Last Game You Finished And Your Four-ghts

I've never played the OG Xbox verison but have Dreamcast & it's great all that 128-Bit Power! It's the one with the stupidity high score on Metacritic.

You know that console war is over & Dreamcast lost, right?

I do beat my staff while it's up there, but that's unrelated to Mario Kart . . .

The_Jaster wrote:

You know that console war is over & Dreamcast lost, right?

Yeah not sure what that has to really do with anything just pointing out that Cappa and gJones are right Dreamcast verison best (maybe OG Xbox) because the Dreamcast had more power than the PS1 that's it really, quite simple, being a generation after the PS1.

And if you're on about the score thing again, that's also true like how N64 verison of OoT is Number 1 game, the DC version of THPS2 just got excellent reviews which again might go back to the DC having extra grunt.

Same goes for THPS3 & 4 on PS2 being better than the PS1 more than likely due to the grunt and the verisons if you can would play.

Eh? I was trying to wind you up/have a joke because you said this:

mas wrote:

all that 128-Bit Power!

Also not sure what you are on about with the "score thing" either plus I was all about the Dreamcast that gen too and was where I played THPS2 as well.

Well yeah because the Dreamcast was 128-Bit where PS1 was 32-Bit (I believe) because the Dreamcast was the gen (Saturn is PS1 gen) after and because of the extra bits it looked better etc

Really no different to how we will be getting Outriders on PS4 and PS5, the PS5 version should look better

I brought up the score as I thought you were taking the piss as I was bigging up the DC verison, I was pointing out that yes that's the highest rated version but on Metacritic each verison is scored so a GTAV is listed 5 times.

It's wild to think that the Dreamcast launched in December 1998 (in Japan), in the middle of the PS1/N64 gen. 3-4 years earlier we were playing Mega Drives...

On a related note, I'm pretty sure Tony Hawks 3 and 4 were designed for PS2 at the time (with a different engine), with the PS1 versions using the THPS2 engine.

Yep that's my point taking advantage of the PS2 for those THPS games

It was a weird time as in the UK and USA, Saturn was discontinued that SEGA didn't have a console on the market of the current gen but the Mega Drive still got a odd game especially over here in Europe, then got the Dreamcast.

Nintendo sort done that now as Wii was between 360 & PS3, WiiU at the end of that gen but before PS4ONE then Switch partway through those to then have another gen soon with PS5SERIES.

mas wrote:

Well yeah because the Dreamcast was 128-Bit where PS1 was 32-Bit (I believe) because the Dreamcast was the gen (Saturn is PS1 gen) after and because of the extra bits it looked better etc

Yep! 32-bit or 128 was a thing fanboys attached to big time though which is why I was messing about because we all know that a console being the most powerful doesn't mean it will be the best one.

(side note: can't believe I'm actually talking about this in 2020 )

masofdas wrote:

Nintendo sort done that now as Wii was between 360 & PS3, WiiU at the end of that gen but before PS4ONE then Switch partway through those to then have another gen soon with PS5SERIES.

Nintendo is nothing like the Dreamcast situation as the Switch arrived mid-gen but wasn't "next-gen" in terms of the tech (or "bits"). One could argue that it's less powerful than the PS4/Xbox One. Unless the PS5 and Xbox Series X turn out to be handheld hybrids with similar power to the Switch - then the comparison would be apt.

@Jas sure maybe I should have said because Dreamcast was new tech. Might just be me but I didn't compare the PS1 to DC with Bits because different gens that it was just logical the newer system would have newer tech which was taken advantage with a Tony Hawk , maybe would have compared to PS2 etc

Sorry we're talking about this in 2020 but I didn't get your comment about console wars

@gJones, I did say sortbof with Nintendo systems but as you say Switch is tad different being a hybrid have been sort of of cycle to the other two. It was more the WiiU that was similar when it launched

No need to be sorry just found it a bit funny is all.

masofdas wrote:

Same goes for THPS3 & 4 on PS2 being better than the PS1 more than likely due to the grunt

Tony Hawk's 3 on PSone still has grunt, but it lacks the gruntiness of the PS2 version.

Somebody start a thread on grunty computer games, please.

Fancied a game of Mario Party 2 the other night, and wound up finishing all the boards and becoming the Superstar after some long play sessions through the weekend. I’d always remembered this as being the high point of the series. I rented this for a week from Blockbuster back when it was brand new in 2000, and – despite it being technically pathetic next to the big games of the day – I had a brilliant time with my pals in multiplayer. I played it on my tod this time though.

It’s exactly like what I typed about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 a few days back. The formula was perfected here, and the developer still had some new ideas to play with. This is a pure and tight Mario Party game, quite simple in it’s design and intent but executed really well. It’s undoubtedly better in multiplayer though - you can’t trust the computer, it’s a right cheating bastard.

While I don’t hate where they took the series on Wii, 3DS and Wii U (like everybody else seems to), it’s best like this. 8/10.

Not got much to say on that one Cappa, I was typing this while you were posting yours


I picked this up in a recent eShop sale from the states where it was down to $4.80 which to me seemed a bit of a bargain because it's a retail game. I found it to be decent, now the game has around 20 characters and this had some controversy because it has two season passes with 20 extra characters, also from what I gather reuses assets from previous BlazBlue games etc    

Now I've barely played a BlazBlue, I know Noel and Ragna that's about it. That to me this seemed brand new and does look great on the Switch Lite with the 2D Characters.

Much like fighters nowadays it has a story mode which is four parts one for BlazBlue, one for Persona and so on with bits in between the fighting be like a visual novel not fancy cutscenes like a Mortal Kombat 11.

It was fun to play and really simple only uses two attack buttons with others being tagging and special move, I don't know if BlazBlue plays like this or this made easier for people who see it has Persona or RWBY characters in it.  

Online wasn't that active but still found 43 people on it on a Tuesday afternoon. Even though I liked the game and 3hrs or so to do the story was great as I can't see anyone picking it up for online and I don't plan to enter EVO, the 20 characters didn't bother me as I can't see me going back to it.

This is a great example though of where achievements/trophies would come in handy as I might be tempted by win 50 fights if I already won 36 and that sort of thing.


This is why I waited to talk about BlazBlue as I knew I'd be posting about this soon, I think Jay might when he's got his Platinum (Andy won't and unsure if Smurf has it or not).

Got to say it's not bad for not a full game  

On a more serious note, this was wicked and is what is battling it out with Animal Crossing for my GOTY so far because the combat is great, the soundtrack is excellent, characters are well done and what story it does tell is top-notch. Get it played basically, of what might be the best gaming remake ever?

Now to wait for Part 2

I will talk about the ending if people do want to in spoilers.

Owlboy

I have quite a lot of free time, so thought I'd have a go at trimming down my Switch backlog. Owlboy was the first game I tackled, having played a couple of hours of it ages ago. It was quite a sweet game, but I don't really get the hype for it from the critics. I read a lot about it being emotive, and the story being deep and involving, but I just went through it thinking it was... fine? It wasn't particularly compulsive and I never quite got to the point where I found the controls intuitive (even though I didn't particularly struggle with them - they just never felt quite right somehow). I also had a few situations in the game where, particularly during frantic boss fights, I found it hard to distinguish between the background and foreground, and occasionally lost track of where I was. But the supporting characters' skills were quite fun and it was pretty.

It's a good game, but it's not shit-the-bed-fabulous. Starfox Adventures vibes out of ten

I've heard that Owlboy isn't as impressive as it was hyped up to be, which sounds like it's indeed the case. Certainly a pretty game though, like you said!



I'm totally finished up with Final Fantasy VII Remake, platinum trophy and all.

From a presentation standpoint, Square Enix have knocked it out of the park here. The character models and animations are gorgeous, the lighting is near flawless, and the environments are surprisingly varied for a dystopian cyberpunk city. They've done a great job at making Midgar feel like a living, breathing city and they've made it a treat to explore each area. The characters feel more realised than in the PS1 original. That's to be expected considering the fact you can now actually hear them speak and see them emote beyond shaking their little blocky LEGO arms all over the joint, but the little character moments written into the game's reimagined plot are excellent. The likes of Jessie, Biggs and Wedge, who only had a few lines and were essentially background characters in the original release, are now easy to care about due to them being fleshed out.

I think this might be the best combat system in a Final Fantasy game to date. It feels like they've taken some of the good elements from FFXIII and FFXV's combat systems and combined it to make a really fun and fluid battle system. Changing characters on the fly feels like swapping weapons in a Devil May Cry game and the action is fast and frenetic with lots of explosion, particle effects and clashing swords going on around the battlefield. This is a far cry from a turn based battler. The game isn't afraid to be challenging either - you have to choose whether to use an action bar to use a damaging technique or spell or perhaps to heal a teammate in peril. I had a blast with the combat system throughout and that was only expanded in my Hard Mode run.

I did wonder if they'd manage to write a compelling story and a standalone title from what was only a relatively small part of the original FFVII, but a Midgar only story actually ended up being a great time. Thinking about it, a lot of the best story beats in the original come from that short time in Midgar and the rest of the game is more based towards exploring the overworld and traversing dungeons. Expanding upon Midgar in the way they did made perfect sense. A small niggle from my point of view was that some of the chapters could have done with being shortened considerably and the pacing was a bit too slow in some parts of the game as a result.

The only other criticism I've got is that the storytelling did heavily rely on your prior knowledge of the original, especially towards the end of the game. Some folks might see that as a pro, but having only played the original once and having no knowledge of the wider world of FFVII (Advent Children, Crisis Core and whatnot) meant that I finished the game somewhat confused. I will say though that having got my head around what they've done, I think it's great.

Ending Chat:

Beyond some pacing issues, this is the best RPG I've played in years and is easily my GOTY to date this year. 9.5

Yeah the pacing was off, I would have changed two of chapters to be split into two more chapters and made the game 20 chapters.

You should watch Advent Children and if you can play Crisis Core as it's great but have been rumors of Final Fantasy VII Legacy Collection with Before, Crisis and Dirge.

I don't think it's my favourite RPG even of this generation because of Persona 5. I haven't got anything to add to the ending, as you've already said it.

I agree on Owlboy not being all that in gameplay, but goddamn is it beautiful. I happily played it just to see the animation.

Yep, couldn't get on with it at all, and I didn't like the pixel art either. It felt like somebody had hand-drawn something and then just pixelled over it. I found it quite unimpressive. (Don't you start OR, I do like some pixel art these days. )

I didn't hate the art style, but I would go back to my aforementioned criticism of struggling to distinguish between the background and foreground sometimes. That, and the fact that a lot of it just felt a bit empty (I guess as a result of Owlboy being able to fly around wide open spaces) just meant it felt a bit off, I guess proportionally? I feel like the level design left a bit to be desired (especially the section where they force you to fly around in the dark.)

Gone back to Iconoclasts, another sort-of-but-arguably-not-reeeeally-Metroidvania and the level design feels a lot tighter by comparison.

Iconoclasts is also another fantastic looking game

It was the clunky controls that switched me off of Owlboy. Even then, I didn't think it was much special.

~



Gitaroo Man Lives! On PSP! The receipt that I kept in it's box says that I paid a princely £2.99 for this in the Union Street GameStation (  ) on November 2nd 2010. I don't think I played it before now. It was right up the back of the drawer where I keep my PSP games, completely forgotten about. Pure riddy: it's an excellent game! It's a story-driven rhythm-action game in the mould of Parappa The Rapper, this time with a young boy who transforms into a super hero and plays a magical guitar. It's based on a true story. 

The gameplay is a bit different. Part of it is the same timing-based type of thing that you get in Parappa and others in the genre, but the other part has you fighting battles by following a line along the screen with the analogue stick, and holding in Circle to play riffs. It can get really fast and really tricky though, even on Normal difficulty. It's only got twelve levels, but it was hard work getting through them. Great fun though. I think this would be a brilliant game for folk who'd want to take the time to perfect each tune, because it's got an utterly brilliant soundtrack and really addictive gameplay. Highly recommended, but if you can't get it on PSP or PS2, at least listen to the OST, 8/10.

I've not played any of the Gitaroo Man games, but I'll listen to any standout tracks if you fancy posting your favourites in the music thread.



I beat Luigi's Mansion 3!

This might just be the Switch's best looking game from a visual standpoint. The environments and lighting are suitably creepy, the character models are brimming with details and lovingly animated. There's so much charm in the little movements and expressions that Luigi and the ghosts exhibit during the course of the game. Whilst GRAPHIX are never a selling point for me, they really help blow you away when it comes to that first impression.

That first impression was coupled with a fun gameplay loop. Exploring each floor and hunting for hidden gems was a blast. The setpieces and boss battles that the game throws at you are plentiful and mostly fun. I think the slam move was a great addition to Luigi's arsenal and made sucking up ghosts less of a chore, which was appreciated.

Still, I had my problems with the game's controls. I've spoken about that terrible duck boat level in the game's thread on the forum already and whilst I never reached that level of frustration with the game again, dodgy aiming and fiddly controls grew to be more of a problem as the game upped the challenge and introduced more ghosts to each combat encounter. It all became a bit too messy by the game's end. Whilst I also enjoyed the gameplay loop, it definitely dragged towards the game's end and I found myself having had my fill before the game was actually over. I was bored to death chasing that fucking cat for the second time - it felt like padding in a game which definitely didn't need that.

However, for a good 80% of the game, I was thoroughly entertained. It's a whimsical and easy-going adventure. Tighter controls and a better paced game would make the experience even better, but I enjoyed my time with the game regardless. 8

I'd say that's fair, although I didn't have problems with the controls myself. It doesn't quite feel like the world-beater I was hoping for - it's just really good instead.

Rum Rapture wrote:

Gone back to Iconoclasts, another sort-of-but-arguably-not-reeeeally-Metroidvania and the level design feels a lot tighter by comparison.

OrangeRakoon wrote:

Iconoclasts is also another fantastic looking game

Iconoclasts might be my favourite 7/10 game. It's so very flawed in places (who the hell is Ash? Why are we fighting him? Is it effective transitioning from joy to despair or mood whiplash? Is the dialogue genuinely deep in places or just pretentious? What the heck is up with the tower layout? Why can't I start that one really good two-phase boss from the second phase when I inevitably die?), but I really love some of what it did and some of what it tried to do. It made me feel more things than a sprite-based platformer (essentially) should do. I'd say it's more a game that people should play than some better games like, say, Luigi's Mansion 3. You'll never forget that you did.