The Other Worlds Shrine

Your place for discussion about RPGs, gaming, music, movies, anime, computers, sports, and any other stuff we care to talk about... 

  • Picked up some games this Boxing Day....

  • Because playing them is not enough, we have to bitch about them daily, too. We had a Gameplay forum, but it got replaced by GameFAQs.
Because playing them is not enough, we have to bitch about them daily, too. We had a Gameplay forum, but it got replaced by GameFAQs.
 #95061  by Zeus
 Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:56 pm
Shadow of the Colossus - wow, this game fucking rules. All you do is fight enormous bosses that take anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour to beat and spend some time getting to them. The storyline and music is very minimalistic (sorry Don), basically only telling you what you need to know and just providing some background sounds. But I have never played a game with such atmosphere and artistic value as this (and I don't really care about artistic value). This game gives you the best sense of scale ever. You know you're a little pipsqueak not just to the colossi but also to the world itself right off the opening sequence when you're riding down what seems to be a 5 mile bridge 2 miles in the air.

You also have to sit there and figure out what to do with the bosses. For all of them (well, 4 so far), you have to climb up their hair and hit them in specific spots all while trying to hang on for dear life. And the spots keep moving so you have to move around on their bodies to go to the next spot. Considering they're like 300 feet tall versus your 6 feet, it's a pretty fucking cool ride. They're trying to shake you off and really react to where you are on them. For instance, if you're on their backs by their necks, they'll shake their necks to take you off. And if you're hanging on their heads, they'll move their heads up and down to try and get you off. You have a stamina sphere, so while you're on these monsters you'll have to find a place to rest 'cause if you try and hang on the whole time, you'll eventually get tired and get flung off. Right behind their necks is good, but there's also some bones and/or armour they have sticking out that you can rest on.

This game will likely drop in the next couple of months (I got mine at full price but got Eye Toy Kinetic for free) to $20 US as it's not selling overly well and I strongly suggest that everyone pick it up at that price if for nothing else than to just experience it. I figure it'll take about 8 or so hours to beat, but it'll be a wild ride. This and Guitar Hero are easily the best console games I got and the only things that have rivalled the DS in months. They're both among my fav games on the current consoles.

Metroid Prime Pinball - a very surprisingly good game, especially considering it was made by the guys who made Mario Pinball Land, which sucked an enormous donkey cock. It's a relatively basic pinball game to start, but what makes it cool is that you'll have the enemies such as pirates and metroids attack you (you hit them with the ball which is Samus in ball mode) and you have to attack back. Plus, every now and then the ball freezes on a spot just above the flippers where Samus comes out of her ball and shoots continuously while you're getting attacked by swarms of enemies. Then there's the "bonus" levels which are different locals and boss fights. It's a very good pinball game if you like the genre.

Pac Pix - this one is a nice novelty item that's a pretty fun tech demo game. Basically, you draw a Pac-Man to the best of your abilities and it comes to life chasing the ghosts. You can also draw lines to re-direct it. Very neat and fun and a great use of the stylus, but not really worth much more than the $19 Cdn I paid. For that price, it's a great show off piece for the DS and a fun time-waster, but I wouldn't pay much more than that

Guitar Hero - well, it rules and you need to pick it up now. 23 of 30 done on Expert and I'm starting to get calluses from playing the damned game.

Other ones I haven't had a chance to get to since the above games rule so much are Eye Toy Kinetic, Sigma Star Saga, Tecmo Arcade, and Robotech Invasion. I'll post my impressions of Sigma Star but I doubt too many of you would be interested in the others.

 #95068  by Agent 57
 Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:44 am
I rented "Shadow" last Friday, finally got around to playing it tonight, and beat the first 5 colossi this evening.

I like the idea, and it is artistic as hell, but I have two major complaints. One, it's not readily apparent what you're supposed to do to even be able to get on some of the colossi, and the hints are pretty shitty - case in point, the second one in the seaside cave. "The places where it emits light is its weakness" was somehow supposed to clue me in that I had to shoot it in the bottom of the feet? They weren't "emitting light", they just looked yellow!

Second, the camera and controls are awful. (Consider me spoiled by Psychonauts.)

IMO, it's a good game that's trying really hard to make me hate it. I've got it for a couple more days, hopefully if it's as short as you say, I'll be able to beat it before I have to bring it back.

 #95076  by Flip
 Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:45 am
YES! Just played Shadows yesterday for the first time and was about to post about it! This game is stunning; visually, artistically, and audiolly (?). Game of the Year!!!!

 #95106  by Nev
 Thu Dec 29, 2005 4:59 pm
Agent 57 wrote:IMO, it's a good game that's trying really hard to make me hate it.
Was it you that said the same thing about Kingdom Hearts...or was that Zeus?

 #95112  by Zeus
 Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:05 pm
Mental wrote:
Agent 57 wrote:IMO, it's a good game that's trying really hard to make me hate it.
Was it you that said the same thing about Kingdom Hearts...or was that Zeus?
That was me. The camera was so awful and the fighting so repetitive, it was trying to make me hate it. But the storyline and Disney locales were so neat I just kept on playing.

I have to disagree on you with Shadow, Agent. The whole idea of this game is minimalistic (storyline, music, etc.) EXCEPT for the experience (including visuals, art, scale, etc.). The entire game is fighting the colossi and trying to figure out how to beat them. It's not always going to be something you get right away or comes too naturally. Personally, I figure out the second one once I saw it lift its legs up 'cause I couldn't find another way to get one it. But the fourth one I figured it out by accident after half an hour of trying even though it seems quite simple once you know what it is. But it didn't matter, it was so neat fighting these bosses it's not like I was getting bored. Frustrated a little, yeah, but man, it was a wild ride.

The camera could use a bit of work, but it's not like you're fighting these incredibly fast enemies that are jumping around all over the place (see Kingdom Hearts). These are 300ft colossi that you can basically run circles around and you have the Zelda-like lock-on. The camera doesn't become much of an issue 'cause of that IMO.

 #95113  by Zeus
 Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:07 pm
Flip wrote:YES! Just played Shadows yesterday for the first time and was about to post about it! This game is stunning; visually, artistically, and audiolly (?). Game of the Year!!!!
Well, definetely up there. Guitar Hero and Mario Kart DS rule something fierce as well. When I played Kart DS online, it was like I was playing the computer. It was that smooth. Considering that the graphics are pretty damned nice and there was NO lag or slowdown, it's a pretty good feat. And any game that puts me on the way to calluses has to be up there :-)

All three of these games are among the best of the next gen games (Xbox 360 not included) IMO.

 #95140  by SineSwiper
 Fri Dec 30, 2005 12:17 am
Zeus wrote:The camera could use a bit of work, but it's not like you're fighting these incredibly fast enemies that are jumping around all over the place (see Kingdom Hearts). These are 300ft colossi that you can basically run circles around and you have the Zelda-like lock-on. The camera doesn't become much of an issue 'cause of that IMO.
I think that good tracking made up for any camera problems. If you ever had an issue with cameras, just lock on.

 #95143  by Agent 57
 Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:26 am
First off, I don't have a problem with the camera in that I can't track the colossi well enough - I have a problem with the camera in that I can never see where I'm fucking going. :)
Zeus wrote:The whole idea of this game is minimalistic (storyline, music, etc.) EXCEPT for the experience (including visuals, art, scale, etc.). The entire game is fighting the colossi and trying to figure out how to beat them.
And here's where I disagree with you slightly, because I think you're only half right. Yes, the main point of the game is fighting the colossi and trying to figure out how to beat them, but since they only throw two relatively simplistic objectives at you - getting on the colossus and then stabbing him in the shiney place - they have to fill out the rest of the game with boring filler, i.e. riding to wherever the colossus is, and once you get there trying different stuff until you hit upon the thing that the programmers decided you could do to take the guy down.

And while you guys may be having a grand old time doing all that stuff, I'm getting bored and frustrated and not having any fun (and resorting to a FAQ far more often than I would otherwise). Not to mention that I don't even find the game that pretty to look at - the colors are drab, and the graphics themselves are relatively bad - which could have conceivably made me like it more.

*shrug* Eh...looks like we've got a good old difference of opinion here. I'm glad you guys were able to like it, it's just not my thing.

btw, Flip, the word you were looking for is "aurally".

 #95154  by Flip
 Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:19 pm
Agent 57 wrote: And here's where I disagree with you slightly, because I think you're only half right. Yes, the main point of the game is fighting the colossi and trying to figure out how to beat them, but since they only throw two relatively simplistic objectives at you - getting on the colossus and then stabbing him in the shiney place - they have to fill out the rest of the game with boring filler, i.e. riding to wherever the colossus is, and once you get there trying different stuff until you hit upon the thing that the programmers decided you could do to take the guy down.

And while you guys may be having a grand old time doing all that stuff, I'm getting bored and frustrated and not having any fun (and resorting to a FAQ far more often than I would otherwise).
I see your point and i guess two people can have a different mindset on the subject. I dont mind the guess and test method, which ultimately this is, expecially since (from what i have seen so far) if you guess wrong you dont instantly die. Since there are places where you can crouch and gain back health and stam you get time to collect yourself and to try something different. There have been plenty of games where if you try something unordinary and it doesnt work out you have to resort to reloading to your last save point, which is very annoying.

The fight scenes are defenitely scripted to get you to do it one particular way, but so is every puzzle sequence in every other game. Dont err and categorize this game as 'action/adventure', it is defenitely 'moving puzzle'
Agent 57 wrote:Not to mention that I don't even find the game that pretty to look at - the colors are drab, and the graphics themselves are relatively bad - which could have conceivably made me like it more.
Art. The drab colors and emptiness set the mood very well to me. I play most of my games hanging out by myself and games like this who do a fantastic job setting the stage simply suck me right in. The games who do well in this department are by far superior games, IMO. I do think the graphics are good, though, considering.
Agent 57 wrote:*shrug* Eh...looks like we've got a good old difference of opinion here. I'm glad you guys were able to like it, it's just not my thing.

btw, Flip, the word you were looking for is "aurally".
Sweet.

EDIT: Oh yeah, i like that is has a 16:9 screen option. A lot of newer games are doing this and it pwns.

 #95163  by Zeus
 Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:07 pm
SineSwiper wrote:
Zeus wrote:The camera could use a bit of work, but it's not like you're fighting these incredibly fast enemies that are jumping around all over the place (see Kingdom Hearts). These are 300ft colossi that you can basically run circles around and you have the Zelda-like lock-on. The camera doesn't become much of an issue 'cause of that IMO.
I think that good tracking made up for any camera problems. If you ever had an issue with cameras, just lock on.
That's when I had the most problems. It was just too close and jumpy