Chatting about games

I like light gun games in the arcades but hate them on home consoles.

I absolutely loved The Umbrella Chronicles, does that count as one? Very addicting game for me.

I looked and read the genre it was in. It does.

In that case, yeah Umbrella Chronicles. Not only did it function as a nice recap of the series, it had a ton of secret paths, secret items to find etc. Really really enjoyed my time with that title overall.

lolchina

What do you guys think of the term bullet sponges?

Are you asking about the term alone or the gameplay aspect?

I dont play shooters much, but I don't like sponges.

Yeah I meant the gameplay aspect of it.

Not a fan.

I guess it could apply to non-shooters as well. Super armored enemies with ridiculous HP.

To be honest, I never saw that game as a Breath of the Wild clone. Its aethstetics look somewhat similar (same style grass and fire), but nothing relating to the gameplay is remotely similar. I doubt we'd call Binary Domain a Vanquish rip-off since it has similar designs.

> bullet sponges
Rarely works in interesting ways if ever. Devil's Third power-armour dudes were somewhat scary in that regard, as was the chainsaw dude in RE4, since they could kill you fast and took a lot of punishment and didn't stagger. But generally speaking, I dislike the mechanic.

It just immediately looks so similar, even those small goblin things. But yeah, that doesn't make it bad. I already like the look of that bow combat. We'll see.

Bullet or damage sponges suck.
One of the worst things I've experienced in some games, especially games where higher difficulty means higher numbers.
It's even worse when they don't have any good attacks or anything, like the third boss in Castlevania circle of the moon. Not only does that thing has high HP and high defense, it also has three attacks and it's ridiculously slow, so you can dodge them all, no problem, but the worse part is that, it regenerates it's health, one of the worst things in the game.

The only case it works I feel is in games where it is sort of a way to force players to learn how to play better. God of War does this a bit in its earlier games. Enemies like minotaurs and medusa are absolute tanks unless you know how to use the grab system well.

Good point. Imo bullet sponges, especially bullet sponge bosses wouldn't be bad if they get more and more attacks and get more aggressive as their life decreases, that way it can also force players to learn and master dodging and parrying etc and the battles wouldn't be so damn boring.
But bullet or damage sponges as far as I've seen don't really do that.

It can work in a form of intimidation. I think Verdugo, the alien-like boss from RE4, is a good example. Guy doesn't stagger, eats bullets, but the whole idea is to avoid the fight (or power on through with an RPG and the ice). In regards to regular foes, as long as there are options it is fine. Killing a Romanov regularly in Vanquish makes them more agressive as you tackle on the damage, but if you go for its weakpoint it dies in seconds.

But even then, they aren't sponges. RE2make had sponges. Binary Domain has sponges. It is rarely if ever, done well.

I'm fighting the Travelers in GoW now. I'm under-leveled compared to it and it's one god damn damage sponge, it doesn't have any attack that isn't predictable or hard to avoid, it just takes a crap load of time to kill it. Is there any setup or tech that can take these things down quicker, without leveling up?

Another thing about Minotaurs, Gorgons, and the stone... things is that you were able to counter all of them, and launch the former two in mid-air, so it was possible to lock them down, and prevent them from attacking.

Man. God of war 1-3 are so good. Will we ever get western action games that play that well, with a good budget again?

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I'd hazard to say "no". Spiderman had potential and some players were pretty in to it, and New Order seems decent with Stig at the wheel. But honestly, they all feel or play like mediocre versions of past titles - at least mechanically.

There might be games that at first draft could be excellent on the level we want here, but most then get turned back to accomodate what they feel will give the most players a sense of enjoyment i.e. low difficulty, feeling of mastery after a single run, not too complicated combat etc.

It would be cool if one western studio suddenly, out of nowhere, made a great AAA action title, 60fps with absolutely fantastic and innovative combat. I think that's also really a problem right now, most play it very safe, using a familiar template. Of all the western games I like, most are based on succesful Japanese games. The only game that comes to mind that's really fantastic from the west, and original, is Doom and its genre. Aside from Vanquish, I cannot think of a single 'unreal' FPS. You guys?

Sure! It is called Unreal Tournament! Anyway, that really depends. IMO nothing is really original anymore. I know that I don't have either but from what I have seen from GOW2018 and Spiderman PS4, they seem to copy from other games. Western companies CAN do it but I don't really see it. Then again, there are indies that can do that as they are given enough time and money. I don't know ones though. Except ID or Devolver Digital with other studios.

I love Unreal! But I always considered that more a build up from Quake and thus Doom, than something wholly original. In terms of originality, it's still a pretty young medium. I'm sure we'll get surprises down the line, The Wonderful 101 at its very core was still built on old concepts, but really brought a lot of new things to the table.

What are your thoughts on Titanfall 2? While the weapons aren't as fun as DOOM, I have to say that Titanfall outclasses it in movement.

Movement in what way? Movement options i.e. wallrunning? I'd be hardpressed to find a game where movement is as important and well done as the original Doom to be honest.

Options, and in my case, feel. Wallrunning and sliding just feels really damn good. My only complaint is the "shift to sprint" thing, but you can still shoot while sprinting at full tilt.

Some review site once said that Darksiders was the type of game which had a team that constantly said "Wouldn't it be cool if...", only for them to throw it in there.

Honestly, I think that's pretty spot on, and that's why I hold a ton of respect for it. It's very... Unrestrained? Not sure how to describe it.

I wonder if this is any good. Could it be another Knack 2 case? Who wants to spend $70 to find out?






Observations:

*He picked up a wooden bench. Breaks eventually and can be thrown.

*Can throw weapon pick ups.

*There's a counter move which leads to a 'one-on-one' sequence. Appears to be some sort of QTE. The tutorial claims other enemies can't interrupt.

*There is a second counter called 'Purge', which is done by using the heavy attack just before the enemy's attack connects.

*Seems to be a basic light>heavy attack system.

*There's stealth. Crouch walk and sneaking up behind enemies which allows a special attack.

*Dodge roll but not sure on the details.

*Notice in the third video at around 5:20, he attacks a purple monster. You'll see he hurts his hand and goes into that animation of shaking his injured hand. They say it's because that enemy is 'armored', which is shown by the purple aura and only heavy attacks will work

*They say something about a weakness system based on the enemy's color.

*There are upgrades but not sure how heavy. I noticed there are a lot of materials to pick up.

I'll look up more on this game later.

More games like the OG God of War, and Darksiders 1+2 are desperately needed right now.

Those games are just so damn video-gamey. In every sense of the word. From the artstyle, their story, their weapons, even their menu design, for Christ's sake. These games just do not give any fucks in terms of balance when it comes to just throwing in whatever the hell would make the game more fun (Sans the loot in Darksiders 2).

Seriously, menus like Darksiders 1 are REALLY needed right now. I want big, stylized, 3D buttons over this boring flat sans-serif look.

Anyone play Bravely Default?

It's ironic how surface-level people's perception of "depth" is in action games.

If it doesn't immediately show you how deep it is with it's big complicated movelist, or doesn't have a ton of videos on the internet showing you how to do some bug, then it's not deep, apparently.

Yeah and what they do, trolls and 'vets' of the genre alike, is make these public statements, which puts them in a position where they can't accept offers to learn or evidence, as that would require the dreaded backpedalling.

I haven't played Bravely Default apart from its demo at the time, found it to be a very enjoyable JRPG from what I saw.

I always forget the 3DS has demos. Will look into that.

I can't really remember if I had played the demo. In any case, I don't like how Nintendo has a limited amount of times to play the demo.

Dark days, my Playstation 2 just died on me. Was about to give Path of Neo a try, only to not have it turn on anymore. RIP.

Poor soul.

How hard is it to get another console there?

Sadly, emulation isn't perfect as well. Not all games are playable on PCSX2...

What caused it to die? You know I wonder what is more expensive: Do you repair it or get a replacement?

It's always sad having to lay a console to rest. RIP.

If you aren't looking to repair it or buy a replacement, you could look at softmodding a PS3 to play your PS2 games, if you have one. I tried to look in to modding mine recently, but the current jailbreak exploit doesn't work with my model.

I'm probably just going to buy a new PS2, since they aren't too expensive. What worries me more is that this is my third PS2 to die, it is the only console to die on me in my life and I don't know why. And finding a good quality one is always hard, especially since most come with tons of games I don't want or need.

First one had a broken disc-tray, second one couldn't read dual layered discs anymore and the third (this one) wouldn't power on anymore.

I read the plot for the entire KH series. What the shit was that?

I lost count of all the body swap/split/heart nonsense.
And it all winds up as simply 'bad guy wants to take over everything'?

I hate stories. From now on KH's story is simply, 'weird characters need to save world from Darkness Man'.

>KH story

I’m at the end of KH2 right now and haven’t watched more than 20 seconds total of the story. As terrible as the story is, KH2 is probably one of the best games ever imo.

There used to be a time where I actually cared about KH's plot... to this day, I'm still not sure how I was able to do so.

I no longer play KH games for the story, but I also don't expect any future KH game made by Osaka to come close to KH2's level.

Anyone into the Pikmin series?

I was thinking of getting the Wii version to play on the WiiU, or I could get the GC version. Can't seem to find much info on any differences though. I don't like to blindly buy ports without knowing if there are any changes.

I played a bit of Pikmin 3 and enjoyed it. Should go back to it at some point.

Random/weird question for you all, do you have a “top 10” favorite action games? If so, what are they? Even though there aren’t a lot of us I feel like there would be a lot of different answers.

Every time I try to think of a top anything, I can't do it. I find it extremely difficult to rank my favorites as they all offer something different.

Damn, top 10? In order? I can nail down some top contenders but it will get muddy along the way.

1. Vanquish
2. Ninja Gaiden II
3. Resident Evil 4
4. Shinobi PS2
5. God of War
6. DOOM 1
7. Metal Gear Rising
8. Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
9. Devil May Cry 3
10. Astral Chain

Number 11 would've been Yakuza Zero, which I hold in really high esteem. Titles that I considered, but eventually didn't make it on the list, were: Yakuza 3, The Arkham series, Devil's Third, Resident Evil 3, Doom 2016, Genma Onimusha, NG3: Razor's Edge, NG: Black, Nioh, God Hand, Viewtiful Joe and The Evil Within II. Genma Onimusha really is a game I just burned myself out on.

Don't think this list holds any surprises though haha, or did it?

>all favorites offer something different
Indeed, there are some games for me though that just always stick with me and I don’t even have to think about it haha.

>surprises
A few actually, didn’t expect Shinobi to be that high, and wasn’t expecting Doom 1 or PoP either, great choices. So Astral Chain really is an all time great for you then?

I’ll put mine since I asked:

1. God Hand
2. Vanquish
3. The Evil Within
4. Resident Evil 4
5. God of War 2
6. Zone of the Enders 2
7. Kingdom Hearts 2
8. Devil May Cry 1
9. Doom 2016
10. Viewtiful Joe

It’s crazy how many great games I had to leave off(Wonderful 101, Genma Onimusha, etc), just shows how many great games the genre has. NG2 will probably make the list once I get more familiar with it. I left REmake1 off the list because I don’t know if I should count it but if I would have included it then it would be #1 as it is my favorite game. And yes, I’m aware I’m a shameless Mikami fanboy haha.

Really Roy Vanquish over NG2? I couldn't enjoy vanquish any less if I tried. I recognize it as high quality action, but nothing else it does speaks to me.

I would say a quick sloppy list would look like.

1. RE4
2. Dark Souls
3. God Hand
4. NG2
5. Bioshock
6. BLOOD
7. Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams
8. DMC3
9. Yakuza 4
10. F.E.A.R 2 or 1 depending on my mood.

I'm not really good with top ten favorites but I will try.

1. Metal Gear Rising
2. Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise
3. Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires
4. Ninja Gaiden 2
5. Devil May Cry
6. Shadow Warrior
7. Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
8. God Hand
9. Ratchet Deadlocked
10. Infamous 2

I won't lie, I placed and removed some games off the list as I made this list. I wanted to add Max Payne 3 but I haven't played 1 & 2 in a long time. I also wanted to add in Tekken Force from Tekken 4.

Indeed, there are some games for me though that just always stick with me and I don’t even have to think about it haha.
This is true for me too, but even then all I can offer is a pool without a real ranking.

Chaos Legion
Okami
DMC3 SE
Bayonetta
God Hand
Genma Onimusha
The Wonderful 101
Lollipop Chainsaw
MGR
RE4

It's still not a top anything. My pool is actually larger than this.