acemuzzy wrote:

Top 5 SoulsBorne bosses? Go!

Andy wrote:

1. Gil Gadot
2. Shakespeare's Sister
3. Creamola Foam
4. The Insprial Carpet
5. Papa Lazarou

Sounds legit.

Dishonored 2

Completed a low chaos Corvo play through so I was relatively happy with that. Finished with about 40% of the trophies too. Took about 16 hours.

Overall I still prefer the first game.

Final Fantasy XV

Been going on about it in the thread, so my thoughts are already pretty clear. It's a mess, and it's hard to tell exactly how much of that is down to design decisions and how much of it is down to not being finished. I'm certainly sure it's partly the latter. But, either way, it's not a disaster, and should be applauded for some real imagination in how it handles the JRPG genre. It's just a shame that every big idea has its downsides.

The main things are:

Combat - a great, fluid, realtime (or semi-realtime) system, which can lead to some epic and exciting battles. The warp mechanic is particularly inspired. But it can also be too hectic for its own good, with you getting hit from behind by one enemy while trying to time attacks on another. Plus the camera can't keep up, especially indoors, and party AI is very hit and miss. Really needed a few more basic commands to tell them to stay back or focus on a particular enemy.

Story - A bold idea to have a lot of events take place off-screen, to focus only on the events experienced by the main characters, which cuts down on a lot of lengthy exposition and cut scenes. But it means you never really know who the supporting cast are, and they just turn up from time to time and then disappear again just as quickly. Mostly it's impossible to do anything other than shrug when stuff happens. Again, no idea if this was a deliberate decision or there was originally meant to be more explanation.

The Party - Another bold move to have an RPG party that is together from the start and already close friends. It allows the game to focus on the bond between them and how it develops and becomes strained throughout the game. But the characters just aren't very interesting or varied enough - far too cynically designed to appeal to a certain audience. We also find out very little about them, especially early on. It does a lot with incidental dialogue to reveal personality, but again too much is not shown or said (one major incident that changes the condition of one of the lads happens completely off screen). It does pull things together pretty well at the end, but it's still a missed opportunity.

Travel - The idea of a road trip and using a car to get about is also pretty original. But in practice it involves long stretches of watching a car go along a road, or waiting for loading screens as you activate quick travel. It's much more fun to grab a chocobo and roam freely, which undermines the point a bit.

I could also add that the side quests and friendly NPCs are very dull (or really bad). The likes of Cindy, Frog Lady (forget her name), Dave (Dave!) and fucking Talcott just aren't good enough. There's also a good chunk in the second half of the game where tons of content must have been cut. It can't have been was planned that way because it makes no sense and a number of chapters skip by contained within a few simple and restricted locations. Whole new areas are mentioned but never seen, and it's hard to believe they weren't meant to be explored too at some point. Plus the infamous chapter 13 - hardly a fitting location for that stage in the story.

So, what it comes down to is some wonderful landscapes, some great monster design, well-designed dungeons, plenty of diversions (fishing, photography) and a strong sense of that exploration and discovery that an open-world RPG needs. For large parts of the game you can go off and do your own shit, finding tombs, hunting monsters, raiding bases and camping out with your mates. And when you're not chasing down some pointless side quest it's an experience that gives any RPG a run for its money, especially as the combat is still often great fun.

Didn't mean to write so much, but it's a game I probably have mixed feelings about more than any other, and if nothing else it's fascinating in what it tries to do and how it fails, leaving us with the most bizarre of results. Maybe it needed even another couple of years in development to make it a true classic, but then maybe we wouldn't have got something quite so odd and curious, that somehow remains compelling even when it's being stupid and clumsy.

I still wouldn't say I really liked it, but I'm glad I played it.

Zelda

[10]

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, Episode 1

The soundtrack is great, the characters are great. This is to be expected. The interface is clunky, much of the interaction isn't great, and despite the gauche pop-ups suggesting otherwise, it never feels like your input has much meaning. This, too, is to be expected.

Starlord's walking animation when you ask him to interact with something in the distance (which is the part that actually requires some skill, but is not fun) is akin to sped-up footage of a Cyberman who's shat his pants.

I still can't believe anyone thought a recent Telltale game was worthy of Game of the Year, let alone enough of you for it to actually win. Lunacy.

Andy wrote:

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, Episode 1 The soundtrack is great, the characters are great. This is to be expected. The interface is clunky, much of the interaction isn't great, and despite the gauche pop-ups suggesting otherwise, it never feels like your input has much meaning. This, too, is to be expected. Starlord's walking animation when you ask him to interact with something in the distance (which is the part that actually requires some skill, but is not fun) is akin to sped-up footage of a Cyberman who's shat his pants. I still can't believe anyone thought a recent Telltale game was worthy of Game of the Year, let alone enough of you for it to actually win. Lunacy.

Wasn't it like 5 years ago? It was the first Telltale game to use that engine before there was one every other week.

Wasn't much competition that year if I remember rightly, wasn't it either that or Journey?

Here's the final list of games:

Journey
Far Cry 3
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Trials Evo
Halo 4
Dishonored
Mass Effect 3
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die
Hotline Miami
Sleeping Dogs
FORZA Horizon
Fez
Okami HD
Borderlands 2
Super Hexagon
FTL
Mark of the Ninja
Resident Evil 6
Minecraft 360
Kid Icarus Uprising
Sonic and All-Stars Racing: Transformed
Lone Survivor
The Witcher 2
New Star Soccer
Legend Of Grimrock
Spelunky
ZombiU
Everybody's Golf
Binary Domain
Theatrhythm
Dear Esther
Dragons Dogma
Letterpress
Spec Ops: The Line
FIFA 13
Tokyo Jungle
New Super Mario Bros. U
Wipeout 2048
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Stranger's Wrath HD
Bride of Pinball
NiGHTS Into Dreams HD
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Tribes Ascend
MGS HD Collection
Ghost Recon Future Soldier
Medievil Madness
Z.O.E HD collection
Velocity
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
The Last Story
PES 2013
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
The Unfinished Swan
Resident Evil: Revelations
Lollipop Chainsaw
Motorstorm RC
Shinobido 2
Pokemon Black/White 2
Alan Wake's American Nightmare
Bug Princess 2
Street Fighter X Tekken
Cirqus Voltaire
Little Big Planet Vita
Hustle Kings
Catherine
Where's My Perry?
Diablo 3
Black Mesa
Jet Set Radio HD
Unit 13
Anarchy Reigns
Guild Wars 2
Bastion iOS
Max Payne 3
Total War: Shogun 2
Persona 4 Golden
NintendoLand
Metal Gear Solid 3 3D
DoDonpachi Maximum
Dust 514
Akari Katana
Lego Batman 2
Darksiders 2
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Pinball Arcade
Rayman Origins (Vita)
Assassins' Creed 3
Transformers: Fall Of Cybertron
Rayman Legends Demo
Pandora's Tower
Guardian Cross
Sniper Elite
Fallblox
Rayman Jungle Run
Beat the Beat

Certainly everything I've played on that list beats Telltale's game hands down, regardless of it being a new engine. Yes, even Journey.

I'm confused, TWD isn't in that list

regmcfly wrote:

I'd have given it to hotline Miami or hexagon.

hi 5

I don't think I'd played much at the time. Pretty sure Mark of the Ninja was my top vote, and it deserved to do better overall.

Journey, Trials Evolution, Motorstorm RC and Persona 4 G would probably join it now. But it's not a year with any real big name classics.

I'm still surprised people liked TWD that much though. I played the first episode and it was bollocks.

TWD is clunky as fuck but the story captured people. There's nothing wrong with it being voted the best game of the year just because people were emotionally invested in it. I've sat and watched three different people play through it who don't particularly all games and they all fell for it wholeheartedly. I've never played a Telltale game since, but I don't regret my love for The Walking Dead, at all. Journey has also had the same response out of people too, there's something to be said for the universal nature of those games.

JonB wrote:

I don't think I'd played much at the time. Pretty sure Mark of the Ninja was my top vote, and it deserved to do better overall.

Journey, Trials Evolution, Motorstorm RC and Persona 4 G would probably join it now. But it's not a year with any real big name classics.

I'm still surprised people liked TWD that much though. I played the first episode and it was bollocks.

The first episode was the worst by far.

Andy wrote:

acemuzzy wrote:

I'm confused, TWD isn't in that list

It won. That's the rest of the list, in order of how they placed.

Wait.

Far Cry 3 came 3rd?!?

This forum was a mess.

Metro 2033 redux.

Flawed gem.

So much amazing. So many unforeseen fail states.

Keeps popping up super cheap. Anyone who hasn't should spend the $5 and give it a bash.