silpheedpilot

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]I have just about every system under the sun. SNES, Genesis, Dreamcast, Neo Geo (I take pride in having it.), Playstation, Xbox, N64, Gamecube, Nintendo DS Lite, PSP (One of my favorites), GBA, NES, Playstation 3. I used to have a 360 but I straight-up traded it to my brother for his PS3. Because I work at GameStop it's just more cost effective to buy a used 360 and a used hard drive after the holiday season anyway and besides; Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[COLOR="SlateGray"][SIZE="1"]Or we can hush up about the Orange Box and play some Call of Duty 4! Its too awesome for words. Wiki it.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Lately I've been hankerin' for RPGs. After beating FF12, and Persona 3 I needed something that would satisfy my RPG urge and I found it in the wonderful mythos of Middle-earth. The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. It's not japo, there are no emo kids who blow their brains out, no stupid paranormal plot twists. Just mean men in armor killing even meaner forces Sauron. It plays just like every other console RPG out there with your team on one side of the battlefield and the enemy on the other but the interesting take is that there are no towns. Its you, the world around you, and your enemies. Everything you need you'll find in the field or make with the crafting system. The battles themselves look really nice with good animations and plenty of moves to use against the enemies. Your characters are standard if not, like FF12, the same. Each character can be tailored to be different but it's much easier if you just make everyone the same. The skill system is a bit of the grind with each move you use giving you an SP towards that skill tree and some higher level skills requiring you to use any move from that given skill tree anywhere from 35 times to 80 times. It's daunting but it makes leveling up worth it because you're always looking forward to that new move you'll aquire. The interesting thing about the story is that you're following the steps of the Fellowship of the Ring the whole way and even get to fight along side some of the legendary heroes like Gandalf. [SPOILER]when he takes on the Balrog[/SPOILER] The graphics look nice and the sound is top notch quality with every move, sword swing, and Orc growl done up real good. I recommend this game to any LotR fan and to, really, any RPG fan.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[quote name='Deus ex Machina'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]I'm playing[B][COLOR="Navy"] Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3[/COLOR][/B] (hence all the [COLOR="navy"]BURY MY DREAD[/COLOR] in my sig) and it's absolutely amazing. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"] Isn't it Burn My Dread? I'm pretty sure it's Burn My Dread not Bury My Dread, remember; Burn My Dread. Whatever, either way, since reading your post I decided to put Warhawk down for a sec and pick Persona 3 up once more only to be discouraged by having to press X for an hour in the beginning of the game again so I dropped it, although how good it is, and started playing Warhawk again. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Well, I just got a Playstation 3 so I've been playing one and only one game... Warhawk Its so amazing. It reminds me of everything that was good in Battlefield 2 for the PC but builds on the negativity of piloting craft such as helicopters and planes by giving you the Warhawk, a versatile flying machine capable of hovering in place to provide air support or the ability to fly with aerial acrobatics to show your air superiority. I also enjoy the ground section. The characters move really nice such as hopping backwards when you back-pedal rather than having a goofy backwards run. Another thing that really has me liking the game as a whole is that not one thing can dominate the battlefield. If a Warhawk comes in fast and low to sweep the area in hover mode I can step out from behind the corner and launch homing rockets on it to take it out. Likewise for vehicles, but in a different manner, I can toss mines to stop it dead in it's tracks, so even on foot you never feel totally helpless. And, of course, in a tank you're a beast but not invincible because a Warhawk would ruin your day easily or a crafty couple of soldiers will make short work of you. You also have 4X4 Jeeps that travel quickly and have an MG on the back for soft targets and various homing rockets, flak cannon, and other mounted guns to use against enemy units. The game types are your run of the mill kind such as CTF, TDM, and a King of the Hill like match called Zones but it's in the level design and execution that really make them stand out. Not only are there multiple ways to take a flag from point A to point B or to capture Zone 3 or whatever there are many variables to take into consideration. Did you not expect the enemy Warhawk to come bearing down on you? What about that mine placed near the flag? The game is really amazing and seeing how it's only multiplayer I can see expansions and extra content coming out for it in the future. Maybe new weapons, new factions, new Warhawks, new maps and so on so forth. This is what I'm playing and it's worth all $500 the PS3 cost. Ya dig? [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[quote name='Korey']for zee outragejouse fronch achsentz?[/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Only in the real world would Colet be awesome. Actually, nah, pick this game up if you like your basic, essential Turn-based RPG. It is good, don't get me wrong but it's also pretty basic aside from the Skill Stones you can use to beef your characters up with. Everyone is specialized, everyone is a story central character, and the worst part? No Balthier. Technically the game is very profound. Looks good, sounds good, and the the anime cutscenes are an amazing thing to watch but comparing this to FFT would be like comparing a Honda CRX to a Honda S2000.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[quote name='BlueYoshi'][color=darkred]I see. I'm at uni and in between lectures there is absolutely nothing to do, so would you recommed purchasing it, overall?[/color][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Overall? Yeah, sure, if you liked Final Fantasy Tactics to begin with. I'm not saying it's not something new and sorta neat in it's own kind of way it's just lackluster at a technical standpoint. By all means pick this game up. Why play Jeanne D'Arc when you can play the BEST instead? [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[quote name='BlueYoshi'][color=darkred]What don't you like specifically? I'm interested to know. I heard it had poor reception in Japan but was really praised in the US.[/color][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Personally, the slowdown is unforgivable. A PS1 port should not slow down as much as it does because the coding can't be that hard. I'm not a fan of the new translation; It's way too olde English making it slightly hard to read if you're trying to brisk through the talking scenes. I dislike the fact they took out the little sayings your units yells when he casts a spell, uses an item, or does a skill. However, I do like how much easier it is for non-combat classes to gain XP and JP. In the original Tactics throwing a potion yielded no JP unless it healed someone but now it does regardless of what potion you toss. Makes Chemists easier to keep up with your awesome Two-sword Monks and other not-used Combat jobs. It's not a BAD port, I guess, just not an excellent port. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Alot of stuff on my gaming plate per se. Been messing around on the Orange Box of late. I've gotten my Portal beating time down to less than an hour. Not bothering with Half-Life really and Team Fortress is okay at best to me. I'm still finishing up FF12. I hated it at first, then started to like it immensely, now that the plot has turned I dislike it again. Oh well. I didn't get 50 hours in just to quit. I'm playing Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions also. For all you younguns out there, it was the quintessential Turn-based RPG back in the day and it got a rather poor port to the PSP. Oh well. Tactics is still Tactics which makes it great in its own regards. I'm also playing Crisis Core for the PSP. Its all in japo so it's slow going while I find translations for plot, dialog, menus, and other things. Slow going but the game itself has impressed me thus far. The battle system is weird. Kinda like an amalgam of action and RPG rolled into a slot machine. You'd have to play it to understand. It is, easily, the best looking game on the PSP even making Tekken and Killzone: Liberation pale. Amazing what Squeenix can do when they put their minds to it.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[COLOR="SlateGray"][SIZE="1"]Stupid, retarded, no-good Square-Enix! Why do you make me like your games? I try and I try to hate you and I just can't. I'm playing Final Fantasy 12. I got past all the bullspit and actually got some characters (And further into the story) and it turns out that the game isn't such a bore after all. The License Board is pretty much an MMO made single player. It gives me a reason to go out and just wail on weak enemies just for that one point towards the 25 points I need for a License to use that new, shiny bangle or that keen looking longsword. The story is, to me, engaging. I'm gonna go ahead and say I dislike character development in RPGs more than anything. Call me crazy but I'd rather there be a huge overlaying storyline to consider than if Vaan and Ashe are gonna pork. I don't mind Balthier being Balthier the whole game and I don't mind Basch staying emo the whole time just as long as there is not crying over nothing and yelling for the sake of yelling. I guess the battle-system is alright after getting used to it. It's really hands-free but it makes do. The gambits make everything 10x easier or 10x harder if you don't have them set-up correctly. Changing the flow of battle to Active rather than Wait also pushes things along at a quicker pace and makes up for the 'slowness' I hated it for to begin with. All in all the game surprised me after I FINALLY gave it chance.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]I don't know. If you ask me I look at Half-Life 2 as kinda sub-standard. The weapons were kinda lame, the vehicle sections were really weak, the story was convoluted beyond repair. Now, I'm not saying it was a bad game in any way because I guess it's still the 'BEST FPS EVAR!!' but it's kinda like an F-22 Raptor fighter jet compared to a F-15 Strike Eagle. The F-22 is TOO stealthy, it's TOO agile, it's TOO powerful. The F-15 is just powerful enough to do it's job and it does it to the T without all the red tape that the cost of the F-22 entails. So Halo sets out to create an accessible and refined gameplay experience with amazing multiplayer while Half-Life 2 set out to do it all in one fell swoop with amazing AI intelligence and all these amazing puzzle sections combined with all these intense combat scenarios and to me I just felt unimpressed because it wasn't that amazing. I still get the feeling that people hate Halo cause it's the best. You can blame the 'poor AI' and 'poor level design' all you want but I look at Call of Duty, Half-Life 2, and other FPS in the exact same way. Call of Duty had some of the nicest level design ever. As a matter of fact; France never looked so good but those Nazis just loved standing there and getting shot in the head. Those combine soldiers sure are smart! They strafe. Splicers? My god! Nothing has ever ran at me and tried to hit me with a pipe before! Revolutionary![/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]I daresay Halo 3 could quite possibly be one of the greatest games ever made. Hands down, without a shadow of a doubt, easily. I'll fight anyone who says its overrated because, well, it deserves the hype it gets. It really does. It's so accessible and so refined and has so many things going for it. Great story, amazing multi-player options, many standards in the FPS genre taken to a new degree. Either way. The single-player itself was quite amazing. I beat it, oh, 6 hours after I left the midnight launch at 2 on the Heroic difficulty which sored me because half-way through I said to my buddies; 'Wow. This is pretty easy for Legendary.' and I get the reply; 'Oh, well, cause it's on Heroic' So, oh boy, I gotta go back and beat it on Legendary sometime. I'm not gonna lie and say I bought the game solely for the story because, well, it'd be a big fat lie. The multi-player was a big component as to why I bought Halo 3 in the first place other wise I would have just rented it. I've played extensive multi-player on Halo 2 and Halo 3 gets my seal of approval in multi-player, what with all the game options and matchmaking options. Not to mention the fact you can save films and make screen shots. Just about every weapon that has appeared in the Halo series makes it into this game with some balance changes. The Battle Rifle for one is AS lethal as before, though, it still sets itself apart at medium to medium-long ranges. The Assault Rifle isn't nearly as garbage as before and it makes for a good standard weapons. The SMGs are sexy now. They do far more damage, shoot far more faster, and don't recoil quite as much. The original pistol also returns but it's not the beast you'd expect it to be though knock down a foe's shield and one shot, even in the pinky toe, will kill him; tip for all you comboers out there. The maps are alright. Bungie needs to release new ones quite quickly because about 4 out of the 12 are playable without utter frusteration. Some are just designed poorly. All in all, the new story is good, the graphics are wonderful and pleasing to the eye and of course the multi-player still rocks the house and makes CS:S look like a game not even played anymore.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Sweet Tarts, baby! Best candy. Tarty, sweet, amazing. All words that describe Sweet Tarts. If I'm feeling particularly Sweet Tart savvy one day I'll just buy the whole box at the counter. Best candy without a shadow of a doubt.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Friggin' Rogue Galaxy is the best RPG ever made. I've said it once and I'll say it a million times over; It's the prime example of how an RPG in this day and age SHOULD be. (I'm looking at you Crap Fantasy 12) The story, while cliche and predictable, still had some tricks up it's sleeve and was generally told very well. The graphics have that Level 5 cel-shadedness to them along with Level 5's famous create-a-crap mechanics that are in every game they make; like inventing in Dark Cloud 2. All the characters are usable and like-able from the main character Jaster to the enigmatic Jupis. Not once did I feel any of my characters were boring, annoying, or useless in any way. But the meat and potatoes of this game has to be the combat. It's all action and reflex based but still sits on RPG numbers. Every time you get into a battle it says; 'WARNING!' on the screen and your characters just whip out their respective weapons and let the butt-kicking commence. The skills all look really cool in use and everything just flows really well in combat. Pick this game up and ignore all else. It takes the cake because Level 5 is the best RPG making company around. Dig it.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Silly me. I do remember Flight 93. Brave souls, really. True heroes. And while I did mention the Pentagon, I should reiterate how truly jacked up the whole situation was. If you wanna instill fear in the hearts of many I guess all it takes is a plane full of fuel and an idea. And like you, I too flew about a year later and I was ready for some dude or dudette to try and mess with my flight and my country. Thanks for sharing everyone.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]I'd like to create this topic as a way of remembering 9/11. The day those stampeding moms knocked down America's LEGO towers. We'll do it like this for the topic; What were you doing when disaster struck 6 years ago? I was in, wtf, 7th grade? Something like that. Home-Ec class. We didn't do anything for the remainder of the class because as we came in it had already happened. It was appalling to watch the planes just plow right into the side of the buildings and it actually hurt watching them collapse moments later. I remember feeling really angry but there wasn't anything I could do. Not to mention hearing about them bringing a plane down on the Pentagon. What a day. I know it's a day I won't forget.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Gee, sure wish I could post one line about nothin' and get away with it. Anyone been playing the Call of Duty 4 Beta? It's hawt. Get on GameSpot, register, get the code and take the fight online in one of the greatest displays of FPS wonder. Playing makes me anticipate Call of Duty 4 but it's not like I wasn't already waiting for it but you know what I'm getting at.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[quote name='Aceburner'] "Gamecube 2.0?" Have you even PLAYED this thing? It's less like it's predecessor in every way than PS3 and Xbox360 combined. This is a worse argument than the "Gamecube is for 3-year-olds" crap I've had to deal with since 6th grade. Then again, I doubt this will ever get through to anti-fb's anyway, so I don't really know why I bother.[/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]I'm pretty sure I have played this thing and I'm pretty sure the only crap I've played on this thing is Mario games and other '3-year-old' Nintendo stuff. Don't sit here and chastise me over the Wii when everyone here damn well knows that when the novelty of the motion controller wears off in a few months (or had already worn off) what are they gonna be stuck with? A $250 Gamecube. Where is the essential online gaming? Where are my downloadable demos? How about custom soundtracks? Sure, there are some pretty slick games out for the Wii but it's stuff you've already played, it's stuff thats already established (Metroid Prime, Mario Strikers, Mario Party) only now it's got a motion gimmick. Give me a break. It'll be a while and a day before you see truly amazing games grace that system like Bioshock, Gears of War, Oblivion, and such. Those are testaments to games that can be really good and still blow your minds when you look at them. Like I said before. Nintendo is the only company who can repackage the same crap every year in a new shell, spend billions of dollars on marketing and get you to buy it all over again. New DS color? By all means let me trade in my perfectly working DS for a new color! Whatever. I'm not gonna argue with you over the intarwebz because you'll never sway my judgement and I'll never sway your judgement. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[quote name='Desbreko'][color=#4B0082]Not a single mention of [b]Super Smash Bros. Brawl[/b] in here? There's something wrong with you people. . .[/color][/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]For me it's 'cause I don't let Nintendo bend me over and ram their huge Wiimote up my pooper. There's something to be said about Nintendo when they repackage Gamecube technology in a white shell, give you a motion controller, and say; 'New system, guys!' Oh, wait. I know what that is. Great marketing. Thanks Nintendo! I love it when you pull the wool over my eyes with your technology. Thats Gamecube 2.0 which, to me, wasn't fun before so why would I want it again? HOWEVER I did like Super Smash Bros. so I probably will enjoy playing Brawl when it surfaces. I won't own it but I'll go over to my butt-hurt friends house and play it on his Gamecube 2.0.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Well, it looks like there is some interest in playing this wonderful game so I'd, obviously, say we should all get together sometime and nerd out on this game all day. If we get enough people we can get just about every role filled in the party. Tank, healer, magic, ranged. This could be fun. Send me a PM if you're ever interested in playing sometime. I'll play just about any time of the day, so don't be shy.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]The first one. Not the second one. The DnD game released sometime in 2002 with the really robust Aurora toolset so you can create your own adventures, weapons, armor and all that. The very same game that spans two gigantic expansion packs that will clock your play time in at over 100 hours. The game that lets the world come together and play DnD from the safety of their homes. The very game that will play on a toaster with it's low-end specs. Yes. That game. I've been playing this game, off and on, since 2002 when it came out and I had another resurgence and really felt like playing. So what did I do? Bugged Bill to pick it and all it's expansions up, for no more that $20, and to play with me. Lo' and behold! He did it! I've played the second one and while its technically profound, I just can't find the same love and charm for it that the first one had. I think it's partially because I'm still DnDing off the 3.0 Rule set because my friends and I refuse to change and to cough of the dough for all the minute details they changed in the books. (Yeah, that was me revealing my closet DnD nerdism) Either way, I encourage you OBers to pick this game up and adventure with me and Bill. We can do some co-op campaign, jump online for some skirmishing, maybe some of you can tickle that RPG itch by RPing in some of the play made module.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]If you haven't already been told; you gotta clean up your post quality. Anyway. 100 hours? Try 500 hours. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Easily the game I've put the most time into. It's so enormous, so much to do and see, technically profound, beautiful to gander at. It's got it all. You can do it all, too. Want to be a thief? By all means; steal away! Want to rush in with your blade drawn, shield high? Charge! The game lets you be exactly what you want to be in a fantasy setting. Easily the best western RPG to me. Nah, rather the best RPG period for me.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]I'm all about my soaps and shampoos. Ivory soap is the way to go. Its soft, yet rugged enough for all the lumberjacking I do and as for shampoo I use girly stuff cause as all guys know; girls smell better.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]Since my previous post I've moved on to Persona 3, which is an excellent display of what an RPG SHOULD be. ( I'm looking at you FF12) and I'm also revisting Fallout Tactics, one of the best squad-based tactical games not on the market anymore. Also been enjoying some Guilty Gear X2 while I wait for Accent Core to come out. I'm a huge GG fan so when I heard about Accent Core a while back I became not as sad. Happy that a new version is coming to the states. Hurray for good fighting games! Bio Shock came out on my birthday on tuesday but I wasn't able to pursuade anyone to get it for me. God damn them. Either way, this friday I'll probably be getting it so expect a review from your friendly neighborhood Silpheed in the coming weeks. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="SlateGray"]With the risk of having you Japo RPG fanpeople rip me a new one I've never really been akin to the Shin Megami games because they were all so dystopian and drab with the possible exception of Devil Summoner which, while I liked, got old real quick Either way, I saw my buddy had this game and decided to try it while we were all hanging out at his house. After pressing the goddamn X button for an hour and a half. (F You RPG genre) I finally was able to venture into the endless and ever changing dungeon you do all your fighting in: Tartarus and I was hooked. The catchy soundtrack had me liking it from the beginning but it wasn't until you actually get to fight and experience the game to it's fullest when things come full circle and you start enjoying youself. Even though the battle system looks generic it really keeps things fresh for me because I'm not into RPGs that try to redefine the genre by skewing the battle system up. (Still looking at you FF12) I like the balance of the fighting you do by trying to weigh either physical attacking, shooting your emo head off to summon a Persona to cast a spell and generally making use of all tactics and exploiting the weaknesses of your enemies while trying to avoid letting them exploit your weakness. It's all really balanced and fun, if not the best part of Persona 3. Exploring Tartarus also wears your buddies out and eventually you have to head out because your characters are doing more harm than good. In the time they're resting before they can go back and fight is when you can go and mess with the Social Links. The Social Links are basically NPC interactions that strengthen the bonds between you and the types of Persona you can create and spending more time with a certain person will upgrade that Social Link and in turn make that type of Persona that much stronger. The story is really convoluted where I'm at in the game so I can't say for sure if I really like it because it sounds like the typical anime fare which, while I have no problem with, I hope picks up some steam because it's really slow going. All in all I'm really enjoying Persona 3 as of late. I think it's partly due to the fact I'm out of my RPG funk. Ya know. When RPGs just don't interest you because you don't have the time to invest or because none have come out that really interest you. That funk.[/COLOR][/SIZE]