Ive loved Pokemon games in the past, until... I bought a second and realised: they are all identical. I have already beat this game unless there has been a major overhaul.
FFXIII, I can't play for 30 odd hours to get to the good bit. 30 hours of hand holding and rail roading. Really? Thats almost like a week at work.
Transformers has got my attention. Then torchlight... can't I just wait for the new diablo?
Mr. Funk wasn't exaggerating - there's a ton of new content, on top of the already enormous 16 gyms. Gold was my favorite Pokemon game, and so far HeartGold has surpassed my expectations.
Torchlight, also, is fantastic. You're welcome to wait for Diablo III, but you'll likely be waiting a while ;-)
Pokemon HG/SS is odd. It has the great refined gameplay and expansive world of the previous generations, yet perhaps the worst story (for the main series Pokemon games.) The motivation was someone lacking. The Rocket conclusion was disappointing, facing off against some throwaway rather than an established villain (aside from Legendary events.) And something REALLY irritated me that you HAD to go fight Lugia, for no real reason, before facing the Elite Four.
On a side note I still have half a dozen dungeon crawlers to go through before touching Torchlight.
Only thing I disagree on is FFXIII, I wanted to love that game soo much, and I played waaay past the training wheels part, and felt it was still not good enough. But I am glad someone enjoyed it. To me the best FFs are VI, VII and X
While I didn't really have a huge issue with the core mechanics of it, I found the plot and character development SORELY lacking.
Gameplay felt a bit like an unholy union between a MMORPG and modern Console RPG, making a rather large portion of your game killing the same things over and over again to farm drops.
With only one exception that I can think of, side quests are simply about finding the right enemy and killing it with a BEST case situation being the addition of a cryptic entry to the encyclopedia and more frequently affording NO development of the characters, plot, or world.
And there was one glaring issue I had with the end:Specifically that you have a plot constructed around the conflict between free will and determinism and in the end are railroaded into a decision that completely undermines the characters' drives and that conflict, resulting in what I found to be a depressing ending, despite the fact that it's SUPPOSED to offer a sense of hope.
That said, the game promotes both beautiful visuals and a great score, and for a person who prefers mechanics over substance it could be a solid buy.
Great list! I agree with all of them, including Transformers. My only problem with the game was the combat felt a little unsatisfying, but the mechanics were solid and the movement and transforming elements just felt...right.
wow nice
I'm actually gonna be working through FFXIII slowly with a friend come August
you know, just taking our time (I think she's played more RPGs than me, or at least recently, since I can't seem to get into them anymore. at least the western ones)
lol I currently have War for Cybertron rented and it's pretty awesome. the big final bosses with red glowing weak spots feels very retro which is appropriate...and I dread them so that's definitely something old school (modern boss fights tend to be less stressful/interactive cutscenes...e.g. SC: Conviction...Halo 3...BFBC2...MW2...)
My experience is a different one from yours. Where you see customization I see plain old leveling with the illusion of customization. Sure you get to pick but if you want the fire spell you have to take the 20hp first. Sure you get to switch your paradigms but there is pretty much only one way to beat all the bosses. If you are lucky your strategy might work instead of following what they want you to do. And since the game moves far to fast you aren't given the time to decide on your own strategy so mashing the autobattle and praying is the only way (which even if you want to set your own actions is made mute by the fact you AI partners will still do whatever they want) I still don't see why they needed me in the first place.
I've already played through the game twice and I didn't use the same strategies I used on my first playthrough and had no problem with any of the bosses.
I do wish you could switch party members in battle on the fly (stupid healer, cast cure not esuna...), but otherwise the companion AI is very well written and other than the healer glitch, I've had no problem with my AI party. And that's having over 120 hours of exposure to the system.
As far as everyone crying about the handholding narrative or depressing ending, guess what? Not every story has a happy ending, not every character is going to achieve their goal. I'll remember this story much longer than the typical sappy horseshit that most stories (in all forms of entertainment) offer these days. George R.R. Martin's epic series has clued me in to the fact that the best stpries aren't the ones that unfold how we think they should, they're the ones that unfold the way that they do with little regard to how you may feel about it.
When GRRM had the balls to off what the reader perceived to be the main character (Ned Stark), he proved just how shallow and poorly thought out most stories really are.
But Funk, I can't agree with you lumping XIII in with VI or X. Those games were incredible top to bottom. XIII is solid, but far from incredible.
In my personal rankings the games are listed 6, 10, 7, 13, 12, 4, 8, 5 and then 9. I haven't played 3, and the first two are so outdated they're unplayable to me.
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