What are you currently playing?
- Thread starter Nick Calandra
- Start date
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,985
- 3,848
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
I had one of the zombies almost run out the timer before she finally got enough on screen to for kill it.
Ehh.
I'm sure that sucked.
On which part? The accent part, or the coming out middle to late summer part? For the accent, I'm really going off the cuff. Who knows the backstory or whatever. As for the release schedule, my guess is probably it will be near the end of the year, if we're actually talking. The game definitely needs more polish, but at least the hit detection works (mostly). And if it doesn't come out by the end of this year, it'll be more than likely the middle of next year.
Currently struggling through the final act of Tales Of Arise. By struggling I mean struggling to stay engaged.
The game very very weak in the storytelling department. Not story persay. The characters are generally fun and likeable, the story is fine, if a tad tropey. The problem is "how" they do the storytelling. The story and dialog is often very longwinded and drab, told through in-engine cutscenes or flat comicbook like stills where in the characters only vaguely emote and stand perfectly still in doll like stances, the exact default stance of character models in Blender or vroid.
Its painfully obvious that they cut out nearly all development on animating the characters. The media side takes great pains to make it look like the game is frenetic anime action
But in reality, for 99% of the game they stand around like this, even when talking
And really it comes down to them just not taking the time to animate them. You don't notice it at first about 40 hours of them just standing there talking at you it really becomes an eyesore, maybe not an eyesore, but lifeless like vroid models
Lifeless might be the best description. Additionally it does this really annoying thing where instead of giving you a cutscene or story based reasons for talking to people, the game will literally halt and tell you "we should go see what other people think" and then you can't progress until you go around town or whatever talking to highlighted NPC to receive game exposition. Of course you can't skip any of this and you have to manually click through each line of dialog.
I absolutely think telling you that you need to talk to NPCs is ok, but you know in the case of Shenmue or Yakuza or what have you there's reasons and a bit of exploration, like often you're solving a puzzle or a mystery. In this it's literally just mandatory dialog and unfortunately the story just isn't that deep. It often doesn't tell you anything you don't, with an IQ over 88, already know. It's all so...vapid and exhausting.
Where the game really shines is the combat, which is really the only thing keeping me going. It's really fun and deep. Somebody mentioned earlier that they couldn't stun bosses. I can only say you absolutely can. You either have to break their core or use your boost strike, focusing on their weakness to elements. Admittedly this isn't well understood early on, but I can confirm, you can and absolutely have to use stun effects late in the game. Some bosses are so crushingly difficult you need to stun them to get breaks to heal and revive team members. That's all kind of exciting. I'm enjoying taking down some of the late game optional bosses, but I'm pretty ready to be done with the game only 45 or so hours in.
I don't normally take in account hours too much. I'm just as happy with a 15 hour RPG as 80, but the game "feels" short, like for 45 hours, shockingly little story is told. Like if you use FFVI as an example, this games story is Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Theres no twists or turns. Boss 1,2,3,4,5 big end boss. At least in regards to how the story is told. In games like persona the story does still go from boss to boss to boss, but theres a lot of twists and turns and meaningful side stories. This really has none of that. Each character in your party is developed as a part of whatever boss you are on when they are introduced and they don't really change or meaningfully evolve after that. You might get to know them a little better in cut scenes, but that's about it. It's a flat story with what amounts to optional bosses and fetch quests.
I'm hard pressed to recommend tales. I'm more or less done with the game and the only reason I'm finding spare time to finish it, is because I'm notoriously bad at buying and abandoning games. I'm sure strict JRPG fans will find it serviceable, but I get the impression that the glowing reviews are more of an affect of a dirth of recent RPGs on its release than it being some kinda Final Fantasy Rival.
The game very very weak in the storytelling department. Not story persay. The characters are generally fun and likeable, the story is fine, if a tad tropey. The problem is "how" they do the storytelling. The story and dialog is often very longwinded and drab, told through in-engine cutscenes or flat comicbook like stills where in the characters only vaguely emote and stand perfectly still in doll like stances, the exact default stance of character models in Blender or vroid.
Its painfully obvious that they cut out nearly all development on animating the characters. The media side takes great pains to make it look like the game is frenetic anime action
But in reality, for 99% of the game they stand around like this, even when talking
And really it comes down to them just not taking the time to animate them. You don't notice it at first about 40 hours of them just standing there talking at you it really becomes an eyesore, maybe not an eyesore, but lifeless like vroid models
Lifeless might be the best description. Additionally it does this really annoying thing where instead of giving you a cutscene or story based reasons for talking to people, the game will literally halt and tell you "we should go see what other people think" and then you can't progress until you go around town or whatever talking to highlighted NPC to receive game exposition. Of course you can't skip any of this and you have to manually click through each line of dialog.
I absolutely think telling you that you need to talk to NPCs is ok, but you know in the case of Shenmue or Yakuza or what have you there's reasons and a bit of exploration, like often you're solving a puzzle or a mystery. In this it's literally just mandatory dialog and unfortunately the story just isn't that deep. It often doesn't tell you anything you don't, with an IQ over 88, already know. It's all so...vapid and exhausting.
Where the game really shines is the combat, which is really the only thing keeping me going. It's really fun and deep. Somebody mentioned earlier that they couldn't stun bosses. I can only say you absolutely can. You either have to break their core or use your boost strike, focusing on their weakness to elements. Admittedly this isn't well understood early on, but I can confirm, you can and absolutely have to use stun effects late in the game. Some bosses are so crushingly difficult you need to stun them to get breaks to heal and revive team members. That's all kind of exciting. I'm enjoying taking down some of the late game optional bosses, but I'm pretty ready to be done with the game only 45 or so hours in.
I don't normally take in account hours too much. I'm just as happy with a 15 hour RPG as 80, but the game "feels" short, like for 45 hours, shockingly little story is told. Like if you use FFVI as an example, this games story is Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Theres no twists or turns. Boss 1,2,3,4,5 big end boss. At least in regards to how the story is told. In games like persona the story does still go from boss to boss to boss, but theres a lot of twists and turns and meaningful side stories. This really has none of that. Each character in your party is developed as a part of whatever boss you are on when they are introduced and they don't really change or meaningfully evolve after that. You might get to know them a little better in cut scenes, but that's about it. It's a flat story with what amounts to optional bosses and fetch quests.
I'm hard pressed to recommend tales. I'm more or less done with the game and the only reason I'm finding spare time to finish it, is because I'm notoriously bad at buying and abandoning games. I'm sure strict JRPG fans will find it serviceable, but I get the impression that the glowing reviews are more of an affect of a dirth of recent RPGs on its release than it being some kinda Final Fantasy Rival.
Last edited:
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,985
- 3,848
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
The game wants to have an international cast kinda thing, so I understand what they were going for but it doesn't work.
The story can be very engaging when it wants to be, but through the majority it's dead in its tracks. I don't know where you are, but there was one moment during the conclusion of the first arc sorta speak where something happened to a character that got me super invested, only for that to be fridged for the duration of the following arc.
Dunno if that was me but part of the problem is that "stun" usually refer to a moment when the boss is incapacitated for a long period (a few seconds), but it can also refer to when the boss is incapacitated for a fraction of a second when you attack them with normal attack, usually refer to as stunlock. The problem with the boss is that regular attack do not stunlock them (in soul term, they have infinite poise), meaning you cannot attack them using a long attack combo because they're free to move and attack you during that time, and once they hit you once, it stops you (ie stunlock your player character). This changes the gameplay from executing combo to just doing hit and run attack, where you have time for just one or two hit before needing to dodge out of the way of a boss attack, which tend to make every boss the same. The main character has one attack arte (can't remember the name) that deals a high amount of damage in single hit (he just does an upward slash) and I found that it trivialize most of the boss I've fought (about half way trough the game before abandoning it) on hard (except for the big boss of the second region which was just cheap) because you could easily move in, use it once then retreat while the boss did his combo. Rinse and repeat for the full boss fight.
But yeah, arise was okay but nothing special imo, graphic were better than previous entry so maybe that's why it got good review. Or maybe that it tackle "mature" subject (colonialism and slavery) but its such a goofy game, in line with previous tales, that it can't handle those theme seriously. I did like the addition of limited healing, but item to replenish it are far too common for it to matter.
I'm in third region, so go ahead and "spoil" it. I have a feeling this is something to do with the Straw Hats?
During Dragon Age Inqusition I was disappointed by the fact you don't do a lot in actually running the Inquisition. There's some token nods but mostly it's "Collect power points" then "Use power points to unlock new missions and regions". Skyhold is cool but doesn't do much other then be a cool base. The War table is really cool in concept but feels really.....ok in execution. There are some nods to getting allies and political wranging but not very much considering your position of running what's essentially a crusading order.
So arguably Kingmaker is hitting that note better then DAI did even if it's still flawed.
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,985
- 3,848
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
Beat Poky and Rocky Reshrined on hard mode. Pretty fun, but not as hard as you think, it punishes you if you rush, but if you take your time its not that hard.
Still working on Grim Guardians, its still pretty awesome with voice clips that should be reduced in frequency.
Also been playing Destiny 2 Lightfall, the Lightfall expansion is pretty good so far, not as good as Witch Queen but Witch Queen was top tier, this strikes me more as something like Beyond Light in scope. The new Strand powers seem neat, grappling is fun, the melee abilities and ult also feel good, but I wonder how effective they would be in pvp. The new storyline is decent but the Neptunian's are... surfer dudes, which feels really odd and they have unique designs that are just.... unique.
Still working on Grim Guardians, its still pretty awesome with voice clips that should be reduced in frequency.
Also been playing Destiny 2 Lightfall, the Lightfall expansion is pretty good so far, not as good as Witch Queen but Witch Queen was top tier, this strikes me more as something like Beyond Light in scope. The new Strand powers seem neat, grappling is fun, the melee abilities and ult also feel good, but I wonder how effective they would be in pvp. The new storyline is decent but the Neptunian's are... surfer dudes, which feels really odd and they have unique designs that are just.... unique.
Heads up, that enemies stay off the screen glitch happened to me in the graveyard section of Dancin' Divas. Had to quit and restart. I played as the rest of the girls. So far my favorites are Hina and Bahati. Hina is freaking game breaker with her long range moves. You can spam her fireball charge attack for days. There are hidden command moves, and SOR2 style forward specials everyone has. Sofia is awesome as well and has the best dash attack in this game. Viva is cool, but she feels basic by comparison.
With enough polish this game will be great on release. There is level, enemy, and stage variety. My favorite stages are the boat level, museum, and the Japanese inspired casino. Each alternate stage has their own unique enemies to match the theme of the stage. Weapon variety is surprisingly decent. You got clubs, baseball bats, mallets, guns and tommy guns, etc. All fitting for Tex Avery inspired brawler .
Last edited:
Platinum N° 93 goes to Cursed to Golf!
Took long enough to get a hole in one. I believe it's impossible unless you die with boss 3's gift (keep all cards), bring back a few portals, rockets and drills with you, then cross your fingers the RNG gives you a "doable" course (teleporter and/or hole is close enough to the start line that you can combo a couple of cards to get through a few barriers).
Took long enough to get a hole in one. I believe it's impossible unless you die with boss 3's gift (keep all cards), bring back a few portals, rockets and drills with you, then cross your fingers the RNG gives you a "doable" course (teleporter and/or hole is close enough to the start line that you can combo a couple of cards to get through a few barriers).
Personally, when they try to throw too much management at me I go "fuck it, I'll just go play Crusader Kings then".
Honestly, I keep wanting to find something between Dragon Age and Crusader kings that works on the strengths of both. So far haven't found it though.
I would be quite the fucken game... but I don't think it exists. I mean, the closest you'd get ATM are squad based tactical games (War Tales, people) but they really lack the strategic, diplomatic and, funnest of all, dynastic layers of the CK games.
Of course what I really want to see is XCom in a fantasy setting.
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,985
- 3,848
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
It's not quite Xcom but it might scratch that itch.
Yeah, it was Ryuzo's betrayal. Maybe I should've seen it coming, but when it happened it kinda took me by surprise and I really loved it. Then seeing him dig himself in further was delightful. Suddenly my main character had a name he could curse into the heavens. But then the guy just disappears from the game for the next 4 to 5 hours, and the main plot itself is completely halted.
Yeah same thoughts. The man was one of the better acted (or I guess just better written) character until that point, so I thought he'd have a lot to do in the rest of the game. He ended up not even getting a side mission.
Yeah, me too. I thought he'd be the secondary villain who'd hound your steps in the second area of the island, showing up numerous to goat you. By the time I finally confronted him to a second (and final) fight I'd gotten so strong I absolutely steamrolled him with Ghost mode. Maybe that was the whole point, but somehow I feel like the game wanted that fight to be a bit more impactful. Me though, I just crushed him like a bug in like 5 seconds. I'd also gotten the DLC upgrades by that point, so there's that as well.