Currently playing 4: Guns of the Patriots

[Monk Ed]

To be clear: I actually did know about the enormous hair. I noticed it last time I played through the game.

[Dima]

I really want to enjoy ZoE2, but I've tried playing it on the PS3 and the terrible framerate just killed it for me after ZoE1 ran so beautifully.

Well there's a patch coming for it at least.

Have you heard anything about the patch for US/EU? I know the Japanese version is getting a patch and a re-release soon but i don't remember getting any confirmation for a patch here. I don't know if i can put in my copy and connect to my Jap account in order to download the patch. Will it be compatible?

[The Killer of Heroes]

I had assumed it was for all regions, but looking again I don't see any information specifically relating to a Western release. :(

I'd be very surprised if it stays in Japan though.

[Ænimal]

Welp, yet another weekend, another successful FFXIV:ARR beta test. As promised, here are a couple of pictures (i do apologize for quality/content, as taking pretty/interesting screenshots is the last thing that comes to my mind when going on a dungeon crawl which is imo the most attention-demanding and also the most aesthetically pleasing aspect of the game; i will take some better ones next time ;) )

Here is my character waiting for a group before the entrance of one of the dungeons:

Here he is on lookout for more potential party members:

And here he is having a good time :)

[InstrumentalityOne]

^
Do you like the game?
I participated in the ARR beta test for a day on a weekend and I thought it was absolute crap

[Ænimal]

^ i actually do enjoy it, which is very ironic for me because i happen to think MMOs are the bane of video game existence, yet somehow this game just works; and i'm not surprised you didn't like it, you only played for a day! but seriously if you still have access, try it again when Phase 4 comes around (i wouldn't recommend jumping during Phase 3 because it only has one-two more weekend tests or so and Phase 4 will be open beta and will have more to offer than it does in its current state), you might just be surprised ;)

or don't, whatever haha; if you really disliked it that much, just leave it be - i am not a fan of making people do things they don't want to do (except for discovering awesome music which this game has plenty of)

[Dima]

^ Downloading the beta on my PS3 right now. Hope it's good!

[Ænimal]

^ Downloading the beta on my PS3 right now. Hope it's good!

you should've done that earlier, now you have to wait 'til Friday to play :(

[Dima]

you should've done that earlier, now you have to wait 'til Friday to play :(

Yeah i just realised it when the download fnished and i couldn't press the Play button

So i have to wait untill Friday? Wish i knew it sooner. Oh well it's ok even if i wait a few day to test the game.

[CJD]

Amazon Summer Sale just started.

Ball's in your court, Gabe.

[Monk Ed]

I didn't know Amazon did Steam-like sales on digital goods. I knew they did digital, cuz Amazon is where I got this awesome DRM-free copy of the Penumbra series that I have (oh, sweet, sweet, DRM-free), but deep discount sales like that?

I. Fucking. Love. Competition.

[InstrumentalityOne]

My wallet is ready.

[Mt Olympus]

Been head shooting nazis and commies in Sniper Elite V2, oh the glorious head shots.

[The Killer of Heroes]

So I'm coming close to finishing ICO. I've got a little bit left I believe, but I'm at the homestretch.

Like Shadow of the Colossus, I feel it's a decent game at its core with a unique aesthetic, but...the whole experience has felt kind of shallow to me.

This might be a discussion better suited to its own thread, but why do these two games keep popping in "video games as art" debates? Is there any other reason than, to use a 4chan term, the "feels" it somehow inspires in players?

I don't think either game is bad or anything, but there doesn't seem to be anything particularly substantive in either game, compared to other games
commonly listed as art that manage to clearly express some ideas, like Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, or Deadly Premonition.

tl;dr: Someone please explain to me the value of minimalism as a form of artistic expression in video games.

[riffraff11235]

@The Killer of Heroes How much did you know about these games before playing them? These kinds of games have a much more powerful effect if you go in "clean".

[The Killer of Heroes]

Not much about Shadow of the Colossus other than it was about killing bigass monsters. Also that it had the greatest tagline ever for a game ("Some mountains are scaled. Others are slain."). For ICO all that I really knew about was that it was more puzzle oriented, and by the same team of course.

[riffraff11235]

Not much about Shadow of the Colossus other than it was about killing bigass monsters. Also that it had the greatest tagline ever for a game ("Some mountains are scaled. Others are slain."). For ICO all that I really knew about was that it was more puzzle oriented, and by the same team of course.

Oh good, seems like you got the "full experience", at least. I don't know what to say, really. SotC resonated particularly strongly with me. The reaction wasn't as strong with ICO, but it was there.

I guess SotC stands out because it does so much with its simple core mechanics. It takes something special to make a game that can be played through eight times and enjoyed as much on the last playthrough as it was on the first.

[The Killer of Heroes]

I think part of my issue for SotC is that I think the big twist in the ending kind of defeats itself and what the whole game was going for up until then.

SPOILER: Show

So I'm a bad person apparently for killing monsters in a game where a reasonably trustworthy authority figure tells me to do so for a very specific and understandable purpose (Bringing some girl back to life), and in a world specifically designed to have nothing else to do in it... Other than walk around or hunt lizards...and fruit.

Why play out that trusting Dormin was some terribly bad thing when I literally had no choice?

And then the game awards me for this terribly evil deed by giving me...the ability to hunt those same monsters again, but stronger and with a time attack mode and with different weapons. Yeah.

Just seems like a huge disconnect there between what little plot the game had and the gameplay.

[Stryker]

I'm debating whether or not to reinstall Skyrim, and stream it for the lolz.

[ssguy]

I've been playing Half Minute Hero: Super Neo Climax Ultimate Boy and DMC4 today. Fun stuff. I really just want to finish Nero's levels though, since only Dante gets new weapons and styles.