Author Topic: Now Playing - the video game edition (Read 23209 times)

jkn · « **on:** December 07, 2007, 01:29:24 PM »

Picked up two new DS games this week.

Orcs & Elves

http://www.orcsandelves.com/

“classic” dungeon crawl first person RPG. Darn fun to play (if you like this sort of thing) – a bit on the short side – I’m half way through already since Saturday (which is really fast for me since I don’t play for hours on end…), but amazingly fun. I’ve gotten overwhelmed a couple of times so even the ‘normal’ mode isn’t a walk in the park. I think I’ll like ‘hard’ mode a bit better though.

Luminous Arc

http://www.atlus.com/luminousarc/

A tactical/strategy RPG… somewhat similar to the Fire Emblem series (which I love and wish they’d release more titles in the states…) or games like Advance Wars. Fight a series of battles with up to 15 characters against an army of monsters – move, attack in various ways, cast spells, etc… This one takes terrain height and attacking from behind or the side into account which is a very nice enhancement.

The downside of this one is the background story and dialogue is utterly horrible. Ouch - you'll groan. So far the battles have made it worthwhile, though. I'm still happy I bought it. It's also very much in the anime tradition of 13 year old children saving the world... ha.

APK · « **Reply #1 on:** December 07, 2007, 01:49:20 PM »

- Metroid Prime 3 Corruption ... on the Wii

Really enjoying it. Basically a doom-style 1st person shooter. Excellent movement and graphics.
the Wii is a good platform for this style of game.

mgriffin · « **Reply #2 on:** December 07, 2007, 01:52:21 PM »

I'm not playing anything at the moment, but just finished Halo 3, which was very enjoyable, but fairly brief.

Altus · « **Reply #3 on:** December 07, 2007, 08:25:01 PM »

Cool topic.

I'm a long-time PC gamer, mostly into RPGs.

Just started playing Crysis. All I can say at the moment that the graphics are truly remarkable, and the game world is so dynamic.

Also been playing Hellgate: London these last few weeks, but it's so unbelievably buggy that it ruins the whole "enjoyment" factor. I'll probably shelve it and load it up again in six months.

LNerell · « **Reply #4 on:** December 08, 2007, 10:39:42 PM »

rFactor

http://www.rfactor.net/

Its an auto racing game that I play on line. I spend way too much time playing this.

Timeshift

http://timeshiftgame.com/us//

A first person shooter but you can bend time as well. Interesting concept. I normally don't play these types of games but I was forced to as I was working on it.

Not a bad game though.

Baseball Mogul 2007

http://www.sportsmogul.com/baseball2k7/

I haven't had any stick and ball games for a while now so I decided to try this since it was only two bucks.

The demo seemed pretty good. Basically a manager game, sort of a Sim City of baseball. I'll let you know it its any good.

jkn · « **Reply #5 on:** December 09, 2007, 06:09:06 PM »

I'm addicted to Luminous Arc... great game! I still groan over some of the horrible dialogue between battles - but the battles are darn fun.

I tracked down a used copy of Etrian Odyssey - Gamestop is shipping a used copy to my local store. Released in May 2007 and discontinued only a few months later. One of those titles I stumbled across on Gamespot.com - hopefully worth the effort...

jkn · « **Reply #6 on:** January 02, 2008, 07:48:35 AM »

Been playing Etrian Odyssey a lot over the last week. Great dungeon crawl RPG... sprawling huge twisting dungeons - monsters are levelled really well, strong enough to kill your party once in a while which forces you to go explore other areas and level up a bit before tackling the larger monsters again. I'm only on level 7 of 30 - and all levels I've been through have a few secret areas I can't get to until I find a key.

Where Orcs and Elves is a great dungeon crawl in the traditional dungeon sense - it's almost shamefully short - but great - and worth the $20 entry price. Etrian is a dungeon built out of a forest (which is a nice touch) - and lacks the humor of the other - but makes up for it in the longer term playability.

mgriffin · « **Reply #7 on:** January 02, 2008, 09:52:00 AM »

Played a little bit of Oblivion this weekend, first time I've played any video games in a while. I didn't realize it had been 7 months since I'd last played this one, but the game saves had dates on them and the last save was from May 27.

This is an enjoyable game, a free-ranging fantasy role-playing game, but tough to get into unless you invest consistent and significant chunks of time.

jkn · « **Reply #8 on:** January 02, 2008, 10:27:49 AM »

I loved Oblivion - but yeah - I didn't sink as much time into it as I did for either Morrowind or Daggerfall. Big key for me is I had Oblivion on my computer in my studio - as opposed to when I was playing Morrowind on my XBox - which I could play in the bedroom or living room and hang out with Heidi. I sunk a ton of hours into Morrowind - but not all that much at all into Oblivion. If I'm going to be squirreled away in my studio alone - I want it to be music time instead of game time.

I'm finding my little DS to be the perfect little game machine - portable - and Heidi and I like to play our DS's together (separate games - she's fond of Clubhouse Games - where I'm stuck on RPG's...).

Altus · « **Reply #9 on:** January 02, 2008, 07:00:48 PM »

Ahh, another who played Daggerfall. That will always be one of my all-time favourites.

Am I crazy to have enjoyed Oblivion much more than Morrowind?

Right now I'm playing The Witcher, which has been called an action RPG but it's anything but. Sure, there's combat but it's much more story driven, which is a nice change of pace from the usual grind. It also has a much darker atmosphere which I love. If you enjoyed Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights, you'll enjoy The Witcher.

jkn · « **Reply #10 on:** January 03, 2008, 07:01:52 AM »

I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing Daggerfall - I loved it. I also loved Morrowind, but I think I liked Daggerfall better overall (even with the graphics and falling into the void issue in the dungeons... ha). Oblivion was shaping up to be a better game than Morrowind for me, but I just didn't have the time to sink into it hiding in my studio - vs. playing little 8 and 16 bit RPGs on my DS and being a bit more social... ha.

I'd never played a Final Fantasy game until I got them for the DS (or the GB Advance versions) - now I've played 2 through 6 (and some of 1). Back in the earlier days I had a Sega so played through the Phantasy Star / Shining Force type games.

On the DS... I'm really loving Etrian Odyssey right now - and the Fire Emblem/Luminous Arc type tactical RPG's are mighty fine as well.

Hypnagogue · « **Reply #11 on:** January 06, 2008, 06:21:41 AM »

Speaking of dungeon crawls, I've now lost several hours playing "Monster's Den" at www.kongregate.com. Party-based, great graphics, and fairly addictive.

And free, which is my favorite flavor.

LNerell · « **Reply #12 on:** January 06, 2008, 11:44:01 AM »

The last dugeon crawler I played was Neverwinter Nights, but I haven't played that in over two years now. Any ever play World of Warcraft? When I was working on that game last year just about everyone I worked with during our breaks would switch from what we were testing to WOW.

spore · « **Reply #13 on:** January 06, 2008, 06:39:18 PM »

I'm currently playing Super Mario 64 DS. Not really different, but there are some cool changes. You start with Yoshi instead of Mario and you have to unlock Mario to be able to play with him. Wario and Luigi are also included in this game as playable characters but you have to unlock them, too.

This game is pretty old though and I only bought it recently. Still a really great game.

jkn · « **Reply #14 on:** January 07, 2008, 03:45:43 AM »

I'm terrible at Mario games.

I've got the New Super Mario for the DS - and my hand got tired of playing it long before I got tired of playing.... but oh well! Great game - just too hard for my hands...

spore · « **Reply #15 on:** January 07, 2008, 09:20:13 AM »

Haha, I know exactly what you mean!

The first levels in every Mario game are fairly simple but after a while they get really hard. I don't know if you have played The Lost Levels for the SNES but anyone who played it knows how hard it is.

Altus · « **Reply #16 on:** January 08, 2008, 05:21:39 AM »

Quote from: LNerell on January 06, 2008, 11:44:01 AM

Any ever play World of Warcraft?

Yup, I did the WoW thing for about 8-10 months. As far as MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games) go, there's a reason it has over nine million subscribers. It's fun, and very rewarding to play casually... unlike most others that require you to spend way too much time to get ahead.

Speaking of Mario, has anyone checked out Mario Galaxy for the Wii? I've only watched my brother play it for five minutes, but it looks quite different from any Mario game I've seen in the past. Very open form as opposed to "levels". Even though the Mario franchise has been going since the late 80s, Nintendo seems to be able to do no wrong and keep innovating. Too bad it's still almost impossible to buy a Wii, after a year of the console coming out.

mgriffin · « **Reply #17 on:** February 08, 2008, 01:36:59 PM »

I've actually had a chance to play Oblivion a few times in the past week. And now that I had a few aspects of the game explained to me by a friend who's more familiar with it, things are making a lot more sense, and I'm enjoying it more. Guess I shoud've read the manual, but I usually don't.

This game is really amazingly broad and deep. I can see how you could play this game every day for a year and still not get to where there was nothing left to do.

jblock · « **Reply #18 on:** February 08, 2008, 02:18:56 PM »

Do the video games you plug in the TV count?

If they do then we've been enjoying Wheel of Fortune and Deal/No Deal at my house.

jkn · « **Reply #19 on:** September 22, 2010, 05:55:14 AM »

Old old thread... better to start new one or resurrect the anceint one? Anyway...

on DS... I've been totally addicted to Dragonquest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies - excellent jrpg game. First Dragonquest I've played and it's blend of humor, decent story line, good character skills/abilites, and simple no suprises turn based battle system (it works well, why reinvent the wheel?)... has me totally enjoying it.

on DS... Also went through a bit of a Bejeweled Twist addiction for awhile - very enjoyable, easy to play - but so relaxing - and cool when you start a cascade and wipe out 60 or 70 jewels in one turn.

Also... I just bought a PS3. Games I've picked up (several older and very cheap...)

Oblivion: Game of the Year - I'll finally be able to play the game the way it was meant to be seen!
Fallout 3 - never played, but highly recommended and same company that put out Oblivion.
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue - I wanted a driving game and everyone said this one was to get, in spite of the fact the full Gran Turismo 5 is out in a couple months.
Tekken 6 I love fighting games.
Soul Calibur 4 - more figthiing - I had tekken and soul calbur on Xbox (as well as dead or alive)

I got the Move and the game that comes with it - but haven't played that one yet.

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Author Topic: Now Playing - the video game edition (Read 23209 times)