wasted time

[egypturnash]

Semi-limbo at work again. And I spent the entire damn weekend doing pretty much nothing but playing 'Okage'... it'll be out of my life soon, as I've made it to what seems to be the last fight. I get to run around and gain some levels and try again because the boss monster won the first time I tried fighting him; it's a console RPG, you know the drill.

I still maintain that a large part of what computer and console RPGs have become is a distillation of the boring parts of a game of D&D - all this focus on the numbers. I'll deal with the boring parts for a game with an interesting story, but I really honestly prefer action-adventures like 'Threads of Fate' or 'Soul Reaver' or something - ones where the battles are decided on reflex and timing and whatnot rather than poking through menus and getting good results on virtual die-rolls.

Of course, action adventures can suck too. I finally got around to starting up that copy of 'Resident Evil Code:Veronica X' I ended up with and was completely underwhelmed - the controls are super awkward. I think this one's going to the used game shop so I can get a few bucks off of picking up Blood Omen 2.


I really need to get my Wacom tablet on its way back for repair or replacement, so I can have one less excuse for not working on 'Drowning City'.

Comments

[koogrr.livejournal.com]

Soul Reaver was awesome, I quite enjoyed it. The graphics were nice also.

I absolutely hated Code Veronica, mostly for the controls. The version I had came with a mini game, called Jackals or something where the goal was to run through the city shooting things as fast as possible. That was somewhat fun, playing it got some money which could be used to buy better equipment for the real game. Unfortunately, the stuff available was basically unlimited ammo. Which meant the regular game went from interesting to incredibly dull, as all you had to do was equip one of these infinite weapons and then hold the button down.

I've never really liked the turn based, points accumulation aspect of a bunch of the story-rpg games. Diablo2 is better in my mind, for handling the bleh rules aspects. Of course, FPSs are pretty much my fav.

[protocat.livejournal.com]

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is the gsme with that hidden game to unlock. Rather an easy and quick game to run through, as I did so in an evening.

Code Veronica, on the other hand, is as close to perfection the RE series has ever seen for controls or gameplay, and that's surpassing the Resident Evil remake for GameCube which is a step backwards.

Soul Reaver was neat-ish for being another 3D Platformer, only made better by using Information Society's 'Ozar Midrashim 1.1' for the main theme. Unfortunately, the sequel, which had Kurt Harland of InSoc handling all of the soundtrack, isn't as good.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Kurt did all the in-game music for SR1 as well. The music for SR2 isn't quite as spiffy; the story itself is an exercise in cleverness, as it winds back through the history of SR1 and the game SR is a sequel to.

RECVX has the most perfect control of any of the RE series? I must, then, never play any of the RE games again, as I find the 'forwards/back, left/right' method to be absolutely unusable for third-person games when the camera's not locked over the shoulder. Especially when the camera cuts around and you have to re-orient yourself frequently.

I was quite put off by a demo of one of the Tomb Raider games because of the same control issue; I just want to lean the stick in a direction and have the character move the same way on-screen. Turn-and-thrust is fine in 'Asteroids' but not for a person.

[dour.livejournal.com]

I still maintain that a large part of what computer and console RPGs have become is a distillation of the boring parts of a game of D&D - all this focus on the numbers.

Become? It's rare to find any computer "RPG" or tactical/strategy game where playing the numbers doesn't give superior results to playing the game, no matter how far back in time you go. Pure action games usually escape this, but often have the analogous problem of having a few simple tricks which, after memorizing them and tuning your reflexes, give a ridiculous advantage. The only genre that really escapes these problems are the purely story-driven games, like all the old Sierra fare.

There have always been a few exceptions, though; brilliant games which were designed with such absolute balance that you can immerse yourself and enjoy them, instead of playing from an external perspective where you can control the numbers. Games where the designers were themselves skilled number-fiddlers, and fiddled them preemptively so that there were no loose bits left once they shipped. I don't think the frequency with which these games are released has gone down... in fact, I think there are more of them now. Unfortunately, the barrier to entry of the computer game market has gotten lower, so there's proportionately more chaff to sift through now... making them harder to find.

All this really means, is that gamers of our mindset have to become a little more social, because while on an individual basis it's harder to find the good stuff, there's just as much of it out there, and if we compare notes we can find it. :)

[eselgeist.livejournal.com]

i'm assuming you haven't snagged a copy of Kingdom Hearts, yet? the new Square / Disney RPG?
it's real time fun, you don't have to get into numbers and such, just run around and smack on the
bad guys and work the puzzles, etc.

resident evil controls suck.. they always have. try Fatal Frame :^) it's creepier and eviler.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

eeep! No; I've gotten an intense vibe of wrongness off of KH from the very first time I saw it at E3 a year and a half ago. I'm not really a fan of Disneyana or the Final Fantasy games, and by all reports that's what KH is all about - appearances by tons of Disney characters and FF characters. It may be fun, it may have interesting subgames, but the mixture just strikes me the same way chocolate chip cookies and onion dip does.

RECVX was one of several games I found under a bush by the post office, obviously abandoned by someone who'd swiped them from the nearby Circuit City. Most of them were sports garbage, which promptly went to the used game shop, but I kept two I was actually kinda interested in, and RECVX because I was curious as to what was so good that they made, what, five of them now?

[eselgeist.livejournal.com]

*grins*
i see.. well there are other games, o'course :^)

you might like Brave Fencer Mushashi, which i thought was pretty charming *nodnods*

oh! duh.. and Silent Hill(!) which is equally as creepy as Fatal Frame, meaning
moreso than Resident Evil.

However, i did really dig the first one (RE) what with "racoon city" and all.. it should be
furry :^P shambling undead racoons!

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, BFM was fun. I picked it up used a while back; I think the same unit at Square later did 'Threads of Fate', which I mentioned previously.

I like my angst leavened with bursts of flat-out twitch action, I guess.