The Shrine

Although homework has made me unable to actually play the game, I did open the thing up to witness the WORST PACKAGING OF ALL TIME



Needless to say, Beaker was disappointed as well.

Lame indeed!

Yeah, MS reamed you guys. We got this:

<img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b34/s ... yssey3.jpg">

You haven't touched the game itself at all, bovine? I'm thinking about picking it up.

I can tell you more about it tomorrow, I have literally only taken off the factory seal and opened it. The discs have yet to be removed from the case.

I was told not to waste any time on that game... didn't get reviewed too highly. Let me know if it's actually a decent RPG. I love the freakin song they play on the commercial-- White Rabbit.

It's actually receiving pretty solid reviews. At Game Rankings it's received 14 reviews, with a 75% average and with seven of those reviews scoring it above 80%.

I was mistaken-- decent reviews, but from what I've read in them I don't think it's a game I want to bother getting into anytime soon. JRPG's are great at first... but I've yet to finish one. I'll pick it up used or something later.

Yeah, has anybody finished Eternal Sonata? The concept and gameplay are good at first, but I got bored quickly.

Tessian wrote:I was mistaken-- decent reviews, but from what I've read in them I don't think it's a game I want to bother getting into anytime soon. JRPG's are great at first... but I've yet to finish one. I'll pick it up used or something later.

It's essentially supposed to be a very traditional, solid JRPG. If you don't like it, just stay away. It sure as heck ain't gonna change your mind

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:It's actually receiving pretty solid reviews. At Game Rankings it's received 14 reviews, with a 75% average and with seven of those reviews scoring it above 80%.

75% is quite low for an RPG. That's even lower than Blue Dragon.

Alright, I've plugged in about 5 hours into the game and it's pretty fun. It doesn't deviate from the JRPG formula at all, but I'm not sure where the story is going yet, so I don't know if god is going to get killed in this one. Everything so far seems really hit and miss. The music is sometimes awesome, but sometimes lame (mostly awesome). The graphics are usually pretty, but there's some nitpicky stuff in there that drive me a little crazy (bad hand models, stuttery framerate somtimes, animation sometimes looking like it's from the ps2 era, etc.), combat system is mostly fun, but the first boss humiliated me, and a super simple skill system. No crazy sphere grids or whatever was in FFXII, just immortals leeching skills off of mortals and equipment while mortals gain skills by gaining levels. I haven't gotten to a full fledged town yet, so I haven't purchased anything except from a merchant that just got thrown at me before I started my adventure. The story is enough to keep me going so far, since it is still really hazy as to what I'm supposed to be doing. Also the voice acting is also really weird. The dialogue isn't something that I'm used to in a JRPG, you'll have to hear it for yourself I guess. You can switch in between multiple languages if you don't like the english voice track, but the japanese voices weren't in sync with the lips, so I jumped back to the english one and I'm not sure which one I like better. Anyways, it's worth a rent and if you like it enough out of that, I say buy it. If you're going to just jump into buying it, it doesn't seem to have any sort of glaringly annoying flaws so far. I'm going to give it (arbitrary number) out of (another arbitrary number). Bovine out!

Just picked up my pre-order. I can't wait to sit down and play this bad boy........

FUCK

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/30356.html

GT's Review paints a pretty picture.

I bought it, and have played about an hour's worth. It's solid so far, but I agree with your quibbles. The frame rates dips are irritating (nowhere near as bad as Mass Effect's, though, so far) and the animation is painful. But it gets the mechanics right and the writing and voice-acting are both good, and it's nice to play a JRPG that assumes you have actually played another game in the genre. The very first real fight, against that giant chopping robot thing, was actually a challenge. No mashing A through the fights, and no babying tutorial. Woo!

I will report back when I've played more.

Just fought the first real boss. It kicked my ass. This game is great.

you guys are enjoying this game?? I'm conflicted... I like JRPGs to a point, but I don't know if I like them $60 worth.

I'm interested in hearing more of what you guys think. Oh, and even X-play was bitching about the boxes. Said it was indicative of the quality of the game, though.

I am really, really enjoying this game.

I would recommend that you make an attempt to play this, Tess. Whether it is worth a buy to you depends on your fondness for the genre: it is a very, very straight JRPG. It gets the mechanics absolutely right, but doesn't push the genre forward.

The story is powerful and heartbreaking. It reminds me a lot of FFX: like its true sequel, sorta, except that it has absolutely nothing to do with it. It evokes the same feelings in me, though, and in a way that FFXII, which I <i>loved</i>, did not.

It is probably the least graphically lazy RPG I have ever played. I'm ten hours in and have not yet run across a reskinned enemy. It's also gorgeous: the environments and characters are beautifully designed and implemented. Its visual weaknesses, aforementioned occasional janky animation aside, are mostly technical, and pretty slight. The framerate skips occasionally and some of the character models are a little strangely built.

I like it better than I did Mass Effect.

wow... may have to spend my gift card from christmas then

FFX was the only FF I ever managed to finish... I stopped at the end of VII for some reason and by the time I came back my PC couldn't run it, X-2 I didn't get far in, and XIII or whatever the latest is I lost interest half way through. There was something else I wanted to ask but I've forgotten....

Still dunno if it's worth $60 though... but it's been a long time since I've played a decent JRPG.

Tessian wrote:wow... may have to spend my gift card from christmas then

FFX was the only FF I ever managed to finish... I stopped at the end of VII for some reason and by the time I came back my PC couldn't run it, X-2 I didn't get far in, and XIII or whatever the latest is I lost interest half way through. There was something else I wanted to ask but I've forgotten....

Still dunno if it's worth $60 though... but it's been a long time since I've played a decent JRPG.

Have you tried Xenosaga Episode 3? I recommend playing the first two first, or at least watching the anime (a very poor experience in comparison, but it gives you the story). It also won't eat 70+ hours of your life as it's about 35 hours. I loved part 2 as welll, but many felt it was too difficult, I'm the only person I know who played it all the way through. Part 1 is easy, but the plot moves VERY slowly and there are VERY long dungeon sequences and everything in the game is too big; still worth playing in my opinion, but many may not agree.

Tessian wrote:I love the freakin song they play on the commercial-- White Rabbit.

You want me to throw this thing into the tub when "White Rabbit" peaks?

I think that clip was edited, it didnt show the part from the quote...

**Possible, but too vague to be spoilers ahead**

Usually with JRPGs I start disliking the game because of the constant grinding and hard bosses. This game has really started to hurt in the story department. I can't stand the two kids in the game, or really any character except for Seth. Since Seth's story is so light so far, and much more heavy on the other characters.... I'm having a hard time playing the game because I hate the story. The characters are either righteous or evil..... and it's pretty annoying.

At first I was intrigued as to where the story was going, but then they started introducing characters past the original 3 that were just so brutally annoying that I've had to put the game down a couple times because a particularly bad cutscene has occurred. I don't care about the characters, so this game is not getting me on an emotional level, but I like the combat system, so trudging through the story elements to get to the fun dungeons and combat is the grind in this game..... I recommend renting this game before you buy it. The second disc is a testament to how bad the story can get, but the third disc is a total discapointment (you see what I did there?).

Just so you know where each of us are coming from, I'm not yet done with the first disk. It's possible that I'm still honeymooning. I hope not, though, 'cause I'm really enjoying the story so far!

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:Just so you know where each of us are coming from, I'm not yet done with the first disk. It's possible that I'm still honeymooning. I hope not, though, 'cause I'm really enjoying the story so far!

Well, it is possible the reviews are innacurate, they are likely mostly rated by anti-Japan hardcore American metal type geeks. How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10?

Uh, I wouldn't call bovine an anti-Japan hardcore American metal-type geek, and he's not enjoying it.

For me, so far, the game is a solid 8.

Remember, Andrew, don't analyze when you can marginalize.

Andrew, Killer Bee wrote:Uh, I wouldn't call bovine an anti-Japan hardcore American metal-type geek, and he's not enjoying it.

For me, so far, the game is a solid 8.

Obviously I'm referring to reviews on review sites for Xbox games, not Bovine.

oh jesus christ the kids sing

yeah, and there's a spoiler coming up.

SPOILER

there's a guy named SED who has a pirate ship that flies... Sed.... sounds like something else doesn't it? perhaps another flying ship captain from another similar game series.

bovine wrote:yeah, and there's a spoiler coming up.

SPOILER

there's a guy named SED who has a pirate ship that flies... Sed.... sounds like something else doesn't it? perhaps another flying ship captain from another similar game series.

What on earth could you be referring to? Ghostbusters?

Whatcha gonna do about... ...Ghostbusters!

Okay, I'm on to the start of the third disk. The game remains glorious, but inconsistent. I'm glad it hasn't turned on me, as it appears to have done on bovine.