This Truth is Self-Evident, the Pile Won't Clear Itself

m0nk3yboy wrote:

hello Gears of War 1 and Gears of War 2 (single player campaign for both, not full 1K, may even whimp out, and do them on casual too).

If I plan ahead, and stay up late, with a bare minimum of sleep, I might just crack both in time to take advantage of this awesome opportunity!?!? I'd considered just playing the online to gain XP, but I can't imagine that doing me any favours in terms of story spoilers and 'understanding' where I am and what I'm doing.

The XP event is a multiplayer event, as there are character levels for multiplayer (1 - 100). Playing both won't hurt, but you won't get any XP unless you go online. We GWJ Gears peeps are up for it, and personally, I'll likely be doing a lot of Horde that weekend (like PvE more than PvP).

trueheart78 wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:

hello Gears of War 1 and Gears of War 2 (single player campaign for both, not full 1K, may even whimp out, and do them on casual too).

If I plan ahead, and stay up late, with a bare minimum of sleep, I might just crack both in time to take advantage of this awesome opportunity!?!? I'd considered just playing the online to gain XP, but I can't imagine that doing me any favours in terms of story spoilers and 'understanding' where I am and what I'm doing.

The XP event is a multiplayer event, as there are character levels for multiplayer (1 - 100). Playing both won't hurt, but you won't get any XP unless you go online. We GWJ Gears peeps are up for it, and personally, I'll likely be doing a lot of Horde that weekend (like PvE more than PvP).

Yeah, I thought as much. I wanted to play through both as much as possible to:
a) get my skills up
b) understand what the hell is going on

I enjoyed/am enjoying playing through Mad Moxi (I know, one of the few), and I've heard that it was 'inspired' by Gear's horde mode. I'll friend you up if that's ok, and keep an out for you over that weekend (timezones and toddlers permitting). Point me in a direction if there is a thread for GWJ Gears peeps. I don't want to be stuck in something with a bunch of drunken rowdy teens if I can help it...

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Point me in a direction if there is a thread for GWJ Gears peeps. I don't want to be stuck in something with a bunch of drunken rowdy teens if I can help it...

;)

Sure thing. There is the The Official Gears of War 2 Catch-all but, and more importantly, the ongoing multiplayer thread with clan and all: Gears & Beers too. Friend up the GWJ Gears Clan and anytime you want to see who's online, pull them up and look at the friend list of the clan.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

timezones and toddlers permitting

That's coming back up when it's time for your tagging.

Thanks for the pointers trueheart... and thank you mrT!

Sadly(?) that kind of covers my gaming availability at the moment. GMT+8, and a 2.5 year old and an 11 month old.

Luggage wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
guitarlicks4 wrote:

I preordered Super Mario Galaxy 2 and still haven't touched it yet...I think I'm afraid it's going to fail my expectations somehow...

Are you worried that it won't be perfect? Because it's perfect.

Lies! Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation said something completely different!

(Actually, I am looking forward to playing SMG2 in the medium to far away future. After I finished SMG1 for example.)

The next time Yahtzee says something worth listening to about a Wii game, let me know.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

The next time Yahtzee says something worth listening to, let me know. ;)

Fixed

I didn't even know he was still going, has he changed his schtick at all? I stopped listening around Bioshock.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

The next time Yahtzee says something worth listening to, let me know. ;)

Fixed

I didn't even know he was still going, has he changed his schtick at all? I stopped listening around Bioshock.

Yahtzee's amusing, but beyond that, his worth as a reviewer is highly questionable - as if reviews in and of themselves were not questionable already. That said, I still get kick out of listening to his ramblings.

Luggage wrote:
brokenclavicle wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

The next time Yahtzee says something worth listening to, let me know. ;)

Fixed

I didn't even know he was still going, has he changed his schtick at all? I stopped listening around Bioshock.

Yahtzee's amusing, but beyond that, his worth as a reviewer is highly questionable - as if reviews in and of themselves were not questionable already. That said, I still get kick out of listening to his ramblings.

I actually thought, the sarcasm of my post wasn't subtle at all. I enjoy listening to ZP quite a bit, but of course you have to take the verdicts with a grain of salt (or a ton of it). The over-the-top critique is the core feature of ZP and if he started actually aknowledging the greatness of games like SMG2, he would surely lose his fanbase. Nobody wants to hear things they already know. ;)

No, I got the sarcasm. My question was OT, but genuine. I got tired of Yahtee's schtick very fast, but like with many things I realise I'm in the minority.

brokenclavicle wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

The next time Yahtzee says something worth listening to, let me know. ;)

Fixed

I didn't even know he was still going, has he changed his schtick at all? I stopped listening around Bioshock.

Yahtzee's amusing, but beyond that, his worth as a reviewer is highly questionable - as if reviews in and of themselves were not questionable already. That said, I still get kick out of listening to his ramblings.

I actually thought, the sarcasm of my post wasn't subtle at all. I enjoy listening to ZP quite a bit, but of course you have to take the verdicts with a grain of salt (or a ton of it). The over-the-top critique is the core feature of ZP and if he started actually aknowledging the greatness of games like SMG2, he would surely lose his fanbase. Nobody wants to hear things they already know.

That's why it's even more fun to look at him go about games I didn't like or where a core mechanic was so badly implemented, it ruined the overall experience.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

No, I got the sarcasm. My question was OT, but genuine. I got tired of Yahtee's schtick very fast, but like with many things I realise I'm in the minority.

Well, he's still Yahtzee, a very eloquent, never breathing critic, who has perfected the art of going on hyperboles about even the tiniest weaknesses in game design and mechanics. I am quite thankful for it though, especially in the time and age of sequels. If he says a new iteration of a franchise is a step backwards, it usually is.

Finished Osmos! Well, the forever levels have opened up, but I'm guessing there's no completing them. Plus the game gave me an achievement for completing it! Great game, so easy to just slip into the 'zone'.

Trine is down. That's one freakin' pretty game. Shame about all the skeletons.

The engine behind it could make one hell of a nice looking classic sierra/lucasarts style graphic adventure game i think.

Finished Dragon Age: Origins on my 360 last week, with a sum total of about 55-odd hours dumped in, trying to be as thorough as possible, while also keeping up with my standard of finishing games I don't declare at the beginning of the month.

I'm beginning to think I have gaming-ADD or something.

I finished Mass Effect 2. Renegade space-lesbian Jane Shepard once again saves the galaxy.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I finished Mass Effect 2. Renegade space-lesbian Jane Shepard once again saves the galaxy.

That's not important - but did you complete all the meaningless tasks given to a space hero since nobody else could be bothered?

trueheart78 wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I finished Mass Effect 2. Renegade space-lesbian Jane Shepard once again saves the galaxy.

That's not important - but did you complete all the meaningless tasks given to a space hero since nobody else could be bothered?

There were two or three I didn't get to.

I did find out that there are no fish in the Presidium reservoir, even though no one directly asked me to find out. But it was important!!!

I think I might be over analyzing this, but I made a calendar in Outlook and scheduled some time to play some games across various platforms. I want to clear out some PS2 titles, old 360, etc... I've definitely been on a PC kick for a bit now. They've even got color coded categories for PC, Xbox 360/Xbox and PS3/PS2.

Nerd moment achieved.

Now, I bet I don't stick with it for more than two weeks, but we'll see.

I've made to-do lists, keep a spreadsheet (also color-coded by platform) and text log...but an outlook calendar schedule is a new one. Will you teach me, master?

It's shaping up to be another month of failure for me. Madworld is progressing slowly (rarely get any time to play on the tv, and unless I can turn off the sound on the wiimote, that won't change). EDIT: Google to the rescue.

The other problem is Ouendan. I'm on the final stage and this is what I'm trying to achieve:

This is NORMAL mode! There are also hard and insane (unlocked)! In the video, the guy doesn't miss a single time and STILL only has half health left at the end.

I've tried it (really not kidding here) well over 50 times and have only made it to the first break ONCE (and then died less than two seconds into the second part). The tempo change where the taps suddenly come at the midpoint between notes kills me every time. Yes, the 37 second intro is mandatory watching every time you restart.

Oddly, despite some songs taking 50+ times to complete, I kept coming back without any feeling of malice - the game is just that bat-sh*t insane and wonderful.

ULFULS - Guts daze!! - the music video to one of the songs in the game. ...I love Japan.

AUs_TBirD wrote:

[Ouendan troubles]

Oh yeah, I had lots of trouble with the final battle. I'm pretty sure that's the only finale in the series that I've beat. It really grinds my gears that Ouendan 2 and EBA don't want me to finish them.

Persevere!

Hemidal wrote:

I want to clear out some PS2 titles, old 360, etc...

Going HD, while great, really created a problem for me. One of the biggest struggles I have is making myself play last gen games. I've got a 60GB PS3 and when we first got it, well, we bought a bunch of PS2 titles for it since they were a) not many PS3 games out b) cheap and c) we hadn't gone HD yet in the living room. Occasionally I'll turn it on, but things like the unbeaten GameCube games I own? Since I don't own a Wii for easy component connection support, they're even more likely to be left unfinished.

I got my 360 a year after the PS3, and my backlog for the that alone is keeping me busy. I mean, last month I added Mass Effect 2 to that list (it was only $20 new! what a deal!) and just yesterday I added Final Fantasy 13 (it was only $20 new! what a deal!). It's taking a lot to resist picking up more DS games as well. Dragon Quest IX just came out and is getting great feedback, which has re-ignited my DS even being turned on as I'm working through the 3rd act of Dragon Quest V.

Just a quick list of what sits in my 360 backlog:
- Bioshock (~20% through)
- Far Cry 2 (~40% through)
- Final Fantasy 13 (unopened)
- Forza 3 (driver level 5-ish)
- Gears Of War 1 (unplayed)
- Mass Effect 2 (unplayed)
- Half Life 2 & Both Episodes (played maybe 50% on PC, unplayed here)

It seems like I could just pick some games and go to it, because there really are some great games there. But when Dragon Age was released, there went a ton of my game time (140ish hours invested). Then Red Dead Redemption was released, and that too was too hot to put down (easily put 50 hours into it so far).

I wonder... if we factored in the cost of games we have been satisfied with (beaten, 100%'d, or still doing multiplayer) along with the flops or ones we just lose interest in, what would our true cost per game satisfaction be? Also, does a game tend to be more satisfying when played while hot or new and are you more likely to finish it when the community is playing along?

In short: I'm a gamer, I have a backlog of good games, my HDTV keeps me from playing non-HD games, and I'm considering playing more games near their release dates.

Day one of the calendar was met last night. I fired up Ghostbusters for the 360. I decided to start over on casual as my first game only had about 1.5 hours of play. The game is a lot better on the easier setting. The controls and aiming are a little wonky and the knockdown/knockout on the harder levels is just too rough.

I haven't decided if I'm going to declare this one for July yet.

Wasn't on my original list, but I just cleared Mass Effect 1. I hit a boredom snag with Dragon Age and just plowed into ME1 instead. Working on ME2 now, which is awesome so far. Doubt I'll finish it in July, but probably in August.

Finding it hard to finish God of War 2... it gets a little repetitive, to me. I'm just past Atlas and I don't know if I feel like touching it at all for a few days. Persona on the other hand is going strong, though slowly, as I'm 35 hours in and the SEES team just go back from "summer vacations". My previous experience with Persona and the SMT series has served me well when fusing for grinding purposes in Tartarus.

Maybe I can muster the gumption to plow through GoW 2 over the weekend. In any case, I fiddled around with Maniac Mansion at work - the VGA version/remake - and managed to get an ending I hadn't seen before. I wonder if it's new to this version or if it was in the original iteration...

It's been quite a while since I was on the Pile thread. Last year I was playing Odin Sphere. It started out a nice little game with a unique battle system, a creative potion system, and neat ways to gain hit points and experience. After two months of playing it, I wanted to gouge my eyes out and was only half way through the game. All the neat tricks to make potions by growing and adding in each ingredient one at a time and gain hp by eating food by obtaining ingredients and bringing them to a restaurant, became tedious, repetitious, and painful. And the worst is the restaurant with the rabbit server. Every time I heard her over-cheerful and ear-ringing greeting, I wondered if I could somehow find a bug that allowed me to skin and cook her.

Unfortunately, my home was robbed. I lost a lot of games, but the good news is that the nightmare game was taken. I don't believe I will be looking for another copy soon. Since that happened, I've only played new games while I slowly recovered the lost games and consoles with insurance. I'm now going back to the pile.

Anyways, I just finished Half-Life Opposing Forces. Rather short game with a sampling of levels from the original Half-Life redone with a soldier. The missions were rather random and the story a weak excuse to string them together. But, the gameplay still holds up and I enjoyed some of the levels, especially the Lab.

My next game is an older RPG I stopped playing midway through back in 2004, Divine Divinity. Unfortunately, part 2 appears to have flopped, but the original is still a fun game. I'm surprised I walked away from playing this one as I'm having a great time exploring the Divinity world. If this one takes two months to finish, I'll be quite far from tortured.

I've played 2/3 of Dead Space, so I guess I can add this to my pile for this month, eheh.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I finished Mass Effect 2. Renegade space-lesbian Jane Shepard once again saves the galaxy.

I just finished Mass Effect 2 as well - Paragon, bi-sexual lesbian Jane Shepherd's adventures continue

(Liara in ME1, Thane in ME2)

Finished up fable 2 today. Lots of fun...really enjoyed it. The dog mechanic was great and the length of the game was perfect. I remember people being upset about the "gold trail" that leads you around, but I actually really liked that feature...prevented you from getting lost while still allowing you to travel where you like. Anyways...for those that are on the fence, it's cheap now and definitely a lot of fun.

Prince of Persia, it's been real, but I think I'm done with you for now. You see, I have someone new coming today. It's time for me to move on, it's not me, it's you...

Yeah Starcraft gets here today so everything else goes on the back burner. I'm not giving up totally on the Prince and Elika, I may need the occasional palate cleanser, but the later boss battles are becoming a pain in the ass. I destroyed the Concubine and I'm dreading going through the other Black Gates.

Tanglebones wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I finished Mass Effect 2. Renegade space-lesbian Jane Shepard once again saves the galaxy.

I just finished Mass Effect 2 as well - Paragon, bi-sexual lesbian Jane Shepherd's adventures continue

(Liara in ME1, Thane in ME2)

Bi-sexual lesbian? Make up your mind, man!