Ask me about video games.

[The Iron Giant]

MadWorld is fun to look at, but a bit pants to play. It's just a mindless gore-fest.

And this is coming from someone who religiously covets Platinum Games' work. They are probably *the* best japanese games developer in the industry right now.

Agreed, not that that's always a bad thing.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Hahaha! Violence sure is awesome, ain't it?
Next time I'm in GameStop, I'll see if they have a copy.

 

[Burger King]

I haven't played the Final Fantasy series in soooooooooo long. I think it sucks more and more after each new addition to the series. Have you played any recent ones, and what is your opinion of it?

 

[The Iron Giant]

I haven't played the Final Fantasy series in soooooooooo long. I think it sucks more and more after each new addition to the series. Have you played any recent ones, and what is your opinion of it?

I grew up on the series and have a collection of the games now. I think I might enjoy the newer games more if I didn't have a level of nostalgia for what they once were. RPGs are so much deeper and more complex and interesting now, and I feel like the Final Fantasy concept has been played out almost identically so many times that it hasn't really innovated in more than 15 years. I find it hard to stomach something like Final Fantasy when fresher, more compelling and innovative alternatives like Mass Effect exist.

I haven't really enjoyed a Final Fantasy game since VI (which I LOVED), though I did play through most of VII after I got tired of hearing about how amazing it was supposed to be. I still can't see the appeal of that game. The graphics are uneven and sloppy, the music is grating and uninspired, the characters are paper thin and the storyline is incomprehensible. Why do people want a remake?

 

[River]

I grew up on the series and have a collection of the games now. I think I might enjoy the newer games more if I didn't have a level of nostalgia for what they once were. RPGs are so much deeper and more complex and interesting now, and I feel like the Final Fantasy concept has been played out almost identically so many times that it hasn't really innovated in more than 15 years. I find it hard to stomach something like Final Fantasy when fresher, more compelling and innovative alternatives like Mass Effect exist.

I haven't really enjoyed a Final Fantasy game since VI (which I LOVED), though I did play through most of VII after I got tired of hearing about how amazing it was supposed to be. I still can't see the appeal of that game. The graphics are uneven and sloppy, the music is grating and uninspired, the characters are paper thin and the storyline is incomprehensible. Why do people want a remake?

For some it is part nostalgia. It was the first RPG i played and gave me a love for the genre. The first copy i had was actually in french - i didn't understand a word of it but managed to get to the mountain range before getting ahold of an english copy. It felt... epic. An interactive novel where effort was needed to find what came next. Complete fascination.

What about the story do you find incomprehensible?

 

[Fluffywolf]

I've never liked VII that much either, and I played that not long after its release when the graphics were considered good.

The only final fantasy I really liked, a lot, is Final Fantasy X. I actually decided to play through it again a week or so ago. And it's quite remarkable, I thought it would be so outdated now that I'd get bored really quickly, but I'm slowly getting throuhg the game nonetheless and the fact there are a lot of things I no longer remembered all that well makes the game feel pretty interesting. Despite its old age. (I play it on my PC now though with emulator, better graphics.)

 

[Patches]

I haven't played the Final Fantasy series in soooooooooo long. I think it sucks more and more after each new addition to the series. Have you played any recent ones, and what is your opinion of it?

I've played every single Final Fantasy... And FF XIII was the first one I just could not finish. It was so bad. It was painful to play through as far as I did. I tried really hard to get through it, because I read posts online that said that it got less painful in a certain zone. So I toughed it out. I was going to try to make a comment on the story line, but it really lacked depth so much that I can't even remember it. And that's strange for me. The zone which people claimed it go 'more bearable' at was 20 hours of played time into the game. If I may quote the Zero Punctuation review: "Put your hand on a stove for 20 hours, and yeah, you'll probably stop feeling the pain after awhile." I played for another 10 hours after that point before I said "fuck it" and stopped. I really wanted to try to go back to it and finish it, but I just can't bring myself to do it. The combat system was awful, and you only control the Party Leader while the other 2 people in your party are on auto-pilot. It's terribly boring.

Final Fantasy 6 (3? I always get confused by that) is definitely the pinnacle. 7 was good. It started going downhill fast at 8. 9 was awful.... And I will forever remain the ONLY person in the world that enjoyed 10, but damnit I liked 10. 10-2 was laughable. 11 was an MMO so it doesn't count as far as I'm concerned. 13 was "kill me now".

 

[Fluffywolf]

And I will forever remain the ONLY person in the world that enjoyed 10, but damnit I liked 10. 10-2 was laughable. 11 was an MMO so it doesn't count as far as I'm concerned. 13 was "kill me now".

See post above you lol. You and me both.

Although I already gave up at final fantasy 12.

X-2 was indeed laughable. It had an entertaining value, but was not epic like X was.

 

[Patches]

See post above you lol. You and me both.

Although I already gave up at final fantasy 12.

X-2 was indeed laughable. It had an entertaining value, but was not epic like X was.

Yeah, my major problem with X is that..... Tidus is a giant, gaping vagina. I'd like to see someone more like Jecht or Auron in the driver's seat. Just seeeeeething with badassery.

 

[Fluffywolf]

Yeah, my major problem with X is that..... Tidus is a giant, gaping vagina. I'd like to see someone more like Jecht or Auron in the driver's seat. Just seeeeeething with badassery.

Yeah, Tidus was a bit of a letdown. At the end his cool factor goes up exponentially though when he.. Ehm.. You know... Major spoiler.

I really liked the Auron side of the story. He made it all work. And I love Lulu. <3

 

[Burger King]

[MENTION=15167]Stephen[/MENTION]

Pretty much agreed with what you said. Though, I liked FF7, but agreed that it's overhyped. The milking of it and the obnoxious fans that won't let it die left a bad taste in my mouth.

Final Fantasy 6 (3? I always get confused by that) is definitely the pinnacle. 7 was good. It started going downhill fast at 8. 9 was awful.... And I will forever remain the ONLY person in the world that enjoyed 10, but damnit I liked 10. 10-2 was laughable. 11 was an MMO so it doesn't count as far as I'm concerned. 13 was "kill me now".

I liked FF8.

 

[The Iron Giant]

What about the story do you find incomprehensible?

Most of it is probably due to the localization. Most of the time, I had little idea what was going on. By the end of the game, I had no idea who or what Cloud, Sephiroth, Jenova, or Zack were, and if any of what was happening was supposed to be real or imaginary. Aeris also seemed like a pointless character, aside from the whole "oh no you liked me and now I'm dead, go kill the guy who did it." I read a synopsis of the ending a long time ago and I don't remember it clearing any of it up.

 

[The Iron Giant]

I liked FF8.

I thought 8 was more impressive than 7 in a lot of ways. The cinematic intro for one thing was pretty breathtaking at the time. But I generally prefer the more high fantasy styled FF games to the high tech ones. Even VI, my favorite, had some tech... magitek.

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

Serious question about Red Dead Redemption (for Sir Stephen):

What do you think about hogtying an NPC in Armadillo, throwing him on the back of your steed, catching up to a moving train and throwing him down on the tracks so the train will run him over, in which he'll violently explode in a hail of blood, guts and body parts?

Yesterday, I spent an estimated 5 hours doing this in repetition and the only reason I stopped was because my power went out.

Have you ever done this, I guess...is the question.

 

[The Iron Giant]

Serious question about Red Dead Redemption (for Sir Stephen):

What do you think about hogtying an NPC in Armadillo, throwing him on the back of your steed, catching up to a moving train and throwing him down on the tracks so the train will run him over, in which he'll violently explode in a hail of blood, guts and body parts?

Yesterday, I spent an estimated 5 hours doing this in repetition and the only reason I stopped was because my power went out.

Have you ever done this, I guess...is the question.

I haven't played the game, but I've heard great things along those lines.

 

[ilikeitlikethat]

Alex the Kidd in Miracle World (1986)

Sega...

I love, now, looking back, how Stone Head and I think all of them turn into hamburgers which; Alex is then seen eating or 'munching' in the corner of the screen on the loading page for the next level after these end of level battles.

Ever played it?
Ever heard of it?

 

[Poindexter Arachnid]

I haven't played the game, but I've heard great things along those lines.

Fair enough, I was joking around anyway.
But here is an actual question:

What do you think of the current state of the video game community?

It's not the same as when I was a kid--there was a genuine sense of community within arcades. You'd play a multiplayer game and other kids you didn't know would join, and as you stood there punching the buttons, you would get to know them, banter with them and high five when you finally defeated the level boss. It was magical. I made many real life friends that way and it meant a lot to me, being a hard introvert that didn't get out much.

Well, that pretty much went out the window with online gaming and the advent of consoles. Gaming communities are often notoriously misogynistic and online activity commonly descends into petty name-calling and liberal usage of racial/sexual/gender slurs that I dare not utter here. To be honest, I don't want to know these people. I don't want to be clumped in with them.

This is my take on it. What say you?

 

[The Iron Giant]

[MENTION=12864]Duck_of_Death[/MENTION], I agree. I think the sense of community has gone out of gaming. I don't play online games with strangers anymore, because 100% of my experiences have been awful. This is the case regardless of whether we're talking about Mario Kart DS or Diablo or anything else. When you're not planted in the same room with another gamer, you lose accountability for your actions.

I feel like anonymity makes people into trolls, whether they're on a forum or a game server. It's this kind of thing that makes me think Nintendo had the right general idea with avoiding online play and moving toward local multiplayer, but that's just impractical when you're not a kid. As much as I loved Four Swords Adventures for Gamecube, I never had more than two players for it, and I wouldn't have had that many if I hadn't been married when it came out. I still wish I had three friends nearby to play Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles with!

 

[The Iron Giant]

Alex the Kidd in Miracle World (1986)

Sega...

I love, now, looking back, how Stone Head and I think all of them turn into Hamburgers which; Alex is then seen eating or 'munching' in the corner of the screen on the loading page for the next level after these end of level battles.

Ever played it?
Ever heard of it?

Maybe...

 

[ilikeitlikethat]

Maybe...

Wow, that's pretty cool Man, you know!

My copy looked like this and was the only game installed to the console...
Did you know that that's what that console looked like in Europe?

I did however love this game too, and it did rock my world.

I still remember the password to be able to turn into any creature.

on the page with all the 0s, it's WE5T 0NE 0000 0000 0000 0000...

I only remember that because that's how I was taught how to play the game.