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Post by N3B on Apr 30, 2007 13:38:59 GMT -5
I share similar sympathies, which is why I haven't been so eager to buy games for quite some time (never mind the fact that I simply haven't had money). I'm guessing there are 5-8 games a year that I really get interested in or excitedly anticipate. I expect for the next couple of years I'll just buy 6-8 games a year (those that are really worthwhile) and occupy my time doing other things.
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Post by niff on May 1, 2007 5:27:48 GMT -5
yeah, i think i'm reaching the same point. most of my time is spent either doing schoolwork, playing bass/other instruments/writing music and women. although i pirate the occasional game and play through it.
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Post by Ranger on May 1, 2007 14:10:36 GMT -5
I share similar sympathies, which is why I haven't been so eager to buy games for quite some time (never mind the fact that I simply haven't had money). I'm guessing there are 5-8 games a year that I really get interested in or excitedly anticipate. I expect for the next couple of years I'll just buy 6-8 games a year (those that are really worthwhile) and occupy my time doing other things. Psh for a while it was a single game taking your attention span or do you prefer to not look back on gothic
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Post by N3B on May 1, 2007 15:06:37 GMT -5
Ahh, that single game still takes my attention Though it's not that I only played Gothic, it was just one of the best games I've ever played Kind of like how Note would always go on his Chrono Trigger rants [need more smileys] ;D On that note, I had an epiphany at the mall today, regarding the industry [this applies mostly to PC games, but possibly also console games]. I typically don't like games made by the big corporate developers/producers because they usually lack the certain charm of games made by the under-dog development teams. There are a few exceptions to that (Nintendo is one that immediately comes to mind, for instance). Those big-industry games are the (usually only) ones that the superficial gamers buy, and I thus try to not associate with those ones. It would seem that today, the under-dog companies are falling short of quality as the bigger-corporations keep pumpking out more and more expensive and better-advertised games. They either go out of business or get asborbed by the top dogs (this is pretty much what happened to G3 ). Those under-dog games you see out there today are usually not worth the time or money -- either they just suck or they're too not dynamic/unique enough. There just isn't a good selection of games today -- because they're either the crappy games made by the industrialist top-dogs, or crappy stuff made by the amateurs with extremely limited resources and skill. That, and the ones that might be worthwhile, are all basically clones of the good ones we've already played. There're maybe one or two games in each genre per year that are any good. sigh blarg gleiven
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Post by Draxas on May 1, 2007 21:24:45 GMT -5
OK, kids, it's time for some of Draxas's rules for the modern gamer:
1: Never, ever, ever trust reviews. With only a very few exceptions, the only times I have ever been steered wrong about a game are when I read good reviews about it. Know your own tastes, and look for games that seem interesting based on that. Of course, if you can't trust reviews, you only have the back of the box and word of mouth to go by. Barring the latter, you're almost certainly stuck, because the packaging is usualy written like an ad. This ties into rule #2...
2: Try before you buy. Renting is your friend. Is there a game that looks interesting, but you can't be sure is any good? Head on over to your local video place (or if you're lucky like me, your local library is even better), and drop a few bucks to try it out for a while. What's the worst that can happen? You're stuck with a dud for a week, and are out $5. Of course, this option probably doesn't apply to all you PC and handheld gamers (though the library here does have portable and PC games for rental as well, so you might not be out of luck). I feel for you... But there's always rule #3 in a bind.
3: Don't buy at release. With very rare exceptions, I almost never buy games anywhere near release. Unless it's a huge name title, chances are that it will hit the $20 mark within 6 months. That's my personal price point for games I'm interested in (and often, I'll wait for most to dip even lower than that). Don't be ashamed to check out the bargain bin, either; some older gems can sometimes be found if you're willing to spend 10 minutes flipping through it. All you PC gamers, take heart; unless the game you have your eye on is by Blizzard or EA, odds are it will hit $20 even faster than most console games, and might even continue the downward spiral to as low as a measly $5. I've gotten some damn good deals looking at the PC rack before. I find your best bets for bargain hunting are the PC rack and console bargain bins at your local Gamestop / EB / whatever, and your local Toys R Us (which will often put somewhat older games that didn't sell all that great onto $10 clearance).
4: Look for the overlooked. Just because you've never heard of a game doesn't automatically make it garbage. Who says little developers only churn out crap? I've got at least a few games that few, if any, of you have ever even heard of, and they get serious play because they're GOOD. Of course, that doesn't mean every game you've never heard of is good; apply rules 1, 2, and 3 liberally here (thankfully, overlooked titles often drop in price pretty quickly, and may even start out lower than the standard $50 at release).
5: Don't write it off until you know what you're dealing with. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. Try not to badmouth something unless you know for sure it sucks, because people listen. That's why I try to reccommend games instead of bash them when I can (though I have no qualms about bashing them when they deserve it).
They're pretty obvious rules, aren't they? And yet, how many do each of you actually stick to?
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Post by niff on May 2, 2007 3:13:09 GMT -5
psychonauts and condemnded: criminal origins are two games that are so awesome that it's almost criminal (heh heh). both made my underdog developers. only ones i can think of recently, though.
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Post by Notesurfer on May 2, 2007 10:27:40 GMT -5
Underdog games . . . like the one time I randomly ran into a copy of Magic Pengel (very rare nowadays) for 15 bucks . . . or that delicious game for the DS where you play as a surgeon. Good times, good times.
As for your rules Draxxy . . .
The only one that I blatantly disagree with is the one about reviews. I know my tastes, and as a result I can usually tell whether I will like a game or not. The best way to determine that (short of renting, which is preferable) is for me to read lots of reviews and gain an abstract image of the game in my head. With enough reference material (screenies, gameplay vids, and of course reviews/previews) I've always been able to determine whether or not I liked a game before I bought it. And I've always been right. d-:
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Post by N3B on May 2, 2007 10:57:41 GMT -5
psychonauts and condemnded: criminal origins are two games that are so awesome that it's almost criminal (heh heh). both made my underdog developers. only ones i can think of recently, though. Played 'em both
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Post by N3B on May 2, 2007 14:17:41 GMT -5
1. What I notice about reviews, is if it's a professional review site/magazine, they'll only put forth the proper effort into playing and reviewing the game if it's a really popular one with a lot of hype. Most of the games made by the little garage-companies don't get the proper treatment when being reviewed because the reviewers just don't give a damn. I can usually tell when the reviewer doesn't even try to play the game, so pro reviews are usually not worth reading for the under-dog games. So I then check player reviews thinking "it can't be that bad", and most of them confirm that it has too many problems or weak areas to make the good areas worth it (but they typically don't put the same (even half-assed) effort that the pro-sites make). That said, just going off of the box isn't always the best bet because you can't see how the game actually is in action and in handling -- normally, you could go check screenshots and gameplay movies, but for a lot of the under-dog games you won't get much as far as movies go. So pretty much you're stuck taking a gamble that might not be worth it depending on your available time and money.
2. You can't rent PC games, and that's what I mostly play these days.
3. There aren't "bargain bins" for PC games in my area -- there are tons of them for the PS2 because of how old and used some of the games are. With PC games, they just don't pile up like PS2 games do. The lowest PC games usually get are $20 unless they're browser-esque puzzle/arcade games like Bejeweled. Usually, you have to pre-order the good games -- if you don't, you can't get it until 2-3 months after release, and if you don't get it then, it goes off the shelves and you have to specifically order it or get it off the net (the latter isn't that big a deal).
4. Overlooked doesn't automatically make it bad, and it doesn't automatically make it good. A fair amount of "overlooked" games are overlooked for a reason -- they're not any good (they have horrible gameplay elements, misleading box advertisement, stability issues, lack of depth and variety, etc). There are some that are overlooked just because of an unknown name of a new developer or a low-budget company that are really, really good, but it's hard to sift those ones out of the ones that are decent (but aren't any better/different than games I've already played) and crap. For every genuinely good overlooked game you buy, you'll probably have to first buy 3-6 others to find it.
5. Of course.
For instance, I was at GameStop for the first time in quite a while yesterday, and I saw: Dirt: Origin of the Species, Etrom, Knights of the Temple II, Dawnspire; four games that I had never heard of before. The boxes all depicted them to be lengthy open-ended fantasy/action/adventure/RPGs (Dirt was an "innovative" FPS), but I didn't want to buy them all to test them. I commited the names to memory and went home to do a bit more research on them. None of them, by pro comments or player comments, were really worthwhile -- they were mostly garbage or mediocre at best. Not reassuring when you're told that 100% of the games you were interested in aren't worth getting. I'll probably go on a shopping spree in the summer and buy a bunch of games that supposedly aren't good, but for now I'm not going to experiment with what's good and what's bad.
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Post by Draxas on May 2, 2007 23:18:46 GMT -5
Well, all right. As with all things, Your Mileage May Vary, so try not to nitpick my rules into oblivion; they're not really hard and fast. But they've helped me get the most out of my 25+ years of gaming.
Here's a recent case-in-point:
I spotted a PS2 game some months back called Metal Saga (some of you may have spotted this on my gamer list a while back). I looked at the back of the box, having never heard of it before [Rule #4], and what I saw seemed neat at first glance: It's an RPG with tanks! I checked the price, and since it was a new release, it was still at $50. I passed on it [Rule #3]. A while later, as the price fell slowly down to $40, and then $30, I did a bit more checking around. Wikipedia provided some links to reviews, which gave it mediocre-to-poor scores [Rule #1]. However, I spotted a copy in the library, and decided to pick it up; how can you go wrong for $2 for 2 weeks [Rule #2]? I've been getting much joy from the game for the last week and a half, though I realize it's a pretty niche game that most mainstream folks wouldn't enjoy. However, today I lucked out, and spotted it on clearance at Toys R Us for $15. I snapped up the only copy on the shelf.
So here comes my review/reccommendation [Rule #5]. I was initilly interested in the game for two reasons: 1, I'm an old school RPG fan, 2, I really like games that let me drive around the desert in buggies and tanks (and I have no idea why. I blame Dune 2 for first putting the mental image into my head). Now that I've played through some of it, I can give a more detailed synopsis (and I'm pretty sure I've logged more time on it than any of those reviewers).
The two major complaints I encountered in the reviews I read are: 1, The game is plotless, and 2, The graphics are dated and unimpressive. The first in unequivocally false, though the reviewers would never know it. The fact of the matter is that Metal Saga is extremely unusual when compared to 99% of modern RPGs, because the game is very open ended. There is definitely an overarching plotline with a sinister organization (who all dress like Matrix agents) pursuing unknown but dangerous goals, but as the player, you are entitled to completely ignore this aspect of the game, as well as any other. While the game will encourage you to meet certain goals, you have no obligation to do so, and (at least as far as I'm aware) there are no mandatory events, characters (besides your direct avatar), or items that are absolutely required. In fact, you are free to ignore the game's signature tanks entirely, if you're so inclined. However, the plot does develop pretty slowly, and only through certain events, so if you're not careful or don't log much time, it could give the impression of not having much of a plot.
As for the graphics... Well, yes, they do seem a bit dated, at least as far as character models go. However, I personally think that the vehicle models are excellently done and well detailed, and the enemy models are frequently so off-the-wall wacky that the relatively low poly count doesn't hurt the presentation at all. Besides, why would you pan an RPG over its graphics? That just screams "missing the point" (or perhaps, "I only play Final Fantasy, and started with 7 or higher" could be appropriate as well).
Overall, I'm inclined to give Metal Saga higher marks than it seems to have received elsewhere. While it might not be the greatest game I've ever played, it shines in enough aspects to make it worthwhile, especially for that $15 price tag. Besides, it's allowed me to have another opportunity to drive an armed Quad Buggy through the desert, and that's not something I take lightly. 8)
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Post by niff on May 4, 2007 3:32:47 GMT -5
i have a solution for DS games. buy an R4+1gb microSD and pirate away!
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Post by Notesurfer on May 7, 2007 9:08:16 GMT -5
Pokemon Pearl/Diamond!
>_>
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Post by Draxas on May 7, 2007 9:23:13 GMT -5
I'll wait for the definitive version like I did with Emerald.
I wonder which gemstone it'll be named after this time?
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Post by Ranger on May 8, 2007 21:51:23 GMT -5
in completely unrelated news go check the microsoft boards
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Post by niff on May 9, 2007 3:06:30 GMT -5
yeah i'm gonna ship in an R4 with a japanese kingston card sooner or later, and pirate diamond. then see if the inevitable third game is worth dling.
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