Ben-DutkaIt was a big week, what with the Tokyo Game Show and all, but I'll keep things simple for the recap. 🙂
I guess Americans hate colors
If you really start to think about it, it's one of the strangest phenomena of the industry: Americans just never get many color options for their gaming hardware. They get a few for their accessories, but that's about it. How come Japan gets everything? A whole bunch of designer colors for the Vita ? Heck, even Europeans get that slick Ceramic White PS3 . And then there are the awesome unique systems that coincide with a big game launch, like that FFXIII-2 Lightning Ver. 2 PS3 . And we're still sitting here, stuck with one damn color for the PS3. I get the feeling we won't see those Vita colors, either.
What's going on? What market research did Sony conduct that found that gamers in the US don't care about such things? Yeah, it's only cosmetic but it'd be nice to have a choice . Hell, if it was something like that Lightning-branded PS3, I might've sprung for it, even though I already had a relatively new Slim. I just wish someone would explain this to me.
Okay, FFX in HD…I can live with that
In my estimation, it was the biggest news of TGS 2011. Sure, we learned more about the Vita and stuff like that, but Final Fantasy X in high-definition just made my week. On the downside, it only solidified my theory that we'll never see a FFVII remake. We're seeing tons of PS2 classics receiving the high-def upgrade this generation, but it just isn't happening with PS1 classics. Look at the new MGS HD Collection; that won't have the original because Konami and Kojima said it would simply be too difficult to do. And I'm sure that's the case with FFVII or any PS1 title. It would have to be a complete remake; not just a visual overhaul.
Still, I loved FFX. It was the last FF that actually looked and played like Final Fantasy (what with the traditional combat setting). I really liked FFXII, too – it was an RPG, after all – but for different reason. And I never minded the linearity of FFX; I liked the story and I really liked the gameplay. It was also a beautiful production; even prettier than other games in the series, like FFVIII and XII. FFX in HD? Yeah, I'll take it.
Personal gaming update
So I'm done with Resistance 3 and I'm nearing the end of Deus Ex: Human Revolution . I've given up on any ideas of finishing Catherine due to the workload that waits just around the corner, but I'm having fun with White Knight Chronicles II . I need to play a lot more before I can write a review, but all I can say to all you RPG fans is- I get it. I think I get why you love the game. But I won't jump to any other conclusions just yet.
Also, expect reviews for Atelier Totori , the RE4 and RE:CV HD installments on the Network, and a couple more games are waiting in the wings: Rage and Dark Souls , both of which launch on October 4. No, I don't have them yet so don't ask. They mark the onslaught that will probably cripple me in October and November, but I'm okay with that. 😉
In other news, we should have a Level-5 Q&A interview for you within the next couple of weeks, and we just finished shooting Episode #6 of the PSXE Show. Due to Hurricane Irene and one episode that popped into Home without me knowing, we've been missing the party in the theater. So we'll definitely party for #6; stay tuned for time and other relevant info.
R3 the best PS3 exclusive…? God of War III? MGS4? Heavy Rain? KZ2 or KZ3? inFamous or inFamous 2? GT5? Uncharted 2?
I love Resistance but I can't go with that statement.
… But Ben, you yourself rated R3 higher than both kz3, inFamous and i2, so you can't disagree *that* much?
I hate discussing exclusives cause it's such a touchy subject to many, so please all don't get too offended by what you are about to read now. But to me personally R3 is the best ps3 exclusive I've played so far.
The technical qualities of R3, the fluid gameplay, the polish and the work put into it, without falling for the temptation of making it too railed or the maps too small for the sake of ramping up the graphics, all that is impressive and I salute them for it. I think they found a very good balance in R3 for a shooter. Close to perfect.
I've not played inFamous 2 yet. It's on my list, I love open world gaming so it's bankers. Prior to R3 the first inFamous were my favourite. i2 is a guaranteed blast.
But compared to R3 inFamous has a more "unpolished" feel to it. Plus, in many ways I feel it is a "simpler" game. That's why I rate R3 higher, so far. For instance, the AI can't be compared in those two games. In R3 it is impressive, no less.
Because of my avid opposition to forced play I can right away strike GoW, KZ3 and U2 off your list. To me they are just interactive animations, blinged rails. Glittering graphics just doesn't impress me much.
The acting in U2 is good and it looks good but it ends there. KZ2 I've not given a fair chance so I'll avoid judging that one, but kz3 was horrible in every way, including story. The acting were descent I guess, there's only so much an actor can do when the script is in such a poor state.
Heavy Rain: I believe this is an *important* title, but I hated playing it. I hardly call it a game, even. It should however be *seen*, it's an interesting release. I have huge respect for the devs of that title. I am happy I paid full price for it. It deserves support. But the best exclusive? No way.
MGS4: For someone like me who has not played the earlier MGS it was like seeing the last quarter of a movie. I did not know the characters involved, did not find the jokes to be even slightly funny, and I didn't find the gameplay to be more than just ok. But this is mostly due to the fact that I had no relation to the story or characters at all. This is definitely not a game I would recommend to someone new to MGS.
GT5: Not played it, but I don't like driving sims at all, so I don't buy it.
So there you go 🙂 In my opinion, according to my preferences I find Resistance 3 to be the best exclusive so far.
Last edited by Beamboom on 9/19/2011 3:00:10 AM
Still overwhelmed at Ni No Kuni finally arriving and that early!
Let Level 5 know that we're thankful for them keeping the roots of Jrpg alive.
Remind them how much we here adore them!
Last edited by Lotusflow3r on 9/18/2011 6:23:02 AM
A FFX HD is a step in the right direction. I would like other devlopers to take a page from Bungie and do a real remake. The HD polish is nice, but I want a full polygon count upgrade please.
PGU: Finished Deus Ex. Great game. The ending was decent. It was no FFVIII or MGS ending but it was much better than what I've been seeing in games these days. (cough*KZ3 Crysis2 cough)
I'm playing through it again and I have to say I like the FPS side of gameplay as much as I like the stealth assassin approach.
I can *kinda* see why NA doesn't get colored consoles (blue, red, pink, etc.), but I really don't see why black, white, and silver aren't available everywhere ASAP. I always get black, myself.
PGU: After 3 years, I finally beat all the puzzles in Go Sudoku. Great value for the price.
Now, I'm working my way through AC1. The AC:R beta got me started again. It's been so long since I started it that I had to replay the beginning so I'd remember how to play it.
I'm also playing Back To The Future episode 1 which is (was?) free on PSN. Fun and funny, but like all Telltale games it runs like s*** on PS3, which is a shame.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 9/18/2011 7:57:51 AM
If they somehow decided to release a Ni no Kuni bundle with that gorgeous white PS3, I would totally buy a new console even if I didn't need it. Well, I could go for a new one since my current PS3 sounds like a supersonic jet.
"sounds like a supersonic jet" -> lol tell me about it. My fat ps3 started to sound like that too. In fact that's why I got the slim. My fat still works, it just sounds… Like a supersonic jet. 😀
I kinda wouldn't mind having a blue PS3 the piano black is nice to look at but a royal blue or a baby boy blue would look nice. A blood red PS3 would probably look amazing.
PGU: Trying to beat L.A. Noire and Ratchet and Clank a crack in time before the final week of my 30 days of Blockbuster is over. Still working on Dead Island. About to enter the last full month of the regular season in NHL 11 and trying to work in one more play through of "InFamous 2" before sending it back to Gamefly for Spider-Man Edge of time.
And when I put Christmas gifts on layaway next month I'm thinking about getting MLB 11 the show(cuz it's 39.99 now) and GOW 3.
I love colors, I want colors, I need colors,
so give me those colors too already, damn it!!!!!
Hell, hard core gaming collectors like myself try to get their hands on every single model of every single colored PS3 & PSP, Vita, what have you, etc.
And that's why I already owe 5 PSP's in my collection so far, a….
1000 – black,
Three 2000 Slims – black, Star Wars "Darth Vader" skinned white, Madden 09 dark metallic blue,
3000 silver…..(so far).
And I'm still needing that 2000 slim GOW red one, the Hannah Montana pink one, and a 3000 regular black one. Plus I still need and want every one of those other 12 "Japan only" different colored 3000's that launched about a year or two ago.
So stop losing all those extra sales Sony!
Last edited by BikerSaint on 9/18/2011 1:51:54 PM
I guess the Sony folks here figure if we want the PS3 look different we can buy skins. I had an Superman skin for my PSP. Hope I can find a Venom and Spider-Man one.
Sony needs a brushed Aluminum Vita, that's a one slick color for both genders, obviously black is to.
Yes, & I'd even like to see a aluminum diamond plate looking one, although not a real metal one because I'm assuming it just might hold the heat in.
that will be cool.
Final Fantasy X was best news for me too.. Suikoden on psp came out no where and I cant wait to see some gameplay. L5 Another World coming 2012 is great news.
I've been playing P3 portable and Xenogears. I took a pass wkc 2 since I really didnt like the first one. Im waiting on Totori and Ico Collection.
Last edited by bebestorm on 9/18/2011 1:19:02 PM
My PGU,
Back on Avatar for a 3rd play-through, only this time to try getting all of the world's conquering done in those GMI machine's "Conquest" mini-game.
BTW, I also found 4 PS2 & 2 GameCube games that I still needed to help fill in some of my gaming collections. And since they were in decent shape for only $2 each, of course I couldn't resist the force.
So I'll also be at least sampling them too this week, once I've cleaned and/or polished up the discs to a pristine finish(yeah, I'm anal like that, nothing's too good for my consoles).
Game Cube….
Hunter: The Reckoning
Street
PS2….
DDRMAX: Dance Dance Revolution
NCAA Football 08
Popcap Hit's: Volume 2 (Zuma & Heavy Weapon)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
The Dallas Cowboys ruined my night.
Mine too. But not really…gave up on SF a while ago.
Hey World gimmie your PSN lol.
By the way Ben Ive been wondering.. how does reviewing a game one hasnt finished work exactly? I mean to me that sounds like watching 45 minutes of a 90 minute movie and then reviewing it.. a, I really qualified to give me opinion on a movie I didnt watch all the way through? I mean sure the first half might have sucked but for all I know the last half woulda been better right?
As for you not liking the prospect of playing an RPG online guess we wont be seeing you online much (other than for review purposes) in WKC2 🙁 which in that case the online is like a 1/10 as you have to invest a huge chunk of time into it before it actually gets good lol.
Hopefully you ask about DLC in the US for WKC2 in that Level 5 QA.
Also when you review WKC2 will you be including/talking about WKC1 in the review as well or just reviewing WKC2 as a standalone title as if WKC1 wasnt on the disc as well? the reason I ask is because having played WKC1 before would give you a better understanding on whats going on storywise in WKC2 also one of the major review complaints i see in WKC2 is how "the game throws you into the middle of everything assuming you already know how to play and gives no tutorial" to which I say well if you played WKC1 before you WOULD know how to play and not NEED a tutorial in 2 also if you havent played 1 before then you have no excuse not too as it comes packaged with WKC2 and it (WKC1 that is) indeed DOES have a tutorial.. now that "no tutorial" complaint in WKC2 would hold water if the game didnt include WKC1 on thew disc with it.. but it does so to me at least.. that isnt a valid complaint.
I can totally defend writing a review without seeing/experiencing the entire package. This is very common for example with concert reviews because of deadlines.
When did you play a game that *totally* changed it's nature or experience at around 70-80% into the game? I don't think I've ever experienced that other than sometimes a show-stopping *bug* by the end of the game, that has happened.
What I'm concerned about though, is that every aspect of the game is fairly covered. In my particular case I have a focus on coop play and I very often must seek player forums or user comments in order to get some real info about that part of the game. That annoys me, cause it's often the main reason why I buy that title in the first place.
Last edited by Beamboom on 9/19/2011 1:41:15 AM
FFXIII was significantly different with much more to offer over halfway into the game. No respectable review could have been written without reaching Gran Pulse or stealing ideas from other reviewers.
There are lots of games that need substantial time for a fair review. I'm convinced some reviewers get away with not even trying a game or two.
well Beam I can name 2 games.. Mass Effect 2… I HATED that game up until the actual Suicide Mission (i.e the last mission of the game).. before then the game was slow and extremely boring (recruiting characters, doing all their loyalty quests and the DLC missions) Im thinking to myself "People actually LIKE this crap?" heck I even dozed off and fell asleep while playing it a few times.. but the actual final mission kept me awake and on my feet…i still wouldnt give the game a 10/10 or GOTY like others do but in the end I liked it a lot more than I would have if i stopped playing after the first time (out of 20) that it put me to sleep.
Same with Star Ocean 4.. that game was BEYOND boring… I think I fell asleep every 15 mins of that game.. the story went nowhere (it was just a buncha of random planet exploration and helping the ppl of said planets with their problems) until about 70% though when you finally meet Crowe again then he explains whats going on and finally some semblance of an actual story or goal becomes apparent.. so it took that long before a game that I woulda originally gave a 5/10 got bumped up to a 6/10.. still didnt like it much but at least it finally TRIED to suck less near the end.
Interesting replies.
I've never had such an experience, but then again I've never ever gotten far into a game that I've disliked that much.
I found FFXIII to be such a huge pile of nothingness that I stopped playing long, long before I got anywhere.
And if I had found ME2 to be a drag I'd never, ever in my life gotten to that last part.
So, I think maybe you may be right after all.
The reason why I have not experienced this is apparently because I've never bothered dragging myself through it. I got a huge pile of games where I've not gotten longer than half way through.
But… *Why* do you guys bother? lol – where do you get the stamina?! 😀
Last edited by Beamboom on 9/20/2011 7:50:44 AM