA 4 is the best in the series

To each their own.
I hated Saints Row 1 and 2 with a passion, and the True Crime games (though I hear Sleeping Dogs is very good), and all the other po-faced GTA knock-offs - GTA4 becoming just another one of them while losing everything that distinguished it from its clones was where I checked out.

NorthVox

Quote from: radiator on 15 February, 2013, 11:47:10 AM
We'll have to disagree there. I utterly despise Saint's Row and think GTA 4 is the best in the series, because it strived for something a little more grounded in reality and had a great sense of place and atmosphere. Imo it showed a great deal of restraint to opt for a muted colour palette and strip back on the more outlandish elements of the previous games.

It sounds like all most people want to do in a GTA game is run around and blow stuff up and cause chaos but to me that's fun for half an hour then quickly gets boring. As soon as they bring in the jet packs and helicopter gunships I lose interest. Less is more - To me, the odd, fleeting moments of insanity that arise organically in gameplay are far more memorable and enjoyable than the enforced wall-to-wall insanity and wackiness of Saint's Row.

I couldn't give a monkeys about character customisation. Only seems relevant in multiplayer games.

Nailed it one. Big GTA fan, but for me 4 was the clincher, and for the same reasons you mentioned. I felt in places they scaled things back a bit too much (missed some of the extras from previous GTA games, such as robbing stores at gun point, could have done with a few more extras like that I think), but overall definitely a great leap forward. As for Saints Row? I picked up SR2 last year, my friends said it was great. It was alright for a doss around, but ultimately it was just dull; no real storyline, no atmosphere, just violence for the sake of it (I mean at least Postal 2 was challenging), eventually just got bored with it and traded it in. Another thing I think gets overlooked with GTA4 too is the some of the brilliant multiplayer. Due to the realistic physics it made a lot of the PvP combat a lot more exciting, particularly on gang war mode, I remember spending hours upon hours just hopping fences, securing vantage points, sniping from far distances, real great game.