What Are You Currently Playing? 5.05: You Are (Not) A Gamer

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Thanks. I'll try that out. As for me, I have a bunch of upgrades for the regular machine gun and shotgun as it is, so I should be fine using that strategy. For most of the game, though, I usually have either the carbine and the shotgun or the sniper rifle and the shotgun. The shotgun is obviously my go-to close range weapon, while I either use the carbine or the sniper rifle for long-range encounters.

[Grave]

Played a bit of Mass Effect today. Tackling as much side missions as I can before I get ready to expose Saren. I don't want any of these little missions getting in my way in the long run, although I suppose I could just plow through the story alone, and while I'm not a completionist, I do get experience just doing them so I might as well, although I'm currently using an old file. Don't feel like starting from scratch again.

If Mass Effect or Street Fighter x Tekken don't take up my time, I'm hoping to start Tales of Vesperia/Xillia soon. It's only a matter of time before I order the MGS: The Legacy Collection for the PS3, and when that comes, more than likely my time will be spent on that series since I plan to start from MGS2 (despite how frustrated I can easily get on that one) on up. May jump back and forth between that, the DMC series (or rather, DMC3 and 4. It's been far too long), and the Mass Effect series.

[gunswordfist]

I beat Crysis yesterday. Overall...it was average. I did like how it was a little bit longer than I expected (excluding the cave and final boss. That sucked.) I wish their were above average games with Halo-like level designs.

[Foggle]

The first half of Crysis is really good, but once it turns into a corridor shooter with aliens, it completely falls off.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If only there were a team that could produce Monolith's expertly technical shooting and gameplay mechanics along with their highly atmospheric environments, while also incorporating Bungie's very open and well-crafted level design into the equation (both companies excel at excellent enemy AI, so take your pick in that department); then we could get the best FPS of all-time.

[Foggle]

If only there were a team that could produce Monolith's expertly technical shooting and gameplay mechanics along with their highly atmospheric environments, while also incorporating Bungie's very open and well-crafted level design into the equation (both companies excel at excellent enemy AI, so take your pick in that department); then we could get the best FPS of all-time.

You should definitely play Blood and No One Lives Forever 2. The shooting and AI aren't up to par with F.E.A.R., but the level design and amount of creativity in them is beyond excellent.

[Grave]

Played a bit more of Mass Effect today. Tried to tackle some side missions only to realize that I've grown impatient and ready to move onto ME2 so I decided to just do the main story line missions. This is the first time I'll be going from the Artemis Tau cluster to Noveria, so I'm curious to see what kind of changes I will see.

I also tried playing Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. One of those games that I've had for quite some time that was in my backlog. I did try to play it once before, and playing it now made me remember why I stopped playing it the last time (I will be trading it in). Most of my issues comes from Naruto himself. I've never liked Naruto as a character to begin with, and where Namco decided to start the story at is where Naruto nearly caused me to drop the series (and to think people tried to defended this guy at this point). That being said, the game is fairly boring until you get to the fights. The same issues that I had with NUNS2 rears it's ugly head here as well. Running back forth from screen to screen doing fetch quests is straight up boring, and shouldn't even be here imo. I understand that something needed to be done for transitioning and whatnot, but Namco's approach is horrible.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just got through The Foundry in Darksiders II. Now that was a long-ass dungeon. That was followed up with a big boss fight with The Guardian, which is kind of cool to do, but it just boils down to a shallow spectacle more than a challenging encounter, as all you have to do is figure out how to take out both of his arms in order to take him down. Now I made my way into the Tree of Life, which itself is a realm that has gateways to other realms, but currently I have entered the fifth dungeon, which sort of reminds me of the Shadow Temple from Ocarina of Time based on its general design (as well as the enemy-types that are skeletons with swords). Overall, though the game is still a lot of fun. I'm actually pleased to see that it puts a bit more emphasis on adventure elements than on action, as its combat system is pretty average for the most part. The overworld is well-designed in how it gives you a ton of areas to explore for loot, and the dungeons so far have done a good job of becoming progressively more complex and interesting in design.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just got past the Gilded Arena in Darksiders II. I like how the general layout of the puzzles in dungeons of the Tree of Life realm change from the regular types of puzzles in the previous realm. Over there it was always about finding out which way to put some ball into some hole, and some of the dungeons also had an emphasis on raising and lowering water levels in certain areas. In this realm it's more about switch-based puzzles and using the light from those lanterns to open certain doors, which is a nice change of pace or what I assume is basically the second half of the game. One thing I do miss from the previous real is how much brighter and more colorful everything was. In this realm which is basically the land of the dead, the theme is a grim and dark waste-land, which looks interesting at first, but the lack of color does start to become a bit grating after a while. Still, the fantastic art design helps the visuals along quite nicely, and I still really like some of the locales you visit in this realm, such as the giant flying ship which the Eternal King commands. Also, the game has still managed to hold my interest quite nicely. I think the key to this game's successful, yet unoriginal formula is that Vigil knows very well just what to put into the game to keep it feeling interesting. There are a ton of areas to explore for loot both inside and outside of dungeons, and the combat turns up at regular intervals but is always properly spaced apart by puzzles and/or exploration, so as not to make the pacing of the game feel either too rushed or too slow.

This game, so far, is the perfect example of how even if a game is unoriginal, it can still be really entertaining if the gameplay mechanics are executed correctly. In this case, I found that the first Darksiders got this aspect down completely wrong, which caused me to get bored of that game quickly. So, yeah, this game is definitely a huge improvement over it's predecessor, and Vigil clearly learned from their mistakes with the first game. It's just too bad that when they finally got it right, THQ had to go under, and nobody was willing to pick either them or their Darksiders IP up, which basically means that the series is officially dead, now.

[talonmalon333]

If you were to give them numbers, what would you rate the Darksiders games, E-K? Those are two games I've wanted to get to. I only played a bit of the first game, as of now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If you were to give them numbers, what would you rate the Darksiders games, E-K? Those are two games I've wanted to get to. I only played a bit of the first game, as of now.

I can't judge the first game that fairly, as I only played the first 2-3 hours of it, but I suppose it's just safe for me to say that....I didn't like it. The puzzles were OK-ish enough, the combat was dull, and the level design was lacking for the most part (with maybe the very occasional spark of legitimate creativity). Also, the game was more of an action game than anything else, leading me to compare it to the likes of DMC, Bayonetta, and Ninja Gaiden (and as you might guess, it just doesn't even begin to compare to those games).

The 2nd game is actually very different in its approach to gameplay from the first game, and IMO it's for the better. Darksiders II is more of an adventure game than it is an action game (though there is still plenty of action), which like I said is a good thing. Some of the puzzles can start to get repetitive ("put ball in hole" becomes very common), but the game has changed things up pretty wisely as of the 2nd half when you reach the Kingdom of the Dead. From a level design standpoint, I'd say that Darksiders II is far better than what you will get out of most contemporary action/adventure games around. Just don't go in expecting it to be anywhere near the level of quality of a top-tier Zelda game (though, what game really does have level design that good to begin with?). If you want a rating for comparison sake then if we were to say that a top-tier Zelda game would be a 10/10 overall, then I'd give Darksiders II a 7/10, which for me is saying a lot if I'm comparing it to a Zelda game.

One thing that I will commend the game for is it's side-quests. This is how you do side-quests right. Arkham City is the perfect example of how NOT to do good side-quests (yes, I just HAD to take another stab at AC ). In Darksiders II, most side-quests involve their own mini-dungeons (which are much better designed than you might expect) and boss fights (some of these bosses are actually tougher than the mandatory ones). That's actually interesting to do, and the rewards are usually really worth it, since most bosses will give you a powerful weapon upon defeating them, and if you don't want that weapon you can just sell it for a lot of money. That makes for both a fun and rewarding experience, actually giving me incentive to pursue these optional missions in the first place.

One minor knock that I have against the game is the lack of creative items with each new major dungeon, like in Zelda games. There are a couple of dungeons where you are granted really interesting new items or abilities that are mandatory to get through the rest of the game (and offer up interesting ways to do so), but for the most part whenever you find a chest, you're either going to get a key to unlock a door, or just loot, either in the form of money, potions, or alternate weapons/armor with different stats that you can either equip or sell.

Oh, and the game also has platforming, but honestly there's not too much to say about that other than the fact that it's competent, and helps with the game's smooth pacing, but don't expect anything ingenious.

[talonmalon333]

If you were to give them numbers, what would you rate the Darksiders games, E-K? Those are two games I've wanted to get to. I only played a bit of the first game, as of now.

I can't judge the first game that fairly, as I only played the first 2-3 hours of it, but I suppose it's just safe for me to say that....I didn't like it. The puzzles were OK-ish enough, the combat was dull, and the level design was lacking for the most part (with maybe the very occasional spark of legitimate creativity). Also, the game was more of an action game than anything else, leading me to compare it to the likes of DMC, Bayonetta, and Ninja Gaiden (and as you might guess, it just doesn't even begin to compare to those games).

The 2nd game is actually very different in its approach to gameplay from the first game, and IMO it's for the better. Darksiders II is more of an adventure game than it is an action game (though there is still plenty of action), which like I said is a good thing. Some of the puzzles can start to get repetitive ("put ball in hole" becomes very common), but the game has changed things up pretty wisely as of the 2nd half when you reach the Kingdom of the Dead. From a level design standpoint, I'd say that Darksiders II is far better than what you will get out of most contemporary action/adventure games around. Just don't go in expecting it to be anywhere near the level of quality of a top-tier Zelda game (though, what game really does have level design that good to begin with?). If you want a rating for comparison sake then if we were to say that a top-tier Zelda game would be a 10/10 overall, then I'd give Darksiders II a 7/10, which for me is saying a lot if I'm comparing it to a Zelda game.

One thing that I will commend the game for is it's side-quests. This is how you do side-quests right. Arkham City is the perfect example of how NOT to do good side-quests (yes, I just HAD to take another stab at AC ). In Darksiders II, most side-quests involve their own mini-dungeons (which are much better designed than you might expect) and boss fights (some of these bosses are actually tougher than the mandatory ones). That's actually interesting to do, and the rewards are usually really worth it, since most bosses will give you a powerful weapon upon defeating them, and if you don't want that weapon you can just sell it for a lot of money. That makes for both a fun and rewarding experience, actually giving me incentive to pursue these optional missions in the first place.

One minor knock that I have against the game is the lack of creative items with each new major dungeon, like in Zelda games. There are a couple of dungeons where you are granted really interesting new items or abilities that are mandatory to get through the rest of the game (and offer up interesting ways to do so), but for the most part whenever you find a chest, you're either going to get a key to unlock a door, or just loot, either in the form of money, potions, or alternate weapons/armor with different stats that you can either equip or sell.

Oh, and the game also has platforming, but honestly there's not too much to say about that other than the fact that it's competent, and helps with the game's smooth pacing, but don't expect anything ingenious.

I actually hear people call the first Darksiders a "poor man's Zelda". Good to hear the second game is better, if if it's not on the same level as said franchise.

Also, it's good to hear you say this about the platforming: it's competent, and helps with the game's smooth pacing. When you have something that's maybe not particularly great, I hear people finding it easy to just say "Oh that should've just been scrapped. The game would've been better for it", when truthfully I think those things are good for the pacing. For example, people often complain that Zelda is filled with brain dead puzzles like pushing blocks on switches, but really I think the games would be worse without those things to smooth the pacing. I imagine Darksider II's platforming helps that too.

[Eddy]

A bit late to the BioShock Infinite discussion but if you're still having trouble with Lady Comstock here's what I did that made quick work of her and I took hardly any damage: use you shotgun (upgraded, preferably) and a fully upgraded Charge vigor (the ram). Also have the clothing equipped that ignites enemies on fire when you come into contact with them (it's been a while so I forget the name of it). Power up Charge and go right for Lady Comstock. After impacting her you'll have done some serious damage. Unload on her a few times with the shotgun and then power up Charge and repeat until she dies. It should only take a few tries.

This method made quick work of her in 1999 Mode.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I actually hear people call the first Darksiders a "poor man's Zelda". Good to hear the second game is better, if if it's not on the same level as said franchise.

Yeah, it's just a poor man's action/adventure game in general.

Also, it's good to hear you say this about the platforming: it's competent, and helps with the game's smooth pacing. When you have something that's maybe not particularly great, I hear people finding it easy to just say "Oh that should've just been scrapped. The game would've been better for it", when truthfully I think those things are good for the pacing. For example, people often complain that Zelda is filled with brain dead puzzles like pushing blocks on switches, but really I think the games would be worse without those things to smooth the pacing. I imagine Darksider II's platforming helps that too.

Well, the simple block and puzzle switches are designed really well in most Zelda games. Those aren't filler or anything like that, to me. Those are part of the game, and they are a part of the game that I enjoy doing. I mean, if you took those out the game would just be more about action, with the occasional different type of puzzle, and it would be much worse off for it. In Darksiders II, I am glad that the platforming is there. What I mean when I say that there is not much too it is that there's no real risk or reward to the experience. Platforming is made very easy by only giving you one possible direction to jump in to get to the next platform, and if you fall and miss a jump then you aren't punished at all, but rather just sent back to the last platform you were on (you also lose some health, but it's such a small amount that it's not even worth mentioning). Still, the platforming has a good feel to it, and those segments are just brief enough to be amusing without ever feeling tiring.

A bit late to the BioShock Infinite discussion but if you're still having trouble with Lady Comstock here's what I did that made quick work of her and I took hardly any damage: use you shotgun (upgraded, preferably) and a fully upgraded Charge vigor (the ram). Also have the clothing equipped that ignites enemies on fire when you come into contact with them (it's been a while so I forget the name of it). Power up Charge and go right for Lady Comstock. After impacting her you'll have done some serious damage. Unload on her a few times with the shotgun and then power up Charge and repeat until she dies. It should only take a few tries.

This method made quick work of her in 1999 Mode.

Yeah, I'll give that method a shot as well if I still can't take her down by the other means. At least I only have one fight left with her for the rest of the game (there are only 3....right?), but she was the major roadblock that killed the momentum of the game for me. I just didn't "get" that boss fight.

[gunswordfist]

I wish there were more Zelda ripoffs. And Ninja Gaiden. And Halo. I mean that in a good way. Why aren't some of the best designed games receiving good copy cats?