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Topic: Nintendo Life Playstation 3 Fan Thread

Posts 1,101 to 1,120 of 9,907

SilentJ

slapshot82 wrote:

@SilentJ.... dude they freakin rocked it out big time, small bar sold completely out and they played a 2.5hr set, oh and there new album comes out today! Ive seen prob 75-100 live bands and Sevendust just went to the straight top for just being so raw live. They have been my favorite band since there original release...... what 12 years ago. Drowning Pool were pretty good, but I still prefer there original singer..... there was another band called Digital Summer yall should check out, they were really hard and did a great job live.

Glad you enjoyed the show! You got me in the mood for Sevendust so I've been listening to them this past week but I still gotta get the new album.

I haven't tried Darksiders but the demo for God of War 3 was amazing!

PSN ID : MrPink78

Adam

Mickeymac wrote:

I mean, you can play it as a mindless button-masher, but then the problem lies with you, not the game.

If you can play it that way, then you don't need the combos, do you? I don't have a problem if I realize all I have to do is mash the attack buttons and the game is so poorly designed that this is all it requires. It's unrealistic to expect players to learn a combo system that is pointless.

I understand it's just the beginning of the game in the demo, but if the demo is supposed to make me excited for the full game and this section is not representative of the whole, then that is a problem with the game, not with me.

Come on, friends,
To the bear arcades again.

Stuffgamer1

@WaltzElf: I'm pretty sure you mean the demo for Valkyria Chronicles. It's a pretty good game, but I really haven't played it much at all since I bought it at release. There's just always something else that seems more interesting.

@Adam: I agree to a point that Darksiders' combat is unappealing, but how far into the demo did you play? The dungeon itself is awesomely Zelda-esque! I probably wouldn't give a crap about the game if the combat was all it had going for it, **cough*Bayonetta demo*cough** but the total package is good enough to put it on my "get later if I find a good deal" list.

Similarly, the God of War 3 demo was lacking in the non-combat-centric parts of the series. That's not all there is, folks! Also, button mashing in EITHER of those games is liable to get you killed really fast after the first hour or so (unless you play on the easiest difficultly, maybe).

My Backloggery Updated sporadically. Got my important online ID's on there, anyway. :P

Nintendo Network ID: Stuffgamer1

Slapshot

@Stuff... I agree man, the Darksiders demo I thought had a great Zelda vide myself, and playing around with the deep combat sytem was quite fun as some of the moves are pretty crazy.

@Adam.... GoW actually has a small but deep combat system, especially if you play the game on the Hard setting (not GOD, that is just crazy). I pull off 200+ combos constantly. So many people just button mash through the main combos, instead hit 2-4 times then roll out and then repeat until you get a clear shot with no enemies behing then combo out or into a more poweful move, roll and continue the combo. If you keep you combo multiplier up you will gain a lot more essence to upgrade everything with. True you can put the game on Normal and button mash through it, but you will completely miss the depth of the combat system. You simply cant just button mash your way through it on Hard like you can on Normal, I dont recommend Normal on GoW for anyone with any kind of Fighting Games Experience at all.

@SilentJ.... New album drops 4/20. I thought he said 2/20 lol. It was insane loud as it was in a small bar that only holds 1000 people. Great great show, and their drummer is so totally insane its unreal.

Edited on by Slapshot

3DS FC: 4382-2029-8015
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CanisWolfred

weirdadam wrote:

Huh, I didn't realize PS3 had Star Ocean yet, Waltz. I'll need to look into that.

Anyone want to break down Grandia for me? After being super disappointed in FF7 and 8, it's hard to justify splurging on a PS1 RPG again, but this one does look a lot better.

Short version - Grandia is very, very good.

Long Version
I've started Grandia, and so far, I'm loving it. It's got a lot of cheesy and poorly done PSOne-era Voice acting, with a cute and charming storyline filled with likeable characters, and the combat is weird, but pretty interesting. It's a little too basic at the start, but I know it gets better as time goes on.

The most I can speak for is the combat. Basically, it's got a guage that's a lot like the time-guages in Final Final Fantasy, in that a character's portrait will go across it at varying speeds depending on the character's speed statistic and whether or not the character is stunned mid-battle(happens a lot, I've noticed). A character cannot act until their portrait has reached the end of the guage, in which the action pauses while you select a certain command. Once you do select a command, the character will act automatically depending on what you selected. Of course, you could always set the game to automatic using the tactics command, and they'll automatically select their own commands depending one the party tactic you've selected. Please not that the battles will be twice as fast when in automatic mode, and you can only regain control by pressing the circle button. If you don't, in the next battle, you will immediately start on automatic mode.(theoretically, an easy way to grind is to weigh down the d-pad while leaving it on automatic mode)

Now, the most interesting aspect of Grandia's combat is that it's one of the few turn-based RPGs that I know of where the characters actively(albeit automatically) move about the combat arena. While they cannot move or attack until it's their turn, one given a command, they'll chase down an enemy and can even strike multiple times. Meanwhile I'm pretty sure enemies can attempt to run away from attackers(I think that's what they're doing, at least. Maybe they were just chasing a guy who was chasing a different enemy), and I have noticed some attacks miss. At the beginning, It's mostly aesthetic, though, but at the very least it does a good job of making battles look a tad more interesting. Later on, you'll have to use enemies positions to properly time the use of magic attacks and abilities to ensure they won't be interrupted, and to ensure that the enemies are in the right position to maximize the damage of certain ettacks(or perhaps to ensure that you can get away from certain attacks). There's also a chance that your characters might dodge an attack by jumping a ways to the side, though other than look cool and prevent damage, I can't see how that would be of much use.

Again, I think the whole characters and enemies moving mid-battle is more just for looks than for any really strategic purpose like in Chrono Trigger and Lunar, but it's still one of the more unique aspects in the game. Of course, I'm probably just not far enough in to appreciate the strategic value of it yet.

Oh, and another nice touch is having all the enemies out in the overworld and try attempting to rush you if they see you, A La Earthbound. Of course you can run away from them using run button if you need to, though I think it makes it easier for them to notice you if you do use it. Naturally if they catch you from behind, it's an ambush and they act first, if you catch them behind, you get a free turn. If there are multiple enemies in the area why you make contact with an enemy, they'll appear roughly where they were in the overworld.(not sure if that applies to single enemies, though. It seems like they just appear in random spots)

I guess I outta give a briefing on the level system, since it's my favorite part of the game: Apart from gaining experience points to level up, you also get skill points to level up your proficiency with certain typs of weapons, and they are earned based on how much they're used. This basically encourages you to utilize different weapons, as well as to make sure you balance out your battles a little more and making sure one guy isn't the only one killing all the enemies. Now characters can only use certain weapons, but their roles during battle can change quite a bit during battle, such as changing a character from a close range fighter to a long range attacker. Well, actually, since it doesn't actually change any stats other than speed and attack, I suppose it really doesn't change much, but I do like that the game encourages you to try out different weapons with different characters. Also, I don't think it really changes what skills or spells you can learn and/or use either, but I'm not really far enough into the game to verify that yet.

Also, I'd just like to mention that while the story and setting are very interesting, don't expect much beyond what you'd find in an old anime of the day. Also, the voice acting is terrible(albeit hilariously so. Seriously, I have heard better performances in a Middle School play. It's really bad), and it seems as if the voice actors are just reading the text as it appears in the game with little to no rehearsal time, and the text appears to be timed to the Japanese version, so you get a lot of random, unnecessary pauses. Also, you can tell there was an extremely small cast, because a single voive actor will often voice multiple characters in a single scene, making it sound like someone with multiple personality disorder is having a conversation(or argument) with himself.XD

Oh, and a complaint I haven't mentioned is that the camera can kinda be annoying at times. It's not that big of a problem, and it's rare that games of its time even have munipulable cameras, which make it easier to find treasure you might have missed. Still, I just wanted to put that out there just in case it might be a deal-breaker for you.

Oh right, and the difficulty - Grandia is a very easy game. I didn't do much grinding at all, and I can already tell I'm overleveled. If you're worried about it being a grind-fest, don't, it's not. If you're looking for a challenge, I highly suggest you run away from as many enemies as you can, because it's very easy to over-level in this game. Just with the basic equipment and leveling up only twice with each character(weapon skill for each character was only lvl 3), I managed to defeat the first boss before it could even move. I only used three special moves, too. It was shockingly easy. Most of the enemies along the way died in one or two hits, too.

Uh...I think that's all I got to say at the moment, but hopefully that's all you'll need to know to make your decision. I mean hell, I'm only 3 hours in, anyways.

I am the Wolf...Red
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Wolfrun?

odd69

slapshot82 wrote:

@Waltz..... lol well you have convinced me Also, great choice in games too. I bought Resistance Fall of Man right off the bat and was a little dissapointed. I got to tryout Dantes Inferno myself. Fixing to fire up Darksiders Demo.

Dude if you would have bought Resistance 2 you wouldnt need fall of man. Its so much better dude, fall of man is horrible and im a die hard resistance fan. But seriously sell it and get R2 , if you ever do buy it i will help you level your characters up and show you the ropes!!!

@mickeymac I'm loving Grandia so far. Honestly i think i like Lunar 2 better though, graphically that its. I'm not far in either games but the battle systems kinda feel the same and felt lunar 2's battle system just looked neater. But all in all this is a solid rpg.

Edited on by odd69

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Sean007s

weirdadam wrote:

The God of War and Darksiders demos were exceedingly dull. I'm surprised mindless button mashers have survived this long. Darksiders is at least quite colorful, which is certainly uncharacteristic of games such as these on HD consoles.

Couldn't find Star Ocean at Blockbuster, but did take home White Knight Chronicle, which I'd also forgotten about. Hoorah. Time to check it out.

Well no duh?
Its always been a button masher. But then again your just probably only pressing the X button repeatedly.
Later on in the games,you find more moves to pull off.
Its like a new Genre now and has its audience like myself.

God Of War 3 is gonna be awesome. It does what its supposed to do and is targeted an SPECIFIC Audience who love story telling and button mashing.
Of course no else had an issue in the SEGA and Nintendo days when there was Final Fight and Streets Of Rage,only now do they all complain. Sad to be honest.

Playstation Network ID:Sean007s
Wii Friend Code:8597 6921 2179 2755. Add me please..
Skype:Sean007s
Currently playing:Uncharted 2,Soul Caliber 4,ModernWarfare2,Final Fantasy XIII.
Excited for: Fallout New Vegas,Gran Turismo 5,CoD:Black Ops.

Firkraag

weirdadam wrote:

After being super disappointed in FF7

Oh wow.. not just disappointed, but SUPER disappointed in FF7. Is that even possible for someone who enjoys JRPG's? What didn't you like about it?

It's hard to recommend Grandia to someone who would be that disappointed in one of the best JRPG's of all time. I'd stay away from PSOne RPG's if I were you then.

Edited on by Firkraag

There he goes, Firkraag. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die. - My VGscore

Stuffgamer1

@Sean: Actually, I was really never a fan of the beat-'em-up genre back then (with the rare exception like Golden Axe). The modern stuff like God of War is much better, IMO.

@Firkraag: Now, THERE'S a logical fallacy for you. I'm not terribly fond of FFVII either (don't like Materia AT ALL, and the story's absurdly confusing), but there are PS1 RPG's I enjoy. BoFIII and Chrono Cross, for example. Not all JRPG's are created equal, and some will appeal to different people for different reasons. Assuming Mickeymac's huge explanation of Grandia still wasn't enough for Adam to decide, I'd next ask what RPG's he DOES like. That kind of knowledge is far more helpful than the simple fact that he doesn't like FFVII.

My Backloggery Updated sporadically. Got my important online ID's on there, anyway. :P

Nintendo Network ID: Stuffgamer1

Firkraag

I've never heard of a jrpg fan that doesn't like FF7, so that would be news to me. At least not by those who played it back in the PSOne days. Of course we can't all like the same games, but if you didn't play FF7 back in the day and didn't like it today, then you'll probably not like Grandia either since the former has in my opinion aged better then the latter. Therefore I do not recommend it.

BoF3 is great too, hope that comes out for PSN, never played Chrono Cross.

There he goes, Firkraag. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die. - My VGscore

Slapshot

@Mickey..... nice in dept explanation on the game. Loved the game back in the day.

@Odd..... Dude Ive been wanting to grab Resistance 2 for a long time. Im really good at FPS online shooters and Ive heard R2 is way better than the first. If they have it tommorrow at the store that is closing up Ill grab it. Hold me over until MW2 Map Pack releases. I had a really good game two days ago on MW3 Hardcore match I went 39-3 wich isnt easy at all on Hardcore lol.

@Stuffy.... I for one Loved the Materia system in FF7. Just a personal opinion lol. Maybe it was the fact that FF7 was my first RPG but I flippin loved the game.

.... anyone elso looked at the Insane Trophies on Mega Man 10?
http://www.ps3trophies.org/game/mega-man-10/trophies/

3DS FC: 4382-2029-8015
All my News and Reviews in One convenient place!

My Nintendo: Slapshot82 | Nintendo Network ID: Slapshot82 | Twitter:

Adam

Wow, so much to respond to. I've no hope of reading all this, so I'll save the giant Grandia review (thanks in advance!) for last and reply to that in a bit.

Guys, I know there is more to God of War than button mashing. I was criticizing the demo, not the game. The game isn't out yet, so I couldn't possibly complain about it as a whole. I just meant that, if there is more to it than button mashing (and I'll trust you guys on this), then the demo does a terrible job at demoing the game because that is all I got from it. And no, Sean, I didn't just press X repeatedly. I pressed Square repeatedly. Not sure why I'd want to jump up and down constantly, but thanks for your concern. Also, yes, people did complain about button mashers in the Nintendo/Sega days. I was one of them. God of War certainly seems to have more depth than Final Fight or Double Dragon though, thankfully.

As for Darksiders, I sort of got a wanna-be-Zelda vibe from it. Sort of like Ocarina-lite, but with even less interesting "puzzles" if you can even call them that. I don't recall how far I got into it though. I remember beating this one enemy who was only beatable by a certain sword which was found in the very same room. That got a laugh out of me. Nothing could be less immersive or believable. I got farther than that, but I eventually got tired of the button mashing and the forced backtracking for the sake of making it feel like Zelda when it was in fact very linear. Navi was very unhelpful, too. There was one part where I forgot where I was going, and he just kept saying "Let's crush the bat queen." Thanks a lot.

As for FF7, I never said I was a JRPG fan to begin with, but I do like some JRPGs, just not many. I like games that are full of color, light on plot (since it's a game it makes more sense to focus on character than plot), simple to play, and not too tedious. FF7 fails on all counts. It's slow, drab, a bit complicated (though not as bad as later games), and I find it hard to discern what's what in the environments. Sometimes I can't tell where I can go and what I can interact with. I certainly see that it's a remarkable game as far as depth of experience goes, and it holds an important place in JRPG history, but for my part, I think Final Fantasy reached its peak in the SNES days.

Personally, the closer a game is to Earthbound or Mother 3, the more likely I am to enjoy it. It's not that I want every game to be a Mother clone, but it hits all the right spots. Very colorful (especially M3). Light on plot (M3 less so, but there's still much more game than story). Light in tone (near non-stop hilarity with the occasional emotional moment to keep the experience grounded). Simple and fun to play (basically DQ + rolling HP meter + sound battle system). And both games feature perfect pacing. I also like the SNES Final Fantasies, Secret of Evermore, and a few other RPGs.

There haven't been too many 3D RPGs that have caught my interest so far, but I'm crossing my fingers that between Arc Rise Fantasia, Xenoblade, and Tales of Graces that I'll be able to change my position on 2D vs. 3D JRPGs by the end of the year. I definitely have a pixel bias. I think games look better in 2D, but I also think that 3D JRPGs tend to be designed differently, so it's not just a graphical difference but a design difference. If there were a 3D game that played closer to Earthbound or FF5 in design but with colorful 3D graphics, I'd pick it up in a heartbeat.

All right, now to finish my tour of unread threads before coming back to read the Grandia review. Woo!

Edited on by Adam

Come on, friends,
To the bear arcades again.

Sean007s

slapshot82 wrote:

@Mickey..... nice in dept explanation on the game. Loved the game back in the day.

@Odd..... Dude Ive been wanting to grab Resistance 2 for a long time. Im really good at FPS online shooters and Ive heard R2 is way better than the first. If they have it tommorrow at the store that is closing up Ill grab it. Hold me over until MW2 Map Pack releases. I had a really good game two days ago on MW3 Hardcore match I went 39-3 wich isnt easy at all on Hardcore lol.

@Stuffy.... I for one Loved the Materia system in FF7. Just a personal opinion lol. Maybe it was the fact that FF7 was my first RPG but I flippin loved the game.

.... anyone elso looked at the Insane Trophies on Mega Man 10?
http://www.ps3trophies.org/game/mega-man-10/trophies/

When does MegaMan 10 come out for PSN?
I think it comes out March 1st for WiiWare.

But I want to get it on PSN because it has Trophy Support

Playstation Network ID:Sean007s
Wii Friend Code:8597 6921 2179 2755. Add me please..
Skype:Sean007s
Currently playing:Uncharted 2,Soul Caliber 4,ModernWarfare2,Final Fantasy XIII.
Excited for: Fallout New Vegas,Gran Turismo 5,CoD:Black Ops.

Adam

Grandia sounds like it might be my kind of game, Mickey. Thanks for taking the time to go into so much detail. The battle system worried me as I thought it might be too complicated. I have a lot of games to play, so I don't ever want to spend more time learning one game than I'll spend playing another. Tends to ruin the fun for me. But knowing that movement is largely just for visual flare and that characters can be put on auto-pilot puts those worries to rest. I'll go download it now and let you know how I like it later. Thanks again!

Come on, friends,
To the bear arcades again.

Luigi-la-bouncy

Out of the GOW, Darksiders and Yakuza 3 demos I found the combat in Yakuza the most satisfying. I might buy Yakuza 3 or I might get Heavy Rain, but the demo didn't really pull me in on that one either, rolling the analogue sticks to open car doors isn't really edge of the seat kind of stuff. I'll probably just sit tight and see what the buzz on the internet is like.

Luigi-la-bouncy

Firkraag

@Adam sounds like Suikoden would be right up your alley. The story might be a bit serious, not serious as in emo cliché jrpg style but more of politic and a world at war kind of serious very very good at that though, and it has many parts where it lets up on the mood also so the game is perfectly paced. It's beautiful 2d graphics, awesome music, deep combat system, deep story and funny characters make it a must play for anyone likes 2d rpg's.

Untitled
It's on the US PSN.

Edited on by Firkraag

There he goes, Firkraag. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die. - My VGscore

Slapshot

Kinda off subject of what has been going on, but Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time is flippin Incredible. Graphics are completely stunning and they finally tweaked the controls on throwing the wrench, zoomed out the camera somewhat and the new moves to Clank are very helpful and sped up the gamplay some. It just feels dead-on. WAY better than the mediocre Quest for Booty. Ive been a long time Ratchet fan and man this game is so spot-on it makes the series feel really fresh. Funny as hell and seriously beautiful. I need a change of pace from my usual hard stuff and man Im glad I finally popped this one in the slot.

I made a seperate thread for it here....
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/other_gaming/twin_galaxies...
But, Im trying to go for the high scores on Jet Moto PSone, wich Im insanely great at to send in to have my records recorded there, but the guy who has the top records has obviously cheated and it really ticks me off. The 2nd and 3rd records on the tracks are 20+ seconds slower than the top guy and I can get within 10 seconds of his times without cheating but its impossible to get what he has recorded, either that or the guy know something I dont about the game, and I seriously doubt that!

3DS FC: 4382-2029-8015
All my News and Reviews in One convenient place!

My Nintendo: Slapshot82 | Nintendo Network ID: Slapshot82 | Twitter:

Adam

Quest for Booty mediocre? What did you find mediocre? It felt no worse or better than the previous R&C to me in terms of game play, but the price and game length were much more suitable to my wants. Plus, the pirate narrator was quite entertaining.

I almost finished the first PS3 R&C in a rental -- really could have if I'd been more interested in it -- but it just burnt me out. The game has more charm than fun, I think, and that charm can't be stretched out for too long before the game wears thin. I've been reluctant to play the new one for feel it'll be the same as the first one in that regard, though I'm sure I'll rent it someday.

I hope they continue alternating retail releases with downloadable releases. I seem to remember them hinting at doing so, and I think it'd make for a good pace for releasing sequels.

Edited on by Adam

Come on, friends,
To the bear arcades again.

CanisWolfred

weirdadam wrote:

Grandia sounds like it might be my kind of game, Mickey. Thanks for taking the time to go into so much detail. The battle system worried me as I thought it might be too complicated. I have a lot of games to play, so I don't ever want to spend more time learning one game than I'll spend playing another. Tends to ruin the fun for me. But knowing that movement is largely just for visual flare and that characters can be put on auto-pilot puts those worries to rest. I'll go download it now and let you know how I like it later. Thanks again!

I enjoyed writing it, honestly. It gave me some good practice for the paper I gotta do today. I hope you enjoy it. I said the same thing when I first heard about it("Sounds Like My Kinda Game"), and judging from the games you did like, I can say we at least share some similar tastes.

And I can agree with most of your complaints with Final Fantasy 7, despite liking it very much. Of course, I went into the game expecting it to be a story-focused game featuring an understandable plot that's not too heavy and had some interesting characters with gameplay that's just interesting enough and having enough variety to hold my interest - which is exactly what I got. It was one of few games that I got mainly for it's story, and of those, it was one of the few that didn't disappoint.

Of course, if you went in for the gameplay, or just didn't like the story or characters, you're probably gonna be disappointed. The gameplay just isn't strong enough to pick up the slack, IMO. Not to mention the early PSOne-era prerendered graphics are bad to the point that they do impeed the gameplay - the escape scene at the beginning was hell, since I kept on having to do trial and error on which pipes I could and could not climb on, and which is an exit, ladder, etc. Meanwhile I'm fighting random battles with a timer counting down the entire time...ugh...That's why I prefer in-game engine graphics over prerendered ones: You get a better sense of depth.

I am the Wolf...Red
Backloggery | DeviantArt
Wolfrun?

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